The Workouts

Oh boy. Going to dump some workouts now. Actually managed to make my schedule for once.

And by schedule I mean something other than my vaguely-once-a-week sort of deal. Which thoroughly surprised me.

Workout for Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Pre-workout: 1 scoop Purple Wraath BCAAs, ephedrine/caffeine (25/200mg)

Body Weight: 167bls.
Body Fat Percentage: 18.8%

Start: 9:06AM
Stop: NOON

Round 1

Bench Press: 3 x 15 @ 45lbs.
Row: 3 x 15 @ 45lbs.
Lateral Raise: 3 x 15 @ 25lbs. (a little too heavy)

Round 2

Bench Press: 3 x 15 @ 45lbs.
Row: 3 x 15 @ 45lbs.
Lateral Raise: 3 x 15 @ 20lbs.

Round 3

Dumbbell Incline Bench: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs. (so 15/db)
Pulldown: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs.
Lateral Raise: 2 x 15 @ 20lbs.

Round 4

Dumbbell Incline Bench: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs.
Pulldown: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs.
Lateral Raise: 2 x 15 @ 20lbs.

Round 5 (because I had more time to waste but didn’t feel like doing cardio before I finished leg depletion)

Leg Press: 3 x 15 @ 50lbs.
Leg Curl: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs.
Calf Raise: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs.
Dumbbell Curl: 2 x 15 @ 8lbs.
Pushdown: 2 x 15 @ 22.5lbs.
Crunch: 2 2x 15 @ 35lbs.

Workout for Friday, October 9, 2010

Pre-workout: 2 fun-size Baby Ruth, ephedrine/caffeine (50/200mg)
Peri-workout: 2 scoops Purple Wraath BCAAs

Note to Self: Don’t let that shit get room-temperature if you value it staying in your stomach. Close call.

BW: 163.5lbs
BF%: 18.6%

Start: 9AM
Stop: 10:30AM

This was after a day of rest, which on low-intake really means a day of suffering. So I lowered the weights in expectation of just “not being able to do it,” and I was right. This was a lot tougher for me than it looked on paper.

Round 1

Leg Press: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs.
Leg Curl: 3 x 15 @ 25lbs.
Calf Raise: 3 x 15 @ 15lbs.
DB Curl: 2 x 15 @ 5lbs.
Pushdown: 2 x 15 @ 17.5lbs
Crunch: 2 x 15 @ 25lbs.

Round 2

Leg Press: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs.
Leg Curl: 3 x 15 @ 25lbs.
Calf Raise: 3 x 15 @ 15lbs.
DB Curl: 2 x 15 @ 5lbs.
Crunch: 2 x 15 @ 25lbs.
Pushdown: 2 x 15 @ 17.5lbs

Workout for Monday, November 1, 2010

Pre-workout: 2 scoops EAS premium protein + 200mg caffeine (1.5 hours pre)

BW: 164.5lbs.
BF%: 18.0%

Start: 9:16AM
Stop: 11:22AM

No rest within supersets, 2 minutes rest between each coupling. I did a warm-up set for each NEW muscle group (so no warm-up on leg extensions because I’d done leg presses, and no warm-up on curls because I’d done pulldowns, etc.) I really guesstimated a lot of the poundages here as well. I figured it was supposed to be muscularly-challenging but not to the point where it’d hurt my head like a max-effort might. So that’s what I looked out for.

Superset 1

Leg Press: 1 x 12 @ 50lbs.;  2 x 12 @ 70lbs. (increase)
Leg Curl: 1 x 12 @ 30lbs.; 1 x 12, 1 x 9 @ 60lbs. (stay)

Superset 2

Leg Extension: 1 x 10; 1 x 2 @ 60lbs. (stay)
Seated Leg Curl: 2 x 12 @ 50lbs. (stay, it was HARD)

Set 3

Calf Raises: 4 x 12 @ 60lbs. (increase)

-5 minute BREAK to 10AM-

Superset 4

Incline Bench Press: 1 x 6 @ 45lbs.; 2 x 12 @ 60lbs. (good; MAYBE increase)
Pulldown: 1 x 6 @ 45lbs.; 2 x 12 @ 70lbs. (stay)

Set 5

Lateral Raise: 12, 11, 6 @ 45lbs. (stay)

-5 minute BREAK to 10:55AM-

Superset 6

DB Hammer Curl: 2 x 15 @ 10lbs. (increase)
Pushdown: 12x 9 @ 32.5lbs. (stay)

Set 7

Crunch: 1 x 12 @25lbs.;  3 x 12 @ 50lbs. (increase)

Workout for Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Pre-workout: 2 scoops EAS premium protein, 2 Hershey’s walnut cookies, ephedrine/caffeine (25/200mg)

BW: 166.5lbs (yay!)
BF%: 17.8%

Start: 9AM
Stop: 12:26PM

Deadlift

1. 135lbs. x 5 (double-overhand)
2. 155 x 3 (d-0)
3. 220 x 1 (left-over)
4. 260 x failed twice (left-under)
5. 240 x 1 (l-u) ~ managed it, but can probably do more. I couldn’t find my most recent deadlift record so I’m not that surprised I jumped too high up. Going to go for 250 next week.
6. 215 x 2 (l-0)

Met Xavier, college quarterback doing olympic lifts with the squat rack to my left. Cool cat.

Incline Bench

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 60 x 5
3. 80 x 3
4. 105 x 2
5. 120 x FAIL ~ same story.
6. 100 x 3
7. 85 x 7

Chin Assist weighed at 173lbs.

1. 103lbs. x 2
2. 118 x 5
3. 98 x 8

NOTE: the weights listed are lifted, not the offset (first set offset was 70lbs., for example.)

Lateral Raise

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 85 x 2
3. 105 x 1
4. 80 x 4
5. 60 x 7

Crunch

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 60 x 5
3. 85 x 3
4. 110 x 2
5. 125 x 3
6. 115 x 3

I really didn’t like having the numbers ready for this workout. This is easily the most important workout of the week. Not knowing what I wanted to accomplish with each exercise really left me in the lurch on this day and… just pissed me off.

Top Set Rep Goals

Deadlift – Singles

Incline Bench – Sixes

Chin Assits – Triples

Laterals – Sixes

Crunch – Triples

Popularity: 2% [?]

Start of A Cycle

Workout for Saturday, August 21, 2010

Body Weight: 170lbs

Body Fat Percentage: 18.8%

Start Time: 9:05AM

Not only did I forget my gym pass at home, but my notebook too. Luckily I don’t do a lot of different exercises and it wasn’t too bad trying to remember my load-outs, working backwards from what my top sets were supposed to be.

I actually did a lot better than I had set up for myself originally, which was suprising.

Deadlifts

(left-hand-under sets)

• 135lbs. X 5
• 155 x 3
• 185 x 2

(left-hand-over sets)

• 210 x 1
• 215 x 1

After loading 225 and looking at it, I decided I’d leave that try-out for another day.

Goal next workout: 225 x 1

Lateral Raise

• 45lbs. X 5
• 65 x 3
• 85 x 2
• 105 x 1
• 110 x half-way there, but no complete rep
• 95 x 1

Goal next workout: 105 x 3

Crunch Machine

• 45lbs x 6
• 65 x 4
• 85 x 3
• 105 x 1

Goal next workout: 110 x 1-3

Then I nearly shit myself, so after taking care of that I decided to hammer out what little cardio I could and call it a day.

@11:22AM, took 15mg yohimbine and 400mg caffeine. Then I hopped on the stationary cycle.

Stationary Cycle: 4.01 miles in 20:04”

I was just falling-asleep exhausted. So I finished my workout at 11:44AM, took a shower, and went out to check out the badass chalk artwerkz I had no idea were occurring on precisely this day. Win.

Workout for Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Weight: 172.5lbs

Body Fat Percentage: 18.4%

Start Time: 9:10AM

Started with chest/back strength work, moved onto mishmash depletion work.

Strength

Bench Press

• 45lbs x 5
• 45 x 5
• 55 x 5
• 80 x 3
• 100 x 2
• 115 x 3 (one still in the tank, I’m going to increase this)
• 105 x 5 (increase)
• 90 x 8 (increase

Incline Bench

• 45lbs x 5
• 50 x 5
• 90 x 2
• 105 x 2 (stay)
• 95 x 5 (stay, the reps were good but they just felt too difficult)
• 80 x 7 (stay)

ChinAss ~ 171.5lbs Body Weight

• 46.5lbs x 5
• 46.5 x 5
• 66.5 x 5
• 91.5 x 3
• 116.5 x 2
• 131.5 x 3 (increase)
• 121.5 x 4 (increase)
• 101.5 x 6 (increase)
• 91.5 x 6 (stay)

Depletion

I’m not going to bother delineating the exhausting method I chose to do the sets in to alleviate boredom. Suffice to say that in the future I will start with Leg Press, supersetting with two upper body motions, and then do the same for Leg Curl. I should probably start with Leg Curls from now on. We’ll let supercompensated deadlift results determine that.

• Leg Press 12 x 15 @ 50lbs.
• Leg Curl 6 x 15 @ 45lbs. (I may have to drop weight on this lift to get the correct volume it, it was literally painful at this point… in no small part due to pre-depletion yohimbine.)
• Lateral Raise 8 x 15 @ 20lbs. (I’m going to increase this, it was a little too easy.)
• Calf Raise 9 x 15 @ 45lbs. (General fatigue and unwillingness. This weight is fine.)
• Bicep Curl 12 x 15 @ 5lbs. (May jump to 8lbs and drop to 3 sets if I continue to chin at the beginning of the workout.)
• Pushdown 9 x 15, 1 x 10 @ 22.5lbs (Dropping this exercise if I continue to do benching at the beginning of the workout.)
• Crunch Machine 12 x 15 @ 40lbs. (Considering cutting number of sets in half due to twists, weight needs to be increased.)
• Twists 12 x 15 @ 30lbs. (Same note as Crunches)
• Wrist Curl 4 x 15 @ 15lbs. (Going to do one less set and increase the weight.)
• Reverse Wrist Curl 4 x 15 @ 10lbs. (Going to do one less set and increase the weight.)

Completion Time: 2:30PM

Popularity: 1% [?]

Simply Depleted

Eh.

I managed to knock my head during a seizure since last I updated. Kind of weird what things I lose from my mind when that happens. I’m looking back on everything and feeling it’s too complicated.

I’m going to stop with the notation crap.

Tomorrow I have a photo test for an agency in Chicago, so today I’ve done a massive workout and spent some time in the sauna to shed some water.

Depletion Workout for Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Block One

Leg Press: 12 sets of 15 @ 50lbs. (going to add weight to this one next time)
Chest Press: 6 x 15 @ 50lbs.
Row: 6 x 15 @ 45lbs.

Block Two

Leg Curl: 12 x 15 @ 45lbs. (…ow)
Incline Press: 6 x 15 @ 45lbs.
Pulldown: 6 x 15 @ 50lbs.

Block Three

Chest Press: 1 x 15 @ 50lbs.; 2 x 15 @ 40lbs.
Pec Fly: 2 x 15 @ 40lbs. (felt I was using my arms too much on the chest press, but then realized I did entirely too much volume on chest anyway and THAT was why my arms hurt…)
Calf Raise: 3 x 15 @ 45lbs.
Bicep Curl: 2 x 15 @ 8lbs.

Block Four

Lateral Raise: 3 x 15 @ 35lbs.; 1 x 15 @ 20lbs. (BARELY)
Crunch Machine: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs.
Calf Raise: 1 x 15 @ 45lbs.

Block Five

Bicep Curl: 4 x 15 @ 8lbs.; 2 x 15 @ 5lbs.
Cable Twist: 6 x 15 @ 30lbs.

Block Six

Pushdown: 8 x 15 @ 17.5lbs (going to add weight to this one next time, guess I was wrong about my arms…)
Calf Raise: 8 x 15 @ 45lbs.
Cable Twist: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs.
Crunch Machine: 5 x 15 @ 30lbs. (will add weight)
Lateral Raise: 1 x 15 @ 20lbs.

The exercises were not necessarily done in the order shown, and definitely not straight across. I’m just noting volume because it’d be a huge hassle to delineate the order… and largely unnecessary besides.

Cardio

Stationary Cycle: 7.44 miles in 35 minutes (majority intensity: 2)
[26 minute break]
Treadmill: 1.65 miles in 35:46 (majority intensity = 3 incline, 3.3 mph)

There were slower warm-up/cooldown periods I’m not noting. Next time I’m going to start the machines at the listed intensities to get things going quicker.

Workout Timeline

8AM – EC1, bs275
9:17 – Block 1
9:41-9:47 – Five minute break leading into Block 2
10:15-10:20 – Break to Block 3
10:39-10:47 – Break to Block 4
11:02-11:07 – Break to Block 5
11:36-11:40 – Break to Block 6
12:20PM – Finished weight portion of the day
12:36 – EC2, bs322
1:05 – bs315
1:48 – Finished 35 minutes of cycling
2:50 – Finished 35 minutes of walking
5 – EC3
6 – bs257

EC = Ephedrine/Caffeine (25mg/400mg)
bs = blood sugar. It’s always been a concern of mine that my sugars get too low during high-volume lifting… clearly not as much of an issue as I expected. I took my usual amount of slow-acting insulin but none of my ‘fix yer damn sugars’ insulin, just to get a gauge of exercise-related impact.

Bodyweight Timeline

8:55AM – Body Weight: 174.5lbs
9:10 – MASSIVE CRAP, BW – 172.5lbs., Body Fat: 17.9% (sad day)
12:30PM – 169lbs.
1:03 – Not quite so much crap. 168.5lbs.
2 – 166.5lbs
3 – 166lbs
3:50 – Finished shower. 165.75lbs.
4:11 – 10 minutes in whirlpool. 165lbs.
4:35 – 7 minutes in dry sauna. 164.5lbs.
4:55 – Spent another 5 minutes in the dry sauna and started to get lightheaded, so I decided to stop. 164.5lbs.
5 – Final weigh-in before I left, having air-dried a bit. 164lbs.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Ow, My Everything (P3C4D1)

Tuesday I decided to run a depletion workout to “make up” for the Independence Day Eat Like a Moronathon.

And, well… holy fucking ow.

The routine I’m following for this cycle is based off of Lyle McDonald’s Ultimate Diet 2. The nomenclature for the, uh, callsign stuff, is changed as follows:

• Phase and Cycle numbering will press on linearly. It’s a different diet set-up, and the workout is different, but it’s still “the next in line.”
• The workout LETTERING, however, will change. A and B will be reserved for when I return to a LeanGains-inspired routine. For Lyle, I’m using D, T, and P: Depletion, Tension, and Power workouts as inspired by him.

I’m not actually running UD2, because I lack the autism for that. But a lot of the principles will be recognizable to those who have read it, and utter nonsense to those who have not.

If you haven’t read it, tough. I’m not going to go out of my way explaining what I’m doing beyond this: the depletion workout day(s) are exactly as it sounds. It’s high-volume, low-nutrition (specifically carbs), and murders my muscles. The tension workout primes me for a carb refeed, which in turn fuels me for a power (strength-retention) workout. I only plan for the poundages to go up on the power workouts and POSSIBLY tension (meaning: I’ll decide when I get there.)

The marker for improvement with the depletion workouts will be that I get them done faster.

I wasn’t used to such high volume, and I found myself winded and needing to rest way more than I would have liked with this type of workout. I had to drop poundages several times to be able to continue working. I’m going to use the lowest numbers that I found in this workout in the next depletion workout to be the weight across all sets in the next attempt at this workout. I was time-restricted to begin with, taking so long get through this workout had an exaggerated annoyance factor for this reason as well (I need to be done by 11:30AM to have time to shower and be on a bus to visit a friend an hour-and-a-half away, on time.)

So, not having time for the full four-hour workout I would have “liked,” I did two rounds, one of each depletion. The distinction between the two is purely hitting chest, back, and midsection from different angles. This will be obvious when you look at the routine itself.

Depletion Workout for July 6, 2010

Round One

• Leg Extension / Leg Curl Superset (no rest)
  • 65lbs x 15 / 55lbs x 15
  • 50 x 13 / 45 x 15
  • 30 x 15 / 25 x 15
• Chest Press / Row Superset (no rest, except *five minute break)
  • 75lbs x 12 / 75lbs x 12
  • 65 x 12 / 60 x 6*
  • 50 x 15 / 45 x 15
• Lateral Raise / Calf Raise Superset (no rest, except *five minute break)
  • 50lbs x 12 / 45lbs x 15
  • 35 x 15* / 45 x 15
  • 35 x 15 / 45 x 15
• Dumbbell Curl / Cable Pushdown Superset (no rest)
  • 10lbs x 15 / 27.5lbs x 15
  • 10 x 15 / 27.5 x 15
• Cable Torso Twist
  • 30lbs x 15
  • 30lbs x 15

Ten minute break, then on to the next round.

Round Two

• Leg Extension / Leg Curl Superset (no rest)
  • 30lbs x 15 / 25lbs x 15
  • 30 x 13 / 25 x 15
  • 30 x 15 / 25 x 15
• Incline Press / Pulldown Superset (no rest, except *five minute break)
  • 45lbs x 15 / 75lbs x 15
  • 45 x 15 / 75 x 12*
  • (should have done a third set, but I didn’t)
• Lateral Raise / Calf Raise Superset (no rest)
  • 35lbs x 15 / 45lbs x 15
  • 35 x 12 / 45 x 15
  • (only two sets on shoulders, did the third set of Calf Raises later)
• Dumbbell Curl / Cable Pushdown Superset (no rest)
  • 8lbs x 15 / 27.5lbs x 15
  • 8 x 15 / 27.5 x 15 ~ really had to push for the last couple reps on the left arm curls
• Crunch Machine
  • 30lbs x 15
• Calf Raise
  • 45lbs x 15
• Crunch Machine
  • 30lbs x 15
  • 30 x 15
  • 30 x 15

While I never sat around and ‘rested’ like I ordinarily would, I certainly didn’t make any effort to rush from one machine to the next. The extent of my rest periods would probably be the 20 seconds or so it takes walking from one machine to the next.

Workout Start: 9:05AM
Round 1 Finish: 10AM
Workout End: 11:20AM

Weight: 169.5lbs
Body Fat Percentage: 16.9%

I ate somewhere in the neighborhood of 175g protein since that workout. Presently fasting until pre-workout tomorrow barring any wonky blood sugar issues or free lean protein.

Seeya then!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Show Prep

I had a workout on Friday evening around 5PM, to prepare for a walking audition (I still don’t know what to call the modeling interviews) for a show to benefit a school in India in May.

I don’t think I’m even being considered. I’m overweight, oversize, and my posing sucked. I HAD TO TURN LEFT.

Nevertheless I did what I could to prepare for it, which was also sabotaged by a ‘fuck it I’m with my buddy’ attitude. I went to the YMCA with him to show him where to go to do the exercises I laid out for his routine (it’s a machine program and you’d think that it’d be no-brainer material. And it is.) while I joggy-walked to the opposite end of the gym to get a very low volume/low intensity workout in myself.

I would have loved to have done a six-setted depletion torture session, but I wanted to be done when he was done (he drove, of course) and I had limited physical resource anyway. I was still torn up from Wednesday’s workout, which felt easy-balls at the time, but which was now mocking me mercilessly. I had no problem skipping my legs this workout. He had no such luxury, and it feels good to find out he was barely even half-squatting, making him go below knee with the same weight, and watching him stumble around afterwards.

Mean, yes, but totally worth it.

I had him take conservative loading parameters nonetheless as I checked for form. I also threw in direct arm work at the end for both of us, him because I want him to get his compounds in with the best form possible, and still be able to do his favorite bro-lifts. I didn’t harass him on form for his curls. He did preacher curls with good-enough form, and he needs to feel like he’s at least a little bit competent so he doesn’t give up the second I’m not around to badger him.

Back at his house we had a camerafag posedown. I still don’t have abs, and he’s skinny enough to have them be visible if he understood (despite multiple explanations) the concept of progressive overload. Which he will soon enough now that he has starting weights for all his lifts and a program that doesn’t change other than “bump weight when you hit the rep ceiling.”

So by no means is my workout from Friday worth shit. I’m just recording it so I understand where my gym frequency is at. I have, over this week, probably overate again. Tomorrow (Sunday) marks Day One if I decide to look at this from a “Fifteen Weeks Out” perspective. Which I am.

I wish I had those pictures, my shoulders look ridiculous and I love it.
EDIT: Pictures are here.

Workout for Friday, February 12th, 2010

Popularity: 1% [?]

10-20 Depletion

Stats
Weight: 164lbs.
Body Fat Percentage: 15.6%

This was a rather simple workout. High volume, high reps, lots of misery, low weights. Everything listed is machines, except for bicep curls. Those are dumbbells.

Mostly to shuffle out a lot of water weight. I took some pictures of myself at “full-bloat” post-birthday gorging. Later this week I’ll upload those in comparison to ones of full depletion.

The major thing about this workout was discovering the weight to use for each life. Once upon a time, I used whacks of calculators and attempts to extrapolate isolation lift estimations from muscular contribution in compound exercises. Fuck that, I just tried shit.

Workout for Monday, February 1, 2010

Popularity: 2% [?]

Sans Bullshit

I received an ankh for my birthday; I've wanted one since I was very young.

Lots of horeshitastic nonsense in January, I mean ta tells ya!

But rather than get into all of that, suffice to say I’ve been binging rather orgasmically. The only record I’m obliged to place at the moment, is Thursday’s workout.

Depletion workout on Monday, with a return to fasting as well.

Birthday Lifts

Deadlift

1. 65lbs. x 5 (from hang; hook grip)
2. 65lbs. x 5 (hang-hook)
3. 95lbs. x 3 (hang-hook)
4. 140lbs. x 2 (from floor; hook grip)
5. 165lbs. x 5 (from floor; left hand under; increase next week)

Incline Bench

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 45lbs. x 5
3. 60lbs. x 3
4. 80lbs. x 2
5. 90lbs. x 3 (stay-at next week)
6. 80lbs. x 5

Hi-Low Twist

1. 20lbs. x 5
2. 30lbs. x 5
3. 40lbs. x 3
4. 50lbs. x 2
5. 60lbs. x none! half-way, static hold (staying the weight)
6. 50lbs. x 1 (keeping in mind the goal of the de-loaded sets is to get one more rep than the previous set…)

Weight: 161lbs.
Body Fat Percentage: 15.8%

Obviously, I didn’t make my birthday goal. My goal by the end of May is sub -9% body fat. Let’s get to it.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I Am The Master of My Fate

Saw Invictus last night; been feeling pretty motivated overall.

Not that it helped the fact that I lost some muscle over the holidays. Evening workout on the wrong day didn’t really help matters, either.

And I was called back for an interview with p.i.n.k tomorrow. Go figure right?

Onto the numbers:

Weight: 156lbs.
BF%: 18.8%

No excuses today. Just going to take it for what it is. I’ve got roughly six pounds of fat I want to lose before the easy part of the diet is over.

Flat Bench

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 50lbs. x 5
3. 70lbs. x 3
4. 100lbs. x 1
5. 95lbs. x 3
6. 100lbs. x 1

I had to sneeze; still didn’t get my reps though.

Incline Bench

1. 85lbs. x 4 (seat was too high, did the set anyway)
2. 75lbs. x 5 (three holes = good)

Skipped incline fly today. Had some upper-depletion work I wanted to get in, and I wasn’t budging the 25 DBs tonight.

Round 1

1. Row: 10 & 2 @ 55lbs., 15 @ 40lbs.
2. DB Curl: 2 x 15 @ 5lbs.
3. Cable Extension: 15 & 11 @ 7.5lbs.
4. Lateral Raise: 3 x 15 @ 5lbs.
5. Crunch Machine: 3 x 15 @ 40lbs.

Round 2

1. Row: 3 x15 @ 40lbs.
2. Crunch Machine: 1 x 15 @ 40lbs.

Cut short because mom was picking me up; she was visiting my cousin who had flown in from Cali to celebrate the holidays. I’ll see her this summer. Can’t be missing workouts!

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Popularity: 1% [?]

p.i.n.k Training

So I got a call a few days ago informing me of a fitting the first week of January for a fashion show in Milwaukee on the 9th.

So that means low-carb dieting for the next two weeks, and no enjoyment of Christmas meals whatsoever! Yay!

I was going to do some depletion work today, but since I only had 2 hours to workout, I essentially only had time for my usual routine. My weight is the same, but my body fat percentage mysteriously went down. I’m calling a fluke, since I’ve only started low-carbing TODAY. Yesterday I had nearly 300g.

Numbers time.

Post-workout and post-post-workout meal. I didn't even bother posing correctly.

Weight: 160lbs.
BF%: 16.2% (I check it three times…)

Deadlift

1. 200lbs. x 5 (LO)
2. 180lbs. x 5 (LU)

Fuck yes. That is all.

Lat Pulldown

1. 50lbs. x 5
2. 75lbs. x 5
3. 100lbs. x 3
4. 85lbs. x 5

I don’t feel like I activate my lats properly when I’m chinning, so I’m doing underhanded pulldowns. I’m definitely feeling my lats right now.

I didn’t load properly, though. I put the same amount as I would have offset on the chin assist, so for that reason what you’re ACTUALLY seeing is my warm-up lifts. I would be lifting 100lbs. (offset would thus be 60lbs.) on my third and final warm-up set. I knew this was going to be a lot harder than usual when I completed my first warm-up. I should have listened to myself, but part of me was thinking I was just coming off my high from making my reps in deadlift 45 seconds ago, so I carried on. (I also activated more of my mid-back on DL than I was anticipating. This scared me because I didn’t realize what was happening when I did it and it sounded like a couple ribs popped. But no pain, no injury.)

When my third warm-up set was as difficult as it was, I stopped it there, and called that my effective top-set for this workout. I moved a plate lower for a conservative deload, and got my reps there. Next workout I will see if a full rest before the 100lbs. combined with adaptations will allow me to get my reps. I’m not holding my breath though, I’ll likely be pretty depleted by the time that workout rolls around.

Horizontal Row

1. 80lbs. x 5
2. 80lbs. x 4
3. 80lbs. x 4

First set, again, felt like I wasn’t as strong as I should have been, but again I made the excuse that my previous exercise impacted me too much. This time, a little bit more of a legitimate excuse. My lats were genuinely exhausted for a change, and like I said, DL hit my mid-back for once. However, I was feeling some tightness in my shoulder, so during my rest before my second set I sauntered over to the dumbbell area and grabbed the broomstick to do some shoulder dislocations and watched the aerobics class.

Second set went much better, despite not getting all the reps. Technique felt cleaner.

Third set, no complaints, I failed on my fifth-rep attempt and slownegged it back.

Cable Crunch Nautilus Ab Thingy

3 sets of 5 @ 55lbs.

I gotta say, as far as goofy-lookin’ ab machines go, Nautilus felt like I was getting a decent range of motion on them. I don’t remember the brand-name of the one next to it, but I’d used it before, and it felt like such a stunted “I’m hurling now” jerky motion that I didn’t mind trying something new.

The reason I didn’t do cable crunches? Triceps aren’t strong enough to push down 55lbs. apparently. Oh well.

Chatted with Andy a bit following this, he seemed interested in my dieting history and the genesis of my intense interest in fitness and why I don’t already have the results I’m clearly so motivated to achieve. I felt they were honest and worthwhile questions to answer, so I did. Might write a post about it, but I’ll save it for when I’ve achieved. No sense in writing another “but this time it’s different!” until I AM different.

Plus I need to find all my fat kid pictures.

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Overeating

I ate a lot yesterday.

Went out to the Chinese buffet with mom to celebrate. Finished filming my parts for Thinking Speed the day before, so I thought I deserved a treat.

I ate almost 4200kcal! Ughh!

No guilt, just lots of water weight and poop. Interesting to me, though, I ate over the 3500kcal necessary to put on a pound of fat… but my weekly average remained below 1800kcal, the amount I need to MAINTAIN weight. I wish I could magically deplete overnight just to see where my highly-likely jump on the scale is really coming from, but I’m not going to even attempt depletion for the next few days. I had a brush with hypoglycemia last night and I don’t feel like flirting with disaster until things even out. Maybe being carb-bloated will help me eek out that elusive next rep on deadlifts tomorrow!

My arms are still whining at me about Thursday’s workout, and I really think I need to re-evaluate my form or try something else.

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