Not Pylo-Ready (P4C6B)

Workout B for Saturday, July 24, 2010

Start: 9:05AM

Deadlift

1. 135lbs x 5 ~ hg
2. 140 x 3 ~ L/R
3. 180 x 2 (mis-loaded, wanted to do 160 here) ~ R/L
4. 200 x 3 ~ R/L

Today is the first day I really felt like I got the form nailed on deadlifts. I watched the Starting Strength instructional DVD and, wow. Highly recommended.

Lateral Raise Machine

1. 50lbs x 5
2. 70 x 3
3. 90 x 2
4. 100 x 1

Lost a rep. Shit.

Pulldown

1. 65 x 5

I’m cutting pulldowns from B workouts. I don’t want to do two pulls anymore.

Crunch

1. 45lbs x 5
2. 65 x 3
3. 85 x 2
4. 95 x 3

Went rather well.

DB Curl

1. 8lbs x 5
2. 10 x 3
3. 15 x 1
4. 15 x 8

Going to try increasing this.

Wrist Curl

1. 10lbs x 5
2. 15 x 3
3. 20 x 2
4. 25 x 8

Hurt. Going to keep it here.

Weight: 169lbs.
Body Fat %: 18.8% (Had a rack of ribs for dinner that didn’t finish digesting, along with some cottage cheese, etc….)

Finish: 11:05AM

Aside from watching the DVD, I also read the Vertical Jump Training Bible by Kelly Baggett. I wanted to start incorporating beginner-level plyometric drills but after doing 2 x 50 ankle hops I was spend. I kept toppling over doing the 4-star drill.

I’m going to start the plyo work this week, since I don’t think I’ll be getting to the gym.

Popularity: 84% [?]

Standard Strength

Much like I did here, I’m going to post what my poundages are for some lifts.

These are the lifts I’m going to struggle to maintain as I diet down. I will not be increasing weight much, if at all, until next year. Most likely.

Workout A

• Bench Press: 110lbs x 2 reps
• Incline Bench: 95lbs x 5 reps
  • Drop set: 85lbs x 8 reps
• Close-grip Bench: 80lbs x 5 reps
  • Drop set: 70lbs x 8 reps

Workout B

• Deadlift: 200lbs x 2 reps
  • Drop set: 165lbs x 4 reps
• Lateral Raise Machine: 95lbs x 3 reps
  • Drop set: 85lbs x 4 reps
• Pulldown: 130lbs x 3 reps
  • 115lbs x 6 reps

I’m probably going to still do Chins (assisted) on A days, but they won’t be a part of the central workout whose numbers I want to maintain. It’s almost a push/pull routine!

Probably going to fill this in with more goal-talk at some point, but I wanted to post up my numbers for my own reference. It’s surprising how useful this blog is when I have a phone with internet access.

God, I am so weak.

Popularity: 96% [?]

Hey Deady (P4C5B)

Man. I think this workout was the nearest to my 1RM in good form on deadlifts. I’m STILL feeling it, three days later. Tomorrow’s another workout, though, so I gotta stick this one up.

I’m simplifying the workout to A and B days only, essentially just alternating push/pull days.

Workout for Friday, July 16, 2010

Deadlift

1. 135lbs x 5 left / right
2. 140 x 3 left / right
3. 160 x 2 right / left
4. 200 x 2 left / right ~ STAY
5. 165 x 4 right / left ~ INCREASE

The first time I attempted 200 this workout it didn’t budge. I think I was just scared of it though. I got pissed off at my inability to lift, grit my teeth, and pulled. I set up for a third rep and got light-headed, so I stopped. I’m happy being only one rep away from bumping the top set again. It’s a good compromise between getting exactly what I want and utter failure.

I don’t remember how that drop set wound up so much lighter than it should really be. Ah well. Up it goes!

It took my forty-five minutes to get through this lift alone. I took as much rest as I needed, which turned out to be a lot.

Lateral Raise Machine

1. 35lbs x 5
2. 55 x 3
3. 75 x 2
4. 95 x 3 ~ INCREASE
5. 85 x 4 ~ INCREASE

These two lifts have a 3-5 rep range top set, once I hit three reps the weight gets bumped.

Leg Curl

I did one set of 30lbs for 5 reps, and one set of 45 with 3 reps, and decided that direct leg work is not only redundant but painful after deadlifting and I’m not at all interested.

Pulldown

1. 50lbs x 5
2. 75 x 3
3. 100 x 2
4. 130 x 3 ~ STAY
5. 115 x 6 ~ INCREASE

Top set is the same rep range, but because I’m going to work lats (the real ones) every workout, the frequency is greater, and I’m only going to add weight when I hit the top of the range.

These three exercises mark the composition of the formal workout. Movements after this aren’t really expected to be repeated on a consistent basis.

Crunch

1. 45lbs x 5
2. 50 x 3
3. 70 x 2
4. 90 x 5 – INCREASE

Not doing a drop set here. Just want to strengthen my core in opposition to the deadlift working my lower back.

Dumbbell Bicep Curl

1. 8lbs x 5
2. 10 x 3
3. 15 x 2
4. 20 x nope
5. 15 x 7 – STAY

Biceps are going to have to be ranged at 5-8. Failure is not an option here, my biceps would probably just pop out of my arms and run away. If I work them, I’ll work this slightly higher range.

Wrist Curl

1. 5lbs x 5
2. 10 x 5
3. 15 x 5
4. 20 x 5
5. 25 x 5 (only barely managed this)
6. 20 x 8 ~ INCREASE!

5-8 on the forearm work too. These suckers need to grow a little!

I tried to do a set of 5 with 5lbs on a reverse wrist curl, but my arms were spent and I couldn’t ramp up the weight any.

Workout span: 9AM – 11:40AM

Weight: 171lbs.
Body Fat Percentage: 17.2%

Fat Weight: 29.241lbs
Lean Body Mass: 141.759lbs

Very slightly surprised by the gain in lean mass. Not expecting it to stick around, but after watching non-essential weight creep up and LBM sticking around 140, this was pretty nice.

Fast was initiated a little later than I would have liked (midnight), and broken a bit too soon (noon.) I ate quite a bit this day. A decently-sized post-workout meal from Panda Express (note to self: Kung Pao Chicken is fucking AWFUL and you will WAIT for a double-serving of Mandarin Chicken…) Then had a massive(ly awesome) dinner at my aunt’s following that.

I’ve been faithfully cramming at least a cup of cottage cheese down my throat every day as well, so far.

I have another workout coming on Monday and I’ll reflect on my so-far in that post.

Popularity: 84% [?]

REFEED ME (P3C4T1)

My computer has been down for a while.

As such, I’ve totally blanked on all the flavor text I was going to post with this workout.

Tension Workout for Thursday, July 8, 2010

Superset: Leg Extension / Leg Curl

1. 30lbs x 5 / 25lbs x 5
2. 45 x 3 / 40 x 3
3. 60 x 2 / 55 x 2
4. 75 x 6 / 65 x 6
5. 70 x 7 / 60 x 7
6. 65 x 8 / 55 x 8
7. 60 x 9 / 50 x 9

Pretty straightforward superset. Throughout the workout I’d usually rest a minute, so that it would be two minutes of rest for the same exercise (Extension, rest a minute, Curl, rest a minute, Extension, etc.)

Superset: Chest Press Machine / Cable Row

1. 30lbs x 5 / 30lbs x 5
2. 45 x 3 / 45 x 3
3. 60 x 2 / 60 x 2
4. 75 x 6 / 75 x 7
5. 70 x 7 / 75 x 8

The cable row was in 15lbs. jumps so I just… didn’t do a drop set there. I should really look up better form on them as well. This was the first time in a LONG time… I fucking HATE rowing.

Superset: Incline Press Machine / Pulldowns

1. 45lbs x 2 / 50 x 3
2. 60 x 12 / 65 x 2
3. 60 x 6 / 85 x 8
4. NA / 70 x 11

Superset: Calf Raises / Lateral Raises

1. 15lbs x 5 / NA
2. 30 x 3 / NA
3. 45 x 2 / 40 x 3
4. 60 x 6 / 55 x 2
5. 60 x 7 / 65 x 6
6. 60 x 8 / 55 x 8
7. 60 x 9 / 45 x 10

I started the Lateral Raises a little later because my calves recover quickly and because I wanted to end the superset together rather than trailing off with increasing reps on calf raises…

I do a lot of thinking while I’m sitting in the Lateral Raise machine. I decided that if Depletion workouts are going to be against the clock (rather than increasing the weights on them), and the Power workouts are going to be the opposite of that (increasing the weights regardless of how long it takes me), what do I do to mark progress on the Tension workouts?

I’m just going to try to get 12 reps on every movement (the rep range is supposed to be 6-12.) I’m not going to be doing this workout plan for very long, but 12 is where I’m going to go “okay, time to increase the weight a little bit here.”

Training to failure isn’t the point of this workout anyway, it doesn’t NEED to be HEAVY, it just should be challenging.

Superset: Dumbbell Curl / Pushdown

1. 10lbs x 10 / 32.5 x 12
2. 10 x 12 / 32.5 x 12

So, for example, I’m going to bump both of those on my next tension workout and just try for about six reps.

Weight: 160.5lbs
BF%: 16.7%

Those measures were taken before this workout, and will count as my ‘depleted’ scores.

Start: 10AM
End: 11:30AM

OBSERVE THE CARB LOAD

1. Smoothie King’s Strawberry Hulk w/ Muscle Builder (or whatever the creatine+glutamine stuff is), used fat-free yogurt instead of pecan ice cream, sized @ 20oz
2. 3 chocoloate chip cookies from The Chocolate Factory
3. Chicken Chalupa w/ baja sauce + bacon club chalupa and an order of cinnamon crisps at Taco Bell
4. 59g Baby Ruth bar (grabbed it in the gas station when I was buying milk, $0.69!)
5. A gallon of milk and a box of raisin bran crunch, the 56oz box. Whichever one is the bigger one because that happened to be on sale at Sentry. (Didn’t finish the box until Friday’s breakfast, and finished the remaining cup or so of milk after I got home from Friday’s workout.)

Popularity: 47% [?]

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: 74% [?]

Happy Princess (P1C2B2)

Went to the gym yesterday morning, finally having a dollar for the soda machine.

Fucker was shut off. Logic’d my way into walking across the parking structure under the assumption that, hey, they probably have these for fuckers heading to work. Bam. There it is.

Dollar was too crinkly. I smooth it several times before hoping I have a dollar in my wallet. I try THAT dollar, twice, before the machine lolquits at me (the dollar-accepting thing turns off if you try too many times to prevent sodahax.)

Top floor of parking structure is the one that leads to my gym. I give up my sodaquest and take this loop-way of getting to the gym. There’s one soda machine on this leg of the journey, and it too is shut down.

I make my way in, put my bag on a chair, and dig out my keys (login badge thing is on it) front desk lady is ALWAYS unfailingly nice to me. She asks me how I’m doing and I lie blatantly. She says she’s doing good too.

In the locker room. I’m already wearing gym clothes so I simply deposit my bag. I get some nail clippers out, clipping nails at a counter. I finish, I hear my phone, I go back to the locker. Check messages, okay whatever, back to the counter…

WHEN SUDDENLY, A DOUCHE APPEARS:

D- “Are you going to pick those up?”
Me- “…Why, do you need a snack?”
D- “That’s disgusting.”
Me- “Don’t judge me by what YOU put in YOUR mouth.”
Another guy comes into the locker room, puts a shaker-bottle thing on the counter, goes to his locker.
D- “Don’t use that counter, this kid put his nails all over it.”
Me- “Nevermind that bro, this old fart leaves cocks in his mouth and forgets to swallow.” I sweep the nails into a trash bin that’s put under the counter FOR THIS REASON “Are we happy, princess?”

I got shitty looks from him for the next hour or two I was in the gym.

Day was significantly improved.

Workout B2 for Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Romanian Deadlift

1. 45lbs x 5
2. 70 x 3
3. 90 x 2
4. 115 x 3
5. 110 x 3
6. 105 x 3

5% drops from top set because I didn’t want to increase reps from set to set. Took a note that I was stepping forward to rack the weight with my left foot.

Pulldown

1. 40lbs x 5
2. 55 x 3
3. 75 x 2
4. 95 x 4
5. 85 x 5
6. 75 x 6

10% drops, since this exercise is a 4-6 rep range anyway.

Lateral Raise Machine

1. 30lbs x 5
2. 45 x 3
3. 60 x 2
4. 75 x 4
5. 65 x 5
6. 55 x 6

10% drops, which are HUGE here since I round up. It’s supposed to be a back-off day.

Torso Rotation Machine

1. 30lbs x 5
2. 45 x 3
3. 60 x 2
4. 75 x 4
5. 65 x 7
6. 55 x 10

I actually had this load setup for doing weighted crunches, but I felt myself in a twisty mood. My obliques haven’t been worked lately and I was surprised that I just-as-barely got through them without altering the weights. 15% drops are harder to manage with such low weights. I piled on reps which, in retrospect, is an ass-backwards way of tackling that problem.

Cardio: 20 minutes, 3 incline/ 3.3mph; Heart Rate @ 135bpm @ finish. The ceiling is 150bpm so I can keep increasing the speed… whenever I manage 40 minutes.

Weight: 162lbs.

I was going to test body composition by the personal trainer dwarf snatched up the handzapper. So I’m going to save that for Monday.

Also Monday: I will be deciding how I’m going to progress with this diet. It’s been two cycles, so roughly four weeks. Typically I see folks have their diet phases lasting anywhere from 4-8 weeks unless they’re horrifyingly fatassed. I’m going to fast tomorrow and do some carb-depletion stuff over the weekend to try and dry-out before measuring on Monday.

Body Fat Percentage Results

• 13%+: I’m just going to continue the diet for another cycle. No-prob-bro.
• 11 – 13%: Diet break for one training cycle, then continue the diet and training as I have been.
• <11%: Diet break for one training cycle, then I’m going change everything around to resemble Ultimate Diet 2.

I’ll probably round the results down if I have a convincing decimal or something, but that’s generally where my mind’s at.

Popularity: 8% [?]

New Notebook (P1C2A2)

Just cracked open a fresh multi-subject cheapshit notebook.

First page got this workout loaded onto it. Hooray!

Workout A2 for Monday, June 14th, 2010

Incline Bench

1. 45lbs x 3
2. 65 x 2
3. 80 x 8
4. 70 x 9

I was really happy about this lift. No doubt increasing it next workout. Kind of annoyed by the EZ-deadlifter indirectly giving me shit about my form. You know why the bar drops into the pins when I’ve completed my reps? That’s called muscular failure. Try it some time.

Maybe with those deadlifts, sweet-cheeks.

Wide-grip Horizontal Press Machine

1. 35lbs x 5
2. 55 x 3
3. 70 x 2
4. 90 x 1

I made the horrible discovery that the BACK of the machine can be adjusted to augment the stretch of the starting position (basically mimicking how far your elbows would go below a bench in the real lift.) Seat back to 4 was optimal. But, given that I hadn’t been training full-range up until this point, I’m actually quite pleased with the eeked-out single at the raised working weight. Going to keep it here.

Hammer-grip Horizontal Press Machine

1. 55lbs x 4
2. 75 x 2
3. 95 x 4

Phooey. Two reps short. Surprising, though, given that this is the same machine as above and the seat is adjusted. Maybe it’s to the benefit of my triceps while at the detriment of my pecs. I dunno. I’m probably not even doing these right. I’m suspecting the wide-grip is nailing my triceps and hammer-grip is recruiting anterior delts or something.

Pushdown

1. 32.5lbs x 3
2. 37.5 x 2
3. 42.5 x 11

FUCK YES! I really wanted to get at least ten with this movement. At these weights my abs are contributing like crazy to keep myself upright (rather than trying to crunch the weight down.) I noted last workout that I was going to drop the 5-rep warm-up to three reps and this apparently has helped. I know that my triceps are all but warmed-up by now anyway. Those two warm-up sets are more of a nervous wake-up than a muscular warm-up.

Pulldown

1. 45lbs x 5
2. 75 x 3
3. 95 x 2
4. 120 x 5

Shit. One short of being able to increase again. I really felt like I used too much biceps in this, even though I’m feeling it today and I had at least enough linkage to flex my right lat (vanity posing waiting for towel to dry, heh.) My leftie still doesn’t want to cooperate. I think I’m going to try to, next workout, not only get that next rep but BEGIN the movement with the lats and throw in dedicated bicep involvement when I can’t lower the bar further to just under my chin.

This workout took about an hour and a half. I was intending to do cardio but since I’m not going to get my full allotment of rest days and because I just felt catabolic generally, I decided to pass on it.

Body Weight: 164lbs

Condition: B-. Felt stringy/flabby at the same time. Morale was good, and just mentally ‘ready’ to kick some ass and WORK.

Stalling on more than half of my lifts makes me think I might need to bump protein in future cycles. This one is going to be a little weird though with training frequency (essentially trying to reconfigure my schedule to account for a root canal next Wednesday) so I’m bumping up calories to hopefully compensate for the relatively little rest. Luckily this Wednesday’s workout is the lightest in the cycle and I should be recovered for the next cycle by Monday.

…You know, having done the majority of my refeed today already I realize it’s feasible for me to work out on Thursday rather than tomorrow if I’m willing to wait longer for a ride home. Well. Neat. I’ll see how I feel tomorrow morning.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Progress Excites Me (P1C2WA1)

I just realized I started my second workout cycle yesterday. Awwriiight~

It was a highly unexpected result, my measures, as I still feel like I’m vastly overeating. I’m still recording on paper when and how much of whatever I’m eating, but I’m not tracking the calories on The Daily Plate.

I’m not as anal about how much I’m eating as I used to be. Granted, it has to be less than enough, but what I’m doing now can be best-described as eating until I’m full once a day. If I mysteriously put on weight, I can easily backtrack into my records and tabulate the calories. If the numbers make sense, then I know I ate too much and I’ll have to back off. If they don’t quite, or there’s a lot of carbs in there, well! Water weight.

I’m slowly introducing a little more cardio, here-and-there. I don’t really have a set plan with it. I’m tentatively looking at days that I do yohimbine (fasted-cardio style), or post-workout. Something about fat being released into the bloodstream from the Y or the high-intensity activity, that makes me want to include cardio at those times. More on this in another post. I haven’t been as tenacious in my physiological studies as I used to be.

Saturday Cardio

1. 6:45AM: 15mg Yohimbine HCL + 200mg Caffeine (since I haven’t been posting on this as much, in the future this will be referred to as YC much like the ephedrine+caffeine stack is referred to as EC.)
2. 7:23AM: Slow warm-up. Easy-walking for about 12 minutes.
3. 7:35AM: Speed walking. Just walking quickly enough for it to be uncomfortable, for about 40 minutes.
4. 8:15AM: I didn’t plan my route, so when time was up I had to walk back home. Another 12 minutes.

Something I noted was that I had a really high blood sugar. I should have tested much, much earlier (on the order of around midnight, I’d say) but since I had only just realized it a couple of minutes after taking my YC, I just tested right then, at 380mg/dL. Insulin counteracts the effects of yohimbine, so I just went and did my cardio anyway.

A few minutes after I got home (around 8:30AM) I tested again at 292mg/dL. Still really high, but an 88-point drop is pretty significant. I don’t know if that would have worked from 188 to 100 (I don’t know why it wouldn’t but I’m not going to make that claim), but I think doing cardio with an untested threshold made the higher level of sugar a decent “safety net” though I wouldn’t ordinarily like to be anywhere near that high.

Workout for Sunday, June 6, 2010

Before leaving for the gym: EC1 @ 9:45AM

Bench Press

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 50 x 3
3. 70 x 2
4. 90 x 7 (felt 50/50 on making the 8th rep; I decided not to risk it.)
5. 85 x 9

I’m going to increase this next workout.

Incline Press Machine

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 75 x 3
3. 90 x 2
4. 120 x 4

Okay. Screw this machine. I can’t find a suitable place to set the lever (it’s either too-high to be useful or too low to not be damaging to my shoulders) so I’ll be moving back to the free-weight version.

Hammer-grip Horizontal Press Machine

1. 55lbs. x 3
2. 70 x 2
3. 90 x 8

Shoulders are bugging me now.

Pushdown

1. 32.5lbs. x 5
2. 37.5 x 2
3. 42.5 x 9

I cheated a tenth rep so I’m not counting it, making this fall below my desired range for increase. Next workout I’m dropping the first warm-up set to 3 reps, but keeping everything else. If I make 10 reps on A2 then I can increase the weight.

Pulldown

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 70 x 3
3. 90 x 2
4. 115 x 6

I very nearly almost skipped doing these. I was hearing all sorts of excuses in my head during the tricep exercises. I switched on autopilot and let the excuses fly, hammering out possibly the best-form round of pulldowns I’ve ever done in my life. FUCK YEAH. Increasing the weight next workout.

Weighted Crunch Machine

1. 30lbs. x 5
2. 45 x 3
3. 60 x 2
4. 75 x 5

This isn’t, probably, going to be a regular exercise, but I thought in an effort to combat staleness in my routine I’d stick in a ‘reward’ exercise at the end. I chose crunches over calf raises because I’ve got something nasty happening on my left big toe joint and I’d like to establish that it’s not an infection before I harass it much more than I have.

Body Weight: 160.5lbs

Body Fat Percentage: 13.7% ~ I totally didn’t believe a lick of this, though before I saw it I mistook my BMI for my bodyfat percentage and had a mini-heart attack (23.7!?) I redid this reading multiple times and 13.7 was the first one to show up three times so I took it down. It was also the second-highest in the range (13.8 beat it) so it panders to my inner-pessimist.

Condition: B. ~ I very BARELY made it to the gym today. Had to roll off the couch and run down the parking lot in my underwear to make the ride to the gym, but I DID. So, yeah. I’m probably disproportionately proud of myself for having done that. Screw it.

Time in: 10AM
Time out: 12:35PM

I finished the workout at 12:20 but I sat in the locker room debating cardio for 15 minutes before I decided to leave and, if I started to regret it later… just do it later!

So I Regretted It and Came Back and This Is Treadmill

1. 1:42PM: EC2
2. 2:23PM: back in the gym. Warm-Up: 10 minutes at 2 incline/2mph. Heart Rate 102bpm
3. 2:35PM: HIIT: 5.5 minutes. Started and stopped with jog @ 4.5mph for 1.5min; run @ 6mph for 30sec. Incline set to 3 for both. Heart Rate 178bpm
4. 2:41PM: Rest. Talked to DJ in the locker room about cutting. He’s bulking, but cut for beach season.
5. 2:53PM: Steady State: 40 minutes at 3 incline/3mph. Heart Rate 135bpm
6. 3:35PM: Done.

I cut the HIIT short because I just am not fit enough for it. I was sweating and wheezing and my legs felt like they were going to fail out on me at any moment. (I wanted to total 10 minutes.)

So, then, while doing the steady state stuff I kept trying to convince myself to stop. But there weren’t any physical signs of needing to stop early, and any excuse I could come up with was quite easily squashed with “you’re not going to be burning any more fat than you are right now.”

But man, when 40 hit the clock I was off.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Alterra Foundry (P1C1WB2)

Yesterday I had an interview for a possible role in a 7-minute film for a 48-hour festival.

After considering all the possible things that I could be doing this weekend (film, pirate festival, raunchy sex) I decided that “easy workout” would not fit on the itinerary. Especially given that my ride is non-existent on that day (Saturday) anyhow, I decided to work out before my interview.

I again did not get adequate rest. In fact, none at all, as I was fearful of the likelihood that mom might matriarch-mangle my machinations by hand-waving my desires and concluding “you need the sleep.”

So I stayed up through the night, had my first dose of EC at around 8AM and a banana a half hour after that, and got to the gym by around 9AM.

I finished much quicker than anticipated, mostly because I neglected to bring a towel and couldn’t attack the cardio as a result of… not wanting to be a sweaty bastard for my interview. So from 11a-3p I was stumbling around the mall trying to keep myself awake, watching the childrens play in the water geysers and perusing trail mixes I vaguely wanted but not as badly as a nap.

Workout B2, Wednesday June 3rd, 2010

Romanian Deadlift

1. 45lbs x 5
2. 65 x 3
3. 85 x 2
4. 110 x 3
5. 110 x 3
6. 110 x 3

I was supposed to de-load, but it just didn’t occur to me. I forgot to write it onto my program that way and I just did 3 straight sets.

Pulldown

1. 40lbs x 5
2. 55 x 3
3. 70 x 2
4. 90 x 6
5. 90 x 6
6. 90 x 6

Same excuse.

Lateral Raise

1. 30lbs x 5
2. 45 x 3
3. 55 x 2
4. 70 x 6

If I had stopped at 4 I could have probably done two more sets, but I decided instead to hit the top of my rep range… which felt at about one rep shy of failure. I didn’t bother with further sets, but I bet if I had remembered I was supposed to be de-loading… yeah, yeah.

Crunch

1. 25lbs x 5
2. 40 x 3 (…suddenly had emergency bathroom break)
3. 55 x 2
4. 70 x 5

I tacked the crunches onto this workout at the last minute before I left in the morning, feeling that I hadn’t been doing enough to maintain the muscle there and that it couldn’t hurt to work them a little bit now that the fat is starting to uncover them a little bit. I had stopped working them earlier because, when it’s just pushing a wall of fat out, it feels counter-intuitive to the goal.

I just picked up where I left off, increasing the work set from 65 to 70, with no problem at all. Aside from the shitz.

I didn’t measure myself this or the workout prior due to the binge I had. I may just measure at each Workout A1 to keep my sanity.

Condition: B. Though the wait between workout and interview is a hell I’d not like to return to any time soon, actually coming into the gym felt like I was walking into a dream where everybody loves me and I think they’re alright.

Popularity: 9% [?]

No Excuse (P1C1WA2)

Week got off to a bit of a crap start.

Sometime over the weekend I had a seizure at my grandmother’s house. Banged up my right elbow, left hand, and both feet (more on the left foot, the right foot just has a cracked nail on the big toe.) It happened the day after training deadlifts, which summed itself as a fried CNS. Limping around, wincing… butthurt doesn’t even begin to cover it.

I wasn’t very motivated to lift on Tuesday, but I had the seizure and the binge working against my morale. So I used those things as encouragement. The unwillingness to let myself be put down by something I have only a limited amount of control over, coupled with the guilt over having let myself gorge so atrociously, lead me into the gym that morning.

Workout A2, June 1, 2010

Incline Bench

1. 45lbs x 3
2. 60 x 2
3. 75 x 8
4. 75 x 8 (too much shoulders)

I kind of forgot that I was supposed to deload on the second work set. Oops. I guess I can be confident in my increase for next workout!

Wide-Grip Horizontal Press

1. 35lbs x 5
2. 50 x 3
3. 65 x 2
4. 85 x 8

Hammer-Grip Horizontal Press

1. 40lbs x 3
2. 50 x 2
3. 65 x 8

Pushdown

1. 27.5lbs x 5
2. 32.5 x 2
3. 37.5 x 12

At this point, I was feeling really fucking accomplished. My chest was the only part of me that WASN’T sore, so getting that little extra from my triceps made me pretty happy overall.

Pulldown

1. 45lbs x 5
2. 65 x 3
3. 85 x 2
4. 110 x 6

I lost a rep. Not cool.

Alternating: Forearm Curl / Reverse Forearm Curl

1. 3lbs / 3lbs x 8
2. 5 / 5 x 8
3. 8 / 8 x 8
4. 12 / 12 x 8
5. 15 x 8 / 15 x 3
6. 20 / 12 x 8 (though I got the reps, 20lbs just felt like too much)
7. 15 / 12 x 8

I’ve just been looking in the mirror and getting sick of the ‘funnel’ look of my growing upper arms and my ain’t-shit forearms. Fixing that with a little volume work, as I don’t want to fail them with high-intensity stuff. I need the grip stamina for pulls.

Cardio: I did 20 minutes at level 2 on a recumbent bike just to… I dunno. Burn something or other. I was thinking carbs when I decided to do it, but after intense lifting I have no idea if there were some free-floating fatty acids to be used, floating about, or what.

Condition: C.

Didn’t get enough sleep, felt bloated. Pretty standard. Feeling sorry for myself counterbalanced by FUCK IT.

Popularity: 7% [?]