Working Myself Sick

Eh, fucking meme. I don’t like blogging every day.

Especially when I’m sick.

I gotta update the workout log. I can’t believe working out four days in a row made me sick. FML.

10.2.10

Squat

1. 45lbs. x 10
2. 65 x 10
3. 95 x 10
4. 95 x 7
5. 95 x 7
6. 95 x 7

Increase.

Calf Raise

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

Increase.

Weight: 173lbs.

BF%: 16.9%

10.3.10

Pulldown

1. 40lbs. x 5
2. 55 x 3
3. 80 x 2
4. 95 x 7
5. 95 x 7
6. 95 x 7
7. 95 x 7

Increase.

Pushdown

1. 22.5lbs. x 5
2. 27.5 x 7
3. 27.5 x 7
4. 27.5 x 7
5. 27.5 x 7

Cardio

2 minute walk, 2 cycles of 1 minute walk/jog/run, and got halfway through the jog part of the third cycle before giving up miserably. I’m just going to try to add a cycle every time or something. I dunno.

Grr… feel like craaaap.

Favorite Marvel Team: Great Lakes Avengers. I don’t have any scans :(

Popularity: 5% [?]

Back to Shoulders

I am going to have to either stop chinning or lateral raising.

Chinning: Compound movement that has realistic utilitarian purpose.

Laterals: Makes my shoulders bigger and I like that.

Tough call.

Workout for September 26, 2010

Body Weight: 172lbs.
Body Fat Percentage: 20%

Fed/Fasted: Fed. Fasted ten hours before working out, but the day prior I ate a LOT.

Pre-workout EC taken at 9:15AM.

ChinAss

1. 42lbs. x 5
2. 42 x 5
3. 82 x 5
4. 117 x 3
5. Bodyweight (172) – 4 negatives.

Did some lat activation stuff from a dead hang that I didn’t count, after.

Lateral Raise

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 55 x 5
3. 70 x 3
4. 85 x 2
5. 105 x NOTHING. Got a fourth of the way up and wouldn’t budge.
6. 95 x 1 – and ow, man.

In retrospect, pretty foolish thinking I could handle post-deadlift poundages after doing something already stressful to the shoulders.

Crunch Machine

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 70 x 3
3. 100 x 2
4. 120 x 3 – increase.

Finally getting somewhere.

I really shouldn’t have done any vanity training and just got to the cardio that I wound up too sapped to do at all, but whatever. My caloric deficit hasn’t been that great (in more ways than one) so while that is definitely an argument for increased cardio… it also meant I felt capable of DOING the lifting.

If I can lift, I’m going to lift. End of story.

Twist

1. 40lbs. x 5
2. 50 x 3
3. 70 x 2
4. 90 x 5 (increase! Grunted like a boar though…)

Calf Raise

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 75 x 5
3. 75 x 5
4. 75 x 15 – increase

Dumbbell Curl

1. 15lbs x 5
2. 15 x 5
3. 15 x 9 – increase

I just alternated arms, was starting to feel tired and I wanted to finish up. No idle rest.

Pushdown

1. 27.5lbs x 5
2. 32.5 x 5
3. 32.5 x 5
4. 32.5 x 5 – could have done more, but stopped short. Increase.

I don’t want to risk over-fatiguing my triceps, even though the rest before my next incline bench session is probably sufficient.

TIME: 10AM – 12:22PM

Popularity: 2% [?]

Set Weight A (P4C6A)

Got social shit to do Tuesday, and I was itching to work my chest anyway, so I worked out today.

I had a lot of noodling-over the night before trying to decide how I wanted to order my “A” workout: Bench or Incline first? Bench makes more sense from a prep perspective, it works pecs fully and sets me up for incline. But incline benching is what’s actually important to me and should probably get priority, so I wrote it that way.

Unfortunately, I was out of it this morning (I doubled my caffeine in my EC stack to get me up and going, along with a 20oz Diet Coke during the first two exercises.) So I set up and did two warm-up sets on flat bench before I realized I was supposed to be doing incline. OH WELL! That’s how it will be, then!

Workout A for Monday, July 19, 2010

Bench Press

1. 45lbs x 5
2. 55 x 3
3. 85 x 2
4. 110 x 2

I saw the biggest black guy at the gym lip-synching Hollaback Girl. It threw me off so badly I mis-loaded the second warm-up set.

Incline Bench

1. 45lbs x 5
2. 55 x 3
3. 75 x 2
4. 95 x 5
5. 85 x 6

Close Grip Bench (5 rep test)

1. 45lbs
2. 55
3. 65
4. 75
5. 80 (stopped ramping here)
6. 70 (for 8)

Took some tinkering to get the form right, but I really enjoyed this exercise after working chest. It kind of was nice to switch flat, incline, back to flat, but I suspect if I ever come here at less-favorable hours pairing the two flat bench exercises would be less of a hassle. I probably would increase this though…

Pushdown

1. 32.5lbs x 3
2. 42.5 x 2
3. 57.5 x 1

After the close-grip benching this wasn’t easy to do at all. I’m actually going to be removing them from the program entirely.

Asschin ~ Weight: 161

1. 51lbs x 5
2. 71 x 3
3. 101 x 2
4. 131 x 2
5. 91 x 3

I’m going to do Pulldowns on B days because my hips are warmed-up enough to help me pull the weight down to the seat when I set up.

Cable Twists

1. 30lbs x 5
2. 50 x 3
3. 50 x 2 (forgot to increase the weight stack, ugh)
4. 90 x 3

Somebody stopped by between my warm-up sets to ask me what the exercise actually works and what my rep layout was like. I usually increase the weight before I start my rest period, but I was distracted. Baww.

Reverse Wrist Curl (5 rep test)

1. 5
2. 10
3. 15
4. 20 (didn’t get any reps, just held at the bottom)
5. 10 (did 8)

Body Weight: 167lbs
Body Fat %: 17.4%

I had a big meal the night before. Four chicken thighs and a drumstick, a cucumber, and a cup of 2% cottage cheese. I’m not worried about this reading being accurate, haha.

(Weighed myself before doing the Asschins at 161, which would put me at 14.3% with the same lean mass, HAH! As if!)

Duration: 9:15AM – 11:55AM

Popularity: 1% [?]

Come Back Crying (P4C5A1D)

UD2 kicks my ass. I just do not have the balls for it.

So I’m going back to the lofty realm of cheesecake and BBQ ribs that is LeanGains. Also less volume work. Today was my last day of volume work. It’s fun, but, I really have no use for the pump.

Heh.

So I went back to my old A1B1 routine, starting with A1 today. Chest/tricep day. Monday. Fuck that worked out horribly.

Not really. I came in early. I finished the heavy portion of this day looong before the benchbros. came to town. I finished up entirely around the same time that Ken11 did. I don’t know if I’ve talked about Ken before or not (I know I’ve cited him as one of the strongest people in my gym) but today we’re christening him because I accurately determined his bodyfat percentage. Woot.

Workout for July 12, 2010

Bench Press

1. 45lbs x 5
2. 60 x 3
3. 80 x 2
4. 100 x 3 ~ increase
5. 90 x 6 ~ increase

This felt really good, honestly. I’m flirting with the idea of increasing the top set by ten pounds instead of five next workout.

Incline Bench

1. 55lbs x 3
2. 70 x 2
3. 90 x 6 ~ increase

This I’ll probably still only bump by five. Too much shoulders, though I found out I can use my legs to help me get to the low pins (failed my seventh rep…)

Horizontal Press, Hammer Grip

1. 65lbs x 3
2. 85 x 2
3. 110 x 1 ~ Actually failed the first attempt but refused to mark down a zero…

I’m ditching these. The machine’s starting to hurt my wrists because of the awkward angle of them to the grips. I could probably fix this. And I am, by switching to close-grip benching.

Pushdown

1. 42.5lbs. x 3
2. 47.5 x 2
3. 52.5 x 5 ~ INCREASE!

Gosh. I almost didn’t EXCITED over this because of the Ryan Reynoldsalike Douchebag who spit LORDLY GOBS OF PHELGM into the water fountain. I wanted to see him fail his 315lbs bench. I didn’t see it from here.

In retrospect: FUCK YEAH! That much closer to lifting the whole stack, HAHAHAHA!

Asschin ~ bodyweight 171.5

1. 51.5lbs x 5
2. 76.5 x 3
3. 101.5 x 2
4. 126.5 x 4 ~ Increase.
5. 61.5 x 6 (misread my log and set the pins to the weight I intended to lift rather than the proper offset, I’m not counting either drop set today)
6. 96.5 x 6

I’ve basically decided that, for top sets, 3-5 will be the rep range of increase. If I get at least three reps at a given weight, I’ll increase it next workout.

Cable Twists

1. 30lbs x 5
2. 40 x 3
3. 60 x 2
4. 80 x 5

Not doing drop sets on core work of any kind.

Weight (preworkout): 169.5
Body Fat %: 17.1%

This is bad. I haven’t been able to properly keep a lid on my appetite following the refeed. I’m going back to UD2, with cardio on off-days to help with the deficit I’m behaviorally incapable of properly achieving through diet.

Start: 10:20AM
Finish: 11:48AM

I took about a half hour break to rest and reflect on my approach (yes, again, another post on planning coming up. Sorry I suck at adhering.) before returning to the floor to do volume-centric work. I cut out some sets based upon the above workout as well. This was from my INTENDED UD2 depletion workout, and I only managed to get one round in before I checked time and blood to decided to do some cardio. Here we go.

Superset: Leg Extension / Leg Curl: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs / 25lbs

Cable Rows: 3 x 15 @ 45lbs

Superset: Lateral Raise / Calf Raise: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs / 45lbs

Dumbbell Curls: 2 x 15 @ 8lbs (no rest, alternating arms)

Pushdown: 2 x 15 @ 27.5lbs (probably should have just skipped these, but I had planned to do the ENTIRE depletion workout, and I cut the extra sets from the back-end.)

Cable Twist: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs (I almost just skipped them because somebody had the pulleys, but he was all “Nah man! I only have one more set on each one!” so I hung out.)

For the single-exercise portions I just waited 2 minutes straight between sets. On the supersets, I did the first exercise, started my timer, walked over and did the second exercise, walked back, and waited for the timer to hit 2 minutes before I did the next set of the first exercise. Seemed to be the least-bothersome way of organizing the rest periods, to me.

Start: 12:35PM
Finish: 1:30PM

I didn’t check time as to when I did the cardio. I think it was around 1:40PM after I called my dad to secure a ride home (I would otherwise be stuck until 7PM, and as I’ve typed this my mom called to tell me she was running late besides… but this was why I figured I’d have time to do the entire depletion routine.) Once sure, I hit the bike for 5 miles in 14 minutes. If I keep biking, I’ll work on speed and try to get to 7.5 miles in 15 minutes, before I work on duration.

Realistically, though, I don’t give a shit about my cardio performance. I’ll probably drop the intensity and go for calories in the future.

I got out of the gym at 2:55PM, after showering/shaving etc.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Lats Are Like Your Back (P3C4P1)

Really, all I remember from yesterday that I didn’t note down was the “I’m such an exercise geek” broski next to me when I was working delts.

Bro1: Nah man I don’t do direct ab shit, that’s all about fat loss y’know?
(I’m quiet.)
Bro2: Yeah I guess, but once the fat’s gone there has to be something under it to show off right?
(I nod to myself, I might have smiled but my shoulders were screaming.)
Bro1: I’ve been cuttin’ up for a while. I’mma hit some lats in a minute next to mah man here. My arms’ been leaning up real nice.
(Do what? Whose man? He sits in the lateral raise machine next to me and pounds out a set, lots of reps. I’m moderate reps so, even though he started his set before me, I still finish sooner.)
Bro1: Damn man, you liftin’ pretty light huh?
Me: (I actually didn’t say anything, but I mistakenly managed to acknowledge him.)
Bro1: You trying to build up your lats?
Me: Not at the moment.
Bro1: What are you doing then?
Me: My… shoulders.
Bro1: You should lift more if you wanna build ‘em up.
Me: (I look over at his stack. He really did a lot of reps. I didn’t count him, but he wasn’t lifting anywhere near as much as me. I still ask.) How much do you lift?
Bro1: Every day. (err’day?)
Me: I don’t see you here every day.
Bro1: That’s cuz you ain’t here every day.
Me: …Yet you are?
Bro1: Yeup.
Me: Do you work your lats every day?
Bro1: Sometimes.
(Head explodes.)
Me: You do rows or chins?
Bro1: For my lats or my back?
Me: Silly question, where are your lats?
Bro1: (he taps his shoulder)
Me: Oh.
Bro1: They compound exercises (ezzrsizes?) though. Hits my back and my lats. AND MY ABS. (Bro2 flips him off.)
Me: They… sure do…
Bro1: I’m kinda an exercise geek, you know?
Me: Oh, I know man. I got you. I also got a set, hang on.

Conversation doesn’t resume as I make my way through the drop sets. I fortunately don’t have to explain the concept to him.

Power Workout for July 9, 2010

These are all straight sets. I have tiiiime~

Romanian Deadlift

1. 75lbs x 5 (hook grip)
2. 110 x 3 (hg)

Deadlift

1. 145lbs x 2 (hook grip is slipping now)
2. 185 x 3 (right / left) ~ Increasing.
3. 165 x 2 (left / right) ~ Questioned my form on the top set but the red flag didn’t shoot up until this set. Staying this weight.

I think I might eliminate RDL and do solely DL. I need more practice, and I’ll put more warm-up sets in if I have to in order to get that.

Incline Bench

1. 45lbs x 5
2. 55 x 3
3. 75 x 2
4. 95 x 3 ~ increase
5. 85 x 4 ~ increase
6. 75 x 6 ~ increase
7. 65 x 8 ~ increase

The range for the top set is 3-5, adding one rep to the range each drop set at least. This exercise went surprisingly well.

Lateral Raise

1. 55lbs x 3
2. 75 x 2
3. 95 x 2 ~ stay
4. 85 x 3 ~ stay (I almost forgot that Always was playing during this set. I make a note of it whenever I get HARMONY’d or RickRoll’d….)
5. 75 x 5 ~ increase
6. 65 x 7 ~ increase

I just don’t have it in me to do pulldowns after deadlifts on the same day, I guess. So I skipped working my lats.

Or did I?

Pushdown

1. 32.5lbs x 3
2. 42.5 x 2
3. 52.5 x 2 ~ stay. I’m officially past halfway to pushing the entire stack, haha!
4. 42.5 x 7 ~ stay.

I almost was going to increase the drop set, but then I realized that the range for the triceps-isolation work is 5-7 not 3-5. Which means the top of the drop set is 6-8. One more rep!

I decided on this exercise that if the drop-10% is not exactly 5lbs or less, I won’t round it to 5lbs. I’ll round it to the next highest increment and try to make it to the top of the rep range first.

Dumbbell Curl

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

I wanted to have a fifth movement in for the workout but I didn’t know what to do. I did a 5 rep ceiling and just went along to see where I’d end up. Turns out I have really weak biceps. Who knew? Well, I guess that’s a good sign for my lats, I know my arms aren’t pulling THAT MUCH weight, hahaha…

Oh well.

I just felt really nauseated about the prospect of doing chins (I really pull my abs in hard when I do them) so hopefully on my next carb load I’ll have enough time to digest more of the food before the power workout. It’ll be at least a 24-hour refeed this week.

I don’t really know if I want to do creatine for all my loads now or not. It seemed to have really help me put water in the right places in such a short span. I remember reading that one day of creatine loading is like two days of carb loading, which convinced me to try it given my time limitation. I might try this next refeed without, though, just to see if I have similar results with two-day-carb vs. one-day-carb-with-creatine.

Weight: 169lbs
BF%: 16.6%

I thought it was pretty amusing that the bodyfat % was largely unchanged despite the fact that weight went up so much. Goes to show the accuracy of bio-impedance. I’ll use it as indicative of a successful carb load.

Popularity: 1% [?]

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: 2% [?]

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% [?]

Barely Online (P2C3A2)

Fridge Logic time:

• I got dumped
• I got dumped the same way the last girl dumped me: with a text, while I was chillan at the cabin with my dad.
• I got dumped on the previous ex’s birthday

Conclusion? HAX!

Anyway, here’s Thursday’s workout.

Incline Bench

1. 55lbs x 3
2. 75 x 2
3. 90 x 4
4. 85 x 3

I screwed the up the warm-ups here and on the flat bench. I set it up like I would have for an A1 workout, but just reversed the order.

Bench Press

1. 45lbs x 5
2. 55 x 3
3. 75 x 2
4. 95 x 4

I was sufficiently warmed up but still didn’t make reps. I’m thinking I’m going to drop the rep requirements for increase to the 3-5 range.

Horizontal Hammer-grip Press

1. 60lbs x 3
2. 80 x 2
3. 100 x 5

One rep short this time. Damn it all.

Pushdown

1. 37.5lbs x 3
2. 42.5 x 2
3. 47.5 x 5

Five or more was the goal here. I was originally going to drop the rep requirements only for compounds but I think I’ll do it here too. Increasing next workout.

Asschin (Body Weight: 170lbs)

1. 50lbs x 5
2. 75 x 3
3. 100 x 7 (FUCK!)
4. 125 x 3
5. 110 x 4
6. 95 x 4

I was really pissed that I over did my last warm-up set. I thought that was the working set. DAMN IT!

I actually set the rep goals correctly for the top set as well as the first drop set, though. I still mad.

Torso Rotation Machine

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

Asshole steals machine. I move to pulleys.

Hi-low Twists (are these called woodchoppers?)

1. 70lbs x 5
2. 60 x 6
3. 50 x 7

Yay on managing weight for the one exercise that has shit-no importance.

Pre-workout Weight: 166.5lbs

I’m setting myself up for the next couple days to be as carb-loaded and bloated and disgusting as possible. I’m going to do a depletion, sure, but…

It’s a break-up binge. Fuck off.

Popularity: 1% [?]

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.

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Notation Notsure (Workout A1)

Yesterday was the beginning of my 26-week quest to sub-10% bodyfat.

TONETONETONE

I’m not really sure how to title these posts based upon what I’m doing. I was thinking something like “Cycle 1, Workout A1″ but then I realized that doesn’t really cover my dieting phases.

Phases: periods of dieting (DIETING IS A PHASE HURR)
Cycles: periods of training (since this is infinitely continuous)
Workout: eponymous

Phase 1 Cycle 1 Workout A1 just seems really cumbersome. P1C1WA1, aside from looking hilarious, just sounds a little clinical to me.

Maybe what I’ll do is have a normal post title and just try to cram that stuff in in parentheses. Almost like I did here with this post. I’d go back and change it but I’m too lazy to update the permalink too.

Workout for Monday, May 24, 2010

Something different that I did was walk on the treadmill between exercises.

T(readmill): incline/mph; time @ approx HR

Bench Press (free weight)

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 50 x 3
3. 70 x 2
4. 85 x 8 (not bad)
5. 85 x 8 (last rep was slow as hell but I didn’t want to stop at 6)

Going to keep the weight here until it just ‘feels’ easier.

T: 2/2; 5min @ ~100bpm

Incline Press (machine)

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 75 x 3
3. 90 x 2
4. 120 x 1 (SLOOOW, felt like I was choking!)

Obviously staying the weight.

T: 2.5/2; 5min @ ~90bpm

Hammer-Grip Horizontal Press

1. 50lbs. x 3
2. 70 x 2
3. 85 x 8 (pretty easy)

This exercise I definitely want to increase weight on.

T: 2.5/2.5; 5min @ ~105bpm

Pushdown

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

Again, pretty easy. Probably will increase next workout as well.

T: 3/2.5, 5min @ ~105bpm

Pulldown

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 65 x 3
3. 85 x 2
4. 110lbs x 8

I could have done more probably, but my grip was failing. Especially on my right wrist which felt like my hand was being pulled out of the joint.

I’m going to increase the weight.

T: 3/3, 10min @ ~120bpm

Workout Time: 108 minutes

Body Weight: 167.5lbs
Body Fat Percentage: 17.4%

Condition: C+. Intention to come into this workout fasted went in the completely opposite direction of coming in carb-loaded. Didn’t get a full night’s sleep (too excited to work out, was anticipating a hair cut that I didn’t get.) I had a decently recuperative power nap pre-workout though. Had some peanut squares (kind of like peanut brittle, from Old Dominion) and a plain blueberry bagel about two hours preworkout due to a blood sugar crash.

Took EC about an hour preworkout and nearly two hours post, due to sauna (and just because that’s when it would have been timed, anyway.)

Pre-sauna weight: 168.5lbs
After 3 sessions, 20/10/10 = 40 minutes: 165.25lbs.

My goal was to try to drop three pounds and I did so, though it was more to lose the water from around my face to help gauge how my hair was going to look when I become leaner.

I ate a little under 1500kcal over the entire day, which is roughly half maintenance. I’ll be trying for maintenance today (should be pretty easy) and then fasting tomorrow.

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