Long Fucking Week

10.27.2010 – 11.09.2010

So I guess I’ll be filling these macro-sheets out the day before my power workouts.

Anyway, that’s what I’ll be mentally reminding myself with, as it’s the reason this “weekly update” covers nearly two calendar weeks. Blargh.

Woo-hoo.

Diet Stuff:

Yeah, this week is thirteen days long, you wanna fight about it?

I really like the shape of this one.

I did manage to remember to subtitle these charts though. So, I guess, at least when I stumble onto them a few years after I delete this blog I’ll know when they represent.

Abstract as fuck otherwise.

Not that it matters.

Summary:

• Four days above maintenance.
• Seven days below it.
  • One day HOLY FUCK below it.

As we’ve previously established, my maintenance level is 2800kcal.

Averaging everything out from the past week:

• 1846kcal
• 74g fat
• 192g carbohydrate
• 117g protein

Total Weekly Intake: 23,999kcal
Range: 480 – 3668kcal

Which is fucking excellent in two ways, and slightly meh on another: I hacked down my average carb intake despite feeling horribly guilty all week about various cookies/couscous meals, ditto for calories.

But I’m also not getting quite as much protein, which worries me on a bro-level.

Body Weight:

1. 10/27/2010: 167lbs. @ 18.8% body fat
2. 11/5/2010: 167.5lbs. @ 16.9%

I’m going to use stats gathered pre-depletion workout, as they’re after two “maintenance” days and probably best represent what “real me” would be if I were to cease this diet and… uh… eat at maintenance. Yeah.

Looks like I’ve done another recomp, in this case to the crude tune of -3lbs. of fat, +3.5lbs. of lean stuff.

Curious to see where I’ll be before the next depletion, because then I’ll have a monthly rate to fiddle about with in my head for future inaccurate conjecture. SO IMPATIENT!

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Weekly Review #1

10/19/2010 – 10/26/2010

I’m going to resume blogging about my workouts and diet, but in a slightly different way than before.

Rather than lay out the plan for the next week/month, and then later detail how I’ve failed my plan in various ways, I will instead only provide the retrospective. Every week, looking back on what I’ve done.

I realize the week is eight days in length. Deal with it.

Let’s start with diet:

10/19/2010 - 10/26/2010

In the future I'm going to remember to put the date range in the chart itself and eat less carbs.

Summary:

• Two days at roughly maintenance
• Two days hypocaloric
• Four days EXCESSIVE caloric

Now, that’s from the standpoint of an estimation that my daily maintenance requirement of calories is somewhere around 2300kcal.

Turns out it isn’t.

It’s a hack estimation anyway. I took it from Daily Plate, but, whatever. Lacking the mental dexterity to calculate much of anything on my own, I just punch in my weight (if it’s any different) every once in a while to see where the moving target has… moved.

Averaging everything out from the past week:

• 2823kcal
• 77g fat
• 384g carbohydrate
• 147g protein

Total Weekly Intake: 19,766kcal
Range: 879 – 4157kcal

Body Weight:

1. 10/19/2010: 167lbs. @ 20.1% bodyfat
2. 10/27/2010: 167lbs. @ 18.8% bodyfat

Given the horrendous quality of results stemming from a bio-impedance meter, however, this is a shallow victory. An implied body composition shift is nice, but not something I couldn’t attribute to water going where I want it.

I have to reduce calories. A pound of fat would be less than 20% of my present maintenance so that should be easy enough to achieve with diet alone. I dread the day that cardio is mandated…

…Which will never come, because I’m not going to diet down that low; it will merely remain optional based upon my impatience and willingness. Thankfully.

Funny to me: I’ve settled my maintenance as being 2800kcal, a 3500kcal deficit per week would mean a 500kcal deficit per day (if that were the way I diet.)

Putting me right back at 2300kcal.

Trends:

Something I’d been wrestling with previously was post-workout nutrition while dieting. The tri-pronged effect of lifting, ephedrine, and poorness leads me to not eating after my workout, extending on through the night until about 2AM when I get ravenously hungry and begin my binge. This isn’t in evidence in the charts above because the whole point of this week was to try something different and see if I like it.

And I do, kind of.

The previous effect was this: Workout [eat very little], Day After [holy fucking chowdown], Day After That [not so bad, still pretty crap.]

This past week went more: Workout [force the food down], Day After [not really hungry], Day After That [even less hungry], Fourth Day [OH GOD I'M HUNGRY.]

In the charts, Days 1-2-3 were pretty comparable to 4-5-6 in this pattern of eating behavior.

In order to repeat the pattern, Day 7 would have had to have been a workout. It was not. There is apparently a rebound on that day (as in two days after a workout) where RAVENOUS returns, and lacking the pitchfork of lift/drugs/poor… well, I wound up with a 4,000+kcal day. Fortunately it was satisfying enough to return to a supposed-maintenance day, which seems obvious but really often isn’t.

This would seem to imply working out every third day to keep from ever overeating. Ha ha, if only. I’ll be watching my habits a little more closely, but I want to see if the pattern repeats before I force my workout into the degrading position of appetite control.

That’s what drugs are for.

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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.

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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!

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