260 finally

I was really starting to worry I was going to have to look up how to deal with a stall, if I’d failed another attempt at a 260lbs. deadlift.

But, to kill any attempt at building drama: I fucking did it!

To the credit of the fag who unloaded my bar when I stepped off the floor to take a leak. I was pissed, and after loading the 260 I wasn’t NOT going to lift it after clanking around and slamming plates about in a hissyfit. Princess loaded 300+ on the bar for a quarter squat afterwards and my world was mended.

Workout for Wednesday, December 8, 2010

This update is sorely tardy due to a busy weekend including: final day filming for Nocturnal; audition for So Dramatic; winter formal at Carroll College; cousin’s wedding reception; tuxedo photoshoot.

It’s actually thrown my cycle into a clusterfuck as well, so I’ll be greatly surprised if my stats on the next power workout are much improved upon.

Those stats are:

Body Weight: 168lbs.
Body Fat Percentage: 15.9%

JUST BARELY under 16%. Edging my way there! Fuck yeah!

Deadlift

1. 135lbs. (double-overhand) x 3
2. 155 (d-o) x 3
3. 220 (left-under) x 1
4. 260 (left-over) x 1

I had nearly twenty minutes of rest before my top set. I’ve decided to cut drop sets from deadlifts, both out of impatience/fear, and a desire to eek out as much top-poundage as I can while I attempt to lose fat.

Incline Bench

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 45 x 5
3. 50 x 5
4. 70 x 3
5. 90 x 2
6. 95 x 6 (increase)
7. 95 x 4 (goal was 7, stay)
8. 85 x 8 (increase)

I didn’t feel like I was going to be able to push 100lbs. today so I decided to legitimately make my top-set rep ceiling rather than pretending I “could have gotten another rep,” and it seems like I was right. There were at least two more reps in there on that set and I proved THAT to myself in the following set… which unfortunately cut out short because I decided to be a wuss.

Chin Assist (bodyweight = 173lbs.)

1. 113lbs. x 3
2. 138 x 2 (goal was 3, but I’m changing the goal to 2 now, so I will be increasing this set)
3. 118 x 4 (increase)
4. 108 x 7 (goal was 5; went to failure and hung around for a bit after)

Lateral Raise Machine

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 60 x 4
3. 75 x 2
4. 90 x 3 (goal is 6; stay)
5. 85 x 5 (goal is 7; stay)
6. 75 x 7 (goal is 8; stay)

I really need to look up better form (still do, that is… PROCRASTINATING…) on this. I think I’m working my traps more than my delts, just on a visual indication. Perhaps that was just because I did deadlifts today. But maybe not.

Crunch

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 65 x 3
3. 90 x 3
4. 120 x 2
5. 135 x 3 (increase)
6. 125 x 4 (increase; goal is 3)

Reverse Concentration Curl

1. 12lbs. x 5
2. 25 x 1 (too much)
3. 20 x 5
4. 20 x 5
5. 20 x 5

Going to try to get seven on each set of 20 before I bump the weight to 25.

Machine Chest Fly

1. 35lbs. x 8
2. 70 x 8
3. 70 x 8
4. 70 x 8

Increase.

Machine Delt Fly (whatever it is for posterior delt)

8-rep test:

• 25lbs
• 40
• 55
• 60 (got it, but form struggled)
• 55
• 55

55 it is, next time!

The Stall Count

Because I was so worried about having to reset Deadlifts, I decided to keep a running tabulation of “failures” in this workout. Failures are progressive resistance failures: failures to increase either the weight being lifted in a given exercise or the amount of reps performed toward a preset limit.

Deadlifts, obviously, not lifting more weight is the only gauge. I only do one balls-out rep, so either I lift more weight or I’m a failure. Pretty simple.

Everything else, well… I write down how many reps is the “goal” for each set. If I miss my combined rep goal by 3 or more, that lift is a FAILURE in that workout.

So, for this workout, I’ve FAILED: Incline Bench (three reps missed in the second set) and Lateral Raise (missed SIX reps overall.)

Three FAILURES, time to reset that lift.

Cardio for Friday, December 10, 2010

I had an audition and a ball to attend over the weekend. Thought I’d sweat some water weight out beforehand. I had initially intended to simply sauna/hot-tub it out, but when I got there I decided to at least TRY to do some cardio… and soon enough found myself doing the entirety of my sweating on the stationary cycle.

Yay for caloric burn, I suppose!

Body Weight: 170lbs.
Body Fat Percentage: 14.6%

Clearly the glycogen-filling portion of the program does indeed continue post-power workout…

11:15AM- START

12:22PM- Completed 11.94 miles in 65 minutes. Heart Rate topped at 133bpm while at level 3, but when HR came down later I boosted the level up to 4 all the way to the five-minute cooldown.

1:07PM- 168.5lbs

2:24PM- Completed 12.96 miles in 65 minutes. HR topped @ 136bpm, also boosting from a starting rate of ~90bpm a lot quicker. Level 2 was sufficient, but RPM had to near 90 more often.

3:16PM- 166.5lbs.

4:31PM- Finished 10.1 miles in 65 minutes. HR topped at 126bpm, starting around 113bpm; never exceeded level 1, nor more than 70rpm. My butt HURT at around the 20 minute mark. Leg tension and a teaspoon of willpower saw me through the duration.

5:05PM- 165lbs. and to the shower!

Verdict, of course, that this is the incredibly slowest way of three for me to drop some water.

But it was sufficient! I found myself wishing I had sized-down my tux trousers.

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wtfcardio

That’s right.

Eric’s doing cardio…

I had filming on Tuesday. So. That’s my excuse. I didn’t do a depletion workout because I just lifted the day before and I like to space them out a bit more than that.

I also didn’t need to destroy another muscle group. I actually planned on just sitting in the sauna/hot-tub in alternating sessions until an hour before call time. But as it turns out I didn’t use the sauna at all except to dry out my shirt/socks/shoes between bouts.

Oh! And I finished reading The Princess Bride. I was sad to see it go, but I had to start reading my next book (which I brought with me) before Teh Neu Yeer. There were only a dozen pages left of Bride anyway so it didn’t take a lot of foresight to choose to bring the newbie along with. The new book, assuming you’re interested, is Magic’s Pawn by Mercedes Lackey. It’s a dreadful read for the first hundred pages or so, which is about double what I covered on that bike. Those pages are so boring that I committed myself to just staring off into the distance/asses of patrons at some points.

Workout for Tuesday, November 30, 2010

(…gods.)

Weight: 164lbs.
BF%: 15.1%

9:25AM- 15mg yohimbine HCL, 200mg caffeine (consider more caffeine…)

10:37AM- First session begins

12.37 miles in 65 minutes. I think the display said 337kcal… can’t really say I pay attention to that (I lock the display on TIME during the workout and it only flashes for a few moments during the workout summary.) Level 4 got  me up to 122bpm; goal is 130bpm for these “low-intensity” cardio “workouts.” I never exceeded 80rpm because that’s roughly the fastest I can go without disrupting the position of my fiction.

12:14PM- Taking a break. Only noted the time because I just habitually look at the clock before I enter the sauna (in this case, only to retrieve my now-dry garments) in case some asshole comes in and fucks with the sandclock (happens.) I try not to rest longer than half as long as I spend working out, I tell myself. I don’t know why I tell myself that.

12:20PM- Second session begins

11.97 miles in 65 minutes. Didn’t notice calories at all this time. Fuck ‘em. Level 4 got me to 130bpm by the time I reached the 5-minute cooldown. In regards to levels, by the way, when I start cardio I tend to check my heart rate every five minutes. I’ll check a few seconds after starting (having adjusted my nuts and such), then again at the five-minute mark. If, at the ten-minute check, my heart rate is THE SAME OR LOWER, I increase the level. If it’s increased AT ALL, even 1bpm, I keep the level set.

So every 10-minute check is when I decide to increase or keep at the present level. If (and this hasn’t happened) I go above 130bpm, though, I’ll probably just stop checking altogether and keep going at that pace/intensity. I’ll probably still check towards the end or as the cooldown begins, though. Just because I want to know what it’s gotten to by the time I’m finished.

I finish the second session and for some reason it doesn’t occur to me until about 2PM that I don’t have the time to do another full hour (though time enough to do SOMETHING, that point eluded me) so I began cleaning up. Showered, out of the gym, and sucking a Gladiator by 3:30PM. Aside from swishing my mouth and a couple gulps to wet my throat, this was really the only liquid I’d had. 32oz Strawberry Gladiator with Blueberry. Seems to make SHOOTS go well…

Got to the set a half-hour early. Wish I’d worn a scarf… and a hat. (Though the hood HELPED, fuck hoods.)

The shoot itself went fantastically, no muscle failure at all. But my shoulders/back were sore, so I’ll let you guess where I got grabbed and how I was slammed into a wall repeatedly.

Turns out they cast a guy I worked the Gaga show with back in September as the Big Bad. He fucking suits, I tell ya. (Not that he looks evil, but he towers over me and looks fit as fuck.)

The spotlighting they did dried my face/eyes out and it felt like I had sunburn when I got home, which is great considering we were supposed to be in a hideouty little shithole for vampires ducking the sun. Nevertheless, like sunburn, it kept me just awake enough to realize it was nearly 7AM.

75mg diphenhydramine and on the latter end of 9PM I awoke.

No muscle failings.

Thursday will see lunch with father at some location of his choosing. Friday will be a depletion workout if I awaken able-bodied.

And so the cycle shall repeat!

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Berkhan Workout B2, end of a cycle

Illness layoffs are a bitch.

I mean: more rest > less rest. But still. That sucked.

Fortunately this is, by far, the easiest workout of the cycle and the timing for it was perfect. Gets me back into the swing of things.

Workout for May 18th, 2010

Romanian Deadlift

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 60 x 3
3. 85 x 2
4. 105 x 3
5. 95 x 3
6. 85 x 3

No complaints anywhere. Only a half-hour into the workout here.

Alternating Sets: Pulldown, Lateral Raise Machine

1. P- 35lbs. x 5; L- 25lbs. x 5
2. P- 50 x 5; L- 40 x 3
3. P- 65 x 2; L- 50 x 2
4. P- 85 x 4; L- 65 x 4
5. P- 75 x 5; L- 55 x 5
6. P- 65 x 8; L- 50 x 8

Kinda weird to look at. Again, pretty easy.

Body Weight: 169lbs.
Body Fat Percentage: 17%

Condition: C. Minor sore throat/fever, come & go stuffy nose. Didn’t feel like lifting. Felt fat (seriously thought I’d log 20%+) Hating life, etc.

I decided to hit the dry sauna and slowly build some endurance there so I can drop water weight in a pinch in the future.

• 168lbs. @ start
• First session lasts 20 minutes. I towel off and weigh in at 166.5lbs. I took a fifteen minute break before the next session (this includes the toweling off time and weigh-in)
• Second session lasts 14 minutes. Towel off and weigh: 165.5lbs.

I rest another fifteen minutes, but going back in I just lacked the constitution to continue and took a cool shower to rinse off and wash up a bit. My goal next workout is to have the second session last 20 minutes and at least get somewhere with the third. I only dropped 2.5lbs this way on my first try, so I’d like to get that number up to 3 pounds next session. Ultimately I’d like to be able to drop 10% of my weight in the sauna whenever I want.

The ceiling for my weight is 170lbs. so if I could drop 17lbs. in the sauna that’d be great. But, I’ll set the goal for 10lbs. I’ll try to drop an additional half pound every session over the previous session, until I can shed 10lbs. on a whim.

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

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