This morning I woke up at 6:00 AM even though I could have slept in :( So, I hydrated and read more of Anathem by Neil Stephenson (very good book, but initially hard to get into) until the girl woke up, then we put on our gym clothes and headed down to do our work-out.
She started with 30 minutes on the elliptical machine, while I went over and kicked off with bench press, an exercise I haven't done first in my routine for awhile (been doing incline bench or dumbells for awhile trying to build up other muscles to hopefully get me through my plateau). I warmed up with 135 and 155, then went to 185 lbs. My first set was strong and I did 8 reps no problem. This got me excited until I did my next set at 185 and barely pulled off 6 reps :(. I did a third set and again barely did 6 (or was it 5?). Anyway, I was a bit bummed, so I threw myself into the rest of my workout.
I did incline barbells 55 lbs. next and did two sets fine. Then I did flat barbell presses at 65 lbs. for two sets, followed by one set of incline bench at 155, which I barely did 3 of. Oh, in between these I was jump roping to keep my heart rate up. I'm not tracking my jump roping yet in Gym Buddy... I need to figure out a good way to do this... I'll probably add them to each exercise and then time them. That's a good idea!
Anyway, the girl came over about this time and I started helping her through her leg workout. First she did seated calf raises at 40 lbs. which is 5 lbs. more than last. Then she tried to do the squat sled machine, but it hurt her knee too much (ballet injury) so we switched over to lunges. She did 5 lbs. in each hand for 5 reps on each leg, and I made her do three sets instead of just two since she skipped a squat set. Gotta get her in shape for snowboarding next week! Then it was on to some abs.
I pulled out the straps and after I did some hanging side leg lifts to hit my obliques first, she did her first set of hanging leg lifts. It was hard, but I remember my first time doing them, and that shit was hard! I jumped in to do 15 straight hanging leg lifts, and then she tried and barely did a second set (tummy muscles were already blown). That's fine for a first try. I'm going to do abs twice a week from now on, but since this is my first time to do them for a second time in a week, I went easy.
Next we went over to the hip abductor and adductor machines, which she did with no problem. I did some jump roping while she worked out, then started doing my cable cross overs once that machine finally cleared (it's a bit busy on Saturday mornings, so hard to get these machines). At that point, I said goodbye to her, she went home and I wrapped up my workout with flies (went up 10 lbs. to 200 lbs. - this is on a machine btw), dips (70 lbs. assisted... no increase there), skull crushers, v-bar pull downs and finally a few standing dumbbell extensions. Oh, and plenty of jump roping in between.
So all in all, not a terrible workout, but I really want to break through this chest plateau. It feels like I was a little stronger, maybe, but it's so slow. Next week I may try doing lighter weights for more reps, just to switch things off.
Forgot to weigh myself on the way out of the gym. Oh, and I need to start tracking the girl's workout better.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Tired but Went to the Gym Anyway
After two nights of going out past my bedtime and enjoying drinks, getting up at 6 AM this morning to hit the gym was pretty hard. I almost decided to sleep in and do my legs workout along with chest tomorrow, but in the end I got my ass out of bed. I checked with the girl to see if she was coming with me or not, and initially she was going to skip today, but after a few minutes I think she felt guilty enough to get up and get ready.
I was tired, and I didn't expect much from my workout, but it actually went well. I started with squats, doing a couple of warm up sets, then jumped up to 185 for my first heavy set, then managed to do 205 for two more sets of eight reps. Yay! I was a bit worried I might not be able to do 205 lbs. this morning, or that my number of reps. would be low, so when I pulled off 205 with eight reps I felt really good. Hopefully I'll be better rested next week and pull of more reps at that weight. When I am able to do 10 to 12, I'm going to switch up to 225 lbs., and that will be awesome and huge because I'll be lifting with two 45 lbs. weights on each side of the barbell... which is just very manly :P
The girl wandered over from the cardio area as I was wrapping up squats to start on her lifting, so rather than doing leg presses on the sled machine thingy next, I moved on to lunges, which I could do in the free weight area and between her sets. She was tired, but managed to get through her lifts, and I was happy because I did my lunge routine with 90 lbs. (two 40 lb. dumbbells) for 8 reps on each leg. I'm definitely getting stronger down there in every way.
We wrapped up her workout on the assisted pull-up and dip machine where she complained that she wasn't able to do as many reps as last time, but I reminded her that we usually use that machine first, before the free weights, so the problem was not that she is getting weaker or not making progress, but rather that her muscles were already tired by that point. Next time I'll have her do the machine first and hopefully she'll be pleasantly surprised with her progress.
After she left, I went back to my workout and managed to pull of 495 lbs. on the leg press sled thingy for 10 reps, then went up in weight on all the other leg machines (leg extension, seated leg curl, lying leg curl, hip abductor and hip adductor), which was cool. Since I wasn't really using the machines before, I'm experiencing very rapid strength increases on them as my body gets used to them, which is quite satisfying. I wish I could get those kind of results on my pull-ups, bench and shoulder lifts!
So chest tomorrow, and I think I'm going to throw in an ab workout as well because the girl needs to do hers (along with legs). I'm also going to try and switch up my chest workout a bit to try and break through the plateau I seem to be at. My goal is to bench 225, and I haven't been making much progress towards that (not for a lack of trying though). I didn't use triceps during my last shoulder workout (I didn't do the Arnold barbell lifts), so perhaps giving them a rest this week will do the trick and I'll see some gains on bench. We'll see in about 24 hours!
I was tired, and I didn't expect much from my workout, but it actually went well. I started with squats, doing a couple of warm up sets, then jumped up to 185 for my first heavy set, then managed to do 205 for two more sets of eight reps. Yay! I was a bit worried I might not be able to do 205 lbs. this morning, or that my number of reps. would be low, so when I pulled off 205 with eight reps I felt really good. Hopefully I'll be better rested next week and pull of more reps at that weight. When I am able to do 10 to 12, I'm going to switch up to 225 lbs., and that will be awesome and huge because I'll be lifting with two 45 lbs. weights on each side of the barbell... which is just very manly :P
The girl wandered over from the cardio area as I was wrapping up squats to start on her lifting, so rather than doing leg presses on the sled machine thingy next, I moved on to lunges, which I could do in the free weight area and between her sets. She was tired, but managed to get through her lifts, and I was happy because I did my lunge routine with 90 lbs. (two 40 lb. dumbbells) for 8 reps on each leg. I'm definitely getting stronger down there in every way.
We wrapped up her workout on the assisted pull-up and dip machine where she complained that she wasn't able to do as many reps as last time, but I reminded her that we usually use that machine first, before the free weights, so the problem was not that she is getting weaker or not making progress, but rather that her muscles were already tired by that point. Next time I'll have her do the machine first and hopefully she'll be pleasantly surprised with her progress.
After she left, I went back to my workout and managed to pull of 495 lbs. on the leg press sled thingy for 10 reps, then went up in weight on all the other leg machines (leg extension, seated leg curl, lying leg curl, hip abductor and hip adductor), which was cool. Since I wasn't really using the machines before, I'm experiencing very rapid strength increases on them as my body gets used to them, which is quite satisfying. I wish I could get those kind of results on my pull-ups, bench and shoulder lifts!
So chest tomorrow, and I think I'm going to throw in an ab workout as well because the girl needs to do hers (along with legs). I'm also going to try and switch up my chest workout a bit to try and break through the plateau I seem to be at. My goal is to bench 225, and I haven't been making much progress towards that (not for a lack of trying though). I didn't use triceps during my last shoulder workout (I didn't do the Arnold barbell lifts), so perhaps giving them a rest this week will do the trick and I'll see some gains on bench. We'll see in about 24 hours!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Lost
The two hour season premiere of lost was on last night, and it ran past our bedtime, so I'm up and getting ready to hit the gym for shoulders, abs and calves split day, but she is still fast asleep.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Gym Buddy and New Dead LIft Personal Record
Today's workout was the first using my new iPhone application, GymBuddy. Basically in GymBuddy you can create a series of custom Exercises in three classes:
1) Weight lifting
2) Cardio
3) Supersetsthen
Then within any of the above three, you can break down the type of exercise into various forms, like under Weight lifting there is:
a) Regular
b) Body
c) Assisted
and under Cardio, you can break down the results of whatever you're doing into:
a) Distance
b) Duration
c) Calories
d) Avg. Heart Rate
and for Supersets, well, these are more complicated and I'm not using this one, so I can't comment on them right now.
Then, you can tie any combination of Exercises into a Workout, and any combination of Workouts into Groups.
Me, I've setup a bunch of exercises into four workouts that make up a Split Routine:
Back & Arms - Tuesday
Shoulders, Calves & Abs - Wednesday
Legs - Friday
Chest & Triceps - Saturday
Each one of these Workouts is on a calendar in the program, and as I do them, I enter each item. For instance, today I started with Dead Lifts and entered them after each set:
1. 145 lbs. - 7 reps
2. 195 lbs. - 7 reps
3. 235 lbs. - 8 reps
4. 255 lbs. - 8 reps
5. 275 lbs. - 8 reps
On the screen you enter the weight and reps above, there is even a timer that you can run if you like to wait an exact amount between sets.
And for all the stuff above, there is a field to enter a note, so for each exercise I have what my previous work-out weight was. So for Dead Lifts I had 255 in the note, but today I had no problem doing that, so I up'ed it to 275 and although it was hard, I managed to still do 8 reps. So I've now changed the note to 275, my new person best! :)
Eventually, when I switch from this current split Workout routine, I'll create a new set of Exercises and Workouts (probably a full-body workout), then file the old split Workout under it's own Group and the new routine under it's own Group. That way, if I want to come back to the split Workout Group, I can, anytime. Very cool.
You can also track your weight, height (not sure why this one) and various measurements in the program and track them overtime with fancy charts. It also calculates your 1RM for each set of each weight lifting exercise and your record 1RM for each as well. For instance, it claims my Dead Lift 1RM would be 341 lbs. wow! honestly I'd be scared to try this much!!! For other exercises the 1RM is more reasonable, like my Reverse Barbell Curl is only 74 lbs. based on what I've done so far, but that's not surprising because that's one of the last exercises I do in this back & bicep Workout, so my biceps are already pretty blown by the time I do these (I'm only doing 60 lbs. at 6 to 8 reps.).
There are more features, but the final one I'll mention which I love is that I can back-up the program's database onto a computer on the same Wifi network if it is running a stand-alone (no install) free application called SyncDocs. This is awesome for me because I have two iPhones, one 3GS that I use everyday and an older 3G with a cracked glass face (but otherwise working perfectly and still readable) that I use at the gym (hey, it's already kinda broken, so if I accidentally drop... say 275 lbs. on it while Dead Lifting, oh well :P), and I can backup the database from one and restore it on the other so that they always match! Okay, maybe this makes me a geek, but I think that's really cool, if only because if I'm traveling and forget my workout phone, I will still have the latest on my everyday phone. Oh, and I can e-mail the database too, which is another way to get the database off the phone.
So basically, I'm super excited that I have a new non-paper way to track all my workouts and progress. And I'm also excited because of my new personal best on Dead Lift. Oh, and I also did 8 pull-ups versus my regular 6, went up five pounds on Rope Hammer Curls and in general had a pretty damn good Back and Bicep day!
Hope your workouts are going as well as mine!
1) Weight lifting
2) Cardio
3) Supersetsthen
Then within any of the above three, you can break down the type of exercise into various forms, like under Weight lifting there is:
a) Regular
b) Body
c) Assisted
and under Cardio, you can break down the results of whatever you're doing into:
a) Distance
b) Duration
c) Calories
d) Avg. Heart Rate
and for Supersets, well, these are more complicated and I'm not using this one, so I can't comment on them right now.
Then, you can tie any combination of Exercises into a Workout, and any combination of Workouts into Groups.
Me, I've setup a bunch of exercises into four workouts that make up a Split Routine:
Back & Arms - Tuesday
Shoulders, Calves & Abs - Wednesday
Legs - Friday
Chest & Triceps - Saturday
Each one of these Workouts is on a calendar in the program, and as I do them, I enter each item. For instance, today I started with Dead Lifts and entered them after each set:
1. 145 lbs. - 7 reps
2. 195 lbs. - 7 reps
3. 235 lbs. - 8 reps
4. 255 lbs. - 8 reps
5. 275 lbs. - 8 reps
On the screen you enter the weight and reps above, there is even a timer that you can run if you like to wait an exact amount between sets.
And for all the stuff above, there is a field to enter a note, so for each exercise I have what my previous work-out weight was. So for Dead Lifts I had 255 in the note, but today I had no problem doing that, so I up'ed it to 275 and although it was hard, I managed to still do 8 reps. So I've now changed the note to 275, my new person best! :)
Eventually, when I switch from this current split Workout routine, I'll create a new set of Exercises and Workouts (probably a full-body workout), then file the old split Workout under it's own Group and the new routine under it's own Group. That way, if I want to come back to the split Workout Group, I can, anytime. Very cool.
You can also track your weight, height (not sure why this one) and various measurements in the program and track them overtime with fancy charts. It also calculates your 1RM for each set of each weight lifting exercise and your record 1RM for each as well. For instance, it claims my Dead Lift 1RM would be 341 lbs. wow! honestly I'd be scared to try this much!!! For other exercises the 1RM is more reasonable, like my Reverse Barbell Curl is only 74 lbs. based on what I've done so far, but that's not surprising because that's one of the last exercises I do in this back & bicep Workout, so my biceps are already pretty blown by the time I do these (I'm only doing 60 lbs. at 6 to 8 reps.).
There are more features, but the final one I'll mention which I love is that I can back-up the program's database onto a computer on the same Wifi network if it is running a stand-alone (no install) free application called SyncDocs. This is awesome for me because I have two iPhones, one 3GS that I use everyday and an older 3G with a cracked glass face (but otherwise working perfectly and still readable) that I use at the gym (hey, it's already kinda broken, so if I accidentally drop... say 275 lbs. on it while Dead Lifting, oh well :P), and I can backup the database from one and restore it on the other so that they always match! Okay, maybe this makes me a geek, but I think that's really cool, if only because if I'm traveling and forget my workout phone, I will still have the latest on my everyday phone. Oh, and I can e-mail the database too, which is another way to get the database off the phone.
So basically, I'm super excited that I have a new non-paper way to track all my workouts and progress. And I'm also excited because of my new personal best on Dead Lift. Oh, and I also did 8 pull-ups versus my regular 6, went up five pounds on Rope Hammer Curls and in general had a pretty damn good Back and Bicep day!
Hope your workouts are going as well as mine!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Long Overdue Update
It's been awhile, but only since I've updated. I've actually continued to hit the gym, although I've been on a spit routine for the last five weeks rather than HST. Also, after taking a break from my diet for awhile (during which I put on a lot of fat), I'm back on low carb, but this time around I've tweaked it in that I'm eating a lot of slow absorption vegetables that allow me to stay in ketosis but still give me lots of good nutrients. I also have a cheat night once a week (I was kinda doing this before, but it was more like a cheat weekend, and that was too much cheating!) to give myself a break and keep my body from getting too comfortable with ketosis.
The split routine I'm doing now is:
Tuesday: Back and Biceps.
Wednesday: Shoulders, Calves and Abs
Thursday: Rest or cardio
Friday: Legs
Saturday: Chest and Triceps
Sunday: Rest or cardio
Monday: Rest or cardio
So far in the last five weeks I'm mostly rested on my days off because my legs usually need to heal, even on Thursdays because I kinda hit them hard on Mondays when I do Deadlifts for Back.
What I'm enjoying:
1. Getting leaner. It's slow, a little over a pound of bodyfat per week, but it's still nice.
2. Getting stronger in almost all my lifts.
On HST I was doing full body workouts three times a week, so I never really hit any one muscle group super hard, or I wouldn't be able to do my next workout two days later. On a split routine, you really put each muscle group through its paces, and while that was rough for the first two weeks (I was pretty damn sore), it's been awesome in terms of getting stronger. My favorites so far have been:
1. Dead Lift - I went from three sets (after a warm up) of 185 lbs. with 8 to 10 reps to 255 lbs. with 8 reps this last week. My goal when I started doing Deadlifts (around a year ago?) was to be able to train with my body weight, and now I've blown pass that, yay!
2. Squats - I went from training at 185 lbs. to training at 205 lbs. I'm going to be excited when I'm training at 225 lbs. because it just looks cool having two 45 lb. weights on each side of the bar :P Oh, and I discovered something recently that I wish I'd known before. It's better to squats with no shoes on so you are flat on the ground. My training shoes have a bit of a heel on them, which was causing me to want to lean too far forward during the later parts of my sets. Taking off my shoes allows me to stay more centered and focus on powering up instead of not leaning forward.
3. Leg Presses, and basically all the leg machines - These have been fun becuase I've been adding weight ever week like crazy! Like leg presses, I went from 6 45 lb. weights the first week to now using 11! Seated hamstring curls I went from 130 lbs. the first week to 205 lbs.
4. Biceps - These are getting stronger slowly. Not dramatic gains, but they look good and I'm adding a few pounds here and there.
Now the annoying areas:
1. Chest and Triceps - I just don't seem to be getting stronger with these. I keep trying to mix up the exercises to hit my muscles differently, but I don't feel like I'm getting stronger. The muscles look fine, I have no complaints about size, but I want to be benching 225 lbs. someday, and I'm no where close to that while training. I've been doing more incline sets recently to try and hit a different part of my muscles in the hopes of making some gains, but so far it's not doing much. I suspect my weak link is the triceps, which I'm working on too... hmmm... writing about it now I wonder if maybe my shoulder day is hitting the triceps too much and not allowing them to heal. This week perhaps I'll not do Arnold dumbbell raises on Shoulders day to see if that helps let them fully heal.
2. Calves - I get complements mine when I wear shorts, but I'm only doing 160 lbs. in the standing calf raises and 135 (three 45 lb. plates) on the seated calf raises. I saw a guy doing four 45 lb. plates last week, so that's my new goal (note: I rarely see people doing three plates like I do, but I still want to be stronger than I am and see gains).
3. Pull-ups - Man I just suck at these. I'm doing different grips now to try and work the muscles differently and allow for a break through. I suspect my weak link on this exercise is my biceps, so maybe as they get stronger (which they slowly have been), these will go better.
Dietary break-through! When I'm working out hardcore regularly I find myself teetering on the edge of getting cramps all the time. Increasing my vegetable intake helped, but even though I was taking a potassium supplement once a day, I was still getting cramps if I worked out hard for more than a couple of days in a row, or even sometimes if I took a day break here and there. Then I noticed the RDA of the potassium supplement... 3%. That's it? I was worried about taking more than one out of concern of taking to much but 3%?!? So I started taking about 10 per day to get up to 30% of my RDA and that has helped a LOT! Now I only get muscle cramps rarely, which is nice.
So yeah, things are going well. I'll try to get on here to track my progress.
The split routine I'm doing now is:
Tuesday: Back and Biceps.
Wednesday: Shoulders, Calves and Abs
Thursday: Rest or cardio
Friday: Legs
Saturday: Chest and Triceps
Sunday: Rest or cardio
Monday: Rest or cardio
So far in the last five weeks I'm mostly rested on my days off because my legs usually need to heal, even on Thursdays because I kinda hit them hard on Mondays when I do Deadlifts for Back.
What I'm enjoying:
1. Getting leaner. It's slow, a little over a pound of bodyfat per week, but it's still nice.
2. Getting stronger in almost all my lifts.
On HST I was doing full body workouts three times a week, so I never really hit any one muscle group super hard, or I wouldn't be able to do my next workout two days later. On a split routine, you really put each muscle group through its paces, and while that was rough for the first two weeks (I was pretty damn sore), it's been awesome in terms of getting stronger. My favorites so far have been:
1. Dead Lift - I went from three sets (after a warm up) of 185 lbs. with 8 to 10 reps to 255 lbs. with 8 reps this last week. My goal when I started doing Deadlifts (around a year ago?) was to be able to train with my body weight, and now I've blown pass that, yay!
2. Squats - I went from training at 185 lbs. to training at 205 lbs. I'm going to be excited when I'm training at 225 lbs. because it just looks cool having two 45 lb. weights on each side of the bar :P Oh, and I discovered something recently that I wish I'd known before. It's better to squats with no shoes on so you are flat on the ground. My training shoes have a bit of a heel on them, which was causing me to want to lean too far forward during the later parts of my sets. Taking off my shoes allows me to stay more centered and focus on powering up instead of not leaning forward.
3. Leg Presses, and basically all the leg machines - These have been fun becuase I've been adding weight ever week like crazy! Like leg presses, I went from 6 45 lb. weights the first week to now using 11! Seated hamstring curls I went from 130 lbs. the first week to 205 lbs.
4. Biceps - These are getting stronger slowly. Not dramatic gains, but they look good and I'm adding a few pounds here and there.
Now the annoying areas:
1. Chest and Triceps - I just don't seem to be getting stronger with these. I keep trying to mix up the exercises to hit my muscles differently, but I don't feel like I'm getting stronger. The muscles look fine, I have no complaints about size, but I want to be benching 225 lbs. someday, and I'm no where close to that while training. I've been doing more incline sets recently to try and hit a different part of my muscles in the hopes of making some gains, but so far it's not doing much. I suspect my weak link is the triceps, which I'm working on too... hmmm... writing about it now I wonder if maybe my shoulder day is hitting the triceps too much and not allowing them to heal. This week perhaps I'll not do Arnold dumbbell raises on Shoulders day to see if that helps let them fully heal.
2. Calves - I get complements mine when I wear shorts, but I'm only doing 160 lbs. in the standing calf raises and 135 (three 45 lb. plates) on the seated calf raises. I saw a guy doing four 45 lb. plates last week, so that's my new goal (note: I rarely see people doing three plates like I do, but I still want to be stronger than I am and see gains).
3. Pull-ups - Man I just suck at these. I'm doing different grips now to try and work the muscles differently and allow for a break through. I suspect my weak link on this exercise is my biceps, so maybe as they get stronger (which they slowly have been), these will go better.
Dietary break-through! When I'm working out hardcore regularly I find myself teetering on the edge of getting cramps all the time. Increasing my vegetable intake helped, but even though I was taking a potassium supplement once a day, I was still getting cramps if I worked out hard for more than a couple of days in a row, or even sometimes if I took a day break here and there. Then I noticed the RDA of the potassium supplement... 3%. That's it? I was worried about taking more than one out of concern of taking to much but 3%?!? So I started taking about 10 per day to get up to 30% of my RDA and that has helped a LOT! Now I only get muscle cramps rarely, which is nice.
So yeah, things are going well. I'll try to get on here to track my progress.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Back! Day 3 HST and Low Carb
My day 3 of HST, 15's, was awesome. I made a concerted effort to keep the pace up throughout the workout, and the pump was great in that old I just did an hour of aerobics and feel awesome kind of way. Everything went well, even lunges, which I didn't think I'd be up for 15 of when I started. I skipped doing too many single muscle isolated moves, like bicep curls, because I hit those muscles so much already with pull-ups, rows, etc... I think I've been over training them for years now. We'll see how this round of HST goes with skipping the isolation exercises.
Weight is back down to under 234... wait, or was that 233? I think it was 233, but I can't recall. Yeah, it must have been under 233 because I remember thinking "Wow, that's 8 lbs under my weight-in at work!". See, we did a weigh-in a few weeks ago for a Biggest Looser content sponsored by 24 Hour Fitness. I was wearing clothes and drank a bunch of water before the weight-in, so I was 240. I think the contest ends in September, so if I keep going, I'll probably weigh-in about 10 lbs. lighter. We'll see how that compares with everyone else at that point, but hopefully I'll do well. Hey, one more thing to keep me motivated and on track doesn't hurt right?
Switched over the Mint Chocolate Whey protein powder, and I'm liking it, especially when I mix it with Vanilla Casein protein powder post work-out. I've also started including Wheat Germ and Ground Flax Seed with my protein shakes, giving me extra nutrients (potassium, omega 3, etc.) and the all-important fiber one needs (let me tell you, I've definitely noticed the later! :P). I top that off with fish oil and some creatine pills, although I wonder if the creatine in pill form really does what the stuff you take with juice does... the box says it does, and GNC would never exaggerate or outright lie would they?!? :P Oh, and I may have mentioned this before, but I'm doing my best to eat plenty of greens, namely frozen broccoli throughout the day while at work. Fills you up, has lots of nutrients AND the carbs in it absorb slowly so I don't get a blood sugar spike to knock me out of ketosis. Sugei! (Japanese for Sweet!)
Favorite area on my body right now are my trapezius. After my workout they actually pop out so much that they surprise me.
Least favorite are abs, because they are still covered with a nice layer of flab. Dammit.
Weight is back down to under 234... wait, or was that 233? I think it was 233, but I can't recall. Yeah, it must have been under 233 because I remember thinking "Wow, that's 8 lbs under my weight-in at work!". See, we did a weigh-in a few weeks ago for a Biggest Looser content sponsored by 24 Hour Fitness. I was wearing clothes and drank a bunch of water before the weight-in, so I was 240. I think the contest ends in September, so if I keep going, I'll probably weigh-in about 10 lbs. lighter. We'll see how that compares with everyone else at that point, but hopefully I'll do well. Hey, one more thing to keep me motivated and on track doesn't hurt right?
Switched over the Mint Chocolate Whey protein powder, and I'm liking it, especially when I mix it with Vanilla Casein protein powder post work-out. I've also started including Wheat Germ and Ground Flax Seed with my protein shakes, giving me extra nutrients (potassium, omega 3, etc.) and the all-important fiber one needs (let me tell you, I've definitely noticed the later! :P). I top that off with fish oil and some creatine pills, although I wonder if the creatine in pill form really does what the stuff you take with juice does... the box says it does, and GNC would never exaggerate or outright lie would they?!? :P Oh, and I may have mentioned this before, but I'm doing my best to eat plenty of greens, namely frozen broccoli throughout the day while at work. Fills you up, has lots of nutrients AND the carbs in it absorb slowly so I don't get a blood sugar spike to knock me out of ketosis. Sugei! (Japanese for Sweet!)
Favorite area on my body right now are my trapezius. After my workout they actually pop out so much that they surprise me.
Least favorite are abs, because they are still covered with a nice layer of flab. Dammit.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Back! Day 1 HST and Low Carb
Catching up since my last post, I worked for a couple of weeks on hitting a few strength goals, while doing a low carb diet that included one day off a week where I enjoyed myself.
I hit my goal of squating 225 lbs. for six reps. Yay! Felt good. I was hoping to get my bench up to 215, but I failed, only being able to do 205 for 4 or 5 reps :( Dead lift, I hit the goal of 225 lbs., yay, but I still worry about my form... I think this is still a relatively new exercise for me and by body is still getting used to it. Another round of HST will hopefully reinforce my weak areas and I'll go past 225 on dead lifts after this round of HST. Finally, hanging straight leg lifts, I'm pretty happy with being able to do 16; my new goal is 20. Curls, I'm still stuck at 40 to 45, but honestly, I think doing those after a full workout (after doing all those back exercises) is silly... I strongly suspect I've been over training them. Finally, while my pull-ups are only slowly making progress (5 reps at 50 lbs. assisted is all I am able to do), I'm up to 160 on the chest crusher exercise. Oh, and calves, I'm up to the same.
I was at San Diego Comic-con and then on a press tour in NYC, so it was the perfect time to do some strategic deconditioning before starting up a new round of HST. BTW Comic-con is so freaking fun that I plan to go every year from now on... from all the comics, toys and movie related stuff, to the True Blood panel, to the celebrities (I met Lou Ferrigno, saw a bunch of Star Trek and BSG people, and then I flew on a plane home with Amanda Tapping sitting next to me!!!). In NYC I also met Shawn White, a fellow red head and one of the nicest celebrities I've ever encountered (Amanda Tapping was SUPER nice too).
Anyway, so seven days off, and I'm back at the gym doing my HST 15's. After doing max weights on sort of a split routine, doing so many reps feels weird, but I love the pump! Going from exercise to exercise (back, legs, chest, shoulder, rinse, repeat) without resting long between them is super aerobic intense and fun! The only down-side is the embarrassment of how little weight you're lifting. Doing 125 lbs. squats when you can finally pump out the same at 225 sucks! The only exercise today that was tough was the lunges; at 50 lbs (one 25 lb. dumbbell in each hand), I had to stop at 10 reps., but after having done squats and deadlifts already, this is probably not surprising.
Low carb is much more enjoyable now that I've switched to the one day off a week program. I've also starting eating more healthy slow acting but very healthy foods like broccoli, while at the same time doing the six meals a day approach. Works great!
Off to work now.
I hit my goal of squating 225 lbs. for six reps. Yay! Felt good. I was hoping to get my bench up to 215, but I failed, only being able to do 205 for 4 or 5 reps :( Dead lift, I hit the goal of 225 lbs., yay, but I still worry about my form... I think this is still a relatively new exercise for me and by body is still getting used to it. Another round of HST will hopefully reinforce my weak areas and I'll go past 225 on dead lifts after this round of HST. Finally, hanging straight leg lifts, I'm pretty happy with being able to do 16; my new goal is 20. Curls, I'm still stuck at 40 to 45, but honestly, I think doing those after a full workout (after doing all those back exercises) is silly... I strongly suspect I've been over training them. Finally, while my pull-ups are only slowly making progress (5 reps at 50 lbs. assisted is all I am able to do), I'm up to 160 on the chest crusher exercise. Oh, and calves, I'm up to the same.
I was at San Diego Comic-con and then on a press tour in NYC, so it was the perfect time to do some strategic deconditioning before starting up a new round of HST. BTW Comic-con is so freaking fun that I plan to go every year from now on... from all the comics, toys and movie related stuff, to the True Blood panel, to the celebrities (I met Lou Ferrigno, saw a bunch of Star Trek and BSG people, and then I flew on a plane home with Amanda Tapping sitting next to me!!!). In NYC I also met Shawn White, a fellow red head and one of the nicest celebrities I've ever encountered (Amanda Tapping was SUPER nice too).
Anyway, so seven days off, and I'm back at the gym doing my HST 15's. After doing max weights on sort of a split routine, doing so many reps feels weird, but I love the pump! Going from exercise to exercise (back, legs, chest, shoulder, rinse, repeat) without resting long between them is super aerobic intense and fun! The only down-side is the embarrassment of how little weight you're lifting. Doing 125 lbs. squats when you can finally pump out the same at 225 sucks! The only exercise today that was tough was the lunges; at 50 lbs (one 25 lb. dumbbell in each hand), I had to stop at 10 reps., but after having done squats and deadlifts already, this is probably not surprising.
Low carb is much more enjoyable now that I've switched to the one day off a week program. I've also starting eating more healthy slow acting but very healthy foods like broccoli, while at the same time doing the six meals a day approach. Works great!
Off to work now.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Carb Day
Yesterday was my carb day, the one day a week you reload on carbs. I ate most of a pizza... it was sooo good.
Hitting the gym this morning should be fun with hopefully lots of energy stored in my muscles again. We'll see.
Still tracking my food intake on Fitday.com. Pretty cool.
Hitting the gym this morning should be fun with hopefully lots of energy stored in my muscles again. We'll see.
Still tracking my food intake on Fitday.com. Pretty cool.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Fit Day, Low Carb and Work Outs
Fit Day is turning out to be interesting. It is a bit of a pain to log all your food, but it's also kinda fun when you do it. So far I haven't been eating out much, and when I did, I ordered a bunch of sides that were easy to track (two eggs, and four pieces of linked sausage). At 237 and moderately active ("Mostly Seated With Some Movement"), I was surprised that Fit Life decided that I burn 3,330 calories a day, but then again, it also classifies me as Obese! Okay, so it may not be calibrated for someone 6'1" high and into weight lifting, so I'm assuming that I burn about 2,500 calories a day (probably more, but whatever), and so far in my food tracking I'm under that. My average is 2,100 calories per day and I tend to try and overstate what I've eaten when I'm not sure rather than guess lower so that my total calories fall on the high side. For instance, I had just over a cup of blueberries this morning, but how much over, I'm not sure (I need a measuring cup!) so I just put two cups.
Even if Fit Day is correct about 3,330 calories per day, I don't understand what that means because it changes when I enter activities. For instance, I sleep 8 hours per day, and if I enter that activity, my daily calorie burn drops quite a bit. Work-out for an hour, and bam, I'm up to 3,900 calories per day. Seem suspicious, and I can't find any info on the site for the basis of this calculation. Rest assured that I will do more research.
I've been back on the low carb diet since Sunday. This time around I'm going to cycle it more, doing six days on, one day off, six days on. And my total daily carb intake is going to be a bit higher (around 40 or 50 grams), as I'll still be eating some fruits, especially bananas, to keep my potassium and other nutrient levels up. I need to do more research on the best way to cycle and to spread out my meals (so far, it's about every two to three hours).
My first low carb workout was on Tuesday, and it went well, although I may not have been totally in Ketosis yet. I lifted my max weights (like day 6 of 5's on HST), and had no problems. I'm still doing 215 squats, 205 bench, 120 clean and push, and 50 assisted pull ups. I did increase my back extension weight to 45 lbs., I upped my dead lift to 205 (it can go higher, as I'm not having any problems lifting this, I just want to keep going up slowly so I don't damage myself; I don't have back issues, and I don't want them!). I also upped my incline bench to 145, and I think I can go higher... not sure why my max on this suddenly jumped.
I want to start doing bar-in-front (can't remember the proper term for this) squats to warm up with, because I've found when I do these, I squat better at my max, at least the couple times I've done them. Then I get in the gym and forget up until I'm about to squat my max :P
Oh, and finally, now that I'm doing max weights, I've discovered a weakness in my shoulders that I need to address. When I'm taking two 55 lb dumb bells and lifting them up to my shoulders to do say Arnold Presses, there is a slight pain in my shoulder as I swing them forward and up that feels like a muscle that can't handle that weight. I think Kettle Bells or similar style exercise movements will address this, so I'm looking into it.
This morning I did 20 minutes elliptical (320 calories), three minutes of jump rope and two minutes of jumping jacks.
Then I weighed in at just under 235.
Even if Fit Day is correct about 3,330 calories per day, I don't understand what that means because it changes when I enter activities. For instance, I sleep 8 hours per day, and if I enter that activity, my daily calorie burn drops quite a bit. Work-out for an hour, and bam, I'm up to 3,900 calories per day. Seem suspicious, and I can't find any info on the site for the basis of this calculation. Rest assured that I will do more research.
I've been back on the low carb diet since Sunday. This time around I'm going to cycle it more, doing six days on, one day off, six days on. And my total daily carb intake is going to be a bit higher (around 40 or 50 grams), as I'll still be eating some fruits, especially bananas, to keep my potassium and other nutrient levels up. I need to do more research on the best way to cycle and to spread out my meals (so far, it's about every two to three hours).
My first low carb workout was on Tuesday, and it went well, although I may not have been totally in Ketosis yet. I lifted my max weights (like day 6 of 5's on HST), and had no problems. I'm still doing 215 squats, 205 bench, 120 clean and push, and 50 assisted pull ups. I did increase my back extension weight to 45 lbs., I upped my dead lift to 205 (it can go higher, as I'm not having any problems lifting this, I just want to keep going up slowly so I don't damage myself; I don't have back issues, and I don't want them!). I also upped my incline bench to 145, and I think I can go higher... not sure why my max on this suddenly jumped.
I want to start doing bar-in-front (can't remember the proper term for this) squats to warm up with, because I've found when I do these, I squat better at my max, at least the couple times I've done them. Then I get in the gym and forget up until I'm about to squat my max :P
Oh, and finally, now that I'm doing max weights, I've discovered a weakness in my shoulders that I need to address. When I'm taking two 55 lb dumb bells and lifting them up to my shoulders to do say Arnold Presses, there is a slight pain in my shoulder as I swing them forward and up that feels like a muscle that can't handle that weight. I think Kettle Bells or similar style exercise movements will address this, so I'm looking into it.
This morning I did 20 minutes elliptical (320 calories), three minutes of jump rope and two minutes of jumping jacks.
Then I weighed in at just under 235.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Round 2 Reboot - 5's Day 6
Last day of HST went relatively well. A couple of personal bests (actually, pretty much had personal bests on all my exercises but these were the ones I really cared about):
Bench 205 lbs. - Only three reps :(
Squat 215 lbs. - Five reps, but the fifth was a bit wobbly :P
Clean and Press 120 lbs. - Eight reps, then followed up with five more. Felt good, except for the first lift when I smacked myself on the chin with the bar while lifting it over my head.
Curls 45 lbs. - Only two reps, but I didn't expect I'd pull off any, so booyah!
Assisted Pull-up 50 lbs. - four reps, which was one more than I thought I'd manage, so happy.
Seated Pull-up (machine) 250 lbs. - six reps, coolio.
Lunge 50 lbs. dumbbell in each hand - six lunges each leg. Interestingly my right leg seems weaker than my left on this exercise.
Anyway, so I'm going to keep going with strength building for awhile, but I'm also switching back to low carb, which may make strength increases hard, at least it has in the past. We'll see.
Today I made an account on FitDay to track my food intake. We'll see if I keep it up.
So what's next? I'm going to do day 6 a few more times until I figure out what routine I want to do next. I wouldn't mind doing a split routine, but I haven't found one I really liked, mostly because they don't usually include full body motions like Dead Lifts and Clean and Presses, and I'm loving those.
Heading off to Google to do some split routine research.
I weighed in at 237.
Bench 205 lbs. - Only three reps :(
Squat 215 lbs. - Five reps, but the fifth was a bit wobbly :P
Clean and Press 120 lbs. - Eight reps, then followed up with five more. Felt good, except for the first lift when I smacked myself on the chin with the bar while lifting it over my head.
Curls 45 lbs. - Only two reps, but I didn't expect I'd pull off any, so booyah!
Assisted Pull-up 50 lbs. - four reps, which was one more than I thought I'd manage, so happy.
Seated Pull-up (machine) 250 lbs. - six reps, coolio.
Lunge 50 lbs. dumbbell in each hand - six lunges each leg. Interestingly my right leg seems weaker than my left on this exercise.
Anyway, so I'm going to keep going with strength building for awhile, but I'm also switching back to low carb, which may make strength increases hard, at least it has in the past. We'll see.
Today I made an account on FitDay to track my food intake. We'll see if I keep it up.
So what's next? I'm going to do day 6 a few more times until I figure out what routine I want to do next. I wouldn't mind doing a split routine, but I haven't found one I really liked, mostly because they don't usually include full body motions like Dead Lifts and Clean and Presses, and I'm loving those.
Heading off to Google to do some split routine research.
I weighed in at 237.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Round 2 Reboot - 5's Day 5
Great workout today. I did eight squats at my previous best of 205 lbs. and it felt great. I don't think I'll have any problem doing 215 lbs. next time and beating my personal best, then perhaps going even a bit higher. It would be awesome to be doing squats with two 45 lb. plates on each side of the bar. HUGE! :P
Also matched my personal best at bench, doing 195 lbs. for six reps. This didn't feel as strong as the squats, but I'm pretty certain I'll be able to do 205 lbs. on day six for five and set a new personal best, and hey, a 45 lb. and a 35 lb. plate on each side of the bar isn't horrible.
I laughed at two things today:
1. After the awesome squats I jumped on the calf machine and on my first rep of 145 lbs. BOTH my calves cramped up! I need to eat more bananas, or stop doing jump roping on my non-lifting days (I did cardio yesterday, followed by about 3 and a half minutes of jump rope).
2. My goal for both squats and bench is to be working out with my body weight, which I'm a ways away from, but I was stupidly happy this morning when I realized that hey, at least I'm working out at my ideal body weight! That's not bad right?!? :P
Actually, I'm no longer sure what my idea body weight is. I have two free personal training sessions and a free evaluation at the gym I should take advantage of and get some opinions on where I should be. I have the feeling my body weight should be anywhere between 205 and 220 lbs.
In other parts of my workout, I did my personal best on Clean and Presses, working out with 120 lbs. I'm back up to 135 on incline bench, and should have no problem doing day six at 140 lbs., then going beyond that. Cool. Deadlift, I'm still only doing 180 (this is another exercise I should be doing at body weight), and I'm not super happy with my form, so I'm still not pushing this one too fast... perhaps a couple sessions with a personal trainer will help my form. My goal was to be doing 45 lbs. dumbbell curls for biceps, but I'm not going to make that, as I'm still not able to do more than five or six reps at 40 lbs. This might be different if I wasn't doing a bunch of back exercises first and wearing out my biceps. Speaking of back exercises, I'm having no problem with any of them; I'm on track with chest crusher, seated pull-ups wide and normal grip (this one I do my body weight), and seated rows (did 190 lbs. today for nine reps in very good form, so I'll probably go past my personal best of 200 lbs. on day six and then a bit beyond, cool). But regular assisted pull ups, I'm not quite hitting my goal of five reps at 50 lbs. assisted (I did four), so I'm not even doing my ideal body weight yet :(. Just gotta keep at it.
Good workout. Very happy with most of my progress. Now I gotta eat some bananas and blue berries so I don't cramp up next time!
Weighed in at 137 lbs. today.
Also matched my personal best at bench, doing 195 lbs. for six reps. This didn't feel as strong as the squats, but I'm pretty certain I'll be able to do 205 lbs. on day six for five and set a new personal best, and hey, a 45 lb. and a 35 lb. plate on each side of the bar isn't horrible.
I laughed at two things today:
1. After the awesome squats I jumped on the calf machine and on my first rep of 145 lbs. BOTH my calves cramped up! I need to eat more bananas, or stop doing jump roping on my non-lifting days (I did cardio yesterday, followed by about 3 and a half minutes of jump rope).
2. My goal for both squats and bench is to be working out with my body weight, which I'm a ways away from, but I was stupidly happy this morning when I realized that hey, at least I'm working out at my ideal body weight! That's not bad right?!? :P
Actually, I'm no longer sure what my idea body weight is. I have two free personal training sessions and a free evaluation at the gym I should take advantage of and get some opinions on where I should be. I have the feeling my body weight should be anywhere between 205 and 220 lbs.
In other parts of my workout, I did my personal best on Clean and Presses, working out with 120 lbs. I'm back up to 135 on incline bench, and should have no problem doing day six at 140 lbs., then going beyond that. Cool. Deadlift, I'm still only doing 180 (this is another exercise I should be doing at body weight), and I'm not super happy with my form, so I'm still not pushing this one too fast... perhaps a couple sessions with a personal trainer will help my form. My goal was to be doing 45 lbs. dumbbell curls for biceps, but I'm not going to make that, as I'm still not able to do more than five or six reps at 40 lbs. This might be different if I wasn't doing a bunch of back exercises first and wearing out my biceps. Speaking of back exercises, I'm having no problem with any of them; I'm on track with chest crusher, seated pull-ups wide and normal grip (this one I do my body weight), and seated rows (did 190 lbs. today for nine reps in very good form, so I'll probably go past my personal best of 200 lbs. on day six and then a bit beyond, cool). But regular assisted pull ups, I'm not quite hitting my goal of five reps at 50 lbs. assisted (I did four), so I'm not even doing my ideal body weight yet :(. Just gotta keep at it.
Good workout. Very happy with most of my progress. Now I gotta eat some bananas and blue berries so I don't cramp up next time!
Weighed in at 137 lbs. today.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
HST Round 2 Reboot - 5's Days 1, 2, 3 and 4
So, E3 in Los Angeles was a blast, and it turned out that the hotel actually had an okay gym in it (for a hotel) with no only cardio machines, but several weight machines and a set of free weight dumbbells that went all the way up to 50 lbs., so I hit the gym three out of the four or so days I was in LA.
Wait, backing up a bit, so we actually left for LA on Friday night, arriving there late-ish, picking up a rental and then driving down to Orange County where we checked into our hotel around midnight. The big bummer was that I was totally ill on Thursday night, as in food poisoning ill where you just lie in the shower suffering until there's nothing left inside you... yeah, not a pretty picture, but I was feeling just good enough to still go into work on Friday morning because I had waaaaay too much to do, especially since I'd been out of the country for weeks before. I grabbed a nap or two during the day to try to recover, then passed out in the boarding area at the airport for about an hour before the flight, and when we finally got to the hotel late that night I was ready for, no in need of, some more sleep.
The hotel ended up being pretty nice, we had a one bedroom suite that she managed to find for only $89 per night, and it was only a couple of blocks away from Knott's Berry Farm, where we went on Saturday morning. I was feeling much better, although my appetite had not yet really returned, so we went on pretty much all the roller coasters before heading back to the hotel in the early afternoon for a long happy nap. That evening we debated what we wanted to do, and ended up going to Midevil Times, which as you know from the Cable Guy movie, is pretty silly, but it was actually a LOT of fun. The show was very well done, with lots of horse back riding (jousts and fights), battles and knightly endeavors. The food wasn't bad either, and I enjoyed a large beer which very much relaxed me. She wasn't too excited to go Midevil Times, but once we were there she had to admit that it was pretty fun. It was the first time for both of us.
After a great night's sleep Saturday, we headed back towards LA and ended up stopping in Manhattan Beach for lunch and shopping. I've changed a bit since I lived in LA some six or seven years ago, and while I didn't much like it then, I think I could actually be happy living there now. Why? Well, when I used to live there I was not that long out of college and was used to have one or two very close friends, but LA culture is not suited for that as much as having several or more good friends, and hopefully a partner how is a close friend. Not sure if that makes sense, but nowadays, I tend to have the later kind of relationships anyway, becuase you know lots of people through your partner and work, and just don't have the time it takes to develop one or two super close friendships. Anyway, it was a typically beautiful southern California day, and we enjoyed the afternoon near the beach before she jumped on a flight back to SF. From the airport, I took a shuttle to the hotel and began getting ready for E3.
As I already said, E3 was a blast, as well as a success for my games, and I managed to get three pretty solid workouts in during my week there, which I think maintained me. I flew back to SF on Thursday night and then went back to the gym to restart the 5's. Over the past week I did days 1, 2, 3 and today, 4 of the 5's and I feel really good. 5's are fun because you are approaching your max and feel like a bad-ass lifting heavy weights again.
Today I was able to a nice set of bench and squats at 185 and 200 respectively (with eight reps each) that make me think that I'm going to be able to blow through my maximums on day 6 of 5's. I'm hoping I'll be able to hit a bench of 215 in a week or so and a squat of 230 (5 reps of each). If I can't just do them, then I'm going to change over to splits and work on increasing my max weights for a few weeks before I do any strategic deconditioning. In general, I'm feeling strong and want to capitalize on that for awhile until I plateau. Then I'll decide what routine I want to do next, HST again or something new. I may actually hire a personal trainer for a month or two and try something completely different. I've been watching a couple of the trainers at the gym, and there is at least one that I think could teach me a thing or two.
Anyway, really enjoying the end of this HST round, although falling off the diet kinda sucked. My weigh-ins have been fluctuating between 234 and 239 since I restarted after Japan, which means I haven't lost any weight. I don't look much different, so I don't think I've actually put on any fat, but since I doubt I've put on 6 or 9 pounds of muscle, I don't think I've lost any either. I hate dieting, but I'm going to have to go back on one shortly. God. Damn. It.
Wait, backing up a bit, so we actually left for LA on Friday night, arriving there late-ish, picking up a rental and then driving down to Orange County where we checked into our hotel around midnight. The big bummer was that I was totally ill on Thursday night, as in food poisoning ill where you just lie in the shower suffering until there's nothing left inside you... yeah, not a pretty picture, but I was feeling just good enough to still go into work on Friday morning because I had waaaaay too much to do, especially since I'd been out of the country for weeks before. I grabbed a nap or two during the day to try to recover, then passed out in the boarding area at the airport for about an hour before the flight, and when we finally got to the hotel late that night I was ready for, no in need of, some more sleep.
The hotel ended up being pretty nice, we had a one bedroom suite that she managed to find for only $89 per night, and it was only a couple of blocks away from Knott's Berry Farm, where we went on Saturday morning. I was feeling much better, although my appetite had not yet really returned, so we went on pretty much all the roller coasters before heading back to the hotel in the early afternoon for a long happy nap. That evening we debated what we wanted to do, and ended up going to Midevil Times, which as you know from the Cable Guy movie, is pretty silly, but it was actually a LOT of fun. The show was very well done, with lots of horse back riding (jousts and fights), battles and knightly endeavors. The food wasn't bad either, and I enjoyed a large beer which very much relaxed me. She wasn't too excited to go Midevil Times, but once we were there she had to admit that it was pretty fun. It was the first time for both of us.
After a great night's sleep Saturday, we headed back towards LA and ended up stopping in Manhattan Beach for lunch and shopping. I've changed a bit since I lived in LA some six or seven years ago, and while I didn't much like it then, I think I could actually be happy living there now. Why? Well, when I used to live there I was not that long out of college and was used to have one or two very close friends, but LA culture is not suited for that as much as having several or more good friends, and hopefully a partner how is a close friend. Not sure if that makes sense, but nowadays, I tend to have the later kind of relationships anyway, becuase you know lots of people through your partner and work, and just don't have the time it takes to develop one or two super close friendships. Anyway, it was a typically beautiful southern California day, and we enjoyed the afternoon near the beach before she jumped on a flight back to SF. From the airport, I took a shuttle to the hotel and began getting ready for E3.
As I already said, E3 was a blast, as well as a success for my games, and I managed to get three pretty solid workouts in during my week there, which I think maintained me. I flew back to SF on Thursday night and then went back to the gym to restart the 5's. Over the past week I did days 1, 2, 3 and today, 4 of the 5's and I feel really good. 5's are fun because you are approaching your max and feel like a bad-ass lifting heavy weights again.
Today I was able to a nice set of bench and squats at 185 and 200 respectively (with eight reps each) that make me think that I'm going to be able to blow through my maximums on day 6 of 5's. I'm hoping I'll be able to hit a bench of 215 in a week or so and a squat of 230 (5 reps of each). If I can't just do them, then I'm going to change over to splits and work on increasing my max weights for a few weeks before I do any strategic deconditioning. In general, I'm feeling strong and want to capitalize on that for awhile until I plateau. Then I'll decide what routine I want to do next, HST again or something new. I may actually hire a personal trainer for a month or two and try something completely different. I've been watching a couple of the trainers at the gym, and there is at least one that I think could teach me a thing or two.
Anyway, really enjoying the end of this HST round, although falling off the diet kinda sucked. My weigh-ins have been fluctuating between 234 and 239 since I restarted after Japan, which means I haven't lost any weight. I don't look much different, so I don't think I've actually put on any fat, but since I doubt I've put on 6 or 9 pounds of muscle, I don't think I've lost any either. I hate dieting, but I'm going to have to go back on one shortly. God. Damn. It.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Away
I was in Tokyo for what turned out to be three weeks for work, and I did not work out. However, I did work, drink and eat a lot, which means I've put on about 8 pounds. Crap.
Anyway, so I came back last Saturday, and started hitting the gym again on Tuesday after I'd recovered a bit from the jet lag and spent a nice weekend with the girl. I did a light workout, going about 20% lighter than where I was before I left and not doing as many exercises. For instance, I only did one set of bench and incline for chest rather than my full routine. I also skipped a few exercises, like I did squats and a couple of light lunges, but I didn't do dead lifts. This seemed about perfect because the next day I was able to go in and do some light cardio, and then today I went it and did a slightly more intense lift followed by more intense cardio.
I'll get one more workout tomorrow before I'm off again, this time to Los Angeles for E3, for another week. Hopefully the hotel there will have at least a small gym where I can do some maintenance lifting and exercise. Actually, I just checked the web-site and the hotel has a pretty good gym. So maybe I'll be back here with some better news than this time.
Anyway, so I came back last Saturday, and started hitting the gym again on Tuesday after I'd recovered a bit from the jet lag and spent a nice weekend with the girl. I did a light workout, going about 20% lighter than where I was before I left and not doing as many exercises. For instance, I only did one set of bench and incline for chest rather than my full routine. I also skipped a few exercises, like I did squats and a couple of light lunges, but I didn't do dead lifts. This seemed about perfect because the next day I was able to go in and do some light cardio, and then today I went it and did a slightly more intense lift followed by more intense cardio.
I'll get one more workout tomorrow before I'm off again, this time to Los Angeles for E3, for another week. Hopefully the hotel there will have at least a small gym where I can do some maintenance lifting and exercise. Actually, I just checked the web-site and the hotel has a pretty good gym. So maybe I'll be back here with some better news than this time.
Monday, April 27, 2009
HST Round 2 Reboot - 10's Day 2 and 3
Did day two of 10's on Saturday afternoon, which went fine. I was especially careful of my lower back and I didn't so much as feel a tinge. I did a less steep incline dumbbell set which left me actually feeling a tad bit sore in my chest, which I haven't had for awhile. Also did a nice set of regular seated pull-ups (versus the set of wide grip and even wider griped pull-ups I usually do) which also left the muscles in my upper back feeling sore. I know you're not necessarily supposed to feel sore after a work-out, but it feels good once in awhile to know you've hit a muscle group differently enough to surprise it. Of course, the soreness could have been more due to the infrequent work-outs due to travel, or the lack of sleep/rest with having to catch up with stuff when I got back. Friday night last week I actually slept 12 hours, which NEVER happens for me. Then Saturday I slept 9 and took a nap on Sunday. Hopefully, I'm all caught up now.
Today was day three of 10's and it went well. I was still feeling a tad sore in the chest and back, so I didn't push them crazy hard, just hard enough. I also think I helped my legs a bit today by doing more warm up squats and lunges in between other lifts before I got to those exercises. I may need to add a note to my work-out plan to do those warm-ups, as they left me ready to lift heavier. I may need to add a chest and back warm-up too... but of course that's just what I need, more time in the gym :P
I wrapped up today with a quick five minutes on the elliptical machine at level 13 and then a record three minutes of jump-roping. I could have kept going on the jump-rope, but I figured I'd leave some room to set a new record for myself next time.
Half way through this round of HST and I have to say it is nice to be finally lifting semi-heavy weights again. I know I shouldn't care, but until I'm finally putting those 45's on the barbell to do squats and bench, I feel kinda silly.
Today was day three of 10's and it went well. I was still feeling a tad sore in the chest and back, so I didn't push them crazy hard, just hard enough. I also think I helped my legs a bit today by doing more warm up squats and lunges in between other lifts before I got to those exercises. I may need to add a note to my work-out plan to do those warm-ups, as they left me ready to lift heavier. I may need to add a chest and back warm-up too... but of course that's just what I need, more time in the gym :P
I wrapped up today with a quick five minutes on the elliptical machine at level 13 and then a record three minutes of jump-roping. I could have kept going on the jump-rope, but I figured I'd leave some room to set a new record for myself next time.
Half way through this round of HST and I have to say it is nice to be finally lifting semi-heavy weights again. I know I shouldn't care, but until I'm finally putting those 45's on the barbell to do squats and bench, I feel kinda silly.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
HST Round 2 Reboot - 10's
I managed to finish off the 15's after my reboot right before having to run off for business to Tokyo for a week. I did some light working out in my hotel room there, but it was effectively a week of deconditioning. To be honest, with the jet lag I didn't sleep well at all there, so working out probably would not have gone well anyways.
Anyway, just got back yesterday and hit the gym this morning to start off the first day of 10's. Still feeling the jet lag, but it was good to feel my body work again. Overall I felt strong and all the weights were pretty good except I'm thinking I may need to up my bench press weight as I blew past 10 reps and probably could have kept going to 20.
I'm feeling a tinge in my lower back in the gym that has me a bit worried. I really don't want to hurt it as I know too many people with back injuries from lifting. I've always been really careful because of that. Gotta watch my form.
Off to work now. Super busy there, but having fun and it's REALLY nice to have a job in a city I love. Oh and she finally found a job she loves. She just started, and for now it's a temp position, but I have no doubt that they'll hire her full time and if she wants to, she'll move up quickly in the company. Yay!
Anyway, just got back yesterday and hit the gym this morning to start off the first day of 10's. Still feeling the jet lag, but it was good to feel my body work again. Overall I felt strong and all the weights were pretty good except I'm thinking I may need to up my bench press weight as I blew past 10 reps and probably could have kept going to 20.
I'm feeling a tinge in my lower back in the gym that has me a bit worried. I really don't want to hurt it as I know too many people with back injuries from lifting. I've always been really careful because of that. Gotta watch my form.
Off to work now. Super busy there, but having fun and it's REALLY nice to have a job in a city I love. Oh and she finally found a job she loves. She just started, and for now it's a temp position, but I have no doubt that they'll hire her full time and if she wants to, she'll move up quickly in the company. Yay!
Friday, April 10, 2009
REBOOT HST Round 2
Well, with lots and lots of stuff going on (traveling, significant vows taken by people, conferences where lots of friends came to visit, family in town, etc.) I skipped a week of HST and rather than pick up where I left off, I decided to do a reboot. I did day 5 of 15's yesterday and it went great, probably in part because I had to skip two days while I was up in Vancouver for business (so I had an extra day of recovery in there, although I did do some cardio in the hotel gym the day before). I just got back from doing some light cardio in the gym this morning, including a new record of 2 1/2 minutes of jump-roping (hey! it's f*cking hard!) and I'm looking forward to day 6 of 15's tomorrow morning.
Work is getting VERY busy with travel and the season push to get products out, so making time for the gym is getting more challenging, but I've been through this before and I think I can keep it up.
What I haven't been able to keep up is low carb - it's just tough when you are traveling so I'm "trying" to eat right, or at least eat reasonable portions. But it's difficult for me becuase I'm such a food lover, so I have my doubts I'll loose anymore weight. But not running a carb deficit does make the work-outs easier, and maybe I'll pack on more muscle this way.
I'll do some pics soon.
Work is getting VERY busy with travel and the season push to get products out, so making time for the gym is getting more challenging, but I've been through this before and I think I can keep it up.
What I haven't been able to keep up is low carb - it's just tough when you are traveling so I'm "trying" to eat right, or at least eat reasonable portions. But it's difficult for me becuase I'm such a food lover, so I have my doubts I'll loose anymore weight. But not running a carb deficit does make the work-outs easier, and maybe I'll pack on more muscle this way.
I'll do some pics soon.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Round 2: HST Day 6 and Low Carb
Day 6 was rough. About half of my exercises I barely did 15, a few a didn't quite make it, and a few I was able to do more, but overall I felt the steam drain out of me about 2/3rds of the way through. Well, I wanted more intensity this time around, and I guess I got it. And I guess today was supposed to be the most intense of the 15's... Okay, it was awesome, but man, it was tough and it left me tired all day.
So it's been two weeks since I last ate carbs, and today with guests in town I decided to enjoy some. I also think you need to take a break every once in awhile so that your body doesn't get too used to being low carb; just like you have to keep working your muscles in different ways, you have to keep your metabolism adapting to different ways of feeding it... okay, that doesn't totally make sense, but I have found that I do better on low carb when I mix it up once in awhile. Anyway, the carbs didn't help me feel less exhausted, or maybe they did and I would have been waaay worse had I not enjoyed. I'm really looking forward to a good night's sleep tonight and having two days off from lifting. But I'm also looking forward to my first days of 10's.
So it's been two weeks since I last ate carbs, and today with guests in town I decided to enjoy some. I also think you need to take a break every once in awhile so that your body doesn't get too used to being low carb; just like you have to keep working your muscles in different ways, you have to keep your metabolism adapting to different ways of feeding it... okay, that doesn't totally make sense, but I have found that I do better on low carb when I mix it up once in awhile. Anyway, the carbs didn't help me feel less exhausted, or maybe they did and I would have been waaay worse had I not enjoyed. I'm really looking forward to a good night's sleep tonight and having two days off from lifting. But I'm also looking forward to my first days of 10's.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Round 2: HST Day 4 and 5
Okay, so the new routine is proving to be extremely intense as I enter the second and final week of 15's. I was barely able to finish 15 in about half of my exercises, lunges being one of the really difficult ones (I do these last after squats, deadlifts and clean&press). Chest starts out pretty easy with bench, but rapidly gets harder as I go through dumbbell chest, incline bench and finally dubmbell incline chest. Behind lunges today, clean and press were the most intense, followed by dead lifts, as they use a ton of different muscle groups. Assisted pull-ups were perfect, as I hit 15 as I'm just starting to hate them. I go up a notch (actually down 10 pounds, as they are assisted) for the final day of 15's and I'm excited to see if I manage to pull them all off (or should I say "up" :P).
I meant to do a set of regular machine pull-ups (I generally do wide-grip), but I forgot... just added that to my work-out chart so next round of HST I include that exercise. I did do a new exercise today, twists and wood-choppers I believe they are called, where you hold a cable and twist your body around to hit your core muscles (mostly abs). They were cool. I've been doing barbell twists, but they feel a little funky and in comparison these cable twists feel more natural. In general, I feel like I need to mix up my exercises for different muscle groups more so my body doesn't have a chance to really adapt fully to any.
Post work-out, I had some very yummy frozen blueberries that I got at Costco. I drop them in a glass of water and they are a bit like eating ice cream. They are actually really good, tasting better than any fresh blueberries I've ever had. Go figure. I went to Costco last weekend to pick up more, and I did, but it's a different brand. Hopefully they'll taste as good as this last bag. On day 4 I also had a banana, but it will have to wait until I get to work later to have one of those as I'm out at home.
I'm now taking Whey before and after my workout, then a combo mix during the day (a back of mixed kinds of protein I got at Costco) and finally some casein protein, which takes longer to digest, before I go to sleep. I've found I'm recovering faster with this mix, but I've also been sleeping more, so not sure if I can credit the new protein mixtures completely.
My weigh-ins the last three days (did Day 4, then a light cardio day yesterday, then Day 5 today) were all around 233 lbs.
Oh, and I went to the doctor yesterday for a check-up and he said my blood pressure (which I forgot to memorize) was REALLY good. I'll be doing some blood screens a few weeks, so we'll see how those are, but since I've always been good, I'm hoping that will still be the case. At the doctors office I weighed in at 232 for some reason.
I meant to do a set of regular machine pull-ups (I generally do wide-grip), but I forgot... just added that to my work-out chart so next round of HST I include that exercise. I did do a new exercise today, twists and wood-choppers I believe they are called, where you hold a cable and twist your body around to hit your core muscles (mostly abs). They were cool. I've been doing barbell twists, but they feel a little funky and in comparison these cable twists feel more natural. In general, I feel like I need to mix up my exercises for different muscle groups more so my body doesn't have a chance to really adapt fully to any.
Post work-out, I had some very yummy frozen blueberries that I got at Costco. I drop them in a glass of water and they are a bit like eating ice cream. They are actually really good, tasting better than any fresh blueberries I've ever had. Go figure. I went to Costco last weekend to pick up more, and I did, but it's a different brand. Hopefully they'll taste as good as this last bag. On day 4 I also had a banana, but it will have to wait until I get to work later to have one of those as I'm out at home.
I'm now taking Whey before and after my workout, then a combo mix during the day (a back of mixed kinds of protein I got at Costco) and finally some casein protein, which takes longer to digest, before I go to sleep. I've found I'm recovering faster with this mix, but I've also been sleeping more, so not sure if I can credit the new protein mixtures completely.
My weigh-ins the last three days (did Day 4, then a light cardio day yesterday, then Day 5 today) were all around 233 lbs.
Oh, and I went to the doctor yesterday for a check-up and he said my blood pressure (which I forgot to memorize) was REALLY good. I'll be doing some blood screens a few weeks, so we'll see how those are, but since I've always been good, I'm hoping that will still be the case. At the doctors office I weighed in at 232 for some reason.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Round 2: HST Day 3
Well, I did in fact make it into the gym later that day, and it was awesome. I felt really strong but challenged throughout my entire workout, even doing very close to my full set of lunges. Interestingly enough, I found that by the end of my workout I was pretty thirsty, despite drinking a fair amount of water before and during my workout... I'm going to need to watch that moving forward as the last thing you need when hitting the gym hard is to get dehydrated.
Later that day, I could feel how I destroyed myself in lots of great ways, but the next day, today, I felt great, like I could seriously go right back into the gym again. I didn't of course, but it was nice to see my body had adjusted to my routine again. Oh, and I took a nap yesterday, then got lots of sleep last night, so I'm sure that helped, AND I finally bought some casein protein that I'm using along with Whey, the later for quick protein hits and the later for longer term absorption, like for right before I go to bed. New protein and lots of rest, as well as a week into a routine seems to be a good mix.
Both yesterday and today I've been pretty solidly in ketosis... actually yesterday evening when I checked (a few hours after the work-out) I was in crazy red-stick ketosis. The cool thing is that this time I don't feel much weaker than before. Of course, I haven't been not in ketosis or on the verge of being so for months, so what do I know about feeling weak or strong anymore?
Yesterday's weigh-in: 234 exactly. I may have still been a bit dehydrated, but I didn't hold back post-workout in drinking as much water out of the fountain as I could before I weighed in.
Skipped today to really rest the body (even though I REALLY wanted to go in because I felt so good), but tomorrow morning I'm planning on do something light cardio to take advantage of being in ketosis (and wake me up; I find I don't fully wake up during the day, or at least it takes a much longer time, if I don't get a work-out in).
Later that day, I could feel how I destroyed myself in lots of great ways, but the next day, today, I felt great, like I could seriously go right back into the gym again. I didn't of course, but it was nice to see my body had adjusted to my routine again. Oh, and I took a nap yesterday, then got lots of sleep last night, so I'm sure that helped, AND I finally bought some casein protein that I'm using along with Whey, the later for quick protein hits and the later for longer term absorption, like for right before I go to bed. New protein and lots of rest, as well as a week into a routine seems to be a good mix.
Both yesterday and today I've been pretty solidly in ketosis... actually yesterday evening when I checked (a few hours after the work-out) I was in crazy red-stick ketosis. The cool thing is that this time I don't feel much weaker than before. Of course, I haven't been not in ketosis or on the verge of being so for months, so what do I know about feeling weak or strong anymore?
Yesterday's weigh-in: 234 exactly. I may have still been a bit dehydrated, but I didn't hold back post-workout in drinking as much water out of the fountain as I could before I weighed in.
Skipped today to really rest the body (even though I REALLY wanted to go in because I felt so good), but tomorrow morning I'm planning on do something light cardio to take advantage of being in ketosis (and wake me up; I find I don't fully wake up during the day, or at least it takes a much longer time, if I don't get a work-out in).
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Round 2: HST Day 2
It's actually day three today, but I won't make it to the gym until a little bit later as I'm showing off the car to a prospective buyer. This is the second time we are showing it to him, as he was here last night, but I think he wants to see it during the day and take it for an actual test drive before he makes an offer, which is fine, but did he have to pick first thing in the morning after a night a friend was spinning at a local bar/club? And seriously, when that local bar/club has a backroom with Karaoke, and I put my heart and soul into a tear wrenching rendition of "Careless Whisper", how am I supposed to get my exhausted ass up the next morning and act as a sales-man?!?
I don't know either, but here I am sipping Green Tea and trying to wake up.
Anyway, Day 1 of HST kicked my ass so hard that I had to wait two days before doing Day 2. I was was just too sore to wait only one day. And even with two days rest, I was still feeling a bit sore, so I only did half the prescribed lunges. Most people would probably conclude that with Lunges, Dead Lifts, Squats and Clean-Pushes and inner and outer thigh machines, I'm over-doing the number of leg exercises on my HST plan and I should probably cut back, but that would be crazy talk :P And I know it may even be a tad bit underproductive for muscle growth to be over doing it, but I'm hoping my body will still gain muscle while loosing fat on this intense HST routine. And frankly, the intensity is part of the fun; about mid-way through HST, when your body gets used to it, the work-outs get kinda boring, so I wanted to make sure that this time around it was always exciting to go in and do each day. Well, so far that's the case!
I did Day 2 in just about an hour, and it was fun. I barely had time to catch my breath as I pushed myself through each exercise, and I found that doing 15's on some of them were already straining my muscles. F*ck yeah! This time around, I want that last day of 15's to be nearly impossible. In fact, I wouldn't mind if as that day gets closer, I'm not quite able to do 15 reps, but instead am only able to do 13 or 14, so when day 1 of 10's comes, I'm already challenged by those too.
Anyway, so except for the full 15 reps of lunges, I did everything with a gusto and wrapped up with a little jump roping. Later I tested and found I was hard-core in ketosis, which explains my weigh-in:
Wiegh-in: 134.2 (same the next day, when I just did some light cardio on elliptical, the day between HST 2 and 3).
I don't know either, but here I am sipping Green Tea and trying to wake up.
Anyway, Day 1 of HST kicked my ass so hard that I had to wait two days before doing Day 2. I was was just too sore to wait only one day. And even with two days rest, I was still feeling a bit sore, so I only did half the prescribed lunges. Most people would probably conclude that with Lunges, Dead Lifts, Squats and Clean-Pushes and inner and outer thigh machines, I'm over-doing the number of leg exercises on my HST plan and I should probably cut back, but that would be crazy talk :P And I know it may even be a tad bit underproductive for muscle growth to be over doing it, but I'm hoping my body will still gain muscle while loosing fat on this intense HST routine. And frankly, the intensity is part of the fun; about mid-way through HST, when your body gets used to it, the work-outs get kinda boring, so I wanted to make sure that this time around it was always exciting to go in and do each day. Well, so far that's the case!
I did Day 2 in just about an hour, and it was fun. I barely had time to catch my breath as I pushed myself through each exercise, and I found that doing 15's on some of them were already straining my muscles. F*ck yeah! This time around, I want that last day of 15's to be nearly impossible. In fact, I wouldn't mind if as that day gets closer, I'm not quite able to do 15 reps, but instead am only able to do 13 or 14, so when day 1 of 10's comes, I'm already challenged by those too.
Anyway, so except for the full 15 reps of lunges, I did everything with a gusto and wrapped up with a little jump roping. Later I tested and found I was hard-core in ketosis, which explains my weigh-in:
Wiegh-in: 134.2 (same the next day, when I just did some light cardio on elliptical, the day between HST 2 and 3).
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