Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Wed 1/29 - Upper (OHP PR!)

Workout: LA Fitness
(125#OHP)5x5 Awesome, PR!
(RDL)185x10,235x8,8,275x8,8 Good
(65#Inc)4x9
(BOR)155x8,185x8,8,8
(60#Bench)13,12
(50#SeatRow)5x10
(75#OHTri)3x10 V. Good
(10#RDelt)3x12
(10#LDelt)2x10
(LegRaise)3x12
(T-Twist)3x12
(Crunch)3x12
105 mins + 15 w/u = 120mins

Sarah and I went to the gym after work again today for another upper WO. Wanted to start w/ heavy OHP and RDL as main movements today. Damn, gym was crowded and a couple of bozos were in the squat/step racks taking 10 minutes between warmup sets. It was freakin' social hour.  Anyway, we finally got hold of the power rack and went to work.

Heavy OHP was great. I got 5x5 at the heaviest weight I've done. Awesome. RDL was pretty good. I should've jumped to 275#'s quicker and done at least 3 sets at that weight. I got Sarah to put on a 45# plates on the bar (135#'s total) for her last 2 sets. Good job, and a big jump for her. I think she knows how this movement is supposed to feel now, and it's not supposed to be easy.  Next we did incline and I went lighter after going real heavy yesterday, and because of my shoulder. 65#'s felt plenty heavy today. The WO was still in my chest from last night (of course, it's only been 24-hours).

I bumped up BOR after the first set felt kinda light, but 185#'s felt real heavy after RDL's today. Whoa. Spent already. Those are 4 big compound movements to start w/ and we were about an hour into the WO already at this point. Could've done some abs and called it a day here...but we didn't. We were going to do some flat bench, but even just the bar killed my shoulder. Sarah did barbell and I did 2 light sets w/ DB's.

I hammered the seated row with a wide grip for 5 sets. Back was on fire. Next we did overhead triceps extensions and these were great tonight with a heavier weight than I normally do. We hit some delts and then did an ab circuit and called it a WO. Abs were on fire for both of us. Torture twists are, well, torture.  Very good WO, but shoulder is disconcerting. It needs rest, but I'm still really wanting to keep pushing heavy loads on this bulk.

Nutrition:
I weighed 182.0 this morning. Ate a lot again today. It's going to be a real bitch when I start cutting after this bulk. Very used to eating 3,000+ calories a day.



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 263 476 62  3,460
  Calories 1052 1903 559  3,514
  Percent 30% 54% 16% `

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Tue 1/28 - Upper (Paused Inc PR!)

 Workout: LA Fitness
(85#Inc_P)4x6,70#x10
Awesome PR!
(Pullups)10,10,8,8
(70#Bench)10,10,8
(57#SeatRow)5x10
(185#DecCGBP)8,165x10,8
(90#HighRow)3x10
(75#BBCurl)3x10
(10#LatDelt)3x15
(10#RearDelt)3x10
(25#FrontDelt)2x12
(80#PushDn)2x10
(30#Rope)4x12
(T-Twist)2x20
(Crunch)3x12
104 mins + 12 w/u = 116mins

Went to they gym w/ Sarah after work. Since incline went so well last WO, when I wrote out today's WO I bumped up the weight and wrote down 85#s for 4x6. I thought maybe I'd get a set, possibly 2 at 6 and then drop off or have to drop weight. I was really surprised and thrilled that I got 4x6. It's been a long time since I got up 85# dumbbells and that was for sets of 5 on flat bench, and they certainly weren't paused reps like tonight. Awesome work and a PR I'm really pleased with.  After those 4 heavy sets I dropped to 70#'s and got a great set of 10 for some more volume. Great pressing. Sarah did well here tonight too.

Next up was pullups and I had 4x8 written in. First 2 sets felt easy so I did 10 each set. My elbow started bothering me on the 3rd set so I cut the last 2 at 8. Sarah got 5 on her first set! Awesome. Bench was next and pretty good, but my right shoulder got a little wonky. Next was seated rows and I did them with a wide grip bar tonight. I've been doing too much pulling for back width and I don't really want my back getting wider. I do, however, want it thicker in the middle, hence the wide grip rows. They were really good and did 5 good sets.

I stuck with 185#'s on decline close grip bench for 1st set, but my right shoulder was starting to really hurt, so I dropped weight on the last 2 sets. Going to have to go lighter tomorrow and keep an eye on my shoulder. I had incline fly's penciled in next, but didn't want to put that stress on my shoulder.  The rest of the WO was kinda "blah". I spent my energy on the first couple movements and was kind of in a bummed mood because of my shoulder. We finished up with some high rows, delts, triceps and then some abs.

Great WO overal workout, but I did get grumpy toward the end and was short w/ Sarah. Feel bad about that. These WO's are getting too long. Going to have to make a few tweaks and not try to hit everything with such volume. Might keep the first couple movements the same, but pair down the accessory stuff. We could've called it a WO after CGBP and it would have still been a fantastic WO. I keep making gains, but have to be real careful now about overdoing it. I've been pushing pretty hard for a couple weeks and volume and frequency has been WAY too high to be sustainable for much longer w/o burnout or injury. Shoulder killing me tonight...not good.

Nutrition:
I weighed 182.2 this morning. Ate about 3,000 cals today.  Should've eaten more, but worked out in the evening and didn't get home until 10:30 tonight and didn't want to eat a ton right before bed.



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 255 459 42  3,211
  Calories 1021 1835 375  3,231
  Percent 32% 57% 12% `

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Sun 1/26 - Upper (Paused Inc PR, CGBP PR!)

Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc_Paused)8,8,7,7
Awesome, paused PR!
(185#BOR)4x8
(105#OHP)6,6,9,125#x6 Very good
(Pullups)4x8
(185#DecCGBP)10,7,7 Great, rep PR
(70#Bench)3x8
(3.5PlSeatDips)4x12
(10#LatDelt)4x12
(90#HighRow)3x10
(10#RearDelt)3x10
(75#BBCurl)2x10
(T-Twist)3x20
(Crunch)3x10
(PushDn)4x10
100 mins + 12 w/u = 112mins

Sarah and I went to the gym this morning and had an incredible WO. This was the 3rd straight full upper WO and I really wasn't expecting much. I thought I'd be more sore/fatigued and have to cut volume and weights. Quite the opposite. Warming up on incline felt good and even though I had planned on starting w/ 75#DB's, I fully expected to get a set or two there and then have to drop to 70#'s. I started with 80# DB's and stayed w/ them and got good reps. My PR WO for this weight was 5x8. I didn't get that today, but these were paused reps which are significantly harder. Felt great about these.

BOR was good. This was the one exercise that did feel heavy today. I stuck w/ plan on going a bit lighter on OHP and just 6 reps. It was feeling easy so the 3rd set I did 9 reps. Then on the final set I bumped the weight by 20#'s and did a set of 6. Great! We supersetted pullups with OHP and this combo was good and saved time. 4x8 pullups was easy and I didn't go near failure because of my elbow. Sarah did 4 good sets of pullups and worked hard.

Last WO I bumped up to 185#'s on CGBP, so today I started there and got 10 reps on the 1st set. Awesome! I dropped reps from there, but still great work. After this we did DB bench and I bumped up the normal weight here too and got 3 great sets. On a roll today! We hammered tri's next on the seated dip machine and supersetted lateral delts. Sarah did a mix of lateral and rear delts (accidentally) :)  Sarah ran to the bathroom before dips and I snuck in a set of incline fly's. Felt great.  We finished up the main WO with hammer high rows (great) and 2 sets of barbell curls.

I was done. We did a quick ab circuit (t-twist and lying crunches) and then I hit 4 sts of try pushdowns (a combo of v-bar and rope). While I did that,  Sarah did some more abs and hammered the leg press. My hip was killing me last night and I was walking with a limp. It was still bothering me today so I skipped the leg press.  Just a fantastic WO. Sarah did great today too on back-to-back upper WO's. She's been bumping weight up on a lot of exercises too. Doing great!  I was amazed how my body held up and how I was able to add weight/reps to a lot of movements the 3rd day. Now I need at least a day of total rest. It certainly helped that I was eating a lot to fuel these WO's. I'm definitely getting to the upper limit of fat I'm comfortable with, but I'm hitting a really nice groove and making some great gains so I'm going to roll with it for a while longer. I'll need to deload soon and rest my elbow, lose some fat...but not quite yet. Really surprised how much I'm enjoying working out with Sarah. She's a great partner and we have a great time in the gym together.

Nutrition:

I weighed 182.4 this morning. Eating a lot again today. Making great strength gains. These macro breakdowns are fairly accurate, but ate dinner out and sushi for lunch, so best estimates:



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 233 528 51  3,531
  Calories 932 2110 459  3,501
  Percent 27% 60% 13% `

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Sat 1/25 - Upper/Full Body (RDL and CGBP PR's!)

Workout: LA Fitness
(RDL)225x8,275x8,8,8 Awesome, PR!

(75#Inc)8,8,8 V. Good
(Pullups)10,10,7
(150#PullDn)2x10
(65#Bench)3x10 Good
(155#BOR)4x8
(10#LatDelt)4x15
(DecCGBP)175x10,185x8,7 Great, PR!
(40#IncFly)3x10
(75#Skulls)2x10
(80#HighRow)3x10 Good
(10#RearDelt)3x10
(LegRaise)3x12
(T-Twist)3x15
(Crunch)3x10
(4PlLegPress)3x25 Short rests, brutal
120 mins + 12 w/u = 132mins

Picked up Sarah for another upper/full body WO this morning. Plan is for 3 days in a row of full upper WO's and a little lower body thrown in.  We started the WO today with RDL's. I wasn't planning on going heavy at all. Progression was planned for 185, 205 and a maybe 2 "heavy" sets at 225. Well, I warmed up and was feeling good so I started right off at 225#'s. Felt good, bumped to 275#'s and did 3 sets of 8. I've never done RDL this heavy before. It was work, but felt good.

Next was incline. Started heavier than planned and stayed there for 3 good working sets. Next were pullups/pulldowns. I wasn't going to do any pullups, but did them anyway (common theme w/ this WO was not following the plan).  I did 2 sets of 10 and then on the 3rd set I stopped at 7. Elbow is killing me. Sarah wasn't thrilled w/ her pullups today, but I reminded her that RDL takes a LOT out of the back. Bench was good after that. Next we combo'd bent over rows and after RDL and pullups, they were not easy, but really good work.

Exercise of the day was probably decline close grip bench. Sarah and I both bumped up the weight. Plan was to do 2 heavy work sets. My first heavy set I got 10 reps, so I bumped the weight again to 185#'s and did 2 more sets there. Felt strong and awesome today here. Sarah did great bupming her weight by 10#'s.  Next we did incline fly's supersetted with skull crushers. Fly's were good, skull crushers crushed my elbow. Stopped after 2nd set.

Finally we got back to some back/pull work and did 3 sets of hammer high rows supersetted with rear delt fly's. Love these high rows.  Whoa, WO is getting long as hell today. We were both getting pretty fried by this point.  Leg press was penciled in next, but the machine was taken and I was losing interest and getting hungry (aka grumpy). We did an ab ciruit for 3 reps and were going to call it a day. But, the leg press had opened up by this point so we went ahead and did 3 sets w/ short rests.  These were a bitch. I really got the sled moving and burned out my quads.

Great WO, but way too long and a ton of energy. Glad Sarah was there to keep me motivated. Going to have to eat a lot for any chance to recover for the same type WO tomorrow. Whew...

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.8 this morning. Eating a lot today to fuel these WO's.



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 223 449 60  3,249
  Calories 893 1796 539  3,227
  Percent 28% 56% 17% `

Friday, January 24, 2014

Fri 1/24 - GBR Upper (OHP PR)

Thu 1/23 - Rest Day
I weighed 181.4. Ate more than normal for a rest day.



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 232 414 47  2,988
Calories 928 1655 423  3,007
Percent 31% 55% 14% `


Fri 1/24 - GBR Upper
Workout: LA Fitness
(115#OHP)5,5,5,5,7 Great!
(95#OHP)10,8

(160#Pulldown)2x8
(75#Inc)8,7,7,6
(155#BOR)4x8
(10#LatDelt)4x12
(155#DecCGBP)12,10
(35#IncFly)3x12 V. Good
(70#Skulls)3x10 Good

(90#HighRow)3x8
(10#RearDelt)3x10
(75#BBCurl)3x8 Dumb
78 mins + 10 w/u = 88mins

Decided to do a GBR Upper WO today. I haven't started a push/upper WO with OverHead Press in a few WO's, so I decided to start there and take it easier on incline/bench to save that a bit for this weekend. I warmed up and 95#'s didn't feel easy. I was going to stick with that as working weight, but wasn't happy about it. I decided to go with the plan and try 115#'s 5x5. So glad I stuck with the plan. It ended up being GREAT and I got 7 reps on the last set. If I repeat that again next time, it's time to bump weight again. I was surprised because I'd kinda stalled on this lift and hadn't done it recently as priority. This lets me know that sometimes after pressing hard for a while, rest REALLY DOES HELP. So hard for me to put into practice.

So the rest of the WO was really good. I did just 2 sets of pulldowns because of elbows. Incline was good, but I didn't press too close to failure. BOR was really good. I didn't go super heavy, but did reps paused off the floor with heavier weight than usual. Two sets of lighter CGBP was enough and I hammered these. I don't like to go heavy on these when I don't have my spotter..Sarah :) I supersetted lateral delts with CGBP. If I were really pressed for time, the WO could have been over here (in about 50 minutes) and been considered an excellent WO.

Next I supersetted incline fly's (felt AWESOME today) and did skull crushers for the first time in a while. They felt really great. Really worked the long head of the triceps. Will add these more often.  WO was done as written, but I do love me some hammer high rows and the machine was open, so I did 3 sets of them and supersetted rear delt fly's.  I went and changed and was getting ready to leave when I decided it'd be a good idea to do a set or two of curls. I'd purposely left them off because they're tough on my elbows.  One or two sets couldn't hurt, right? First set was painful, but sometimes the elbow loosens up a bit after the first set. The 2nd set was painful too, so of course a 3rd set couldn't make things any worse, right? :) I'm an idiot. Gotta quit doing stupid stuff like that.  Anyway, great WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.2 this morning. Down a hair from yesterday where I ate more than ever on a rest day. I've kinda plateaued this week. I'm sure this weekend will take care of any weight stall :)



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 245 473 51  3,338
  Calories 978 1893 455  3,326
  Percent 29% 57% 14% `

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Wed 1/22 - Pull (WO 2 of 2)

Workout: LA Fitness
(BOR)135x10,185x8,8,8,135x12
Good
(75#HighRow)5x10 Very good
(SeatRow)57x10,10,65x10
(65#BBCurl)4x12 Great
(Pullups)2x8
(145#Pulldown)3x8
(35#HCurl)3x10
(10#RDelt)4x12
(Crunch)3x10
73 mins + 7 w/u = 80 mins

2nd WO of the day. This one w/ Sarah when she got home from work. Started w/ bent over row. First set was really a warm up, then 3 heavy sets followed by a drop set. Last set were full stop at bottom. Felt great. The gym was fairly crowded and the plate loaded high row was taken, but there is another one almost as good that has normal pins/plates. Did 5 sets of these and could really feel them working. Sarah is still struggling to feel BOR and a few other back movements. Have to keep assuring her they're still working and she's doing a good job.

Seated rows were OK and we supersetted them with barbell curls. My elbows are bad (especially the L one) so I didn't go very heavy, but these felt great so I did 4 sets.  Next up were pulldowns. I knew Sarah would prefer pullups, but they're hell on my elbows and she can't get enough volume with pullups, so we did a couple sets of pullups and then some pulldowns for volume. Both felt really good. I didn't go very close to failure on pullups.

Then we did DB curls and rear delts. I had to do hammer curls because regurlar DB curls were not possible tonight with my elbow. Finished up the WO with 3 quick, but heavy, sets of cable crunches. I think Sarah's got form down on this one now.

Really good WO, and for the 2nd full WO of the day, I was very pleased with how my body and energy held up. Day off tomorrow...

Nutrition:
Ate a lot today to fuel and recover from 2 WO's.



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 257 478 36  3,264
  Calories 1026 1912 321  3,260
  Percent 31% 59% 10% `

Wed 1/22 - Push (WO 1 of 2 today - DB Inc)

Workout: LA Fitness
(75#DBInc_P)8,8,8,7,6 Awesome
(65#DBInc_P)8,8,7

(65#DBBench_P)8,8,6
(155#DecCGBP)3x8
(15#CableFly)3x10
(10#LatDelt)4x12
(73#PushDn)10,10,8
(25#Rope)3x10
60 mins + 12 w/u = 72 mins

Was planning on going to the gym this morning, but Sarah wanted to work out this evening after work and I enjoy working out with her so I decided to put my Pull WO on hold until later this evening.  But, I was really itching to get into the gym after taking yesterday off, so I went to the gym this morning anyway. Plan was to just do a light Push stimulation WO...keep sets minimal and don't push anything real hard.

Well, I suck at sticking to a plan when it calls for taking it easy.  I started with incline and it felt good. Plan was for 2 heavy sets at 75#'s. I did 5 instead. I beat my prior reps through 3 sets from last WO, so I kept going, then dropped weight and did 3 more sets for 8 total for incline. Felt AWESOME. Loving this paused pressing because I can't really cheat at all so I know exactly where I stand from WO to WO. Next was DB bench. Perhaps I should have gone a little lighter. I noticed that I wasn't really keeping my shoulders packed later in the sets here. Still good work.

I lightened the weight on decline close grip bench today because I didn't have a spot. I did 3x8 and it felt decent.  Next I supersetted cable fly's and lateral delts. I didn't do OHP today because I didn't want to go overboard. This was supposed to be a "light stimulation" WO after all.  Finished up the WO with some heavy pushdowns followed by lighter rope pushdowns.  I really liked this combo better than just using the rope by themselves.

Great incline today. Really pleased, especially because I could've really used another day rest before pushing again.  This WO was also a good length as it was done in an hour (plus time for warmup).  Up next is pull WO with Sarah in a couple of hours. Hope I'll have enough energy for it.

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.8 this morning. Gotta eat a lot today because I'm heading back to the gym in a couple hours for that pull WO w/ Sarah.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Mon 1/20 - Push

Workout: LA Fitness
(75#DBInc_P)8,8,7 Awesome
(65#DBInc_P)8,8,7

(105#OHP)3x6
(60#DBBench_P)8,8,9,9
(15#CableFly)3x10
(10#LatDelt)4x12
(165#DecCGBP)10,8,8,8,8 Great
(DipMachine)3.5Platesx4x10 Liked these a lot
(65#OHTri)10,8
(60#Rope)MyoRep
(LegRaise)3x10
(T-Twist)3x15
(Crunch)3x10
(Bicycle)3x20
82 mins + 10 w/u + 12 core = 104 mins

Sarah and I went to LA Fitness this morning for a push WO. Incline was GREAT. Really liking the paused pressing. 3rd set at 75#'s took a lot out of me and I needed help on last rep so didn't count it. Made 65#'s sets hard, but that's good.  Sarah bumped up to 30#DB's. Sweet. OHP was a little lighter today because it wasn't first, but right where I wanted it to be. Bench was really good and felt stronger as sets went on.

Normally we do CGBP next, but someone was on it so we did fly's/delts next instead.  Today instead of inclne fly's we did cable fly's and both liked them a lot. Will do these again when the cables are available.  Decline close grip was great today. I didn't think I'd have much left, but we did 5 sets and I didn't really drop off after the first set. Sarah did really well too. There was a fire alarm during these, but it was a test and we just lifted through it.

Sarah wants to be able to do body weight dips, but the assisted dip machines are kinda wonky. So, we used a weight plate loaded dip machine that works really well. We did 4 sets there and I actually like them more than I thought I would.  I love doing regular and weighted dips, but haven't done them in a long time. This is a decent substitute.  After that we hit 2 quick sets of overhead tri's and a myo rep set of rope pushdowns. Lot's of tri work after pressing today. My tri's are already stiff tonight.

We finished off the WO with 3 ab circuits. I was beat and hungry. WO done!  Great WO today. I really wish I would've been doing paused pressing for the last year. I would be stronger, and probably bigger by now. Always learning new, better and much more effective technique. Putting the ego aside and using better form works so much better.

On the injury front, my left knee is crap and my left elbow is getting REAL bad. I had to drop a heavy DB today because I couldn't steady it before a set of bench. As much as I love pullups, I think I have to put them on the shelf for a bit. Possibly RDL's as well. Day off tomorrow after 4 days of really hard work in the gym.

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.6 this morning. Getting toward the top end of weight/fat I'm comfortable with. I'm going to keep maintaining/gaining slowly for at least another week, then it'll be time to reassess, lean up a tad and probably deload.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Sun 1/19 - Lower

Workout: (LA Fitness)
(RDL)225x8,245x8,8,265x8,8,185x12
(4PL_LegPress)5x20
(60#LegCurl)3x10
(35#LegExt)3x10
(100#Crunch)8,7,85x10
61 mins + 18 w/u = 79 mins

Picked Sarah up for the gym. 6AM came way too quickly this morning, and I need to get some sleep. We had to go early while the kids were still asleep. RDL was good, but 265 felt pretty heavy today. Also tough on my hands today. I tried using straps, but the bar still wanted to come out of my hands, so I just went back to strapless mixed grip. Tore off 2 small parts of calluses on each hand. Thankfully they weren't large tears.

Leg press was good, but I kept it light with high reps. These really burn. After 5 working sets, I took all the weight off the sled and did a set of single leg presses. Right leg firs, felt good. Left leg, first rep thought my leg was going to collapse. Definitely weaker and not very stable. Gotta see the PT again this week.

Finished up the WO with leg extensions and curls, plus 3 heavy sets of cable crunches.  Decent  WO. I didn't think RDL was that great, but looking at the numbers compared to last week, it actually was a pretty good WO. I thought I did 5 sets at 265#'s last WO, but it was only 3.

Nutrition:
I weighed 180.0 this morning.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Sat 1/18 - Pull (Hammer High Row)

Workout: LA Fitness
(Pullups)4x10 V. Good

(135#BOR)5x10 Good
(80#HammerHighRow)5x8 Loved these one arm at a time!
(57#SeatRow)3x10
(65#BBCurl)4x10
(35#HammerCurl)3x10
(10#RearDelt)4x10
(85#Crunch)3x12
75 mins + 10 w/u = 85 mins

Sarah and I were up late last night and then I didn't sleep well at all. Got out of bed for good at about 5:30 after getting to bed around 2am. Didn't feel completely exhausted until later this evening though, so WO was still good.  We did a pull WO today and started with pullups instead of bent over rows so Sarah could test pullups when fresh.  We did pullups on the Smith Machine by putting the bar on the safety catches on the highest level. This worked out great actually because we could put it all the way up for me and drop it down a tad for Sarah.

Anyway, I did 4x10 and Sarah got (I think) 6 on her first set and then dropped off fairly quickly. I love doing pullups, but I've got to give them a rest for a while. They're just hell on my elbows. I can maybe do 1-2 sets and then will have to switch to some other pull. Happy with 4x10 today though, and happy for Sarah.  Next up was BOR and I planned on doing a couple sets at 135 and a couple at 185. Well, 185 not happening today. Five sets at 135 after 40 pullups was plenty hard and heavy.

So, I was excited to use the Hammer High Row machine today and it didn't disappoint. We both did a set or two using both arms at the same time. Then I did a set one arm at a time, which felt much better. Felt so good we did 5 sets instead of 3. Loved this movement and it'll be included from now on on pull days.  Then we did seated rows supersetted with barbell curls. I didn't go as heavy today as I have been. Wanted more volume and hoped it wouldn't kill my elbow. Then we were going to do incline DB curls, but I just couldn't due to my left elbow, so we did 3 sets of hammer curls supersetted with 4 sets rear delts. We were running out of time before picking up the kids so we just hit 3 quick sets of cable crunches and that was that.

Great pull WO. Pullups, BOR and High Row, plus a few sets of curls would've been all we really needed here today. Great work with those 1st 3 movements.

Nutrition:

I weighed 177.6 this morning. Ate a whole bunch today. Didn't track nutrition. Just made sure I hit protein. The other stuff took care of themselves.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Fri 1/17 - Push (Inc/bench paused volume)

Workout: LA Fitness
(75#DBInc_P)8,8
(65#DBInc_P)8,8,8,8,7
(60#DBBench_P)9,8,8,8,8,7

(155#DecCGBP)10,7,6,6
(35#IncFly)3x10
(10#LatDelt)4x10
(70#OHTri)3x10
(185#Crunch)3x10
(60#Rope)MyoRep
(105#ChestFly)MyoRep
73 mins + 10 w/u = 83 mins

Went to Golds this morning and decided to focus on chest/tri's. Basically a push WO but w/o the overhead press. I did this so I could focus on incline and bench, save my shoulders a bit and so I could do some OHP this weekend during another push WO.

I did all incline and benching paused, and I was able to get more reps w/ higher weight than last WO, mainly due to not having done heavy OHP before these two.  Incline and bench were both AWESOME! I did incline sets starting every 2.5 minutes and bench sets starting every 2 minutes. This got brutal even theough the weight wasn't super heavy.  I did 7 sets of incline and 6 sets of bench. Really happy with these.  I lightened close grip decline bench a little because I didn't have a spot, and because of all the pressing.  First set felt really good, but I really dropped off from there. Still good work.

Incline fly's felt really good today and I supersetted them with 4 sets of lateral delts.  Then I supersetted overhead tri's and cable crunches.  Finished off the WO with myo rep sets of rope triceps pushdowns and chest fly's.

GREAT WO! Hope I didn't wreck myself for WO's this weekend.

Nutrition:
I weighed 1778.8 this morning. I'm trying to hit about 3,000 cals/day and add weight slowly, but I'm getting toward the top end of how heavy I want to get. A couple more pounds and then I'll have to reign it in.



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 233 413 42  2,945
  Calories 932 1652 380  2,964
  Percent 31% 56% 13% `

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Wed 1/15 - Pull Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(185#BOR)4x8 V. Good heavy/light combo

(135#BOR)2x12
(Pullups)2x10
(160#PullDn)2x8
(57#SeatRow)3x10
(40#IncCurl)10,7,30#x11,10
(10#RDelt)4x10
(145#RevGripPull)3x10
(85#BBCurl)7,6,65#x10
(LegRaise)4x12
(T-Twist)4x15
(175#Crunch)4x11
(Bicycle)4x15
79 mins + 10 w/u + 20 abs = 109 mins

Went to the gym after Sarah got home from work again tonight. Was planning on doing the same WO we did this weekend that included lower (RDL,LegPress), pull & core circuit. For some unknown reason, my left knee started locking up on me this morning at work. I didn't do anything to it, but it's been killing me all day and I'm walking with a limp. I'm frustrated. Anyway, couldn't do lower tonight, so we did a full pull WO + core circuit.

Started off with BOR. Did 4 heavy sets and 2 lighter sets. 185#'s didn't feel quite as heavy as the last 2 times, but still heavy and a lot of work. Not close to bumping weight here yet. The drop sets were great.(20mins). Next we did pullups. I did 2 sets of 10. Sarah did 3-4 sets of 2-3. She didn't get as many as last time, but that's because we did rows first. Then we did pulldowns for some more volume. Then we did 3 sets of seated rows which were OK.

Incline curls started off great, then got real heavy. Dropped weight after 2 sets to maintain reps. Combo'd these with rear delt fly's. Reverse grip pulldowns were good. I had Sarah do one extra set with the close grip attachment. She really liked it. I LOVE that pull, but I can't do it often because it's hell on my elbows. I think she'll want to start doing that instead of underhand pulldowns. I'll be jealous :)  We hit a couple sets of heavy barbell curls and that part of the WO was done.

To finish off the WO we did the same core circuit we did this weekend. It was really good again, but it's a pain when the gym is crowded because we can't really "reserve" the leg raise, pulldown (for crunches) machines. We had to work around and in w/ some other folks. Annoying, but we got through it.

Really good WO. Before the core circuit, I tried out a hammer strength plate loaded high row machine. Loved the feel of it. Will be hitting that hard soon and will work it into my pull WO's.

Nutrition:
I weighed 179.2 this morning. Ate a lot and maintained about 3,000 cals again. WO's have been getting pretty long lately and I find I'm really losing steam in the 2nd half (really last 1/4). I've got to start eating more before, bring a piece of fruit or something for during, or just suck it up I guess.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Tue 1/14 - Push Day (more paused incline)

Mon 1/13 - Rest day
I weighed 181.6 this morning. Good nutrition. Cals a bit lower after a lot of eating Sat/Sun and no WO today.
 


Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 218 386 27  2,675
Calories 873 1544 242  2,659
Percent 33% 58% 9% `

Tue 1/14 - Push Day
Workout: LA Fitness
(125#OHP)4x5
(95#OHP)10,9 Great heavy/ligth combo again
(75#DBInc)8,8
(60#DBInc_P)4x8 Awesome paused reps!

(175#DecCGBP)8,7,6,145x11,7 Wt. bump, then died on 5th set
(35#IncFly)3x10 Very good tonight
(10#LatDelt)4x10
(30#FrontDelt)3x8
(35#Rope)4x10
(LegRaise)3x12
PT
80mins + 10 w/u + 14 PT = 104 mins

Waited for Sarah to get home from work and we went to the gym for a push WO. OHP was good. I only had 3x5 heavy written in, but did 4 heavy sets followed by 2 lighter sets (same reps as last WO). First heavy set felt easy and I thought about bumping the weight. Glad I didn't 3rd and 4th set got HEAVY. "Heavy" incline was good, but had to work hard for last rep. Then I did paused incline. Started with 65#'s and got 8, but really worked. I wanted to try to get 8 reps across, and that wasn't going to happen w/ 65#'s, so I dropped to 60#'s. These felt AWESOME. Only had 3 sets written in, but did 4. I had 2 sets of flat bench written in, but scrapped that with all the OHP and incline volume.

Sarah and I both bumped weight on CGBP tonight (she also bumped on OHP). I did 3 heavy sets, but wanted more volume so dropped the weight for 2 more sets. First lighter set was great, but I completely died on the 2nd. Only got 7 reps and Sarah had to yank it up. Incline fly's felt really good tonight, so I added a 3rd set.

Finished up the WO with delt work, rope pushdowns and leg raises. We normally superset leg raises with CGBP, but gym was crowded and that didn't happen. I was spent, and getting hungry, and kinda grumpy. Sarah asked if we were going to do PT and I said "I'm done". But, we'd talked about committing to doing our PT again starting this week, so we went and did it. Glad she said something because I wasn't going to do it. Felt a little bad I was getting grumpy toward the end of the WO. I was tired, hungry and had a splitting headache. I'll have to apologize for that.

Despite that last bit of grumpiness, it was a great WO.

Nutrition:

I weighed 178.4 this morning. Not used to working out late in the evening like that, and I'm having to force a bunch of food in late tonight to meet calorie requirements. Not that I mind eating a bunch...

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Sun 1/12 - Lower/Back/Core

Workout: (LA Fitness)
(RDL)185x8,225x4,245x8,265x8,8,8 Great, PR!
(LegPress)4PLx25,25,25,25
(Pullups)3x8
(145#Pulldown)2x10
(50#SeatRow)3x12
(LegRaise)4x10
(T-twist)15,15,12,10
(175#Crunch)4x10
(Bicycle)4x20
(85#BBCurl)3x8
88mins

Sarah and I went to the gym this morning and my legs were still feeling our lower WO from earlier in the week (my legs take FOREVER to recover lately). So, I thought we'd do a couple sets each of RDL and leg press, then we wanted to do a few pullups to see where Sarah stood. We'd just been doing pulldowns for a few weeks, so wanted a "checkpoint". So basically, MY plan was for today to not be TOO TERRIBLy taxing. 

RDL's started good and I bumped up the weight to 265#'s. I'd never been this heavy on RDL and I got 3 sets of 8. Could've gone heavier.  Very nice. Next we did leg press and I warmed up with 2 plates. First couple of reps felt like they were going to crater me. Then I rememered I didn't do any kind of warmup on the treadmill like I normally do on leg days. After a few reps, I started to loosen up and it felt better. I stuck with 4 plates and did real high reps and kept form real strict (no hand assists). These were brutal. It's not a lot of weight, but high reps is a killer. Sarah also did less weight than normal and I think she felt the same way.

Ok, so we grabbed a chair for Sarah so she could reach the pullup bar and off she went. 3 full range of motion body weight pullups. When we started I don't think she could do one. She did 3-4 sets of 3 reps. Great work for her. Very happy to see her hard work pay off. It's a big deal to do body weight pullups. I did 3x8 easy to save the elbows. After pullups we did 2 sets of pulldowns for some more volume for Sarah. Then we did 3 sets of seated rows.

This WO had become a killer already. Basically a full body WO, less the pressing.  Up next was a devilish little core circuit I wrote up this morning. It turned out to be great, but really brutal.  We did 4 circuits of Leg Raise, Torture-Twists, Cable Crunch, Bicycle's. We finished the WO off w/ some
heavy barbell curls.

Awesome WO. Very pleased with RDL. Very impressed w/ Sarah's progression, and it was nice to see what we're doing working. Plus, I could tell she was happy. Big smiles after pullups :)

Nutrition:

I weighed 177.8 this morning which isn't bad considering lunch out w/ the boys and big sushi dinner. Going to be eating a lot today too.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Sat 1/11 - Push Day (Paused pressing)

Workout: LA Fitness
(125#OHP)4x5
(95#OHP)10,9

(75#DBInc)8,8,7,6
(65#DBBench)8,7,55x10Paused
(55#DBInc)2x10Paused
(165#DecCGBP)9,8,8
(LegRaise)3x15
(35#IncFly)2x10
(35#Rope)3x12
(10#LatDelt)4x10
(30#FrontDelt)3x8
(10#RearDelt)2x10
(Crunch)12,10,8
(Bicycle)60
97 mins + 12 w/u = 109 mins

Sarah and I went to the gym this morning for a big push WO. Started w/ OHP and only did 4 heavy sets, followed by 2 "lighter" sets. These were tough and not sure I would've gotten 5x5 with 125#'s this morning. I didn't want to kill myself on OHP because I wanted to do 75#'s on incline again and I knew that was going to be tough...and it was. I was hoping for a little closer to 4x8, but worked really hard. Bench felt REALLY heavy so I dropped the weight by 10#'s and did a set of paused reps.

Paused reps are what they sound like. I bring the weight down to chest, pause for 1-2 seconds and then press explosively (if possible). These felt AWESOME! They felt so good, I inclined the bench up a notch and did 2 sets of incline paused presses. These were absolutely great and I felt it in my chest more than I've ever felt incline before. I'm DEFINITELY going to be mixing up heavy reps and paused reps, if not just do all paused reps. To do that I'll have to swallow my ego a bit because much lighter weights have to be used.

Whoa! Chest and tri's were WORKED with the above pressing. Next up was decline close grip bench press and I didn't know if I'd much left for it. I kept the weight normal and didn't lose many reps. Really pleased w/ that. Supersetted with leg raises as usual. For some more chest volume we did 2 sets of incline chest fly's supersetted with rope pushdowns. I was done at this point (if not before). Managed to get through some more accessory work: lateral delts, front delts, rear delts and some more ab work.

Fantastic WO. Love the combo of heavy/"light" OHP and heavy/paused incline and bench. Will continue with this and see what happens.

Nutrition:
I weighed 177.0 this morning. After the WO I got cleaned up and took Gregg and Hayden to Jackson's at Reston Town Center for lunch for Gregg's birthday. Didn't go too crazy, but had some calamari, grilled mahi mahi on risotto/mushroom mix. Probably a bunch of cream in that. Wish it would've just been on wild rice w/ some veggies.  Gregg liked the wallet I gave him for his bday, and what I put inside it :)
Annual winter dinner party in Sarah's court with neighbors tonight. I could be fairly rollie pollie tomorrow.  This progressive dinner party was the first time Sarah and I went on a "date" last year, but at that time it wasn't really a date. I'd just met her 3-4 days earlier.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Fri 1/10 - Pull Day

Thursday 1/9 -  Rest day
Rested today because it's time for a rest day, and because Fri/Sat/Sun are all going to be big WO days.  Good nutrition day, cals down a bit because rest day.



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 203 378 37  2,683
  Calories 812 1513 335  2,661
  Percent 31% 57% 13% `

Friday 1/10 - Pull Day
Workout: Golds
(185#BOR)4x8
(135#BOR)4x10

(Pullups)4x8
(CableCrunch)4x12
(80#IsoRow)4x10
(40#IncCurl)8,8,35x8,25x15,12
(RevGripPull)3x8
(10#RDelt)3x10
(CableCurl)4x15
69 mins + 10 w/u = 79 mins

I went to Golds this morning and warmed up. Part of my warmup was to do a few pullups. I haven't done any pullups in a couple of weeks due to my elbow and have been focusing on pulldowns because they seem easier on them. Anyway, normally I fly up to the bar w/ body weight pullups. 2 warmup reps didn't feel real easy. Today might not be fun...

Bent over row is still my focus pulling movement and 185#'s felt real heavy again today. Hasn't felt "easy" since the first time I bumped to this weight. I did 4 sets and was having to use a bit more body english (i.e. cheating) than I'd like, so I dropped to 135 and did 4 very strict sets with pause on the floor. Combined, these were GREAT!(20mins). Next were pullups, and they were actually pretty good after I was warmed up. I did 4 sets of really controlled reps. I didn't do a 5th to spare my elbow, and because I kinda pussed out. Supersetted these w/ cable crunches.(15/35mins).

Next I hit the Iso row machine for 4 sets and supersetted with incline curls. Curls were heavy and I wanted to get higher reps after the 1st couple of sets, so I dropped weight and ended w/ 2 high-rep sets. Bi's were on fire and cramping on last set.(20/55mins). My back must've been spent, because normal weight for reverse grip pulls felt real heavy. Dropped weight on 2nd and again for 3rd set. Supersetted w/ rear delt fly's with 10# plates again. Workout was done, but I've been wanting to try cable curls, but it seems like such a pussy isolation move. The gym was pretty empty so I gave them a shot.  Well, more than a shot. I did 4 sets, but really most of that was because it took a couple sets to get the feel for the movement and weight right. I liked 'em, but not something I'd do often.

Really good WO. One thing I've noticed, is that I feel like my back has progressed much better and faster than my chest. It's frustrating because my upper chest is lagging, IMO, and I've been trying to focus on it for a while now.  And then my back just grows, gets more defined, thicker and stronger. Exactly what I wish my chest were doing.  Then I got to thinking about it.  When I do back/pull/row work, I really hit it with a lot of volume. Normally a couple different vertical pulls (pullups/pulldowns) and couple horitontal pulls (BOR/T-bar/IsoRow/SeatRow) with 3-4 sets each of 8-10 reps. That adds up to quite a bit of volume compared to chest which is normally limited to incline, bench, maybe some fly's. That volume pales in comparison to back. I think it's pretty obvious what I need to do :)

Nutrition:
I weighed 178.0 this morning. Ate a lot and maintained about 3,000 cals again. Fat still a bit low, but I just haven't been willing to sacrifice carbs for fat. And, since I'm at a caloric surplus, I'm trying to keep fat low even though I think I could use more. I think I should really be more in the 50-60gram range, minimum.



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 243 405 34  2,923
  Calories 971 1619 308  2,898
  Percent 34% 56% 11% `

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Wed 1/8 - Lower (Great RDL)

Workout: (LA Fitness)
(RDL)185x8,225x8,245x8,8,8,8 Great!
(LegPress)4PLx25,6PLx5x20 V. Good. High reps were brutal!
(60#LegCurl)3x10
(35#LegExt)2x10
53 mins + 20 w/u = 73 mins

Went to the gym tonight with Sarah after work. Holy crap it was packed. Found a treadmill to warm up on for 10+ mins. Went downstairs and the 2 leg press machines were taken, so we started with RDL tonight. Felt great. Warmed up with 185, then first working set at 225#'s felt pretty easy. I bumped up the weight to 245#s and did 4 sets. Kinda wanted to do a 5th set, but this was enough. This was some good work. By this time, a leg press machine opened up so we jumped in. Since we were sharing the press, I only used 6 plates so we didn't have to change so many out every time we swapped turns. Despite the lighter weight, this was a shit ton of work. I did 1 warmup set of 4 plates x 25 reps and then did 5 sets of 20 reps with 6 plates. Talk about a burn in the quads! Did the reps with a good quick tempo, not locking out at the top to keep tension on. These are killers. Sarah agreed once she started using the same technique :)

Leg extensions next up, but quads were on fire, so we did leg curls (hamstrings) first and then I finished up with 2 quick sets of leg extensions.

We didn't have a ton of time tonight (no time for abs), but the first two movements (RDL & leg press) were the meat of the WO and both were really good. I was very pleased with RDL tonight.

Nutrition:
I weighed 177.0 this morning. Fairly good nutrition day today and kept the cals at about 3,000 again today. Upped the fat with some peanut butter and almonds. Still not high enough though.  Trying to fuel some growth :)



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 234 408 51  3,016
  Calories 936 1633 457  3,026
  Percent 31% 54% 15% `

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Tue 1/7 - GBR Upper

Mon 1/6 - Rest day. 
Ate about 2,600 cals. Weight was 179.2. That's fairly heavy for me, but not feeling pudgy really at all.  Bought a pair of 34" waist jeans and had to return them and get 32" one's. Nice to be close to 180 pounds and still be in smaller jeans than I wore in college, even late in high school

Tue 1/7 - GBR Upper
Workout: IronBound 12/24
(115#OHP)7,6,6,6,95#x10 Very good.
(155#BOR)4x10 Good
(Inc)70x8,75x8,7,6 Weight bump - good
(170#Pulldown)4x8 Weight bump

(LegRaise)3x12
(70#OHTri)12,11
(40#IncCurl)10,9
(10#LatDelt)2x15
(10#RearDelt)2x10
(35#IncFly)3x10
(35#Rope)12/5,5,5,4
75 mins + 10 w/u = 85 mins

Lightened up overhead press today for some higher volume sets. They didn't turn out to be much higher volume, but felt good. Was hoping for sets of 7, but couldn't hold those reps. So, I dropped to 95 for a 5th set and getting 10 was tough.(14mins). I lightened BOR a bit too as 185 felt real heavy last WO. 155 felt good, but 10 reps across sets was real work. (13/27mins). I started with my regular (lately) 70# DB's for incline, and first set felt fairly easy so I bumped to 75#'s. These were NOT easy and reps dropped off after 2nd set. Good work and hopefully I can work back up to 4x8 with 75's. (13/40mins). I bumped weight up on pulldowns and reps were good (and tough). Supersetted these with leg raises.(12/52mins).  That made up the bulk of my WO today. Note it includes a vertical press, vertical pull, horizonal press & horizontal pull. Balance...

The rest of the WO was some accessory stuff. OH tri's were good. I did incline fly's for the first time in a long while and they felt good. Not much to note about the rest.  Very good WO. Exhausting though. I didn't work out until later in the day and I don't think I ate near enough to fuel this WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 177.6 this morning. I want to keep maintenance to slight bulking calories for now and ride this wave of great WO's and hopefully some growth. I'm getting stronger on main lifts, so good things going on while not packing on a lot of fat. Good nutrition day today, other than the fact that I probably need significantly more fat in my diet and less carbs.



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 228 450 27  2,974
  Calories 913 1800 241  2,954
  Percent 31% 61% 8% `

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Sun 1/5 - Pull Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(185#BOR)5x8 Good - felt REALLY heavy today
(135#BOR)2x10
(160#Pulldown)5x8
(90#IsoRow)3x10
(40#IncCurl)9,8,8
(65#SeatRow)2x10
(145#RevGripPull)4x10
(HangLegRaise)4x10 Good - real high raises
(10#RDelt)4x12
(85#BBCurl)7,7,6
(Crunch)12,12,10
(Bicycle)60
96 mins + 10 w/u = 106 mins

Sarah and I started with bent over rows and 185#'s felt heavy as hell today. Much heavier than last WO. I think RDL's were still in my back from Friday. They were still good, but had to us a little more body english than I'd like. The drop sets at 135 felt great.(19mins). Pulldowns were good. Have to get back to some pullups, plus I'd like to see where Sarah stands on them now that we've been doing a fair amount of back/pull work the last couple weeks. We used the iso row machine at LA Fitness today, and I just don't like how it feels very much (golds is better), so we did 2 sets of seated rows after these. I went too heavy, and Sarah pointed out that I was leaning back too much (good partner). We supersetted incline curls w/ the iso rows. These were good, but heavy. 

Reverse grip pulldowns were good and I supersetted with hanging leg raises. Abs are getting stronger and did raises really high and controlled. Hell on my shoulders and elbows though. I did rear delts standing w/ 10# plates again. These seem to hit 'em well. Supersetted with heavy barbell curls. I should switch these earlier in the routing every other WO.  Finished up w/ crunches, alternating one leg raised at a time and finished off the abs with 60 bicycles. These really finish them off and burn lower abs.

Another really good WO. Not as pleased with BOR today, but got the job done.

Sarah and I took a few videos in the gym today. Sarah's back is getting pretty defined. I showed her the video and she was impressed. Glad to see what we are doing is working for her and she also seems to be enjoying working out with me a lot. She's a good partner, but I have to give her a bit of a hard time now and then when she pouts if she misses reps in a set. :)

Nutrition:
I weighed 175.2 this morning. Ate a lot today to help recover (build) from the last 3 big WO's Fri-Sun. Didn't want weight dropping so low this morning. I may have over compensated today with sushi, a fair amount of eating and then shrimp stir fry at Sarah's w/ her family.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Sat 1/4 - Push Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(125#OHP)5x5 Wt. bump. Very good

(85#OHP)11,9
(70#DBInc)4x8 Good
(65#DBBench)10,9,8
(165#DecCGBP)10,9,8,8 Very good
(LegRaise)4x15
(10#LatDelt)3x12
(30#FrontDelt)3x8
(30#Rope)15/+5,5,5,5
(160#ChestFly)2x12
79 mins + 10 w/u = 89 mins

I bumped the weight on OHP and every rep from the start felt pretty heavy. Very pleased I got all sets at 5 reps. Started each set at 2.5 mins.The drop sets were really good for some more volume. After pushing pretty hard on OHP, I warmed up w/ 50# dumbbells for incline and they felt HEAVY. I almost didn't try sets with 70#'s. Glad I did because I was able to get 4 good sets w/ them. If I can hold the weight w/ incline as I keep progressing with OHP, I'll be thrilled. That's the goal for this pressing training block.  Bench was also good today. Lots of good pressing.

Decline close grip was good today, but I can't yet get sets of 10 across. I'll keep trying, but triceps are fairly fried by this point. Supersetted with leg raises here.  I did lateral delts with 10# plates again, keeping them really controlled. These seem to stimulate the delts better than heavier DB's. I also lowered the weigth on front delt raises because I felt last time I was swinging the weight up too much.  Good delt work.

Finished up the WO with myo-rep rope pushdowns and 2 sets of chest fly's.  Great push WO again today. Very pleased with how WO's are going lately.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.0 this morning. I'm probably back down from huge carb load during vacation, but ate a lot today. I should stabilize next week when back at work full time and see where I stand at that point. No hard cut in the near future.



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 214 370 45  2,741
  Calories 857 1479 407  2,743
  Percent 31% 54% 15% `

Friday, January 3, 2014

Fri 1/3 - Lower

Workout: (LA Fitness)
(LegPress)8PLx4x15 Good
(235#RDL)5x8 Weight bump. Very good
(35#LegExt)3x10
(55#LegCurl)3x10 Weight bump
(LegRaise)3x15
50 mins + 20 w/u = 70 mins

Warmed up well on the treadmill and did warmup sets on leg press of 2Platesx20, 4PLx15, 6PLx15 and then did 8plates 4x15 for my working sets. 6 plates didn't feel quite as easy warming up as the last WO, but I went with 8 plates anyway and glad I did. These felt good. Started sets every 2.5 minutes, so did that work in 10 mins, but rested a good couple of 3-4 minutes before moving into Romanian Deadlifts.

I warmed up on RDL w/ 135# and then 185#. I bumped the working set weight to 235#'s today and it felt really good. I was considering doing one additional heavier set of 5 reps, but lower back has been a little tender, so I played it safe. Very good work. Some issues with calluses that I need to shave off tomorrow.

Finished off the WO with one-legged leg extension and then leg curls (bumped weight by 5#'s on leg curls). Leg curls were supersetted w/ leg raises. I did hanging leg raises today. These seem to work better than using the captain chair, but they are just hell on my elbows and shoulders.  Another very solid lower WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.8 this morning. Fairly good nutrition day today.



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 229 378 36  2,763
  Calories 914 1511 320  2,745
  Percent 33% 55% 12% `

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Thu 1/2 - Rest Day

Much needed rest day. Rest from heavy workout load, and rest from heavy eating!  I weighed 179.0 this morning. Gotta reign it back in a bit, but not ready to start cutting yet. I want to drop a little carb weight and stabilize, then go from there.  I'm making good strength gains and want to keep that going for a bit.

Nutrition:
I weighed 179.0 this morning. Ate cleaner and leaner today (that wasn't hard compared to the last two weeks though...)



Prot Carb Fat Cal
TOTALS: Grams 217 273 27  2,206
  Calories 867 1091 242  2,199
  Percent 39% 50% 11% `

Wed 1/1 - WO & 5K Race

WO: Press and Core (LA Fitness)
(SmithOHP)95#x15, 115#x10,10
(60#Inc)3x10
15mins

Core Circuit:
(CableCrunch)5x10
(LegRaise)5x10
(25#RussianTwist)5x12
(Crunch)8,6,6,6,10
(Bicycle)0,0,0,20,20
Started each circuit at 4 mins = 20 mins

Sarah and I went to the gym early so we could get a WO in before the New Years day 5k race. We'd been in the gym the last 3 days with WO's of Legs (Sun), Push (mon), Pull (Tue) so I didn't know exactly what we should do in the gym, but wanted to start the new year with a WO. So, we did a little pressing and a great core circuit.  The smith overhead press was great. It really isolates the shoulders. First set was too light, but next weight was great. We both had to go lighter than normal on incline because of OHP and because we were using very short rests due to time constraints.  Ab circuit was really good. Mental note: Start with leg raises so abs are fresher each circuit.

Race: 2014 Rotary Resolution 5k & 10k
Results: http://www.amazingracetiming.com/results/2014/2014-rotary-resolution-5k-10k/249-results-5k.html

The race was fun. Cold, but nice day for it. Race started at 10:30am which gave us time for the gym in the morning before hand.  Sarah ran with me, but she could've run faster. Neither of us had been running much since she did the Richmond marathon because we've both been dealing with IT band issues.  Our first mile was 8:18 and my quads were dead already. They were still sore from heavy leg day on Sunday. I'd gone heavier than I had in months and just didn't recover. I don't know the other splits, but I think 2nd mile was pretty slow.  We both finished first in our age groups in 26:34, me in the "old man" division, her in the young pup division :) 
Great was to start the new year. After the race we stopped by her folks house to say Happy New Year and then went for Sushi at our favorite place, Dolce coffee and sushi shop.