Saturday, February 28, 2015

Fri 2/27 - SD Full Body

Workout: LA Fitness
(65#DBShldr)8,7,7 - Great!
(135#BOR)3x10
(8PlLegPress)3x12
(CaptChair)11,10,10
(65#Inc)3x8
(180#PullDn)3x8
(85#LegCurl)3x12
(10#Crunch)3x10/10
(65#RopeExt)2x12
(10#RDelt)2x12
(75#UprightRow)2x12
(85#LDelt)2x10

59 + 10 w/u = 69mins

Awesome shoulder press, 3 more reps than last WO (which I felt was really good too). I supersetted shoulder press with BOR's. Not real heavy, but strict form. Felt good. Then supresetted leg press w/ 8 plates for sets of 12 with leg raises in the Capt. chair. 25mins

Incline was OK. R shoulder/pec still real problematic, so just did 3 sets of 8 paused reps. Supersetted with pulldowns.  Then I supersetted leg curls with crunches. 21/46mins

Supersetted rope extensions with rear delt raises. Then Supersetted upright rows with lateral delt raises. 13/59mins

Excellent WO. Need to do something more than leg curls for ham/glute work. Something like SLDL's or DB swings.

Nutrition:
I weighed 185.6 this morning.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Wed 2/25 - Upper (light)

Workout: Work Gym
(45#DBShldr)3x12
(50#SealRow)3x10
(HangLegRaise)3x10
(55#Inc)10,10,12 - Paused partials
(75#DBRow)3x10
(15#LDelt)15,13
(30#HCurl)2x10
(70#UprightRow)2x10

32 + 5 w/u = 37 mins

Wanted to hit the gym and do something light and quick. I got the quick part down, but with short rests during this WO, the weights probably weren't as light as they should've been assuming I WO again tomorrow, hitting same muscle groups 3 days in a row. Maybe I'll take tomorrow off and WO Fri/Sun. Saturday is out.

Anyway, triple-setted shoulder press, seal rows and hanging leg raises. Press and rows felt really good, especially in light of yesterday's WO. Leg raises sucked. Kills my elbows and forearms. Need an alternative lower ab solution. 14mins

Incline and DB rows were good. On incline, I paused each rep and ony went about 4/5 of the way to lockout, keeping constant tesnion on pecs. So, while the weight was light, I felt great activation in my pecs. DB rows felt heavy on short rests. 11/25mins.

Finished up the WO with 2 sets of lateral delts, hammer curls and upright rows, done essentially as a circuit w/ no rest. 7/32 mins.  That's a heck of a WO in under 40 mins including warmup.

Nutrition:
I weighed 184.0 this morning.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Tue 2/24 - Stripped Down Full Body

Workout: Work Gym
(65#DBShldr)7,6,6 - Very good
(175#SmBOR)3x8
(200#LegPress)3x15
(65#Inc)10,10,9
(150#PullDn)3x8
(85#LegCurl)2x15
(10#CrunchTwist)2x15
(Dips)2x12
(58#PushDn)12,10

42 + 8 w/u = 50mins

Didn't have a lot of time and won't have time for a WO tomorrow so I did a stripped down full body WO. I started first group with DB shoulder press and bumped up weight to 65#DB's. Was pleased with 7,6,6 for reps. Supersetted with smith BOR's where I bumped the weight from previous WO's also and no cheat reps. Finished first group with leg press. (19mins)

Started group 2 with a superset of incline and pulldowns. Incline wasn't heavy, but all paused reps. For legs in the 2nd group I just did leg curls. (34mins)

Accessory work were crunch twists, dips and pushdowns.  Awesome WO. Some good work in a short time. (42mins)

Nutrition:

I weighed 184.2 this morning.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Sun 2/22 - Upper

Workout: LA Fitness
(75#Inc)8,8,8,65x10
(55#SealRow)10,9,9,9
(CaptChair)10,10,10,9
(50#IsoShldr)4x10
(65#BBCurl)2x10,30#x12
(58#SeatRow)3x10
(CrunchTwist)23,15,15
(145#PullDn)2x10
(80#LDelt)3x10
(65#RopeExt)12,10,9
(10#RDelt)3x10

78 + 11 w/u = 89 mins

Sarah and I went to the gym this morning after a day off during snow storm. Started with incline and this was my 3rd upper WO of the week so I went a little lighter. I mistakenly thought this was going to be easy and did paused reps. First set of 8 was tough on my R shoulder. I continued the next 2 sets paused and controlled, but didn't pause each rep quite as long as first set. Did one back off long paused set.  We supersetted seal rows and leg raises. I did seal rows on the incline bench today because I tweaked my back the other day, and these are easier on the back when chest supported.

Next we did shoulder press on the iso-lateral machine. The twist today was that we did them "backwards" facing the seat.  The setup on this machine if used conventionally is really more of an incline press.  When done facing the seat, they really focus on the shoulders. Supersetted these with curls. I did 2 sets of barbell curls (fist time doing these in perhaps 4 months) and a set of hammer curls. Barbell curls were hard on my elbows/forearms.

Next we did seated cable rows supersetted with crunches. My abs died after the first set of these.  We then supersetted pulldowns and rear delts, then finished the WO with some triceps and rear delt work.  Really good WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 184.0 this morning.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Fri 2/20 - Upper

Workout: LA Fitness
(60#DBShldr)11,9,7,45x10 Good
(135#BOR)4x10
(60#Inc)3x8
(60#SealRow)11,10
(58#UprightRow)12,11
(58#Rope)2x10
(10#RDelt)2x10
(190#Fly)2x10
(10#CrunchTwist)22,20

51 + 10 w/u = 61 mins

Shoulder press was good. First set was great, 2nd set good, 3rd set ok. Just started fading w/ the R shoulder. Probably pushed a bit too hard on first set. Dropped to 45#'s for a 4th set of paused reps.  I supersetted these with barbell BOR, which I hadn't done in a while. Good controlled reps. Next was incline. R shoulder was bothersome so I kept each set to 8 reps. I was going to superset w/ pullups but I did one and it bothered my elbows so I just bagged that idea and moved on.

I supersetted seal rows and upright rows, then rope pushdowns and rear delt fly's. Finished up with fly's and crunches. Last set of fly's was really tough on my R shoulder/pec. Decent WO.

Nutrition:

I weighed 186.0 this morning.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Tue 2/17 - Upper

Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)10,8,8 - Good
(165#SeatRow)10,10,8
(CaptChair)3x11
(45#ISoShldr)3x10
(30#HammerCurl)3x10
(190#PullDn)8,8,130x12
(10#CrunchTwist)20,18,16
(65#PushDn)2x12
(15#RDelt)2x10

54 + 8 w/u = 62 mins

Sarah had a snow day so we were able to get over to the gym during lunch. Incline was good. Kept the 80's real controlled. Shoulder felt good most of the 3 sets. We were only doing 3 working sets of most things today (instead of 4 on some movements) to keep the WO to about an hour. I noticed that my shoulder felt much better throughout the WO. Pretty sure this is where I need to keep volume for a while. That 4th set, especially with the heavier weights, gets to be too much and I end up grinding out reps I probably shouldn't which is really hard on an already messed up shoulder. Anyway, was pleased with incline effort and how my shoulder felt.

Supersetted seated row and leg raises in the capt. chair.  We did iso shoulder machine rather than DB shoulder press (easier on shoulders). We supersetted curls with them. Then we supersetted pulldowns with crunches. 190 proved to be a little too heavy today, so I dropped weight for more volume (and better form) on last set. Finished up with some quick triceps and rear delt work. Great WO in an hour!

Nutrition:
I weighed 183.6 this morning. I was up over 186 over the weekend.

Sun-Mon, 2/15-16 - Rest days and Kitchen Painting

Took a couple days off because Sarah and I finally took on the kitchen improvement project we'd been wanting to do. It was freezing in the single digits a lot of the weekend with highs in the teens, so it was a good weekend to stay inside and tackle this project.

The plan was to make chalk paint by mixing latex paint, plaster of paris and water and use that so we could distress the cabinets a bit to give them an antique look. After about 4 coats of chalk paint and some additional research about finishing the cabinets over the chalk paint, we discovered that a lot of people had significant issues with finishes over the chalk paint. We were planning on using a wood wax, but that takes several coats and needs to be re-applied every couple of months. Ummm, NO, not happening.  Polyurethane...difficult and messy.  Another NO. So, in the end, we painted over the 4 coats of chalk paint with straight latex.

We were disappointed at first, and wasted a LOT of time (a full day probably) with the chalk paint, but the finished cabinets look great. We also replaced all the hardware, including the hinges that needed new holes drilled to secure. My forearms were killing me after all the sanding, painting and screwing in all the hinges.

Here are some before, during and after pics.  Oh, and it turns out Sarah and I work well together and didn't want to kill each other. Often. :)














Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Sat 2/14 - Push Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(60#DBShldr)11,9,8,7 - Good
(60#Inc)11,10,9
(Dips)12,11,10
(CaptChair)3x10
(70#LDelt)3x13
(10#CrunchTwist)20,18,18
(65#RopeExt)3x10
(58#CableUprightRow)3x10
(58#Rope)2x12
(190#Fly)2x11

82 + 8 w/u = 90 mins

Sarah and I did a push WO today. Started w/ DB shoulder press and it was great. Dropped reps progressively, but that's expected and great work. Don't know that I've ever gotten 11 reps /60's before. Incline was good. Shoulder started hurting. Supersetted dips and leg raises. Supersetted later delt on machine with crunch twists. Supersetted rope extensions and upright rows. Did upright rows on cable pull today. Did some rope extensions for some more triceps work and finished WO w/ some fly's. Good WO.

Nutrition:

I weighed 183.6 this morning.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Thu 2/12 - Lower/Core

Workout: Work Gym
(SmSquat)95x12,115x10,135x10,10
(HangLegRaise)4x10
(70#LegExt)3x12
(85#LegCurl)3x10
(10#CrunchTwist)18,16,16,16

31 + 5 w/u = 36 mins

Short time for a leg WO. Work crazy busy today.  I warmed up with some light squats in the smith machine going real low (ATG - Ass To Grass) and it felt good so I decided to do squats instead of leg press today. I kept the weight light but got my legs out fairly far in front and went real low. Doesn't take a lot of weight to get quads and glutes screaming mad. I supersetted these with hanging leg raises. These hurt like hell on my elbows and shoulders - especially bad today, but good ab work.

Next I triple-setted leg extensions, leg curls and crunches with a twist. I bumped the weight on leg curls and extensions from last WO. Short WO, but it did the job.

Nutrition:
I weighed 183.8 this morning.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Tue 2/10 - Upper (work gym)

Workout: work gym
(60#DBShldr)8,9,9,8
(145#BOR)4x12
(60#Inc)10,10,11
(138#PullDn)3x10
(70#UprightRow)3x10
(RDeltFly)60x10,50x11,10
(68#PushDn)3x12
(10#CrunchTwist)3x16
(30#HammerCurl)3x12

54 + 8 w/u = 62 mins

Hit work gym in the morning before day got away from me. R shoulder didn't feel great on first set of shoulder press, but felt better after that. I bumped the weight and reps on BOR in the smith machine. Felt great. Pleased with this superset. Next I supersetted incline with pulldowns. Didn't go heavy on incline, but paused each rep and really tried to focus on using pecs to push the weight. Pulldowns felt heavy, and I went light.

Then I supersetted upright rows with rear delt fly's. I started with 60#'s on flys and had to drop to 50. Finished up with a combo of pushdowns, crunches and hammer curls. I'm loving the new twist on crunches. I crunch and do a dynamic stwis to one side, alternating sides on each crunch. Killer on the abs. I added a set (3) to curls today. Still only doing hammer curls though because they're easier on the elbows. Reall good work in an hour.

Nutrition:
I weighed 184.0 this morning. Feeling OK at this weight. Trying to maintain between here and 187 and "grow into this weight" and fighting the urge each Monday morning to start cutting. We'll see. Won't be too much longer before I'll have to strip some fat off before Spring comes.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Sun 2/8 - Pull Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(165#SeatRow)4x8,115x12
(10#Crunch)20,18,18,18,20
(190#PullDn)3x8,130x15
(65#SealRow)3x10
(30#HCurl)2x12
(15#RDelt)2x10
(50#SeatRow)3x12
(100#RDeltFly)2x10

63 mins + 5 w/u = 68 mins

Great Pull day. I bumped the weight on nearly every exercise again. Seated row was good for 4 heavy sets and one back off set. I supersetted with crunches, with a twist. I put a 10# plate on my chest (as normal) and then on every crunch, I do a quick explosive twist to one side, then alternate to the next side on the next crunch. These feel GREAT! Seem to really work the abs in a more dynamic way. Next I did pulldowns and bumped up the weight for 3 heavy sets plus one backoff.

I bumped the weight on Seal Rows and did 3 great sets. These were heavy, but good. Then I supersetted hammer curls with rear delt fly's using DB's. Still trying to work some curls back into the WO. I decided to do some more seated rows on a standard cable pull machine. I went light on these and squeezed at contraction on each rep. They started very easy and got hard. FInisehd  up with more rear delt work with fly's using the machine. Awesome pull/back WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 185.6 this morning. Weight is getting up there, but I'm still carrying it fairly well.

Sat 2/7 - Push Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)11,8,7
(55#IsoShldr)10,10,10,9
(CaptChair)4x12
(55#Inc)10,10,9
(75#OHTri)9,9,9
(80#UprightRow)3x11
(190#Fly10,11
(70#LDelt)12,12,10

65 + 12 w/u = 77 mins

Sarah and I did a push WO today. Incline started off great w/ 11 reps first set. Then my shoulder became the limiting factor and I got reps of 8 & 7. Wanted to do 4 sets, but couldn't do it. Next we started with DB shoulder press. Warmup didn't feel bad, but when I grabbed 60# DB's, my R shoulder just couldn't do it today. I dropped weight to 50#'s and still couldn't do it. We switched to the Iso Shoulder Press machine. I got 4 good sets, but this machine is more of a really steep incline than a true shoulder press. We supersetted with leg raises.  We went back to incline and I went light and did all paused reps. This was still good work w/ the pauses despite the light weight.

Then we supersetted DB overhead triceps extensions and upright rows. Finished up with machine fly's and lateral delts. For lateral delts we used a machine today and I liked it much better than doing them with DB's.  Fairly good WO.

Nutrition:

I weighed 183.6 this morning.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Thu 2/5 - Lower/Core (Work Gym)

Workout: Work Gym
(135#SLDL)4x10
(HangLegRaise)4x10 - Forearms screaming
(190#LegPress)4x15
(10#Crunch)4x10/10
(60#LegExt)2x15
(70#LegCurl)2x15
(Plank)2,1,1,1

48 + 4 w/u = 52mins

Still feeling beat up from my last Upper WO but wanted to do something today so I did a lower and core WO at the work gym over lunch. My forearms specifically are killing me. It's not so much my elbows as my forearms right now. It's painful to grip anything, hold the steering wheel while driving, anything. Anyway, on to the WO. I did SLDL for some hamstring and posterior chain work supersetted with hanging leg raises. Leg raises were tough due to grip and forearms. I tried a couple different grips to get through 4 sets of 10. Other than grip, leg raises felt good. SLDL in the smith machine were just OK. Next I supersetted leg press with crunches. The last set of crunches I did on an exercise ball.

Then I did leg extensions and leg curls. Both burned! Finished up with a plank series of front, side, side, front. Decent leg work. Good ab work.

Nutrition:
I weighed 182.4 this morning.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Tue 2/3 - Upper (Work gym)

Workout: Work Gym
(60#DBShldr)10,10,8,8 - Very good
(135#BOR)4x10
(55#Inc)10,11,11
(150#PullDn)3x8
(75#UprightRow)3x12
(50#RDeltFly)3x10
(68#PushDn)3x12
(10#Crunch)10/10/10,10/10/8

49 + 6 w/u = 55 mins

Hit the work gym at lunch. My R shoulder has still been really problematic with pressing and I thought a break from heavy incline might help. So, I started with DB shoulder press. Shoulder felt good warming up, so I went heavier than anticipated and got 4 really good sets. I think my best recent WO with these was 60#'s x 9,9,8,7, so I did much better.  I supersetted with Bent Over Rows. My back and lats were still really sore from heavy 5x5 deadlift, so I didn't go very heavy on rows. No cheating on these reps and I paused and squeezed on each rep at contraction. These felt awesome. Very pleased with this superset. Next I supersetted incline with pulldowns. I was warming up on incline and realized I wasn't going to be able to go heavy at all because of my shoulder, and because of heavy shoulder presses. I controlled the reps and paused at the bottom for each one. This wasn't heavy but really good work. I had to lighten the weight on pulldowns twice. My back is still fried. Can't believe I'm feeling the deadlifts in my lats this much. I must be doing something wrong :)

Next I supersetted upright rows with rear delt fly's. Both were good. Finished up with some triceps and ab work. Great WO. Not much fluff. Very pleased.

Nutrition:I weighed 181.2 this morning. This is down from 186.2 yesterday morning...and I ate almost 3K calories yesterday.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Sun 2/1 - Pull Day (w/ deadlift)

Workout: LA Fitness
(DeadLift)135x10,225x5,275x1,325x5,5,5,5,5
(160#SeatRow)8,8,8,115x10
(CaptChair)4x10
(6PlLegPress)3x20
(Crunch)3x10
(180#PullDn)10,9,9,120x10
(60#SealRow)2x10
(30#HCurl)2x10
(15#RDelt)2x10
(75#UprightRow)3x10
(10#RDelt)2x10

76 mins + 5 w/u = 81 mins

Brutal WO today. I bumped up the weight on DL by 10#'s for 5x5. Seated rows after deadlift was tough, but I got more reps than I thought. Supersetted rows with leg raises in the capt. chair - explosive up and tried to really control legs on the way down. I could really feel this in lower abs. Next we did leg press supersetted with crunches.

Pulldowns were good. 3 heavy sets with on back-off set with a good squeeze at the bottome. The light weight felt super easy for the first couple of reps but got really tough by the end. Good work. Seal rows were good. Next we supersetted a couple sets of hammer curls with rear delt raises. WO was done as written here, but we had a couple extra minutes so we did some upright rows and some more rear delt work.

Very good WO. Pleased with progression on DL. Deadlift, some leg work and full pull routine was a lot. I'm beat.

Nutrition:
I weighed 183.4 this morning.