Thursday 5/31 - Cardio

• Ran ~4.2 miles in 38:06.  First mile 10:02, last mile 7:59, middle 2 somewhere in the 9's.  Fairly "easy" pace, but didn't feel super easy.  Body needs a rest.  Beautiful weather day today.  Really didn't want to go to work after the morning run.  Might go out for a short walk to enjoy the nice evening.

Protein:
6:30AM Whey shake & creatine 30g
6:45 1/4 cup oatmeal 15carb, 3gprot 85cal
9:45 6 egg white, mushroom, spinach 100cal, 25g
12oz chicken from bar = 90g
12:30 Chicken, eggs and salad 40g
3:30 chicken & salad 30g
7:15 Chicken, peas, carrots, tomatoes 40g
10:30 Casein & whey shake 35g

Total: 200g

Wednesday 5/30 - Back/Shoulders/Bi's & Cardio

Cardio:

• Walked 43 minutes in the AM.  Nice morning, not as humid as last couple of day due to storm that rolled through last night.

Workout:

• (Pullups/Military/TortureTwist)3, Pullups 10,7,6.  50#Military
• (150#CloseLatPull/25#HCurl)3, Close lat drop set
• (20#LatRaise/RearDelt)4, dropped to 15#s after 2 sets
• (105#SeatedRow/20#Curl)3, dropped seated row weight each set
• (25#BackExt/CaptChair)3
• (15#IsoCurls)1, 30 reps
• (40#BentOverRows)3, one arm rows

43 mins

Back: 15
Shoulders: 11
Bi's: 7
Core: 6
Total:  39 sets

Comments:
Didn't have it today.  Motivation was so-so and just wasn't feeling it, so did less volume.  Pullups were hard, 10 on first set was even hard.  Wanted to bump military up in weight - today probably wasn't the right day to do it.  Did 50#s first two sets (7,5 reps), got 50#s up for third set and left shoulder wasn't having any of it.  Dropped to 45#s for 3rd set.  Still decent heavy military though.  Close lat pull downs were decent, did a drop set on 3rd set 150,90,60 really squeezing and holding.  Put 120#s on seated rows with rope and it felt like a ton, as did most things today.  Dropped to 105, then 90, then 75.  Still worked well with good form, but strength just not there.  Didn't superset core with lat pull/Hcurl combo I normally do to keep workout short, but added in captain chair leg raises with back extensions so I didn't completely ditch core.  Isolation curls felt really good.  Did bent over dumbbell rows for 1st time today.  Felt good and will do them again.  I avoided them before because I generally don't like exercises that you have to do one side, switch, do the other side.  Mainly due to cost(time)/benefit reasons.  These really didn't take too long.  Overall, a shorter workout with less volume, a little bit with lighter weight, but still solid even though energy just wasn't there.  I've strung together about 3-4 weeks of really great WO's and it's probably time for a break and my body might be telling me that.  Need to monitor.  I'll see how Friday goes and if energy still isn't there, the following week will have to be a down week.

Ate more carbs today due to lack of energy.  Some oatmeal in the morning, and 1 cup of brown rice split across 2 afternoon meals.

Protein:
6:15AM Whey shake & creatine 15g (half portion)
7:14 43 min walk
8:30 1/4cup oatmeal, pb, milk, casein, 20carb, 15g
10:45 WO - Back/shoulders/bi's
Noon 1/2 cup brown rice & tuna  & creatine 25g
12oz chicken from salad bar = 90g
12:30 2 egg whites, chicken, salad 20g
3:15 1/2 cup brown rice & chicken 40g
6:30 Chicken, cottage cheese & salad 40g
8:15 Chicken & cottage cheese 20g
10:30 Casein shake 30g

Total: 205g

My list of commonly eaten food items is growing:
1oz carrot 2.7g carb - 12 cal
1oz snap pea 2.1g carb - 12 cal
1oz broccoli 2g carb - 10 cal
1oz tomato 1.7g carb - 8 cal
1oz caulifloer 1.5g carb - 7 cal
1oz spinach 1.0g carb - 7 cal
1oz mushroom .9g carb - 6 cal
1oz sweet potato 6g carb - 26 cal
1oz brown rice 6.5 carb - 31 cal
1cup brown rice 45 carb, 5prot - 216cal
1/2cup oatmeal 27 carb, 5prot, 3fat - 150cal

1 Apple (large) 35carb, 140cal
1 Pear (large 8oz) 35carb, 140cal

1oz chicken 7-8g prot - 50 cal
1oz salmon 6g prot - 60 cal
1egg white 3.6g prot - 17 cal
1 4oz 95/5% burger patty 29g prot, 0carb, 7fat, 180cal
1 scoop whey protein 28g prot, 4carb, 1fat, 140cal
1 scoop casein protein 25g prot, 11carb, 1.5fat, 160cal

Tuesday 5/29 - Cardio

• Ran 4.3 miles in 38:48 (10:17, 8:42, 9:16, 8:22, 2:12), 9:00 pace, c/d 21:23.  Decent run I guess.  That first mile is steady uphill the whole way and still kills me getting into a rhythm.  Nice way to finish an out and back run though :).  Warm and humid already that early in the morning.  I guess summer is here.  Upcoming evening race is going to be tough if it's a hot day. 

 Protein:
6:30AM Whey shake & creatine (4carb, 30prot, 1fat, 140cal) 30g
7:15 4.3 mile run
8:30 1/4cup oatmeal (15carb, 3prot, 1fat, 75cal) 3g
10AM 4.3oz chicken and salad 30g
12oz chicken from bar = 90g
12:45PM Egg whites 10g
1PM Chicken & salad 25g
4:45 Chicken & salad 32g
8PM Jerky 15g
10PM Chicken, snap peas, carrots, tomatoes 30g
11:15 Casein shake 30g
Total: 205g

Didn't do a very good job of spreading my food, getting a lot of protein late in the day.  Chest feels a good sore today after yesterday's heavier chest day.

Monday 5/28 - Chest/Tri's

Workout:

• (Bench/TortureTwist)5, Bench 50#/55/60/65/65 - Good

• (Incline/HangAbs)4, Incline 45#/50#s

• (Dips/Flys/Plank)4, Did body weight dips today.  (6,10,10,8) Good planks - 2:00 each.

• (TriExt6/HammerPress4), TriExt 50#/55#s and 2 drop sets to 25#'s.  Liked Hammer Press.

• (TriPushdown)6, 3 straight bar, 3 rope.

74 mins (too long)

Chest: 17
Tri's: 16
Core: 13
Total: 46 sets

Comments:
Paid $15 bucks to work out at Total Fitness because Sprint gym was closed.  Great Workout.  Good bench, going heavier than usual.  I needed this, and continue to need to go heavier more often.  Problem is, dumbbells at Sprint only go up to 50#s (and I'm getting up to 18 reps first set).  Did a bit heavier incline as well, but doable at Sprint.  Dips - I got on the dip assist machine and put on a little weight, but the machine wasn't smooth, so I went over to the regular dip rack to give body weight (BW) dips a shot.  The rack happened to be by a mirror.  As I was doing my first set I looked over and realized I was going WAY too deep.  On my way to shoulder snap city if I keep doing them that deep. This is almost exactly what happened with pullups a couple of weeks ago (getting off the machine and switching to BW)!  First set I did 6, then did 10,10,8, only going to 90 degrees as I probably should be doing.  Felt great to be doing them with BW!  Did 4 sets of 2:00 planks with feet elevated/balanced on a medicine ball.  That was tough after torture twists and hanging ab crunches, but gutted them all out at 2 mins.  Overhead tri extensions were good and I really liked the hammer press incline chest "machine".  I think we might have these at the larger sprint gym.  Tri push downs weren't great today.  The movement in the machines was not smooth, and my tri's were beat.

Overall, a great workout, though it took too long.  Doing a lot of core had lot to do with that, but
so did being at a new gym. Pleased with dips and heavier weight on bench.  It's made me realize I need to join the larger Sprint gym so I can at least occasionally go over there and get heavier workouts in and use some different equipment (like the Hammer plate loaded series).  Here's a video example.

Protein:
6:30AM Whey75/Casein25 & creatine 35g
10:15AM Whey75/Casein25 30g
10:30 WO - Chest/tri's/core
Noon Tuna, chicken, brown rice & creatine 40g
2:30 Burger patty 15g
4:30 Chicken, rice, salmon 20g
7:45 Tuna25, cottage cheese5, salad 30g
10:45 Casein shake 30g

Total: 200g

Sunday 5/27 - Cardio

• 57 mins.  Walked 25mins, ran 25mins (~2.5 miles), c/d walk 7mins.  Hot and humid when started workout at 11AM.  Soaked when I got home.  Right hamstring a bit tight from yesterday's 6 miler.  Was only going to walk, but wanted to get another "run" in, so after getting warmed up I ran for a while.

Ate a few more carbs today than yesterday.  I'm off work tomorrow (Memorial Day), so I'm going to go to Fitness First to see if I can work out for one day.  If that doesn't work, I'll do a body weight workout for chest and tri's.  That's a lot easier workout to do w/ body weight than back/shoulders/bi's.

Protein:
7AM Whey75/Casein25 35g
10:15 Jerky 25g
10:30 Cottage Cheese 5g
10:45 run 56 mins
1PM 6 egg white omelet w/onion,mushroom,spinach 25g
5PM Beef patty, carrots, peas, tomatos, low carb chips&salsa 30g
9PM Beef patty, carrots, peas, tomatos 30g
11:15 Casein shake + apple/grapes 30g
11:45 Mini peppermint patty :)  

Total: 180g

I really should start tracking calories for a few weeks to see where I'm landing.  I don't really need to measure/weigh protein any more.  I know fairly well within a couple grams how much I'm getting by looking at portion size because I've been weighing/measuring for a while.  I'm anal though, so I still weigh some things out.  I don't feel the need to track calories per se, but would like to know what my maintenance days look like.  I "know what they are" from what I eat and my weight, but I really have no idea how many calories it actually is.  2,000? 2,500? 3,000?  I'm guessing I've been eating around 1.8k/day on low carb days and more like 2.4-2.6k on workout days.

Here's a list of items I've been eating a lot of lately.  I'll add to this list and keep it handy for a while.

CARBS:
1oz carrot 2.7g carb - 12 cal
1oz snap pea 2.1g carb - 12 cal
1oz broccoli 2g carb - 10 cal
1oz tomato 1.7g carb - 8 cal
1oz caulifloer 1.5g carb - 7 cal
1oz spinach 1.0g carb - 7 cal
1oz mushroom .9g carb - 6 cal
1oz sweet potato 6g carb - 26 cal
1oz brown rice 6.5 carb - 31 cal
1cup brown rice 45 carb - 216 cal

PROTEIN:
1oz chicken 7-8g prot - 50 cal
1oz salmon 6g prot - 60 cal
1egg white 3.6g prot - 17 cal
4oz hamburger patty 30g prot - 180 cal, 7g fat (95% lean ground beef)
(generally, animal protein is 6.5-8g protein/oz)

Week Ending 5/27:

4 runs, 3 WO's, 3 doubles (Wed/Thu/Fri).  Really good week.  2 of the 4 runs were short, but did get the 6 miler in, so I'm pleased with that.  Workouts were really good.  Weight was good.  Maintenance week this week with moderate carbs, then a decision to be made what to do next.

It's really getting to the point that I don't miss carbs other than when I cut out fruit.  I don't miss the starches.  If I go through with UD 2.0, there is a supercompensation carb load where ~1,000 grams of carbs are eaten in a 24-30 hour period after a depletion phase.  That's a shitload of carbs. Add in protein and fat and that's a 5,000 calorie day.  After being low/moderate carb for so long, I don't know if I could handle that carb load.  Lyle states that during his supercompensation, when he gets up to pee in the middle of the night, he eats a meal...and does this twice a night that one day.  I just can't imagine it.  That's 10 meals in 24 hours of 100+ grams of carbs.  That's 2 bagels/meal, for example.  I haven't eaten a bagel in 10 months.

Saturday 5/26 - Cardio

• Ran 6 miles in 55:10 (10:00, 8:45, 9:11, 9:20, 9:32, 8:20), 9:11/mile pace, c/d 15:32.  Total = 70:41.  

 Decent run.  Was originally planning on doing normal 4-mile loop.  After slow uphill 1st mile, got a little ambitious with the 2nd mile while at the same time deciding to run a little longer.  Need to run more than 4 miles at least once a week, especially with 4 mile race coming up.  So, I decided I might as well do it this morning instead of putting it off to tomorrow.  Legs felt OK, but hills really hard.  Gotta believe low carbs has something to do with this, and the fact that I haven't been running as much as I want to be.  Overall pleased with the effort.  It was warm and really humid.  I was soaked when I got home.

Kept busy running errands in the afternoon...read procrastinating from finishing unpacking.  Went to Walmart for chaise lounge cushion, drove to Gilberts Corner for BBQ (they were sold out), stopped at a farmers market on rt. 15 for some fresh veggies, went to Wegmans (no samples were out - so disappointed) for more veggies and went to Pei Wei to get some of their good brown rice.  Only $.50/side order.  Oh, I also went to the pool and read for about 2 hours and got some sun.  Gotta get busy around the house tomorrow!

NOTE:  While reading UD 2.0 at the pool, Lyle commented on Hypertrophy Specific Training (HST) and referenced this website.  Some good articles about HST there.

Protein:
6:30AM Whey shake 30g
7:15AM 6 mile run + c/d
8:15AM 6 egg white omelet w/ mushroom & spinach 25g (quickly becoming a great morning staple, though I do miss my oatmeal/peanut butter/blueberry combo)
12:30PM 3.5oz chicken & jerky 35g
4:15 Whey25/Casein75 shake 35
6:30 PEI WEI chicken & brown rice, smoked salmon 30g
10:30PM Casein shake 35g
11:15PM Milk 10g
Total: 200g

Friday 5/25 - Back/Shoulders/Bi's

Quick weight note: The last couple of days I've been right over 170, down from 173 after a small carb refeed (read planned overeating after cutting down below 170).  Thankfully that's going about as planned and still getting a ton to eat.  Half way through reading UD 2.0 and think I may start that next Monday.  Might stabilize around 170 for another week, then start it because it will change both diet and workout routine (and this Monday is Memorial day...probably not a great day to start new diet and workout routine).

Cardio:

• 46 mins in the morning.  Walked out uphill, ran home downhill (to keep heart rate up a bit).  Calling it a "run" in the log. :) 

Workout:

• (Pullups/45#Mil/TortureTwist)4, Pullups (10,8,6,6), Military drop set 45/20/10.

• (150#CloseLat/25#HCurl/Plank)3, Bump up CL weight, drop set 150/120/90 last set (really good squeeze on drop set), plank (2:00, 1:45, 2:00)

• (20#LateralRaise/RDelt)4, 20#s 2 sets, 15#s 2 sets.  Drop set on lat raise down to 10#'s. Burning!

• (90#SeatRow/20#Curl/10#FrontRaise)3, Rows drop set 90/60/30, good squeeze.

• (10#IsolationCurl)1, 40 reps

• (50#Shrug/25#BackExt)3

63 min

Back: 13
Shoulders: 18
Bi's: 7
Core: 7
Total: 45 Sets

Really good workout.  Went in for a stimulation, got a great workout. Did a drop set on last set of all major movements today.  I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not, but it sure as hell does work the muscle.  Pullups pretty good today, so was military.  Close lat pulldowns were really good.  Bumped up to 150# and the drop set on last set was really good.  REALLY felt the squeeze in the back.  Did 2 minute planks, but wussed out on the 2nd one and only held it 1:45.  I seem to be lost when it comes to shoulders after military.  Lateral raises, front raises, rear delt, shrugs...do 'em all, concentrate on one or two?  Guess I'll just keep doing combinations of all of them for now.  I feel like the front of my shoulder, where it meets the pec, is not very well developed comparatively.  Should probably make sure to do front DB raises all the time.  Forgot that I wanted to incorporate the Arnold Press into my shoulder workout.  Have to remember that for next WO. Seated rows were all done with the rope again.  90#'s isn't a lot of weight here, but that's not important after already doing pullups and heavy (for me) close grip pull downs.  The one set of isolation curls with 40 reps felt really good.  All the back work really works the bi's so I don't get a lot of reps (7-12) with heavier curls.  These allowed me a lot of reps and a good pump in the bi's.

Protein:
7:15AM Whey shake 30g
7:30AM 46 min walk/run (walked out, ran mile home).
8:45 5 egg white omelet w/ mushroom and spinach ~100cal, 20g (great meal!)
11AM Whey50/Casein50 shake 30g
Noon WO
12oz. chicken from bar = 90g
1:30PM Chicken, egg whites, sweet potato, salad, beets 45g
5:15 Chicken and salad 45g
11PM Casein shake & cottage cheese 40g
Total: 210g

Thursday 5/24 - Cardio

• Ran 3.5 miles in 34:26 (10:36, 9:55, 9:27, 4:23), c/d 11 mins. 45 min total.  Legs still not completely back, so had to take it nice and slow.  Felt good to run though.
• 45 min afternoon walk.  Nice afternoon so went for a walk after a work meeting around 3:30.  Took shirt off to get a little sun.

Not much to report.  Hoping runs will start coming around better again, especially with race coming up.  Feel like I was running a lot better a month or two ago.  Oh well, that's not the goal.  Diet is still real clean with very low carbs which is probably contributing to sluggish runs.  Also made a quick run to GNC for some casein because I was out.

UD 2.0 - Advanced Cyclical Dieting for Achieving Super Leanness came in the mail today.  Going to start reading it now.  Lyle McDonald has great stuff, but his "books" aren't cheap and they are basically spiral bound 8.5X11" paper that are made to order (e.g. there's no stock of hard bound books sitting in a warehouse waiting to be shipped).  Guess it doesn't matter though because the info in them is good.

Protein:
7:15AM Whey80/Casein20 shake 30g
8:30 Ran 3.5 miles + c/d = 45 mins.
9:45AM 5 eggwhite omelet + a bit of chicken 35g
12:45PM Chicken & salad 35g
3:30 45 min walk
4:45 Tuna & salad 30g
8PM Chicken, cottage cheese, salad 35g
10PM Casein shake 30g
Total: 195g

Wednesday 5/23 - Chest/Tri's/Core & Cardio

A quick tip for when motivation for a workout isn't there - When I'm not feeling up to a big workout, I tell myself I'll just go into the gym and get a good quick muscle stimulation.  Just a set or two for each muscle group to give them some stimulation.  Not a full workout trying to build muscle, just enough to not lose any.  Invariably, I get into the gym, do a quick warmup and start my first set and like magic, the motivation seems to always return.  If the motivation doesn't return, just go with the original plan and get an "easy" stimulation workout in.  That was the plan today, and I ended up having an awesome workout.

Cardio

• 55 min morning walk.  Decided to get in a walk before work, knowing it's going to be a long day and night at work and not sure if quads are still going to be up for a run tomorrow.

Workout:

• (50#Bench/TortureTwist)5, (16,12,10,8,8)

• (45#Incline/HangAbs3/BallPike)5, Last 3 sets of incline were all 7 and really good last reps, then did a dropset from 45#s to 30#s on the last set.  Ball pikes felt awkward, like when I first started doing them.  Probably because I haven't been doing them much lately.  Need to keep working them in.

• (45#Dips/20#Flys)4, Dips were hard (9,7,6,5). Did a drop set on flys last set.

• (50#TriExt6/CableCross4), Drop set on last set of overhead tri extensions 50#/30/20. Tri's really starting to feel it. 

• (110#TriPushdowns7/25#Crunch4), Pushdowns did 4 straight bar 110/90, 3 rope 70, last was a drop set 70/50/30. Tri's burning.

• (BenchToFailure)1, 90#/70/50/30. After workout above, 90#'s felt like 200.  Wow.

• (10#OverheadTriIsolation2/TriKickbacks2), Was cooling down and tried these. 10#s felt like a lot. I could really feel the kickbacks working the tri.  Overhead not quite as much, but still good.  Will do kickbacks again.

70 mins

Chest: 19
Tri's: 21
Core: 14
Total: 54 Sets

Great WO!  A little longer than I want them to be, but a kick ass workout. Really got tri's good today.  Something is missing for chest.  I'm not seeing the gains there I am in other areas.  Maybe I shouldn't be wasting my time with cable crossovers, and even flys and concentrate on bench?  I feel like I'm doing enough sets of bench and incline though.  Every workout has 4-5 sets each of flat bench and incline. I
can't really go any heavier unless I use the machine because the gym only has dumbbells up to 50#'s.  Might be worthwhile to go over to the larger sprint gym for a few chest workouts and use the barbell and heavier weight.  Really want to see some improvement there because I've been stuck for a while.  Who can I ask for advice?

Protein:
6:45AM Whey shake & creatine 30g
7:30 55 min walk
9:15AM 4 egg white omelet w/ fresh mushroom and spinach 15g
11:30AM Whey75/Casein25 shake 30g
1/3 sweet potato 20g carb
16oz chicken from salad bar = 125g
12:30 WO - Chest/Tri's/Core
2:15PM Chicken, 2.5 eggs, salad (and some kidney beans) 60g
5:30PM Steak salad 55g (Took Hayden out to dinner for his 12th b'day - gave him an iPhone 4S)
10:45PM Casein shake 30g
Total: 220g

Tuesday 5/22 - Cardio, BF Test & Before/After Pictures

• Walked for 46 minutes.  I was right about doing some leg work yesterday in the gym killing my shot of running today.  I probably should have tried to job a little bit, but walking was not pain free as it was.  At least I got out and got some blood moving through the quads. :)

I went in and had my body fat tested this morning at the larger Sprint gym.  It's good information to have.  When I joined Lifetime Fitness back on 9/6/2011 I had what they call a Cardio Point test done.  They put this scary looking mask on you and have you walk on a treadmill, steadily increasing the incline until you are at (or close to) your max O2 output (or some such thing).  They also do some measurements - weight, strength, flexibility and body fat.  I'll have to see if I still have the paperwork, but horrifyingly, IIRC my body fat was around 30%.  That, boys and girls, is FAT!  Pictures below to prove it.

My test today showed I was at 13.7% body fat!  I am very happy with that at this point.  They used the Jackson/Pollock 7 Caliper Method.  It's basically what the name says it is - they use calipers to measure the fat at 7 locations on your body and it's the most accurate test besides being dunked in a tank.  Here are the particulars/measurements:

Chest:  11
Abdomen:  21
Suprailiac:  10
Tricep:  7
Subscapular:  10
Midaxillary:  10
Thigh:  16

Body Weight:  170
Body Fat%:  13.7
#'s of Body Fat:  23.3
#'s of LBM:  146.7

Here's before and after pictures to compare 30% to 13.7% body fat:

Before - I look like I'm going to burst - or keel over!

Before - Nice chin(s)

After - Easter 2012

After - Beginning of May 2012 (please excuse the lame picture in the mirror)

Protein:
6:30AM Whey shake & creatine 30g
7:30 Chicken & cottage cheese 20g
[17.6oz chicken from bar - 130g]
Noon Chicken, egg whites & salad 35g
2:30 Chicken 20g
5PM Cottage cheese & snap peas 10g
7PM Chicken, jerky, peas, tomatoes, carrots 45g
10PM Casein shake 30g
Total: 190g

Supplements

I just posted my daily log and included that I added a calcium supplement to help with cramping in my calves.  The worst two times have been during sleep where they've been fairly painful at times and after workouts when I'm pointing my feet to put my socks on.  Anyway, I thought it might be a good time to list the "supplements" I'm currently taking and why I'm taking them, and in what doses.  I didn't start these all at once, but added them over time as I researched things.

• Centrum multivitamin - I've been taking a general multivitamin for a few years.  Something everyone should probably do regardless of training regimen.
• Glucosamine 1,500mg & condriotin 1,200mg - This is supposed to help joint and connective tissue health.  I started taking this before getting back into the gym because I had problems with my knees.  I don't know if it does anything.  I'll call this one at least party BS.  I haven't found any real studies that proved it helps, other than anecdotal evidence.  I'm going to keep taking it though, because at 40 I figure I can use any and all help I can get in the joint area.  And, it's not very expensive at Cosco.
•  Calcium + D 500mg - Just started taking due to cramping in my calves.  Seems to have helped...knock on wood.
• Fish Oil 1,000mg - Tons of research and studies on how Omega 3 Fatty Acids (EPA & DHA) improve health in so many ways there's too many to list.  A few are boosting immune system function, improving fat loss and insulin sensitivity, etc.  Do a Google search.  I think everyone should be incorporating these into their diet.  I've been taking these for a while; before starting an exercise regimen.  I used to take one a day with my multivitamin.  Lately I've been taking 1-2 capsules 3X/day based on research and the fact that I'm on an extremely low fat diet right now, so a good portion of my daily fat intake actually comes from these. Once my diet changes back to more "normal", I'll reduce the dose.
• Whey Isolate - A milk protein that is very quickly absorbed into the body.  I'm currently using this in the morning when I wake up to get some protein into my system quickly and either pre or post workout.  It's almost 30g of protein/serving.  I'm using GNC Pro Performance chocolate flavor.  It mixes really well in a small amount of water and tastes like chocolate milk.  It's really good.
• Casein Protein - A milk protein that is not as soluble in water and tends to gel and release amino acids into the blood stream more slowly than whey over a period of hours.  It can also make you feel full longer.  I generally take this as my last "meal" of the day at night.  The theory is that your body will get protein (amino acids) released into the bloodstream during sleep in hopes of keeping your body in an anabolic state (or prevent the onset of catabolism).
• NOTE about protein supplements - they aren't necessary, but I happen to like them for the supposed benefits listed above (fast absorbing whey and longer lasting casein) as well as their convenience.  I'm trying to eat over 200g of protein/day.  That's a lot of protein for me to eat.  It's the equivalent of eating 8 cans of tuna fish a day.  That's a lot of eating, so I use the shakes to supplement the already fairly large amounts of grilled chicken breast and tuna I eat on a daily basis.  Ideally, it's best to eat, not drink, your food. 
• Creatine Monohydrate - I started using this a couple of months ago.  I started it with a load phase of about 5 days where I was taking 20g/day.  Then went to a maintenance load of 5g/day on non-working days and 10g/day on workout days.  I take it in the morning and after my WO on those days.  Creatine gets much praise from the body building/weight lifting crowd.  I'm not completely sold.  Creatine is supposed to be most effective taken with carbs or glucose when your insulin spikes to shuttle it to your muscles so you aren't just peeing it out.  Some people recommend not even bothering taking it while cutting and maintaining a very low carb diet.  I suspect I'm peeing a lot of it away, but think I have noticed some last reps at failure getting better after starting to take it.  Could be I'm just getting stronger and it's in my head.  I'll probably cycle off this soon for a couple of weeks to see if I notice a difference in performance, and/or a change in body size.  Creatine supposedly ads a few pounds of "water muscle" when starting it, and a subsequent loss of that "muscle" size when going off it, though any strength gains remain.  I don't recall ever noticing the weight gain, nor the extra size some report.

That's it for now, and I don't plan on adding anything else.  I'll keep with this plan for the time being with the exception of cycling off the creatine.

Monday 5/21 - Back/Shoulders/Bi's

Workout:

• (Pullups/45#Mil/TortureTwist)4, Pullups (10,8,6,5)
• (135#CloseLat/25#Hcurl/Plank)3
• (20#LatRaise/20#Rdelt)4
• (200#LegPress/50#Shrug)3
• (90SeatRow/20#Curl)4
• (25#BackRaise)3

60 mins
Back:  14
Shoulders: 15
Bi's: 7
Core: 7
Total: 43 Sets

Comments: Really good WO.  A little bit of a lighter load.  Pullups were decent and I bumped up military to 45#'s.  Happy with that bump.  First two sets of lateral raise and rear delts were 20#s and dropped to 15#s for the last 2 sets and they were still hard, but good form.  Bumped up hammer curls to 25#s.  Can tell bi's are getting bigger and stronger.  I did the leg press/shrugs earlier in routine because some tool was on the seated row machine doing nothing good for himself.  Should have seen him doing "tri push downs".  I'm certainly not an expert, but some people just don't have a clue and are completely wasting their time in the gym.  Do you try to help someone like that, or keep to yourself?  Legs felt like jello after leg presses.  This tells me I need to do them more (running isn't enough), and I'm likely going to be sore as hell tomorrow.  A run will definitely be in question for tomorrow AM.  Did lower back raises on one of those contraptions that holds your feet and supports you at the hips.  You bend down to the floor and then back up to a straight body position.  Did the 1st set with body weight and then last 2 with 25# plate.

I have a body fat check scheduled for tomorrow at 9AM.  Get to see how much more work I need to do. Yippeee!  At least I'll have a good re-set point from where I was 9-10 months ago, plus some real data points to plug into Lyle's calculator.

Didn't feel very motivated this morning.  Not sure if energy is down from low carbs or because it was a dreary and rainy day.  Probably a bit of both.  Still had a better workout than expected with low carbs.  After workout I had a salad with a lot of protein (chicken, 2.5 egg whites and a slice of roast beef), plus some kidney beans, beets and 1/3 of a sweet potato for carbs.  Trying to stay low carb, but after a WO I think it would be counter productive not to get some good sources of carbs.

I've been having increasing problems with cramping in my calves at night that are strong enough to wake me from sleep and after workouts when pointing my feet to put my socks on (even though I'm not working legs).  Two days ago I started taking a calcium supplement (also contains vitamin D).  Seems to be helping because I haven't had any cramping since starting it.  Perhaps just a coincidence, but I don't think so.  With the addition  of calcium, I think it's time to do a post on supplements I'm using.

Protein:
7:30AM Whey shake & creatine 30g
9AM Cottage Cheese 5g
10:30AM Caseine75/whey25 shake 30g
11:15 WO
12.8 oz chicken from bar = 95g
1PM Salad & chicken/egg white/roast beef slice, creatine 50g
5PM Salad & chicken 30g
8:15 Chicken 30g
10PM Casein shake 30g
Total: 205g

Sunday 5/20 - Cardio

• 53 min walk. Another beautiful morning.  Walked before the boys woke up.  Was going to run, but decided on a walk instead.

Protein:
6::45AM Whey shake & creatine 30g
10AM Chicken/salad/cottage cheese 35g
3:15PM Tuna/salad/cottage cheese 40g
8:30 Chicken/salad 35g
11:30 Casein shake 25g
Total: 165g

Week Ending 5/13/12:
Good solid week. 2 runs, 3 WO's, 3 doubles (with walks). Workouts were really good, but didn't get in enough runs.  Weight stayed in the 171-173 range. Started restricting carbs significantly on Thursday and noticed a bit of a difference.  Since Thursday I haven't had any carbs outside of mostly leafy vegetables and some dairy (spinach/broccoli/cauliflower/tomatoes/cottage cheese/skim milk). The only real craving I've had is for an apple and some grapes.  I think I went a bit overboard on amount of salad/veggies/fiber didn't have the effect on digestion I anticipated.  I've actually felt a little bloated (full?) and bowel movement frequency has changed, again not in the direction I anticipated.  I think I just flat out over-ate.  Anxious to get UD 2.0 and start following that.  Feel like I keep waffling back and forth on how and when to add carbs, so decided to cut them prior to UD 2.0.  We'll see how this "plan" shakes out.  I do know one thing, I need to pick one and stick to it for a while.  Got to where I am on  a fairly clean diet, but now need to take it to the next level, but have to remember this is a marathon, not a sprint.  I emailed the Sprint fitness center about getting body fat checked and haven't heard back.  Need to follow up on that, then plug in the numbers and lay out plan.

Saturday 5/19 - Cardio

Cardio:

• Ran 4 miles in 36:15 (9:56, 8:59, 9:21, 7:58), c/d 17.  Total: 53:20.  (Mile splits courtesy of my Garmin 210 I found while unpacking a few things last night.)
• Hike/walk at Balls bluff park - 45-60mins.

Run felt harder than it should have.  I'm sure no carbs for 2 days had something to do with it.  Should be in Ketosis by now.  Just like my old 4 mile loop in Centreville, the first mile is all gradual uphill.  Tough way to start a run, but makes for a nice way to end it!  Last mile felt more like 7:40-7:45 so I was surprised it was an 8min mile.  The upcoming race goal keeps getting adjusted the wrong way.  Goal is just to keep running 4 milers, throw in maybe 2 longer runs of 6-8 and hope that eating some carbs will help in a couple weeks.

Beautiful morning.  Sunny and cool with a nice breeze.  The boys and I are heading over to Balls Bluff Park to walk around (Elena is in Hampton for a gymnastics meet).  They have some paths there and I believe one of them leads to the Potomac River so we are going to do some exploring.

Protein:
630AM Whey shake & creatine 30g
7:30 Run
9AM 4oz. chicken 30g
10AM cottage cheese 10g
11AM Walk/hike @Balls bluff
12:15PM Jerky 25g
1:45 Salad w/ tuna 25g
5:15 Caseine shake 25g
6:45 Chicken & salad (Ruby's) 35g
10:45 Caseine shake 25g
Total: 205g

Friday 5/18 - Chest/Tri's & Cardio

Cardio:

• 50 minute walk in the AM.  It was a beautiful morning and I figured I'd get out for a bit.  I never know on weekends when I have the kids if I'll get normal workouts/run in and was up early so took advantage of it.

Workout:

• (50#Bench/Twists)5, Good bench 16,12,9,8,8 IIRC

• (45#Incline/Core)4, Incline 11,9,7,6. Core was PlankX2, side crunches, bicycles. Was planning on 4 planks, but tri's were giving out long before core was getting good work.

• (45#Dips/20#Flys)4, Dips 11,7,6,5.  Dips started off promising, but hit a wall fast.  Very little rest with dips/flys.

• (50#TriExt/CableFly)5, Bumped up tri extensions to 50, last set was drop set 50,35,20.  Went deep, only got 5 w/ 35#s, maybe should have dropped to 30#s.

• (70#TriPushDown)5, First 2 with straight bar, last 3 with rope, last set drop set of 70,50,30 all to failure.  Tri's on fire.

• (BenchToFail)1, Did a set of bench to failure on the bench machine.  Couldn't do much weight, 90#'s maybe.  Chest and Tri's were beat.

62 mins

Chest: 18
Tri's: 14
Core: 9
Total: 41

Comments:
Really good workout.  Better than expected. Was planning on lower volume in anticipation of not having as much energy as normal, but was feeling ok, so kept to normal workout load.  If I stick to carb restricted diet through the weekend and into next week, workouts will most likely need to be adjusted.  Sticking to this diet is a big IF right now.  Didn't have any carbs before WO (or after for that matter, save a bite of granola bar to try to spike insulin a bit for creatine to work).  Some recommend not bothering with creatine when
limiting carbs so strictly, but I'll keep using 5g because I'm going to be carb cycling and don't want to stop and then do another creatine load.  Actually, I need to look at my log and see how long I've been taking creatine.  May be time to cycle off it for 2 weeks or so and then load up again.

Protein:
6:30AM Whey shake & creatine 30g
Weighed 171.4 this AM, down from 4 straight days in the 173's. That's after 1 day of cutting carbs back
after a "refeed" of sorts.  I ate over 230 grams of protein yesterday as well.
7:30AM 50 min walk.  Beautiful morning.
9:15 Tuna (1can), salad, cottage cheese (1/3cup) 35g
14.5oz. chicken from bar = 101g (didn't end up eating all the chicken)
12:15PM Skim milk and whey shake 40g
12:45 WO - Chest/Tri's
2:45 Salad, eggs, chicken & creatine 30g
6:45 Salad and chicken 35g
10:15 chicken 20g
11:30 Casein shake 30g
Total: 220g

Thursday 5/17 - Cardio (and some diet thoughts)

• Ran 5.6 miles in 50:30 (9:00 pace), c/d 15:00.  

Decent run, but legs felt dead early on.  No carbs this am might have contributed to that, so forget what I wrote yesterday about adding carbs and maintaining that for a while.  Guess I decided to give another cut down a shot.  Completely restricted carbs today.  I read Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss Handbook.  It's interesting, as are most of his articles on his site.  I also ordered The Ultimate Diet 2.0 and it should be here in a couple of days.  Both of these books are pretty hard core.

For example, Lyle writes about The Ultimate Diet 2.0: "Please note: the UD2 is an advanced diet for advanced dieters and is only for those seeking very low levels of body fat.  A male should be at 12-15% body fat or lower and females at 21-24% body fat or lower prior to considering the UD2."

I need to get my body fat checked, but it's in the mid teens I think.  I can see veins in on the side of my belly and abs are really showing, for example, but still have a few stubborn spots and want to get leaner.  This is becoming quite difficult because I'm also trying to add muscle mass.  Generally, this is a losing equation (trying to add muscle in a caloric deficit).  This is easy at higher body fat levels, but as you get lower, it gets much harder and I think I'm starting to reach that point, as I've written about in a previous post.

Anyway, my current plan (which can, and will, surely change some) is to eat moderately higher complex carbs on lifting days and then restrict on cardio days.  For example, today I didn't have my normal oatmeal, berries, apple, etc..  The only carbs I had were in my salad (spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms).  No olive oil (fat), not even carrots or peas which are slightly higher in carbs.  My normal routine of having almonds with me throughout the day was also cut out.  An apple and grapes at night and grazing on almonds has become a habit that I'm trying to curb.

While restricting carbs, I'm keeping protein pretty high to hopefully prevent catabolism and preserve Lean Body Mass (LBM) that I've worked so hard to gain.  We'll see how this plan goes for a period of time and will adjust based on recommendations in UD2 once I get it as I know it dedicates significant portions of the book to this very thing.  It may also mean adjusting my workouts.  I'm sure I'll write about it, but that's enough for tonight :)

Here's today's protein: (NOTE: I've been including the protein breakdown for most days, but I haven't really been noting carbs, nor do I plan to at this point.  But I wanted to point out that the last several days (almost a week) I introduced more carbs back into my diet after getting below 170#'s.  With those carbs came added water and "fuller" muscles.  That was nice, but I do want to get real lean and stabilize there before "bulking".  I'll probably never do a true "bulk", but do carb cycling (kind of as I am starting now).  Now that's really it for the night.

Protein:
6:15AM Whey shake & creating 30g
7AM ran 5.6 miles in 50:30, c/d 15:00, 65 mins
8:15AM 1/2 cup cottage cheese 15g
8:45 Chicken & brussel sprouts 30g
12:30PM 4.5oz steak & salad 35g
3:15PM 4oz steak 30g
6:30PM Muscle Milk 20g
8:30 Salad w/tuna & cottage cheese 40g
10:45PM Casein shake 30g
Total: 230g

Wednesday 5/16 - Back/Shoulders/Bi's & Cardio

Cardio:

• Walked for 58 minutes in the morning before work.

Workout:

• (Pullups/40#Mil/Twists)5, Decent pullups, 10,8,7,6,5, might need to bump militarty up to 45#'s.

• (135#ClosePullDn/20#HCurls/Plank)4,

• (20#UprightRow/RDelt/25#Crunch)2,

• (15#FrontRais/RDelt/25#Crunch)2,

• (90#SeatRow/20#Curls)4,

• (45#Shrugs)4

68 Mins

Back: 14
Shoulders: 17
Bi's: 8
Core: 13
Total: 52 sets

Comments:
Pretty good pullups again (10,8,7,6,5).  Last two reps on last two sets were really tough - didn't get quite all the way up, but held at top and came down slow.  Did 5 sets of pullups and military today instead of 4.  Might want to bump up military weight again soon.  Close lat pull downs - held contraction on pull downs and let weight up slow.  Was thinking about bumping hammer curls to 25#, but pullups and pull downs wears the biceps out and I would have probaby dropped back down after the first set; 20#'s were enough for today but should bump up soon.  Did 2 sets side planks (1min each side) and two regular planks for 2 mins each.  Planks felt good.  Used rope again for seated rows, drop set last set (90/60/40 all to failure), drop set on last set of curls too (20#'s to failure, then 10#'s to failure).  Overall a really good workout - longer than last two workouts, but that was by design.  I did more core work today, and that is time consuming, and I took a little more rest between supersets because last two workouts were fast with very little rest.  Just changing it up a bit.  Weight is still at about 173, which I'm torn about.  On the one hand, I want to get to 165.  On the other hand, I want to grow and to do that I've got to eat more like I've been doing and I can tell a difference in size.  When I say I'm eating more, protein target is still the same, about 200-215g/day.  Carbs are just higher with a bit more complex carbs like brown rice and sweet potato on lifting days.  I'm going to try to stabilize between 173 & 175 for about 2 weeks and then try a cut back down to 165-170.

Protein:
5:45AM Whey shake & creatine 30g
6:30AM 58 min walk
7:45AM Oatmeal/pb/berries 5g
9AM Whey50/casein50 30g
11AM WO
12:30PM chicken (from home), sweet potato, brown rice & creatine 25g
12oz. chicken from salad bar = 85g
1PM Salad & eggs 10g
3PM Salad & chicken 45g
6:30 Chicken, carrots, snap peas 40g
8PM Cottage cheese 10g
11PM Casein shake 30g
Total: 225g

Tuesday 5/15 - Cardio

• Walked 72 mins, about 4.4 miles. 

Cloudy and slight drizzle this morning so decided to go for a walk in the morning and planned on a run in the afternoon after work.  Well, the afternoon got away from me and no run.  Got some other things done though.

Protein:
6:15AM Whey shake & creatine 30g
7:15AM Oatmeal/berries
8AM 72min walk
9:15AM Chicken & brussel sprouts 30g
12oz. chicken from bar = 85g
12:30PM Chicken & salad 30g
4:30 Chicken & salad 30g
8:30 Chicken, carrots, snap peas 25g
11PM Casein shake 30g
Total:  175g

Monday 5/14 - Chest/Tri's

Had a great weekend in PA.  Weight was up to 173.2, only up 1 pound, so not that bad, but weight has crept up from sub 170.  I'm OK with that because I'd been really restricting carbs for a while, so it's been good to add a few in for a couple weeks before cutting back again.  Can't build muscle without carbs.  I'll try to keep higher carb days to lifting days.  When I say adding carbs, it's still pretty clean - no bread/pasta, just brown rice and sweet potato really (OK, and 2 pieces of pizza in PA :) ).  Had 2 walks and 2 runs over the weekend.

Workout:

• (50#Bench/TortureTwists)5, Good bench (18,12,10,8,8)

• (45#Incline/HangAbs)4, Tri's tough after hard bench (10,8,7,7)

• (45#Dips/110#Flys)3, Yep, dips were tough again (9,7,5)

• (45#TriExt)6, Last sets did drop set 45/35/25

• (70#TriPushDn)5, Last set drop set 50/30

38 Mins

Chest: 13
Tri's: 14
Core: 9
Total: 36

Comments:
Shortly before heading down for workout I got a meeting invite for 50 minutes later.  I was tempted to push my WO until after the meeting, but already had a shake for pre-meal, so I quickly got down to the gym. Pushed bench pretty hard and got in some good reps at failure.  This made incline tough and I knew dips were going to be a bear...and they were.  Did drop sets for final set on overhead tri extensions (45#/35#/25#).  Man did that burn good.  On the 25#'s, I went really deep.  I started tri push downs with 90#'s.  No effing way after what I'd already done.  Moved to 70#'s, then 50#'s and it was really burning.  The last set I did a drop set from 50#'s to 30#'s.  Felt really good.  Best part of the WO today was bench and the tri extension drop set going really deep.  Going to do that again for sure.  Overall a really good workout in a short amount of time.  36 sets in 38 minutes.  Hardly any rest between sets, sometimes jumping right back in.  Not something I want to do all the time, but a really good change up I'll do again.

Protein:
7AM Whey shake & creatine 30g
8AM Oatmeal/pb/berries 5g
9:45AM Whey25/Casein75 shake 30g
11:15 Chest/tri WO
12:15PM Tuna & brown rice & chicken (25+10) 35g
12oz. chicken from salad bar = 85g
2PM Salad
3:45 Chicken & salad 40g
7:30 Chicken & salad 35g
9:45 Jerky 10g
11PM Casein shake 30g

Total: 215g (right where I want to be)

Sat & Sun - 5/12-5/13 - Cardio

Saturday:
Went to a store in Lebanon, PA for $5.99 beef filet's with Uncle Bob.  Waited over 2 hours in line for beef.

Cardio:

• Ran about 4.5 miles with Uncle Bob in 62 mins.  Ran slow, 2 KILLER hills.  It was nice to run with Bob.
• Walked with Mom, Bob, Betsy - 62 mins.  Nice walk in the afternoon.  Almost 4 miles.

Beautiful weather day spent with family, including Nan.  Went in to see Jesse's new road behind the garage being put in.  What a project he has going on there.  I'll try to post some pictures.

Protein:
6AM Shake 30g
10:30 Tuna 25g
11AM Run w/ Bob
12:30PM Tuna & salad 25g
3:30 Shake 30g
4PM Walk
5:15 Chicken & jerky 15g
6:30 Filet, sweet potato, salad, etc. 60g
Total: 185

Sunday:

• Woke up and got out for a run before anyone else was up.  Absolutely gorgeous morning.  Ran about 4 miles in 37:30, c/d 12 mins.  Total 45 mins.
• Went to Sweet Arrow Lake with Mom and walked about 25 mins.  Beautiful water falls there.  Will have to take the kids next time they are up with me.

Nice Mother's day with Mom, Betsy and Nan.  Laid out by the pool for about 1.5 hours and even went in the water.  It was about 70 degrees (water temp), but it felt good after laying out.  I'm pretty red now.  First time really out in the sun for any period of time this year.  Stopped at Keystone Fireworks on my way home and got a few goodies for me and the boys.  Great weekend.

Protein:
6:30AM shake 30g
8:30 Oatmeal/pb/berries 5g
11:45 Tuna, turkey, ham, salad 35g
3:15PM Shake before getting on the road 30g
7PM Tuna and yogurt 35g
10:30 Shake 30g
Total: 165g

Week Ending 5/13/12:

Awesome week!  This might have been my best week yet...not including a bit of indulgent eating over the weekend.  Really happy with both back/shoulder/bi workouts.  4 runs, 3 great WO's and some walks. Just a great week of workouts.  If eating was cleaner throughout, it would have been a 10.  Didn't check weight all weekend, but I'm sure it's up there.  We'll see what the damage is tomorrow morning.

Friday 5/11 - Back/Shoulders/Bi's

Took the day off work today to drive to PA for the weekend.  Went into work and hit the gym early this morning to get a workout in before leaving.  I'm sure it won't be an clean eating weekend.

Workout:

• (Pullups/40#Mil/Twist)4, Really good pullups (10,8,7,6)

• (135#CloseLat/20#Hammer)3, Holding squeeze at contraction

• (20#UpRow/RDelt)2, Shoulder a bit sore

• (15#FrontRow/RDelt)2, Changed because of shoulder

• (120/95#SeatRow/20#Curl/Crunch)4, Used rope for all sets of seated rows.  Felt good.

44 Mins

Workout:
Back: 11
Shoulders: 12
Bi's: 7
Core: 8
Total: 38

Comments:
Pullups really good again.  Did more than last WO.  Psyched about that.  Clost grip lat pulldowns and seated rows were good as well, both squeezing and holding weight at contraction.  Used the rope for all seated rows this time because I really feel it working better that way.  Shoulders a bit sore, so I only did two sets of upright rows which I hear can be problematic.  I only go to 90 degrees on them to try to be on the safe side.  None of the elbows in the ears lifts.  Limited time because I'm traveling to PA to see Nan, Bob, Betsy, Jesse and Addie.  Mom is driving up too.  Really good workout with limited rest and hit all the major things I wanted to hit today.  Kept it short and sweet...kind of.  Caps off three great workouts this week with hopefully some walks and runs in the countryside of PA.  No doubt lots more carbs and not as clean eating this weekend.  I'm outta here.

Protein:
6:15AM Whey shake & creatine 30g
7AM Oatmeal/berries 5g
8AM workout back/shoulders/bi/core
9:15AM Whey75/casein25 30g
10:15AM Brown rice & chicken 10g
12:45PM Chicken (took some in the car with me), carrots & snap peas 30g
2:30 Chicken & jerky 30g
6:30 Pizza, salad, chicken 30g
10:30 shake 30g
Total:  195

Thursday 5/10 Cardio

• Ran 4.3 miles in 37:05, last mile in 7:44, c/d 14.  Decent run.  Not sure about 34 mins for 4 miles.
  Fastest I've run 4 is 35:30.  35 probably more realistic goal. 

Fairly sore in chest and tri's today.  That's good, IMO.  Before I switched to the current split I'm working I wasn't really getting sore after workouts.  After some reading, I believe it was because my muscles weren't getting enough time to full recover/heal between workouts.  Now with more time before workouts I think they are healing (and hopefully growing) better and are ready to be broken down again for the next workout.  I'm only hitting each body part every 4th day, where before I was doing whole body workouts every other day.

Protein:
6:15AM Whey shake & creatine 30g
7:30AM Run
Ran 4.3 miles in 37:05, last mile in 7:44, c/d 14.  Decent run.  Not sure about 34 mins for 4 miles.
Fastest I've run 4 is 35:30.  35 probably more realistic goal.
Pretty sore in chest and tri's today.  That's good.
8:30AM Oatmeal - 1/4 cup as always. No pb or berries today. 5g
8:45AM Chicken (just a little) & casein. 30g
12oz chicken from salad bar = 85g (yes, I put it in a separate container from my salad and weigh it)
12:15PM Chicken & salad 35g
4:30PM Chicken & salad 35g
7PM Chicken & brusell sprouts 30g
11PM Casein shake 30g
Total: 195

Wednesday 5/9 - Chest/Tri's

Workout:

• (50#Bench/Twist)5, Really good bench (15,12,10,9,8) and torture twists (20 reps each set)

• (45#Incline/HangAbs)5, Good incline (10,9,8,7,7)

• (45#Dips/25#Flys)4, Dips really hard (7,6,5,5). Did dumbel flys today instead of pec deck.

• (45#TriExt/CableCross)5, Good overhead tri extensions. Might bump weight up next time.  Still not sold on cable crossovers.  Doing them from low hand position to high.

• (100#TriPushDn/25#Crunches)5, Good push downs.  

Mins: 68

Chest: 20
Tri's: 15
Core: 15
Total: 50 sets

Comments:
Another fantastic workout.  Really pushed bench and incline today getting a couple of really good reps at failure in the end of each set.  I liken this a little bit to long runs when I was training for the marathon.  On those long runs (20+ miles), it was really just getting through those first 15-17 miles to get to the last 5 miles where the work was really done and progression made.  Same thing here, only completely different :)  This is probably why dips were so low again.  I should really try body weight dips when fresh sometime soon (similar to pullups).  Used much heavier weight on tri push downs today.  First 3 sets with straight bar, lightened the weight and used rope for last two sets (80#).  Final set did 80#, 60#, 40# drop set all to failure.  After the above workout, I did one set of peck deck and one last set of overhead tri extensions. Wanted to get a pump in my chest at end, then figured, what the hell, I like those overhead tri extensions so bad, and I only did 4 sets of dips, let's do another set of those so I get 15 sets of tri's.  Silly, I know.  Really good core today with Torture Twists, hanging leg raises and weighted crunches even though I didn't do planks.  Gotta start those at home after cardio.

Protein:
6:15AM Whey shake & creatine 30g
7AM Oatmeal/berries 5g (decided to cut out pb today & gotta go easy on the almonds)
9AM Yogurt 15g
10AM Whey75/Casein25 30g .5apple
11AM Workout
12:30PM Chicken & brown rice 35g & creatine & .5apple (rice still leftover from PeiWei - love this stuff!)
1PM Salad (Spinach,brocoli,onion,mushroom,red peppers,garbonzo beans,kidney beans,carrots,banana peppers)
Got 12oz of chicken at salad bar too, but ate the chicken I brought from home.  Chicken = 85g
4PM Chicken & salad 35g
8PM Chicken, carrots, snap peas 35g
9:45PM Chicken 15g
11PM Casein shake 25g

Total: 225g

Tuesday 5/8 Cardio

• Ran 4.3 miles in 37:10 (8:39 pace), c/d 11mins.  

Felt pretty good.   Thinking I'll shoot for sub 34:00 in upcoming race.  Balls of feet still constantly giving me problems.  It was bad PF several months ago, but not sure if this is residual of that or something else.  The balls of my feet just always feel like they are on fire.  Probably should have asked the doc about it during my physical.  Need to unpack/find my tennis balls and start doing PT on them again...though I've been saying that for a while. :)
Protein:
6:4AM Whey shake & 1/2 apple 30g
7:45AM Run
9AM Oatmeal/pb 5g (out of berries today)
9:30AM Smoked salmon 15g (with a few gluten free crackers & tabasco) & 1/2 apple
10:45AM Tuna 25g
12oz chicken from salad bar = 85g
12:45PM Salad & chicken 25g
3:45 Salad & chicken 30g
7:15 Salad & chicken 30g
7:45 Yogurt 15g
11:15 Casein shake 30g
Total: 205g

Monday 5/7 - Back/Shoulders/Bi's + Cardio

Back/Shoulders/Bi's/Core

Workout:

• (Pullups/40#Mil/TortureTwist)4, Great pullups (8,7,6,5) today w/o weight.  Military was also a bump up in weight.  Very nice.

• (135#CloseLatPull/20#HCurl)4, Decided to move the close lat pulls up earlier in the workout because I think it works well.

• (20#UpRow/20#RDelt)4, Still a good combo.

• (105/90#SeatRow/20#Curl)5, Really good seated rows with rope.

• (Preacher/40#Shrugs)4, Not much to say here, or about curls in general.  Just kind of "there".

Mins: 55

Back: 13
Shoulders: 16
Bi's: 13
Core: 4

Total: 46 sets

Comments:
Fantastic workout!  Feel like a dork I'm so happy about the pullups.  I should have tried them much earlier. Been kind of frustrated with pullups and back lately, so decided to use less weight on the pullup assist machine.  Did first pullup and realized that on the way back up, the assisted weight wasn't coming up as fast as I was, so I said fuck it and did regular pullups.  Awesome!  Even as a kid I wanted to be able to do pullups, and it's something I've never really been able to do (save 1 or 2 pullups).  I did 4 sets (8,7,6,5).  It sounds silly, but it felt so good pulling up and down on the bar under my own power with own body weight.  Felt really good and can tell it really is different than lat pull downs or pullups on the assist machine.  I was starting to dread "back" day because was getting frustrated with pullups.  That's probably why I did lat pull downs instead of pullups last back workout. Now I'm looking forward to my next back workout on Friday!  Military was good with 40's, but as I write this three hours after workout, shoulders are sore so I'm going to take some ibuprofin. Close grip lat pull downs were good placed earlier in the workout and I was able to do more weight still under control than last workouts.  Seated rows - started with heavier weight on seated rows, but back already fatigued, so lowered it.  Did 3 sets with regular grip attachment, then switched to the rope and lighter weight so I could separate hands at the contraction and get a longer pull and better squeeze.  Liked that a lot.  I was contemplating not doing seated rows for time reasons (a lot going on at work today), but glad I did them and liked the rope so much I did 5 sets instead of 4.  Will mix this in going forward.  Didn't do a lot of core due to time constraints and hoping to do them on cardio days too, but the torture twists were good again.  I could still feel them in my abs from Friday!  46 sets in 55 minutes.  Not a ton of rest in there.

Evening Cardio:
Went for a 47 min walk after work in the evening.

Protein:
6:30AM Whey shake 30g
7:30AM Oatmeal/pb/berries 5g
9:45AM Whey and casein 35g
11AM workout
12:30PM Chicken & brown rice & salad 40g
3PM Chicken & brown rice & salad 30g
6PM Chicken & salad 35g
10PM Chicken 10g
11PM Casein 30g
Total: 215

Saturday & Sunday

Saturday 5/5/12

Cardio:
Morning walk/run.  Ran last mile+ at sub 8:00 pace.  Started walking, got part way around loop & realized I needed to get home to the kids, so ran.
Mins: 52

Protein:
6:30AM Whey shake 30g
10AM Oatmeal/casein 30g
1PM Chicken 30g
4PM Can't remember 30g
6:30PM PeiWei Chicken & Brown Rice 40g
11PM Shake 30g
Total: 190g

Sunday 5/6/12

Cardio:
Ran ~4 miles in 37:30 (need to find my Garmin watch, it's still packed up somewhere), c/d 7:30.  Run felt OK.
Mins: 45

Protein:
6AM Whey shake 30g
7:30AM Oatmeal/PB/Berries 5g
9:30 4 mile run
10:30 Tuna & brown rice 30g  (I got two extra orders of brown rice from PeiWei to have on hand)
12:30 Tuna & brown rice 30g
4:45 Chicken & Brussel sprouts 35g
7PM Yogurt/Casein & chicken 30g (yogurt bland, added casein, overpowering, added water, not good).
11PM Casein shake 30g
Total: 190

Week ending 5/6/12:

3 runs, 3 WO's and some walks.  Great week!  All three workouts were really solid and got back to some running.  Gotta keep getting runs in, and at least 2 "longer" ones for the race in a month.  Weight was great during the week as diet has kept very clean until this weekend when I had the kids.  This happens every weekend I have the kids.  I bump up a couple of pounds.  I know it's not truly a couple pounds of fat gain.  It's just that my diet isn't quite as clean, and often times I really think it's due to a meal or two with them that, admittedly isn't great, but really seems to do with having high sodium content.  My body isn't used to a lot of sodium with a clean diet, so extra water packs on quickly and then sheds in the next day or two.  We'll see if that holds true again.

Coming up this week, Mon & Fri are Back/Shoulders/Bi and Wed is Chest/Tri, plus cardio on non-lifting days (and core on lifting days).  Hoping to hit core on cardio days as well.  Shooting for 3 runs, one this weekend in the 6-7 mile range, the other two probably 4 miles.

Friday - It's Official...

Well, I'm officially into the 160#'s and thought I'd include the obligatory picture as proof.

Friday 5/4/12 - Chest/Tri's/Core

Workout:

• (50#Bench/TortureTwist)5, Bench felt really good (15,10,9,7,8) w/ 50#'s and the Torture Twists were great, and HARD!

• (45#Incline/RevChrunch)5, Incline felt good (10,9,8,7,7), hard to feel how well reverse crunches were working lower abs.

• (45#Dips/100#Flys)5, Dips hard again (10,8,7,6,5) as has been the trend after hard bench and incline.

• (40#TriExt)5, Still loving these and think they really work well.

• (60/70#TriPushDn)5, Did 4 sets with straight bar today, last set drop set all to failure w/ 60/50/40#s.

Total: 61 mins

Chest: 15
Tri's: 15
Core: 10
Total: 40 sets

Comments:
Great workout! 5 sets of everything was the theme today I guess.
Changed today and did flat bench first before incline & used more weight.  Had been doing incline
first for probably 10 weeks (need to check WO log).  The Torture Twists were great!  You sit your butt perpendicular to the bench and hook your feet under something (another bench) so you can lean back.  When leaning back you twist from left to right, holding it 3 seconds on each side.  Here's a video on how to do them.  Did 8 reps to each side on each set.  Will be doing these frequently because I could really feel them working.  Reverse crunches, not sure, not sold on them.  Planks probably better or Captain Chair leg raises, though there the hip flexors come into play a lot.  Dips still a struggle after heavy chest workload, but I guess I'll live with that and just hope to get stronger there.  As noted, still loving the overhead tri extensions.  Push downs were good with straight bar.  I've been using the rope and like how that hits the outer head, so did last drop set with rope.  Overall a really great workout.  Got my feed bag on after this one.

Protein:
7AM Whey shake & creatine 30g
7:45AM Oatmeal/pb/berries 5g
10AM Shake 30g
10:15AM Yogurt 15g
10:30AM Workout
Noon Milk/BrownRice/PorkLoin & Creatine 15g
Chicken from salad bar 12oz. = 90g
12:45PM Salad/KidneyBeans/Chicken 30g
3:45PM Chicken & salad 30g
7:15PM Burger 45g (plus some fries and sweet potato fries) Major cheat meal w/ kids at Melt
11:15PM Shake 25g
Total: 225g (and plenty of carbs and fat - won't be in the 160's tomorrow AM!)

Thursday 5/3/12 Run

Ran about 4.5 miles this morning in 41:00 and cooled down with a walk for 12:00 for a total of 53:00.  Decent run.  I had bronchitis and 2 series of antibiotics the last two weeks so running has been minimal so it was nice to get a run in.  During those two weeks I did a lot of ~60 min walks on non-lifting days.

Protein:
6:30AM Shake and creatine 30g
8:30AM Oatmeal & casein 30g (25+5) - first time mixing protein powder with oatmeal and skim milk.  It was pretty good, but quite "chocolaty".  Think it's something I'll be doing again, though I did miss my peanut butter and blueberries in the oatmeal this morning.  That's been the staple breakfast after a shake for a couple of weeks. (1/4 cup whole grain oatmeal, 1tbs peanut butter, palm full of blueberries, splash of skim milk).  ~25g carb, 8g protein, 10g fat, ~200 cal.
10:30AM Chicken 30g (grilled 3 chicken breasts this morning to have on hand)
12oz. Chicken at lunch from salad bar = ~85g
1:30 Chicken & salad (also 1 slice roast beef and 1 egg white) 35g
5:30 Chicken & salad 30g
8PM Chicken 20g
11:15PM Shake 30g (casein75/whey25)
Total: 205g

Signed up for the 2012 Twilight Twilight 4 Miler race today.  Race is on Saturday June 9th at 7PM in Ashburn, VA. This will be my first race in many years.

Wednesday 5/2/12 Workout (B/S/Bi/C) and Physical

Wednesday 5/2/12 - Back/Shoulders/Bi/Core

• (135#Pulldown/35#Mil/BallPike)5, decided to do lat pulldowns rather than pullups today - just felt like it.  Good military press. Might move up to 40#s.  Ball Pike still a good go-to for core, I think.

• (120#SeatRow/20#HCurl/25#Russian&Crunches)4, Did better job holding seat row at contraction. Wanted to do Russians, but holding the 25#plate was tiring right after hammer curls so switched to weighted crunches.

• (20#UpRow/20#RDelt)4, Liked this combo again.  Did rear delts sitting rather than standing today.

• (105#CloseLatPull/20#Curl)4, Really liked this close lat pulldowns again.  Probably want to do them earlier in rotation before back is fatigued. Bi's were looking big after these sets of curls.

• (40#Shrugs/Preacher)3, Veins popping on top of bi's during curls.  I'm not very vascular, so this was a little surprising...in a good way.

Total: 64 mins

Back: 13
Shoulders: 16
Bi's: 11
Core: 9
Total: 49 sets

Comments:
Overall really good workout.  Still having difficulty really feeling my back work as I do my other muscle groups.  Starting to think that I've been neglecting core work in favor of the "show me" muscles.  Need to start doing core work on cardio days, because workouts in gym are already long enough without adding even more core work to these workouts.  I've found twisting cable exercises to be good, but they just take so damn long to do both sides that they really extend a workout time.  Found some new core exercises I'm going to try and need to get back to more planks.  Hard to do planks on shoulder day because shoulders begin to give out before core.  Sometimes similar thing happens on chest/tri days where tri's start to give out before core...which is another reason I need to do these on cardio days.

Had physical this morning with blood, turn your head & cough, bend over and take a deep breath tests included.  Oh my!  Results were excellent though. Doc asked if I was a vegetarian (I'm not!) because my lipid (cholesterol) readings came back so good.  Liver functions normal and glucose level very good.  Advice was to keep doing what I'm doing. Also got a tetanus vaccine.  Great to have this medical baseline for going forward now that I'm 40.

Doc recommended Julian Micheal nutrition book. Said it's really good and gets into hormone levels and how it impacts fat metabolism.  Might have to check it out.

Protein:
6:30AM Whey75/Casein25 & Creatine 30g
7:30AM Oatmeal/pb/berries 5g
10:15AM Whey shake 30g
11AM workout
Chicken at lunch 14.4oz = 100g
12:45PM Brown rice, chicken & salad 30g
4PM Chicken & salad 35g
8PM Remaining chicken 35g
11PM Casein shake 25g
Total: 190g

Monthly Workout & Weight Progression

Below is a general monthly progression of my weight and workouts starting in July '11 through Apr '12.  Note that weeks within a given month obviously vary, but should give you a fairly good idea of where I started and how I progressively added on what I built each month.  As you can see, weight loss was fairly dramatic at first going from essentially completely sedentary to actually doing a little exercise.  On average, I've lost 2.2-2.5 lbs/month over the last 6-9 months.  Some months weeks were much higher, some lower (obviously), but that's been the general trend; which is starting to slow I might add.  More detail to come around how and why I progressed, joined a gym, used a trainer for a period of time, etc..  So, that's the exercise in a nutshell that'll need opening and explaining as well as some information on diet coming next.

Month	Weight	General Workouts
Jul-11	250.0	Walking 25-45 mins/day
Aug-11	224.0	Walking 40-60 mins/day
Sep-11	215.0	Walking 40-60 mins/day, joined gym
Oct-11	207.2	Walking 40-60 mins/day, gym 2/week
Nov-11	198.6	Walking 40-60 mins/day, gym 2-3/week
Dec-11	197.6	Walking 40-60 mins/day, gym 2-3/week, quit gym
Jan-12	189.0	Walking 40-60 mins/day, gym 3/week structured, joined work gym
Feb-12	186.4	Walking 40-60 2-3/week, 4mile run/1-2/week, gym 3/week structured
Mar-12	175.2	Walking 40-60 1-2/week, 4mile run/2-3/week, gym 3/week structured
Apr-12	170.2	Walking 40-60 1-2/week, 4mile run/2-3/week, gym 3/week structured

Tuesday 5/1/12 Cardio

• 68 min AM walk. Nice morning after rain last night.  ~4 miles that will be a good running route.

• 55 min PM walk after work.  Really nice evening, so took advantage of the nice weather and went for a 2nd walk.

Protein:
7:15AM Whey75/Casein25 30g
8AM Oatmeal/pb/berries
9:30AM Tuna 35g
12oz Chicken = between 85g and 105g
12:30 Salad & chicken 35g
3:30PM Salad & chicken 40g
6:30PM chicken 15g
7PM Tuna & brussel sprouts 30g
11:30PM Casein shake 25g
Total: 210g

A note about protein content in chicken above.  Some calculations are 7g/oz while others are closer to 9 (40oz cooked chicken=35g).  I used 90 in my calculation for my totals.  Since protein has 4cal/g, total calorie difference is nominal in the grand scheme of things and I'd prefer to err on the low side because I need to make sure I keep my protein intake up because carbs are fairly low.  Most sources cite about 1-1.5g of protein per pound of body weight.  I shoot for around 200-215g/day, and that's actually pretty hard to do.  A separate post will be dedicated to protein intake, my take on it and how I'm doing it.