Sat & Sun 9/29 & 9/30 - Cardio & Week Recap

Sat:

• 50 min walk in the morning before taking kids to the VT vs. Cincinnati game.  Great time at the game and met up with some great old friends (Stacey and Dave, Tav, Kristen, & others).
• Weighed 175.0 after big meal Friday night.

 Sun:

• 33 min walk in the afternoon.  Nice day and just wanted to get out and stretch the legs.  They are still sore from my TUESDAY leg WO!
• Weighed 177.8 after eating a lot Saturday.
• Sunday nutrition was clean through 3PM and then got dirty.  Going to be heavy tomorrow AM.

Week ending 9/30
4WO's, 6 walks, 0 runs.  One triple and a double.   Workouts were really good this week.  I worked out at the large Sprint gym one day, one day at Fitness first.  I did legs for the first time in a LONG time and am still feeling it.  I'll be doing legs from here on out.  I'll probably start with 1-2 times a week until they get used to it and then I'm switching to a full body WO (which I'll detail in another post).  I'll ease into the full body WO's too starting with 3/week and ramping up to 5/week for six weeks at which time I'll take a break.

So, goal right now is to cut for 2 more weeks while getting into full body WO mode, then start ramping up WO volume and frequency as well as eating a calorie surplus (bulk) before taking a break around the end of November.

Fri 9/28 - Chest/Tri's, Body Fat% & New Gym

I went to the new gym, Fitness First, this morning and met with the trainer.  He ran me through the normal BS one gets subjected to when joining a new gym.  He measured my BF with calipers and it was 11.5%.  My body composition was:
Body Weight: 174.7 lbs
Body Fat %: 11.5%
Lean Body Mass: 154.6 lbs
Fat Mass: 20.1 lbs

Last time I had it checked several months ago I was at 13.7%, so I'm moving in the right direction!

The trainer had me do a bunch of exercises to test flexibility, general strength, core strength, etc.  Did sand bag lifts with box squats, body weight squats.  My legs are still really sore from doing legs the other day so I wasn't thrilled with all this nonsense.  Ken (trainer) was good though and knew what he was doing.

I was pressed for time, but decided since I was there I'd try to get my Chest/Tri WO in.

Workout:

• Dumbbell Bench 60X12, 70X6, 70X5, 65X5, 65X4 (4) 20
• (45#DumbbellIncline)8,6,6,5,4 (5) 29
• (Dips)10/+3,3,3,3,2 (6) 24
• (115#CloseGripBench)12/+6,4,3,3,3,3 (7)  34
• (25#RollingDBTri's)12,10,8,8,7 (5) 45
• (30#Crunch)12/+5,5,4,3,3 (6) 32
• (LyingLegRaise)15/+5,5,5,5,5 (6) 40

40 mins
Chest:  15 (73) - not counting 60# bench - that was warmup
Tri's: 12 (79)
Abs: 12 (72)
Total: 27 sets, 152 reps (not counting abs)

Bench was good, but 60's were more than a warmup set, but not really a good working set either.  Other sets were good.  Felt good using 70# dumbbells.  That's the heaviest I've gone with DB's so far.  Good sign.

I felt incline was on the light side, but ended up being a good weight based on number of reps.  Heavier bench might have had something to do with that.

Dips were good, but didn't get as many reps as I would have liked.  Due to heavy bench?

I did close grip bench on the smith machine.  This was good, but should start doing it with barbell or EZ-curl bar w/o smith machine.

Tried rolling DB tri extensions for the first time.  A bit weird at first, but really like them.  I thought 25#s would be too light and I'd just warm up with them and get a feel for the movement, but this weight was good.  Will definitely do these again!

Core was pretty good, but weighted crunches are still puzzling.  Core was already worked a little bit from trainer exercises in the beginning and lying leg raises were really tough.  Good work here.

Overall a pretty darn good WO.  Bench left a little bit to be desired.  I think I'm just not used to doing so few reps.  But, the heavier dumbbells felt good and I know worked chest well.  If it wasn't for the core work, this WO would have been about 32 mins.  Short and sweet, and intense.  Perfect.

Thu 9/27 - Cardio

Cardio:

• Walked 45 mins before work.  

Legs weren't too bad in the morning but got more painful throughout the day and are pretty bad tonight.  Hopefully they'll loosen up tomorrow.  I'm meeting with a new trainer in the morning.

Nutrition:
I weighed 170.8 this morning.  A bit more than last week at the same point, but carbs/cals were definitely lower last week.  I'm not going to cut carbs any lower until I get further down.  I'm averaging 8.6 cals/#body weight.  Last week at the same time it was 7.7.  That's just too low. 
Good nutrition day.  Very consistent all week w/ today's carbs a bit lower today because no workout. 

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	186	106	19	1,314
	Calories	745	423	168	1,336
	Percent	56%	32%	13%	100%

Wed 9/26 - Back/Shoulders/Bi's & Cardio

Cardio:

• Walked 47 mins before work.  Legs actually weren't too bad after leg WO yesterday.  I was surprised.  BUT, the 2nd day is always worse, so we'll see.

Workout:

• (Pullups)13/+3,3,2,2,2 (6) 25
• (45#Military)12/+3,3,2,3,3 (6) 26
• (150#CloseGripPull)11/+3,3,3,3,3 (6) 26
• (15#LateralDelts)15/+5,5,5,5,5 (6) 40
• (25#HammerCurl)12/+3,3,3,3,3 (6) 27
• (70#RearDelt)16/+4,4,4,4,4 (6) 36
• (45#BentOverRow)12/+4,4,4,4,4 (6) 32
• (30#Crunch)15/+6,6,6,6,6 (6) 45
• (LyingLegRaise)15/+5,5,5,5,5 (6) 40
• (20#Curl)20/+4,4,4,4 (5) 36
• (50#Shrugs)15/+5,5,5,5 (5) 35

51 mins
Back: 18 (83)
Shoulders: 23 (137)
Bi's: 11 (63)
Abs: 12 (85)
Total: 52 (activation + mini-sets) (283 reps) (Not including abs)

I hadn't done pullups in a while, and figured I'd better do them.  I've been doing reverse grip pulldowns (pussy pulldowns) instead.  I've been going heavy on those, but it's still not the same as pullups. I was very pleased I got 13 on the activation set, but I immediately knew I shouldn't have done that many.  I wanted to make sure I got at least 10 and kept going to see where I stood after not doing them for a while.  Mini sets got very hard very quickly.  The last 2 sets of 2 were a struggle.  Last rep only getting 3/4 of the way up.  Still very good work and very happy I could do 13 after not doing them for a while.

Similar to pullups, I wanted to see where I stood on military.  I'll have to look, but think I was using 50's before, probably 6-8 reps.  I started with 45#s.  Activation set was great (12 reps).  Then I went 3,3,2 and had to drop to 40#s.  This was good shoulder work, but heavy dumbbells just aren't conducive to myo-reps.  It's too awkward and takes too much effort to get heavy dumbbells up and down with such short rests. 

Close grip pulldowns were really good again today.  Pullups take a lot out of the back, but these were good, really tried to control the weight and could really feel it in my lats/mid-back.  Pleased.

Lateral delts were great.  Today I did less on the activation set, but did 5's on mini sets.  Really good.

Hammer curls were good.  Nothing special stood out.  I was going to do heavy straight bar, but that hurts my left elbow, and back day puts a lot of strain on it as is, so did curls.

Rear delts were good.  Nothing stood out.

I would normally do seated rows here, but that's hard on my elbow, and I wasn't thrilled with wide grip seated rows last WO, so I did bent over rows.  These were really good, though I wish I had a barbell to do them with.  These take a ton of energy, but good.  I could really feel the tightness in my legs during these today.

For abs I did crunches reversed on the back extension contraption.  I should call these back snaps instead of crunches.  Gotta figure out a good way to do weighted crunches.  Been doing them for a couple weeks and still haven't figured it out.  Then I did lying leg raises.  These were good, and real hard.  I must have been working *something* well on the crunches.  During the last 2 mini sets, I had to really work to get the last reps up.  Very pleased with this combo, if I could get the crunches working better.

The workout was done as written here, but I was psyched about how the WO went and had been wondering from last WO if I needed more bi work.  So, I set out to do 1-2 sets of curls.  That turned into a full Myo-rep set.  Then I thought, "hey, lets just do a set of shrugs".  That also turned into a full Myo-rep set.

When am I going to learn to just call it a day and know I've done enough work?

Overall a great WO, but I probably should have stuck to WO as written.  Too many exercises and went too long.  Very happy with pullups.  Military really worked shoulders, even though dumbbells aren't conducive to Myo-reps.  Lateral delts and bent rows were also high points.  I want to figure something better with bi's, though what I'm doing is probably fine.  Gotta figure out weighted crunches, or abandon them for a while before I hurt myself.

Nutrition:
I weighed 171.8 this morning.  Pretty good nutrition day.  I haven't really restricted carbs this week.  Three big WO's in a row had to be fueled and cutting carbs too low would have been detrimental, I think.  No WO tomorrow, so carbs will probably be a little lower, but I'm not doing many days below 50grams right now.  That's just too few for me to sustain long term.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	186	166	19	1,539
	Calories	744	665	167	1,576
	Percent	47%	42%	11%	100%

Tue 9/25 - Legs & Cardio

I've been a real wuss about doing legs since I started working out.  One of the first times I worked out with my trainer (close to a year ago) he had me doing squats and I could barely walk for several days.  I've known for quite some time that the foundation of any weight routine should be squats, dead lifts and bench press.  Well, I've neglected 2 of the 3 and decided it's probably about time I get back to basics a little bit and start doing some squats and deads, even if I don't go heavy and/or do them multiple times a week.  I'm still struggling with how to program them into my WO.  I know how I *should* program them in, but that's not what I *want* to do.  Regardless, I've committed to start doing them, so I started by doing legs/deads today.  I probably won't be able to walk down stairs tomorrow even though I didn't do any heavy weight.

The few times I did legs in the past, I couldn't run effectively for the next couple of days and I didn't want to sacrifice running.  So result, no leg work.  Given my feet and knees seem to keep me from running right now anyway, I might as well hammer the legs a bit.  If anything, it will probably strengthen my quads and might "fix" my knee issue(s).

Workout:

• (100#DBSquats)12,12,12,12 (4)
• (100#DBDeadLift)12,12,12,12,12 (5)
• (180#LegPress)15, (195#LegPress)15,15,15 (4)

45 mins
13 sets (25mins)
Walking c/d (15mins)

Good initial WO.  Walked for 15 mins after the WO to hopefully get some blood running through the quads to clear out some waste from the WO.  I really need a barbell to do these exercises properly, so maybe I can do them at the new gym I joined, but dumbbells were fine for my initial attempt.  It will shock my legs a bit, get them good and sore I'm sure, and then I can work through how I'll program these in and do them frequently enough where I'm not so sore after each WO that walking is extremely difficult.

The weight was fine for these today.  I didn't go close to failure, but the last set of leg presses were more than difficult enough for my first WO.

Cardio:

• Walked 32 mins after work just to get some more blood flow through the legs to *hopefully* help with the pain that's sure to come. 
• Walked 45 mins late evening to get the legs moving again.  Plus, it was a really nice evening with a pretty moon out, so I decided to take advantage of the weather.

Nutrition:
I weighed 172.4 this morning.  This is almost exactly what I weighed last Tuesday after similar refeed from Sunday.  Good nutrition day today.  I don't know if it was psychological, or real, but after doing legs today I was noticeably hungrier all day.

Tue	Time	Item	Size	Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
9/25/2012	8AM	BCAA	10g
	11:15AM	WO - Legs
	12:30PM	Creatine	5g
	12:30PM	Whey Shake W1	1 scoop	30	4	1	140
	1:30PM	Chicken	6.3oz	44	0	2	189
	1:30PM	Salad	16oz	9	21	0	114
	1:30PM	Oatmeal	3/4 cup	8	41	5	225
	4PM	Apple	1 med	0	25	0	95
	5PM	Tuna (7oz can)	5.5oz	44	0	2	193
	5PM	Yellow squash	6oz	2	5	0	30
	7:30PM	Casein Protein C2	1 scoop	24	3	1	120
	7:30PM	Oatmeal	3/4 cup	8	41	5	225
	8:45PM	Apple	1 med	0	25	0	95
	8:45PM	Cottage Cheese	3/4 Cup	21	8	2	135
		TOTALS:	Grams	189	172	16	1,561
			Calories	754	689	142	1,584
			Percent	48%	43%	9%	100%

Mon 9/24 - Chest/Tri

Workout:
I had a few extra minutes today, so I went over to the larger Sprint gym.  SO glad I did!  I was psyched for this WO, and it was a good one!

• (185#Bench)6,6,5,3 (4) 20
• (55#Incline)10,5,5,4,4,4 (6) 22
• (Dips)10/+3,3,3,3,3 (6) 25
• (95#CloseGripBench)16/+6,6,6,5,6 (6) 45
• (40#Crunch)15/+6,5,5,5 (5)
• (LyingLegRaise)15/+5,5,5,5,5 (6)
• (50#OHTriExt)16/+4,4,4,3,3 (6) 34

45 mins
Chest: 16 (67)
Tri: 12 (79)
Abs: 11
Total: 28 Sets (activation + mini-sets) Not counting abs in here

I worked out today at the larger Sprint gym.  They don't have barbells eigher, except for on the smith machine.  They do have some bars with pre-loaded weight that I'll be able to use for barbell curls and deads.

I warmed up on bench with 95#'s (just to get a feel for the smith machine) and 135#'s.  Then I did 4 sets at 185#s. Reps were 6,6,5,3. This worked well, but it was still a little hard on the smith to feel exactly like regular barbell bench.  This was still really good. Much better than the chest press machine at the small Sprint gym.

For incline I started with 50#'s and did 10 reps w/o much difficulty.  I'm calling this a warmup set even though it was more of a working set.  I bumped up to 55#'s and did reps of 5,5,4,4,4.  This was REALLY good.  Felt awesome and grinded out the last rep on the 2nd set of 5 and then the sets of 4 felt good.  I'll start with 55's next time.

Dips were pretty good.  Did myo-reps. Not as many activation reps as last WO, but I think chest was a bit more heavily worked first in this WO.

I Was psyched to be able to do close grip bench today (one of the best tri-builders).  Felt good, but reps were a little too high.  Need to up the weight next time.

I decided to give tri's a breather and do core/abs here.  I did 40# decline crunches and then lying leg raises.  This felt great (and hard) after not doing really any abs last week because of my back.  Still not sure about the weighted crunches.  I know they are great for mass, but just not sure if I'm doing them effectively and putting un-needed stress on my back how I'm doing them.

OverHead tri extensions were real good.  Still like these, but will try to do more close grip bench, dips and a new exercises I need to try called Rolling DB Extensions and JM Presses.  From what I've been reading, the recommendation is for these exercises over pushdowns (and OH extensions).  I can take or leave pushdowns, but I do love me my OH Tri Extensions.

Overall a fantastic WO.  Not a ton of volume, but heavy (for me) and intense.  It was 45 mins because of ab work and being in a new gym things took a little longer.  I think chest volume was just about right on with 3 heavy compound movements and DONE.  No need to try to kill the chest with peck deck, cable cross, whatever right now.  Just need to progress on heavier weights week to week.  Tri's were good.  Reps probably too high, but I'll get that dialed in on close grip bench and need to try Rolling DB Extensions and JM Presses.  Today, being in a new gym, doing close grip bench was enough of a change for one day.
 
Nutrition:
I weighed 175.4 this morning.  Maybe I ate more than I though yesterday :)  I thought I'd be about 173.  Pretty good nutrition day.

Mon	Time	Item	Size	Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
9/24/2012	10:45AM	BCAA	10g
	11AM	WO - Chest/Tri
	12:30PM	Creatine	5g
	12:30PM	Whey Shake W1	1 scoop	30	4	1	140
	1:30PM	Chicken	5oz	35	0	1	150
	1:30PM	Salad	16oz	9	21	0	114
	2PM	Banana	1small (5.7)	1	23	0	90
	4PM	Egg Whites	3whites	11	1	0	51
	5PM	Jerky	1package	10	0	1	50
	7PM	Chicken	7oz	49	0	2	210
	7PM	Broccoli	5.5oz	4	11	0	55
	7PM	Oatmeal	1/2 cup	5	27	3	150
	7PM	Apple	1 med	0	25	0	95
	8:45PM	Casein Protein C2	1 scoop	24	3	1	120
	8:45PM	Cottage Cheese	1/2 Cup	14	5	1	90
	8:45PM	Oatmeal	1/2 cup	5	27	3	150
		TOTALS:	Grams	196	147	13	1,465
			Calories	786	587	120	1,493
			Percent	53%	39%	8%	100%

Sun 9/23 - Cardio/Refeed/New Gym & Week Recap

Cardio:

• Walked for 40 mins after the Skins game and lying on the couch after first big meal.  I over-ate and my stomach was aching and almost didn't get out for a walk.  I was glad I got out and moved around for a while.  It wasn't that I ate a TON, I just think my stomach shrunk because I haven't been eating a big meals.

New Gym:
I decided to join another gym - Fitness First here in Leesburg.  I joined another gym because:

1. I occasionally need a gym when I'm not at work and it's $15/day for a guest pass.  A weekly membership is only $25 and the normal initiation fee of $150 was only $25 this weekend.
2. I'd like to be able to work from home occasionally when I know most of my team won't be in (i.e. a lot of Friday's) and still be able to work out.  Now I have to drive to work to use the gym.
3. I'd like to work out on weekends and can't now with the gym being closed at work on weekends.
4. I'd like access to a trainer.  Not to have personal training sessions, per se.  But to have someone be able to review what I'm doing and my diet and provide input.
5. With winter coming up, I'm sure there will be times where the weather is bad and it's just easier to do something inside.
6. Might meet new people.

Nutrition:
I weighed 167.8 this morning.  Refeed day.  I was looking forward to this day all week.  It was quite a disappointment.  I ate a good amount, but nothing really sounded all that appetizing.  No good "cheat meal".  I ate a bunch of cereal, some chili and 2 apples.  I did have lunch out, but just had chicken kabob (grilled chicken, a piece of Naan and some steamed spinach), so not a real "cheat meal".  I think the disappointing part was mostly due to what I wrote above.  My stomach got full so fast I could hardly enjoy eating a bunch.  I could have avoided this by extending my eating window, but I didn't start eating until after 1PM and ended after dinner.  Here's a guess at the macro's.  I'm basically using what last Sunday was because I didn't even bother trying to track today.  I figure around 3,000 calories though probably not that high.  I know my protein wasn't near 200 grams and carbs probably a decent amount lower as well.  Oh, I did eat a bagel for the first time in probably a year. 

TOTALS:	Grams	195	498	37	3,010
	Calories	778	1994	333	3,105
	Percent	25%	64%	11%	100%

Weekly ending 9/23 -  3 WO's, 1 run, 1 long walk, 0 doubles.
All three workouts were really good this week.  I hurt my back last Sunday, but didn't seem to hinder my WO's.  My one run was decent, but after the long walk on Saturday my feet were killing me.  Overall a good week with WO's and nutrition.  Just need to get cardio back on track. 

Sat 9/22 - Cardio

Cardio:

• Walked 6.5 miles in 1:48 (15:47, 16:05, 16:40, 16:38, 16:25, 16:57, 9:16).   I walked into old town Leesburg, on the W&OD trail for a while and then back home.  Beautiful morning for a walk.
• Note: tonight at 9:30PM my feet are killing me!  Maybe that long walk wasn't such a good idea right when my feet were just starting to feel a little bit better.  Damnit!

Nutrition:
I weighed 167.4 this morning.  Pretty good nutrition day.  I fasted until 4PM today so I ate quite a bit considering I put it into a 5-hour window.Calories were OK, but protein a little low and carbs a little high (2 apples and 2 servings of oatmeal).  Refeed planned for tomorrow, but going to try to keep it under control.

Sat	Time	Item	Size	Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
9/22/2012	7AM	BCAA	10g
	9AM	Walked 6.5 miles
	12:45PM	BCAA	10g
	4PM	Chicken	8.2oz	57	0	2	246
	4PM	Broccoli	5.5oz	4	11	0	55
	4PM	Apple	1 med	0	25	0	95
	4:30PM	Oatmeal	1/2 cup	5	27	3	150
	7:30PM	Tuna (7oz can)	5.5oz	44	0	2	193
	7:30PM	Broccoli	5oz	4	10	0	50
	7:30PM	Oatmeal	3/4 cup	8	41	5	225
	7:30PM	Milk	1/2cup	5	7	0	45
	7:30PM	Apple	1 med	0	25	0	95
	9PM	Jerky (Walmart)	1oz	14	3	1	80
	9PM	Casein Protein C2	1 scoop	24	3	1	120
		TOTALS:	Grams	164	151	13	1,354
			Calories	655	604	119	1,378
			Percent	48%	44%	9%	100%

Fri 9/21 - Back/Shoulders/Bi's

I was going to walk this morning, but my feet were a little tender after the run yesterday and I don't want to take a step back, so I didn't do any cardio.

Workout (Myo-reps):

• (195#RevGripPull)10/+3,3,3,2,2,2 (7) 25
• (120#Military)19/+3,3,3,3,3 (6) 34
• (150#CloseGripPull)10/+3,3,3,3,3 (6) 25
• (15#LateralDelsts)19/+4,4,4,4,4 (6) 39
• (25#HammerCurls)15/+3,3,3,3,3 (6) 30
• (70#RearDelt)17/+4,4,4,4 (5) 33
• (90#WideGripSeatedRow)10/+4,4,4,4,4 (6) 30
• (35#Crunch)17/+4,4,4,4,4 (6)

38 mins
Back: 19 (80)
Shoulders: 17 (106)
Bi's: 6 (30)
Abs: 6 (37)
Total: 48 (activation + mini-sets) (216 reps)

Reverse grip pulldowns were pretty good. Felt pretty heavy and on the 4th mini set I only got 2 reps, so I did 2 more sets of 2. Last week I got sets of 3. Could really feel it in my lats, but not quite as well as last week.

Military was really good again, but I think I went probably 1-2 too many reps on the activation set (I wanted to do more reps than last WO).  Last 2 mini sets I didn't quite get last rep up.  Shoulders felt really good though.  I need to do dumbbell military soon to see where I stand compared to before myo-reps.  Heavy dumbbell military press would just be too difficult/awkward to get them down and then back up ready to go again w/ only a 10-15 second rest.  I might try them, but don't see it going well, so will have to just do straight sets sometime soon.

Close grip pulldowns were great today.  Tried to really squeeze and take it slow, moving weight w/o using momentum.  Lats/mid back felt really good.

Lateral delts were great with 4 reps on the mini sets again and higher rep activation set than last WO.

I did hammer curls today and they were really good. I'm wondering if I should do more than one bicep exercise.  Probably not.  They get worked pretty well during back.

Rear delts were good.  Really squeezed at contraction and kept tension on the entire movement.  As usual, this starts out feeling really light, but gets tough quickly during mini-sets.

I decided to do wide grip seated rows today, 1)to change things up just a tad, and 2)close grip rows have really been hurting my left elbow.  I used the lat pulldown bar and used a wide grip.  Not sure how I felt about this.  I had to use a lighter weight (90#s) and really tried to squeeze at contraction, but had a bit of a hard time making the connection to what it was actually working.  Too much arms in this movement for me maybe.  Regardless, it didn't hurt my elbow, so that's good.  Maybe I should do bent over rows instead until my elbow gets better.

Because of my back hurting since Sunday I haven't done any core/ab work this week and really wanted to today.  I did weighted crunches with 35#'s, but this hurt my back when I went close to flat.  These ended up just being OK.  I'm still getting used to these in the first place, so to not be able to do full ROM didn't help.  After crunches I tried to do lying leg raises.  Not happening.  This hurt my back too much to be worth trying sets of them.

Really good WO.  Some things better than others.  Close grip pull downs and lateral delts were probably the best two movements of the day.

Nutrition:
I weighed 168.2 this morning.  On track and heading down!  Another good nutrition day.  I added just a little chocolate whey protein to my oatmeal tonight.  It was really good and I wanted to eat some more.  This evening was kind of difficult.  I really wanted to carb load this afternoon/evening after my WO....meaning I was bowls and bowls of cereal.  I've got to get over this!  I was good though and didn't give in.  Plan is to eat over maintenance on Sunday.  Tomorrow is probably going to pretty difficult.  Today was 4 straight days with no almonds and fat has been super low during that time (less than 10% of daily calories).

Fri	Time	Item	Size	Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
9/21/2012	12:45PM	BCAA	10g
	1PM	WO - Back/Shoulder
	2PM	Creatine	5g
	2PM	Whey Shake W1	1 scoop	30	4	1	140
	2:30PM	Chicken	6oz	42	0	1.5	180
	2:30PM	Salad	16oz	9	21	0	114
	2:30PM	Banana	1small (5.7)	1.1	23	0.3	90
	5:15PM	Egg Whites	3whites	11	1	0	51
	5:15PM	Chobani Yogurt	6oz	18	7	0	100
	7PM	Tuna (7oz can)	5.5oz	44	0	2	193
	7PM	Broccoli	5oz	4	10	0	50
	7PM	Apple	1 med	0	25	0	95
	9PM	Oatmeal	3/4 cup	8	41	5	225
	9PM	Casein Protein C2	1 scoop	24	3	1	120
		TOTALS:	Grams	190	134	10	1,358
			Calories	758	537	90	1,385
			Percent	55%	39%	6%	100%

Thu 9/20 - Cardio - Yes, I did cardio!

Cardio:
Ran 40 minutes (4.4miles) and walked c/d 10 mins.  I started out for a walk this morning and my feet were feeling OK.  I figured it was worth a try to run and see how the feet/calves/knees did after some extended time off (I haven't really run in almost 2 weeks and even limited walks).  They felt OK.  Not great, but OK.  My calves weren't cramping up and/or feeling dead like they have been.  I guess some actual rest helped.  My left knee hurt a little, but not bad.  It wasn't a great run, but I'll take it!  Gotta be careful not to ramp back up too quickly.

Nutrition:
Another good nutrition day.  I weighed 170.0 this morning.  On Monday I thought I'd be just below 170 by Thursday.  I was pretty close to spot on even though I didn't dip below.  I'm getting to know my body and where my weight stands real well in the 170 - 180 range and how long it takes to cut back down to the 170 range after a re-feed or cheat weekend. 

I feel good and lean at 170.  I struggle getting much below 169.  I've been down to 163.8 two months ago and goal is to get below that during this cut.  It's a piece of cake (relatively speaking) for me to get from 175 to 170 with a real clean diet.  170 to below 165 is a whole different story.  I was really lean (for me anyway) when I hit 163. Veins were showing all over my abdomen and even in my back.  I've put on mass since that time, so if I can get below 163, it's going to be an accomplishment.  And I mean below a "real" 163#s.  Not after a run in the morning where I've sweated off a couple pounds.

Thu	Time	Item	Size	Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
9/20/2012	6:30AM	BCAA	10g
	8:30AM	Ran 4+ miles
	9:30AM	BCAA	10g
	2PM	Chicken	7.4oz	52	0	2	222
	2PM	Salad	12oz	7	16	0	86
	3PM	Egg Whites	3whites	11	1	0	51
	7PM	Chicken	6oz	42	0	2	180
	7PM	Zucchini	6oz	2	5	0	30
	7PM	Apple	1 med	0	25	0	95
	7:30PM	Oatmeal	3/4 cup	8	41	5	225
	9PM	Cottage Cheese	1Cup	28	10	2	180
	9PM	Casein Protein C2	1 scoop	24	3	1	120
		TOTALS:	Grams	172	100	11	1,189
			Calories	690	402	98	1,189
			Percent	58%	34%	8%	100%

Wed 9/19 - Chest/Tri's

Workout:

• (225#Bench)6,5,4,4 (4) 19
• (50#Incline)7,6,6,5 (4) 24
• (Dips)13/+3,3,3,3,3 (6) 28
• (50#OHTriExt)15/+3,3,3,3,3,3 (7) 33
• (130#Pushdown)10/+3,3,3,3,3 (6) 25 & 80#X10, 60#X12
• (110#PeckDeck)15/+4,4,4,4 (5) 31

38 mins
Chest: 19 (102)
Tri: 15 (80)
Total: 34 Sets (activation + mini-sets)

Bench was really good.  I warmed up and felt good so I bumped the weight to 225# (last week was 210#). I tried to make sure I kept my shoulders pinned back to work the pecs.  I was really pleased with this weight and # of reps.  I had to slightly touch the weight on the very last rep to get it pressed. Although this felt really good, it's still not barbell bench, which I need to be doing.

I was pleased with incline as well.  A couple more reps than last WO, so happy with that (especially while cutting).

Dips were pretty good.  Really worked last rep of last 2 sets barely getting them up.  I only mention because normally with dips when I fail, I only get half way up and just can't get higher.  Today those last 2 reps I was able to get up.

Overhead tri extensions were good and elbow felt OK during them.

I bumped the weight up on pushdowns because I was feeling good with the WO.  The weight was fine, but I think I should have stayed with 120#s just because I feel that 4 reps on mini-set is better than 3 for this exercise.  So, I added two sets at the end with the rope at a light weight and more reps.  Felt good.

The WO was done as written at this point, but I added peck deck.  I was just going to do 1 or 2 sets, but this wasn't bothering my left elbow like it has been lately, so I went ahead and did a full myo-rep "set".

I was very happy with this WO. Calories were pretty low yesterday (under 1200) and this WO was at the end of a 17-hour fast, so I was kind of surprised how well it went.  Pretty good time-wise, but I didn't do any core.  I couldn't do core because of my back.  I tried a few leg raises and it was painful, so I skipped it again.  I didn't take a lot of rest (1-1.5mins) on bench and incline (about 7mins per exercise), but definitely more rest than myo-reps.  I probably didn't need to do peck deck and still got a really good chest WO, but that's what I tend to do, unfortunately.  Very good WO, but gotta get some barbell work in soon.

Nutrition:
Good nutrition day.  I weighed 171.4 this morning.  Again, thought I'd be a bit lower, but I guess that's what not doing cardio will do.  I thought I'd be below 170 tomorrow, but that's probably going to be close.  Either way, I'm just about right on plan and as much as I'm missing running, it's good to be able to control my diet and still get down w/o cardio.  When I'm able to add it back in, it will make a big difference when I really need it for this last cut.

Wed	Time	Item	Size	Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
9/19/2012	12:15PM	BCAA	10g
	12:30PM	WO
	1:30PM	Creatine	5g
	1:30PM	Whey Shake W1	1 scoop	30	4	1	140
	2PM	Chili	1serving	39	23	7	313
	2PM	Banana	1small (5.7)	1	23	0	90
	5:15PM	Cottage Cheese	1/2 Cup	14	5	1	90
	6:15PM	Chicken	4.5oz	32	0	1	135
	6:15PM	Salad	12oz	7	16	0	86
	6:15PM	Oatmeal	1/2 cup	5	27	3	150
	6:15PM	Apple	1 med	0	25	0	95
	8PM	Chicken	4oz	28	0	1	120
	8PM	Casein Protein C2	1 scoop	24	3	1	120
		TOTALS:	Grams	179	126	16	1,338
			Calories	718	505	141	1,364
			Percent	53%	37%	10%	100%

 

Tue 9/18 - Day Off

Another day off today.  I've taken more days off (~6) in the last 3-4 weeks than I have in the last 6 months.  Really trying to give my feet/knees time to heal, so I've even toned down the walking.  This means diet needs to be tight though.

My back is still sore today (which is another reason I didn't do cardio), but certainly no worse than yesterday.  I see the PT tomorrow morning.  I may cancel that appt depending on how I feel in the morning.

Nutrition:
Good nutrition day.  No almonds today.  That takes about 200cals off the day, but I do miss not eating any.  Plus, having such low fat isn't good long term.  I was 172.6 this morning.  Thought I might be about a pound lower, but pretty close to what I suspected.  Should be below 170 by Thursday.

Tue	Time	Item	Size	Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
9/18/2012	6:30AM	BCAA	10g
	1:30PM	Creatine	0g
	1:30PM	Whey Shake W1	1 scoop	30	4	1	140
	2:45PM	Chicken	5oz	35	0	1.3	150
	2:45PM	Salad	12oz	6.514	15.9	0	85.714
	2:45PM	Egg Whites	3whites	10.8	0.6	0	51
	4:45PM	Apple	1 med	0	25	0	95
	5PM	Oatmeal	1/2 cup	5	27	3	150
	7:30PM	Chicken	5oz	35	0	1.3	150
	7:30PM	Zucchini	9oz	2.7	8.1	0	45
	7:30PM	Egg Beaters	5servings	25	5	0	125
	7:30PM	Mushroom	3oz	2.7	2.7	0	18
	7:30PM	Casein Protein C2	1 scoop	24	3	1	120
	All Day	Almonds	1/2oz	0	0	0	0
		TOTALS:	Grams	177	91	8	1,130
			Calories	707	365	68	1,140
			Percent	62%	32%	6%	100%

Mon 9/17 - Back/Shoulders/Bi's

Workout:

• (195#RevGripPull)10/+3,3,3,3,3 (6) 25 
• (120#Military) 15/+3,3,3,3,3 (6) 30
• (150#CloseGripPull) 12/+3,3,3,3,3 (6) 27
• (15#LateralDelsts) 17/+4,4,4,4,4 (6) 37
• (25#Curls) 13/+3,3,3,3,3 (6) 28
• (70#RearDelt) 15/+4,4,4,4 (5) 31
• (120#SeatedRow) 8/+3,3,3,3,3 (6) 23

30 mins
Back: 18 (75)
Shoulders: 17 (98)
Bi's: 6 (28)
Total: 41 (activation + mini-sets) (201 reps)

OK, so I'm an idiot.  My back is killing me today.  Not sure what I did to it over the weekend, but it started aching last night, woke me up in the middle of the night and kept me up for a couple of hours until I could fall back to sleep.  I'm hoping its muscle related and not my kidneys.  So, my back feels a little better this morning, but I almost didn't bring my gym bag to work for a WO because I'm thinking it might be a good day to take off, given how effed up my back felt.  What do I do?  Bump up the weight to the heaviest I've done on my first exercise.  Brilliant.  I warmed up well for the first exercise, and despite the tenderness in my back, my heavy warmup set felt relatively good, hence the bump up in weight.

Reverse grip pulldowns were really good, heavier than I've done before.  They were a little painful where my back was hurting last night (and still today) but not bad enough to make me feel like I had to stop.  Mad at myself for doing this, and happy with the weight/reps at the same time.

Military was good, but lying back where my back met the incline bench really hurt my back badly, so I had to arch a little to get that part of my back off the cushion and couldn't press as hard. 

Close grip pulldowns were really good.  This exercise hits the muscle about where all the pain is, so I was expecting this to be bad.  It wasn't.  To be honest I'm starting to get scared that it's not more painful.  Starting to think it could be something (kidneys?) not muscle related.

Lateral delts were really good again with lighter weight and more reps (4) on the mini sets.  Oddly enough, this and military press bothered my back more than actual back work.

I did dumbbell curls again and they felt good, again.

This WO was the same as my last back WO, but here I traded out shrugs and did rear delts.  These felt good, bumped the weight 10#s and worked it pretty hard.  These always feel so light starting out and get heavy fast.

Bumped up weight on seated rows from last WO to 120#'s (I'm asking for trouble, aren't I?) and it felt pretty good.  I probably should have stayed with the same weight as last WO, because I can get a better squeeze at contraction going just a bit lighter, and I think that's more important than slinging more weight.  But, this was still good.  It wasn't overly heavy.

I couldn't even begin to do crunches.  That hurt my back WAAAYYYY too much.

Overall this was another great WO in just a whisper over 30 mins.  Short and intense.  I'm still not sure what to think of my back.  It hurts sitting here as I write this 1/2 hour after the WO, but nothing worse than how it felt before the WO.  Of course, yesterday during the day it didn't hurt AT ALL, and was killing me in the evening.  I'm praying it's nothing serious.  Heading down to the doc now.

Back from the doc.  She doesn't think it's kidneys and prescribed me extra strength advil and some muscle relaxers.  I hope I can sleep tonight.

Nutrition:I weighed 174.6 this morning.  My muscles felt and looked full, but not the bloating like from longer (less controlled) re-feeds of late.  I'm happy about this.  Didn't put on too much weight, mostly water which will be gone in a day or two but gave my body a diet break.  Got back on the diet today, though it wasn't too strict.  I wanted to make sure I got some carbs in after a heavy back WO.

Mon	Time	Item	Size	Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
9/17/2012	1:15PM	BCAA	10g
	1:15PM	WO
	NA	Creatine	0g
	2PM	Whey Shake W1	1 scoop	30	4	1	140
	3PM	Chicken	5oz	35	0	1	150
	3PM	Salad	12oz	7	16	0	86
	3PM	Egg Whites	3whites	11	1	0	51
	3PM	Banana	1small (5.7)	1	23	0	90
	5PM	Oatmeal	1/2 cup	5	27	3	150
	5PM	Chicken	5oz	35	0	1	150
	7PM	Chili	1serving	39	23	7	313
	7PM	Apple	1 med	0	25	0	95
	7PM	Casein Protein C2	1 scoop	24	3	1	120
	7:30PM	Oatmeal	1/2 cup	5	27	3	150
	All Day	Almonds	1/2oz	3	3	8	93
		TOTALS:	Grams	195	152	26	1,587
			Calories	779	608	230	1,616
			Percent	48%	38%	14%	100%

Sat & Sun 9/15 & 9/16 & Week Recap

Sat:
Weighed 169.0.  Was active all day, cut the yard, walked around downtown Leesburg at the art festival, etc., but didn't do anything exercise specific.

TOTALS:	Grams	170	116	33	1,421
	Calories	679	464	301	1,444
	Percent	47%	32%	21%	100%

Sun:
Weighed 169.6. Hiked Bull Run mountain with Joe (~2 hours).  Fasted until 1:30 after the hike, then did a re-feed the rest of the day.  This was a good partial day re-feed.  Better than what's been the norm lately that's lasted several days.  Probably too much cereal, but hey, it's a cheat day.

Sun	Time	Item	Size	Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
9/16/2012	10AM	BCAA	10g
	13:30AM	Bull Run MTN Hike ~5 miles
	1:30PM	Chicken	8oz	56	0	2	240
	1:30PM	Broccoli	6oz	4.2	12	0	60
	1:30PM	Kix	2servings	4	50	2	220
	1:30PM	Milk (Fat Free)	1 Cup	9	13	0	90
	1:30PM	Apple	1 med	0	25	0	95
	2PM	Frosted flakes	3servings	6	75	3	330
	2PM	Milk (Fat Free)	1 Cup	9	13	0	90
	3PM	Banana	1small (5.7)	1.1	23	0.3	90
	6PM	Chili	1serving	39	23	7	313
	6PM	Apple	1 med	0	25	0	95
	6:30PM	Kix	3servings	6	75	3	330
	6:30PM	Milk (Fat Free)	1 Cup	9	13	0	90
	9PM	FROYO (No Sugar)	1cup	6	30	6	200
	9PM	Casein Protein C2	1 scoop	24	3	1	120
	9:30PM	Oatmeal	1/2 cup	5	27	3	150
	9:30PM	Kix	2servings	4	50	2	220
	9:30PM	Milk (Fat Free)	1 Cup	9	13	0	90
	9:30PM	Apple	1 med	0	25	0	95
	All Day	Almonds	1/2oz	3	3	8	93
		TOTALS:	Grams	195	498	37	3,010
			Calories	778	1994	333	3,105
			Percent	25%	64%	11%	100%

Week ending 9/16 Recap:
3 WO's, 1 Run, 2 Doubles.  Two of the three WO's were really good.  The one on Monday was just decent.  Good re-feed this week on Sunday.  Definitely got lots of carbs, but kept fat low and didn't let re-feed linger for more time than planned.  Enjoyed eating 3 pieces of fruit.  Ended week under 170#'s.  I'm sure weight will spike somewhat after all the carbs on Sunday, but nothing crazy that I'm going to have to kill myself over this week.  All that extra water will be gone in a day or two.

Feet and knees still really bothering me, so only the one small run.  Really trying to give them a rest, but not sure it's doing any good.  Probably time to see a foot doc.  Cramping in calves and feet is still bad.  I'm wondering if it's because of cutting + caffeine, or something related.