Wed 2/27 - GBR Lower

Workout: (Fitness First)
(Squat)135x10,185x8,205x5,5,5,5,225x5 (6) Great - PR!
(LegPress)8Plates 3x10 Good
(205#SLDL)3x10
(70#RollingShrugs)3x10
(95#LegExt)3x12
(60#LegCurl)3x12
(160#CableCruncch)3x12
55mins
+12 w/u + 13 c/d = 80mins total

Squat was great today again! My knees were a little achy last night and this morning, but I warmed up well and they didn't bother me during squats. 205#'s felt good for 4 sets, so I bumped up to 225#'s and this felt pretty good too. Not sure if I'm ready for 5x5 at 225, but getting there.  Very happy with how knees are responding.

Leg press/SLDL combo was very good. Leg press was harder than last WO and I had to work pretty hard, probably because I squatted more today. SLDL could have been a little heavier, but better to be cautious with lower back.  33 mins into the WO here and could have called it a day and still called it a great WO.  Shrugs were pretty good.

Leg ext/curl combo was good, but could tell legs were fairly well worked already. I decided to try cable crunches today instead of weighted crunches on the swiss ball.  Not sure how I felt about these. They were "hard" but not sure if my form made them very effective. I'll give them a couple more tries to get technique down and how my abs feel tomorrow morning should give me an indication of how effective they were.

Overall another great lower WO! Very pleased with how legs are finally coming around and I'm starting to get to weights that are going to make a difference.

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.2 this morning. Not too bad after a huge dinner last night at Blue Ridge Grille with Sarah. Still feeling fairly lean at this weight.  Good nutrition day today. I would've actually liked the carbs a little higher after today's big lower WO, but it got late and didn't really want to eat more carbs before bed. I purposely increased fat grams today with some peanut butter in my oatmeal.  Some research leads me to believe that I've kept fat too low for too long which can mess with hormonal balance.  I'll play around with this and see how I respond.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	240	226	64	2,408
	Calories	960	903	573	2,435
	Percent	39%	37%	24%	`

Tue 2/26 - GBR Upper

Monday 2/25:
Rest day. I weighed 183.0 this morning.  Strict nutrition day after a lot of eating over the weekend.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	225	82	40	1,576
	Calories	900	328	361	1,589
	Percent	57%	21%	23%	`

Tuesday 2/26:
 Workout: (Fitness First)
(80#Incline)7,7,7',6 Good
(125#IsoLatRow)4x8 Weight bump - Good
(95#ChestPress)4x7 V. Good
(185#BOR)4x6 Good - heavy
(25#LatDelt)3x10
(95#RearDelt)3x10
(35#FrontDelt)2x10
(50#IncFly)2x8 Good
(40#HammerCurl)2x10 Good
(165#CGBP)11/+4,4,4' +135#x8 Very good
(CGPullups)2x8
54mins +13 w/u + 12 c/d = 79mins total

DB incline was really good again. I think this was about exactly the same as last WO. I was hoping for 4x7, but still very good. I bumped up the weight on iso rows and they were good. I was only palnning on 6-7 reps but got 8 each set w/o to omuch issue.  Chest press was really good today. I made sure to stop at the bottom, so no bouncing/cheating. Really worked pecs.  Today I decided to do bent over rows (I had pullups written in). I hadn't been doing them because dead lift and SLDL has been more than enough strain on lower back, but want to get back to them at least occasionally.  I went "heavy" for me and they were good...and tiring.  These first 4 exercises make up well over half the time and probably 3/4 of the energy expenditure for this upper WO.

Based on some reading, and my personal experience, I didn't do shoulder press today.  After a bunch of heavy pressing, there just isn't that much left for shoulder press to really be effective.  And, given my shoulder issue lately, I did a triple set of lateral/rear/front delts.  Awesome triple set.  Will do again.  Incline fly's were good and supersetted them with 2 sets of curls.  Close grip bench was really good today, even though I failed on the 3rd mini set of the myo-rep sets. Loving this for tri's.

I cooled down on the treadmill and was getting ready to leave, but I traded out pullups for BOR and just felt like hitting some pullups.  Did 2 quick sets and called it a day.

Great upper WO! Some good heavy work the first for exercises and very pleased.  That said, I'm going to have to get back to some barbell bench and incline soon.

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.0 this morning. Good nutrition day and really upped my carbs/cals today after big WO. Will do same tomorrow if I get a good WO in.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	246	219	70	2,507
	Calories	982	877	634	2,493
	Percent	39%	35%	25%	`

Sun 2/24 - GBR Lower (DL)

Workout: (Fitness First)
(DeadLift)225x8,275x7,7,295x6,6 Great - PR!
(LegPress)8plates 4x10 Weight bump - great!
(70#RollingShrugs)3x10 Good
(95#LegExtension)3x12
(60#LegCurl)3x12
(90#Crunch)25/+6,6,6,6 Weight bump
(BallPike)12/+5,5,5,5
50 min
+12 w/u + 15 c/d = 77mins total

Deadlift was really good today and I'm pretty sure 295#"s for reps is a PR. It felt heavy, but could have gone heavier. I want to work to where I'm building up to a top set of about 3-4.  But, I want to do this cautiously and keep my back safe.  There was someone on the leg press machine and he had 8 plates on. I've been meaning to bump the weight on these, so I just worked in with him. These were good and the weight wasn't a problem, though I did have to work. Leg definitely getting stronger. I supersetted leg press with rolling shrugs which were easier (and more reps) than last WO.  I had SLDL written in for the WO, but decided heavy dead lifts was more than enough stress on lower back for the day so I skipped them.

Leg extension/leg curl combo was good and I bumped the weight on leg curls.  I bumped the weight on crunches and the crunch + ball pike was a good combo again. I did ball pikes myo-rep style today and liked it.

Another great lower workout (for me). Starting to get legs in shape to a point where I can really just now start working them hard.  Good stuff.

Nutrition:
I weighed 180.2 this morning. That's pretty damn good after a mountain of sushi and big eating yesterday!

Sat 2/23 - GBR Upper (DBInc)

Friday 2/22:
Rest. Good nutrition day. I weighed 180.0.

Saturday 2/23:
Workout: (Fitness First)
(80#DBIncline)7,7,7,6 - Great - PR!
(115#IsoRow)4x9+45#x12DS
(100#ChestPress)4x7 Weight bump - Great
(115#T-bar)4x7+45#x10DS
(70#IsoShldr)3x8
(30#RearDelt)3x10
(50#IncFly)2x7 very good
(40#HammerCurl)8,7 Hard
(165#CGBP)11/+4,4,4,4' Weight bump - Very good
(150#TriPushdn)10/+3,3,3
55mins
+12 w/u + 11 c/d = 78mins total

Great bounce back after last upper WO & shoulder issue! I dropped back down to 80#'s today after 85's last WO and shoulder issue. These were great and most reps at this weight. Think I'll stick here for another couple WO's and give 85's another go. Rows were good today and the drop set after the last set felt great. Really squeezed at contraction.

Bumped up the weight on iso chest press and these were great. Good weight/effort for sets of 7. T-bar was really good, the drop set down to only 45#'s still felt like a TON.  I wanted to be careful w/ my shoulder, so I dropped down to 70#'s for shoulder press. These were good, but kept it to 3 sets because I could definitely still feel it in my R shoulder. Someone was on the rear delt machine so I did DB's. I just can't feel it very well with DB's.

Incline fly's were really good, but only did 2 sets because already hammered chest. Hammer curls were HARD today - I think because of all the rowing. Barely got 7 reps on 2nd set and then did partial "swings" for a few. I bumped weight up on close grip bench press and this was really good. I think these are really helping my pressing. WO was done as written, but I did a myo-rep set of tri pushdowns. Overkill and not needed.

Overall a really great WO! I didn't know what to expect and even thought about having a lower WO written and ready in case my shoulder was still bad. It felt pretty good, so I was very pleased. I did a bunch of warmups and stretching for my shoulders before I started and I'm sure this helped.

Nutrition:
I weighed 179.4 this morning. I'm feeling lean, like I did before at sub 170#'s. I didn't cut that hard this week, so that's very promising.

Thu 2/21 - GBR Lower

Workout: (Sprint Large Gym)
(SmithSquat)135x10,185x5,205x5,5,5
(225#SLDL)4x10
(190#LegPress)4x12
(85#LegExt)3x12
(85#LegCurl)3x15
(75#Crunch)40/+10,10,10,10
(T-Twist)16/+6,6,6
46mins
+11 w/u + 11 c/d = 68mins total

Squat was good, but it's just not a very natural movement in the smith machine. Still it was decent work. SLDL's were pretty good in the smith. I remembered them being awkward, but they felt good. Leg press was OK. Couldn't go very deep on this machine, even with the seat set at it's lowest position.  Leg extension/curl combo was really good today.  Weighted crunches weren't that great.  Too light, too many reps. T-twists felt very good (and hard) though, so the weighted crunches must have done their job.

Overall a good bounce-back WO from yesterday. Not as good as using a free barbell, but some pretty good lower work today.  Did my normal w/u + c/d on the treadmill.

Nutrition:
I weighed 179.8 this morning.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	236	133	42	1,837
	Calories	943	531	380	1,854
	Percent	51%	29%	21%	`

Wed 2/20 - Upper (Shoulder problem)

Tuesday 2/19:  Much needed rest day. Good nutrition day.
 

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	244	94	28	1,604
	Calories	976	377	256	1,609
	Percent	61%	23%	16%	`

Wednesday 2/20:
Workout: (Fitness First)
(85#DBIncline)6,5,5,5',4 Weight bump - good/heavy
(115#IsoRow)5x8
(90#ChestPress)4x7
(CGPullups)4x7 Very good
Right shoulder done.
31mins
+10 w/u + 10 c/d = 51mins total

After my last WO went so well with DB incline, I decided to bump the weight. I was shooting to do 5x5 at this heavier weight. I just about had that, but the DB's just felt HEAVY. I got the reps, but not sure if I'm ready for it yet. Meaning, I don't know if my form was compromised making the exercise less effective than the great sets I had last WO with 80's. I might give these one more try and if I have the same feeling, I'll go back to 80's. Five sets of iso rows felt good.  Shoulders bothering me a bit on incline.

Chest press was good, but my shoulders were barking at me a bit at the end of incline and got worse during iso chest press. I was going to stop after 2-3 sets, but did the WO as written (probably a mistake). Closed grip chins were great. I was really getting "above the bar", especially early on.  I decided to do iso shoulder press instead of OHP. On the first rep my right shoulder just kind of gave out. Ended the WO right away.

Good chest and back work, but pissed about my shoulder and having to cut the WO short. Looking back, my shoulders were a little tender this morning so bumping to heavier incline was probably too much.

Nutrition:
I weighed 180.6 this morning. I had some whey before my WO, but didn't get to eat until 4PM today. Decent nutrition day, but more along the lines of a heavy training day, which is not really what happened today even though I did get some decent work in.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	244	168	37	1,997
	Calories	974	672	337	1,983
	Percent	49%	34%	17%	`

Mon 2/18 - Upper

Workout: (Fitness First)
(135#Incline)4x10 Easy - good
(90#IsoRow)4x12 Very good
(70#DBBench)10,10,9 Good
(110#T-bar)3x10 + 45x10 drop set
(95#OHP)4x8 Very good
(30#RearDelt)3x10
(40#HammerCurl)2x10
(155#CGBP)12/+4,4',4,4 Very good
48mins
+13 w/u + 10 c/d = 71mins total

BB incline was good and felt pretty "easy". Definitely left a few reps in the tank on each set, which is what I wanted out of this. I went lighter on the iso row today for higher reps and concentrated on squeezing at contraction. These were really good and I could really feel it in my back.

DB bench was good. First set was easy, but got progressively harder quickly. Really had to work on the last rep of last set. I didn't really want that close to failure today, but still good. I bumped the weight on t-bar since rows were lighter. These were good, but could have gone heavier. The drop set was really hard. It still felt real heavy.

I decided to do OHP today, and it was good. I'll mix this in more often. Rear delt kind of sucked. Couldn't tell if it was really working anything. Perhaps too heavy, or a form issue.  Hammer curls were good. Bi's getting stronger and close grip bench myo-rep style was really good. Liking this
exercise a lot.

Overall a really good higher rep/volume WO.  Next upper I'll try to keep everything "heavy" again. This workout puts a cap on 7 WO's in 8 days. Time for a day off.  Need to plan out the rest of this week, keeping in mind I want to work out at Fitness First this Sat and Sun. It's just a much better gym to get solid WO's in, especially for anything lower and/or heavy.

Nutrition:
I weighed 179.6 this morning. That's down almost a pound and I ate a LOT yesterday. Feeling good about that.  Good nutrition day.  I had a HUGE sushi dinner out with Sarah tonight. Great place and it certainly made for a high carb day.  Good thing I've really hit gym hard 3 days straight.

Sun 2/17 - GBR Lower (Awesome!)

This was the 3rd straight awesome WO in a row! Two of them were lower body, which is my weaker half.  Yesterday I wrote that I was going to do a light hypertrophy upper-body WO today. What the hell was I thinking when I wrote that? No need to follow up a great "heavy" upper WO with more upper work.  Anyway...

Workout: (Fitness First)
(Squat)135x10,155x10,185x8,205x5x2 (5) Awesome! Knees felt good for 1st time!
(LegPress)6plates 3x12
(205#SLDL)4x10 Weight bump - Very good
(70#RollingShrugs)3x8
(95#LegExtension)3x12 Weight bump
(55#LegCurl)3x15 Weight bump
(85#Crunch)25/+6,6,6,6 Weight bump - good
(TortureTwist)16/+6,6,6,6

Squats were AWESOME today!  This was the first time I squatted with a weight belt.  My workout as written had light squats at 3x10, just to get some squating in. First set felt pretty good so I just kept going up from there. It wasn't that I went very "heavy" on squats, but my knees for the first time EVER actually felt pretty darn good during squats. I was so happy about this and I was going to 1 or 2 more sets, but decided I shouldn't press my luck and still had a full lower workout ahead.  Very pleased with this.

Leg press was good, but after the 2nd set I got the pain behind my left knee again. I stretched and that seemed to really help and the pain subsided. I bumped the weight on SLDL and these were really good. I could go heavier, but I just don't think there's really a need on these, and no need to risk lower back strain.  I kept rolling shrugs w/ 70#DB's even though I felt they were a bit heavy last WO. I just reduced reps to 8 and tried to focus on form (e.g. not just shrugging up a bunch of weight).

I bumped up the weight by 5#'s on both leg curl and extensions and this combo was good again. Starting to feel like I'm actually getting into a little groove on lower WO's. I bumped the weight up on weighted crunches and did torture twists today instead of swiss ball pikes. The last to mini-sets of twists were tough on my back and I should have stopped.  Again, no need to risk back strain.

Overall just a great lower workout for me. That's two in a row.  Awesome!

Nutrition:
I weighed 180.6 this morning. That's pretty damn good after a Fri and Sat night with the kids.  Pretty good nutrition day. I was hungry all day after today's WO, so I ate more than I have been, but kept it "clean".

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	257	204	40	2,236
	Calories	1028	817	357	2,203
	Percent	47%	37%	16%	`

Sat 2/16 - GBR Upper (Awesome WO!)

Workout: (Fitness First)
(80#DBIncline)6,6,7,7 Awesome! PR!
(115#T-Bar)4x8 Weight bump - Good
(90#ChestPress)8,7,7,7 Very good
(CGPullups) 4x7
(80#IsoShldr)7,6,5',5' Weight bump - Heavy
(50#InclineFly)3x6 Weight bump - Great
(90#RearDelt)13/+4,4,4,4
(155#CloseGripBench)10/+4,4,4,3' Good
50mins
+12 w/u + 15 c/d = 77mins total

DB incline was GREAT today. This was a PR and what I was hoping for last WO! I bumped the weight on T-bar row, but I used an overhand grip instead of normal underhand. These felt good and I've been meaning to up the weight on these for a couple weeks. Today I did the iso-lateral chest press machine with 90#'s on each side. First time using this machine and really liked it. I was going to do close grip pulldowns, but the machines weren't set up for it, so I did close grip pullups. These were really good, but I have a feeling my elbows are going to be screaming at me later today. Last rep was pretty much to failure.

I bumped the weight on iso shoulder press and these got hard really fast. I should have shot for 4x5-6 and not done 7 on 1st set. I'll stick with this weight on "heavy" days like today. Keeping with the "heavy" theme for the day, I bumped the weight on incline fly's and they were really good. I didn't have rear delts written in, but decided to do a myo-rep set...more for shoulder health than anything. Finished up with myo-rep close grip bench, which was good.

This was my best upper WO in a while. I tried to keep everything heavy today, and plan on doing a shorter hypertrophy focused upper WO tomorrow (assuming I'm not wrecked). I'm going to try to keep my heavy days "heavy" for a few weeks and see how my body takes to it.  VERY happy with today.

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.0 this morning. Guess I went a little overboard on the protein. I should've increased carbs instead.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	285	240	33	2,419
	Calories	1139	962	296	2,396
	Percent	48%	40%	12%	`

Thu 2/14 - Lower (Great WO/RDL)

Workout: (Fitness First)
(RDL)135w/u,225x8,275x7,7,7,7 (5) great! Rep PR @ 275lbs.
(LegPress)6plates 4x12 good
(70#RollingShrugs)4x10
(90#LegExtension)3x15
(50#Legcurl)3x15
(80#Crunch)25/+8,8,8,8 Weight bump
(BallPike)3x12
57 mins
+10 w/u + 10 c/d = 77mins

RDL was really good today after not really done the exercise for a while because of my back. I'm pretty sure this was a rep PR at 275lbs and I know I could have easily gone heavier. This shows that doing heavy deadlift is definitely not a requirement for every lower WO to make progress. Leg press was good and I supersetted with rolling shrugs. I think these were a bit too heavy. I'll go lighter next time so I can really squeeze and hold at the contraction.

For the first time I was really able to get quality leg extensions and leg curls as a combo. These felt really good, with leg extensions really burning. 15 reps might have been too many. 12 might have been better.  I bumped the weight on crunches and these were good. Think I'll bump again next WO.  The heavy crunches followed up with the ball pike is still a great combo.

AWESOME lower workout! This is what I was hoping for on Sunday.  Really happy with every exercise today except shrugs as noted.

Nutrition:
Weighed 179.2 this morning. Good nutrition day and then a cheat meal for dinner. Sarah and I had a great dinner at a local Thai place. It's less than a mile from my house, so this could be dangerous.  Awesome food!  This is how I've got to handle cheat days...by having a good meal, not going completely going off the rails and taking several steps backward. Weekend will be tough with the kids.

Wed 2/13 - GBR Upper

Tuesday 2/12:  Rest day.  Here's the nutrition breakdown:

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	227	70	28	1,437
	Calories	907	278	250	1,435
	Percent	63%	19%	17%	`

Wednesday 2/13:
Workout: (Fitness First)
(80#DBIncline)4x6 Good
(115#IsoLatRow)4x9 + 45#x10 drop set
(90#T-Bar)4x10 
(70#IsoIncline)2x10 Good - weight bump
(45#IncFly)2x10
(70#IsoLatShldr)4x8 Great
(90#RearDelt)2x10
(25#LatDelt)2x10
(75#SkullCrusher)2x10
(40#HammerCurl)2x9 Good
(150#TriPushdn)10/+3,3,3,3' Good
55mins
+12w/u + 15c/d = 82mins total

DB incline was good, but tough. I really had to work the last rep on last 2 sets. That's fine, but probably shouldn't be doing that every workout if keeping volume high. Rows were good and the drop set felt great. Really squeezed the contraction. I bumped up the weight again on iso incline, partly because there  weren't a lot of 10#disks readily available, so I just put a 45+25 plate on each side. Incline fly's were good. I supersetted these two exercises with T-bar. That's why I did 2 sets incline and 2 sets fly with the 4 sets of T-bar.

Similar to the above, I did 4 sets of shoulder press (which was great) with 2 sets rear delts and 2 sets lateral delts. Good combo that I'll do again. I decided to do skull crushers for tri's today. They were OK, but really bothered my elbow so probably won't be doing them again. Combo'd them with 2 sets  of curls. WO was done, but didn't feel like tri's got enough work, so I did a heavy myo-rep set of pushdowns.

Really good WO! I wanted DB incline to feel "easier" since this is a couple WO's at this weight now, but it just wasn't. Not sure why I'm wanting/expecting that to happen on a cut.

Nutrition:
I weighed 179.8 this morning. I didn't eat my first meal today until 2:45 after my WO, so time to cram a lot of food into a pretty small window. I'm going to increase the carbs today and start cycling them more on WO vs. non-WO days. I'm "lean enough" for it still being winter :)  Good nutrition day.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	243	148	31	1,856
	Calories	971	592	281	1,845
	Percent	53%	32%	15%	`

Mon 2/11 - Chest/Tri (2 workouts)

Workout: (Small Sprint Gym) WO #1
(45#Dips)4x7 Good
(BodyWeightDips)x15,16 Good
(50#DBBench)3x12
(40#InclineFly)2x10
(140#TriPushdown)3x12
(15#TriKickback)1x15
30mins

Today was a planned rest day, but I was itching to do something at the gym. So, I just changed my shirt and went to the small gym in jeans and t-shirt to do a little work.

Dips were really good. Both the weighted dips and Body Weight one's felt great.  BW felt like nothing at first, but started to work after about 10 on both sets. Bench was good. 50# DB's are the heaviest at this gym, so I used them and just really controlled the weights and never locked out to keep contstant tension on the pecs. Incline fly's were good. Lighter than I normally do, but still felt really good.  Tri pushdowns felt good too and finished off with one set of kickbacks.

This was a great little chest/tri WO. Unfortunately, it might not have been a good idea because it might hinder my ability to do a real good upper WO tomorrow. I guess I'll find out. Probably should have just rested, but I just couldn't help myself today and I haven't done any dips in a while and they felt great.

Workout: (Fitness First) WO #2
(65#DBIncline)3x12 Great
(40#InclineFly)2x11
(75#OHTriExt)3x10 Good
(135#CloseGripBench)3x12
30mins

I had a bit of time in the evening after work, so since my WO today at Sprint was short, I decided to finish off the chest/tri workout. This was probably overkill from a volume perpective, but today's earlier WO was probably enough to impact a good upper WO tomorrow, but not really enough
to feel like it was a good enough WO.

High(er) rep DB Incline was really good. Really worked the last set. Incline fly's were good, lighter than normal again, but this was the 2nd time doing 2 sets today.  Overhead tri extensions were good. I wanted to hit one more tri exercise, but had already done a bunch of dips and tri pushdowns,
so I did close grip bench on the Smith machine.  These were good, but are tough on my wrists. Failed on the last rep of last set.

The two workouts combined made for a very solid day. Elbows have been really bad. I think the volume the last week or two has just been too much. Stretching the hell out of my forearms seems to keep the pain somewhat manageable, but not comfortable and they just won't heal.

Nutrition:
I weighed 184.4 this morning. Not as bad as last week, but not great. Good nutrition day.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	245	74	28	1,540
	Calories	982	296	249	1,526
	Percent	64%	19%	16%	`

Sun 2/10 - GBR Lower

Workout: (Fitness First)
(135#Squat)4x10
(185#SLDL)4x10 Too light - Good
(6PlateLegPress)2x12 Left knee
(65#RollingShrugs)4x10 Good
(80#LegExtension)4x15 Very good
(75#Crunch)25/+8,8,8,8 Good
(BallPike)15,12,15
48 mins
+10 w/u + 15 c/d = 73mins total

This was to be my first real lower workout since hurting my back. I did one lower WO and some circuits with squats/leg press, but not a good heavy lower WO. I was planning on starting with heavy leg press, but some guy was on the machine with about 12 plates and I didn't want to try to work in with him. I also didn't want to wait, so I did squats. My knees just don't handle these well so I went light with high(ish) reps. These weren't "hard", but were hard on my knees.  I supersetted with SLDL and these were OK, but too light. I guess that's a good sign though. I could've bumped the weight, but didn't want to press my back too much (also why I didn't do heavy RDL today).

The leg press machine opened up so I was going to do a few sets. After 2 sets the back of my left knee really started bothering me, so I stopped there. I supersetted with rolling DB shrugs and these were really good today.  You know it's not a great WO though when DB shrugs are the first exercise that really felt good.

Leg extension were good and after 4 sets of these my quads were really burning. I tried to do leg/hamstring curls, but it just wasn't happening with the pain behind my left knee. Weighted crunches were really good today. Ball pikes were tough. I didn't the 2nd set with short rest and they got real tough, real fast.  Again, crunch/pike combo is really good.

Overall, a decent WO, but not what I was hoping for out of my first real lower WO in a while. Normal w/u + c/d.

Nutrition:
I weighed 182.2 this morning. Good nutrition today until going out for Thai food with Sarah and her parents after helping them move some furniture.  Oh, and then a big heaping portion of Sweet Frog! :)

Sat 2/9 - GBR Upper

Workout: (Fitness First)
(80#DBIncline)4x6 Very good
(115#IsoLatRow)4x9 +drop set
(65#IsoIncline)3x10 Good - weight bump
(90#T-Bar)3x10
(70#IsoLatShldr)3x8
(30#RearDelt)3x10
(45#InclineFly)2x10 Real good
(40#HammerCurl)8,8 Hard
(130#TriPushdn)18/+6,6,6,5 Good
49mins
+12w/u + 17c/d = 78mins total

DB incline was real good again today, but I didn't feel quite as strong with the 80's as I did last WO even though I got same reps. Iso rows were pretty good and I did sets of 9 instead of 8. I did a drop set down to 45#'s and really squeezed the contraction. Not sure how to progress here, even though I shouldn't be looking to make much progress right now during a cut. I bumped up the weight on iso incline, but that's mainly because it was on the light side last WO. T-bar row was pretty good, but I was done after 3 sets.

Shoulder press was pretty hard today and I think that was because I increased the weight (and effort) on iso incline so similar muscles were fatigued.  Some woman was on the rear delt machine so I did them with DB's today.  Not as good. Incline fly's were really good again today and curls were real tough. I don't want to drop the weight here, but had to cheat a bit on 2nd set. Tri pushdowns were really good today and I need to bump the weight here.

Overall a really good WO. Nothing earth shattering, but good. Gym was more crowded than usual. Did normal w/u + c/d on the TM.

Nutrition:
I weighed 179.4 this morning, up 1.5 from yesterday. Planning on a bit of a re-feed today but not let it get out of control like last weekend.

Fri 2/8 - Rest

Much needed rest day before (hopefully) 2 "heavy" WO's Saturday and Sunday. Some good WO's so far this week.

Nutrition:
I weighed 177.8 this morning.  Decent nutrition day.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	237	113	43	1,779
	Calories	947	453	389	1,789
	Percent	53%	25%	22%	`

Thu 2/7 - FB Circuit

Workout: Full Body Circuit (Small Sprint Gym)
(225#LegPress)4x20
(120#Bench)2x25, 135#x2x20 (4)
(120#RevGripPulldown)4x20
(45#DBSwing)4x20
(75#ShoulderPress)4x20
(TortureTwis)4x1min
33mins
+10 w/u + 16 c/d = 59mins

This was another great circuit workout! It always amazes me how trying something a little new/different once in a while can be such a breath of fresh air and help keep workouts exciting. I still love the heavy work, but these are a nice metabolic change of pace, and they are just brutal from a cardio and pure muscle fatigue standpoint.

Leg press was a good weight. I increased the weight for bench from last WO, but it still wasn't heavy enough so after 2 sets, I increased the weight and it was better (but tough!). Now I know why the last circuit WO I put DB swings last.  They are freaking brutal and it was hard to catch my breath and jump right into shoulder press.  I don't really like the shoulder press machine at the small sprint gym, so I might swap in something else next time, or simply leave shoulders out.  Torture twists were really hard after the first 2 rounds.  Barely was able to do 60 seconds.

I thought I'd do 5 circuits like the last WO, but I only got through 4.  This one was harder and each circuit was taking me a little longer to complete, which cut down on rest to keep them at 8 minutes per circuit. That caught up with me.  Regardless, 4 circuits was still one hell of a workout in a short amount of time.

Treadmill w/u 10 mins + 4 circuits in 33 mins (8min,8min,9min,8min=33total) + 16 c/d = total 59mins.

Nutrition:
I weighed 178.4 this morning. Nice. Cramping in my calves has started again.  Gotta be due to the cut and low carbs because this happened last time I cut too.  Another good nutrition day.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	240	74	28	1,519
	Calories	960	297	252	1,510
	Percent	64%	20%	17%	`

Wed 2/6 - GBR Upper - 80#DB's

Workout: (Fitness First)
(80#DBIncline)4x6 Awesome! Weight bump
(115#IsoLatRow)4x8
(55#IsoIncline)3x12 Good - New exercise
(90#T-Bar)4x10 Very Good
(70#IsoLatShldr)4x8
(90#RearDelt)3x10 Real good today
(45#InclineFly)2x10 Very good - weight bump
(40#HammerCurl)8,8 Hard
(130#TriPushdn)16/+5,5,5,4
(75#Crunch)15/+5,5,5,5
(BallPike)3x12
58mins
+12w/u + 15c/d = 85mins total

I decided to bump up the weight to 80lb DB's today on incline and hoped to get 4x6. Got it! Last rep was tough, but these were awesome today. Getting up there in the big boy range (or so I like to think anyway). I'm glad I got the reps I thought I could get and didn't have to drop the weight back down. Progress! Rows were good. Instead of doing high-rep bench, I decided to do some high rep incline on the iso rep incline machine. These were good, but could have used more weight to keep reps in the 10 range. I did 4 sets of T-bar and I really tried to squeeze at contraction. Really good today.

Shoulder press was really good even after iso incline which is a similar motion. I thought my tri's were going to be fried, so I was happy I still got 4x8. For whatever reason, rear delts were really good today. Just had a better mind-muscle connection or something.  I bumped up the weight on incline fly's and these were really good and I was happy to be able to get sets of 10 even though I'd already hammered heavy and high-rep incline.

Curls were hard today and felt heavy from the get-go. I think because I did more rowing than normal. Tri pushdowns were OK and I finally got back to some ab work that I'd been neglecting. Gotta remember how good the heavy crunches followed by ball pikes feel. Did my normal w/u + c/d routine and called it a day.  Great WO today! Very pleased.

Nutrition:
I weighed 180.8 this morning. Good nutrition day today. High protein (1.4g/#body weight) mainly because I forgot I ate a chicken breast at 8PM so I had a larger than normal protein shake this evening.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	255	86	29	1,648
	Calories	1021	344	261	1,625
	Percent	63%	21%	16%	`

Tue 2/5 - Cardio

• 32 mins on the treadmill

I was really pressed for time and each "window" I had during work to get to the gym kept closing with items and meetings popping up.  I got down to the gym at 2PM and did 32 mins on the treadmill fasted, running about 1 mile and walking the rest on a steep incline. I didn't have time to shower and just threw my work clothes right back on, though I wasn't too sweaty.  I didn't get to eat anything until 3PM (whey shake) and then a salad and chicken at 4PM.

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.2 this morning.  Good drop from yesterday.  Good cutting nutrition day.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	230	53	28	1,394
	Calories	920	213	252	1,385
	Percent	66%	15%	18%	`

Mon 2/4 - Full Body Complexes - AWESOME!

Workout: Full Body Complexes (Small Sprint Gym)
(25#SquatPress)5x25
(120#RevGripPulldown)5x20
(105#Bench)5x25
(90#SeatedRow)5x20
(45#DBSwing)5x20
8 mins/circuit (6mins working + 2 min rest) 5 times
40mins + 5min TM c/d = 45 mins

This was an awesome freaking WO! I wasn't sure what to do today because my legs, surprisingly, are still really sore from my last lower WO. Also, next time I do lower, I want to do it at FF or the large Sprint gym and I didn't have time for that today.  So, pressed for time, but really wanting to work out, I decided to do a series of complexes.

I wanted to try to get a series that had a horizontal push/pull, vertical push/pull, quad dominant and glute dominant exercise. I think I accomplished this fairly well (pulling this routine out of my ass, BTW).

I came up with the circuit above and only really had to adjust the weight on seated rows (dropped weight from 105 to 90 lbs).  Bench could have been a little heavier and kept to 20 reps instead of 25.  I could only get 15-20 shoulder presses on the squat press and finished the remainder of squats just holding the DB's at shoulder level.  The circuit took 6 minutes to go through moving from one exercise to the next w/ only a few seconds to catch my breath, and then I rested for 2 minutes (8mins total). I completed 5 circuits in exactly 40 minutes,plus 5 mins c/d on the treadmill for 45 mins total. Absolutely loved this workout.  It was pretty brutal, but will do it again.  Great WO plus shower in exactly 1 hour.  Perfect.

Nutrition:
I weighed 185.2 this morning. I actually dropped weight from yesterday even after pigging out at Sarah's house for the super bowl.  Weight is still WAY too high though. Really took a couple steps back this weekend.  Got back to the cut today and had a good nutrition day.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	228	79	27	1,492
	Calories	910	318	246	1,474
	Percent	62%	22%	17%	`

Sun 2/3 - GBR Upper

Workout: (Fitness First)
(155#Incline)4x7 Good
(90#T-Bar)4x10 Good
(155#Bench)11,10,10 Good
(CGPullups)3x7  Good/easy
(70#IsoLatShldr)4x8
(90#RearDelt)3x10
(40#InclineFly)3x10 Very good
(TriPushdn)12,12,10 Hard
(40#HammerCurl)9,8
53mins
+10w/u = 63mins total

Incline was real good today without a spot. Didn't get 8 reps again, but still good and got 7's w/o a spot. I did bounce a little on the last rep to make sure I was in no trouble. Should've asked for a spot and controlled the weight better. T-bar was good, but elbows are barking at me. They need some love.  Bench was pretty good. I think I could've gotten 11's, but didn't want to risk it. Close grip pullups were good and felt pretty easy despite being pretty heavy today. I liked the T-bar/pullup combo, but really love the iso-lat row more.

Iso shoulders were good with 70#'s again and I didn't quite get #8 last 2 sets. Rear delts were "there". Need to figure something out for these. Incline fly's were really good w/ 3 sets. Tri's were decent and curls were better than last WO.

Good WO today. I wanted to get 8's on incline after a re-feed weekend, but it just wasn't happening w/o a spotter. Left shoulder is acting up a little and elbows are pretty bad. I think this past week was too much volume with 4 upper WO's.

Nutrition:
I weighed 185.6 this morning. Bad. Way overdid it on the re-feed, and did it poorly. I should have stacked my cals/carbs around WO's. Instead, most of them were on Saturday when I took a rest day.  Oh well. It's more difficult when I have the kids. Back at it hard tomorrow.

Fri 2/1 - GBR upper

Workout: (Fitness First)
(75#DBIncline)9,8,7,7' Very good - PR
(115#IsoRow)4x8 + drop set
(155#Bench)10,9,9 tough
(90#T-BarRow)3x10
(70#IsoShldr)4x8 weight bump - great!
(95#RearDelt)3x8 weight bump - decent
(40#IncFly)2x10 real good
(40#HammerCurl)8,6 dead
(130#TriPushDn)16/+5,4,4,4
52mins
+10w/u + 14c/d=76mins

I decided to do DB Incline today for a change (and because I pussed out and didn't want to lose reps again). These were really good though, and I've never gotten 9 reps with this weight before. I probably should have stopped at 8 and tried to get 4x8, but wanted to get as many as I could on the first set. I failed on the last rep of last set. Almost had it up, but couldn't quite lock out. Rows were good and I did a drop set to 70#'s after the 4th set and really squeezed at contraction.

Bench felt heavy and I didn't risk getting stuck today. Chest was worked hard from incline and the cut is starting to show in weight on the bar. T-bar was good.  I remembered to bump up the weight on shoulders and these were really good. Only got partial reps on last 2 of last set, but very good work here. I bumped up the weight on rear delts and these were OK. I think I do better with higher reps here.  Incline fly's were really good and I was a little surprised I got 10 reps on both sets. Glad I used 40's for curls, but was done. Wonder if I should be doing higher reps. Tri pushdowns were good, but I lost reps here and I was done.

Overall a really good WO! The cut, in combination with my 3rd upper WO of the week took a bit of a toll today. Time for a mini diet break this weekend and back at it next week. Did my usual w/u + c/d routine on the TM.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.6 this morning. Feeling good.