Sun 3/31 - Shoulders & Arms

Workout: (Fitness First)
(OHP)95x10,105x8,7,7,6,6 (6) Great!
(40#DBCurl)3x10
(40#HammerCurl)3x10
(20#Lat/90#Rear/35#FrontDelts)4x10/10/10
(Dips)15/+5,5,5,5,4 Great
(50#IsoIncline)5x10 V. Good
(50#SkullCrushers)3x10 V. Good
55mins + 16w/u + 13c/d = 84mins total

Since my upper days have been pretty long I decided to do shoulders separately again (and add some arm and chest work).  OHP was really good. I haven't done this in a while and I'll have to start doing them again. Really good work here. I supersetted with curls and switched to hammer curls after 3 sets and they were good. This is much more curl volume than I've ever really done (hint, I don't do much).(19mins)

I did 4 sets of the lateral/rear/front delt work. Really good, and hard.(15/34mins)

Dips were next and my right shoulder was a little tender so instead of straight sets, I did them myo-rep style to reduce volume a little. They were really good. Great work in a short amount of time.(5/39mins)

I wanted to do some more chest and was going to do DB incline, but decided to do the iso lateral incline press instead (5 sets). Really liked these and they really worked the upper chest well.(9/48mins)

I did skull crushers, making sure to get good extension behind my head (not to forehead). They bothered my elbows a little bit, but really worked the triceps well. Will do these again.(7/55mins).

What I thought was going to be a quick shoulder WO turned into quite a good shoulder and arm, plus some decent chest work. Very happy with this. Now, time for a day off!

Nutrition:
I weighed 185.4 this morning. Ouch, yet again over the weekend.

Sat 3/30 - GBR Lower

Workout: (Fitness First)
(FrontSquat)95x10,135x8,155x5,5,165x5,5,5 Very good - Weight bump
(LegPress)8platesx8,10,10,10
(SLDL)225x8,245x8,8,8
(LegPress)4platesx20,20 Great - brutal
(90#LegExtension)3x10
(70#LegCurl)3x12
(150#CableCrunch)12,12,8
(LegRaise)12,10,9
54mins + 12 w/u + 11 c/d = 77mins total

Front squats were good again and I bumped up the weight on the last 3 sets. I tried another new grip on a w/u set using straps, but it hurt my elbows so I stuck with cross arm grip. I tried to keep rests on the short side because although these sets of 5 are difficult, it's not a lot of weight to be pushing. (17mins).

Leg press/SLDL combo was brutal again and leg press felt heavy, again. After this combo for 4 sets was done, I dropped the weight on leg press and did 2 sets of 20. These were great, and REALLY hard the last 5 reps of both sets.(22/39mins).

Leg ext/curl combo was OK. I decided to do these today because I hadn't done them in a while and I plan on doing a shoulder/bi WO tomorrow AM.(6/45mins).

Finished the WO with abs. I did cable crunches standing at a lat pulldown machine again. Really liking these. By the 3rd set of crunches/lying leg raises my abs were done. (9/54mins).

Another really good lower WO. Sometimes I dread lower days a little because squat/leg press/SLDL can be pretty brutal, but during and after the WO I'm really beginning to love these. Never thought I'd be very into them.

Nutrition:
I weighed 184.6 this morning. Quite a bit higher than I thought I'd be.

Fri 3/29 - GBR Upper

Workout: (Fitness First)
(85#DBIncline)6,6,6,6',5 V. good
(Pullups)6,6,6,6,11 Great
(60#DBIncline)12,8,8 Brutal
(95#ChestPress)3x6
(125#T-Bar)4x8 + 45#x10DS Weight bump
(145#CGBP)8,7,7 Good
(90#IsoRow)3x10 V. good
(150#TriPushDn)12/+3,3,3'
(950#RearDelt)10/+3,3,3,3
57mins
+5 w/u + 12 c/d = 74mins total

Stuck with 85# DB's for incline and they were really good today. The weight felt better than last WO and I got more reps (by 1 or 2). I didn't quite get the 6th rep on the 4th set locked out and 5 on last set was pretty manageable. I did pullups in the rack on a straight bar and really got above the bar on almost all reps. Last set just repped out as many as I could. Felt really good.(21mins). Followed this up with lighter DB incline with little rest. First set was good and then I hit a wall, but felt awesome.(6/26mins)

I bumped up the weight on T-bar rows and didn't lose reps. These were really good. Chest press was OK. Think I gotta do something different here. (12/38mins)

I had incline fly's written in, but did 8 sets of incline, so I dropped that and did a combo of CGBP and iso lat rows (which I hadn't done in a while). Both were really good. (12/50mins)

Finished with myo-rep sets of tri pushdowns and rear delts. Both were just OK.  I was spent.(7/57mins).

Great upper WO. Really feel like I'm kind of in a groove. Unfortunately, I'm in a "no-mans land" from a nutrition perspective. I should be eating a lot to take advantage of the heavy lifting, but keep getting into these super-mini bulk/cut cycles each week which aren't very productive.

Nutrition:
I weighed 180.4 again this morning.

Thu 3/28 - Messin' around w/ abs

The last two workouts were really heavy and hard, and I'm still feeling both of them, but I figured a day off would be enough and I'd be good to go.  I did run yesterday, but wasn't planning on doing lower today anyway.  Looking at my hellish meeting schedule today, I decided it wasn't going to be a good day for a full upper WO, and Friday/Sat Upper/Lower with more time and some more rest was a better option.  So, I went down to the small Sprint gym for a quick full body circuit WO.  I started the circuit and no freaking way was it happening.  I started with Squat Press with 25# DB's, which should be a piece of cake.  Nope.  Legs are still trashed, 25#'s felt heavy, left lat painful. I stopped after 2 reps.

One of few good decisions I've made like this in the gym.  It didn't help that I was pressed for time and didn't warm up, but better I save it for another day when I'm ready.  I walked on the treadmill at a 9% incline for 32 mins and then did 6 sets of cable crunches (75#'sx12,12,10,10,10,10).  Today, instead of doing cable crunches on my knees, I stood at the lat pulldown station and squeezed the seat between my legs to hold me down.  This worked REALLY well and I liked them, and felt them working, better than on my knees.  A silver lining in today's "WO".

Nutrition:
I weighed 180.4 this morning. Another good nutrition day. Not eating out now and then actually helps. Go figure...

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	235	143	41	1,870
	Calories	940	571	373	1,884
	Percent	50%	30%	20%	`

Wed 3/27 - Rest/Run

Today was scheduled to be a rest day, but my car failed emissions inspection so I dropped it off at the shop last night and walked home. Today I decided to run to the shop and get it. I ran to downtown, hopped on the W&OD trail for a while and circled back to the shop. 32 mins. Call it 3 miles.

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.4 this morning. Good nutrition day and right about where I want to be right now.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	214	148	51	1,921
	Calories	858	590	463	1,910
	Percent	45%	31%	24%	`

Tue 3/26 - GBR Lower

Workout: (Fitness First)
(FrontSquat)95x10,135x8,155x5,5,5,5,5 Very good
(LegPress)8platesx8,8,8,10 Fuck! Heavy!
(SLDL)225x8,245x8,8,10 Good
(DBShoulderPress)50x10,55x8,8,8 V. good
(160#CableCrunch)5x12 Great!
(95#RearDelt)3x10
62 mins + 10 w/u + 0 c/d = 72mins total

I decided to stick with front squats again, and they were really good. I tried a different grip today called the Modified Cossak Grip, but it strained my arms a bit, so switched back to the cross-arm grip. I'll keep playing around with this. I'd like to bump up the weight, but these were really pretty tough. (21mins)

Holy crap, leg press felt freakin heavy. My legs just don't recover very quickly yet from WO to WO. The weight came down on the first set and I thought it was just going to crush me. A tough 8 reps on first set. I was going to drop to 6 plates (270#'s), but stuck with 8 plates (360#s) and worked through them. I was doing sets of 10-12 with 8 plates before. It's just that I've been doing higher volume squating before leg press I think.  I did manage to get 10 reps on last set of both press and SLDL.  Leg press combined with SLDL were freakin' brutal today. I was sweating and gasping for air after each superset.(20/41mins)

Since I didn't do shoulders yesterday, I did them today. DB presses were really good and 55#s were a good weight. Heavy enough for some good work/reps, but didn't feel too heavy to do any damage on somewhat troublesome shoulders. I supersetted with cable crunches. (15/56mins)

I had delts written in (meaning rear/lateral/front), but worked shoulders pretty hard w/ presses, so I just did rear delts for shoulder preventive health and continue supersetting with cable crunches. Crunches were really good today and I was able to keep getting sets of 12. Don't know if I can bump the weight up here because it will start pulling me off the ground. (6/62mins)

Great lower WO today and really happy with FS's again. First three movements are brutal and plenty of a WO for me at this point, so I didn't do any leg extensions/curls. The first 3 movements are taking a lot of time, but I really need the rest between these sets.

Nutrition:
I weighed 182.0 this morning. Quite a bit lower than I thought I'd be. Good nutrition day. I've got to start thinking about when I'm going to start a cut and how many weeks I think I'll need to get to 170.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	251	263	58	2,556
	Calories	1002	1051	525	2,578
	Percent	39%	41%	20%	`

Mon 3/25 - GBR Upper (Incline bump)

Sun 3/24: Rest day. Went for a 45 min walk with Sarah

Mon 3/25:
Workout: (Fitness First)
(85#DBIncline)6,6,5,5,5 Good - Weight bump
(60#DBIncline)10,9 V. Good
(Pullups)6,6,6,6,9
(95#ChestPress)4x6
(115#T-Bar)4x8 + 45#x10DS Great
(145#CGBP)9,7,7' Good
(150#TriPushDn)12/+4,4,3,3
(TortureTwist)3x14
53mins
+10 w/u + 11 c/d = 74mins total

After last upper WO, I decided it was time to bump up to 85# DB's again. I got good reps, but still not sure I'm feeling it as much as with 80's. I'll stick with 85's for a couple WO's and see if I get into a better "groove'. Very good though. I wanted a little more volume for upper chest, so I decided to drop the weight and do 2 more sets and scratch incline fly's. These two sets felt awesome! Pullups were OK. Probably more difficult today because my weight was really high. Elbow bothering me a bit more than have been lately. Have to keep an eye on that. (24mins)

Chest press was good, but I need to think about changing up to something else. Possibly back to flat bench. T-bar was good. Really had to work on the drop set with 45. (14/38mins)

Since I did a lot of incline already, I scrapped fly's and I think I'll do a shoulder/bi/ab WO tomorrow, so I skipped curls and delts as well. WO was going to be plenty long as it was.

Close grip bench was really good. I asked for a spot the last set and the guy pulled it off with a little too much help, but still really good work. I did a myo-rep set of pushdowns wich felt really good today. (12/50mins).  I decided to to some torture twists to finish off the WO. Gotta start doing abs a little more frequently than just on lower days. (3/53mins).

Overall a good upper WO. I need to keep progressing on incline (assuming this continue to be my focus), but heavy DB's with low(er) reps gets a little troublesome on shoulders/elbows getting them up and in place for first rep.

Nutrition:
I weighed 186.6 this morning. Overdid it again this weekend. When am I going to learn? Gotta have some enjoyment and breaks to keep it fun, but I've got to learn a little more self control :)  Good nutrition day today for a heavy WO day:

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	229	238	55	2,340
	Calories	917	953	491	2,360
	Percent	39%	40%	21%	`

Sat 3/23 - GBR Lower (Front Squats!)

Workout: (Fitness First)
(FrontSquat)95x10,115x8,135x8,155x5,5,5,5,5 Awesome - Loved 'em
(LegPress)8plates 4x8 Lotta work
(SLDL)225x8,245x8,8,8 Good
(75#RollingShrugs)3x10
(160#CableCrunch)3x10
(TortureTwist)16,10
(LegRaise)12,10
54 mins + 12 w/u + 15 c/d = 81mins total
(90#Crunch)25/+6,6,6,6 Weight bump
(BallPike)12/+5,5,5,5

My knees have been bothering me and yesterday I did "something" to my right knee and it was really hurting yesterday and this morning. I almost postponed the WO until Sunday. I wrote 2 WO's, one with deadlifts as main movement, the other squats. After I warmed up, surprisingly, my knees felt pretty good so I decided on the WO with squats...front squats. I've never really done them before, but realized a week or two ago that I really need to work on squat form, and this is one way to make sure I'm keeping my torso more upright.

Front squats were AWESOME! I didn't go real heavy, and FS's are always going to be lighter than back squats, but these were some really good sets and I worked really hard, even with relatively light weight. I went really deep (knees were OK) and kept torso much more upright. Will definitely keep doing these and not worry so much about weight on the bar. I wasn't sure what weight to use, so I started real light and just worked my way up. (21mins)

I did leg press/SLDL superset next. I REALLY worked on leg press today and didn't get as many reps as usual because of FS volume/work. SDLD was really good, but my grip did become an issue for the first time in a long while. Probably because I haven't been doing heavy deads lately. I had to switch to mixed grip on my last set. Really good/hard work with this combo. (18/39mins)

Shrugs and crunches were pretty good. (8/47mins). Finished with torture twis/leg raise superset. Abs were done! (7/54mins).

Great lower WO today. Even better considering I didn't even know if my knees were going to be able to handle it at all today. Really liked front squats and will stick with them for a while.

Nutrition:
I weighed 182.4 this morning.

Fri 3/22 - GBR Upper (Inc PR)

Workout: (Fitness First)
(80#DBIncline)7,7,7,7,6' (5) Awesome - PR!
(Pullups)5x7
(95#ChestPress)4x6
(115#T-Bar)4x8 + 45#x10DS Great
(40#InclineFly)2x12
(40#Curl)2x8 Good
(CGBP)135x11, 145x7,6' Good - Weight bump
(150#TriPushDn)9/+4,3,3,3
(90#RearDelt)10/+3,3,3,3
56mins
+10 w/u + 0 c/d = 66mins total

DB Incline was AWESOME today! I had 4x6-7 written in but got 4x7 and felt good so I did another set and almost got 6th rep up. Pullups were good, but I forgot to rep out on the last set. In hind sight, that's probably better because my elbows have been pretty sore and going to failure wouldn't have helped them for sure. (19mins)

Chest press was good, but I haven't really progressed here. Not a big deal though because it's not what I'm focusing on. I bumped up the weight on T-bar and these felt really good. Drop set here was REALLY hard, even with such a light weight. (14/33mins)

Incline fly was good but maybe could have gone heavier. I never know what to expect w/ fly's if I do them after a bunch of chest and they can be hard on the shoulders, so better safe than sorry. Kept it to 2 sets because of a lot of volume already. Curls were good. Bi's already worked after pullups and T-bar. (8/41mins)

Close grip bench was good and I bumped up the weight after first set. I asked for a spot on the last set and glad I did so I could work that last rep. I had dips/pushdown penciled in here and decided on pushdowns because shoulders have been a little tender and chest already done today. (11/52mins). Finished up with some myo-rep rear delts for shoulder health. (4/56mins)

Great upper WO today! Really pleased, especially with incline. I guess the circuit WO yesterday didn't negatively impact today's WO! :)

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.8.0 this morning.

Thu 3/21 - FB Circuit

Workout: (Small Sprint Gym)
(195#LegPress)4x20
(120#RevGripPulldn)4x20
(120#Bench)4x20
(90#SeatRow)4x20
(45#DBSwing)4x20
(140#CableCrunch)4x10

I probably should've just done some cardio today, but my legs are fucking up my upper/lower split. I decided to do a circuit WO and it was good. I just hope it was light enough that it won't impact a heavy workout tomorrow.

I started with 225# leg press for the first set, but I was working a bit and didn't want to tax my legs too much. Dropped to 195#'s and that was better. Reverse grip pulldowns were good. Bench was pretty light, but that's good if I have any real hope of getting a heavy upper WO in tomorrow. Seated rows were pretty taxing, but I mainly felt it in my shoulders and bi's.  Poor form perhaps, or combo of that and my back strength has way out paced arms.  DB swings were tough, as they always are.  I started cable crunches with 120#'s for the first set and that was a little light, so I bumped it to 140#'s.

A really good WO that didn't take a ton of time.  I don't know that it really helps in my goals right now, other than leaning out a tad, but whatever.  Each circuit took about 7.5 minutes, plus 1.5 mins rest, so a total of 9mins per circuit. W/u and c/d on the treadmill, so 36WO + 10w/u + 10c/d = 56mins total.

Nutrition:
I weighed 182.0 this morning. That's more like it! Good nutrition again today.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	237	159	43	1,982
	Calories	949	634	388	1,971
	Percent	48%	32%	20%	`

Wed 3/20 - Shoulders/Abs

Workout: (Sprint Small Gym)
(DBShoulderPress)35x12,45x10,50x10,10,10 (5)
(HangingLegRaise)3x15
(20#LatRaise)3x12
(25#FrontRaise)3x10
(100#RearDelt)3x10
(LyingLegRaise)4x15
(TortureTwist)16,14,14
(25#BackExtension)2x12
38mins

I didn't have time to do shoulders yesterday during my upper WO and my knees have been bothering but I really wanted to work out today, so I decided to do a quick shoulders/abs WO.

I haven't done any DB shoulder press in a while, so I didn't quite know what weight to use or how I'd fare. My plan was to maybe do 3 heavy sets and do most of the work with direct delt work.  I started with 35's and used it as a warmup becuase it was light. 45#'s was light too. The heaviest DB's at the small Sprint gym are 50#"s, so I did those and did 3 sets of 10. Really would have liked to have gone heavier and lower reps.  Still some decent work and I was pleased that 50's very workable.  I supersetted with hanging leg raises. I did them straight legged and they were good. Abs are stronger than I thought. I guess the heavy work I've been doing has actually been working (I wasn't sold on low-rep, heavier ab work).

I did lateral/front/rear delts as a triple set and supersetted them with lying leg raises (with hip thrust toward ceiling at end of each rep). I finished with torture twists and some back extensions.

Pretty good little shoulder WO and some decent ab work. I probably should have done some weighted cable crunches.

Nutrition:
I weighed 183.4 this morning. Good nutrition day.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	220	107	48	1,748
	Calories	880	428	428	1,736
	Percent	51%	25%	25%	`

Tue 3/19 - GBR upper

Mon 3/18:  Rest day. Atrocious nutrition day. 

Tue 3/19:
Workout: (Fitness First)
(80#DBIncline)5,5,5,6,6 Good
(Pullups)6,6,6,6,8
(95#ChestPress)4x6
(100#T-bar)4x10
(40#IncFly)2x9
(40#Curl)2x8
(135#CGBP)12,10,9 Great!
(Dips)10/+3,3,3,3,3 V. good
50mins +13 w/u + 12 c/d = 75mins total

DB incline wasn't quite as good as last WO, but still good reps. Pullups were good, but also not quite as good/easy as last WO. Maybe the back-to-back upper days took quite a bit out of me.(18mins)

Both chest press and t-bar were good. Nothing really stood out. (14/32mins)

Fly's and curls were good. I had 3 sets written in, but figured 2 was enough volume for today. (7/39mins)

CGBP was great today. I asked for a spot on the last set but got 9 reps w/o assistance. Might want to bump the weight here. I decided not to do delts today and may do them and abs tomorrow depending on how my legs feel. So, WO was pretty much done, but I didn't "feel done", so I did a myo-rep set of dips. These were really good, given the amount of chest/tri work I'd already put in. (11/50mins)

Overall a very SOLID WO. Nothing great, nothing bad. Just a solid day in the gym, and I'm happy with that.

Nutrition:
I weighed 187.0 this morning. This I'm not happy with. I ate like shit yesterday. It started w/ a working meeting lunch and then I just never really reigned it in the rest of the day. Finished the night with 4-5 bowls of Cocoa Crispy's.  WTF?!?! Time to get it under control. Fairly good nutrition day today.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	248	175	45	2,088
	Calories	992	700	404	2,096
	Percent	47%	33%	19%	`

Sun 3/17 - Light Upper w/ Gregg

Workout: (Fitness First - with Gregg!)
(155#Bench)4x8
(CGChinups)4x5 Above the bar
(65IsoIncline)3x12-15
(70#T-Bar)3x12
(150#TriPushDn)16,14,12
(40#Curl)2x8

Gregg and I went to the gym together this morning. Really enjoyed the WO w/ him and he did a very good job. He said he enjoyed it too. So happy we did this together. I hope we can do it again some time soon.

This is the first time I've done barbell bench in at least 2 months. I'm sure it was a combination of just doing a heavy upper WO yesterday and not doing BB bench in a while, but 4x8 was actually some work by the 4th set. I thought it should have felt pretty light. Close grip chins were good and I easily got my chest high up on the bar. Back is getting a lot stronger with lots of rowing.

We were going to do the iso incline machine, but someone was on it, so we did iso shoulder press. I still felt this in my left lat. I must have a little pull there or something, but I don't feel it on rows or pullups. Weird. T-bar with higher reps was pretty good. Did them underhand.

Finished up with some sets of tri pushdowns and curls (regular, not hammer).  We left the gym for Elena's gymnastics meet and stopped for subway on the way. Foot long grilled chicken, double meat :)

Nutrition:
I weighed 187.4 this morning. Whao! I was right about what yesterday's binge was going to do. I wanted to bulk up toward 190 before cutting down for the warm weather. I wasn't planning on doing it in one weekend!

Sat 3/16 - GBR Upper (Great Inc)

Workout: (Fitness First)
(80#DBIncline)5,5,5,7,7 Great - PR!
(Pullups)7,7,7,7,10 Great
(95#ChestPress)7,7,6,6' V. good
(100#T-Bar)4x10 Weight bump
(40#InclineFly)3x10
(40#Curl)3x7 Good
(20#Lat/90#Rear/35#FrontDelt)3x10
(Dips)17/+5,5,5,5
60mins
+14 w/u + 11 c/d = 85mins total

DB Incline was great! Felt MUCH better than last WO where I barely got 6 reps on the last set. I was feeling good so I pushed it on both 4th and 5th sets. Pullups were also very good. I didn't think I'd get much more than 5x7, but was still able to get 10 on the last set.(19mins)

Chest press was really good. I failed on the last rep, but really good work. I bumped up the weight on T-bar and these were still really good with sets of 10. I love the Iso shoulder row, but this pullup/t-bar combo is great...as long as elbows hold up (which I doubt they will).(14/33mins)

Incline fly was good after a lot of chest work already, but I didn't go very heavy. Still a lot of work though. Today I tried regular curls rather than hammer curls. Been doing hammer's forever because of my elbows. Surprisingly, I was able to supinate my wrist on curls w/o much elbow pain. Very good.(12/45mins)

I wasn't planning on the triple delt combo, but had enough time, so did it anyway. This is always a pretty brutal triple set, regardless of weights used. I went a little lighter on lateral delts today and tried to hold them at the top and not swing the weight at all.  I was planning on CGBP, but I hadn't done dips in forever and they seemed appealing today. I wasn't expecting much because of already doing heavy chest/pressing movements. First set I did 17, which shocked me. I decided after a few seconds rest to jump into myo-reps rather than straight sets. Very pleased with these.

Overall just a FANTASTIC WO this morning. I was really surprised because I went to bed at 1AM and got up at 5 so I could get the WO in before picking up the kids for breakfast. Prior to WO I had about 3 cups of coffee, mountain dew, red bull and a pre-WO.  My hands and lips were tingling on the way to the gym.  I guess I was pretty amped up :)

Nutrition:
I weighed 184.0 this morning. Gotta put the brakes on after this weekend. Huge feed day today: IHOP, Windy City Redhots, Mongolian BBQ, Sweet Frog. Holy shit I'm going to be heavy tomorrow.

Fri 3/15 - GBR Lower (hammy)

Thursday 3/14 - Rest Day
Weighed 183.0

Friday 3/15
Workout: (Fitness First)
(Squat)135x10,205x6,225x5,5,5 Good
(BoxSquat)155x6,135x8,10 Good, hard
(LegPress)8Plates2x8, 4platesx15,15,20 Good work
(SLDL)205x10,245x5 Right hamstring
(75#RollingShrugs)3x8
(160#CableCrunch)12,8,8
(TortureTwist)14,8,10
(40#HammerCurl)12,10,10
54mins
+13 w/u + 5 c/d = 72mins total

Squat was pretty good, but 225 sets were hard. I think I'm getting worn down and need a break. After heavy sets, I dropped to 155#'s and did first set of box squats planning on getting about 10 reps. Nope. Only got 6, so I dropped the weight again to 135. Better, but still hard. These were really good. After talking with some folks, it sounds like true box squats aren't the best to improve raw squat form, so I did use a box, but tried to touch my butt to the box keeping my back more upright and not "sit back" so much as in a true box squat.  Regardless, this was 7 working sets of squats and
really good work. (23mins)

Leg press felt really heavy and only got 8 reps on first two sets. SLDL was feeling good at 245#s until about the 3rd rep when I felt my right hamstring seize up/pull. I stopped that set at 5 and decided not to do any more. Given the ham, I dropped the weight on leg press to 4 plates and did 3 more sets of 15-20 reps. These were easy at first, but became a LOT of work toward the last 1/3 of each set and I really pushed hard on the last set of 20. Since I wasn't supersetting SLDL anymore, I supersetted rolling shrugs. Really good work here after a lot of squats. (20/43mins)

Abs were really tough again and reps fell off each set. I think they are already really worked from squating.  Good ab work though. I had a little time so I added on a couple sets of curls which felt good. (54mins).

Disappointed that I had to stop SLDL because I was hoping to get good sets at 245 and possibly bump up to 265#s.  But, it was still a really good lower WO despite the hamstring. Lots of good squating and leg press. More volume than I normally do, which I felt good about, but ironically the high volume in squat probably contributed to my ham issue on SLDL.

Nutrition:
I weighed 183.2 this morning.

Wed 3/13 - GBR Upper

Workout: (Fitness First)
(80#DBIncline)5,5,5,5,6 Decent
(Pullups)6,6,6,6,10 V. Good
(95#ChestPress)6,6,6,6' V. good
(90#T-Bar)4x10 V. good
(45#InclineFly)8,6,40#x10 Good/hard
(70#IsoShoulder)8,7
(20#LatDelt)2x10
(135#CGBP)8,7,8 Good
(90#RearDelt)3x10
(40#HammerCurl)13,12
59mins
+13 w/u + 11 c/d = 83mins total

DB Incline was good, but I lost a rep on last set from last WO. Wasn't thrilled with that, but oh well. Still very good work. My elbows were feeling pretty good the last day or two so I decided to do pullups. Did sets of 6 staying far away from failure and then did a max rep last set. These were really good. (17mins)

Chest press was really good, but I was doing sets of 7. Granted, I am pausing at the bottom now and pressing from a dead stop, but still. T-bar row was really good today. Last 2 sets I really had to work for 10 reps.(14/31mins)

I haven't done shoulder press in a couple weeks so I decided to do them today. This bothered my left shoulder and lat (surprisingly) so I kept it to two sets and added 2 sets of lateral delts. I supersetted these with inclind fly's, which felt really heavy today. (13/44mins)

Next up was close grip bench press and rear delts. I hadn't planned on rear delts today (shoulder press was going to be my only shoulder exercise), but decided I'd better keep at them for shoulder health.  CGBP was good and I got a spot on the last set. I finished up with 2 sets of hammer curls and was swinging those bad boys at the end of the last set. They felt good though. Before doing them, I grabbed a barbell and tried a couple of straight bar curls. NOT HAPPENING. My elbows just won't tolerate them.

Overall a good WO. I don't think my last WO was really out of me yet even though the last one was Sunday.  Should've been plenty of rest.  I've been pushing pretty hard for a while now and it's probably time to think about a deload week soon.

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.2 this morning.  Despite the high weight, I'm still feeling "fairly" lean so hopefully that means I'm putting on mass. Not letting myself get sloppy even though I'm trying to eat a lot, especially on WO days.  All the eating out with Sarah lately has made increased food consumption a breeze :)

Tue 3/12 - A "run"

Sarah came over after work and while she went for a run, I ran/shuffled for 20 mins, walked for 10.  Call it 2 miles.  Legs were pretty dead from yesterday's lower WO. Knees felt terrible on the run. I probably should have just walked for 30 mins, or just rested. Nice evening with Sarah.

Nutrition:
I weighed 180.8 this morning. That's lower than I thought after eating quite a bit yesterday and going out for dinner (even though dinner was fairly clean).  Anyway, good nutrition day today.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	243	141	42	1,896
	Calories	972	565	377	1,914
	Percent	51%	30%	20%	`

Mon 3/11 - GBR Lower (Box Squats)

Workout: (Fitness First)
(Squat)135x10,205x6,225x5,5,5 Good
(135#BoxSquat)15,12 BoxSquats - Great!
(LegPress)8Plates 4x10 Lotta work!
(SLDL)205x10,225x8,245x8,8 Weight bump - great!
(75#RollingShrugs)3x8
(45#SeatedCalves)2x20
(35#Crunch)25/+6,6,6,6
54mins
+13 w/u + 5 c/d = 72mins total

Squat was good again today, with some caveats. I skipped the 185# set and went right to 205, then 225. The gym was empty so I set up my phone and video taped two sets at 225. I need to watch them again, but what was apparent is that I'm bending over too much coming out of the hole. Still good work, but form needs some working on. I stripped of a disk and did 2 sets of box squats.  The box squats felt great and I stayed much more upright. Some of this is because of the reduced weight, but some is because with box squats you really have to "sit back" on your heels. I'll keep doing these and also work on free squat form. The box squats with high reps took a ton of energy. (24mins)

Leg press was good, but a lot of work after a lot of squat work. Combo'd them with SLDL and bumped up the weight to 245#'s for last 2 sets. These felt good and workout could have been done here.  This combo after squating kicks my ass.  Spent! (19/43mins).

I combo'd rolling shrugs and 2 sets of seated calve raises. Calves were cramping up.  I skipped leg curl/extension and did a quick myo-rep set of lying crunches with a 35# disk. I was done. Cooled down for 5 mins on the treadmill and then stretched hams/quads. My legs were shaking badly when stretching. Gonna feel this one in a day or two, but another very good lower WO.  It just gets too long if I try to fit in leg ext/curl and the other compound heavy lifting is more important.

Nutrition:
I weighed 182.4 this morning. Met up with Joe for dinner at Sweetwater. Clean diet other than dinner, but kept that fairly clean with pork chops + steamed spinach.

Sun 3/10 - GBR Upper

Workout: (Fitness First - Leesburg)
(80#DBIncline)5,5,5,5,7 Great
(125#IsoRow)5x7,70#x10 Drop set - Very good
(45#InclineFly)2x10
(CGPullups)2x7
(95#ChestPress)6,6,6 Very good
(90#T-Bar)3x10 Very good
(90#Rear/25#Lat/35#FrontDelts)3x8 Hard
(135#CGBP)9,6,9 Good
(40#HammerCurl)2x12
54mins
+13 w/u + 12 c/d = 79mins total

Decided to do 5 sets for DB incline and rows again. Incline was great and I got the 7th rep on last set today (failed it last WO). The idea here is to do 5x5, but hit max reps on last set. If this gets "easy", bump weight. Drop set on rows was great. (18mins)

I did incline fly's again and supersetted with close neutral grip pullups, but only 2 sets. This was plenty today. (7mins)

Chest press was good again, but hard. I was getting 3x7, but now I'm doing them after incline and fly's. Also coming to a dead stop on the bottom and pressing from there. T-bar was underhanded and really good. (10mins)

Rear/Lateral/Front delt combo was really hard today and just did sets of 8. I supersetted CGBP with hammer curls. On 2nd set of CGBP I didn't push it very hard because tri's often fail suddenly and I didn't want to get stuck. I wasn't happy with the 2nd set, so I asked for a spot for a 3rd set and got 9 reps with a touch of the bar on last rep. Felt really good.

I wasn't expecting much from this WO because I didn't get much sleep last night (~3hours), but it was a really good WO. I was pleasantly surprised.

Nutrition:
I weighed 183.0 this morning. I don't want weight to jump any/much higher.

Sat 3/9 - Bull Run Hike

Hiked Bull Run Mountain with Sarah. It warmed up and was a great day. There was still quite a bit of snow at the top of the mountain and the trail was pretty wet.  Great day and great evening too!

Fri 3/8 - GBR Lower (Squat rep PR)

Thursday, 3/7 was a rest day.  Good nutrition:

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	232	137	42	1,854
	Calories	929	549	376	1,855
	Percent	50%	30%	20%	`

Friday, 3/8
Workout: (Fitness First - Leesburg)
(Squat)135x10,185x8,205x6,225x5,5,5,135x13 DropSet (6)Great - Rep PR!
(LegPress)8Plates 4x10 Hard work!
(SLDL)205x10,225x8,8,8 Weight bump - great!
(75#RollingShrugs)3x8 Weight bump - heavy!
(160#CableCrunch)10,10,6
(TortureTwist)14,10,6 Abs fried!
56mins
+12 w/u + 0 c/d = 68mins total

Squat was really good again today. I'm glad I gave my legs some rest, but I've got to give squat/deadlift programming some thought. I don't think I can squat/deadlift heavy on same day so I've been alternating lower days with one of them, but that's not a lot of frequency. I think as long as I'm progressing (which I am), I'll stick with this for a while. My knees just can't handle heavy squatting every lower WO, and I don't know my lower back can handle heavy DL every lower WO either. We'll see how tolerance builds over time.  For now, I'm very happy with how lower WO's are going!

Anyway, I got to top weight of 225#'s quicker today and did 3 sets there.  They didn't feel as "light" as last time, but getting closer to feeling comfortable to do 5x5 at a top weight. After the 3 225# sets I stripped off a plate from each side and did a drop set. This felt super light at first and knees felt good. It got heavy toward the last 1/3 of the reps.  Great squat WO and really liked the drop set.  (22mins)

LegPress/SLDL Combo: Leg press was significantly more work than the last couple of WO's due to the heavier sets and the drop set, but felt good. I really had to work on the last reps. I started SLDL with 205, which I noted from last WO could have been heavier. It didn't feel that light today, but knew I'd kick myself if I didn't bump the weight, so I went up to 225 and did sets of 8. These were good, a lot of work supersetted with heavy leg press.  Workout was at 41 mins at this point and legs were well worked already. (41mins)

I was running out of time, so I did rolling shrugs and scrapped leg ext/curl combo. Shrugs were a bump up in weight and felt real heavy. Not sure if I'll stick with that weight or not. Since I scrapped some leg work, I had time for some abs.  Man, I died quickly here. I think heavy squats and SLDL must have wore them out because I failed quickly at both crunches and torture twists after the first sets. (56mins)

Overall a great WO! Again, I'm very happy with how I'm beginning to be able to push legs. Not concerned that I skipped leg ext/curls today. Legs got plenty of work.

Nutrition:
I weighed 180.6 this morning. Going to get my feed bag on today.

Wed 3/6 - GBR Upper

Workout: (Fitness First)
(80#DBIncline)5,5,5,5,7' (5x5) Great
(125#IsoRow)5x6
(45#InclineFly)3x10
(125#T-Bar)3x7
(95#ChestPress)7,6,6 Very good
(70#T-Bar)3x10 Very good
(25#Lat/90#RearDelt)3x10 Hard
(135#CGBP)10/+3,3,3,3 Good
(150#TriPushdn)10/+4,3,3,3
55mins
+13 w/u + 13 c/d = 81mins total

Decided to do 5 sets for DB incline and rows instead of 4 today, so I dropped the reps/set by 1-2. Incline was really good and on the 5th set I had 7 reps all but locked out. Didn't quite get it, but these were really good. I decided to do incline fly's next rather than later in the WO like I normally do and I went higher reps today. These were also really good. I supersetted these with heavy underhand t-bar rows. I then did heavy chest press, which was harder than normal after a lot of chest work already, but really good. I supersetted these with lighter overhand t-bar rows, really controlling the weight and getting a really good stretch and contraction.  Felt great and I was a little surprised all the rowing felt good after heavy DL yesterday.

I only did lateral/rear delt combo today because I figured front delts already got a lot of work from incline and incline fly's. Someone was squatting on the smith machine, so I did close grip bench with a regular barbell. I had to drop the weight, but was a little surprised that I still liked these a lot. I just couldn't push as close to failure as I can on the smith. Finished it up
with tri pushdowns.

Great WO. Liked the 5x5 even though it's really the same volume as 4x6 I'd been doing.

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.8 this morning...great! Up just a tad from yesterday which is about what I wanted. Meaning, I wanted to make sure I ate enough after yesterday's WO to fuel the muscles. I'll do the same today.

Tue 3/5 - GBR Lower (DL PR!)

Workout: (Fitness First - Reston)
(DeadLift)225x8, 275x7, 295x6, 305x6, 315x5,5 (6) Awesome - Rep PR!
(LegPress)8plates 4x12 Very good
(70#RollingShrugs)3x10
(40#HCurl)2x11
(100#LegExt)3x15
(80#LegCurl)3x12 Good
(90#Crunch)25/+6,6,6,6
(BallPike)15/+5,5,5
54mins
+12 w/u + 10 c/d = 76mins total

This weekend the boys and I went to lunch at Chammps in Reston and I noticed there was a Fitness First in the shopping center.  This is less than 1 mile from where I work. We went in to check it out and my membership works there as well.  So, I decided to work out there this morning and will start going there from time to time.

I set a dead lift rep PR today getting 2 sets of reps with 315#'s.  They felt great and not really that heavy. I wanted to keep ramping the weight up, but figured 5-6 working sets was more than enough.  Really pleased with these!  They have a good setup here with bumper plates and an Oly lifting station with a wood platform that has rubber padding on the sides so you can drop the weight.

I didn't like the leg press machine setup quite as much as the other FF gym, but it was good and did sets of 12 with 8-45# plates. Supersetted these with rolling shrugs and then 2 sets of hammer curls.  I didn't get to do curls last upper WO, so threw some in here. 36 mins into the workout already at this point.

Leg extension/curl combo was good and abs were good.  I'll keep doing the ext/curl for now, but think there might be other ways to spend time better/more effectively. And, if I'm ever running short on time, heavy DL/leg press or squat/leg press combo is really a WO in and of itself.

NOTE: One thing I've noticed is that my WO's are getting longer as I gain strength and move more weight. It's not a lot of time, but it definitely takes longer to load/un-load the bar with more plates, moving around heavier DB's, etc.

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.0 this morning. Upped the calories/carbs today after heavy lower WO. Good and clean though. Could have actually used a little more fat.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	252	241	46	2,372
	Calories	1009	965	414	2,389
	Percent	42%	40%	17%	`

Mon 3/4 - Rest

I wanted to do a lower WO, but legs/knees have been bothering me so I gave them an extra day.  The pain in the back of my neck is still pretty bad at times too, so resting up today and watching my nutrition.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	215	100	43	1,624
	Calories	859	399	384	1,641
	Percent	52%	24%	23%	`

Sun 3/3 - Upper

I took Saturday as a rest day.  I was going to try to do a lower WO today (Sunday), but legs/knees weren't up to it so I decided on another rest day for them.

Workout: (Sarah's Gym)
(65#DBIncline)12,11,10,9
(205#SmithBOR)4x6 + 135x10DS
(65#DBBench)9,7,7
(Pulldown)4x8
(25#Lat/25#Rear/35#FrontDelt)3x10
(65#OHTriExt)10,10,8
(RevGripPullDn)3x7
(40#IncFly)10,8
46mins + 12 w/u + 11 c/d = 69mins total

Worked out with Sarah at her gym. Dumbbells went up to 65#'s so I used those. Incline was good, but should have just done 4x10. BOR was pretty good, but the Smith is not level and I had to stand/grip offset to one side to compensate for it. Awkward, heavy, but good.

Stuck with the 65#DB's for bench and this felt much heavier than I expected. Definitely not used to this much higher rep work and chest began to fail pretty quickly. Pulldowns were surprisingly good and didn't bother my elbows. 

Triple set of lateral, rear and front delts was good and brutal/hard. I was planning on CGBP, but with the smith being so awkward, I decided to to overhead tri extensions.  These were much harder than I thought. I thought 3x10 would be easy. It wasn't. Pulldowns felt so good I decided to do some reverse grip pulldowns and finished off the WO with some incline fly's. Chest was done!

Nutrition:
I weighed 184.8 this morning. I really did some damage this weekend. I had a huge chinease meal Friday night, and a sub, pizza and chicken parm on Saturday night.  Also, the obligatory tub of sweet frog both nights.  Ugh...got some work to do this week. Clean nutrition day today and then had a big sushi dinner with Sarah after the gym.

Friday 3/1 - GBR Upper

Workout: (Fitness First)
(80#DBIncline)7,7,7,6' Good
(125#IsoLatRow)4x7
(95#ChestPress)3x7 V. Good
(125#T-bar)3x8 + 90#x10 Weight bump - Great!
(25#LatDelt)3x10
(95#RearDelt)3x10
(35#FrontDelt)3x10
(175#CGBP)10/+3,3,3,3,3 Weight bump - Great!
(50#IncFly)2x6 Real hard
51mins +12 w/u + 15 c/d = 78mins total

DB incline was really good again, but I actually failed the last rep. I really tried to concentrate on form today and control the weight. 1 less rep, but still happy with it. On the first set of incline I did something weird to the back of my neck that was pretty painful. I wasn't working very hard during the first set, but it almost felt like a pinched nerve or something. My neck has been real sore since then.  Rows were good. Chest press was really good, but only did 3 sets. I think I could have used another day rest before 2 heavy WO's again. I bumped the weight up on T-Bar row and these were really good. Did a rested drop set of 90#'sx10 that were awesome.

I did a triple set of lateral/rear/front delts for 3 sets.  This was brutal, but really good.  Did these instead of shoulder press.  I bumped weight on close grip bench and felt really good.  This has become my go-to tri exercise the last couple weeks. Really liking it and I think easier on the elbows than OH tri extensions.  Finished it off with 2 sets of incline fly's.  These were WAY harer than normal.

Overall a good WO. I could tell the last heavy WO wasn't quite out of me, but that's OK. Some real good work today.  Did my normal w/u and c/d routine.

Nutrition:
I weighed 179.0 this morning.

Thu 2/28 - A run

Ran for 35 mins, cooled down for 10.  Total 45 mins.
Spur of the moment run before work.  First mile was pretty damn slow. Legs were pretty dead after yesterday's pounding in the gym, but they loosened up and felt much better as the run went on.

Nutrition:
I weighed 179.6 this morning.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	220	131	42	1,770
	Calories	879	524	376	1,779
	Percent	49%	29%	21%	`