Wed 7/31 - A Run!

Ran 40 mins + 5w/u + 7c/d. 
Started off planning on just going for a walk before work.  Started walking and decided to run for a few mins to get my heart rate up and then finish with a 40 min (or so) walk.  Felt OK after running for a few minutes so decided I'd run 20 mins and walk the rest.  My knees actually felt OK so I just kept going and ended up running for 40 minutes.  I ran SLOWly, but it felt good to run after working legs in the gym for the past 6 months. 

I'd still like to work legs in the gym because I've really come to enjoy it, but am going to try to balance some leg work with some running.  We'll see how it goes.

Nutrition:
I weighed 180.2 this morning.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	253	105	26	1,676
	Calories	1011	422	238	1,671
	Percent	61%	25%	14%	`

Tue 7/30 - GBR Upper

Workout: Fitness First
(80#DBInc)3x7 Hard
(135#BOR)3x10 Good
(95#OHP)3x8
(80#SeatRow)3x8
(40#IncFly)2x10
(Pullulps)2x7 Tough
(Dips)2x15 Good
(40#Curl)2x10
(90#RearDelt)2x10
35 mins + 12 w/u + 13 c/d = 60 mins total

Lower volume today because cutting again after blowing up over the weekend. Not a good strategy.

Incline felt pretty heavy. I couldn't have gotten a 4th set of 7 reps. I'm beginning to (finally) realize that I'm not recovered enough to hit a heavy workout every other day, especially in a caloric deficit. Glad I didn't drop off too badly here though. Bent Over Rows felt really good. I did them w/ a reverse grip.(12mins).  Generally I hit another chest exercise here, but decided to put OHP next. These were pretty good and seated rows were done real controlled w/ a good stretch.(9/21mins).

Incline fly's felt good, but pullups were a struggle. Back really fatigued from rows.(7/28mins). I tweaked my neck/left trap on my first set of incline so I did dips instead of OH tri extensions.  Dips were very good. Trippled them up with curls and rear delts.(7/35mins).

Nutrition:
I weighed 180.8 this morning.  That's down almost 6 pounds from yesterday, which at least partially explains some things feeling difficult today.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	262	102	39	1,796
	Calories	1047	409	355	1,811
	Percent	58%	23%	20%	`

Sun 7/28 - GBR Upper

Workout: Fitness First
(80#DBInc)4x7
(125#T-bar)4x7 - Weight bump
(155#Bench)3x10
(105#IsoRow)3x12
(45#DBPress)3x10
(40#Curl)3x10
(75#OHTriExt)2x10
(180#Crunch)3x10
(25#L/RDelt)2x10/10
47 mins + 10 w/u + 0 c/d = 57 mins total

I was hoping to do a lower WO or FB today, but knees felt really jacked up. No idea why, but I couldnt' squat or even deadlift. So, I decided to do another upper. Had to do something given all the food I ate over the weekend.

Incline was good, but I was hoping to get an extra rep on last set. I "tested" the last rep and wasn't happening so didn't really try to grind another one out. Bumped weight on t-bar and it felt good. (16mins). I bumped up the weight on bb bench for some volume, but I'm always a little nervous about adding weight after a first heavy pressing movement. Kinda hard to know when I'm going to fail quickly, but getting better at gauging that. Iso row was pretty good.(10/26mins).

Decided to do DB shoulder press today and liked it, but it is tough on my shoulders. Can't do this one very often. Curls were good, but had to switch to hammer curls last couple reps of last set. (11/37mins). Finished up with OH tri (loving this again), crunches and some lat/rear delt work. (10/47).

Good WO today, hopefully taking advantage of the extra food from the weekend.  That's what I'm telling myself anyway :)

Nutrition:
I weighed 187.6 this morning. Whoa! WTF happened here? I know I ate a lot, but this was a little ridiculous.

Fri 7/26 - GBR Upper

Workout: (Fitness First)
(80#DBInc)3x7 Good
(115#T-bar)3x8
(Bench)135x15,155x9
(Pullups)2x10
(95#OHP)8,8,7
(40#Curl)2x8
(Dips)15,10
(90#RDelt)2x10
33mins + 12 w/u + 7 c/d = 52mins total

Didn't get much sleep at all last night and have been cutting pretty hard since Monday. Still early in the cut, but I do expect to see some decline today, especially later in the WO. I cut volume by 1/4-1/3 but kept weight on the bar.

DB incline was good and I might have been able to get 4x7. Felt good that top-end strength was still here. T-bar was good and didn't feel too heavy either.(12mins). I decided to do flat bench for some volume today but 135 was too light. I could have gotten a few more reps on 1st set. 2nd set I bumped the weight. 2x10 pullups was good, but not quite as easy as Wed.(7/19mins).

OHP was pretty good, but lost a rep on last set compared to Wed. Curls were a struggle.(9/28mins). Finished up w/ dips and rear delt. 1st set of dips was good. 2nd set I started dying around 8 reps. (5/33mins).

Good WO with volume appropriate of my cut. Normally I keep blasting away on a cut, which is stupid. Not building anymuscle on a 1,000+cal/day deficit.

Nutrition:
I weighed 179.2 this morning. Going to be hard not to eat fairly big this weekend w/ the kids.

Wed 7/24 - GBR Upper

Workout: Fitness First
(80#DBInc)7,7,7,8 Great!
(115#T-bar)4x8
(60#DBInc)12,10
(Pullups)2x10 V. good
(95#OHP)3x8+25sec hold
(70#SeatRow)3x8
(75#OHTriExt)2x12
(40#Curl)2x10
(LegPress)4PL,4x15
(180#Crunch)10,8,8
(KneeCrunch)3x15
56 mins + 10 w/u + 10 c/d = 76 mins total

Had to skip my scheduled WO yesterday due to work, so I was hoping to have a good one today, and since it's my anniversary I had some extra motivation to get in some good work. Yesterday started a tight cut, so was hoping top end strenght would still be there today.

Incline was great and felt really strong despite no carbs yesterday. T-bar was good.(16mins). Dropped the weight and did 2 more sets of incline w/ 2 sets of pullups which were both very good.(8/24mins).

OHP was fairly good, but I'm not getting the reps nor weight of a couple weeks ago. Held the weight on last rep for a 25 count. This really hammers my traps. Seated row felt really heavy today and I had to lower the weight.(10/34mins).  OH tri extension was really good w/ a fairly heavy weight for me.
Combo'd this w/ curls.(6/40mins).

I haven't done legs in a couple of weeks so I did some high rep leg press. These got difficult the last 2 sets despite the light weight.(8/48mins). Finished off w/ some ab work.(8/56mins). Good upper. Very pleased with incline today.

Nutrition:
I weighed 180.4 this morning. Started a cut yesterday as I was starting to feel a little flabby.
Tue macros:

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	205	91	33	1,484
	Calories	820	364	295	1,479
	Percent	55%	25%	20%	`

Wed macros:

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	242	92	28	1,592
	Calories	966	369	248	1,582
	Percent	61%	23%	16%	`

Sun 7/21 - GBR Upper

Workout: Ironbound Gym
(70#DBInc)4x9 V. Good
(90#T-bar)4x8
(40#IncFly)3x10
(Pullups)3x7
(95#OHP)3x8 Good
(40#Curl)10,35#x10,10
(70#OHTriExt)3x12 V. Good
(T-Twist)3x20
(TriPushDn)3x12
(RearDelt)3x10
55 mins + 16 w/u + 6 c/d = 77 mins total

I went to Williamsburg early Sat AM to visit Jay and family and decided to get a WO in Sunday AM before heading home. Sarah comes home Sunday afternoon and I don't want to have to get out of bed early Monday morning to go to the gym.

I dropped the weight a bit on DB incline to get a little higher volume and these felt really good while still providing plenty of hard pressing work. T-bar was good.(16mins). Incline fly's were good and pullups were just OK. Above the bar, but not real "easy" from the get-go.(11/27mins).

OHP was really good even though it wasn't real heavy nor near 3x10. Still felt good work. I started w/ 40# DB's but realized 3x10 was going to involve a fair amount of swinging, so I dropped the weight and this was better today for the volume I wanted.(12/39mins). I was going to do dips, but chest was worked so I did OH tri extensions again. I've gotten away from these and remembered from my WO in Seattle how much I liked them. Plus, my tri's were really sore after doing them last week. I started w/ 60#s and that was pretty easy for 15 reps. Bumped to 70#'s and this was pretty good. Combo'd that w/ torture twists which were OK, but kinda bothered my lower back.(10/49mins). Finished up w/ some  tri pushdowns and rear delts.(6/55mins).

Good WO, and glad I got it in. Even though I've been hitting chest w/ at least recommended volume, I think I need to be including flat bench more regularly.

Nutrition:
Not sure what I weighed this AM, but didn't go berzerk in Williamsbug like I tend to do ;)

Fri 7/19 - GBR Upper

Workout: Fitness First
(80#DBInc)7,7,7,7 Awesome
(90#T-bar)4x12
(60#DBInc)3x10
(90#IsoRow)3x10
(25#Lat/RearDelt)3x10/10
(40#Curl)3x10
(165#CableCrunch)3x12
(KneeCrunch)3x15
(150#TriPushDn)12,10,8
50 mins + 14 w/u + 8 c/d = 72 mins total

I didn't know what to expect after a long week with very little sleep and only one light workout. I had some medium weights written in, but warmup felt good so I went ahead and jumped back in where I left off last good upper WO.  Glad I did.

DB incline was really good and I was able to get 4x7 where last WO (which was a good one) I failed on the last rep. Very pleased with this. T-bar was good, but I should have gone heavier. These high reps were a lot of work though by the 3rd set.(16mins). I had BB bench written in, but decided to get some more volume on incline, so dropped the weight and did 3 more sets. Felt really good. I did iso rows which I haven't done in a while and these got hard quickly as well.(11/27mins).

My right shoulder was pretty painful during warmups, so instead of doing shoulder press as planned, it did lateral/front delt combo, mixed with curls. I had pullups written in here, but I did one and pullup and realized back was shot already. No use in repping out a few pullups so I cut them. (11/38mins). Finished up with some core/ab work (8/46mins) and some tri pushdowns (4/50mins).

Really pleased with this WO considering lack of sleep this week and all associated work stress. I did hit a wall fairly quickly during the WO, but was really happy to see my top end strength hadn't dropped like I thought it would.  I guess it was all that eating I did this week :)

Nutrition:
I weighed 183.6 this morning. Lost control a bit this week, but oh well.

Seattle Trip 7/14-7/17

I got the opportunity to travel to Seattle to meet with Clearwire Online Systems personnel after the Sprint/CLRW acquisition. Long flight out, and even longer on the way home w/ a barking dog keeping me up on the red eye. Long days, but it was a good experience. I managed to drive around a bit and even made it down to famous Pike Place market for 45 mins before catching flight home.  The flight home was brutal. I left at 8PM Wed, landed at Dulles at 8AM Thursday and made it into the office for a 9AM meeting.  Utterly exhausted.  I'll be traveling to Williamsburg this weekend to see Jay and family. Looking forward to seeing him.

Some pics from the trip...

Mt. Rainier from plane

Mt. Rainier from runway

Lake Washington - Beautiful

The famous Pike Place Fish Co - this is the place they throw the fish

Original Starbucks - Tourist trap, but figured I had to get a picture

Mon 7/15 - Upper

Upper WO at Sheraton's Fitness Center
(50#DBInc)4x15
(50#DBRow)4x15
(50#OHTriExt)4x12
(25#LatDelt)3x10
(25#RearDelt)2x12
(40#Curl)2x10
(25#FrontDelt)2x12
(30#HammerCurl)2x12
35mins + 10w/u + 0 c/d = 45 mins

Not a bad little WO at the fitness center. DB's only went up to 50#'s.

Nurtirion:
Won't be checking weight or tracking cals this week due to travel.

Sat 7/13 - GBR Upper

Workout: Fitness First
(80#DBInc)7,7,7,7',70#x7 Great!
(115#T-bar)5x8
(135#Bench)3x12 V. Good
(90#SeatRow)3x7
(70#IsoShldr)3x8
(Pullups)3x6
(LegPress)6PLx4x12
(180#CableCrunch)10,8,8
(KneeCrunch)15,12,12
67 mins + 12 w/u + 0 c/d = 69 mins total

Very good incline and bench today.   Leaving for Seattle tomorrow for meetings with Clearwire. Going to be extremely busy and won't have a lot of time for gym, plus diet will probably go to hell.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.8 this morning.

Thu 7/11 - GBR Upper

Workout: Large Sprint Gym
(75#DBIncline)7,7,7,7,8 Great!
(Pullups)4x8 V. Good
(40#IncFly)3x9
(135#SmithBOR)3x12 V. Good
(RearDelt)3x10
(25#FrontDelt)3x10
(20#LatDelt)3x10
(Dips)20,15 V. Good
(40#Curls)2x10
42 mins + 10 w/u + 12 c/d = 64 mins total

After very little sleep this week, I tried to get up this morning and head to the gym before a very busy day. Didn't happen. But, I did get away to the large Sprint gym just after lunch time. I hadn't been there in months.  DB's only go up to 75#'s at the gym, so I started w/ that for incline.

Incline was absolutely great with 75#'s. I did 5 really good working sets and altough I enjoy heavier work, this rep/set range really felt good. Sometimes I think trying to as heavy as possible sacrifices form (and obviously volume). I think I do better on a little bit higher volume. Pullups were great. They just felt easy and my shoulders were going above the bar on every rep.(17mins)

Incline fly's were good, but glad I stuck w/ 40#'s. Chest was worked well already. BOR's on the smith machine were great. Really felt it good in my back. I'll have to do these more often and the higher reps felt good.(11/28mins).

I did the triple-set of rear/front/lateral delts. I used to do this all the time but switched to more pressing for shoulders. These felt great and are easier on my shoulders.  Will do more often.(8/36mins). Finished up with 2 sets of dips and curls. Dips felt great and 20 reps on first set felt great. Really worked 2nd set on the last 3-5.(6/42mins).

I wasn't expecting a lot out of this WO, but it turned out to be really good.  I'll have to remember to check the ego at the door now and then and use lighter weight on bench/incline and just focus on form.

Nutrition:
I weighed 177.6 this morning. That's good because I took the kids for dinner to an Italian joint and ate a bunch of pasta!

Tue 7/9 - GBR Upper

Workout: (Fitness First)
(80#DBInc)6,6,6,8 V. Good
(90#SeatRow)3x7
(135#Bench)2x15 Awesome
(60#DBInc)2x9
(115#T-bar)4x8
(70#IsoShldr)2x8
(Pullups)2x6
(40#Curl)2x10
(25#LatDelt)2x9
(Dips)15,10
(90#RearDelt)2x10
(CableCrunch)10,8
(KneeCrunch)2x15
51mins + 12 w/u + 10 c/d = 73mins total

I was planning on barbell incline, but someone was using it and it's probably better to give my elbows/shoulders a "break" so I did DB's. I was very happy that I was able to get 8 reps on the last set. Rows were OK.(16mins). I wanted some more volume for chest so I did some higher rep barbell flat and more incline. 135 bench felt light and great, but I didn't want reps that high so did 2 sets there and then some lighter incline. Awesome chest work today. T-bar was pretty good.(14/30mins).

Shoulder press felt a little wonky on my shoulders today, so I kept it to 2 sets and hit lateral delts later in the WO. My elbows, especially my left one has been bad, so I kept pullups low reps and to 2 sets as well.(5/35mins). Curl and lateral delts were next and both were good.(6/41mins).

I wanted some tri work today so I did dips. My chest was done so the 2nd set I died. I combo'd this with 2 sets of rear delts.(6/47mins). Finished up with a couple sets of core work and called it a day.(4/51mins).

Really happy with this WO today.  Probably too much "accessory" type work, but got some really good chest and back work in.

Nutrition:
I weighed 179.8 this morning. Going to eat quite a bit today and then try to do a 2-week cut. Might be hard because I'm travelling to Seattle next week for work. We'll see how it goes on the road. WO's may also be a challenge.

Sat 7/6 - GBR Upper

Workout: (Ironbound Gym - Williamsburg)
(135#Incline)4x10 Good
(90#T-bar)4x10
(40#IncFly)3x9
(150#SeatRow)3x8
(95#OHP)3x8
(25#LatDelt)3x10
(Dips)15,15,12 Great
(40#Curl)2x10
(30#HammerCurl)12,15
(RearDelt)3x10
(25#FrontDelt)3x10
(T-twist)24/+8,8,8,8
(TriPushDn)3x12
62mins + 12 w/u + 6 c/d = 80mins total

Worked out at Ironbound Gym in Williamsburg.  The last WO I had here was one of the worst WO's I've ever had. Everything felt heavy as hell and I didn't have a singel good exercise. I was dreading this one a little bit. Thankfully, this time I had more than 2-hours sleep and the WO went well.  Incline and t-bar were pretty good. I was happy to get 4x10 incline w/ reps in the tank.(13mins).

Incline fly's and seated rows were OK, but row machine was ancient and a bit awkward.(11/24mins).  OHP was a little tougher than normal, but supersetted with lateral delts was brutal.(12/36mins).  Dips were great and I mixed in sets of curls and hammer curls.(11/47mins). I decided to do some rear and front delt work (7/54mins) and finished up with some core work and tri pushdowns.(8/62mins).

Overall a pretty good WO for being away from my normal gym.  All the equipment is just enough different to make things feel "off" just a tad.

Nutrition:
Not weighing myself or tracking cals while on vacation. I'll just try to eat enough protein and I'm sure the carbs/fat will take care of itself :)

Fri 7/5 - Go Ape Ropes Course

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Wed 7/3 - FB SD Hypertrophy

Tue 7/2:
-Walked 61 mins before work.
Nutrition:
I weighed 178.8 in the morning.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	242	229	39	2,252
	Calories	966	917	352	2,235
	Percent	43%	41%	16%	`

Wed 7/3:  
Full Body Stripped Down Hypertrophy
Group1
(LegPress)6Plx12,8Plx4x10 Great
(80#DBInc)3x6
(60#DBInc)2x10
(115#T-bar)4x8 Heavy
31mins
Group2
(225#SLDL)4x8
(70#IsoShldr)3x10
(CGPullups)3x8
19/50mins
Add-ons
(180#Crunch)8,8,8'
(KneeCrunch)3x12
(150#TriPushDn)12/+5,5,4
60 + 18 w/u + 10 c/d = 88mins total

Group1: My back has been barking at me a bit and I think I engage it a lot during heavy hack squats (not a good thing), so today I did heavy leg press. I kinda felt like this was wimping out, but man does it isolate the legs and I really worked hard during these sets.(14mins). I went back to DB incline today to give my shoulders/elbows a break from barbell. It felt pretty heavy and after 3 heavy sets I dropped down to get in some extra volume. Very good work. T-bar felt heavy today.(17/31mins)

Group2: G1 really took a lot out of me. SLDL was OK. Had 4x10 penciled in, but only did 8's.(11/42mins) Dropped shoulder press and pullups to 3 sets instead of 4.(8/50mins)

Add-ons: Did the cable crunch/knee crunch combo (7/57mins) and then hit a myo-rep set of tri pushdowns (3/60mins).

Another very good, yet extremely difficult FB workout.  These are getting too long w/ warmup/cooldown. I should probably just stick to G1/G2 and drop the add-ons.

Nutrition:
I weighed 178.0 this morning. I keep dropping weight this week and I've been eating a shit-ton of food lately. I'm actually trying to maintain weight.

Mon 7/1 - GBR Upper

Workout: (Fitness First)
(155#Incline)8,8,8,8'
(100#SeatRow)4x6
(40#IncFly)3x10
(100#T-bar)3x10
(70#IsoShldr)2x10
(25#LatDelt)2x10
(CGPullups)3x8
(40#Dips)2x8
(40#Curls)2x10
(180#Crunch)10,8,8'
(KneeCrunch)3x12
(150#TriPushDn)2x12
50mins + 15 w/u + 10 c/d = 75 mins total

Good barbell incline again today. Every set felt "heavy" though. I asked for a spot on the last set and got a touch on the last rep. Low rep seated rows were good again.(15mins). Incline flys were good, as was t-bar row. I've been trying to keep form really good on t-bar the last couple of WO's.(9/24mins).

I was just going to do lateral delts and pullup combo here, but decided to do some shoulder press as well. I went heavier than I have been lately and was really surprised I got 10 reps on both sets. I did pullups close/neutral grip and they felt really good. I could feel a big difference in muscles being worked from standard, wider-grip pullups. Will continue to mix these in.(12/36mins).

I was a bit undecided between doing CGBP and dips, but settled on weighted dips. Combo'd them w/ curls, but only did 2 sets.(6/24mins). Finished up with some good ab work and 2 quick sets of tri pushdowns.(8/50mins).

Very solid upper WO. I'm liking the incline fly's as a 2nd movement, but probably shouldn't get too far away from some BB or DB flat bench.

Nutrition:
I weighed 180.2 this morning. Pretty solid week of eating last week w/o the normal large swing due to cutting during the week and then feeding all weeekend.  This is probably a much better approach, though not as much fun on the weekends :)

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	243	333	52	2,750
	Calories	971	1332	464	2,766
	Percent	35%	48%	17%	`