Mon 12/29 - Upper

Workout: LA Fitness
(IncFly)25x12,30x12,35x12,12
(155#SeatRow)2x10,120x12
(10#Crunch)3x10/10
(60#IsoShldr)11,10,10 Great
(165#PullDn)3x10
(CaptChair)3x15
(55#SealRow)3x12
(80#PushDn)11,10,9

61 + 9 w/u = 70 mins

Sarah and I worked out together and did an upper WO. Since I did a push WO yesterday, I did incline fly's today. During w/u my R shoulder was really sore. I started first set of fly's with 30#"s and stopped right away. Dropped to 25#'s and got warmed up, then jumped back to 30#DB's and then 35#DB's. Felt much better after I was warmed up. Seated rows were OK, but my R elbow was REALLY sore the last 2 days, so I only did 2 heavy sets and 1 back-off set. Superetted these with crunches.

Iso shoulder was great today. Bumped up weight and got more reps than I thought. I don't normally do this movement without a lot of pressing before, so I'm sure that was the big reason, but felt good. Pulldowns were good. Got 3x10 fairly easily. Supersetted these with leg raises in the Captains Chair. Finished up with Seal Rows and heavy pushdowns. Seal rows normally really bother my R elbow, but today I didn't retract my arm quite as far and really tried to focus on shoulder retraction (the point of the movement anyway) and they didn't hurt that bad.  Decent WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.2 this morning.

Sun 12/28 - Push Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)9,8,8,8
(55#DBShldr)8,9,8,9
(LyingLegRaise)3x21
(65#Inc)11,9
(73#RopeExt)10,9,9
(65#Rope)12,10
(20#LDelt)3x10
(190#Fly)2x10
(10#RDelt)2x12

60 + 10 w/u = 70 mins

Gained a rep on incline today. That's promising I progressed, even by 1 rep during the holiday. Shoulder press was good. Weird that again today I got 8 reps on 1st set and 9 on others. I guess I'm still fatigued for first set from inclin. I increased the angle of the incline and got 2 good sets. I almost went lighter because I thought it would be harder after flat incline and shoulder press.  I supersetted these with lying leg raises.  Good work.

I did "heavy" overhead rope extensions followed by lighter rope pushdowns. Supersetted with lateral delt raises.  Finished with a couple sets of chest fly's and rear delt fly's.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.0 this morning. Exactly what I weighed before leaving for Williamsburng. First time I've ever gone for a visit at Mom's and not come back at least a few pounds heavier :)

Fri 12/26 - Upper (Ironbound Gym)

Workout: IronBound Gym
(75#Inc)9,9,9,8,+65x9
(70#T-bar)3x10
(65#IsoShldr)12,11,11
(LyingLegRaise)3x20
(150#PullDn)3x10
(130#ChestFly)3x10
(130#RopeExt)3x11
(10#RDelt)3x15
(45#SealRow)10,9,35x12
(20#LDelt)2x12
(Crunch)3x12/12

80 + 8 w/u = 88 mins

Another WO this morning with Sarah at Ironbound Gym. Incline was good. Only 75#DB's, but worked hard on all sets. Did t-bar again and stuck with 70#'s. First set was "easy" but they got progressively hard. Iso shoulder press was really good. Supersetted with lying leg raises again. Liking these again. Pulldowns were OK, but R elbow really bothering me. We supersetted pulldowns with chest fly.

We finished up with tri, delt and ab work.  Great WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 175.5 this morning on Mom's scale.

Thu 12/25 - Run

Christmas morning Sarah and I ran ~3miles together and then she and I split up. I did about another 2 miles for a total of 50 minutes. Then after brunch we went for 2 walks, one alone and one w/ her parents for about 2 hours of walking. This helped keep weight under control with big brunch and dinner today.  I weighed 175 this morning on Mom's scale.

Wed 12/24 - Upper (Ironbound Gym)

Workout: IronBound Gym
(IncFly)25x12,30x12,10,35x10
(T-bar)70x10,90x8,8,70x8
(50#IsoShldr)15,12,11
(LyingLegRaise)3x20
(140#PullDn)3x10
(140#SeatRow)3x10
(75#OHTri)12,11,10
(20#LDetl)3x10
(10#Crunch)3x20
(85#RDeltFly)3x11

70 + 10 w/u = 80 mins

Sarah and I went to Ironbound gym this morning.  We did an upper WO, but since I did a push WO yesterday, I didn't go too hard on pressing. I did incline fly's instead of press and it flet surprisingly good. T-bar rows were OK. Had a hard time settling in on a weight and it really bothered my R elbow. Next we did iso-shoulder press. The hammer strength machine at Ironbound is great. The angle/leverage is much better than the one at LA Fitness. These were great.

Next we supersetted lying leg raises with pulldowns. Pulldowns were ok, leg raises were really good. Hadn't done them in a while and they felt awesome. Since T-bar wasn't great, we did 3 sets of seated rows. This machine is really old, but it's great. Really good smooth motion.  We supersetted overhead tri extensions with lateral raises. Both were good.  We finished up with crunches to finish off our abs and rear delt fly's.  We video'd some crunches at the end to check form.  Good WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 175.0 this morning on Mom's scale.

Tue 12/23 - Push Day

Mon 12/22: Rest day. Spent day on my feet running errands, packing, etc.

Tue 12/23: Push day before picking up the kids and Sarah to head to Mom's for Christmas.
Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)9,8,8,7 Progress
(65#Inc)10,9,10 Very good
(50#DBShldr)9,9,9,9 Great
(10#Crunch)3x10/10
(60#Rope)3x10
(10#Rdelt)3x12
(190#Fly)13,12

60 + 10 w/u = 70 mins

Worked out this morning before heading to Mom's. Incline was better today. Got 2 more reps than last WO, so starting to make progress (slowly) back to before I got sick. 80#'s felt pretty good and I did 3 sets w/ 65#'s on steeper angle incline instead of my normal 2. I had a little more rest before the 3rd set, which is why I think I got 10 reps, but not a lot more so I was really happy w/ these back-off sets.

DB shoulder press was great. After the first set I thought I'd start dropping reps because of all the incline pressing I'd already done, but I pushed fairly hard and got 9 reps across.  Supersetted these with crunches. I had weighted dips penciled in next, but decided to skip them becuase of my R shoulder/pec issues and because of all the pressing/chest work already done.

I did rope pushdowns with a heavier weight than normal and they felt good. Supersetted with rear delt fly's. Finished off the WO with 2 sets of chest fly's.  Great push WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 175.8 this morning. This will undoubtedly increase over Christmas at Mom's :)

Sun 21/21 - Lower

Workout: LA Fitness
(Deadlift)225x3,275x2,325x2,345x2,325x2,2,2
(55#DBShldr)9,9,8
(25#Pallof)3x30sec
(6PlLegPress)3x20
(15#Crunch)3x15
(175#RevGripPull)3x10
(55#LegExt)2x12

60 mins + 10 w/u = 70 mins

Deadlift felt REALLY heavy. Maybe back fatigued from yesterday's WO? I barely got 2 reps with 345#'s and dropped back down to 325#'s and continued doubles. Shoulder press was really good. Worked hard and shoulder felt good. This leads me to believe that my problem on the right side right now is more my pec than shoulder. We supersetted shoulder press with Pallof presses. Hadn't done these in a while and I could tell...they were tough. Leg press was good for high reps. Reverse grip pulldowns felt really good. Leg extensions finished off the legs for today.  Good "full body" WO. We hit a little bit of everything but was lower body focused.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.0 this morning.

Sat 12/20 - Upper

Fri 12/19:  Rest day. Needed a rest and a ton going on w/ work and Christmas stuff.

Sat 12/20:
Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)8,8,7,7
(65#Inc)8,8
(160#SeatRow)9,8,8
(115#Crunch)10,10,8
(25#Dips)10,8,9
(LegRaise)3x15
(175#PullDn)3x8
(50#IsoShldr)12,11,10
(55#SealRow)12,11,11
(65#RopeExt)12,11,10

75 + 10 w/u = 85 mins

Worked out with Sarah this morning. Incline was ok. Something definitely wrong with my R pec/shoulder, but the 80's felt good. Not near as many reps as I was getting, but because of my shoulder, I'm keeping the negatives really controlled and slow so that makes each rep more difficult. The effort is there. Increased angle of incline and did 2 more sets.  Bumped up weight on seated rows and supersetted with cable crunches. Bumped weight on those too.

Next we supersetted dips and leg raises. I bumped the weight on dips to a 25#DB between my legs. These may not be that great for my shoulder though. Bumped weight on pulldowns and finished up with seal rows and rope extenstions. Got more reps on these than last WO and think I'll bump the weight on seal rows next WO. They take a lot out of me at the end of a WO and I might want to move them up in the order.  Good WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 173.6 this morning. Too light.

Thu 12/18 - Push Day (5x8's)

Wed 12/17 was a rest day. I weighed 173.8.

Workout: LA Fitness
(75#Inc)5x8
(50#DBShldr)5x8
(20#Dips)5x8
(20#Crunch)5x10
(65#RopeExt)3x10
(15#LDelt)3x10
(190#Fly)12,10

61 + 9 w/u = 70 mins

Wow. Something definitely wrong with my R shoulder/pec. 75#DB's was supposed to be a warmup set of 3 reps, but first rep felt like work so I finished out the set w/ 8 reps. Left arm goes up fine, the R one just feels week w/ no power after about half way up. A few weeks ago I got reps of 13,11,9 with 75#'s but couldn't get more than 8 today. The effort was there, but I just couldn't do any more weight. I did 5x8 on shoulder press and these felt fairly good.

Next I did weighted dips supersetted with crunches. Both with a 20#DB.  R shoulder/pec was tender on dips. Probably should've kept it to 3 sets. Next I supersetted rope extensions and lateral delt raises. Finished up with 2 sets of machine fly's.  Good WO, but disappointed w/ my R pec/shoulder. Going to need to rest it I think.

Nutrition:
I weighed 173.8 this morning.

Tue 12/16 - Upper

Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)8,8,7,7
(65#Inc)10,9
(155#SeatRow)10,10,9,120x10
(110#Crunch)11,11,11,8
(Dips)16,14,12
(165#PullDn)10,8,8
(LegRaise)3x15
(55#IsoShldr)10,8,8
(55#BBCurl)2x12
(55#SealRow)3x10
(65#RopeExt)3x10
(15#LDelt)3x12
(10#RDelt)3x10
(175#Fly)15,12,8

90 + 10 w/u = 100 mins

Got up at 4am and hit the gym w/ Sarah at 5am. Incline was a LITTLE better today. Still a long way back. Really good WO. Did well on dips today and am enjoying them a lot. Sarah did them today also and used the assist machine. She'll be doing them w/ body weight in no time.

Nutrition:
I weighed 177.6. Ate at a new restaurant for b'day last night and it was opening night so they were training and meal was half price. So.., So we had 2 appetizers, meal and 2 desserts.  Oh, and then had big bowl of ice cream at home late night. Weight was understandably high this morning. :)

Sun 12/14 - Lower

Workout: LA Fitness
(Deadlift)225x5,275x3,325x2,345x2,2,2,2,2,275x8
(65#Inc)3x10
(6PlLegPress)4x20
(10#Crunch)4x10/10
(65#RopeExt)13,11,11
(10#RDelt)3x10
(15#LDelt)12,10,10

64 mins + 6 w/u = 70 mins

I hadn't done a lower WO in a couple weeks and I was putting it off while sick. I didn't think there was any way I had the energy to do deadlift with any weight that would have much of an impact.  Today's session was pretty good for the first time back at it. I didn't get as many reps on my backoff set w/ 275#'s as I normally do, but a good effort. I mixed in a little upper body today. I didn't go heavy on leg press, but 4 sets of 20 reps was brutal. Not a lot of volume otherwise, but this was enough for first time hitting legs in a while.  As I write this a couple days later (catching up on my logs), I'm still walking funny.

Nutrition:
I weighed 175.0. Now that I'm starting to get over being sick, I'm upping the calories and will try to slowly put back the weight I lost the last 2 weeks while sick.

Sat 12/13 - Upper

I took Thursday and Friday off. I needed a rest day on Thursday and Friday I was busy and still feeling like crap. This bronchitis has lingered for two weeks.

Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)8,8,7,6,60x13
(150#SeatRow)10,8,120x10,10
(110#Crunch)10,10,8,90x10
(Dips)13,13,11
(160#PullDn)10,8,8
(Crunch)3x15
(55#IsoShldr)10,10,8
(50#SealRow)12,10,10
(80#PushDn)10,9,73x10
(175#Fly)2x10

80 + 10 w/u = 90 mins

Good Upper WO today, but it's amazing (and frustrating) how much strength I've lost while being sick. I think I'll rebound fairly quickly, but EVERYTHING felt heavy today. I was getting more reps with 85#Inc vs. what I got w/ 80#DB's today.  The effort was there though. I did one set of decline today andit bothered my shoulder so I substituted dips. Enjoying doing dips again.

Nutrition:
I weighed 174.4 this morning.

Wed 12/10 - Pull Day

Workout: Work Gym
(185#SmBOR)4x10
(150#VbarPull)4x8
(10#Crunch)4x10/10
(45#SealRow)3x10+30x15
(50#BBCurl)2x10
(75#DBRow)2x15
(40#RDFly)3x10
(68#PushDn)3x10

50 mins + 5 w/u = 55 mins

Got in a good pull WO over lunch at work. My R elbow is pretty bad so wasn't sure how a pull day would go. I wore the elbow sleeve again. I'll be wearing it for the foreseable future.  BOR's bothered my elbow, but I was getting great activation in my back so I added a set and did 4. Worked fairly hard on these. I started off with much heavier v-bar pulldown weight and had to lower it. 150 was good today. supersetted these with crunches with a 10# disk on my chest.

Seal rows were good. Did them face down on the incline. 3 good sets and then a drop set to 30#'s. That felt awesome. I supersetted with 2 sets of barbell curls and 50#'s felt really heavy and really bothered my R elbow. Should've probably skipped these, but kept it to 2 sets.  DB rows were good. Finished up the WO with rear delt fly's and some tri work (just for some extra volume).  Really good pull WO.  Need to do some deadlifting, but I've just felt too weak from being sick to give it any real strenuous effort.

Nutrition:I weighed 172.4 this morning. Losing weight when I'm not intending. I just haven't been eating enough while sick.

Tue 12/9 - Push Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(75#Inc)10,8,8,8
(60#Inc)10,10,9,9
(155#Decline)10,8
(Dips)14,12,11 Felt good
(105#Crunch)12,10,9
(55#IsoShldr)9,7,45x10
(65#RopeExt)10,9,8
(10#RDelt)2x12

59 + 10 w/u = 69 mins

The weights aren't quite there, but the effort was. This was a good push day. Lots of incline volume. 4 sets low angle, 4 sets higher angle. Something is definitely wrong with R shoulder. Half way up I just lose strength. L side is fine. Not a good recipe w/ DB's.  Deline was OK. I supersetted dips and cable crunches. Loved this. Dips felt good. I did them real controlled because they can be hard on shoulders. These didn't seem to bother my shoulder at all.  Iso shoulder press was OK. Finished up with some tri and rear delt work. I wore an elbow sleeve on my R arm today. R elbow is really painful.  I tried to do face pulls for rear delt work but quit after 2 reps because it was so painful. Switched to rear delt fly's.  Good WO despite all the coughing throughout.

Nutrition:
I weighed 173.2 again this morning.

Sun 12/7 - Upper

Workout: LA Fitness
(150#SeatRow)4x10
(28#Pallof)4x40sec
(65#Inc)2x10
(180#PullDn)10,10,8,8
(Crunch)20,15,15,15
(50#IsoShldr)10,9,9
(65#BBCurl)2x10
(45#SealRow)3x12
(80#PushDn)11,10,9
(10#Rdelt)2x10

85 + 5 w/u = 90 mins

Upper WO with Pull focus this morning (since I did push yesterday). Worked out w/ Sarah. Really enjoy working out w/ her and having a partner once in a while.  Good WO. Effort was good. Still sick but pull poundages haven't slipped as much as push poundages. Nothing significant to note really. Just trying to get some work in while sick. still loving seal rows. Wish I would've found them a while ago.

Nutrition:
I weighed 174.2 this morning. Trying to keep from losing too much weight while not adding fat while I'm sick.

Sat 12/6 - Push Day (sick - big steps back)

Workout: LA Fitness
(75#Inc)9,8,8,8
(45#DBShldr)4x10
(60#Inc)10,10
(155#Decline)10,10,9
(70#OHTri)10,9,8
(145#Fly)15,14,14
(105#Crunch)3x10
(58#Rope)3x12
(20#LDelt)3x10
(10#RDelt)3x10

72 + 9 w/u = 81 mins

Still sick. Took Thursday and Friday off because I felt just terrible.  Started antibiotics yesterday.  Push day today and I'm feeling really weak. Worked as hard as I could and was happy with the effort. Right shoulder really giving me trouble, as is right elbow.  On pressing, I get about 1/2 way up and shoulder just starts to hurt and feel real unstable. 

Frustrated that I wanted to do a quick cut and get right back to bulking and continuing the great progress I was making. I'll have to re-set once I get over this bronchitis and basically start building back up from where I started the bulk.  All that progress is gone. 9 weeks of pushing hard vanished in a week.Hopefully once I'm feeling better I'll bounce back quickly and it won't take 8-9 weeks to get back to that point.

Nutrition:
I weighed 175.2 this morning. Trying to eat at maintenance while sick.

Wed 12/3 - Upper (Ending mini-cut)

No WO Mon/Tue because I'm really sick.

Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)8,7,65x10
(145#SeatRow)3x10
(50#IsoShldr)2x10
(180#PullDn)3x8
(175#Fly)3x12
(40#SealRow)2x12
(65#RopeExt)2x12

35 + 8 w/u = 43 mins

Went to the doctor this morning and I have bronchitis. I needed to end my cut today because I just don't think I'm going to get helthy on a massive caloric deficit. I REALLY didn't want to just start eating w/o a WO, so against my better judgement I did a quick WO. My lungs were BURNING badly during the WO and it was a fairly miserable experience. But I got it in. Not a lot of volume, but hit all the main upper movers.My R shoulder is pretty bad and 80#DB's on incline didn't feel so heavy, but I just didn't have a lot of pressing power on my R side. It just needs some rest I guess. It was doing well for quite a while, but I think I just pushed too hard for too long w/o a break. I always seem to do that and don't listen to those little signals my body sends me along the way. One day I'll learn this lesson...maybe.  One can hope. :)

Nutrition:
I weighed 172.4 this morning. Ending cut today because I'm sick a day or two before planned. Oh well. Feeling pretty lean anyway.

Sun 11/30 - Upper Depletion

Workout: LA Fitness - Upper Depletion
(Inc)55x17,15,50x15,45x15,15
(100#SeatRow)20,17,15,90x15,15
(Crunch)25,20,15,15,15
(100#ChestPress)18,17,17,15
(130#PullDn)17,15,15
(130#RevPull)15,15
(125#Decline)20,15,14
(ShldrPress)20,15,15
(45#BBCurl)20,20,16
(30#FacePull)3x20
(10#LatRaise)3x15
(43#Rope)3x20
(25#SealRow)3x20
(145#Fly)2x20

93 + 7 w/u = 100  mins.

Started a cut with Sarah on Sunday and decided to kick it off with a depletion WO. This was lighter weights/higher reps. This was a fairly brutal WO with short rest periods between sets. They start off feeling SO easy and then the reps just beat you up.  Fun stuff to do w/ Sarah :)

Nutrition:
I weighed 178.6 this morning.

Sat 11/29 - Upper

Workout: LA Fitness
(Inc)85x7,80x8,8,7,65x10,9
(165#SeatRow)3x10,120x10
(105#Crunch)4x12
(165#Decline)12,9,9
(180#PullDn)3x10
(50#IsoShldr)12,10,10
(45#SealRow)2x10,40x10
(65#RopeExt)3x10

80 + 10 w/u = 90 mins

Another upper day. Wanted to do 2 heavy sets w/ 85#DB's. Did the first set and only got 7 reps. Normally get 9 reps w/o too much struggle. Dropped weight and still had some decent pressing and volume. Just worn out I think.  The rest of the WO was really good. Bumped weight up a bunch on rows. Decline was really good. Bumped up the weight on seal rows.  Good WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 179.6 this morning.

Fri 11/28 - A Run!

I got a cortisone shot in my let knee last week and it feels SO much better. Went for a run today and didn't really feel any pain.  Before, I felt pain on almost every step and it just wasn't enjoyable at all.

Did a nice 30 minutes for 3 miles.

Nutrition:
I weighed 179.8 this morning.

Thu 11/27 - Upper

Workout: LA Fitness
(DL)275x3,325x2,345x2,265x2,275x10
(75#Inc)10,9,60x10
(90#DBRow)10,12,10
(70#IsoShldr)11,9,8
(175#PullDn)3x10
(CaptChair)20,15,15
(100#RDeltFly)2x10
(73#PushDn)11,10

Just catching up on logs and this WO was about a week ago so I don't remember a whole lot about it other than that it was my 2nd day in a row of doing anupper WO because Sarah and I were working out together.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.8 this morning.

Wed 11/26 - Upper

Workout: LA Fitness
(85#Inc)7,6,60x10,10
(160#SeatRow)10,10,8,130x10,10
(100#Crunch)4x11
(165#Decline)11,10,9
(180#PullDn)3x10
(25#Pallof)3x30sec
(35#SealRow)3x12
(73#RopeExt)10,10,9

77 + 10 w/u = 87 mins

Sarah and I worked out together this morning.  I should've never tried to go heavy on incline this morning after a hard push WO yesterday. I did 2 heavy sets and then dropped for 2 back-off sets. I bumped up the weight on seated rows by 15#'s. It was heavy but good work for 3 sets, then did 2 back-off sets. Supersetted with 4 sets of cable crunches. Decline was really good. Bumped the weight and got more reps than I thought and I pushed these hard.

I bumped up pulldowns and they were good. We supersetted pulldowns with Pallof holds. We did them on our knees today for less hip/leg involvement and held them rather than doing "reps".  Finished off the WO with seal rows and rope extensions. Very good WO despite the blunder about trying to do heavy incline.

Nutrition:
I weighed 173.4 this morning. Great 2-day cut before Thanksgiving. Dropped over 10 pounds in 2 days. Based on a caloric deficit for those 2 days of around 3,500, I dropped about 1 pound of FAT. The rest was water. Feeling good and felt lean after the 2 days though.

Tue 11/25 - Push Day (work gym)

Workout: Work Gym
(75#Inc)12,11,10 (33/32)
(50#DBShldr)10,9,9,9 (37/40)
(65#Inc)9,8
(75#OHTri)12,10,10 (32/30)
(10#Crunch)20,15,15
(48#Rope)15,13,12
(20#LDelt)3x12
(50#RDeltFly)2x10

54 + 8 w/u = 62 mins

Went over to the gym at work today. Incline was good. I matched my rep PR with this weight. That's good, but I'd like to be beating it. I didn't go super heavy on DB shoulder press, but this was great. Was planning on 3 sets, but was rolling along so I did a 4th set. R shoulder a bit wonky. Raised angle on incline and toward the end of the 1st set my R shoulder started hurting fairly bad. I was going to drop the weight or skip the 2nd set, but went ahead with it and same deal. R shoulder pain. Starting to pick up those nagging injuries (shoulder, elbow, wrists) after pushing hard for a lot of weeks straight w/o a break.

Overhead tri extensions were really good. Supersetted with crunches.  Finished up with rope extensions, lateral delt work and some rear delt work. Rear delt work is  really important even though this was a push day as it helps w/ shoulder stability and hopefully keeps muscle imbalances away.  Good WO. Pleased. Going to have to be really cautious over the next 5-6 days. I'll be off work and my tendency will be to use that time to hammer it in the gym every day. That would be stupid.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.6 this morning. Down over 7 pounds from Sunday. Mostly water, but had to reign things in before Thanksgiving so doing a quick couple day cut.

Sun 11/23 - Upper

Workout: LA Fitness
(70#Inc)3x10
(30#IncFly)2x10
(175#PullDn)3x10
(30#Pallof)3x10/10
(155#Decline)13,10,12
(130#SeatRow)3x10
(CaptChair)3x15
(65#RopeExt)11,10,10
(30#SealRow)3x13,45x8

75 + 8 w/u = 83 mins

Sarah and I worked out together this morning. She can't do any lower body yet, so we did an upper WO even though I did push yesterday. I did some incline but didn't go heavy. It felt really good to get some extra chest volume in actually. I did 2 sets of fly's as well.  I did pulldowns with a fairly close grip (shoulder width) and that felt good. We supersetted pulldowns with Pallof presses.'

Decline was really good today. No shoulder pain and good reps. Seated rows were good. Then we supersetted rope extensions with leg raises in the captain's chair. Finishedthe WO with some seal rows. Really love the way these feel. I did 3 sets and then 1 "heavy" set. Heavy set was hard because you can't really cheat on these like you canwith most rowing movements.

Nutrition:
I weighed 184.0 this morning. Ate a ton yesterday for lunch, during gingerbread house making and for dinner. Feeling a little chunky. :)

Sat 11/23 - Push Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(85#Inc)9,7,80x7,7,7
(45#DBShldr)10,9,9,9
(60#Inc)11,10,10,10,8
(80#OHTri)8,70x9,8,8,7
(40#IncFly)7,30x10,10
(65#PushDn)12,10,10,10
(20#LDelt)3x10
(100#RDeltFly)12,10,10

72 + 12 w/u = 84 mins

My R shoulder has been giving me problems, so I started using a bit of a different technique on incline, keeping elbows tucked in tight and DB's at around a 45 degree angle instead of perpendicular to the body. It feels better on my shoulder, but I'm not grooved into the movement yet so after the 2nd set of heavy incline, I dropped the weight by 5#'s and did 3 mroe fairly good sets. I didn't go heavy on shoulder press because of the shoulder, but still some decent work and volume.  Since I didn't get as many real heavy sets of incline as I'd like, I did 5 sets of steep angle incline with 5#'s less than I'd normally do. Used same (new) technique. Felt great. I think I need this kind of volume on chest. It takes a lot of time though.

I did a 1st set of incline fly's with my normal weight and it was way too heavy. Dropped weight and did 2 more good sets. Finished up with a triple set of pushdowns, lateral delt raises and rear delt fly's. I wasn't thrilled with the WO, but like the new incline technique and will reset weights and try to work back up.

In general, I'm feeling beat up. R shoulder is bad, elbows are starting to bark at me. Even my hands and wrists are "achy". I've been pushing real hard for about 9 weeks and probably need a deload.

Nutrition: 
I weighed 180.2 this morning.

Fri 11/21 - Pull Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(145#SeatRow)4x10,115x12
(100#Crunch)4x11
(190#RevGripPull)4x10
(30#Pallof)3x10
(90#DBRow)3x10
(50#FacePull)3x10
(35#IncCurl)9+9,30x9+9,9+9
(25#SealRow)3x10
(80#UprightRow)4x10
(InvertRow)11,10,9

92 mins + 5 w/u = 97 mins

Sarah and I hit the gym for another early morning WO. Pull day for me, Upper for her (meaning she did pull w/ me plus some pressing). Started with seated rows and bumped up the weigth. 4 good heavy sets and one back-off set. Supersetted with 4 sets of cable crunches.  Next we supersetted reverse grip pulldowns with paloff presses. Pulldowns were really good. Pallof presses were really hard after 4 heavy sets of crunches.  Next I did DB rows while Sarah did shoulder press. That was the meat of the WO done in about an hour.

After the meat of the WO, we did face pulls supersetted with incline curls + pinwheel curls. Curls felt really heavy after all the rowing. Then we tried a new movement I've heard called Seal Rows. You lie face forward on an incline bench with arms hanging toward the floor. You grab DB's and do rows, squeezing and retracting the shoulder blades back.  Really liked these. Great upper back activation. Sarah went to shower and I finished up with 4 sets of upright rows and 3 sets of inverted rows. Inverted rows were really difficult after hammering my back all WO.  Good WO. Not quite used to working out in the morning yet, but it feels great to have it done and the rest of the day ahead of me.

Nutrition:
I weighed 178.4 again this morning. Macro breakdown has been about P/C/F 215/500/30 = 3,130 cals (body weight X 17-18cals/day). Not getting enough fat, so I'll TRY to start adding fat and cutting down on carbs. 30 grams of fat for long periods just isn't enough. It's going to be tough adding in fat, mainly with eating more almonds and some peanut butter in my oatmeal, at the expense of a couple bowls of cereal.

Here is what's been a typical nutrition day for the last 8 weeks. This was a WO day. Rest days are slightly less carbs and around 2,900-3,000 cals.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	228	531	32	3,332
	Calories	913	2125	289	3,327
	Percent	27%	64%	9%	`

Wed 11/19 - Upper (w/ Sarah)

Workout: LA Fitness
(85#Inc)9,8,7,7 (31/32)
(175#PullDn)3x10
(30#Pallof)3x10/10
(60#DBShldr)8,6,45x10
(InvertRow)3x12
(135#ChestPress)11,11,8
(65#RopeExt)4x11
(15#DecCrunch)20,18,18
(20#IncCableFly)10,10,15x10
(100#RDeltFly)13,10,9

76 + 12 w/u = 88 mins

Sarah and I got up at 4am to get to the gym at 5am for a WO. Not a lot of sleep, but loved working out w/ Sarah this morning. I lost a rep on incline this morning. Not thrilled about that, but I'm guessing body just isn't used to waking up and hitting heavy weights. Still good pressing, but even warmup sets felt heavy. Heavy WO last night probably contributed as well.  Pulldowns were good. I did them with a fairly narrow grip and got good activation. We supersetted pulldowns with Pallof presses.

DB shoulder press didn't go great. First set was good, but 2nd set I stopped after 6. Thought I'd get 7 but my R shoulder just kind of caved and I didn't want to do any more heavy pressing. Dropped to 45#DB's and did a good set of 10. Inverted rows were good. Hadn't done these in a while. we wanted to do decline, but the bench was out of commission. I wanted some more chest volume though, so we did machine chest press. I bumped the weight here from last time I did it and it felt good.

Next we supersetted rope extensions with decline crunches. No one was in one of the cable stations and there was a portable bench nearby, so I set it up for incline cable fly's. Been wanting to try these. Didn't think a whole lot of them. I can see where there might be better pec activation compared to DB's, but it's difficult to get the station free and the setup takes a bit of time. Not sold on them for the effort involved. Sarah went to shower and I did some rear delt fly's to finish the
WO.

Decent WO. Not great, but they can't all be fantastic. What made it great was working out w/ my partner again.

Nutrition:
I weighed 178.4 this morning.

Tue 11/18 - Pull (Massive Deadlift PR!)

Workout: LA Fitness
(DeadLift)225x5,275x3,325x2,345x3,365x2,2,2,2,2,275x10 - Awesome work with these heavy doubles!
(130#SeatRow)3x10
(30#Pallof)3x10
(175#RevPullDn)3x10,145X10
(Dips)2x15

47 mins + 7 w/u = 54 mins

I hadn't done deadlifts in a while and being away last weekend messed up my schedule and I didn't get to do them so I did them today. I warmed up with some mobility work then started with 135x10 and worked up from there to what I thought would be working sets at 345#'s. I did a triple there and it felt easy so I added weight and did 5 doubles at 365#'s. I don't think I've ever pulled 365#'s for a single, let alone a bunch of doubles. Then I did a backoff set at 275#"s for 10 reps. The 275 was brutal for high reps after the doubles. Awesome work. I'm starting to learn that I don't need a ton of frequency in deadlifting to progress. Very different than chest where I need a ton of volume to grow and make progress.

Next I did seated rows (a bit lighter than last WO since it was after DL's) supersetted with Pallof Presses. The rows felt good after DL's. Then I did reverse grip pulldowns supersetted with a couple sets of dips. Surprisingly the dips weren't very easy so it was probably a good thing I didn't do a push WO today because I don't think my body was ready for one.  My back was on fire and pumped at the end of this WO. I didn't really intend for it to be a pull WO, but that's where it ended up and it was great! Sarah and I are planning on going to the gym tomorrow morning at 5am, so I'm planning on eating a lot tonight because I won't have time for a big meal before the WO tomorrow.

Nutrition:
I weighed 177.6 this morning. Planning on continuing bulk through Thanksgiving and then think I'll run a cycle of RFL to shed a couple of the pounds I've put on and go right back to bulk calories.

Sun 11/16 - Upper

Workout: LA Fitness
(85#Inc)9,8,8,7 (32/32)+65x10
(140#SeatRow)4x10
(60#DBShldr)7,6,6,45x11,10
(175#VbarPull)3x10,145x12
(40#IncFly)2x10
(115#RDeltFly)10,10,100x10
(Dips)13,12
(RopeExt)65x9,58x12,12
(15#DecCrunch)20,15,15
(20#LDelt)3x10
(40#DBCurl)9,8
(10#RDelt)2x10

76 + 12 w/u = 88 mins

Not a lot of sleep the last couple of days so I wasn't sure how much energy I'd have this morning for this WO. I decided to superset opposing movements for the first 4 big ones.  Incline went well. Same reps as last WO. Supersetted with seated rows which I bumped the weight on and they felt good. Supersetting these increased the rest a bit between sets of incline, but I was doing heavy rows during that time so I don't know how much that helped. After 4 heavy incline sets, I increased the angel and did one backoff set that felt great! Real controlled.

Next I supersetted shoulder press with v-bar pulldowns. I lost reps on shoulder press, but I think that was at least in part due to the steep incline set where I worked hard because that hits the shoulders a lot more than flatter incline. 3 heavy shoulder sets and 2 backoff sets that were great. I went a little lighter on pulldowns because I wanted to focus on my back doing the work and squeezing hard. They were still hard and I did one backoff set. Pleased with both of these. Next I did 2 sets of incline fly's that were good.

I supersetted rear delt fly's with dips. Last WO I did sets of dips at 20,15,15. Today I did 2 sets of 13,12. Triceps already worked from a lot of pressing. I had to work real hard on both sets of dips. Great tri work. I finished the WO with some core, tri, bi and delt work.  Really good WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 178.2 this morning.

Fri 11/14 - Pull Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(135#SeatRow)4x10,105x12
(100#CableCrunch)4x10
(205#VBarPull)3x8,145x10,10
(DBCurl)40x8,8,30x12,10
(RDeltFly)115x10,100x10,10
(Dips)20,15,15

42 mins + 8 w/u = 50 mins

Up long before the sun for an early morning WO before travelling to Richmond this weekend later today. Not a lot of time because a ton of work to get done before leaving, so WO was short but intense.  Seated rows were really good. Felt it in my back. Did 1 drop set and paused at contraction. Supersetted cable crunches with these.  4 sets heavy v-bar pulldowns with two backoff sets, again sqeezing/pausing at contraction. Supersetted standing DB curls. 2 heavy sets, 2 lighter sets.  Finished with rear delt fly's and dips for some extra triceps work. Tri's are getting stronger with the extra volume here and there added in. Dips felt great!  Fantastic WO. When my WO's need to be shorter, I focus better on the main movements and don't worry, nor spend as much time, on accessories. I think I hit the main movements harder this way because I don't have to "save" anything for later in the WO. Good lesson.

Reminds me of Coach Labazzetta.  One practice he says "This one's going to be SBS.  Owens, do you know what that means?".  I reply, confused, "Super BullShit?".  Coach replies, flabbergasted, "No, OWENS! It's Short But Sweet.".  :)

Nutrition:
I weighed 177.2 this morning.

Thu 11/13 - Push Day (work gym)

Workout: Work Gym
(75#Inc)13,11,9 (34)
(60#DBShldr)9,9,8,8 (34)
(Crunch)15,12,12
(65#Inc)10,9
(75#OHTri)10,9,9
(25#LDelt)3x8
(40#IncFly)10,9
(48#Rope)2x12

41 + 6 w/u = 47 mins

Today was going to be a Lower day, but that didn't work out so I switched it to a Push day.  R shoulder pain while warming up. Did some extra work with the band between warmup sets. Incline was great. Pushed every set hard and this was a rep PR with 75#DB's. Sets started every 3 minutes (so about 2 mins rest). Shoulder press was great too. This was by far the most reps with 60#DB's when done after incline. Very pleased. Supersetted crunches with these. Still stuck at 19 reps for steep incline. Since it's not a main movement, I'm not concerned about the lack of progression, but come on! I've been stuck at 18/19 reps for weeks.

I knew I'd pushed the first 3 pressing movements hard, but I realized how hard when I started overhead tri extensions. Barely got 10 on the first set and struggled to get 9's on the last two. Tri's were fried. I supersetted lateral raises with these. Finished up with some incline fly's and rope pushdowns. Fairly condensed WO in just over 45 minutes. Great work.

Nutrition: 
I weighed 177.4 this morning.

Tue 11/11 - Pull Day (work gym)

Workout: Work Gym
(188#VbarPull)9,8,8,8
(185#SmUHBOR)3x8
(30#PallofPress)3x10
(75#DBRow)16,16,13
(35#IncCurl)10,9,30x10+10
(150#PullDn)3x8
(50#RDeltFly)3x10
(73#PushDn)12,11
52 mins + 8 w/u = 60 mins

Rough day today. Wanted to skip the WO but knew it would help me mentally. It did a little. Brian was using the smith machine, so I started on v-bar pulldowns and bumped up the weight. Felt really good doing these fairly heavy while fresh. BOR was ok, but they still really bother my left glute, so I only did 3 sets. Supersetted Pallof press with them.

DB rows were good. Lots of reps and hit a wall on the 3rd set. Supersetted with incline curls and these got heavy combined with high-rep rows. Had to drop the weight the 3rd set and added pinwheels on last set.  Had 3 fairly good sets of pulldowns supersetted with rear delt fly's. Did a little triceps work to finish off the WO.  Some good work, but kind of felt like I was in a daze and much of it was a blur.

Nutrition:
I weighed 177.8 this morning.

Mon 11/10 - Push Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(85#Inc)9,8,8,7 (32/32) Hit goal!
(60#DBShlder)8,7,7,6,45x10,9 (28/32)
(10#DecCrunch)25,20,20
(65#Inc)9
(80#OHTriExt)10,8,7,65x8 (25/30)
(40#IncFly)10,9,8 (27/30)
(130#ChestPress)3x10
(25#LDelt)3x9
(50#Rope)3x11
(10#LDelt)2x10

69 + 11 w/u = 80 mins

Met rep goals of 32 on incline today which was 1 more than last WO. Very pleased I continue to make progress like this. Slow but steady. It's funny, it's a lot of hard freaking work to be happy with 1 extra rep over a 1-2 week period. Will stick with 85#DB's for a while before bumping up even though I hit rep goal. Shoulder press was good, but definitely a lot less reps than last WO when I did it first. After 4 heavy sets, I dropped the weight and did two more sets. Very good shoulder work. I supersetted decline crunches with these. I was going to skip steep incline, but decided to do 1 set, and glad all I committed to was 1 set. After incline and a lot of shoulder press volume, one set felt heavy and was enough.

Overhead triceps extensions were OK. Dropped weight for a 4th set. I supersetted these with incline fly's which felt heavy.  Then I hit the chest press machine for 3 sets for some more chest volume. Felt very good.  Finished up with heavy and light delt work and some really good rope pushdowns.  Very pleased with the WO and effort I put forth.

Nutrition: 
I weighed 178.4 this morning. Not bad after the weekend.

Sat 11/8 - Pull Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(UhBOR)135x10,185x7,7
(135#SeatRow)3x10,105x12
(205#VbarPull)4x9,150x10
(30#PallofPress)4x10
(80#BBCurl)10,9,7
(80#UprightRow)3x10
(50#FacePull)2x10
(65#RopeExt)4x10
(10#RDelt)2x10
(115#ChestPress)2x15
65 mins + 5 w/u = 63 mins

Pull day this morning. BOR was OK. This still really bothers my L glute so I just did 2 heavy sets and then moved to the seated row machine I've been liking so much. I bumped the weight on those again for 3 good sets and did 1 back-off set.  4 heavy v-bar pulldown sets were good, plus one back-off set. I supersetted pallof presses here for 4 sets also.

I supersetted barbell curls and upright rows. curls seemed really heavy but I think that's from the heavy pulldowns. Finished up with some delt and extra triceps work. I wanted to do a set or two of incline to get some blood moving through my chest and get a good stretch, but all the inclines were taken. So I found a chest press machine and ended up loving it. It was a really good ROM and I was able to really keep my elbows tucked and do some decent pressing with NO shoulder pain. Could be on to something here. I'll try it again on chest/push day.

Nutrition:
I weighed 178.2 this morning. Weight is now going up. Gotta keep it under control.

Fri 11/7 - Push Day (work gym)

Workout: Work Gym
(60#DBShldr)10,9,9,8 (36/32 - smashed goal)
(10#T-twist)4x16
(75#Inc)10,10,8 (28/30)
(65#Inc)10,9 (19/20 - yet again)
(75#OHTri)12,10,9,9
(25#LDelt)3x8
(40#IncFly)10,9,9
(25#Crunch)3x10/10
(73#PushDn)11,9,53x10

65 + 10 w/u = 75 mins

Decided to start with shoulder press today and see how 60#DB's went when fresh. It went awesome! Last WO I got 29 reps from 4 sets out of a goal of 32 reps. Today I got 36 reps! Have to factor in the last WO I'd already done incline, but I was still surprised by this. I supersetted these with torture twists.

I did incline next and had a goal of 30 reps. I wanted to do 1-2 warmup sets here so I grabbed 55#DB's and my R shoulder felt really unstable and painful. I stopped right away and did some more mobility work (dislocates) with the strap and some light stretching. I did two warmup sets and my shoulder felt better, but not "normal". Anyway, incline went well. Pushed hard.  Increased the angle of incline and got my standard 19 reps w/ 65#DB's. I can't get over that damn hump!

Overhead triceps extenstions were feeling good, so I did a 4th set. I supersetted these with lateral delt raises. Next were incline fly's. I wasn't sure how my shoulder would handle these, so I promised myself if I felt a lot of pain, I'd stop. They felt OK, a little tingle in my R shoulder, so I did 3 good sets. I supersetted these with weighted crunches. Finished off the WO with two sets of tri pushdowns and a drop set of pushdowns with the rope.  Really good WO for being at the work gym. It worked out well to do heavy shoulder press first at this gym since DB's only go to 75#'s, which is heavy enough for incline as the 2nd movement.

Nutrition: 
I weighed 178.2 this morning. Weight is coming up now :)  Have to be careful here to not let it start ballooning fast.

Wed 11/5 - Lower (killed deadlifts today!)

Workout: LA Fitness
(Deadlift)225x3,275x3,325x3,345x2,2,2,2,2,2,275x10
(LegPress)8Plx10,10Plx10,10,10
(Dips)3x15

34 mins + 8 w/u = 42 mins

Was really itching to deadlift after last weeks' session. I didn't have much time for a WO, so just did 3 exercises. But what a great WO. Deadlifts were great. I worked up to 325 (last WO's working weight) and it felt fairly easy, so I added twenty pounds and did doubles for 6 sets on fairly short rest (60-90 seconds). In the past I occasionally drop to 225#'s for a high rep set at the end. Today I only dropped to 275#'s and thought I'd do about 5. They felt so good I just kept going and got 10! Brutal after heavy doubles. Possibly my best DL session ever!

Then I supersetted leg press (heavy for me with 10 plates) and dips. Only 3 movements, but lots of good work and the dips worked most of my upper body (tri's, shoulders, chest). This really was a full body WO. Loved it. In and out in about 40 minutes w/ warmup.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.8 this morning. Going to eat a lot tonight I think :)

Tue 11/4 - Upper

Workout: LA Fitness
(85#Inc)9,8,7,7 (31/32)
(65#Inc)10,9.99 (19/20)
(130#SeatRow)4x10
(10#Crunch)12/12,10/10,10/10
(60#DBShldr)9,7,7,6 (29/32)
(165#PullDn)3x10
(RopeExt)73x10,65x10,10
(115#RDeltFly)10,9,100x10

58 + 11 w/u = 69 mins

Not a ton of time today so stuck mainly to basic compounds today. I was feeling really down, frustrated, etc., and was going to bag this workout. I'm glad I didn't because I really needed a diversion.  Incline was very good. Same reps as last WO (31 out of 32 goal). Last WO was 8,8,8,7. Today I pushed harder on the first set for 9 and then dropped a rep on 3rd set. Increased angle of incline and ALMOST had the 10th rep on 2nd set. I've been stuck at 18 or 19 for a while on these. Today I had the left one locked out and the right one was about an inch away but I just couldn't get it. SOO close.

Bumped up weight on seated rows and they felt great so I did a 4th set. Supersetted with crunches.  Dumbbell shoulder press was good and I got 1 more rep than last WO. Very good. Shoulders are showing the work here a little I think.  Supersteed with pulldowns where I bumped the weight by 5#'s. Finished up with some triceps and rear delt work.  Not a lot of fluff today, just a lot of hard heavy work. It did the job of helping pull my head out of my rear end.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.6 this morning. I seem to keep coming back to this weight. Need to eat more.

Sun 11/2 - Upper (w/ Sarah)

Workout: LA Fitness
(85#Inc)8,8,7,65x10,9
(125#SeatRow)3x10
(60#DBShldr)8,7,7,6
(160#PullDn)3x10
(165#Decline)9,8
(30#PallofPress)3x10
(RopeExt)73x8,65x10,58x12
(35#IncCurl)11+11,10+10
(LyingLegRaise)2x20

78 + 10 w/u = 88 mins

Got to work out with Sarah this morning which I always look forward to and enjoy. This would be my 3rd upper WO this week and I wasn't sure how my recovery was because I'd gone heavy and pushed the other WO's quite hard. Incline was good with 3 heavy sets and 2 back-off.  I bumped the weight on seated rows. They were heavy, but good. Today I stuck with 60#DB's for shoulder press. I got good reps with these, especially for having already done 5 good pushing sets on incline.  We supersetted shoulders with pulldowns, so the extra rest helped I'm sure.

Good reps for 2 sets on decline. Then finished up with core, tri and biceps work.  Great WO to end a very good week of workouts and some good progress made.

Nutrition:
I weighed 179.6 this morning. Bloated from a lot of late night eating, but had to get more calories in because weight was dropping through the week slightly. Want it headed slowly upward. Today Sarah and I made salmon and veggies for lunch and then a great dinner of Chilean Sea Bass we found on sale and roast veggies. Felt great to have 2 great meals and get a bunch of carbs from something other than cereal :)

Sat 11/1 - Lower (Deadlift again, finally)

Workout: LA Fitness
(Deadlift)225x3,275x3,325x3,1,1,1,1,2,2,2 - Very nice after long layoff
(LegPress)6Plx15,8Plx12,10Plx10,10
(LegRaise)4x15
(55#LegExt)12,12,15
43 mins + 10 w/u = 53 mins

I haven't been able to deadlift for several weeks due to my left glute issue, but really wanted a decent lower WO today. Specifically, I wanted to deadlift because I'd been making great progress prior to the injury. I warmed up with 135#'s, 225#'s and 275#'s and then did working sets at 325#'s. The 3rd rep on first working set was tough and bothered my glute so I just decided to do singles after that. Singles felt great and I they felt easier as I did them. I began reducing rest time between reps/sets from 2 mins to 90 seconds to under a minute. Continued to feel great so I started doing doubles with static holds after the 2nd rep. Not necessarily the 2-3 sets of 3-5 I was hoping for, but I got the volume in, and then some. Awesome work. Very pleased after a month or more layoff from deadlifting. I can definitely feel pain in my glute right now and it's difficult to sit comfortably, so I'm not over this injury.

Leg press felt really good and 10 plates didn't feel overwhelmingly heavy. I supersetted leg raises in the capt. chair with these. Finished up with some leg extensions.  Only a couple movements, but with the volume and weight on deadlift and leg press, it was a great WO. I fought the temptation to add some chest/shoulder/tri work because I want to hit another upper body WO tomorrow to make it 3 times this week.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.2 this morning. I've been eating 3,200-3,400 calories a day and weight has dropped slightly. Not what I'm trying to do. Weight needs to be increasing right now so I guess I'll have to eat more. I think adding some fat (almonds, peanut butter) will do the trick. I'm eating plenty of carbs and protein for sure.

Fri 10/31 - Push Day

Workout: LA Fitness (Rep/Goal)
(85#Inc)8,8,8,7 (31/32) - Very good
(55#DBShldr)8,8,8,8 (32/32) - PR
(10#DeclineCrunch)4x15
(65#Inc)10,9 (19/20)
(40#IncFly)10,10,9 (29/30)
(80#OHTri)12,8,8,65x10,10 (28/30)
(25#LDelt)3x8,10#x12,12
(50#Rope)2x12
66 + 10 w/u = 76 mins

Progression on almost every main lift today! Heavy incline again today with goal of beating 30 reps from last WO and got 31. Very nice. First set of DB shoulder press felt heavy with not a lot of rest after heavy incline. I thought reps would drop quickly and dramatically but I got 8 reps across sets. Awesome. I asked for a spot on the last set hoping to get 7, but didn't want to get stuck because that's really hard on my R shoulder. Blew through 7 and grinded out the 8th rep on last set. Met rep goal of 32 here.  Supersetted decline crunches with these.

I increased the angle of the incline and got 19 reps out of the goal of 20. Right into incline fly's which were really good. I skipped decline today to give my R shoulder a little break. But since I skipped decline, I hammered overhead triceps extensions. Really good. Pushed a little too hard (to failure) on the 1st set and paid for it, but still great work. Finished up with lateral delts (heavy and light) and some tricep rope pushdowns. Excellent WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.6 yet again this morning.

Thu 10/30 - Pull Day

Workout: Work Gym
(205#SmUhBOR)4x8,135x20
(175#VbarPull)4x8
(60#PallofPress)3x10/10
(75#DBRow)2x14
(35#IncCurl)2x10+10
(150#PullDn)2x8
(50#RDelt)12,10,9
(73#PushDn)10,9,8

56 mins + 7 w/u = 63 mins

Hit the work gym today so BOR's were in Smith Machine. Went heavy and they felt good. Back-off set of 20 was brutal. Bumped up the weight on vbar pulldowns and they were good. Supersetted w/ pallof presses.  Next I supersetted DB rows for AMRAP with incline curls + pinwheel curls.  My back must've been fried because I barely got 8 reps on two sets of pulldowns. Finished up with rear delt and some tri work.  Very nice workout after an unplanned day off yesterday. I was happy to get back in the gym.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.6 again this morning.

Tue 10/28 - Push Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(85#Inc)8,8,7,7 (30/32)
(55#DBShldr)8,8,8,6 (30/32)
(LyingLegRaise)4x20
(65#Inc)10,8 (18/20)
(155#Decline)10,10,9
(40#IncFly)3x8
(OHTri)80x9,8,7 (24/30)
(25#LDelt)3x10
(65#PushDn)3x10
71 + 10 w/u = 81 mins

Decided to bump back up to 85#DB's today and had a goal of 30 reps. Hit it! Felt great. I'll probably switch between 80's and 85's going forward for a while. Shoulder press was good. Thought I'd get more than 8 reps on first set and thought I'd drop reps from there but was able to hold on until the 4th set. Supersetted lying leg raises with these.  Then I increased the angle of the incline and did 2 sets.

Decline was great today. One shy of goal reps (29/30). My R shoulder was feeling a little wonky and "burning", so I decided to go ahead with incline fly's, but didn't push for 10 reps/set. Still plenty hard today actually.  Overhead tri extensions were good. After the 2nd set I put the 80# DB back on the rack and grabbed a 75#DB. Then I felt like I was taking the easy way out, so I went back and grabbed the 80#er again and did my last set w/ it. Good heavy tri work here (and with decline).  Finished up with some delt and more tri work.  Awesome WO. Getting quickly back to the numbers I was hitting at the end of my last "bulk", and I'm hitting them after really only eating in a surplus for a couple week. Very pleased with progress on incline, and especially with my shoulders.

Nutrition:
I weighed 177.0 this morning.

Sun 10/26 - Upper

Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)11,10,7,8,65x8 (36/35) Great!
(115#SeatRow)3x12
(10#Crunch)3x10/10
(DBShldr)60x8,55x6,45x9,9 - First time w/ 60#DB's.
(160#PullDn)3x8
(40#IncFly)2x10
(RopeExt)73x8,65x9,9
(50#FacePull)3x10
(50#Rope)12,10
54 + 11 w/u = 65 mins

This was my 6th workout of the week and they've all been hard/heavy WO's, so I wasn't sure what to expect this morning. On incline, I was thinking about just doing 4x8 and get some decent pressing. Warmups felt good and first set I just decided to push for as many reps as possible and got 11 and felt good. 2nd set I got 10 but had to grind a bit for last rep. 3rd set I should've taken a tad more rest and dropped to 7 reps. Still on pace to match my best reps and then got 8 on the last set. Awesome, and beat rep goal from last WO. Added a back-off set w/ 65#'s that got real heavy, real fast.

I used the chest supported seated row machine again. It's great and I can really feel the contraction in my back. Supersetted with crunches. Since incline was so good, I bumped the weight up on DB shoulder press to 60#'s for the first time. First set was good, but knew I needed to drop for the 2nd set. Dropped weight and still lost reps. Dropped again and got 2 more real good sets.  Pulldowns felt heavy for this light a weight (160#s) and I guess it's just because I haven't been focusing on this movement at all.

Incline fly's were good. Finished off the WO w/ some triceps and delt work.  Great WO! Getting stronger for sure.

Nutrition:
I weighed 178.8 this morning.

Sat 10/25 - Full Body

Workout: LA Fitness
(135#Squat)1x10
(8PlLegPress)4x12
(Dips)3x15 - Felt great!
(35#PallofPress)3x10/10
(Inc)65x10,60x10
(40#DBShldrPress)2x12
(55#LegExt)3x10
(Crunch)12,12,10
(30#IncCurl)2x10+10
(58#Rope)2x12
56 mins + 12 w/u = 68 mins

I wanted to do a lower body day today, but my L glute is still bad so I did what lower I could and added in some other things to make it a full body. The leg press machines were taken so I decided to do barbell squats. These felt terrible warming up and I did one "working" set and thank God a leg press machine opened up. I did 4 good sets on leg press and supersetted with 3 sets of dips. I hadn't done dips in probably a year. They felt great. Tells me that my shoulder problems have gotten better. I may want to try some light barbell pressing sometime soon.

I bumped the weight up on paloff presses and they were HARD, but felt great. Then I did 2 sets of fairly light incline and shoulder presses. I did some leg extensions supersetted with crunches. Crunches were not weighted, but they were tough after heavy paloff presses earlier. Finished up with some bi/tri work.  Felt great after this WO. Not spent, but got some good work in.  Hiking at Great Falls Park with the kids in the afternoon, then evening with Sarah. Great day!

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.6 this morning. Huge Mongolian BBQ dinner with the kids.

Fri 10/24 - Pull Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(185#UhBOR)3x7,135x16
(205#VbarPull)3x9,160x12
(25#Crunch)15,7/7,6/6
(SeatRow)115x10,100x12,12
(150#PullDn)3x8
(80#BBCurl)10,8,8
(80#UprightRow)3x8
(95#DBRow)2x12
(115#RDeltFly)11,9,9
(43#FacePull)2x10
63 mins + 7 w/u = 70 mins

BOR was good. 3 heavy sets and one back-off set. Got more reps on heavy sets than last WO. V-bar pulldowns were good. Same reps as last WO. Supersetted crunches w/ a 25#DB on my chest. I did the chest supported seated row machine again and supersetted them with pulldowns. Rows were good, pulldowns were heavy as heck combo'd with rows.

Curls were supersetted with upright rows. Both felt heavy but good. DB rows were good and I got 12 reps. Thought they'd feel heavier this late in the WO. Finished up with rear delt fly's and face pulls. Awesome pull WO. Very pleased. Wish I were progressing and growing w/ push as well as pull.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.4 this morning.

Thu 10/23 - Push Day (work gym)

Workout: Work Gym
(75#Inc)12,11,10 (33/35)
(55#DBShldr)9,7,8,6,6  - solid work here
(10#T-twist)3x16
(65#Inc)10,9 (19/20)
(40#IncFly)10,10
(75#OHTri)12,10,8 (30/30)
(25#LDelt)3x9
(73#PushDn)9,9,8
57 + 10 w/u = 67 mins

Incline was good. Beat reps by 1 from last WO w/ this weight. The goal here is really just as many reps as I can and try to beat the previous WO. The DB's at the work gym only go up to 75#'s so I can't increase the load here.  DB shoulder press was good. After the 2nd set I was going to drop to 45#'s and do 3 more sets, but I stuck with the 55#DB's and glad I did. Good shoulder work. I supersetted the last 3 sets of these with weighted torture twists.

Next I increased the incline and did 2 sets. Good pressing. Incline fly's were good. Was going to do a 3rd set, but R beck was tweaked a bit so I stopped there. I met rep goal on OH tri of 30 and did "heavy" lateral delt raises. Finished up with a couple sets of heavy pushdowns. Very solid WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.0 this morning.

Tue 10/21 - Pull Day (work gym)

Workout: Work Gym
(185#SmUhBOR)4x8,135x20
(163#VbarPull)4x10
(60#PallofPress)3x10/10
(75#DBRow)3x12
(70#BBCurl)3x10
(150#PullDn)3x8
(25#Crunch)3x15
(50#RDeltFly)12,10,10
(73#PushDn)10,8,63x10
60 mins + 5 w/u = 65 mins

Had doc appointment about my knees today. They took x-rays and will hear something by Friday. Have an appointment with the PT on Thursday and a referral for an orthopedic.  So, onto the WO. I didn't go as heavy on BOR's today because I wanted to keep form a little stricter. I feel there's a time for heavy w/ a little body English, and a time for strict form. Very good rowing. V-bar pulldowns were good. I got more reps than last WO. I superstted these pulldowns with Pallof Presses, and I bumped up the weight on Pallof presses today and they were really difficult. I think I re-aggrivated my L glute issue doing these.

Next I supersetted DB row's w/ barbell curls. Then I did pulldowns superstted with crunches with a 25# plate on my chest. Finished up the WO with rear delt fly's and some triceps pushdowns.  This was a pull day, so the pushdowns are obviously out of place, but I wanted to add a little work there because my lock-out is weak on my pressing movements. I think some extra tri work will help with that. Good WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.0 this morning.

Mon 10/20 - Push Day (Inc Rep Goal Met)

Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)10,10,8,7 - Rep goal of 35 met! Took several weeks, but got it!
(55#DBShldr)8,7,45x8,8,8
(LyingLegRaise)30/4x10
(65#Inc)12,7 - Completely died on 2nd set
(155#Decline)9,8
(40#IncFly)9,8,7
(OHTri)80x8,75x8,8
(25#LDelt)3x9
(50#Rope)3x12
72 + 10 w/u = 82 mins

Warmup felt OK, first set of incline felt a bit heavy. Didn't think I'd attempt 10 reps on 2nd set, but felt ok so got it. This is where I hit a major wall last WO. I got 8 reps 3rd set and 7 on last. Pushed every set hard. Hit goal of 35 reps! Woohoo! With rep goal system, this would mean time to add weight. But, since I can't add only 5 pounds to the bar (given these are fixed weight DB's) I'm going to stick with 80#DB's for a while until I can get a few more reps and/or 35 reps is a bit more "comfortable". I'll still keep pushing for as many reps as possible, but I want to hit 35+ reps a couple times before bumping up the weight. My form wasn't the best and I'd like to get some paused work in at this weight. 85# DB's are not THAT much heavier, but they're significantly harder on my shoulders. I'll bump up to that weight now and then, but probably not start a rep-goal protocol there yet.

Next I did DB shoulder press. Didn't get quite as many reps as last WO, but great work with 5 sets. I gave my chest/tri's a break before more pressing with a myo-rep set of lying leg raises. They were great. Next I increased the angle of the incline and did 2 sets. My goal reps here are 20 and I've only been getting 17. First set I got 12 reps! I thought this goal was going to be smashed. Then I shit the bed and died. Only got 7 reps on next set. Progress, but holy cow, that got heavy fast!

Decline was OK. Only 2 sets. I bumped the weight on incline fly's and it was heavy, but good. Finished up with tri and detl work. Great WO! Very pleased with the progress.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.2 again this morning. Didn't eat great yesterday, but lots of walking at Kings Dominion for Halloween Haunt. A great time with Sarah!

Sun 10/19 - Rest/Kings Dominion

Sarah and I went to Kings Dominion for Halloween Haunt. It was a blast! Here are some pics.

Kip Owens & Sarah Gottlieb

Sat 10/18 - Pull Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(UhBOR)135x10,185x6,6,6,135x16
(205#VbarPull)3x9+160x10,11
(10#Crunch)15/15,10/10,10/10
(95#DBRow)3x10 - Weight bump
(100#SeatRow)3x10 - New machine - liked it a lot
(150#PullDn)2x8
(35#IncCurl)10/10,9/9,8/8
(UprightRow)90x8,80x10,10
(FacePull)58x10,50x10,10,43x10
(100#RdeltFly)12,10,9
75 mins + 5 w/u = 80 mins

Left glute still bad, so I gave deadlifts a break. BOR were good and were v-bar pulldowns. Form begins to break on pulldowns with this weight later in sets so I added the 2 sets of ligther work to get a real good squeeze at contraction. I supersetted pulldowns with crunches. No pallof press today because that also puts a lot of stress on my glutes.

I bumped the weight on DB rows again today. These were a lot of work. Used straps today to help hold the DB's. I supersetted chest supported seated rows and pulldowns. The seated rows were on a machine I haven't used before and I really liked it. I'll definitely do these again because they felt good, and it's gives my lower back a breack (unlike BOR's). My back was fried because even these light pulldowns got really heavy, really fast.

I supersetted incline curls + pinwheel curls with upright rows. I bumped the weight up on upright rows, and it bothered my shoulders, so I dropped weight back down.  I finished up with a lot of rear delt/upper back work with 4 sets of face pulls and rear delt fly's. Very good back/pull WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 174.8 this morning.

Fri 10/17 - Push Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)10,10,7,7 (34/35)
(65#Inc)9,8 (17/20)
(100#Crunch)3x10
(55#DBShldr)9,7,45x8,8,8
(165#Decline)8,8,7
(35#IncFly)12,12,10
(OHTri)80x8,75x8,8
(25#LDelt)2x8,20x10,10
(50#Rope)2x13,35#x15,15
80 + 10 w/u = 90 mins

Incline started off very well, but I faded badly. Pushed 2nd set a bit too hard maybe? Had the 8th rep all but locked out on 3rd set. Really wanted to hit goal of 35 reps today. So I matched my reps from last WO and almost had 1 more. I'll keep at it. Increased the angle and did 2 back-off sets. These felt heavy. First 4 sets took more out of me than I thought. Took a break from pressing with cable crunches. Hadn't done these in a while.

Shoulder press was good. 2 heavy sets, then backed off and got 3 more good sets. I bumped the weight on decline and had Max spot me. He helped a touch on last rep of 3rd set, so I'll call it 7.  I added a set of incline fly's from normal. Felt really good. Since I'm getting stuck right before lockout on presses, I think I've got to do some extra tri work. So I did  sets of OH tri's, heavy rope extensions and rope pushdowns. Bumped weight on lateral delts for 2 sets and did 2 lighter sets.  Very good WO. A tad disappointed I didn't get an extra rep on incline. Just something to keep pushing for. I've got to remember not to push too hard on early sets. I pay the price for that in latter sets.

Nutrition:
I weighed 174.2 this morning.

Wed 10/15 - Pull Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(185#UhBOR)4x6+135x15 - Weight bump
(205#VbarPull)9,8,8+160x10,10 - Heavy, good back-off sets
(90#DBRow)3x10 - Weight bump
(30#PallofPress)3x10 - Weight bump
(150#PullDn)3x10
(Crunch)15/15,12/12,10/10
(80#UprightRow)3x10 - Added reps
(65#BBCurl)3x8+45x20 - Wow, heavy!
(RDeltFly)115x12,10,100x10
(SeatRow)73x8,58x10,50x10 - Done
77 mins + 5 w/u = 82 mins

My L glute has still been bothering me, so I didn't deadlift today. I'll see how it feels and maybe try this weekend. I bumped the weight on BOR's and was happy with 4x6. Dropped and did a max rep set really strict form. Good rowing. V-bar pulldowns got heavy real quick. I did 3 heavy sets and 2 back-off sets. I bumped the weight on DB rows and supersetted with Pallof Presses, which I also bumped the weight on. Pallof presses were REALLy hard.

Next I did pulldowns, supersetted with crunches. Abs were absolutely on fire. Doing these after heavy Pallof's were hard, and really good. I did upright rows again today and got more reps than last WO. I supersetted with what I thought was going to be light barbell curls. I thought I'd get sets of at least 10-12. Nope. Only got sets of 8. My bi's were worn out from all the pulling. After 3 sets of curls, I dropped to just the bar and did as many reps as possible (AMRAP), and got 20. Bi's were on fire.  Finished up with rear delt fly's and seated rows. My back was completely done. Had to drop weight on each set of seated rows. Last set I paused on contraction and relt a big pump in my back.

Despite not being able to do DL's, this was an awesome WO! Pushed weight and reps everywhere I could. Hard work. I'm spent.

Nutrition:
I weighed 174.6 this morning. Lighter than I thought I'd be and lighter than I wanted to be. Will try to up the calories today.

Tue 10/14 - Push Day (work gym)

Workout: Work Gym
(75#Inc)12,10,10 Very good
(65#Inc)10,9
(10#T-Twist)20/5x6
(55#DBShldr)10,8,7,45x9 Very good
(35#IncFly)2x12
(73#PushDn)10,10,9
(20#LDelt)2x12
49 + 11 w/u = 60 mins

Push day at the work gym. DB's only go to 75#'s, so did 3 sets AMRAP. Three really good sets. Increased angle and did 2 sets w/ 65#'s. SOO close to getting 10th rep on last set but couldn't lock out my right arm.  Good pressing. Weighted torture twists were great today. I was tempted to use 50#DB's for shoulder press after incline, but stuck w/ 55#'s and glad I did. Got better reps than last WO and did a drop set. Again, VERY close to getting 10th rep but right arm wouldn't lock out again. I know better than to really push this to failure. Risked messing up my R shoulder further pushing this one. Despite the mental lapse here, I was very pleased with shoulder press today, especially after pushing incline really hard.

Incline fly's were good. More reps on both sets than last couple of WO's. Finished up with tri/delt work. Was going to do some more core work, but ran out of time. Very good pressing today. Short, but intense WO. Nice.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.6 this morning. Down 5 pounds from yesterday - shedding all the water from Monday.

Sun 10/12 - Upper

Workout: LA Fitness
(115#OHP)8,7,7,6 (28/30) Very good
(Chinup)13
(195#RevPullDn)10,8,8
(LyingLegRaise)3x20
(75#Inc)10,9,6+65x9
(25#Pallof)4x10/10
(75#OHTri)14,12,11
(InvertRow)15,12,11
(LungeMatrix)2x5
(Stretching)Ham/Quad
80 + 5 w/u = 85 mins

Worked out with Sarah this morning, which has kind of been our "schedule" lately where we work out together on Sundays. I look forward to it eachtime. Started with OHP today and bumped up the weight. I was happy with these reps (28/30 rep/goal). Sarah did 2 sets of pullups. I did 1 set of chins (bothered elbow) and we did 3 sets of pulldowns. I did reverse grip.  We supersetted pulldowns with lying leg raises. Felt great.

Incline felt heavy after starting with OPH, but had great sets for first two and then just died on the 3rd. Dropped wieght, increased the incline angle and did a back-off set.  Next we supersetted paloff presses for 4 sets with Overhead Triceps extensions. Still loving paloff presses. They are almost a full body movement. Got great reps on OHTri's. Finished up with inverted rows, each set to failure. Then we did two circuits of lunge matrix and some stretching/mobility stuff.  very nice WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 177.2 this morning.

Sat 10/11 - Pull Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(Deadlift)225x3,275x3,325x5,225x15
(165#UhBOR)10,10,9,9+135x13 (38/35)
(205#VbarPull)9,9,8,8+145x10 (34/35)
(Crunch)15/15,10/10,10/10
(85#DBRow)3x10
(80#UprightRow)3x8
(150#Pulldn)3x10
(85#BBCurl)8,7
(IncCurl)35x9+9,30x10+10
(50#FacePull)2x10
(RDeltFly)115x10,100x10,9
85 mins + 6 w/u = 91 mins

My L glute has been really bothering me since last heavy DL WO. I was hoping to get 1 top-end set at 345-355, but the real heavy stuff wasn't going to happen because of my glute. I was tempted to give it a go, but glad I didn't. I could've done some real damage I think. So, I did a heavy-ish set of 5, then dropped to 225#'s and repped out 15. Went right to bent over row and got more reps than last WO, and beat rep goal of 35 with 38 reps. Then I dropped weight and did a very strict form set. Felt great. Awesome pulling.

I bumped the weight on v-bar pulldowns and beat reps from last WO. Dropped weight for a 5th controlled set just like w/ BOR. I supersetted crunches here today.  I added 2 exercises. DB rows, which were really good and upright rows.  The upright rows bothered my R shoulder like they always have, but I didn't push too hard here.

I did wide grip pulldowns on the lighter side, but they got heavy real quick. Back done at this point. I supersetted barbell curls with these. Finished up with incline curls + pinwheel curls, facepulls and rear delt flys.  Despite not being able to move up on DL, this was a fantastic WO. Pushed weight and reps as much as possible. Very pleased. Now time to eat :)

Nutrition:
I weighed 175.2 this morning. I had to eat a bunch of calories late at night. I was way too low for the day because I just got busy and didn't have time to eat.

Fri 10/10 - Push Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)10,9,8,7 (34/35)
(65#Inc)9,8 (17/20)
(LyingLegRaise)30/4x9
(55#DBShldr)9,6,50x7 (22/30) - 55#DB's too heavy after incline
(155#Decline)11,9,8 (28/30)
(35#IncFly)2x10
(63#RopeExt)11,9,8 (28/30)
(25#PallofPress)3x10/10
(43#Rope)3x12
(20#LDelt)3x12
70 + 10 w/u = 80 mins

Incline focus today, and I learned my lesson from last WO..don't go to failure on the first set. Great reps. Pushed each set just short of failure and had grinders on the last 2 sets, but kept form. 34 reps, 1 shy of goal of 35. Better than last two WO's where I got 32 and 31, and that's all I want to see is progress. I was going to skip the steep incline, but did them anyway and they felt good. Same reps as last WO. Lying leg raises were very good and I did a lot more reps than last WO. Quickly running into an issue here where these take a LONG time because the number of reps, even when using myo-reps. I may have to try to find a way to weight them. Perhaps a DB between my feet, but I would risk dropping it on my face which wouldn't be pleasant.

I stuck with 55#DB's for shoulder press. That's what I did last WO, but I also did them before incline. Great reps first set, but it was too heavy to maintain, so I dropped weight for the 3rd set. Still struggled there. Will stick with 50#DB's for now when these are after incline. I bumped the weight on decline and got 3 good sets. Incline fly's felt heavy, but good. Good weight. Really work pretty hard with these.

Finished up with core/tri/delt work. Paloff presses are making a noticeable difference just after a couple weeks. Even though I'm trying to put on weight, my abs are tight and my obliques and seratus are noticibly more pronounced. Awesome WO. Very pleased.

Nutrition:
I weighed 174.8 this morning. A bit too much of a drop from yesterday. I don't think I ate enough.

Wed 10/8 - Lower/Core (work gym)

Workout: Work Gym
(200#LegPress)25/4x7 Weight bump
(110#RDL)3x12
(50#PallofPress)4x10/10
(LungeMatrix)3x5
(Crunch)3x12/12
43 mins + 5 w/u = 48 mins

Bumped leg press up from 185#'s last WO at work gym and did myo-reps again. Worked hard on these in a short time. 10 seconds between mini-sets of 7 are tough. The work gym has a few fixed-weight barbells with the heaviest being 110#'s. I decided to use that today instead of doing them heavier in the smith machine. Went down slowly, got a good stretch and then up quickly. I thought this weight was going to be way too light, but it was actually good. I supersetted RDL's with 4 sets of Pallof Presses, 10 reps each side per set. Loving these.

Finished up with 3 circuits of lunge martix, supersetted with crunches.  These were really controlled and felt really good after already doing core work.  Good WO. Short, intense, great core work.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.2 this morning.

Tue 10/7 - Upper (work gym)

Workout: Work Gym
(55#DBShldr)10,10,8,8 (36/35) Great!
(215#UhBOR)3x8,135x15
(75#Inc)8,8,7,7 Very good
(150#PullDn)4x8
(35#IncFly)2x10
(70#BBCurl)2x10
(75#OHTri)3x10
(88#cableCrunch)3x10
(50#RDeltFly)3x10
57 + 9 w/u = 66 mins

Upper day today with DB Shoulder press as primary push movement and Smith Underhand BOR as main pull movement. Bumped up the weight on shoulder press from 50 to 55#DB's. I beat the rep goal by 1 (36/35) so can bump the weight again next time. I bumped the weight on BOR and will stick here for a while. It was HEAVY. These two movements were supersetted.

I went as heavy as I could on incline and 75#D's felt heavy after 4 tough sets of shoulder press. Was very pleased with these reps. I supersetted with pulldowns here.  I did low-inclne fly's with thumbs facing each other today based on a tip from Lyle McDonald. They felt awesome! Supersetted with barbell curls.  Finished up with tri/ab/delt work.  Very good WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 177.4 this morning.

Mon 10/6 - Yoga!

Sarah invited me to go to yoga at Ida Lee tonight. We met there and it was great. Really enjoyed it and feel like it's something that would really help with mobility and recovery.  And I loved being able to do this w/ Sarah and I think we'll do it again.  A fun "date".

My feet kept cramping up in certain poses. Some of the poses really hurt my knees (sitting Indian style - not sure the yoga name for it) and I noticed my hips are really tight and inflexible. All things that I'm sure would benefit from doing more of this.

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.0 this morning. Whoa! Gotta reign this back in a bit.

Sun 10/5 - Upper (w/ Sarah)

Workout: LA Fitness
(85#Inc)7,6,6,6*
(65#Inc)10,8
(190#RevPull)10,10,9
(95#OHP)11,8,8
(25#PallofPress)3x10/10
(65#RopeExt)11,10,9
(73#SeatRow)3x10
(35#Inccurl)2x10+10
(LyingLegRaise)25/9,9,9
(LungeMatrix)8Station-2x5
77 + 8 w/u = 85 mins

Got to work out w/ Sarah this morning.  After heavy push/pull days the last 2 days, I was planning on a lighter "pump" upper day. I felt great during warmups though so I decided to push the weight on incline. I haven't used 85#DB's since a while before going to Hilton Head (mid-August). I didn't get the reps I was getting before, but it felt good to have some "heavy" DB's in my hands again. Was pleased with the reps.

Heavy reverse grip pulldowns were good despite doing heavy back yesterday. OHP was good after 5 sets of incline. Sarah and I did some awesome core work today with Pallof presses and lying leg raises. Finished WO with lunge matrix.

Great WO and great working out with Sarah again.

Nutrition:
I weighed 177.4 this morning.

Sat 10/4 - Pull Day (Great Deadlift)

Workout: LA Fitness
(Deadlift)225x5,275x3,335x5,5,345x5,225x12 Great! 345x5 is a PR
(165#UhBOR)8,8,9,9
(200#VbarPull)4x8
(Crunch)15/15,10/10,10/10
(135#IsoRow)2x15/4x5
(150#Pulldn)3x10
(85#BBCurl)3x8
(100#RDeltFly)12/4x4
74 mins + 10 w/u = 84 mins

Heavy pull day today. Tried to bump just about every movement up in weight.  Great DL today. Bumped up 10#'s from last weeks' top-end sets of 2x5. That should've been it, but it felt good so I added 10#'s more and did another set of 5. That's a PR! Then dropped to 225#'s for a set of 12. That was brutal. BOR was good and I added a couple reps there. I bumped the weight on v-bar pulldowns and worked REALLy hard for 4x8. It was actually more like 8,8,8,7 because I had to cheat the last rep down pretty bad.

I wasn't planning on going quite as heavy on iso rows, but the guy before me had 3 plates on each side, so I kept them on and went with it. Pulldowns felt pretty heavy at this point despite the lighter weight.  Went heavy on curls and was pleased. I did rear delt fly's today instead of face pulls and they felt really good. I'll try to remember to mix these in.

Great WO and pushed the weigts up wherever I could.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.2 this morning. Went out for Vietnamese last night and at a lot. Really yummy!

Fri 10/3 - Push Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)11,8,6,6 (31/35)
(65#Inc)9,8 (17/20)
(LyingLegRaise)25/4x8
(50#DBShldr)12,9,8 (29/30)
(145#Decline)14,10,9
(35#IncFly)2x10
(58#RopeExt)13,12,10 (35/35)
(10#DecCrunch)20,15
(25#PallofPress)3x10/10
(43#Rope)12,11
(20#LDelt)2x10
73 + 11 w/u = 84 mins

TOday was incline focus (as opposed to OHP first). Goal was to beat reps (32) from last WO where sets went 10,8,7,7. I started off 11,8 and then fell off to 6,6 for a total of 31, a rep lower than last week.  Lesson learned here is to NOT go so close to failure on the first set. I was hell bent on beating the reps from last WO that I pushed the first set too hard. Not quite to failure, but last rep was a bit of a grinder. I paid for that the last couple of sets. I'm fairly certain I could've at least matched last WO, if not beat it had I been more prudent about pushing first set to max. I bumped weight on steep inclines and got good reps. Goal here was 20 reps and I got 17.  Disappointed a bit, but really good pressing. Gotta be happy with the effort.

Lying leg raises were good. The racks were all taken so I couldn't do OHP as planned so I did DB shoulder press instead. Goal here was 30 reps and I got 29. One more than last WO. Again, I pushed too close to failure on the first set. But not as bad as on incline and I was able to recover and not have a massive drop-off.  I bumped the weight on decline and first set was awesome. I didn't take real long rests and had Max spot me the last 2 sets. I got 11 and 10 reps on last 2 sets, but needed just a slight touch to get locked out, so I'm calling it 10 and 9.

Incline fly's were good. I almost dropped weight for the 2nd set, but stuck with it and still got good reps. These were heavy after a lot of chest work already. I finished up with some core, tri and delt work. I did Pallof Presses again today. This time I paused them for a count of "4" on the extensions. This makes it more difficult (obviously). Really works the core.  Great WO despite the slight disapointment on incline.

Nutrition:
I weighed 174.0 this morning. Trying to add wieght slowly and eating about 3,000 cals a day and dropped a little weight through the week. Guess I'll have to up the cals a bit more.

Wed 10/1 - Lower/Mobility/Core

Workout: Work Gym
(185#LegPress)25/4x7
(185#SmRDL)10,10,11,11
(RollingPlank)3x20
(LungeMatrix)8station-3circuits
(75#OHTri)3x12
(50#AntiRotationStaticHold)3x15/15
47 mins + 5 w/u = 52 mins

Legs weren't feeling up to a heavy WO today and as it turned out, somone was benching on the smith machine when I got there.  That's the only place to squat at the work gym.  So, I started with leg press with myo-reps. Pushed these fairly hard. Then I supersetted RDL and rolling planks. RDL was good, so were planks. The problem I'm having with rolling planks is that they bother my feet from all the rolling back and forth and on top of one antoher. Hard to explain, but it's not pleasant and I have enough problems with my PF already. I did sets of 20 and could do a fair number more but my feet really start to hurt.  So, I like these, but not sold that the juice is worth the squeeze.

Then I did 3 circuits of an 8-station lunge matrix. I was working fairly hard by the 3rd circuit. I did overhead tri extensions between circuits. Finished up with some anti rotation static holds (also called Pallof Press). These are hard to explain, so here's a link to a picture/description: Pallof Press 1 or this one Paloff Press 2

Anyway, I enjoyed this WO. A little different than a normal "lower" day, but some "building" movements with leg press and RDL, some good mobility work with the lunge matrix and a bunch of good core work with rolling planks and Pallof presses.

Nutrition:
I weighed 174.6 again this morning. Ate 3,000 cals yesterday so I'll target about that again today. Perhpas a little more.

Tue 9/30 - Pull Day

Workout: Work Gym
(205#UhBOR)4x8,135x15 (32/35)
(T-Twist)4x12
(163#VbarPull)10,9,9,8 (36/35)
(75#DBRow)3x10
(150#PullDn)2x10
(70#BBcurl)12,10
(InvertRow)12/3x4
(30#IncCurl)2x10+10
(48#FacePull)2x12
(40#RDeltFly)3x12
(Crunch)2x20
60 mins + 7 w/u = 67 mins

Awesome pull WO today. I went really heavy on BOR and had to use some body English on last couple reps. Did a 5th set at a light weight with real strict form. Didn't hit rep goal of35. Wow! Back was on fire. I supersetted torture twists with the rows.  V-bar pulldowns were good. Beat rep goal by 1.  I think I tweaked/pulled something a bit in my right lat/back and foam rolled between sets of pulldowns.  I did one-arm DB rows today for the first time in...forever. Felt good.

Next I supersetted regular pulldowns with barbell rows. The pulldowns felt real heavy at this point. Then I did inverted rows.  These may have been a waste. My back was DONE. I did incline curl + pinwheel curl combo I like so much, supersetted with face pulls. Finished up with rear delt fly's and crunches.  Hadn't done rear delt flys in a long time on a machine and they felt really good.

Awesome WO. Heavy rowing and lots of volume.  Time to eat!

Nutrition:
I weighed 174.6 this morning. Much lower than I thought. I ate almost 3,000 cals yesterday. I must still be losing water from the weekend. Gotta eat today.

Mon 9/29 - Push (OHP Rep Goal)

Workout: LA Fitness
(105#OHP)10,9,9,8 (36/35 - reps/goal) - beat goal
(70#Inc)9,8,8 Very good
(60#Inc)11,10
(LyingLegRaise)20/4x6
(135#Decline)15,14
(45#IsoShldr)10,8
(35#IncFly)2x10
(58#RopeExt)13,11,13
(DecCrunch)2x20
(15#LDelt)2x12
(35#Rope)2x12
64 + 7 w/u = 71 mins

So I decided that I'd start my pressing days by alternating Over Head Press (OHP) and Incline. So, today was OHP. My rep goal was 35 reps across 4 sets. I haven't done barbell OHP in quite a while, so I wasn't quite sure what weight to use. I had 115#'s written in, but on warming up I felt that was going to be too heavy, so I used 105#'s as my working weight. I got 36 reps (beat goal by 1 rep) so next WO I'll add 5#'s and still use 35 as my rep goal. This was a good weight to start with. I had to work hard on every set and I didn't want to start too heavy.

Next was incline. I warmed up starting with 45#DB's as usual and it felt "heavy" and my R shoulder was a little sore. I had 70#'s written as my working weight but felt that might be too heavy so I started with 60#DB's.  I got 11 reps. Oops, too light. I think during warmups I hadn't rested long after my last OHP working set, so it felt heavier than it actually was. I bumped up to 70's as the WO called for and did 3 sets. I increased the angle of the incline and did a back-off set w/ 60 (so I counted that first 60# set with this set in the notes above).  Good pressing. Really good.

Chest/tri's needed a breather, so I did lying leg raises and then decline. I used 135#'s again and did them reverse grip as usual. Good reps, but too light. I'll need to bump this weight, but I don't like going too heavy on this movement w/o a spotter.  Iso shoulder press felt heavy, but weight OK. I started incline fly's with 30#DB's, but it felt light, so I bumped up to 35's. Good.  Finished up with some more tri, lateral delt and ab work. Great WO! Getting strength back and eating to fuel my WO's. Only concern will be what I'll do when I start packing on some fat. Gotta be willing to do it, but it's going to be hard. I've been fairly lean all summer and like it.

Nutrition:
I weighed 176.2 this morning. Not bad after the weekend I had eating. Yesterday helped I guess because it wasn't too out of control and we did a lot of hiking/walking. I did have 3 ice cream cones before bed though :)

Sun 9/28 - Harpers Ferry Overlook Hike (Pictures)

Took the kids to Harpers Ferry and hiked up to the overlook. Great weather day and great time with the kids.  Good memories made.

Here are some pictures:

Sat 9/27 - Pull Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(DeadLift)225x5,275x3,325x5,5,225x12 - V. Good
(165#UhBOR)4x8
(LyingLegRaise)25/4x7
(190#V-barPull)3x8
(115#IsoRow)16/3x6
(145#PullDn)2x10
(30#IncCurl)2x11+11
(50#FacePull)2x12
(15#RDelt)15/3x5
(43#Rope)15/4x5
63 mins + 7 w/u = 70 mins

Very pleased with 2 sets of 5 reps on heavy deadlifts. I'll try to add 5#'s to top sets of 5 going forward. Drop set to 225 was great for 12 reps. Underhand BOR was really good for 4 sets of 8. Think I can bump there slightly.  I did lying leg raises waiting for the pulldown machine. Forgot how good these are. V-bar pulldowns were good. Trying to get weight up on that.

I did iso rows myo-rep style, one armed. These were good. By the time I got to wide grip pulldowns, my back was fried. I started with 160#'s and it was too heavy. 145 felt heavy enough at the end of this.  Finished the WO with some bi, delt and a little triceps work.  Great WO.

Nutrition:
I weighed 174.4 this morning. Went to iHop with the kids, had a big ass hot dog at the lovettesville German Octoberfest, went to Jasmines for dinner, had sweet frog, then more froyo and cereal late night.  Whoa! Scale is going to jump in the morning.