Mon 10/17 - Upper

Workout: Snap Fitness
(95#IsoInc)3x8,70x12
(175#SeatRow)4x10
(130#ShldrPress)3x9
(165#VbarPull)3x8
(140#RopeExt)11,9,9
(RevCrunch)3x12
(115#RDeltFly)2x12
(25#SideInc)2x12

52 mins

Sarah and I worked out after work at Snap Fitness.  Incline was good. 3 heavy sets plus a back off set, supersetted with seated rows. R shoulder still really troublesome.  Then we did shoulder press with close grip pulldowns.  Then rope extensions with reverse crunches. I bumped the weight on rope extensions and was pleased with reps. Finished up with 2 sets rear delt fly’s and side incline. I struggle with my right side on side incline and left side is easy.  Right shoulder/pec is fercked.

Nutrition: 
Weighed 177.2 this morning. Bloated from the weekend.

Sun 10/16 - Hike - Black Balsam Knob on the Art Loeb Trail

We left Gatlinburg, TN and The Great Smoky Mountains for a beautiful drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway to hike Black Balsam Knob on the Art Loeb Trail. As we were leaving GSMNP we spotted some elk and stopped to take some pictures. Then when we were getting on the BRP, there were 2 elk in the median so we stopped for more pictures. These one's were w/in about 15 feet of us. Really neat.

The drive along the parkway was spectacular. Stunning views and colors.  This side of the mountains (NC side) was a lot prettier than the TN side where we hiked yesterday.  The leaves had turned color more, and there were a lot more reds mixed in.

The Black Balsam Knob hike was amazing! This hike was on a section of the Art Loeb Trail. The hike starts and w/in a half mile, we were up on a bald and remained on high open ground for the entire hike. Just stunning view.  We had lunch at the top of Tennent mountain at over 6,000 feet.  Mt. Leconte hike yesterday we had lunch at the lodge at over 6,000 feet as well.

The trail itself was not in the best shape.  It's washed out in some spots and rocky. You can tell it gets a LOT of use and not a lot of maintenance.  In great contrast to the Alum Cave trail yesterday.  It was slow going at times due to the trail conditions, and because of lots of stops for pictures.  It's not a trail we could do a lot of miles on with heavy packs.  But, the views were just fantastic and would love to do this trail again and camp out on top of one of the balds.

Sat 10/15 - Hike - Alum Cave trail to Mt. LeConte, Myrtle Point & Cliff Tops.

Great hike up Alum Cave trail to Mt. LeConte with Sarah. Half way up the hike is Alum Cave. Really neat stone cave/wall. We hiked straight past the lodge at Mt. LeConte to Cliff Tops because it was starting to cloud up and we  wanted to see if we could catch some view.  Glad we hustled up there because the views were fantastic, but were clouded over w/in about 5 mins.

We hiked back down to the lodge at LeConte and had lunch on the deck overlooking the valley. It cleared up so we hiked up to Myrtle Point .7 miles further up the mountain where we had awesome views. We returned via a trail to Cliff Tops again, more great views, then back down the trail to the car.

The beginning/end of the hike near the trailhead was along a stream and really pretty.  Just a fantastic hike with tons of great features.  Trail was in incredible shape. It's closed Mon-Thurs for maintenance, and it shows.  They've done a TON of work on this trail.  Great for walking/hiking.

Fri 10/14 - Upper

Workout: Snap Fitness
(80#IsoInc)3x10
(175#SeatRow)3x10
(130#ShldrPress)3x8
(165#PullDn)3x8
(130#RopeExt)12,11
(20#Crunch)2x12
(115#RDeltFly)2x12
(Crunch)2x12
(25#SideInc)2x10

40 mins

Took 3 days off. Shoulder still wonky and painful.

Quick early morning WO before heading to the mountains for the weekend. Fairly short rests to get a good amount of work done in 40 mins. Started with incline/row combo. Felt good. Then did shoulder press with pulldowns. Next I did rope extensions with weighted crunches. Then rear delt fly’s with crunches. Finished up with side incline.  Pleased.

Nutrition: 
Weighed 172.0 this morning

Mon 10/10 - Upper

Workout: Golds
(70#IsoInc)3x10
(180#PullDn)3x8
(70#ChestPress)3x10
(160#VbarPull)2x10
(70#IsoShldr)3x8
(160#SeatRow)3x8
(65#RopeExt)14,12,10
(10#Crunch)10/10,12,12
(35#SideInc)3x11
(100#RDeltFly)3x10

52 + 6 = 58 mins

Started with iso incline and pulldown superset. R shoulder still really wonky and painful. Not sure if I should just take a break from pressing for a little while. I’ll probably keep going through this week and will have a forced break for my backpacking trip in 1.5 weeks. Next I did chest press machine supersetted with vbar pulldowns. I liked the chest press machine. I’d never used this one at Golds before. Then I did iso shoulder press with seated rows.  Some pretty solid pushing and pulling with those 6 movements.

Next I did rope extensions with crunches. This was the most reps I’ve gotten for rope extensions at this weight.  Surprising, given the amount of pressing I’d already done. Finished up with side incline and rear delt fly’s.  Very solid WO, especially given my R pec/shoulder issue.

Nutrition: 
Weighed 183.0 this morning. Yikes! SUPER bloated from the weekend, and especially Sunday. Met Gregg for sushi lunch at JMU, had a bunch of cereal late night before bed.

Sun 10/9 - Cardio

We woke up early and went to the park we found last time we were in Harrisburg for a conference.  We ran a little over 3 miles, walked 1.

Sat 10/8 - Cardio

Early Saturday morning Sarah and I went to a park nearby the hotel in Harrisburg, PA and went for a run/walk.  We ran for 30 mins and then walked for 20. Nice park. There was a soccer tournament so lots of cars and people.  Strange for 7am on a Saturday.

Fri 107 - Push Day

Workout: Ida Lee
(ChestPress)4x10
(ShldrPress)3x12
(Crunch)3x10/10
(SideInc)3x12
(RevCrunch)3x12
(LatRaise)3x12

44 + 6 = 50 mins

Started warmup with DB incline. Got up to 65#’s and it’s just too painful. Switched to a chest press machine that actually felt pretty good. Then we did shoulder press machine supersetted with crunches. Then Side incline with reverse crunches on a decline bench. Finished up with lateral raises. Forgot to do any triceps isolation (‘doh). Good push WO anyway.

Nutrition: 
No scale and am not tracking food or weight for the next 4 days.

Thu 10/6 - Pull Day

Workout: Ida Lee (Leesburg, VA)
(Pullups)10,10,12
(135#BOR/SLDL)3x8/8
(160#VbarPull)2x8
(LegRaise)2x15
(140#SeatRow)2x10
(LegRaise)2x15
(45#RDelt)2x10
(30#Curl)2x10
(100#RDeltFly)2x10

52 + 3 = 55 mins

Drove to Leesburg late Wed night, got to bed around 12:30, woke up at 5AM and went to the gym at Ida Lee for a pull WO. Started with 3 sets pull-ups. Felt OK. Haven’t done them in a while since my elbows have been cranky and for some reason pull-ups seems to bother them. Sets felt better as they went on. I didn’t really warm up, so  that might have had something to do with it. Then we did BOR/SLDL combo. I started with 155#’s. Rows felt good, but going right into SLDL after BOR got really hard so I dropped the weight to 135. That was still hard work. Brutal superset with no rest.

Then we did vbar grip pulldowns supersetted with leg raises for 2 sets each. Then we did seated rows with more leg raises for 2 more sets each. Finished up with heavy rear delt raises, light-ish curls and rear delt fly’s. Although the weight was quite light for curls, it didn’t feel easy. Hard to do much weight with my elbows right now, and because of them, I haven’t done any curls in a couple of weeks.  All the pull work before them added to the difficulty as well.  Good pull WO.

Nutrition: 
No scale and am not tracking food or weight for the next 4 days.

Tue 10/4 - Lower

Workout: Golds
(6PlLegPress)5x10
(195#SLDL)3x10
(50#LegExt)3x12
(105#LegCurl)3x10

31 + 10 + 7 = 48 mins

Warmed up by walking on treadmill steep incline for 5 mins, then warmed up to 6 plates on leg press. Did 5x10 starting sets every 2 mins, so under 90 seconds rest. These started off fairly easy and by sets 4 & 5 I was working fairly hard the last couple reps. Left knee a little wonky. Then I did 3 sets SLDL. Toward the end of first set my R hamstring starting barking at me a bit. I walked and stretched and finished the next 2 sets feeling ok. Finished up with leg extensions and leg curls. I went a little lighter on extensions, quads were kind of fried from leg press volume.

Nutrition: 
I weighed 172.6 this morning.

Mon 10/3 - Upper

Workout: Golds
(70#IsoInc)10,10,10,10,8
(180#SeatRow)4x8
(65#ShldrPress)3x10
(160#PullDn)3x10
(65#RopeExt)12,11,9,50x10
(10#Crunch)10/10,10/10,10
(25#SideInc)2x12
(100#RDelt)2x10

45 + 5 = 50 mins

Started with iso incline. Didn’t go very heavy, but started every superset on 3 mins, so fairly short rests. It felt pretty good, so I did 5 sets push, 4 sets heavy seated rows.  Then I did shoulder press with pulldowns.  Next I did rope extensions with crunches. Finished up with side incline and rear delt fly’s. Still staying away from curls. Elbows have been cranky.

Nutrition: 
I weighed 174.8 this morning.

Sun 10/2 - Run

Yesterday's park was a bit of a disappointment, so we found another park in Staunton. This one was really nice. Paved road around a 1.3 mile loop.  We ran for 50 mins and walked for 15. This is my longest run in a long time I think.  65 mins total.

Ran in my Altra's.  Really liking these shoes and hoping the zero drop is going to help my Plantar Fasciitis.

Sat 10/1 - Cardio (run/hills)

Sarah and I went to a park with a hiking trail. The trail was a loop up and around a small mountain in Staunton, VA.  We walked for 25 mins, then ran through some hilly neighborhoods for 25 mins, then walked for 20. Lots of hills.  70 mins total.

Fri 9/30 - Upper

Workout: Snap Fitness
(95#IsoInc)8,7,6,80x10,9
(165#PullDn)4x10
(130#ShldrPress)2x10
(25#SideInc)2x10
(175#SeatRow)3x8
(120#RopeExt)3x11
(45#RDelt)2x10
(12#Crunch)2x12/12
(115#RDFly)2x12

52 + 8 = 60 mins

Early morning WO before work at Snap Fitness. Going to be at JMU for the weekend, so we wanted to get to the gym.  Started with heavy iso incline for 3 sets, plus 2 back off sets with short rest. Supersetted these with pulldowns.  Then I did shoulder press, but it bothered my R shoulder so I switched to side incline for 2 more sets. Supersetted with seated rows.  Next was rope extensions with heavy rear delt raises. Finished up with some crunches and rear delt fly’s.

Nutrition: 
I weighed 172.6 this morning.