Back from a week long break from Friday, 11/23 through Thursday, 11/29 while I was hunting with Uncle Bob in PA. I shot a real nice 8-point buck with an 18.25" spread! Check out this page where I posted some pictures, or click the link to the page on the right titled "PA Hunting Trip".
Workout:
(DBIncline)65#x8,70#x8,8,8 great!
(90#T-Bar)4x8 good
(135#SmithBench)AMRAP 18,16,16 great
(95#SmithOHP)10,8,8
(30#InclineFlys)3x10
(Dips)2x10 hard
(OHTriExt)55#x12,60#x12,10'
(20#RearDelt)3x12
(60#Crunch)20/+8,8,8
(25#FrontDelt)20,15
64mins
I wasn't sure what to expect from this workout after a week off. I was pleasantly surprised! DB Incline and AMRAP bench were better than my last
workout. I did more reps with 70# DB's than I've done before. Elbows are feeling a little better, but I'm heavy right now and didn't want to
risk starting pullups yet. T-bar row was good. OHP was good on the smith machine and I super setted that with incline flys.
I didn't have dips written in, but decided to do 2 sets. They were harder than normal. I barely got the last rep up on 2nd set. Normally 2 sets
of 10 would be pretty much a piece of cake. I think this was a combination of my weight and because I'd hit incline and bench hard so tri's and
chest were already well worked. Overhead Tri's and rear delt superset was pretty good. I failed on the last tri extension. Weighted crunches
were good and I think I might have to bump up the weight again. I decided to hit 2 quick sets of front delts and probably need to use a 35# plate
instead of 25#'s.
Looking back on it, I probably should have started a sub-maximal ramp up after a de-load week, but that's just hard for me to get my head around
mentally. It felt good to get back in the gym after a week off. That's the first break I've taken of more than 2-3 days in a year! I felt strong
and was happy I could put up the same weights. Intuitively, I guess I knew a week off wouldn't hurt my strenght, but since I hadn't done it before
I didn't know how it would work out. It worked out great, and I was very happy.
On the negative side, my knees are trashed from hiking/hunting/falling in the mountains. I think I'll need to give them at least a week off before doing any squats or leg press. I might try some dead lifts in a couple of days and see how that goes.
Nutrition:
My nutrition has been all over the place the last week. I ate irregularly and like general crap while on the hunting trip, but didn't gain much
weight because they were long days of 11-12 hours hiking in the mountains. I ate as often and as much as I could during those days. But, my
weight was already up a bit from Thanksgiving and then yesterday I ate like I was hunting, only I didn't have all the physical exertion so my weight
spiked to 188.0 this morning. My diet was a little cleaner today, but I'm going to "enjoy" the weekend and get back to a clean diet starting Monday
and strip off some fat before Christmas.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
Fri 11/23 - Upper
Workout: (Last WO before week off for hunting trip)
(DBIncline)65x10,70x8,7,6 (4) very good
(135#SmithBench)xAMRAP,18,15,13 (3)
(30#IncFlys)3x12
(Dips)2x10
(85#SmithOHP)3x12
(20#LatDelt)3x10
(OHTriExt)55x12,60x12,10 (3)
45 mins
I wasn't planning on working out today, but after running some errands picking some last minute things up for my hunting trip I found myself driving by the gym, so I stopped in for a quick stimulation. The quick stimulation turned into a very good workout. What a great surprise. I worked out in my jeans and a T-shirt (what I was wearing while running errands).
DB incline was really good getting some good reps with 70lb dumbbells. I really like hitting higher rep flat bench on the smith after heavy incline. This really works the chest well (at least it seems to for me). Incline flys were good. This was more of a WO than I had already "planned" when I decided to stop in.
Dips were OK, not great. Chest was worked, and I packed on some pounds the last couple of days, so they were also "heavier" :) I supersetted OHP on the smith and lateral delts. This combo really worked the shoulders. On the OHP I made sure I really squeezed my traps at the top. Great shoulder stimulation. Finished off the WO with OH tri extensions. 60#'s is the heaviest I've gone for this exercise and they felt good, and definitely not too heavy.
Great impromptu WO. I was thrilled with how well this went. I traveled home this morning, ran errands all late morning and early afternoon and didn't expect anything from this WO. Once I decided to stop at the gym, I just thought I'd hit some incline and bench and call it done. Great WO that I wasn't expecting, or "up" for.
Nutrition:
I weighed about 185 again this morning. Much cleaner today. Not sure how the week in PA hunting will be.
(DBIncline)65x10,70x8,7,6 (4) very good
(135#SmithBench)xAMRAP,18,15,13 (3)
(30#IncFlys)3x12
(Dips)2x10
(85#SmithOHP)3x12
(20#LatDelt)3x10
(OHTriExt)55x12,60x12,10 (3)
45 mins
I wasn't planning on working out today, but after running some errands picking some last minute things up for my hunting trip I found myself driving by the gym, so I stopped in for a quick stimulation. The quick stimulation turned into a very good workout. What a great surprise. I worked out in my jeans and a T-shirt (what I was wearing while running errands).
DB incline was really good getting some good reps with 70lb dumbbells. I really like hitting higher rep flat bench on the smith after heavy incline. This really works the chest well (at least it seems to for me). Incline flys were good. This was more of a WO than I had already "planned" when I decided to stop in.
Dips were OK, not great. Chest was worked, and I packed on some pounds the last couple of days, so they were also "heavier" :) I supersetted OHP on the smith and lateral delts. This combo really worked the shoulders. On the OHP I made sure I really squeezed my traps at the top. Great shoulder stimulation. Finished off the WO with OH tri extensions. 60#'s is the heaviest I've gone for this exercise and they felt good, and definitely not too heavy.
Great impromptu WO. I was thrilled with how well this went. I traveled home this morning, ran errands all late morning and early afternoon and didn't expect anything from this WO. Once I decided to stop at the gym, I just thought I'd hit some incline and bench and call it done. Great WO that I wasn't expecting, or "up" for.
Nutrition:
I weighed about 185 again this morning. Much cleaner today. Not sure how the week in PA hunting will be.
| Prot | Carb | Fat | Cal | ||
| TOTALS: | Grams | 236 | 229 | 42 | 2,235 |
| Calories | 944 | 916 | 378 | 2,238 | |
| Percent | 42% | 41% | 17% | 100% |
Thu 11/22 - Turkey Day - Cardio
- Walked around Colonial Williamsburg for 1.5 hours with Mom. Very pretty day.
- Walked 50 mins on golf course with Mom after Thanksgiving dinner
I weighed 185 this morning. There went the pounds I cut. Didn't bother tracking macros besides protein today. Let's just say cals were up there. I did fast until 2PM, then turkey day dinner, cheese cake, froyo, more cheese cake, some more cheese cake. Protein thrown in about the sugar and carbs :)
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Wed 11/21 - GBR Upper
Workout:
(60#Incline)4x8
(90#T-Bar)3x7,45#x15 (4)
(50#Bench)x18,15,13 (3)
(115#BOR)3x12
(35#DBShldrPress)3x10
(70#RearDelt)3x12
(55#OHTriExt)3x12
(60#WeightCrunch)20/+8,8,8 (4)
(25#InclineFlys)x17,30#x12,12 (3)
(TortureTwist)20/+10,8,8
50 mins
Good WO. I didn't have quite the strength I did on Monday. Probably because today should have been a day off, but gym is closed tomorrow for Thanksgiving so I doubled up. Incline was good and I just stuck with 60's because I wanted to get at least 8 reps/set. I contemplated pullups today, but did two and they still really hurt elbows, so I did T-bar row for 3 heavy sets, then dropped weight by 50% and did a high rep last set. I liked that.
I did bench with 50's and just did AMRAP w/o going to failure and alternated it with bent over rows. I didn't go heavy on these because my back is tight from the last two WO's and I did heavy sets on T-bar.
Dumbell shoulder press and rear delts were OK, as were tri extensions. I didn't bother trying dips, but probably should have done one more exercise of 2 sets for tri's (close grip bench). I finished up with weighted crunches (which were good again with 60#'s), flys and torture twists. I had to bump up weight
on flys, which is good.
Overall a really good WO. I'm disappointed my elbows don't seem to really have improved much at all. They don't hurt as much, but trying a couple of pullups made it clear I'm not even close to out of the woods with them yet. Maybe having next week off will help.
Nutrition:
I weighed 183 this morning. I wasn't happy with that, but that's what I get for eating a shit load (6-8 servings) of frozen yogurt last night. Other than that, my diet was really pretty clean yesterday. :)
(60#Incline)4x8
(90#T-Bar)3x7,45#x15 (4)
(50#Bench)x18,15,13 (3)
(115#BOR)3x12
(35#DBShldrPress)3x10
(70#RearDelt)3x12
(55#OHTriExt)3x12
(60#WeightCrunch)20/+8,8,8 (4)
(25#InclineFlys)x17,30#x12,12 (3)
(TortureTwist)20/+10,8,8
50 mins
Good WO. I didn't have quite the strength I did on Monday. Probably because today should have been a day off, but gym is closed tomorrow for Thanksgiving so I doubled up. Incline was good and I just stuck with 60's because I wanted to get at least 8 reps/set. I contemplated pullups today, but did two and they still really hurt elbows, so I did T-bar row for 3 heavy sets, then dropped weight by 50% and did a high rep last set. I liked that.
I did bench with 50's and just did AMRAP w/o going to failure and alternated it with bent over rows. I didn't go heavy on these because my back is tight from the last two WO's and I did heavy sets on T-bar.
Dumbell shoulder press and rear delts were OK, as were tri extensions. I didn't bother trying dips, but probably should have done one more exercise of 2 sets for tri's (close grip bench). I finished up with weighted crunches (which were good again with 60#'s), flys and torture twists. I had to bump up weight
on flys, which is good.
Overall a really good WO. I'm disappointed my elbows don't seem to really have improved much at all. They don't hurt as much, but trying a couple of pullups made it clear I'm not even close to out of the woods with them yet. Maybe having next week off will help.
Nutrition:
I weighed 183 this morning. I wasn't happy with that, but that's what I get for eating a shit load (6-8 servings) of frozen yogurt last night. Other than that, my diet was really pretty clean yesterday. :)
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Tue 11/20 - GBR Lower
Workout:
(Squat)135x10,155x8,175x6,6,6 (5) Good
(RDL)225x6,6,6,8,265x6
(LegPress)4plates 4x15 Good
(35#GHR)3x15
(65#Shrugs)3x12
(Dips)2x15
60mins
Squat was good. Not as heavy as recent WO's, but this wasn't in the Smith machine, so weight was actually heavier (meaning the smith machine weights are actually over-stated). 225#s felt heavy today so I didn't bump up right away as planned. My back was tight this morning from heavy rowing yesterday, so I think that had something to do with it. Switched to a mixed grip for 4th and 5th sets. This felt much better, but don't want to always use mixed grip.
Leg press was good with 4 plates and high reps. I had 3 sets written in, but did 4. GHR was hard. These really burn and I was light headed getting up after each set. I super setted shrugs and dips (greasing the groove), but only did two sets of dips.
Really good lower workout. I only wish RDL would have been more heavy sets.It took longer than normal because it took longer to set things up in the squat rack for squats and dead lift.
Normally tomorrow would be a day off, but the gym is closed for Thanksgiving so I think I'll hit upper again tomorrow (Wed), Thursday off and then hit lower before my trip to PA and a week off.
Nutrition:
I weighed about 178 this morning. I don't have my scale in Williamsburg, so weight is kind of irrelevant. Carbs got a little out of control in the evening with about 8 servings of frozen yogurt. I stopped tracking macros because it would have been a pain. Protein was 238 grams. Probably ~3,500 cals.
(Squat)135x10,155x8,175x6,6,6 (5) Good
(RDL)225x6,6,6,8,265x6
(LegPress)4plates 4x15 Good
(35#GHR)3x15
(65#Shrugs)3x12
(Dips)2x15
60mins
Squat was good. Not as heavy as recent WO's, but this wasn't in the Smith machine, so weight was actually heavier (meaning the smith machine weights are actually over-stated). 225#s felt heavy today so I didn't bump up right away as planned. My back was tight this morning from heavy rowing yesterday, so I think that had something to do with it. Switched to a mixed grip for 4th and 5th sets. This felt much better, but don't want to always use mixed grip.
Leg press was good with 4 plates and high reps. I had 3 sets written in, but did 4. GHR was hard. These really burn and I was light headed getting up after each set. I super setted shrugs and dips (greasing the groove), but only did two sets of dips.
Really good lower workout. I only wish RDL would have been more heavy sets.It took longer than normal because it took longer to set things up in the squat rack for squats and dead lift.
Normally tomorrow would be a day off, but the gym is closed for Thanksgiving so I think I'll hit upper again tomorrow (Wed), Thursday off and then hit lower before my trip to PA and a week off.
Nutrition:
I weighed about 178 this morning. I don't have my scale in Williamsburg, so weight is kind of irrelevant. Carbs got a little out of control in the evening with about 8 servings of frozen yogurt. I stopped tracking macros because it would have been a pain. Protein was 238 grams. Probably ~3,500 cals.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Mon 11/19 - GBR Upper1 (down 10 lbs in 1 week)
Workout:
(65#Incline)60x8,65x8,70x8,6 great
(155#BOR)4x10 good
(135#SmithBench)3x15 awesome
(125#PlateRowMachine)3x10
(70#OHP)2x10 too much
(15#Rear/LatDelts)15/10x3
(OHTriExt)50#x15,55x12,10 great
(25#InclineFlys)2x12
(60#WeightCrunch)20/+8,8,8 very good
51 mins
This was a fantastic WO today. I meant to start at 65#s with incline DB's. Used 60's by mistake, but these were great today. 70#s is the heaviest I've ever gone on DB incline. I really had to work the last rep of the last two sets with 70's, but felt awesome. Bumped up weight on BOR and these were good. I had DB bench penciled in, but did 135 on Smith machine for high reps. These were GREAT after heavy incline and hammered my chest. I'm really liking the plate loaded row machine at the large Sprint gym. Went heavier on these rows too. Probably not a great idea to be bumping up weight on rows, given my elbow issues, but they just felt good (the rows, not my elbows).
70#'s overhead press was too heavy for 10 reps. My tri's were pretty dead after incline and bench. I had to bounce the last couple reps up on the last set. Rear and lateral delts were OK. I switched to the machine from DB's for rear delt after the first set. I think I hit them better with the machine. Overhead tri extensions were really good. 50#'s felt light, even though tri's were already hammered. Bumped to 55#'s and they were good. I tried to superset these with dips, but that was NOT happening today after how hard I hit chest/tri's already. So instead, I did 2 sets of flys and was going to call it a day, but decided to hit abs real quick. Bumped up weighted crunches to 60# DB on the swiss ball. This was more like it. I could really feel it with the heavier weight.
Just a great WO. A guy in the gym commented on how hard I was hitting it today. Nice.
Nutrition:
I weighed 176.6 this morning. That's down exactly 10 pounds from a week ago today. Increased cals today after a big WO. Didn't realize until this evening how high protein was. Not a bad thing, just normally not that high. Adding the protein bar, yogurt and jerky on the trip to Williamsburg did it.
(65#Incline)60x8,65x8,70x8,6 great
(155#BOR)4x10 good
(135#SmithBench)3x15 awesome
(125#PlateRowMachine)3x10
(70#OHP)2x10 too much
(15#Rear/LatDelts)15/10x3
(OHTriExt)50#x15,55x12,10 great
(25#InclineFlys)2x12
(60#WeightCrunch)20/+8,8,8 very good
51 mins
This was a fantastic WO today. I meant to start at 65#s with incline DB's. Used 60's by mistake, but these were great today. 70#s is the heaviest I've ever gone on DB incline. I really had to work the last rep of the last two sets with 70's, but felt awesome. Bumped up weight on BOR and these were good. I had DB bench penciled in, but did 135 on Smith machine for high reps. These were GREAT after heavy incline and hammered my chest. I'm really liking the plate loaded row machine at the large Sprint gym. Went heavier on these rows too. Probably not a great idea to be bumping up weight on rows, given my elbow issues, but they just felt good (the rows, not my elbows).
70#'s overhead press was too heavy for 10 reps. My tri's were pretty dead after incline and bench. I had to bounce the last couple reps up on the last set. Rear and lateral delts were OK. I switched to the machine from DB's for rear delt after the first set. I think I hit them better with the machine. Overhead tri extensions were really good. 50#'s felt light, even though tri's were already hammered. Bumped to 55#'s and they were good. I tried to superset these with dips, but that was NOT happening today after how hard I hit chest/tri's already. So instead, I did 2 sets of flys and was going to call it a day, but decided to hit abs real quick. Bumped up weighted crunches to 60# DB on the swiss ball. This was more like it. I could really feel it with the heavier weight.
Just a great WO. A guy in the gym commented on how hard I was hitting it today. Nice.
Nutrition:
I weighed 176.6 this morning. That's down exactly 10 pounds from a week ago today. Increased cals today after a big WO. Didn't realize until this evening how high protein was. Not a bad thing, just normally not that high. Adding the protein bar, yogurt and jerky on the trip to Williamsburg did it.
| Prot | Carb | Fat | Cal | ||
| TOTALS: | Grams | 273 | 238 | 42 | 2,413 |
| Calories | 1093 | 953 | 374 | 2,420 | |
| Percent | 45% | 39% | 15% | 100% |
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Sat-Sun 11/17-18 & Weekly Recap
Sat
Rest day. Went to Clark Bro's and sighted in my 30-06.
I weighed 179.4.
Sun
Walked 45 mins fasted at 2PM.
I weighed 178.2 this morning.
I kept calories low both Saturday and Sunday. Still stripping off some fat and leaning out nicely. My jeans were noticeably loose today. Fasting and not eating first meal until 2/3PM makes it a little easier. Hoping I have enough energy for a good WO tomorrow and I'm looking forward to some carbs post WO. I'll work out fasted, then oatmeal, baked chicken breast and an apple or bananna sound yummy. :)
Week ending 11/18 Recap
I dropped about 9-10 pounds this week. I had 11,600 calories for the week. That's 9.25 calories per pound of body weight per day. 10 is a number I've used in the past for cutting, so this was a good week for stripping off some weight quickly. Certainly not putting on any muscle with those calories, so hopefully I was able to maintain with the workouts I had and protein at 223 grams/day (about 1.25 grams per pound of body weight).
My elbows are still really bad. I saw the PT and have been doing some stretching exercises (at least 5-6 times a day) for my forearms to help my elbows. It hasn't seemed to help yet, but I'll keep at it. I haven't done any pullups for a couple of weeks. That's the exercise that seems to hurt the most, but any type of pulling motion (rows) hurts and heavy dead lifts can't help either. I'll push through this week and then I'll have a full week off lifting while I'm hunting, so that might help as well.
The last two weeks were supposed to be "deload" weeks. That means much lower volume. I've hammered legs fairly hard and although volume has been a little lower for upper body than during FB SD Hyp weeks, I haven't done a great job of taking it easy. I need to learn that sometimes less is more for the long run and the body needs time to recover. I think in the back of my mind, I knew Thanksgiving and my trip were coming up so I hesitated to take it real easy. Once I get in the gym, it's hard to just hit a couple of hard sets for each movement and get out.
Anyway, overall a good week. Some good WO's and nutrition was really in check.
Rest day. Went to Clark Bro's and sighted in my 30-06.
I weighed 179.4.
| Prot | Carb | Fat | Cal | ||
| TOTALS: | Grams | 230 | 77 | 21 | 1,410 |
| Calories | 920 | 308 | 189 | 1,417 | |
| Percent | 65% | 22% | 13% | 100% |
Sun
Walked 45 mins fasted at 2PM.
I weighed 178.2 this morning.
| Prot | Carb | Fat | Cal | ||
| TOTALS: | Grams | 212 | 59 | 20 | 1,261 |
| Calories | 848 | 236 | 180 | 1,265 | |
| Percent | 67% | 19% | 14% | 100% |
I kept calories low both Saturday and Sunday. Still stripping off some fat and leaning out nicely. My jeans were noticeably loose today. Fasting and not eating first meal until 2/3PM makes it a little easier. Hoping I have enough energy for a good WO tomorrow and I'm looking forward to some carbs post WO. I'll work out fasted, then oatmeal, baked chicken breast and an apple or bananna sound yummy. :)
Week ending 11/18 Recap
I dropped about 9-10 pounds this week. I had 11,600 calories for the week. That's 9.25 calories per pound of body weight per day. 10 is a number I've used in the past for cutting, so this was a good week for stripping off some weight quickly. Certainly not putting on any muscle with those calories, so hopefully I was able to maintain with the workouts I had and protein at 223 grams/day (about 1.25 grams per pound of body weight).
My elbows are still really bad. I saw the PT and have been doing some stretching exercises (at least 5-6 times a day) for my forearms to help my elbows. It hasn't seemed to help yet, but I'll keep at it. I haven't done any pullups for a couple of weeks. That's the exercise that seems to hurt the most, but any type of pulling motion (rows) hurts and heavy dead lifts can't help either. I'll push through this week and then I'll have a full week off lifting while I'm hunting, so that might help as well.
The last two weeks were supposed to be "deload" weeks. That means much lower volume. I've hammered legs fairly hard and although volume has been a little lower for upper body than during FB SD Hyp weeks, I haven't done a great job of taking it easy. I need to learn that sometimes less is more for the long run and the body needs time to recover. I think in the back of my mind, I knew Thanksgiving and my trip were coming up so I hesitated to take it real easy. Once I get in the gym, it's hard to just hit a couple of hard sets for each movement and get out.
Anyway, overall a good week. Some good WO's and nutrition was really in check.
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