Fri 4/10 - Upper (Great WO on cut & little sleep)

Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)10,9,7,55x9P Very good
(80#SeatRow)3x10 Good
(RevCrunch)3x15
(60#IsoShldr)11,10 Very good
(175#PullDn)2x10
(73#RopeExt)11,9
(35#IncCurl)10,8
(55#SealRow)2x8
(50#Rope)12
(85#LDelt)10,8
(175#Fly)10

51 + 9 w/u = 60 mins

Wow, great WO given the circumstances. I worked until 4am this morning and then got up at 7:15 to continue work, so not much sleep. I'm also well into the week of a fairly hard cut so I didn't know what to expect.  Incline was really good w/ 3 good sets. Pretty sure I could've gotten 8 reps on last set, but didn't think it was worth really grinding it out with my shoulder. These were all good controlled reps. After the last heavy set, I took a real short rest, dropped to 55#'s and did some good paused reps.

Next I supersetted seated rows with reverse crunches.  Rows were good and I got more reps than last WO. Crunches were hard because I hammered abs yesterday.  Next I supersetted pulldowns with iso-shoulder press. Pulldowns were good, shoulder press was really good. I think I got more reps here than before also.

Next I supersetted some triceps/biceps work, then seal rows with rope pusdown (all fairly low volume) and finished up with 2 sets of lateral raises and a sets of fly's. Fly's felt great.  Overall an awesome workout. In and out in an hour including warmup. I did notice energy starting to drop noticeably after about first 30 minutes.

Nutrition:
I weighed 181.6 this morning. Still coming down, but really want to eat after this morning's WO. Plan is to stay on cut and have a 5-hour refeed on Sunday.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	271	102	23	1,697
	Calories	1082	406	209	1,698
	Percent	64%	24%	12%	`

Thu 4/9 - Lower

Workout: Work Gym
(250#LegPress)3x12
(100#Crunch)3x10
(75#SLDL)3x10
(RevCrunch)3x20
(85#LegExt)2x15
(115#LegCurl)13,12
(Crunch)2x15

40 + 4 w/u = 44 mins

Not a lot of time for a WO, but really needed to hit legs because I hadn't since starting my cut. In and out in 45 mins. Nothing
to write home about, but hit same weight/reps as the last lower WO I did before dieting. I cut a set off of leg press (3 instead
of 4) and leg curl/ext (2 instead of 3).  Did a bunch of ab work.  No time for shower before heading back for a meeting. Hope
I didn't stink too bad and annoy my team :)

Nutrition:
I weighed 182.2 this morning. Coming down nicely. Working late tonight and will probably be working until 3-4AM. Getting very hungry.  Today's macro's:

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	260	112	23	1,690
	Calories	1039	446	204	1,689
	Percent	62%	26%	12%	`

Wed 4/8 - Rest

Rest day today. Wanted to do a lower body WO but schedule got too hectic. Will try again tomorrow.  Good cut macros today. About a 1,650 calorie deficit today. That makes the 3-day total a 4,750 deficit.

Nutrition:
I weighed 182.6 this morning. Already noticing dramatic changes in the mirror.

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	263	81	22	1,580
	Calories	1053	322	197	1,572
	Percent	67%	20%	13%	`

Tue 4/7 - Upper (work gym - 1st WO on cut)

Workout: Work Gym
(65#DBShldr)10,9,8
(185#SmBOR)3x10
(60#Inc)11,11,10P
(150#PullDn)3x8
(100#Fly)2x10
(100#Crunch)3x10
(75#OHTri)15,11
(35#IncCurl)2x10
(45#Pullover)2x10
(43#Rope)2x10

55 + 8 w/u = 63 mins

Awesome WO today. Hit or increased numbers on all lifts. It's only the 2nd day of the cut, but I'm still very pleased my WO didn't suffer while I adjust to low carbs/calories. I did cut volume slightly (3 sets vs 4 on incline/BOR superset, for example).

Shoulder press was really good. Don't think I've ever gotten more reps than these on first 3 sets. Last WO I only got 3x8 on BOR with this weight and today I got sets of 10 reps. Very good.  But also very difficult. Strength was there, but energy was not.  I bumped up the weight on incline. Even though this is still light, was pleased with these paused reps. Pulldowns were OK.

I supersetted fly's and cable crunches. I bumped up the weight on crunches.  Overhead triceps extensions were good. More reps today than last couple WO's with this weight. I supersetted incline curls with these and started with 30# DB's, but they were light so I moved to 35#'s right away. Finished up with some light-ish pullovers and some rope extensions.  Great 1st WO on the cut.

Nutrition:
I weighed 183.6 this morning. Down from 190.0 yesterday. Mostly water, but about a 1,600 calorie deficit yesterday. I bought a Fitbit Charge HR and am going to use that during this cut. Obviously tracking all my food intake as well. Something that stood out about yesterday was how difficult it was to eat enough protein w/o all the add-on protein from milk, cereal, etc.  I got to toward the end of the day and had to eat a bunch extra to get to 239 grams, which was still low on protein target. Daily macro breakdown for today:

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	264	116	24	1,735
	Calories	1057	464	213	1,734
	Percent	61%	27%	12%	`

 This put me at about a 1,500 cal deficit today.

Mon 4/6 - Rest day - First day of cut

Went hiking for about 2 hours yesterday.  Today was a rest day and first day of my cut. After being essentially in a caloric surplus for 7 months and bulking to 190#'s (which was the target), it's time to start stripping off the fat.

I weighed 188.2 Sunday and 190.0 on Monday.  Here's the nutrition breakdown for Monday:

		Prot	Carb	Fat	Cal
TOTALS:	Grams	239	53	15	1,300
	Calories	957	212	134	1,303
	Percent	73%	16%	10%	`

It wasn't fun. First couple days of a cut never are.  I'll up calories on Tuesday and eat a little something other than protein after my workout.

Sat 4/4 - Pull Day (plus hike on the Appalachian Trail

Workout: LA Fitness
(65#SealRow)4x10,50x12P
(10#T-Twist)4x14
(175#PullDn)3x9
(100#Crunch)3x10
(80#SeatRow)10,9,9+4x6
(75#BBCurl)2x10
(130#RDeltFly)11,10,10+4x6 (weight bump)
(48#UprightRow)3x11
(30#IncCurl)2x10,20x9,15x9
(25#FrontRaise)3x13

82 mins + 5 w/u = 87 mins

Sarah and I did a pull WO this morning. Seal rows were good. Paused drop set was great. Supersetted with torture twists. Pulldowns felt heavy. Supersetted with cable crunch. Did close grip seated rows for 3 heavy sets, than ran the stack, reducing weight for 4 more sets with no rests between. Supersetted the first 2 sets with barbell curls.

Next we did rear delt fly's supersetted with upright rows. I bumped the weight up on rear delt fly's. I'd been stuck at 115#'s for a long time, so I'm mildly pleased about that.  We ran the stack on rear delt fly's today also. We finished up with incline curls and front raises. For curls we did 2 drop sets after the 2nd working set.  Great WO. Probably should've done some BOR, but wanted to do heavy seal rows first today.

Sarah and I hiked for about 2 hours on the Appalachian Trail this afternoon. Windy and cool, but sunny.

Nutrition:
I weighed 186.4 this morning. Not intentionally dropping this much weight rigth before starting a diet on Monday.

Fri 4/3 - Push Day

Workout: LA Fitness
(80#Inc)10,9,8,7,60x11P
(55#IsoShldr)10,10,9,8
(Pullover)45x12,65x8,8,45x12
(RevCrunch)19,12,12,10
(50#IsoInc)10,10,8
(SeatDips)4x10
(85#LDelt)3x10
(10#Crunch)3x15
(175#Fly)10,9,9
(53#Rope)12,11

90 + 10 w/u = 100 mins

Push day today. Incline was really good except for 3rd set where I mis-grooved the 6th rep and got stuck on my right side. Back-off set was really good. I wanted to bump up the weight on shoulder press, but actually had to drop it by 5#'s because we did it right after incline.  Next we supersetted pullovers and reverse crunches. After the 1st set I recall writing in my log last time that this combo sucks. Both movements use the core a lot and pullovers get really difficult to stabilize. I should've stayed w/ ligther weights.

Next we did hammer strength iso incline. I wanted some more chest pressing. These were OK. Bothered my R shoulder. We then did 4 sets for triceps on the plate-loaded seated dip machine. These were good. Then we supersetted lateral delt (machiine) with crunches. Finished up with some fly's and rope pushdowns. Fly's felt really good today. Was only planning on 2 sets, but did a 3rd.  Good WO, but it got too long.

Nutrition:
I weighed 187.2 this morning. Down from 189.2 yesterday. I dropped cals down to 2,000 yesterday. Diet starts Monday but I didn't want things getting too out of control over the long holiday weekend before starting. Pretty much on plan though. I wanted to bulk until I hit about 190 (started at ~175) so timing is just about perfect.