2/13/11 Workout + Guy Throwing Weights

Sundays are my favorite days to lift because before 3PM all the meat heads are still snuggled up in bed or hung over from the night before.  The people that are there are finishing up their 57th minute on the Elliptical and generally there’s no one around to bother me.  I’m in my little corner at the squat rack, everyone else is doing curls or cable flies on the other end of the weight room.  It’s perfect.

Every once in a while there’s a shit head who didn’t party hard enough and thus drags his ass into the gym to ruin my day specifically.  These shit heads come in all forms.  The one that prompted this topic actually started out promising.  He was in the squat rack actually squatting.  When I walked in he had 315lbs on the bar.  I was excited to finally see someone strong put up some weight.  I decided to watch to learn some tips to improve my own form and strength.

Oh, how disappointed I became when he unracked the bar, went less than 1/4 of the way down and then came back up 5 times.  Each rep made him produce a weird guttural sound.  I know 315lbs is a lot of weight but when you’re barely bending your knees is it really necessary to make a noise usually associates with real, heavy lifting?

He super-setted his squats with dumbbell curls which were so tough he had to make the same sounds and at the end throw the 45lb barbell on the ground and then pace around the room.  So I wasn’t wasting time I decided to start benching which I usually hate because I prefer squatting first.  I had completed my entire bench workout before the guy was finished sauntering and staring down the bar.  I got to witness something epic, though.  Sometime while walking around like an enraged inmate in a prison yard he managed to shed the first layer of his clothing, revealing an awesome gut in a wife beater.

He finally relinquished the squat rack after his 8th superset.  I was beginning my first work set when I  noticed him offering advice to a very young lifter doing curls with poor form.  The irony.  Some people that  know their ass from a hole in the ground might suggest that someone starting out maybe focus on the big 3 lifts (squat, dead lift, and bench) instead of spending time doing isolation exercises.  Nope, he recommended doing 4 different curl variations to hit “every part” of the bicep to “really work on its shape”.

Do I even need to go into him doing calf raises in a Smith Machine?  I could, but I think I’d just be belaboring the point.  On to my workout.

Bench

Warm-up

3 x 5 150lbs

Squat

Warm-up

3 x 5 185lbs

Dead lift

1 x 5 250lbs

Dips

2 x 6 Bodyweight

1 x 7 Bodyweight

2/9/11 Workout – Terrible!!!!

Holy shit, was this workout terrible.  I’m not used to this.  For the first two months I enjoyed making at least 5 pound gains each and every session.  Now I’m struggling.  The confusing thing is I’m still in my newbie gain period so why have I stalled out so early?  I think the culprit is my diet which has helped me lose a ton of fat and generally feel healthier.  The problem is I’m not sure if it’s optimal in a muscle/strength gaining weight lifting program.

I don’t want to begin binging on cakes and pies, though.  I’m going to start introducing carbs — in any and every form — but still maintain my high meat and protein consumption.  Instead of 15-35 carbs a day I will be ingesting almost 100 and maybe even a few grams over on some occasions.  This is still probably 200 carbohydrates lower than the average American consumes on a daily basis, though.

Bench

Warm-up

1 x 3 150lbs – Failed after 3 reps.  Dialed it back 5 pounds.

3 x 5 145lbs – I completed all reps but the last 2 of each set were very slow.

Dumbbell Shrugs (while waiting for the squat rack to open)

2 x 10 60lbs

Squat

Warm-up

3 x 5 175lbs – I really focused on opening my legs and squatting between my quads as opposed to on top of them.  This makes sense, I swear.  The last set of 5 about killed me.  I had to do a rep, wait 4-5 seconds, do another rep, wait 6 seconds, etc.

Dead lift

1 x 5 250lbs – Woohoo, I actually added weight to the bar.  I figured since I didn’t progress in the squat or bench so I put in extra effort in the dead lift.  I knocked out the first 3 pretty quickly, then had to take a quick rest (5 seconds) and complete the last 2.

Dips

3 x 5 BW – I’m not going super deep on these.  I’ve had shoulder issues in the past and don’t want to ever go through it again.

And a quick note about this blog: When I’m in the gym I people watch…  A lot.  I think I may take some time to write some funny and not-so-funny anecdotes when I have time.

2/2/11 Workout

I ate really, really crappy today…  Burger King each and every meal!  I still only weigh 201 lbs somehow.  I did a lot of sets of pull-ups waiting for the squat rack to open up and wasn’t really feeling them today.  Other than that, a very ho-hum workout.  I literally yawned about 8 times which is not the state of mind to be in when in the gym trying to GFH (Get Fucking Huge).

Pull-ups

Warm-up on the pull-down machine.

3 sets of 4-5 reps palms out

2 sets 4-5 reps palms in

2 sets 4-5 reps palms facing

Squat

Warm-up

3 x 5 170lbs

OHP

3 x 5 100lbs

Shrugs

3 x 10 160lbs

Deadlift

1 x 5 230lbs

1/30/11 Workout

Bench

Warm-up

3 x 5 140lbs

Squat

Warm-up

3 x 5 165lbs

I deloaded this session.  I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to hit 185 for 3 sets of 5 and I just maxed out the last session.

Dead lift

1 x 5 230lbs

Pull-ups

Warm-up

1 x 5 palms out BW

1 x 6 palms in BW

1 x 6 palms facing BW

1 x 10 135lbs pull-downs for volume.

I forgot barbell shrugs but overall I’m pretty happy with this workout.

I’m making a slight tweak to my diet.  I’m introducing fast digestion carbs post workout and a few more pre.  I’ll have a sweet potato about an hour before lifting and 15 minutes right before I’ll eat a spoon full of honey.  After I’ll eat some lean chicken and wheat pasta with another spoon full of honey.  Hopefully this is enough to jump start my body to gaining lean mass.  Rest days I’ll have my typical normal Paleo cuisine.

Body Composition Update

Around the end of November I was 200 lbs and about 13% body fat.  As of yesterday I’m 205 lbs and 11% body fat.  Pretty cool stuff!

New Years Resolutions take 2

Fitness

- Body fat below 10%/visible abs.  I’m currently at 11.5-12.5%.

- Squat 270 lbs (Current is 200)

- Dead lift 400 lbs (Current is unknown but a few years ago I did 315 lbs.  I can’t imagine I’m much stronger.)

- Bench 240 lbs (Current is unknown but I’d guess it’s around 185 lbs.)

Academics

- Straight A’s

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

- Attend class 2-4 times weekly

- Compete twice

General

- Continue Paleo eating

- Attend one float trip and/or camp during the summer

- Go on vacation

 

Blog’s One Year Old / Diet and Exercise Update

So first I’d like to congratulate myself for sticking to something for only the second or third time in my life: this blog.  Looking through my first few posts I realized I stuck to most of my New Years Resolutions.  That’s one of the main reasons I started this thing so I’m glad I showed some follow-through.

December was a decent month on the dieting and exercise front.  Take away the holidays and I only had three cheat meals in 25 or 26 days.  Not bad.  I made improvements in strength as well and I only averaged about 1 day a week in the weight room.

This week I’m off so I’m going to pack it chock full of BJJ and weight lifting.

Stress induced crappy eating and weight lifting.

I’m not sure where I left off last and I’m too lazy to look.

Saturday I had a valuable sparring session where I performed well and seized the chance to pass on some tidbits of knowledge to a newcomer.  Later the wife and I had dinner with some friends before watching the Strikeforce.  For me it’s an ideal way to spend a Saturday.

Sunday I planned to lift weights and then do MMA.  The exact opposite of that actually happened as I moved maybe 3 times from the couch.  I’m hooked to the Deadliest Catch.

Yesterday something tragic happened.  My record breaking streak for most consecutive days without having a cheat meal ended.  I have no excuses.  I failed to plan a healthy meal and broke down and had some Burger King.  The upside is I had a bad ass day in the gym setting a personal best in the squat.  I maxed at 200lbs.  I know, that’s not good at all.  Keep in mind I’m not a seasoned lifter and only weigh 200lbs myself.

In other news I’m taking 4 classes in the Spring.  I’m not that happy about it actually.  It’s going to excise a lot of the free time I’m used to having and add even more stress.  I’m hoping it’s not too much but regardless I plan on dropping it down to 3 classes next semester.  Between you and me all I care about is collecting that fat BAH check every month.

7 days and No Cheat Meals!

That’s right!  Well, technically it’s the morning of the 7th day so I still have about 12-14 hours to mess up but barring a disaster I will have gone 7 whole days with no cheat meals.  No breads, grains, legumes, or sweets!  I’ve even cut out diet soda!

This week has been successful all around, actually.  I’ve attended BJJ twice so far (third class should be Saturday), lifted weights on Sunday and plan on lifting today again, and registered for classes.  There might be something to the idea of “good in, good out” but it’s probably just random luck shining mercifully on me this week.  To put things in perspective last week our good car went out, leaving us with a $500 bill.  I think we were do for a little good luck.

A quick summary of my training this week:

Monday – Clock choke; taking the back.

Wednesday – Repositioning by pushing the head to same side as body; guillotine; wrestling.

Sucky Lifting Day / Body Fat %

Squat -

warm up

135lbs x 5 for 3 sets.

Pull-ups -

2 pull-ups followed by 6-8 pull-downs @ 135lbs.  3 sets.

Deadlift -

200lbs x 5 for 1 set

Push-ups -

3 x 10

Friday I started on a strictly Primal/Paleo diet.  The lack of carbs is really affecting my lifts — not that I was strong anyway.  I’ve read it takes 3-4 weeks until the body acclimates.

I measured my body fat percentage today.  According to the caliper method I’m at 12-15% which isn’t terrible but not where I would like to be.  It’ll be interesting to see where I’m at this time next month.