well, almost 8 months after joining the forums i've decided to start up my own journal. i have started to develop some strength goals that i'd love to achieve in the coming months/years. so here are my goals, and my story as i go.

Goals:
250lb bench press
25 Pull ups
25 Chin ups
10 Muscle ups
1 bw pull up
1 bw dip
300lb squat
300lb dead
10xbw pistol squats
10xbw DB military press
10x3 Handstand pushups
sub-6 minute mile
20 minute 5k

Current Ability: parenthesis are theoretical maximums from here (http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html) until i try my 1RM for each exercise. i will edit this as i progress.
(210lb) bench press
22 pull ups
22 chin ups
4 Muscle ups
15% bw pull up
33% bw dip
225lb (x8) squat
275lb deadlift
1x pistol squat
120x6 db military press
10x1 handstand pushups
8.5 minute mile
30m 5k

My Starting Stats:
5'9
154lbs
12.5" biceps

Current Stats:
5'9
151lbs
13.25" biceps
??? waist
??? thigh
??? chest

if you have any all-around fitness goals, please let me know and if i think its interesting i'll add it to my list! this is just the first things i could think of based on what i can do now, what i'd like to be able to do, and what i've seen other people on the forums are aiming to do (that i found interesting).


Before Pictures:
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n46/riseflip/DSC04427.jpghttp://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n46/riseflip/DSC04428.jpg
Current Pictures:
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n46/riseflip/DSC05233.jpghttp://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n46/riseflip/DSC05236.jpghttp://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n46/riseflip/DSC05241.jpg

Next time i'll have my fiancee take the pictures... she just wasn't home at the time.

Well today's workout was fantastic! i did the back-focused lower split today and i blew my old max away. the most i had previously dead lifted in a rep set was 205 (that's the most i've ever tried) and today i threw 2 45s on each end of the bar for 225 lbs. i finished the full 10 reps and i'm pretty sure i could have done more weight. the hardest part of it all is my hands hurt so much. there were lifting straps at the station and i tried them but i don't think i used them correctly. i started to lose circulation in my hands or something and i managed to get blisters in the middle of my palms. i guess i still need to work on that a bit... it also looks like a couple of my goals aren't really a reach anymore since my theoretical deadlift is already @ my goal... not that i can actually do it or have tried to do it, but if i'm that close, i need to go for something higher.

i can't wait for friday's workout. it's chest day and since a friend from work has been going to the gym with me, i feel comfortable doing more weight. i'm even going to use a barbell which is a rarity for me.

i never used to get excited about going to the gym. i feel like it's really becoming a part of my life, and i enjoy it. i feel good, i feel strong, and i want to keep going!

i need to go eat some more before bed... :eat: Seacrest, OUT!

my back & hammies are a wee bit sore today, but i guess that's to be expected after the workout i had yesterday. but it still makes me feel like if i'm only getting sore after pushing it that hard that it really is time to start "raising the bar" both figuratively & literally and really start to progress. i feel like in the next couple of months i'm really going to see some serious weight lifting gains for some reason - i hope that it turns out to be the case!

also, i bought an engagement ring today :eek:

I've been doing a lot of reading other people's journals lately. I've come to the realization that I really need to stop and look at what i'm eating. Throughout my bulk, i've just been eating a lot of whatever. sometimes it's clean, sometimes it's not. i've been lifting since april and i've made great progress in the gym, but i feel like i'm still holding myself back by not learning enough about food and more importantly, not implementing what i've already learned about food. i've thought about the cut that i'll have coming to me in february, and i just realized that i have no idea how to know how much i should be eating. i'm just getting used to what has been working for me and kind of sticking to that...

For some reason, I just don't know what to do. i've read a ton on it, i've read all the beginner stickies twice, and i've even been able to give other people advice on what to eat (on occasion). i guess it's time that i try to give myself some of that advice and stop being a hypocrite of sorts. but even now, i'm not sure where to start. i've tried writing up food plans but i don't follow them, other than trying to eat a lot and trying to hit my calories. it's frustrating.

so i'll try. i know oats are good, but i don't really like them other than in my protien shake. so if i have a protien shake every day (after my workout on gym days) I'll be heading in the right direction (i think). i put maybe a half a cup in them now. i also take my protien shake with 1% lowfat milk, and i think that's pretty good as well. that's 1 of 2 consistent meals i think i can have every day, and it's basically the afternoon snack or evening meal depending on when i get to the gym or whatever. 1 meal down, 5 to go!

next, i'll attack 2nd breakfast. 2nd breakfast i already generally eat the same stuff every day - 2 eggs & whole wheat toast w/ butter & juice. i don't know if this is really an ideal meal, but it's what is available at the cafeteria and seems healthy, so i eat it. i could use some help on the quality of that meal, so i'll look into it.

the only other meal that i can predict in anyway would be first breakfast which often ends up as a cup of OJ & my multivitamin. i really don't know what to eat for this meal though. and now i'm lost. i don't know what to eat for lunch, dinner, and my snack meal other than i obviously need some meat and veggies in there, somewhere. but lunch tends to end up as nothing more than some sort of sandwich like a tuna melt or chicken salad on a roll or something along the lines of those items. i don't know how good any of that is for you, and i don't think that it's the healthiest of options either.

i've rambled on enough for now i guess. i need to do some thinking.

i just finished my chest/tri's workout for today and man, am i wiped out!

BB Bench
warm up w/ bar
warm up @ 95lbs
135lbsx10reps
145x10
155x10 <-failure

BB Incline Bench
95x8
105x10
115x8 <-failure

DB Flies
25x10
30 crunches
25x10
30 crunches
25x10
30 crunches

Dips
184x8 <-failure
184x5 <-failure

Tricep Pushdowns
90x10
100x10
100x10

Muscle Ups:
0 <-big failure :(

so today was a bit of a weird day for me. first off- this is the FIRST time i've done BB bench press since i've started lifting. so i do my warm ups and kind of expect to push up some serious weight since i can do 160 w/ dumb bells. well, that wasn't the case as you can see. i actually couldn't bench as much with a BB as i can with DBs and i went into the work out today feeling absolutely great! that said, i did push myself to the limit one way or the other and i had a great work out today, i'm just so confused as to why i can't bench as much with a BB compared to DBs.

the next part of the day that was weird for me was adding an extra exercise in - incline bench press. i haven't really done 2 bench exercises in a row like that before but for some reason i thought it was a good idea. maybe it is, it confused my body at the very least. i didn't put up very heavy weight for that, partly because i was still kind of spent from the BB bench, but i still went to failure on those as well. it actually felt pretty go to do them to be honest.

anyway, after that i realized my arms were dead, but i tried to do some weighted dips anyway. since my gym is retarded and doesn't have a simple weight belt, i had to use the weighted dip machine where i literally need to seat belt myself in to not get propelled straight out of the seat like the glass elevator in charlie and the chocolate factory. well, i threw on the same weight that i started with last time i did these and i barely could do any! my arms were shot, big time. so i did what i could and finished out with tricep pull downs. a bit of a weird day, but a nice change as well. maybe next time i'll start with dips!

i had a protein shake so far since then and i am starting to get hungry for some real food. i think i'm going to pick up some chinese because i have nothing in the house to cook... then again i'm so tired i don't feel like driving so maybe i'll just make a pb&j or eat some eggs.

i can't lift my arms.

well, no work out today, but i'm trying to find a way to keep on track with my diet all the time. i went food shopping but the place i went to didn't even have a lot of the stuff i was hoping to pick up. so i guess i'll be going food shopping again tomorrow. i've been eating a lot of eggs lately and i'm worried that i'm eating more than are healthy for me since i eat them whole - yolk and all. today i had 3 hard boiled eggs but i made sure only to eat the whites today, and i had them with edamame. tonight my fiancee is cooking some chicken/broccoli/rice thing and it looks/smells good except that she is using white rice... oh well. so i've managed to stay mostly clean today.

so i'm wondering how much sleep really matters to a muscle growth. i imagine it does matter a lot, i just don't know why. i usually get 6-7 hours of sleep during the week (occasionally less) and 8-12 on the weekends. i'm going to try and get myself to 8-9 hours a night during the week and at the same on the weekends. i'm tired of being tired all the time during the week and if it is affecting my work outs, i'm really selling myself short since its something that's so easy to do.

squats tomorrow, can't wait.

so i'm wondering how much sleep really matters to a muscle growth. i imagine it does matter a lot, i just don't know why. i usually get 6-7 hours of sleep during the week (occasionally less) and 8-12 on the weekends

It matters a lot, but you are probably OK. Try and get the 7 on the weekdays. More than 8 on the weekends is not helping as much as getting the 7 consistently.

It matters a lot, but you are probably OK. Try and get the 7 on the weekdays. More than 8 on the weekends is not helping as much as getting the 7 consistently.

i don't know why, but its so hard to get that much during the week. i have to be up at 6 and it's just so hard for me to get to bed before 11 for some reason. sometimes it's the tv, but other times i just can't shut my brain off soon enough. sleep is such a "simple" thing but i have so much to learn about it yet. i have a lot of trouble turning my brain off and i've always been told i have an overactive mind - whatever that means. but i am going to try getting 7-8 hrs on a much more consistent basis.

i'm drunk and i'm going to bed now. hungover squats tomorrow, can't wait.

Squats today were BRUTAL, it was awesome! bulgarian split squats were even worse, but those weren't so awesome... just painful really.

Squats:
warm up @ 95lbs.
155lbsx10reps
175x10
185x10
205x10 <-PR

Cable pull throughs:
90x10
100x10
105x10

Bulgarian splits:
50x10 (each leg)
50x10
50x10

Seated calf raises:
50x10
50x10
60x10

Leg throw thingies:
10
15
20

the leg throw thingies are when you lay on the mat and a partner stands by your head. you grab onto their ankles and raise your legs up to them and they proceed to throw your legs down at any angle they like. it's fun, i like to try and throw my partner for a loop by faking left and right :lol:

i just ate a pb&j and i'll be having my protein shake in maybe an hour. then for dinner i'll be cooking this greek disk called Pasticcio (not sure if i spelled it right). finally i have 3 hard boiled eggs left from yesterday or the day before and i'll be eating those at some point today.

i am wiped out, but i need to put up christmas lights and cook dinner and clean and get gas and go food shopping and :sleep:

man, i am hurting from the past few days. with squats on sunday my ass is sore, with icy snow shoveling my back is sore and with installing a garage door opener my neck/ego is sore. i'm debating putting my pull up workout off until tomorrow to get an extra day of recovery in, especially since i only got about 6 hours of sleep last night an i'm feeling it big time today. then again, i love pull up day and i'd hate to wait. what would you do?

i'm sitting here dreaming about breakfast since i woke up late and didn't have time to make anything this morning other than some OJ & my multi.

on another note, i need to make a chiropractor appointment. oh and a doctors appointment. oh and a dentist appointment. my tooth is killing me :(

so garage door openers are about the most complicated thing i've ever tried to install. what a pain in the ass, seriously. everything needs to be modified after basic assembly is completed. i had to make my own brackets for hanging the motor from the ceiling, for hanging the rail to the wall above the door (twice), and i had to take my door apart to cut off the spring support brackets on the door that were for some reason welded together on top of being bolted together. taking the springs off is a pain as well, and those doors must weight near 200lbs (without the spring). the first time we ran it, the door ripped the wall bracket straight out, even with the giant lag bolts we used. so we had to re-make the bracket to accommodate new lag bolt holes. 3 hours later, we finally got the damn thing running and properly adjusted. on the plus side, when we finished, we got to watch the pat's win it with 44 seconds left on the clock :) brady is 1 lucky bitch.

Well, it seems as though I am coming down with a sore throat. I'm guessing its from shoveling snow in the 15 degree weather last night for 2 hours. Since I'm so tired and sore from the past few days I should probably give my body an extra day's rest and try to avoid this sore throat as best as possible. I had gone as far as making plans to meet my buddy at the gym, but it just isn't worth it to put myself out of the gym for even longer by not taking care of myself. So chicken noodle soup it is, and pullups hopefully tomorrow.

so i woke up with a full blown sore throat. i'm sucking down tea & cough drops all day and I need to get over this asap. not only do i hate sore throats, i hate things that prevent me from going to the gym, especially when i really want to go. son of a bitch.

edit: i've been thinking about it, and should a sore throat stop me from going to the gym?

anyone know some good ways of getting over a sore throat?

amazingly, i woke up and the sore throat was gone! i am one lucky s.o.b. i hate sore throats so much, they are just miserable. so i ended up taking off from the gym yesterday and i'm glad i did if that's what made me feel better. i think it was a good move since my body really needed a rest anyway, i feel great today.

so today is pull ups day which is for some reason paired with my shoulder workout. maybe i have it all backwards? i can't remember what work out i'm supposed to do now... oh no, that's right. i was doing shoulders/back and pullups are my back work out. i wonder if chin ups or pull ups are better to target your back with, hmmm.

back to work, for now.

Ibuprofen works wonders for me for a sore throat, only for 4-6 hrs though. (sry for the late reply, glad you're feeling better :) )

I'm no expert but I think pull ups hit your back more than chins.

thanks for the info either way... i'll keep it in mind for the next one since i'm guaranteed to have one again sooner or later.

is that you in your avatar? if it is, you look f*ckin ripped

tonight's workout was fan-f*ckintastic. i did 50 pull ups today, not in a row though. i had a serious pump going in my arms and i hit a new PB today in a couple of lifts:

Pullups:
warm up @ 75lbs lat pull down
bw x 10 overhand
bw x 10 neutral
bw x 10 overhand

Military press (dbs):
90lbs x 10 reps
100x10
120x6 <-failure/PB

Shrugs (BB):
135x10
bw x 10 neutral pullups
155x10
bw x 10 neutral pullups
175x10 <-PB

Front raises:
15sx10
20sx10
25sx10

Side raises:
15sx10
20sx10
20sx10

great workout, i thoroughly enjoyed this one. after the workout, i went to the mall to pick up "the ring" that had just been sized. you can see it here. (http://www.helzberg.com/product/engagement+%26+wedding/helzberg+radiant+star/1+1-4ct+diamond+engagement+ring%2C+igi+graded+1656943. do?sortby=ourPicks) let me know if you like it!

For some reason, I just don't know what to do. i've read a ton on it, i've read all the beginner stickies twice, and i've even been able to give other people advice on what to eat (on occasion). i guess it's time that i try to give myself some of that advice and stop being a hypocrite of sorts. but even now, i'm not sure where to start. i've tried writing up food plans but i don't follow them, other than trying to eat a lot and trying to hit my calories. it's frustrating.

I agree with your observation. There is just so much information, and much of it conflicting. For your weight, you already have great stats on what you can now lift. When you reach the goals you set for yourself, you will be super strong. What is the exercise "muscle up", never heard of it.

I agree with your observation. There is just so much information, and much of it conflicting. For your weight, you already have great stats on what you can now lift. When you reach the goals you set for yourself, you will be super strong. What is the exercise "muscle up", never heard of it.

Thanks, Shamie. I've just figured that I'll slowly get better and better at figuring out how my body reacts to the different types of food that I eat. I think as long as I eat healthy, I'll be OK this way.

Muscle ups are when you do a pull up and when you are in the pull up position with your hands at your upper chest, you roll your shoulders forward and perform a dip, ending with the pull up bar at your waist. there are a few videos on youtube demonstrating how to do them, but i can't access youtube from work to give you the link unfortunately. it's one of those "feats of strength" that I would love to be able to perform. If you figure out how to do one, let me know!

if you have any all-around fitness goals, please let me know and if i think its interesting i'll add it to my list! this is just the first things i could think of based on what i can do now, what i'd like to be able to do, and what i've seen other people on the forums are aiming to do (that i found interesting).



Don't forget military presses (as a goal, I see you are doing them in your workout...). Working on your shoulders will *REALLY* help with your BB bench press...

Don't forget military presses (as a goal, I see you are doing them in your workout...). Working on your shoulders will *REALLY* help with your BB bench press...

good call. i've modified my goals to include repping some bw military presses. i prefer DB mil presses over BB though, ergonomically.

well this weekend was pretty crappy in terms of everything fitness related. i got a bit tipsy last night and woke up to toss some cookies which resulted in a rough day today. i had the opportunity to work out with my friend while i'm visiting NY but that got put off with the condition i've been in all day. on the plus side, i got a massage and a haircut so I'm feeling fresh as a daisy that someone just stepped on.

im goin to bed.

i got a bit tipsy last night and woke up to toss some cookies which resulted in a rough day today.


I have noticed that when I am eating healthy and cutting, my alcohol tolerance goes out the window. I had two drinks last night with my cheat meal, and I had to have the wife drive home... I'm such a lightweight now!

Stick to it Rise. If you never had an off day, we would all accuse you of being a robot...

Hey Rise. Beautiful ring and setting. What does hers look like?

Congrats on the personal bests. You should end up a lot stronger, even after you cut down to be ripped for your wedding. :nod:

I have noticed that when I am eating healthy and cutting, my alcohol tolerance goes out the window. I had two drinks last night with my cheat meal, and I had to have the wife drive home... I'm such a lightweight now!

Stick to it Rise. If you never had an off day, we would all accuse you of being a robot...

yeah, you hit the nail on the head with that one. not to mention, i'm very much used to 5-6 meals a day and i hadn't eaten in 5 hours (which is not usual for me) so on top of a low tolerance to begin with, my stomach was empty. moral of the story: i'm a moron :bang:

i'm going to try not drinking at all during the next 2 months of my cut with the exception of new years eve... i'll probably drink a bottle of champagne for that :)

Hey Rise. Beautiful ring and setting. What does hers look like?

Congrats on the personal bests. You should end up a lot stronger, even after you cut down to be ripped for your wedding. :nod:

thanks CG, her's is 10 carats ;)

btw, i like your sig. it's a good philosophy to have.

This morning was a fun one (read: sarcasm). i woke up to ::rrrrrrruuurrrrrghhhhhh:: which was my fiancee trying to get out of the driveway that had apparently turned into an olympic ski jump- you know, the type that they do about 83289 back flips off of before landing. it was literally glazed over with ~3/8" of ice and it slopes down sharply towards the house. fuck. so i get outta bed to help her out. not 1 step onto the driveway and i do a 1 footed icecapades act. when i made it to her car she was visibly upset (and rightfully so, we're new yorkers!!) and i told her i'd get her out. well, easier said than done. after 1 try it was quite obvious that i couldn't just finagle my way out this time that has works so nicely in the past. i broke out the bucket o' salt and went to town on the driveway. 20 minutes later and i was out of salt, so it was now or never if she wanted to go to work today (which she didn't want to, so she was probably rooting against me). anyway, first try: no good. second try: a bit better. third try: well, third try's a charm, and i got her to the apex and off to work she went! next was my turn, but by then the salt had done a pretty good job of melting the ice up and i didn't have any problem getting out. :madpimp:

All of that sh!t aside, today should be an interesting one. I've gotten drafted into a week long kaizen event at work which they like to lead you to believe is an honor to be a part of, but i know the truth. a kaizen event is when you spend the week attacking a large problem with a team of people from all parts of the business and work all day every day to solve them. this often results in long hours work and tons of resources expended in order to achieve these goals. while the time frame is quite impressive and so can the results be, it's a tough week on the team members. basically, I've decided that Kaizen is really a way to get a bunch of salaried employees to work a ton of overtime that they don't get paid for :whistle: this all starts at 10:30 today and ends by noon on Friday. Team members are not supposed to be duplicated because they want to expose the whole company to them... of course this is my 3rd one in a row which also happens to be the 3rd one my company is doing. so me = :mad: i have enough shit going on with planning this wedding to add this onto the list.

following the kaizen event is a "holiday" party which i will be attending. i am going to try and not drink any alcohol and i plan to hit the gym after, around 8pm or so. i've had to miss about 2 days to being in NY and i am antsy to get in there and do my RDLs. i'll be sure to let you know how those go :spaz:

Wow... My goals are similar to yours, but your a heckuvalot closer to them than I am. What's your diet like?

If your fiancee was stuck in the snow, why not just pick the car up and move it to traction :P A buddy of mine did that once, picked up the front end of his stuck car and set it down a foot or so to one side where it was able to get traction.

Wow... My goals are similar to yours, but your a heckuvalot closer to them than I am. What's your diet like?lately its 5-6 meals/day that break down like this:
meal 1 (6am): OJ/multivitamin & cereal or oatmeal if i don't oversleep (which i usually do)
meal 2 (9am): 2 whole eggs, whole wheat toast with butter, 16oz. 1.5% milk
meal 3 (12pm): tuna melt or chicken salad on whole wheat
meal 4 (3pm): a bowl of cereal or protien bar or hard boiled eggs
meal 5 (6pm): lots of meat - chicken, beef, whatever and some green veggies & brown rice or whole wheat pasta or something like that
meal 6 (9pm): whey protien shake w/ maybe a 1/2 cup of oats, maybe a bit more than that

If your fiancee was stuck in the snow, why not just pick the car up and move it to traction :P A buddy of mine did that once, picked up the front end of his stuck car and set it down a foot or so to one side where it was able to get traction.honestly, it was so icy that if i walked up the slope at all, i would just slide back down. i couldn't get a good footing anywhere around the car until we salted & at that point it was easier to just give the salt a minute to work its magic.

man, today was a rough work out. i went to my holiday party and had a (singular) Guinness which basically ended up being a meal replacement since they didn't have any real food there to eat. just some fried crap that you would microwave at home. anyway, after that i was going to skip out on my work out since i needed to buy some driveway salt @ home depot, but then they were all out of it and so i had time to go to the gym! and that's what i did! the best part was, today was dead lift day - my favorite day!

RDLs:
warmup @ 135lbs
205lbs x 10 reps
215x10
225x10
235x8 <-PB for repped weight

Step Ups:
40x20
40x20

Hamstring Curls:
60x10
70x10
80x10 <-pb

Standing Calf Raises:
240x10
260x10
280x10 <-PB, i think

i gotta be up by 5:30 am tomorrow morning... ugh. g'night!

what a miserable couple of days it has been. i'm so tired its ridiculous, i haven't had a good night sleep since saturday night and it's driving me nuts and stressing me out :( i've been so busy with work/personal stuff that i actually haven't had time to get to the gym today. i will unfortunately have to put off my chest workout until tomorrow, which i was really hoping to avoid. i just don't have the energy to put in a good full workout. my plan is to get a good night sleep tonight (doubtful) and hit the gym hard tomorrow. i want to tear it up i'm so p.o.'d about missing today's workout and i would love to release some of the week's stress.

i feel like this -> :cry:

i haven't had a good night sleep since saturday night and it's driving me nuts and stressing me out :(

I know many people would disagree with me, but try taking an Advil (or Tylenol) PM. You won't turn into an addicted fiend or anything like that... When I *REALLY* need to sleep I take one Advil PM. It is a half dose and it does the trick for me... Try to reserve it for nights when you can get at leats 7 hours dedicated to sleep.

Sleep is one of the most important thing in life. It has an effect on your health, your job, your fitness, your marriage, your personality....

I know many people would disagree with me, but try taking an Advil (or Tylenol) PM. You won't turn into an addicted fiend or anything like that... When I *REALLY* need to sleep I take one Advil PM. It is a half dose and it does the trick for me... Try to reserve it for nights when you can get at leats 7 hours dedicated to sleep. believe it or not, tylenol PM has never worked for me. i don't know why but it just hasn't put me to sleep. but thanks for the suggestion :)

Sleep is one of the most important thing in life. It has an effect on your health, your job, your fitness, your marriage, your personality....yes. unfortunately, yes. it's the human reset button and mine hasn't been pushed in a while. thankfully, hell week has just ended for me. :claphigh:

i've been slow on posting this week because of the kaizen event that i was talking about earlier. i still feel like its a scam but at the same time, i can't help but think that we got a lot accomplished by the end of the week. it's like going to the gym- you start out a fat ass and go for a few days and work hard but don't see any results. but you keep pushing on and you don't let up because you feel like there is hope to make a difference and by the end of it, you've accomplished more than you thought you would. anyway, i'm going to finally get to the gym today since i couldn't get there yesterday due to the 10" of snow we got last night. getting home from work at 8pm didn't help either.

its been a while since i've posted anywhere in the forums. unfortunately it's because my mom is dying. the doctors have estimated she has 1-8 weeks left to live so obviously anything not related to her has taken a back seat in my life - including my fitness goals. thankfully i have a great support system between my fiancee, my family, my friends, and even my coworkers. everyone has been very helpful, supportive, compassionate, and accommodating and i couldn't ask for more. so now is a very tough time for me and while i'm going to try my best to continue going to the gym and eating right, i'm not going to beat myself up for eating crappy or missing work outs.

anyway, now that that's out of the way, i did manage to get a work out in today. my friend had me over at his gym where it costs $75/mo!! to work out for the day. the guy at the counter was nice enough to let me work out there on the 1 day pass that he said i could use while i'm in NY as much as i want as long as he is working. today we did a shoulder workout since i told him i'd do whatever it was he was doing. i like doing other people's workouts when i get the chance, it's always interesting learning new things:

Military press:
45lbs x 12reps
50x10
55x8

Side raises - these were done in different form from what i usually do so i really couldn't do more than 15lbs:
15x12
15x10
15x8

Cable upright 1 arm rear lateral raise:
10x12
15x10
20x8

Cable 1 arm lateral raise:
10x12
15x10
20x8

Upright rows:
40x12
50x10
60x8

i don't know what these next few "core" exercises are called:

hold yourself in pushup position but on your elbows while clenching abs for 60 seconds
hold yourself on 1 elbow on your side for 60 seconds
repeat on other side

put elbows on exercise ball and keep body straight with knees off the ground while you roll the ball forward keeping your abs tight and pull it back when your elbows reach your head.

Jump rope:
1 min x 5 reps

the work out was cool, it was different. i didn't go heavy on a lot of the exercises because i've never done them before. i should have gone a lot heavier on the upright rows, but again, i've never really done them before so i didn't know. the cable lateral raises were a first for me and so were those core exercises. apparently i'm getting a strong core from all of the squatting & dead lifting i'm doing, at least that's where i'm guessing its coming from. it was a good, but LONG work out clocking in at around 1.5 hrs. i enjoyed myself.

wow, it's late. time for bed.

Rise,
Sorry to hear about your mom, that is really sad. I hope she has more time then the doctors think.

That is a good attitude in the gym, to try what other people are doing, a good way to learn, as well as get confortable with machines / equipment that you might not be familiar with.

Rise,
Sorry to hear about your mom, that is really sad. I hope she has more time then the doctors think.

That is a good attitude in the gym, to try what other people are doing, a good way to learn, as well as get confortable with machines / equipment that you might not be familiar with.

Thank you, Shamie, I wish the same. Unfortunately my dad informed me that the doctors are now estimating 48 hours to a couple of weeks. It won't be a fun christmas this year, that is for sure. all i can do is hope & pray.

Today has been a rough day for me outside of the gym, but it really made me push myself inside the gym. I was glad to have my friend there with me today to also push me a bit, not to mention I needed the support. today was squat day:

Squats:
warmup @ 95lbs
155lbs x 10 reps
175x10
185x10
205x10

Back raises/Knee Raises supersets
35x12
20
35x15
20
35x15
20

Step ups/Calf raises supersets:
20x20
240x15
----- stopped

i stopped because my tooth was throbbing like a bastard. i have a root canal scheduled for tomorrow @ 12 because of an abscess over a tooth where i had previously had a root canal. i felt the abscess actually start popping out of my gum a bit when it was throbbing so i thought it was probably a good idea to stop at that point. on the plus side, my squats were great, and my legs are dead now. i might have to try some of that glutamine i read merk & maya talking about some time ago. i'm guessing i can get it at GNC so i'll try to pick some up after the root canal. i actually can't wait for the root canal, the tooth is killing me.

i'm gonna go clean and pray for my mom. i wish there was more i could do for her. this fucking sucks.

Thoughts and prayers coming your way. Stay strong for your family.:nod:

Thoughts and prayers coming your way. Stay strong for your family.:nod:

Thanks, Carguy. I will try.

Mom passed away this morning at around 3am. I'm heading down to NY to be with my family and I will try to stay strong. I'm going to bring my running shoes and start running this week to hopefully clear my head a bit, i don't think there will be much weight training during this time.

Rise,
My condolences for your loss. I have also lost my mom, tomorrow would have been her birthday. Life is unfair, judging by your age, you mom must have been pretty young.

Deepest sympathy, Rise. If it's any consolation, people who don't even know you have you and your family in their prayers. God Bless.

Well, things have calmed down a little bit. The past few weeks have been pretty hard on me and I've finally gotten home and spent some time taking care of things around the house. We had company over the past few days as well, but things are finally getting back to "normal." My diet has been piss poor the past few weeks but to be honest, I didn't care and I still don't. Anyway, now that I've gotten eating crap out of my system, I'm going to be getting back into the swing of things. This is probably my longest break from the gym since I've started again, I think its been about 2 weeks.

I don't even know where to start at the gym. I know that the next few workouts are going to suck in terms of soreness. oh well, you have to start somewhere, right?

also, thanks to you guys who have given me some support through these rough times, I really do appreciate your kind words.

Today was my first day back at the gym and I decided I was just going to take it a bit easy. I did a good amount of exercises but I wasn't feeling 100% thanks to a stomach ache and probably a bit from my over-indulging on new years eve. So anyway, this is what I ended up doing:

DB bench press:
warm up @ 90lbs
10reps x 110lbs
10x120
10x130

Seated cable rows:
10x105
10x120
10x135

Dips:
10xbw
10xbw
10xbw

Pullups:
10xbw

Treadmill (LISS):
5 min, 2 min walk, 7 min, 2 minute walk

As you can see, its a bit of a pathetic work out but my arms feel dead so I think it was a halfway decent welcome back workout with the stomach ache. No excuses though, I need to step up the intensity for my next workout. I want to look into some programs where I can go to the gym a bit more often to get more cardio in. I've neglected my cardio since I've started lifting weights 8 months ago and its time to get my butt in gear.

I'm not one for new years resolutions, but after seeing my mom pass away this christmas holiday I've decided that maybe I could change myself for the better because she was such a good person and so many people truly loved and admired her. The physical transformation is a good one but I think its time I work on my personality a bit. I'm arrogant and I curse unnecessarily and I want to change that. There are other things but those are the first 2 that come to mind... maybe I'll list more as I think of them.

For anyone who may happen to read this, I just wanted to leave something my mom wrote in her journal in her last week that has really left an impression on me and brings me to tears if I think about it too much: "I may live and I may die, but each day is precious and is to be enjoyed." it has really become a part of my personal view towards my life as I now realize how precious the time spent with the people I love really is.

Wow, it's been a while since I've made a journal entry. I worked out yesterday for the first time in 2 weeks since my last work out - which was also my first time back in a long time. after my workout on jan 2nd, I was having chest pains and went to the doctor to check them out. She thought that I might have a "touch" of pneumonia so right away, I stopped exercising for a bit. I did some reading on pneumonia and it's one of those illnesses that you don't want to mess around with... because it can kill you.

anyway, I took some chest x-rays and got the results back yesterday and nothing showed up. So I decided it was time to get back to the gym because I've really been going nuts without it. I did shoulders & arms to kind of ease my way back into my routine and I had planned on going easy. Well after the first set at 1/2 my normal lifting weight I decided I wanted to get a real work out and I ended up doing some decent weight and it felt GREAT.

On the plus side, I kept my diet in check the entire time I wasn't lifting which I believe helped me keep my strength. Now I'm back in my rhythm and I'm going to get into my slow cut for the wedding. Oh, and we booked our honeymoon! We're heading to the Mexican riviera staying at the Aventura Spa Palace (all inclusive!!). Apparently what you want to do is book this type of trip with a travel agent rather than doing it online and trying to find the best price online. This seemed counter-intuitive to me but after seeing the difference... I don't know if i'll ever book a vacation without a travel agent again! We were originally looking at the same place, all inclusive excluding flight, and it was going to cost us $3k/person for 5 nights! That was out of our budget but after talking to a travel agent, he is getting us 7 nights @ $1299/person!! how is that possible?! it's cheaper than most hotels regular rates non-inclusive!! so yeah, i'm psyched for this trip, I can't wait.

Ok, so onto what my workout was last night:

Military press:
warmup @ 30lbs
10x35
10x40
10x50

Ez bar Curls:
10x50
10x50
10x50

Skull Crushers
10x50, 10 bb presses
10x60, 10 bb presses
10x60, 10 bb presses

1-arm Cable Raises:
10x15
10x15
10x20

1x MUSCLE UP!!

7 or 8 pull ups

i did a muscle up! i think my goal said 10 muscle ups in a row... which means i have 9 to go. that will be difficult, but hey, the hard part is over! i also tried an overhead squat and man, that is a hard workout after doing military presses not to mention its awkward to balance. then i tried a pistol squat on each leg and i can keep the balance but if i go down all the way, i can't get up. oh well, i'll work on that one - i think i'm going to add 10x pistols to my goals list too.

today i'll try and get a good cutting nutrition plan down, i'll post it later for criticism. I really don't want to lose much muscle in the process so we'll see what I can do.

well i was going to go to the gym yesterday just to do some cardio... until my fiancee brought home chinese food and that was the end of that. it was "healthy" chinese food but it still ended up giving me a stomach ache and i just wasn't willing to run on a tread mill for a half hour feeling that way. so i'm going to do my cardio after my workout tonight.

does it even matter when you do your cardio? like is it best to do it on off-lifting days or is it better to stack them onto them?

Yesterday's workout:

Romanian Deads:
warm up @ 135
10x155
10x175
10x185

Bulgarian split squats:
10x65 (each leg)
10x65

Sitting back extension machine:
10x100
10x120
10x150

Hamstring curls:
10x50
10x60
10x70

Run:
2 min walk
10 min run @ 5.5
5 min run @ 6.5
3 min walk

yesterday's work out felt great and doing cardio for pretty much the first time where i ran more than 5 minutes since i've started in april. i felt great and although i could have deadlifted more, i'm kind of glad i laid off a bit since its been a few weeks. i'll be back at 200+ next week i'm sure.

i whacked my elbow badly last night, it kind of feels like i hurt the tendon or something... sucks. hopefully it won't affect my lifts.

so today i decided i'm tired of doing every other day at the gym. i'm going to do a lot more of every day at the gym and work through the DOMS. i suppose at this point its more like IMS - instant muscle soreness. anyway, lets get to the work out!

from crossfit.com
run 800m (1/2 mile)
50 back extensions
50 situps
3 sets

first set:
800m in 4.5 minutes
30 back extensions
50 situps

second set:
800m in 4.5 minutes
25 oblique extensions, each side (50)
30 situps, 20 crunches

third set:
800m in 4 minutes
25 oblique extensions, each side (50)
50 crunches

the reason i couldn't do back extensions was because yesterday i did dead lifts for the first time in about a month. while they felt good, the back extensions the next day was a bit too soon for my back since it wasn't recovered yet. so i sub'd in obliques since those muscles weren't dead already. all in all, it was a tough work out and very different from what i've been doing. it feels great to get cardio back in the program and i think it will go a long way towards cutting down to <10% bf.

Next, my diet for today:
6:30AM meal 1: raisin bran, 1% milk, 6oz. OJ, multivitamin
9:00AM meal 2: >1cup oatmeal, ~1oz(?) raisins, green tea
12:00PM meal 3: turkey burger w/ lettuce & tomato, blueberry yogurt
4:30PM meal 4: 1 serving whole grain gold fish, vanilla yogurt
7:00PM meal 5: 1 large chicken breast, broccoli, garlic & herb rice
9:30PM meal 6: protein shake

diet conclusions: first off, I ate too much. not too many meals, just my portions were definitely too big. I think I have to cut down on pretty much all of them, with the exception being the protein shake. next, meal 3 & 4 spacing wasn't ideal which threw off 4 & 5's spacing as well. next, I think that I'm doing myself a disservice when I eat something like gold fish & yogurt together - the fat & carbs seems to be overkill in 1 meal. meal 5 was WAY too big, I didn't think it was that big but I believe that's a direct result of bulking for months and months. I will be sure to cut those portions down by maybe 20-30%.

that's all i got for now. i'll be posting my progress pics @ the end of january. I plan on going to the gym 6-7 days a week until that time, schedule permitting. KICK ASS!!! :flex:

I took it easy over the weekend. I ate well, but I kept a lot of my physical activity to a minimum for saturday because my legs were hurting so badly - specifically my left side of my left knee (tendons?). No big deal, I was nice and active on Sunday and had an insane work out yesterday. My new routine is using the crossfit.com workout of the day (WOD):

Perform as many sets as you can in 20 minutes:
5 hand stand push ups (hspu's)
10 L-shaped pullups
15 walking lunges

My results: 7 full sets
The first 2 sets were great and I made all my numbers. the 3rd set I was no longer able to do L pullups so they became "knee up" pull ups. The 4th set the pull ups became normal pull ups. The 5th set became kipping pull ups. The 6th set consisted of jumping pull ups, and finally, the 7th set consisted solely of negatives. The hspu's & lungers were not a problem for me through the 7 sets. All of my hspu's were good form and my head touched the mat. I performed them in a squat rack (don't worry all you squatters! there were squat racks to spare) with my ankles against a bar. The lunges were also not a problem being at bw.

My heart was POUNDING by the end of that workout! Actually I felt sick at about the 3rd set and was worried that I wouldn't go any further. I didn't think i would get past 5 so I am very happy to have made it to 7, albeit with a little bit of cheating on the pull ups :D

fun work out but when I say it was tough, that's not an over statement. I had to sit down for 10 minutes before i could leave the gym because i was so dizzy. driving home was actually a bit scary and i was still pretty out of breath by the time i got home. needless to say, i didn't do any cardio last night although i had planned on it.

my diet has been pretty similar to my previous post, minus 1 muffin that I ate yesterday which i won't be doing again. I have an Odwalla bar with me instead for that after lunch urge. I may have to substitute my green tea today with coffee as well since i'm sooooooo damn tired.

Back in the early fall, I think, one day per week I did a similar timed workout where I tried to do as many sets of exercises in a specific time. It was a nice change, both mentally and physically, but also a very tiring.

I'm keeping it in my bag of tricks to pull out one day.

Back in the early fall, I think, one day per week I did a similar timed workout where I tried to do as many sets of exercises in a specific time. It was a nice change, both mentally and physically, but also a very tiring.

I'm keeping it in my bag of tricks to pull out one day.

it's definitely fun. i'm doing it now as my "routine" and i may keep it up indefinitely if it keeps my body guessing, which it seems to be doing. it's a lot more fun than a traditional workout to me and as long as crossfit.com keeps posting them up, i'll keep doing them!

Yesterday's workout was somewhat interesting. it reminded me of track practice in high school - although a little less intense. still, it was enjoyable and I was able to add some traditional exercises to it as well since I was feeling pretty good. the workout:

Light chest exercises (bench, flies) for stretching purposes more than anything.

30 bw dips

Run 400m (1/4 mile) with a 2 minute rest between each for time.
1:21
2m rest
1:36
2m rest
1:45
2m rest
1:30
total = 12:12

the reason i did the light chest exercises was because when i got to the gym, every single treadmill was taken! can you believe that?? my gym must have 30 treadmills. and i had planned on doing dips, but i was going to do them after the 400m runs. but no big deal, after the chest stretching & dips I headed back upstairs and got a treadmill. I was suprised that I had to run them so slow. Back when I ran track, 75 seconds was an easy run for me for the 400m race and I could run it in 60s in competition (not great competition-wise, but pretty good overall). so needless to say, i was a bit dissapointed when i was winded beyond belief after my first run @ 81s. when I only ran 80s at track practice, I got :spank: for slacking off. oh well, I have to remember how long its been since I've ran at all, let alone for good time. I have no doubt that I'll improve as time goes on.

my diet yesterday was a bit more of a refeed than a cut because I had felt a bit weak from eating so much less than usual. I decided to go heavy on protein and i think it helped. Throughout the day I had eggs, milk, chicken breast, protein bar (odwalla), and 96/4 lean ground meat home made 1/2lb hamburger on whole wheat bun :) the hamburger was a bit much, but it served its purpose. I feel great today and that's good because I have my first volleyball game tonight. I joined a league with a friend and hopefully its fun!

back to work!

Rise, I just finished going through the previous posts in your journal to catch up and I want to extend my very belated condolences to you and your family. Losing a parent is very difficult and having lost my mother when I was 28 and my father just shy of a year ago I can empathize. I hope all concerned are dealing as well as can be with this traumatic event. From what you wrote she was a fine person and her journal words are certainly ones that everyone should heed.


On a lighter note, don't be too discouraged about your 400 times. As you wrote it's been a while since you ran so it would be unreasonable to think that you could approach your performance when you were regularly training. To put it in perspective, the fact that you didn't meet your earlier standards validates that all your training did have a positive impact; if that weren't so you would just be able to lace up and do it now and would indicate that your hard work was for naught.

Thanks, Paul. It hasn't gotten any easier and after speaking with a lot of people about it, I don't expect it to. But I'm doing what she asked me to do which is to be happy and healthy and that's the least I can do for her. The way I look at it, every step I take in the right direction is a step that honors her. This works out well considering there are a lot of steps in each mile I run! :nod:

Rise

You've been very strong emotionally through this difficult period and it appears from my point of view that you have handled it in a positive way. I can't tell you how many times I've fallen on hard times after family tragedy hits.

Rise

You've been very strong emotionally through this difficult period and it appears from my point of view that you have handled it in a positive way. I can't tell you how many times I've fallen on hard times after family tragedy hits.

Thanks SpecialK, I'm doing my best since there's not much else I can do. But I should point out I haven't done it alone - I have a great support group from friends and family, and even here for that matter. That is what makes things bearable, knowing that so many people are there for me if I ever need it.

Yesterday I went to the gym, but not my regular gym. I went to this place called the Mercy Centre and I played in my first game of volleyball! There appears to be anywhere from 5-6 players on a team and we play in what looks to be like a elementary school gymnasium. It was a lot of fun though, I haven't played volleyball in yeeeeeears (and it showed in the first game).

We lost 2-1 for the set but it wasn't all bad news. The first game we were down 2-11 and we came back to lose at 12-15. That was just our warm up though and everyone on both sides had their mistakes. The first time I served I didn't remember how hard I had to hit the ball and it flew over the other team bouncing off the high wall behind them (and on the upper portion of it :lol:). There were a lot of just unattempted plays because of confusion of who should go for what in what position as well. So more than anything it was like a learning game...

The second game we lost we lost 14-16 (you have to win by 2) and that game was a lot tougher for the other team and I think they got lucky with a couple of calls from the ref who called a couple of their out-of-bounds balls fair. But that's OK because he ended up doing that for us once or twice as well, so atleast he's consistent. This game we got our groove back but one guy on the other team just managed to go on a serving streak where we just couldn't return it back to them for some reason.

The last game, we blew them outta the water winning 15-5. I had a nice block against a kids spike that he wasn't expecting to happen. Thanks to all those squats I seem to be able to jump higher than ever! :jumping: all in all, it was a lot of fun to play and more importantly, it was fun to meet some more new people. I dont know if i've ever mentioned this on the forums but I'm still pretty new to MA and only have a couple of friends here so far. It's amazing how hard it seems to be to make friends after college. But, I'm doing a pretty good job now and I'm pretty happy :)

I'm going to sneak a work out in today before I drive back home to NY. I'm going to hang out with my pops for a while this weekend and go to a couple of parties. I don't intend on drinking anything so my SJC should be well in reach!

Do you get a good cardio workout from the volleyball? What was the timeframe of the games. I was thinking of joining a similiar league here.

Do you get a good cardio workout from the volleyball? What was the timeframe of the games. I was thinking of joining a similiar league here.
to be honest, my heart rate wasn't all that high. its more of a light activity if you ask me, considering I was never once out of breath. I think more than anything it's good for keeping you loose because other than exercising at the gym I haven't been getting much activity in. Sitting around all day makes everything tighten up and volleyball definitely seemed to counter that. occasionally you do a 5 step sprint from one spot to another or jump as high as you can to spike or block a spike... but again, they are generally to spread out to really get your cardio going.

for cardio i'd say basketball, soccer, or hockey leagues are the way to go. though volleyball does help your coordination.

Thanks, Paul. It hasn't gotten any easier and after speaking with a lot of people about it, I don't expect it to. But I'm doing what she asked me to do which is to be happy and healthy and that's the least I can do for her. The way I look at it, every step I take in the right direction is a step that honors her. This works out well considering there are a lot of steps in each mile I run! :nod:

I think you're doing a great job and are focusing on the right things. Many would have fallen completely apart in every aspect of their lives.

I'm sorry to read that it hasn't gotten any easier, but that's to be expected since it's been such a short amount of time. I can tell you from experience that it will become easier, not easy necessarily, but easier as time passes. For now you're at the very beginning of the healing process.

Have a good time back home this weekend; I'm sure it will be nice to see your father and old friends.

I got a lot to talk about for this post! I guess I'll start where I left off - Friday! Friday was an interesting day. I decided I was going to head down to NY at around 6, 6:30 but I wanted to get a workout in still. So I ended up squeezing a run over to the gym at 4:30 and I got home by 5:30. I did one of the craziest workouts I've ever done on Friday, it was straight from crossfit.com. Here was the workout:

3 sets of:
50 squats
7 muscle ups (1 muscle up sub = 3 or 4 pullups & 3 or 4 dips)
10 cleans @ 135lbs.

1st set:
50 squats
2 muscle ups, 20 pull ups, 20 dips
10 cleans @ 95lbs.

2nd set:
50 squats
3 muscle ups, 16 pull ups, 16 dips
10 cleans @ 105lbs.

3rd set:
50 squats
2 muscle ups, 15 pull ups, 15 dips
10 cleans @ 105lbs.

wow! first of all, a work out with muscle ups is just awesome. A couple of weeks ago, I had done my first muscle up and so I was very excited to see just how many I could do now. I'm still a good ways off from 3 sets of 7, but I'm definitely inching closer to that. Also, they perform their muscle ups on rings which after watching the video, I can almost guarantee is easier than doing them on a straight bar because you can change your grip with no effort. So all in all, I was very happy with the amount I was able to do... I went from 1 to 7 :)

The next thing for me to mention is the fact that this is the first time I've ever done a clean. What an awesome exercise that is! I couldn't believe how much of a workout that it really was even at 95lbs. We put the Rx'd amount on the bar and it was like... uhh... no that's not gonna happen. So we started off with 25s which was the perfect weight for me to learn the form with. I got the hang of it really quickly and by the 2nd set I could bang out all 10 in no time at all. I couldn't believe how tired my grip was more than anything! Also, I looked ripped while performing the actual lift which was cool :flex: I definitely want to do the clean more often. I can't even imagine doing the snatch at this point, but I plan to try that soon too.

After the work out, I headed down to NY and I want to point out that my diet was extremely clean up until saturday afternoon. I couldn't help but eat 3 slices of pizza in 1 sitting (so much for that cut!) and it was totally worth it! I did manage to avoid having any bagels though which was pretty impressive. And lastly I had sushi, but that wasn't too bad with the exception of all the white rice that comes with it. The rest of the trip to NY was pretty good, except for right before I left. We grabbed some pictures of my mom before I left from the poster boards we put together for the wake and I totally lost it for a good few minutes there. It's amazing what looking at pictures can do to you- I was both so happy and so sad at the same time and that just spells disaster emotionally. Anyway, I won't bore anyone with the details, after that we headed back up to MA and relaxed for the rest of the night. Today's workout should be interesting and I'm looking forward to it!

I love this crossfit.com stuff. I've been following it going on my 2nd week now with my friend and we've been upping the amount of times we work out thanks to this website. Yesterday was the first workout for this week and it was FUN. I really do enjoy the workouts which is awesome since just weight lifting can get dull after a while. I'd really have to recommend this to other people and I think this is one of those programs that really increases your functional strength. So much of it is body weight exercises and it's amazing how much progress I've seen on the short time that i've been doing this. so this was the work out of the day (WOD) yesterday:

"Cindy"
5 Pull ups (they don't care if they are regular or kipping)
10 push ups
15 squats

Or "Mary"
5 hand stand push ups
10 single leg squats (alternating)
15 pull ups

As many rounds as you can do in 20 minutes.

I did 15 rounds of "Cindy" as Rx'd in 20 minutes, no cheating on any rep. so that means I did:
75 pull ups
150 push ups
225 squats
in 20 minutes.

Truth be told, I probably could have made it to 17 sets but the last 5 minutes I took my time since my original goal was 10 sets and I was already at 13. Now that I think back on it, I kind of wish I pushed it a bit further, but I'll be sure to do that next go around. Either way, the work out was intense and a lot of fun. Also, 75 pull ups beat my previous best amount of pull ups in a day by 25 pull ups! I was very very winded after 20 minutes and it took me some time to recover. I can't wait for today's workout! :)

i'm in a pretty miserable mood today thanks to a 2 hour sitting at the dentist to do a crown on my front tooth that i crack when i ran into a van 10 years ago. so this post will probably be pretty short. WOD:

"Grace"
135 pound Clean and Jerk, 30 reps
Use 95 pounds, 65 pounds or broomstick as needed and post time and load to comments.

Grace:
95lbs x10
2 mins rest
95lbs x10
2 mins rest
95lbs x7
1 min rest
95lbs x3
~8-9 minutes of time.

115lbs x1 to see how it felt.

This workout was a first for me so I didn't go for the full 135lbs as Rx'd. I've only done hang cleans before and never done jerks. I'm glad I didn't go the whole weight because my shoulder started to hurt towards the last few reps. I'm sure my form sucked ass and I don't really know how to improve it just yet, besides more practice. My jerks were pathetic, I pressed the weight more than anything which wore me out quick. My legs were sore from the day before so I had shitty momentum and aggression. I enjoyed the movement but I wish I could have performed better, I was pretty disappointed in myself.

Today looks to be a crappy day for me and I feel like I should just go to sleep now and wait for tomorrow.

yesterday was a rest day which was nice - especially since my shoulder has been bothering me since I did those clean & jerks. I'm looking at today's WOD which is:

Three rounds for time of:
225 Deadlift, 15 reps
15 Handstand push-ups
15 Pull-ups
95 pound Thruster, 15 reps

and I'm wondering what I should do. I'm not tired, but my shoulder is still a bit sore and I have volleyball tonight. I don't want to aggravate my shoulder and I'd be pretty pissed off if I hurt myself before my volleyball game especially since we are already down a team member. But this workout looks fun and yesterday was a rest day... ugh I don't know. I'll see how I feel when I get out of work I guess.

BREAKFAST TIME!! :eat:

After looking at my stats I realized I should update my weight. I've lost 7 lbs since mid-December which puts me at 150lbs currently and its funny because I didn't realize how much I actually had to cut. I think I might have another 5lbs to cut before I even get into the sub 10% bf range and that kind of scares me. I know you shouldn't dwell on the number that is your weight but I always liked weighing more than 150 just because its implies that I'm not quite such an ectomorphic bastard. But apparently I am indeed, an E.B.

However, there is a solution to this, of course. I need to get back to bulking once the wedding is over and I've decided I'm going to do this differently than I have in the past. The numbers really shouldn't matter to me, but I do have an overall goal of 160lbs that I would love to achieve. I think that I would look best at that weight (of mostly LBM) and I hope to get there some day. I am not going to rush it and I will aim to add 0.5-2lbs of LBM, not fat, every month. I think that could be an achievable goal for me and I don't care if it takes me 2 years to get from where ever I end up cutting to up to 160lbs. As it turns out, I'm most definitely a hard gainer and I'm most definitely skinny fat at the same time. After the wedding I may even start a new journal to chronicle this quest to 160.

I can do whatever the f*ck I want with my body and I'll prove it. Just you wait... about 2 years :lol:

Rise

What do the names represent on your workouts.

"Grace"

"Cindy"

"Mary"

Rest that shoulder a bit. You might want to think about a rotator cuff ex. like Cuban Presses before performing cleans again.

Rise

What do the names represent on your workouts.

"Grace"

"Cindy"

"Mary"

Rest that shoulder a bit. You might want to think about a rotator cuff ex. like Cuban Presses before performing cleans again.

I have no idea why they are named like that, all I could find on the crossfit website was this: http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/faq.html#WOD0

What is a cuban press?

Thanks for the clarification

About halfway down the page is an explanation of a Cuban Press (http://www.secondfleet.navy.mil/files/Navy%20Fitness/Beyond%2024%20Weeks%20CD/strength/strength.html)

Thanks for the clarification

About halfway down the page is an explanation of a Cuban Press (http://www.secondfleet.navy.mil/files/Navy%20Fitness/Beyond%2024%20Weeks%20CD/strength/strength.html)

sweet! that should help the shoulders a lot actually. It's funny how such a seemingly obvious exercise would never have dawned on me. Thanks! :tucool:

Time for volleyball!

How does the Cuban differ from a Clean And Press?

How does the Cuban differ from a Clean And Press?
I searched for some videos of it on youtube and there seems to be 2 main differences. 1st, the speed is definitely different, the cuban is seems to be a very slow, controlled movement. 2nd, the range of motion is a bit different. Basically, if you were to watch someone doing it from the side, it would look as though they were doing the robot - using a wide grip and rotating the bar from against their upper abdomen to shoulder height keeping their upper arms in the same location up to that point. You end up looking like you are in the pushup position while standing up with a bar in your hands. then your arms rotate the bar in to just under your chin which forces you to drop your elbows in the process where you end up in the final clean position. then you just do a regular press. also, you can't really do much weight because of the extension of the bar and the slow movement.

I'ma have to start on that cuban press myself. Looks nifty.

my shoulder is really aggravated today. I never thought volleyball would aggravate it but I'm really annoyed. I want to do the 2 girls, 1 bucket* WOD from yesterday, but I don't think that's going to happen. So looking at today's WOD, which is run 10k - I may aim to do something more along the lines of that... and couple it with the Cuban press that SpecialK suggested. Although I'm pretty sure I couldn't run 10k yet, I may go for a 5k. I still have a few hours to decide!

It's called 2 girls 1 bucket because its a combination of 2 girl's workouts (Dianne & Fran) and by the end of the work out, you are likely to puke. It's also a pun on 2 girls, 1 cup, of course.

i had 3 brownies last night and woke up with a brownie hangover. that is all.

i don't feel like being lazy all day for superbowl sunday. so I'm gonna head to the gym and run on the treadmill for a bit (my shoulder is still sore) and see how I feel after that. Then i'm lucky enough to do all sorts of house work! hooray!

Well, i ran my first 5k in 30 mins. I haven't ran a 5k since high school which I graduated from uh... almost 8 years ago. I also did 20 pullups right before running just to warm my body up a bit. i'm pretty happy with the time to be honest - i was more concerned with getting the distance down than the time. i started at a 10min/mile pace and upped it to about 8min/mile and at some point I had to walk for about a minute or two after running at the 8min/mile pace for a while. so I am getting the endurance part down finally and I'll start working on running distances more often. I have a long way to go to reach my 5k time goal though, but we'll see what happens! I can't wait til it warms up a bit more and I can run outside.

After the run, I came home and decided to break a pallet up that my snowblower got delivered on. this was a lot more work than I realized it would be but its done and now i have free fire wood for the fire place. i'm going to try my hand at starting a fire tonight although I'm really not so great at getting it going despite my pyromaniac ways. One more thing to learn, i guess.

man i'm wiped. gonna go get ready to watch the game, should be a good one! patriots vs my old NY giants... (i'm from NY originally).

Go Giants! Now that my Colts are out, I'm rooting for little brother. Plus, any time I can root against the evil New England Patriots is great.

Rise, you had a lot more energy than I did today. My wife was busy until 3 pm today and I had all day I could have gone to the gym and I didn't. Good for you. 5K run even. Woot.:tu: Now I'm just going to eat football food that isn't good for me. Glad SuperBowl Sunday is only one day per year.:lol:

Go Giants! Now that my Colts are out, I'm rooting for little brother. Plus, any time I can root against the evil New England Patriots is great. Carguy, it looks like you got your wish! it was a good game for sure, a cliff hanger 'til the end.

Rise, you had a lot more energy than I did today. My wife was busy until 3 pm today and I had all day I could have gone to the gym and I didn't. Good for you. 5K run even. Woot.:tu: Now I'm just going to eat football food that isn't good for me. Glad SuperBowl Sunday is only one day per year.:lol:haha, everyone deserves a day to indulge, i hope you enjoyed it! :eat:

The past couple of days were pretty busy for me, too busy to make time to write a journal entry. Thanks to 2 days of internal auditor training (*literally* the most boring subject of all time). Finally, 2 & 1/2 days later I have a few minutes to myself! I didn't work out yesterday since I was so tied up, but I did get a workout in on Monday. So on Monday, I did a "Tabata" workout which is hellish. Here is Monday's WOD:

Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.

This ends up looking like this:
20s pullups, 10s rest
20s pullups, 10s rest
20s pullups, 10s rest
20s pullups, 10s rest
20s pullups, 10s rest
20s pullups, 10s rest
20s pullups, 10s rest
20s pullups, 10s rest
20s pushups, 10s rest
20s pushups, 10s rest
20s pushups, 10s rest
20s pushups, 10s rest
20s pushups, 10s rest
20s pushups, 10s rest
20s pushups, 10s rest
20s pushups, 10s rest
20s situps, 10s rest
20s situps, 10s rest
20s situps, 10s rest
20s situps, 10s rest
20s situps, 10s rest
20s situps, 10s rest
20s situps, 10s rest
20s situps, 10s rest
20s squats, 10s rest
20s squats, 10s rest
20s squats, 10s rest
20s squats, 10s rest
20s squats, 10s rest
20s squats, 10s rest
20s squats, 10s rest
20s squats, 10s rest

This makes for a very difficult workout since there is barely any rest between "sets" and each muscle group is worked out in a row instead of alternating. So basically what happens is, you do 2 sets of pullups and you're spent for the next 6 sets. I was able to make it to about 3 or 4 sets of pushups before I was outta gas. I did all the situps & squats "no problem" but was quite sore after. So needless to say, this was a tough workout for sure. But I feel like I would have gotten more from an alternating exercise version of this. Then again, this kept my body guessing which I think is a good thing.

I didn't work out yesterday and I used it as a rest day so I could get stuff done. I plan on going tonight and tomorrow is volleyball so I'll be doing that instead of working out tomorrow. My food schedule got a bit messed up thanks to the ridiculous amount of meetings where people believe you should eat every 6 hours only which kills me since my company is on this "live well" kick. I made the best of it though and brought some food in when I could, ate breakfast before leaving for work, etc.

It's nice to have your own house but it really sucks to have to clean it. I've been cleaning for what feels like days so that when Jenn's (my fiancee) friends come over tonight to stay the weekend, they aren't staying in a pig sty. It's funny, even though we have a guest room, once we have more than one guest we run back into the same problem of not really enough space for everyone to stay! amazing how that works. luckily we have 2 air mattresses to set up if we have to and one of which will be going into my office for one of her friends to stay (which is how I spent my time yesterday, cleaning).

What's my point? I didn't really have time to get to the gym the past 2 days. I'm a little upset over it but I'm actually a bit happy at the same time because 1. I got a much needed extra day of rest and 2. now I can line my schedule up with Crossfit's WOD! I was always doing their WODs a day or two behind and since yesterday was a rest day for them, I'm going to jump right into their regular schedule. I am looking forward to it because I think its the next step for me - instead of doing their workouts at random, follow their prescribed routines and I think I'll get more benefits because of this. I read up on why they do what they do and it makes sense, so I want to get more aligned with what they are doing now.

So yesterday was volleyball, and my whole team showed up this time which meant I didn't have to run around so much. There was a twist to tonight's game though - my boss' girlfriend was playing for the other team! I kept having "Meet the Parents" flashbacks when Ben Stiller spikes the ball into a girl's face breaking her nose. I had to make sure I didn't hit the ball hard towards her :nono: but they just weren't that good and we won the match fairly easily. unfortunately, I was kind of hoping to get some cardio in but I don't think I really got my heart pumping at any time during the entire match.

anyway, here is today's mess of a workout:

For time:
25 Walking lunge steps
20 Pull-ups
50 Box jumps, 20 inch box
20 Double-unders
25 Ring dips (sub = 3 regular dips per ring dip = 75 dips)
20 Knees to elbows
30 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood
30 Sit-ups
20 Hang squat cleans, 35 pound dumbells
25 Back extensions
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball (sub 40lb thrusters)
3 Rope climb ascents (sub = 15 pullups per ascent)

my ass is going to be dragging by the end of this one. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

well, a lot to update about today. this post will have some good, some bad, and unfortunately some ugly. I guess I'll start off with what I did on Friday since I never reposted after that workout that I listed. Just so you know, we are starting off with the bad.

The WOD:
25 Walking lunge steps -completed-
20 Pull-ups -completed-
50 Box jumps, 20 inch box -completed-
20 Double-unders -completed-
25 Ring dips (sub = 3 regular dips per ring dip = 75 dips) -completed-
20 Knees to elbows -completed-
30 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood (sub'd with 1 pood) -completed-
30 Sit-ups -completed-
20 Hang squat cleans, 35 pound dumbells -wussed out-
25 Back extensions -completed-
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball (sub 40lb thrusters) -wussed out-
3 Rope climb ascents (sub = 15 pullups per ascent) -wussed out-

so this was the bad. I didn't complete everything that I wanted to and not because I didn't want to... because I did. I just couldn't. I was so dizzy that I thought I was going to faint and I had to sit down for about 15 minutes just so I could leave the gym and not worry about crashing into something on the drive home. It wasn't a good feeling, that's for sure. But overall I guess the workout wasn't bad - it definitely did what it was supposed to do which was to work me out and wear me out. Out of those workouts it was the first time I have ever done box jumps, double unders, knees to elbows, kettle bell swings, hang clean squats and wall ball shots (as well as the sub, thrusters). It was still fun, but I just couldn't hang with the big guys on that one. Somewhat disappointing I guess, but I'll be able to make it through it the next time I try it for sure. I could not believe how tiring 50 box jumps were to do. that was insane-o.

Alrighty, I'm out of time at the moment so I'll have to post Saturday's update later. this week is a busy work week for me apparently.

I'm worn out out just reading that workout. Those are some brutal combinations.

I'm worn out out just reading that workout. Those are some brutal combinations.

man, you got that right. I suppose it's not as bad as the filthy fifty (http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_PittFilthyFifty.mov) but I'd say its a close 2nd.

So yesterday was volleyball, and my whole team showed up this time which meant I didn't have to run around so much. There was a twist to tonight's game though - my boss' girlfriend was playing for the other team! I kept having "Meet the Parents" flashbacks when Ben Stiller spikes the ball into a girl's face breaking her nose. I had to make sure I didn't hit the ball hard towards her :nono: but they just weren't that good and we won the match fairly easily. unfortunately, I was kind of hoping to get some cardio in but I don't think I really got my heart pumping at any time during the entire match.

anyway, here is today's mess of a workout:

For time:
25 Walking lunge steps
20 Pull-ups
50 Box jumps, 20 inch box
20 Double-unders
25 Ring dips (sub = 3 regular dips per ring dip = 75 dips)
20 Knees to elbows
30 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood
30 Sit-ups
20 Hang squat cleans, 35 pound dumbells
25 Back extensions
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball (sub 40lb thrusters)
3 Rope climb ascents (sub = 15 pullups per ascent)

my ass is going to be dragging by the end of this one. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

COME ON, FOCKER!

You do some serious training, dude! How are you liking the kettlebells? I've been thinking about one. Do you use a 35# for your workouts?

Rise, those are some heavy duty workouts you're doing. I get tired just reading about them.

I'm pretty sure that you mentioned where you're getting them from, but I couldn't find the reference after a quick perusal of your past entries. I'd be interested to know the source if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.

COME ON, FOCKER!

You do some serious training, dude! How are you liking the kettlebells? I've been thinking about one. Do you use a 35# for your workouts?

1 pood = 36lbs and the workout called for 2 pood. It was my first time trying it so I did it with a 35lb DB (i didn't have a kb) and the 35#er was actually throwing me around a bit as the weight swung down and accelerated through the curve, I had to catch myself from falling flat on my face on a few occasions. Awesome workout though, I recommend it!

Rise, those are some heavy duty workouts you're doing. I get tired just reading about them.

I'm pretty sure that you mentioned where you're getting them from, but I couldn't find the reference after a quick perusal of your past entries. I'd be interested to know the source if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.

www.crossfit.com - DO IT! :)

i need some more MA'ers to get into it so we can open one up here :nod:

deadlifted 275# yesterday, a PB by 40# for me. Not bad. I am 75# off from my goal but I think I can be there maybe by next winter. I have no idea where my squat is at. anyway, this was my WOD:

WOD:
Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

I did:
3x10 dips
3x10 pullups/chinups depending on what I felt like doing
50 squats

warm up @ 135x10
205#
225#
235#
245#
255#
265#
275#

then i tried to hang clean 135# which I was able to to my suprise.

and now i'm practicing doing windmills (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftiC6jub71M) & handstands. I started practicing 2 days ago and I"ve successfully managed to get the first half of the first rotation down. I'm pretty happy with that. I have some background in breakdancing... nothing too fancy though. I decided now that i'm getting strong I can do a lot of the things I couldn't back in highschool/college that I always wanted to do. :flex:

oh and i didn't post my 5k run on sunday that I was supposed to do but I had to replace with a 10k bike (which doesn't even compare to a 5k run) due to an injured knee.

back to handstands, see you tomorrow!

i'm in a crappy mood today. i played volleyball tonight and got some decent exercise in from it. who cares? i should go to bed, maybe tomorrow will be better.

i'm in a better mood today :)

unfortunately, i managed to hurt my wrist pretty badly yesterday somehow and today i can barely move my hand. as of now i don't know what that means for the gym for me. i may have to stick to cardio for a while because my wrist can't really support any weight. i can't even type with more than one hand at the moment, but thankfully i can still type decently quick.

well, at least its friday.

It's been a few days since I've last posted since I hurt my wrist on Thursday night. I decided that a break was in order since I didn't want to do any more damage to my wrist which is already super small to begin with (I can overlap my fingers around it by about an inch). I was going to go to the gym on Sunday actually but then at the last minute decided 1 more rest day is probably the way to go since my wrist was only feeling better that day and it was still a bit off. Yesterday I felt fine so I finally made it over to the gym and did some quality exercising!

WOD:
Front Squat 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1


I did something completely different:
bench machine: I tried 240lbs as a joke... but I could do it :eek:

Back Squats
warmup @ 135x10, nice and deep
155x10, parallel
185x5, mostly parallel
205x5, not quite so parallel :(
135x10, nice and deep

+20lbsx10 weighted pullups (full deadhang)
+20lbsx10 weighted pullups (full deadhang)
10 non weighted kips

Standing Calves:
200x10
220x10
240x10

I was a bit disappointed with the squats, but it's been a while since I've focused on them. that's the first time I've ever done weighted pullups, and they really are brutal but a good workout. The reason I did them was because my training partner weighs 20lbs more than me so I told him I would do "Ethan" pullups - and pull his weight. Now I'm starting to wonder how much weight I can pull up but again, I don't have a damn weight belt. I had to put a dumbbell between my legs which btw will RIP THE HAIR OUT OF YOUR LEGS! so you gotta make sure it sits between cloth.

anyway, it was a good get back to the gym workout with a nice PWO shake after :D I had a bag of mixed nuts: pistachios, almonds, and cashews an hour or so later too which was f'n awesome. now I have a 5 or 6 hour meeting to go to, hooray meeting! not. can't wait. see you later!

Wow, my legs are so sore today I can barely walk. It's been too long since I've done proper squats apparently. The pain, the pain!!!

yesterday I had volleyball and I had a lot of fun. since no one else on my team really tries I find myself doing a lot of running which makes for some barely decent cardio, but not really enough to classify it as a workout I don't think. I'll have to get to the gym today to make sure that I do get some worthwhile exercise in this week since I haven't been back to the gym since Monday. I was hurting earlier in the week so I took a couple of days off - which I didn't have a choice about anyway thanks to Billiards eating up my entire Tuesday & Weds. Well, I guess I did have a choice... but I wanted to squeeze some other things into my day instead of the gym on those days. Being busy is nice but prioritizing can suck, especially after the fact when you feel like you made the wrong decision. Oh well.

In fitness related news, I can *almost* touch rim on a bball hoop (<1/2"). At a whopping 5'9, that's pretty good for me. Who said white men can't jump?!

some quick math... 5'9 = 69 inches... 28" arm span from shoulder... shoulder is about 12" below top of head... thats 69 - 12 = 57 + 28 = 85. 10' = 120 inches - 85 inches = 35" = ALMOST 3ft vertical. 1 more inch = 3ft + rim! :) then again, I might be completely wrong.

I got the idea from http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=12749 to make my own plyo box. it should be a fun project for me and i get to test out my new circular saw on it :D I took his basic dimensions and drew it up on a cad program to make sure I could make 2 boxes out of 1 4'x8' sheet of plywood. attached is what I ended up with. The purple squiggly line indicates that the vertical cuts need to be made at a 10 degree angle (complement of 80 degrees) in order for the box to sit right. I'm going to try and make it as soon as I can get over to the local hardware store... once the snow stops. oh that and I need to borrow my boss' pickup :confused:

Glad to read that your wrist is feeling better.


Benching 240 is impressive, but a three foot vertical leap is really impressive. That must really come in handy when you're playing the front line in volleyball.

Glad to read that your wrist is feeling better.


Benching 240 is impressive, but a three foot vertical leap is really impressive. That must really come in handy when you're playing the front line in volleyball.

Thanks Paul. Yeah I don't think I actually have a 3' vertical, that is some pro basketball numbers there. I'd say 2' is a lot more realistic and my bad math didn't include things like pushing my shoulder up to stretch higher and things like that. Still, I can get over the net pretty good during volleyball :madpimp:

now that I'm curious, I'm going to ask my gf to spot me against a ruler to see what my vertical jump really is. I bet its more like 20-24"

Well, this weekend was a bit of a bust. I didn't do all that much and I didn't really have a good reason not to. Friday night I didn't go to the gym and I didn't go out, I just hung around with the wifey as it snowed. Saturday I managed to get out at around 12 to snowblow the driveway which is always a bit more work than you would think. After that, I did nothing for hours other than eat some food. Then I played video games all night instead of seeing what friends were doing. Sunday I finally decided to get out of the house and I got to the gym where I did my first conventional workout in a while:

Flat Bench DB Press:
warm up @ 50s (each arm)
8x65s
8x70s
6x75s

DB Flies:
8x30
8x30
8x30

3 muscle ups and random pullups trying to get more muscle ups

Tricep Pushdowns:
8x90
8x105
8x120

Skullcrushers:
8x50
8x50
8x50


after all of that foolishness, I weighed in to see how I've been doing. I'm at 151.5 or so - which I was actually very happy about. I haven't maintained a healthy weight like this... ever actually so I'm excited to see how long i can keep it going for.

I need a change. I don't know what I need to change yet, but somethings gotta change. I'm starting to feel like I'm in a funk. if anyone has any suggestions on how to get outta this funk, please let me know.

I got the idea from http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=12749 to make my own plyo box. it should be a fun project for me and i get to test out my new circular saw on it :D I took his basic dimensions and drew it up on a cad program to make sure I could make 2 boxes out of 1 4'x8' sheet of plywood. attached is what I ended up with. The purple squiggly line indicates that the vertical cuts need to be made at a 10 degree angle (complement of 80 degrees) in order for the box to sit right. I'm going to try and make it as soon as I can get over to the local hardware store... once the snow stops. oh that and I need to borrow my boss' pickup :confused:

Good news on the wrist.

And I adore this post. Circular saws, pickups, diagrams... ahh, bodybuilding geekness. Fantastic.

Good luck with the project!

Good news on the wrist.

And I adore this post. Circular saws, pickups, diagrams... ahh, bodybuilding geekness. Fantastic.

Good luck with the project!

Thanks! Unfortunately now the other wrist is acting up, but I think that's from too much Guitar Hero :lol:

I'll have to take pictures as I make it and post them up here when it's all done and you can be the judge of whether or not I stuck to the plans :tu:

Yesterday was again, more of a traditional workout in order to keep my legs from turning to jelly. If I don't squat once a week, I will be hurting big time by the time I get back to it. So anyway, I wanted to make sure that I kept up with my squats after last weeks debacle of not being able to walk for 2 days after.

Squats:
warmup @ 135 (10 or so)
8x185
8x205
8x225 (struggled)
10x135 (so deep I kept hitting the spotter bars)

Hammy Curls:
8x80 (PB!!)
10x100 (PB!!)
10x120 (PB!!)

Standing Calf Raises:
200x10
240x10
300x10 (PB!!)


All in all, this work out was great. The squats were close to my PB, I can't remember now what my exact PB is, maybe something like 235... actually maybe it was only 225?! I don't know :confused: Anyway, I haven't done hamstring curls in at least a month and my old PB was 70lbs on the same machine. I was feeling strong though and decided to try my hand at 80lbs for some reason. Turned out to be a good idea! I had 3 PB's in a row! The last set was definitely a bit of a struggle but at least my hamstrings are no longer my weakest muscle in my body! I'm pretty happy about that. Then it was off to standing calf raises where 280 used to be my PB and I figured, eh I'm still feeling strong why not just go for 300? That worked out pretty well and I was able to bang out 10 of them (barely!).

My chest is still pretty sore from benching on Sunday, but it feels good! :flex: I'm still debating on whether or not I should make today a rest day or throw in a back workout since I won't be able to get back to the gym until Friday... hmmmmmm

Hammy Curls:
8x80 (PB!!)
10x100 (PB!!)
10x120 (PB!!)



:eek:
:claplow:
Wow! Those are awesome numbers! You increased your PB by 71%! That's gotta feel good. I hope you can walk today and tomorrow!

:eek:
:claplow:
Wow! Those are awesome numbers! You increased your PB by 71%! That's gotta feel good. I hope you can walk today and tomorrow!
thanks! yeah i'm actually feeling fine today, it was squat day that really killed me. the large weight increase must be from all those dead lifts i've been doing since starting working out? i don't really know to be honest. also, it must be a lot longer than a month since i've last done the workout now that I think about it. probably closer to 3 since i haven't been isolating much. who knows? who cares?! I'm happy :nod:

Rise, you're making some great progress. Very enviable!

I've decided as of 2 minutes ago to start my serious cutting phase today. I spent the past month or so recovering from my bulk, meaning I was basically maintaining but kept my workouts at the same level they were during my bulk. This has worked pretty well for me I think giving my body some time to adjust before going straight into a cut and I'm now in the mindset to take the cut seriously. I cut about 4-5 lbs of fat from the bulk (no strength loss) and I've plateaued so its time for me to get to work!

My breakfast this morning that consisted of 2 whole eggs, wheat toast and a lot of milk as my last regular meal. I'm going to have a salad w/ grilled chicken today or tuna depending on what's available at the cafeteria. I'm also going to try out Merk's cutting of dairy and see where that takes me. That will probably not start until tomorrow though because I have 1 more container of yogurt I want to finish (not throw out) before that goes full blown.

I'll be eating more almonds, more broccoli and I'm going to start eating more sweet potatoes. I'm going to try and take PWO shakes just with water and see how that goes... if its too nasty I might just go without them and eat something else in its place. I want to up my healthy fats and lower my protein (a bit) and keep my carbs level if not bring them down a bit. I may try the 33/33/33 ratio I've recently been reading about. There will be no more late night snacking on anything that isn't a scheduled meal unless its water. I plan to continue to drink green tea in the morning not counting it as a significant calorie source (sugar free) and I will not be drinking any coffee or adding sugar to anything I eat. These are my goals until April 5th and I will do my best to stick to them. In fact, I am going to sign up for the March 100 challenge to help keep myself on track and stay serious.

For my work outs, I will be adding at least 2 HIIT cardio session a week to my current schedule. I will actually spend some time working on my abs after each work out as well for aesthetics even though I know they get worked better from squatting and what not. Still, I want the extra isolation for them to help them pop. 4 days/week lifting weights or some sort of resistance training (e.g. crossfit WODs) and I will no longer be using volleyball as an excuse not to go to the gym. I'll take before pictures tonight and have them ready to be matched against April 3rd pictures.

WISH ME LUCK! :)

I have to get a haircut. I have to pay my excise tax. I had to drive in a blizzard last night for 4 hours picking up my in laws. I had a dream last night about going to jail and it totally sucked. And right now, all I want to do is pass out on my keyboard for about 2 hours.

Ok, that was a bunch of stuff that has been floating in my head since I've woken up and I needed to write it down to get it out of there. On to what I really came here to write about. Yesterday I ate great, stuck to my nutrition and I have already started to cut the dairy out of my diet. I said forget about the yogurts, I want to start the cut NOW. So I did. Yesterday I had a pretty f'n intense workout too:

Sumo Dead lifts: (ironic that I do a lift named after fat dudes while cutting)
warm up @ 135lbs
8x205
8x225
8x245!! (not a PR, but highest I've ever repped by FAR)

Lat pull downs (haven't done these in forever, always doing pullups instead):
150x8
165x8 (I couldn't hang-pull it down cause it was more than I weigh :lol:)
180x6 (woah, PR)

Rows (my arms were dead by this point):
135x8
120x7
105x8

knees to elbows x15
knees to elbows x10

and home. and all in less than 40 minutes. i forgot to do a warm down set of sumos, but i guess that's OK. my hands are busted up BAD. That's the most about of heavy hand intensive lifting i've done ever i'd say.

ack, meeting!

WISH ME LUCK! :)

:gl: :gl: Good luck!

:tu: Thanks Paul!

Today was a pretty good day, I ate great & had a pretty good workout. Today's workout went a bit like this:

DB Shoulder Press:
warmup @ 35lbs (per hand)
8x50s
8x55s
8x50s

DB Shrugs:
8x70s
8x80s
8x85s

Front DB Raises (alternating):
20x15s
20x20s
20x20s

Lateral DB Raises:
10x15s
10x15s
10x20s

10 chin ups, didn't tire me out at all, just felt like doing a quick 10
45 crunches, feel the burrrrrrrrrrrn!!

It was a pretty good workout, but I can do more. I can do much more. I really needed a spot and there just wasn't anyone around and I didn't have my partner there with me today. I wanted to do 60s for my shoulder press so bad, but I couldn't get past the lower than parallel lift point, which sucked, to say the least. I had this problem doing bench for a while, but my muscle developed enough to get me past there fairly well, my pecs are definitely filled out on the sides by my armpits and there is power in them now. My shoulders don't have the same power and I'm having trouble developing it. I suppose I should make sure I do this lift more consistently across workouts. I think after I repeat this split one more time I'm going to do some more cross fit stuff again. I'm really falling into a nice rhythm of switching up routines while staying within an overall "split" of sorts meaning I'm not neglecting any of my major muscle groups. it keeps things entertaining, fun stuff!

I'm debating on doing a crossfit workout today versus the regular split I've been doing for the past 2 weeks or so. Today's WOD goes a bit like this:

For time:
50 Box jump, 24 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

The filthy fifty... :spaz:

There is a good chance of pukie if I do this. I'm really going to think about it though because it's absurd. A great time is in the 30-35 minute range just so you get a feel for how long this pain lasts for.

For time:
50 Box jump, 24 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders
Well, I did it. It took me 45 minutes and calf cramps, but I made it through it all. First was the box jumps, and they are always harder than they sound. The first 30-35 aren't so bad, but then you stop jumping correctly and your legs start to get stiff and every jump becomes a battle. Next is the 50 jumping pullups. Honestly, these weren't that hard for me, and My bar is pretty far off the ground so I didn't get the ideal form (I had to do more work) but it's all good. Next was the kettlebell swings. I was able to do all 50 of those without breaking the set using a dumbell. No problem. Then was the walking lunge which I thought would be a bit of a reprieve in all of this... it wasn't. I had to stop at 40 because I could barely pick myself back up. I knocked out the next 10 and went on to knees to elbows. I managed to do sets of 10-15 to get through these... they were a bit tough thanks to my ab workout yesterday. And then the real fun began... 50 push press @ 45# (bar). That was tough, especially since I had a pretty rough shoulder workout the day before. I broke those up into 25 - 15 - 10 and was able to move on to more pain. 50 back extensions were next and I couldn't do more than 20 at a time, so that's what i did. After banging those out I had to do thrusters to replace wall ball shots which sucks, to say the least. Thrusters are, of course, another shoulder exercise.

And here is the finale. 50 burpees followed by 50 double unders. at this point I was at 30 minutes and it seemed like a sub-40 time was all but guaranteed. I found out after about 10 burpees that I might be in trouble. My body was so fatigued at this point I could hardly manage lots of 5 which ate up a lot of time. I finally pushed through (thanks to encouragement from my partner) and completed them. We were on the final leg, and my final legs and it was time for... legs. Double unders! This is where you swing a jump rope around you twice before landing. Well 10 in, my calves seriously cramped up. I had to stop, in fact I thought I was done with the filthy fifty altogether at this point. But after watching my partner conquer them, I had to do the same. I did 5-10 at a time and stretched profusely between sets. I finally did it, 45 minutes later and with the highest sustained heartbeat I've had in a long time, I beat the filthy fifty. HELL YEAH!! :flex:

Rise, I'm tired just reading about what you did. I'll have no reason to complain during my workout later today.

Rise, I'm tired just reading about what you did. I'll have no reason to complain during my workout later today.
:lol: I don't plan on trying it again for quite some time. Thank goodness today is a rest day for me.

That filthy fifty looks intimidating. If you did that than you shouldn't have any difficulty with Summer Project.

That filthy fifty looks intimidating. If you did that than you shouldn't have any difficulty with Summer Project.
Yeah, I've been thinking about giving that a go. Maybe I'll try it this summer.

Dentist today. It's a big one. 3 cavities & finishing off my root canal/crown on my front tooth. I am NOT looking forward to this at all. this'll be my last trip until July, at least. more on this later when I can't talk thanks to all of the novocaine.

yeah, I can't talk for sh!t. I can't even lift up my front lips without looking like Elvis. but on the plus side, my front tooth looks fantastic. You would never have guessed I ran into a van 9 years ago, it's really amazing how they can do that sh!t. Sorry for the cursing, well not really sorry, I'm a little outta character right now. I'm groggy to the point of I wasn't allowed to go back to work because I work @ a manufacturing plant that makes grinding wheels... I'm trying to imply that there is a lot of heavy machinery there, fork trucks, etc. so I'm at home, twiddling my thumbs trying to figure out something I can do that doesn't involve food since I can't eat for 3 hours. so much for my diet today.

I just tried putting chapstick on. I think its on my lips, but it might be on my nose for all I know, considering I can't feel a thing. I haven't had that much novacaine ever, I don't think. I hate being numb. I've had teeth drilled with no novacaine to avoid the numb feeling, of course the doctors just think I'm a wimp (almost used a different word) trying to avoid the needle. Wow, my freakin' ear is numb. This would be a good time to get an ear piercing I guess. Or a tattoo on my cheek. I wonder if anyone has ever gotten a tattoo of the inside of a mouth on their cheek, that would be pretty wild. I feel like I'm on drugs.

I'm rambling. I probably just wasted the time of 10 people or so who read this journal, and I'm sorry for that. -Rise, signing off!

Dentist today. It's a big one. 3 cavities & finishing off my root canal/crown on my front tooth. I am NOT looking forward to this at all. this'll be my last trip until July, at least. more on this later when I can't talk thanks to all of the novocaine.

I recently visited my dentist last month after a two year hiatus. I was expecting the worse when I sat in the chair. After cleaning my teeth and viewing my Xrays he said all clear. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I had to drive in a blizzard last night for 4 hours picking up my in laws.

I had a dream last night about going to jail and it totally sucked.


Maybe the two are related? :confused:

:lol:

volley ball was a lot of fun yesterday. we only had 4 people show up including me, and the team is normally 6 which meant a lot more running around for me! which is cool since I like to go after every ball anyway :lol: we lost the first game, 15-8 or so, which was a bad sign and pretty discouraging. but the 2nd game we went on a 10-0 streak and eventually won like 15-3, so that was a big win. The last game, we were down 14-3. I didn't want to go out like that and I don't think the rest of my team did either and we rallied to 14-10, at which point the other team finally got that last p