Dan's Transformation

[IROC-Z]

Originally Posted by LoneStarChick

Same offer applies to you and your hubby if you ever make it out this way LSC!


(Sorry for the hijack tensdanny.)

[LoneStarChick]

Originally Posted by IROC-Z

Same offer applies to you and your hubby if you ever make it out this way LSC!


(Sorry for the hijack tensdanny.)

If we ever make it out that-a-way, I'd be more interested in meeting you than the Packers!

[tensdanny]

No worries.

My back is very sorry today so I'm going to push the weights back until tomorrow and do a hiit workout tonight. Not sure if I'll do boxing or running. Will post later when I decide and execute.

[tensdanny]

Didn't do the HIIT, just went for a walk for 20 minutes at a very brisk pace. Not sure how far or fast I was going, but I was certainly breathing pretty hard.

[tensdanny]

Well, my gyms summer hours have basically screwed me over the past few days. I've missed workouts as a result, so I set-up my heavy bag and went to town on it tonight.

Did a tabata with a 60 pounds heavy bag tonight and just went all out on it. Holy crap I was weezing by two minutes into it. This was the most intense tabata interval yet!

Typically I try to do two of these, but I was so gassed that I could only do one. I've been sitting for about 10 minutes now and I'm still hacking up a lung.

[tensdanny]

Had an excellent day of eating, but am slightly worried about metabolic slow down. I barely ate anything today just due to being on the go, but I wasn't very hungry at all either.

Not anything I'm too concerned about at this point, but something to keep an eye on I suppose.

[tensdanny]

I'm going to investigate joining my local YMCA tomorrow. The summer hours at my gym are just not at all working for me with school and work. Very tough to get there by 6:30 pm everyday when I'm working full time and taking two classes.

[tensdanny]

Signed up for a one month membership to a local gym that has more accommodating hours with my work and school schedule. Once this 6 week session is done it'll be back to the awesome, free gym.

[tensdanny]

My squat is down. Way down. It's extremely frustrating. Gah!

I had a pretty good workout today and grinded out all the reps for every exercise, but WTF, my squat is pissing me off.

3x5 @ 245 Squat
3x5 @ 265 Bench
2x5 @ 245 Deadlift

I need to become more consistent with clean eating. I've relaxed the diet a bit to lose two pounds a week, but I feel like I need to step it up. I need to eat ultra clean for energy in the gym otherwise I'm F'd at such low cals.

[tensdanny]

I'm thinking today my be a deadlifts for time day then follow it up with a tabata on the rowing machine. I really feel the desire to go balls to the wall today. Yesterday's workout has me pumped up.

[euan]

Originally Posted by tensdanny

tabata on the rowing machine.

Brutal, isn't it?

[tensdanny]

Awesome workout today. I squatted to failure at 245. Did it until I couldn't get out of the hole. That feels like you really accomplish something!

Did my overhead presses at 115 3x5.

Did 4x5 power cleans at 115. This is pretty hard despite a pretty low weight.

Tomorrow I have a date with deadlifts for time. I was going to do it yesterday but life happened.

Nutrition is good. Down around 5.5 pounds now, will likely hit 6 by Tuesday morning weigh in. That's right on pace of 2 pounds a week, and it doesn't require giving up a social life. Not bad, not bad at all.

[tensdanny]

Girlfriends' birthday is tomorrow, so I think the third day of heavy lifting will get moved to Tuesday. I have an 8 hour day, then 3.5 hours of class there after, so there won't be too much time to hang out with the lady as is.

My butt and hamstrings are killing me today. I wonder if the reason my squat weight has dropped off 20-30 pounds has to do with me squatting deeper and thus activating these muscles more. When looking in the mirror I do feel like I'm going past parallel now!

I'm really enjoying the power cleans I've added to the repertoire. I don't think I'm hitting my back as well as with the pendlay rows, but they should do get the heart pumping while doing them. I think I'll begin doing both exercises on the same day next week.

I'm considering switching from starting strength to a different program that is 4 days a week. Any suggestions?

I'm about to head to do the gym to do some deadlifts for time right now. Should be fun.

[tensdanny]

50 deadlifts at 185 pounds today. It was really intense, but I grinded it out. About half way through I applied chalk to my hands, and that really helped. It made it much, much easier to grip the bar.

I think doing the deadlifts like this is just about the perfect way to learn correct form and muscle activation. I can feel each body part carrying a burden in their respective stages of the lift. Very cool!

With that said, it's time to put down a serious PWO meal. I'm starving!!

[tensdanny]

My legs are absolutely fried. I'm hobbling around like an old man. I'm alright with it!

[tensdanny]

I've been doing the same routine for like 11 weeks and I'm thinking about changing it up. I really enjoy the SS program, but I find with my calories this low squatting 3x a week is a bit much when paired with the DLing for time, etc.

Ideally, I'd be doing a 4 day split as I really like lifting, but I'm also open to the idea of doing a 3 day split with two extra workouts of "deadlifts for time" and maybe "power cleans for time".

Something like this, which is a modified version of westside for skinny bastards. Any thoughts?



Tuesday -
Bench Press - 3-5 rep max building
Incline Bench - 3x10
Pendlay Rows - 4x12
Delt Rows - 3x12
Hanging Leg Raises - 3x15

Thurday -
Olympic Squat - 5 rep max building
Unilateral Bulgarians - 3x15 each leg
Glute-Ham Raises - 3x10
Seated Calf Raises - 3x10
Barbell Grip Holds - 3 sets of x amount of time

Friday -
50 Powercleans for time at 115 to begin

Saturday -
Bench Press - 3x max reps at 135
Skull Crushers - 3x10
Lat Pulldown - 4x12
Military Press - 3x10
Barbell Curls - 3x10

Sunday -
50 Deadlifts for time at level 1

[Pete5]

Looks like a pretty decent routine, but you're going to die doing that many reps of bulgarians. To each their own...Seriously, that is going to be rough -- unless you use a conservative weight that is.

[tensdanny]

Down 7 pounds total as of right now. We'll see what it is in the morning. Today was an insane day and I've only had ONE meal. Yes one. Terrible.

Time to go cook up some broccoli and a sirloin burger or two. Hold the bread of course. Wash it down with some fish oil.

Originally Posted by Pete5

Looks like a pretty decent routine, but you're going to die doing that many reps of bulgarians. To each their own...Seriously, that is going to be rough -- unless you use a conservative weight that is.

I'll give it a whirl, see what happens, and adjust. I've never done them before. I've read of your affinity for the GH raises and the unilateral leg work, so I figured it's a good time to try.

One thing that seems interesting about the WS4SB program is the higher reps versus Starting Strength, as well as the shorter rest periods (60 seconds versus 3 minutes on SS). I think this could serve to be beneficial while cutting.

Regardless, I've got to change something up for the time being. My legs are not doing well on such low calories with 3 days of work per week. I've never experienced doms like this before. On the plus side, I'm doing basically olympic squats now, so thats something.

As usual, I'll keep you posted on my progress.

[tensdanny]

Well, the first day was absolutely brutal. I don't have a fancy spreadsheet, but I'll recall the best I can.

It's weird not doing squats to start a workout. Very bizarre.

Flat bench - worked up to a 3x max of 175. I'm quickly catching up with where I was.

Incline bench was a doozy. I haven't done this in 3-4 years and have probably never done more than 95 lbs. I started off with 125 for 3x10. I finished two sets, and I failed at rep 6 in the third set.

Pendlay rows were significantly harder today. I think the shorter break times and longer sets were really killing my energy by this point. I was really struggling. I completed one full set of 12 at 135. It's much easier to move a heavier weight with 5 reps per set.

From that point fourth, I did 3 more sets of pendlays, and failed each time at 8ish.

Finally, I went on to an exercise I've never done before, and that is the rear delt row. I probably went far too heavy in the first set, and despite completing it, I failed at rep 5 for the other two sets.

Finally, I did leg raises. These bad boys are surprisingly tough.

All things considered, good first day. It's at a much faster pace than SS, and will be an interesting few weeks. I'm going to give this an 8 week session, and then we'll see whats next. I think the additional reps and elevated heart rate will aid in the fat loss process.

My upper body feels pretty wrecked right now. Partially still from the deadlifts for time on Sunday, and now the rest of the way from this todays workout. Should be good to spend a whole day focusing on my lower body in two days.

[tensdanny]

Tomorrow should be an interesting day. I'm excited for my first ever attempts at both unilateral leg work and at glute-ham raises.

My legs finally feels recovered today. I'm going to hit the squats REALLY hard tomorrow.