Also, this whole next week I’m going to be visiting my girlfriend in Minneapolis. I’ll just be working out in the fitness center in her apartment. It’s pretty nice, but dumbbells are limited to 60 lbs. and there are no free weights. I’m going to switch exercises as close as possible to keep my workout similar.
2/21
Bigger Arms Challenge: Chins 15sec, BB Curl (not sure weight)x12, Negative Chin (55 sec)
Dips 15 sec, OH Tri Extension (55x15), Negative dip (55sec)
HIIT
Dumbbell swing for 30 seconds x 12
Bike Riding for One minute x 12
Neural Charge
Side to Side Jumps 5x5
Depth Vertical Jumps 5x5
Inclince Plyo Push ups 5x5
Vertical Jump Series 5x5
My diet has been pretty bad today. Going grocery shopping later and will pick up lots of protein and sweet potatoes for the rest of the week.
2/22
One legged Ham Curls
3 plates x 30,30,30,30
ss w/ weighted pikes
15lbsx20,20,20,20
DB Front Squat
25x3
45x3,3,3,3
50x3,3,3,5,5,5
Split Squat
20x15,20,20
Quad Extension (full reps + partials)
8 platesx 12+30; 12+40; 9 plates x 12+35
Calf Raises
15x15(3ways),15,15
ss w/ Oblique Crunches
BWx15,15,15
2/23
Wide Grip Pull ups
15,9,9
Chin Ups
8,7,6,7,6
Wide Neutral Grip Chins
6,5,5,5,5,5,4
Low Rows
10x20
12x15,16
14x12,13
Seated Shrugs
50x10,10,10,10 (3 second hold at top)
DB Flies
30x15,15,15
ss w/ Wide Push Ups
15,15,15
Flat DB Twist Press
50x12,11,13
Inclince BB Bench Press
8x8
10x8
12x8
14x8
16x8
17x7
Shoulder SHocker:
Plate Raise (Machine) 35x12,12,12
Lat Raise: 15x12,12,12
Shrug + Ext. Rotate/Press: 15x12,12,12
2/24
Cross Body Hammer Curls
15x10
20x10
30x10,10,10 (hold at top, really squeeze handle)
Rope Pushdowns
32.5x12,12
27.5x12,10+DROP SET
DB Preacher Partials
25xlost count, 25R/20L, 15 both - did a lot of reps, hard time keeping count
DB Close Grip (made it up?)
40x25
50x13,11
Machine BB Curls with 3 sec descent
17.5x12,10,10,10 + partials
Cable Incline Tri Extension
37.5x15
52.5x12; 12 + 37.5x10, 42.5x15 partials
ss w/ Plank for 1 min x 3
Cable Crunches: 32.5x20, 57.5x15, 67.5x15,20
Weighted Twist: 15x1minx4sets
Heel-Heel Crunch 20 sec x 4 + One Leg Raise Crunch Up&Twist 20 sec x 4
Today there was a lot of improv because of the lack of equipment, but i definitely made it work and feel good about it. My diet has been a lot better now and I feel good about how my training and eating are going even though I’m out of town.
2/25
Hamstring Curls
70x20
100x15
130x8
100x10 + 70x10 + 100x25 partials
DB Romanian Deadlift
45x15,15,15
DB Front Squats (60)
45x10,10,10,10
Lunges (60)
35x10
40x10,10
Rear Delt Destroyer
- 40x60, 25x30, 10x12
- 40x60, 25x35, 10x12
6 Ways
10x15
15x10,10 (Whew!)
DB Press (30)
30x15,15,15,15,15
Lateral Raise
20x30,30,30
2/26 - Off because I’ve been on a bus all day from Minneapolis.
2/27 - Core Synergistics in the Morning
So this past week went pretty well training wise and eating wise. I did go on a brewery tour one day and had a couple beers. Also, on Friday I had my first bread since I started being very serious about my diet. It was the last dinner of the week with my girlfriend and felt the need to splurge. It did make me feel bloated and nasty, so I’m going to track what I eat in my log just to help reorganize myself.
Also, slowly over the next 6 weeks, I’m going to start dropping the high and medium carb days from my cycle. I’ve also added 2 mornings of very light cardio to my schedule. I’m obviously going to play it by ear; if I start losing too much weight too fast, I’ll drop them. All of this is an experiment and I’m excited to try things out!
HOT-ROX starts on March 5 as well. Going to take 1 pill 2x per day for 8 days, then 2 pills 2x per day for 4 weeks. We’ll see how this all goes! Progress pictures will be posted throughout!
Todays Diet was pretty good. Met up with a friend who wanted to eat out, so I had a chicken salad with vegetables in it. Other than that, everything was clean. The protein ended up being really high, but I think that was mainly because I was on the road a lot, so I had 2 protein shakes with ~40 g protein each.
2914 cal, 370 g protein/ 125 g carb/ 110 g fat
Thought I’d post my meals for tomorrow because I have class all day and updating throughout the day will be tough.
Breakfast
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 eggs
1/2 C. egg beaters
1/2 C. broccoli
1/2 C. spinach
1/2 C. oatmeal
1/4 C. mozzarella
Morning Snack
1 C. cottage cheese w/
1/4 c. blueberries
2 tbsp. almond butter
~30 almonds
Lunch
8 oz. tuna
1 cup romaine
1/2 c. broccoli
1 artichoke heart
Afternoon
Whey Protein Shake on my way home w/ BCAA
Postworkout
1/4 c. brown rice
1 scoop Surge w/ BCAA & creatine
Dinner
Whatever my family is having (will be no carbs for dinner, however)
Nighttime
1/2 c. cottage cheese
1 tbsp. almond butter
Also, I’ve just starting reading ‘Paleo Diet for Athletes’. I’m hoping it helps me understand better timing of nutrition and an overall better understanding of proper dieting since all of this so far is experimentation for me.
Also, I cooked tons of chicken, tilapia, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, and brown rice for the next week or two!
HIIT
One Arm DB Snatch (30)
25x10, 30x2
Walk at 5 degree Incline at 4.5 mph x 12
Neural Charge
Speed Squat 135x5x5
Close Grip Incline Plyo Push Ups 5x5
Side to Side Tuck Jumps 5x5
Flat Plyo Push Ups 5x5
Broad Jumps 5x5
Diet today ended up being 2,743, 255.3 g pro, 109.7 g carb, 150.7 g fat
Too much fat and a little too many calories. Tomorrow I’m going to cut out the olive oil and almond butter and see where that puts me at. So tomorrow, which is a moderate carb day, will be like this:
Breakfast
2 eggs
1/2 C. egg beaters
1/2 C. broccoli
1/2 C. spinach
1/2 C. oatmeal w/ 1/2 c. blueberries
1/4 C. mozzarella
2 tbsp. hummus
Morning Snack
1 C. cottage cheese w/
1/4 c. blueberries
2 tbsp. almond butter
Lunch
8 oz. tilapia
1 cup romaine
1/2 c. broccoli
1 artichoke heart
1/4 c. walnuts
Afternoon
Whey Protein Shake w/ BCAA
1/2 protein bar
Postworkout
1/2 c. sweet potatoes
2 scoop Surge w/ BCAA & creatine
Dinner
Whatever my family is having (will be no carbs for dinner, however)
Nighttime
1/2 c. cottage cheese
1 tbsp. almond butter
3/1
One Leg Ham Curls 60
25x25,25
20x25,25
Back Squat 30
155x3,3,3,3
165x3,3,3
175x3,3,3
**I paused on these for a couple seconds at the bottom, but I think next week I’m going to do box squats with heavier weight. Still 10x3 with short rest though.
Split Squat 90
25x15,15,15
Quad Extension 90
85x12+30
95x12+27; 12+30
95x12 + 75x30
Calf raise on Plate 60
25x20,20,20
ss w/ Step Up
25 x 8,8,8
Reverse Curls: 55x14,10,10,12
BB Curls: 75x10,8; 55x10,12
Preacher DB Hammer Curls: 25x14,12,12,10
**30 seconds between each set. One set reverse curl, 30 sec., BB Curl, 30 sec., Preacher, etc.
2,995 cal
133.4 g fat
161.6 g carb
305.5 g protein
Once again, too many calories. I did have a really good workout, but if I want to get to the leanness I want in a little over a month I have to start eating a little less. I’m going to cut out the blueberries in the morning, walnuts at lunch, and the protein bar preworkout except for on high carb days. That will give me just under 2,700 cal. I weighed myself yesterday and was 198, about 1.5 pounds lighter than a month ago and 7 pounds less overall. I really feel that I need to eat more around 2600/ day to start dropping a little bit more fat. My muscle gain and strength has been increasing, I can tell in the mirror/ compliments. Tomorrow is a high carb day, but I’m going to aim for ~160 g carbs = same as today. My moderate carb day will be about 130 and low carb will be 80-100. We’ll see how that goes with the newly added fasted cardio and HOT-ROX, which I start on Saturday.
Diet for 3/2 - High Carb Day
Breakfast - 0700
5 g BCAA
2 eggs
1/2 C. egg beaters
1/2 C. broccoli
1/2 C. spinach
1/2 C. oatmeal
1/4 C. cheddar
Morning Snack - 1000
1 C. cottage cheese w/
1/4 c. blueberries
2 tbsp. almond butter
Preworkout - 1200
Whey Protein Shake w/ 5 g BCAA
1/2 protein bar
Workout - 1245
5 g BCAA
Postworkout - 1430
1/2 c. sweet potatoes
2 scoop Surge w/ 5 g BCAA & 5 g creatine
Lunch - 1700
8 oz. chicken
1 cup romaine
1/2 c. broccoli
1/2 c. spinach
Dinner - 2000
Whatever my family is having (will be no carbs for dinner, however)
Nighttime - 2200
1/2 c. cottage cheese
1 tbsp. almond butter
3/2
Deadlift
Warmup: 135x10 225x5 275x5
315x5,5
325x5
340x5
350x3
**My grip was terrible today. The bar I use at home is about 8 years old and my hands were sweating, so it was just coming out of my hand the entire time. That’s okay though, just something to work on.
Narrow Grip Pull Ups 60
14,7,11,7,6,6,6,5 (worked up to 60 reps)
Low Rows w/ hold 60
90x18
110x15,13
Shrugs 30
185x8x5
DB Flies w/ band stretch after
30x15,15,15 + 15,15,15
DB Twist Press 90
55x10,
45x12,13
Incline BB Pyramid 60
125x8
135x8
145x8
155x8,8
Shoulder Shocker: 25 lbs/ 10/ 10
Overall, I tried going a little lighter in my chest and really focusing on USING the muscle to make the lift. After reading Dave Tate’s article yesterday, I thought I might try to drop weight and focus a little more on actually isolating and working the muscle the lift is for. I liked the feeling of it and will see if I am sore tomorrow to judge its effectiveness. It was worth a shot! Also, eating is going very well today. Right on schedule.
3/2 - High Carb Day
2,575 cal
100.8 g fat
151.6 g carb
277.3 g protein
Very happy with this day overall. I think next high carb day I will add more oatmeal in the morning and more sweet potatoes postworkout to increase the carbs. Other than that, everything went really well and I was very disciplined today which I think is going to help keep me focused. I’m glad I didn’t let the idea of “high carb day” influence me to eat any more/ different than I planned. Low carb day with HIIT and neural charge in the morning! Good night!
3/3
HIIT
Power Clean 95 x 12 sets x 30 sec.
Walk @ 4.0mph @ 8 degree inclince 60 sec.
Neural Charge
Split Squat Jumps 5x5
Swiss Ball Pushups 5x10 reps
Tuck Jump Series 5x5
CLose Grip Pushup Plyo 5x5
Leg Lifts 5x30 sec.
Awesome workout. 45 minutes and was sweating like a madman at the end of it. Eating is going really well today too. Might jump in the hot tub and do a stretching session today, especially since I have volleyball games tonight. Also, my back is VERY sore from yesterday, and my chest is a little sore too. That’s all to report on now.
3/3 - Low Carb Day
2,609 cal
139.2 g fat
104.8 g carb
247.7 g prot
Pretty good! This is what I’m aiming for on these low carb days. I’ve been just a hungry about 45 minutes before every meal, so I think that I’m timing my meals well and spacing out the calories throughout the day appropriately.
3/4
Ham Curls 60
60x15
75x12
85x8
65x10 + 50x30 partials + 65x10
Stiff Legged Deads 90
135x12,12,12
Front Squat 60
135x5
145x5
155x5,5
165x5,5
175x5
185x5
135x5x3 30 sec rests
Lunges 60
40x10,10
45x10
Rear Delt Destroyer
40x60 + 20x35 + 10x12
40x65 + 25x30 + 10x12
6 Ways 60
10x15,15,15
Wide Standing BB Press 90
85x12,12
95x10,11
Heavy Laterals 90
20x30,30
My lower back is very sore today from deadlifting a couple days ago, so I decided not to go very heavy on the front squats. Instead I just focused on speed and did a lot more volume. I was reading CT’s HPM program and really liked the concept. It kind of goes along with Dave Tate’s “feel the muscle work” strategy that I’m trying to incorporate. I think I’m going to focus on using lighter weights and really “rocket launching” the rep as well as thinking about working the muscle. I’m going to try and post progress pictures later on, so I’ll be back!