Cycle 1, Week 4, Day 2
Deadlift
5x75
5x95
5x115
DB suitcase DL
2x10 with 50 lbs
Power clean
1x10 with 75 lbs
Burp just ate a little over 2000 calories in the past 3 hours. Ouch.
It sucks how while fasting, I’m empty so I look forward to feasting at the end of the day to fill up. Then I stuff myself at the end of the day, and I look forward to having the free, light feeling of the fast. I can see how this can become an eating disorder.
For the curious, here’s what I ate today. (above)
Cycle 1, Week 4, Day 3
Bench press
5x45
5x55
5x65
Decline bench press
2x10 with 70 lbs
DB bench press
1x10 with 35s
Cycle 1, Week 4, Day 4
Squat
5x70
5x90
5x110
Front squat
1x10 with 85 lbs
DB bulgarian squat
1x10 with 35s
DB calf raises
1x10 with 35s
One cycle down, 12 more to go. Double bodyweight squat/deadlift and bodyweight overhead/bench press, I’m coming for you!
Personal record for most food consumed in about four hours!
Today(Saturday) was supposed to be a rest day, but it was really boring. So I went and practiced breakdancing for a bit at the basketball in my gym. CW/CCW air swipes and air swipe to windmill transition, with a little footwork. Nothing crazy. Other people were giving me weird looks. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I should record myself.
On Sunday I’ll let myself be lazy.
Edit: By the way why doesn’t anybody else comment on this log?
Sunday 8/7/11 - measurements
Weight: 142.5 (no change)
Waist: 29.75" (up by .625") - Confident that this is due to stomach bloat from eating so much food in 3-4 hours every night.
Chest: 35.75" (up by .5")
I was VERY happy that I did not lose any weight.
From now on will include the date and the day of the week that each workout was done on.
8/8/11 - Monday
Cycle 2, Week 1, Day 1
Overhead press
5x60
5x65
10x75 - Was very very very very very very very happy about this one. Last cycle, I did 9x70. This cycle, I put 5 lbs on the bar and did it with another rep! Also, the last time I did 75 lbs to failure, I only did 6 reps. This is the most total pounds of work that I’ve ever lifted in a single set of overhead press. What’s even MORE amazing is that this was achieved totally fasted - no food, not even water, since 11:00 p.m. the night before! Amazing!
Wide grip overhead press
1x10 with 45 lbs
1x10 with 55 lbs
Killed my shoulders.
Standing DB skull-crusher
3x10 with 30 lbs
For some reason my biceps too were pumped and sore after this, not just my triceps.
DB overhead press
1x10 with 15s
4x10 with 20s
Was the big finisher for this workout.
Farmer’s walk with 70s to pick up where I left off last cycle. Remember what I said about having a grip strong enough to strangle a bear?
8/9/11 - Tuesday
Cycle 2, Week 1, Day 2
Deadlift
5x130
5x150
7x170 - I was nervous before this set. But I banged out 7 reps, beating my past PRs of 7x160 and 5x170. Awesome.
Power clean
3x10 with 75 lbs
Felt it hitting my lats, then my ‘thick-neck’ muscles(traps?), in each set.
Bent-over row
1x10 with 65 lbs
1x10 with 70 lbs
2x10 with 75 lbs
Towards the end of the harder sets, my biceps were coming in to help my lats at the top of each rep. Cool.
DB suitcase deadlift
3x10 with 55 lbs
Farmer’s walk with 70s. I wanted to do 75s but the aforementioned work just killed my forearms, wrists, and hands.
Also, my triceps are still sore from yesterday. I’m doing 10x10 of assistance work for each workout for this cycle, as opposed to the 5-6x10 that I did last cycle. I plan on continuing ramping up volume slowly each cycle to see what my ‘limit’ is.
Thursday - 8/11/11
Cycle 2, Week 1, Day 3
Bench press
5x75
5x90
10x100 - Beat my previous personal records of 10x95 and 8x100. This was also the most work I’ve done in one bench press set.
DB bench press
1x10 - 35s
1x5:F - 35s
1x5:F - 30s
1x10 - 30s
1x5:F - 30s
Odd that I’d break records in the core lift but “un-progress” in the assistance lift.
Decline bench press (just as disappointing as above)
1x5:F - 85
1x10 - 70
1x7:F - 70
2x10 - 65
Farmer’s walk with 75s - Was very easy today. The fact that I broke records in the core lift and this is fine with me.
Friday - 8/12/11
Cycle 2, Week 1, Day 4
Squat
5x125
5x140
6x160 - Got nervous before this set, which was really fun. I love squatting. It’s a great exercise where I have to earn every rep with extremely hard mental and physical work.
Front squat
1x10 - 80 lbs
3x10 - 85 lbs - Last set was grueling for me.
DB bulgarian squat
2x10 - 35s
1x10 - 25s
Planned on 3x10x35s but in the third set the 35s got mighty heavy. Tried 30s, failed. Had to retreat to 25s.
DB calf raises
1x10 - 30s
2x10 - 35s
Farmer’s walk with 80s… pretty much. Grabbed 80s, walked halfway, they rotated upwards and started eating my wrists. Drop DBs, run back to DB rack, grab a towel, run back to DBs on floor, put towel over front of DBs to cushion against my wrists, pick up DBs with a snarl, run the rest of the way down, run/stagger back, rack DBs, done.
Saturday - 8/13/11
Practiced handstands and kip-ups. I have the second one down. I found with handstands I need to totally tighten up my core and lower body to make balance easier.
Also punched a metal pole in my basement 100 times in 87 seconds. I want to be able to punch someone in the face without my hand hurting. It woke up my dad though so looks like I’ll have to find something else that isn’t so noisy.
FInally, worked hard on my squat form to keep from bending my lower back in the hole. Air in the chest, ass out, upper back contracted. Controlled down, fire up. I did 5 perfect form squats like these with just a 10 lb bar, then practiced with 100 lbs and I have the form down now.
Sunday - 8/14/11
Measurements…
Weight: 142.5 (same)
Waist: 29.75 (same)
Chest: 35.75 (same)
I was right about the waist comment. My stomach (the digestive organ, not the ‘gut’ or midsection), ballooned up to be able to hold all the food I was eating in one sitting, increasing my waist size. No fat was gained, but the waist ended up getting pushed out because of the volume my stomach now has.
Oh, and, for those curious about how I started out, here’s the full excel spreadsheet with my previous measurements since I started lifting.
Monday - 8/15/11
Cycle 2, Week 2, Day 1
Overhead press
3x65
3x70
10x80 - The numbers keep going up and up. This is incredible.
Wide grip overhead press
2x10 - 55 lbs
Standing DB skull-crusher
2x10 - 30 lbs
1x10 - 35 lbs
DB overhead press
5x10 - 20s
Last week, my shoulders and triceps were so pumped and sore after the workout I couldn’t even scratch my neck. Now they feel like I barely did any work at all, even with the same volume.
Farmer’s walk with 85s. As I have been progressing with this exercise I have been walking faster and faster. However I do not consider this cheating. If one day I have to carry infants two at a time (it can happen) out of a burning building I’m going to be moving as fast as possible.
Five pull-up attempts. I started with arms completely straight and went up. I was pretty close but I just couldn’t finish it off. I felt most of the load in my biceps, not my back. I will do a pull-up by Friday, 8/19/11. I promise you all a video.
Tuesday - 8/16/11
Cycle 2, Week 2, Day 2
Deadlift
3x140
3x160
5x180 - Disappointing. My previous records were 5x180 and 7x170. I broke a record last week, but not this one. I will make up for it next week.
Power clean
2x10 - 75
1x10 - 80
Bent-over row
2x10 - 70
2x10 - 75
DB suitcase deadlift
3x10 - 60
Farmer’s walk with 90s; made it 3/4 of the way but I dropped the dumbbells five times by the time I got that far so I had to take them back to the rack individually. Got weird looks. Better luck Thursday. Farmer’s walk is always harder on deadlift days when grip has been worn out and worked so hard.
5 pull-up attempts - was easier with close grip.
Felt sad (for lack of a better word) about the farmer’s walk failure so I pushed my car across the parking lot. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be and it rolled off into the grass before I ran, reached inside, and pulled the handbrake.
Too many carbs, not enough protein. 
8/18/11 - Thursday
Cycle 2, Week 2, Day 3
Bench press
3x80
3x95
10x105 - Another record!
Incline bench press
1x10 - 65,
2x10 - 70,
2x10 - 65
DB bench press
1x8F - 30s
2x10 - 25s
1x8F - 30s
1x6F - 30s
I was progressing to 35s no problem. All of a sudden, 30s become the new 35s and 25s become the new 30s. Next week I will do this assistance exercise first to see if that’s what the problem was.
Farmer’s walk with 85s. I wanted to do 90s but I pussied out because my forearms and grip were worn out from holding the dumbbells in the DB bench press. Tomorrow I will hit the 90s.
Side note, I’ll be doing all my workouts at the weight room in my school now, which means no fat women on treadmills, no chronic curlers giving me weird looks when I front squat, and actual squat racks, no smith machine.
I will also do a full pull-up tomorrow.
8/19/11 - Friday
Cycle 2, Week 2, Day 4
School gym closed, couldn’t use a normal rack. Had to go to the YMCA and use a smith rack.
Squat
3x130
3x150
6x170 - Another record, yay!
My lower back was rounding. This is because I was an idiot and forgot to stick my booty out before starting each rep.
Front squat
4x10 - 85
DB bulgarian split squat (1 set = 10 reps on each leg)
2x10 - 35s
1x10 - 30s
DB calf raises
3x10 - 35s
Farmer’s walk with 90s. Went halfway, grip gave out. Rested for about 15 seconds, then picked them up and carried them back. Deadlifting with dumbbells is a lot harder.
I also did a pull-up. Kind of. But I worked out right after school and I couldn’t use a locker at the YMCA so I put my phone in my backpack which was in the trunk of my car, so I couldn’t record it. But I swear with God as my witness that I started out on my knees on the ground with straight arms (not locked out, but not bent either) and touched my chin on that bar. I know it should be chest, but I got my chin there. I’ll start doing slow negative pull-ups at the end of each workout.
Happy with this workout, everything increased.
Sidenote: My quads have developed a ‘sweep’ to them when I flex.
8/20/11 - Saturday (posting a day late)
Breakdancing practice. Kip-ups, windmills, air swipes, air chairs.
8/21/11 - Sunday
All measurements taken after the bathroom, before eating/drinking anything.
Weight: 143.5 (gained a pound)
Waist: 29 3/4" (no difference)
Chest: 36" (up by 1/4")
I don’t know what to think of the changes. I’ve been eating about the same amount of food this past month. Perhaps I have disproven the first law of thermodynamics.