BT2k9

BRUTAL night at the gym tonight. I’m exhausted.

It’s official - deadlifts are my least favorite exercise. They completely drained all my energy tonight. I was almost ready to skip cardio, but I got a 2nd wind and did a great 30 minute session on the hybrid. All-in-all, fantastic workout.

I’m home now with my meal sitting in front of me. I’m gonna eat, then hit the sack. I’m beat.

Tomorrow I’ve got a couple things earlier in the day, but I’m definitely gonna hit the gym later on for another cardio session. Sunday is measuring day.

Great day today for my fitness.

I got home a bit early and busted out a great stretching session, then headed over to the gym for an awesome 30 minute cardio session on the elliptical. Got home and actually went to bed early for once. (10:30 - I NEVER go to bed that early!)

Diet was real good yesterday - best diet day I’ve had in awhile. I was on the elliptical and really felt like I was back in the stride from my 1st cycle where I was better with my consistency.

I’m gonna keep up this momentum and hit my goal for summer - my first summer where I can wear less clothes without shame!

Today is my last 4 set weight workout. I’m gonna bust it out and destroy that gym tonight.

Tonight was kind of a crappy night at the gym for me.

I was hustling my butt at home in order to get there before 9. I made it, just barely. Unfortunately, the machine I normally use for my bench press was taken by someone. Normally this wouldn’t be a huge deal, but the 2nd machine I use was OUT OF ORDER! What bad timing. So I didn’t have any option but to try a free weight station… I haven’t done free-weight bench press since high school, and let me tell you, you could tell! It was almost comical how little control I had over the bar - I actually had to put the guards on the edge so the weight wouldn’t fall off.

I did 1 crappy set to 8 reps, and I almost went to failure despite it being my first warm-up set. I could tell that this wasn’t going to be a good option for me to start the night off. Luckily by the time I was done with this first attempt, the guy was finished and I moved on to my normal machine. Whew!

But that wasn’t the end of it. I TOTALLY overestimated myself on my lifts tonight and was WAY off for all my weight set estimates. Most of my sets fell well below my rep range I use for the 4 set week.

Other than that, though, it was an ok workout.

Diet was good today. I’ve done really well this week so far, and I’m gonna bring in the end of the week with a bang. I’m determined to really get myself back in check.

I actually skipped my stretches tonight - I was just too pressed for time, and I really wanted to devote my energy to the workout tonight.

Time for bed.

Today I did real good on my diet. I’m finishing up my day; got a couple small things to take care of before I hit the sack.

I did my stretches, then headed to the gym for a 30 minute cardio session. Whew…it’s been awhile, but it felt great.

Tomorrow is my 2nd weight workout of the 4 set week. I’m really gonna try and start getting to bed earlier than normal - I remember how tired and grumpy I was during the 5 set weeks of my last cycle, and I want to avoid that this time. I’m certain that I wasn’t getting enough sleep.

Ok… bad, bad, bad. I missed my measuring. I don’t know what happened, but I woke up, and next thing I knew it was night time and wayyy too late to try and salvage any data from the week. I know that it was probably an ok week due to my total lack of cardio and my 85% effort on the diet front.

So I finally got to the grocery store and stocked up on healthy foods. I’ve made a strong determination this week not to spend a single dime on take-out food. I’m certain I can make it stick.

Today was a good day for diet. I took my breakfast and lunch to work and ate the properly measured quantities of food - not the usual ‘oh, that looks about the right amount’ I usually do with my take-out meals at work.

I got my stretches done and hit the gym for my first 4 set workout of the week. I was nice and warmed up and busted out some good intense sets. I really felt the fatigue during my deadlifts and my tri-press tonight. The deadlift always saps a TON of my energy and I’m always very glad that it’s the 2nd to last exercise.

I already outlined my goal with the diet and my no-takeout policy this week. My 2nd goal is to get back to consistency with my cardio. I’ve been really good with the stretches but my cardio has been lacking.

I’m so happy with how my Pilates has helped my overall fitness. It really helps you see where your posture can be corrected, and my hip & knee discomfort haven’t been issues at all these past couple weeks. I’m really gonna try and get Callanetics back in there on my off-weight days but I don’t want to burn myself out mentally now that I’ve finally gotten consistent with at least 1 stretching program.

So that’s it so far. I’ll definitely make more of an effort to update regularly. Next week is the next update for the cutting contest, so I’ll post new pictures then. Hopefully you’ll be able to see some of the differences I have seen.

That was a long week - so long I can’t remember most of it. It’s all a haze… no, not really.

The honest truth? I’ve been too lazy to update this thing… that’s the bottom line. I haven’t missed any workouts, but when I get home sometimes it’s just easier to eat and go to bed.

So I did some juggling with my workout days again and I basically skipped cardio the whole week… I have no excuse.

Monday was regular. Did my stretches then hit the gym for my weight workout. Diet was good.

Tuesday - nada. Bad day for fitness, but an ok day for dieting.

Wed - Nada. I got home and was so tired I didn’t think going to the gym would be beneficial due to my lack of energy. I ate a small-ish meal and hit the sack.

Thursday - nada. Really bad, I know. My excuse is laziness, which is no excuse at all. I’m just being straight-up honest. I’ve never lied on this blog and I don’t want to start, even though the hard truth is difficult to fess up to, mostly to myself. Diet was ok for Thursday.

Friday - finally back in the gym for my 2nd weight training day. Did my stretches, then hit the gym. Headed home, ate my last meal and took care of a couple things before hitting the sack. Diet was ok.

Saturday - I was out with a friend for most of the day so I ended up getting my final 3 set workout finished that night. It was interesting being there on a Saturday night - not really slow, but not busy either. Diet was ok.

So that’s the week.

Ok, so measurements were interesting today. I gained on waist, lost slightly on tummy and my weight stayed the same. So I didn’t do as well this time as I did last week.

Saturday & Sunday were pretty carb heavy, so I’m gonna really focus on my protein to start the week off. I’m going to the grocery store tonight so I’m moving my first workout to tomorrow. I’ll do my stretches and some cardio at home.

I’ve been saying for awhile now that my diet is the thing holding me back, and it’s really showing at this point what all my inconsistencies are doing to my progress. I am making progress, but not at my full potential.

This weekend I really felt like I was at a new level in terms of my body fat. I really noticed that my clothes aren’t fitting as snugly as they used to, and a few things I used to wear just straight-up don’t fit me anymore. I know that I’ve done good so far, I just can’t help but feel that I could be doing so much better if I just really stopped being so lazy with my diet.

Le sigh.

I’m heartened, though, that the stretching is definitely working in terms of minimizing my hip and knee discomfort. I’m really gonna stay consistent with my stretches over this next cycle.

Lately, a new focus has come into my life, one of finances and money. This has quickly become something I’ve had to devote a lot of time and attention to, and it’s become 2nd only to my fitness goal. So now I’ve got 2 aspects of my life I’m ‘getting into shape’ and let’s hope I can find enough time to devote to both of those as needed, along with everything else.

I’m enjoying this thing called life right now, and if nothing else, things are certainly interesting.

Ok, so I didn’t get a chance to update a single time last week, but I had a pretty good week on the diet / fitness side of my life.

Monday went good. I went home, got my stretches done and hit the gym for my first 3 set week. Diet went well.

Tuesday I busted out my cardio session but didn’t have time to really get into my stretches.
I ended up having to swap my Wed & Fri workouts to Fri & Sat. Morning respectively. Wednesday, I had a bunch of stuff to do when I got home and by the time I was done, I would have had to rush through my workout to get it done before the gym closed, so I opted to move it. Thursday wasn’t available because I stayed the night at my friend’s house.

Wed & Thurs diets were good.

Friday rolls around and I bust out my 2nd 3 set workout for the week. The gym was surprisingly packed for a Friday night and there were a few distractions, but I was able to focus and maintain intensity. Friday’s diet went well.

Saturday morning came and I was determined to get to the gym very early to bust out my workout and get it out of the way. I got there and it was somewhat busy, but it wasn’t an issue and I was able to get it done. I ended up skipping my cardio that day in favor of stretching at home.

Some good news… my hip discomfort has started to abate. Saturday and Sunday I had virtually NO hip discomfort and it was really odd not to feel that going on for once. I also discovered a way to bend over at the back without straining my back - use my abs to lift myself up. This method lets me bend up and down virtually without pain.

Ok, did great on measurements today. I’m happy that my graphs are going back down again.

Yesterday was good. I had a party I went to last night and it was pretty carb-tastic there, but I was able to keep good tabs on what I ate.

Today I’m gonna take it easy at home. I’m going to a friend’s house later to spend the night.

Had a real good workout last night. The gym was a ghost town and I was able to breeze through all my sets and my cardio real quick. I was pretty drained from the week so I got home and basically went right to bed.

Today I didn’t do my cardio at the gym, but at home. I’m gonna do my stretches later tonight. Tomorrow is measuring day and I think I should do well.