Rev’s Gym

Beautiful, restful, relaxing day. My inlaws got out safely around 9am, and I had no appointments until 4:30 pm, sooo we loafed. We sat, we drank coffee, we watched cartoons, we played low energy games, we had fun all morning.

   Best part? when I looked at the clock, certain that it was time to get ready for the evening, the clock read 11:34 am. We had all day left!

I reintroduced my old heavy and speed bag routines yesterday during the cardio phase. It hurt so good to get them back in. I stopped them years ago due to the vibrations that they sent through the house (Happy wife is better than heavy bag), but have since bought a spring for the bag and re-hung it in a different part of the gym. I am out of shape on the bag (I only got about 3 3-minute rounds on the heavy and 2 3-minute rounds on the speed) but I’m looking forward to getting back into it.

   I also just added some carpet under my deadlift mat (stall mat) to help muffle the sound (again, happy wife is better than…) yesterday too. We’ll see how it works when I go heavy again. Meet is a week from tommorrow, so nothing heavy this week for me. Maybe the girls or Kyle can test it out.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Time to do something productive

What I ate:

sparkpeople.com/revholbee

Need sleep. Need sleep.

Deadlifts were Wednesday and went ok. Not great, but tolerable. Yesterday was Thanksgiving with all of the trimmings and only some of the temptations. I did well diet wise. I did not do well sleep wise over the last three or so days.

… Sorry, lost my focus there for a moment.

What I ate:

1: I’m really not sure to be honest. I know I had pineapple and veggies for breakfast. There was turkey and trimmings for lunch/supper. Other than that…need more water.

My secretary handed me an email yesterday from another powerlifting pastor, and an ELCA one at that! Apparently he’s entered in the same Sunday meet this December as I am. Same profession, same, meet, same weight class. Freaky! I’m looking forward to talking with he and his wife and getting to know him better. I mean, what are the odds!?

   My inlaws arrived at midnight last night after their 14+ hour drive up from Tennessee (Hey "snoskier" Al, I still want to get that workout with you when we’re down your way next summer!) and were amazed at my wife’s progress. This is FANTASTIC as the last couple of trips there or here Kim they have gently asked Kim about her health, making Kim all the more self-conscious.  She was beaming by the end of the night! I love my inlaws, especially for that. However, I do pity my Mother in law if she indeed does go down into the gym this morning with Kim and Amy and tries to keep up. Those two have become MACHINES!

Their Wednesday workout (they lift M, W, Fri. with different workouts, but same cardio): 2 cycles of 15 reps, circuit style:

Dumbell Military, Deadlifts, Seated Rows, Hip sled (leg press), Sumo Deadlifts, Incline Dumbbell Bench, Upright Rows, , Standing Cable Crunches, Reverse Crunches, Oblique Crunches, treadmill, cross country ski, recumbant bike, elliptical, speed bag, heavy bag, sparring pads, stretch.

  Anyway, I had a pretty good bench workout yesterday. I’ve been playing this week with "crazy bells" : hanging weights on the end of the bar for the major lifts. The theory is that the hanging weights jump and swing, causing the stabilizer muscles to work extra hard during the lifts. I’m noticing an ever so small difference, but not much. In any event, it’s a fun change-up for awhile (and rope is alot cheaper than chains).

What I ate: Sparkpeople.com/revholbee

    I’m not likeing their diets. I feel that I’m  eating way too many carbs. I’ll be going back to my higher protein approach today. But man, do those bagels and stuff taste good. lol

Cold day! Had a great workout with squats and biceps in the nice, warm basement. Trained longer than usual today due to my training partner showing up early and the weather outside. Finished up the session with a family + workout partner supper of stirfry/fajitas (we were low on tortillas, but high on rice).

The meet will be 1 week from Sunday…eek!

What I ate: Sparkpeople.com/revholbee

I ate just over 2000 calories yesterday. Chicken, protein shake, chicken, boca burger, chicken, green beans, peas. All told, lost 1/2 lb last night and ate more than I have in awhile. We’ll see how this goes.

Kim and Amy (her workout partner) are tweaking their diets too. Trying to get the calories right, etc.. Kim also now fits into a pair of pants that she hasn’t fit into since…oh…2000 or 2001. Very excited!

Today is clean the house (floors mostly), squats and biceps.

What I ate:

1: 2 scoops whey, 34 oz water, multi vitamin

2: 1 tendergrill chicken sandwich w/o sauces, 1 boca burger w/o sauces, 34 oz water

3: 2 chicken legs, 2 chicken thighs, one onion, one carrot, one C peas, 1 C green beans, 34 oz water, 2 Tbs lite sour cream, 34 oz water

4: 2 oz italian bread, 1 T brown mustard, 3 oz chicken breast, 1 oz chedder cheese, 2 tsp olive oil spread, 12 oz water

211.5 yesterday, 211 today

Yesterday my wife accepted an invitation from a friend to join a fitness team hosted on the site http://www.sparkpeople.com . The missing part of her plan has always been diet, as she has be adament about not wanting to do any of the "crazy" dieting that I do. Well, after 8 weeks straight of cardio and weights without missing a day she and her workout partner have decided to take up the nutrition aspect too (and I’m REALLY impressed with and proud of her!!!!). She was showing me the site last night after church and we created a form for me.

And reality hit.

   I only ate 1200 calories yesterday. I’m supposed to have between 1700 and 2200. I had the upper limit for protein, below the limit for carbs and fats, but not enough calories overall. Kim’s diet was smack dab in the middle of the perfect zone.

   She was good. Granted she was watching her food yesterday, but she NAILED IT! Me? I’ve gotta try harder.

So, I’m logging my nutrition now. my screenname over there is revholbee.

But I’m still a loyal BB.com’er!! (it will always be at the top of my favorites list)

What I ate:

1: 3 eggs, 2 slices whole wheat, 2 tsp olive oil, 34 oz water, multi vitamin

2: 8 popcorn chicken pieces, 1 can tuna, 34 oz water

3: 12 oz chicken breast, 1/2 can green beans, 1 baked potato, 2 T lite sour cream, 34 oz water

4: 1 chocolate pudding pop

yesterday 213.5, today 213

yay! Today is offical weekly weigh-in day. I’m down to 211.5 again, which is nice. But the big thing is that I’m down to 20.9% bf! I’ve finally broke 21.1% barrier! I am behind on my projected schedule, but progress is progress. Especially after feeling so out of it during yesterdays weight session. I tried to do deadlifts and shrugs, but just couldn’t concentrate. I stopped at a single with 455 and called it a day. Same with the shrugs: 10 @ 335 and 30 w/60’s but just wasn’t there.

This is going a long way to putting me back in a good place.

I forgot how much I love oatmeal. A simple thing: Oats and water. And if that wern’t good enough, a dash of cinnamin kicks it up into a new league. I’m sitting at my desk at the office now, fingers still warm from the mug of oats that sits to my right which will serve as meal 1 today. I have a warm, satiated feeling in my chest right now.

Life is good.

Had a great day! My squats felt great. I even lowered the box further (from 12 inches to 8 inches) on box squats. Felt really strong. But, the I was boring yesterday. My wife and her workout partner are of more interest:

Their post workout discussion? Increasing the difficulty of their workouts to break through their plateaus (they’ve been going hard and steady for 8 weeks straight now on the same 3 a day routine), progress pictures, and sports bras.

Neither of them own one anymore. Both were shocked that the other one didn’t. The way that they talked it sounded like it was a universal "uni-boob" requirement for women to own at least one of these things.

You poor women! Men don’t have these problems with jock straps! We don’t have "High Impact", Medium motion, soft and firm, separate but equal vs all in together, three packs vs solos, underwire (on a sports bra?!) vs. none, etc. etc. etc.

In any event, Kim did find 4 at the store of a few different styles that she’s going to try.

In any event, I had no idea it was so complex. On behalf of the men (at least in my family) I say "Sorry for underestimating the ingenuity of your undergarments".

What I ate:

1) 2 yolks, 5 whites, salsa, 34 oz water, vitamins, oils

2) 3 C lettuce, 1 can tuna, 2 T lite italian dressing, 34 oz water

3) 3/4 roasting chicken (2 legs, 2 thighs, 1 breast) approx 2 lbs, 1/2 can green beans, 1 baked potato, 4 T lite sour cream, one onion, 2 T shredded chedder, 34 oz water,

Yesterday 215, today 211.5