thorra’s BodyBlog

What else is there to say except…

-Shoulders and Traps tomorrow.

As usual, I ate extremely clean for the start of the day.  No issues with my pre, during, post and post post nutrition. 

After that, the cravings began.  However, instead of indulging too much, I kept it simple: just one half of a cookie in the afternoon, and a piece of pie after supper.

I don’t know why I’m being such a prude with the snacking.  If I want to snack I should just do it.  It just inspires me to workout harder.

YEAH!!

Keep that pie out. 

I’m coming back for more.

Bleary-eyed, I made my way out of the comfort of my bed, eager to get to my back workout. 

I was feeling pretty good.  I was feeling like today was another one of those "my days". 

That’s how I was feeling until I opened the refrigerator door and smacked myself in the face with it.

Maybe I should have stayed in bed a bit longer.

Oh well.

That wasn’t going to stop me from having a great workout and that’s exactly what it was.

Started off with wide grip barbell rows (12,10,8,7,7,5).  I managed to add ten pounds on to my personal best.

HUZZAH!!

Up next- wide grip pull-downs (12,10,10,8,6).  I wasnt’ sure I was going to enjoy these.  I only picked up the lat attachment because it was on sale.  I was sure I was going to be too tall for it, but nope.  It was all good.  The pulldowns really add to my workout.

Moved on to deadlifts (10,8,4,4,4).  I added ten pounds on to my best for the last three sets.  This was killer.

I finished off my workout with two supersets.  Superset #1 was weighted medium grip pullups (6,5,5,4) and close grip pulldowns (10,10,10,9).

Superset #2 was weighted hangs (timed around 18-32 Scoopy-Dooby-Doo’s) and light pullovers (12,12,12,11).

After super set #1 my lats felt like they were on fire.  After super set #2 they felt great- like I could go another round.

After some stretching, it was 24 min. on the bike (heart rate at 142 BPM).

FIN

-Great chest workout today.  I love that sore feeling.  I just have to remember to take my stretching more seriously.  I’m not getting any younger.  Or pliable.

-BACK tomorrow.  For some reason I’m more excited than usual to do my back (but not so excited I’m about to start using phrases like "pumped" or "stoked".)  I’m especially looking forward to deadlifts and pulldowns.

Well, my refrigerator continues to be overrun with Christmas goodies.  As much as I’d like to ignore it all and stick to my nutritional plan, I must remember my wife’s 2004 proclamation, "No Food Left Behind!!  Or Else!!!"

Some people get so cranky when food is wasted.

Therefore, I must take it upon myself to make the ultimate sacrifice. 

Each day I must incorporate a little of the christmas leftovers into my diet.  I must do this, until the refrigerator has been returned to its normal state.

I don’t care if it’s Festive Cranberry-Cheesecake squares, or Apple Pie, it all must go!

But no salads or anything with tofu.  I’m so over tofu!

Thank you for your time.

This service announcement was brought to you by PETL (People for the Ethical Treatment of Leftovers) who wish to remind you that:

"A danish ring is a terrible thing to waste"

I had a good workout today.  It all began with a strenuous, all-out, 15 min drag-my-sorry-butt-out-of-my-sorry-bed experience to find out who the heck was slamming cabinet doors and making a racket so early in the morning. 

Turns out there are worse things than a woman scorned- such as a child who wakes up to find her favorite cereal missing!?! 

Turns out my child is going to learn to be afraid of more than the boogeyman!

*SIGH*

Who am I kidding.  She could kick my butt, given the sorry state I’m in so early in the morning.

Okay, I’m up.  Might as well stay up.

Started my workout with flat barbell bench press.  Usually, I try to put in as many reps as possible in my sets, stopping just short of failure. Today after one warm up set (15), I just kept adding weight, but stopping well short of failure (8,5,4).  Then I added five pounds to my personal best and went for it-it being failure (5,5,5,4).

Doing it this way saved a lot of energy for my heavy sets, allowing me to put in more reps and an extra set.  I won’t mind doing this occasionally, but I definitely prefer going close to failure on all of my sets.

Finished off with two sets to failure (8,10) before beginning some decline work.

Started with some decline bench to failure (10,10,8), followed by some partials to work on my weak spot-the start of the press.  Three sets (8,6,6) and then it was weighted dips. 

I kept the weight light and really focused on isolating my lower chest region. Four sets (10,10,11,10) and my chest was done.

I’m starting to think my calves have gone as far as they’re going to go with what I have.  It’s probably time to look for a calf machine.

Still, I gave it the old college try and belted out some barbell calf raises (15,15,12,12,10,10) and some individual calf raises (10,8,8,6) before attempting a few static holds on my toes with heavy weights.

22 min on the bike with a heart rate of 158 BPM and I called it a morning.

CIAO!

-My wild and crazy Friday night is just about over.  The kids are tucked in, the crappy shows are off (there was no Avatar on tonight so I was stuck with the Disney channel.  BOOOO!), and my Good Night shake is done.

My energy levels crashed and burned a bit before eight tonight.  Not bad.  I’m usually done in by five and coasting (no, floundering would be a better word) through the rest of my nights.

Today’s cardio workout was awesome, and really set the tone for a great day.  I want more.  MORE!!

Great workouts are addictive.

-Chest and calves tomorrow. 

Today I’ve been on a feeding frenzy.  I’ve had to eat every two hours.  Oats, shakes, bagel (oops!), tea (lots of tea). 

And then there was the cookie.

But I’ll save that for another story.

It’s a good day.

Oh yeah!  Today is my day.  Today, I’m the windshield and life is the bug.

I was hydrated, caffeinated, and proteinated (What?!? Hell’s yeah that’s a word.  Somewhere.) pretty early this morning, without the usual sorry butt dragging out of sorry bed routine.

Started off with hanging leg raises (12,11,10,10).  BOOYAH!!  10 reps or more for every set was a great way to start my workout.

Moved on to oblique cable crunches (15,13,12,10).  Okay feeling on these.  I’m sure it’ll get better, the more I do it.

Finished off with weighted hyperextensions (12,10,10,10). I’m loving that feeling in my lower back.

Cardio was the bike and I didn’t care.  I had an all-star lineup of music behind me, led by Metallica’s version of "Whiskey in the Jar", and nothing was standing in my way today.

In addition to Metallica, there was a little STP (Down), a bit of Creed (only a bit, I said. "My Sacrifice." There’s only so much of that crap I can take.) Hell, I even had some Jay-Z (99 problems).

My new tempo pace I started last month is much easier now.  My heart rate was between 163-168 BPM and I didn’t feel challenged by it.   I went 50 minutes (three minute warm-up.  Three minute cool down.)  I almost went longer, but caught myself just in time.

Currently I’m hopped up on energy.  I had a great workout and that buzz is going to carry me through the day.

MUSHA RING DUMMA DO DAMMA DA!!

-My shoulders are sore.  My triceps feel a bit tweaked.  I’m glad I managed to accomplish something so that this morning wasn’t a complete bust.

-Abs and cardio tomorrow.  I haven’t had a decent abs and cardio day in a while.  I’m looking forward to the change of pace.