Jettisoned Ponderings

Recently, one of my lifting gloves started to tear at the seam that runs along the side, so the wrist doesn’t stay snug and the glove slips a bit. Grr. Then last week, my forearms were getting a bit tired and I wanted to bump the weight a little extra on dead lifts. So I head back to my locker and come to find my straps are AWOL. Went to the front desk to try and see if they, or some other abandoned ones, were in the lost and found… no such luck. Bah. I’ve also decided that my iPod arm band serves more as a tourniquet than anything else as my left arm always hurts more right around where it rests. The band is as loose as it goes. Not so much a problem until I’m a few sets into the workout and start to get a bit of a pump. Urgh! So since legs are tonight and I’m doing more deads, I guess I need to swing by the store to get some new straps. Highly tempted to ditch the workout gloves and start lifting bare handed again since I’m not doing anything with massage currently and have no plans to start up a private practice anytime soon.

Took a few new shots tonight. Overall, I’m pleased with how things are coming along. I know it’s a slow process, but still. After attending a few shows this summer, I’ve realized my two biggest weak points are my lats, pecs, and quads. Typical for most people, but they really seemed to be the kicker when it came to top 3 placings. For me, these areas don’t have the width and thickness they need. They’ve become areas of emphasis, and it’s starting to show. GVT has been working marvelously, and it’s even more motivating to be able to even just slightly bump the weight up from one week to the next with the same degree of difficulty as before. As long as I can keep feeding my muscles what they need, which ain’t cheap, things should stay on track. What I was most pleased about with tonights pics were that I could see my lats starting to grow out. Back has always been a challenge for me, at least for lats. Building traps, rhomboids, and erectors came fairly easy, but not width. So to see even a little progress here is encouraging. I’m planning to take a few more shots after GVT is done in another month or so. Not expecting huge changes, but hopefully just enough to be noticable.

3 of 7 weeks down for my current lifting program, and I gotta say that I’m really liking the results. Since my fiance’s back in school, I need to restructure some of my workouts to accommodate the two days she’s not available. On top of that, I need to revisit the overall underlying training philosophy I’ve been using. I know the 8-12 rep range has always yielded the best results for me. This has been reinforced by GVT being based on 10 rep sets. But now I’m curious… What if I did 4 sets of 12 or 6 sets of 8 instead of 5 sets of 10? How many reps would I be able to do if every rep was slow on the eccentric motion? There are a number of possibilities I’m tossing around. I do know that I’m enjoying having fewer exercises by doing more compound motions, just strictly because it gets me out of the gym faster and I’m feeling just as well worked as if I were to be hitting individual muscles in isolation work instead. So really I’m back to the drawing board, but have much more knowledge available to pull from for the next round. The goal has always been the same, but it’s a never ending search to find the best way to get there for the moment.

Tonight was legs, third week of GVT. Sticking to more of the basics; squats, romanian deadlifts, leg press, and calf raises. So far what I’ve liked most about this program is that first, I break a crazy sweat! I know the calories are getting burned, so it’ll be really good to incorporate some of these principles into a cutting routine. Second, I’m not as sore as when I go all out. I may be sore for a little longer time, but the degree of DOMS is much less. Lastly, I’m seeing progress every workout. For example, squats I’m going completely down and hit partial failure on my 49th rep week 1 at 135lbs. Tonight I got through all my reps, having to rest-pause at the bottom for a few, with 155lbs. For me, this is a huge jump. All my leg exercises are up 20lbs so far. All my other exercises are following a similar percentage increase as well. What was a point of failure two weeks ago is now a point of comfort. Going much slower and deeper, I’m also feeling minimal, if any, joint discomfort like I did the first week. So that tells me that my knees are getting stronger. I’ve actually stopped taking additional joint support aside from that in the Vibe, which really is all I need since it’s form is nearly 100% bioavailable. (Seriously, Vibe is a supplement everyBODY needs! 10 months on it, I attribute so many health improvements to it) Since this program started out, I was doing around 50-55% of my 1 rep max for all my sets. If that’s still the case, I’ll be quite curious what I can do for max outs after another 4 weeks of this. My BodySpace needs an update for my lifting stats and measurements anyhow, so this will be a perfect time to see any improvements.

Since I’m no longer sitting at a desk all day for a good while, thankfully, I’m now on my feet most all day. This is good in many respects, but it’s really starting to bother my knees. I think I’m due to get some new shoes soon, or at least some good inserts, for a better arch support. Otherwise the days following leg workouts aren’t going to be much fun…
On the up side, chest/back last night was really good and all my weights bumped up a little more. I’m very pleased that the GVT program has yielded noticeable and consistent progress in multiple respects. I’m actually dropping a little more weight, but my body is really feeling "fuller" overall, especially in areas where I need the most work. Sticking with the compound movements is really working well for trying to build, although now I’m curious to try the method with isolation movements for a few particular groups that’re still giving me trouble after another month or so of this program. For recovery, I’m really liking the MHP Up Your Mass. I’m not using the full servings (I don’t need 62g of protein, I usually take 40-50 at a time), but it’s loaded up with a crazy amount of glutamine (a full 4 scoop serving has almost 26g!). I’m sure that’s helping out a lot since MHP really shoots for sustained release, plus the gainer tastes better than the Probolic. That much glutamine gives it a bit of a chalky taste, but mixing it with whole milk makes it quite palatable.

Anyhow, off to take a nap. Might get a little cardio in later if my knees stop complaining.

Having to be up around 4:30am every morning is really starting to throw me off. I’ve had to be up earlier than this before for work, but only for a short while. It’s annoying because I really start to tire at about 3 pm every day. I’m back to trying to take a nap after work and before working out later, but my body still doesn’t want to sleep while it’s light outside. So I’m finding myself passing out at about 8pm since I’m not able to get any good rest yet prior to that. Next thing I know I’m waking up at 2am, so it’s past when I want to workout, and now I have to try to get back to sleep for a few more hours before repeating the schedule. This is going to take some getting used to, but hopefully it won’t take too long and I can feel more refreshed during my waking hours each day instead of just run down like I’ve been this past week.

Rather than go by weeks, I’ve come to prefer "Rounds" for each time through all the days in a program. Granted, these last couple have ended up being a week each instead of five days, but the extra couple recovery days ended up being very necessary. GVT is intense and really shocked my body more than I’m used to, but I’m seeing results! I haven’t eaten quite as much as I need to be in order to get the most out of this program. I need to go get some gainer today to try and help fill in the carb gap. Protein is fine, it’s just the carbs that I’m not getting enough of. While strength is starting to go up more, and I believe muscle mass, I’m actually weighing a little less. Probably too little water and too much coffee… (Hey, being up at 4:45am to get ready and to work by 6am is still rough even for us morning people) In addition to leaning out, I’m also feeling a bit dry. Again, probably the coffee, but I’ve also been doing a cleanse so I know I’m flushing a lot of extra junk out of my system. So really, I’m most likely losing bad weight and keeping the good. I keep plenty of water with me, I just get caught up in the day and I don’t get it down.

On the upside, training is going well. Aside from a couple specific exercises, I’m able to go up in weight every round, or at least bump my last 2-3 sets up to the next weight for things like delt raises where slow rep time makes 2.5-5lb jumps a little less reasonable. The difficulty stays the same, but the weight is just a bit heavier. Leg days are especially harsh going up 5-10lbs each round. Definitely breaking out a very good sweat on leg days! It’s good to feel because I know legs are my weakest point overall and need to be built up more. Soreness is only a day after at most now, so that’s a bittersweet thing since I know I’m adapting faster, but it’s still hurting. Just gotta make sure to increase the weight each time to provide that much more stimulation and try to keep the muscles growing. I’m anxious to see how this ends up after five more rounds, which will put me at my usual time frame that I have to change things up again.

All exercises, except abs, are done for 5 sets of 10. Tempo for the first five is 1-0-2, for the second five 2-0-6. Same weight each set, but increased each day that workout is done.

Day 1 - Back/Chest
Bench Press
Incline Bench Press
Cable Lat Pulldowns
Barbell Rows

Day 2 - Legs
Squats
Romanian DL
Close Foot Leg Press
Standing Calves

Day 3 - Arms
Barbell Curl
Preacher Curl
Reverse Curl
Cable Tri Pressdown
Close Grip Bench
Cbl Rev Tri Pshdwn

Day 4 - Shoulders & Abs
DB Shoulder Press
DB Lateral Raises
Barbell Military Press
Bent Lateral Raises

Abs (Circuit, 1-0-3 tempo): Decline Situps/Knee Raises/Disc DB Squats

Day 5: Off

Starting a 2 week cleanse since it’s been about six months since I did a short one. Hoping it’ll really help clean out my system overall so when I start taking some more supplements again after this routine they’ll perform better. I’m not taking anything aside from the basic kre-alkalyn, protein, vibe, fish oil, and just started 2 tribex tabs a day for a little test support while doing GVT. I’ve been off arginine/NO supps for a few weeks now, and I’m actually getting fuller and harder pumps without them. I hadn’t taken a good long break from them for a while, so this was a welcomed surprise. Recovery time is a bit slower, but I feel overall much fuller and denser when the DOMS has passed. Actually, even though I don’t go out of my way to take any stimulants, I’ve found that good ‘ol 7-eleven fusion coffee (with ginseng and guarana) works great post workout to avoid DOMS. Plus it’s cheaper, too. I still don’t like taking much stimulants pre-workout, but for post I’m fine with that. I’m really liking my routine now, and I know the muscles are good and shocked since it’s taking 2-3 days to fully recover. Just gotta make sure to eat enough and get plenty of water.

Work had a mini health fair today and I opted to get a test done since I’ve never had one before and was curious, much like my cholesterol and such last week. A number of people ahead of me were "normal" and as the statistics of course indicate, more females were "below average" and at more of a risk for various osteo disorders. I’ve never broken a bone before, and generally speaking have always been athletic, so I was quite curious how the past year and a half of lifting had affected things. Based on my gender and age, "normal" stiffness index would’ve been ~123. The machine’s chart topped off at 132 and I ended up going off the chart! Yay! I would’ve had to have been in the mid 80’s to be at risk for anything, so it’s nice to know that I’m at the opposite end of the spectrum.