My Jettisoned Ponderings

Morning Weigh-In: 188lbs
Bodyfat: 11.7%
Feeling: *shrug*

First off, the good stuff. I got a little impatient, so new progress pics are up! I’m also rethinking my weight goal and am going to aim for 200lbs by the end of March since if things keep up at the rate they are now I’ll break the 190lbs dry within a week. 200lbs would be huge for me! Considering that last night post food I weighed in at 191.5, I think it’s actually doable. This is the first time I’ve had my diet, training, supps, etc. all working as well as I’d like. Granted the Tren is playing a huge part in it! Still very exciting! I’ll have more to say on that tomorrow.

Now for the rest of the ups and downs. Weighed in a bit dry this morning for a few reasons. Post-massage yesterday I still had parts of my back that were giving me problems, but I’m immensely better overall. Even though I tried to push fluids after I still crashed a couple hours later and woke up with one heck of a headache (still lingering this morning). Yay toxin release… Spent most of the evening passed out trying to recover. Consequently my last 2 meals of the day sucked nutritionally. Dinner was a heaping bowl of Strawberry Frosted Mini-Wheats, and evening meal was… non-existent. Yeah, nice and well-balanced, no? So I’m back on track this morning with breakfast to try and redeem myself a bit.

No workout today since Court had some academic conflicts and I’ve got an early hands-on interview at another massage clinic. I tend to have a bit more therapeutic/friction based massage style, so we’ll see if things work out and fit in with them. It’s a much nicer atmosphere, but it is a spa versus just a massage clinic. We’ll see what happens… I hope it works out though. I’m not in a bad situation right now, but I’m always up for moving up a bit, ya know?

Tomorrow we’ll be back on track with the slow tempo days. Most likely hit legs again and go from there instead of chest/bis/shoulders. Honestly, my traps probably need a break from upper body after what it took to break some of the tension loose yesterday.

Forgot to check my stats first thing this morning, so today’s numbers are post-workout, but before I downed my shake.
Post-Workout Weight: 188.5lbs
Post-Workout Bodyfat: 11.6%
Feeling: Bring It On!

Bit of a late start today, and it’s Court’s early day to open at work, so we skipped abs and went straight to the heart of the workout. Still had to cut things short omitting underhand front lat pulldowns and hyperextensions, but otherwise things went really good. Muscles really got taken to failure (as you’ll see by set 2 of seated rows…) and I think I have a few favorite superset for triceps that we finished up with! Quite the mean pair, if I do say so… Scary thing is I have worse tri-sets I could bring in, but those will be for a later time in a good high rep cutting routine. So here’s what we did get through today:

2-0-2, Pec-Deck Rear Delt (Flat/Prone Grip) - 4×12: 60/70/70/70
1-0-1, Partial Dips (Weighted) - 3xFail: +25×21/+35×15/+45×10
A: 2-0-2, BB Bent Rows (Supine Grip) - 2×12: 135/185
B: 1-0-1, BB Shrugs - 2xFail: 135×35/185×22
1-0-1, DB Shoulder Press (Palms In) 3×12: 50s/55s/55s
A: 2-0-2, Seated Rows - 2×12: 140/150
B: 1-0-1, Drop Set/Partials - 2xFail: 120×17/130×6
A: 1-0-1, 1 Arm DB Overhead Tri Ext - 3×12: 25/30/32.5
B: 1-0-1, 1 DB Tri Kickback - 3xFail: 12.5×33/15×17/17.5×12

So first things, I have NEVER done weighted dips before! Being "Partial", I basically still went through about 60-70% of the range of motion. Got a good stretch on the way down, but not so far that the teres had to kick in, then pushed out till I could feel the muscle really starting to bunch up. I will say I wish the dip belt had a slightly longer chain… Will stick to a pair of 25s next time instead of a 45. Yeah, moving on… My shoulder stability feels a lot better than it did last year when I first attempted one arm overhead extensions. I used to have problems with 20lbs and still had elbow pain, but today there was none of that. Sure, the muscle got tired but the stability was all there and the elbows did not hurt at all. This greatly pleased me as it’s been problematic for far too long, so if I to tweak something it will be easier to maintain and recover.

Off work again today and going in for 90 minutes of massage work to primarily try and ease up the tension in my rotator cuffs and unwind my forearms. Ironic how people who are bodyworkers themselves are usually the ones that need it most and don’t get it nearly enough.

Lastly, got a membership at Darque Tan yesterday since they’re the only place around here that offers unlimited sunless tanning. Still not big on the tanning bed thing, but at the same time a little preventative work beats the burns. I tan very easily (thank you Native American heritage), but I can also lose it and burn easily first (thank you German and Swiss heritage). I know they recommend cycling which level bed to use to hit different layers of skin each time, but we’ll see. I’m fine with going a little more often with Level 1 beds to get the pours open and let the mystic tan sink in a bit more. Might try to squeeze one more session in before the new progress pics. Still determining how long the tans last for me since I’ve never gone tanning before. Meh. I suppose like anything else, there are always more expensive and worse hobbies/addictions!

Morning Weigh-In: 187lbs
Bodyfat: 11.0% (Back to normal)
Feeling: Horny (No libido crash on this stuff!)

After some domestic cardio for warm-up I thew a wrench in things and suggested doing legs today instead of back. Few reasons; first, it’d been 3 days since legs for me but 6 for Court so it was overdue. Her body would not be expecting it and also her upper body was still sore from yesterday (sweeeeeet), which would probably cause her to fatigue faster and not be able to get the most out of the workout since it’s a lot of compound movements that still hit the biceps. That, and with the abs, it would be higher volume, thus more likely to get nauseous. So we did legs and the workout went well with only a couple variations to what I did on Sat. She put up some good numbers for the first time through it and I love anytime she gets the "Oooh!?" expression with a new exercise or changes up form just a bit and really feels it where she wants to. Given she’s still recovering from whatever she’s been fighting off the last few days I’m glad she was able to get through as much as she did (everything but one drop set). So for my numbers, here’s what I did today:

Supersets as A/B
A: 2-0-2, Standing Calf Raises - 4×12: 130/140/160/160
B: 1-0-1, Seated Calf Raises - 4×12: 95/100/105/110
A: 4-0-4*, Seated Leg Curls - 3×12: 135/150/165
B: 4-0-4*, Seated Leg Extensions - 3×12: 120/120/120
A: 2-0-2, Smith Hack Squats - 2×12: 140/150
B: 1-0-1, Smith Hack Partials - 2xFail: 140×20/150×18w/rest-pause
A: Close Stance Leg Press - 2×12: 410/455
B: Close Stance Drop Set - 2×12: 360/405
Romanian Deadlift Partials - 3×12: 185/185/185
*4-0-4 tempo for these will be done 3-0-3 from now on

Am I gonna feel this in a couple days? Absolutely. I was quite pleased that a couple numbers jumped as much as they did. I’m not sure how much of Saturday was affected by my not feeling well, or if it’s a genuine jump in progress. Either way, the upcoming weeks will tell!

Off work today and tomorrow, so gonna focus on doing stuff around home, restocking the fridge (seriously, wringin’ out the hens for the 7 dozen eggs needed each week and oh so many martyred bovines in my quest for mass!) and making sure to get my meals down and on time. Funny how I haven’t directly worked traps in months, but just from work stress and constant tension they seem to be growing. Dunno if that’s a good thing…

…and only a few more days to new progress pics! Actually I’m more excited to take measurements and see if anything has changed in the last couple weeks. I know at least my waist will be from constantly having more food in it! >.< D’oh!

Morning Weigh In: 185.5
Bodyfat: 9.7% (What the…!?)
Feeling: Pretty good!

Bodyfat today may be off since I took it post breakfast/workout. However, I’ve been sweating a lot more the last couple days. Dunno if that has anything to do with it either. We’ll see… As I’ve said before, I’m thinking of upping the fats in my diet a bit. This may be the kick I need to do it. Tren does cause you to lean out as well, so yeah… All things considered I suppose it’s possible.

Training today started with a change up. We’re keeping the existing slow tempo workouts, but changing the strength workouts to incorporate some drop sets, partials, and failure sets. More intense, significantly fuller pumps, overall just works more of the fibers that don’t feel it as much on the other days. So needless to say, I’m feeling it! My legs are still feeling a bit worked from Saturday, so that’s encouraging to know that something was done right. Bittersweetly can’t wait to hit them again with the right weights on Wednesday! Dearest Wifey I don’t think quite realizes what she’s in for… So today, here are my numbers and for the lovely mess of exercises I put us through:

*Supersets Labeled A/B

1-0-1, Kneeling Cable Crunches - 4×15: 75/85/95/110
1-0-1, Serratus Crunches (DBs) - 4×15: 30/30/30/32.5
1-0-1, Low Cable Side Crunches - 4×15: 70/70/80/90
2-0-2, Flat Bench Press - 2×12: 185×10+165×12/165
A: 2-0-2, Hi Incline DB Hammers 2×12: 25/30
B: 1-0-1, Straight BB Curl Partials - Failure: 40×20/x13
A: 1-0-1, Low Cbl Front Raises - 2×12: 40/45
B: 1-0-1, Low Cbl FR Partials - 2xFail: x13/x10
A: 1-0-1, Hi Cbl Most Msc Curls - 2×12: 50/65
B: 1-0-1, Hi Cbl Most Msc Drop Set - 2×12: 45/55
A: 2-0-2, Dumbell Fly - 2×12: 15/25
B: 1-0-1, Dumbell Fly Partials - 2xFail: x15/x11
2-0-2, DB Seated Lateral Raises - 2×12: 12.5/12.5
1-0-1, Hi Cbl Bicep Curls - 2×12: 60/70 (Bit too heavy last set)

Originally there were partial reps with bench press. Found just safety wise not a good thing since the bench doesn’t allow good spotter placement with the rack pegs and such. After doing the rest of the workout, yeah… pecs get plenty of blasting at the sternal attachment so omitting those partials isn’t gonna hurt anything. Anxious to see how good of a back pump I get tomorrow!

On an unrelated note, I’m gonna be purging the vast majority of my "friends" on here (basically anyone I don’t talk to at all on a semi-regular basis or see visit my profile). Anyone who gets axed and actually cares, just drop me a comment and I’ll re-add you.

Morning Weigh In: 185.5lbs (w00t!)
Bodyfat: 11.3%
Feeling: Friggin’ Oww…

First, yay weight! It’s working better to have more carbs before bed. I feel better in the mornings, however it does make it harder to eat more during the day. Still working to figure this out. Now for the not so great. Yesterday at work really took it’s toll on me. Maybe I the bar positioned wrong for the smith hacks, I dunno. Most acutely my left trap and shoulder region is tender, and my chest has been tight making my sternum pop when stretched. Bottom line it’s causing partial tingling/numbness in my last 2 fingers. Great, probably a bit of thoracic outlet syndrome. I’ve got a massage scheduled for Wednesday, hopefully that’ll also address the cramping and overuse I’ve had in my arms all together as well as get some work finally done right on my rotator cuffs. No workout today as I still have 4 hours of massage and another shift tomorrow. Court’s still recovering a bit from whatever she had (I hope I’ve already worked out whatever of it I may have started to get) and has homework to catch up on today. Should be ok to get back to the workouts tomorrow. My guess is one more week of what we’ve been doing, but I’m excited to add in the new stuff! I made it a 3 day split, so there’s always the option to mix it in with some of what we’ve still been doing. Maybe just change up a couple exercises here and there, like squats for leg press or something. I dunno. For the rest of today at least I need to focus on recovering and surviving my shift. One day at a time, I guess.

Morning Weigh In: 184lbs
Bodyfat: 11.2%
Feeling: Blah

Yesterday I must’ve eaten something that didn’t agree with me. I had a break for an hour and got my food, within an hour after eating it I completely shut down. This sucked as I was in the middle of giving a massage. Thankfully I had another break after it and was able to take a nap until my last client. It was a matter of seconds closing my eyes before I was woken up by my phone’s alarm clock. I know something was wrong because I never crash that hard and I had no appetite the rest of the day. Sucked trying to shove down a salad after work and another shake before bed as my unscheduled nap replaced snack time. Still didn’t feel to good this morning after breakfast, but decided to go workout anyhow. Court was running a bit of a temp last night and has been dizzy/nauseous all morning, so she called in sick and went back to bed to rest. Since I was going by myself I thought I’d give my new leg routine I put together a spin to see how it felt and smooth out any kinks. Very minimal changing was needed. I think once I do this whole thing with the right weights it’s really gonna hurt! I started light on a few things today since I felt run down, but by the end I was feeling pretty good. Whatever crap I had in my system saw fit to work its way out, too. I rarely break a sweat, but I was panting and sweating kinda like when you first start to break a good sweat 10 minutes into cardio. It’s 30 degrees out, and I was too hot to put my sweat pants or beanie back on. Reluctantly still wore my coat just to prevent a chill. Anyhow… Previewing coming attractions, this gives an idea of what the nature my next program is going to look like (Pixi, can’t wait to read your comments to this…):

Superset-3×12/12
2-0-2, Standing Calves: 130/140/160 (150 jammed, can’t ever use it)
1-0-1, Seated Calves: 95/100/105

4-0-4, Seated Leg Curl-3×12: 105/120/150

4-0-4, Seated Leg Extension-3×12: 120/130/140

Superset-2×12/Fail
2-0-2, Smith Hack Squats: 90/140
1-0-1, Smith Hack Partials: Repsx25/x17

Drop Sets-2×12/12 (Rest Pause If Need)
1-0-1, Close Stance Leg Press: 335/290, 385/340

2-0-2, Romanian Deadlifts-3×12: 95/135/155

For Court, instead of the deads she’ll be doing cable glute kickbacks. Yeah, definitely don’t have the energy after this to be able to do abs on the same day. Just gonna stick to abs on upper body days. Overall, dang good pump and good burn on the drop/partial sets. May increase the number of sets on a couple things later, but for now this’ll be good like I said with the right weights being used next time.

Start Weight: 179lbs
Start Bodyfat: ~11.3% (Estimated)
Current Weight: 183.5lbs (+4.5)
Current Bodyfat: 10.7% (-0.6)
Daily Cal. Intake: 4200-4500 (40/40/20 Pro/Carb/Fat)

I’ve been taking 2 caps 2x a day (120mg) for a week now. Recommended dosage is 3-6 caps a day. So far I have absolutely nothing negative to say about this product. The workout program I did this past week is one I’d been on for 2 weeks prior to starting the Tren, so I knew what my numbers were and had an idea how quickly I would progress in my lifting. Around day 4 or 5 it really started to kick in. All my lifting numbers have gone up a noticeable amount more than usual. Recovery time is also faster. What would typically take 2 days to recover from usually only takes 1. My joints also feel stronger. This is a huge deal for me because all my joints crack and pop frequently (aggravated by doing 4-6 hours of massage 5 days a week). Now when they do there is very minimal pain and/or acute inflammation (again, mostly doing the massages is what aggravates it if anything). With the increased workout intensity, I do have more tight muscle bands that put a bit of extra pull on the hard tissue and I believe are primarily responsible for the extra popping. (Basically, I need to get a massage myself) As for sides, there haven’t been any unwelcome ones. I have had no problems with mood swings, no libido crash, no breakouts, etc. Maybe a slight bump in focus/aggression toward the end of a last set in the gym when I need it, but that’s all. Otherwise the only side I have experienced is a significant increase in appetite. This works out well since you really need to be pushing the good calories when taking this. It’s still early in the cycle, but considering the gains I’ve had seem to all be lean and dry, I’m extremely pleased. Supposedly it really starts to kick in week 2, so I’m anxious to see what happens!

Morning Weigh In: 183.5lbs
Bodyfat: 10.7%
Feeling: Above Average

Workout: Abs, Back, Triceps, Shoulders/Fast
1-0-1, Crunch Machine: 5×12, 135/135/135/150/150
1-0-1, Bench Crunches: 5×12, 5/5/5/10/10
1-0-1, Hammer Rows: 3×12, 130/150/150
1-0-1, Tricep Pushdown Machine: 3×12, 270/285/285
1-0-1, Side Lying Incline DB Raises: 2×10, 15/17.5
1-0-1, Front Lat Pulldowns: 3×12@160
1-0-1 (Each Half), Skullcrusher/Pullovers: 3×12@60

Today’s workout felt good. Didn’t do any twist ab exercises as I wanted to feel how my mid and lower back would feel after switching in the front pulldowns. On the bench crunches, dang 10lbs really throws off one’s balance! I doubt I’ll go any heavier than 10lbs for this exercise. At that point I may as well just do hanging knee raises. I liked doing the lat pulldowns. Less work on the rotator cuffs, yes, but worth it to feel it more directly in the lats. For the skullcrusher pullovers I also switched to a straight barbell instead of an EZ bar, which allowed me to keep my elbows in even more. I felt them worked, but didn’t feel much pain/strain. Still going to have to keep up RICE maintenance though as usual. On an amusing note, Court had to sit on my lap today for the tricep pushdowns as the weight was enough that I was basically doing dips instead of making the stack move! Guess it’s time to switch back to the real dips. Well, once she bumps the weight one more plate or so and begins to encounter the same problem. That, or switch to a different machine that happens to have a seat belt on it! (Gotta love old equipment, heh)

I’m finding that I’m not as sore now from the workouts. I think any fatigue is just from doing all the massages later in the day. I’m still experiencing growth, this is good. There’s just always that nagging thought in the back of my mind, "Could I be making better gains changing things up again?" This routine’s been going on for about three weeks now, so weeks 4-6 are usually where I start to plateau. I’ll have to see how Dearest Wifey feels with her progress as well. I know she wants to add in some other exercises. Maybe one more week on this routine and then switch? I dunno. Just going day by day.

When it does come time to change routines, I’m thinking that it may be time to incorporate some drop sets or X-Reps. I don’t feel inclined to purchase the e-book for the training method, really for any that matter, until I’ve had a chance to try it and see how my body responds. I think I’ve got enough of the concept down to be able to incorporate it into the program. I know all fiber types need to be trained to get the most growth. Usually I’ve been an advocate of working about 80% of the full range of motion on any exercise. I like how X-Reps focuses on the "sweet spot" for the extra reps, versus just dropping the weight and hammering out more full range of motion reps. In addition, the appeal is the consequential lower volume and therefore time required to get the sets done. So I get the full range of motion in that I usually like, but then get to really nail the heart of the muscle and bring in more fibers to fire, namely some of the fast twitch ones at the point in the motion where the most are available to fire without already being contracted. Going low rep and heavy doesn’t work for me, but high reps do. Maybe this’ll be the perfect blend of what I need? The other benefit, too, is that this could really help Court to lean out very quickly from the higher rep burns. (On the down side, I’ll probably need to shove even more food down my gullet to get the calories in. Oye…) It’ll all come together soon enough. For the time being I’m enjoying the steadily progressive numbers I’m seeing on the scale. Can’t wait to take progress pics again at the beginning of February!

Morning Weigh In: 183lbs
Bodyfat %: N/A
Feeling: Rested, but stiff

No workout today. Today’s one of Court’s school days and alas after being distracted making dinner last night, I hadn’t paid attention to the food stash and it was realized there wasn’t enough to make all the meals for the next few days. Had some of what we needed, but not everything. So since it’s been 5 days straight of training and tomorrow would normally be an off day, we opted to take today off instead to make a trip to the store and finish up making our meals.

On a training note, for back tomorrow one exercise is being switched around. I like doing straight arm lat pulldowns using the cross cables instead of a single belt with the pulldown bar. Reason being is a lot more emphasis on training the rotator cuff as well. So the start position is with the arms up and wide, but the goal finish point is to have the hands down at or slightly behind the hips/glutes. The motion allows for some rotation of the shoulder while keeping the arms slightly bent so they don’t lock. The problem is that while this is great for the upper lateral back, not as much of the lower attachments on the lats are hit. So with that, for the rest of this program I’m switching to wide grip lat pull-downs. Not sure if I’ll do front or behind-neck. Most likely I’ll do behind since I’m not doing as much direct work on the traps right now and it’d help to bring a little more emphasis to the lower trap head and rhomboids. I dunno, we’ll see… Maybe split it into 2 front sets and 2 behind sets. Either way, it’s a needed change up until my body starts to adapt to what I’m doing now and I have to change things up again, at which point I’ll probably keep the pull-downs in place.

Speaking of changing programs, for the first time Court and I will probably start having a few differences in our workouts. With her coming up less than 12 weeks out from her photo shoot and her first competition shortly thereafter, there are physique goals for her that aren’t on my agenda at the moment. I’m still trying to bulk and bring up some lagging areas, while she’s working to lean out more. So with that, most of the training will probably be the same, but she’ll have a few extras that I won’t (ie cable glute kickbacks). I highly doubt it’ll be two completely different programs since when we both follow the same program it allows mutual spotting and better pacing of the entire workout and rest times. We’ll see what happens… Most importantly though, I’m excited for her! Can’t wait to go into Drill Sgt. - Level 2 mode! Hee hee… (DK, might need some ideas for that, too!)

Morning Weigh In: 183lbs
Bodyfat: 11.3%
Feeling: Excited!

Workout: Abs, Chest, Biceps, Shoulders/Fast
1-0-1, Hybrid Crunches (Leg Raise w/Hip Raise): 5×10@10
3-0-3, Wide Grip Decline Bench: 3×12, 185/195/205
4-0-4, Reverse EZ Bar Curls: 3×12@55
3-0-3, Wide Grip High Rows: 3×12, 80/90/100
4-0-4, Straight Barbell Curls: 3×12, 70/80/80
4-0-4, Supine Grip Incline DB Front Raises: 3×12, 15/20/22.5
6-0-6, Pec Deck Flies: 2×12, 120/140

The TREN is really starting to kick in! Went a little out of order today, but it all worked out. I’m really happy with the jump in numbers that I’ve seen the last two days. All together I’m just extremely happy with how the training, supps, diet, etc. are all coming together. I haven’t felt this good in a long time. At this rate I’m well on my way to breaking my weight record, too. I’ve never been more than 184lbs before. Only 1 more to go!