Jettisoned Ponderings

Morning Weigh-In: 198.5lbs (Oh c’mon, break 2 bills already!)
Bodyfat: *shrug*
Feeling: Yay Deadlift Day!

So today was the second half of benchmarking; deadlifts, overhead barbell press, and bent rows. I’m quite pleased with the numbers! Deadlifts were done standard form with feet straight forward slightly wider than shoulder width and grip just outside knee width. Overhead press the bar was brought down just below nose/lip height, not down to chest. Bent rows were prone grip and no cheating yank. Last couple reps were a bit of a struggle but done right.

Deadlifts: 95×12, 135×12, 185×10, 225×10, 275×8, 335×12!!!
Overhead Press: 45×12, 65×12, 85×10, 115×10, 135×8, 155×11
Bent Rows: 65×12, 95×12, 135×10, 165×10, 205×8, 235×9

I’ve really liked the 12/12/10/10/8 warm-up method the last couple days. It’s never to full intensity, but primes the muscles just enough to be ready for the heavier weight it’s going to be subjected to. Plus all my adrenaline isn’t spent too early before the last set!

Only a few more days on the Tren. I did miss a couple afternoon doses during the cycle, so I’ll finish those out. The last day I’ll only be taking 2 caps left over (1 in AM, 1 in PM) to finish tapering off. Started the Anabol EXT today to get the natural test levels up more and I’ll be running that for a while. Most likely going to need to run 2 bottles of it as it doesn’t last as long as the Tren does. Just wanna make sure the body doesn’t end up in a situation where it is playing guesswork with hormones going all over the place. Been through that a couple times before and it’s quite annoying with the consequential side effects.

I’m really hoping I can break 200lbs soon and not with water weight. I still have until the end of March to break that goal, but dangit I’m impatient! I realized today that Court is long overdue for updating her measurements. Probably gonna take hers and mine on Saturday to see what changes happen from the 1st to 31st for both of us.

Morning Weigh-In: 198.0lbs
Bodyfat: 12.9%
Feeling: Bah.

Having been a week since I last worked out, I figured it was time to update my long overdue lifting stats. To get the most out of it I stuck with only one leg, push, and pull exercise. I’ll see how I feel tomorrow to do the remaining ones. Started light, made sure to stretch a couple times, drop the reps as the weights went up, and of course plenty of rest time especially before the last set. Worked pretty well as a couple new records were set:

Squats: 45×12, 95×12, 135×10, 185×10, 225×8, 275×12
Barbell Curls: 45×12, 55×12, 65×10, 75×10, 85×8, 100×11
Bench Press: 45×12, 95×12, 135×10, 160×10, 185×8, 205×9

So my max bench is still a bit lower from my past best of 1×275, but back when I got that it wasn’t pretty at all. So really, I would say that I am stronger now between the endurance of more reps and having much more control, better form, and going slightly slower as well. Just need to stick with it more. Barbell curls I couldn’t be happier. Really had a lot of that good fiber popping from the force of the pump on the last 2 reps. I love that feeling! Squats, I made one main change… knee wraps! I didn’t use them until my last set but wow, what a difference! No knee discomfort at all, good and stable, really let me focus on form/depth and alleviated the worry of my knee catching like it used to. Definitely worth the investment.

Plan for tomorrow is to do the same for deadlifts, overhead press, and bent rows. Typically I do the rows underhand, but for max purposes I do them pronated to hit the upper back more.

As for today, I’ll be essentially kitchen wench taking breaks only for the meat to marinade a little.

Morning Weigh-In: 198.0lbs
Bodyfat: ???
Feeling: Think I’m getting sick…

Off today, no workout. Got a sick wife to tend to. At least she’s starting to feel a little better. I just hope I can avoid getting anything between her and what’s going around my work. So it’s been a week since I’ve worked out… and I’m still tender. At least massage is a full body profession. Tomorrow is gonna be a painful day and have a much worse shock factor I’m afraid. I’m assuming Court will still not feel up to going, so with that I’ll probably do legs since I only have 1 exercise that requires a spotter if I do the drop sets heavy.

I’ve had a couple questions about my diet. I have changed things up a little since back in Jan and re-did some math today. This is being conservative with what I eat. In all honesty, you can round most of these numbers up… Again, the numbers are based on info from nutritiondata.com (funny, bb.com’s food database is veeeeeeery similar…)

Per Meal Totals:
5:00am - Breakfast: 1088 Cal, 61g Pro, 81g Carb, 55g Fat
During Workout: 160 Cal, 0g Pro, 40g Carb, 0g Fat
~8:00am - Post-Workout: 1196 Cal, 82g Pro, 134g Carb, 36g Fat
10:30am - Lunch: 622 Cal, 52 Carb, 37 Carb, 1 Fat
~2:00pm - Snack: 500 Cal, 24g Pro, 89g Carb, 7g Fat
~4:00pm - Snack 2: 596 Cal, 50g Pro, 90g Carb, 4g Fat
7:15pm - Dinner: 658 Cal, 55g Pro, 42g Carb, 25g Fat
10:00pm - Bedtime: 280 Cal, 40g Pro, 10g Carb, 8g Fat

Grand Totals: 5100 Calories, 364g Protein, 523g Carbs, 160g Fat

Bit more of a breakdown…

Food : Portion
5am - Breakfast
Whole Eggs (Scrambled): 6
Quick Oats (Uncooked): 1 cup
Shredded Cheese: 1/4 cup
Picante Sauce: 1 tbsp
Honey: 1 tbsp

During Workout
Waxy Maize: 1 scoop

8:00 Post Workout
Whole Milk: 24oz
Big Max 50 Gainer: 4 scoops

10:30am
Sirloin (Top/All Grades/Raw/Trimmed to 0" Fat): 8oz
Mashed Potatoes (Whole milk added): 1 cup

2:00pm
32 oz "Choc-O-Nutter" (Smoothie from a place called IntaJuice): 32 oz

4:00pm
Big Max 50 Gainer w/water: 4 scoops

7:15pm - Dinner
Sirloin (Top/All Grades/Raw/Trimmed to 0" Fat): 8oz
Uncooked Pasta: 1/2 cup

10:00pm - Bedtime
Probolic-SR: 2 scoops

So obviously some changes that can easily be made. Tomorrow I plan to make out all my meals for the whole week. I’ve been doing it a few days at a time presently. I really wanna crack the 200lb mark without it being water weight, then I’ll worry about backing down a little. I’ve got a week left on the Tren, so I wanna make the most of it.

Morning Weigh In: 197.0lbs
Bodyfat: Least of my concerns…
Feeling: Depleted

Had friends over last night for a lil warming party for the new place. Had a beer and such with dinner, slept well (relatively on the floor bundled with pillows and blankets since the bedroom had all the boxes piled up for things we didn’t get through cleaning) and this morning I’m feeling not so hot. Court’s also running a temp, so I’ve been tending to her most of this morning. No workout, obviously, which sucks. It’s been 5 days now since I lifted last. Not a scheduled hiatus, but I suppose it’s a good thing.

Got about a week left on the Tren and I’ve still been very pleased with it. I’ve had no negative sides at all aside from the occasional mild libido suppression. Gains have been lean and dry, bodyfat has stayed low, and obviously I’ve put the size on. I still can’t seem to crack that 200lb mark, but hey, I’m still up 22lbs from when I started! ^_^ I know I’ll lose some of that initially, plus I’ll be due to cleanse a bit when I start leaning out for summer. I’ll be quite happy if I can maintain 185-190lbs.

Taking it relatively easy today, hoping I don’t get too loaded up at work. We’ll see…

Morning Weigh In: 197lbs
Bodyfat: N/A
Feeling: Awake and still sore

So not feeling up to working weights yet today. I’m still recovering from the massage work on Wednesday. Work alone was rough enough on me. Today, though, as an alternative I put Court through the circuit workout. Everything was fine, except that the warm-up speed range was about 1mph too high. Initially I put it at 4-5 mph, when really it should be 3-4 mph. The 4 mph works for me, but considering Court is 8" shorter than me… yeah. Other than that though, everything was great. Kept the warm up distance to 0.5 miles today instead of a full mile and did 2 runs through the circuit instead of 3. I did the warm-up and did the additional 0.5 mile runs and was glad I was able to do it straight through at 6 mph. Granted I hadn’t done all the other exercises prior to it, but I know the pace is good. I’ll have a dang good sweat going once I start in this full on with her. Pacing went well today, too. The circuit can be done in <15 minutes (I’m guessing down to 12 minutes without rest once the endurance is built up a bit) assuming the last part on the treadmill can be done at full speed the whole time. Really, that last detail is the only thing that kept Court from doing it within the goal time. She and I are both out of shape in terms of cardio. She completed the first circuit in 16′10" and the second in 18′40". Good sweat was broken, so the initial focus will be to stick with the light resistance band and get up to 3x through with each circuit <15 min. Once that’s done resistance will increase and so fourth (Believe me, I have ways of making things more challenging! ^_^). I’m actually quite anxious to start doing this program myself. I think it’ll be the extra edge I need to bring out the abs for summer!

Yes, it’s that dreaded time… Cardio is needed. *sigh* Fortunately for me, I still have to finish out the Tren bulk and try to sustain the anabolic push with the Anabol EXT for PCT. After that, I’ll be looking to cut as well for summer. Court, however, does not have that luxury with a photo shoot coming up in less than 2 months. So I figured that adding in some circuit training for cardio a few nights a week on days she goes into work early would be a good thing. We don’t have time for it after our morning workouts, that’s for sure. So I thought on it, picked up a few new accessories, and came up with the following. I’ve given things a test run and cripe am I out of shape myself! It’s gonna be quite unpleasant at first but I think it’ll help get both Court and myself the results we’re looking for. While I may not be doing the whole workout right alongside with her, it’ll still be good for me to help hold bands when needed, be on the treadmill next to her, etc. and mostly keep encouraging her through it. Ideally, it’ll help her stay in that focussed zone where she just doesn’t think about it and does it (which has worked for her so far! ^_^) while I play stop watch/form nazi. So… Without further ado:

Warm-Up: 1 mile on Treadmill @ 3-4 mph (15-20 min)

Goal Time: <15 Minutes Each Circuit
Fitness Wheel - 20 Reps
High-Knees - 1 minute
*Squats - 20 reps
Jump Rope - 1 minute
*Alt. Front/Lateral Raises - 20 Reps Each
*Lying Reverse Leg Raises - 20 Reps Each
Jumping Jacks - 1 minute
*Alternating 1 Arm Rows - 20 Reps Each
*Alternating Chest Press - 20 Reps Each
Treadmill: 0.5 miles @ 6-8mph
Rest 1-2 minutes

Complete Circuit 3x Total

* = Resistance Band Used

Also time to get a lot more strict with the diet. Up until now it’s been good and clean with modest portions, but the exact calories haven’t been being counted. So with that, time to lay out weekly diets and make one day a week into designated cooking days! More on that later…

Morning Weigh-In: 198.0
Bodyfat: N/A
Feeling: Still Toxin Loaded

So yesterday’s massage "marathon" ended up being nearly 4.5 hours. Cripe I’ve got a lot of toxins to flush out of my system! Most of the time my muscles themselves aren’t tight, it’s the attachment points. Anita, my co-worker, is in Advanced Neuro-Muscular currently so she’s using T-bars in it as well. Worked fantastic to get things worked loose. Rotator cuffs took a good 20 minutes each to work loose and it was crazy how much circulation to other areas of my body were increased by it being freed up. Literally, the backs of my legs got such a surge of blood flow they started sweating from the increased heat. There are so many areas in the body that correspond to others you wouldn’t even think of. I’m still a bit tender today just in a few areas that were significantly tighter, but even if they were feeling fine I still wouldn’t work out today. That much bodywork is a huge stress on the body and I still need to recover from it. Pushing more water today I should be good to get back to lifting tomorrow.

Morning Weigh In: 198.5lbs (Interesting…)
Bodyfat: Didn’t Check, felt I was holding too much water
Feeling: Not my best, but ok.

First off to the point, here are this morning’s numbers:
1-0-1, Kneeling Cable Crunches (To Sides) - 4×20 @150
1-0-1, Serratus Crunches (DBs) : 4×15 @ 45
2-0-2, Pec-Deck Rear Delt (Flat/Prone Grip) - 4×12: 70/70/70/80
1-0-1, Partial Dips (Weighted) - 3xFail: +35 x19/x14, BWx12
A: 2-0-2, BB Bent Rows (Supine Grip) - 2×12: 205/225
B: 1-0-1, BB Shrugs - 2xFail: 205×28/225×11
1-0-1, DB Shoulder Press (Palms In) 3×12 @ 55 each
A: 2-0-2, Seated Rows - 2×12: 140/140
B: 1-0-1, Drop Set/Partials - 2xFail: 120 x15/x12
A: 1-0-1, 1 Arm DB Overhead Tri Ext - 3×12 @ 35
B: 1-0-1, 1 DB Tri Kickback - 3xFail: 20 x19/x18/x15
A: 2-0-2, Supine Grip Lat Pulldowns - 2×12: 150/160
B: 1-0-1, Drop Set Partials - 2xFail: 130 x24/x12

Now the rambling. Hamstring is still bothering me a little bit. Spent most of last night icing the bruise and apparently I gave my Arnisport gel to my parents before I moved so I don’t have that around to help it heal. Guess I need to get some more of that. I rarely bruise or am in a position to get an injury like that to begin with but when those few times do occur, like now, it’s nice to have around. I got really nauseous and overall just shut down last night. Slept horribly and it was obvious today I was not at my best. The workout was done, but I wasn’t able to bump the weights up like I wanted to and found myself cheating a couple times to finish out the sets. Still off work today and a co-worker needs lab hours for her Advanced Neuro-Muscular class she’s in so I’m going to get about 3 hours of bodywork from her today. While it may sound all nice and fluffy, that won’t be the case. The main reason is that with that much work I’m going to be so loaded with toxins in my system, plus she has to use a T-bar for a lot of it. They’re great tools (I’m not trained with one) and you can very easily hurt someone with them, but with the right training they’re very efficient and great for acute work. I know I’ll immediately be coming home for a good epsom salt soak and be pushing water today to get everything out.

Court is 8 weeks out from her shoot, and I’m going to start leaning out after March. So, that means it’s time to start some additional conditioning work. I hate cardio. I always have. It just bores me senseless. So instead I usually opt for circuit training or swimming. I went over to the fitness center at our new complex and actually was impressed with what they had compared to some others I’ve seen. Of course the amount of weight on the machines isn’t nearly enough, but for the purposes of continuous circuits and high reps it will do. To make things more interesting I picked up a couple other accessories… a weighted jump-rope and fitness wheel. Yes, the jump rope has a metal rod in each handle, I’d guess it’s about 2lbs each side. Just enough to make things a little more difficult. The fitness wheel is a classic I’ve always bittersweetly loved as it’s great for the abs/shoulders/lats. Such a simple motion, but very effective. Lastly I need to go hunt down the resistance band set that has been severely neglected at my parents’ home and commandeer it for my use!

Gonna be a long day… but I think it’ll be a good one.

At the beginning of this month I revised my initial C2 goals since I was gaining or had already beaten my initial ones set in January. I set what I thought was a more realistic goal based on the rate of improvement I was seeing already. I figured it’d been long enough to see if the diet and changes to the lifting routine were working. Initially I was a bit frustrated with some of my measurements until I realized what the actual differences were…

Feb 1st / Feb 19th
Weight: 190 / 196.5 (+6.5lbs) - Goal: 200.0lbs
Bodyfat: 11.8% / 12.1% (+0.3%) - Goal: <12%
Chest: 41.8" / 43" (+1.2") - Goal: 44"
Arms: 14" / 14.3" (+0.3") - Goal: 15"
Hips: 34" / 35" (+1.0")
Waist: 33" / 34.3" (+1.3")
Thighs: 24.3" / 25.5" (+1.2") - Goal: 26"
Calves: 15" / 15.8" (+0.8") - Goal: 16"
Forearms: 12.3" / 12.5" (+0.2") - Goal: 12.5" *MET!*
Shoulders: 50.5" / 52" (+1.5") - Goal: 52" *MET!*
Neck: 16.3" / 16.8" (+0.5")

So overall I’m very pleased, but I still have shortcomings I need to keep focussed on. I’m still a little upset with my arms. Can’t get my dang biceps to grow as fast as everything else for the life of me! I think the new training is really helping this a lot and I feel like I’m getting closer to breaking a plateau after today’s workout. I also have more work to do on my legs. My thighs are growing, but the medial quad is lagging and the lateral more toward the distal head near the knee is lagging as well. Hamstrings are coming, but I ended up injuring my left one somehow on the seated curls yesterday. Got a nice bruise to show for it, too. I think part of it is that I don’t fit the machine as well anymore. Might need to change something up there. I like the stretch overload, but I may have to stick with prone curls instead along with other free weight work. Lastly I plan to sit down sometime in the next couple days and re-evaluate my diet (…and Mrs. Trixter’s in the process) for what I’ve actually been able to get in me versus the ideal intervals. I need to figure out where I’m at and plan ahead so I can crack the 2 bill mark and hopefully stay at or over 200 through most of March to have a solid foundation set down to start cutting back for summer.

Morning Weigh-In: 196.5lbs
Bodyfat: 12.1%
Feeling: Dear Quadratus Lumborum, why are you so tight!?

Fantastic workout today! I genuinely have not had this much of an aching sensation after a workout for a good while. Really pushed hard and blew the biceps for all they were worth. I feel like I’m starting to break through my plateau with them and hopefully the numbers will be reflecting improvements in size. I’m gonna wait a while for my pump to diminish and see about taking my measurements later today to benchmark any changes since the beginning of the month.

So here are today’s numbers:
1-0-1, Kneeling Cable Crunches (Alt to Side) - 4×20@150
1-0-1, Serratus Crunches (DBs) : 4×15 w/45s
2-0-2, Flat Bench Press - 3×12: 135/155/185
A: 2-0-2, Hi Incline DB Hammers 2×12: 32.5/32.5
B: 1-0-1, Straight BB Curl Partials - Failure: 50 x17/x13
A: 1-0-1, Low Cbl Front Raises - 2×12: 45/50
B: 1-0-1, Low Cbl FR Partials - 2xFail: x17/x8
A: 1-0-1, Hi Cbl Most Msc Curls - 2×12: 60/70
B: 1-0-1, Hi Cbl Most Msc Drop Set - 2×12: 55/60
A: 2-0-2, Dumbell Fly - 2×12: 25/25
B: 1-0-1, Dumbell Fly Partials - 2xFail: x13/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

What I’m most happy is the last set on the bicep curls. I’ve done the 60/70 weight the last 3 times through this workout. The first time I tried 70 I needed to pause at 8 reps and get some help for the last 4. The next workout I got to 10 before I needed just a little help. This time I got through all of the with no spot and no pause. Even held the eccentric portion of the last rep for a good while till it started to burn. Other weights were bumped up today as well. I’m liking this new routine. I’ve done supersets before, but not with fewer sets and the 3 day split that I have now. I’m seeing great results from muscles being (both by isolation and compound movements) worked 4 days a week. Maybe I wasn’t over-training before, just training too much per day and too much time before they were worked again. It’s getting great results for Court, too, and really helping her to lean out with her diet being cleaned up significantly and the more frequent meals. Keepin’ the hopes up that it’ll continue!