Thursday, May 5, 2016

Off track, but still having a good week

Overall, I'm having a great fitness week. BUT, I'm also pretty sure (though I'm not giving up) that I won't hit my 191.0 goal tomorrow.

Alright, let's talk workouts. Yesterday was Sweat Intervals from Max:30. Now, I'm not sure if I was just tired (I was) or if ISO Speed Hammer took more out of me than I thought (it did) but I was dragging ass yesterday. My legs especially just felt like complete rocks. And any Insanity cardio workout, and especially Sweat Intervals, requires some legs. So, the workout itself was hard, but I also came out soaked. I never gave up, I pushed and pushed and pushed (and pushed and pushed and pushed and.....) and ya, I got a great workout. I mean, this isn't one to write home about (but write a blog perhaps....damn, I'm using a lot of parenthesis today) but cardio's definitely more about effort, and my effort resulted in some good work.

So, after that workout, I stepped on the scale hoping to see something pretty low, but clocked in at 193.8. Now, this is good, it's basically where I was Friday, but I was hoping for lower. Only .6 between Tuesday and Wednesday. And yes, that's actually a huge amount in terms of weight loss, but with the progress I've seen over the last few weeks, I was just hoping for a little more.

Anyways, had a good walk at lunch yesterday, kept the diet healthy, and that was Wednesday.

Woke up this morning and hit play on Total Body from Body Beast. This was the first time I've done this one, and hot damn is it tough! Nothing in it was impossible, except for the leg stuff (more to come on that shortly), but the pace.....the pace flew! Do four exercises, each for 15 reps, then repeat, then we're on to another four exercises. Four sets total. And absolutely everything got worked. I came out of this more soaked than I've ever come out of a strength workout (I think?) and it was awesome. And I'm feeling pretty good now.

I stepped on the scale after this morning's workout and found myself at 192.8. So, mixed feelings on this. First off, 192.anything is awesome. That's the lowest I've been on this journey. And it's a 1 lb decrease from yesterday, which is definitely the kind of day to day I'm used to seeing thanks to the keto diet I'm on. BUT, it's 1.8 away from 191.0. So yes, I'm thrilled by today's weigh in, but for the week I'm definitely thinking I'll be falling short.  Hey, that's ok. If I can get down to 192.0, I should be on track to get into the high 180s by next Friday, especially since I can't cheat this weekend (Monday is my work challenge weigh in).

So, let's talk muscle growth and legs. First off, two weeks into my advanced full body lifting and I'm seeing results. Little results, but my arms and chest feel really good and are starting to show some definition. Excellent! And I have endurance on all my upper body stuff. I'm upping my weights, and when that's not possible I'm trying to pump out a few more reps. Overall, I'm pleased with where I'm at with the upper body.

My lower body, though, is weak. It's always been weak, but I'm REALLY noticing it nowadays. I can't even come close to keeping up with the folks in the DVDs. My reps are always lower than what they're doing, my tempo is slower purely from fatigue after the first two or three reps, and it's rare that I'm adding weight. And when I do, it's very little. Except for my calves, which I actually can and do hang with the boys just fine on, my legs are lagging. I'm talking body weight lunges, feeling like I'm going to die after 10 reps, when the DVD is doing 15 reps with 30 lb weights in each hand.

Honestly, this is just my weak point. I keep considering if something is physically wrong with me and things along those lines, but no, this is just the area that's going to be hard for me for the moment. I can say confidently that my legs have gotten stronger and better in the last two weeks (marginally), and they'll continue to do that. Hanging with the BodyBeast crew on leg day might be a ways away though, so I'm making sure my current and future programming accounts for that.

So ya, legs are lagging, but getting there. I just wish it didn't feel so damn torturous when I work on them. Chest day? It's going to feel like I'm pushing through a wall, which is a pretty powerful feeling actually. Leg day? I feel like my legs are going to grow mouths just so they can literally throw up (sorry wife, I know you hate the throw up references). It's just a horrible, excruciating feeling. Looking forward to working past that eventually.

Speaking of future programming, I'm getting a lot closer to my summer lifting program. I've mapped out a draft, and it's basically balls to the wall. I'm looking at an upper/lower split, with the goal of doing as much volume work as possible for 8 weeks over the summer. This means a heavy upper day on Saturday and Monday, plus an extra short upper day on Wednesday, and a heavy heavy lower day on Sunday, plus two shorter lower days on Tuesday and Thursday. Fridays will be cardio. Also abs are getting worked into lower, and I'm doing some lower body explosive cardio on the leg days too. I don't actually want big legs, unlike the rest of my body, but I definitely want to work my legs. The goal here is a combo of strength and explosive cardio to get me where I want, plus hopefully strong but not huge legs will help my upper body taper. Well, that's the goal at least, we'll see how it plays out. Hopefully my legs can keep up with that plan, considering how they're lagging now.

Also, no Max:30 (other than some ab work and Max Out 15). I need a break. It's the best program I've done for cardio, OG Insanity being the closest next thing, but my knees hurt and I'm ready for a rest. I still have other Shaun T workouts planned to include in here, though, so don't think I'm walking away too far.

Nothing will be set in stone until we hit the ground running on that program in mid June, so I'll let you know if any major updates happen. After that program, I'll look into something a little more maintainable that incorporates Max:30 again, but let's see what I look like at the end of summer before I even come close to thinking about a program that late in the year.

Alright, that's where I'm at. Hoping to keep the diet super clean today so I can get as close to that 191 as possible. Wish me luck!

Bring it!

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