Wednesday's Workout

We did more Starting Strength last night. I wasn't feeling 100% for some reason (I'd been playing video games for most of the afternoon and getting off the couch sounded super lame) so that impacted me. Here's how it went down.

The 200 lb squats have been pissing me off, so I opted for 195 instead. I did 3x5 and they felt pretty good.

Shoulder press was next. I did 1x5 at 120, and somewhere in there I tweaked my neck the wrong way. I dropped down to 115 and did 3 reps, but after that I realized my neck was too sore and I called it quits on those. I like shoulder press a lot and didn't want to stop, but hurting myself is something I do not want to do.

I did upright rows after that. I did 1x5 at 70 lbs, which was 5 lbs more than last week. My neck really hurt from those too, so I decided to do 2 more sets at 65 lbs. I like these a lot, but ya, if my neck hurts there's no reason to push it.

We finished with deadlift and I did 195 lbs. I am so proud of the progress I've made on deadlifts since changing the form and dropping weight. Eventually these are going to get back up there!

My neck was really starting to hurt so we skipped abs and called it good. We'll do Ab Ripper on Friday to make up for it.

Next week I won't get to do deadlift because of the vacation, so hopefully the week after I'll still be able to do 195. Also that week I start my 5x5 sets. I'm getting really excited about these. A few weeks ago I was talking about owning a weight before I move up, and I never really saw that all the way through. I'm thinking with 5x5 instead of 3x5, if I can do 5 sets I will definitely own a weight and can move up. I'm really excited!

Also, the Sunday after that is when I'm starting Insanity again and I'm pumped for that too. My diet is great lately and I just need more cardio. Insanity will get me there.

So one random thing, I'm following a new blog now called Fit 2 Fat 2 Fit. Basically this ridiculously ripped personal trainer started an experiment in May. He stopped working out and started eating all of the garbage that I used to eat (pizza rules!) and since then has put on almost 70 lbs. He has another week of this weight-gain phase and then he's going to lose it all again. He said he's been training people for a long time, but he's never actually had to go through what they go through; he's just always been fit. I think this is awesome and I wish this guy all of the luck in the world. His weight-loss phase starts pretty soon and I can't wait to see his progress. His goal is to lose it all in the same 6 month time frame it took him to put it on, and if he can do it I know I can do it! I've made so much progress in the last year, and by the end of year 2 I want to be where my goals have put me.

Good luck dude!

Bring it!

Week 15 has begun!

We got started on Week 15 last night of Starting Strength. Here's how it went down.

The usual 10 minutes of warmup hitting the bag and stretching happened, and then we got into squats. I did 3x5 at 200. Again, these felt really heavy, but I got a lot lower. I think I'm going to stick with 200 for the week since next week I'm not working out much.

After that I tried out the Romanian Deadlifts. These are the ones that use the lower back to lift instead of the legs. I was hesitant to do them since they are so rough on the lower back, but doing them will also strengthen the lower back, so I decided to give them a go. I did 3x5 at 35 lbs. Not a lot of weight, but I definitely felt them. I decided to see how I was feeling today to see if I will keep them, and today I feel pretty good, so expect to hear updates about Monday's Romanian's from now on.

Bench was next and I did 2x5 and 1x3 at 175. For some reason this weight is really killing me, but I made a little progress. Hopefully I can finish this up on Friday, but we'll see!

Chinups were the last thing. I did 1x8, 1x7 and 1x6. Those numbers are lower than normal, but I read an interesting article on kipping yesterday. Kipping is where you use your body and momentum to get yourself up above the bar. This is bad. Aside from the fact that you don't work the right muscles (remember the problem I had with shoulder press a few weeks ago?) there's potential for hurting the shoulders with the whipping motion. So yesterday I focused on no kips, using only my arms to pull myself up. So even though the numbers were lower, the actual reps were really good and my arms felt great at the end.

We finished with 50 situps, 2 sets of leg lifts and 30 mason twists. It was a good workout.

Tonight there's no time for cardio; the girlfriend has family in town and that's important to her, so I guess I'll just get into cardio after the trip next week. Someday I'll make time for me again, I'm just not sure when.

So two quick updates.

First off, the problems I'm running into with the squats being stuck at 200 and the bench being stuck at 175 I think will be completely cured by switching to 5x5 in two weeks. I'll obviously have to lower the weight on a lot of these (probably all in fact, except deadlift, which is staying at 1x5), but if I can build muscle in 3 sets instead of 1 (remember, the first 2 don't count) then I should be good to build more strength and get over hurdles faster!

Second, I have some downtime coming up with the layoff. I'm not sure how long I'll be unemployed (hopefully not long, but next week's trip has made looking for a new gig pretty difficult), but while I'm on it I think I'm going to do Insanity again. Last time I did Insanity I felt great but the diet was garbage. Right now my diet is great (losing weight!!!) but I'm not doing enough cardio. So the plan right now is on Nov. 6th I will start Insanity all over again and close out 2011 right! I'll keep you posted on that.

Also, budget wise I don't think I'll be able to join Tapout. $100/month just isn't in the budget. However, I am looking at the Tapout Fitness Club at Gold's Gym, which has limited MMA classes and it's only $50/month. Again, I'm not sure if that's in the budget, but if it is I may be able to start learning jiu jitsu, just not at the place I wanted.

So that's where I'm at. I need to get cardio back into my life and I can't lose sight of my goals. Wish me luck!

Bring it!

Yoga Sunday

It took a little pushing, but last night I was in the gym doing yoga at 5:30! My original goal was 4pm, but better late than never. I started with a yoga video from hulu, but the video crapped out. I then used another yoga video from hulu. This one was a lot more relaxing and focused on flexibility and relaxation than anything else. I made it through about 30 minutes of that when my phone went off about half a dozen times. Normally I ignore my phone completely during workouts, but that many missed calls/texts had me wondering what was going on. I paused the DVD and checked the phone, and found out that people were coming over to watch the Vikings/Bears game, and they were all at my house trying to get in. I unlocked the door and let everyone in (this sort of thing happens a lot at my house) and went back in to yoga. At this point I wanted to get done quickly, and I decided to do something different....no yoga video!

I've done enough yoga at this point that I can guide myself through a good flow series. Here's how it went down.

3 Sun Saluations
Right side:
Runner's Pose
Warrior 1
Warrior Half
Warrior 1
Warrior 2
Reverse Warrior
Triangle
Vinyasa

then I repeated that on my left side.

Chair pose for 1 minute.

Then I did 1 more flow series:
Right side:
Runner's Pose
Warrior 1
Warrior 2
Right Angle Pose
Warrior 2
Twisting Triangle Pose
Warrior 2
Warrior 1
Vinyasa

Repeat on the left side.

After that I did 1 minute of Tree Pose on each leg, and then 30 seconds of Warrior 3 on each side.

After that I called it good. My own yoga flow series took about 20 minutes and I focused really hard on breathing and holding everything for at least two full breaths. It was a good workout.

So that was my yoga day. The Bears game was pretty good, and I finished the night with a vegetable juice and some frozen pizza. Good times.

Tonight is Starting Strength. I realized that next week I'm only going to be able to workout on Monday since after that I'm heading to Disneyworld for my best friend's wedding. With that in mind, the following Monday I will be back in the gym and that's the day I'm going up to 5x5 on all of my lifts. That means this is the last week I do 3x5 (except for next Monday of course).

Also a quick note, I had vacation days already scheduled before the layoff, so today is my official last Monday at my office! Weird.

Anyways, that's all I've got. By the way, tonight at midnight Batman Arkham City comes out and I'm stoked! It's going to be awesome!

Bring it!

Wrapping up Week 14

First off, I want to say that I'm writing this blog because I don't feel like doing homework right now. I just wanted to note that.

Last night we wrapped up Week 14 of Starting Strength. I'm going to give this workout a B+. Here's how it went down.

Squats were first, and I did 3x5 at 200 again. It still feels heavy. Much much heavier than 195. I'm not sure why I can't go much lower. I'm probably going to repeat it again on Monday, but I also might not (I'll get to that after the workout recap).

On shoulder press, we decided to go from lightest to heaviest to mix it up, so I was last. Instead I did my pullups (1x9, 1x8 and 1x7) and curls. Curls were troublesome. I did the first set at 85 lbs, and only managed 4 reps. My right forearm felt like it was about to snap off. This was only 5 lbs more than last week, but it hurt. And it didn't hurt my biceps; it hurt my forearms! I need to do some research, but I may need to find a better way to do curls than what I have been doing.

Shoulder press was last, and I did 3x5 at 120. Once again I used great form, no legs or back, and it felt good. This is finally starting to feel really heavy again. I think I'm repeating 120 on Wednesday before moving up, but I'm expecting to hit a wall on shoulder press soon. I really like that I've fixed the form; I'm noticing much more gains.

So two quick things going through the brain lately. First off, I think my arms are getting smaller. Everyone else says they're getting bigger, but I think they're smaller. After some examination, I'm seeing that I'm losing arm fat (ya, arm fat, who knew?) which is shrinking the arm overall, but it's also making them more defined. I still want them bigger, but they're starting to look good.

Second, I read an interesting article on strength gains the other day. It basically said that your body doesn't really start building muscle on a program like this until the 3rd set, which is where all of the gains come from. They suggest that 4-8 sets will mean you get way more growth. On that note, there's a program that's similar to Starting Strength called Stronglifts 5x5. They're very similar in lifts (in fact it has barbell rows in it, which I want to do!), but the big difference is everything is 5x5 instead of 3x5. With those two things in mind, I'm thinking of switching everything from 3x5 to 5x5. This would mean dropping about 10 lbs on most of my lifts to catch up, but I think I'm going to do it. I'm debating between starting Monday or two weeks from Monday. I'm leaning towards this Monday, especially since the week after I won't be able to lift at all (long story. I'll fill you in later).

So that's where I'm at. I'll keep you posted on the decisions. Still not sure about my right forearm, but it feels better now. Who knows....

Bring it!

Fatigue....it's lame

Alright, I'm going to admit it. There's too much going on in my life, and I am tired. Man, I want to work out tonight but my legs, back and brain are dying. I'll get to that in a moment.

Last night we made progress in Starting Strength. Here's how it went down.....

First off, we have a new recruit in our weight lifting group. Rod is joining us on most nights now and it's fun having new people in the garage. He started last Friday, but since I've been out of the routine the last few workouts this was the first time we got to lift together. He's kind of doing his own thing with all of the equipment I have, but he's joining us for a few lifts which is cool.

I got into squats at 200. This felt heavy. They weren't terrible squats, but they weren't my best either. I did all 3 sets, but I'm repeating this Friday and possibly Monday too so I can focus on getting lower.

After that was bench, and I moved up to 175. I don't understand....a few weeks ago when I dropped weight I dropped down to 175 and had no problem. After that I started the 100 pushup thing, and being tired from that I had to go down to 165. I've since stopped doing the pushups (ya, I know...I'll start that program again soon, I promise), but last night 175 was freakin' difficult. I finished with 1x5, 1x4 and 1x3. When the muscles stopped, they stopped. It felt like I was pushing against a wall. As far as progress goes those are good numbers to start 175 with, but considering I've completed 175 before with good form before going down in weight I'm pretty upset overall. Hopefully I can blast through 175 next week and can move up to 180.

Incidentally I think bench is my best exercise. It's the only one where I lift more than anyone else in the group, and I really do go all the way to my chest and all of the way back up. I'm proud of that part.

There was some downtime after that since I'm usually the first one to do bench (we start with the heaviest weight and go down), and Rod was using the curl bar to do upright rows. I tried a set and realized that this was using muscles that I wasn't actively working. I decided to do 2 more sets, all 3 at 65 lbs, and focused on going slow and only using my arms....the same mentality as the shoulder press. These felt good, and 65 lbs surprised me for being so heavy. I don't know how or why, but these are now my 4th exercise for Wednesdays. I'm planning on adding 5 lbs next week and working my way up. They're awesome because they use different muscles, focus on a pulling motion, and they don't require a spotter. Perfect!

We finished with deadlifts. I did 185 again, and this time they felt pretty good. Still heavy, but I felt much stronger than last week and I'm planning on moving up 10 lbs next week. I'm so proud of my form on these. Seriously, I've come a long way! Incidentally, Vince lifted 315 last night! It was ridiculous. Good for him! He had to bring over 4 more 45's so we could get there, but we did. He said he's moving up 5 lbs next week. I wish him luck!

After that we did Ab Ripper X. Overall it was a good ab ripper day. The gang all felt sore and there were moans and groans throughout, but we did it. It was one of my stronger ab rippers overall, and as always I did my 50 mason twists.

Only one more day in Week 14!

So a few quick updates. First off, while I was writing this Rod texted me and said his body was in an absurd amount of pain from yesterday. Good for you Rod! Welcome to my world!

Second, due to the downtime of waiting for others to finish their sets, I want to add in more exercises, specifically on Mondays. Right now I have curls on Fridays and as of yesterday I have upright rows on Wednesdays. The more weight I've been adding to deadlift and squats, the more I think I need to strengthen my lower back. That said, I think Monday I'm going to try and possibly add in Romanian Deadlifts. These are the opposite of a regular deadlift. They are all back. You start with your body shaped like the number 7, holding the weight straight down. Then you come straight up, only using your lower back to lift you. They have to be done extremely slowly and controlled, and I have to use a lot less weight than any other lift. But, I think these will get my lower back stronger and feeling better. And I can use the curl bar, so I can do them on the side while everyone else is finishing something else. So ya, Monday I will be adding those in, and if I like them they will stay.

On that note, I'd also like to get barbell rows in there somewhere too. These are also done with your body shaped like the number 7, but from there you use all arms and upper back, bringing the bar to your chest just like a benchpress, except with gravity in reverse. We'll see how those go though. With the upright rows they may not be necessary. I'll keep you posted.

Third and finally, this week has been taxing on me. I realize I've been making excuses lately, but tonight may be one of those excuse nights. I just don't feel like doing cardio, On that note, I just hosted my biggest, best, and sadly last job fair ever. This is my favorite event at work and I'm always so proud of it. But due to the company changes, today was my last one, and I'm glad it went out with a bang! It was huge! I had so many employers and I was so proud. But from that I'm really tired (spent the whole day on my feet going up and down stairs) and I followed it up with a fat burrito for lunch that my boss was cool enough to buy us. So I'm ready for a nap tonight. Also I have homework, so cardio is probably not gonna happen.

So that's where I'm at. Cardio needs to happen soon, but probably not tonight. But soon. And tomorrow is more lifting. Ya!

Bring it!

Week 14 Begins

Last night was the wedding, and that was pretty fun. I didn't want to miss my workout though, so after the dancing and all of that jazz kicked in it was time to leave. Honestly, I wasn't feeling well either. I've been eating pretty clean lately, and as tasty as all of the food was there was so much butter and it screwed with my stomach. Incidentally, mashed potato bar is a genius idea!

So I got home after 9, but the gang was just wrapping up their workout and were cool enough to spot me. I did 3x5 at 195 on squats, and it honestly felt pretty good (minus the butter curdling in my stomach. I'm planning on moving up to 200 tomorrow!

I did shoulder press at 115, again with no bounce. I rocked those out too, and am so proud with my progress on shoulders. Taking out the bounce really used all of the muscles! I'm planning on moving up to 120 on Friday.

I finished with chinups. 2x9 and 1x7. Not bad numbers, especially considering I blasted out the shoulder press right before it.

Overall it was a good workout, but with the food in the stomach and the late start time it wasn't my best. I'm looking forward to making some more progress this week though.

After the workout the butter wasn't sitting well, and a lot of things in life have really gone to shit which is making me stressed. I sat on the couch for an hour, and when I got up my lower back was in immense pain. I was having trouble walking, and then my stomach started to hurt, and then stress got to my head. It was a rough night of sleep that ended way too early since I had to get some freelance work done, and this morning was a very rough morning. I couldn't even think about food, let alone a veggie juice, so I skipped breakfast.

With all of that said, I did manage to eat some bananas today and made it home for a healthy veggie juice. However, I'm still not feeling very well, my back hurts still and my head throbs more and more every time I think about all of the crap in my life right now. I'm not normally a complainer (or maybe I am and don't know it), but I've gotta get some things under control before I move forward with the whole Fat Free Jew mentality. Tonight I'm going to skip cardio and sit on the couch, eat some food, play some video games and relax. Hopefully tomorrow I'm feeling better.

Anyways, that's my story. I need the break tonight, but I have to make a conscious effort to ensure this is not the routine. I refuse to be lazy and soft, especially with unemployment coming up, and working out is going to keep my life positive! Thursday I will be in that gym working my ass off! And tomorrow I will do 200 on squats, 175 on bench and hopefully up the deadlift!

Bring it!

Wrapping up Week 13

Well, Friday was an interesting night. Being the good fatfree JEW that I am, I went to temple to appease the girlfriend. This meant that I had to get my sets done fast.

The guys were cool enough to spot me while I did my squats and bench and then I took off.

Squats I repeated 190 one more time. I didn't want to up the weight since I was trying to get done fast. These went well and I'll be moving up for sure today (Monday).

After that was bench and I rocked out 170. I was going to repeat this one anyways to own it, and I really did own it. I'm looking forward to moving up in weight on Wednesday.

My pullups went well. My form's getting better, but I notice now that the better I do the less I'm able to do. That makes sense since I'm using all of the muscles correctly. I did 3x8 and felt good about those. Incidentally I started with pullups so I could get them done before everyone got there.

I finished with 3x5 at 80 on bicep curls. I'm ready to move up to 185 this week!

So that was Friday. Sunday I was doing homework all day and didn't have time for yoga.

Tonight is the wedding of some friends. It starts at 4 and I'm not a big wedding person so I'm hoping to be out of there and home to lift by 8. The group said they'd catch me up. Wish me luck.

p.s.
Congrats to Nick and Jesi on the big day!


Bring it!