I have ditched Mer-Man and the rest of the crew (aka CrossFit) that were holding me back and am now on a proper strength training schedule (see http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/85...t-long-819666/ for background/plan) . It shouldn’t be long until I can take you down for good.

Today was my first day back after a 2 week no workout break. I had vacation and then an outbreak of poison ivy. Figured I would wait for the steroids to get rid of the poison ivy so I wouldn’t be that guy-with-a-rash-in-the-gym last week. The only thing I did on vacation was water skiing and tubing. Don’t think they count as workouts. I did notice an increase in strength on getting up skiing (single ski). I hadn’t skied in a while and the extra strength allowed me to pull myself out of a few screw ups getting up. It made me happy that I could save myself from those miscues.

Vacation was in Maine with the family (wife, kids, and extended family up there). They noticed that I was working out more in my body appearance. I figured that was just family being nice. Until my wife and I went out to dinner this past Saturday and the waitress (slightly older lady) started hitting on me right in front of my wife. Pissed my wife off quite a bit.

Weight as of today: 220 lb, on the nose. Thought I was going to weigh more.

Today’s workout:
Squat: 3x5 255lb
Bench: 3x5 155lb
DL: 1x5 295lb

Weights felt pretty good, glad I dropped that much to make sure I get back into the groove. This was the first time I did a bench press correctly, ever. CrossFit didn’t teach bench since they don’t use them in their workouts. I just went into the gym and did what came naturally, which wasn’t right. Spent the weekend checking out how Rip teaches the bench (videos online at CrossFit, etc.). I never arched correctly nor did I keep my shoulders pinched back. Felt a little awkward positioning wise, but the weight wasn’t bad. Glad I am getting that corrected before the weights get higher.

I don’t get much in the way of gym observations since
a. I work out early and the only people usually there are on cardio machines
b. Gym is small and not a lot of people actually use it.
Today I did see a dude do a full DB circuit in his flip-flops. That has been the most out of the ordinary thing I have seen since I have used this gym.

I did find that Kittie’s remake of Pink Floyd’s Run Like Hell is a good song to lift to. I changed up my playlist when I came back from vacation and added this song to the rotation. It came up just as I was putting my work set weights on the bar for my dead lifts. It carried me through that work set nicely.

I got out of walking with the wife. Last night she was talking to the neighbor who walks in the morning. She now does her walking with the neighbor and I don't have to. Hopefully that will be from now on, not just for now. That means I may end up at the pool with the kids tonight, but that isn't too taxing since I usually just play catch with the kids.

It did feel weird not going to the gym today, but am sticking with T/Th being recoup days (as well as S/Su). I think it will be hard trying to get enough sleep. I get up at 0400 weekdays but I don't recall going to bed around 2000 any time recently. I usually go to bed between 2100 and 2300, depending when my body tells me no more. I do get to take about a 40 min nap on the ride home though (vanpool), which is nice.

Question: I remember reading somewhere that your neck size will increase doing SS, is that true? I'm kind of hoping not since I already have an 18" neck. And no, it isn't fatty.

My neck has not changed after ~6mo lifting. Traps got bigger, but that's about it above the shoulders.

Cool. I didn't want to have to buy bigger uniform shirts since I'm at a desk now. I have no clue where I read that and I probably mis-read it anyways.

lol mer-man

anyway welcome to the light

lol @ He-Man.



This says it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy6faAgrLg4 imo

I'm not gonna get into a battle about He-man's sexuality. All I know is that I am straight.


On another note, I finally got around to ordering wrist wraps. Hopfully they will be in sometime next week. I decided not to get a belt yet. I don't want to fork over $ now to get a belt that might not fit in a month or so. I am hoping the gut I have will diminish while doing this program. I am not doing GOMAD and I don't eat too much. Yesterday I was around 2500 calories, mostly protein. I would say 45% protein, 30% carb, and 25% fat.

Today's workout
Squat: 3x5 265
Press: 3x5 120
Row: 3x5 135

Rows felt pretty good. I should be able to do a few 10 lb increases on these. I don't think I said this before, but prior to my vacation I was doing high bar squats. Starting this week I am doing low bar and they feel good.

Observation: There is an old guy (guessing mid 60's) that comes in all the time. He does time on the cardio machines then pumps out a bunch of situps, pushups and pullups. All reps are with great form. Hopefully I will be as fit as him when/if I get to his age (hopefully I can still use a barbell instead though).

I usually weigh in at the gym in the mornings, but forgot to today. Talked with the lady who manages the gym and she does BF measurements with calipers. I know it isn't the best, but I think it is better than the tape method used by the CG (height/neck/waist ratio thing). So I just got back from getting it checked, I'm slightly fatter than I thought. I thought I was about 22% (which I posted in the other thread), she measured me at 23% so I wasn't too far off with my guess of 22. Weight was 222.4, which is normal for me after eating/drinking during the day. Guessing I weighed around 220 at gym time. I will try to remember to weigh myself at the gym and post where I'm at. I think weighing in at the same time is best for day to day (more likely week to week) comparisons. I think I will check my BF% in a month or 2 from now to see where I'm at.

She said if I did nothing but lose body fat (without gaining muscle) I should get down to 190-200. She knows my workouts and said that I shouldn't worry about getting down there since I will be adding lean body mass as well as losing fat, which was my thought as well. She also laughed at me getting down to 180, as per CG weight standards. I think sticking to my workout plan and eating better than I had will get me down to 15-18% BF fairly quickly. We'll have to wait and see.

Observation: Saw a guy taking a 45lb plate, hold it at hip level w/2 hands, bring it up in a modified curl-like/straight arm type movement, release weight, then catch the weight on the way down and repeat a bunch of times. Seems odd to me, but I'm new to the gym scene (crossfit did workouts outside). The weights are the angled type, not the bumpers.

Also, I know I posted 3x in row, but it wouldn't let me edit the earlier posts to add this info.

Your log, you can post as many times in a row as you want :P

Battle Cat

Today = rest day.

I'm bored so I figured I would post some clarifications.

1. I hate cats, so Battle Cat can die too.

2. Just realized I was posting workout sets/reps/weights in wrong order. I will start doing weights x reps x sets with tomorrows entry. Probably didn't confuse anyone but figure I would try and conform to the norm.

3. Supplements. I take creatine, have a protein shake, and take vitamins.

4. Warmups consist of 5 minutes on stationary bike, stretching, shoulder dislocations and other shoulder specific warmups, and warmup sets as per the spreadsheet.

5. Normal day is get up at 0400, eat 1st breakfast at 0500, leave for work at 0530, arrive at work 0630, go to gym 0700, eat 2nd breakfast 0900, lunch 1100, afternoon snack 1400-1500, dinner 1800, possibly evening snack 2000, bed anytime between 2100-2300. Rinse and repeat for the weekdays. Weekends I usually get up 0700-0800 and go to bed whenever.

This sunday I started cooking my 1st breakfast for the week. 1lb of sausage, 1 pepper, 1/4 onion, and 12 scrambled eggs. I divide eating all this throughout the 5 day work week. 2nd breakfast is post workout shake and creatine. I like using the creating post workout mixed with water for recovery. Lunch is usually tuna on whole wheat or leftovers from the previous night's dinner. Afternoon snack is usually a protein bar. Dinner is whatever the wife makes, she's a good cook and keeps it healthy. If I have an evening snack it tends to be leftovers from dinner. And yes, you could call my 2nd breakfast a post workout meal or a morning snack, but I feel like I'm eating like a hobbit. Therefore I am using their terms.

For warm up, people commonly do "dynamic" stretching, not "static" stretching. Static being the type where you hold a position for 10-30 seconds.

Dynamic being stuff like this: http://stronglifts.com/7-dynamic-str...-hip-mobility/

sorry for the confusion, I usually do both static and dynamic stretches. More dynamic than static, but there are a couple I still do. Mostly for ankle mobility issues.

Today's workout

Squat: 275 x 5 x 3
Bench: 165 x 5 x 3
DL: 305 x 5 x 1

Weight: 220.4, thought I was going to weigh more due to eating a lot last night.

Today's workout wasn't too bad. Thought it would be worse since I didn't get to sleep until about 2330 last night (4.5 hrs of sleep). I hate weekday recovery days. I seem to have way to much energy and want to stay up all night. I also am in the office 1.5 hrs or so more since I'm not in the gym. I will stick with the program though because I'm not a quitter.

Observations: There is a guy, couple years older than me, that is in great shape and is usually on the rower while I warm up. Today he was on the eliptical, nothing really strange there. As I was getting off the bike I noticed him doing some pushups nearby. Thing was he was quickly pumping them out and I was impressed until I actually looked over at his form. Back, arms and legs were fine, but his head was bent down. He was only going down a couple inches until his forehead almost hit the deck. I wanted to wait around and see if he knocked himself out, but didn't due to my want for lifting out pushed my want for watching for a possible fail. I will have to keep my eye out to see if this happens again.

Had another older than me guy come in for his workout. I had just finished a warmup set for DL and noticed him come through the door, tank top and all. He looked all excited for his workout and had a nice bounce to his step. That ended about halfway over to me when he noticed where I was located: In his favorite look-in-the-mirror-while-I-workout location. Our gym has 1 "rack". I'm not sure what to call it, but one end has a moveable bench hooked up for seated press, middle is for squats with a pullup station, and other end has pullup station and a deadlift platform. This runs parallel to the wall with the mirrors. If you setup for squat or deadlift the mirror would be on your left. This is convenient for me since I don't have to stare in the mirror for my workout. The platform part gives the least blockage of mirror, giving this guy his optimal space for checking himself out. He gave me a look and I know he was thinking things out in his head. "Is he done with his workout? ****, I guess not since he is starting to add weight to the bar. Man, I really want to get that spot. Think he will move to a different area? Damn, doing DLs so he won't move." At this point he is stopped and kind of doing stutter steps trying to figure out what to do. "I think I will wait until he is done. Crap, he's adding a lot of weight and looks like he may take a while. Guess I will move over there to workout." He grabs a bar, think it was an ez bar but not positive just that it wasn't a barbell. I could see throughout my workout that he was eyeing me, willing me to get done faster since his location wasn't optimal to see himself in the mirror. After I finish my workout, put all bumpers and barbell back I notice him rush over and claim the floor space by the platform so he can check himself out for the rest of his workout. Can't wait to see him next time I'm in his prime location.

Today's workout

Squat: 285 x 5 x 3
Press: 125 x 5 x 3
Row: 145 x 5 x 3

Weight: 220.2

Today's workout kind of sucked. My left elbow started bothering me this weekend while swimming with the kids. Kind of bothered me a little while doing squats and some while doing the press. Didn't really bother me on rows. I think I also strained a muscle in my upper back, left side. Not sure how I did that one, but it started to bother me the last set of presses. I now have pain when I move my left arm across my body or when I look left/right. Will be using a lacrosse ball on it tonight and will try to get my wife to give me a massage.

I'm kind of happy with my weight. I am not looking at losing weight, rather losing fat. My clothes seem to fit better each week, so I'm hoping that I'm losing fat and gaining muscle. Looking forward to my weekly taping on Wednesday. I feel taping is a good check to see what areas of my body are going up and which are going down. I check neck, chest, upper arm, forearm, waist, hips, thigh, and calf keeping track of it through FitDay. I figure if my weight is staying the same yet my waist is going down, then I am losing fat in that region which is key for my weigh ins in October (neck and waist comparison for BF). I'm not using the measurements as a BF measurement outside of my regulated weigh-in, more of a check on progress. I will check my BF again sometime mid August using a caliper since the lady at the gym does them for free.

Wife just called, my wrist wraps came in today. Looking forward to using them.

Today's workout

Squat: 295 x 5 x 3
Bench: 175 x 5 x 3
DL: 315 x 5 x 1

Weight: 219.6

Weights seemed pretty good today. Switched back to high bar squats due to my elbow hurting while warming up in low bar. I plan on doing 5 lb increases on squat from now on, seems like the right thing to do. The wrist wraps definitely helped out in the bench. No more issues with my wrist hurting/being sore afterwards. My elbow did hurt during bench. Seemed to only kick in during my work sets and only for the first rep of each set. Elbow felt weak/started to hurt as I lowered the bar during the first rep. Once I raised the bar the pain went away and stayed away for the other 4 reps. Not sure what is going on with it yet. Figured I would keep on going until it hurts too much to continue. Right now it is more of a nagging pain rather than something that would make me stop.

I think I have the answer to this next question, but figured I would ask it anyways. Friday (my next scheduled workout day) I will not be coming in to work due to my wife having a pre-op appointment scheduled. This means no workout for me on Friday. Should I a) skip my Friday workout and move it to Monday, giving me 4 recovery days or b) workout tomorrow (Thursday), giving me 0 then 3 recovery days. I'm guessing you will recommend I go with a) but figured I would ask anyways.

Seeing as the appointment mentioned above is pre-op, that does mean op is coming up next week. As of now it is scheduled for next Friday. Since it is about 3 hrs away, we will be staying in a hotel from Thursday to Wednesday. Planning on finding a hotel with a gym and try to do what I can while I'm away from work. We'll see how it goes.

No answer to my question yet, so I am going without a workout today. I'm thinking that is what would be recommended.

If you are doing ABA it doesn't really matter if you miss a certain day of the week. Just go the next day like nothing happened. if you did A last time, do B next time.

Also, I wouldn't give up on low-bar just because it was uncomfortable. I had to work quite a while to find the sweet spot where it was comfortable, but I am very glad I did.

Thanks for the info.

I switched back high-bar for a little longer due to pain, not just discomfort. I'm not giving up on low-bar altogether though. It didn't feel like I was just stretching it, but actually causing pain. Elbow still feels off today. It hurts 100% of the time in low-bar with any significant weight on the bar (over 200 lbs). It only causes discomfort, bordering on weakness for the bench (not sure about press yet). Today it doesn't hurt, but is kind of nagging.

I will try again on Monday, but if it bothers me I will go back to high-bar until I get back from staying in a hotel. I'm guessing they won't have proper gear, so I will most likely be doing bodyweight/DB exercises from 5-13 August, returning to a proper gym on 16 August. Hopefully that will give my elbow enough time to fix itself.

If your arm is hurting on squats, it might mean your bar position is incorrect. There should be almost zero weight on your arms.

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1giQN1GoesY

There isn't weight on my arms during the squat. I use my arms to "pinch" the bar against my back, but not to lift up on the bar at all.

It may have to do with flexibility trying to get my hand around the bar on the low-bar squat. It just didn't feel like I was over stretching any muscles, maybe ligaments? I may need to drop down in weight for low-bar in order to get my flexibility in my left arm up. Does that make sense? Maybe my low-bar placement is a little too low? Looking at that video makes me think it is.

When I place me hands on the bar, I just rest the bottom my palms on it, I don't wrap my fingers around. Also, I put my hands a lot wider on the bar than I would for a HBBS.