Definitely slightly more defined ab region than my previous cut, but that was at the end of losing 50 pounds and I was kind of the worse for wear at that point.

I'm reasonably lean everywhere else, but given I carry my excess weight in my midsection I've still got a bit to go. Luckily I'll be in Europe for a week drinking wine and eating French food with Soulman, so I'm sure that will do wonder for the ol' physique.

Rowing really is pretty good in terms of bang for your buck cardio-wise. It's probably adversely affecting my squatting due to the extra lower body work, but a hummingbird flapping it's wings in Sub Saharan Africa does that too, so what are you gonna do.

3/23 (186.8 lbs)

A
SSPT DL (Round 2, Week 1, 65%, 370 1RM, ~30 s rest): 15x240

B
OHP: 3x5x135
Snatch Grip DL: 2x8x185

C
Dips: 1x9x+60, 3x8x+60
DB Hammer Curl: 3x12x35

D
DB Bench Press: 4x8x85
High Facepulls: 4x12x27.5

E
C2 Row: 8:00 min (2064 m)

Weight keeps going down and I'm not even on poverty calories; 26-2800 on lifting days, ~2200ish on rowing days, and probably an average of 1 night where I just pound too much dessert. Astonishing that rowing 100k+ meters a month apparently burns extra calories.

DL was fine; press was harder than I'd hoped, but it's too be expected considering the scale's still going down. I think I'm going to do SGDL for my main back movement on DL day just for some variety; 185 was essentially like doing nothing, but easing into a new-ish movement can't really be a bad thing. Dips and DB bench were pretty hard. I do feel really good/strong/healthy, though, so that's a plus.

What's your weight goals? You're 6'4, right? 186 seems pretty thin for your height, but this coming from a fat guy, so there's that.

How wide were you gripping? Someone your height should be collar to collar unless you have freaky short arms.

abrahamovic,

Not quite that wide, but close. In lieu of increasing the weight, maybe I'll work on widening my grip and see how that works.

POW,

No idea, but probably not much lower. I'd like to actually see some ab definition, and there's definitely a bit now, unlike the last time I got to this weight around 2013 (although that was at the end of a ~50 lb cut, so I was dragging). I can't imagine it'd be much more than a few more pounds, but who the hell knows. When the wife gets angry, probably.

There is a pretty big difference between a real snatch deadlift and a deadlift with a wide grip. Not that it likely matters for you, but just an explanation for why they felt easy.

Btw I think you are obligated to post n00ds if multiple people are inquiring about your level of leanness on the Internet

abrahamovic,

Fair enough, I'll try it for real next Wednesday.

re: noods, not until I reach the end of my journey. It'll likely be a little while, since I've got a Europe trip coming up soon, but we shall see what you shall see.

You should at least take pre and post Europe noods even if you don't post them here.

When the wife gets angry? How is she not already angry? I'm also surprised your Jewish relatives haven't been trying to force-feed you brisket and gefilte fish.

My Jewish relatives are all in Queens, so there's no real way for that to happen. My Mom gets mad when I weigh under 200 pounds, but I only see her a few times a year so it's not too hard to fade that.

But the wifeacore has commented that I look quite a bit better this time around as compared to last time, and was surprised when I mentioned I was sub-190 the other day. Burning a bunch of extra calories on the treadmill as opposed to going down to 1600 poverty calories a day seems to be agreeing with me. Plus I've been in the 195-205 space for about 3 years now, so it's not like losing 5-15 actual pounds is all that onerous. I was 203 or something after the holidays, but a lot of that was Hydro20 and came off pretty quickly.

Funny, so are mine! And most of mine, and particularly my mom, would be very eager to feed me all the food notwithstanding my present fatness. Going home is always treacherous for that reason.

3/22 (187.6 lbs)
C2 Row: 26:05 mins (6388 m)
HLR: 4x10
Pallof Press: 4x12x30.5
Farmer's Walks (90 lb DBs): 3x~40 seconds each

WoD:
With a 1:30 minute warm-up and 2:00 minute cool-down. Starting to get sick. Great timing.

Weight this morning: 185.6. I feel like I got run over by a truck; needless to say I didn't go to the gym today and probably won't be there until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest.

I'd tell BTM to never have kids, but that ship sailed a long time ago.

Stop making cutting look so easy and slam some pizza or something already

I slammed a bunch of ice cream tonight, does that help?

It actually does, assuming a bunch means a min of 1 pint

3/28 (190.0 lbs)

A
Bench: 2x5x210, 1x7x210
NG Chins: 4x5x+55
Facepulls: 6x12x50.5

B
Squat: 3x5x240
Standing KB Press: 4x10x35
DB Curl: 3x12x40

C
RDL: 4x10x145

D
C2 Row: 7:53 mins (2000 m)

As usual, as soon as I stopped going to the gym because of whatever (in this case of the miniAIDS), my diet goes to **** and I eat all the food and Easter candy. Whatever, no ****s given. Luckily, this is the kind of illness where I've now got a bunch of dry crap in my lungs that I feel like working out can help loosen up, as opposed to my bout of viral bronchitis a few months back that turned me into an 80 year old man.

Reduced lung capacity probably cost me a rep or two on squat and definitely about 20 seconds on the row; I was at a sub 7:30 pace for the first three minutes and then just had a hard time breathing for the rest of the time. All the cables were taken during my RDLs, so I didn't do any shoulder or tricep cable stuff, but no big deal.

The minis had two Easter egg hunts this weekend and we took them to their first Pacers game. They had fun, and the mascot even came up to see them. My one son pansied out, started tearing up, and wouldn't fist bump him. My other son was digging it, though, and they both had a good time and ate a bunch of overpriced stadium food. Good deal.

I always wonder why kids can be such pansies sometimes in those kind of situations. Often times it makes no sense at all.

3/29 (188.4 lbs)
C2 Row: 37:00 mins (8863 m)
HLR: 4x10
Pallof Press: 4x12x32.5
Farmer's Walks (85 lb DBs): 3x~50 seconds each

WoD:
With a 2:00 minute warm-up and 2:00 minute cool-down. Still a bit crunchy in the lungs, but this was a relatively easy pace so it wasn't too bad.

As an aside, here's a nice picture of the minis from Easter, pre-getting coked up on the candy they snared from their Easter egg hunt:

Cute kids. Is one taller are or they just standing weird? In either case they both look like they'll be future talls.

Alex is maybe half an inch taller right now, but I don't think Nate's standing as tall as possible. They were both 75th+ percentile in height at their 3 year checkup, and based on how they're growing out of clothes, I'd guess they're still around there. We'll find out for sure in a few months, I guess.

3/30 (186.8 lbs)

A
SSPT DL (Round 2, Week 2, 70%, 370 1RM, ~40 s rest): 15x260

B
OHP: 1x5x140, 2x4x140
Snatch Grip DL: 2x8x185

C
Dips: 4x8x+65
DB Hammer Curl: 3x12x35

D
DB Bench Press: 4x8x85
High Facepulls: 4x12x27.5

E
C2 Row: 8:00 min (2047 m)

Failed in the same spot as a few months ago in OHP, but I got an extra rep or two and weigh less, so it's a victory of a sort. Will make another run at it on Monday and then reset back down again and see what happens. Seems kind of dumb, but such as it is when you're on a deficit.

Everything else was fine; DL was no problem. Still a bit trouble keeping my wind for the row, but w/e. Should be healthy soon.

Much conspicuous consumption itt.

3/31 (186.4 lbs)
C2 Row: 34:05 mins (8264 m)

• WoD: 4x1500m/2 minutes easy + 2:00 minute warm-up and cool-down

HLR: 4x10
Pallof Press: 4x12x32.5
Farmer's Walks (85 lb DBs): 3x~45 seconds each

Was on track for a sub 2:00 pace for all of my work sets combined until the last one, but ran out of gas since I'm still not totally well yet.

March total: 141,784 m
2016 total: 231,382 m

4/1 (185.8 lbs)

A
Bench: 2x5x212.5, 1x7x212.5
DB Row: 4x10x100
Facepulls: 6x12x50.5

B
Front Squat: 3x5x185
Standing KB Press: 4x10x35
EZ Curl: 3x11x75

C
Good Mornings: 3x10x115
Tricep Pressdowns: 3x15x75
Cable Lateral Raise: 3x12x10.5

D
C2 Row: 2:47 mins (750 m)

Good workout. Still tired in the lungs. Fun fun.

3/30 (188.0 lbs)

A
OHP: 5x95, 5x110, 8x125
NG Chins: 4x5x+55
Facepulls: 6x12x50.5

B
Squat: 3x5x245
Dips: 3x8x+70, 1x7x+70
DB Hammer Curl: 3x10x40

C
RDL: 4x10x145
DB Bench Press: 4x9x85

D
C2 Row: 7:53 min (2000 m)



Switched over to 5/3/1 for OHP, since it seems unlikely I'm going to be adding weight using a 2x5, 1x5+ rep scheme without at least eating at maintenance. I think my squat bar path is a bit better, hard to say though. Everything else was fine, with the caveat that still being sick is getting kind of old. Hopefully I'll be well by the end of the week. #OLDS.