Yeah, those last two reps where I get a little stuck and my head is way back make it seem like I need to get under earlier. I just re-read the press section in SS and I think I may be starting the bar too low, as well (on my chest instead of my delts).

Workout 6/13 - Intensity day

Did some heavy singles today to test progress from last month.

Squat - 360(f), 360X1 (+10lb PR)

Bench - 210X1 (+5lb PR), 215(f)

Deadlift - 405(f), 405(f), 405(f)

Kind of a mess today, but I did end up with two PRs. Deadlifts were weird. I got 400X1 last month, but I still haven't settled on a deadlift setup that I like. The first two attempts were sumo variations, the third was conventional.

With my old 400lb DL, I'm now at a 970lb total. Was hoping to get to 1000 by this workout. My 175 pound workout partner hit 1000 today (360/215/425), and my brother totaled 1180 (375/325/480) at about 240.

Got my Iron Woody band starter kit today, looking forward to doing some kind of pullups in future workouts. Eating has been going great for the last couple of weeks, as well.

congrats on the PRs!

Thanks! My numbers are still pretty modest, but I'm not unhappy with my progress (other than @&%ing deadlifts).

Workout 6/15 - Volume day

Worked out before Game seven, then watched the game on tape delay. Was cheering for the Canucks but happy for guys like Bergeron, Lucic, Thomas, Recchi and Chara.

Squat - 292.5 X 5 X 5 (+2.5)

Went conservative with the weight increase. These went well, but I was definitely gassed afterwards. The garage gym was hot and I think I feel the ~1000 kcal deficit mainly during volume squats.

Press - 127.5 X 5 X 5 (+2.5)

Very happy with these; I actually failed the last rep of 125X5X5, so was pumped to get through these. I'll probably need to come up with a way to bump up in 1.25lb increments now.

"Chins" - 4 sets of three with small band for assistance.

I'll have to fiddle with the bands to get the right setup; I think I'm going to try to GTG with chins, basically just running out to the garage a couple of times a day to get some reps.

Workout 6/20 - Intensity day

Squat - 320X5

Press - 142.5X4 (failed the fifth)

Deadlift - 315X5X2

Squats went quite well- I failed the fourth rep of 322.5 last time out, and was never in danger with these. Press was disappointing, but I probably should have tried a 1.25lb jump instead of 2.5lb.

I did DLs with a true sumo stance and dropped the weight down, doing two sets to get a feel for the setup. They felt good. I'm pretty sick of my DL form, so I'm hoping this reset gets the job done.

Nice squat PR

Are the safety pins adjustable? If so, I'd put them way higher so you can fail gracefully on them.

Thanks! Yeah, they're adjustable- I've just left them there because one of my workout partners is 5'7.

Though come to think of it, he's never failed a squat rep and I fail all the freakin' time...

Food update: (this is supposed to be a fat loss log, after all)

The last three weeks have gone really well. As time goes on I find more and more foods I really enjoy eating and that fit easily within the macros I want to hit. Here's how the averages for the last 21 days look:



For breakfast I eat a big bowl of oats every day, with either
a) vanilla whey and fresh blueberries;
b) vanilla whey, cinnamon and raisins, or
c) two servings of chocolate peanut butter whey.

Breakfast comes in at between 520-600 kcals and makes me extremely full until right about the time I eat lunch. I also take my fish oil in the morning (81kcal) on days I'm not eating salmon.

For lunch I eat a big-ass salad each day, with dried cranberries, sunflower seeds and a grilled chicken breast. I mix up the dressings, but I've found several I absolutely love at 20kcal/tbsp or less. This meal comes in around 600kcal and 60g protein.

For supper there's a lot more variety, but it will always be either:

a) a protein (steak/chicken breast/mahi mahi/salmon/basa/pork tenderloin) and a veg (broccoli/asparagus), sometimes with baked sweet potato as a starch; or
b) a stir-fry with either chicken breast, pork tenderloin, shrimp or beef and tons of veggies (no rice).

For snacks (absolutely crucial, imo) I'll have either:

a) an entire container of splenda-sweetened, fat-free yogurt, which is tasty as hell and goes about 230 kcal and 24g protein. I eat at least one container per day.

b) a huge bowl of some combination of fresh raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries with a generous serving of light whipped cream. God I love this. Its expensive (probably $5/bowl), but unreal good and typically around 250-300kcal for a big serving.

c) serving of whey protein, typically two around my workout on lifting days.


I've had plenty of good eating runs that have fizzled, but this is probably the happiest/most satiated I've ever been while "dieting". I've lost 8.0 pounds since I started three weeks ago (265-257) and am hoping to get to 242 by the end of July. I've also hit several lifting PRs recently, while on a ~1000 kcal deficit. I'm liking where this is going.

That is eerily similar to my standard day. I just sub bacon and egg/white scrambles for breakfast and add jerky and cottage cheese snacks. BTW I don't know if I ever thanked you for the advice about seafood, but it's been really helpful.

Sweet! I'm actually traveling to one of those Coasts that I hear so much about next week, so I'm planning to eat nothing but seafood for five days.

Before I got on the oatmeal train my morning meal was cottage cheese with a banana- still love the stuff. Before that it was a veggie omelet, which would be great if it wasn't so much work each morning. Lots of good options. Jerky would be in my regular snack rotation if I could find a good bulk supplier that ships here- it's too expensive a habit for me otherwise.

Workout 6/27 - Volume day

My wife threw a surprise 30th birthday party for me on the weekend, which was nice but meant a missed workout. Ate fairly freely during the party, but got right back into the groove afterwards.

Squat - 295X5X5 (+2.5)

Bench press - 175X5X5 (+2.5)

Barbell rows - 125X5X5 (+2.5)

Conservative again on the squat increase; with seven days since I last squatted, these felt damn heavy. They were grindy from the first set, but I got 'em all. 300X5X5 soon. Bench went well, both my shoulders are feeling good at the same time, which hasn't been the case since I started lifting ten months ago. Rows are kinda stupid- I may put a vid in the form check video because I think there must be something wrong with my technique given my total lack of progress on the lift.

Workout 7/1 - Intensity day

Happy Canada day, H+F!

Squat - 322.5X5 (+2.5lb PR)

Bench press - 187.5X4 (failed fifth) (+2.5lbs)

Sumo deadlift - 320X5 (+5)

Finished June at 256.6lbs, down 9.1 pounds from June 1st.

Workout 7/4 - Volume day

Squat - 297.5 X 5 X 5

Press - 130X5X5

Power clean - 145X3X6

Everything went well today. Press felt easy; squats weren't exactly easy but they made me wish I'd gone for 300X5X5. I'm traveling next week and likely to miss a workout or two, which means it may be a while before I get a shot at 300 on volume day again.

Mini-workout 7/18

Bench press - 175X5X5

Barbell rows - 130X5X5

Some band-assisted neutral-grip pullup thingies.

It's been about two weeks since I last lifted; my wife and went on a trip to Vancouver Island to celebrate my 30th birthday and our first anniversary. I actually got tons of exercise on the trip, averaging more than 10k per day hiking, with lots of swimming in and around places like this:



Unfortunately my eating and drinking outpaced even that amount of exercise, but whatever. I've got one month until the first anniversary of this log, and I intend to make good use of that time.

nice pic

Yeah, the Island was unreal, there were spots like that everywhere. My buddy messaged me today to say that someone went over those falls a couple of days after we were there.

I noticed the person at the top of that waterfall. It looks like a long ways down.

Dude, that place looks amazing! Hope everything is going well for you.

Thanks! Unfortunately I've been getting fat again. The good news is it seems to help my bench...

Mini-workout 7/27

HBBS -3X5X265

Bench press - 177.5 X 5 X 5 (+2.5)

It's been about a month since I squatted, so I dropped the weight down quite a bit. It was still brutal enough that I decided to bitch out after three sets which is unusual for me. Probably didn't help that it was 33 degrees celsius in my garage gym while we were squatting...

Bench went great. Ever since returning from my trip (and therefore time off from lifting) my shoulders have both felt great. I was conservative and only went up 2.5lbs because it had been nine days since lifting, but these were easy.

Likely going away on a fly-in fishing trip tomorrow and won't be back until August 2nd. When I get back I think I'm going to look at switching up my programming - TM was getting very stale for me.

Bad news: I'm fat.

Good news: I've finally started lifting again, and my lifts are going up. My shoulder, which I bitched about throughout this thread, appears to be 100%.

A couple of PRs from today's workout:

HBBS 300X5

300X5 is a high-bar PR for me- I got stuck at 297.5 before getting up to 320X5 after switching to low-bar. I think my high-bar form is better than it's ever been, too.

Press 165X1

I also hit 145X5 on the press just before this. The 145 was ridiculously easy.