typical

I'm fat, lazy and stressed out. Otherwise, life is good. :)

Merry Christmas, ya'll!

And A Couple More

Kellan

Ok. Finally have the time to post a few pics up. They're not so good, but they'll have to do. The little bugger is adjusting life on the outside quite well. He's actually sleeping for four to five hour stretches at night. I can live with that.

FAIL

I don't know if it was a poor warm-up, infant induced insomnia, an altercation with my wife, or a combination of all, but the inertia of the weights overwhelmed me.

Bench press:
285 x 5
325 x 3
365 x 1 miss
365 x 1 missed again.

Kind of a drag to miss a weight I've his several times in the past. Nevertheless, I'm going to blame it on anything else in the universe other than myself and move on. Tonight is deadlift. Hoo-ray.
I woudl have some pics of the wee one up by now, but a couple days ago we got like three snow flakes and it brought down the internet at my house. Quality system, that is. I'll get them up soon.

Squeaky the sleep depriving mouse.

wow. I've forgotten what it's like to sleep on two hour shifts through the night. There is a good reason God makes them very cute when they're new. All is well, though. It even snowed today, which brought back memories of a better place to be. I remember when I lived in a house with a working heater. Ah, the good ol' days. Oh well. The gas heater in the gym works, and that's what really matters!

Squats:
390 x 5
445 x 3
490 x 1

So, the heaviest squat I've done was 505 in competition wearing a squat suit and knee wraps. I'm pretty sure I can beat that now without the gear. I'm really starting to enjoy squatting more than I ever have. Always in the past, my low back was the weak link. I knew I could push a ton with my legs, but I would bow my back and fold every time I loaded the bar up. Which made me really nervous about pushing my squat weight. Interestingly, I've increased my volume of heavy dead lift work over the last year which has apparently strengthened my back at least to the point of supporting what my legs will push. It's pretty cool to feel it all coming together.

I'll get some Kellan pics up soon.

RAGE ON

Deads:

420 x 3

445 x 3

470 x 4

'm getting there... wherever that is.

We go to the hospital at 10pm tomorrow to prep for project "baby blast".

News Flash

Ok. So they admitted Meg to the hospital for an overnight observation due to high BP in her non stress test this morning. I'm at home packing bags. If I were a gambling man, I would put money on our doc wanting to go ahead and induce tomorrow morning unless she goes into active labor tonight (which appears to be a possibility at the moment).

Got my workout in while i had the chance.

Bench press:
305 x 3
325 x 3
345 x 3

stitched up a bilateral hernia and headed for town.

prayers, please. could be a long night.

Friday

Well, we're on the final countdown to baby town. Friday is the day, if the thing doens't decide to pop out sooner. I'm getting pretty excited, though. I'm ready to see what this little guy looks like. Not to mention, I'd like to see his mother sans the beachball under her shirt.

Squats:
420 x 3
445 x 3
470 x 3

Eyeball-Pickups:
2 x 1

This is getting rediculous.

Boring Title

Made up Monday's session yesterday. Really more of a demon purging than a real workout.

Deadlift:
390 x 5
420 x 5
445 x 5

Pull Thrus:
heavy bands x 15 x 3

situps: BW x 25 x 3

I've lately been dreaming of doing a powerlifting meet in the next few month. I'll probably have to go at it unequipped because I can't afford to buy new gear for my sizable arse. tonight we're going to squeeze bryant into one of my old bench shirts and have some fun planning an attack for a meet. I'll start posting updates when I pick a meet.

...

I was convinced that yesterday was squat day when in fact it was deadlift day. I was so convinced that I didn't bother to look at the header on the workout and just started calling weight. So, I squated my deadlift weights. I thought it sucked worse than ususal, but I guess in the end it was a bit encouraging to know my squats are getting stronger.

squats:
390 x 5
420 x 5
445 x 5

Speed Skater squats:
70lbs x 6 x 3

Ab roller: 15 x 3

I'm pretty beat up this morning. Good stuff.

Gonna put up some HUGE numbers!

Well, someday. At the present I'm just trying to find the wherewithal to drag myself into the gym three times a week. Meg is way pregnant and can't seem to get over this heinous sinus/cold thingy. She's miserable and fairly bitter that she can't beg any help out of those that should be most likely to pitch in. So, I'm trying to take over as much as possible when I get home. I'm just getting tired and I don't really see it calming down after the baby is born. Oh well, I shouldn't complain. I can't imagine anything else worth working overtime on. Besides, I've got the makings of a decent little clan.

Incline bench:
225 x 5
240 x 5
255 x 5

Dips:
BW x 20,18,12

EZ bar curls:
70 x 5
90 x 5
110 x 5
130 x 5
150 x 5 (took a spot on the last rep)

DB rows:
55 x 10 x 3

Katchup

So. this week is supposed to be a deload and rest week, but considering how crappy this cycle is, I'm gonna go ahead and hammer the hell out of it. Last night I made up for missing two workouts last week. here's a quick recap:
Saturday
squats: 360 x 5, 410 x 3, 460 x 2

Monday
Deadlift: 385 x 5, 435 x 3, 485 x 1
Bench: 285 x 5, 320 x 3, 365 x 1
Nothing mind blowing, but a heck of a lot more fun than walking on a treadmill. I'm gonna spend the rest of the week dragging the sled, flipping tires,...that kind of thing. New cycle starts next week. And since I've got it all available now, I'm going to start implementing more strongman stuff in our regular workouts. For example, after doing squats we'll do heavy sled drags instead of lunges for accessory work. I would like to integrate more cardio work into the program and I think this is the only way I can stomach it.

Meg woke up this morning feeling pretty bad. Her blood pressure metered in at 150/103. So she and Brody are hanging out at the inlaws today, chillin. Need to keep that baby cooking for about four more weeks, but I think she's pretty much ready to be not pregnant. Oh, and Brody has the flu. It would be great to have some prayers kicked up for everyone's health around here.

Killing the gnome

I don't know if it is actually possible to die from boredom, but I am at the least teetering on the edge of sanity. I played plants VS zombies for approx. 6 hours yesterday. Looks like I'm approaching an equally stimulating itinerary today. It could be worse. I could be using my intellect for the greater good of humanity. or I could be selling hot dogs from one of those cool little wiener carts. I think testing adult diapers would be more fulfilling than what I'm doing. It's not that I hate my job. I don't. I'd just like to jam finger through my eyeball to break the monotony.
I have been "working out" this go around in Houston. I've noticed an interesting trend in this particular hotel "fitness center". the room consists of three treadmills, three elliptical machines, a stationary bike, and a stair climber. on the other side of the room you've got this rather ingenious cable weight station thingy. It's actually pretty nice cuz you can hit a lot of things if you have an imagination. For example, tonight I'm going steal some snooty prick's neck tie, strap it to the machine, and drag the whole damn thing around the room for laps. Oh, and it has a fat pullup bar. Next to that are two adjustable benches and dumbells up to 50lbs. A bunch of bosu balls and mirrors all round. I wouldn't normally call this a trend, but it's happened exactly the same the last two days. The last time I was here, I recall a similar occurrence. This evening I'll confirm my suspicions. It goes like this: I walk in the room and every man not on a treadmill either finds one or suddenly realizes that they have something much more urgent that needs addressing anywhere in the world except that room. If a female is present or comes in behind me the treadmills are also vacated. I don't know if it's because I'm wearing a t-shirt that hasn't been washed in about six months or if the world really is packed full of a bunch of insecure nancy-boys. Geez, I'm not that big. And I've got a beer gut that rivals the Pilsbury D-Boy. What the F is going on in this world?! And then I think, "Huh, cool. got the place to myself again." I'll take that anyday over watching middle age dudes wearing short shorts from 1982 doing situps on a giant bouncy ball. Peace. I gotta get back to my game.

Wed

Why I love having my very own gym: Because it freaking Rocks! Interesting workout yesterday. Started out with squats: 380x3, 400x3, 425x5. My squats are progressing nicely and this makes me happy. Then we moved outside and did some tire flips in the mud. I haven't done these in a while and the mud didn't really help with traction or gripping, but it was fun all the same. To finnish off we decided on some heavy short sled drags. Down and back was roughly 100'. We started with one plate on the sled and added one every round. Made it up to four plates before everyone was ready to puke and collapse. Except for me, of course, because I'm Superman. Only I don't wear red and blue tights. Anymore, at least.

Half Psychotic, Sick, Hypnotic

So, last week pretty much just sucked the big one. Two weeks ago I quit drinking, started running, eat really good, hit all my weights in the gym and just pretty much felt great. You'd think that would be addictive. Last week I got in two crappy workouts, quit sleeping in exchange for boozing, and pretty much just drove my blood pressure up until I felt like complete hell. Why, oh why must I actually choose between one or the other? How is that even a choice that must be conciously made? Over and over and over... Oh well. At least I'm inserting some healthy weeks in these days. That never was the case before. On a positive note, we got the gym set up at my house. A bit like a dream come true, to be honest. There are still some kinks to workout, but it should be cool. Plus I can now implement my strongman aparati to the mix without having to split up sessions. Now, if the weather would just hurry up and be not hot, that would be A-OK.

Bench Press:
WU
300 x 3
320 x 3
340 x 3

Friday's numbers

Just wanted to stay on top of the numbers archiving.

Flat bench press:
WU
285 x 5
300 x 5
320 x 5

Flat DB bench:
75lbs x 15, 12, 10

pullups

Cheers to the cold

Got below 50 today. for the first time in six months, I've stopped sweating. To celebrate, watch this and your winter juices shall start flowing.

http://www.seventhlayer.com/dump/terje's.wmv

Physical Abuse

Well, I'm motivated for the moment. So I'm gonna ride this pony till it dies. Apparantly I've had nothing really motivating me enough in the last 5 years to change my evil ways and improve myself. Right now I have absolutely no desire to touch alcahol. None. I honestly can't say that's happened before. I feel like I could go the rest of my life and never take another drink, and I would never miss it. This is very odd for me. Who knows? Maybe I've stumbled upon what God has had planned for me all along. Maybe not. But something has definately changed for the better.

Deadlifts:
WU
5 x 385
5 x 415
5 x 435

Good Mornings (no belt)
95lbs x 10 x 3

Weighted situps:
+25 lbs x 20 x 3

Drove to the house and decided I had more in the tank.
Sled "sprints" with harness:
160lbs x 6 for roughly 50 meters

A plan is forming

So I started a new 5 week weight cycle yesterday.
Overhead presses: 190 x 5, 205 x 5, 215 x 5. Hooray.
More importantly, I strapped on my HR monitor and went for an honest to goodness run this morning. That was humbling. I'm not in so good shape, eh? But, I have a goal now. One in which peak physical fitness is an absolute necessity. I'm exploring a possible career change, but I'm not going to say much more than that about it. Never know who is reading this stupid thing. At the moment, it's pretty much just a pipe dream; but I think there is enough of a chance to motivate me to get my ass in shape and actually go all out for it. It scares me to think about packing up and moving for another job. We've certainly got our little comfort zone here. But the truth is, I'm no more comfortable here than I was when we moved here over five years ago. I have one of the most meaningless jobs I can imagine. All I do is help rich guys get richer. That's it. They were drilling oil wells long before the advent of computers. I just can't imagine waking up ten years from now doing the same thing in the same place that I'm at now. This job has undeniably been a blessing, but in my heart I feel like it's time to move on. I have no idea when that will happen or how, but I feel it coming. Please pray for us. I believe we're going to have some hard decisions to make over the course of the next year.

red river motorcycle trails, inc

Man trip starts today!

Muenster, TX here we come. We're closing Doc's pub down tonight. Breakfast in the Biergarten tomorrow. Some mad crazy riding. some lounging. some reflection. Then back to Doc's to reboot. All the makings of a great weekend.

Next trip should be climbing or skiing, or both.

Happy Friday!

Why I hate Dallas...

This place is a life sucking ass-hat. The end.

Deloaded

Deload week. Pretty much nothing to report. It's finally getting cooler around here and I'm itchin bad to get some skis on me and snow under me.

Cheers, eh?

PR

pulled 510 today. clean. easy.
i am very pleased.

Friday's

Incline bench:
wu
240 x 5
255 x 3
275 x 3

DB millitary:
dont recall the weight for 3 sets of 12

Rear latterals:
3 sets of 20

BB curls:
65 x 5
95 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 5

Nothing too exciting here.

RESTED

Brutal, yet satisfying.

Squats:
wu
385 x 3
400 x 3
420 x 7 Aside from having to pick my eyeball up off the floor, I didn't injure myself. In my book that equals strength gains.

Squats:
235 x 20

Puke

Hamstring curls:
3 sets of 8

speed skater squats:
3 sets of 5 (each leg) + 40lbs

standing calf raises
3 sets of 15, BW

I think I have irreversible nerve damage in my legs, but otherwise I feel great. Actually, to be honest, I'm not sore at all. It's getting creepy. I'm going to start running two to three mornings a week. We'll see how that works out. I've got to get in shape for ski season.

NOON

I couldn't not pull today. It would have haunted me.

DLs:
WU
405 x 3
430 x 3
455 x 3

had to put a bar wrap on my right hand for the last rep of the last set. Just couldn't keep my hand closed. stupid injuries.

Glute Hammies:
1 set of 10

This was a quickie but it definately wore me out. I'm looking forward to a few days off for sure. I've got one workout tomorrow and then five days off. Hooray!

Boondoggle

So, that stupid trip to Dallas has screwed up my second week of hell workouts. I missed two workouts on Wed, made one of them up yesterday (sort of) and it's looking like I'm going to miss another one today. Oh well, my hand is jacked from ripping that hole in it and I wasn't really looking forward to deadlifting with it. I'm gonna go in a t lunch and do some squats or something non-grippy.

Here's yesterday's workout. All of it.

Incline Bench press:
45 x 10
135 x 8
225 x 4 or 5
240 x 3
255 x 3
270 x 3 I had more in the tank. Just didn't care.

Monday

Noon workout:
A1)Front Squats (Deep knee bend) (no belt): 145 lbs x 6 for five sets
A2)Glute ham raises: BW x 6 for five sets

B1)Lots of chinups
B2)Lots of dips

Afterwork workout:
Squats:
370 x 5
385 x 5
405 x 5 despite the fact that I should be getting weaker, my big lifts are progressing. I'm losing faith in the theory of overtraining. If anything, I'm beginning to realize that I haven't been training enough. In about an hour I'm going in for my 12th back-to-back intense workout in 9 days. So far, I've managed to rip off a calouse and I can't seem to get enough sleep. Otherwise I haven't even gotten any proper muscle soreness. And I certainly don't feel any weaker. I'm beginning to think that the notion of overtraining is an excuse to spend more time sitting on one's ass.
Good Mornings: 145 x 10 x 3 sets
Wide Grip Pullups: BW x 10 x 3 sets
Glute Ham Raises: BW x 5 x 2 sets
DB Rows: 95lbs x 6 x 4 sets
Ab Wheel: 3 sets of 12

Friday/Saturday

Friday PM workout:

Two Board Press:
305 x 5
325 x 5
345 x 8

Close Grip Bench Press:
135 x 10
155 x 10
205 x 10
245 x 10

dips :BW to failure for three sets

DB flys: something x 10ish for 3 sets
Triceps pressdowns: heavyish x 20 for 2 sets

Felt like the ol tris were gonna explode.

Saturday AM

Decided to workout at home this morning. Turned out to be a good call.

200' sled drags with harness
105lbs
150lbs
195lbs
240lbs
285lbs There is no full and total leg burn like this. its crippling.

One lap around the yard with the slosh pipe.

75' hand over hand sled pulls (standing)
5 sets with 195lbs

This workout was a blast, but I'm starting to get muscle spasms all over the place. Tomorrow is my off day, and then it starts over again on Monday.

Friday Nooner

A1)Box squats w/Heavy bands: 225 x 6 for five sets
A2)Hamstring curls: ~130lbs x 6 for five sets

I slobbered a great deal through this and I didn't stop sweating for about four hours.
My short term memory is starting to depart from me. I'm not sleeping well because my shoulders hurt and when I do sleep it never seems to be enough. I've been falling asleep at work the last couple of days. Fortunately, I don't actually do anything.

Gotta go bench press in about half an hour.

Chow.

Aberration: Chapter 2

I just couldn't drag myself out of bed Wed morning. I went to sleep early enough, but when 5 came around I wasn't done snoozing. So I went in at noon.

Wed Nooner:

A1) Sumo deadlifts (sans belt):225 for five sets of six

A2)Hamstring curlz: heavy-ish for five sets of six

B1) Wide grip pullups: BW for five sets of six

B2)Dips: BW for five sets of six

Wed afternooner:

Deadlifts:

380 x 5

405 x 5

430 x 5 I hadn't really considered that the extra work would be destroying my grip strength. On the third rep of my last set I felt my palm ripping just at lockout. By the time I got it down there was just a huge hunk of flesh hanging on below my ring finger. So I did what anyone one do in that situation. I ganked off the piece of meat, threw a bar wrap on my right hand knocked out the last two reps in the set.

I manged to find some gauze and electrical tape to make a pad to finish out the session.

Upright rows: 4 sets of 10

BB shrugs: 4 sets of 10

Band pull-thrus: Didn't do these. Had nothing left for them.

weighted situps: a bunch.

Thurs: got up early, but it was tough. I'm really sleepy today, but I'm not nearly as sore as I should be. I think the extra protein and aminos are paying off.

A1)Front squats (Deep knee bend, no belt): 115lbs x 6 x 5 sets. It was light, but effective.

A2)Glute Ham Raises: BW for 5 sets of 6

B1)CG pullups: BW for 5 sets of 6

B2)Alternating DB bench: 65lbs for 5 sets of 6 (never done these before due to the gayness. Turns out they're brutal and keep you under tension for roughly twice the time as a normal set of db bench.)

Glad there's no workout this afternoon. I'm very tired. And hungry. think I'll eat now.

Aberration: Chapter 1

Monday: Got up at 5:10am . Went to the gym. (A1, A2 = superset)

Back squats:
warm up
A1) Back squats - 315 x 6 x 5
A2) Ham curls - heavy bowflex x 6 x 5

B1)Wide grip Pullups - BW x 6 x 5
B2) Dips - BW x 6 x 5

Really tried to focus on form this morning. Kept the muscles under tension as long as possible. Turned out to be fairly brutal. Still hot before the sun rises here.

Monday #2: Got to the gym around 5:15pm. Bryant and Chase joined in the fun.

Incline Bench:
warm up
240 x 5
255 x 5
270 x 7

DB lateral raises:
45 x 6 x 4

DB front raises:
25 x 12 x 4

Reverse BB curls:
65 x 8 x 4

DB curls (standing)
30 x 12 x 4

Tuesday: Got up at 5:15am. Went to the gym.

A1) Front Squats (no belt, deep ROM)
WU
115 x 6
165 x 6 x 4

A2) Natural Glute Ham Raises
5 sets of Six

B1)CG chin ups
BW x 6 x 5

B2) DB Floor Presses
65 x 8 x 5

No workout this afternoon. I'm tired but I feel good. It's gonna take a few days to get used to getting up early again. My left elbow is starting to act up again but nothing serious yet.
Weight as of this morning: 216lbs
Supplements being used:
Biotest Grow! whey protein
Flameout
Curcumin 500 (I'm becoming addicted to this stuff. Actually works really well for me)
Alpha GPC ( I was skeptical about this one. been using it for around a month and haven't missed a lift since I started. Just seems like there's always a little left in the tank to push with.)
Surge workout drink (this crap just makes me happy.)

time to reboot the system

Ug. Time for a tune up. No dieting this time though. At least, not for weight loss. I think I've pretty much lost most of the health benifits I might have gained from doing the velocity diet. My blood pressure is still OK, but I've gained some weight back and I'm starting to get that neverending bloat again. I realize, of course, that's it's because I've been pretty much benge drinking everynight for the last month. Don't know why or how i'v let it get this far, but I'm starting to visibly pay for it. Next week I'm going to start something that I've wanted to do for a while now, but honestly haven't had the scrotal fortitude for. There's a lot of names for it, but the one I think is the most fitting is super accumulation. Essentially its a relatively short period of intentional overtraining followed by dedicated rest. For two weeks, I'll workout six days a week. Three of those days will have morning and afternoon training sessions. 18 sessions in 14 days followed by five days completely off. The goal is to loose about 20% of my strength in two weeks. Most guys loose 10-15lbs in the first two weeks and then come in a few pounds heavier than when they started after the week of rest. Stronger as well. My personality seems to dictate that I'm violently self-destructive. I feel like its time to be violently constructive. I'm just hoping that my body and mind are strong enough to handle it. By the end of two weeks I should be drooling a lot. I suspect that my testosterone levels will be in the dumper as well. Unlike the velocity diet program, the goal here isn't to loose anything. I failed at that program because I was living in sever caloric deficit. On top of that, the workouts came straight out of the "Homos Guide to Getting Buff". I hated every minute of it. By the end of it I dind't care what I weighed. However, I can't argue that it did clean the system out. I think, though, I can accomplish that without starving myself. If nothing else, I won't have time to drink. this should be a good experiment for the books. Let me know what you think.

Going to a presidentail rally with an AK on my back!

I think that would be an excellent title for a song. Could be country or rock.
So! We're doing two board presses instead of full bech presses on this cylce. Decided to test them yesterday for a single to get our precentages for the rest of the workouts. To my utter delight, I manged a clean 405. Four more inches of travel and I'll claim a 400lb bench press. I'm pretty excited about that.

The rest of the session went like this:

Close grip bench:
135 x 10
185 x 10
205 x 10
225 x 10

Dips:
BW x 3 x failure

DB flys (on floor)
35 x 10
45 x 10 x 2
50 x 10
doing these on the floor destroyed my chest and saved my shoulders. Good mojo.

Tricep pressdowns: 2 sets of 20. medium/light weight.

The Hangover

After staying up till 2am and consuming my weight in beer, I pulled 505 today. I won't technically claim it yet because my right hand slipped and I lost my grip just before I locked out my right shoulder. Left side was back and locked, and both legs locked out. Back straight. Just couldn't hold the weight. As it turns out, there was too much chalk caked on the bar. Oh well. The weight went up and felt light. I know I can pull it now easily. I can finally start aiming at 600 over the next two years. good times.

Bryant pulled a clean 335 and just missed 350.
Chase got a new record with 315.

Friday

Bench Press:
WU
270 x 5
320 x 3
340 x 1
365 x 1 (Finally got this back up. Can start working on 375 and upwards to 400)

Dumbell Floor Press
65lbs x 12-15 x 4 sets

Weighted dips:
90lbs x 5-6 x 3 sets

DB Flys
40lbs x 12 x 3

Tricep pushdowns
light bowflex weight for one set, 38 reps.

400 12oz can lifts.

burn

Squats:
wu
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 3
365 x 3
385 x 3
405 x 3

Box squats:
385 x 16 (around number twelve I started talking to dead people)

Natural Glute Ham raises:
2 sets of five

Speed skater squats:
Bw x 10
+30 x 10
+30 x 10

standing Calf raises:
45 seconds per foot x 2

If I could throw up, I would'a.

Back in it

After nearly a week of horrible tendonitus and geral slothfulness, it was good to get back in for a full on session yesterday.

Benchpress:
WU
285 x 3
305 x 3
320 x 6 (When three just isn't enough!)

Floor Press:
275 x 10
275 x 8
295 x 6

pushups:
30
18ish

Incline DB flys:
arbitrary weight for 3 sets of 12

Tri pressdowns:
heavy bowflex weight for 3 sets of ten

Really pumpy workout. Everyone suffered accordingly.

Cheers!

Pain tolerance

This was the first day of a new three week squat program I'm throwing in to try and get everyone to learn to squat (and to build pain thresholds).

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/my_greatest_gains_ever_joe_defranco

Box Squats:
WU
315 x 5
335 x 5
365 x 5
385 x 5
405 x 5
350 x 15 (I actually lost my hearing for a little while after this)

Natural Glute Ham Raises:
BW x 5 for 2 sets (this is a great exercise)

Speed Skater squats:
BW x 10 each leg
+30 x 10 each leg for two sets

Standing sigle leg calf raises:
BW for 30 seconds each leg for two sets. The recipe called for 60 each, but it wasn't happening. I wanted to collapse and cry in the fetal position after thirty seconds. I'll shoot for 45 next week. This is a hellish workout for sure. Kind of fun to stumble around the next few hours with zero muscle coordination in the southern regions. I'll definately add this one to my keeper pile.

Fried-day

Mike and I partied Thursday night oldschool. Reminiscent of the days when he was going through his divorce. Shut it down at 1am with vodka and cranberry. Needless to say, there was an all day debate on Friday whether or not we would be working out. I won. again.

Bench:
WU
270 x 5
285 x 5
305 x 5

3 board press (fun incarnate):
275 x 10
295 x 10
315 x 10
325 x 10

dips:
3 sets to failure with 35lbs added

db flys: light
pressdowns: light/high rep

Nobody puked today. That's good I guess.

Del Fuego

Deadlift Day! Hooray!

Deads:
WU
380 x 5
405 x 5
430 x 5
(Mike and I are now doing the same weights on deads. It was kind of fun to see who could rip them up with the most style. (I won.))

Chin ups: 4 X 10 BW

DB rows: 4 x 15 light weight

Band pull thrus: 4 x 15 Average Band

weighted sit ups: 4 x 10 45lbs

Finished strong with a lot more sweat action. Mike got the deadlift flu and blew chunks. Blamed me for making him throw up post workout now for the second time.

Sweat Shop

Never have I sweated like I did yesterday. Manly session it was.
102 degrees
Humidity: 1000%
Wind: none


Overhead Press:
wu
5 x 195
5 x 205
5 x 220

Upright Row: 4 sets of 6

DB Military: 4 sets of 12

Rear Lateral: 4 sets of 8

DB Curls: 4 sets of 12

I laid down on the concrete and made sweat angels.

De-Loaded

Well, here we are at the last day of deload week. Glad to see it gone. Very uninspiring week, as weeks go. Monday's workout was a joke. Wed was a bigger joke and I spent all day Friday sitting in the oval office praying for the Rapture to begin immediately. Great way to spend my day off from work. So to make up for getting nothing done of Friday, I spent all day Saturday working in the yard. Saturday night we had the fam over for a pretty good fireworks show. I don't think it was a grandiose as last year, but great fun all the same. Rained all night last night and most of this morning. This is making for a very peaceful day to chill out. Finally, a day for nothing but chillin. I'm ready for the new cycle to start in the gym. I've put together a good plan that's going to suck the like out of everyone dumb enough to be involved. Should be some stronger people in the world when we're done. Cody, hope things are rocking in Cali. Please keep praying for Pops.

Cheers

Bar Placement

Haven't done this to myself in quite a while, but I thought it would make an interesting illustration on proper bar placement when squating. Note that the bar should ride below the traps, not on them. When I finally figured this out I quit having neck and shoulder problems that came along with heavy squating.

Also, the camera angle hides my gut, which is a good thing. I think this is why Chris Shugart is standing backwards in his little avatar on T-Nation.

Although having your flesh torn by a knurled steel bar is unpleasant, no one will argue that you didn't sandbag your squats. Meg suggested that I put a pad on the bar. In fact, she noted that if it were her, she would want a pink pad on the bar. I didn't know how to respond to that.

end of week rally

so it came together for me today. after a monday and wed. arse whooping I managed to go big on the squat and to celebrate I did a hellish workout in a 102 degree garage. here's how she went:

squats:
WU
340 x 5
390 x 3
440 x 1
465 x 1

Went deep on that last one and faught to get it, but it went. thought an eye was going to pop out and somehow that was motivational. Here's the rest of the session:

front squats (deep knee bend, close stance)
115 x 10 x 3
135 x 15 x 1 That cleaned out the sweat glands!

Leg extensions on bowflex
everythingonthegaymachine x 12 x 3 burned like hell.

somes situps
some ab wheelies

drank a beer, got dressed, and went directly to unload shingles on top of a house that we're to roof tomorrow. Thought I was going to throw-up a couple of time hiking up the roof with an armload of shingles. couldn't even feel my legs. they just wouldn't do what I kept telling them to. stupid things. they're not strong enough.

peace. out.

Horchata

Hmm...Lets see. It's Firday. I'm sitting at my desk trying to stay awake. Not a lot going on so far. It is "favorite band Friday". We all get to wear t-shirts from our favorite bands. Somehow this is supposed to raise morale. So far my Living Sacrifice shirt has only built on everyone's assumption that I'm a serial killer.
Wednesday was bench day:
275 x 5
305 x 3
325 x 1
325 was easy. Should have hammered out a few more but wanted to go for a higher single. shot for 365 and missed it. Wasn't too disappointed here. I got 355 three weeks ago. It would have been a long shot to move up ten pounds in three weeks. Also, my lats were destroyed from Monday so I was having some issues keeping the bar stable when it got heavy. Guess I need to get stronger.

Today is squat day. Hooray!

Monday

Well. I still suck at deadlifting. I missed 505 yesterday, again. I'm starting to think it's a mental block. Or it could be that I've spent the last two weeks being very unhealthy and staying up late everynight. Or it could be that I'm just too damn weak to pick up five hundred pounds. Whatever the reason, I've got more work to do.
I've gotta give some props to Mike. He pulled 505 and he's been training his deadlift for roughly two minutes now. That dude will be pulling six within a year.
Bench tomorrow.

Friday Freak Fest

New PR's all around!

Over Head press:
185 x 5
205 x 3
235 x 1
255 x 1
Last one is a ten pound personal best for me. it was definitely all there, but I locked it out solid and fast. I was having a lot of trouble getting my head in the game at the start. We couldn't get the stereo to work so the loudest thing in the gym was Bryant's flatulence. 185 felt like a ton and I had to re-rack 205 once just to get my head on straight. Finally got some tunes and ammonia going and 255 went up like a rocket. I've never really put a lot of focus on this lift for heavy singles, but now that I think of it, could be kind of fun to lock out 300 overhead.

the rest of the workout was like getting punched in balls by a tall skinny guy.

ho hum

squats:
365 x 3
385 x 3
405 x 3

Boring but healthy.

Monday Madness

Bench press day!

Flat bench:
285 x 3
305 x 3
325 x 3

Floor press:
275 x 10 3 sets

Incline DB flys:
35 x 12 3 sets

Push ups:
30
15
18

Skull crushers/CG bench:
70 x 10 - failure 3 sets

Nothing above my belly button is working properly today. Pure Awesomeness!

Friday

Pulled on Friday

405 x 3
425 x 3
455 x 3

That hurt like a B. Just now getting some stability back. Oh well. No injury, just pain! Good to go.

Ketchup

Missed Monday/squat day due to Shawn and K being in town. Spent all day at the lake, so I guess that was good excersice.

Friday: Bench Press
265 x 5
285 x 5
305 x 5

Monday: Squats
Opted for a sunburn.

Wed: Overhead Press
175 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 3

Excerpt

In making my way through this world, I decided some time ago to choose the essential over the unnecessary. There are many ways to live a life. There are fewer ways, I think, to live an honest one. Sometimes a choice is necessary.

This I know. There are valleys, unlike others, where stones are gathered into great cairns. No tribute to battle is more sparse. No monument of a heroic life is more cut from the earth that gave this life its bearing and origin. Today our monuments lack simplicity. We have forgotten this earthy nobility that older cultures teach us. We have silenced these stones.

I have seen men of great strength lift stones that required of them no less than all their strength. Here there was no surfeit of effort. All was necessary, and yet it is expected of a man of great size that he should lift an amount equal to his stature, his girth. His accomplishment is often equal to our expectations, perhaps his own.

I am interested in the man who overcomes his strength by returning to the location of his most recent attempt, where his strength failed him but his will did not, and attempts to lift again the stone that would not be lifted. In his return his success is complete despite a measure of height or the distance of a toss.

Strength has a limit. It is easily measured by the kilo. Character understands that limit is a choice. It is measured in the attempt to hoist again the stone, to try one more. Character is measured in the return.

I cannot say of myself that I am a lifter of stones. But I understand something of the precision of the stone’s simplicity, and the required fidelity to the stone’s challenge. Ascent is the key. For myself, I trust in the climber’s imperative for higher ground, in the challenge of a mountain top. Beyond what one can see, these stony monoliths offer the mind and body an equal assurance: Effort is its own reward. I do not doubt the stonelifter would agree.

-Philip Arnold

Gross

Well, you asked for it...

Chiti Chiti Bang Bang

Yeah, those after shots are coming. I'm waiting to get skinnier. Ha. Ha.
So anyway, my workouts are coming along most excellently. My workout yesterday went like this:

Overhead press:
Warm up
5 x 185
5 x 205
5 x 215

And then a bunch of other crap that made me sweat, scream, curse, and swallow back vommit. Good session overall. At one point on the second set of OH presses I cracked myself in the chin. Your mind goes through some interesting senarios quickly when you've nearly knocked yourself out throwing 200+ lbs over your noggin. I think I cracked a tooth. Oh well, I've got more.

Cheers.

Death to Fung

Well, I've really been dogging myself for buggering out of the diet a bit early. But I realized this morning that with the exception of one cheat meal, I only started eating about four days early so I guess I can't feel too bad about that. tomorrow is officially the end of it for me, so I'll get a final weight and some pics up then. I don't think I've lost so much in my gut, but perhaps my arms and legs are a bit leaner.
I did manage to lock out 245 over head yesterday. That's good, I suppose.

Mission Failure

Let's face it. I started my "taper" a week early. I know, I know. I'm a dirty rotten piece of poo. But I'm a healthier dirty rotten piece of poo than I was before I started this thing. I just couldn't stand the thought of going another week without training, and training was out of the question without some extra calories in me. To make it up to you guys, I'm going to spend the next five minutes in utter self loathing.
OK. On to the important stuff. Bryant and I have collectively agreed to drop the dripping black hole of estrogen workout and go back to man work. Mike has jumped back in with us in the afternoons so it'll be great to have an extra spotter and some more energy in the garage. Yesterday we tested squats. I managed to eek out 455 for a good full ROM. It was a little tougher than I was expecting but OK I guess for not haveing done any squats (those overhead things don't count) for over a month.
Good times. That's all I got for now.

Sunday "Stones" workout

Friday

Had some energy yesterday and decided I was tired of pretending to be a hatchet wound.

Frontal Squatage:
135 x 5 x 1
185 x 5 x 1
225 x 5 x 3

CGB:
225 x 5 x 2
245 x 5 x 2
275 x 5 x 1

chin-ups:
BW x 5 x 1
BW+20 x 5 x 4

Push Press:
95 x 5 x 1
115 x 5 x 1
145 x 5 x 2
165 x 5 x 1

Laughter is fattening

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Monday Number Three

My brain functions are failing. I've discovered that this caloric deficit is making my memory about as useful as a poopy flavoured lollipop (I tried to come up with something original, but those neurons have quit firing altogether). I've lost about seven pounds, but I really don't feel any healthier. My blood pressure monitor says that I am healthier, but is that because I'm depriving myself of energy or beer? I feel like Chris Shugart and the Biotest gang left out an important component to their V-Diet: body composition. Age, height, and weight are fine, but if I'm 215lbs and say 18% body fat and the smelly dude next to me is 215lbs and 85% body fat, we're going to have different caloric needs. Of course, the creators of the velocity diet know this, but they would have trouble selling $500+ worth of protein at a time if they overcomplicated the system.
OK. I'm done with my rant. I still don't regret doing this because several positive things have come from the process and I intend to finish the month out strong. I just wish I had the strength of will to do it without a "packaged" deal. I believe going forward, I will.

Did V-challenge yesterday morning.

Bent over rows:
1 x 5 135
3 x 5 225 (used straps)

Overhead Squats:
4 x 5 95 (F*%K these things)

Dips:
4 x 5 Bw (got through these as fast as possible. Too lazy to ad weight)

Ab Wheelies
4 x 5 Bryant pushing down on my back

On a happier note, I bought 50ft of 3/4 poly rope to start pulling Bryant's Corolla through my barn. Hopefully, I can work up to the Tahoe soon.

Weekend in Paradise

so the tirp to Amarillo went pretty well. Pops new I was on a diet but he didn't know it cut out all drinking. The funny thing is, he's not really drinking much either. So I walk in and he points me to a cooler full of Bud Light. I didn't drink any and he only had one or two, so all weekend there's this icey cold cooler full of beers staring at me. Very bad temptation that was.
On a more positive note, I did buy the parts for my strongman yoke. Couldn't beleive that 12 ft of galvanized pipe and few connectors cost me nearly a c-note. Oh well, I guess everything is a huge rip off at this point in time. I still got a functional training tool to add to my arsenal and if I'd bought a nice pre-built it would of cost me at least three hundo.
Bryant and I did the v-challenge this morning. It went down even easier than last week. I'm starting to recover some agility, flexibility, and overall spring-ability. Kind of nice.

Starvation tip for the day: A splash of Tabasco Sauce in the mouth when I'm starving makes my brain happy for a while.

A Fortnight Falls

Sounds like a good book.
Weighed upon rising and peeing this morning at 202 lbs. Went for a walk and took a poop that brought me down to 201 lbs. So, I'm officially a half-stone and one down from my starting weight.
Speaking of stones, I just ordered the book "Of Stones and Strength" by Steve Jeck. Been wanting to get that for a while. Its this guy's story of traveling around the world to pick up the most famous clach cuid fir (I'm pretty sure you have to say that with a Gaelic accent to get it right). I got inspired when I hatched my first large, 16", atlas stone last night. She's heavy, but I did manage to shoulder it without a lot of stress. It'll make a nice traing rock, but I need one about a hundred pounds heavier to get serious with.
Hope you guys have a grand ol Friday!

Cheers.

gnarcrimper what!?

So this is the last day of week two for me. Hooray. I feel good, but I'm getting really tired of having not so much energy and even less food. Oh well.
Yesterday's workout was a hot one:

WG pullups:
5x8 bw

Strt leg deads:
5 x 8 205

Incln DB bench (ng)
5 x 8 65 (made it thru, but I was running out of steam in a hurry)

BB curlz
1 x 8 65
4 x 8 85 (last set was growler, but I kept it moving.)

Hanging leg lifts
5 x 8 (need to get some ankle weights)

Healthy little workout there, but I'm really itchin to start picking up some weight again. If nothing else, I think this program is going to get me into good enough shape to start up my old school weight maintenance program. I like to call it Train Your Ass Off Six or Seven Days a Week. At leas that's what I'm going to name the book. Cheers, yo!

Stabbed by the knife of emptyness

I'M SO FREAKING HUNGRY. Some evil human brought cakes and propped one up in both kitchens. I can smell chocolat and buttercream every time I get a freaking cup of coffee. I don't even like cake. Oh well. Almost time for a healthy delicious shake.

Monday workout:
RG BB rows:
5x5 145 = gay

overhead squats
2x5 95
1x3 95 (a spring somehow shot out of my hip. decided not to finish this exserce.)

dips
5x5 bw + 45 (light)

ab wheel
5 x 6 (cuz I wanted to)

Num num

Pork tenderloin, spinach salad, slice tomatoes with feta and basil, grilled broccoli with squash and zucchini, deviled eggs. My, Oh My! That meal just nearly put me into a coma. The V-challenge was much less challenging this go around. I was still soaking wet and standing with my head in the AC when it was over, but there was little fear of blacking out or puking this time. In fact, I felt pretty energized, considering that we played six straight hours of paintball on Saturday and I could barely crawl out of bed Sunday morning. I'm still pretty happy with progress so far. I'm a bit concerned that I'm losing some strength, specifically in my primary lifts. But I don't think it will be much and I'm sure it will come back real quick. At least I hope so. I'll have roughly one month to prepare for this strongman comp. M' gonna have to make the most of it.

OK. Fine.

Arlington, TX - June 27, 2009. Anybody got anything planned? OK, then. If I can stay under 200lbs, I think I can make a dent in this one. It's all gonna swing on my weight and how much strength I can recover after may. I don't think I'll lose much strength, but I am really anxious to start training for the events. B- I'll need your car. Light weights gotta pull a 4 cylinder car (I know what you're thinking. no harness. this is seated arm-over-arm pulling. I've got a strong back and a place to train for it). Heavy weights, a Hummer. Pays to be light and cock-strong.
I REALLY want to do a strongman comp this year and it looks like this might be my only option. There's a pretty cool one next weekend in AlbQ, I'm guessing at the festival, but of course I can't make that one. Check it out for me C-dog. Might be a possibility for next year.

Yesterday's workout:
Front squats
5x5 185lbs (no belt)

CG Bench
5x5 225lbs (much easier than week one)

chins
5x5 bw (could've added some weight, but I was really focusing on full ROM)

Push press
5x5 145lbs (could've gone a bit heavier with these. the heat was getting me.)

News Flashes

Number One:
Cody is the High King Shizznit for sending me four fresh jars of nut butter! Yeah. Doesn't really sound so good when I put it down like that, but I also don't really care. The almond butter was refreshing to my soul tonight. Can't wait to try the sunflower seed goo tomorrow night. Happy birthday to me! Thanks man.

Number Two:
Just got an email from the director of the Battle of the Borders in NM. Looks like the strongman comp is on for July 25th. That gives me roughly two months to train like mad and keep my weight down after this diet is over. He already sent me the events and the weights to train for. I've just got to find a truck to pull. Mayhaps we can incorporate some climbing into that trip, hmm...

I'm so pumped!

New week: Day 8

Had another tough night avoiding the booze last night. Really just yesterday afternoon. Got past it and got some work done around the house. I guess I kind of let it sneak up on me. Nevertheless, I'm still on track. I suppose nobody said this would be easy. My weight this morning, post poop, was 204.5. That puts me right at 5lbs in a week. I expected that; however, before I went on my walk this morning I checked my blood pressure. Came in at 136/72 with a pulse of 60 bpm. Now then, I quit taking my blood pressure meds on Monday. I figured it would come down if I ever sobered up, but I had to know if it was because my body was working properly or because of some crack rock the drug dealer at the clinic handed me. Well, my genetics and my doctor can kiss my ass. Looks like my heart is just sensitive to rediculously unhealthy living. Go figure. Guess I'll have to cinch the belt up live healthier the rest of my life.
This is getting easier every day. I'm pretty amped about today's workout. It's roughly a million degrees and I've got some sweatin to do.

Se7en

Workout stats:

WG pullups
4 x 8 bw
1 x 5 bw
1 x 3 bw

Deads
Went way light on these, but I did each set like a mating jackrabbit.
5 x 8 115lbs

Incln bench - palms in
5 x 8 65's

BB curlz
4 x 8 75lbs
1 x 5 75
1 x 3 75

Leg raises
5 x 8 bw (love these things)

Not bad. Sweating like crazy. Bryant has chocolate surge and I have raspberry. We decided to do a scoop of each. Tasted like chocolate raspberry sphincter. Week two starts tomorrow. I'll weigh tonight.

Stay strong, yo!

Note:

Tonight will mark a ten year record for sobriety.

Day 5

I can smell EVERYTHING. It's cruel that I have to walk through my kitchen to get to my bedroom and bathroom. I swear I can tell what's been left open on the counters as soon as I walk in the front door. Yesterday afternoon the beer/booze bug bit me pretty hard. I think I have some scars from the battle that ensued, but I fought it off. And as it turns out, I'm pretty sure I saw the top of my abs pop up and wink at me in the mirror this morning. I won't weigh until Friday, but I know I'm down. So perhaps the rewards will start to come in along with the struggles.

I can only concur with C that the NEPA is mostly targeted at us cubicle pirates. Not that his job is any more physically demanding than mine. However, not having to prepare a breakfast in the morning has afforded me plenty of time to go for a good walk. It hasn't really been about the exercise for me. I get up and pop a couple of Hot Rox and head out the door. That stuff kills the hunger and honestly tweaks me up to a fun little buzz. I get to spend 30-45 minutes just walking with God before the rest of the world has a chance to climb on my back. I'm gonna try to keep this up after the diet is over. Looking forward to this afternoon's workout. Should be crazy intense.

Day 4

I thought this workout was a joke compared to Friday's. the overhead squats were a lot tougher than I expected. it quickly became obvious that those are a pure stability excersice. On my first rep my spinal erectors siezed up and I nearly dropped the bar on my head. Not to mention that my lats were completely fried from that V-challange (stangely enough) wich didn't aid in stabilizing anything.

Rev Grip rows: 5x5 145

overhead squats: 1x5 95, 3x5 65

dips: 1x5 45, 3x5 80

ab wheelies: 4x5 bw

Not exactly intense, but I guess it did the job.

HSM

OK. We had our HSM today. this may seem wrong to those who made it thru the entire 6 or 7 days before getting in a good meal. However, I feel justified for the following reasons.
I did my V-challenge on the third day of my diet. I knew from looking at the thing that it would suck. However, I did not know the extent to which it would suck when living on a caloric deficit with almost no carbs pre-workout. When we were done I regained some rational thought patterns I realized with glee that it was time for my third shake. within an hour of drinking that, I could barely get up and walk across the living room. It wasn't because I was starving or my muscles were broke down, I just didn't have any gas left. Nothing. I started thinking about the glycogen and mineral depletion I had just put my body through and I decided it was time to look at a calendar and see what my options were. I should have been eating my HSM on Thursdays, but that's not a workout day and that seems like a bit of a waste of good energy. If you do it at the end of every week, you end up finishing the diet with a rewarding meal and then continue on having solid meals every day after that. That's kind of a bummer. I've got to do 4 V-challenges thru this. I figure I can eat my HSM on those days since mine came towards the beginning of my first week. Mentally I'll know that I'll have less problems killing the workout if I've got a rewarding meal coming to me afterwards. Finally, I really wanted to eat some of the pizza* I made for my niece's birthday. Had two slices of pizza with a giant pile of raw veggies. Skipped the ranch dip and rocky road cupcakes.

*I made the pizzas healthy as possible using stone ground whole wheat flour for the dough, boiled chicken, and turkey pepperoni. Although I used less cheese than usual, the saturated fat in it has nearly killed me. A word of warning: if you haven't already had a high fat HSM, don't. Your body doesn't want that crap anymore and it will reject it. At least mine did.

Peace out.

hurl

The V-challenge can lick my shlong.
did one round on the advanced circuit and thought I would die for sure. Dropped to the intermediate and barley finished. I'm pretty sure if B hadn't been there I would have quit by round three. Had to take several minute breaks between circuits and some of those were standing with my face in an air conditioner trying not to puke or black out. Icky. I do feel much better today. I think it will continue to get easier, or at least that's been the trend for the last two days. We'll see about the next 25.

Cheers.

Dia Dos

I think today was better. Still hungry. I burned off too many calories over the day and am paying for it now. Didn't sleep last night, played paintball this morning and finished digging a ditch and re-covering it. I'm about to drop.
However, let me tell you why I'm the king shizznit. I made three pizzas tonight and actually tasted two of the sauces and spit them out with no swallowage. Had to keep from burying my face in the giant bags of cheese.
gonna go to bed now.

v-challange tomorrow.

Day 1

The workout was pretty intense. Since I started on Friday I went ahead and did the Day three workout. Within one set I was able to nail the numbers pretty acurately and the thirty second rests sucked the life right out of me. I think I got through the entire workout in just under half an hour, in a garage, at 98 degrees, 200% humidity.

front sqauts: 185lbs 5x5
CG bench press: 225 5x5
chin up: body weight 5x5
Push presses: 115 5x5

thought i was going to sweat to death.

Mantastic

Dang, I'm hungry. Had to go to the grocery store at lunch to pick up some things for Meg. That was a mistake. Fortunately I had a shake right before I went. I actually found...

(Wow. I just now got a call from Megan's sister asking me if I would make pizzas for my niece's birthday on Sunday. Obviously, Satan has once again been roaming the earth, and God said "Have you considered my servant Glenn?". The worst part is that I agreed to do it.)

...myself staring at the bags of frozen tripe. Anyhow, here's the promised pictures. If you're hungry now, you wont be after this. I had a 10oz T-bone, about a half pound of cheddar mashed potatoes, a salad, two beers, and about a half bottle of moon shine right before these were taken.

respect

Lord, help me to be thankful every day
For the "little things" that come my way.
The early morning sunrise at the crack of dawn;
The dew and the mist that cover my lawn;
My health that permits me to arise
Each morning to cook breakfast, and as I surmise
The various chores of the day ahead
Help me to view them with zeal, not dread.

Lord, help me to see your view of life,
To be more helpful to others in the daily strife
Of survival to the end in this temporary place
To love so that I may come face to face
with You forever in Paradise, the home of the soul
When in death I close my eyes and reach my goal.

Edelle Falkner 1916-2009

Visceral Chubby

OK. OK. Meg snapped the pics tonight. They 're disgusting. However, I forgot that I lost the cable to upload to my puter at home so I'll havta do it tomorrow at work. She did take measurments though....ew.

OK. it must be re-stated that thesea are non-flexing and non-sucking-in. I expect all parties involved to follow the same rigi standards. or lie. doesn't really matter to me.

shoulders: 50.75"

neck: 17"

chest: 43.5"

Belly: 39.5"

waist: 37" (this is bullshit)

Upper Arm right: 15.75"

Upper Arm left: 15.75"

Upper Leg right: 24.75"

Upper Leg left: 24.5"

After this is all over with, I gotta recommend Platte Valley 100% CORN WHISKEY (McCormick distilling CO., Weston, MO, - since 1856!) Comes in a mason jar. this shit would strip the paint stripes off an interstate highway.

Holy crap, I really need to pick something heavy up right now.

Cheers. It's on in the morning.

Ketch-up

OK. Just wanted to quickly post the high points of my last week on the 5/3/1 program I've been doing. Mostly to show that I haven't totaly been slacking off.

Incline bench:
245lbs x 5
255lbs x 3
275lbs x 0 (hungover, tired, and pissed off)
Not my best session

Rack Pulls:
425 x 5
475 x 3
505 x 4 (good one)
Felt so good on these I unloaded the bar and re-loaded to 505 on the floor. Pulled it to the bottem of my knee caps and stalled. Held it for about three really slow second and dropped it. I was disappointed, but it's still forward progress.

Two board press:
295 x 5
345 x 3
385 x 1 (I fought this one to the end and nailed it. Felt pretty good about that.)

Parallel box squat:
385 x 5
425 x 3
475 x 2 (Very heavy, but not everything I had. I've got more in me.)
That was on 4.5 hours of sleep and 100 degrees in the garage. Now that's healthy living!

Cheers.

Meat For the Beast

So here's what a $600 menu looks like.

Ammendment

After some careful consideration I've decided to stick to the workouts prescribed with the V-diet. As much as I'm enjoying the program I'm doing now, my progress has stalled. I've been pushing super heavy for a long time now and my shoulders and hips are starting to tell me they need a break as much as my liver. I'm going to do the advanced training program and try to be very strict about tempo and rest times. This whole thing is, after all, a form of "bodybuilding". When in hell, do what the banana-hammock clad grape smugglers do to get lean! Don't get me wrong, I don't think this will be an easy out. The programs look challenging enough. It'll just be a really different kind of session than I'm used to. Oh well. Let the burn begin!

Also

I've been thinking about this next month dieting. I've got roughly a decade of garbage to blow out of my system, but on top of that I've got change some bad habits over the course of the month or the results will be very short lived. Obviously, not drinking for 30 days should curtail my current desire to drink on a daily basis. Bad eating habits will go as well. But there are other things that I need to purge from myself. I've gotten to where I cuss like a sailor. Interestingly, I've noticed that the worse my language gets, the worse my attitude about life in general becomes, and my health has begun to decline in a seemingly direct relation. I was reading James this morning and came across this statement that I'd never really paid much attention to: "We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check." (James 3:2 NIV) and "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." (James 3:6 NIV). It appears to me that the half-brother of Jesus saw a correlation between what comes out of our mouth and our well being.
I've always wanted to do a fast, but I've managed to find an excuse not to every time its come up. I suggest that we treat this diet like a month long fast. When it sucks and when I'm hungry I want to commit to praying and leaning on you guys rather than projecting my struggles onto my wife and kids, essentially breaking another bad habit and becoming a better husband and dad at the same time. Of course, this would mean that we're going to have to hold each other accountable for more than just eating and drinking. What do you guys think?

It's officially official.

I ordered my V-Diet kit today! Hooray! Let the suffering begin.
Well it went like this: I just lived through one of the most unhealthy extended weekends of my life. I woke up this morning exhausted, weak, and struggling to get my jeans buttonted. Meg called me this morning and told me that we got our tax return. At the same time I was handed a healthy expense check for the traveling I've been doing and I'll get another one in a couple of days. Just those two expense checks will almost cover the whole cost. I figured I'd better jump on it while I got it. Anyhow, now that I've been liberated from nearly 600 bones I'm ready to beat myself into healthy submission. I'm sick of being fat. I'm sick of feeling like shit. And I'm sick of being weaker in every area of my life than I have the potential for.

Blah!

Happy Friday (technically)

Oh boy. I feel like dookie. Went to bed at 9:30 last night cuz i couldna keep my eyes open. woke up at 11:00 and laid in bed staring into the dark until 4:00. I don't know what the heck was up with that, but I feel like I was in a train wreck. m gonna try to get through a workout this afternoon, go home, and pass out.

B- Here's the link to the V-Diet

VD

(not to be confused with venereal disease) It's almost time for the velocity diet! Yee-Haww! So, I'm wondering how we want to coordinate this? May 1st is a Friday. I suggest we start on Sat. the 2nd. Not that it matters, but I don't like starting things (with the exception of a case of beer) on Friday. Also, by then I should have the funds to go on this little journey of pain, suffering, and sobriety.

Back to the grind

Seems like I haven't been in the gym in over a year. I guess it's just been since last week, but already I feel like I've lost everything and become a normal 30-something butterball. It hasn't all just been laziness. I thought I had ruptured a portion of my hamstring on my right leg from doing hamstring curls (of all things) last week. A couple days after the workout I had a nice big feverish knot behind my knee and it killed me to move my leg. Then Monday night I destroyed my right ankle while cleaning out my barn. Turns out it's difficult to do squats or dead lifts when one whole leg is useless. I'm going in for a bench workout this afternoon. I think by Friday I'll be healed up enough to pull again.
After my workout I'm going to attend my first Colonial Hill Baptist Church Men's shooting club. some guys put it together last year, but I knew nothing about it. today is the first day for this season. apparently, it's a group of guys that get together once a month, pray, and have contests shooting 22 cal. pistols. could be interesting. The really funny thing is that within the last year I've owned two of the best target 22's you can buy. the Walther P22 and the Ruger charger. Now I'm down to a 1953 H&R 22 revolver and a High Standard H-D Military that belonged to our grandmother. The revolver works well but it's not exactly a target gun. The other one is much more interesting. I haven't shot in since I was in high school and I remember it jamming pretty bad then. I did a little research on it and it turns out it is a great target gun and supposedly very reliable. I'm going to give it a good stripping and cleaning at lunch today. could be all it needs to work like a champ. I don't expect to win any medals. I think there will be a couple of ex-cops and a retired Texas Ranger. Despite those egos, I'm sure it will be a good time.

As far as hunting the land around my house: I just got permission on Tuesday to annihilate the herd of pigs on the property. You need to come down and bag some pork.

Baboon's Scrotum

Put in a pretty good session yesterday at noon. Once again I was a bit rushed because I had to go in a noon, but I got the job done.
Parallel box squats:
three working sets of five - 375, 425, 445
Despite my best efforts to not focus on my squats, they continue to get stronger. I had a few reps left in me on my last set.
Followed this up with four sets of ten front squats (heels elevated on a 2x4)
leg extensions
hamstring curls
side bends
Funny thing is, my obliques are the only sore part on me this morning.

once again, it's been beautiful all week and now that the weekend is here it's raining with a chance of snow. sposed to be bloody windy all weekend. Sheesh.

"The Oldest Brewery in North America"

Did a pretty good little workout yesterday. Started out with 2 board presses for three working sets of five reps:

295, 325, 345

It felt really heavy, but I blame that on me being really tired. Nevertheless, I finished the sets. My shoulders are starting to bug me some on bench presses, but I'm going to ignore as long as I can. Followed those up with some db bench, dips, db flys, and tricep pressdowns. There is a ton more volume in this cycle, but I've got to admit that I'm kind of enjoying it. It's kind of nice to feel sore again. Just hope my shoulders hold up.

Fiduciary Bag

Well, my quick trip to Canada was a pretty good time. The first night I got hammered at a pro hockey game along with 19,000 Canadian freaks. Then I went directly to an Irish pub with the director of sales and had thirty nightcaps. Woke up at 6am lying across my bed fully clothed and wearing an official Calgary Flames jersey. Then I actually had to go work. Fortunately we got the job wrapped up pretty quick so I headed out of the city to check out Banff. There was a glimmer of a hope that I'd get to make a couple o' turns on some fresh Canadian powder, but there just wasn't time. Nevertheless, I did make it to Banff and I gotta say those mountains are pretty darn amazing. They're just like these huge jagged rocks. Very nice. I didn't get to do much, but it was very nice to be back in the hills if even for just a couple hours.

So I get back to Calgary that night and decide to walk down to Chinatown and have some ethic chow chow. I ended up with some kind of kimchi stuffed cat. The stink that it (along with another 500 Molsons) produced the next morning would have knocked a vulture off a gut wagon. Seriously. I had to leave my hotel room. There can be nothing good in cabbage.

Overall, not a bad trip and Calgary is a really cool city. It would definitely be on the top of my short list of places I could hang my hat.

Hopefully I'm done travelling for a while so I feel like a can focus on my beach body now. Hooray!

weekend updates

Bryant, Sandy, Bryant's mom, and Sandy's mom all headed out for Dallas today. Sandy is having her breast reduction operation in the morning sometime. She's pretty stressed about it. But mostly, pray for Bryant. He's spending three days in Dallas with three women.

Also, I get on a plane at 7:30am tomorrow to fly to Calgary. I'll be back late Sunday night. Please toss up some prayers for the saftey of my peeps while I'm out and about.

Cheers.

Broken

I think I broke my deltoid tuberosity, if that's possible. Ok, maybe not broken, but certainly pissed the general area off. Really enjoyed the training yesterday. It was fast, painful, and sweaty.
Incline bench press:
warm up
225 x 5
245 x 5
255 x 5 (This is where my shoulder told me to go #$%& myself)

Upright Rows x 1,000,000

DB millitary x 1,000,000

Rear Laterals x 2,000,000

DB curls x 1,000,000

Like I said, the volume has gone up a bit for the accessory stuff through this cycle. Very "pumpy" workout. I left feeling like I'd accomplished something (besides destroying my shoulder).

Sweat'n to the oldies

So I spent about an hour yesterday writing out our next five week cycle. We'll be doing incline bench, parallel box squats, 2 board presses, and rack pulls for our main lifts. That will be a nice change of pace, but the big difference in this go around will be our accessory work. We're going to do a ton more volume. We'll focus less on the weight and more on getting through everything without throwing up. It's about to start getting hot in the garage and I'm ready to sweat out a winter's worth of bull-poo. Plus, that should put us right up to the start of our scheduled v-diet launch at which time I'll probably be forced to bring the volume back down a notch, so as not to die. It sucks big hairy balls that I wasn't able to ski this year, but I'm very positive going into the warmer months. This could be a great summer for training.

Workout and product review

did a solo workout at lunch today so we can get off to Amarillo early. Didn't really get through the whole workout, but I got what mattered.

Squats off parallel box:
bar x 10
135 x 8
225 x 6
275 x 5 (put on belt and wrist wraps)
315 x 5
375 x 5
425 x 3
475 x 1
505 x 1
The last time I squatted 505 I was in a squat suit and knee wraps. Last night I stayed till 1am, drank two bottles of wine and a highball of Crown with Crown. I don't know what that means, but I felt I should write it down for posterity.

I got the Biotest Metabolic drive in which means that they're shipping is very good. Suprisingly, it tastes really good. Not quite muscle milk, but for half the calories it's a heck of a lot better than Optimum's 100% Whey. It's nice and thick mixed with water so it gives one a pleasant full feeling, which I'm sure will be quite helpful on this diet.

Happy Friday.

for the record

yesterday was bench day.
flat bp:
bar x 10
135 x 8
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 3
345 x 2

rack lockouts:
315 x 5
405 x 5
455 x 5

some pull-ups with varying grips

littler milestone

so yesterday was deadlift day. i was pretty much pissed at megan which didn't help (or maybe it did). anyhow, i wasn't too excited about it, but i definately needed to blow off some steam. the working sets were supposed to go something like 5x70%, 3x80, 1x90% which turned out to be 455lb for me. That went up like a dress after prom, so i decided to shoot for 505. the number that has eluded me for so long. i missed it. but, i pulled it up to my knees which means that i'm strong enough to get it. my mind wasn't in the right spot and i got distracted. bryant's wife was there for the first time. at the top of the lift i had a flash in my mind that she was seriously concerned that i was about to blow my heart out my nose. i dropped it before any such injury could occur. nevertheless, i'd never been able to get 500 off the ground before, so i was ok with that. i'll get it soon enough. the lift did actually destroy my back, but what's new.

so I was due to buy some new protien and decided to do some comparative research between my standby of muscle milk and the biotest stuff the V-diet is based on. At first glance the metabolic drive is more expensive, but then i noticed there is twice as many servings per container and fedex ground shipping is free if purchased through t-nation.com. Also, they don't charge sales tax if shipped out of state. if purchased in bulk (4+) it's even cheaper. I ordered one to see how it holds up on the pallet. it's doubtful that it will taste better than muscle milk, but at half the calories, it will probably be worth it. the thought occured to me that you could just half the serving of muscle milk for the purpose of the diet and possibly save a very-little money, but then you wouldn't be getting as much protein per serving and the carbs would be a little jacked up. I also considered Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey. It's more comperable to the Biotest product, but the money savings were not there when you had to figure in shipping for that much protien. it's my conclusion that for the purposes of this diet, the supplied menu is the way to go. still a lot of quid though.