a_welch503 WORKOUT JOURNAL

[.V.]

11-20-2005

Arms (finished up from yesterday)
Skull Crushers.......100x3x6
DB Curls..............45x3x4
Cable Pushdown........95x3x4

Shoulders
BB Mil Press.........105x3x5
Upright Row..........105x3x5
DB shoulder press.....45x3x5
Shrugs...............235x3x5

Back
CDL..................235x3x5
BOR..................155x3x5
Lat P/D..............160x3x4

Diet - 2 eggs, 3 sausage, 4 chicken, 2 salads, 4 protein shakes, 1 dextrose/creatine shake. GABA preworkout and due again at bedtime.
Didn't track nutrients today.

Comments
Work just kept on happening through the night. Got an extra 8 hours since posting last night. Not enough sleep, felt just worn out today. Started to just take a day off and watched a couple of movies, took a short nap, ate when hungry. About 2pm couldn't stand it any longer and hit the iron - had to be done. Got my increases on everything. They went so well, I'll be increasing something on each lift next time except for the mil press. It didn't go so well, getting fully locked out was beyond tough - but I made it, shaking and quivering - but got them all. I'll repeat this one next time and increase reps on everything else. Too late to get any cardio tonight but since I had decided to skip today, I'm still happy with what I did get done.

[ajarvis]

Nice workout! It always seems to happen you have a great one when you feel it just has to be :

[gcs118]

Andy you always put up good numbers after a long day(s) at work when you're exhausted. I dunno how it works, but I'd say you're pretty lucky Good numbers man, definitely made a huge comeback so far.

[.V.]

Thanks guys. It is definitely worth the effort. Then the sleep last night after that was just great. Sometimes getting extra tired = extra good sleep.

[.V.]

11-21-2005

Chest
Flat Bench............155x3x4
Incline Bench.........135x3x4
Decline Bench.........145x3x4

Abs
Crunch...............110x3x10
Cable Crunch.........110x3x10

Cardio
Cardioglide.....15 minutes #4

Diet
8 meals, P- 230g, C-89g, F-27g, Cal-1519.
Water - 1.5 gallons
Suppliments - Whey, GABA, Glutamine, Dextrose, Creatine at appropriate times

Comments

Got my increases on everything today. Flat bench was HARD. I got all reps, but it was a real struggle. It needs repeated. The other chest exercises were easier than expected. Total control like I wanted. I will increase reps on both next time. Ab work felt pretty heavy - more work at 10 reps then increase the weight in a workout or two. After the discussion about weights behind the head instead of on the chest, I gave it a try during my crunch warmup and acclimation. 10 reps BW, 10 reps with 25 behind my head, 10 with 50 behind my head. Really feel the crunch much better in the transverse abdominus than with the weight on the chest. I will keep this for my ab warmup for a while. Can't do more than 50 though because two plates is all I can hold together back there without them sliding around - I can't fit my head between the plates on a dumbell.

I thought about Greg's comment about better workouts when exhausted. I think it's just because when I'm tired enough I don't have enough sense to really feel the pain or stop when I should (once I get enough motivation to go out there). That has gotten me hurt before. Sometimes though, it works out well.

[gcs118]

Glad to see you're tossing up 155s and nothing is below 135s. You might just have to start taking some meds so you're numb for the workouts to put up more weights

[.V.]

11-23-2005

Legs

Squats..........210x3x6
Calf Raise.....275x3x10
SLDL............210x3x6

Diet - Whole food meals of chicken and salad. 3 protein shakes. The usual suppliments at the usual times.

Comments
Workout very delayed today. Legs felt tired and heavy all day. Kept putting it off - finally just got out there and did it anyway. Got my rep increase as planned. Need to repeat today's leg day next time. Squats were pretty heavy, I had to stop and catch my breath before getting the last rep on each set. Repeating SLDL because I want to keep SL and squat the same.
Didn't get arms today because it got dark on me. I keep forgetting about the shorter days. Arms are going to be done tomorrow - tomorrow is thanksgiving so I only want to do one workout tomorrow before I start cooking.

[tim_mcf]

Originally Posted by a_welch503

Repeating SLDL because I want to keep SL and squat the same.

Why?

[.V.]

Why? Good question - before the illness/injury/overtraining incident, my SLDL strength had ran off and left my squat strength behind. Since the quads are a big part of the liftoff from the floor in the conventional deadlift, I believe the quad and ham strength should be about equal. Since they weren't there was an imbalance of strength and when things weren't right, this led to a back injury which was a big part of me missing workouts for a month. When the strength was equal, this kind of thing didn't happen.

This may not be entirely correct, but I'm not taking any chances.

[.V.]

Dammit, noticed something in the mirror today. I'm looking kind of soft and puffy. After cutting for a while this sucks. I guess I brought it on myself. I like to acclimate to things so there is no shock to the system. Kind of like pre-cut, I gradually reduced carbs and increased fat until I noticed fat was burning. Then when I was to the point that I was due to begin my "cutting diet" I was able to implement it without he "carb withdrawl", constipation, or other problems that can happen.

Since I'm due to begin a bulking diet on the 25th, I have been gradually increasing carbs and calories over the last few days...not a good plan, I'm full of water, peeing like a russian racehorse...and looking puffy, flabby, and soft. My post cut photos are going to really suck. I should have just kept the strict diet until bulking day. Oh well, I've got a lot to learn. I'd imagine I'm not the only one to have a bad cut. Perhaps after the all winter bulk, I'll have more muscle to work with and it will be more successful next time I cut in the spring.

I'm a big believer that the source of most injuries, poor technique aside, is muscular inbalance. I think your logic is entirely correct.

[.V.]

11-24-2005

Arms
BB Curls..............105x3x4
Skull Crushers........95x3x5
DB Curls...............45x3x5
Cable Pushdown.....95x3x6

Only did arms today as planned. Got each planned increase today - either in reps or weight. Everything felt pretty good today. Will increase reps on BB curls and weight on cable pushdown next time. I'll be repeating skull curshers and db curls next time. Although I got everything, and it felt good, the form wasn't perfect on the ones to be repeated. Tomorrow, should be back to doing two body parts/day. It is scheduled to be shoulders/back.

I went ahead and ate a normal thanksgiving dinner this evening. The last two years I've cooked for the entire family, had everyone over, and ate only turkey and green beans. Today, I had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed corn, green beans, deviled eggs, rice, green peas, tomato slices, and even some bread. I suppose there will be an excess of energy stored for my workout tomorrow. I also suppose that for my final cut measurements and photos, I'm going to look and tape like crap after this big feed. There was so much, that 1 small spoon of each (except turkey - got a big piece) totally filled my plate and I didn't clean the plate - just couldn't do it. I did have a slice of pumpkin pie though...evil, evil man.

Hey, I made it all from scratch...I just had to try it all. Tomorrow starts the bulking diet - it will be all clean foods though. Day one will be turkey instead of chicken for most meals though.

[tim_mcf]

One day won't hurt you. I'm proud of you for eating like a "normal" person for a day.

[.V.]

11-25-2005

Shoulders
Mil Press.................105x3x5
Upright Row...............105x3x6
DB Shoulder Press.....45x2x6, 1x5
Shrugs....................235x3x6

Back
CDL.......................235x3x6
BOR.......................155x3x6
Lat P/D...................160x2x5

Cardio
Split Firewood..........1.5 hours
Bike Ride.................8 miles

Diet
M1.....Total cereal, 2 scoops whey
GABA 30 min before workout
M2.....Pre w/o 1 scoop whey
M3.....Post w/o 1 scoop whey+glutamine, 1 scoop dextrose/creatine
M4.....30 min post w/o turkey, brown rice
M5.....2 hr post w/o turkey, brown rice
M6.....Pre w/o 1 scoop whey
M7.....Post w/o 1 scoop whey+glutamine, 1 scoop dextrose/creatine
M8.....30 min post w/o turkey on whole wheat with mustard
M9.....2 hr post w/o turkey, brown rice
still to come
GABA 30 min before bed
M10....before bed will be turkey
Totals: P-342g, C-239g, F-39.5g, Cal-2679.5
Glutamine-9g, GABA-6g, Creatine-10g
Water > 1.5 gallons

This is pretty much what it will look like for a while. Except there will be green veggies with M5 and M9. I just didn't have time to fix them today.
I'm not going to do the preworkout dextrose/creatine for now because my whey already has some creatine and glutamine in it. I think using dextrose/creatine/glutamine only after workouts will be enough for now. If I need more later, I'll add it then.

Comments

Lifting was pretty good today. Got some degree of improvement on every lift this time. Will be increasing from today's work next time - this one doesn't need repeated. The back work felt absolutely awesome - about time for taht one. Only rode 8 miles today, but made good time - 20 minutes. That's 24mph average speed, considering that half of it was uphill (one mountain some smaller hills) - I'm happy. Had wanted to go 12 miles but pushing it hard for 8 wiped my legs out. More speed = higher gear = harder pedaling = more tired legs.

I'll probably take pictures later tonight to remind me of how not to cut in the future. I've mentioned that I felt "puffy" the last few days. Then last night after everyone was gone, I changed into my running shorts for sleeping and my wife said I looked the biggest and leanest I have in a while. I guess that means the muscles were full from the carb re-acclimation I've been doing. Of course I kept my water consumption up like usual more than 1.5 gallons each day. Yesterday's overfeeding turned out to be a bad thing - I've held PLENTY of water and now I really am smooth and puffy. This blows - but I'm eating to bulk now so I'd best just get used to it. I've got all winter to eat up all I can. I've actually increased my calories by over 1000 over the last week and am up to almost 2700/day now. I'm going to hold it at this amount for a while and see if I need to go up or down based on fat storage.

Lessons learned from a bad cut. If doing ketogenic - don't spike dextrose, keep glucose level constant, low, and steady. Don't eat too much protein, don't try to do it lower fat. Too much tuna and chicken breast, not enough steak. TKD didn't work too well for me.

OOOOHHHH, I almost forgot, I got all my steel cut out today for my power cage. Now I've just got to get the holes drilled, bolt it together, take it and have it welded for more strength, then figure out some way to put adjustable hooks on it to hold the bar. Now all I'll need are some olympic weights and an olympic bar to go in it.

[tim_mcf]

Cool, man! Your very own power cage!