Sunday pulling

I had a wedding this Friday, which made training on Saturday...difficult.  Needless to say, the wedding was a lot of fun and plenty of drinks were had.  Saturday I was in no shape to train anything except my water drinking abilities and play endless gears of war horde mode.

Sunday, I woke up, played some more gears, and then headed to the gym fasted.  My legs were still sore (and are still sore today...crazy) so I held off from deadlifts for now.  Instead I did a "regular" back and bi's kind of workout.

10/23/11
1 Hand Dumbbell Rows - 3 sets
65x8 (warmup)
80x5 (warmup)
95x8
95x8
95x7

Not much rest between sets on these

Chinups (wide bar) - 4 sets
30 reps across 4 sets, maybe 1-2 minutes max in between sets

Bi barbell curls - 2 sets
70x8
70x8

This was a workout on speed.  I didn't rest enough between sets, and it definitely effected the weight I could do.  Plus, by the end my forearms felt crazy tight, but no pain.  It didn't help that the Jets game came on the TV at some point.  It made me go even faster b/c I wanted to get home already and watch the game with a beer in my hand.

Overall, I rate this workout: Shitty. Maybe I should stop doing bullshit workouts on the weekend.  If anything, I should have done 100lbs on that dumbbell row.  I could have handled it easily.

The only good part was I ate my fucking face off when I got home from the gym, and the Jets won.

More Squats

Did some squats last night.  The last time I did them was on 10/9/11.  That's 11 days ago!  It might be too far apart, but I have trouble doing squats when my back is sore from deadlifts, and vice versa (legs sore when I do deads).

Either way, here are the sets.
10/20/11
Squats - 5 sets
135x8 (warmup)
185x5 (warmup)
235x5
235x5
235x5
235x5
235x5

Man, I was struggling like a motherfucker on the last 2 sets.  I considered dropping the weight on the last one... but...screw that.  Went for it, and nailed it.  Last time I only hit 235 for 2 sets.  This time I got it in for all 5.  Finally some progress.

Going to a wedding tonight where the drinks will be a flowing, so a Saturday training session is highly questionable.  We'll see.  Stranger things have happened.

Shoulder Press

Did some seated dumbbell shoulder presses last night, followed up by some barbell shrugs.  Here are my sets.

10/18/11

Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press - 5 sets

35's x 8 (warmup)

45's x 5 (warmup)

60's x 4 - PR

60's x 4 - PR

55's x 5

55's x 5

50's x 6

Barbell Shrugs - 3 sets

135x10 (warmup)

185x8

205x7

205x6

One thing you can tell by reading my workout posts is that I don't do a lot of exercises at the gym.  The most I do is 3, and on very rare occasions I'll fit in a 4th exercise.  Instead, I try to hammer out 4-5 really heavy sets on my main lift (in this case shoulder press), and then try to fit in the other shit however I can.  Since I get to the gym so late, time is a big deal to me.  This helps me maximize the big lifts, and still get out of the gym in under an hour.  

And by the way, 60lbs in each hand is a personal record for me.  I know, it's pathetically light, but shoulders have really been a lowlight for me.  I'll note anytime I can up the poundage on any of these lifts.  

Survivabillity, Building Character, and Not Giving Up

I was talking with my wife Anna this morning, and we got into a discussion about the benefits of lifting heavy weights that most people don't really think about.  Obviously, a lot of people train to look better, or just be healthier.

For me, these things are important, but there's another aspect to training that drives me.  Gaining strength.  While "looking better" and "getting healthier" may help get a lot of people into the gym, I feel that getting stronger keeps them there.  I've heard it said that being stronger makes you harder to kill.  Sound intense?  It damn well should!  That sounds to me like one of the most important reasons you should be trying to get stronger.  Off the top of my head I can think of so many scenarios where being stronger could save your life.  Imagine getting into a car accident.  If you have more muscle protecting your limbs and organs, it makes you more likely to survive.  Imagine you have to defend someone you love from an attacker.  Wouldn't you be better able to survive and win the encounter with more strength?  Having more muscle leads to less fatigue, less chance of getting sick, less chance of getting seriously injured.  There are other examples, but you can obviously get the point I'm making here.

Another benefit of lifting heavy weights?  It builds character.   

I read an article a while ago that really moved me.  Of course, I can't find it now to put up the link, but I'm pretty sure it was on 70s Big somewhere. (A really great training blog btw) Either way, the author talked about how consistently getting under the bar and lifting heavy weight takes grit and determination.  If you can get yourself to the gym to train your ass off 3 times a week, you can handle almost anything.  I'm not talking about hopping on the treadmill, or just doing some "bicep curls."   I'm talking about the big lifts that, when done heavy, wreck your life.  Things like the deadlift, the squat, shoulder press, and bench press.  The determination you use to add an extra 5 lbs to your next lift, or to do that extra set of deadlifts even though you're annihilated... it helps shape your mindset when handling all other aspects of your life.  It builds a quiet confidence, and the ability and willingness to own the situations you have to deal with in your daily life.

I lift because I want to be stronger.  And strength gives you a better chance at defending those you love, and a better chance of living longer.  I'm nothing great when it comes to weight training.  I do what I can, and a lot of time I hit plateaus, and sometimes I fail.  Hell for the most part my progress has been terrible for a couple of months now.  But I keep on truckin.  And I'm not giving up.

Deadlifts, Fatigue, and Bad Form

Ahh deadlifts, how I love and hate thee.  Saturday I made it to the gym and did some. Here they are.

10/15/11
Deadlifts - 5 sets
135x8 (warmup)
225x5 (warmup)
295x4
295x4
295x4
295x4
295x4

Interestingly, the forearm pain that I felt earlier in the week didn't really impact my workout.  I did feel some extra tension in my right arm during the lifts, but I was still able to keep a good grip on the bar and finish my sets.  I was really fatigued on the last set, and my form was terrible.  The last 2 reps I was using way too much quads to get the bar up instead of my back, and it showed.

The gym is iffy today.  I have to pick up a new suit after work, and then Jets are playing tonight.  I have a feeling I'm just not going to have the time.

Also, next time I do deadlifts I'll try and get some video.  It's good to have the ability to critique yourself after the fact.  Plus if anybody's actually reading this blog, they can give me some advice on my form.

Chest, Tri's and Dumbbell Fly's

Did some bench, incline dumbbell fly's and body weight dips last night.  Here are the sets.  You'll notice I added warm up sets below.  I figure why the hell not.  

10/13/11

Bench Press - 5 sets

95x8 (warmup)

135x5 (warmup)

175x5

175x5

175x4

165x6

165x5

Incline Dumbbell Fly's - 3 sets

40's x 8 (warmup)

50's x 5

55's x 5

65's x 4

Bodyweight Dips - 2 sets

25 reps

20 reps

I haven't done fly's in over a month, and I forgot to check my log before I went to the gym.  Because of this I was a little unsure of what weight I could do.  50's felt light, so I did 55's.  These felt really light too so I jacked it up to 65's.  Just like Goldilocks, these felt juuuuuuuust right, but at that point my chest was tired as hell.  Next time, I'll start with 65's after warming up.

I'm definitely slowly increasing my bench, at least in repetitions.  Last week I was only able to get 2 sets of 175 before having to drop it to 165.  This week I got 1 more set of 4 reps in.  Once I can nail 5 sets of 5, I'm increasing the weight to 185.  

What I eat

What you eat is an important part of any workout program.  I would even go so far to say that for general health, your diet has the biggest impact on changing the way you look and feel.

I loosely follow a "paleo" or "primal" approach to my diet.  You can read all about it here:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-to-the-primal-eating-plan/

That's where I first read about a primal or paleo diet.  If you don't want to bother with the article, here's a simplified summary. A strict paleo diet includes meat, veggies and some fruit, but would completely avoid all grains and beans.  Milk products could be included, depending on how they effect you.  On rare occasions, you could have some potato to get additional carbohydrate.  This approach works for a lot of people, especially if you have problems with your weight.  You control your sugar (carbohydrate) intake, while getting plenty of protein, fat, and fiber.  Combine this with a good workout regimen and you can really burn fat and lose weight on this diet. 

I'm not quite that strict, but I do agree with the main paleo principle: Eat lots of meat and vegetables.  Get lots of fat in your diet.  Every day, I get most of my calories from meat.  If it's an off day from the gym, I'll keep my carb intake pretty low.  If it's a gym day, I'll jack up my carbohydrates by eating a large sweet potato or (if i'm lucky) some sushi after the workout.  My diet also includes cottage cheese, eggs, some fruit, some nuts, and some occasional dark chocolate.  Also, if I feel I didn't get enough protein during the day I won't hesitate to have a protein shake with whole milk and heavy cream after dinner to top things off.  

I'll go deeper into the why of my diet in another post, but this lays out a good generalization of what I eat on a daily basis.

Tonight I plan on doing some bench and maybe some dumbbell fly's.  If the weight belt is fixed I'll do weighted dips too.  If not, I'll probably just end up doing tricep cables with the rope (ugh) or skull crushers or something.