Training update - 4.30.11

I measured my waist this morning for the first time in about a week. I was surprised to see that it read 38.25". This is quite an improvement from the 39" it was the last time I checked. While my weight seems to stay about the same on the scale, between 208 and 210, my waist is slowly shrinking. This is ideal to me because it shows that I am slowly burning fat and putting on some muscle at the same time. I just need to stay consistent with my diet, work out hard, and keep doing that blasted cardio at the end of my workouts.

last night's workout - squat, military press, shoulders, 30 min cardio

Friday nights at the gym are always dead and last night was no exception. There was barely five people working out at any given time. I love an empty gym. We tried our new XTend workout recovery drink in our water bottles at the gym. I got the lemonade flavor and it wasn't too bad. It was a little strong at times and would give me a shiver, but I managed to drink it all. I don't know if it was placebo effect or what but I did feel pretty good throughout the workout, plenty of energy.

I started with squats and it went really well. My legs felt great and I powered through my sets with no real problems.

Next I did military press. This is a pretty new movement for me, as in the past I've done it with dumbbells. Pressing the barbell is still kind of awkward so I went fairly light and will continue to do so until I learn the movement and proper form.

squat - 195 lbs
deadlift - 195 lbs
bench - 160 lbs
press - 85 lbs

Training update - 4.29.11

Last night's workout - deadlifts, bench press, triceps, 30 min cardio

I had a decent workout last night. The weather was nice for the first time in about a week so the gym was nearly empty as a result, a total bonus. I started with bench press and did a few warm-up sets. I put on 160 for my working sets and knocked the first two out without a problem. The last set I kind of got stuck on the last rep, but I made it through with what my wife called "a fingernail spot."

My shoulder felt a little tweaked after I finished all my sets but so far this morning it's feeling OK. I've been worried that going back to barbell bench press would tweak my shoulder again. I've previously blamed the barbell bench as the culprit behind the shoulder problems I had a year ago. I'm trying to focus on good form and pressing up from my lower chest, so my arms aren't 90 degrees out from my chest. We'll see how it goes over the next few weeks. I may have to bail and go back to dumbbells.

I followed bench with deadlifts. After a few warmup sets with 135 I put on 195, which is the highest I've tried so far. It felt heavy, but my first two sets went pretty well. My last set was tough and I had to take a breath or three between the last three reps. Overall it went OK. I felt a little humbled by the weight but later reminded myself that the 195 pounds was the most I've ever done on deadlift, so it's an overall victory. I think I'll stick to this weight another round or two because I felt my form was sloppy. I'm fairly new to standard deadlifts so I want to try to iron out the kinks before I go too stupidly heavy.

squat - 195 lbs
deadlift - 195 lbs
bench - 160 lbs
press - 85 lbs

4.28.11 - anxious to get to the gym

Anxious to get to the gym. I'm full of energy today for some reason and feeling a tad aggro. I had to skip the gym last night because I had to mow the yard. That's the bad part of Spring, the grass grows so fast I have to basically mow twice a week. That just takes away from my gym time!

Tonight is deadlifts and bench press. I'm moving up in weight on both. Deadlifts I'm not much worried about but bench has always been a weak spot for me.

I'm trying to set up my initial goals for my 1RM weights. So far I'm thinking:
315 - deadlift
315 - squat
275 - bench

I think I'll get to squat and deadlift at a decent pace but that bench is going to take a while. I need to try to hit it twice a week and make some progress. I think I need to eat more and have a more structured approach. I'm thinking of starting protein shakes at work, at least one during the day. Now that we're working out regularly I seem to always be hungry.

Training Update - 4.27.11

weight - 210
body fat% - 21.4%

squat - 195 lbs
deadlift - 185 lbs
bench - 155 lbs
press - 85 lbs

Last night's workout - squats, back, biceps, 30 min cardio

Workouts are going great. We spent nearly 2 hours at the gym last night. When we first arrived we had to wait on the squat rack because some d-bag personal trainer was doing circuit training, tying up multiple stations including the squat rack. The gym was pretty busy, adding to my annoyance with the trainer.

Cardio is going well so far. I realized the other night that the gym has free wi-fi so I was able to fire up Pandora radio on my phone and listen to my Tool station while on the treadmill. I got kind of a cardio high, full body tingly sensation right in the middle of a high point of Metallica's "One." It was pretty awesome I must say. By the end of my slow burn cardio I was dripping wet with sweat.

Ordered some new supplements from Muscle and Strength. I ordered some casein protein for my morning shakes and some XTend recovery drink. I plan on putting this Xtend in my water that I take to the gym.