The TFP Health Club

Morning workout today ('cause I'm babysitting tonight, woo!) I definitely like the gym better in the mornings...I do not like the alarm clock on those mornings, however.

Finally lost the Christmas/shark week/water retention weight, and the scale is moving in the correct direction again. Hallelujah.

 

Montage music is key, brah.

 

Be careful with bent over rows and deadlifts. A lot of overlap in them. Some might find it's too much to be doing both in a week. Personally I never do shrugs. But I do so many things with scaption (scapular retraction) plus standing overhead presses that my traps get plenty of work. Nothing wrong with them though as long as you have full range of motion.

 

Then you're just doing maintenance!

Heh, I'm only partially fucking with you. I'm on a high rep plan... 6 sets of 8-10. As much as I want to get big, I really just want to be a stronger guy in the same size clothing. I do make sure that I'm out of gas on the last set or two.

Totally understand the martial arts body thing. I was in a gi up to 20 hours a week in college... got very flexible and great at cardio but I was way stringy and had major shortages in the power department as far as the chest and thighs went. You don't get legit strong just punching and kicking people in pads.

 

Guess that will make me the short version of Arnold when we go into the jungle to fight the Predator.

Hit some new PRs the other week during the testing phase of my new workout.

Deadlift PR: 200x4
Bench PR: 135x2

The bench was a big deal for me, as racking a 45# on each side of the bar and benching it was a big dream goal when I started working out. The deadlift PR was after 5 sets building up to that. I know I could have thrown more around but my body was screaming at me. Next time, 300.

I've been working on building up my arm strength, as I'm realizing that my arms are holding me back on building my chest. DBs in stead of BBs for all arm movements. Isolation is the key.

I am finally getting my form down on squats and going up in weight. I make a little plate stool in the squat rack that is the right drop down height for my squat. Hitting that every time or it doesn't count. My workout has me doing 100 squats to start out with, so I'm getting a lot of practice in. If you add up all my reps for the leg day, I squatted 10,000 pounds over the course of 8 sets. Really cool to think about it, even if it was low weight/high rep.

Enjoying my gym time more and more. It's the part of the day I look forward to the most. Well, every day but Tabatas day.

*****

Listened to that today when I was doing chest day. Great recommendation, I added it to my list of gym favorites.

 

Just going back to this. If you are doing deadlifts properly, then it is a pretty solid quad exercise. Too many guys with weak quads turn deads into a bastardized stiff leg deadlift because as soon as they start to pull their ass shoots into the air and then its all spine. Along with that, squats and deadlifts do also work the glutes and hamstrings. Think about it. You are extending and contracting across the hip and the knees at the same time. your hamstrings are working at hip extension as you stand, while they are tense across the knees. Same thing with your quads. So doing a proper range of motion with good form will create pretty balanced quads/hamstrings. If you are in a proper starting position for your pull, then you are almost in a full squat. If you want to keep the weights a little lighter, don't do an alternating grip with your deads. Keep the knuckles forward. Your forearms will be crying from the punishment. My forearms are dying trying to do a set of 275x5 like that.

Like I said, nothing wrong with shrugs. If you are already doing heavy pulling and pushing, they are just getting a fair amount of stimulation, that's all.

 

The difference between 425 and 430 for five reps in squats seems to be immense... But done

 

I'm fat, and my home cardio theatre (a crappy recumbant bike) isn't cutting it, so I'll have a membership to Planet Fitness, solely for their machines. Was pricing good home equipment, but the cost is prohibitive.

 

First cardio session in a couple of months and already feel better. 15 easy minutes made a difference. It, for whatever reason, also seems to have caused my left ankle to swell and throb. The cardio gods must be appeased with pain, I guess.

 

Still working out, lifting weights. Between work and having my girls part of the week, I am generally limited to 3-4 days a week. I would prefer 5-6 days, especially when I'm motivated as I am now. Repetitions and volume have definitely been increased, and using lighter weights. For example, instead of just a few sets of heavy squats and some calf raises, my workout was much more varied. After several warmup sets, I did three sets of ten of front squats followed by one set of eight of back squats. 3 sets leg curls,2 sets of extensions. 4 sets calf raises. To finish was 2x 15 and 12 of leg presses, which I haven't done in over a decade.15 sets total, and legs rubbery when I left.

 

Another workout. Chest shoulders and triceps. Same thing, not worrying about poundage too much. I'm sure in a while I will lift heavy again, at least for a short round. At any rate, I have been reading about so called peri workout nutrition. The idea that your body utilizes nutrients while you are working out. That you have primed your workout. It's not necessarily for rapid weight loss, but for muscular hypertrophy. However, it's also on websites that happen to sell their supplements to aid that. So I did I home version with a half peanut butter and jelly sandwich on oatnut bread. Too soon to tell, but my workout felt fine. Certainly didn't detract from it.

 

I actually snorted hot tea while watching this... someone sent it to me because of the hubs' Crossfit proclivities and my known distaste for the gym for these very reasons...

Video Parodies Worst Parts of Going to the Gym | Greatist

You have to wonder... what the fuck is he there for?

 

Back and biceps Thursday, legs this morning. Workouts feel good. One of the things I need to watch myself on is cutting my calories too low. Previously, whenever I got serious when I was prepping for an assessment with the patrol, I was concerned with weight loss. But I tend to be all or none in my approach. Which means I cut my calories way down and start starving myself. Good for the scale, not so good for muscle. I'm really not worried about weight loss right now. I'm concerned with really building some new good muscle.i know the weight will reduce if I just exercise a modicum of control. So I have to eat less and cleaner than I used to, but not to starve myself. Eating a little bit cleaner will automatically reduce the total calories for me. For instance, I have cut soda way down. It's just something I am working with. I am also trying to get enough protein. It's actually not that easy to eat close to a gram per lb of lean bodyweight. So I have been pretty consistent with protein shakes as a supplement. I have never done that more than occasionally.

 

So I have done five workouts with getting something to eat right before my workout. Most of that has been a one scoop protein shake with 8 ounces of skim milk. So a little over 30 grams of protein. I feel like it has been a benefit in my energy during the workout and especially my reduction of delayed onset muscle soreness. I don't think you can really placebo effect DOMS. So as of now I am definitely going to keep it up. It's nice being able to stand up the day after a leg workout and not wince.