Sig CHECKS In

S

sig

0
Today was my first day of my new training program in the gym, so, it is only fitting that I begin this journal here today.

The Introduction

I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to wind up posting here. My guess is that you won't be reading my food logs (I track the data elsewhere) and you won't be seeing my training spreadsheets (those are for me & people who sneak a peak at the gym). You may hear some of the details, including my stats (e.g., size, body comp, lifting #s), but only within context. That isn't really my goal here.

So what AM I planning to write about? Basically, the stuff I see and feel and think about in the course of my training in the gym (and sometimes playing on the ice). Things that make me laugh. Things that get me jacked up. Things that piss me off. Just...the stuff I see in this work-out world as I'm skating by. Hehe.

Thank you for reading!

Today's Entry

I'm BACK!!! Hot damn, it's been far too long. Injuries suck, you know? It was ONLY a torn tendon in my arm. Only. Well, once it became clear after a few weeks that there was no permanent nerve damage. Hoo-Yah!

Apologies to everyone for my time away from the forum. Once I de-lurked, I had planned to be a consistent contributor here, but I found that reading about everyone else's training and keeping a good attitude was a bit too challenging for me, when all I could do was some physical therapy and...tap, tap, tap...WAIT. I'm not a patient person, can you tell?

So, after taking the time to heal, and then taking a chunk of time to visit family overseas, I finally got back to business today. Nothing funny to report, but I am one happy sig!:yelrotflmao:

Starting a new program ROCKS. Starting a new program when you've been away for a while ROCKS even harder. :jump1:

Seeing how much strength you've lost in the interim - and how much that body fat has crept up - SUCKS. :mad:

The good news about starting a different program is that you can't quite gauge how much weaker you are, because things are switched up from your last full work-out anyway. Today was a testing day. Testing out the weights chosen. Testing out the program to make sure it is the 'right' amount of work. Testing out the time, so when things heat up in life, you know how long it'll take. It's gonna be like this for the first week, which is a nice way to get back into the swing of things.

Highlights of the Day:

(5) Quads aching by the end of the second set of squats on a 5 x 5. Sore by the time I got out of the car on the way home. Squats always suffer the most from a lay-off. Good thing they bounce back fast after. It's the good kind of hurt.

(4) Seeing the 'regulars' at the gym, especially you, Mr. Form Police. Hearing you tell your new disciple that it's all about form had me smiling on the inside. I know I don't talk to the rest of you guys too much, but I appreciate your dedication. [Note: Mr. Form Police & I train at the same time, so we see each other all the time. He's the guy who points out to the young kids that they have crappy form & need to reduce weight to make gains and not injure themselves. Seeing as I'm usually thinking the same thing, I love Mr. Form Police for saying something when I figure no one would listen to me.]

(3) Ok, so the numbers aren't THAT bad. Plus, it's good to have room to improve. Hehe. Basically, I'm glad that even at a major set-back, I'm still starting in a decent place.

(2) Realizing that my gym is such a non-commercial gym that there aren't any "New Years" newbies gumming up the works. [Note - I have no problem with newbies in general. Everyone starts as a newbie at some point. I just get annoyed when a gym become more crunched in Jan with people who won't plan stick around doing curls in my squat rack...]

(1) Just Being BACK!!! Wooo!!! I really missed this.

Lowlight of the Day:

Dynamic speed/explosiveness in lifts + shorter rest intervals does NOT mean you should have rushed & harried lifts that sacrifice FORM just to BANG IT OUT faster! SLOW THE <BLEEP> DOWN, SIG!!!

Goal for January: Strict Cutting. Time to undo the damage of the past 6 weeks, and time to get back that maintenance strength, good form, and the mental focus I'll need if I am going to switch it up to a pure strength program afterwards.
 
Wish you the best of luck with all of you goals and the log.

Its good to hear to healed from your injury!

Keep worken it, Sig.



Glad to see you are back!


Oh....


ROCK ON!



Chillen
 
jmanjman47 said:
GL on your goals. How long are you cutting for?
Click to expand...

5 weeks. Maybe 6.

It depends on a few obvious things (e.g., on ice performance, reduction in body fat) & a few not-so-obvious things (e.g., when the spotter I have lined up becomes available to me more regularly, which I'll need for the next program I'd like to tackle).

I think I'm gonna wind up alternating cut/bulk/cut/bulk phases of roughly 3-6 weeks each. But it's too soon to tell yet.
 
Word of the Day: OUCH!!!

You know how when elderly people are sitting, they have to brace themselves to stand up? And then they have to prepare themelves to sit back down again? And you know how you want to be fit and healthy so that never happens to you as you age?

Well...that's me. Without the aging. Remember when my quads were a good kind of hurt just 2 days ago? I take it back. It's a BAD kind of hurt now. Yesterday was even worse than today, but moving is still pretty bad now. I can't remember the last time I've fried one muscle group this bad, and I can't remember DOMS this bad in a LONG time.

I was supposed to hit Day #2 in the program this morning in the gym. So you'd think that the soreness would be pissing me off. It's not. You know why not?

Cause I can't work out anyway! :mad: I've been fighting a nasty cold all week, and it's really gotten worse the last two days. Today, it hit my chest, and the typical rule I try to follow is when I'm sick from the neck up, then I'll lift, skate, do whatever. When it's below, better not to.

So, I made the grown-up, mature decision not to go to the gym. Not being able to move very well made it more palatable. It's a good thing I hadn't planned to play hockey today originally, though. Because then I probably would have drugged myself and gone to play, and it wouldn't have been smart to be sucking wind in the cold rink air. And due to the injury, the layoff, the sickness, the soreness, I certainly would have been sucking wind...and also sucking without the wind. Hehehe.

Positive spins of the Day:

- This makes me appreciate my general health. I don't get sick much, and it reminds me how fortunate I am. It also reminds me that all the good stuff I do in how I eat and train means I DO stay healthier. Hopefully, I will AVOID those "old person" movement problems as I age!

- Chicken soup is awesome. I always try to keep some in my freezer. Glad I did, and I'll be replenishing the stock (ha-ha) later on!

- The symptoms are migrating fast, so hopefully the whole thing will blow over before I have to de-forest a small country to make more tissues.

- At least I like drinking tea.

- I'm in a strict cutting phase, and nothing says 'cutting' better than having no appetite or ability to taste things. Hahaha!

Alrighty. Time to go make some more soup. In my mind, there are these green germy invaders that are attacking the cells in my body. They wear helmets & army camo. Then the immune cell guys (who use laser guns that repair things internally) get an infusion of soup or tea and become like popeye on spinach steroids! The helmets fall off as the germy green invaders run away. So far, I am a bit afraid that the immuney cell guys have been so confused about whether to fight the germy green guys or to start 'zap' repairing the microtears in my quads that they are sluggish at both. That's why they need more soup!

You know how people talk about the power of positive thinking and visualization? Hopefully that includes my imagination, which seems to be locked into the framework of the body as an old Nintendo game...
 
The Training Program

Finally made it back to the gym for Day #2 of the new program.

My quads are STILL aching from Wednesday. I realize that being sick kept me from getting in the kind of low level active recovery cardio/movement that normally would help, but I'm amazed at how much soreness still lingers. It's also strange seeing which forms of movement are less comfortable. Walking sucks, but light jogging isn't nearly as bad! I never would have expected that! Hehe.

Good thing this is Week 1 - the trial week - and I can make all sorts of substitutions, test things out, and so forth. Since all 3 days are FBW, I could make trades between things that I had slated in the first place for day #2 versus day #3. One such trade today: supposed to do power cleans (no way I could have done it) - instead, did romanian deadlifts (does not require a squat to start! woo!). Cleans will wait for Tuesday or maybe Wednesday now. I'd like to "catch up" this week from the workout I missed on Friday & sneak in an extra day in the gym, but I have to listen to how my body's recovering, or it will be counter-productive. <-- see! how mature!

Question for the Guy doing Curls in the Squat Rack:Do you not realize that by refusing to lower the weight all the way back down and have your arms be at your sides you are eliminating pushing your muscles to work at the weakest part of this lift? Just wondering.

After last week's experience, and knowing that I'm still not 100% from the cold, I tried to be more careful today. It was 'easier' not to push things with the RDLs, because I've made the decision not to use straps, so I can work on my grip strength (I can vastly outlift my grip strength, so I typically have at least done a 50-50 split of with and w/o straps on these). I feel like I didn't push nearly as hard as I could have, but I'm sure my back and hams will be happy about the strapless-ness in the next few days!

Otherwise, it was an ok workout. I was happy to go, but it's still a bit depressing feeling more tired, feeling sore from last week, and feeling less energy....all while lifting lighter than I have in the past.

The gym was more crowded than usual - which made me wonder about my prior comment that my gym is mostly immune from Resolutioners. Only I know that I went later than I normally do, it's Sunday (which typically is a more crowded day), some guys may have bumped workouts earlier cause of NFL playoffs, and I recognized almost everyone anyway. Maybe some of the same people are coming with more frequency and determination, but no cause for concern that I'll be tripping over new folks left and right.

The Diet

Last few days have been weird. Without much of an appetite & desperately needing to go food shopping, I've over-relied on a few 'fan favorites': chicken, kefir, soup, grapefruit, oatmeal. Good choices, but I've been a bit low on the deficit goals & especially low on the protein numbers the past few days.

Good news from today is that things seem to taste again (yay), and I was finally able to stomach tuna. Later on, I'm going on a major whey hunt, cause I can't find my stash, and that needs fixin'. I hate days when I fall behind on my protein intake & find myself playing catch-up the rest of the day!

I'm Just Gettin' Started

My system has adjusted to my low sodium preferences, and the numbers on the scale seem to have stabilized/come down accordingly. Between look, feel, and a cheap impedence measurement, I think I know my body fat %, within 1-2%. I feel like I have the baseline from which I want to work in this cut.

As you can probably tell from what I wrote above, I have not yet "adjusted" to the training program. I'm worried that I'm not working hard enough. I'm worried that lifting only 3 days a week is not enough. I'm worried that I'm not doing enough different exercises, and that cutting out pretty much every isolation is going to let some of my weaknesses get even weaker.

Rationally, I know that there is a logic to what I'm doing. I know that more is not better, and that combined with hockey, I'll be active 6 days a week. I know that recovery is important, and right now, I can barely handle lifting every 4 days, not every 2! I know I'm still figuring out the right #s to make things work best. I know that the compound exercises I've chosen are good for my current goals - fat loss and re-introducing certain movements to my CNS after injury & a layoff. And I even know that there will be room for growth in the future in my "weak" areas, whether it is in this program, the next one or beyond.

Rationally, I know all that. I'm just not sure I've really ACCEPTED it.

Best News of the Day

Tomorrow, I FINALLY jump back into hockey at full swing. I'm slated to be on the ice only 3 times this week. I might add a 4th if my schedule permits, but work & travel might complicate things. Still, I'm excited to be back in the gym AND on the ice, once and for all!
 
On ICE

Woo! Back at the rink.

I'm still not even able to walk without discomfort. Skating, though? No problem! Of course, put skates on my feet and a stick in my hand, and I tend to forget about anything that was bugging me before. Usually a good thing, except when I'm "forgetting" about torn or broken body parts! :jump1:

The ice today? Slow, sluggish. Me today? Same as the ice. Ha-ha! At least I had an excuse for why my skates or the puck was moving at half speed. Not sure if the excuse works for my brain! Good thing it was an "easy Monday" skate.

How the Mighty have Fallen

Sittin' on the bench at one point, knowing that I was pretty beat, I looked up at the clock to see...time wasn't even half over. Ouch! And we got some bonus time skating in afterwards too.

You don't appreciate how much you are IN shape, until you are OUT of shape! It's gonna take a few weeks to feel like myself again, for sure. Tomorrow's gonna be tougher too - I play with a faster, better group.

I also am not thrilled about lapsing into Pavel Bure 'shortcut' mentality either. You know, where you only skate on one half of the ice and never get close enough to your own goalie to recognize him in a line-up? Once upon a time, I was known for always hustling, always back-checking hard, playing tight 2-way hockey. When you're not the biggest, strongest or fastest, you got to work the hardest. I want that feeling back. If I have one goal for the next month as I skate off the rust, it's getting back to a place where I can be that person again. [Ok - it's one goal, in addition to all those other GOALS out there! Hee!]

Major Thought of the Day

I love hockey. :D
 
No hockey for me today. :(

Just didn't have the energy. I knew I'd need to be ON, and that I didn't have it.

It all started last night, when I was hungry around 9 PM and I knew I hadn't eaten enough. But I was so TIRED. I literally fell asleep on the couch as I was 'thinking' about what to eat!

Then this morning, I got caught in that cycle of being overly tired - because I was hungry - and being overly hungry - because I was stuck in bed tired & sleeping. Grrrr!!! I hate that downward spiral.

I've been playing nutritional catch-up ever since. I've already hit the midpoint of my caloric range & macronutrient targets on the day, and I'm still hungry. Got to figure out what I can eat now to quench that fire without blowing the calorie deficit budget too bad. And I need to avoid not going to sleep too early. I thought I had busted out of the jetlag sleep cycle already! No need to lapse into it.

I know I'm still sick. I know I'm still sore. But if I hadn't gotten 'off cycle' for food, maybe I would have been able to lace 'em up. Feh. Now, I have to wait until Thursday to play.

Good News of the Day:

(1) I found my whey stash!!! Woo!

(2) I'm not nearly as wrecked/sore as I've been, so I should be ok for tomorrow's gym session. Really looking forward to that!

(3) I know I'm starting to lose body fat. It's only been 1 week of deficiting, so it's a subtle change, but I can tell the difference already. Instant feedback is gratifying. Hehe!
 
Tales from the Gym

Got my ass in the gym today to complete Week 1 of the program. Finally!

Mr. Form Police (MFP) was exceptionally chatty today. First, his disciple was running late. So after he had finished warming up, he was just hanging out & waiting. Too bad for me that this happened when I was doing working sets with only 60 second rest in between! MFP is most certainly NOT Mr. Etiquette Police, because he kept talking to me. Even when I stepped in & started lifting! :11doh:

In fairness, I didn't ask him to stop. Truth is - I was using a lower, test weight, and working on my form. Since it was more of a endurance challenge, the conversation actually helped me 'lose track' of how many I was doing - in a good way. Once the weights go up & I need my focus, though, that ain't gonna fly!

Later on, I was working next to Mr. Form Police & his disciple. Struggling with the last rep on the next to last set of an upper body movement, I was SHOCKED to hear MFP suggest that I cheat a little & use my legs. Shocked! I resisted, opting instead to take a 15-20 second breather before cranking out the last rep. During the rest interval that followed, I explained to MFP that I really was focusing on not using the legs to drive for this particular exercise. If I could cheat just a LITTLE maybe. But if I needed to really cheat, it would defeat the whole point of it. MFP got it, of course. I mean - here I was, out form-policing him! And when I fatigued at the next to last rep on my last set, I heard MFP yell out from behind me, "Don't worry! 20 more seconds and you GOT it!!!" And I did. :jump1:

The gym was crowded today for the hour (it's not really crowded, I know - it is all relative). I was really happy about this, though, cause there are a bunch of older dudes who seem to have all sorts of injuries and ailments from time to time & they all seem to be back at it again. Makes me smile to see them healthy enough to lift.

Positive Signs from Today

I'm finally feeling a lot better. My energy was just fine in the gym. I'm even eating S-M-R-T. Haha!

I know this new lifting program is gonna kick my ass. Gonna be good getting used to doing a few different exercises from usual, working with different number of sets/reps. And most important, this is gonna push me to work when I haven't really recovered from the last set. On Friday, the kid gloves come off. :boxing_smiley: Good thing I'll have my Magical Spotter around, just in case. I'm a bit nervous about getting back in to squat after how long it took to recover from the last time I did!

Otherwise, I get to play hockey tomorrow, & I most certainly plan to leave the gloves ON. I'll be lucky to have the energy to skate up and down the ice more than twice! :drooling1:
 
FASTER, HARDER

Great pace on the ice today. Good puck movement too. I'm happy with how I did. It doesn't take too much energy to get the puck on the stick of the "right" guy and then stand in front of the net! Works everytime! Ha-ha. I was fortunate enough to be playing with some real talented young guys on my team, and I'm just happy I was able to contribute. [<-- see, I can even give cliche interviews like a pro]

Earlier today, I was nervous about getting back out there. I knew it was gonna be the first 'fast' day for me since my return. I was definitely worried about not being able to keep up. Funny how that feeling goes away the minute the skates touch the ice, eh? My only frustration was how many chances I didn't convert on - I know I'm still a bit rusty, but hey, that just comes with the territory & it gets better and better from here.

What a great day to play. What a stress release. I'm weighed down by some deadlines at work that have snuck up on me, with my productivity shot last week when I was ill. I even had to cancel a "pleasure" trip I had planned over the weekend, since I need to work. I had been a bit bummed about that - and this really put my mind back in the right place.

Better Nutrition

I do a pretty good job of eating clean, hitting my macronutrient targets, getting the caloric surplus or deficit I'm aiming for.

One thing I do not do as well: timing of what I eat when I do. One goal I set for myself was to be better about my pre and post workout nutrition, whether I'm lifting or playing hockey. This is one area where I've always been pretty bad. I fall behind on food for the day, and then try to play catch-up. So far this week, I'm doing a LOT better with this. I'm curious if I'll start to notice a real difference in my energy levels.

And speakin' of food...time for me to go get some! Don't wanna fall behind again! Hehe.
 
Playing Catch-up

Yesterday, I did double-duty: lifting in the gym and then playing hockey afterwards.

Of course, that means I didn't have time for anything else - including updating this journal! Ha-ha! That's always been my problem keeping a training journal going. I already track my gym stuff by spreadsheets and my food intake online. It's this third piece in the puzzle that I tend to fall behind on.

Lifting was really good. Mr. Form Police & His Disciple were mostly training on the opposite side of the gym from me, and I was a bit earlier than them (cause of the hockey later on), so not a lot of interaction there. There is a Kid Who Tries Hard, but really doesn't have a clue when it comes to form or program. So he comes all the time, and yet doesn't make a lot of progress. MFP intervened a few months ago, and I think Kid made some adjustments. He really did try to strip the weight down and actually do a FULL rep for a change, instead of a 1/4 cheat.

But yesterday MFP pointed out Kid to me when he was doing something that looked knee-risky, and basically said he was done trying to help. I'm not sure how I feel about Kid. I like his determination and attitude - I think he really just needs someone to work with him full time, because he doesn't seem to have a good feel for any of the movements of the basic lifts. He knows who in the gym knows what they are doing, and he is around enough to see proper technique. He's even around enough to have seen a few different programs that people are doing, if he was paying attention. Clearly, something isn't getting through. I feel bad, because I wish I had more time to talk to him, comment on what he's doing. I think he knows that he is still kinda lost. I just don't have time when I'm trying to get my own workout done to train someone else.

As for my own training, I'm starting to figure things out on this program. The biggest challenge is that I'm starting out with short rest intervals that will get progressively shorter as I continue - this means that I don't have a lot of time to change the weights up between sets. However, I want to be adjusting between sets, because I don't want to launch into the heaviest point right away (even with a warm-up) nor do I want to have to begin with the weight that I know I'll be able to complete every rep for my last set either.

I figured out that I can lay out what I need by me in advance, so I don't have to wander across the gym for each swap between sets when I'm working with plates on the bar. For now, that's doable. By the time I'm at the end of the program, I won't even have time for a clean switch by myself! But by then, I figure, I'll be at a point where I do try to lift the same amount across the board. Who knows? One fun aspect of this for me is how much I'm experimenting as I go along, making adjustments based on my own body's responses, not based on some pre-determined idea of what 'should' happen at a particular point in time.

Then there was hockey. The bench was long, and the pace was slow. There was a new kid who I was skating with, which was cool. We were starting to get a good passing rhythm going together. Plus it was interesting talking to him on the bench - always a plus when you're sitting too long! Otherwise, my highlight was setting up goals for a few of the weaker players. Some of them are really trying and have great positioning - they just aren't as secure with puck-skills. When I'm out there on the ice with them, I view it as my role to get them chances and help them work on things. I don't need to be taking dozens of shots myself. I think I'm much happier when one of them scores than when I do! Ha-ha!

The Week Ahead

Today was an active recovery/rest day. Funny how I didn't feel like I needed it. All I did was some slower paced walking. Somehow, even that injured me. Heh. I guess that's what happens when you need new shoes but won't go shopping until the ones you have make your feet bleed. Mission accomplished! I did my best Curt Schilling impression for sure.

Now that I had my first full week back to lifting and playing hockey (well, almost full - I did skip one skate), I feel even more energized and ready to go! I'm a little sore, but definitely ready to jump back in there tomorrow morning. Not traveling this weekend was a very good call for me - even though I still would have liked to take a fun trip!

I'm a bit worried about my training for the rest of the month. Things are crazy at work. I have some travel coming up in 2 weeks. And even worse for my health & fitness progress, my folks are coming for a visit. They arrive later this week & will be around until early Feb. My family doesn't exactly understand why I keep no junk food in my house, or why I have to go to the gym or to play hockey so many times per week. I am sure that they will try to be respectful of my fitness routine & work schedule; however, some clashing is inevitable. I just hope I have the patience to deal with it!
 
Better Late Than Never

After getting to bed late last night after watching the Maple Leafs choke (ha!), I was slow getting up & out this morning. Saw a few different faces at the gym - not entirely sure how much was being "late" by nearly an hour from my routine & how much is still the Resolutioners.

Had a good work-out, though I have a sneaking suspicion I'm not working hard enough. I feel like 3 days a week is not enough for how hard I'm pushing - it should be 4. I'm only doing compounds, so I don't need to be doing any MORE exercises. But maybe my total volume (including weight amounts) could be higher? It's hard to say. I am not sure if I'm being reasonable on this. On Friday, I needed safety bars to bail me out on two different exercises. Perhaps today, I just don't feel like I hit "failure" enough - when the truth is, I don't need to be reaching that point to make gains!

How Many Different Curl Exercises Can You Do? & Other Things At the Gym That Make Me Wonder

Guy I did not recognize took my favorite rack today so he could do...bicep curls. Cheated rep bicep curls (dude! you gotta bring your arms back DOWN). Good thing that I really was better off in the power rack today with my RDLs than that one anyway. [look Ma! no straps!]

You know what's fun? <sarcasm> Looking for 45 plates on a short rest interval & figuring out that there aren't ANY nearby. Accidentally took one off a row machine that wasn't actually abandoned - sorry, dude! I didn't see ya there for a few minutes - and finally hunted down ALL the plates stacked nicely at the Leg Press machine. Grumbled about the 45s not being put back where they belong on the rack. Mr. Bicep Curls Only (BCO) commented about the gym OWNER having to do a better place of tidying up.

Excuse me??? I don't think the OWNER is the one who didn't put things back where they belong. Yeah, I know some people act like they have Mommy to clean up after them at the gym, and that crap drives me insane. PUT THINGS BACK WHERE YOU FOUND THEM! Is it really that hard? [FWIW, I did respond to Mr. BCO to point out this fact. I hate seeing a good guy who runs a good place being slammed like that.]

Mr. BCO followed me back to the DBs after that so he could do some preacher curls. And later, I saw him by the cable machine doing...you guessed it...more curls. Though he was super-setting them with something that looked like ab work. I wasn't 100% certain. Too bad I had to leave before his next exercise, cause I was willing to BET it was gonna be hammer curls or concentration curls!

Another guy - who seemed nice enough - was really hammering his chest today. Lifting fairly heavy at: Flat bench (bar). Decline bench. Incline DB press. I know that some people do splits, and I know each of these exercises works a slightly different part of the muscle group. But...I really get confused watching people slam the same basic mucles like that in succession. It makes me wonder whether they really do have a specific plan in mind for which this makes sense (cause I can think of one or two ideas where this works) or if this is someone who doesn't know or care enough about the fact that doing three consecutive exercises means they either aren't working it hard enough at first or they've already fried the muscle and CNS by the time they get to the latter portions. Hard to know. I get curious about what other people are doing during my own rest breaks & once I get to know them, I get comfortable asking the 'why.' Until then...who knows. This guy clearly CARES to be benching a lot. I gave him a spot that I'm glad he didn't need, cause dude was lifting way above MY limits. Hehe. Now let's see what his LEGS can do, though. Ha-ha!

Old Habits Die Hard

I'm still doing great on my pre and post workout nutrition! Woo! That's something that's real important to me now. I know I lost muscle during my layoff, and I really want to hang on to what I've got during this cut, while I "remind" the neuromuscular connections what they USED to be capable of.

On the other hand, I really wanted to be better about warm-ups & cool-downs. I'm doing great on warm-ups (which I've always had good habits for). I've even gotten better about doing warm-up sets to get things firing before I jump in heavier. However, I blew off a real cool-down again today (I did on Friday too). :( It's tough. By the time I'm done, I'm tired. I need to get cracking on other stuff. I'm leaping to get the pwo fuel in me. And I have no interest in spending any more time doing super light cardio & then stretching. I know I need to stretch more than I do, and I know the time for it is when the muscles are warm and when you're NOT lifting after. So why is it so hard to set aside 10 minutes for this after? Maybe cause my gym has no good place for it. No mats or area that you can just sit and listen to music and focus like that. I gotta figure something out, because I do want to improve on this. Or maybe it is just me...Ha-ha!

Alrighty, time to eat. Again. It's funny. I don't eat a lot, but I'm always eating...
 
Work Should Not Interfere with Hockey!

I hate it when I have to juggle work responsibilities with hockey. I know my priorities! Haha. Nonetheless, I did make it to the rink, though I hit the ice maybe 15 minutes later than usual (though usual is going to now always be like this, I bet). It's only "warm-up" time that it cuts into, but I realize that it is the time on the ice when I'm out there alone or with only a few people that I really get a chance to warm-up the way I want to (skating hard or working with pucks). Once it's the "pre-game" crowd, it's too many people not paying attention, so you just have to wait for a warm-up drill or play to start. Ah well. I may see if I can stay later to get more "quality" ice (practice) time.

Anyway, I'm under a lot of work stress. Nothing bad - just pressure. I'm mentally fried right now. It was important to me to get a decent skate in. That I did. There was absolutely nothing remarkable about it. The pace was mixed. The bench too long. I was fine - starting to get back into shape when it comes to the acceleration, but still lacking the endurance to be a real two way player. It'll come. Tomorrow is gonna be even crazier with work, but I NEED to skate, and I need it to be a fast one!

Work sucks. Hockey rules.
 
A Little Bit About My Program

I lifted this morning. Easily the highlight of my day. Today was the end of week #2 of the program I'm doing. I realize that I'm not getting into all the details & logging stuff. But I do want to share some info for anyone who is looking for ideas or might have suggetions or comments.

Here is the core of what I'm doing:
- 3 days per week, FBW
- Each day has 6 main exercises: a 'power' lift (squat, deadlift, or clean); a horizontal push; a horizontal pull; a vertical push/press; a vertical pull; something abs-centric (crunch, twist, etc.) Typically, that is the order I use.
- Every single exercise is a compound move.
- I mix & match barbell, dumbbell, cable & bodyweight. No weight machines are involved.
- After warm-up weight (or two), I do mainly 5x5s. There is an occasional 8x3.
- I mix and match whether to do the same weight across the board, increase, or decrease from set to set, depending on the exercise.
- I began week 1 with rest between sets at 60 seconds.

Each week, I'm dropping the rest another 5 or 10 seconds. In week 2 (which I just finished), rest between sets was 55 seconds. Next week, it'll be 47. By week 6, I'll be at 30 seconds.

Each week, I do try to increase the total volume from the prior one. Week 1 was more of a test week on weight amounts. In week 2, I increased weight from that. In week 3, I will probably mix and match increasing the number of reps & the amount of weight. I would like to add 1 rep each week, so that by week 6, I have hit 5x6 & flip it around to make an extra set (6 x 5).

It's fun challenging myself this way, and it requires a pretty decent sense of bio-feedback to hit it right. When I do want to switch weights up, the shorter rest intervals really do present a challenge if I'm not prepared! I also get stuck a little when I hit something that requires outside help. There is one exercise on one day for which I need help with the lift-off for biomechanical reasons not worth explaining. I am so fortunate to have a bunch of guys willing to humour me and give me this lift 6 different times (warm-up + 5), so it's hard for me to be an ass about it happening EXACTLY in my prescribed rest interval!

It's also funny having the guys who are getting to know me, like MFP, seeing how beat I seem the entire time from set to set. It's really just an endurance thing - my HR stays up and I'm sweaty. I start to look forward to the few exercises that are seated, because I know I can catch my breath! I know that I'm not lifting as heavy as I could if I let my muscles have a proper recovery time, but that's not the point right now. And I'm doing my best to avoid sacrificing my form in exchange for the speed. After 2 weeks, I've definitely gotten a better handle on focusing on my lifts and keeping each rep as explosive and dynamic and CONTROLLED as possible.

So that, in a nutshell, is where I'm at. I had envisioned doing this for 5 weeks (really 6 weeks - 1 week as test + 5 weeks for real), and now that I've finished week 2 (which is really the first REAL week), I'm excited about how it feels. The hardest part for me is definitely at the end. By the time I've done 4 compound moves, I'm usually pretty beat. By sticking vertical pulls at the end, I'm leaving what I don't like for last...and that's not always a good idea. I also find that I have no mental energy for proper cooldown and stretching after (as I noted above)....I'm still baffled about how to make that work for me.

A Little Bit About My Nutrition

I'm hungry. Again. Anyone who knows me jokes that I only have four modes: Hungry. Eating. Just ate. Sleeping.
What they don't realize is that I'm usually hungry when I'm sleeping too, and that is what wakes me up. Ha-ha!

My nutrition is doing great. I'm deliberately deficiting, but I've had no real problem hitting my macronutrient targets each day. If anything, I wind up hitting the end of my day with 100-150 spare calories in which my body could comfortably take anything.

My hunger isn't really related to the deficiting either. I just eat lots of mini-meals, and I don't eat a lot at once. So it always seems like I just ate, but I'm about to eat again. That's just the reality of it, and my biggest complaint is not how I feel - it's the amount of time that it seems I spend getting food ready & eating. I'm sure it's not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but when I get really busy and focused at work, it's just this major interruption.

I'm also having a hard time judging my body fat % right now & rate of change. I know the cutting is working and I'm losing fat. I can tell that looking in the mirror. But I'm not sure exactly on how the #s work out. I came off an injury related layoff - as a result, once I jumped back into lifting and playing hockey, I definitely gained back a bit of the muscle that I've lost. Absolutely no complaints here about that! Ha-ha! I'm just trying to crunch the numbers without having sufficient weight recording data to rely on - and, amazingly <sarcasm>, it's just not working. I know it doesn't matter right now. I'm committed to cutting during this 6 week period, and I've just finished 2 weeks of it. It's more that I'm curious to see if I'll feel like I'm ready to stop cutting after 6 weeks. Originally, I thought for sure I would be. Now, I'm not so sure. I guess we'll have to wait and see on that!

A Little Bit About Hockey - and a LOT about a thing called Attitude

I played hockey yesterday. Just was too busy to update this journal to reflect that. It was a good skate. I'm still dragging on the endurance, though it is getting better. And I'm still missing the net far too often, though that too is getting better. My footwork is noticeably improved, as I shake off the rustiness.

The big difference for me this week, though, is when it comes to that thing called... ATTITUDE!

I'm a competitive person. I've never been accused of being a poor teammate. To the contrary, I have a reputation of being a "gamer." I go hard, and I'm always willing to accept blame when I'm even marginally at fault. I've never thought it useful to get down on anyone else, & I use my own frustration with myself as motivation the next shift around. If I'm not happy about how something played out with a teammate, the key is open communication & discussion, so the next time around, we get it right.

These days, I'm all grown-up, and we've all got day (or night) jobs. Beyond that, this year, I'm mostly playing in group scrimmage or open hockey situations - not even in a league. There was a point some time ago where I realized I was getting overly frustrated, because I expected these informal settings, with mixed levels, to reflect GAME situations, and I'd get annoyed & frustrated when teammates did not make good decisions on the ice.

Eventually, I realized that I needed a major attitude adjustment. I've always had a player mode and a coaching mode (having done both). The player me would come off the ice after every single shift focused on what didn't get done. The coaching me would have something positive to say to every single player about every single shift, no matter what had happened out there. I realized that the coaching me would be embarrassed about how the player me was behaving!

And so, I set a course to overhauling my attitude. Now, I try to set specific goals for myself everytime I play. Some are skills related (work on the backhand flip pass); some are decision related (shoot more from inside the hash marks); and some are attitude related (stay positive! remember to tell that novice skater how much he has improved!).

When I came back from injury, I don't think my good attitude remembered to come back. Everything was a source of frustration. I was happy to be back, of course, but not being at the top of my game meant that my frustration with myself was back...and bringing out the worst of that "player me" all over again.

This week, I've played twice now, and I've been doing my best to keep that attitude in check. When I played on Monday with the mixed level/weaker players, I think I did a pretty good job keeping the smiles and positive comments on the bench going. And I was generous with the puck, and I'm happy about that too. I feel like when a group session is SUPPOSED to be for a certain level player, and you are allowed to come, you are a guest, and you need to respect that. It's tough not going hard 100% all the time, but that's when I let coaching me take over instead of playing me.

Then I played yesterday with the better/faster group...and it was a bit more challenging not to get frustrated. I get so many chances out there - and I know I should be thrilled that I help create opportunities. But it gets a lot harder to convert, and it's easier to see lots of "should have done it differently." For example, there is a fantastic player who just finished up with juniors and college who was on the other side playing D, and it just makes attacking that much harder! Hehehe. Plus, when our side would get pinned in the zone for what seemed like forever....ouch.

There was a novice level skater who came and he did not belong on the ice at all. He played with us & he even played a lot of defence. I found it so hard to be positive, when playing with him was like being shorthanded or worse (when he would slow-down play and everyone would have to stop and wait for him).

That is where the attitude thing comes back to haunt me: This isn't the NHL! Everyone is just trying his best and wanting to have fun. He's a nice guy. And it's not my job to say "Dude, you don't belong here. Why don't you don't come skate another day when things are more your speed?" Still, just like I feel that I have to respect the target/core group when I visit a slower skate, I feel like he's not respecting the faster group by lacing them up when he clearly can not participate in the play. Someone is always gonna be better, faster, stronger, and we can't all be 'average.' But when you are so clearly off from the average, let alone the top....sigh...it's like someone who squats 100 lbs as a max trying to 'team up' for a powerlifting contest with people squatting anywhere from 250 to 350! The fact that no one is doing 600, 700 lbs doesn't really matter - the relative difference is still killer.

But the good attitude, the coaching me, would find something positive. He will improve playing against better competition. He is not totally useless out there. Yes, I'm not happy when I hit the blue line and have to slam on the brakes because he hasn't passed the puck yet & then he loses the puck, so I have to haul ass the other direction. But getting frustrated about it won't help. That's hockey. It's not like I never lose the puck either.

Tomorrow, I'm playing again. It should be a good, fast-paced skate. I know that if it's as good as yesteday, I'll be happy. And so, the attitude-check continues...
 
Hey Beavis, I think I figured something out...

Lifted yesterday. I went up in total volume on every single exercise (except the standard weighted ab work at the end). At the same time, I bumped the rest intervals down to 45-50 seconds. It felt GOOD. I keep thinking "If I can do this weight now, imagine what I could do with 90 seconds or more!"

I also figured out why I was so fried on the squats that first day of lifting. I realized that I am basically going ATG these days, when I had previously been barely past parallel! When I'm working above bodyweight, I find that extra difference really significant, because of how it affects the balance/heel loading. So when I bumped down my weight to something that wasn't anywhere near my max, I instinctively pushed myself lower than I had been going before the injury had happened. Ergo - that monster DOMS. Lucky for me that my body has since adapted, and I think my form these days is better than ever.

My other "big" news is that I've switched racks at the gym! I realized that my favorite was really my favorite simply because of habit. I didn't like exactly where the peg options were (I was really in between two). There is another option that requires more set up to begin with (based on how other people have left it), but that gets me more natural height options for my body. So, I think I'm gonna try and hog that spot from now on! Who says the body can't adapt! Ha-ha-ha!

Hockey - Feet slow, brain slower

Played yesterday. I think I had more fun on the bench than on the ice. It was a blast hanging out with the guys. On the other hand, I was not happy with the defence on my side (particularly one line combination), and I let myself get frustrated with their inability to make a half-way decent break-out pass. Instead of overcoming, I just switched into "coasting" mode, and I shut my brain off. I set up a few other teammates, but for the most part, I have no clue what I was doing out there. The culmination was a break-away where I slowed down to wait for a teammate, did a spin move, and then when my teammate proceeded to skate directly into where I was, instead of filling in the other lane coming into the zone, I rang the puck around the boards and out of the zone. Pretty much on purpose.

After a really tough week at work, a full week of lifting, and having family in town visiting to boot...I just wasn't mentally prepared to make the most of my ice time. I really do think I need a better plan for the "mixed" level skates, because it's as though I didn't read anything I had written about attitude the other day.

Resting

Today was my rest day. I jump back into the gym again tomorrow. Unfortunately, due to a snag with my thermostat, my place was FREEZING last night, and I seem to be feeling that scratchy throat, congestion, sneezing that I thought was in the past. I don't want to be sick again!!! I just got healthy! I'm hoping that now things are a bit warmed up, once I get some rest, I'll recover. I ate more today (as I do on my rest day) & I had a lot of tea.

I really wanted this post to be more cheerful, but I was just so busy yesterday I never got around to it. And now, I'm just in a bit of a mental fog. I put in a whole bunch of hours working tonight. Glad that I did, but I'm sure that took its toll too.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I'm afraid that I've been going too hard the past two weeks, and that I had never quite shaken that virus that had knocked me out...
 
Things That Warm Your Heart on a Cold Day

Lifted earlier this morning. Saw something that made me real happy:

There was a guy who brought his son with him to lift. The boy looks like he is about 10 or 11. He's tallish, skinny, gangly. He was pretty quiet and stuck very close to his Dad. I recognized the guy, but I haven't spoken to him much or anything.

Dad helped his son works through a series of exercises - DB flat bench, seated rows, etc. Son did set. Dad helped him with form and was encouraging. Dad did set while son rested. Repeat. Dad wasn't lifting heavy or maxing out. Just getting in some work & demonstrating good form. I also think he was trying not to lift "too much" on principle.

Son is working at the lowest of low weights. He's just a boy. At one point, his Dad asked him something like, "Want to go up one set? I'm sure you can do it!" And the boy did. Dad was right by him to show him how far back to bring his arms and help him feel how it should be once the weight is a bit heavy. Judging how he was doing, I'm sure the boy is "capable" of holding more weight. But it was obvious how supportive Dad was being to make sure his boy learned the right way to do some of the major exercises, & how encouraging when he did it right, even at the lightest weights.

The whole thing was so neat. Alright...got some company here, I'll post more later...
 
Changing Things Up

When I started this journal, I wasn't really sure how I wanted to use it. I've tried keeping a (private) training journal of my own before, and it never seemed to stick. I get busy doing stuff, and I forget to keep things updated. I track my training data & food consumption in spreadsheets anyway. I didn't need or want to duplicate that. I guess I wanted a place that I could track my own moods, feelings, and observations about my training program & athletic development, as well as general thoughts & ideas I had about things I observed in the process. I thought maybe other people would find this & read it and learn...I dunno...something. Or at least be amused.

Reading things over, I don't know WHAT this journal is accomplishing for me or anyone else. I'm struggling to keep things updated. I played hockey one day last week that I didn't even note (Thursday), because it was uneventful. I had a good day lifting today - probably not as good as Friday, but very solid. I don't have much to say about that either.

I don't need this journal to keep me motivated to keep at it, and I'm not getting the idea that anyone else is even reading this & finding it interesting or useful at all. To be honest, I'm not sure that *I* find it interesting or useful! [Note - this is NOT a plea for a bunch of "yeah, I'm reading, keep going!" replies. I wouldn't mind knowing if people ARE reading & finding this journal worthwhile to keep reading - so feel free to reply or PM me or whatever - but I'm not ASKING people to do so.]

What I think I'm going to do is start posting more about ME: my journey to my current fitness level; my approach to training, food, sports, life; my successes and failures, as best as I can HONESTLY see them; where I want to go from here. In addition, I think I'm going to start introducing specific tips - both obvious and non-obvious ones - for anyone trying to learn from this whole yarn. I know I can write, tell a story, inspire people, but I'm an awfully dry & boring reporter (e.g., "Today, I went to do squats. They were heavy. The end.")! Can't promise the overhaul in THIS post, but from now on, that's the direction I'm going.

Sig's Math Lesson of the Day

When you perform the exact same NUMBER of exercises (or maybe only one more total rep) in the same amount of TIME per rep, but you DECREASE the rest interval BETWEEN the reps...you finish SOONER. But you have not worked LESS hard. You have worked with GREATER intensity.

Lucky for me, I used my "extra" time after to figured out this equation rather than looking at my watch and saying, "Hey, I finished earlier, I can sneak in another set!" Ha-ha!

Moral of the Story: Less can be MORE. The best training programs maximize achieving your goals in the least amount of time. You probably do not need to do MORE exercises, lift MORE days, etc. You just need to do what you're doing with greater INTENSITY...
 
A New Beginning

It's been over a month since my last post. It hasn't been a fun month. I was sick for most of it. It was "only" the flu AND a sinus infection. Heh. As opposed to other things they drew blood for. Damn leeches!

So, yeah, it's taken me a while to get my energy back and to play "catch-up" on everything in life that got neglected in the meantime. Of course, while sick, I neglected eating. Then my body played catch-up on that, and I'm finding myself at the highest bf % & weight I've seen in over a year and a half. Sigh. One step forward, two steps back. I may be cutting forever, the way it seems! Nonetheless, I'm ready for the challenge: Drop that body fat while aiming for maximum strength gains!

Last week, I was back on ice. This week, I'm back in the gym after a fairly long (and unwanted :( ) layoff. I'm using these first few lifting days back to ease myself back into the core lifts, test my numbers out - basically to avoid the severe DOMS I encountered after the last layoff & to position myself to get started on how I plan to train: HEAVY!!!
 
1RM testing

Testing Day

Last week, I returned to the gym after my layoff & lifted light, just to get past that "first day back" DOMS feeling.

This week, I finally have my full-time spotter around (woo!), which means I can begin a heavy program. Since the program I'll be using is based on knowing the % of your 1RM, and I am a long ways off from having useful current data for that, I decided to do something I'd never done before: One Rep Max testing! Woo! Today, I tested. Results will be described below.

What did I learn from my testing? Well, I'm not as weak as I was afraid I was (having been so inconsistent in my training these last few months). At the same time, I have plenty of room to grow!

Body Stats

I'm on the heavier end in terms of where I like to be (and have been within the past year and a half) regarding both weight & body fat %.

Right now, I'm at about 145 or 146 lbs. Best body fat estimate is about 22%.

For the past week +, I've been strict about cutting, as I'm kick-starting a push to get back down to 18% (max). I'll be cutting for a while now, since I think I feel & perform the best when I'm in the 17 to 18% range.

The Plan & Program

Today was a testing day. On Wednesday, I start week 1 of 6. The program is 3x/wk of hitting the three power lifts (low reps/heavy weights). Deadlifts will never go as close to max as bench or squats do, peaking around 85%. The progam has a slow progression in weeks 1 through 3 to get up to 95%. Week 4 is a deload. Then week 5 & 6 build back up to 95/100%. I will add either 2 or 3 secondary exercises to each training day, based on other general weaknesses. However, I will try to avoid adding much extra compound work & will otherwise keep these other exercise sets low in volume & weight amount. I also do not plan to do any additional ab work at all. Oh, and based on my own schedule, I'll most likely be turning week 4 (deloading) into a few days of snowboarding instead (hehe).

I will be playing hockey roughly 4x/wk as I continue this, with none of the skates being "game-like" scenarios. Depending on how much ice time I'm logging & the overall level, I may also add light cardio (e.g., running or biking) 2x/wk starting in week 2 or 3.

After the 6 weeks are done, I'll have about 10-14 days where I'm not doing any lifting or playing hockey, though I will be able to engage in "active recovery" activity. I will try to eat around maintenance levels during that time as well. Then, I will re-test my 1RM numbers on the three lifts. Hopefully, they'll have improved dramatically!

So, where am I starting from? Read on to see today's results!


The Deadlift

I went for deadlifts first. I didn't really know what to expect here, because I've never used deadlifts in a long-term training program. I've been using a lot of Romanian Deadlift or other variations, but nothing that was a pure lift from the ground up. I estimated that I'd be able to do about 250 lbs & structured my test to build up to that amount.

As it turns out, my estimate was dead-on right. I didn't feel challenged until after 225, and I nailed 250. I set up another test (after full rest) at 260. Got the bar off the ground a few inches and then lost it. Felt it in my core/abs. I tried to re-rest & try 260 again. By then, I was fried from the whole experience. I also was struggling with the patience required for complete and absolute rest/recovery. So 250 max it was!

I was pretty stoked about this, because I never actually do deadlifts, and I had no problem with good form and having strong lifts, without belts, straps or any other toys (or even chalk! heh). I'm sure that I should be able to add lbs to this fast, simply by incorporating the lift in my full-time program & getting more comfortable with the grip. I'm not sure what's doable in 6 weeks of training. It's hard to set goals, but I'd like to see myself hit 2xBW on this. That means somewhere between 280 & 290!

The Bench Press

This was the one I was most worried about, because my upper body is weaker than my lower body (even after accounting for the difference natural to gender) & my bench form is so finicky. When I hit a groove, life is great. When I lose the groove, it's a disaster. I have to work hard to keep my wrist neutral (prior injury spot) & I'm more comfortable with a slightly too narrow grip. I'd like to get used to having my hands a bit wider, just to get more pec activity than tricep engagement. I know my tris are limiting my max right now.

I estimated that I could hit 125, so I started my testing based on that. When I absolutely blew through 105 on the gradual way up, I started thinking bigger. In the process, I kept the incremental changes a bit too high. I nailed 115 easy. Then I nailed 125 fairly easy. So...I figured, let's try 135. That was a mistake. I should have aimed for 130. Instead, a miscommunication with my spotter had me lose the form by brushing into the bench safety pegs...and I never recovered. I failed on that rep. Rested again. Failed again. Argh! Fatigue set it. 125 it was. Still feel like I could (and should) have done 130, and then I may have even made 135 (who knows). So I wound up disappointed, even though I hit the estimate/target I had set for myself & structured the test around.

Funny how mental these things can be! My goal is to get my bench 1RM to pass my BW.

The (Back) Squat

After another break - and a longer one than I had between the Deadlift & Bench - I jumped in to test my squats. I had a hard time estimating what to test for here as well. Six months ago, I was squatting multi-rep sets at 160-170, but I hadn't done more than 155 since. I decided to test for 200, knowing that the most I'd ever squatted was a multi-rep set at 175.

I felt really good and in control working the progression up. I didn't go ATG, but I was below parallel. 160 was a breeze. 170 very controlled. 180 was the first one that I actually "felt" & I know it wasn't as deep. It was only parallel. For 190, I made sure to go just a little deeper, making sure I was steady and controlled. It didn't even feel that hard & it was a better quality rep than even 180 had been. Then after full rest, I went for 200. Unfortunately, I didn't make it. I was very controlled going down, and then I tried to push it just a bit too far down, so I failed at the transition to exploding up. If I had just stopped at parallel, or even been a bit more focused mentally, I think I had the strength to complete the rep.

The point where I got stuck and the act of trying to control the failure, though, absolutely wiped me out. I was DONE. I was at that "about to puke" point. And my spotter didn't want to deal with either me puking or how I prefer to fail in squats (bar forward & overhead rather than backwards).

All in all, my 1RM was a 190. Not bad at all! I'd like to hit 1.5xBW on this (so roughly 215) as my short-term goal.

Concluding Thoughts

I thought it would be boring just testing three lifts. It turned out to be a great exercise for me, though. It showed me how strong I am - and it feels better to see heavier singleton reps than to "guess" what you could do based on submaximal calculators. Just a few years ago, if you told me that I'd put 200 lbs on my back like it wasn't a big deal, I wouldn't have believed you! So that was really cool.

At the same time, I saw how much heavy lifting is a mental game. It's based on believing you CAN lift the weight and just going in and getting it done. Once I lost it (mentally), I was done. I don't think I hit my actual physical strength limit on any of the three lifts today - I may have come close. Yet, I think I was hitting my own mental wall. I hope that by working heavy, I'll gain in that mental strength to maximize my gains.

Last, it was interesting to try to work with a spotter again after spending nearly the past year on my own in the gym. It was fun to have someone to joke with and talk to about technique. Beyond that, I do appreciate how much a regular spotter or training partner adds to your confidence - and I also realized how much it doesn't help once you lose confidence in your spotter, as I did today. (I was working with someone who has never lifted with me before, probably not the best choice for maximal strength testing - but now he'll learn. Heh.)

I wouldn't recommend testing for 1RM too often. It's not the most efficient use of training time. But it's definitely worthwhile to do every once in a blue moon, at least. Next up, how sore will I be at hockey tomorrow? Ha-ha!
 
hockey rules

Work. Ate. Played hockey. Complained about soreness in upper back.

And how was your day?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top