Consistency. It's not a pizza topping.

[Focus]1

[Focus]1

New member
Alright, so, I've decided to throw my journal from the other side of the fitness.com tracks up here. Mostly so anyone who's wondering what I'm up to, or what's working for me, or has any sort of question to pop on over and ask. And just to be sociable, really. Don't claim to be an expert, but I've read a scientific journal or two, and I like to be helpful if I can. Having said that, this will consist mostly of my rambling about what's going on with me.

Also, you're never too "old" to learn something new every day. :)

Stats
Age: 22
Gender: male
Height: 5'9"
Current Weight: 194.6 lbs (as of this morning) @ ~25% bodyfat
Starting Weight: 280'ish lbs
Goal Weight: 165.6 lbs LBM, 14.4 lbs fat or 180 lbs @ 8% bodyfat
ETA: 13 months

Training

Weight Training (WSFSB III) - M, Tu, Th, F
Running - W, Sa, Su
Shitlots of unnecessary walking - All

Diet

1700-1800 kcals on strength training days, 1500 on running days, averaging in at roughly 1600-1650. All according to a very strict Berardi-style template.


Bio

Boy in a box, the fever is all day.

Today's post from earlier will follow.
 
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06/12/08

Training

And it actually looked like:

Repetition Upper Body

A1 DB Bench Press 60x15x2, 60x14, 60x7
B1 Lat Pulldown 60x12x4
B2 Face Pull 40x12x4
C1 DB Lateral Raise 30x10, 20x12x2, 20x10
D1 DB Shrug 90x10x3
D2 BB Curl 30x10x3
E1 Wrist Roller 10x2x2

Thoughts

These workouts feel a lot easier than what I was doing before. Which is weird because they're roughly the same, except for upper and lower body being separated. I think my conditioning's improved a lot. And I'm not carrying as much. (Tipped the scales at 194.6 this morning, yeayeah!) Could also be that I am just resting appropriately now instead of overreaching the **** out of myself. We shall see what my strength does. If this is the case, I will probably have to buy evo an expensive gift. I understand he enjoys fine cloths for the making of skirts.

Also seem to be getting pretty good at guessing which weights to use. The DB Bench was good, sorta petered out at the end as you can see. Face pulls turns out what I was doing before was 25, but that didn't stop me from doing 40. It was tough, but not tough enough to wreck my form. Lat raises were way the **** harder than I was expecting. I was like, whaat. Shrugs, I don't know what to do with, really. I mean I can easily shrug more weight than I can hold on to. Gonna bump it up another 30 lbs next time and see what's up.

That wrist roller, though, after the shrugs (the hardest part of which, as I said, was simply holding on to the weight), gave me a massive pump in my forearms. First time I've felt a pump in well...ever maybe. It was good. <3

Word to my homies keepin' faith in the WLF journal scene. Holla. Or something.
 
Max-effort lower body day tomorrow should look like:

A1 Full Squat 45x5, 95x5, 145x3, 165x3, 185x3, 195x3, 205x3
B1 Walking Lunge 40x12x3
C1 Romanian Deadlift 115x12x3
D1 Sprinter Sit-up 0x10x2
D2 V-ups 0x10x2
D3 Toe Touch 0x10x2
D4 Hip Thrust 0x10x2

Also just realized I forgot to do the warmup set on rep day BD presses. And I'll be shocked if I can even do Joe's example ab circuit. But you know I'll die tryin' if I have to. ;)
 
newbride02 said:
it do good focus...you?
Click to expand...

That is most good.

I'm doin' pretty excellent, thank you. Little choked that eating a half a bun yesterday (the only bread I've had in a month or so) appears to have caused me to gain 2 lbs. Curses. Was hoping my losing a lb a day streak was gonna go on for a while. But other than that, fastastic. :D
 
06/13/08

Training

Max-effort lower body day actually looked like:

A1 Full Squat 45x5, 95x5, 145x3, 165x3, 185x3, 195x3, 205x3, 215x1
B1 Walking Lunge 40x12x3
C1 Romanian Deadlift 115x12x3
D1 Sprinter Sit-up 0x05x2
D2 V-ups 0x05x2
D3 Toe Touch 0x05x2
D4 Hip Thrust 0x05x2

Thoughts

Note to self: When Joe says don't do the grip workout if you're deadlifting the next day, listen to him, dumbass.

215, all for you Chillen. :p

Form on squats was atrocious though. Only my third or something time doing real squats (and not dumbbells) and I'm working with 1 rep maxs. The other meatheads at the gym at 8pm on a friday night were like, 'That kid is gonna kill himself."

Story time: Dude rolls up on me while I'm squatting and says, 'You know, you can wear a belt, and if you need a spot, you just let me know. I don't mean to tell you what to do, but I've been watching you and I'm worried you're gonna gonna hurt yourself.' So I reply with, "Listen, I appreciate the concern, I really do, and that's very kind of you, you're a good guy, but right now I'm TRYING to hurt myself. It's max lower day and this is my stupid time. If I leave here without a limp, I'm going to have to cry myself to sleep. I suggest you work on your focus. [Yes, to the extremely fit, extremely beefy, extremely technical, and also quite decent and caring gentleman]. Is it just me or am I awesome? :flame: I think he thought hard about smacking me one. :D But all he said was, and I quote, "Uh, yeah, I'll do that. Good luck *heavy eye rolling here*."

Also, the ab circuit owned me roughly as badly as I expected. I think in about 3 months I may be able to do it sans the remarking to themselves about damaged people and laughing evoked from pretty much every passer by.


I can't wait for the weekend to begin

I'm workin' all week long
I dream the days away
I wanna' sing my song
So let the music play

I have to get my kicks and fly tonight
And when the clock strikes 6 on Fri-day night
I need to blow it all away

Feelin' the Michael Gray. Love and fun to people everywhere.
 
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what?? you ate 1/2 a bun and gained 2 pds??? Are you on Atkins or something like that?

Anyways, heres to a good day :)
 
newbride02 said:
what?? you ate 1/2 a bun and gained 2 pds??? Are you on Atkins or something like that?

Anyways, heres to a good day :)
Click to expand...

I was doing keto (similar to Atkins, just healthier) a couple months ago, but it doesn't seem to make any difference for me how I eat, so I'm going for optimal nutrition at the moment. This means starches only after weight training, and never anything so refined as bread. So it'll be steel cut oats or quinoa or something of that nature. But only rarely. The vast majority of my carbs now come from fruits, vegetables, and dextrose during/after strength training. Buuut, I was out visiting a friend who's getting married and I was hungry and she was hungry so we stopped and grabbed some sammiches. I was like, eh, haven't had a cheat meal in like a month, I'll just eat the bread and see what happens. But I didn't really want it, either. Never really been a fan of the stuff. Anyway lesson learned.

Cheers. Hope your day is also proceeding with... dignity? lol :p
 
Elle_MNOP said:
Your workouts sound really impressive....I don't even know what most of that means.
Click to expand...

They're not really. Just fancy names for variations on basic movements, the ones that aren't basic movements. The ground-based ab circuit I did yesterday at the end there is pretty weird though, and ridiculously difficult for an out-of-shape fatty like myself. If I had any shame at all I would be too embarrassed to do that in public. And if I had any sense I'd do something more appropriate to my level of fitness, haha.

I'm actually finding it quite a lot of fun, though, overall, this routine. I can't understand people who go to the gym and just wave around little 5 lb weights. I mean why bother. Me, I'm trying to break something. :D (Not really, I'm actually very careful, but progressive overload and variety are extremely important. They also keep things challenging and interesting.)

Very excited about finally having the motivation to hit the gym regularly. It's a wonderful feeling.
 
06/14/08

Training

Ran 5.0 miles in 55 minutes.

Thoughts

Seems the last run wasn't a fluke. Felt a bit faster even. I actually had to walk the last two minutes because there was a street hockey event in the way.

For some reason I wanted to see what it would be like to run on a hot day wearing a heavy fleece jacket. Conclusion: not pleasant.
 
[Focus];457908 said:
Cheers. Hope your day is also proceeding with... dignity? lol :p
Click to expand...

of course it is :) what else would it proceed with??

lol about the fleece jacket! Street hockey game huh?? suuuuure, if only I had a dime for everytime I heard that one :D
 
06/15/08

Training

Ran 5.0 miles in 55 minutes.

Thoughts

My music, my right leg and my energy gave out around the 20 minute mark. It appears I do have limits. Didn't let it slow me down though.

Real excited for tomorrow.
 
06/16/08

Training

A1 BB Bench Press 45x5, 75x5, 95x5, 115x5, 125x3, 135x1
B1 Assisted Chin-up 130x15, 130x12
C1 Seated Cable Row 75x12x2, 75x10
D1 Face Pull 40x12x3
E1 DB Shrug 120x15x2, 90x15
F1 BB Curl 20x15x3

Thoughts

Woke up this morning with a nasty looking bruise on my knee. Could barely limp around. Seemed fine by the time I got to the Y though. Didn't bother me at all.

Weren't any open cable rigs so I had to do the rows and pulls separate instead of super, but I honestly don't think it made any difference other than taking an extra 5 minutes.

It seems I really can shrug more weight than I can hold on to. Guess I gotta wait for my grip to catch up a bit. Still weak as a pup, but I feel great.
 
06/17/08

Training

A1 Box Jump 30"x3x8
B1 Step-ups (Extended ROM) 40x12x3
C1 BB Romanian Deadlift 115x10x3
D1 Kneeling Sit-up 55x15, 70x15, 85x15, 100x15

Thoughts

Need to track down a bigger box. 30's too easy. Also, the step-ups were hard, but so much less deformed than the BSS. Will do these for a while 'til I feel like I can do BSS without falling over. Deads were just fine. Increased the tempo on them so I can start moving the kind of weight that actually challenges something other than my grip. And apparently I am powaful on the kneeling sit-ups. Don't feel like I'm doing them right, though. I get a better burn from basic crunches. Figure I need more weight and less cheating.
 
06/18/08 - Saying goodbye to happy delusions

Training

Ran 1.8 miles in 10 minutes.

Thoughts

It seems I am not invincible. I'm out there, doing my little "it's wednesday let's push it on the run" thing and same thing happens as last time (something in my right knee region gives out). Except this time I can't continue, and it's only 10 minutes in.

On the plus side, and probably why it happened so soon, I was motoring along. I somehow managed to run 1.8 miles in 10 minutes before I had to stop. Apparently I was moving at twice my usual pace? o_O

Anyway, I've decided I'm taking the rest of the week off running. Gonna sub a whole lot of bicycle action. Starting with a nice little ride down to fish creek and back today. I'll let you know how that goes.
 
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