Quest Progress

I forgot to post yesterday’s workout, because I was busy being pissed off at my lack of progress.

TODAY, however, it is time!

I woke up at around 7AM, had this little egg/cheese/crab scramble my mom made. I’m going to ask her what all went into it later on when she gets home. I’m assuming it’s 400 calories though based on the size of the meal and the fact that it was generally comprised of healthy things. And I put a little ketchup on it because I like that on scrambled eggs.

Went back to sleep, and woke up around 1PM because a buddy of mine wanted to hang out. I almost made a protein shake, thinking I’d be out all day, but I decided to just walk with him a little bit before coming back home. No additional calories, I’m getting pretty hungry. I don’t feel totally depleted, because that usually means a fever and intense shaking, but I’m ready to work out.

I took my 200mg of caffeine at around 1:45. I’m working arms today: shoulders, bi, and triceps. Instinctively I feel my biceps calling for the hardest workout, but I’m still targeting shoulders. I want to emphasize the width of my upper body vs. lower body.

I want that sexy “V” shape!

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Eh, haven’t much to show off. Diet’s been crap, working out is minimal. I don’t look much changed at this point.

lol

I’m going to stick some silly pictures up now.

Smile.

I love this vest!

I wish I had a white hat.

I love to talk about nothing. It's the only thing I know anything about.

So I like to read different fitness blogs, and I FINALLY stumbled on one focusing on ATHLETIC sexiness rather than gym rat bad-assitude (also important, but not currently relevant to my goals.)

And I found something called The Perfect Storm workout. I’m giving this a try. It’s a two-day split, working chest/back and then shoulders/biceps/triceps. Given that I worked chest and back over the last two days, I’m starting with the “B” workout.

I’m carbed-up, so I’m expecting to be a lot stronger here than usual. I don’t have any pills so I just chugged some Diet Coke about a half an hour ago.

My first exercise, hitting shoulders (and my only exercise that does so directly) is the overhead press. I just 60lbs. as my “warm-up” in five reps. Now I’m moving on to the next four sets at 100lbs. I’m expecting, when I’m depleted in the future, to be lifting around my warm-up amount as the actual workout.

Having just completed my first serious set at 100. I’m lifting slowly, deliberately, and intensely. I’m focusing on contracting my muscles HARD. My head keeps getting in the way, which sounds silly, but I have trouble looking straight ahead, and looking up makes it feel like I’m cheating with my chest. Maybe looking down would be fine, but then my back curves, and I’m a posture-tard.

Two minute rests between sets, so I’m not too worried. I really don’t want to decrease the weight, since I will so rarely get to lift this hard once I’m dieting properly. So I’m enjoying it while I can.

There’s a framed print that I look at my reflection/silhouette in while I’m working out, and I noticed my form struggling both visibly and internally, so I dropped down to 90. The set went alright, but I really think form could have been a bit better. I’m dropping down to 80 on my fourth set and just contracting harder through sheer effort.

I woke up too late today, I should have just stayed awake and done my morning cardio like a good boy. I really want to overdo it like hell on my cardio, haha… I’m not doing any leg movements with weights until I’ve won, so my squats and deadlovelifts are going to sliiide…

80 was a beautiful set. All reps performed flawlessly (by my standards :P) and the isolation is much better felt if I’m looking down WITH A WEIGHT I CAN HANDLE. I have to keep in mind that I’m NOT training for hypertrophy. I want definition, not HUEG MOOSLZ, and that means lifting hard to increase residual tension (basically, the partially-contracted form of a muscle when at rest) without breaking it down and causing hypertrophy (the process whereby a muscle grows larger to overcompensate for dealing with heavy loads.)

Final set, and then I move onto the dreaded biceps curl that I thought I’d never do again, haha…

I’ve been pondering on protein drinks while resting. Before and after each set, I sip on some room-temperature water (it was cold when I poured it, honest!) and, since my protein powder is 110 calories per scoop, I was thinking about diluting it in a 2 liter bottle of water and getting consistent protein intake throughout the day… or even just throughout my workout. I’ve not read much about mid-workout nutrition however, and I’m hesitant to rant about it.

Curls! Bar curls, at 20lbs. Easy enough at 5 reps, contracting hard and bend the wrists at the end of the motion because I miss having larger forearms… Increased it to 40lbs for the next set. On this set, I noticed two things (I’m extremely inexperienced with curls) the first being that I have to INHALE on the positive. This should have been obvious, as a pulling motion, but I hadn’t realized my breathing with the easier load earlier on. Secondly was that if I didn’t curl at the wrist BEFORE bending the elbow, then I wouldn’t be able to bend the wrist later and thusly not get my quasi-forearm exercise snook’d in.

Again this should have been obvious, because if I bend at the wrist later (which I couldn’t, but that’s not the point) then I take the load off the biceps before I hit the negative of the bicep curl, and… well I don’t really KNOW that’s a bad thing, but it feels lazy. And I don’t like that feeling.

On to set three. Same weight. Much better executed. Only thing I realized was that I’ve been gripping the bar at greater-than-shoulder width. Again, don’t know if that’s bad, but my assumption is that it doesn’t target my biceps PEAK as hard as I want it to. Doing this was totally unconscious, I just naturally grip on the outer edge of the padding for things like pull downs and squats. But this set felt the most intense and the most productive, and my forearms are tingling.

My forearms are actually stronger than my biceps. I can wrist curl 35lbs. on one arm, whereas if I lift a BAR with both arms and just do biceps, 40lbs. is right where I need to be. I’m trying to increase my mind-to-muscle link with my left arm, because flexing it is such an effort compared to the right. So I mostly am lifting the bar with that arm, and then bringing the bar level with the right. The negative is brought down evenly, however.

Set four! And five actually. I supersetted on accident. Oopsie. Not a problem, I just couldn’t forearm-curl past rep 8. Hm.

Time for triceps. I was initially going to do dips, but then I decided on narrow pushups (or diamonds, or whatever. The ones where your thumbs and index fingers touch) instead, since I’m trying to built up my push-up ability anyway.

Only doing three sets because I’m targeting them this workout, so I’m saving the remaining two sets for post-cardio. I did the first set on my knees, just to warm up, and I realized how weak I am in this form and I will likely be on my knees the entire time.

I’m used to it, I just wish I had pads or something. I hate the wear on my knees… I also need to trim my nails. I really felt the third set!

I’m skipping my other two movements for biceps and triceps because I’m getting short on time. I still have to do an hour of cardio, shower, eat, and then book it to Piggly Wiggly for a job interview. I have three hours.

Now for an hour of cardio. I developed a mnemonic for this one, too:

Ten-lo, Ten-hi, Rest five, 40-go!

Ten minute low-intensity warm up. Brisk walking.

Ten minutes of HIIT; sprinting as hard as possible and then walking to catch breath. Repeatedly.

Rest five: sit in a full squat, shoulders inside knees. Do a little bouncing if bored…

40 go: jog or brisk walking again.

…

Okies. Just finished the shower, and I’ve got twenty minutes until I can eat, so here’s how the cardio went:

• Started walking, felt soreness in calves. Must have been from yesterday’s session. Or all the hopping around I did. Or chasing after Daisy. Something. Did the full ten, though.
• Started my intervals. I sprinted much slower than usual, barely faster than an average ‘run’ speed for me. Again, probably because I’m sore. I did reps of to-failure, with 30-second rests for five minutes. Visualization helped me not pay attention to how long I did or didn’t sprint. I pictured my future self in front of me. I’m chasing after my goal, those awesome abs, but of course the bastard has been doing cardio longer than me and is in better shape, so he kept getting away. Narcissism is win!
• My right knee gave out on my last sprint (remember I was SUPPOSED to go ten minutes? Yeaaah…) and I nearly ground my face into the pavement. I rolled on my shoulder and laid there for a minute. Then I decided to walk the final five minutes.
• Did my full-squat rest, for about 90 seconds. Then I just stood there, shook out my legs gently, then started walking suuuuper slow.
• Started the final steady-state. At about the fifteen minute mark my left leg fell asleep, so I decided it was time to go home. Got home, total of about 25 minutes of steady-state.

INTENDED: 60 minutes

RESULT: 40 minutes

Faaaail whistle!

Better luck next time, kid :P

Anyway.

Here’s what today’s meal looked like:

This is what I ate for Wednesday

Oh those silly girls.

I need to stay away, but I can’t, and I’m glad I didn’t… today. I have an informal challenge with… hmm. I’m not going to use her name. But she’s been talked about lots on here, and there’s a picture of me kissing her somewhere before this post.

That one.

Anyway, she thinks just because she is going to do a lot of swimming,  she is going to have better abs than me come early November. Ordinarily, sure. But if you go and SAY that, then absolutely not. You chocolate-cake eating… grr…

What’s my motivation? Haha. KICK HER ASS!

TERMS: Best abs by early November. I am going to set the date at November 8… the end of the first week. Loser has to get a hair cut! We should really hammer out the terms. I think for her it was she should donate her hair, but I know for me it’s a shaved head. I was going to do this anyway, but initially I had a whole extra month (December 1 was my previous deadline.)

I am barely eating, just enough to keep me awake…

I basically have to have a better physique than a little girl. How difficult can it be?

Today has been a mess. I haven’t kept track of anything I ate today. Loads of carbs, anyway. . I had a clean protein shake though, watered down light crazy for sake of volume.

I’m doing this sooo ass-backwards. If I’m going to eat a lot I should be working out, but I’m trying to reduce my weekly volume so I don’t over train. Blah. I’m doing some cardio tonight once it cools off and there aren’t people around. I feel so fat! And I feel like such a queen having said that.

Bleh. I wish that bouncing around different fat loss methods was a fat loss method in itself.

EDIT: I couldn’t resist. I’m doing some back training today. Really light though, I overate today I think, and if I go too heavy I’ll hurl. Light/moderate lat pulldowns and some rowing only, I think. More editing if this changes…

MORE EDIT: Lots of cardio. I’m happy with myself.

Note: I’m writing out my day as it happens. No editing afterwards, just because it’s too much work and I can’t be bothered.

I’m using breakfast time here to prepare for my Intermittent Fasting journey. I’m going to at least give it the week, but I hope to stick with it at least until the end of September, just to get some better progress shots and to have said I’ve given it an honest shot.

So far, I’ve got a rough plan in mind as to how every day will go. The only difference is timing. Right now I’m operating with the mind-time that I’ll be going to work at 2PM, so I’m getting my meals and workout in BEFORE that. If I wind up not getting the Speedway gig, and get something at say… WALMART… with different hours, then of course I’d probably have to shift my eating around, too.

Ideally, though, I want to sleep through the LATTER half of my fast, rather than the initial half. I assume after 8 hours of being hungry, I will be exhausted enough to sleep. Rather than wake up and be greeted by 8 hours of no food, haha. Just a mental thing, I’ve no physiological basis other than what would incite a positive mental response.

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Okay. This whole week has been an embarrassment.

I haven’t stuck to any of the guidelines I’ve set for myself for my meals, other than eating frequently and eating clean. Though it was a LOT of oatmeal.

So today I polished off my oatmeal and am swearing off of it for the next few weeks, at least until I can get in better control of my carb intake. For now any carbs I have are either indirect sources (there’s like 6g in two cups of cottage cheese, and I love that stuff) or through vegetables like sweet potatoes. Oatmeal is too easy for my to go overboard on.

Also taking a stronger/harder look at intermittent fasting. Grazing throughout the day just doesn’t work, because I wind up eating in two-hour intervals and then having this huge chunk of time between my last meal and bedtime where I’m suffering. I SHOULD just man-up and make the meals three hours apart, but, eh. I’d rather just not eat than tease myself.

Another reason I’m looking at the intermittent fasting (again, as through LeanGains as I’ve mentioned previously, mostly because of the shorter fasted period) is due to getting a job soon at a gas station. FULL of junk foods I can possibly will myself away from, but it would be even easier if I’m fasting anyway. An eight-hour shift followed by sleeping for another eight brings me at 16 hours fasted, then whatever amount of time it takes me to walk to and from (I’d say 45 minutes each way, rounding it up to two hours?) would put me around the 18 hour mark.

Then I can wake up, have breakfast/preworkout meal, work out, have my massive meal, and then save the third meal for before I head out to work so I have my energy for whatever nonsense they have me doing.

I’m very good at making stuff sound like it’ll work conceptually, but I really have my doubts on how well it will work in practice. I know for a fact that I can do straight-starvation, but I don’t know how I will do if I’m having regular feedings to look forward to. I already know that with 3-hour waiting periods I find myself cheating a lot more than I would if I just had three bigger meals… but those meals were always at much farther points in the day than they would be while doing IF.

But whatever. I’ll start it tomorrow, since my biweekly progress pics are coming next week and I don’t want to be looking worse than I did when I set out to improve myself.

I’m reading through the LeanGains site again today, and I’m just unbelievably impressed with Martin’s transformation. It’s really inspiring, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say the ‘modeling phase’ bit hasn’t seduced me into wanting to try this lifestyle shift.

I’m very tempted to contract him as an e-trainer, but I don’t really have the resources to do that. However, assuming this works out for me, I am definitely looking forward to emailing him my results.

Today I have a job interview in… three hours.

At a gas station.

My first wage-slave employment. Woo-hoo! (Not sarcastic, seriously!)

As such I’m saving my workout for after the interview… I don’t want to be exhausted, or realize I don’t have enough time for a shower, or whatever… Though the possibility of being in a lifted (hah, pun) mood is encouraging me to go for it anyway. I’ll be walking to the interview, which is three miles away… so I’ve also skipped my typical morning cardio. 30 minutes is usually 1 mile, so the only thing I’m really losing is the fat-burning benefit of being fasted.]

My arms/shoulders are slain. But they look great in the mirror, so I don’t care. It’s about looks, not comfort!

Today is BACK DAY

I’m alternating the exercises: upper/lower back.

Upper Back

• Lat pulldown
• Bent-over Row
• Weighted Punches

Lower Back

• Deadlift
• Good Morning
• Hyperextensions

Eh, screw it, I’m anxious now. Time to work out!

The above list isn’t what I’ll be doing today, just the ‘menu’ I’m selecting my meal from.

God I’m hungry.

So! 25 reps of hyperextensions, and 111 weighted punches (I think they are 1 pound dumbbells, I did the last 11 solely on my left arm, as my left lat needs some catching up.) The hyperextensions were surprisingly easy, I was originally going to do twelve, but found my typical “crunch amount” of 25 was more suitable. The punches made my delts burn, but by drawing the weights back forcefully I felt it warming up my lats, so no complaints. I was surprised at my endurance here, thinking I could only do about 50.

Hopefully my underestimation will continue to surprise me!

Next up I’ll do my lat pulldowns and deadlifts. The last time I did a deadlift I was able to move the entire amount on my bowflex (210) so I’m going to start at about half that to warm up. 60lbs. to start on both, trying for 25 reps again.

Lat pulldowns were easy, but deadlifts I feel out of form for. I felt like I was doing squats rather than deadlifts, at least until the 18th rep. Then my ass started to tingle.

Now for my least favorite: Bent-over Rows and Good Mornings. I’m going to do 40 and 20 pounds, respectively. Again, trying for about 25 reps. I really am starting to like running through the whole routine as a warm-up before going through individual exercises. It feels like the proper warm up.

Okay, I forgot to readjust the bowflex, so I did 60lbs. on the rowing. But I managed the 25 reps without loss of form, so no complaints. I’m still doing a 20lbs. good morning though. That exercise scares me. It turned out not to be enough weight because there was a little slack in the cables, but I decided to go through the motion anyway just to build confidence.

Time to move onto the blow-by-blow and hammer out sets for each individual exercise, right after I hydrate with a tall glass of water.

1. 3 additional sets of 25 hyperextensions; supersetting 3 sets of 50 weighted punches at the same weight as in warm-up. No rest. Just back and forth. (WOW THIS KILLS. LOVE IT.)
2. two-minute rest
3. Lat Pulldowns: 120lbs/18

Okay. Mom made french toast and I have to shower before I leave for my interview. Those weighted punches are way more kickass than I expected.