August 31, 2011 Sprinting

• 200m Sprints: 2
• 100m Sprints: 4
• 50 m Sprints: 4

1000m total.  I feel like doing more than that I'm just hurting ligaments, joints, and not really even going that fast at that point.  1000 feels about right. First 200 was so easy.  I was considering of following it with a 300...good thing I didn't.  I only take about 3 or 4 minutes between these sprints, I don't have a couple hours to devote here. 

August 30, 2011 Lower Body

• BB Squats: 380*3 305*3 320*3 335*1 335*1
• Low Box Squats: 275*3 300*X On wrong rack..
• Front Squats: 225*2 235*2 255*1
• Double Mini-Banded Hypers: 13, 13
• 8 KG KB Plank Transfers:3
• Lateral Battling Ropes: 33, 25

I need to put everything together on squats, this time I feel like my breathing wasn't good and it cost me more reps, need to focus on that.   On the box squats I was not in the proper rack, I was in one of those racks that has pins that come out further the lower you get, really messed up form.  Rest of workout went good.  The hypers were innnnnntense.  Going to post a video next time I do them.  I actually feel good today after doing them.  

August 29, 2011 Upper Body

• BB Flat: 250*8 250*7 240*8
• Pullups: 70*2 65*3 65*3
• Push Press: 135*4 175*4 195*4
• BB One Armed Rows: 120*6 120*6
• DB Unilateral Flat Bench: 105*3

Good stuff, still climbing on pullups.  One armed barbell rows are pretty intense...got the idea from John Meadows.   See video below:

 

AUgust 28, 2011 PM Conditioning

• Battling Ropes: 40, 30, 30
• KB Waiter Walk: 18kg*1 28kg*1
• Shoulder-Touch Planks: 10, 8

Had a mind numbingly long 5 hour fantasy football draft. Had to get out and do something afterward.  Gym was only open for another half hour when I got there, so I did this quickly, showered off, then came home

August 28, 2011 Conditioning

• Double mini-banded 28kg KB Swings: 30, 26, 21
• 36.5" Plyo Box Jumps: 30
• 36.5" Seated Plyo Box Jumps: 15
• Paloff Presses: 60*2
• Side-Plank Cable Rows: 30*10
• Ab Wheel: 10, 8

So I put 3 25 lbs. plates under each leg of the tall box before stacking the small box on it.  I got onto the box fine, except for one time when I banged my left knee under it and left a cut on it. I was only clearing it by maybe a half inch though. Going to need to stay at this level for a few weeks before I think of going to 37.5 or 38".  Rest went well.  

August 27, 2011 Uck.

Link

About half of both men and women in the U.S. will be obese by 2030 if current trends continue, health experts warned today. Obesity is fast replacing tobacco as the single most important preventable cause of chronic non-communicable diseases, and will add an extra 7.8 million cases of diabetes, 6.8million cases of heart disease and stroke, and 539,000 cases of cancer in the U.S. within the next two decades. Some 32 per cent of men and 35 per cent of women are now obese in the U.S., according to a research team led by Claire Wang at the Mailman School of Public Health in Columbia University in New York.  

They published their findings in a special series of four papers on obesity in The Lancet.The findings showed Obesity is most widespread in the UK and the U.S. among the world's leading economies.In Britain, obesity rates will balloon to between 41-48 per cent for men and 35-43 per cent for women by 2030 from what is now 26 per cent for both sexes, they warned. 'An extra 668,000 cases of diabetes, 461,000 of heart disease and 130,000 cancer cases would result,' they wrote.

 Due to overeating and insufficient exercise, obesity is now a growing problem everywhere and experts are warning about its ripple effects on health and healthcare spending.Obesity raises the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, various cancers, hypertension, high cholesterol, among others.Because of obesity, the U.S. can expect to spend an extra 2.6 per cent on its overall healthcare bill, or $66billion per year, while Britain's bill will grow by two per cent, or 2billion per year, Wang and colleagues warned.

In Japan and China, one in 20 women is obese, compared with one in 10 in the Netherlands, one in four in Australia and seven in 10 in Tonga, according to another paper led by Boyd Swinburn and Gary Sacks of the WHO Collaborating Center for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.
Worldwide, around 1.5billion adults are overweight and a further 0.5billion are obese, with 170million children classified as overweight or obese. Obesity takes up between two to six per cent of healthcare costs in many countries.'Increased supply of cheap, tasty, energy-dense food, improved food distribution and marketing, and the strong economic forces driving consumption and growth are the key drivers of the obesity epidemic,' Swinburn and Sacks wrote.The health experts urged governments to lead the fight in reversing the obesity epidemic. 'These include taxes on unhealthy food and drink (such as sugar sweetened beverages) and restrictions on food and beverage TV advertising to children,' wrote a team led by Steven Gortmaker at the Harvard School of Public Health, which published the fourth paper in the series.

Absolutely disgusting.   If you're obese and like it, good for you.  But it seems like every time one of these articles comes out you have disgusting corpulent lazy-asses with no pride talking about how hard it is to get in shape.  Or how expensive it is....

 

August 27, 2011 Upper

• BB Incline: 245*3 245*3 235*3
• Pullups: 65*4 65*3 65*2
• Standing Press: 135*3 155*3 165*1
• Scapular Depressions: 14
• P.U.P.P. : 1:37, 1:00
• Ab Wheel: 10

 Felt pretty flat this workout, although I did get 4 on the weighted pullups. Feeling good overall though.  Let's see what the weekend brings.

August 26, 2011 Massage

• Massage: 1 hour

aaaaaaaaaaaah so relaxing.  My mid back is completely loosened up. Same with the IT bands.  

AUgust 24, 2011 Sprinting

• 200m Sprints: 2
• 100m Sprints: 6
• 50m Sprints: 4

This was just a tough session for some reason, I was really winded after the 2 200s.  Just had no pop.  Then on the last 2 100s I felt like I had a jet engine on my back.  I think I may try putting some carbs before the sprints.  I'm exhausted. Time to eat chicken. 

August 23, 2011 Lower Body

• BB Squats: 275*3 300*3 315*3 330*2
• BB Front Squats: 225*2 235*1 255*1
• Low Box Squats: 255*3 275*2 300*1
• Ab Wheel: 10, 8
• 28kg KB Plank Drag: 1

Elitefts  had a great article today about setting up for the squat and I realized I'm not breathing correctly during them.  Tried it today properly and felt much stronger.  We'll see how it goes.  Front squats went good.  Also got back to box squatting!  Usually do them off the medium box which puts me 1" above parallel, did them on the low box today which puts me about 3" below parallel.  Holy cow the contraction my hamstrings had to pull to get me off that box was ridiculous.   Also after this was over I noticed in the locker room that I have two more abs above what I thought were my top two. I've seen them before back when I was like 165 lbs, but I haven't seen them in years.

August 23, 2011 Phantom Jelquer Update

Just a quick update on the whole guy jacking off in the sauna thing, I got a call from the manager today and he stated that he met with the member in question and canceled his membership.  As an aside I was talking with a police officer that goes to my gym and he actually had a great quote: "This had nothing to do with him being gay. This guy to the gay community is like someone robbing a convenience store is to the African-American community".  It's a great point, this had nothing to do with the moron in the sauna being gay, and was because he's a sexual predator.  The guy that was talking with the cop and I stopped me part way through the story and said "wait was this guy wearing glasses, and hanging out by the benches yesterday?....."  He then went on to describe the sauna guy to a T.  Turns out the pervert had tried to get this other guy in his car yesterday.   I think I'm still filing a police report, but I won't have to do anything towards the gym, since they took care of matters and communicated great through this whole ordeal. 

August 22, 2011 Upper Body

• BB Flat Bench: 250*8 250*7 240*8
• Pullups: 65*3 65*2 55*4
• Push Press: 135*4 165*4 185*4 200*3 210*1
• Rope Pullups: 8,76

I was super pumped for this session.  Got 65 on the pullups, felt good doing it.  I'm really starting to get the motion and 'snap' down on push pressing, feels great.  

August 21, 2011 Conditioning

• Double Mini-Banded 28kg KB swings: 30, 25, 20
• 34" Plyo Box Jumps: 30
• 34" Seated Plyo Box Jumps: 20
• Rope Slams: 30, 30, 30
• Paloffs: 60*2

Good session, haven't had a Sunday conditioning session in quite some time. Thoroughly enjoy the kb swings. 

August 19, 2011 Deadlifting/Lower

• BB Deadlift: 405*1 435*1 455*1
• Glute Bridges: 405*4 NEW PR!! 405*6 405*5
• BB Rows (scapula pinned back): 135*10 185*7
• Batwings: 40*5 40*3
• 34" Plyo Box Jumps: 30
• Shoulder-Touch Planks: 8, 8

So when I wasn't being menaced by the Phantom Homo in the sauna I got in a good workout.  I feel like I could break my deadlift record right now as is, but I think next week is a scheduled off week for deadlifting, and my lower back needs it.  Glute bridges...yeah I think I could hit 500 here.  I feel like I need to do more mid/upper back work so I started doing some rows with my scapulae pinned back, then realized Dan John actually had an exercise for these called bat wings.  You can find a picture/link on them earlier in this blog.  I want to make sure that this part of my posterior chain doesn't hold back my deadlifting.  Finished with some plyo jumps & shoulder touch planks.  I actually pulled my left lat somehow on the jumps...still sore. 

August 19, 2011 Guy tries getting gay with me in sauna :( :( :(

So there's this guy, about 40ish, that goes to my gym that I've rarely if ever seen actually on the gym floor...but see all the time in the locker-room.  For the last several months it seems like any time I'm in a shower this guy comes in right afterward.  Last week I look behind me as I'm drying off and see him peering around the shower curtain...and also see the end of his cock as he's sticking it out of the shower stall.  I let it drop since he's not actively doing anything towards me. 

So today I'm working out and I notice this guy is actually on the gym floor as well, and seems to be hovering around where I am.   After my workout I decided to go in to the sauna for a while, and I'm laying there, and this dude comes in, but sits in the opposite corner from me.  After about 5 minutes dude gets up and sits on the same side as me.  Whatever.  I glance up a few minutes later and dude is staring directly at my nuts, and quickly looks away when I catch him.  Few minutes later same thing.

So a few minutes later I get a tap on my foot and we have this exchange:

Him:  "Do you want a massage?" 

Me: "Ummmmm.....I'm flattered dude but I'm straight. I'll pass"

Him: " Yeah I have a girlfriend. I'm bi, I like guys too."

Me: "cool story bro."

Dead silence for about 30 seconds and I figure I should leave at this point, honestly I wasn't mad at this point....but before I could get up:

 

Him: So you don't like guys?

Me: Seriously? 

Him: Have you ever been with a guy before? I don't usually like guys, but you're so attractive....do you mind if I..ummm...jack off?"

Me: OK, time to go.

Him: You're so hot. Can I touch you while I do it *proceeds to start furiously masturbating*

Me: *leaves*

So I go and shower, of course he follows, and then I go to my locker and get dressed.  I figure I should try to find out a bit of info about him so I can management a better description of him.  I ask where he's from, he tells me Brazil, and said what he does for a living, I forget now though.  I made sure he left before me, then finished getting dressed and went and told management.  Apparently this happened at their location in south boston and they had to close the sauna, and they've caught people jacking it in this sauna before.  They asked me to point him out next time, but said it'd take multiple complaints before they revoked his membership.  Seriously? More complaints?

 Honestly I'm kind of disgusted and grossed out at this point. I'm not using that sauna again.  I feel pretty uncomfortable at the prospect of working out there again as well.  Not sure what to do. 

August 18, 2011 Picture!

So this is me after my workout today, picture is a bit grainy, but you get the idea. I'm 200 lbs. in this shot. 

August 18, 2011 Upper Body

• BB Incline Bench: 245*3 245*3 235*3
• Pullups: 60*4 60*3 60*3 60*3
• Standing Press: 145*3 155*3 165*2
• Neutral Grip Pullups: 11, 7
• Pullup Iso-Hold: 23 seconds
• Lateral Battling Roeps: 30, 30, 25

Thoroughly enjoying adding weight on to my pullups here. Not sure why I waited so long.  I wouldn't go in and bench the same every week and expect to get bigger/stronger yet for some reason I always did that with pullups.  I can't wait til my next mass phase so I can start adding on more to my standing press.  Finished with some lateral battling ropes.  

August 17, 2011 Conditioning

• Basketball:  half hour

Switched it up a bit here!  Had a good time!

August 16, 2011 Lower Body, Core

• BB Squats from pins: 225*3 265*3 275*3 300*1 320*X
• BB Front Squats: 225*1 235*1 245*1
• Doubled-Up Mini Banded Squats: 225*5 245*3
• Ab WheeL: 12, 10
• Paloff Presses: 60*3

WOW. Squats from pins ain't no joke. I love them. No momentum and build up of tension as you descend. Just explosive power off the rack. I need to watch my posture on these, as I tend to lean forward a bit more. I caught myself almost doing that a couple times today. Was tired for front squats after. Mini banded squats were a blast too. LOVED them, it felt weird to lose momentum at the top. They're a great compliment to the pin squatting. Finished with some core work.

August 15, 2011 Upper Body

• BB Flat Bench: 245*10 250*6?7? 240*8
• Pullups: 55*3 55*3 45*4 BW*10
• Unilateral DB Bench: 100*6 105*5
• Push Press: 135*3 185*4 205*2 215*X 185*4
• Face Pulls: 50*13 60*12 70*10

Good times.  Might've had 7 @ 250, but I lost count.  Pullups went great, whole workout I was pumped up.  That BW*10 set I just did for fun, felt easy after doing them weighted.  Missed 215, but had good velocity on my other push press attempts.  All around good session. 

August 12, 2011 Lower & Pullups

• BB Deadlift: 405*1 415*1 425*1 450*1
• Sumo Deadlifts: 405*2 405*2 405*1
• Snatch-Grip Deadlifts: 315*3 315*1
• Glute Bridges: 315*6 335*6
• Pullups: 50*3 55*3
• Banded Pullups: 2....not so much.
• 2 8KG KB Plank Transfers: 4,5

So I'm heading to the beach now so the videos won't be up til later but I got a ton from this workout. 

Deadlifting went well.  Probably should've waited until next week til I tried 450, I just started doing heavier deadlifting again.  Still I got it, and at 200 lbs, so I'm happy.  A friend was talking about sumo deadlifts with me between sets, so it inspired me to do some.  Then did some snatch-grip deadlifts after.  Finished the lower body work with some glute bridges.  I think I may bump this up to 365 and 400 next week, since Fridays are supposed to be heavy days.  I'm going to keep adding weight on to pullups.  Tried banded pullups....yeah I need a better way to anchor the weight.  You'll see in the video.  Finished with kb plank transfers.   

First the banded pullups:

Sumo Deadlifts, 405

Snatch Grip Deadlifts, 315:

Glute Bridges, 335:

August 11, 2011 Upper Body

• BB Incline Bench: 245*3 245*3 235*2
• 1.5 Pullups: 7, 4, 3
• BB Press: 135*7 155*3 160*2
• DB Rows: 120*5
• Rope Pullups: 8, 7, 6
• Rope Slams; 20, 25

Cutting is odd. I'm used to setting records for myself all the time when I'm gaining weight, so to be puttering along at a steady level of strength always seems odd to me.  That's why I switch up and try to find 10 rep maxes on things like deadlifting or bench, because I hate the idea that I'm going to be moving the same weight for several months until I decide to do my next mass building phase.  It seems like progress because my 10 rep max will move up week to week as my nervous system adapts to doing higher reps on something I've usually done lower reps on.  This is also a great time to be experimenting with exercises I'll use on my next mass phase.  So for lat width I've been experimenting with new pullup variations, and for shoulder girdle strength I finally started doing standing presses consistently.  Really killed the 135 BB press today, could've gotten 8 but wanted to save my energy for higher weights...unfortunately I had already tired myself out. 


Also!  I'm in the planning stages of a completely new routine that takes me completely away from the heavy/light upper/lower split. More details to come.  

August 10, 2011 Sprinting

• 300m Sprint: 1
• 200m Sprint: 2
• 100m Sprint: 3
• 50m Sprint: 6

This is my first session ever done after work.  Wasn't sure if the extra food throughout the day would fuel me or weigh me down.  Still can't tell.  What I do know is that the wind is different in the afternoon, I was running into a stiff headwind for almost all of the 300, the entire first 200, as well as 2 of the 100s and 3 of the 50s.  I never realized what a difference that makes.  Running the other 200 back to where I started was still a traumatic experience, but it was visibly easier without the headwind.  Same on the 100s, I could feel a palpable difference.  At the end I was gassed but I did a couple more 50s to get to 1300 meters. I can't picture wanting to do more than that ever. 

August 9, 2011 Lower

• BB Squats: 275*5 305*3 315*2
• BB Squats From Pins: 225*4 245*3 265*2
• Lumberjack Squats: 180*6 205*4
• BB Front Squats: 205*3 225*2 250*1
• P.U.P.P.: 2:25!!

OK, so was stuck in the cage again for squatting, felt good this time.  Working on sitting down, not back so much when squatting.  Then I tried some squatting from the pins...wow.  I like it a lot, may lead off with it next week.  Lumberjacks...ok, so on the set of 205, as you'll see in the video below, I go to throw the weight up, as always, and go to catch it.  Unfortunately I miss with my right hand and end up with it on top of the barbell, which normally would be ok, if I caught it with my left hand.  Unfortunately I caught it with only my left pinky, before I could snatch it with my right hand.  I'm fairly certain I popped the pinky out of joint before it went back into place during the set.   Front squats went well, as did the PUPP, with a new record!  Now for some vids! The first is squatting from the pins. 

 
Next up is my first set of lumberjack squats, I really like these for hitting my quads.

 And finally the set where I almost tear my damn pinky off.

August 8, 2011 Upper

• BB Flat Bench: 240*11 245*10 250*5
• Pullups: 45*4 45*4 45*3
• Pullup Iso Hold: 25 seconds
• Unilateral DB Flat Bench: 105*2 100*4
• Push Press: 135*6 185*3 205*1 205*1
• Face Pulls: 40*12 50*12 70*8

Continuing to add on to my 10 rep max on benching. That 250 set I was just totally exhausted for.  I'm going to keep adding weight on for pullups...I realize I keep trying to get stronger at them, but never consistently add weight.  Iso Hold went well too, used chalk and really squeezed mid-back.  Push Press went great, I need to focus more on dipping back instead of putting stress on my knees and pushing them forward when I dip down on Push Pressing.  Added face-pulls, I want to make sure I don't end up with a kyphosis  going on my spine. Wasn't sure if they were working my rhomboids properly then I tried flexing them between sets....yeah....the face pulls are working just fine.

August 7, 2011 Moving

• Moving my grandmother: 5 hours

ugh.  All of her stuff was supposed to be packed. It wasn't.   I hate moving, and I hate it even more in humid hot weather.  I was starving for most of it as well. Not good times, but a workout nonetheless

August 5, 2011 Lower

BB DL: 315*5 315*5 315*5
Quadrupled-Up mini-banded DL: 315*1 (105 lbs. dbs off the ground..)
Scapular Depressions: 13, 9
34" Box Jump / Seated Box Jump Superset: 15/15
Paloff Presses: 50*3
KB Stack Plank Transfers (2kg,2kg,4kg,4kg): 2, 2

Deload week for deadlifting after last weeks 400*10 effort.  Decided to try some banded deadlifts.  Obviously they're too long to actually gain tension as I lock out a rep, so I doubled them up....still too loose.  So then I quadrupled them up and anchored them to 105 lbs. dumbbells.  What did I learn? Well, seeing as the dumbbells immediately came off the floor as I lifted, I know I can lockout 525 lbs. fairly easily.  If I can get those first couple inches of it off the ground I should be good. (not sure if I'm serious or not...).   Tried scapular depressions (video below), got them from this article.  I thought they'd be incredibly easy. Whoops.  Decided to do some jump work since I've been busy the last couple Sundays when I usually do jump work.  Supersetted some jumps here. Feels good man.  Finished with paloffs, and then a plank stack transfer with kb's.  Abs are actually sore today, which never happens.

August 4, 2011 Upper / Heavy

• DB Incline Bench: 105*4 105*3 100*4
• 1.5 Pullups: 6, 4, 3
• Standing Press: 135*5 155*3 160*2
• Rope Pullups: 5, 4, 5

Decided to do some db work today, felt great.  1.5 pullups are below in the video.  Going up on standing press.  Good all around session. 

 

August 4, 2011 Quick update on cut progress

So I added in 4 oz. of brown rice as a pre-workout meal about 45 minutes to an hour before I work out. I notice I have more energy and more 'pop' in my workouts now. I switched the fruit I usually had before to post-workout (an apple & a banana) and then down my usual chicken/broccoli dinner. I'm at 2531 calories, 231 carbs, 37 fiber. So I'm around 200 net carbs for my training days which is actually double what I was getting before. I cut out the intense a.m. conditioning and swapped in incline walking on a treadmill, fasted.

I noticed yesterday I looked much leaner through my torso, and my chest actually looked thicker & denser, so I weighed myself first thing in the a.m. after going to the bathroom...200 lbs! It's not just my imagination either; there's a semi-pro bb'er at my gym who I talk to frequently, he noticed I look much more cut over the last few weeks, and that I'm looking 'fuller'. I'm assuming it's glycogen in the muscles. I'm actually happy with how this is going, so I may not reduce the carbs in a week or so as I had initially planned to do once I was out of the rut.

August 4, 2011 Incline Walk of DOOOOOM. Not really though

• 10% Incline WALKING: 30 minutes / 3.0 mph / 1.5 miles

I'm trying to make it sound more exciting than it is. It's not working. 

August 3, 2011 Conditioning: Sprinting

• 300m Sprint: 1
• 200m Sprint: 2
• 100m Sprint: 3
• 50 m Sprint: 4 
• Total: 1200m

WHOOOOOOOOOO! Hit my goal of 1200m in a session.  On the 300 I rounded the curve and thought I was dead, but figured what the heck, the last 100m of it was a straightaway so I did it.  The 2nd 200 that I ran was probably the most crushing experience I've had doing conditioning.  My body literally felt like it was shutting down.  Good thing I brought an extra bottle of water.  I also like the 50m sprints I do at the end, I feel like I can just go all out on them and not worry about blacking out.  GREAT session, AND I was done quicker than any of my previous ones.  Left my apartment at 8:30, was back by 9:30, and that's with a 10 minute walk each way.  

August 2, 2011 Lower Body

• BB Squats: 275*3 305*3 315*1 325*X..wtf?
• BB Front Squats: 205*3 225*3 245*2
• Double Mini-Banded Hip Thrusters: 12, 13, 12
• Pullup Iso-Hold: 6 seconds, 14 seconds
• KB Plank Drag: 28kg*1
• Ab Wheel: 8,9

Felt like a really good session.  Plus I GOT A NEW JOB!!! I can't wait, it's such a relief.  But I digress, getting back to low rep squats here, I did them in the cage instead of the squat rack. I do NOT like doing them in the cage, I can never tell if I'm low enough so I stop too high, then start dropping again, but I've killed all my  momentum by then, as on the 325 attempt here. Back to the squat rack next week.  Front squats went great, added reps on last 2 sets.   Added in hip thrusters with the bands here, I think I need stronger bands though.  I'll post a video of me doing them.  The pullup iso-holds are no joke....I'll post a vid of them at the end here, that isn't me doing them, it's from a great T-Nation article on pullups that I read yesterday. I highly recommend it.  On my  first attempt of the iso-holds my middle back cramped & charlie horsed. Not like one of the muscles..all of them.   Got back to doing plank drags, finished with some ab wheel. Also, either the front squats or iso holds gave me some weird bruising on my biceps. Posted a pic at the end here.

Supplements

Here's a quick look at what I'm currently taking for supplements, and why:

• Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard: 1 scoop every morning. This is more of a fail-safe to make sure I get enough complete protein each day.  It also contains glutamine and BCAAs.  The ON brand is far and away the most superior brand of protein on the market right now.
• 1000mg Fish Oil Softgels: 6 per day; 3 in the morning, 3 in the evening.  EVERYONE should be taking fishoil.  Here's a good article on why; you could look up 100 others as well.  Note: When people talk about taking fish-oil they often say 1000mg, or 500mg when referring to the pill size. This is NOT the actual EPA/DHA content.  In the case of those 1000mg fish oil softgels each one contains 180mg EPA & 120mg of DHA.  So my grand total for the day is 1800mg of EPA & DHA, which is the stuff that gives fish oil it's potent effects.
• 800mg Curcumin with Bioperine:  1 per day.  Seriously, why are you NOT taking curcumin? You can read the research for yourself, but fat metabolizing, anti-catabolic, cancer fighting, cholesterol lowering, Parkinson's fighting, inflammation reducing (THAT'S the big one), tumor-shrinking supplements don't grow on trees.  It's basically a natural, legal clenbuterol.
• 1000mg Vitamin D3: 2 per day.  This one should be mandatory for anyone in the northern hemisphere. Here's a great article on Vitamin D (may be NSFW banner on side).  This and fish oil are probably the two most important supplements someone can take. Almost every human being is deficient in Vitamin-D which is too bad because Vitamin D is great for preventing things like cancer, heart disease, etc.   The current USDA recommended dose for Vitamin D is woefully low, and it will be raised during the next round of updates to their recommendations. And since a lot of people won't follow the link I posted to the article, here's some info for you:
• "In one mind-blowing study (Melamed, et al.) using population data, researchers found that total mortality was 26% higher in those with the lowest 25(OH)D levels compared with the highest. And a meta-analysis of 18 randomized controlled trials found that supplemental vitamin D significantly reduced total mortality. That means quite simply this: vitamin D supplementation prolongs life. 
• According to the Vitamin D Council, current research has implicated vitamin D deficiency as a major factor in the pathology of at least 17 varieties of cancer. 
•  Vitamin D may protect against both Type I and Type II diabetes.
•  Low D may contribute to chronic fatigue, depression, and Seasonal Affective Disorder.
• Parkinson's and Alzheimer's sufferers have been found to have lower levels of D.
• Low levels of vitamin D may contribute to "Syndrome X" with associated hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
• Administration of dietary vitamin D has been shown to lower blood pressure and restore insulin sensitivity.

That about wraps it up.  Time to go to the gym!  Leg day!

August 2, 2011 Conditioning

• 10% Incline Walking:40 minutes/ 2 miles / 3.0mph

 The usual A.M. fasted incline walking. Nothing special. 

August 1, 2011 Upper Body

• BB Flat Bench: 235*11 240*10 245*8
• Pullups: 10, 7, 7
• DB Unilateral Flat Bench: 100*4 105*2
• Banded Push Press: 135*8 155*4 165*2
• P.U.P.P.: 1:30 1:00

 I'm really dialing it in on carb timing pre-workout.  As long as I'm done about 25 minutes before leaving, by the time I get on to the gym floor it'll be about 40 minutes since finishing and I'm starting to peak.  Still adding weight onto my 10 rep max here for benching.  Experimenting with pullups here, T-Nation had a great article on some techniques to try.  Today before doing pullups I tried the no-hands pullup, need better straps for it though.  I like the move of unilateral bench to here, going to dial back the weights though since the flat bench before taxes me pretty bad.  The new thing of the day was mini-banded Push Press.  I REALLY liked this, I had to fight all the way with it, should help my over-head press as well.  Finished off with some PUPP.  Here are some videos of the Push Pressing; the last video the safety bars came off.  

August 1, 2011 Conditioning

• Incline Walking: 40 minutes / 10% incline /2.9mph

Added 10 minutes here, still feels great on my hips & knees, they're much looser after.  Also did not have a session yesterday since I went to the beach.  Feels good man.