April 28, 2015 When do I Cheat when Cutting?

Yesterday after doing my upper-body workout I was pretty wiped out.  I slept about 9 hours last night, yet I was still dragging a bit.  I was a bit tired during the workout today, and afterward I was dragging really bad.  I took a brief nap but was still tired, and had that groggy/fuzzy feeling.  Not good times.

Now a couple hours later I feel energetic, sharp, and am mulling doing some yoga or something.  So what changed?  I did 4 lines of cocaine. I had a small cheat meal.  When you're in the first couple weeks of a cut and you're still getting into the routine, the temptation to cheat may be higher.  I try and make sure I do not let this happen here, since I'm trying to get into a rhythm. But once I have established that, I start listening to my body more.  If I have a craving for a food, as long as it's not hideous, I'll let myself go for it once per week maybe.  Today I realized I felt carb-starved, and have for a couple days.  I had a couple PB&J sandwiches, and some tortellini soup for dinner.  Within an hour I felt better. The cravings had vanished, I had perked back up, and I would be willing to bet I feel better tomorrow as well.  

April 28, 2015 Lower Body

Energy: 4 - ate shortly before

• Squats: 315*1 350*1 370*1 390*1
• Front Squats: 275*1 300*1- exhausted
• Standing Calves: 240*10 260*10
• Dead Bugs: 10, 10

I had a lot going on today so had to eat and then get to the gym right after, so that sapped a bit of energy.  Also I was really exhausted on front squats for some reason. 

April 27, 2015 Upper Body

Energy: 7

• Bench Press: 225*3 250*3 250*3 250*3
• Pullups: 80*2 80*1 80*1
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1
• Unilateral BB T-Bar Rows: 145*5 145*5
• BB Reverse Curls: 65*9 65*10

Good energy here, did some weighted pullups...felt great.  No pop on push pressing though. 

April 26, 2015 Sprinting

Energy: 5

• 110m: 7
• Total: 770m

Feels great!   It was a bit cooler out today, and dry; my least favorite running conditions.  Didn't feel super-fast.  I really do need new shoes, noticing it now. Will try and hit New Balance factory outlet tomorrow. I hope they have the 890v5 

April 25, 2015 Sprinting

Energy: 4

• 50m: 10

I need new shoes!  I've used the New Balance 890v3 since April 2014 or so. I got a good year out of them, I really can't complain.  I usually go E for width, went D with the v3s, but they still performed.  First 'athletic' shoe that I've really love.  At this point the support in them at this point is going flat, and inner-soles are getting worn out. Considering all the sprinting I've done over the last year, plus dodgeball, plus broad jumping, etc. I got a lot of use out of these things.

April 24, 2015 Lower Body

Energy: 8

• Deadlift: 405*1 425*1 455*1
• Hanging Power Cleans: 135*3 155*3 175*3
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*3 135*3 - hips tired
• Hexbar Farmers: 365*62 365*74!!
• Suitcase carries: 75*100

My lower back has been tight and fatigued lately, wanted to keep it a bit lighter here with deadlifting. Beasted out some hexbar farmers here...74 steps with 365.  Also, tried suitcase carries after, they were MUCH easier, probably because the 75 felt light after the 365, even with the 75 being unilateral.  Kept form pretty tight for it.  

April 23, 2015 Upper Body

Energy: 6

• DB Incline: 90*10 100*7 110*3
• DB Rows: 120*8 120*7 120*7
• BTN Press: 135*5 135*4
• Sternum Pullups: 8, 5, 4
• Reverse Flyes: 15*10 20*10
• French Press: 50*10 60*7
• DB Alternating Hammer Curls: 45*8
• PUPP 1-Arm: 10 seconds, 10 seconds
• Battling Rope-Rope Slam S.S.: 45-10

 I'm really starting to love this session, initially it was just to give my shoulder a break the day after dodgeball, but at this point it's also a great way to work in some higher rep stuff, and more dumbbell work.  On French presses I've been making sure to bring the cambered bar down to the top of my head almost, to really stretch out my triceps and get a good squeeze on them. 

April 21, 2015 Lower Body

• Squats: 315*3 350*1 370*1 390*1
• Front Squats: 275*1 300*1 315*1
• Good Mornings: 225*2 245*1
• DB Farmers: 120*76 120*64
• Seated Calves: 115*12 115*12
• Dead Bugs: 10, 10

I feel great squatting lately.  I moved the bar down some, I typically go fairly high-bar, but I moved it lower, not like low-bar, but far enough back that it loads up my posterior chain more, and I can move more weight like that. It's like....middle-bar or something.  Also farmers went well here, progressing nicely on them.   I'm starting to feel like my calves are growing as well, have to remind myself to keep doing calf pressing

April 20, 2015 Upper Body

Energy: 4

• Bench Press: 225*3 250*2 265*1 275*1 285*1
• Sternum Pullups: 25*2 25*2 25*2
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1
• Pendlay Rows: 135*5 185*3
• BB Reverse Curls: 65*6 65*7
• Landmine Laterals: 45*6

Weighted the sternum pullups here. I want to work in the landmine laterals more, but my shoulders have been fatigued after all the work I do on them lately, plus dodgeball.

April 19, 2015 Sprinting

Energy: 5

• 110m: 7
• Total: 770m

Good session, rounding into shape here.  Probably one more week of 110s then I'll see where I am speed-wise on the 100s. 

April 18, 2015 Sprinting

Energy: 5

• 50m: 5
• Broad Jump: 9' 7", 9' 8", 9' 4", 9' 7", 9' 7", 9' 5"

Wanted to do some Saturday sprinting here since the weather was nice. Didn't want to do anything that'd fatigue me for tomorrow's regular session though

April 17, 2015 Upper

Energy: 9

• DB Incline: 85*10 95*10 105*3
• DB Rows: 120*7 120*6 120*6
• Behind-The-Neck Press: 135*5 135*3
• Hanging Power Cleans: 170*3 185*2 195*X - fried
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*3-dun.
• BB Reverse Curls: 60*10 60*10
• Paloffs: 80*10 90*10

April 15, 2015 Dodgeball!

Energy: 11 too high

• Dodgeball: 85 minutes

 Energy was actually too high, had trouble focusing; took some EC & Yohimbine beforehand, probably a bit too much in retrospect.

April 14, 2015 Lower Body

Energy: 7

• Squats: 315*1 350*2 375*1
• Front Squats: 275*1 300*1 315*1
• Hex-bar Farmers: 315*103 315*105
• Glute-Hams: 4
• Dead Bugs: 10, 10

My hamstrings felt a bit fatigued from sprinting 2 days ago, whole posterior chain really. 

April 13, 2015

Energy: 3, depressed mood

• Bench Press: 225*3 250*3 250*3 250*3
• T-Bar Rows: 150*4 150*4 150*4
• Push Press: 225*1 235*1 
• Cable Rows: 200*3 200*3
• DB Alternating Hammer Curls: 35*10 40*8

Good session, was in a foul mood for some reason. 

April 12, 2015 Sprinting

Energy: 8

• 110m: 6
• 50m: 4
• Total: 860m
• Broad Jumps: 8' 10", 9' 4", 9' 8"

Was pretty gassed by the end here, felt great to be outside again though.  Very good performance on the broad jumps, very happy to start outdoor jumping season with those numbers. 

April 10, 2015 Upper Body

Energy: 3

• Incline Bench Press: 185*8 205*6 225*2
• BB Rows: 185*9 205*6 225*4
• BTN Standing Press: 135*6 155*2 135*5
• Sternum Pullups: 8,5,4
• BB Curls: 45*10
• BB Reverse Curls: 45*10 45*10
• WSARC: 60*10

I'm going to start recording rough energy level estimates before workouts, and see if that's correlated to how I perform.  Basically 1-10, 5 being average, and not just in the sense of how much energy compared to other gym sessions. I mean like every day type energy, like if I was walking around outside and had to assess it.  My average in the gym is probably a 7 because I'm pretty hyped up usually when I'm there.  Today though I was completely flat. 

April 9, 2015

• Deadlift: 405*1 450*1 80*1
• Hanging Power Cleans: 165*3 180*2 190*1
• Hanging Power Snatches: 135*3 150*2 160*1
• Hexbar Farmers: 365*50 365*45
• Paloffs: 70*10 80*8

For some reason my snatch numbers always go up when I do cleans first, which is very counter to conventional wisdom.  Added weight on the hexbar farmers here, won't use this much every time. 

April 8, 2015 Dodgeball

• Dodgeball: 85 minutes

April 7, 2015

Very Tired

• Squats: 315*1 350*1 370*1
• Front Squats: 275*1 305*1
• Glute-Hams: 6, 7
• DB Farmers: 120*70 120*50

Very tired after about 4 hours of interviewing earlier today. 

April 6, 2015

• Bench Press: 225*3 250*3 265*1 275*1 285*1
• BB Rows: 225*3 245*3 260*3
• Push Press: 225*1 245*1
• French Press: 40*10 65*6
• Cambered Preacher Curls: 95*6

I actually liked the french pressing, will have to do it more. 

April 5, 2015 Sprinting

• 110m: 6

Back at Harvard's Track!!!

April 3, 2015

• Deadlift: 405*1 435*1 455*1 475*1
• HPS: 95*5 115*5-tired
• HPC: 160*3 175*2 185*1
• Glute-Hams: 5, 4
• Seated Calves: 135*10 135*10
• Paloffs: 60*10 70*10

For glute-hams I saw someone anchoring their feet under the crossbar of one of the benches..no idea why I hadn't thought of that sooner.  Picture this basically, but with my feet under the horizontal cross-beam of a flat-bench station. 

April 2, 2015

• Incline Bench Press: 225*2 240*1 250*1 260*1
• Sternum Pullups: 25*3 25*3 25*4
• Seated Press: 160*1 185*1 195*1
• Hex Farmers Walks: 350*73 350*69
• Suitcase Caries: 80*50
• Cambered Standing Reverse Curls: 85*5
• Cable Rope Pulldowns: 90*10 120*10
• Dips:7

 Just enjoying some eclectic work here.

April 1, 2015

• Dodgeball: 90 minutes

March 31, 2015

• Squats: 315*1 340*1 365*1 385*1 395*1
• Front Squats: 275*1 295*1 315*1-hooah
• Hex Farmers: 315*125 315*10
• Dead Bugs: 10, 10

FINALLY started using chalk on the farmers. Huge difference, really get to lock my grip down. 

March 30, 2015

• Bench Press (No Arch, Paused Reps) Cluster: 245*1,1,1,1,1
• BB Rows: 185*5 215*4 235*3 250*2
• Push Press: 185*1 225*1 245*X 245*1
• Cable Rows: 200*3 200*3
• Landmine Laterals: 45*8 
• Unilateral Cable Pulldowns: 45*10
• Standing DB Alternating Curls: 40*9

Not much energy on benching today

March 29, 2015 Sprinting

• 100m: 8

Hopefully back to Harvard next week!

March 27, 2014

• Deadlifting: 405*1 430*1 450*1 470*1
• Hanging Power Snatch: 135*3 145*1 115*5
• Hanging Power Cleans: 150*3 165*2 175*2
• Hexbar Farmers Walks: 300*105 300*82
• Paloff Pressses: 50*10 60*10
• Dead Bugs: 5*10

Holding weight plates for the dead bugs.  

March 26, 2015 Upper Body

• DB Rows: 120*7 120*6 120*6
• DB Incline: 80*10 90*8 100*4
• T-Bar Rows: 145*4 145*4 145*4
• DB Seated Press: 50*8 60*6 70*4
• DB Incline Curls: 2588
• Cambered Preacher Curls:95*9
• Waiter Walks: 30*100 30*100

Taking it easier on my shoulder after dodgeball yesterday.  This was actually one of my funner recent workouts I think.  May need to rotate stuff like this in every couple weeks.  

March 25, 2015 Dodgeball

• Dodgeball: 80 minutes

Putting some heat on the ball throwing, probably going to take it easy tomorrow 

March 24, 2015

• Squats: 315*1 335*1 355*1 375*1 390*1
• Front Squats: 260*1 280*1 300*1 310*1
• Good Mornings: 225*1 245*1
• Standing Calf Press: 240*10 280*10
• Dead Bugs: 10, 10

Getting up there on front squats

March 23, 2015

• Bench Press: 260*1 260*1 275*1 285*1
• Unilateral BB T-Bar Rows: 155*3 170*3 180*2
• Push Press: 185*1 225*1 245*1 255*X
• Sternum Pullups: 7, 5, 5
• JM Presses: 95*4-meh
• Dips: 5-clavicles 
• Standing short-bar curls: 90*7
• 1 arm-planks: 15 seconds

The royal sampler of workouts.  Missed 255 on PP by a mile. 

March 22, 2015

• 100m: 8
• Total: 800m

Still at BU's indoor track.  Hopefully just another week or two til I can run at Harvard.

March 20, 2015 Lower / Olympic Lifting

• Deadlift: 405*2 430*1 455*1 475*1 485*1
• Hanging Power Snatches: 95*3 135*3 135*3
• Hanging Power Cleans: 140*3 150*2 160*2 170*2
• Goblet Carries: 75*100 90*100 100*100
• Plate-Transfer Planks (5 lbs): 4*2 4*2

Ramping up on deadlifting again. Glad I added cleans back in here.  Also did some goblet carries, truly the king of carries for hitting your abdominals.  

March 19, 2015 Upper Body

• Incline Bench Press (Pinkies on knurling): 205*1 225*2 235*1 245*1 255*1
• T-Bar Rows: 160*3 170*2 180*1 160*3
• Seated Press: 175*2 185*1 185*1
• Hexbar Farmers: 335*45 335*55
• Cambered Cable Pushdowns: 110*12 130*12 150*10
• Cable Laterals: 30*8 40*5
• Cable Curls: 40*12 50*10

Good times, tried narrower grip on incline.  Farmers went well, did more direct arm work too. 

March 18, 2015 Dodgeball

• Dodgeball: 85 minutes.

March 17, 2015 Lower Body

• Squats: 325*2 350*1 365*1 385*1 315*2
• Front Squats: 250*2 275*1 295*1
• Glute Bridges: 225*5 315*5 40583
• BB Curls: 45*12 65*10 75*6
• Standing Calves: 240*12 260*10
• Hammer Curls: 30*10
• Dead Bugs: 10, 10

Great workout, I decided to throw some direct arm work in just for fun. I may actually rotate some in, why not. I'm cutting, I need the extra volume.