January 22, 2014 Dodgeball!

• Dodgeball: 75 minutes

Pretty good, hand felt a little better, still bracing the pinky though.  Tomorrow I go for a doctor's visit to see what's up with it. The swelling hasn't subsided any in the last week+ at this point. So it's down like 70% but still too puffy for my liking.  Guess we'll find out what's up. 

January 21, 2014 Upper / Heavyish

• Bench Press: 285*1 305*1
• T-Bar Rows: 160*4 170*2.5
• Push Press: 225*1 245*1 255*1 Ties PR

There was a storm hitting us, and I gave a coworker a ride home. Ended up taking forever, so I got to the gym late, and was starting to get hungry. So I put in a quick session, maybe 15 minutes here, and then went home. Still not bad.  Really getting close to a PP record that I've been chasing for ages, tied the record here. 

January 20, 2014 Lower / Heavy

• Squats: 365*1 385*1 410*X - can't believe I missed that
• Rack Squats: 315*1
• Front Squats: 265*1 285*1 300*1
• Good Mornings: 250*1 275*1 285*1 NEW PR!!
• Reverse Hypers: 25*10 25*10

35 minutes

Can't believe I missed 410. I was halfway up and just got completely stuck.  I've NEVER missed a rep on squatting that I got that far up.  F bombs dropped all over the place after that.  Rest of session went fine; the 300 on front squats wasn't as clean as I'd have liked it. But I got a PR on good mornings; I think I was still running on fury from missing the 410 on squats still at that point; I had to do something. Good stuff

January 20, 2014 Melatonin review

So this past summer I had mentioned that I was having trouble with waking up at night and then tossing and turning for a while.  I decided to try melatonin to see if it had any effect.  Here's a link to Examine.com and their aggregate interpretations of the studies that have been done on the supplement.

I think my experiences with melatonin highlight an important question when trying to evaluate a supplement's effectiveness:  Is there evidence in existence that the supplement helps with an issue you're having. It sounds silly to say, but it's often not considered.  So with melatonin, many people think that it helps you sleep, which is true, but they don't know what it does to help.  Basically it helps to regulate your circadian rhythm, and decrease the time it takes you to fall asleep when you first go to bed.  I didn't have those problems. I fell asleep within a few minutes, and when I would toss & turn I was never fully awake, and it did not appear to be a disturbance to my circadian rhythm causing the issue.  So the melatonin didn't really make a difference for me. That's not saying it's not a worthwhile supplement, it just doesn't aid much in the area that I was experiencing issues with.

Another brief thought to take with you: Supplements should be just that, supplements.  They don't replace a good diet, getting enough fruit/vegetables/etc. or anything else.  They should be used when you're not getting enough of something through those means.  Fish oil is a great example; since this country eats so much factory farm raised red meat there is a horrible omega-6 to omega-3 imbalance.  This is one of the ways that fish oil helps people lose fat; by increasing the omega-3s in their diet the rebalancing actually helps your body shed fat.  I don't actually eat red meat (I just prefer chicken) so it didn't have a huge effect on my body fat, I actually noticed no difference.  Now there are a TON of other reasons to take fish oil, and I take plenty of it, but if I was just taking it for fat loss, I would have been foolish, because I didn't pay attention to what the supplement does to achieve it's effect. 

January 20, 2014 Bulking diet

So I finally caught up on posting! yaaaay.  Now here are my goals for this bulk, and the diet I've been using.

I set out hoping to replicate my 2010 bulk, where I went from 187 to 231.  I figured I wouldn't go that extreme, but hoped to come close to 230.  I hashed out my base diet, which you can see in the screen shot here: 

I also add in pasta/tortelini/bread/pbj/tuna/avocados/etc. at will, so I'm closer to about 4500 calories per day.  It's also been frigid / snowing every Wednesday recently, so no sprinting, although dodgeball gets my blood pumping.  So the results so far? Mixed.  I hit 210 lbs and then just sort of...stayed there.  I've been 210 for about 4 weeks now, give or take a pound.   It's different than a few years ago because I have so much more muscle on me when I'm starting...heck I cut at about 2700-2800 calories this past summer.  My baseline for metabolism is just so much higher than it was a few years ago, and the weights I'm pushing are so much higher. Plus I'm doing olympic lifting, etc.  All those things jack up your metabolism.  My strength is clearly going up, but if I want to hit 230 I may have to add in tuna sandwiches daily or something, maybe switch from high carb to a high fat bulk.   

As for goals? I wanted to set a new PR on deadlifts, squats, and come close on benching.  I also want a pr on hanging power snatches...250 maybe on power cleans...and I'd also like to add some mass to my delts.   Obviously as of this writing I've already gotten the squat PR, so now I'd like 455 (why not aim high), and I'm 5 lbs. off an HPS pr.  No idea on the power cleans since my hand is hampering that at least for the next week or so.  Deadlifting I'm also close to a PR.  Going to gradually build up loading over the next few weeks and see what I get. 

I need to post some progress pics at some point here, I'm definitely looking meaty across my chest/back and my legs are absolutely titanic at this point.  I'm sitting here in 36" waist jeans even though my waist is about 33" at this point.  

January 19, 2014 Conditioning

• 31" Plyo Box jumps: 15
• 31" Seated Plyo Box Jumps: 10 (short box for seat)
• Broad Jumps:  8' 5", 8' 6", 8' 5", 8' 5", 8' 2", 8' 6", 8' 5", 8' 5.5", 8' 2", 8' 5", 8' 6", 8' 8", 8' 8"

NO idea why I stopped doing broad jumps; just sort of forgot about them.  Obviously I'm heavier now, so I'm happy here. Again, bracing core and transferring power from ground through the jump.  Figured I'd keep it all lower-body here since my hand is healing still, or trying to anyway. Feels pretty good today actually, I can make a fist without it hurting, thought it's still slightly swollen. 

January 17, 2014 Lower / Heavy

• Deadlifts: 405*1 455*1 490*1 505-thought about it, decided not to
• Hanging Power Snatches: 145*1 145*2 155*1 160*1
• Pull-Throughs: 120*10 150*7

39 minutes

My hand was feeling good; I'm noticing a pattern, it feels fine, I go to the gym, it feels fine..but afterward it swells up a tad. Probably not a good thing. I'll go the doctor this coming week.   Deadlifting went well, hand was actually getting a tad sore though after the 490, decided to take it easy. I actually can't do cleans right now since the catch would require bending my pinky,and I still can't do that comfortably. The snatches though...wow.  What a difference bracing my abs makes; I know I keep mentioning it, but it's been like the missing link in my training.

January 15, 2014 Dodgeball!

• Dodgeball: 90 minutes

Good times; braced pinky by crossing it beneath ring finger and that took care of any pain from throwing the ball...still a bit tender afterward.  It's actually getting somewhat better, may hold off on Dr. til this coming week, if it's still swollen at all. 

January 14, 2014 Upper / Light

• Bench Press: 240*10 255*6
• Unilateral BB T-Bar Rows: 155*7 155*5
• Push Press: 185*5 185*7
• Cable Rows: 180*10 180*7
• Landmine Lateral: 50*7

32 minutes

Had to stay a bit late at work, was pretty tired by the time I got here; just did a couple sets on each movement instead of the usual 3-4.  Happy with the 7 at 185 on PP. Was beat after that.  Also, hand was feeling better, then I rolled over onto it last night while sleeping, and must have done so at an odd angle or something. I woke up almost screaming it hurt so bad, and couldn't get back to sleep for about a half hour from the throbbing pain.  It's swollen up a bit again...what a pain in the ass. 

January 13, 2014 Lower / Light

• Olympic Squats: 250*3 275*3 300*3 315*3 340*2
• Front Squats: 225*3 245*3 225*3
• Good Mornings: 135*5-yeah hamstrings are done.
• Paloffs: 80*10

26 minutes

Blew through this workout...barely any rest time. LOVE olympic squats, haven't done them in a while though.  May do them on my 'lighter' squat days. I can't believe I got 340 on them. I've improved so much these past 6 months on squatting.   Front squats went well too. Had nothing left in the tank by the time I got to the good mornings, the Olympics really drained me. Can't wait to do them again.  Also, hand is feeling a tad better, swelling down, and I can curl my pinky all the way when making a fist with much less pain.