Hi everyone. I've been checking out this forum for a while now, but this will be my first log, as part of the women's challenge.
I have been through rages, tears, despair, two cheap digital cameras, and two crashed computers this weekend. I am so happy I have pictures I don't even care what they look like!!!
I am 31 years old and I've been lifting weights since senior year of high school. I basically did the same bodybuilding-style, isolating body parts workout for over ten years! Wonder why I didn't see much progress, duh? My dad sent me a copy of New Rules about a year ago and I started doing the workouts and I am so happy with the results in both strength and appearance.
So far I have done Break-In, Fat Loss II, Fat Loss III, Hypertrophy I, Strength I and II, and I have four more workouts in Strength III.
I love lifting weights and working out in general, but I am not as good with the diet and that is where I am trying to make improvements. I am following a calorie cycling plan based on the H.E.L.L. diet.
Today's workout will be the drills from HELL once I get done messing around on the computer.
"You only ever grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone." ~Percy Cerutty, athletic icon
"Hard training, easy combat; easy training, hard combat" ~Marshal Suvorov, Russian General
"Jogging is very beneficial. It's good for your legs and your feet. It's also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed." ~Charles Schulz, Peanuts
Thanks for looking at my log. One thing I loved about looking at everyone's pictures is I am always amazed at how two people could be close to the same height, weight and measurements but be shaped so different! Its cool to realize how we are all unique.
Tracy -
Every time I see your picture I think, Victoria. I have to reprogram.
Tom -
Hopefully I can make some good progress. Thanks for reading!
Hi Biskit - At least for me, the heavier weights and less reps are not so bad when you are doing them. Its just the next day! Thanks for reading my log.
Julie - Thanks for stopping by. I'm so excited about the challenge and appreciate your time to organize it.
Okay, here's my workout from last night:
Strength III 4A
Squats:
Warm up sets: 45/5 95/4 135/3
Work sets: 195/3 210/2 220/1 210/3 220/2 230/1
Quarter squats: 265/2 275/2 285/2
More squats: 185/6 160/12
Seated good morning: 75/8 85/8
Swiss ball crunch w/med. ball throw: I think the ball is 12 lbs
4 / 4 / 4 / 10 The workout calls for four sets of four, but its so fun to whale that ball against the wall that I finished with a few extra reps.
I felt pretty good on these squats, but I wish I had a training partner to help me make sure I'm getting low enough. On the lighter weights I do these outside the cage so I can see myself in the mirror, but I want to stay in the cage on the heavier sets.
On the plus side, this is the first year I've belonged to this Y and they don't seem to get all the New Year's Resolution people like all the other gyms I've belonged to. Yeah!!!
Food:
Breakfast: 1/2 cups oats, 1 tsp br sugar, 1 lg pear
Morning nibbles: 6 oz yogurt, lg grapefruit, baby carrots
Lunch: homemade ham & bean soup, tuna sandwich, 1 oz bbq chips
Afternoon: 1/2 cup cottage cheese & frozen strawberries
Dinner: 6" subway steak & cheese
PW Shake: 1 cup milk, 1 scoop chocolate bev int prot powder, 1 frozen banana
Before bed: picked at ice cream cake
Calories: 2318
Fat: 64 g 26%
Carb: 288 g 46%
Protein: 158g 28%
I was satisfied with my calories and protein. But I need to keep working on making better choices. I have to remind myself that a high calorie day is for getting more quality nutrients, not eating potato chips and picking at ice cream cake. On a positive note, I am shocked that there is so much Christmas junk food, including the ice cream cake left in our house. In the past that stuff would have never lasted this long with me around!
Plan for today:
Rest day
Shooting for 1450 calories
Stay active at work as much as possible, do my mini yoga circuit tonight
Breakfast: 1 scoop vanilla prot, 1 cup milk
Morning: 1/2 cup ham & bean soup, tangerine
Lunch: spinach, tuna, tangerine
Afternoon: 1/2 cup cottage cheese mixed w/1 can tuna & baby carrots
Dinner: 1 corona w/lime yummy! and two slices pizza (1/5th of a lg)
Calories were a little higher than I wanted and protein lower. However, I've been really struggling on these rest days with hunger and eating all that tuna helped a lot.
I could also use a trip to the grocery store so we don't have to order a pizza for dinner!
Today's plan:
Run on the track after work:
2 lap warmup, 6 x 400 rpts @ 2:10 pace with 200 rest in between, 1 lap cooldown
Stop at the grocery store, make men's health enchilada lasagne for dinner.
Bent-over rows supersetted with barbell push press
100/4 / 85/4
100/4 / 85/4
85/8 / 75/7
Cable woodchop 60/8 each side for 3 sets
I was not very happy with this workout. I just didn't feel strong. For the bench, it is supposed to be a 3,2,1 wave loading pattern, but when I struggled to get the reps with 95 and failed on the second attempt, I didn't want to try to go any higher. My last workout I got 105. On the push-presses, I couldn't get that last rep of the last set, which I got the time before. I was shaking so bad its lucky I didn't drop the barbell on my head.
The woodchops felt good though. The ab exercises in Strength III are all really awesome!
Food:
Breakfast: picked at ice cream cake, 1/2 piece of last night's pizza
Not very impressive, but got back on course
Morning snack: 1/2 cup ham & bean soup
Lunch: leftover spicy honey chicken thighs & 1/2 homemade stuffed potato
Afternoon snack: 1/2 cup oats w/2 tbls raisins and 1 tsp br sugar, lg pear
Dinner: men's health enchilada lasagne w/additional 2 oz ground beef, green salad w/homemade olive oil & vinegar dressing
Post Workout Shake: 1 cup milk, 1 scoop vanilla prot powder, 1 cup frozen mixed berries - delicious shake!
Well Friday turned into a rest day since I just ran out of time. I tried to scale back accordingly, but I came up a little high on cals. I did go to Walmart and bought my 45's for my olympic set my boyfriend got me for Christmas!
Warm up sets: 45/5 95/4 135/3
Work sets: 195/3 205/2 215/1 205/3 215/2 225/1 - New PR!
Rack deadlifts: 235/2 245/2 255/2 - I finally felt like I was "getting" this exercise in this last workout. Since I was at home and didn't have a rack, my boyfriend set me up on jackstands from the garage. It helped my focus since I had to set it down in exactly the same place.
Snatch-grip deadlift off box (used my step): 140/6 120/12
Zercher good morning: 55/6 65/6
Hanging Leg Raise: BW 4 / 4 / 4 / 4
I was really happy with this finish!
After, I went outside for a short run. It was a total of 22 minutes, including three killer hills, two smallish hills, and one sprint between mailboxes.
Food:
Breakfast: 1/2 cup cottage cheese w/raisins & slivered almonds - this is my new favorite food!
3 slices grilled ham, scrambled eggs, home fries
Post workout shake - 2 scoops designer whey strawberry, 1 cup milk
Lunch: 1 sm apple w/pb, baby carrots, 1/2 Arby's corned beef reuben
Dinner: 2 cups jambalaya with ham from Ellie Krieger Healthy Appetite show, 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
Snack: nuts & raisins, medium orange
Totals: 2228 calories
86 g fat 35%
224 g carb 37%
153 g prot 28%
Overall I was very happy with this day.
Today's plan is to finish Strength III with the pull-up workout! Calorie goal is 13 x BW.
Well, my original plan was to go back to Fat Loss I for the busy season at H&R Block when I will have less time to devote. I was thinking I could finish that around the beginning of March and then finish with Hypertrophy II and III and then I would have done the whole book.
I've been reading NROL4W though, so I am tempted to try that. I guess I'll decide something this week.
I am so proud of these, especially considering I weight 161 lbs! My ultimate goal would be to do a whole set of 10.
Barbell shoulder press supersetted with cable seated row
70 / 4 130 / 4
70 / 3 130 / 4
55 / 8 110 / 8
Reverse woodchop: 45 / 8ea , 45 / 8ea , 45 / 8ea
Intervals on treadmill:
3 min warmup & cooldown at 5.2
1 min @ 6.8 followed by two minutes @ 5.4
1 min @ 6.8 2 @ 5.4
1 min @ 6.9 2 @ 5.4
1 min @ 7.0 2 @ 5.4
I am pretty sore today so I was glad I managed to do that much.
Food:
Breakfast: english muffin with, ham, swiss, and egg, medium banana
Morning snack: Slice of ice cream cake
Lunch: italian sandwich and grapes, strawberries, cantaloupe and pineapple
Dinner: ham and bean soup, green beans
Post workout shake: 1 scoop bev intl vanilla, 1 cup milk, 1 cup frozen mixed berries
Evening snack: 1/8 cup mixed nuts
Total: 1969 calories
79 g fat 37%
227 g carb 42%
102 g prot 21%
This is a little lower than I was aiming for, but I had to estimate the calories of lunch since I ate at our office meeting. I might add a small protein something.
Biggest accomplishment of the day: I took down the Christmas tree, took out the trash, and cleaned the toilet so it no longer resembles a truckstop bathroom! I would rather do a million of Alwyn's workouts than any household chores, so this was a major achievement.
Leah, thanks so much for stopping by my log and commenting about that scale habit I am trying to break, too! I am glad you are logging your macros. I want to watch your progress with those numbers. Good luck to you.
Thanks for the support!
Karen
__________________
Karen
Life is short. Break the rules. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. Love truly, laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.
You're not 4 years old. You can tell yourself NO!" Dr. Phil
Thanks for reading my log. One thing about writing down food in a public place is it makes me think twice. If I don't want to tell people I ate junk then I better not eat it! Your baby is very cute btw.
dillytl - Thanks for stopping by!
GinnyLou - I never kept a public log before. Its pretty fun.
Yesterday was a rest day.
Food:
Breakfast: 1/2 cup oats w/ 1/2 lg pear and 1 tsp brown sugar
Morning snack: 1 can tuna mixed with green beans & 1 tlbs homemade oil & vinegar dressing
Lunch: leftover ham & shrimp jambalaya
Afternoon snack: 1/2 cup cottage cheese with 1 cup mixed frozen berries
Dinner: 5 oz broiled salmon w/mixed stir-fry veggies
Evening: picked at nuts and raisins
So far I have done Break-In, Fat Loss II, Fat Loss III, Hypertrophy I, Strength I and II, and I have four more workouts in Strength III.
I love lifting weights and working out in general, but I am not as good with the diet and that is where I am trying to make improvements. I am following a calorie cycling plan based on the H.E.L.L. diet.
Today's workout will be the drills from HELL once I get done messing around on the computer.
Hi Leah! Just reading your workouts makes me feel tired. I quoted the beginning of your log because I was wondering what results did you not get out of the NROL workouts that caused you to add the drills and diet from H.E.L.L. (that doesn't sound good).
__________________ Just because your mother thinks you're special doesn't mean I do
Thanks for reading my log. When I started doing new rules, I had been doing the same tired program for probably ten years, still lifting about the same weights! I was spending so much time lifting and running and it didn't feel very fun or interesting anymore. Plus I had lost 50 lbs with Weight Watchers and then gained back 10-15 and I was really hoping to lose those pounds. I was really attracted to new rules because it said you could get better results by putting in less time.
Doing New Rules without restricting calories did not take off any weight. I am okay with that, because I think it really revved my metabolism, which had slowed down from weight watchers. And I think I was able to build muscle that i wouldn't have if i was eating at a deficit.
I decided to add the HELL diet to try to get those pounds off. I struggle on the low days, but I love the high days! I am still working to get in enough protein, which seems like it works magic for appetite control.
As far as the drills, I love that you can do them at home and totally wipe yourself out in 30 minutes. You can't beat that.
Yesterday went totally off track.
I was so hungry I ate twice the portion of dinner that I had planned. Then I didn't do my drills because we went to sleep at 8:30. Then we had an argument this morning because his clothes didn't end up washed and his stuff gathered up the night before for work. (Not that he expected me to do those things, but just po'ed that they didn't get done.) Then I yelled back, which always makes me feel really guilty because I hate yelling, and after he left I looked around that house and everything reminds me of all the stuff he does for me and now I feel like a jerk. Ugh. Then I tried to do a bunch of stuff like fold laundry and load the dishwasher to make a pleasant surprise for him when he comes home, and I made myself late for work. Only 5 minutes, but still, I hate being late. I always think I can do about twice what is realistic for a given amount of time.
Today is going to be different!
I am going to have an attitude adjustment right now and stay on my plan and be happy and positive and cheerful. (Or at least try. )
I have to go to my other job this evening, so I will not get to exercise. Goal is 9 x bw cals for a rest day.
Yesterday was a rest day, but I am really happy with how I did on food. I have been trying to eat a lot more protein, particularly on low days and it seems to work almost like magic for my monster appetite.
Yesterday's food:
Breakfast: english muffin w/pb
Morning snack: ham & bean soup & an orange
Lunch: two rotisserie chicken breasts w/skin removed & half a package of microwave mixed frozen veggies
Afternoon snack: 1/2 cup cottage cheese with a can of tuna
Dinner: chicken noodle soup
Evening snack: I had about 100 calories left, so I had a couple bites of my boyfriends sausage sandwich
I was a little hungry at H&R Block, so I think I will need to do something higher protein than the chicken noodle soup for dinner next time. There was an open box of chocolates in the back and the guy I was working with was eating them and every time he talked to me I could smell them on his breath. Obscene!
Today's plan:
HELL Drills, Calories 11 x BW
I got a new computer and I am picking it up after work, so I have to be really disciplined to get in the workout! I am determined.
There was an open box of chocolates in the back and the guy I was working with was eating them and every time he talked to me I could smell them on his breath. Obscene!
How dare he!!
Quote:
I got a new computer and I am picking it up after work, so I have to be really disciplined to get in the workout! I am determined.
Ahhh.....a new toy!!! Just set yourself a goal - you CANNOT open the box until AFTER your workout!!
Leah's Lifting Log
On the push-presses, I couldn't get that last rep of the last set, which I got the time before. I was shaking so bad its lucky I didn't drop the barbell on my head.
I would rather do a million of Alwyn's workouts than any household chores, so this was a major achievement.
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