This is after 1 full week of Adam's Diet compliance.
Weight: 246.0 (-4.2)
Movements are straight sets, 3x20 w/ 2min rest except as noted
Dumbbell Deadlifts
(2x40)x3
When I was trying movements out, I found a pair of 50s a bit hard to grip on sets of 15. For sets of 20, I though 40s were a bit conservative, though it felt about right. Here's looking at 45s next time.
Hundred Pushups, Week 1, Day 1 10-10-8-6-Max with 60s rest
10-10-8-6-14 (48 total)
Assisted Pullups (overhand) With the fat (2") band, as many sets as needed to complete 25 or more total reps, resting 2min between sets
11-7-5-2
That's a +1 improvement on the second set from my the test workout. I fully intended to do this with two twists in the band, but I simply forgot. I don't see any problem leaving it this way. It's not as if I'm gonna rattle off 50 unassisted next week.
Static Lunge
15/15-10/10-10/10
During my testing, I had trouble completing sets of 15, so this isn't as bad as it seems to me.
Metabolic Overdrive
Week 1, Session 1, Warmup/rest in Treadmill, intervals as Squat Thrusts
20-15-11
I'm using the NROL advice to "Leave one in the tank." That's +2 on the second set from last time.
Compliance okay, but I REALLY botched my afternoon snack timing and content. I THINK the problem was I let myself go too long and should have added some carb. Or maybe I'm still dialing in. Pre-workout drink didn't help my mental state much, giving me THIS lovely result:
Doing Straight Sets, 3x20 except as otherwise noted
db Squats w/ Weight on Shoulders (2x20)x25x3
Not sure what I was thinking with these reps. 3x20 would have been fine. 3x25 was just . hard, even with the baby weights here.
Hundred Pushups Week 1, Day 2 10+ 12-12-10-10-Max w/ 90s Rest
12-12-10-10-13 (57 Total +9)
25 Chins With the 2" band, as many sets as necessary to complete 25 reps total
12-5-8
This variation seems easier.
Bulgarian Split Squats
1x10/10 Bodyweight
Yeah, this is where the wheels fell off. Couldn't get into a good position and felt woogy. A minute of horizontal and I was fine, but thought better than to attempt it again.
Clearly I'm still dialing in my afternoon feeding. Blech.
I seem to be back to normal. Between snack and supper I got a bit low, but recovered with an on-diet dinner so Joy. Still need to dial in my afternoon feedings better.
Wednesday is, once again, the Hard Core crowd with lotsa throwing. Decent energy though I'm still getting gassed faster than I want to.
Diet is still a bit iffy. I'm not sure if it's the low-carb transition, work stress, or what, but I haven't yet achieved that nice low-carb even keel blood sugar I'm looking for.
I'm not sure I want to know what my weight is doing this week.
Anywho...
A-Workout
Unless otherwise noted, 3x20 with 2min rest
Dumbbell Deadlifts (2x45)x20x3
A bit grip challenged on the last set. Leaving this the same when I drop weight.
25 Pullups With the 2" band, as many sets as necessary to complete 25+ reps
12-6-4-4
That's +1 on the first set, and 26 total.
Static Lunge
(Bodyweight) 10/10-10/10-10/10
Had to break up the last set, but this felt MUCH better than last time around.
METCON Overdrive Week 1, Session 1, Warmup/rest in Treadmill, intervals as Squat Thrusts
Got 20 reps on all three rounds. First two rounds done in 40s, last in a minute.
Adjustments?
Going to try 25-20-whatever on my MO. Next time we see this workout the rests on squats and lunges drop to 90s. For push/pull, I'm going to follow the existing plan.
Energy was good today. Woot. Didn't eat anything "wrong" but feel a bit bloaty. Non Woot.
Weight: 150.4 +4?
Blech!
This week I'm going to try dropping root veggies and upping leafy and flowery things.
B-Workout Unless otherwise noted, 3x20 with 2min rest
Dumbbell Squats (weight on shoulders) (2x20)x20x3
Amazing how much easier this is when I have good energy and I don't screw up my rep count.
100 Pushups Week 2 Day 1 10+ 12-12-9-7-Max (10+) on 60s rest
12-12-9-7-18 (58 Total +10)
That's +10 from Week 1 Day 1, which is a better comparison.
Kettlebell Two-point Rows
35x10/10-10/10-10/10
For various reasons, I was without a chin bar today. This is an Alwyn movement that I've grown fond of.
Bulgarian Split Squats? Nope
After getting into position I realized this wasn't going to happen. Hopefully it's just my legs saying that lunging shouldn't happen on consecutive days.
Thoughts?
I had good energy throughout the day and the workout. Not sure why I've got the bloat on. Hoping I have a weird stomach thing that'll go away.
Moving on
Okay, that's twice through each workout on long reps. Next four workouts will be:
Generally 3x15 on 90s rest, straight sets.
Hundred Pushups Continues
Continue with assisted chins.
Keep trying to get my lunges working. Trying to up the reps on static lunges to 12, keeping Bulgarians at "how many can you do?" for now.
Continue with the Squat Thrust MO. Raise the target reps for Round 1 to 25. I think I can look to doing 30s, but I'm trying for Alwyn's "Leave one in the tank" rather than trying to kill myself
Complicated Kick Drill Sempai was leading tonight with the Hardcore crowd. I jammed my pinkie botching a kick block, and bruised my toe against an MD. Yes, a doctor MD.
Ouchies!
Diet Data Point
For midafternoon, I had an apple with some peanutbutter. I felt flush for an hour or so after.
Diet data point. No peanut butter, mixing my apple with pepperoni instead. That seems to work better. Had a pint after workout--met a few work people at the brew pub.
Deadlift Day, A-workout
Unless otherwise specified, 3x15 on 90s rest.
Dumbbell Deadlift (2x45)x15x3
Shorter rest on deads ramps up the difficulty. Imagine that!
Hundred Pushups, Week 2, Day 2, 10+ 16-13-11-11-Max (15+) on 90s rest
16-13-11-11-18 (69 Total +12)
25 Pullups With the fat band, as many sets as necessary to complete 25 reps on 2min rest
9-8-5-3
Not as many initially as last time? Shorter rests maybe?
Static Lunge
(bodyweight)x12/12-10/10-10/10
Better, though still not great. Had to break up the second leg on all sets.
2008-9-23 Hittin' Iron Except as noted, 3 sets of 15 on 90s rest
Dumbbell Squats (weight on shoulder) (2x30)x15x3
That's actually a (+10) isn't it?
100 Pushups Beyond my Depth
27-19-19-15-12 (90s rest) (82 total +13)
Pretty much decided I need to drop to the next lower level. Also noticed they've tweaked things on their website, so for next week, I'll be using the 10-20 column. I suspect the reason is that I'm doing this after hard fast leg sets.
25 Chinups Using the 2" band, as many sets as it takes to complete 25 reps on 2min rest
13-8-3
Bulgarian Split Squats (2x5)-7/7-7/7-7/7
The Barbie weights actually seemed to help my balance.
It's easy to forget that this is a DEFICIT deadlift when I think, "Jeeze this little weight shouldn't be this hard." Right.
100 Pushups, Week 3, Day 3 (21—25) 25-19-19-17-Max on 2min rest
25-19-19-15-25 (103 total +33)
Yep. Dropping was the right plan.
25 pullups With the 2" band, as many sets as necessary to complete 25 reps
13-9-6 (28 total)
I'm pleased with how these are going.
Static Lunge (Bodyweight)x12/12x3
All of the second leg sets had to be divided, but now I'm strong enough to complete all my reps, just in time for the last workout of the sequence.
METCON Overdrive
Three rounds, squat thrusts 22-22-15
Thoughts
I think I have my energy levels zeroed in. Now I have to see if I'm actually losing, though I'm figuring this as "Prep Work" for whatever comes next...
I scared some people in the gym doing the squat thrusts.
No real change. Good news is that my energy's been stable all week, including some NASTY work hours.
Hittin' the Eye-ron Except as noted, movements are 3x12 on 60s rest
Dumbbell Squats, (Weight on shoulders) (2x35)x12-12-12
100 Pushups Week 4, 10—25 22-16-16-14-Max (22+) on 60s rest
22-16-16-14-26 (94 total +10)
Yep, lowering the level was the right thing to do.
25 Chinups With the Large band, as many sets as necessary to complete 25 or more total reps
12-10-8 (30 total, +6)
Not bad . . not bad. Add a couple twists or the small band and sets of 15 start to look feasible.
Bulgarian Split Squat (2x5)-8/8-8/8-8/8
Oh look! Sets of these things! At this point I'm pausing between sides, rather than during the set. Small steps. The light weights seem to help my balance, so I'll keep 'em.
Okay, weight's been a wash, mostly because diet's been iffy, but I see some encouraging notes. Arms are less measuring less flabby and feel fuller, woot! and my middle's smaller though it looks like I botched one of my butt measurements.
I'm not entirely sure I trust +3/4" on my flexed arm either. Obviously I need to make my measuring technique more consistent.
What's Next?
Look for a pullup test later this week
I'm doing NROL4W, give or take something to make pushups more difficult.
Remedial Lunging, obviously.
Look for a pullup test later this week.
Pushups Test One set 'till I fall on my nose 33 (+15)
Not quite a hundred, but nearly doubled. I'll be leaving off Hundred Pushups and moving to 3x15s, mostly likely declines or Ts?
NROL4W Phase 1, Week 1, Workout A1 Except as noted, 2x15 on 60s Rest
Squat: 135x15x2
Arm flexibility is an issue. Working on moving the arms in. Weight is nice and brutal.
Alternate Sets: Pushup & Seated Row
Decline Pushups: (Bodyweight)x15x2
Seated Row (D-Handles) 200x15x2
After doing the Hundred Pushups workouts, the Declines were surprisingly tough.
Alternate Sets: Stepups and Prone Jackknives
Stepups (Bodyweight)x15/15x15/15
Prone Jackknives, 2x8 (Bodyweight)x8x8
New movement!! Once I figured out how to stay on the ball, the jackknives went well. The rep increase should go nicely.
Based on how many pauses I needed, I'll be doing bodyweight on this bench for a LONG time.
Thoughts
DAMN, Alwyn's workouts are grueling! Of course I knew that...
I have a shoulder flexibility issue on squats. Lots of work to do there.
So why 4W? First, it's New, which is nearly always a Good Thing for a program. Second, the workout progression is completely different from what I've been doing, which is another Good Thing.
Finally, I bought the book for my wife, who hasn't read it yet, so someone had to....
Week off for illness (blech!!) and a revamping. I've temporarily lost the ability to squat and dead heavy--not an injury, I just had to move the Oly set to storage. That means no Orthodox NROL4W and coming up with suitable adaptations.
I guess I'll take this as an opportunity to do single-leg work. More details tomorrow when I hit the weights again.
Intervals Intervals Intervals
Three rounds of Metabolic Overdrive running uphill on grass.
Shoes!!!
Went to the local runners specialty store, asking about "Shoes for heavy, slow guys with flat feet." Wound up with NB 1011s, which just seemed comfy. I've had good luck with NBs last in the past, so there ya go.
Just looking around to see what others are up to.
Sounds like you have a good plan. I hope you like those New Balances-- that brand is my favorite, and I just bought a(nother) pair myself.
I'm walking 60 miles for a breast cancer cure, September 11-13, 2009! Please support my walk and help me raise funds for cancer research by donating to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day: http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/...nal&fr_id=1300
Just looking around to see what others are up to.
Sounds like you have a good plan. I hope you like those New Balances-- that brand is my favorite, and I just bought a(nother) pair myself.
Good luck!
Thanks Willie. I tried every motion control shoe they had in my size and wound up in the NBs. For my feet, they Just Work.
I took the shoes out on a paved trail for interval work today. Except for the minor detail of not having anything in my legs, they worked a treat. No shin splintiness (bane of Big Guys) nor plantar tendon ickiness, to use the technical term.
So we gotta start again
Linear Mode
