2011-01-31 Sled

Weight:
177.4
Woah

Food:
Steak
Milk, Fruit
Steak and Mushrooms

Supplements:
Creatine - had after first steak
ZMA - prebed

Sleep:
~11:30

Training:
Sled Drags: 135lbs x 200ft x ~1 min rest x ~8-10 trips
Started doing these with Greg; it was basically just alternating trips and changing the plates between. We lost count but I definitely hit at least 8.
Going up to 185 next time; he'll be doing 115lbs. Yay.

2011-01-30 Dead and Bench

Weight:
176.2

Food:
Steak
Milk
Steak and Mushrooms

Supplements:
Creatine - as soon as I finish the post
ZMA - prebed

Sleep:
11:15 (or thereabouts - might be more like 11:30)

Training:

Warmup (10lb DBs)

Deadlift: 135, 185, 225
3x5 - 270lbs
Chalked, double overhand grip. Might switch to mixed next week, or see how stuff plays out...this one almost fell out of my hands for the final rep of the final set, to the point that I had to cut my ROM short slightly. This is more of a psychological hit than anything (I really, REALLY love the feeling I get from locking out a dead), but...yeah.

Bench: 45, 95, 135
3x5 - 180lbs
The first two sets were stellar. Third one I set up poorly or something; ass was off the bench slightly, etc., and it just didn't go very well.
Need to teach Greg proper liftoff technique. Kinda annoyed that I can't take these out of the rack myself anymore...*cries*

Pulldowns:
3x5 - 150lbs
Yay. These are getting dramatically harder - it's reached the stage that I'm almost reaching for the ROM with my chin. Still feeling it in my lats properly, though.
I think I'll probably switch to pullups once I hit bodyweight for 3x5 and then start adding weight.

No face pulls today because the RSF are dicks and decided to order new rope attachments and then throw out all of the old ones before the new set arrived. Yeah, great.
---
VERY good training session today.

Started contrast showering somewhat more seriously. Planning to just terminate my regular showers with 1 round of cold before I get out, then towel myself warm. Post-workout showers, 3 cycles with the same end.

Need to consume more rapidly if I'm going to bed at this time, lol.

2011-01-27 Squat and Press

Weight:
Unknown

Food:
Steak
Milk and Fruit
Steak and Mushrooms

Supplements:
Creatine (think I already took)
Fish Oil - took half, half after steak, may or may not have any more because I think this bottle may have gone bad. <.<
ZMA - on sleep

Sleep:
Whenever I finish my BioE homework.
---
Training:

Warmup (used the 10lb DBs for Dieselcrew)

Squat: 45, 45, 45, 95, 135, 185
3x5 - 230lbs
No belt. Not sure how I'm going to approach going belted, but right now I'm back in my stupidly-raw mindset. That may or may not change when I hit the 300s here.

Press: 45, 85
3x5 - 115lbs
At last, I have conquered a milestone I have repeatedly conquered over the last 2 years. Story of my training life, but still.

DB Row:
3x5 - 57.5lbs
I need to get a bigger Oly handle.
Other than that, felt good and easy. I'm going to weigh the handle at some point to see if I've been mis-labeling it (smaller grip diameter is probably the reason I find it easier than the gym's DBs, though).

Rollouts:
3x10
Need to switch to blast strap fallouts or something. Maybe the old single-side suitcase DL?
---
Not dragging the sled on Fridays until I can start waking up at around 7 daily. Next week I intend to go to bed around 11:15 or 11:30 (facilitated by stuff like actually doing my homework). Once I can do that, I'll be dragging it at the same time I do Monday and Wednesday.

2011-01-26 Sled

Weight:
176

Food:
Steak
[Milk and Fruit]
[Steak and Mushrooms]

Supplements:
Creatine
Fish Oil - took half, other half after dinner
[ZMA - on sleep]

Sleep:
Trying for midnight. Hoping to sleep around 11:15 eventually so I can safely wake up at 7.
---
Training:

Sled:
135lbs, 200ft trips, 1 minute between, 5 trips.

2011-01-25 Dead and Bench

Weight:
174.2 (which dropped to 173.2 about an hour later for bodily function-related reasons...grr)

Food:
Steak
Milk and Fruit
Steak and Mushrooms (sauteed in ghee)

Supplements:
Fish Oil
Creatine - after I hit post
ZMA - before sleep

Sleep:
Probably around 1 or 1:30. I have milk to drink and homework to do (both of which I should have done sooner - bloody research apps. Actual research will suck)
---
Training:

Warmup

Deadlift: 135, 185, 225
3x3 - 265lbs
Definitely bringing the chalk next time.

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 135
3x3 - 175lbs
Form breakdown...need to work on it. Ass was coming off the bench due to imperfect setup on at least one set.

Pulldowns:
3x3 - 145lbs
Less hard.

Face Pulls:
3x10 - 20lbs
Went up.

2011-01-23 Squat and Press

Weight:
174

Food:
I anticipate some apples or something while I'm at work, 'cuz I didn't eat breakfast. (2x)
Steak
[Steak]
[Milk]

Supplements:
Creatine
[Fish Oil]
[ZMA]

Sleep:
12:30
---
Ok, weight's moving up now.

Training:

Warmup

Squat: 45, 45, 45, 95, 135, 185, 185B
3x3 - 225 (no belt)
Gahhhh. I'm slipping back into my old "stupidly raw" mindset and felt bad about using the belt because it made squats so easy.
I then took it off and found that it was probably making them easy due to confidence more than anything, though it does provide me with an enormous boost out of the hole.

Press: 45, 85
3x3 - 112.5lbs

DB Row:
3x3 - 55lbs

Rollout:
3x8

2011-01-20 Dead and Bench

Weight:
172.6

Food:
Steak
[Steak]
Milk - I'm going to start putting this in the middle of these

Supplements:
Creatine - after editing
Fish Oil - half earlier, half after steak
[ZMA]

Sleep:
12:30
---
Getting better at actually sleeping when I mean to. I'm being somewhat relaxed about when I fall asleep because Jan recommended sleepyti.me, which suggests that 7 hours and 45 minutes is a pretty ideal period from lying down to waking up. Turns out I'd silenced my alarm, though, so I had to fix some that. >.>

Training:
Warmup - only one set of GMs, yay

Deadlift: 135, 185, 225
3x5 - 265lbs
First one without chalk, second and third with. The difference was astounding.
Still double-overhand grip, yeahhhh.

Bench: 45, 45, 45/95, 135
3x5 - 175lbs
Hard. Need to work on keeping my arch solid; this actually started to tweak my back.

Pulldowns:
3x5 - 145lbs
Getting damn hard.

2011-01-18 Squat and Press

Weight:
172.2lbs (171.8 after shitting)

Food:
Steak and Mushrooms
Milk (both before and after training)
Steak and Mushrooms

Supplements:
Creatine - I'm pretty sure I took this
Fish Oil - with milk
ZMA - pre-bed. Retrospective: Dreams weren't horrible, will try again.

Sleep:
~12:30
---
I've figured out how I'm going to handle my sleep schedule.
MWF I have class from 9-10 and 11-12, so my plan is to wake up at around 8:30, take a steak out of the fridge to rest, come back, cook it, and eat it. Tuesdays I'm free until 3pm, Thursdays I've got work starting at about 10:15...so I can again just do a steak like that. Once I start expanding my range I'll probably start working on alternative meals that are faster to prepare, but it looks like I'm just solidly waking up at about 8:30 for now. Convenient.

Training:

Warmup

Squat - 45, 45, 45, 95, 95, 135, 185, 185B
3x5 - 225B
The work sets got dramatically easier as they went. I made a point of remembering some of the stuff from the first 2 parts of So You Think You Can Squat and applying it, and that made a world of difference.
The belt makes coming out of the hole so much easier, lol. I like my current warmup protocol (warm up without, then do a repeat of the last warmup set with, then do the work sets), though...I want to retain some beltless strength. >.>
Still a total rawfag at heart.

Press: 45, 85
3, 4, 4 - 115lbs
Form got progressively better as the sets went - first was bad, second was ok, third was great and might have afforded me a 5th if I hadn't decided to just let it stand there.

DB Row:
3x5 - 55lbs
I can put 10s on the DB Handle without fucking up the ROM, so looks like I'll keep doing that.

No ab work because we were really, really late getting there and were then delayed by a combination of Luis having shitty hamstring flexibility and Rachel not technically being registered with the University and thus not being allowed into the gym. We didn't have $12 to buy a day pass, so...yeah.

2011-01-16 Dead and Bench

Weight:
Forgot to weigh in. Fuck.

Eating:
Steak, Sweet Potato, Mushrooms
Steak
Half gallon of milk
and a bag of pork rinds

Supplements:
Creatine - after I hit post (...actually, after I hit tab-tab-enter, but w/e)
Fish Oil

Sleep:
2am.
---
Finally getting back in the gym. Looks like I may be able to get Saba back, and possibly Eric. Sweet.

Turns out that fabricating my own ribeyes was costing me way more than just buying them prefabbed from Costco - Costco prefabbed are significantly higher-quality than Safeway, and my observations indicate that the Choice grade ones are stored more effectively.

I still need to get a meat grinder.
---
Training:

Warmup (only 2 sets of GMs this time, wow)

Deadlift: 135, 185, 225B
3x5 - 260lbs
Belted for the first set, then nonbelted to see if there was a difference.
...there wasn't. I need chalk, though - my grip is failing. Will have to smuggle it in and deadlift where I squat.

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 135
3x5 - 170lbs
Grinders, but not too hard.
Wrist tendinitis or whatever the fuck I had appears to have subsided in favor of an issue I've had recently and know how to fix fairly easily. Yay.
The Deads are tiring me out in advance of these, though I suspect sled work will fix that.

Pulldowns:
3x5 - 140lbs
These are getting harder. Not sure if I'll switch to weighted pull-ups when I'm at bodyweight pulldowns for the given reps, or when I can do the entire stack for the given reps. Entire stack's a long way off (~315lbs - about six months out assuming I never stall).

Face Pulls:
3x10 - 15lbs
Switching to 3x10 for these. Maybe also for ab work, dunno.

2011-01-10 Food only

Weight:
172lbs, but under different circumstances from the above (and thus statistically irrelevant)

Eating:
Steak, Sweet Potato, Mushrooms
Steak, Sweet Potato, Mushrooms
~Gal milk

Supplements:
Creatine - Done
Fish Oil - Done

Sleep:
1am.
---
Stayed up waaaay too late last night.

No training today. Will stretch.

I'm getting some stomach discomfort. Part of this may be connected to not staying up-to-date with my lactase pills as I drink milk (I should be doing a half-pill every hour, but I think I've been missing a few).

2011-01-09 Sled and some food stuff

Weight:
173.2lbs

Eating:
Steak and Sweet Potato/Mushroom Sautee/Stir-Fry/whatever
Steak and Sweet Potato, mushrooms done separately
Working on ~1gal milk

Supplements:
Creatine - Check
Fish Oil - Check

Sleep:
[try 1:30 tonight...god, that seems REALLY early]
---
I'm refining my recipe, to the point that I now use 2 pans instead of one.

Grill Pan = for the steak (largest burner+highest heat, cook for 40sec x 2 each side to get the grill marks)
Skillet = for the potatoes and possibly mushrooms (just kinda letting these hang out right now)

Tricks I'm picking up:
1) Slice the potato segment you're planning to use in half (along the axis of the potato). This makes it much, much easier to cut even slices with the Murdering Knife.
2) Mushrooms need to be pretty close to the heat - I'm probably going to just put them on the grill pan after I take the steak off and not bother trying to have them cook alongside the potatoes.
3) Tossing the potato slices with oil, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder seems to work pretty well for spicing. Might want to add a bit more oil, though...dunno.
4) For the potatoes, use lower heat - I've got them on there for upwards of 5 minutes per side, so why not?
---
Training:

Sled Work - 6 trips, 200ft each, 135lbs on sled, 1 minute between trips

This was a tad botched due to delays before I started the second set and a brief wait halfway through the sixth. I'm going to periodize this somewhat by dropping the number of trips to 5 for Wednesday (if I drag at all - might be in San Diego for arbitrary reasons that annoy me) and counting up from there.

Stretching hamstrings etc. afterwards because my flexibility is embarassing.

2012-01-08 Dead 3s

Warmup - Complete

Deadlift - 135, 185, 225, 285, 325, 365
All for 3
Was planning to go for 7 but these were hard as fuck. Looking back I realize that I wasn't pulling back properly and the bar was swinging out in front, so it's possible this newfound weakness is just a technical flaw.

GHR:
10x10lbs
10x5lbs
10xBW
I hate myself.

Rollouts:
6, 7, 7

2011-01-08 Squat and Press

Eating:
Steak and Sweet Potato
Steak and a Sweet Potato/Mushroom stir-fry like thing
Gallon Milk (...plus a couple of ribs and some pieces of gluten-free vegan chocolate+walnut tort)

Supplements:
Creatine - Taken
Fish Oil - Taken (almost out of the expensive caps)

Sleep:
...let's try that 2am thing. AGAIN.
---
The sleep's improving.

Training:
Warmup - The usual. Dieselcrew Shoulder Warmup is getting easier, and while I did need 4 sets of band GMs to loosen up my hamstrings, the warmup squats went better.

Squat: 45, 45, 45, 95, 95, 135, 185, *ADD BELT*, 185
3x5 - 220lbs
This is more what this is supposed to feel like. Wasn't as easy as I'd've liked.
Guessing sleep, sled work, and 5,000 kcal per day is paying off.

Press: 45, 72.5
1x3 - 117.5lbs
1x5 - 115lbs
1x4 - 115lbs
Yeah, I, uh, forgot that I wasn't done.
And then I psyched myself up for set 2 because the staff came in to try to kick us out. I wanted to scary them off with a roar, but I failed MISERABLY and did something more like the hiss from my DL PR video.

DB Row:
3x5 - 55lbs
Easy and nice.

Rollout:
3x8

2011-01-07 Sled

Eating:
Steak and Sweet Potato
Steak and significantly more Sweet Potato (which was a mistake)
Working on ~1gal Whole Milk
+1.5lbs of Blackberries

Supplements:
Creatine - Taken
Fish Oil - Taken

Sleep:
Attempting 2am again, 'cuz I failed last night for weird reasons.
---
I got some larger sweet potatoes from a local-chain grocery store and used half of one to make some potato wedge-like things. It kinda worked - the ones that were sliced to the right thickness (or lack thereof) and stayed on the heat properly wound up being very moist and tasting like good ol'-fashioned English chips, but the others wound up tough and annoying. THE HUNT CONTINUES.

Sled Dragging:

5x200ftx135lbs - 1 min rest

Last trip was damn hard.

These were done in the very cold, too.

My wrist is getting worse.

2011-01-06 Dead and Bench

EliteFTS say you can loop the sled straps through the belt to replace a pulling harness. The increase in difficulty and discomfort from doing this is unbelievable and I am never trying it again.

Food:

Ribeye and Sweet Potato

1lb Hamburger and some sweet potato Fries

Working on a gallon of whole milk

Sleep Schedule:

Actually will go to sleep by 2am today.

Supplementation:

Fish Oil: taken

Creatine: Not yet taken...wait for it...Taken.

---

I seriously need to get my wrist looked at, lol.

The only problem is that I still have copayments etc. from my insurance and need to pay off my current medical bills, which are currently overdue. I've got a ton of financial stuff to handle tomorrow, lol (well, not a ton, but it's more than I'd usually handle in a given 'Take care of finances' day).

Lifting:

Warmup - The usual. Took 5 sets of Band GMs to get my hamstrings to loosen up, argh. 7.5lbs on the Dieselcrew warmup.

Deadlifts: 135, 185; added belt; 225

3x5 - 255lbs

Not easy, but not hard.

Bench: 45, 45, 95, 135

3x5 - 165lbs

Hardish. My wrist started acting up, I couldn't get it out of the rack on my own after the first set, and the reps were pretty tough. I suspect this is because I've semi-forgotten how to bench properly and need to go over getting lat activation, etc..

Pulldowns:

3x5 - 135lbs

Also fairly difficult.

Face Pulls:

3x8 - 15lbs

Will go up in a few weeks.

2011-01-05 Food and Sled

Wednesday, January 5, 2011:

My computer bluescreened repeatedly last night, so I unplugged it and went to sleep at about 2:30, so...at least my sleep schedule's improving, I guess?
I completely neglected to take my creatine, though.

Food Log:
Ribeye and a rather small Sweet Potato (used a regular skillet instead of a grill pan this time - the improvement was pretty dramatic)
Lamb Curry, Rice, 1.5 Naans, a weird Indian dessert
Several grapes, several pieces of English toffee, ~8 miniature paleo-cookies

Supplementation Log:
[Fish Oil: FUCKING HELL I NEVER DID IT ARGH]
Creatine (5g) - Check

Sleep Schedule:
[Went to sleep at around 4 due to a combination of Magic and womanly pressures]
---
Well this day kinda failed.

Training:

Sled Work:
4x200ftx135lbs - 1 Minute Rest
Did the first 3 looping the straps through the belt, then decided it was too much of a hassle, took the belt off, and it got a hell of a lot easier. Going for 6 next time.

Did them next to my house because I couldn't be arsed to go find anywhere south side.

2011-01-04 Food, Squat, and Press

Food Log:
Ribeye
Ribeye
roughly 7/8 gal of Whole Milk

Estimating ~4,500 kcal.

Supplement Log:
6x expensive fish oil caps
Creatine: Will have in a minute.

Sleep Schedule Improvement:
Sleeping at 2. Intended 1, but failed because I suck.
---
That didn't last long.

I'm suspending the Coconut Milk experiment until I have an actual ice cream maker. Rachel and I worked on two recipes yesterday and one of them (mentioned above, iirc) worked pretty well, but it seems that my stomach disagreed with my taste buds here. This week's probably going to be a disaster in terms of fruit intake (doesn't help that most berries are currently out of season), but I need the calories so I'm going on a milkfest. I'll be a little more rigorous with stuff next week, since I'll be able to actually plan shit out over the weekend instead of just randomly grabbing my usual items in my hurry to get home. >.>

Training:

Warmup: Same as usual. 7.5lbs on the Dieselcrew Shoulder Warmup.

Squat: 45, 45, 45, 95, 95, 135, 185; add belt; 185 (all for 3)
3x5 - 215lbs
Harder than I like to admit, though some of this was probably form issues. I could feel my weight shifting to the balls of my feet on a few of them; I need to work on sitting back properly. I also want to get someone to check my depth.

Press: 45, 85 (for 5)
3x3 - 115lbs
Damn.
I will gain weight and smash this next time.

DB Row:
3x5 - 52.5lbs
Did this with DB Handle, 4 tens, and 4 chains. In future I'll put the chains around the clips for space reasons. I hate how large rubberized plates are.
Easy enough.

Rollouts:
3x8

EDIT: Yup, I'm including more loggy stuff in here now, because I figure if I force myself to post it on a forum I could actually form some kind of habit.

Dietary Stuff

Back from the grave.

I start lifting again tomorrow. I'm currently about 170lbs ("dry and hungry" - more like ~172.5 walking weight) and could probably stand to be leaner given that I consider 170 to be pretty light for me. I'll be dragging the sled on a protocol similar to what I was doing before, though I'm strongly considering relocating to a parking lot or something so I can do 150 or 200ft drags and have other people along (200ft seemed to have a greater effect on my conditioning than 100ft have - I think it's mostly just a matter of lining up the times [i.e. I want the trips to be more like 45-60 seconds, since most of my sets are around 45 seconds long*]).

Diet-wise, I've found a brand of coconut milk that's approximately the same price per calorie as whole milk was, so I'm going to try an experiment in which I make and consume copious quantities of sugar-free home-made coconut milk icecream (possibly using some heavy whipping cream in it later on for added calories, if I find that to be necessary). I also intend to start cutting my steaks thicker and planning out meals over the weekend so I can have some more variety.

Since I'm (at least temporarily) removing milk, I'm going to place some emphasis on getting some more carbohydrate via sweet potatoes, zucchini, and anything else I can find that fits within Quinopio's guidelines (I'm fairly sure the people who actually read this won't fault me on this, but my justification here is that most of the stuff in the thread he posted lines up with what I've found to work and not work for me in the past, so I'm willing to at least try with the stuff I haven't already figured out - I'm not just arbitrarily buying into his recommendations). I'll probably wind up running something AD-esque with a specifically high-carb day once or twice a week (pending academic convenience) and somewhat-reduced carb intake on other days. I intend to start planning my meals out in advance somewhat more rigorously so I can guarantee more variety in my diet - I'm getting a tad bored of two ribeyes per day. I'm also going to start posting the intended food for the week here, since my attempts to manage it with Google Calendar failed miserably last semester. I have a suspicion I'm going to be making more curry this time. >.>

Supplementation plan right now is 20 of my Kirkland Signature Fish Oil caps per day, and 5mg creatine per day.

Honestly, I think I'm going to wind up using this log somewhat more often just as a means of keeping myself accountable. Hopefully having a 9am class MWF will set me up for somewhat greater discipline, though.

*Coincidentally, Dave Tate claims that one of his academic buddies did a study indicating 45 seconds to be the optimal time for stimulating hypertrophy. In the case of 5-rep sets this is the actual time spent lifting after I unrack; for max attempts, the entire process of setting up, lifting, and reracking appears to clock in around 45 seconds. I find this sort of amusing.