ds1973's Journal

slowly getting back
Nov 14 2008 08:35

Well, I started lifting again on 11/2 and definitely lost some strength (speed) and endurance (rest times between sets in a superset were longer).  My bench is a little weaker I can still use 205 in my last 3 sets out of 5, but only reps of 4, 4 & 3. My box squat is at 185 and I can feel my sticking point at the bottom (I tried 205 and actually got stuck on the bench in one set so I'm going to focus on explosive speed at 185 before moving up).  My deadlift is not bad, I'm at 175 x 5 on my last two sets.  So, all my key lifts are at 1 x or more of my body weight (165-168 in the morning).

Yesterday there was a guy built like a short cinderblock wall deadlifting 450 lbs and making it look easy.  We chatted a bit and he told me he was lifting over 600 before hurting his back and shoulder.  He's into powerlifting.  He gave me some pointers on doing a straight deadlift rather than a sumo and the technique is definitely more difficult but I tried my sets that way.  I'm still having a hard time keeping my lower back from rounding on a straight deadlift so I may be going back to sumo style where I can keep a more upright upper body and it's easier to focus on keeping the natural curve in my spine.  I did notice it was much easier to do a straight lift now that I have been doing sumo than when I started deadlifting.  So, my back is definitely getting stronger.  I'm just not convinced I need to take the risk of lower back problems since I'm only training for longevity, not a powerlifting competition. 

New Goals
Oct 23 2008 12:37

OK, so my newest goals are to:

1) Recover from this stinking walking pneumonio / bronchitis - whatever the heck it is. 

2) Build up to the following lifting goals (based on current weight):

Bench Press: 1.5 X body weight (255)

Dead lift & Squat: 2 x body weight (340)

I'm pretty sure I could come close to one rep of 255 on bench before I got sick, but having not lifted in a month, I'm pretty weak.  My dead-lift and squat need work.  I hadn't done squats in 2-3 years before I incorporated them back a few months ago.  I was at about 185 for reps before I got sick.  So I have the most work to do on deads and squats.  At least I have a goal to work towards now when I get back to the gym.

revised plan - diet, workout & weekend disruption
Jul 02 2008 08:23

Just started using protein supplements a week ago. I like the way my calories are balancing and my nutrition report for the last 7 days shows averages of 31/29/40 Fat/Protein/Carbs.  Seems by focusing on getting protein I'm getting pretty close to the 30/30/40 ratio.   I'm doing pretty good in terms of staying away from ice cream (so far have limited it to once a week) considering that: 1) it's summer 2) I have two kids who love it 3) my wife always has some in the freezer.

At this point, I want to see how the new eating style works and I plan on maintaining my current lifting plan 2 days a week.  In terms of lifting, over the years I've found that I tend to be conservative in terms of adding weight, and I like to be sure I'm comfortable doing the new weight at higher reps before moving up.  I'm planning on pushing myself a bit more, making sure I'm eating enough and keeping my "total weight" lifted above 20,000 lbs per workout in 45 minutes or less.  This should give me plenty of room to tweak the workout a bit and drop to lower weights as I try new ideas and be sure I'm comfortable with form.  I may drop the sled weight as I don't think I'm getting the full range of motion.  The trade off for me is not to hurt my lower back but still give my legs a good power work-out (low weights, slow full range vs higher weight and fast reps at partial range of motion).   I'm also tracking body fat with a tape measure weekly in conjunction with daily weigh-ins.

There will be a small blip to my tracking & routine this weekend as we are visiting friends in Albany for the 4th of July weekend.  They're vegetarians (and overweight at that) so it'll be challenging to 1) maintain protein 2) avoid high fat sugary foods. I'll be bringing some chicken breasts and whey protein powder with me.  I'm sure I'll be partaking of a peppermint schnapps milkshake though.  We'll see how it goes. 

Great work-out - protein or Tom Petty
Jun 25 2008 20:17

Ok, so I worked out today (6/25) and lifted the most weight in the least time that I've ever done.  26698 lbs in 42 minutes.  I know I wasn't going this fast 4-5 years ago when I could lift heavier because I wasn't super-setting. 

work-out is posted in my gallery here: http://media.calorie-count.com/userpics/full/userpic_635528_ 62b97ba6dea354622825a5b28ea1e26c.jpg

gallery: http://caloriecount.about.com/pics/ds1973

Anyway, not sure what to attribute this too.  Was I better rested than usual or is it that I've been trying to make sure I eat at least 1 g per lb of body weight (> 167 grams)?  Last week I was recovering from a bit of a cold so I missed my Wednesday workout.  Also, I knew I was going to see Tom Petty in concert Saturday night (it was awesome!) so I figured I'd work-out Friday instead of Sunday.  That gave me a bit more rest between work-outs.  There is a school of thought that you shouldn't lift the same set of muscles more than once per week max (I need to find that reference).  I'm not sure I need that much rest, but it may have helped. Typically I work out Sun / Wed or Sun / Thurs depending on what crisis come up at work, so that leaves either 2 or 3 days off between workouts.  I used to work-out only once a week for a few years in Ohio after my son was born just to maintain.  At this point, I'm going to continue focusing on the diet - keep protein up and watch the other stuff I eat.

Crap, we're going to visit our friends in Albany for July 4th weekend and I have no idea what I'm going to eat.  They're vegetarian and both overweight.  I'm probably going to have to eat protein powder and pro-crunch bars all weekend.

Protein supplements - broke down
Jun 22 2008 14:10

Well, finally broke down and bought some protein powder (100% whey) to supplement my diet.  I'm still struggling with how to put on muscle without adding fat to my waist.  I've heard people shooting for 40/30/30 or 50/30/20 carbs / protein / fat, but it's definitely challenging to hit (especially with kids and a wife who like spaghetti and pizza for dinner).  I've started to cook up chicken breasts on Sundays to keep them for nights where the dinner protein content is weak. 

Also not sure if I shoot for a  surplus, only on weight training days and just eat maintainance when I'm in the office all day.  My training schedule was also thrown off a bit this week by a cold so I didn't work out until Friday (as opposed to Wed or Thurs).  So now I'm skipping Sunday and waiting till Wed again.  Definitely saw my bench was a bit weaker and I had lost some weight during the week. (was only able to do 5 reps of 205 after 2 reps of 225 on Fri compared to 7 reps of 205 after 2 reps of 225 on Sunday).

Splitting wood - good workout, long post
May 21 2008 19:49

So last week, my wife had a tree-cutting service take care of a dying oak in our yard.  I came home to over 40 feet of trunk laying in our yard.  The trunk ranged from 17 to 25 inches in diameter and the peices were 16 to 22 inches tall.  Only the bottom two slices were heavily gutted by carpenter ants, the rest were solid oak.  My first thought, having a woodworking hobby, was what a waste of nice oak.  My second thought was, "What the hell am I going to do with this?"  Burn it obviously, since we have a small fire pit, but I had to hayl & split it.  Borrowing my neighbors hand cart, I was able to transport the pieces to the back yard where they sat next to our wood pile until last night.  One of my neighbors offered to bring his splitter over to split them, but he said we'd have to do it on the driveway and that meant hauling those massive rounds another 150 yards back to the front of the yard, then back to the woodpile in pieces.  That just didn't sound fun at all.  One of my friends suggested buying a maul to split them with, although wasn't sure about the size.  Having never split wood, I did my google research and settled on an 8 lb maul with fiberglass handle. 

Tuesday night, I came home with the maul.  After dinner, I decided to take a crack at splitting some logs.  I started with one of the smaller ones to build up confidence.  My initial swings weren't full arcs, and my aim took some practice & soon I got into the swing of things.  Finally developed a power swing in which the head of the maul was touching behind me and I was squatted back on my right leg.  Basically using my whole body to propel that 8 lb head up, over my head and into the wood.  It was awesome to see and hear some of those logs split right in half.   Upon seeing & hearing that first cracking split, I was hooked.  That was some of the most fun I've had in a while.  I told my wife it was the most constructive, destructive activity I'd ever done and that if our neighbor with the hydraulic splitter stopped by during the week, tell him it was psychologically better for me if I split it manually.  I got through 7 of about 27 rounds and had to be called in... :)  Anyway, the point is, that I realized this was great exercise.  It was in the low 50s and I found myself taking my sweater off after a couple swings and wound up in a light t-shirt.  It was a pretty good cardio work-out and today I can feel it in my legs, arms, back, neck, shoulders and even abs.  So, if you ever find yourself needing to split wood, go out and get a 6 or 8 lb maul (~ $25) and you'll not only get a good work-out but a great way to relieve that stress and tension and the satisfaction of destroying something to create firewood.

lifting update
Apr 30 2008 13:58

I've managed to hold my weight between 165 and 170 (as long as I don't travel) and now am able to bench 185 lbs at 9 reps.  Current work-out consists of mini-groups in which I rotate immediately between exercises, rest/walk around for 1.5 to 2 minutes & repeat.  I've found this keeps my heart rate up.

Example work-out is in my pics (tried to link to it below).  Looking at the example, in group A I do a set of planks on the ball, bench press then a dumbell row using the bench then rest.  I repeat until all sets are done.  I record the weight and reps done for each set - for example a row with a 50 lb dumbell 12 times with each arm is recorded as 100 lbs 12 times then rest.  The last bench set is actually done after group B.  Overall I can do it all in only 45 minutes. 

Workout - 4/27/08

I try to look at my total weight lifted for each exercise to see if I'm improving.

I know I should work out more often, but between work, the kids and stuff around the house, I only go twice a week - consistently though.  Only glitch is when I travel.  Any suggestions for a good travel workout?  Pushups and crunches are always easy options.   Just found this the other day:

http://www.sportsgeezer.com/sportsgeezer/2008/04/chris-carmi chae.html

Stuck in Western NY for the rest of my life....
Jan 28 2008 21:51

So I've finally gotten around to filling out my profile.  Over the past 3 years, I've gone from about 210 to 165. At 6' that dropped my BMI from 28.5 to 22.4.  For a guy, the hardest 2 things about losing that much weight are:

1) Not being able to drink as much alcohol and

2) watching my bench press plummet from 8 reps @ 225 lbs to just being able to eak out 5 at 185 lbs. 

At this point, I've moved into more of a toning workout regularly 2 times a week.

Overall though, I'm pleased because I'm eating healthier.  I've been using Calorie counter since late November to track my calories and survive the holidays and the Buffalo winter.  We moved back to the area in June '07 and I swear the average BMI in Western NY is in the low 30s.  Of course, this is a town where drinking beer, eating wings and watching the bills is considered a triathalon.  My goal is to maintain a healthy BMI despite the greasy living in this region.