Arm Measurement

It's a lot of fun to measure your arms before and after you work out, and have them be 2 cm bigger after you're done. Had a cold, flexed measurement of 39 cm (15.35 in) before doing my shoulder/tricep day work, to which I added some curls, and wound up with a 41 cm (16.14 in) bicep.

400 lbs (182 KG) DL x 2

Deadlifted 400 lbs (182 KG) twice tonight. One of the trainers at my gym was cool and sent me a vid of the lift. (Thanks Tom!) I think that I might've been a little too far back on the bar but my chest stayed up and my back remained straight. Just need to keep working at it. Might've had a third one in me but didn't want to risk anything going for a third rep when the second one had already been a little shaky.

Progress Pics from 29 APR

Continuing to cut. My biceps are showing a lot of development, and my abs are a little more defined, but I need to lose more body fat and increase their size before the six pack is going to  really come through. Definitely feel a lot better about these than I did my last set of progress pics.

One of the major advantages of my 4-day split is that when I have sufficient time to do so, I'm able to simply continually rotate through the split. Currently on my 10th consecutive day in the gym, and feeling great. I've seen some of my weights slide going from 5x5 to 3x8 simply based on the extra three reps inducing more fatigue, but that could also be partially due to the low carb diet. Probably my biggest challenge going forward over the next 2 weeks is going to be resisting the cookies my wife baked. Twenty grams of carbs a piece? Madness!

Rep Scheme Adjustment

So I've decided to switch from a 5x5 scheme to a 3x8 scheme to change things up while I cut. Hopefully the higher rep ranges will help with my cut.

Also, I'll be adding another round of pics on May 1st, along with full measurements.

Back from Paris

Just spent a four day weekend in Paris, France. Although I didn't have an opportunity to hit a real gym, I walked several miles a day and carried a 50-60 lbs stroller (weight includes the baby!) up and down steps the entire trip. The Metro and RER trains in Paris are not stroller friendly, so it was a pretty solid daily workout. Back at it this week, with a much better diet than what I was eating in France, and more gym-oriented training!

Update and Progress Pics

It's been a while since I posted an update, so there's a lot to catch up on. I've started my cut, am now augmenting a reduced calorie diet with Hydroxycut, am no longer using a mass gainer, and am now on a 5-day split for my lifting. The new split feels great, and I'm really looking forward to getting my abs back. So here are my pics!