Newport, Rhode Island!

So my family has relocated to Newport, RI while my wife is in Department Head School for the Navy. I've gotten some decent videos over the last couple of weeks, and will be uploading them, including one of a new target lift of mine, the Snatch. I'm currently only doing the power snatch, but will be working up to the full snatch as the year continues. I'll also be posting new progress pictures, although I don't feel like I am where I want to be compared to my early May pics. Moving back to the US after two years away from Mexican food, coupled with not having any of our household goods (furniture, pots, pans, etc) has resulted in some poor nutritional choices. Our pots and pans came in yesterday though, so we're back to being a cooking household.

I also wanted to check-in on my 2013 goals, to see where I'm at as far as accomplishing them.

Get and stay under 10% body fat: Not there yet. I need to commit to doing more cardio, and do a better job of controlling what I'm eating.

Bench 275: I'm currently repping 225x5 or 225x8 for multiple sets consistently, rather than just occasionally hitting 224. 

Squat 400: This one's not even close. Although I've squated as much as 334 lbs in the last 6 months, I found it very difficult to get more than a rep or two. A 4-plate Squat is still on the menu, though.

Deadlift 450: I've hit 422, and more recently 405, but I think that this one is going to have to wait until I start eating a heavier diet over the winter.

Power Clean 245: I'm now fairly consistent in hitting a 225 lbs clean, although that seems to be the limit there. My ability to get under the bar is simply going to have to improve. 

I've added the Snatch to my power lifts in order to work on my hip flexibility and drive for the deadlift and power clean. I'm going to be on a 3x5 rep scheme through the end of September, when I'll switch back to either 3x8 or 5x5. 

Getting ready to move...

Had a good workout today, doing only compound lifts for a full-body day since I didn't lift yesterday and won't be able to lift tomorrow. I'll be moving back to the States at the end of the month, and getting in a daily workout between now and early June involving the gym seems somewhat unlikely. At least if I'm doing a full body routine I won't risk going over a week without training a body part.

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!

Small Vacation

So, I recently visited a friend in Miltenburg, Germany, resulting in no lifting getting done this weekend. I got back in to the swing of things this evening, and although my lifts were all way down, it definitely felt good to be back in the gym. Here are some pics of scenic Miltenburg!

Valentine's Day!

One of the many benefits of living in a fit home is that there aren't outrageous expectations of gifting high-sugar/carb/calorie candies, on Valentine's Day! This does not, however, excuse a husband from a nice Valentine's Day dinner for his wife! In order to be able to properly do V-Day, along with our road trip to Miltenburg this coming Friday, my workout frequency and routine had to be significantly changed. I'm currently just doing the following lifts with 1 day of rest and repeating: Bench, Squat, Deadlift, Barbell Rows, Bicep Curls, and Standing Military Press. I've hit some new PRs, benching 5x246 lbs and squating 2x334 lbs. I'm excited about continuing my training going forward, and am really looking forward to being able to begin my cut in 17 days!

Deadlift PR with Video!

So, I decided that it would be fun to take a video of myself doing a deadlift with 192 KG (422 Lbs) during my workout today. Hitting a new PR, video-taping it, and being able to evaluate my form (which I'd give a B-) was indeed really awesome. Today's workout was short, because I was just done. Also, I'd gotten a really late start into the gym, and had hit my primary lifts. I'll probably do a less demanding routine on Wednesday, prior to not lifting at all on Thursday and Friday (Valentines!). Here's the clip:

If you don't speak German, at the end I said, "Ich lebe" to my friend, which translates as "I live", with the connotation of "Well, still alive!"

Protein/Banana Pancakes!

After a monster workout on Friday, my wife surprised the family with Protein/Banana Pancakes for breakfast! MMMMMM... Pancakes! Although I didn't hit any PRs on Friday, I had a solid day lifting, had good energy throughout, and actually got through all of my lifts. I'm absolutely loving the 5x5 scheme I'm on, and have definitely been seeing gains in terms of strength. Hopefully those will be paired with additional mass gains, but I'm presently yo-yo-ing between 196 and 198 lbs. Here's a link to the pancake recipe!

Weak Sauce!

Felt really weak at the gym today, although busting out dumbbell rows with 94 lbs certainly didn't feel bad at all. Sometimes you get in the gym and feel really strong, and other times you're just not really there. Still, it was great to be back lifting after two days of rest and some lower back soreness. Can't wait for DLs, Squats and Bench tomorrow!

Catching up...

Workouts since last Thursday (Thu,Fri, Sun, Mon) have been good overall, with new PRs for the Squat and Bench on Monday! After also getting a new PR for the Power Clean on Thursday, I repeated the lift, but wasn't able to improve upon it. Overall, I've been seeing great things with my primary lifts, even if somewhat shortened workouts forced me to skip some of the additional movements on occasion. I was also able to do a Bicep Curl with an EZ-curl bar for the first time in months without pain in my forearms, which was awesome! My bulk continues, although I've somehow managed to avoid fat gain. At this point, I'm pretty much convinced that the obesity epidemic in the US is 100% the product of sugar and HFCS. I'll probably work out some more today, before a well-deserved rest day on Wednesday.

Progress Pics!

Well, here they are, 4 weeks of lifting and eating with a calorie surplus. The side picture hurts, but I knew it was coming. I'm pretty stoked about my LBM gains, as well as strength gains. Looking forward to my next pics!

Monstrous!

I've just had an absolutely monstrous 3 days of lifting! Sunday, Monday, and Today (Tuesday) all saw significant improvements in a number of areas, whether it was in terms of new reps at a current max, additional complete sets at a current max, and even some new maxes! The three biggest areas of improvement were with the Power Clean (1 set of 5 @ 202 lbs, 2 sets of 2 @ 202 lbs), Bench Press (2 sets of 5 @ 224, 1 set of 3 @ 224), and Deadlift (New ORM, 400 lbs!).

Sadly, in spite of all of this quality improvement, my lifts tonight did not include the squat, because there was simply too much going on at the squat rack for me to work it in before heading home, and the wife was not going to wait on me for dinner. I'm up to 197 lbs, and I'm really looking forward to continuing to make gains in terms of strength and size over the next month. Tomorrow I'll be posting my 4 week pictures for the Dymatize Challenge, which will serve as my progress pics for February 1st.

Friday... Gym Day!

So, I'm writing this on Saturday, because Friday's workout was epic and took forever, and I was in too much of a rush getting to a birthday party to write a blog entry or even log the workout last night. I absolutely crushed it for squats and bench. I went ahead and tried a 5x5 setup, and I absolutely loved it. I definitely had a better feel going through the lifts, and really worked my legs hard. I worked them so hard, in fact, that by the time I got to my deadlift attempts, I literally had nothing left. I was able to pull 356 lbs (162 kgs), but 400 lbs (182 kgs) resulted in a failed pull. I simply couldn't get the bar more than a few inches off of the ground. I'll try to pull 400 lbs again when I deadlift again on Monday.

Today will be a nice relaxing rest day out of the gym. My bulk is going really well so far, as I've added about 3.5 lbs, only about 1/2 a lbs of which has been fat. Right now I'm clocking in between 195-196 lbs, with 10.8-11.1% body fat, which I'm attributing to differences in hydration and subtle diet variances.

Had some great workouts on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, in spite of coming down with the stomach flu again on Wednesday. Overall it's been a good week. I'm going to be adjusting my set/rep pattern to 5x5 starting with Sunday's lifts, just to see how I like it.  My bench has really improved, and I've also successfully added weight this past week, aside from the setback on Wednesday from my body dumping all the water I had in my body. I'm looking forward to continuing getting bigger, improving my lifts, and being in great form for the BB.com challenge, as well as for the Summer.

Skip a Workout? Of Course Not!

Was going to put today's workout off till tomorrow, but decided not to put off 'till tomorrow what could be done today. It wasn't the longest or the hardest workout, but I got some good quality lifts in and hit everything that really needed to be done. Tomorrow, if I get back from my drive down to Hamburg early, I'll have an opportunity to add a few more lifts before doing my strength work on Tuesday. I love my gym days!

Thu/Fri

I had two of my least fantastic training days on Thurs/Fri this week. On both days I was just completely worn out by the time I got into the gym, and Friday my Power Cleans were just not there. I simply had no pop in my legs to get the bar travelling fast enough to execute the 2 times I tried at 224 lbs. I did successfully clean the bar twice at 202, however, and on Thursday I deadlifted 378 lbs (172 kg), which was a new personal best. Looking forward to getting into the gym again next week, and competing in a total points battle!

2 Weeks In!

So, I'm two weeks into the Dymatize Transformation Challenge, and thought I'd post my first progress pictures, along with some flexed shots for ego stroking. I measured in at 195.8 this morning, with 10.7% body fat, which is a 4 lbs gain in weight with no gain in body fat percentage. These pics are cold (which means that I didn't just come back from the gym prior to taking them), and were taken by my lovely wife.

Back in the Gym!

So, after my horrible hangover-lifting on Sunday, I was blessed with horrible stomach-flu bed-ridden-hood on Monday. This was epicly unpleasant, however, I was fortunate to recover quickly, and was back in the gym today lifting strong! I hit all of my power movements, back work, and added in the 3 machine leg exercises that I had missed on Sunday. All in all, a fantastic day back, and I even set a new personal record for push press, putting up my body weight twice!

Tomorrow I'll be taking progress pics, hopefully everyone I will receive accolades for them...

Does Not Mix

Today's workout was awful. Literally awful, and it was entirely my fault. After drinking too much last night and being out until 3 AM, I awoke this morning feeling like complete garbage, and that feeling simply has not gone away. Spent my workout feeling poisoned, rather than tired or weak, and just couldn't continue past 3 reps of my 3rd set of my third exercise. I at least got Bench, Deadlifts, and Squats in, but overall this goes down as a wildly disappointing gym day.

Love it...

Legs!

I think that one of the phenomena often seen in the gym is what I like to call the goose. A huge, towering, built out upper body mounted on tiny legs. It looks ridiculous, which is why you often see the geese of the gym wearing warm up pants to cover their shame. I believe in leg lifts, and I don't think that you get as far as fast with your upper body development without corresponding lower body development. So, with that said, here are some "progress pics" for my legs!

Calf, Flexed

Calf, Unflexed

 Quad/Hamstring, Side

Thanks to my lovely wife for being amazing and taking all of my pictures!

Bench Press? Yes, please!

Had a fantastic workout! Matched a personal best for Bench Press (224 lbs), and had some high quality squats. I read this article from BB.com on breathing while lifting, and it really helped me to get through my squat sets more cleanly. My back was very sore from SLDLs and Power Cleans yesterday, so refrained from doing my deadlift sets and just went hard on my machine leg work. My legs and chest are definitely feeling worked, so I met my goals for today. Hopefully I'll have enough recovery time between now and Sunday morning to be ready to hit Deadlifts hard!

Back at it from my Rest Days!

After two days without working out, I was incredibly eager to workout this morning. Got my first workout of the day in, and my shoulders, arms, and lats are feeling great. Really looking forward to hitting my Power Cleans, SLDLs, CG Bench, and Push Presses hard tonight. Considering going for a new max on the Power Cleans (202 lbs, 92 kgs). Will update this post after I get back from the gym with a link to my evening lifts and comments!

UPDATE: Absolutely crushed it on my evening lifts. Set a new personal best for Power Clean at 202 lbs, and definitely had room to go for more. Followed my lifts up with some quality time with the family and my wife's new class at dinner.

Rest Days

The last two days have been rest days, other than a 2 mile run this evening to pick the Audi up from the dealership, uphill of course. It's actually somewhat challenging having 2 days back to back outside of the gym. The temptation to throw together a gym bag and do some power cleans is definitely high, but I know from last year how much of a setback any kind of a training injury can be, and how important it is to get your recovery time in. Angela put together another fantastic dinner for us, and I'm really looking forward to Power Clean Thursday!

Full House

The gym was the fullest I've ever seen it. There was not an unoccupied treadmill or elliptical, nor a bar or bench unused. This was probably my fault for going in there at 6 PM on a Monday. Fortunately, I was able to get my hands on a bar for Power Cleans and SLDLs long enough to get my sets in, and snuck in my 3 sets of close-grip bench before heading home to continue with my dumbbell lifts. Sadly I skipped Push Press as a result of this. Angela made an incredible dinner for us tonight, too!

I feel great about my progress so far since I started last January, and am really looking forward to seeing the progress I'll make in the coming twelve weeks. One consequence of this contest is that I find myself really motivated to do an extra set, or pump out 10 instead of 8 reps. I'm also enjoying my 2 days split, two days a week regimen a lot more than I had been enjoying the 2 day split with 6 training days a week I'd been on.

Body Fat

I love how useful this image is. It's amazing how much change you see for every 5% you cut down. It also makes you realize how scary 3-4% is!

EDIT: I reference this so much when asked about body fat, that I'm including the pic for women as well:

Says it all...

Early Sunday Lift

Started my day off well with a strong lift this morning. The gym was completely empty, except for a somewhat older couple doing circuit training on the machines and making out between sets of their circuits, which was somewhat awkward for me during leg curls. Still, felt strong, and the early morning (8AM on a Sunday is pretty early for me) lift was surprisingly pleasant. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's power day, particularly Power Cleans, which I'm going to try to rep at my body weight, instead of maxing at that weight.

First Week of 2013

Just finished my last training day for week 1 of 2013. It's been a good week, as I finished strong with my deadlifts, and set new personal bests for squats, power cleans, and chin-ups. Last week was also good from a nutrition standpoint, as only one non-healthy item was eaten, a sad consequence of living next door to an amazing cafe. I also upgraded my dumbbells, purchasing 4 additional 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) plates, which raised my 2 dumbbell max weight to 21.5 kg (47 lbs) and my 1 dumbbell max weight to 28.5 kg (63 lbs). I'll get started with those on Monday the 7th, and although the total weight increase is only 4 and 5 lbs, respectively, I think that even the slightly higher weight will definitely add to the challenge of those lifts. The one area that the single weight feels inadequate for are overhead triceps extensions, but I'm probably going to switch those to single-arm overhead or kickbacks to better accommodate my equipment's ability to give me a challenge. Our dumbbell sets were definitely a good investment, considering the difficulty of getting away to a gym without childcare and a baby at home.

Training and "Before" Pics

Had a fantastic workout today, and took my "Before" pictures for the BB.com Transformation competition. Getting a Newspaper at 11 PM was certainly an interesting challenge, but thanks to a nearby bar, I was able to get that taken care of. Here are the pics!

Bodybuilding.com Transformation Challenge

Challenge ACCEPTED!

I'll be posting lots of updates to this blog, which will then be reposted on my body space at BB.com

Looking forward to making lots of gains!

Training Methodology

Just wanted to put down a few words about my training philosophy to kick off 2013. I think that it's completely pointless to have a blog about working out without talking about what it is you're doing, why you're doing it, and what you expect to achieve by doing so.

First, what am I doing? I'm currently training a 2-day split twice a week with a focus on compound movements. My primary lifts are the Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Power Clean, Shoulder Press, Pull-up and Row. My current training includes two variants of the Deadlift, and three of the Bench Press to focus on different aspects of the lifts. I also do some limited isolation work, specifically with dumbbells, and I don't spend my training time on cardio. I try to eat clean (minimally or non-processed) foods, and I follow these intake guidelines. I am currently supplementing with Creatine Monohydrate, NO-Xplode, a multivitamin, and flaxseed oil, and use 100% Whey and Syntha-6 protein shakes for post-workout and meal replacement, respectively. I get a lot of my meal recipes from this Facebook group.

Second, why is this my plan? I focus on compound movements, because they activate the greatest amount of muscle mass, which contributes to higher testosterone levels, and therefore muscle growth. I lift heavy, (as in, I use weights which are at the edge of my ability) and progress as soon as a weight becomes too easy or routine, because my goal is to grow muscle and strength while maintaining a low body fat. I do not "bulk", because staying relatively lean is more important to me than large hypertrophy gains, and I'm able to make strength gains regardless. I have one workout (or half of one of my 2 days) which is exclusively done with dumbbells to allow me to work out at home, while I watch my soon-to-be one year old daughter.

Third, what are my expectations? I expect to continue to increase my strength and muscularity, while keeping a lean body (low body fat percentage). I expect to make strength gains, and to better my overall physical well-being. Lastly, I expect to be capable of keeping up with my daughter, looking good for my wife, and feeling good about how I look.

New Year's Day Lifting

Was pleasantly surprised during my workout today that there was no horde of new gym-goers doing bicep curls in the squat rack, or sit-ups on the bench press. Hopefully my focus on free weights will keep me out of harms way, as most people at my gym spend their time on machines and cardio equipment.

Great workout today, as I really felt strong throughout and was very efficient getting through my regimen. Perfect start to the New Year.

January 1st, 2013 Progress Pic

I'm always really torn about flexing. I didn't flex my arms or shoulders in this shot, and the one from 1 December looks a lot better.