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.