Date of Workout: 6.1.2009
Weight: 155.4lbs.
Body Fat Percentage: 17.4% (HUH???)

Lean Body Mass: 128.3604

Change from last week: LOST 6.5004lbs. of fat; GAINED 5.9004lbs of lean mass.

A Note on Measuring Body Fat: I was less-than-average in carb-state. I think a lot of my bodyfat results were due to not having a lot of water in my system vs. usual conditions. I very highly doubt my LBM is what I've recorded, but it's what I got.

A Note on My Diet: I've been eating a lot of ice cream lately...

My workout today was horrendous. I was trying to rush through it so I wouldn't be late for work.

Sumo Squat:
2x5 - 40lbs. (wasn't using the right bar, it was the wrong circumference and 'dug' into my traps.)
1x3 - 100lbs. (ignoring the bar screwup, I loaded too much, I put 60 ONTO the bar, rather than TOTALLING the weight at 60. That is, I put 30lbs. on each side rather than 7.5lbs. like I was supposed to)
1x5 - 100lbs.
1x5 - 105lbs. (switch to a proper olympic bar)

Standing Press:
1x5 - 45lbs.
1x4 - 45lbs.
1x3 - 45lbs.

The Press, aside from the ridiculously low bodyfat compared to just a week ago, lead me to believe I wasn't carb-loaded at all. I should have been able to go straight through here at 45lbs. The only other explanation is that I didn't rest long enough between sets.

Chin Assist:
1x4 - Overhand Grip, 75lbs.
1x5 - Hammer Grip, 75lbs.
1x3 - Hammer Grip, 75lbs.

I forgot to warm up! STUPID RUSHING IDIOT. Again, while I was there I was baffled as to why I wasn't strong enough. In retrospect: I should have warmed-up, I should NOT have changed grip and expected predictable results, I should have DEFINITELY kept carbs higher before this workout. Being lighter did not help at all when strength is so profoundly diminished.

Standing Ab Pulldown
2x5 - 5lbs.
1x10 - 5lbs.

This was also the day I decided to add some abdominal work into the routine. My legs are tightening up nicely, despite the flab, so I'm going to try it with the belly. I also felt like I should do something to increase core stability since I think it is screwing me on my overhead press.

I tried 10lbs, but I couldn't maintain form for more than two reps, and the usual 5-rep range at 5lbs. didn't feel significant. 10 reps felt better, but I think I'll be working at a 12 rep range for the abs.


Hopefully Thursday turns out better than this. Less rush, more focus, more... correct.

Date of Workout: 5.24.2009
Weight: 156bs.
Body Fat Percentage: 21.5%

Lean Body Mass: 122.46lbs.

Change from last week: LOST 2.708lbs of fat; GAINED 1.108lbs of muscle.

A Note on Measuring Body Fat: My Monday measurement was taken "dry," that is carb-depleted and nearly dehydrated. My measurement this Sunday was taken fully-loaded and hydrated. I was thoroughly concerned it would negatively impact my body composition numbers by skewing the results. Having said that, and still attaining a positive outcome, I can only imagine what my non-lean mass loss would have come up as were I dry at every measure.

That would be detrimental to my training. So I won't dry-out it until I really need to know for certain. Like when I'm at 13% and I want to know if I'm really at 10%, because that would be the abs-threshold. Until then, all I need to know is that I get to eat as much as I want (for now) and still have sweet-spot results in fat loss and muscle gain as long as training continues.

A Note on My Diet: I mostly avoid refined sugar/HFCS and white flour. Everything else is pretty much fair game. I'm not really counting calories, but I am counting grams protein. Given that I don't deliberately avoid fattier cuts of meat or dairy, and that I have whole grains earlier in the morning/carbs of any kind around training, I probably hit my caloric needs just by trying to get enough protein.

As far as amount, I'm eating at least 1g/lb of total bodyweight, though sometimes it's as much as 2g/lb. I've been eating mostly oats, eggs, turkey (with the eggs), whole milk, and cheeseburgers with no bun and mayo instead of ketchup. Oats usually have some kind of chocolate cooked in it, with cinnamon to top as it cools.

Starting Monday I'm going to be keeping a food log. Just so I have a better idea as to the content of my daily diet and to absolutely ensure I'm getting the amount of protein that I want. The first week I just made sure to eat a minimum of 20g (excluding first meal which is always oats in whole milk: 15g protein) per meal and I was eating roughly every two hours. So it worked out nicely.

I'm going to gradually introduce precision into this diet, so I don't burn out. I'm not particularly lean yet anyway, I'm going to be able to bullshit my way to at LEAST 15% body fat.

Enough babble. On to the lifts.

Sumo Squat:
2x5 - 45lbs.
1x3 - 65lbs.
5x3 - 80lbs.

Standing Press:
2x5 - 45lbs.
1x5 - 45lbs. (tried for my third set and failed to go past the first rep; going to stay at this weight)

Hammer-Grip Chin Assist:
3x5 - 66lbs. (using a machine to offset 90lbs.)

The gym was mostly empty today, probably due to the Memorial Day holiday business, but I found it amusing that every time I went to go to get a drink of water or go to the bathroom, someone was trying to get into the power rack.

This tells me two things: people in the gym that day were intelligently training folks, excluding their guests (guests amounted to three people at most) and given that these were the only people in the gym... only the people who knew what they were doing were dedicated enough to show up.

Obviously there are other factors involved, but this still was incredible to me. Everybody there knew what they had to do, were not sitting around chattering away about how great of a pump they get in their biceps or how much the job they're losing sucks, and were putting the fucking work in.

So to everyone in the free weights section of Bally's in West Allis: you guys are kickass.