It's the new style...

[Pork Chop]

{Title said in my best Beastie Boys imitation...}

Okay, here's the deal.
For the past 2 months I stopped hitting up Muay Thai.
I may go back, but probably not more than once a week.
See, the motivation to block everything else out of my life & get tunnel vision in order to train hardcore enough to prepare for a fight has basically left me.
Part of it's living in Texas- I just don't get angry here like I used to in Baltimore.
Part of it's my gym- the coach is nice, but training there I can't help but miss my old gyms back east.

For the last 2 months what I have been pretty decent at is lifting weights a couple times a week.
I started out shooting for 3 days a week- 1 push, 1 pull, 1 lower body.
Lower body days were really killing me, so in order to maintain a decent schedule, i basically cut them out.

Last weekend my buddies came to town from Kansas.
They all lift and they were in DFW for a bodybuilding expo (Europa).
They got me into the expo for free and we got tons of free supplements.
Got almost a year's worth of supplements now.
My buddies also gave me a copy of Chad Waterbury's new book and encouraged me to give it a shot.
So now I'm going through the Waterbury's book and trying to follow the routine.

Also, I'm taking a training trip to go start learning a new style over Labor Day weekend. Means I'll be getting back into MA training in some capacity of course.

This is my new blog and it starts now.

[Pork Chop]

Last night was my first day on Waterbury program.
Starting the "Big Boy Basics" program.

Warmup
Elliptical crosstrainer:
1 minute - warm up
9 minutes - 15 seconds sprint, 90seconds active rest
3 minutes - cool down

Day 1
80% of 1RM is the goal weight

BB Bench Press
8 sets of 3, 60s rest after each set
145, 155, 165, 175, 175, 175, 175, 175
Last couple sets, rep 3 wasn't really all the way down, but weight wasn't that heavy

Seated Row (hammer strength machine)
8 sets of 3, 60s rest after each set
135lbs of plates, 135, 160, 160, 180, 180, 180, 180
Machine made starting hard, but felt pretty easy

Pullup (assisted)
8 sets of 3, 60s rest
8 plate assist (40lbs), 8plates, 7plates (34), 7plates, 7plates, 7plates, 7plates, 8plates
Last rep always seemed hard. Tired by 5th set.

DB Military Press (standing)
8 sets of 3, 60s rest
45lb dbells, 50lbers, 55lbers, 55, 55, 55, 55, 55
Didn't write down last 2 sets in notebook. They were kind of a blur. Almost scared I stopped at 7. Was REALLY hard by the end. Thought my back was gonna go out.

Cardio
Steady-state, low intensity cardio.
1.0 incline, 3.5mph, walking, HR around 150
20 minutes


Supplements are really helping.

[stricker]

What's the new MA style?

good luck with the training...

[Oso]

goldarnit stricker...i was going to say that.... :mad: :p ;)

[Pork Chop]

aiight I'll make it public.
leaving in about 2 weeks to go train with illusionfist from the board in hung gar.
he and i been tight for a long time, since way back when the board was blue, so i really trust him.

Warm up
Level 20 for the first 7 min, 18 after that
1 minute easy
9 minutes of 15s sprint, 90s rest
3 minutes cool down
kicked my hiney eventhough calorie count was low. Heart rate got up to 194bpm.

Work out 2
Goal for the day is 70% 1RM

BB back squat
3 sets of 8 reps
90s rest
135, 185, 185
Felt okay, but even on 135 i was a lil worried about leaning forward. Was able to catch it most times on the way up from the bottom and kick my booty forward but still a lil leary. The warm up had me sweatin bad. Hamstrings got sore right away.

Reverse Crunch
3 sets of 8 reps
60s rest
Did my 3 sets, no weight on this one, at least i didn't know how to add any. Was pretty easy, but was sweating bad.

DB deadlift
3 sets of 8 reps
60s rest
90lb dumbells, 90lbers, 90lbers
Felt like my heart was going to pop at the end of each set. Was originally shooting for 100lbers but this wasn't easy.

Ab wheel
3 sets of 8 reps
60s rest
Okay, my gym don't have an ab wheel.
So the first set was on a foam roller - didn't work too well.
Second 2 sets I put my feet on a swiss ball, hands in pushup position, and pulled my knees up. Kinda hard

Standing Calf Raise
3 sets of 8 reps
60s rest
95, 115, 135
Out of breath

Cardio
1.0 incline, 2.5mph
20 minutes
I was dead by the time i started this. My legs were really starting to act funny and I was just plain exhausted. My heart rate stayed in the low 140s for most of it.


I don't know what happened to me today. By the end of work I was feeling super sick. The vent above my cubical doesn't work well and my cube was especially stuffy today. I went home and took a couple hour nap after work. When I woke up i just felt sad & lonely. Can't really explain it. Dunno if it was a caffeine thing or what- diet pills plus a diet soda around noon. Been listening to a lot of Tiger Army lately and the guy's voice gives me that kind of homesick feeling- like sitting on the beach at night looking at the stars. Wondering if it's time to leave Texas again. If I had someone here, this place would be perfect, but by myself, I feel like I don't belong here- eventhough I don't hate it.

Just want to add that having a buffet of supplements to choose from is super nice. I can break 100g of protein a day barely even trying. Creatine, glutamine, zma, cla, even the diet pills, i can tell they're helping me recover and put everything into the workout.

[MasterKiller]

If I had someone here, this place would be perfect, but by myself, I feel like I don't belong here- eventhough I don't hate it.

Anytime you need a break from Texas, I'm just 2.5 hours North. ;)

[Pork Chop]

Anytime you need a break from Texas, I'm just 2.5 hours North. ;)

Yeah, I've been meaning to take you up on that.
Maybe in October or something?
Did you end up coming down for Taiji Legacy?

Fell hard for this girl a couple weeks ago, when she was in town on vacation.
After she went back she didn't return my calls.
Kinda why I'm bummed out.

[MasterKiller]

Did you end up coming down for Taiji Legacy?

I didn't make it down this year. Kids, my own club, getting ready for NY....it was a busy couple of weeks.


Fell hard for this girl a couple weeks ago, when she was in town on vacation.After she went back she didn't return my calls.
Kinda why I'm bummed out. Sux, bro. In times like these, it helps if we remember the wisdom of the late Eazy-E. And I quote, "A b1tch is a b1tch."

[Pork Chop]

Friday was a rest day.
Went to go meet my friend for dinner and we didn't get done talking until midnight at least.

Saturday was rough.
REAL rough.
The workout was easy:

Cardio
Was in a hurry, so skipped all cardio & warm up.

Weights
All exercises were 3 sets of 8 reps.
Rest interval was 90s between sets.
Goal weight was 70% 1RM

Incline Dumbell Bench
55-60-65
Last set a little tough, mostly easy

Dumbell Bent Row
55-60-65
Really easy, did underhanded grip and 1 arm at a time, no rest between arms though.

Barbell Curl
EZcurl bar +25lb each side, EZ +25, EZ +20
Second set was a bit bad. Third set was hard. Used EZ curl bar for ease of use.

Triceps Pressdown
6 plates, 9 plates, 12 plates
Did it with a medium - wide bent bar, to simulate the reverse of the EZ curl bar.
Was pretty easy. Can handle much more weight this way than with the rope.

Then the workout was over.
Went way quick.
Went to Okinawan Drumming (Eisa) class after that; which is a lot of dancing.
Eisa practice was 3 hours.
Raced home, got a shower and drove out to meet my friends in Dallas for Korean food and karaoke.
Probably should've skipped it.

Found out why the girl i was dating in Mississippi hasn't been returning my calls.
A guy I introduced her to started chasing after her and got her.
The guy was supposed to be a good friend of mine.
In fact, we'd have weekly phone conversations about how people were treating him like garbage, and I tried to give him a lot of advice.
We were supposed to be tight.
He broke man law.
Heck we even had a conversation about it the night i introduced him to her because he was starting to lay down game.
The friends I met up at the korean place were the ones that introduced me to that girl but they also facilitated that guy doing what he did- they invited him out with them the day she left; so it looks like I don't really got any friends.
Even though I tried to make the best of the karaoke (when all I felt was rage), I'm cutting them out of my life.

Some people are garbage.

Anyway, afterwards, I went to the Japanese bar we all hang out at sometimes.
Dropped word of what happened and let people know I was lookin for the little twerp. Went home, and polished off about 500mL of Jim Beam.

Woke up way late on Sunday, don't think I went to sleep till well after sunrise.
Helped my buddy from Eisa move some palates- was actually a lot of work.
He teaches shorin ryu, straight up traditional style, so we talked about martial arts and womenz for a long time.
Gonna take him out to the bar on Saturday- kind of insurance policy/legal counsel hehe.

Went home, finally ate and had a real hard time going to sleep.
Strolled into work this morning around 11.

I think I may be finally getting to the point of just being altogether tired of the idea of having a girl so I can actually settle down and start accomplishing some goals.

[SevenStar]

Found out why the girl i was dating in Mississippi hasn't been returning my calls.
A guy I introduced her to started chasing after her and got her.
The guy was supposed to be a good friend of mine.
In fact, we'd have weekly phone conversations about how people were treating him like garbage, and I tried to give him a lot of advice.
We were supposed to be tight.
He broke man law.
Heck we even had a conversation about it the night i introduced him to her because he was starting to lay down game.


1. there is no man law, other than that if she is definitely your woman, she is off limits. hell, most of the guys I know are down with sharing, as long she's not your main woman - then she is off limits. FWIW, many women are the same way. One recently told me that she believes everyone should have two people in their life - their main squeeze and one other. I asked 10 other women I know how they felt about it and 8 of em agreed.

2. stop worrying about having a woman in your life so much, bro. just casually date. if the right one falls into your lap, hold onto her, but don't go around looking for that right one all the time. she will show up in due time.

3. this actually deals with the first thing, but my friend called me while I was typing the second thing... she has a boyfriend but is also dating a married man. she says she is in love with them both, so she is confused. the married man also says he loves her. such is life...

training sounds like it is going good so far. keep it up.

[Pork Chop]

1. there is no man law, other than that if she is definitely your woman, she is off limits. hell, most of the guys I know are down with sharing, as long she's not your main woman - then she is off limits.

I'm thinking things are pretty different in your circle then.
I ain't too down with having people on the side either.
Might work where you're at, but just not how I am.
If it works for you, and the people around you, fine.
Not how I play, or what I'll accept of someone else with me.

Regardless, I explained to the guy my side of things and he chose to ignore me.
I only asked of him what I'd already done for him earlier this year- the same exact favor.
So being treated like that, regardless of the "dating rules", doesn't mean I gotta just forgive the guy.
I wore out my "turn the other cheek" muscle last year.
I ain't just gonna laugh it off in this case.

As far as women go, yeah I'm finally ready to give up.
I am stuck in an area with a VERY small population of girls that are my "type", so casual dating's out of the question.
The longer I'm here the more I've been learning that this isn't the place for me.
I keep telling myself I'm going to give it at least another year or two, but I may end up leaving sooner.

In the meantime, I'm finally at a point where I can keep my head on what I'm doing instead of who i'd rather be with.


EDIT: I was supposed to work out one more time last week but because of waking up late sunday and moving palates all day I wasn't able to get it in. Planning on going tonight.

[Pork Chop]

Crashed after work last night around 9
Was still worn out from the weekend.
woke up around 1:30 and went to go work out by around 2.

warm up
HIIT
1 min warm up
9 minutes of 15 seconds sprint, 90 seconds active rest
3 minutes "cool down"
calorie count back up to a decent number, heart rate around 184 max i think

workout
8 sets, 3 reps
60s rest between sets
goal weight 80% 1RM

barbell lunge
135, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185
One leg at a time, no rest between legs. Last set a little rough, otherwise not too bad. Workout originally called for hack squat, but earlier in the book they said lunges were cool; so i went for them instead.

leg curl
70, 90, 110, 130, 150, 170, 190, 170
The 190lb set was a bit too much. 170's perfect.

reverse crunch
did it with the medicine ball and supersetted the last 2 sets
pretty easy.

seated calf raise
90, 135, 135, 135, 135, 135, 135, 135
felt nicely painful

cardio
20 minute easy walk, heart rate started around 130 and got up to the mid 140s.


Didn't really kill myself on this workout.
Felt like I could've done another HIIT session at the end.
Trying to use the anger at that lil situation to keep myself on track.
If I don't shoot my wad and leave everything at the gym on a single workout; maintaining a good, regular, consistent workout schedule should be easy until i can handle a higher intensity.
I really would like to be more self-sufficient, so I can stay on track and accomplish some goals.
I think I've finally found a way to do it.
Last night I got rid of a bunch of people out of my life.
Won't make a difference to them, but it should reduce troublesome distractions for me, and not going to let expose myself to those kind of people anymore.
Going to be a lot more picky about who I keep around me.

[Pork Chop]

Worked out at the muay thai gym today.
level 1, lots of bag work.
every time i come back after a lay off i suffer and say i'll never take off again.
blisters on my feet, realization that my technique's really slipped... and heck it's only been 2 months...
i'll be good in a few weeks.

[Pork Chop]

Writing this off of memory so it's not going to be perfect, will update later if need be.

Warm up
Didn't do anything as strict as the intervals.
Just kinda did my own random intervals; pushing it as i felt necessary.
My heart rate got up to 194 and averaged something insane like 187.
basically just went 13 minutes (10 workout + 3 "cooldown") on level 19.
Think it was a new calorie record so i was pushing it pretty good.

Workout
Today's protocol was:
80% 1RM goal weight
55s rest between sets
8 sets of 3 reps

BB Bench
175, 175, 175, 175, 175, 175, 175, 175
Not too bad, but last set was a little slow going
Gym's washer's broke & it gets real hot- especially after the "warm up", so i basically just sweat all over the place.

Seated Row
135, 135, 160, 160, 170, 170, 170, 170
170 felt good, probly start there next time

Assisted Pullup
7 plate assist, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7
Last set was pretty hard, but it felt a bit stronger than last time

DBell Military Press
55s, 55s, 55s, 55s, 60s, 60s, 55s, 55s
Did it seated this time to save some wear and tear on my back.
7th set failed. Just couldn't get the dumbell out of the starting position on my left. It didn't hurt, it didn't feel tired, it just wouldn't go up. Did my best to crank out 3 ugly ones with 55s standing. The final set wasn't any better, going with the 55s standing again. After that I basically got the heck out of there.

No low intensity cardio because I'm planning on hitting the kickboxing gym again tonight and am hoping to have some energy (with the aid of supplements, of course), to be able to go lift sometime tonight after that. Only going to work a couple hours tomorrow, so it's basically a day off- can rest as much as i want and hit the gym in the evening.

I know I wouldn't be doing this without supplements.
I mean I'm surprised, i was actually able to wake up this morning after maybe 4 hours of sleep - tough time sleeping last night.
That's twice in to work before 8 o'clock this week (i don't think that's happened since I moved here).

Still shooting to finish up my split by saturday.
Means 5 workout days this week straight; which sounds insane but I fell behind last week and want to get caught up.
Can't wait to take off on sunday.
There's a few obvious things I can clean up next week.

Otherwise, so far so good, still feel amped about my program.
After this week it's 1 more week on Big Boy Basics & then I'll move onto the Anti-BodyBuilding Hypertrophy program (ABBH)- a 23 day program.

[SevenStar]

I'm thinking things are pretty different in your circle then.
I ain't too down with having people on the side either.
Might work where you're at, but just not how I am.
If it works for you, and the people around you, fine.
Not how I play, or what I'll accept of someone else with me.

yeah, sounds like it. That stopped with me after marriage, but prior to that it was no biggie.


Regardless, I explained to the guy my side of things and he chose to ignore me.
I only asked of him what I'd already done for him earlier this year- the same exact favor.
So being treated like that, regardless of the "dating rules", doesn't mean I gotta just forgive the guy.

true.


As far as women go, yeah I'm finally ready to give up.
I am stuck in an area with a VERY small population of girls that are my "type", so casual dating's out of the question.
The longer I'm here the more I've been learning that this isn't the place for me.
I keep telling myself I'm going to give it at least another year or two, but I may end up leaving sooner.

back to the east coast?

[Oso]

hey bro, the invitation still stands to come visit...AVL has it's ups and downs but is overall pretty cool.

[Pork Chop]

back to the east coast?

Actually, yeah...
either the east coast, san antonio, or japan.
slight outside chance of cali or hawaii if i find the job.
Wherever I go I really need to start having fun again.

Just gotta wait on my clearance re-up if i wanna go back to baltimore- think i could probably find something that paid better this time around.
I know i didn't think too much of baltimore/dc before, but Khun Kao's throwing events all the time these days and Suntzu's team is going strong- a nice situation to jump back into.
Plus, with more money, it'd definitely be more live-able.
Most importantly, it would be starting something new.

In a lot of ways it's been hard dealing with being out here 'cause I'm still chasing the same goals i was chasing before, just with nobody around to pursue them with. That's kinda why I put so much pressure on the female situation- coz marriage, kids, and a house was the whole goal.

In the meantime, supplements are making a huge difference.
I finally feel like I'm starting to become my old self again.
Who knew that all it would take would be half my friends out here cheesed!cking out on me.... :D

[Pork Chop]

hey bro, the invitation still stands to come visit...AVL has it's ups and downs but is overall pretty cool.

Thanks! :)
First trip's to El Paso at the end of the month; and I should be goin again regularly.
Then I'm gonna try to go see Masterkiller.
My buddy in Kansas wants me there too.
Lemme see when I can get to AVL. :)
In early December I want to take this test and may go to Balt/DC for it, wanna meet there?

Moving-wise probably won't be for a year though.
As much as I hate clearance jobs, passing up a free renewal would be dumb.
Plus that means there's a good chance I'll still be here for Taiji Legacy.
If I am still here, anybody who wants to come to town for the tourney can crash at my pad.

[Oso]

Let me know. Things are in chaos for me now...just quit my newest job and so I'm on the job hunt right now.

What's your job field again?

[Pork Chop]

i'm a computer security guy with a government clearance.
but hey, if you need a place to crash for a bit, i've always got a room down here.


Workout

Just got back from the kickboxing gym.
Spent an hour down there.
We work out on a rough carpet.
Almost all the skin on the bottom of my feet is gone or completely raw.
Don't think I can rush back into it- my feets won't let me. hehe
Plan is to rest up for a few hours and then hit the gym, maybe even take a nap.

[Pork Chop]

さっき二回目のウワークアウトから帰って来たばっかり
oops
english
just got back from workout #2

Warm Up
Just stuck the elliptical crosstrainer on 19 and went easy for 10 minutes.
Last 3 minutes left it at 15.
Kept up a good clip, just wanted to work up a sweat.
Boy did i.
My heart rate topped out at just over 180.

Workout
Today's protocol:
3 sets, 8 reps
90 seconds rest after squats, 60s rest everything else
goal weight 72% 1RM

Barbell Squat
185, 185, 185
Felt pretty good, my form got better as the sets went on
didn't rest after first set

Reverse Crunch
swiss ball, incline bench
three sets went pretty easy- did it more knees bent this time, felt a lil different.

Dumbell Deadlift
95lbs, 95lbs, 95lbs
Easier than last time. My heart wasn't about to explode. First set or 2 legs were kinda narrow. Tried to widen the stance a little bit for the last one. Could probly do more next time.

Swissball crunch
25lb plate, 25lb plate, 25lb plate
kinda had to play with the exercise a little bit to keep it burning. Next time i think i want to do the twisting chair instead.

Standing calf raise
135, 155, 175
175 felt pretty solid. Definitely feel stronger.

Took some Armageddon (one of those Nitric Oxide supplements) before the workout. Felt stronger eventhough I really hadn't eaten much. Sweat like crazy.

Didn't finish with any cardio, figured the muay thai earlier was enough. Might do some tomorrow. Saturday will be 3+ hours of cardio; so not that huge a deal.

Maybe it was the Armageddon or the other supplements I been takin, but I felt friggin swole after the gym.

Tonight i get to sleep as much as I want :D

[stricker]

LOL i know the feeling about the blisters on the feet :D its the worst bit of coming back from time off hahaha

i've spent enough time doing padwork on rough carpet too, sucks kicking if your feet aint toughened up...

[Pork Chop]

Yeah, I couldn't turn into any punches or get my hips over on any kicks.
We were throwing lead horizontal elbows and eventhough the lead hook's my specialty punch, it was hurting to much to get the pivot... either i could pivot and my upper would fall apart, or the upper would be okay and i wouldn't be pivoting. hurt too much to do both. need to wear socks next time. hehe

[SevenStar]

i'm a computer security guy with a government clearance.


I never knew that. I am a web guy, but my original intent was to get into security. Still thinkin about transferring to our security group eventually. What do you do?

[Pork Chop]

I never knew that. I am a web guy, but my original intent was to get into security. Still thinkin about transferring to our security group eventually. What do you do?

I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you. :p

used to work for the government on fort meade, now i work in fort worth on the f35.

[Pork Chop]

Today was a laaaazy day.
It's the closest I could get to an actual rest day, because i was behind on my schedule. It's my 4th day straight, I already pulled 2 two-a-days this week, and saturday is going to be a huge day as well (may do 3 workouts: weights, kickboxing, eisa).

See I'm leaving for El Paso thursday evening so I'd like to finish up Big Boy Basics before I go and come back to a fresh start on Anti-BodyBuilding Hypertrophy.

Also, I kinda over did it yesterday on the supplements so i wanted to go a bit easier today too- had a bit of a cheat day with Arby's corned beef reuben and a couple pepperjack roast beef sandwiches (not all in 1 sitting of course).

No warm up to speak of.
Like I said, kinda taking it easy today.

Workout
Today's goal was 72% 1RM.
3 sets of 8 reps
90seconds rest between sets

Incline dumbell press
65s, 65s, 65s
pretty easy peasy, last set a lil tough, not bad.

dumbell row
65 each arm, 65 each arm, 65 each arm
No rest between arms. Again, pretty easy

barbell curl
EZ curl + 50 (25ea side), EZ +50, EZ + 50
Easier than last week, only the final rep was hard at the end of the third set.

tricep pressdown
12 plates, 13 plates, 14 plates
Super easy. Switched to the v-shaped grip (from a slanted wide bar) and it felt a little harder. I don't feel this exercise doin much. May have to switch to skull crushers or something.

Afterwards I dropped by Walmart to pick up some new headphones. On Thursday I broke my gym headphones - the ear was acting funky so i tried to readjust it and it snapped in the middle of the headband, it was weird. I go through a lot of headphones.

Came home and just missed a call from my okinawan friend kazu.
She wants to go karaoke tomorrow.
She made a big deal of only inviting 3 of my other good okinawan friends, eventhough she also knows the folks that screwed me over.
Have a feeling it's a setup, coz I made a comment on my Japanese blog about droppin some fake friends and she read it.
If it is, I'll just leave some money with someone, and excuse myself to go "to the restroom"- then take off.

Otherwise, a nice lazy day, watched Apokalypto- killer movie.
Also found out I lucked out on Netflix and 300 is on it's way!
Should hit the hay early so I can hit the gym early.
Goin back on the diet pills & noxplod tomorrow.

[Pork Chop]

arrrrrggghhhh

just when things were goin good

last night i couldn't sleep
laid down at 11 and by 2:30 i was driving myself nuts
called an old friend
around 4 i finally started gettin tired
still took me till at least 5 to conk out
i dunno what happened, my caffeine stopped before 6pm.
shoulda pushed it harder in the gym yesterday.

woke up this morning at 12:15.
Have to be somewhere by 2 and it takes almost an hour to get there.
gym is about 30 min round trip.
even if i was on the road from the second i regained consciousness i couldn't a made it.
just frustrating.
i wish my 24 hour fitness was actually, you know 24 hours...

gonna finish up my lunch here in a few, grab a shower and head out to eisa.
if i have any sort of time afterwards i hope i can slip into the gym.

[Oso]

dude, sounds like you might need a sleep aid, short term, to get back in cycle.

after my shoulder surgery, I was having a hard time sleeping regularly because I'd been on heavy meds for a week and had slept for like 4 hour intervals for 5 days.

the doc gave me some ambien and it worked but then I rebounded off of that.

i still have problems sometimes and used to take Tylenol PM but stopped because I didn't want to load up on the acetominophen. So, I will sometimes take 2 of the sleep aid w/o pain reliever...which is the same thing as taking two benadryl.

works fairly well and I can usually stop after 2-3 days and get back into a regular sort of sleep pattern.

[Pork Chop]

That's the thing though, I loaded up on melatonin and ZMA and still had a hard time.
I think it was the soda I had around 5.
I bought a case of simpson's buzz cola from one of the quickee mart 7-11s a while back and i just didn't feel like having more water with dinner.
bad move.

anyway, i managed to make it to the gym after 3 hours of eisa!
WOOT! :D :D :D

Didn't need a warm up- 3 hours of eisa was good enough.

Workout
3 reps 8 sets
55seconds rest
80% 1RM goal weight

lunges
185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185
that's each leg, no rests between legs
pretty darn easy but my hiney got sore.

leg curls
170, 170, 170, 170, 170, 170, 170, 170
each set was pretty tough, felt about right.

reverse crunch
used 10lb rubber medball for all 8 sets
little harder to hold onto but definitely felt like it was working my abs real good

seated calf raise
135, 135, 135, 135, 145, 145, 160, 160
135 felt too easy, tried to jump to 170 and couldn't move it, dropped back down to 145 - which was still pretty easy, went back up to 160 - which was pretty hard.

didn't need no cardio after 3 hours of eisa either.

Used armageddon pre-workout, one of those nitric oxide supps, and it worked real well. I was literally dancing half my first exercise.

Tomorrow i want to do some swimming and clean my apartment.
Going to try out the karaoke with the friends tonight.
If it gets ugly i'll just leave.

upgraded my 24hr fitness membership today so now i can just workout whenever. The gym i was registered to isn't actually 24hours, so now i can just go to one that is.

[Pork Chop]

Saturday night was out at karaoke and bars till 5 in the morning.
Wasn't drinking though.

Sunday i chilled in bed all day.
Watched 300 and ordered food (coz i'm a lazy bum).

Monday
hit the gym

Warmup
elliptical crosstrainer
45s - seconds relaxed
9m15s - sprint 15s, active rest 90s
3m - cool down
Heart rate got real high even if calories didn't.
due to bad food and limited suppz was really feeling it afterward.

Workout
80% 1RM Goal weight
8 sets 3 reps
50s rest between sets

BBell Bench Press
185, 185, 185, 175, 175, 175, 175, 175
My left shoulder really started bugging me. I didn't want to get stuck at the bottom.

Seated Row
170, 170, 170, 170, 180, 180, 180, 180
180 was heavy, but pretty decent.

Pull Up
7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8
By this point I was absolutely exhausted. No energy whatsoever, felt weak.

Dumbell Military Press
50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50
My shoulder was bugging me and I was burnt so I tried not to push it too hard

Cardio
20 min on the treadmill.
I was tired on the cardio, but it seemed just as hard to walk as it did to jog, so I jogged over half of it. I don't know if that makes any sense. Got almost a mile and a half and burned almost 150cal.

Not my best workout, but not every workout can be huge gains.
I'm just hoping my shoulder's not something serious- eventhough it's been going on over a week now. Food and suppz can make a difference. EDIT: I think it may have also been the 50s rest- it just wasn't enough time. I was stumbling like a zombie into each set, able to perform but not getting stronger like I usually do as sets progress in an exercise.

[Pork Chop]

Made it through an hour of kickboxing and felt like i could go another hour afterwards.
Weird thing is on the way home i started getting ridiculously sleepy.
Gonna hit the gym later tonight for more weights.
Hope if I hit some NOX beforehand I can get some strength back.

[Pork Chop]

busy evening
after thai took a nap for an hour
my buddy called
he just came back from okinawa last night at 2am
wanted to meet at main event

went up there early and was hitting the punching machine for 30~45 min.
Got over a 900 with my hook, but couldn't score over maybe 860 with either cross.
My right cross was actually a lil stronger than my left- which kinda stinks; i'd always thought the left was naturally stronger.

my buddies finally showed up and we bowled for 2 hours.

Went home took some NoXplod, got changed and went to work out.

No warm up coz I'd already done a lot today.

Workout
Goal weight was 74% 1RM
3 sets of 8 reps.

Bbell Back Squat
90s rest between sets
205, 205, 205
Mighta hurt my back on last set. Started gettin sore after that.

Reverse Crunch
60s rest between sets
soft med ball, soft, soft
was kinda hard

Dumbell Deadlift
60s rest between sets
100lb dumbells, 100s, 100s
Was almost easy. Got a bit outta breath. Good workout eventho my back was starting to cramp up.

Twisting crunch
60s rest between sets
90, 110, 130
not too hard; pretty easy but felt pukey

Standing calf raise
45s rest between sets
175, 175, 175
Back sore

Hobbled out to my car, back pretty sore.
Not sure if it's messed up or not, might just be sore coz the bowling was pretty back intensive too.

[Pork Chop]

Back is still real stiff.
Not goin to muay thai today.
gonna go home and take a nap after work, maybe grab some food.
might try to hit the gym later if my back's okay.
have a lot to do to get ready for my trip tomorrow.

[Pork Chop]

Throwing up, don't want to go to the gym.
back is just sore not serious.
still need to prepare for my trip.

[Pork Chop]

Trip was fun, didn't get to hit the gyms beforehand.
Trained an hour or two each day on my trip (fri, sat, sun, mon).
Came back monday night.
Couldn't sleep until almost 6am this morning.
Just chilled all day today (Tuesday).
Get back on the program tomorrow.
Just wanted to recharge a bit.

[Pork Chop]

got back from the gym around 9
did muay thai padwork class and did the submission wrestling class.
submission wrestling class killed me, i just wasn't used to moving that way.
it was fun though and i don't hate the ground like i used to.

going to the gym in a little bit to re-do my final week of BBB from last workout to first.
next week i'll kick off Anti-Body-Building-Hypertrophy.

[Pork Chop]

lifted weights

no warm up

workout
80% 1RM
8 reps, 3 sets
50s rest between sets

lunges
185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185
knee kinda hurt. got this feeling in my hip that i sometimes get on lunges- almost like a hernia, only lasted one set though. otherwise, it was tough, but do-able.

hamstring curls
170, 170, 170, 170, 170, 170, 170, 170
tough but doable

reverse crunches
10lb medball, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
pretty easy

seated calf raise
160, 160, 160, 160, 160, 160, 160, 160
really tough, but got it done

finished up with a form and some kung fu drills in the aerobics room, mighta been 5 or 10 minutes. Was sweating like crazy from the NO stuff.

man it's late, shoulda been asleep an hour ago.

[Pork Chop]

Muay thai pad class today after work.
Afterwards I watched the sparring class but didn't partake.
it relit my fire for wanting to play though.
think i'll start sparring again tuesdays.
i'm cool with going muay thai fulltime as long as i'm still lifting.
lifting is the priority though so i gotta make sure i make it into the gym every chance i get.

[Pork Chop]

Drank some of that NO stuff, took a nap for an hour or so, woke up and went to the gym.

Workout
74% 1RM goal weight
3 sets 8 reps
90s rest between sets

Incline dumbell bench
70, 70, 50
Last set, I went for 70, and my left shoulder locked at the bottom. Dunno if I leaned out of position, throwing it out of joint, trying to cheat to get it up. not sure what happened. the weight wouldn't move. It wasn't heavy, i held it up there for like 30 seconds, my arm just couldn't extend. Ticked off, i tossed the weights back on the rack, took a little breather and tried the same thing with 65lbs. Same thing happened. Grabbed the 50s and blasted out 8 as fast as possible. my left shoulder has been feeling weird for a little while and it did this the other week on dumbell military press. hope it's not injured.

dumbell row
70, 70, 70
ripped these out fast. pretty easy

barbell curl
Ez curl plus 25lbs each side, EZ + 25, EZ + 25
Last rep ugly but i did it.

tricep extension
12 plates, 13 plates, 14
Used small v-grip. Just feels too easy. Probably substitute the exercise once I get to ABBH.

Cardio
Think I did about 20 or 30 minutes of kung fu stuff, including some joint mobility stuff.


Came home to find out I lost 5 pounds. Might've lost some muscle, but it's nice to notice a difference. Just hope my shoulder isn't something serious.

[Pork Chop]

Friday was a waste.
Couldn't sleep till after 3 am.
Woke up like 11:30.
Went to work, had to work till 6:30 just to make up hours.
Didn't make up enough.
Got out of work and was sore as heck.
Went to bed around 10:40pm.

Woke up at 3:30am saturday.
Was starving so I went to denny's around 5.
Got home from denny's by 6 and went back to bed for a little while.

Woke up at almost 12pm.
Missed kickboxing.
Couldn't get out of bed till 1.

went to eisa, 4 hour practice.
Almost fell out the final hour- got dizzy and disoriented working out outside.
ate some salt, drank some water, finished practice.
Afterwards, ate a few sandwich appetizers and went to the gym.

Workout
3 sets 8 reps
74% 1RM
50s rest between sets

Front squat
135, 135, 135
Had a hard time with the grip the first set; so actually paused for a few seconds midway through.
Next 2 sets went much easier.
Was pretty tired, probably could've done more, but was definitely feeling it.

Reverse crunch
8lb soft medicine ball, 8, 8
pretty easy

Deadlift
225, 225, 225
Dumbell deadlift was getting on my nerves.
This was much harder on the grip.
225 for 8 reps is no joke, I think even when i was maxing out at 405, 225 wasn't easy for 10 times.
Rough on the grip; otherwise not bad; just tired so i was feeling it.

Crunch machine
80, 100, 120
easy. i don't like this machine. supposed to be abwheel but gym ain't got one and i don't want to make it up at home.

standing calf raise
195, 195, 195
Not too bad but somewhat of a challenge.

Took just under 30min to finish the workout.

Looking at my supplement intake this week, I think having a good protein supplement makes a huge difference, as does the AMP, Joint Juice (or other Glucosamine supp) and the ZMA. Probably need to invest a little to make sure those bases are covered so I can minimize soreness.

[Pork Chop]

kinda missed a workout sunday.
i mean, i completed all the workouts on the bbb schedule, even repeating one.
i was just considering repeating a second one to be able to write off the week i went on vacation; unfortunately i was a little bit too banged up.
barely got out of bed all day- once I got home.

Definitely need to start thinking about dropping some money on some more supplements, now that the supply's running low, 'coz I'm feeling a lot more sore.

japanese class tonight.

start abbh on tuesday

[mok]

Porkchop - got to admit, asides from having been here forver I was wondering what your Muay Thai background had to do with Hung Gar...

But since the cat's out of the bag... do Let us know what you're getting out of the training with Illusionfist, will ya? (either here or elsewhere). :D

[Pork Chop]

ancient chinese secrets :p

i am doing my best to work on what he's given me
and i run through it a lot more than will appear in this journal
but i really wish i had more time to devote to it
because i know if i don't devote more time to it i'm not going to get anywhere with it

[mok]

ancient chinese secrets :p
but i really wish i had more time to devote to it
because i know if i don't devote more time to it i'm not going to get anywhere with it

LOL - that's how i feel everytime I drag my sorry-ass to train, and all i do is hung ga.

Neway your training blog's an inspiration. Keep it up.

[Pork Chop]

thanx :)

went ahead and invested a couple hundred bucks to replenish my stores of the supplements I liked from the free-sample buffet. they've make a huge difference thus far and I know they'll keep me in the game a while.

Currently looking at my next program. Fewer exercises, but more total reps per exercise. Going to be interesting. Might get a head start on it tonight after Japanese class. At least it's an every-other day program. Lifting consecutive days is pretty grueling for me.

[Pork Chop]

pulled something in my knee yesterday
didn't make it to work out

today i went to muay thai.
did pad class and sparring (for the first time in months and the second time in over a year).
turns out i'm a j3rk

new guy started playing rough.
i was trying to play tag with him but he kept hitting harder and harder
just had this feeling he was getting angry
i'd catch a kick, tap his bottom leg, set his leg down and get popped in mouth.
i'd pull big, clean shots, stopping just short or barely skimming and he'd jump on me swingin.
eventually i just stopped pulling.
hit him nice in the ribs.
tried to go back to playing nice and he tried bum rushing me in the middle of a kick.
guess I flinched or something and sped the kick up, coz it caught him in the head and dropped him.

few rounds earlier i was playing with this real good guy and side kick bounced off his gloves, shot straight up, and caught him in the mouth.

few rounds afterwards i was playing with another guy, was trying to let him get his licks in too. threw a simple punch-switch kick combo and he dipped right into it while throwing an opposite side punch. flinched as he threw and caught him kinda bad as he dipped/leaned. I did try to pull it and not penetrate with the force- something i'm not sure i tried on new guy. still had to take a few seconds to let him recover.

i definitely need to learn some control.
It is kinda weird though after being the guy with no stopping power for so long.

At the moment I'm trying to recover so I can go do my first ABBH workout.

[Pork Chop]

Finally went to the gym at like 12:30
Super late so all i did was lift

Workout
10 sets of 3 reps
80% weight
60s rest between sets

BBell Bench
185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185
think it was the 6th or 7th set, i didn't go down all the way, but by the end i was doin it right; just worried about my shoulder which kept feeling funny.
was spotting for another dude for a couple sets somewhere in the 2nd half of the exercise as well so it mighta messed up the rest time- o well.
Pretty easy overall, could probably go to 190 or 195.
Hope my shoulder stops acting funny.

BBell Row
135, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185
Took me a little while to get the right form down.
Noticed underhanded grip seemed to make the exercise feel a bit more "correct".
Overall pretty easy with this weight.

So that was it, the whole workout.
Felt short as heck.
Bet it'll be harder once i can start doin some more weight.

[Pork Chop]

muay thai and wrestling last night.
most of wrestling was observing & taking notes, did get in some practice dummy time though.

[Pork Chop]

Thursday
rested
was just too banged up and burnt out to lift

Friday
Lifted then went to a house party after work

Workout
5 sets of 10 reps
60s rest in between sets
60% 1RM

BBell Front Squat
135, 135, 135, 115, 115
Exhausting... so out of breath by the 3rd set

Reverse Crunch
8lb med ball, 8, 8
Was tryin to make up time coz i had to be somewhere, plus i wanted to make it harder. The sets actually went 25 - 15 - 10 and was hurtin by the end.

Standing Calf Raise
195, 195, 195, 195, 195
Not too bad. I don't know if my form was all that great- dunno if i went full rom. Still pretty decent.

House party was pretty low key but fun.


Saturday
"Iron-man"ed it today.
From 12 to 1 did a boxing workout through the muay thai gym.
The conditioning circuit at the end was he|| before doin 100 bodyweight squats.

Picked up a sandwich on the way home, grabbed a shower, and it was back out on the road.
2hour 45min Eisa practice in killer heat.

Felt okay so I went to lift after that.
Workout
5 sets of 10 reps
60% 1RM
60s rest

Dips
5plate assist, 6 plate assist, 6plate assist, 7/8 plates, 8 plate assist
went widegrip, close, wide, close, wide
was just getting exhausted. the 10 reps is no joke.

Pullups
7plate assist, 8/9 plate assist, 12 plate assist, 16plates, 16plates
Kept failing on every set just from the rep range.
RIDICULOUSLY exhausted.
Went neutral grip on every set except for the last which was reverse grip.
just died by the end of this.
To my defense, the plates are 6 pound plates and 18plates assist is exactly 100lbs. So as bad as the assist got, it wasn't all that much.

Gonna grab a shower in a few, drink another protein shake, and head out to hang with my friends.

[Pork Chop]

Well I just got laid off today.
I got 60 days to find new employment.
Actually kinda thrilled about it.
They wouldn't give me work to do and treated me like they didn't want me there, but then turned around and said I was some kinda slacker.
Good riddance

Going to be on the job hunt for a little while.
Hoping to go back to san antonio or austin
If I can't find anything, I may go back to Japan via JET long enough to make some connections and get another job.

I've really been waiting for a change to come; haven't really liked this job since i started and I'm excited to see where my life goes from here.
Of course, I know I could end up broke & massively in debt, but I'd rather think positive. :)

BTW, Sunday was one of the biggest rest days ever. I think i was awake for 7 hours total- 4 hours the first time, 3 the second. At least I've had some energy today.

If I can, gonna go work out tonight after Japanese; though I may be on the phone all night. hehe

[Pork Chop]

Just got back from the gym.
Been kinda out to lunch the last 2 days.
Little hard finding motivation again.

Workout
3 reps, 10 sets
60s rest
80% 1RM goal weight
deadlift day so i was following my better judgment and not doing cardio today.

BBell Deadlift
225, 275, 295, 295, 315, 315, 315, 315 315, 295
My normal deadlift is somewhere between a romanian and a stiff legged. Set 6 tried to do more of a standard deadlift till it started banging on my shins. Tried sumo on set #8. Grabbed the bar on the slick part and couldn't get a good grip, second rep i went wider- but too wide so form fell apart. Hands were hurting so left it at that for that set. Did an extra rep at the end.

Seated Calf Raise
160, 160, 170, 170, 170, 170, 170, 160, 160, 160
170 felt a lil too heavy, 160 slightly too light.
On some of the 170 reps, pad got sweaty, knee started to slip, so just left it at 160 so i didn't lose it.

Weighted crunch
120, 120, 120, 120, 120, 120, 120, 120
real easy. gettin it started on the first rep was a little weird, but probly should find another exercise maybe.


Like i said, don't like doing cardio on deadlift day coz my back will cramp up real bad.
Since sunday i've had a weird headache on left side of my head, in the middle.
Been worried I'm getting sick.
Weird mood.
Still kinda numb.
Lots to do before me.
Going to be a tough 2 or 3 months till i get relocated & settled.
Need to start working on my resume.
Probably have to scale back the workouts a bit.

[Becca]

... Like i said, don't like doing cardio on deadlift day coz my back will cramp up real bad...

Not that my workouts are anywhere near as intense as yours, but for a while I had a problem with back cramps and spasms under similar circumstances. A trainer I very much respected suggested the following back release to help stop the spasms as they were happening and also to work on reducing the frequency and severity of future attacks. Just a series of yoga poses done kind of slow but as fluidly as possible:

child's pose > cobra > upward facing dog > downward facing dog > downward facing cat > upward facing cat > back to child's pose.

Looks about like what some TCMA schools would call a reverse cat's arch push-up, except the focus is not on anything but elongating and stretching the core, back, and shoulders.

[Pork Chop]

Think we called them Tiger tail pushups.
Never thought to give them a try after lifting.
Thanks for the idea!
I'll give it a shot next week for sure. :)

[Pork Chop]

Just got back from thai pad class
really hot today feeling real pukey
going to take it easy tonight
didn't go wrestle- not sure they were even having the class
feel yucky

if i start feeling better i may try to go lift
if not, i'm not scheduled to lift till tomorrow

[Pork Chop]

Doin my best to stay on top of things. Tons of stuff going on. Just couldn't make it into the gym Thursday. Tonight I'll be lucky if i can sneak into the Thai gym and Saturday's going to be a bad day all around. Cut my hand open when i was deadlifting the other day. Next week will be better for sure.

[Pork Chop]

Here's what happened....

Friday
Needed to get my oil changed and go grocery shopping before i could go to the gym so i could hit up a barbecue later in the evening. Well, the oil change took an hour and a half, which put me about 30+ minutes too late to hit the thai gym. Got to the barbecue early. Cooked some brats. Drank too much that night. Stayed at my friend's place Friday & Saturday nights- only drank friday.

Saturday
Saturday was a pot luck with my drumming group. Cooked some kielbasas. Saturday evening ran around 6 flags for a few hours & got beat up on some of the rollercoasters (wooden coasters hurt). Was exhausted afterwards, we hung out at my friend's place some more.

Sunday
Woke up and we went to the mall for a few hours. Lots of walking. Finally got home in the early evening. Went grocery shopping. Cooked some food.

Monday
Japanese class after work. I was supposed to try to hit the gym after class. Came home cooked some dinner and just never got to workin out. Been doin a lot for this job hunting thing- resumes, contacting friends, etc etc. Plus had a lot of cleaning to do (still do) after being gone all weekend.

Tuesday
More of the same thing. Came home and cooked dinner before starting to work on job hunting. Resume's finally finished so it was a matter of signing up at as many job hunting websites as I could. Before I knew it, it was 12 and I was talking with a friend in Japan. Had to get some sleep.

Wednesday
Had a job fair today. Dropped off resumes at only 2 companies, but they seemed really interested. Working for USAA would be pretty nice, if I can't swing the Japan thing. Afterwards, I got some food at Panera bread (first time since i moved out here, it's one of my favorite restaurants) and chilled at home.

Went to Thai class and it was a nightmare. Guess I still had food in my belly and didn't drink enough water. It was soooo hot and couldn't dissipate heat. Threw up 3 times and basically didn't make it through the workout. Even threw up walking to the car.

Kind of ashamed. Mighta been what I needed workout wise, because it was like a slap in the face to my pride. Tonight at least, it's lighting a fire - so I'm about to head back out to the gym in a little bit for ABBH (which I kinda hate- lil too intense) and some serious cardio.

Friends are introducing me to a girl in about a week so I wanna work as hard as I can before I go down there. Probably still hear stuff about my weight. Last time I saw my friend was right after I'd stopped eating for a month.

Supplement Watch
I'm a huge fan of ErgoPharm's ErgoLean Amp. It's a diet pill, but not that thermogenic. More like a focus pill kinda thing. It has really helped at work and keeping my energy levels up for wanting to work out after work. So I tried to stick with ErgoPharm and get their protein. I've liked the punch type protein drinks I picked up at the supplement expo, and I went with blueberry. Unfortunately the stuff doesn't mix. What you're left with is a blueberry drink with a lumpy chunk of what seems to be soggy cardboard with Now And Later flavoring on it. Just nastiness. Think I'm going to have to get something else.

[Pork Chop]

Wednesday Part 2
Just got back from the gym.
Yah today was definitely a slap to my pride and a much needed fire lit under my hiney. It's been kinda hard workin out lately with all the job stuff- it kinda wears you out. As long as I keep workin a little bit each day on the job stuff I should be okay.

The workout
Warm up -
my old warm up on the elliptical, tho slightly different.
Sprint 30 to 40 seconds, rest 50 seconds to 1 minute; repeat for 10 minutes.

The weight workout was 10 sets of 4 reps.
60s rest
80% 1RM goal weight.

BBell bench
185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 155, 165, 165, 165, 165, 155
I know that's more than 10 sets.
See, first set I only did 3 coz i forgot about the reps.
Fifth set was really bad, last 2 reps were pansy 1/2 reps coz i was afraid of getting stuck.
Sixth set was super easy
True 10th set was hard, finished 2 reps for sure, might squeaked out a third, couldn't get a fourth. So on the 11th set I cranked out 4 more reps as good as i could.
This rep scheme is just plain HARD.
It's exhausting as heck, especially after that warm up.

BBell Row
135, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185, 185
This wasn't so bad.
Kept changing grip- overhand and under hand. The overhand reps had a little better form. Should stay at this weight.

Cardio
Finished up with 28 minutes on the elliptical on level 18.
Stayed on till i burnt 500cal.

All in all felt good.
Gonna load up on the supplements so i get decent days out of thursday, friday, and saturday. Got something to prove tomorrow.


kinda liked this poem from Dead Prez....


A soldier's Prayer
I will stay true to myself
I will always be loyal to those that's loyal to me
I will always demand respect and give respect
I will always provide for my family and raise my children to love theyself
and be independent, honest, ambitious, trustworthy
I will sacrifice my pleasure for my purpose
Struggle build character
Never ignorant
Gettin goals accomplished
I will take care of my body and stay physically fit
I will train to protect myself and the ones I love
I will conquer my weaknesses
I will face my fears
I will learn from my mistakes
I will stay humble
I will give thanks for waking up this morning
I am thankful for the opportunity to fight another day
May the ancestors walk with me

[stricker]

the fires lit :)

becca, pork,

I do (or used to do) that yoga sequence quite a lot, first thing in the morning and before and after training. i go slower and more carefully with it though if its straight after doing a deadlift session as the back is already pretty fired up, so i do a longer childs pose.

[Pork Chop]

and it just keeps on burnin....

Thursday
Went to Thai tonight
Took off from work early today to hit up the 5 o'clock class.
Stayed for the 6 o'clock class too.
Killed it.
Survived and did pretty well.
My pride was hurt so I had to prove myself.
Came home and chilled for a bit.

The workout
Warmed up on elliptical cross trainer.
Used the old crosstraining interval setting for the first time in a long time.
Did it on level 18 for 10 min with a 3 min cool down.

Weight workout was 5 sets of 10 reps
60s rest
I don't care what the recommended 1RM percentage was, I just tried to survive. LOL

BBell Front Squat
145, 145, 145, 145, 145
This hurt. I was soooo tired.
Had a little trouble going down low, but kinda found about where my squat probably should be- not too low, not too high, about parallel.
Still went pretty well, pulled i tout.

Reverse Crunch
10lb med ball, 10, 10, 10, 10
Kept dropping the medball- it was slick.
Kinda hard to make it through.
Was hurting by the last set.

Standing Calf Raise
215, 215, 215, 215, 215
Mighta been a lil too heavy.
My form got better as the sets went on eventhough I was exhausted.

Burnt after that.

Rested for a little bit and jumped back on the elliptical crosstrainer.
Cardio
30 min on elliptical crosstrainer.
Tried my best to keep my heartrate under 160 most of the time.
From 23 to 25 min i upped the speed a lil bit.
got almost 500 cal.
shirt soaked through.

cooled down with a couple minutes of shadow just to kinda loosen up.

My protein was way up today, probably a good 150g plus.
Tomorrow's gonna be a slightly easier day.
May have to go to another gym to be able to get in my weight workout coz my gym closes early tomorrow.

[Pork Chop]

Thai gym for an hour tonight- it was exhausting and i was burnt all day.
was gonna go lift, but my home gym closed early.
went to my friends' place and it got too late to hit one of the other gyms open all night.
gonna wake up early

[Pork Chop]

Saturday was a super day

Lifted weights in the morning:

Workout
5 sets of 10 reps
60% 1RM goal
60s rest

Dips
5 plate assist, 5, 5, 5, 5
First set was actually 2 sets of 5 reps, forgot what i was doing.
Last set was a bit tough.

Assisted Chin Up
7plate assist, 8, 12, 14, 14
Just feels too much. Every set after the first was terrible. I was just burnt. Don't know if it's the recovery time (60s) or the fact that the lats get hit during dips, or what. Think I need to start at 10 or 12 and just stay there.

Went home for a couple hours.
Protein shake, muffin, water.
Then I went to boxing class.
Boxing class was fun but some of the punch out drills hurt.

Went home after that: shower, more protein.
Then it was off to Eisa practice.
Dancing was kinda short, but intense.
Think my knee's been finicky because of the spinning jumps & not the stances.

After eisa went with my buddies to the opening of a huge outdoor mall.
Kinda like a strip mall on steroids.
Walked around there for at least an hour, maybe 2.

By the time we went out to dinner, I was in desperate need of food.
A beer on an empty stomach's a bad idea.
Luckily it was just one and my stomach wasn't empty long.
Boy did I eat.
Got a grilled chicken sandwich, next thing I know I'm eating other people's leftovers. LOL
Slept at my friends' place.

Sunday
Today wasn't as good.
Had to come home from my friend's place before our performance today so morning workout was out.
Performance was TOUGH.
Drumming in our get up in 90+ degree weather - direct sunlight, with a big heavy drum around your neck.
Afterwards ate some korean food with tons of veggies.
Got home and just crashed til dexter came on.
Don't think I'm gonna lift the final day in my rotation tonight.
Lifted 3 out of 4 days, so the 5th I'm understandably tired.
So if that makes me a failure o well.
Did a lot more than I usually do on Sundays at least.

Saw the guy I wanted to smash today at the gig.
He came back stage while we were waiting to go on, like he was my old buddy.
My friends were like "hey look it's your friend!".
All I could do was shake my head "no" and mouth "get the F out of here" before turning & walking away.
He had this shocked look on his face like "no?".
Either he's dense or he's playing a game- probably both.
Saw him during the performance video taping.
Messed up the first song a lil; but nailed the second.
Glad I didn't smash him there, in front of all those people, wearing my dance troupe uniform & causing them grief; but it sure would be nice to get some payback.
Tempted to say that's strike 2 after he posted on my myspace page a few weeks ago; i dunno. this stuff is juvenile.
I'm trying to let him just move to tokyo and give him a pass while I do my own thing but he's makin it hard.

Gonna grab some food and get ready for the week.
If I'm still wide awake later, I'll try to hit the gym.

[Pork Chop]

Monday
Went to japanese class, came home and felt like i was getting sick. Think it was just allergies.

Tuesday
I really dont' know what happened tuesday. I was still feeling ill. Crashed after work for a few hours, got woken up by the phone. Spent the rest of the evening looking for jobs and talking with friends I hadn't heard from in a while. Got to be around 1 so i went to bed.

Wednesday
Got outta work early.
Feeling better today.
2, hour-long classes at Muay thai.
Think he was being nice on the second class coz it didn't kill me at all.
Came home and chilled.

Finally went to go work out around 11.
The workout
This was a 10 set of 4 reps day.
60s rest.
80% 1rm goal weight
Was tired so no cardio warm up

BBell deadlift
315, 315, 315, 315, 315, 315, 315, 315, (315), 225, 225
By that ninth set i was so exhausted and my hands were hurting so much, i cranked out a single rep, set the weight back down, and pealed off a plate from each side. Last 2 sets weren't so bad, just exhausted. need to get some lifting gloves.

Seated Calf Raise
170, 160, 160, 160, 160, 160, 160, 160, 160, 135
170 just didn't feel good.
160 felt pretty good till the end.
135 was flying.

Crunch Machine
110, 130, 130, 110, 110, 110, 110, 110, 110, 110
Was falling asleep between sets. Didn't like the way 130 felt- think i popped some joint in my pelvic region.

Cardio
25 minutes on elliptical cross training.
Got about 450 calories.
Basically did it till I started spacing out.
Kinda dizzy on the drive home too.

Had trouble falling asleep- went to bed around 2.
Woke up real late today, like 9:30 or something.
Needed the rest.
Tomorrow I go down to San Antonio to meet up with some friends.

[Pork Chop]

Hit the thai gym today for an hour in boiling heat.
Went sushi with some friends afterwards.
Now my whole body's tightened up.
Tryin to get the nerve to go lift weights.
Midnight already.
Not looking good.
Probably smarter to hit the gym tomorrow morning
hurtin

[Pork Chop]

wow, been almost 2 weeks
well
last week i didn't do too much
fell for this girl in san antonio, came back and had to catch up on a lot of stuff- especially job hunting stuff.

this week...

Tuesday
Thai gym for 2 classes.
killed it
difference between getting exhausted in the heat versus the cold- in the heat you feel burnt to a crisp, battery acid in your lungs and all that; in the cold, it's like getting hypothermia, you just get weak and sleepy.
I don't usually react well to climate change.

Wednesday
warm up 10 min on the elliptical.

workout
another cruddy abbh workout, i really don't like the volume on these workouts. think it's affecting my performance too. tempted to go back to big boy basics after this.
10 sets of 5 reps. 80% 1rm, 60seconds rest.
Rest is just not enough.
Too many sets and reps for that much weight.

bbell bench
185, 185, 175, 175, 175, 155, 155, 155, 155, 155
The last rep on some of the sets were pretty darn ugly.
Might've only done 4 on the second set.
Think i waited too late to go workout

tbar row
135, 135, 135, 125, 125, 125, 125, 125, 125, 125
supposed to be barbell row but i think tbar's a better exercise; tend to have better form with it.

Rough first day back in the weight room.

[Pork Chop]

Double duty Thursday

Put in a really hard hour in the kickboxing gym.

rested for a few hours

then went to go lift

Workout
5 sets of 10 reps day
60% of 1RM goal weight
i ignored the 60s of rest because of the kickboxing earlier in the evening.
it was close, I just needed more time to catch my breath sometimes.

bbell front squat
135, 135, 145, 145, 155
Basically I tried to take a lesson from my recent failures on these workouts and build up to my desired weight. Especially at these volumes.
The last set was solid, but mostly just parallel and not atg squats like i maybe should have.

reverse crunch
10, 10, 10, 10, 8
Stup!d 10 pound rubber medicine ball didn't want to stay between my legs- was real slick & kept dropping it. 4th set was atrocious. Dropped down to the puffy 8lb med ball for the last set. Don't think I'll mess around with the rubber one no more.

standing calf raise
235, 235, 235, 235, 235
Pretty good, although I don't recommend going up too much more in weight or my form will break down.

Went home and my throat was kinda hurting last night. Lost my voice. Miss my girl. Not in a great mood. Starting to get real sore. Think I can still make it today and saturday, but i'd really rather be in san antonio right now.

[bodhitree]

try some zycam for the throat! stuff works! or just some plain zinc.

I just wanted to make a comment, long time reader first time writer kind o thing

Oh, and how do you calculate % of 1RM?

[Pork Chop]

try some zycam for the throat! stuff works! or just some plain zinc.

I just wanted to make a comment, long time reader first time writer kind o thing

Oh, and how do you calculate % of 1RM?

Took some zma last night and the throat's a bit better today, might double up on the vitamins later, thanx.

To be honest, I am not that precise with calculating the weight.
I usually have an idea of what I can do once, and try take the percentage of that.
Other times the recommended percentage really doesn't work out for the rep schemes; so I try to take the goal weight as a recommendation and then adjust for what I can actually do for that many reps/sets.

For example, on this current routine, I started out with 10 sets of 3 at 80% 1rm; which was not so bad, but when the # of reps per set jumped to 4 it got a bit harder, and by 5 it was almost impossible with the same weight. I'm finding if I start at the goal weight from the beginning, my strength drops off drastically as the sets progress, but if i work up to the goal weight it goes a little bit better. For chin ups, i've been goin a bit too heavy from the start, i get burnt, and my strength drops off drastically so probably smart to start a lil lighter and work up.

One guideline that the author gives in the book I'm reading is that you can't always improve. Occasionally you need to drop the weight back down- either when you're having a bad day or when you start back up with a new routine (the routines are changing every 3 weeks or so). It's the progression over time that gets you stronger, not necessarily trying to break your own records day to day (winning the war not the battles). Shaping rest and nutrition around that concept of longevity helps too.

Thanx for reading, I'll try not to be such a wuss. :D

[Pork Chop]

Man I'm not doing a good job of maintaining this thing. LOL

Worked out twice on Friday
hour and a half of kickboxing, and then the gym.

Workout
lifting work out was 5 sets of 10 reps, 60 seconds rest, 60% 1rm

assisted chin up
10, 10, 8, 8, 12
Felt much better than in the past.
I like going first with this

assisted dip
10, 8, 6, 4, 4
was failing on the last set.

saturday my girl came up to visit from san antonio.
did a drumming performance on saturday- it was a long one.

she drove back home monday morning, through a rain storm
it was a wonderful weekend
lil stressed out monday that she'd have a hard time making it home & in to work on time driving through bad weather
just kinda chilled monday night

protein shakes came in today so i'm trying them out
so far the blue raspberry isopure is pretty good.... and 40g of protein's nothing to scoff at.
Getting a lil tired of the protein shakes i already got, even though they got stuff like l-glutamine, vanadyl sulfate, and glycerol
if i work out tonight, i'm going to get close on 200g of protein with a limited amount of solid food ingested....craziness.

[SevenStar]

does that flavor have an aftertaste? I tried the mango peach a while back, and it tasted good going down, but had an aftertaste from hell.

[Pork Chop]

The protein brand is Isopure.
Taste can be a personal thing but i really like the Grape Frost and the Blue Raspberry so far. The old one I was drinking, I think was maximum nutrition's fruit punch flavor- that had an aftertaste similar to the ABB (American BodyBuilder) protein drinks, like Blue Thunder.

Kinda having a tough week, in the sense that I can't seem to get myself moving. I feel tired all the time; especially with the crazy weather we've been having and all the other things going on, so I've been taking it easy. Shoulda worked out yesterday. I think if I hadn't tried to get by on protein yesterday I mighta made it into the gym. I'm a lot more hungry lately than normal too. I leave for san antonio tomorrow after work. Wanted to have an interview scheduled before I left.

[SevenStar]

yeah - isopure's mango peach. I ended up giving it to one of my co-workers. I may try grape frost.

you and this new girl seem to be hitting it off pretty well.

[Pork Chop]

yeah - isopure's mango peach. I ended up giving it to one of my co-workers. I may try grape frost.

you and this new girl seem to be hitting it off pretty well.

I haven't liked Isopure in the past, I think I tried apple before, so either they changed the formula or they're better at some flavors than others.

thanx :) she's the greatest; i just didn't want to jinx it so I've been waiting til we're a bit more official before writing.

[Pork Chop]

killed it wednesday night
too bad it's the only work out i'm sure i'll have this week.

1 hour at muay thai.
REALLY tough pad workout.

weight workout
10 sets 5 reps
80% goal weight
60s rest
First off, the clock in the gym was busted, so I just kinda ignored rest times and did my best to just recover, but not waste any unnecessary time.
Second, as I learned last week, 10 sets of 5 at truly 80% of 1rm is kinda ridiculous. My strength usually falls off after the 5th set or so. So when I could, I built up to the goal weight.

deadlift
135, 185, 225, 275, 315, 365, 315, 315, 315, 315
The sixth set was only 2 reps but it was a personal best.
Last 2 sets didn't have the form I would've liked coz my grip was failing.
Grip definitely a lot stronger than before.
I know a lot of people say there's no point to a warmup set, but I really feel like it lets me lock in my form & recruit muscles I'm nervous about at higher weights.
Kept the lighter sets faster.

seated calf raise
160, 160, 160, 160, 170, 170, 170, 170, 170
I've gotten stronger on this exercise and was happy with the results.

weighted crunch
130, 130, 130, 130, 130, 130, 130, 130, 130, 130
Don't really like the exercise, but no ab wheel to do the real with at the gym, don't feel like having to go home to continue the workout.

No extra cardio coz i needed to go home and call my girl.
We talked for a good hour.
Went to bed a lil late and woke up a lil late this morning.
Starting to run out of time off.
May have to work extra starting next week when I get back, until my job's over.
Definitely moving to san antonio though, even without a job.

[Suntzu]

wassssssaaaaaaaaaap!!!!!

glad to see you are still in the gym.... altho not a waterbury fan.... but whatever..... i'm like a die hard crossfitter now....... we are out of usma now..... even jon.... sh!ts crazy with school and not geeting a fight and all that jazz but i'm still in it t win it........

here's my blog http://www.rosstraining.com/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=8104 give it a read.... not much fight training but i'm not retired yet.... don't know whats up with ross and the san da worlds.... so it looks like the cage is where its at now......

i might hang around here for a while until it get too repetitive....

[Pork Chop]

Suntzu
Hey man!
I'll give you a call soon.
Sounds like lots of craziness.
Super busy with the job hunt and relocating.
Working out may have to take a back seat till i get my stuff together.

[Suntzu]

i know the feeling...... now that there is a date for Ross' event i have to figure a way to get some training in.....

[Pork Chop]

i know the feeling...... now that there is a date for Ross' event i have to figure a way to get some training in.....

be honest, you're just trying to keep your post count higher than mine. :p

if there's anything i can do from here to help you out, lemme know.

my friend that i'll be living with in san antonio is a friend from high school and a great workout partner. I'll probably teach him some boxing/kickboxing too. so once i'm down there it should be a great situation. in the meantime, i'm not looking forward to packing my stuff up into a truck & hauling it down there.

tonight you're gonna have to tell me what happened with usma.
wonder how jon's doin.

julio still mia?

[Suntzu]

be honest, you're just trying to keep your post count higher than mine. :p

if there's anything i can do from here to help you out, lemme know.

my friend that i'll be living with in san antonio is a friend from high school and a great workout partner. I'll probably teach him some boxing/kickboxing too. so once i'm down there it should be a great situation. in the meantime, i'm not looking forward to packing my stuff up into a truck & hauling it down there.

tonight you're gonna have to tell me what happened with usma.
wonder how jon's doin.

julio still mia?

sorry i missed u.... good luck catching me at the cri.... i really need a cell...

julio is still mia... even tho he still lives in OM...... jon now has a real job(that he hates).... but is working on putting something together for himself..... hopefully sooner rather than later we'll put one big team together..... the usma situation is strange..... i'll fill u in when we catch up...

good luck on the move.....

[Pork Chop]

thanx :)

this changing weather's kicking my hiney
i get tired early, have a hard time waking up, and dont feel energy all day
think it's a combination of being worn out, stressed out, and maybe burnt out