All Aboard the Pork Chop X-press!!

[Oso]

yea, it's hard to do sprint/interval training on most any machine but I agree Lifefitness stuff if the best out there...though I still hate all ellipticals....

[Pork Chop]

I realized today that I'm probably not going to need that much sprint work outside of the swimming.
My coach tried to kill us today.
On our team if someone swims 500 meters straight, doing perfect butterfly stroke; they achieve a rank of "butternutz", as in: "this person's not just nuts, but butternuts".
Someone on our team was going for it this morning before practice and I made the mistake of telling the coach that it was one of my goals....in maybe 3 months

After we were already over 1000 meters into our workout the coach hit us with this:
25 meters of butterfly x 20, with 5 to 10 seconds rest between each.

Doesn't look like much.
But by the 8th or 10th, when your heart is about to explode, you realize you might actually drown just swimming across the pool.

All of you guys doing Tabatas or the ones saying jogging's the only way to get your cardio up & maintain weight know nothing of this pain... which is basically a 30~40 second "on", 10 second "off" tabata session for 20 intervals.

That swim works out to 500 meters of butterfly stroke.
If I can do that straight through (usually takes in the ballpark of 9 or 10 min) then I will probably be able to out cardio anyone fighting.

I had a great time this morning.
Can't believe how much I missed this stuff.

Tonight scheduled to lift a lil & do some muay thai with the coworker.
I'll post first 2 weeks results a week from Saturday.

[Pork Chop]

Friday part 2
So I went to the gym for my evening workout.
My coworker never showed up.
I did a really respectable 12 min sprint session on the elliptical crosstrainer - level was 19 most of the time.

i lifted some weights until my shoulder started bugging me:
reverse flies with 30lbs - 3sets x 10reps

I shadow boxed for 3 rounds of 4+ minutes
I jumped rope for 10 minutes
I finished up with 2 rounds of 5 minutes on the heavybag, trying out some old gloves; again my shoulder flared up a little so i took it easy.

afterwards, i met up with some friends.
We stayed out till 3 in the morning, dancing from 12 to 3; stuck with my diet- just drank water.

[Pork Chop]

This weekend was a rough one...
Saturday I went toobin down the comal river for a couple hours and then went to austin.
Got home from austin around 5 in the morning.
Dog got sick being left alone for 13 hours; not sure how.
We tried to let him sleep in the room for once and he puked on me.
Needless to say, I didn't get to sleep till after 6am.
At least I had some good southern food in austin, with like 5 different veggie sides - all of them delicious, especially the collards.

Sunday I wanted to rest all day but my girl had made plans to go to a dinner party and I wasn't allowed to say "no".
We left the house at 5pm and didn't get home till almost 12.
Didn't start heading to bed till 12:30.
Got to sleep by 1, but my girl woke me up with a coughing fit.

Monday was a comedy of errors.
After waking up at 3; going to swimteam at 5:30am just wasn't in the cards.
Tried to go to the 8:30am class but after driving all the way down there, I realized I was missing my clothing bag and my goggles.
As I turned to go back home, I just said "screew it, I'm getting some rest" and called out for work.
Spent the day recuperating and eating fresh tuna (sashimi style, no rice).
Ended up sleeping in the study so as not to be awoken by any coughing fits.

Tuesday I decided to make up for monday.
I went swimming at 5:30am; which was 30 min early, so i did about a 1000m warm up.
The workout was pretty hard; felt tired when it was over.
After work I decided to make up a swimming workout, so I went swimming at 5:30pm as well.
The workout was roughly the same as the morning workout, just a little more volume (without the warm up).
Went home and my coworker was ready to go to the gym.
Went to gold's and started out on free weights:

Clean&Press:
65lbs x 10
95lbs x 8
105lbs x 3
135lbs x 3
135lbs x 3
105lbs x 3
95lbs x 10
65lbs x 10

Squat:
95lbs x 10
105lbs x 10
135lbs x 10
185lbs x 3
225lbs x 3
275lbs x 3
135lbs x 10

Assisted pull up:
12plate (64lb) assist x 10
10plate (52lb) assist x 10
bodyweight x 3 + 1 negative (coz the third was ugly)
bodyweight x 3 + 1 negative (coz the third was ugly)

Assisted dip:
10plate (52lb) assist x 10
8plate (40lb) assist x 10
bodyweight x 3
bodyweight x 3

Then we went upstairs for some skills workout:
3 rounds of shadowboxing
3 rounds of jump rope
My buddy was in a hurry so I just watched him hit the heavybag for 3 rounds (one of which was while I was jumping rope- he only did 2 rounds of that)
I'd already put my shoulders through the ringer today, so I thought it best to not punch anything.

Since sunday I've been eying this bottle of Squirt. It's 200calories, so I added an extra 200 calories on the elliptical cross trainer to make room for it.

Just got home about 30 min ago and I'm going to try to down a protein shake, take a shower (3rd one today), take some zma, and hit the hay. Pretty freakin exhausted.

[Pork Chop]

Wednesday
Today I just went swimming for an hour and fifteen in the morning.
Passed out after work for a couple hours, was even having a hard time staying awake at work towards the end of the day.
Tried Amp2 around 3 and think it might've actually caused me to crash.
Had a pretty good nap - i'm getting more rest on the bed in the study; but am still a lil sore and pretty fatigued.
My coworker wanted to take the day off as well - it was his idea and I didn't complain.

Started taking SuperCissus today as well.
Between the SuperCissus, the Glucosamine/Chondroitin, CLA, Omegas 3-6-9, ZMA, Amp, Amp 2, exotic berry (has acai & other stuff), and my multivitamin - it feels like I'm swallowing a small pharmacy on a daily basis. It's getting me through, so I guess I can't complain.

[WinterPalm]

Keep me updated on the Supercissus. I just started taking it today as well...if it does nothing we can hold Satori Science responsible.

[Pork Chop]

WP - sure thing

Thursday
Got to the pool a few minutes later than normal, so swam maybe 45~50 minutes instead of the full hour. Mighta been a good thing, coz I really didn't sleep much Wednesday night (like less than 4 hours) and I was sore as heck. My elbow & shoulder joints on both arms started stinging with sharp pains during the swim. I don't think it's from the SuperCissus, but it's weird that it started after my first day on the product. Even with the shortened duration, by the end of the session, I was spent.

Got out of work early and caught up on some sleep, taking a 2 hour nap.

Hit the gym around 10pm.
Had a really good 10 minute (8 interval) session on the elliptical crosstrainer.
Then it was on to weights:

Deadlifts (traditional)
135 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 10
275 x 6
305 x 3
305 x 3 The last set wasn't all that. It felt much lighter my first set of 305, to the point that I was almost thinking of increasing weight.

T-bar row (just going to include the weight I added to the bar):
45 x 10
70 x 10
90 x 10
115 x 8
135 x 5

incline hammer strength bench lever (it's a lever not a machine so nyah! again, weight added)
90 each side x 10
90 each side x 10 shoulder was flaring up

decline hammer strength bench lever (weight added)
70 each side x 10
90 each side x 10 - nice burn on the chest on this one

Calf raise (machine):
both legs together x 125 x 10
each leg x 85 x 10
each leg x 100 x 10
each leg x 110 x 10

weighted crunch (machine)
90 x 20
125 x 20
125 x 20

weighted back extension (machine)
125 x 20
140 x 20
155 x 20

My coworker wanted to hit the gym in the middle of my dinner so i didn't go with him and didn't do any boxing/kickboxing stuff.

I would've liked to have done more jump rope this week. With my joints being the way they are, holding off on heavybag might've been a good idea- especially with the cr@ppy heavybags Gold's has.

I can't wait until the swimming gets a little easier so i can mix more of the muay thai stuff back in.

[Oso]

so what is your opinion of the hammerstrength machines? I like using them because I don't need a spotter and I don't have to worry about my shoulder as much.

[Pork Chop]

so what is your opinion of the hammerstrength machines? I like using them because I don't need a spotter and I don't have to worry about my shoulder as much.

same here
the absence of a pulley means no mechanical advantage is being used.
The fact that it's each arm weighted separately keeps it from being too much of a bilateral movement.
I think it's at least as good as a T-bar row...


That being said, I didn't lose a single pound the past 2 weeks..... talk about depressing.... I've been swimming like a maniac, eating like a POW, and lifting like a powerlifter....
the electronic scale did say i lost like 2% bodyfat, but nobody believes that cr@p
argh....
visually i've been told my face looks a little thinner and i think my arms look much bigger in the mirror.

i'll still keep it up till september coz i don't know any more surefire way to lose weight but it still sux.

EDIT: my power went out early friday morning so i didn't make it to swim team. I still didn't eat bad until after I weighed in tho.

[Indestructible]

Try isagenix products. I had killer results with their 9 day program.

http://stevensmith1.isagenix.com/us/en/nineday.dhtml

[Pork Chop]

Try isagenix products. I had killer results with their 9 day program.

http://stevensmith1.isagenix.com/us/en/nineday.dhtml

Looks really interesting; unfortunately I don't have the money right now to try it out - saving up to go to Japan & already spent a lot on supplements.
I think I'm going to do a new year cleanse after the holidays and will pick it up then, thanx.

[sanjuro_ronin]

same here
the absence of a pulley means no mechanical advantage is being used.
The fact that it's each arm weighted separately keeps it from being too much of a bilateral movement.
I think it's at least as good as a T-bar row...


That being said, I didn't lose a single pound the past 2 weeks..... talk about depressing.... I've been swimming like a maniac, eating like a POW, and lifting like a powerlifter....
the electronic scale did say i lost like 2% bodyfat, but nobody believes that cr@p
argh....
visually i've been told my face looks a little thinner and i think my arms look much bigger in the mirror.

i'll still keep it up till september coz i don't know any more surefire way to lose weight but it still sux.

EDIT: my power went out early friday morning so i didn't make it to swim team. I still didn't eat bad until after I weighed in tho.

Here is a quick way to see if you are gaining muscle and not just size and are losing fat and not muscle.
Its quick and easy.
Get a tape measure, measure your bicep ( probably your right if you are right handed), measure your bicep circumfrence.
Measure it relaxed and measure it flexed.
The difference is what is going on in your body.
You want it to be 1" difference or more.
If your relaxed measurement is gaining and the difference is decreasing you are gaining fat.
If the difference between relaxed and flexed is getting bigger ( even if flexed is getting smaller as can happen when you lose weight), you are getting more muscular while shedding fat.
The relaxed measurement is done in the same position as you do the flexed one, just relaxed instead of tense and flexed.

[Pork Chop]

Here is a quick way to see if you are gaining muscle and not just size and are losing fat and not muscle.
...

Thanks!
Gonna try that tonight

Went swimming this morning.
Have a project due today for work so I don't know if i'll be able to do anything this evening.
My shoulder's really bugging me again so I may just lift on Tues & Thurs, only doing squats & lunges.

[Pork Chop]

Monday I was in a really bad mood most of the afternoon.
Was kinda spacey and light-headed too.
Kinda like low blood sugar or something.

Slept in on Tuesday - till almost 10am.
Didn't work out.

This morning, Wednesday I went swimming.
It was a good swim, very exhausting
Tonight my girl & I got dance lessons and I may go to late night training with Marcello Salazar- not every day you get invited to hold pads for a guy that fights on TV.

Got a pair of Twins "super bag gloves" in the mail.
The leather smell coming off those gloves as I unwrapped 'em reminded me of old baseball mitts from when I was a kid.
These are definitely authentic Twins gloves and not just some sort of super bag glove.
They look even better constructed than pairs I've seen in the past - and certainly more impressive than Windy's. I may try them out tonight.

[Pork Chop]

Friday morning, swimming again.
Not sure what happened Tuesday and Thursday.
Woke up around 10 both days.
Thursday I even had a hard time getting out of bed at 10.
I even went to bed on time both days.

Shoulder flared up today after swimming.
Not sure what to do about it, guess I should see a doc.
I do feel it's getting better tho, slowly.

5k swim on sunday that i wanna try.

Gotta figure out how I can add back in muay thai and weights without killing my shoulder.