Goals: 6 pounds of muscle by 10/01/2019; Still not sure what I weigh, some days I weigh 154, some days I weigh 150, so I think it is more realistic to pick a target weight instead of a number of pounds to gain. So my goal weight is 158.

Last Labs:

12/10/2018 Monday

9:50 – Seated Knee Raises x 25/side

– Seated Scapular Dips x 25; just warming them up;

– Seated Scapular Dips x 50, Feet on Mini-fridge; back arched, eyes up; good pump;

This is going to be a super busy week, I’m going to have to force myself to take breaks. I’m behind on my self-appointed timeline, and we have the departmental Christmas lunch on Thursday and a team building event at Top Golf on Friday. I am going to skip the Thursday lunch and I’m sure it will piss people off. There is just too much to do, in addition to the regular work overload that is. I have to build a return for a new location, I have to contact a state about a stupid f*ing collection letter for unpaid sales tax (as if), etc, etc. I’m trying not to complain though, it only hurts me. There are always options, you either do something about it, work toward doing something about it, or suck it up and accept it.

10:30 – Neck Mobility Drills

I actually had an almost crick in my neck Yesterday morning, reminded me of why I do these 5 days a week.

– Standing Torso Twist

– Twisting Chair Torso Twists

11:30 – BCAAs

– 100 Pushups App x 30, 25, 20, 15, 32 (supposed to do 40) ; Holy 5h1t that was tough!! thank goodness for the 2 min rest! Failed on #33, my whole body was shaking out of control. Technically I failed on the eccentric phase of #32, as I was coming down I lost it at the very bottom of the movement and just fell into the floor. 122 total pushups

– Rotator Cuff Abducted Horizontal Lateral Rotation x 25/side; used tape dispenser for weight;

12:20 – Pushups x 30; narrow hands; couldn’t stand the thought of that last session beating me, so I figured I’d squeeze out a few more just for the discipline of it.

– Now for lunch: a bratwurst and some broccoli, and green tea

12/11/2018 Tuesday

This morning while reading and journaling I did butterfly stretches again, not sure for how long. Also did some standing active stretching on my hamstrings for about 30 seconds.

8:00 – Curls x 15; 15 was close to fail on my left arm; using 4 reams of paper in my bag, so I guess that’s 20 pounds. No coffee yet; it’s hot in here too, wasn’t prepared mentally for that.

8:25 – Curls x 15 left, x 16 right; total failure on 16 and 17 respectively; full ROM, lockout at bottom of mvmt;

– BCAAs (½ serving)

11:00 – Shoulder Circles for Warmup, large and small

– Pushups x 60 (61?); wide hands and elbows; failure? Maybe had one more in me, but no way two more; just curious how many wide grip I could do in a row. Not bad after yesterday, it was my shoulders that gave out first; I am freaking starving.

– BCAAs (½ serving)

– Wall Jumps 1 x 25, 1 x 21; 1 minute rest in between; freaking exhausting! Personal best, had to stop at 21 because I got a stabbing pain in my solar plexus. For both sets I was sucking wind like I might pass out. I almost quit at 15 on the both sets, then again at 20 on the first set, and only managed to push further by visualizing the crossfit games athletes. I wasn’t planning to do a second set at all. My throat is on fire from sucking in that cold wind so hard and fast. I realized that in order to do this I have to arch my back, no rounding or keeping it neutral, that’s what causes me pain.

– Cat hang x 18 seconds; definitely wasn’t making it to 20 seconds.

– Light jog from doors of building back to where I left my badge; Doh!!

Note: before the pushups I walked down two stories to do them and then had to walk back up, and same with the wall jumps. Coming up after the wall jumps really gassed me.

5 min rest

11:44 – 200 Squat App x 13, 16, 10, 10, 13; 1 min rest between; Leaning back into at the very bottom (it like sitting into a chair) while flexing abs gives me better form, also focus eyes slightly downward not straight ahead, and feet shoulder width at max, maybe even slightly less like in between hip width and shoulder width.

12:16 – Triceps Flex x 30 seconds; flexed as hard as I could mentally, not very close to cramping though.

– Biceps Flex x 10 seconds; wow, may need to try that one again. No wait, coworker just bounced, so …

– Curls x 15 left, x 16 right; full ROM, last 4 on left and last 1 on right were cheats, big cheats on left. # 15 every time I tried to let go with my right hand the weight just dragged my arm down.

12:17 – lunch! Bratwurst, bone broth

2:30 – Neck Mobility – How could I forget??

– Seated Knee Raises x 25; extra wide knees and feet;

3:30 – Anniversary Celebration – they had a meat and cheese tray that I camped out by, loaded up on some calories and protein! Had about 8 or 9 slices each of pepperoni, Canadian bacon, pastrami, and probably 10 or 11 of salami. It’s funny too because earlier after lunch I began wondering if I needed to increase my calorie count for my training.

12/12/2018 Wednesday

Weight: 154 (fully dressed, t-shirt and light sweater, so probably ½ pounds or more in clothing)

Finally remembered to get on the scale this morning! Way overslept, got up at 6:45. I guess my body and mind finally had to just shut down after pushing so hard both mentally and physically. Essentially got 8.5-9 hours of sleep.

Muscles are feeling super pumped. My shoulder joints feel a bit weak and tender, like they aren’t going to survive much more stress, so I won’t be testing those waters today. Legs are slightly sore from yesterday, but it is one of those feelings where it will probably be worse tomorrow. Chest is just tight and swollen, looks kinda good not gonna lie. Biceps feel a little weak but not sore.

8:35 – Seated Scapular Dips x 50; back arched, eyes toward ceiling, shoulder blades pulled close together, feet on floor; front delts were really burning for some reason.

8:45 – Standing Bent Over Rows x 25/side; still using the bag with 4 reams of paper; just getting the feel for it, haven’t done this move in a long time.

9:40 – Seated Hamstring Stretch x 2 minutes; both legs at once

– Seated Torso Twists x 30; just trying to move, I feel like I could fall asleep any second.

10:15 – Elbow-Hinge Pushups Tricep Extension thing x 25; not sure what this exercise is, it’s like a pushup, but I’m trying to only move at the elbow, not the shoulder joint so that the pec isn’t involved in the movement. My hands on desk, elbows locked into my sides, bend elbows to lower my body toward desk, then push my boy up arching my back using only the triceps. I’m not sure I’m doing a good job describing this.

Yesterday I was thinking about my legs being too skinny, and that I want them to be bigger. I was also thinking about that in contrast to doing the stairs so I can handle our backpacking hikes better. A couple of thoughts occurred to me: First, more muscle on my legs gives me more to work with. Cyclists and runners now incorporate strength training to improve their performance. Second, I’ve never been an endurance guy, I think genetically I just have more fast twitch than slow twitch fibers, so I may never be able to match the endurance of the other guys. But if I am stronger my pack weight will be less of an issue, and I may be able to use that to keep pace. After all, we aren’t doing purely endurance, we are doing it under loads.

So I have this dilemma, I feel like I may want to do the stairs today but I don’t want to interfere with my muscle and strength gains. But then again, I’m not lifting heavy, nor have I achieved muscular failure yet. Most of my leg workouts are high rep, so how is doing 60 squats any different from doing the stairs?

10:30 – Neck Mobility Drills; woke up in the middle of the night to drink some water and noticed my neck seem a little stiff from sleeping in the same position for an extended (longer than normal) period. I’s fine this morning, no crick in my neck, but need to stay ahead of that.

10:54 BCAAs

11:15 – Stiff leg Deadlifts x 50; arch back, come ups as fast/explosively as possible;

– 200 Squats App x 13, 16, 11, 11, 20; did odd # sets narrow feet, takes more focus to push through glutes, kind of uncomfortable in my lower back. Too much stretch maybe?;

10 min rest (actually finishing a return and printing it off)

11:40 – Superman x 20;

– Up Dog Tricep Extension 2 x 25, 2 minute rest; same as the thing above, start on the ground like the sphynx, straighten elbows to lift yourself into the up dog position without moving your shoulders or engaging your pecs; second set was brutal; experimented with hand placement, no conclusions yet; felt the burn right above the elbow (tendon?); it seems much harder with elbows closer to body then when upper arm is perpendicular to the ground, feel it more in the belly of the triceps but elbows burn worse (I think)

11:57 – Seated Tricep Dips x 40; short ROM, feet on floor; If I do the short ROM and keep the handles of the chair close, the chair doesn’t make as much noise.

12:00 – Lunch!! Bratwurst, some chicken breaded with rice flour, bone broth. I’m out of veggies, need to buy more. I know, I’ll take some Organifi. I always forget I have that in my mini-fridge.

2:35 – biceps flex x 50; just flexing, nothing intense; I know I am most likely outside of the muscle protein synthesis window.

– Biceps Flex x 30 seconds;

3:40 – Standing Bet Over Row x 50; 4 reams of paper; left side is either weaker, or my form is different.

4:05 – Seated Chair Dips 1 x 25, 1 x 12, 1 x 20; feet on floor; 1st set short ROM, 2nd and 3rd full ROM; no rest between 1st & 2nd set, 2nd was burning so bad I reached mental failure. Final set I wasn’t going to let that stop me, so I dug deep and pushed past, 20 was almost failure physically, maybe had 2 more in me.

– Another ½ serving of BCAAs

12/13/2018 Thursday

I had a rough low blood sugar incident this morning, I wonder if this new monitor I’m using gave me a bad reading or maybe the test strip was defective. I got a high reading upon waking, it kind of surprised me. I took a normal amount of insulin, wondering if I took enough, and two hours later I was crashing hard. I drank a protein shake, then some apple juice, then 2 Halloween sized Twix, then a protein bar. After about 20 minutes or so I was good enough to drive to work. I still have brain fog almost two hours later.

8:40 – Isometric Seated Row (no weight) x 40 seconds; just assumed the seated row position and pressed my elbows into the back of the chair

– Seated Dips x 25; short ROM, feet on floor; just trying to activate the muscles to transport more nutrients in

– Seated Scapular Dips x 50; shoulders rounded forward, looking down,

I am so tired and burned out, I don’t know if I can do any training today. I can’t even think of what I would want to do if I could. I’m going to make a cup of coffee and then at least do some “do anything” moves.

10:35 – Neck Mobility; Torso Mobility;

– Standing Hamstring Stretch; pretty sore and tight from yesterday;

Watched 30 seconds of a Mat Frazier documentary

– Handstand x 30 seconds, had to stop all the blood rushing to my head;

– Handstand pushup x 1½

– Updog Pushups x 50

– Pseudo-pushups x 9; total failure on 10

12/14/2018 Friday

Slept like a rock last night. My back is super grumpy this morning, I’m hoping it will loosen up with some activity.

8:10 – Bench Tuck x 15; just getting the body warmed up; I’m going for a great day today and fitness is a big part of that!

– Seated Bowing x 25; Rounded back Stretch; neither seems to be helping

8:20 – BCAAs – ½ serving; still going for it

8:25 – Supermans x 15; that was interesting, I almost failed on rep 1, I could barely move at all. Pushed through though;

– 100 Pushups App x 25, 30, 20, 15, 40; I did it! Had to dig super deep, watching the Mat Frazier documentary helped a lot, just kept focusing on him about to puke in front of a fan. On the last set I had to pause for 2 full breaths at the top of the movement from like #25 on.

– BCAAs – another ½ serving

Walked to the 7th floor of the tower to get our calendars for 2019, +2 floors to get back to my desk.

10:15 – Bicep Curls x 18 left, 23 right, 8 left; reached failure on all sets

1 minute rest

– Seated Concentration Curls x 8/side; partial reps, not fully extending (the bag handle is too long to get full extension); failure

2 minute rest

– Biceps flex x 30 seconds

The seated curls tell me that the weakness in my left arm is at the bottom portion of the movement.

10:50 – Pushups x 53; medium elbows medium hands; failed at the end, didn’t even try to do #54, just gave out at bottom. Really sucking wind too, had do pause for a breath between each rep after #25

5 minute rest

– Up-dog Tricep extension x 20; first 5 were in sphynx position, the rest were elbows against body; the burn in elbows was insane

I’m off for some free lunch at the departmental Christmas party at Top Golf. Gonna get my calories on!

I Am Building A Life of Fitness!

Have a Great Day!

Lubimûr