Phase XI – Starts Today, (110412 – 111712)
but first,Starting week 3 of 5 of Creatine supplementing, week 2 of maintenance phase. Introduced Beta Alanine to the pre workout cocktail last week. It was recommended that I mix this stuff with Kool Aid or some other powdered drink because the sugar helps bind the molecules or some such. Kool Aid is ok, but I got some 4C berry pomegranate combo that I like.
If I were to evaluate the first two weeks of Cr. Supplementation, I’d say I had good results. I also believe in the placebo effect and my own will to make it work with my body. (I have a cynical streak and I need all of these weapons to defeat it.)
If you happen to be following you may have already noticed the color coding, but if not, here it is:
Yellow – is my musing, philosophies, thoughts and ideas about training. You might find a strategy or two.
Green – seems to be about reminiscing.
Orange – is an ailment or injury, something I’m concerned about. Most of my injuries haven’t been severe, however since I’ve become more tuned into my body I can detect the signs of a bug coming on – at least I think I can. I’ve been trying to track and measure the times when my energy dips.
White – everyday stuff. I include my routines in case you want to try them. My routines are kind of like jazz and art, never the same one twice.
110412 (Sunday #139)– AM Work: DST ended so 9 hours at the gig, no biggie. I should chill today, get some hose work done and maybe some lower abs and open heart – get ready for squats tomorrow. Start at 225.
Wake 192 call myself sleeping in but still got 6.5 hrs sleep, the natural length.
Nothing but chores today, forced rest. Good thing too, I’m sore from yesterday. GOOD!
I realized something, the more I eat and train the more I need to do both. I feel funny when I don’t eat enough. I imagine my metabolism is a monster gobbling up whatever I feed it, and quickly! Probably drank too much tea today, two cups, maybe 3? Better cut back.
110512 (Monday #140) – Wake 192 and cold. Runny nose, sneezing; oatmeal and wake stack. Election anxiety (joke!). Off to the Y for MAX LEGS: got the goods. Wk 3 of Cr. Maint & 1st full week of B-A supplementing. Will likely do protein drink post wk/o – maybe look into more juicing (no ‘roids, ha ha) and drink veggies. Should shop after gym.
YMCA!!
Squats – Start 225 --- 345 (3x) 10 sets 5 reps each unless otherwise noted. Push 405 just off the bars to feel the weight.
Shin flex – 60s to 70s, no going back to 55s
Calf raises 225 dead on 2x4 board 2 x 10
Leg press/calf press super sets (no 3x3s) went to around 450 on the smith
Stay here for a while until it gets easy.. karate kix and asst deep pistols 1 x 5 (these are hard even holding on, and cost a bit of breath.)
110612 – (Tuesday #141) 190.5 33.5% 48%
Regular night off drop – didn’t eat too much. Didn’t get the slice, maybe today. Back to GX for Temple, miss it.
GX wiped me out. Rusty but powerful.
110712 (Wednesday #142) 190.5 no others. YMCA & GX Aqua(?)
YMCA Back work:
Power Pull ups
T-bar rows 45 – 105 (+ the bar) 10 sets 5 reps each
Barbell shrugs – many sets maxed at 225.
Bent flies 50s 3x6 + seated bent flies 35s 3x8
Standing 45` shrugs 25 lbs 3 x 10
Lat Pull downs ---- 135? 3 sets of 8 – 10
Biceps pull down 3 sets prog to 95
Cable curls (singles) 40 – 50 lbs 8 reps about.
Out in about an hour… (Wednesdays are pretty fast, I’m often overlapping sets i.e. my last 5 sets of t-bars may overlap with my first 5 sets of shrugs, etc.)
Good aqua Box session. Turkey cheese sandwich from 7-11 and guilty pleasure (carrot cake).
Noticed the “stingle” of the B-A isn’t as intense as it once was. 1 week today since adding it.
110812 (Thursday #143) left my book last night. Ha! Studied metaphysics.
Wake 192.5 34 BF 48% H2O – I think I ate too much meat. GX-YMCA today
Pizza before class, no bad effects. Need to rebuild energy for those sessions. No recovery meal. Did take the cocktail before class, no stingle noticed.
110912 (Friday #143) Am Work 3X (whatever this means)
Chillin, absorbing Spirit Science – I may have to do a lite workout this PM, then up to Brooklyn.
Week 3 of Cr. I think the cycle is Load 1 maintain 4 cycle off 4; thinking of trying NO (Nitric Oxide is a vassal dilator, open up the arteries, pre-workout) mix with B-A. I should probably be off the Cr. For the month of December then restart in January and see what happens.
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Between everything else that's going on, I'm breaking in a
new camera. In any case, this shot is a quickie foto update
from this month (110912). Actually making gains.
It's never too late folks. (I'll let you know if I find out
otherwise.
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Will update observations at the end of this session, next week.
Sore legs.
I need to get back into carb cycling.
Wake 192.5 28% 50% 50`
Chest day – bench 5 rep sets, progressive maybe some legs if I get the chance; triceps & shoulders.
Preparing the body, i.e. weight loss – detox is part of ascension prep. So is separating one’s self from religious dogma and the external god. This all means taking responsibility for self.
Flat bench prog 135 – 225* (1 fail, then 1 rep) went 5 rep sets as far as I could then dropped to 3, 2, and 1. Then repped out at 155.
Incline dumbbells warm up w/ 45s then 3x10 sets w/ 60s – they are heavier than I remember.
Pull overs 60s 3 x 10
Military press standing prog 45 – 75 lbs. 3 x 8 (Let me set my mind to pump 135 even if I have to use my legs a lil bit. BE STRONG SON!! (looks like I’ve a ways to go)).
Cable triceps push down + rev grip curls (tris)
Peck Deck 3 x 12-10-8 w/ progressive wts.
111012 (Saturday #144) wake in Brooklyn 191.5 (there was a scale)
Daisy’s diner at 2AM for the Cali-omlet and a Burger in Chappaqua (up-state) NY for lunch. Champagne and dark and stormies.
111112 (Sunday #145) Vet’s day proper Wake 193.5 Brooklyn
Taking a break for the weekend. There will be a good deal of drinking and eating out. But I know how to order out these days. I stay disciplined to a point.
111212 (Monday #146) 194.5 Brooklyn.
Headed to my fave Brooklyn gym Harbor Fitness for MAX LEGS!!! Envisioning solid squats on a proper squat rack and leg presses on a slide, no supps, no pre-workout, maybe a post workout shake.
Max Legs pretty much as planned. Got to 315 in 5 sets of 5 reps. Got a bit deeper as well. Shallower squats at 335 and above. 1 set 405 maybe 12.5% squat (not totally coming off the bars – no spotter) One set just holding the weight steady.
Slide leg press + calf presses somewhere just over 500 lbs 4 rounds.
Leg-X plate machine progressed to 290 on last 2 sets. Did close to 10 5 rep sets.
Shin Flex 70s, 4 sets 10 rep min.
Isolated (seated) calf raises prog from 45 – 140 and OUT… 60 mins…
Protein shake, walk back about 15 – 20 mins.
I get better workouts w/ better eq. Time to look into a better equipped gym.
111312 (Tuesday #147) wake 192.5 Philly
Back to the routine – some pushups this morning, didn’t bother the shoulder, maybe ease into doing more. I’m thinking the benching helped. Did an experimental NO+Cr. Mix last night, no conclusion. (The NO mixes usually have Cr. In them anyway, but I have no idea how much.) ACV this morning too.
Week 4 or Cr. (overall) I put the cycle on the calendar. One more week of maint, then flush. So maybe I shouldn’t use the NO if it had Cr in it? Hmmm??
1900: Not sure if the legs are sore from Max-Legs day or GX today. It went well today. Didn’t do too much of the warm up, but went full Monster and (hot) legs.
Left knee got a sudden pain while walking down the street. Temp thing probably.
111412 (Wednesday #148) Wake 192.5 31.5 49% H2O – Not getting these readings, never had BF readings this high at wake up, but still, it coincides with wt gain and more muscularity. Plan to hit the y today before Aqua Box.
Veggie breakfast around 10am and an hour later I’m hungry again. Got no food with me, got no honey.
Left knee wrapped.
Back work (Lats/Trapz/biceps) 7 stations in 45 minutes.
Pull Ups and chin ups on Smith – tricky grip not many reps, but full motion and legs out fwd.
T-bar rows 10 sets of 5 maxed at 110 (probably should have gone heavier)
Barbell shrugs 5 sets ?? didn’t go very heavy.
Bent flies 40s 3 sets
Lat pull downs 3 sets 135 max (I think)
Biceps pull downs 3 sets
Biceps curls started with 30s…. went easy so jumped to 35s – may actually get to swing some 40s in a few weeks.
After 3 days of no B-A the stingle came back today more noticeably than yesterday, but I wasn’t lifting heavy yesterday. Could also be the weather, kind of chilly after warming up the body during the workout.
Decent Aqua Box session.
111512 (Thursday #149) AM Work – Trying to heal the left knee. Don’t know what happened unless it was a delayed reaction. Too many moving parts. Made a doc’s appt so maybe a quick check, but probably an x-ray, but maybe not, who knows. It still bends and supports my weight and light impact (like running up steps) and it doesn’t hurt all the time. Wrap, ice rest and lubricate…
Almost done with Session XI. I think the Cr./B-A combo (and placebo effect) has worked out. I’m in strength, particularly lower body strength areas I haven’t been in for years, if ever. It’s certainly a combination of eating, supplementing, attitude, expectation, drive, consistency and desire, plus a few I have missed.
Wake 192.5 30.5% BF 49% H2O – in at 194 17% BF 57% H2O – A bit of math assuming these measurements are correct.
100 – 17 = 83% of 194 = 161 lbs. (at 0 body fat)
100 – 30 = 70% of 192 = 134 lbs. (at 0 body fat)
So an overall reduction of 2 lbs. turns out to be a 27 lbs. difference at zero body fat? Doesn’t sound right to me. Certainly there are many flaws with this formula. OK, so maybe if I take calculate my wt at zero body fat and zero H2O and average the difference??? Nah… way too nerdy. I’ll just watch he weight.
Basically what I did was remove (mathematically) all the body fat and compare the difference from when I got home to when I woke up. It’s more likely that the scale is off than that I’m increasing body fat in 6 hours of sleep. Right?
Came close to the wall today in class, eat bigger meals before Y-GX.
Maybe a bug’s after me again, must set up defenses and eat more.
111612 (Friday #150) 41% through the year… Wake 193
Don’t feel hungry – had cashews, PB and pro-drink/molasses. Left knee still feel it, but not crippling.
Studied (watched) pyramid code in the AM & chilled/recovered from Y-GX.
Headed to the Y Friday lift Therapy – upper body instead of dead lifts … knee probably shouldn’t be stressed like that.
Seems like the pre-work was enough. 2 rounds of Chest-Triceps-Shoulders:
Incline Bench press – standard pattern. Start with low weight (135) go 5 reps, increase wt each set, drop reps as necessary. 10-12 sets total including two power (single rep) sets. Maxed 190. I can envision 200 – 210 in the next month if the shoulder holds up.
Close Grip Bench Press – 4 sets of 4 – 8 reps 135 lbs. steady wt. Pretty challenging after a dozen incline sets. This was a good day, pretty strong!
Arnold shoulder presses (seated) 30 lbs 3 sets of 8. One thing I’ve learned, I don’t need to do heavy weights with shoulders. Keep these suckers healthy for bench presses.
Flat Flies – 50 lbs. 4 sets 8 – 10 steady weight. I can stick with 50s for a while.
DB pull overs – one of my favorite exercises 4 sets of 6 – 8 80 lbs. These make my triceps and chest feel like I’ve done some work.
Shoulder raises (standing) – 20s-30s-35sat least 8 reps each, maybe 10 on the lighter weights.
Evaluations Guides (I may have included this before, but I couldn’t find it. I wonder if they are the same as before. )
1 – The Look: It’s not the most important guide, but since I do it daily it’s number one. Every so often I take eval pix, which is part of the “Look” also.
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Another wacky ride, but it can all be explained. Looks like I'm averaging
around the low-mid 190s, which is about where I was in 2003. As an
average guy I'm telling you, the conversion isn't happening as fast
as "they" promise... but it is happening. Just got to stick with it if
you want results. Most people fail simply because they give up.
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3 – Fit: Since I wear clothes everyday (duh); the fit doesn’t change that radically, I have noticed that certain T-shirts from last year are noticeably more snug in the shoulders.
4 – Strength: Three, sometimes 4 days a week I am lifting. Some days I can move more than others, I like to see steady progress. However, I’m still several lbs. below where I was in 2004 in certain exercises (bench press), but ahead in others (squats and many leg exercises).
5 – Endurance: twice a week my endurance is tested in group xercise classes. Overall I know I’ve ahead of where I was a year ago, although sometimes the energy wanes and it makes me wonder.
6 – Heart Rate – I’ll take a random heat rate at times. I’ve made this more of a habit this year. Last count was 55 BPM… I measure for a whole minute when I do it and it’s not always first thing in the morning.
7 – Inches, well actually centimeters. Every 45 days I measure my torso, maybe every 90 days I’ll do muscular areas. The results were posted last session.
111712 (Saturday #151) AM – work: Chillin’ tight and becoming sore, but in that good way that confirms a good workout. Today ends Session 11 – one more week of Cr. Supplementation. Then what? Nothing or switch to protein? Or straight B-A or no pre-workout drink?
Wake 191.5 E (no other readings) ACV before bed. Just chilled all day – a few pushups, slow and steady, no shoulder pain, guessing the muscles are growing/thickening around the joint. Benching doesn’t “hurt” as much. Still feeling the knee. Did some stretches (left) feeling tight – probably drinking too much tea, will have to cut back, but not radically.
Last weekend was the same as this one with the exception of drinking and eating out. In terms of getting all my gym time in … that is.
Next week is the last Cr week. I’m thinking about extending it one week just to make an even 6. Thanksgiving next week so I’ll have to adjust… maybe Saturday or Sunday, or home workout. I haven’t been doing abs/open heart lately – maybe return to that – or practice insanity on one of those days, see how much if any the GX classes have upped my endurance.
Final note: seems this fortnight is ending on a cleansing note.
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