Just a little update

Just wanted to fire off a quick update, since it's been a while. I weighed in at 203.4 today, so I'm on the path to sub-200. I got a couple of personal records this week: 275# front squat and 245# clean and jerk, which is 10 pounds shy of my goal for the year. All the squatting I've been doing has helped a lot, and getting stronger is just fun.

I've also kept up my conditioning by doing short, power-oriented circuits. Here's Monday's workout, to give you a taste:

2 minutes max reps push press, 135# (I got 27)

1 minute rest

2 minutes max reps squat clean, 135# (12)

1 minute rest

2 minutes max reps chest-to-bar pull-ups (21)

1 minute rest

2 minutes max calories on Concept2 rower (32)

1 minute rest

2 minutes max holds L-sit on parallettes (40 seconds)

Pretty tough stuff, but I love it.

Even though my weight hasn't gone down considerably I'm noticing that I'm leaner than I was a month ago. I can see my top 2 abs easily, as well as my ribs on the sides, and my shoulders and arms are more defined. I have veins in my forearms where I didn't before, so everything's headed in the right direction. I've just got to tighten the food/drink reins a bit and dial everything in. I find that I do things in cycles: a period of time being very strict on food and alcohol, and a time where I'm more lax. I figure as long as I don't lose the progress made during the strict phase, and return to being strict relatively quickly, I'll continue to progress toward my goals. Right now I'm being not so strict, but I think next Monday I'll tighten everything up again for a few weeks and see if I can't make a push for sub-200 pounds.

Well, the end of the month is coming up, and the question is will I reach my goal of sub-200 by May 1st? The answer is no. I weighed in at 207.2 this morning. But that's okay, for a couple reasons. I started supplementing with creatine again, to help my weight training. This always adds a few pounds of water weight. I ate a lot of carbs (and calories) over the weekend (dinner with friends, Easter brunch with family, Easter candy(!)) so some more water retention (and possibly some legitimate weight gain) there. But my diet during the week has been great, my training is still going strong, and I'm at the leanest I've ever been. I have to use the 4th notch of my belt to keep my pants on, whereas for the past few years I've been stuck on the 3rd, and the 4th would just hurt. So the number on the scale has to be taken for what it is: a single measurement that doesn't take all factors into account. And I'm learning to be okay with that. That said, it's still a useful metric, and I still want to be under 200 sometime soon.

I'm on my last week of physical therapy for my shoulder. Just one session left. Monday I did some heavy snatches and overhead squats, which are by far the worst aggravators of the injury, and had no issues whatsoever. Definitely good news. Now I can go back to training for Olympic weightlifting full-time.

I bought a bicycle last week, and I've been riding as often as I can. It's really fun, and a good way to burn some extra calories. I rode 6 miles to work today, and I'll be riding home tonight as well. It's a full-suspension mountain bike, so it's not the most optimal road-riding solution, but it does the job. Many of my friends are into mountain biking, so this summer should have a ton of opportunities to hit the trail, which is something I'm looking forward to immensely.

Overall I'm happy where I am, and where I'm headed. Making good progress all-around.

Good start to the week

Today's Weigh-In: 203.6

Yesterday was a great day. I ate great, had an awesome workout, and slept really well. I think the calorie boost over the weekend really helped me recover, because I felt strong when I was lifting, and my wind was great when I did a conditioning workout. I never felt like I was hitting a wall, which is really amazing for me, especially when losing weight.

Got more good food and more good exercise planned for today. Let's keep this train a-rollin'!

Bad weekend, but recommitting to succeed

I don't have a lot to say today, but I need to write something. This weekend was not very good diet-wise. I let my plans slip far too much, and overate on more than one day. I also had alcohol on 3 days instead of one. I guess I let my recent successes get to my head and open up myself for a failure. But it stops today.

I weighed in at 201.8 on Friday, and my waist measurement is down 1/2 inch to 35.5 inches. My body-fat measurement was 16.5% Saturday morning (at 203 pounds). I know that I can get under 200 by the end of the month if I don't let any more of these multiple-day slips happen, so I'm re-committing to my plan as of today. Slip-ups are bound to happen, and I'm accepting that fact. I figure as long as they're very occasional, and don't end up going from a couple days to a week or more I'll be fine in the long run. Also, the aches, pains, and intestinal discomfort I received from loosening my diet has helped remind me why I am doing this in the first place.

But yeah, new goal is sub-200 by May 1st. Totally doable. Gotta focus on food quality, good training, staying healthy, and sleeping well. What I'm doing is working, I just have to keep doing it. Sorry if this isn't very interesting to read, but I need to put it out there to keep myself accountable.

Weekend wrap-up, training and rehab update

Sorry for the Tuesday post, I've been really busy at work lately. This weekend was definitely a success, diet-wise. I missed Friday's workout due to a meeting at work, but I made it up on Saturday morning, so I'm still on track. I was famished all day Saturday and Sunday, and I ate a lot, but I stuck to the good stuff. Fruit, meat, salads, and potatoes. I figured with the higher carb weekend I would gain some weight by Monday, but I weighed in at 206, and today even lower at 204.6. I'm really happy with the progress I'm making right now.

Yesterday I tested my 1-rep max back squat, and nailed 345 using a high-bar placement. This matches my old (1.5 years ago) PR, which is kind of sad, but I had lost a lot of strength in the past year due to some dietary and training problems. Also, the old PR was done using low-bar style, which usually allows a larger weight to be moved, so doing the same weight high-bar (and ass-to-ankles deep) is a good achievement for me. It proves that my current program is working, so I'm going to keep on riding this pony till it dies. New goal is a 400 pound back squat before end of year. With that I can probably nail a 300+ front squat, which makes heavier clean and jerks much easier, which is my ultimate goal.

Shoulder rehab continues. I'm doing more strengthening exercises for my rotator cuff, and I feel a lot stronger in the ranges of motion where I was having trouble. It also feels a lot more solid in the socket, which gives me confidence that I can start snatching heavy again soon. I did a few ring muscle-ups yesterday and had no pain, no impingement whatsoever, and my transitions felt smooth and solid.

All in all, I'm pretty happy about how things are going. Let's hope they keep going for a while!

Friday

It's the end of the week, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. Nailed the nutrition and sleep yesterday, and today I'll be back in the gym trying to set new PRs. I'm up to 3 sets of 5 reps at 265 pounds for my back squat, and I'm going to be hitting some weighted pull-ups as well. Still a bit sore from Wednesday's workout but not too bad. I weighed in at 206 this morning, which is about what I've been averaging for the past 6 months or so. Just gotta keep it up.

The weekend is a trial by fire for these types of endeavors, and I've failed on more than one occasion in the past. I need to focus on what I eat, and make sure I don't end up in a situation where I have to make a compromise. I need to focus on my rest, and get plenty of it. I need to focus on recovery, and also on making time to just have some fun. What's the point of being lean and fit if you never have any fun?

Day 4

So, I had a bit of a cheat yesterday. My good friend called me up and wanted to go out to a bar, and my first inclination was to decline because of my current fitness goals. But I thought about it, and realized that I don't get very much time to spend with my friends these days, and it's something that I'm really working on addressing in my life. So I made the decision to move my 1 day of alcohol intake to yesterday instead of Saturday. Everything else was kept the same, I stuck with hard liquor (no beer) and had a good time. I had to be up early, so I missed out on a bit of sleep, but I can make it up by going to bed early tonight.

I don't regret this decision, and ultimately it will average out the same, while keeping me from getting neurotic about all this stuff. I'm back 100% today, no caffeine, no alcohol, etc. and I will continue until my next drinking day, sometime next week.

Everything else is going well. I nailed 3x5 back squats at 260 pounds yesterday, which was tough but doable. I threw in a short bodyweight metcon just to test my conditioning, and did really well. The strength I'm gaining is definitely translating to easier bodyweight movements, and I didn't feel like I was going to die, so I haven't lost much (if any) work capacity. I've got a couple more weeks of physical therapy before I can get back to heavy Olympic lifting, but right now I'm happy just getting stronger. Now to go eat some beef shank and berries to refuel.