Still not happening

I tried yesterday and I tried again today, but I just couldn’t get up at 4am.  I’m guessing that I still need some rest to get completely over my cold.  I feel much better.  I still have a lot of congestion and a residual cough, but my body feels a lot better.   I just couldn’t get out of bed.

I’m going to take the weekend off.  In other words, I’m not even going to try to get up early to work out.  Then hopefully Monday I’ll be able to hit it hard again.

Still sick

Today was the first day I felt somewhat normal when I opened my eyes in the morning in a week.  I slept six hours straight – another first in a week.  I’m still coughing a little and the left side of my head is still congested, but man, I’m feeling better.

Needless to say, I haven’t been working out.  If I feel good tonight, I’ll try to wake up early to get Hypertrophy I workout A1 tomorrow.  If not, I’ll try to get A1 Thursday, and B1 on Friday.  I really want to get started.

Fat Loss II stats

Here are the stats for the Fat Loss II program:

A1:

• Front Squat:  105×12, 105×12, 105×10
• Wide-grip cable seated row:  105×12, 120×12*, 120×12
• Supine hip extension with leg curl: 12, 12, 12
• Barbell push press:  95×9, 75×12, 75×10
• Dynamic lunge: 55×12, 55×12*, 55×12*
• Upper-body Russian twist:  0×12, 10×12, 10×12

A2:

• FS: 105×12, 105×12, 105×12
• WGCSR: 120×12, 120×12, 120×12
• SHEwLC:  12, 12, 12
• BPP: 75×12, 75×12, 75×12*
• DL:  55×12, 55×12, 55×12*
• UBRT:  25×12, 25×12, 25×12

A3:

• FS:  105×10, 105×10, 105×10
• WGCSR: 120×10, 120×10, 120×10
• SHEwLC: 10, 10, 10
• BPP: 75×10, 75×10, 75×10*
• DL: 55×10, 55×10, 55×10
• UBRT: 25×10, 25×10, 25×10

A4:

• FS: 115×10, 115×10, 115×10*
• WGCSR: 135×10, 135×10, 135×10*
• SHEwLC:  10, 10, 10
• BPP:  75×10, 75×10, 75×10*
• DL:  65×10, 65×10, 65×10*
• UBRT:  35×10, 35×10, 35×10

A5:

• FS: 125×8, 125×8*, 125×8*
• WGCSR: 150×8, 150×8, 150×8*
• SHEwLC: 8, 8, 8
• BPP:  85×8, 85×8, 85×8
• DL:  75×8, 75×8, 75×8*
• UBRT:  35×8, 35×8, 35×8

B1:

• Snatch-grip deadlift:  135×12, 155×12, 175×12*
• T-push-up:  8×12, 8×12, 10×12*
• Bulgarian split squat with overhead press:  20×12*, 15×12*, 10×12*
• Underhand-grip lat pulldown:  120×12, 135×12, 135×12*
• Romanian deadlift/bent-over row:  65×12, 70×12, 70×12*
• Lower-body Russian twist:  12, 6, 9

B2:

• SGDL:  175×12, 175×12*, 175×10
• TPU:  8×12, 8×12, 8×10
• BSSwOHP:  15×12*, 15×12*, 15×12*
• UHLP:  135×12, 135×12, 135×12*
• RDLBOR:  95×10, 85×11, 75×12
• LBRT:  12, 12, 12

B3:

• SGDL:  135×10, 135×10, 135×10 (adjusted down to try to meet rest times during BSS)
• TPU:  10×10, 10×10, 10×10*
• BSSwOHP:  15×10, 15×10, 15×10*
• UHLP:  135×10, 135×10*, 135×8
• RDLBOR:  75×10, 75×10, 75×10*
• LBRT:  10, 10, 10*

B4:

• SGDL:  155×10, 155×10, 155×10*
• TPU:  10×10, 10×10, 10×10*
• BSSwOHP:  15×10, 15×10, 15×10*
• UHLP:  135×10, 135×10, 135×10*
• RDLBOR:  75×10, 75×10, 75×10
• LBRT:  10, 10, 10

B5:

• SGDL:  165×8, 165×8, 165×8*
• TPU:  12×8, 12×8, 12×8*
• BSSwOHP:  20×8, 20×8, 20×8
• UHLP:  150×8, 150×8, 150×8
• RDLBOR:  95×8, 95×8, 95×8*
• LBRT:  8, 8, 8

A6, B6:  Came down with a cold and decided to skip them, use this week as my rest week and start Hypertrophy I next week.

* Indicates I had to pause before one or more reps or I could barely complete the last rep.

Decided to call it

I wasn’t feeling too hot last night, so I decided to call the Fat Loss II program.  I was only one workout of each A and B short of finishing it.  I’m going to use this week as my rest week and will start up on Hypertrophy I on Monday.

As I was typing up my log spreadsheet, I started thinking that I should probably work out on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  I don’t know if that’s wishful thinking at this point.  I guess I’ll find out after Tuesday’s workout.

Good news, Bad news

Good news:  I did Fat Loss II Workout 5B yesterday and I felt great.  I was able to increase the weight on all exercises.  I felt great.  And another great thing was that yesterday I finally noticed some change in my mid section.  I had been somewhat disappointed because I was working hard on the Fat Loss program and I hadn’t seen any obvious fat loss.  For some reason, though, yesterday I actually noticed a smaller gut.  It’s weird how it  sneaked up on me, but I’m happy it’s there.

Bad news:  Yesterday I went to work and came home early because I felt sick.  Last night I ran a fever, had a cough, and didn’t get much sleep.  Today was supposed to be my workout day (6A), but there was no way I was going to do it.  Now I’m debating on what to do next.  I had two workouts left in fat loss (6A and 6B).  One option is for me to just ride out this cold, take this week as my rest week, and start Hypertrophy I on Monday.  The other option is to hopefully get 6A in tomorrow morning and 6B Saturday morning, next week as my rest week and Hypertrophy I the week after that.  I guess it kinda depends on how I feel tonight.

I Love 8 rep sets

Today I did FLII Workout 5A.  This is the first one that goes down to 8 reps  with 30 seconds rest.  I really liked it.  It feels so good when you’re at “oh-my-god-fiiive”, then think, “hey I only have three more reps to go!”

The 30 seconds rest are a challenge.  It’s barely enough time to take a sip of water and write down what you just did (barely enough).  When I did the first superset, I didn’t write anything down until afterward.  I would do my eight reps of front squats, take a sip of water, walk over to the cable station, sit down, and had about five seconds of rest left.

For the other two supersets I bring the swiss ball to the squat rack so it’s easier to rest during the rest period.  I always feel guilty bringing the swiss ball to the squat rack, but it’s early in the morning so there’s almost no one there.  And besides, I’m justified in using the squat rack for the push presses and the barbell dynamic lunges, right?  If I didn’t use the squat rack then I’d have to clean the barbell up before the presses or lunges.  Right?

I feel good about today.  I increased my weight in all the exercises except the upper-body Russian twist.  I know I could have, but the 45lb plate seems like it would be too awkward to hold.  I’ve been using a 35lb plate and that seems comfortable enough to hold, but the 45?  I think I’ll give it a try on Wendesday (my next workout A).

Almost forgot… I finished my workout before 5:30am so I decided to try to get some HIIT in again.  I did a 5 minute warm up, three 1min sprints with 2min walks, and a five minute cool down.

It’s a good tired

I feel good today.  I got through FLII Workout 4A today without a hitch.  I was even able to up my front squat, wide grip row and upper body russian twist weights.  That made me feel good.

After my workout  I was able to get in 10mins of HIIT (three 2min walk/1min sprint combinations) followed by a five minute cool-down.  I almost cut the third sprint short, but I made it through.  All-in-all it was a very productive morning.

I was tired at the end.  I still feel tired now (about 8 hours later), but it’s a good tired.  I like feeling this way.

Who would’ve thought

This morning I had my first Fat Loss II workout B with 45 seconds rest.  I decided to take the snatch grip deadlift weight down to 135lbs instead of the 175lbs that I was doing and guess what?!?  I was able to get through all the reps in all three sets of the Bulgarian Split Squats with Overhead Press.  Who would’ve thought?  I didn’t feel that the deadlifts were taking that much out of my legs, but I guess they were.  I felt good after the workout.  It was tiring, but I felt good.  Just like Wednesday, it felt like I was running around the gym.  When I go down to 30 second rest periods, it’s really going to feel like I’m flying.

That was quick

Yesterday was my third workout A for the Fat Loss II program.  In this workout I had to decrease the rest times to 45 seconds.  45 seconds really flies when you’re tired.  I can’t wait until I go down to 30 second rest periods.  It’s going to feel like I’m running around in the gym.
I was able to stay within the 45 seconds for the most part.  The one time I didn’t was more a logistic problem than an exhaustion problem.  It happened during the transition from the first superset to the second superset.  The problem is that the cable row station is across the gym from the squat racks and walking from the cable station to the squat racks and changing the weight on the barbell took longer than 45 seconds.  I don’t remember how much longer, I just remember having to go straight into the supine hip extension with leg curl right after changing the weight on the barbell.

One thing that was interesting was that the workout seemed to go so much faster.  Maybe its because you don’t really have time to think about much other than the workout with the shorter rest periods.  I remember thinking, “wow, I’m almost done” after the second superset.

I tried to get some HIIT in after my workout.  I could only get two sprint periods in, then I was spent.  I then did a 5 minute cool down and went home.

Tomorrow is my first workout B with 45 seconds rest.  I think I’m going to lower the weight I’m using for deadlifts from 175 to 135.  Maybe that’ll help me get through the bulgarian split squats with overhead press with only 45 seconds rest.  I’m crossing my fingers.

Second Workout B

Today was my second workout B for Fat Loss II.  The good news is that it went a lot better than it did last week.  The bad news is that I still didn’t stay right on the 60 second rest periods.  I stuck with the 60 seconds for the first and third sets pretty good, but during the second set I just couldn’t.  I got closer, but I just couldn’t.  I think my longest rest period was about two minutes, while the shortest during this second set was at about 75 seconds.

It’s amazing how fast a minute flies when you’re exhausted.  I did the BSSwOHP with 7.5 pound dumbbells for all three sets, but it still kicked my butt.  My next workout B (Friday), I’m supposed to decrease the rest periods to 45 seconds.  How the heck am I supposed to do that?!?!  I think I’m going to have to decrease the weight of my deadlift/t-push-up superset a little.  Maybe that’ll save a little energy in me for that middle set.

As for HIIT:  I only did it once last week.  I had planned to do it on both Tuesday and Thursday, but I just couldn’t get out of bed on Thursday.  I’m thinking it was because of the whipping I took from my first Workout B on Wednesday.  I’m going to shoot for HIIT on Tuesday and Thursday this week.