WSFSB III: RE Lower Body

Been feeling sick the past few days, like a mild cold. So either the new folks arriving from the United States brought something with them (a few people in the offices have been sick, too) or the heavy stuff is catching up to me. I've been sleeping too much and eating too little. So even though I was about half and half, I went in on Saturday instead of Friday. I was so half and half I went in late to ger it done: 1AM on Sunday. I did cut out most of the accessory work, however, to play it safe.

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Smith Machine Box Squats: 290x2x12

Hammer Calf Presses: 290x2x12

WSFSB III: ME Upper Body

I slept in most of the day, got up at around 2ish, walked for an hour and a half (no body armor), then went to the galley and pigged out on turkey and other grub. Then after a 3 hour nap brought on by the turkey/sugar coma, I woke up at 10PM and went to the gym. Maybe it was the nap or the eats but I had a ton of energy to spare. Got a lot done. It's now 3:18AM and I just called my wife and kid, and my mom in New Jersey to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving.

And that reminds me, Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Incline Bench Press: 195x2x12.

Hammer ISO Super Incline Press: 60x10x4

Assisted Wide Pullups (Monster Mini Bands): Failure at 6, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3 reps

Hammer ISO Rows (Elbows In): 155x2x12

Rear Delt Machine: 115x6x5

Barbell Curls: 95x4, 95x3, 95x3, 95x2, 95x2

WSFSB III: ME Lower Body

Walked for 45 minutes at 6AM.

Lunchtime:
Deficit Deadlift off 4" Box: 135x3, 170x3, 205x3, 240x3, 275x3, 305x3, 335x3. Hit my goal weight, a few things fell into place . Kept my toes pointed forward, had the strength, got the glutes engaged a little sooner. This movement is still rounding my back a little more than I'd like, so good mornings or RDLs will be in my future. Next week, I will go for the 365 single.

Evening:
Bulgarian Split Squat w/Front Foot Elevated: 70x10x4

Leg Curls: 60x30x2

Seated Calf Raises: 42.5x30x2

Leg Raises/Decline Twisting Situps: 5 sets to failure

45 minute walk in body armor. Had no legs for running, maybe I should have done intervals on the elliptical instead.

WSFSB III: RE Upper Body

Walked in the morning at 6AM for 45 minutes, no vest.

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Lunchtime:
Assisted Dip Machine (Weight=BWT-Assistance): worked up to a 203 lbs 6 RM (calculated to about 235 1RM), then did 173x10x4

Evening:
Abs Class. New teacher was a Nazi. Or it's been a while, because it sucked.

Assisted Chinups (Monster Mini Band): Failure at 7, 5, 4, 3, 3, 2, 1 reps

Hammer ISO High Rows: 55x30x2

Rear Delt Machine: 100x10x4

Incline Lateral Raises (Rest Paused): 8x25x2. Most continuous reps of any set was 19.

Hammer Curls: 30x12x4.

Intervals on a Treadmill (1.5 Degree incline): 4 intervals of 1 minute at 9.0 MPH and 2 minutes at 3.8 MPH

30 Days

30 Days until I go home. 30 days until I get away from Africa for a while and enjoy sushi and real wine and beer.

And 30 days to lose 10 pounds.

Today, I dropped below 210 for the first time in almost two months (209) - - - I had let myself gain some weight, some muscle and some fat. The Abs Diet may have been just what I needed. Shame I didn't do it sooner. Now, I am taking up the challenge put up by Alwyn Cosgrove in his article about losing 10 months in a month.

Today I walked in the vest for a long walk. The plan is to keep my weight training days the same. Hell, the next 4 weeks are gonna push me to my limit. So I'm gonna do the metabolic circuit like he proposes, but instead will use bodyweight stuff and calisthenics interspersed with sprints ans other running drills (side shuffles, cariocas, suicides) for the 3 days that I don't lift. I will, however, do 16 minutes of intervals after the lifting. Not too much but enough for a response.

I will be walking every morning before work at 6AM, except for Sunday. That's my day to sleep in. Sunday will be a metabolic circuit and a long vest walk. My weigh in day will be Saturday mornings, since I walk past the gym on the way back to my living unit.

Stay tuned.

Abs Class is back again, so I'll be doing that on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday at 6:30PM.

WSFSB III: RE Lower Body

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Since the weight for the squats was going to be light, I did all the accessory work first to make the squats harder. As if they weren't going to be hard, eh?!?

Assisted Pistols (Average Band): 5 sets of 11

GHR: 5 sets of 7

Hammer Calf Presses: 120x30x2

Leg Raises/Decline Twisting Situps Superset: 5 sets to failure

Smith Machine Box Squats: 120x30x2. I barely got the 30 reps on the first set, and on the second set I had to stop after the 24th rep and catch my breath for 15 seconds before I got the other 6. I could barely walk afterwards. And to think, it doesn't get any easier in the coming weeks: 290x2x12, 95x50x1, 140x25x2, 330x1x15.

WSFSB III: ME Upper Body

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Lunchtime:
Incline Bench Press: 190x3x7. The original goal was 7 sets of 4. That changed after the first set when my fourth rep attempt would not go up. Next week is supposed to be 12 sets of 2, and I'll probably do that with 195.

Evening:
Hammer ISO Super Incline Press: 55x12x4

Assisted Wide Pullups (Monster Mini Bands): Failure at 6, 6, 5, 4, 3, 3, 2 reps.

Hammer ISO Rows (Elbows In): 65x30x2. Actually, I barely got the 30 on the first set. On the second set I got 16 reps, rested 10 seconds, the ground out the remaining 14 reps.

Rear Delt Machine: 85x10x4

Barbell Curls: 90x6, 90x4, 90x3, 90x2, 90x1

WSFSB III: ME Lower Body

Deficit Deadlift off 4" Box: 145x5, 175x5, 205x5, 235x5, 265x5, 295x5, 320x3. Not too bad but the extra 2" made today's session tough. Strained my inner thigh on the 1st set, but by pointing my toes forward and focusing more, it didn't affect me much.

Bulgarian Split Squat w/Front Foot Elevated: Skipped it due to the strained inner thigh.

Leg Curls: 75x20x3

Seated Calf Raises: 55x20x3

Leg Raises/Decline Twisting Situps: 5 sets to failure

Since I didn't do the split squats, I took the 1.25 hour walk in the body armor instead.

WSFSB III: Re Upper Body

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Assisted Dip Machine (Weight=BWT-Assistance): worked up to a 213 lbs 4 RM (calculated to about 222 1RM), then did 128x15x3

Assisted Chinups (Monster Mini Band): Failure at 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 2 reps

Hammer ISO High Rows: 70x20x3

Rear Delt Machine: 70x12x4

Incline Lateral Raises (Rest Paused): 8x30x2. Most continuous reps of any set was 19.

Hammer Curls: 25x15x3.

WSFSB III: RE Lower Body

I blew off this workout on Thursday, and was blowing it off yesterday with dread until 11PM when I forced my own hand and gave it a go. It went better than I feared it wouldn't. But the squats reminded me of why I was dreading the workout: 3 sets of 20 was really hard work. After that, the rest of the workout felt like cardio. Especially since it was late and I was cutting the rest periods just so I could take a shower and get to sleep.

All Notation: Weights x Reps x Sets

Smith Machine Box Squats (Slightly Below Parallel): after warmups, 155x20x3

Barbell Curls: 55x5, 65x5, 75x5, 85x5, 95x5, 105x3, 115x1. I supersetted these with the squats. 115 is an all time PR for me, a long rep but I strained like crazy until I broke the sticking point (1/2 way).

Assisted pistols (Average Band): 5 sets of 10

GHR: 5 sets of 7

Hammer Calf Press: 160x20x3

Leg Raises/Twisting Decline Situps Superset: 5 sets to failure.

WSFSB III: ME Upper Body

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Walked in my body armor for 45 minutes

Incline Bench Press: 55x5, 75x5, 95x4, 115x3, 135x2, 155x1, 175x6x5.

Hammer ISO Super Incline Press: 50x15x3

Assisted Wide Pullups (Monster Mini Band): Failure at 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4. For the next 3 weeks, no green bands.

Hammer ISO Row (Elbows In): 80x20x3

Rear Delt Machine: 55x15x3

Barbell Curls: Originally, I was gonna do preacher curls, 80 lbs for 4 sets of 8. Am noticing that as the back work gets harder (or I'm burned out on preachers, or both), I can't do reps with a lot of weight on this now. So I switched to barbell curls, loaded the bar up to 100 lbs, and did sets of 3, 3, 2, 1, 0 reps. Because while my arms were too beat for reps, I could do low reps with high weight.

WSFSB III: ME Lower Body

Front Squat: 95x5, 115x5, 135x3, 155x3, 175x2, 195x1, 215x1, 235x1, 245x0, 245x0. The lighter sets were not crisp, so I knew I was not recovered from the past few days. The first attempt at 245 went under control but at the bottom I had little pop and I got stuck after the first few inches. Second attempt at 245, I tried to push my glutes back a bit more to use my glutes but I had nothing left. I felt kind of bummed but there will be next time.

Reverse Lunge w/Front Foot Elevated: 100x5x5

GHR: 6 sets of 6. Just didn't have it today.

Seated Calf Press: 95x3x10

Leg Raises/Decline Twisting Situps Superset: 5 sets to failure

Tested rear delt machine to a 100 lbs triple.

Long walk in the body armor: 1.5 hours

WSFSB III: RE Upper Body

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

45 minutes of walking in body armor.

Incline Bench Press: 160x8x4.

Chinups: BWTx3x7. The added bodyweight did not make these any easier. Have to kip a bit. Next 3 weeks, will begin to do rep sets with the monster mini bands only.

Hammer ISO High Rows: 125x3x10. After chinups, these were a struggle.

Incline Lateral Raises: Zilch. Had no shoulders left.

Reverse Curls: 55x10x4

Trap Bar Shrugs: 214x5x5

Today began my six week push before I go home. After a month of inconsistent eating and aerobics, my weight is up to 211. Some of it muscle, some of it not. Need to start sleeping consistently, too.

Felt like my head was in a vice. I think it might have been the malaria medication: I normally never take it at night for just this reason (and because it screws with my sleep).

Started the Abs Diet today, and it's actually pretty good. We'll see what happens. Am experimenting with planning what I'm going to eat in advance and writing it on paper, like I do my workouts.

WSFSB III: RE Lower Body

All Notation: Weights x Reps x Sets

Lunchtime:
Smith Machine Box Squats (Slightly Below Parallel): 135x3, 165x3, 195x3, 235x3, 265x3x10. Yes, 10 sets of 3 reps. I did it, but it bled me dry. Am not looking forward to the evening.

Evening:
Assisted pistols (Average Band): 5 sets of 10

Leg Curls: 150x3x10

Hammer Calf Press: 265x3x10

Leg Raises/Twisting Decline Situps Superset: 5 sets to failure. This time, I tried to bring my legs up higher on the leg raises, like a pike. I think this hit the spot: where I could normally do five sets of 8, I failed at 8, 6, 5, 4, and 2 reps.

WSFSB III: ME Upper Body

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

2-Board Bench Press (No Leg Drive): 95x5, 120x5, 145x3, 170x2, 195x1, 225x1, 235x3, 245x1. Target reached.

Wide Pullups: BWTx3x7. Hard today. I felt like I was losing it pretty quick as far as my stamina goes. Did get a flu shot today. Hmmmm. . . . . .

Hammer ISO Super Incline Press: 45x20x3

Hammer ISO Row (Elbows In): 140x3x10. God help me, this sucked.

Seated Overhead Shrugs: 175x5x5

Preacher Curls: 70x0. Had neither the shoulders left to support it nor the bicep strength to curl it. SO . . . .

Barbell Curls: Failure at, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 rep followed by a cluster set of 6 reps. All with the same 70 lbs.