MilitantGeek's log

Threw in a pair of snacks yesterday to up the calorie count. Glass of milk and 1 T peanut butter on a slice of whole wheat (1/2 sandwich), brought me up to around 1600 or 1700 calories.

Ate clean all day again, weight was down to 178 this morning, expect that to be a partial fluke of some sort, but we'll see.

Cardio again today, but didn't feel like running so I broke out the jumprope again. That makes twice now, and I gotta admit I'm loving it. 30 second intervals (maybe 7 or 8 total) with 90-120 second breaks in between. Used an 8 lb plate and 20 lb. DB for some light aerobic lifting during the breaks. 16:20 total time, felt great afterwards. More drained than after a normal workout, but also more enervated......if that makes any kind of sense.
 
Looking good mate. You thinking about joining a gym at some stage?
 
179 on the scales this am. Ate clean except lunch, when I hit the indian buffet. Even that was mostly clean. Vegtable masala, chickpea masala, chicken curry, some white rice, 3 or 4 small vegtable fritters (badbadbad, but so tasty), and one small piece of naan (indian flatbread).

Swapped up the workout a little. Since my legs are adapting to the leg workouts FAST I dropped one of the shoulder exercises and one of the ab exercises to squeeze some legs in, looked like this :

shrugs - 1 x 10, 2 x 15 @ 40 lb.
seated shoudler press (on exercise ball) - 2 x 8, 1 x 10 @ 40 lb.
weighted crunches - 1 x 15 @ 10 lb., 2 x 15 @ 25 lb.
1st time I've weighted a crunch, and I liked it a lot, will stick wih these
bicycles - 3 x 20
squats - 1 x 8, 2 x 10 @ 145 lb.
leg curls - 1 x 4 @ 100 lb. 1 x 6 @ 75 lb., 2 x 10 @ 85 lb.

NBS 4life said:
Looking good mate. You thinking about joining a gym at some stage?
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I dunno, here's my view on gyms.

Pros: plenty of helpful spotters/form checkers, tons of machines/stations/whatever you call em, social atmosphere

Cons: cost more in the long run (currently between jobs so this weighs extra heavy), I am less likely to do it cause of the distance and travel time......if it's in my face and convienent I am more likely to stay on it, I like the solace and introspection of solo workouts, and unless I have workout buddies (I currently don't, everyone thinks I'm insane for worrying about my health and fitness like I do) I find it to be a demotivating experience. I know it's irrational, but I feel out of place in a gym, mostly cause I'm still flabby and learning and it seems like everyone else is not so flabby and been at it for a while.

So, maybe one day, if I find like-minded people locally. Until then, no. And to be honest, I live in Alabama, a state in the SE US where the cuisine is horrible. We're actually one of the fattest states in the fattest country around last time I checked, so finding battle buddies for the gym is gonna be extra hard here.




something like 22.x percent obese here, omg :eek:
 
Yesterday

weight at 179 (maybe it wasn't a fluke :) )
ate clean all day
Went for my endurance run as always on Saturday. Unfortunately, my body said an hour run was a nogo. My pulse rate was about 5-10 beats higher than normal, the humidity was a killer, and my abs and lower back were starting to cramp around the 10-12 minute mark. So I cut it short and only ran for 33 +/- 1 minutes, plus another 4-5 minutes of walking spaced throughout to help moderate the pulserate.

Today

Free day today, and I intend to enjoy it. Going to grab a cheat meal, and not do a thing about it. No weights, no jumprope, NO RUNNING!! I may even be such a slug I forgoe studying for my A+ certs as well. So good to be lazy once in a while.

weight at 177......wtf.......I know I ate extra veggies yesterday, without sacrificing any protein or essential fats, but this is kind of crazy. I mean, the last 5 pounds or so that I've lost were put on quick, and I don't horribly mind losing 'em fast, but I want to do this slow and steady (and healhty) so I don't rebound. Ideally I'd drop 2 pounds a week.

Seems realistic to me.....my bmr to maintain (I plugged in 1.4 for an activity modifier) is a hair over 2600 kcal. So, I've been shooting for 2000-2100, plus the calorie deficit created by exercise. I know most of my runs burn off 400-500, I just don't know about weight sessions and kcals burned after exercise due to increased metabolism. At that rate 3000 kcals a week under my bmr should be a breeze.

Anyways, I haven't really defined my goals yet, so I think it's time for a.....

MISSION STATEMENT!!!

reduce bodyfat to 15%
reduce weight to the 165-170 lb. range (high school soccer weight was 165, so this would put me back at my young guy weight and fit squarely into my "medically healthy" weight zone as defined a million places online)

continue to expand my knowledgebase
establish healthy eating patterns to go with my already junky-like exercise habit (I take an off day a week and hate it, and walkign and running are showing up in my dreams a lot lately)

And develop the almighty sexy six (or 8. Hell, I'd settle for a 4-pack right now). Realisticly this is more of a long range goal that should fit into my 2nd or 3rd stage goals, but I'm including it here cause I want it pretty badly.

Once I achieve this I by all means intend to set further goals, but I really think it's gonna be 6-8 weeks before I see my goal weight and that long or longer to see my target bf (how long does it take to drop roughly 8%?).

Speaking of which, why is that no matter what I try, when I lose weight it appears to be an even mix of fat, muscle, and whatever, as my bodyfat tester shows me in the 23% range no matter what weight I hit. It's very frustrating to say the least, and really makes me want an accurate test.
 
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Weight at 179 this morning. rechecked after breakfast and a hearty movement, back down to 178. Jeah!!!

Tody's workout goal was to send a message to my muscles, mainly "Wake the #$!@ up!!! Surpsise!!!" (and maybe an owned for good measure). The guy who recomended my last routine deffinately knows something, he's in great shape, but I feel like my gains haven't been coming along like they should, and I was bored. Sooo....

bench press - 1 x 15 @ 95, 1 x 12 @ 115, 1 x 10 @ 125, 1 x 7 @145, 2 x 8 @ 145
seated triceps press - 3 x 10 @ 40
bar curls - 2 x 10 @ 75, 1 x 6 @ 75
lat pulldowns - 3 x 8 @ 130
squats - 3 x 10 @ 145
shrugs - 3 x 10 @ 40
leg extensions - 1 x 10 @ 100, 2 x 12 @ 100
leg curls - 1 x 8 @ 85, 2 x 10 @ 85
weighted crunch - 1 x 10 @ 25, 2 x 15 @ 25

Clean eating all day (so far) with an omgwtf amount of post lifting protein. After this workout I felt way more ravenous than usual with a distinct craving for protein. Amazing how well your body talks to you when you start taking care of it.
 
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Weight at 179 this morning, blergh, foul sodium in my chinese yesterday would be the culprit I suspect.

Did jump rope ontervals again today, but without any weights at all, just jumped for 30-35 seconds and walked it off for 45 (a minute a couple of times). Did 17 minutes total, and really felt it. I know it's not quite full-blown HIIT yet, but my stamina on the rope is coming up while my cooldown periods are getting shorter (last time they were all 1.5-2 minutes, so 45 is awesome IMO).

Are clean until my last meal. My mom invited me to dinner and we went to Carrabba's (yummy italian grill if ya didn't know). So I cheated a little, but did what I could to keep it clean. Two pieces of bread, but dipped in olive oil and spices. House salad with olive oil and balsamic (sp?) vinager, boxed up half to go. Dinner itself was grilled chicken in a champagne sauce topped with shrooms, red peppers, and crab meat. Sides were pasta in a tomato-based sauce and zucchini in the same. At half of everything except the pasta, which I ate a small amount of, and boxed up the rest. We'll see tomorrow how much harm was done, but it was yummy regardless. And it's nice to spend some time with family, we had a good chat.
 
My bf tester on my scale is all over the place sometimes... but I have been squarely at 20% for some time (about a month)... as I lost weight it has changed... think of it this way... at 175 you would have to lose 2 lbs of fat to be 1% change... in reality I am seeing a drop of 1% for about every 5 lbs I loose... according to my scale...
 
jsobo119 said:
My bf tester on my scale is all over the place sometimes... but I have been squarely at 20% for some time (about a month)... as I lost weight it has changed... think of it this way... at 175 you would have to lose 2 lbs of fat to be 1% change... in reality I am seeing a drop of 1% for about every 5 lbs I loose... according to my scale...
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I try to remember that they aren't the most accurate things on the planet as well, and just use it to track general trends. But it's still frustrating some days. But it's nice to know it isn't just me, thanks man.

Anyways, 179 again this am, doesn't look like I paid for yesterday. Clean eating all day. Weights again, went for a similar workout to Monday.

Leg curls - 1x8,2x10 @ 85 lb.
Lat pulldown - 2x10,1x8 @ 130 lb.
Leg extensions - 1x10 @ 100, 1x10 @ 110, 1x10 @ 120 lb.
Seated tri press - 3x10 @ 40 lb.
Squats - 1x10 @ 145, 1x10 @ 155, 1x10 @ 165lb
Alternating DB curls - 1x7,1x8,1x6 @ 30 lb.
Plate crunches - 3x15 @ 25 lb.
Bench press - 3x8 @ 145 lb.
Shrugs - 3x10 @ 40 lb.
 
TY Sadie, I appreciate the support.

179 again this am. Ate clean until my last meal, when I splurged for the week and rewarded myself for today (more on that shortly). I went to the pizza buffet, one of my greatest weaknesses and favorite splurge spots. However, I attempted a moderate approach to it. I started off with a large plate of dry salad - lettuce, carrot strips, baby carrots, black olives, red cabbage, cucumber, and a small ladle of pasta (like 3 or 4 corkscrew noodles). No dressing. Unsweet tea until my last glass, then I had a Dr. Pepper. And around 7-8 slices of small buffet pizza (about the equivilent of 4 or 5 normal pizza slices). So, not great, but not horrible I hope. Iwa ssitting on top of 1k kcals when I went in, so as long as my meal was under 1500 kcals I should be able to maintain my current weight.

Now, the real reason for celebration. I am in school for network engineering, currently on break between quarters. I just finished net 101, which is software, and preps you for the CompTIA A+ OS certification, which I took today. I usually do good on tests, but I was way nervous going in. I studied all the supplied material, but the test is pulled from a large body of questions (like a 1000 or so), which make sit tough to know the whole body of material.
My 1st 5 questions (out of 80) were cake, but then every 3rd question was something we hadn't covered in class or the last week of cram/study sessions. It got so bad I was sure I'd failed and would have to retest, at the cost of 80-100 US dollars. When the PC I took the test on calculated my score I was sitting on a 712 out of a 100-900 point spread. Since 500 is a pass, and the test is pass/fail only, I made it. I was so verklempt (heh Stingo) I actually cried a little on the phone with my mother afterwards.

Anyways........today was cardio day, so I did jumprope intervals again. 30 seconds jumprope, 30 seconds walk, 16.5 minutes total (I don't count the 3 minute walking cooldown at the end, so I start and finish jumping). Payed close attention to cadence today as well, started off at 60 bpm for the 1st 3 intervals, and moved it up to 80 then 90. Tried to slack back down to 60 for the final few intervals, but found I could not do so and retain any dexterity, tripping over the rope, so I hung at 90 to the end. Funny how much I enjoy this activity, as up until a week or so ago I had never managed more than 20 or 25 skips without messing up and now I can bang out 50 without a trip or missed beat, good stuff.
 
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178.5 this morning, woot for pizza. :) Anyways, weights again today, swapped a few things up....such as a different tri exercise and extra weight for lower reps on the bench.

bench press - 1x10 @ 145 lb., 1x7 @ 155 lb., 1x4 @ 165 lb., 1x5 @ 155 lb.
leg extensions - 3x10 @ 120 lb.
lat pulldown - 1x10 @ 120 lb., 2x8 @ 130 lb.
leg curls - 3x8 @ 90 lb.
stability ball shoulder press - 3x8 @ 40 lb. (per side)
squats - 1x10 @ 155 lb., 2x10 @ 165 lb.
alternating DB curls - 1x6 @ 30 lb., 2x7 @ 30 lb (per side of course)
plate crunch - 3x15@ 25 lb.
bench dips - 3x20 @ bodyweight

Clean eating so far with a tiny exception. I gave blood, and afterwards I had the following : 1 fig newton, 5 or 6 Jr. Mints, 1 chicken wing, no ranch or bleu cheese.

Speaking of which, got my vitals checked before the donation, bear in mind this was an hour or so after my weights, and the results were:
Blood pressure - 112/70, a new record for me, I usually hover just under 120/80
Pulse - 58 bpm, another record, 60-65 is the lowest I recall ever seeing it.
Both are very encouraging to me as I'm sure the food and exercise are responsible, and it's nice to be able to post some larger number changes for once.
 
177 Saturday morning, surely a partial fluke, I'm guessing the blood donation on Friday affected that to some extent.

Woke up and did my cardio 1st thing, in a fasted state. When I started working out last year I did this every morning for months and was fine. However, I was only taking a 4 mile bike ride over mostly flat ground. Today was a bike ride, since I did higher intensity jump rope intervals for my other two cardios sessions this week, but where I ride now is all hills and decidely tougher. And I can feel a lack of endurance in my legs when I do it fasted, but oh well. 23 minutes out.

Ate a clean breakfast after my wo, and then went to lunch with my mom later on. Had a loaded baker topped with chicken. Actually, it was huge, so I had half. Ate the other half later in the day. Was going to finish clean, but my buddy Josh decided to take me out to celebrate getting my A+ OS cert. So I had two Sierra Nevada pale ales, then hit hooters where I had a small serving of curly fries with cheese and 10 chicken wings, no breading, maybe 3 tablespoons of ranch. Sigh, I'm gonna be paying for that for days, but sometimes you just have to live a little.

Then we hit the club, where I downed a white russian and a screwdriver. I did, however, finish on a positive note with around 25 minutes of dancing. I'm pretty sure this counts as a light cardio session as well as a core/leg workout. Judging by the way I feel during and after I'd say that's right.

Got home and my cholesterol results were in from my blood donation, and they were soso. 203, which is borderline high, but down from the 250 I hit last donation. eep. Have to work on that, but I'm willing to bet it's even lower next time. If not, I'm off to the doc for a workout. And that's a wrap, g'night folks.
 
Sunday was an off day, nothing worth posting.

Weight at 178 today, all good there. Ate clean today except for a cave-in to temptation and a resulting soda.

Weights today:
squats-1x10 @ 165, 2x10 @ 175
bench-1x5 @ 165, 1x7 @ 155, 1x5 @ 155, 1x8 @ 145
leg curls-3x10 @ 85
military press-2x5 @ 95, 1x6 @ 95
leg extensions-1x10 @ 100, 2x10 @ 120
lat pulldowns-3x10 @ 120
alternating DB curls-3x10 @ 20
plate crunch-3x15 @ 25
bench dips-3x20 @ body weight
 
yesterday

weight at 179, cardio day
did jumprope intervals again, this time I added some jogging in during my rest intervals, versus just walking. Deffinately ups the difficulty.

15 1/2 minutes doing the following:
skip, jog, skip, jog, skip, walk and water, repeat......30 seconds per interval

Today

weight at 182 =0
too much crap in my diet the last two days, I'm not shifting easily back into school mode

lat pulldowns - 2x10@120, 1x8@130
squats - 3x10@175
bench - 2x8@145, 1x10@145
leg extensions - 3x10@120
triceps press - 3x10@40
leg curls - 2x10@85, 1x10@90
military press - 3x7@95
alternating DB curls - 1x10@20, 1x8@30, 1x10@30
weighted crunches - 1x15@30, 1x12@40, 1x15@40
 
Thur Oct 5th

weight at 181, cardio dat, 15 minutes of jumprope intervals where :

j-jump for 30 sec
r-jog for 30 seconds
w-walk for 30 seconds & hydrate

using the following sequence : j, r, j, r, w, repeat

Fri Oct 6th

weight between 180 and 181, finally pooped right today (too much junk food = the unhappy bowels), will be lighter tomorrow, especially since I ate clean except for 3 slices of pizza in class on Thursday and clean all day today.

weights (woots):
mil. press-3x8 @ 95 lb
leg curl-3x10 @ 90 lb.
alt. DB curl-1x10 @ 20 lb, 2x8 @ 30 lb (per side of course, also put my back to a wall for these today, think my form has been slightly off, trying to correct)
leg extensions-3x10 @ 120 lb.
seated triceps press-3x10 @ 40 lb. (single)
lat pulldowns-1x8 @ 130 lb., 2x10 @ 130 lb.
Mr. benchpress-3x8 @ 145 lb
squats-2x10 @ 175 lb., 1x8 @ 175 lb.
weighted crunches-3x15 @ 40lb.
forearm thingies (destroyers sounds good)-4.........8 lb. weight suspended from a bar, hold the bar parallel to the ground, arms locked, and roll the weight up and down for 1 rep
 
weight between 180 and 181, finally pooped right today (too much junk food = the unhappy bowels), will be lighter tomorrow, especially since I ate clean except for 3 slices of pizza in class on Thursday and clean all day today.
Click to expand...
nowthats funny:D
how are u MG?
 
slimsadie said:
nowthats funny:D
how are u MG?
Click to expand...

I live to make ladies smile. /cheese
Doing okay, just busy as heck with the new quarter at school.

Saturday, 10-7

cardio, did a 32:30 run at a moderate pace (pretty slow, but still quicker than my last run based off time to certain points on my run course), also included 5 pullups and 3 hanging leg raises (omgzors).

Sunday, 10-8

off day

Monday, 10-9

overslept, no workout for me =(

Today, 10-10

My herblax is finally kicking in, think I lost some of that excess baggage, weight still up near 181 this morning though. I cannot keep yoyoing in the high 170s and low 180s, time to get serious about what I'm eating. Speaking of which, I think I just finished a 3 day run of good eating, now I just need to stick with it.

Rushed for time today, had to drop a chunk of the weights to get any lifting done.

squats - 3x10 @ 175 lb
deads (another omgzors) 1x8 @ 145, 2x6 @ 155
bench - 1x5 @ 165, 1x6 + 2x5 + 1x4 @ 155 lbs.
lat pulldowns - 3x10 @ 120 lbs.
forearm destroyers - 2
alternating Db shoulder press (seated on exercise ball) - 1x10 @ 40 lb (per side)

Those deads are a killer. The game plan is to drop the leg ext and curls, add deads and maybe lunges. The deads hit me hard, especially since I did them back to back with the squats......very short on breath and sweaty. Also, I moved wrong after the deads and partially wrenched a lower back muscle.
 
Deads kill right after squats... you might want to try substituting romanian deadlifts instead of regular deadlifts if you are already doing squats... That way it will work the hamstrings and back without killing your quads so much.
 
Yeah even if you do rdl's or straight legs after squatting, I still wouldn't go heavy. If you must do both in the same day, pick one you want to emphisize and hit it hard. The other should supplement.
 
Thanks for the advice guys, I wasn't aware of that. I just keep hearing/reading that bench, squat, and dead's are the holy trinity. I think my form was way off too, my lower back was so sore yesterday I skipped out on my cardio and called it a day off.

Felt mostly better today, enough to hit the weights, with no deads and a slackeristic weight on the mil. press

bench: 1x8, 1x7, 1x5 @ 155; 1x3, 1x2, 1 @ 165
forearm destroyers: 7 (spaced out)
DB lunges: 2x10, 1x8 @ 30 x2
lat pulldown: 2x10, 1x7 @ 120
squats: 3x10 @ 175
tricep DB kickbacks: 2x10 @ 30, 1x10 @ 40
BB curl: 1x10 @ 45, 1x10 @ 55, 2x8 @ 65
mil. press: 1x10 @ 65, 2x10 @ 75
elevated leg crunches: 2x15, 1x12 w/30 lb DB

Time to go face my 1st hardware test now, laters.

p.s. I should be shot for my diet the last week or two, killing my gains in the weight loss department
 
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