I am late getting this out and therefore it will be an abbreviated post of my week. I had family in town for the week for my son's 1st birthday. My diet took a break for the occasion and I actually put on a few pounds because of it. As of Friday morning, I was back down to my starting weight pre-party so that was nice.
I have lowered my carb intake significantly in order to speed up my fat loss. In doing so, I feel that my strength has also taken a bit of a hit. I will discuss this in a future post along with what I plan on doing to rectify the situation.
I had a moment last week were I thought about transitioning to a 5x5 program for a few weeks in order to overcome some personal plateaus that I have been stuck at. Instead though I am going to make some modifications to my pyramid routine with some additional emphasis put on the body parts that I want to increase size on vs just strength. I will discuss this in a future post as well.
I hope everyone else's week was productive. Peace out.
One Life to Live
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Weekly Wrap Up 2.17.12
I had a pretty awesome week so far and I thought I would share. Monday's gym time didn't happen because of the weather. I ended up working from home and as much as I would love it, I don't have the weight needed to really pull off a good workout. So I skipped it and instead worked out on Tuesday.
Since it's been roughly 6 weeks since I got back from the holidays, I decided I needed a break from the RPT setup that I have been doing. I, instead, made this week a deload week and went with the P90x lifting schedule (minus the moves that I feel no human being should ever do). Needless to say, the high reps/low weight routines were a good change up from my usual low rep/high weight routine and I felt pretty spent after all three days of lifting. Next cycle will have me doing a load workout for 4 weeks with the 5th week being a deload. If you don't currently do a deload and you feel like you have hit a plateue with your routine or if you just want a quick change of pace, I highly suggest doing one. It doesnt have to be time spent in the gym. It can be anything from a new routine to no workouts at all. I enjoy the gym so I opted for a new routine for the week.
This last week also found me altering my eating habits a bit. I am still doing my modified leangains approach but I have reduced my carb intake quite a bit. I am now doing less than 50/grams on non-workout days and around 100/grams on lifting days. This weekend will find me doing a "slight" carb load while I enjoy my son's first birthday along with my family being in from out of town. I hope to restrict this load to health(ier) type foods and on Saturday only. Sunday I should be back to my 50/grams a day schedule.
I decided to go back to restricted low carb because I know it works for me. I think I happen to be one of those people that suffers from extreme insulin sensitivity and low carb seems to be the only way that I have been able to achieve leanness. I have tried other things but LC seems to be tried and true for me. I am sticking to the Primal eating plan as close as I can but I find myself a bit more lenient with dairy. that is something I am working on reducing though.
This week I was invited by a co-worker to join his team on our work sponsored weight loss challenge. I hesitated because I haven't been on a scale in months and I really don't care to know what I weigh but I eventually caved and signed up. Yesterday found me on an official proctored weigh in scale sitting at 190.5lbs. That is 21lbs heavier than I was here while sponsoring my own P90x Primal challenge. All my clothes still fit the same (if not better) so I can only assume that most of it is muscle. Since my p90x challenge ended, I have started back on training my legs which before were pretty skinny. My wife has also commented that my "guns" are huge. Still, 21lbs isnt exactly where I want to be and I know in my mind, that it wasnt a 21lb muscle gain. That is part of the reason why I am back to LC Primal. That and May 1st is the Kansas City WBFF deadline should I choose to compete this year. That gives me roughly 8 weeks to shed the excess fat. It's going to be tough.
Not a lot of new gym antics to report this week. I did see a guy doing tricep extensions and shoulder presses while riding the recumbent bike. Saw another guy trying as hard as he could to do the same Crossfit workouts that he must see on the website. Try as he might, doing Crossfit in a 24 Hour Fitness just doesn't seem to be the same!
So there you have it. This has been my week in review. I am looking forward to getting back to some heavy RPT next week and to see if I cannot drop a few pounds by then. My weight at the home scale is 187 and that is the scale that I will be using to report my weekly weigh in for my blog.
Peace out and have a great weekend.
Tyson
Since it's been roughly 6 weeks since I got back from the holidays, I decided I needed a break from the RPT setup that I have been doing. I, instead, made this week a deload week and went with the P90x lifting schedule (minus the moves that I feel no human being should ever do). Needless to say, the high reps/low weight routines were a good change up from my usual low rep/high weight routine and I felt pretty spent after all three days of lifting. Next cycle will have me doing a load workout for 4 weeks with the 5th week being a deload. If you don't currently do a deload and you feel like you have hit a plateue with your routine or if you just want a quick change of pace, I highly suggest doing one. It doesnt have to be time spent in the gym. It can be anything from a new routine to no workouts at all. I enjoy the gym so I opted for a new routine for the week.
This last week also found me altering my eating habits a bit. I am still doing my modified leangains approach but I have reduced my carb intake quite a bit. I am now doing less than 50/grams on non-workout days and around 100/grams on lifting days. This weekend will find me doing a "slight" carb load while I enjoy my son's first birthday along with my family being in from out of town. I hope to restrict this load to health(ier) type foods and on Saturday only. Sunday I should be back to my 50/grams a day schedule.
I decided to go back to restricted low carb because I know it works for me. I think I happen to be one of those people that suffers from extreme insulin sensitivity and low carb seems to be the only way that I have been able to achieve leanness. I have tried other things but LC seems to be tried and true for me. I am sticking to the Primal eating plan as close as I can but I find myself a bit more lenient with dairy. that is something I am working on reducing though.
This week I was invited by a co-worker to join his team on our work sponsored weight loss challenge. I hesitated because I haven't been on a scale in months and I really don't care to know what I weigh but I eventually caved and signed up. Yesterday found me on an official proctored weigh in scale sitting at 190.5lbs. That is 21lbs heavier than I was here while sponsoring my own P90x Primal challenge. All my clothes still fit the same (if not better) so I can only assume that most of it is muscle. Since my p90x challenge ended, I have started back on training my legs which before were pretty skinny. My wife has also commented that my "guns" are huge. Still, 21lbs isnt exactly where I want to be and I know in my mind, that it wasnt a 21lb muscle gain. That is part of the reason why I am back to LC Primal. That and May 1st is the Kansas City WBFF deadline should I choose to compete this year. That gives me roughly 8 weeks to shed the excess fat. It's going to be tough.
Not a lot of new gym antics to report this week. I did see a guy doing tricep extensions and shoulder presses while riding the recumbent bike. Saw another guy trying as hard as he could to do the same Crossfit workouts that he must see on the website. Try as he might, doing Crossfit in a 24 Hour Fitness just doesn't seem to be the same!
So there you have it. This has been my week in review. I am looking forward to getting back to some heavy RPT next week and to see if I cannot drop a few pounds by then. My weight at the home scale is 187 and that is the scale that I will be using to report my weekly weigh in for my blog.
Peace out and have a great weekend.
Tyson
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Inconsiderate Trainer
While working out at the gym yesterday, I came so close to going off on one of the "personal trainers". For anyone that knows me well, I don't often get upset by the little things that happen in the gym but this had me mad. Here is what happened.
There I was... on my second set of bench presses ... right in the middle of lowering the weight...when suddently at the top of my vision I see a red shirt snagging weights from right above my head! It startled me so much that I lifted the weight back to the starting point and had to reset my focus. To make matters even worse, he grabbed two 2.5lb plates and then walked half way across the gym (past 4 empty benches with weights) to an incline bench and proceeded to have his trainee do some sort of swimming motion with the weights while laying down on her stomach. I am not really sure what that exercise was going to do for that woman or why he felt he needed MY weights from MY rack instead of from the weight tree that was 5 feet from where he was now stationed. On a good note, I was able to bottle that anger and use it for the remaining workouts that I had.
On a side note, I thought I would share another "awesome" exercise I saw being done by my new favorite trainers. It sets up in the walk in squat rack. The weight is grabbed off of the bar and it looks like its going to be a clean and press. That would have been impressive as heck if that was what they were actually going to do! But instead the weight stays in the pressed position and the shoulders begin to do some sort of reverse shoulder shrug???? That's right. They were shrugging the weight higher! You know the look someone gets when they are about to throw up? Their head goes down a bit and their shoulders sort of heave higher? Now put an Olympic bar with 25lb plates on each side. That is what these guys looked like
As painful as it looked, I think throwing up might be more enjoyable. Second, what happens when they have fatigued themselves and drop the entire setup on their head? Or lower the weight with such poor form that they pull a muscle in that heaving shoulder? I am also curious as to why they just didn't grab some dumbbells and do some standard shrugs? I guess it's just not as impressive as doing a clean and press with shrugs. *shrugs shoulders* Don't know.
There I was... on my second set of bench presses ... right in the middle of lowering the weight...when suddently at the top of my vision I see a red shirt snagging weights from right above my head! It startled me so much that I lifted the weight back to the starting point and had to reset my focus. To make matters even worse, he grabbed two 2.5lb plates and then walked half way across the gym (past 4 empty benches with weights) to an incline bench and proceeded to have his trainee do some sort of swimming motion with the weights while laying down on her stomach. I am not really sure what that exercise was going to do for that woman or why he felt he needed MY weights from MY rack instead of from the weight tree that was 5 feet from where he was now stationed. On a good note, I was able to bottle that anger and use it for the remaining workouts that I had.
On a side note, I thought I would share another "awesome" exercise I saw being done by my new favorite trainers. It sets up in the walk in squat rack. The weight is grabbed off of the bar and it looks like its going to be a clean and press. That would have been impressive as heck if that was what they were actually going to do! But instead the weight stays in the pressed position and the shoulders begin to do some sort of reverse shoulder shrug???? That's right. They were shrugging the weight higher! You know the look someone gets when they are about to throw up? Their head goes down a bit and their shoulders sort of heave higher? Now put an Olympic bar with 25lb plates on each side. That is what these guys looked like
As painful as it looked, I think throwing up might be more enjoyable. Second, what happens when they have fatigued themselves and drop the entire setup on their head? Or lower the weight with such poor form that they pull a muscle in that heaving shoulder? I am also curious as to why they just didn't grab some dumbbells and do some standard shrugs? I guess it's just not as impressive as doing a clean and press with shrugs. *shrugs shoulders* Don't know.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Today’s Amusing Gym Antics - Take 2
Is it the goal of a personal trainer to make their trainee do the most ridiculous excerises imaginable as justification for charging high prices? Maybe it's a way to convince the trainee that they are getting their moneys worth? After all, who would pay for a trainer to show them how to do the major compound exercises (squat, bench, deadlift, etc) when they can do fun and exciting things with a Bosu ball!
As an example, today I saw a trainer that was having his client do bicep curls....laying on her back....on the cable row machine....while he assisted by pulling the cable down. I am not sure how this was more effective than grabbing some dumbbells and going to town with those. What made it worse was that she didn't even struggle with the weight, even before his assistance.
The only thing I could think of was that this was for a "Wow" factor for the client. She must have thinking to herself "Wow! I would have never thought of doing this on my own! I am definitely going to be signing up for another 6 week training course at the affordable rate of $199!"
I have to admit that I, too, have done a lot of dumb exercises in my lifetime (P90x Crouching Cohen Curl anyone?). It's my goal to try and educate people that going to the gym doesn't have to be about using the fanciest of equipment or coming up with the most interesting exercise to use with a ball. Working out also doesn't have to be hours in the gym. Most of my workouts consist of 4-5 exercises and I always incorporate a compound movement into the mix and I am usually in and out in 45 minutes.
What crazy exercises have you seen in the gym lately?
As an example, today I saw a trainer that was having his client do bicep curls....laying on her back....on the cable row machine....while he assisted by pulling the cable down. I am not sure how this was more effective than grabbing some dumbbells and going to town with those. What made it worse was that she didn't even struggle with the weight, even before his assistance.
The only thing I could think of was that this was for a "Wow" factor for the client. She must have thinking to herself "Wow! I would have never thought of doing this on my own! I am definitely going to be signing up for another 6 week training course at the affordable rate of $199!"
I have to admit that I, too, have done a lot of dumb exercises in my lifetime (P90x Crouching Cohen Curl anyone?). It's my goal to try and educate people that going to the gym doesn't have to be about using the fanciest of equipment or coming up with the most interesting exercise to use with a ball. Working out also doesn't have to be hours in the gym. Most of my workouts consist of 4-5 exercises and I always incorporate a compound movement into the mix and I am usually in and out in 45 minutes.
What crazy exercises have you seen in the gym lately?
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