This Is My Journal

[SW]

I'm back. The site has come a long way since I was last actively posting. The articles are outstanding! Hope some of my old friends are still around. It's been awhile, to say the least.

Goal: Get big and strong.

Before lifting meal: shake consisting of 2 cups of milk, 3-4 tbsp pb, 2 big scoops whey, creatine and 2 eggs. Then a few bites of cottage cheese.

I've only been seriously lifting again for about a month. Haven't benched in 1 1/2 years until very recently. One of my best friends now lifts with me every session, trying to get some meat on his bones.

Bodyweight is now 275 and I'm bigger and leaner than ever. I do miss my old Westside lifting days. Kind of a blow to the ego that when I was 19 and 235 I was way stronger than 22 and 275. Don't get a desk job and then get lazy, kids, don't do it.

I am happily engaged to my beautiful fiance. She goes to the gym with us guys and does her thing, too. We both eat so much better than we used to and are on this journey together.

First workout post to follow later on today.

[SW]

Squat

135x5
225x3
315x3
315x3
315x3
315x3

Front Squat

135x5
135x5
135x5

DB Calf Raise

50'sx15
75'sx15
75'sx15
75'sx15

And so ends my readjustment period. I am far weaker than I used to be in some things, and others (from previous sessions) seem to be right on par. Deadlift on Wednesday or tomorrow.

EDIT: The gym's DB's go to 75 little pounds. Miss my old gym with the 150's. I will make do.

[Coke]

Glad to see you return to posting Nick, gonna be awesome with you back in here.

[SW]

I am truly happy to be back! No DOMS at all this morning. Last week when I squatted had them pretty good. Quick adjustment!

2 salmon steaks and rice last night for dinner. Shake for breakfast. Gym after work.

[SW]

Shake for breakfast (the usual, eggs, creatine, whey, milk)
Bagel for a mid morning snack
2-3 fajitas (leftovers) will be eaten for lunch
Right after work another shake, another session, another brick in the house.

[SW]

My friend wasn't with me yesterday to squat, so he did that workout and I was there making sure he was squatting correctly and working with him doing shrugs between his sets. Today was a back focused day. Had my normal pre-workout shake.

BB Shrug

185x10
275x6
315x6
365x6
365x6 rough
315x6 literally hanging from my fingertips at rep 3.

Seated Row Machine

130x10
130x6
160x6
160x6

Standing OH Military Press (used a curl bar)

95x10
95x6
115x6
135x6
135x6

Did several sets of the curl bar with 135 on it, doing more shrugs sets of 10. Just to finish off the upper traps. Did this working in with my buddy who had moved on to the shrugs. Next time we lift we'll be doing the same thing again. It will be Deadlift, likely Thursday morning.

Post workout had 2 glasses of water with 1 scoop of whey with a sprinkle of creatine. Dinner will be generous helpings of a chicken and rice casserole the fiance makes. Before bed, another shake. Then a full night of restful, healing sleep.

[Coke]

Looking forward to seeing you get to new heights and be better than ever before!!

[SW]

Thanks for your support Coke!

Light to moderate DOMS this morning. My upper abdominals even have their share. Keeping steady with those shrugs took a lot of support from them. Upper traps are appropriately fried. BB Shrugs FTW!

Time for more cottage cheese and another shake for breakfast.

[SW]

Shake this morning
Bagel for a snack
Tacos for lunch (home made and couldn't have been better!)
Shake hand stirred with milk, creatine, whey (1 scoop)

That's all for today for food. I eat a lot lighter on days I don't lift. The results are coming on quickly, pics to follow when I get to it. Makes me mad at myself for not getting back at this full power for 2 years.

Side note, Max Muscle Triple Whey mixes like water and oil. I stirred vigorously, but it didn't care. Clump City. Damn. After I choke the rest of the container down, it's ALN all the way. Sick of this second rate crap.

Tomorrow isn't deadlift b/c my buddy and I can't meet at the same time (I teach him and make sure he doesn't hurt himself while he gets the hang of things, wish I had someone to do that for me starting out). So we'll go at different times and attack the core. Sounds fun!

[SW]

Legs feel fine. Upper traps light DOMS.

Before workout had 2 cups water mixed with 1 scoop whey and a few grams of creatine.

Ab Machine

70x15
70x15
70x15

Seated Back Extension Machine

235x15
295x15
295x15 stupid thing only GOES to 295.

Suspended Knee and Leg Lifts (mixed it up during sets)

3x15

Had 5 minutes for the elliptical to help get my metabolism jump started. Time constraints today. Time to eat some real food and go to work.

[SW]

Lunch before work was McDonald's. It's a rare event. Regretted it b/c it's rare enough that it wrecks havoc on my digestive system.
Worked 11-9 today so that's why lunch was on time and just ate dinner. Dinner was 2 tuna fish sandwiches, 1 ham sandwich and milk with creatine.

[SW]

Cardio

Elliptical
Various speeds for 5 minutes
10 minutes of level 10, got 7/10 of a mile

10 minutes or so of rotator cuff work

Back on the Elliptical for 10 more minutes, at level 10, in 10:40 I got a mile. My goal is 9 minutes at level 10 to go 1 mile.

Food for today

1 shake in the morning
Ramen noodles after got off work at 12pm
Worked out
Immediately following had 2 cups of water with 1 scoop whey, creatine
2 cups of milk
1 slice of bread with peanut butter (all said 3 sources of protein directly after working out)

Here in a bit it's chicken fajita time.

[SW]

Had a shake and a bagel this morning.
Left over home made stir fry (very healthy) for lunch.
Whey and creatine shake when I got home from work. Also a slice of bread with PB and a cup of cottage cheese.
1 slice of home made lasagna and another cup of cottage cheese for dinner.
Workout.
Another shake (when I say shake I mean creatine, 2 scoops of whey, 2 cups of milk, 2-3 tbsp of pb and 2 eggs)
Maybe a couple of pumpkin bars if the wife will make them!

Bench Press (still can't get over how far I've fallen on this lift)

135x10
225x3
275x3
275x3
275x3

Seated OH DB Press (10-15 degree incline, pretty much straight backed bench)

30'sx6
45'sx6
55'sx6
55'sx6

EZ Bar Curl

75x8
95x8
95x8
95x8
115x5

Standing BB Row (always really strict form on these and I use a closer than bench grip and bring it at least to the bottom of my pecs)

135x6
135x6
135x6
185x4 (started getting tired here)
135x6

Skull Crushers (ez bar)

75x6
75x6
75x6
95x6

Called it a session. No more taking it easy on my buddy who trains with me. Stepped it up and it will remain at this level of intensity or get more intense as time goes on.

[Coke]

Nice effort for the upper body man.

[SW]

Thanks, Coke. The session was nice and intense and I was almost 100% sweat covered before it was over.

Going to have an equally intense session today. Deadlift, I've been waiting for it and trying to get my lifting buddy in sync with a day to do it. Had my pre-workout shake minus 1 egg (only one in it) and I'm ready to rock. Will post when I get home.

[SW]

Deadlift

135x5
225x3
315x3
365x3
405x3
455x3 Got some nice slices of skin removed from my shins, LOVED IT. Just a little sprinkle of blood nothing bad at all. Feels really great to actually be getting back some pulling power. I could have handled 500 without a lot of stress.

Good Mornings

95x8
135x8
135x8
195x8
95x8
95x8

After these my lower back was FRIED and it was hard to stay standing up under my own weight, it was just done. Perfect. Had to go because of time constraints but overall I was very satisfied with this session. Had the same shake I had before my workout, after.

[SW]

Here are the macros for my pre and post workout shakes. I always have the same thing before and after.

2 eggs
2 cups whole milk
creatine (no value as far as carbs, fats, etc)
2 scoops whey (macros vary with kind)
2 tbsp peanut butter

Protein- 87g
Fat- 60g (32 g from the peanut butter alone so it's healthy fats)
Carbohydrates- 43g
Sugar- 31g (22 g from the whole milk alone. If cutting hit the skim)
Calories- 752

So an hour before I workout and immediately after I take in 174g of protein. Not to mention whatever I have for breakfast ( a shake a lot of times, so easy and quick) and always a light, protein rich dinner.

[Coke]

Big day with the deads Nick.

[SW]

Thank you, sir. Glad to feel the shin war wounds again! In certain gyms you are looked up on as some sort of escaped animal when you deadlift!

Intense session today. Just me and the fiance (she is there 90% of the time I am but is on the other side with the eliptical and such).

Squat

135x10
225x3
315x3
365x3
365x3
365x3
315x3 Nausea sat in at this point. Squats always do that to me more than anything.

Zercher Squats (first time ever)

135x3
225x5
225x5 Wow these are GREAT! Left light bruises in the crooks of my elbows but I'm not concerned.

Seated Ham Curls

205x8
205x8
205x8
205x8

Walking is difficult, my job is done. I ordered Opticen today for using on a cut. Not sure how far I'll go but I'll be starting at 275.

[Coke]

Killer leg session bro.

[SW]

It was a nice and intense one for sure.

Core

Ab Crunch Machine

60x10
100x10
100x10
50x10
50x10

Seated Back Extension Machine

150x15
295x15
295x15
295x15 295 is the whole stack. Next time I combine it will SLDL's

5 minutes of elliptical and a random set of db hammer curls for the heck of it. Waiting on opticen to get a nice 20 lb or so cut going.

[SW]

Ordered Opticen last Friday and still waiting for the email that it's shipped.

No lifting buddy today so I took it real easy on bench.

Bench

135x10
225x5
225x5 after this I felt a decent and dull pain in a portion of my right triceps. The same place where I either pulled it or had a horrible spasm in it 3 weeks ago doing OH presses. Left it alone as I just hate doing bench anymore.

Reverse Grip EZ Curl Bar OH Press

75x10
95x6
115x6
115x6
115x6

Standing Tricep Extensions (small bar on the cable machine)

56.5x10
72.5x10
72.5x10
72.5x10 sets of 10 and moderate weight because of the previous tricep issue.

Seated Fixed Pulldown (machine)

160x6
160x6
160x6
220x6
295x2 just wanted to see how many of the stack I could squeeze out. Turns out, not many after the previous exercises.

DB Press

50'sx10
75'sx10
75'sx8
75'sx6

BB Shrugs (kept it pretty light because grip was pretty compromised at this point and wanted to ensure I got max blood flow into my shoulders)

225x10
225x10
225x10
225x10

[Coke]

Too bad about the tricep ordeal, way to follow through in spite of it dude.

[SW]

Thanks, Coke. I think I will be just fine if I don't push it too hard in the coming weeks. I honestly don't even know what happened, but it felt like it spasmed HARD for about 20-30 seconds one day during fixed overhead presses. Probably won't even know it happened here soon! Could be the creatine and maybe I wasn't getting quite enough water because I had a good hard pec spasm one morning not too long ago!
Probably just a solid reminder to drink at least a gallon each day and not to slack on the water intake!

[SW]

Got my Opticen today, strawberry 5.5lbs. Tastes ok, mixes very well (even with a fork). 3 scoops in 2 cups of milk is a very thick drink, I have to say. The cut starts now.

I don't know how much of my diet I'll post, just know it's going to be good.

Tonight went in and did 30 straight minutes of cardio going from 15 minutes on the elliptical to 5 minutes on the bike, to 10 more on the elliptical. most of it was done at level 15, some at level 25 (brutal) and the rest at level 5 (between the more intense stretches). Tomorrow begins a cut that I expect will yield 25 lbs and bring me down to a trim 250.