HighOctane Progress Thread

[highoctane]

Ok. Well. Whole house is clean. Everything is taken care of and I didn't want to post until I actually made some progress. God knows yesterday was freakin useless in terms of cleaning/errands.

Workout Update:

2/21/2007

First day of the new Back/Bi card. Here's how it went:
Bent Over Rows - 40lbs X 12Reps
Pull Ups - 85lbs/85lbs/100lbs X 12Reps
Shrugs - 25lbs/17.5lbs/17.5lbs X 12Reps/15Reps/15Reps
Barbell Curls - 20lbs/30lbs/30lbs X 15Reps/12Reps/12Reps
Wrist Curls - 5lbs X 12Reps (Added these to aid in injury recovery)
Lat Pulldowns - 60lbs X 12Reps
Deadlifts - 50lbs/40lbs/40lbs X 12Reps
Concentration Curls X 12.5lbs/10lbs/10lbs X 12Reps
Side Lifts - Body Weight X 15Reps
Crunches - 60Reps Total (3 Sets of 20)

2/22/2007

Day of Rest

2/23/2007

StairMaster - 45 Minutes

2/24/2007

Day of Rest (I'm an idiot...got caught up in having a day off and all the freakin gyms closed at 6:00PM)

2/25/2007

First day of the new Legs card:
Barbell Full Squats - 40lbs X 12Reps/12Reps/15Reps
Dumbell Walking Lunges - 12.5lbs X 24Reps (Holy f*ck this was hard - 12 there, 12 back)
Leg Press - 80lbs X 12Reps (Never pressed this much before)
Leg Extension - 45lbs X 12Reps
Deadlifts - 40lbs X 12Reps
Calf Raises - 3Sets X 35Reps (Increased reps....burrrrnnnnnnned)

StairMaster - 45 Minutes...because I felt like a hero


Overall thoughts? I'm dissapointed I took two days off. However with that being said I'm EXTREMELY happy that I went from circuit training to splitting the routines. I can feel the work I've done in all the right places. It "feels" like I'm making progress. Tomorrow I go back to my Chest/Shoulders/Tri card and I feel fully recovered...but it took quite a while for me to say that. I'd say it took me the better part of the week to feel like I could do dips again. Either way, i'll keep you posted. I still have no idea what I'd do without Glutamine. God love that supplement.

Food:

I hate logging. It drives me crazy. I'm still not eating enough. So for this week I think I'm going to switch it up. I went to Chapters today and bought a manual log book. It allows you to log everything in one place. What I'm thinking is logging manually for the entire week as far as food is concerned, and then posting a "weekly update". I think in terms of how busy I am recently it will be a lot easier to put it on paper and then convert and do an overview. We'll see how that works. So technically at this time next week I should be writing a post that shows what I have eaten for the entire week. We'll see how that works out.

Other Updates:

I had my body fat tested today. The TANITA numbers were telling me I was anywhere between 33% and 35%. Never in my LIFE have I had that high BF%. Needless to say I was a little bit concerned. Either way, good news. I'm not 35% or 33%. The result from my old trainer (who was nice enough to take 10 mins out of his schedule to do a caliper test) was 24.25% BF. Thoughts? I think it's a decent starting point. I think I am relieved the freakin number isn't in the freakin 30%s I'll tell you that much, so in a way I feel that jaded my opinion of the ~24%. In the middle of last week I made the mistake of getting on the scale. I was already REALLY burnt out from work, and that just threw me over the edge. With that being said, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't TOUCH a scale until Sunday, March 25th, 2007. That's exactly one month from today. I also asked my old trainer to do another Body Fat % test then to see what I have accomplished. The only thing I still have left to do is get a freakin tape measure and take some measurements. Either way though, I think things are progressing. From February 5th to February 23rd I went from ~154 to ~148 scale weight. Unfortunately because I never had a caliper test done before I couldn't tell you whether I made progress there or not.

S'all I got. I need suggestions on food, I'm having major issues eating enough (as you all know), and am getting bored of plain chicken breast. I know the recipe post is FANTASTIC...but its freakin 500 pages long so it's a little overwhelming.

 

[sbt2082]

Congrats on the BF test that is very good news and a NICE starting point as well!!! I am glad to hear you aren't gonna care about the scale, and I agree that you need to it!!! Just go with how you feel and how your clothes fit!!

 

[jenscats5]

1) Told ya about the stupid Tanita.....it's not accurate.....so don't focus on it or that number....don't let a # on a scale define you....

2) Want a recipe or idea for dinner? Let me know!!

Now, I tend eat a lot of the same things daily or weekly myself - like on Sunday I'll prep some brown rice & chix breasts --> that way there is stuff pre made & you can add diff things to it to make it taste different.....Like you can have CHix + brown rice + roasted veggies (peppers, onions, zucchini, yellow squash tossed with spices & olive oil & baked) OR chix + brown rice + salsa & some veggies for a Tex Mex thing OR Chix + brown rice + stir fry veggies + some teriyalk sauce/soy sauce for a Chinese style dish. Then you can sub in some WW pasta or sweet potato for something different 1-2x a week. You can microwave the sweet potato & mix the pulp with some vegetable broth & spices to jazz it up......and 1/4 cup spaghetti sauce + some broth make a decent sauce over pasta.....You could even cook up some Extra lean turkey breast & mix it with some canned diced tomatoes & frozen veggies for a "chili" of sorts.....

If you need more ideas let me know.....I'm all over quick N easy like a cheap suit....

3) As for the logging - do what you're comfortable with!! We're here for you regardless......

 

[treilin]

Sorry I don't really do recipes.. I just mix stuff together that sounds good. Go get all the Mrs. Dash spices and you can have different flavors of chicken every day of the week. Or get a in-door grill ( I know not the same as grill outside) but switches up cooking methods for different taste. I also marinate stuff in different flavors or rely heavily on my different hot sauces to get me through if I don't feel like being creative.
I like mixing hot sauce and mustard to make hot mustard as well. I dunno just play with spices and condiments to make up new combos...
Great job on BF!!

 

[highoctane]

Well. I feel like I'm making progress. I am fighting getting on the scale just because I'm so programmed to "want to know that number". I find logging on paper much easier, and I believe providing an update at the end of the week makes more sense for me at this point.

One thing though, last nights workout was ridiculously hard. I hardly ate anything on Sunday because I lost track of time, and my workout on Monday was an obvious result of that. For the first time, I couldn't complete my first full set of dips...which is SAD! Either way I pushed through. I did chest/shoulders/tris and 30 minutes of Stairmaster afterwards to burn off some steam.

I also went back to tanning which has made a huge impact on my overall mood. I feel better in general. Like I said, I promised myself I wouldn't weigh for a month but that feels like eons. I'm also finally going to pick up a tape measure tonight because I feel like I'm making progress but have no way to track it right now other then train, and wait.

Lastly, I started eating more. I think I've boosted it up to between 1600 and 1800 calories a day, which is better then the 1200 previous (other then Sunday when I lost track of time). We'll see. I have to remember that I only went back to training seriously 3 weeks ago yesterday (which is miniscule) and that Rome wasn't built in a day. I think I'm doing a much better job of managing my expectations and not getting dissapointed even when I let myself have a cheat meal or a day off. Which in the longrun will be a huge benefit to me I believe.

S'all I got for now.

 

[treilin]

Well. I feel like I'm making progress. I am fighting getting on the scale just because I'm so programmed to "want to know that number". I find logging on paper much easier, and I believe providing an update at the end of the week makes more sense for me at this point.

One thing though, last nights workout was ridiculously hard. I hardly ate anything on Sunday because I lost track of time, and my workout on Monday was an obvious result of that. For the first time, I couldn't complete my first full set of dips...which is SAD! Either way I pushed through. I did chest/shoulders/tris and 30 minutes of Stairmaster afterwards to burn off some steam.

I also went back to tanning which has made a huge impact on my overall mood. I feel better in general. Like I said, I promised myself I wouldn't weigh for a month but that feels like eons. I'm also finally going to pick up a tape measure tonight because I feel like I'm making progress but have no way to track it right now other then train, and wait.

Lastly, I started eating more. I think I've boosted it up to between 1600 and 1800 calories a day, which is better then the 1200 previous (other then Sunday when I lost track of time). We'll see. I have to remember that I only went back to training seriously 3 weeks ago yesterday (which is miniscule) and that Rome wasn't built in a day. I think I'm doing a much better job of managing my expectations and not getting dissapointed even when I let myself have a cheat meal or a day off. Which in the longrun will be a huge benefit to me I believe.

S'all I got for now.

GREAT JOB!!! Major progress just in the food alone!! You will have up and down days just log how you feel so then you can go back and adjust your diet to fit better with your weights and mood.

 

[treilin]

4 days...... Hmmmm I know your around

What's going on, how are the work-outs and everything going???

 

[highoctane]

4 days...... Hmmmm I know your around

What's going on, how are the work-outs and everything going???

Yeah, I am around alright. This on paper journalling is not working out for me. I don't feel like I'm 100% on (even though I'm eating right). It's weird. I work at the gym for 6 hours tomorrow...let me put a full dialogue up then. Had a huge reality check the other night when I took some more pics...ugh. I have so much work to do it's almost depressing. Haven't given up yet though, and don't plan on it. One thing I really need to do, because I still haven't done it, is take some measurements. Because right now I'm really dissapointed in my thighs and I don't feel like I'm making any progress in terms of shedding the remaining fat around them.

Anyways. Yes I'm around. Yes I'm training. Yes I need to go back to logging every day. I don't feel as accountable if I don't.


On another topic...my piriformis is mangled. Any ideas, other then stretching to help work that out? It's only my left side, and it hit me pretty hard doing legs last night (walking lunges). Last time I saw a massage therapist he said it was brutal and felt pretty scarred up and tight. Let me know what you think.

Lastly, I've been trying all week to get up at 6:00AM to get some cardio in and I just CAN'T. It's so freaking brutal hard. I'm not sure if I'm not putting enough heart into it, or not enough sleep, or what. So I'm struggling there. I know I need to make that change, but I just haven't done it yet. I'm hoping Monday.

 

[florencia]

Hey you!!!
We all struggle...yet don not despair...keep on doing what you can and don't run away from your goal.
Today I did not make it to the gym...Guess what I did...
I took some rubber bands....resistance bands may be the name...?
(mexican here, tired and does not have a straight focus mind...So you get to name those things)
So in back yard, I worked on bicep curls, some back row, some chest crossovers, and lateral raises for shoulder...
Then LAUGH ALL YOU WANT...
I did squats with a clay pot over my head...LOL...pot must be 7 kilos...boo hoo I thought it was heavier...BUT they were ATF squats...
Food...blah....not enough and yesterday was too much...

 

[gymmum]

You are doing fine. If logging is hard just note it on paper then come back to it later.
We all hit those times where we feel like nothing is happening, hang in there it will happen. I myself can't see any changes in me yet but I know deep down they will start soon. As for the sleeping, are you going to bed at a reasonable time? If you are you may not be getting the quality you need therefore not being able to wake at 6am.
I have been struggling with this for about a year now and have found now with added iron and earlier bed I'm getting a better sleep and starting to wake when I plan not when I feel like it.
Keep smiling we are all here with you.