PHUL Weight Training, Week 5 Roundup

These reports keep slipping, I am out of my routine of blogging first thing in after work which is why. I need to get some discipline back into doing this. I've also missed my weigh in for the week (no photos) and chances are I will miss it next week since I am going on vacation.

Oh well, as you can see this was a rough week for me at the gym. The numbers are getting harder to move, but I can say definitively that I have put on some noticeable muscle, particularly in my arms. This must be due to all the upper body exercises that I wasn't doing before.

My calf injury seems mostly healed but I am getting some troubling swelling in my right leg if I sit down for prolonged periods of time. I think it's related both to a possible ACL tear (a minor one) as well as the fact that my right leg has a healing wound on it (torn skin, like road rash) that I've been trying to heal up over the last month or so.

Day 1 (Power Upper)	Day 2 (Power Lower)
Exercise Sets Bench Press 5x5 @ 62.5 kg Overhead Press 5x5 @ 42.5 kg Row 5x5 @ 60 kg Incline Dumbell Press 4x10 @ 17.5 kg Lat Pulldown 4x10 @ 55 kg Barbell Curl 4x10 @ 25 kg Skull Crusher 4x10 @ 25.5 kg	Exercise Sets Squat 5x5 @ 80 kg Deadlift 5x5 @ 90 kg Leg Press 5x15 @ 80 kg Leg Curl 4x10 @ 39 kg Calf Press 4x10 @ 62.5 kg
Day 4 (Hypertrophy Upper)	Day 5 (Hypertrophy Lower)
Exercise Sets Incline Bench 4x12 @ 35 kg Dumbell Fly 4x12 @ 17.5 kg Cable Row 4x12 @ 35 kg One Arm Row 4x12 @ 25 kg Lateral Dumbell 4x12 @ 10 kg Incline Dumbell Curl 4x12 @ 10 kg Cable Triceps 4x12 @ 35 kg	Exercise Sets Squat 4x12 @ 65 kg Barbell Lunge 4x12 @ 30 kg Leg Extension 4x15 @ 45 kg Leg Curl 4x15 @ 39 kg Calf Raise 4x12 @ 55 kg Calf Press 4x12 @ 55 kg

Weekly Weigh-In, Week 16

I'm continuing the trend downwards. I don't know how much longer I will keep this up, but it feels good to see everything get back to where it was prior to the holidays (at least on the scale).

I feel like I've been eating an awful lot recently, nothing bad for me (still low carb) but I get ravenous after I hit the gym. Some extra eating is probably good since I am doing a very high gear weight training regimen right now, but still... I need to watch it!

At least the photos appear to be improving as well.

Day 112
Start Weight: 97 kg.
Last Week: 93.3 kg
Current Weight: 92.8kg (-0.5 kg)
Loss: 4.2 kg

Moobs continue to shrink. This is a good sign. Love handles are also going away finally.

Wow, do I look a lot more fit from the side! You can see how much stomach fat I've lost.

PHUL Weight Training, Week 4 Round Up

Very late for this update, it's technically very early Monday morning right now... oh well.

This week was decent at the gym, I had some days where I made gains and others where I didn't. I keep trying to improve my squat form, but it's very difficult for me to get as low on the squat as I want to, it just seems like my body won't move that far down. Maybe it's old age? I don't know.

Anyway, no major soreness or pain this week, so that's a plus. I could use a few weeks without any major injuries.

I'm quite stalled out on a few exercises, like the Leg Extension and Curls, but I am getting very close to completing all my reps there. I should be able to knock one or two of them down in the upcoming week.

This week also marks the first week I missed my Bench Press sets. This is interesting to me because I have to do Bench without a spotter, so maybe I am being a little cautious as I managed a 5-5-4-4-4 on my sets due to being scared about not being able to get the 5th rep up.

Deadlift is interesting - I really ratched up my intensity on this exercise. I was only doing 1 set of 5 reps previously on StrongLifts, but now I am doing a solid 5x5 on it. I'm almost back to my 100 kg Deadlift weight and at more reps. I should get there in a few weeks no problem.

So, generally speaking things are going about as well as I could hope. I have probably another month, maybe two, of being able to do such a hard core work out before I am likely back to work (I'm looking for a new job, my current contract is ending). This means that I'll probably switch back to the Strong Lifts program for a bit since it's quite a bit faster to do than this one.

Day 1 (Power Upper)	Day 2 (Power Lower)
Exercise Sets Bench Press 5x5 @ 62.5 kg Overhead Press 5x5 @ 42.5 kg Row 5x5 @ 60 kg Incline Dumbell Press 4x10 @ 17.5 kg Lat Pulldown 4x10 @ 50 kg Barbell Curl 4x10 @ 25 kg Skull Crusher 4x10 @ 22.5 kg	Exercise Sets Squat 5x5 @ 77.5 kg Deadlift 5x5 @ 90 kg Leg Press 5x15 @ 80 kg Leg Curl 4x10 @ 39 kg Calf Press 4x10 @ 60 kg
Day 4 (Hypertrophy Upper)	Day 5 (Hypertrophy Lower)
Exercise Sets Incline Bench 4x12 @ 32.5 kg Dumbell Fly 4x12 @ 15 kg Cable Row 4x12 @ 30 kg One Arm Row 4x12 @ 22.5 kg Lateral Dumbell 4x12 @ 7.5 kg Incline Dumbell Curl 4x12 @ 7.5 kg Cable Triceps 4x12 @ 35 kg	Exercise Sets Squat 4x12 @ 65 kg Barbell Lunge 4x12 @ 27.5 kg Leg Extension 4x15 @ 45 kg Leg Curl 4x15 @ 39 kg Calf Raise 4x12 @ 52.5 kg Calf Press 4x12 @ 52.5 kg

PHUL Training, Week 3 Roundup

Finally, my calves seem to be on the mend. I was able to mostly do my normal/regular work out this week which is great. I'm a little scared right now since it's Friday and I just got done doing my calve workout and while everything feels "fine" right now, the last time the injury happened it didn't really spring up until 1-2 days later. I'm crossing my fingers here and hoping that it was simply just my body getting acclimated to a new workout routine and that now that I'm acclimated, the pain will not be there.

Day 1 (Power Upper)	Day 2 (Power Lower)
Exercise Sets Bench Press 5x5 @ 60 kg Overhead Press 5x5 @ 40 kg Row 5x5 @ 57.5 kg Incline Dumbell Press 4x10 @ 17.5 kg Lat Pulldown 4x10 @ 45 kg Barbell Curl 4x10 @ 25 kg Skull Crusher 4x10 @ 22.5 kg	Exercise Sets Squat 5x5 @ 75 kg Deadlift 5x5 @ 85 kg Leg Press 5x15 @ 80 kg Leg Curl 4x10 @ 39 kg Calf Press 4x10 @ 60 kg
Day 4 (Hypertrophy Upper)	Day 5 (Hypertrophy Lower)
Exercise Sets Incline Bench 4x12 @ 30 kg Dumbell Fly 4x12 @ 15 kg Cable Row 4x12 @ 30 kg One Arm Row 4x12 @ 22.5 kg Lateral Dumbell 4x12 @ 7.5 kg Incline Dumbell Curl 4x12 @ 7.5 kg Cable Triceps 4x12 @ 30 kg	Exercise Sets Squat 4x12 @ 62.5 kg Barbell Lunge 4x12 @ 25 kg Leg Extension 4x15 @ 45 kg Leg Curl 4x15 @ 39 kg Calf Raise 4x12 @ 50 kg Calf Press 4x12 @ 50 kg

As you can see, this week there was a lot of failures - but that's to be expected because I moved up on weights on a lot of exercises. 

Overall the thing I am most pleased with is that my main power lifts keep increasing. I think the accessory/isolation exercises I do on Thursday and Friday are helping that progress much faster than normal. For instance - it is definitely not normal for me to go up two weeks in a row on the overhead press and I did some "testing" this Friday at the end of my normal sets and I think I'm capable of increasing it again next week (I was able to do 42.5 x 5, 45 x 3 and then 50 x 2).

In other news, it feels like my squat form is slowly increasing. I am struggling a lot with getting depth on the squat without forcing my ass down by hunching over and arching my back. I need to keep that back straight, but when I do, I just can't seem to force my butt down low enough. Any way, I've stopped arching my back so much just to get depth and that's done wonders at eliminating/reducing my back pain. In the next few weeks here I'm going to be getting back up into the 80-85 kg area on that squat. The key test for me is going to be doing those lifts without total shit form like I was before. 

Weekly Weigh In, Week 15

It's been a tough couple of weeks, particularly after I put on all that weight around the holidays. Essentially the act of "going up" and then "coming back down" added 4-6 weeks of what I might call "null activity" on the scale front. Thankfully when it comes to body re-comp, the weight lifting is seeing me through. Definitely switching to a 4 day a week training plan has accelerated the rate of loss of "inches" off my waist.

For measurements sake, look at my first photos - that's a 42-44 inch waist line. My current photos are a 36-38 inch waist line. This is still a good 4-6 inches higher than I would like, but it's about half of what I started from a hundred days ago.

I think that this is a much slower process than just simply restricting calories, but I've come to terms with it because I do enjoy the extra physical activity and I like how over the last 100 days my body shape has changed (I've become noticeably more muscular). In fact, while it's hard to tell from the pictures, my arms have grown so much muscle that they've grown bigger than the width of my hands.

Anyway, now that the holidays are over and my weight is going back down I'll monitor it over the next few weeks and see. I shouldn't see any more stalling since I doubt I can put on a whole kilogram of muscle a month any more. Basically by day 200 I want to have another 15 weeks of uninterrupted gym time and a scale measurement below 90 kg. That's probably a more realistic goal than the one that I set out for myself (which if you've been paying attention, I didn't even come close to meeting!)

Day 105
Start Weight: 97 kg.
Last Week: 94.7 kg
Current Weight: 93.3kg (-1.4 kg)
Loss: 3.7 kg

PHUL Training Week 2 Roundup

This post is extremely delayed because I didn't have much time to blog last week, also everything was compounded by the fact that last Friday's (30th of Dec) workout did a number on my legs. Evidently I busted/shredded my calves and I spent the greater part of the last week hobbling around and being sore. My right leg is still swollen. I can't even describe how bad and painful this was and the odd thing is I did it with almost no weight on those calf press and calf raise exercises.  Freaking madness.

Anyway, this update covers my stats from last week (1/2/17 - 1/6/17). I still worked out every day (I refuse to quit) and it was actually a good move. I think it helped me muscles recover to give them something to do.

Day 1 (Power Upper)	Day 2 (Power Lower)
Exercise Sets Bench Press 5x5 @ 57.5 kg Overhead Press 5x5 @ 37.5 kg Row 5x5 @ 55 kg Incline Dumbell Press 4x10 @ 15 kg Lat Pulldown 4x10 @ 45 kg Barbell Curl 4x10 @ 22.5 kg Skull Crusher 4x10 @ 20 kg	Exercise Sets Squat 5x5 @ 72.5 kg Deadlift 5x5 @ 85 kg Leg Press 5x15 @ 80 kg Leg Curl 4x10 @ 32 kg Calf Press 4x10 @ 60 kg
Day 4 (Hypertrophy Upper)	Day 5 (Hypertrophy Lower)
Exercise Sets Incline Bench 4x12 @ 30 kg Dumbell Fly 4x12 @ 12.5 kg Cable Row 4x12 @ 30 kg One Arm Row 4x12 @ 20 kg Lateral Dumbell 4x12 @ 7.5 kg Incline Dumbell Curl 4x12 @ 7.5 kg Cable Triceps 4x12 @ 30 kg	Exercise Sets Squat 4x12 @ 60 kg Barbell Lunge 4x12 @ 22.5 kg Leg Extension 4x15 @ 40 kg Leg Curl 4x15 @ 39 kg Calf Raise 4x12 @ 40 kg Calf Press 4x12 @ 40 kg

Thankfully my legs are a lot better right now, even if it took the better part of a week to get there. The only thing that seems to still be bothering me is my right wrist is a little tender. I think this is actually not gym related and more related to the fact that I did an obscene amount of gaming these last two weeks of Christmas break...

Anyway, I'll be spending more time working for the next couple of weeks, so less time for video games in general but still making time for the gym.