So, I recently visited a friend in Miltenburg, Germany, resulting in no lifting getting done this weekend. I got back in to the swing of things this evening, and although my lifts were all way down, it definitely felt good to be back in the gym. Here are some pics of scenic Miltenburg!
One of the many benefits of living in a fit home is that there aren't outrageous expectations of gifting high-sugar/carb/calorie candies, on Valentine's Day! This does not, however, excuse a husband from a nice Valentine's Day dinner for his wife! In order to be able to properly do V-Day, along with our road trip to Miltenburg this coming Friday, my workout frequency and routine had to be significantly changed. I'm currently just doing the following lifts with 1 day of rest and repeating: Bench, Squat, Deadlift, Barbell Rows, Bicep Curls, and Standing Military Press. I've hit some new PRs, benching 5x246 lbs and squating 2x334 lbs. I'm excited about continuing my training going forward, and am really looking forward to being able to begin my cut in 17 days!
So, I decided that it would be fun to take a video of myself doing a deadlift with 192 KG (422 Lbs) during my workout today. Hitting a new PR, video-taping it, and being able to evaluate my form (which I'd give a B-) was indeed really awesome. Today's workout was short, because I was just done. Also, I'd gotten a really late start into the gym, and had hit my primary lifts. I'll probably do a less demanding routine on Wednesday, prior to not lifting at all on Thursday and Friday (Valentines!). Here's the clip:
If you don't speak German, at the end I said, "Ich lebe" to my friend, which translates as "I live", with the connotation of "Well, still alive!"
After a monster workout on Friday, my wife surprised the family with Protein/Banana Pancakes for breakfast! MMMMMM... Pancakes! Although I didn't hit any PRs on Friday, I had a solid day lifting, had good energy throughout, and actually got through all of my lifts. I'm absolutely loving the 5x5 scheme I'm on, and have definitely been seeing gains in terms of strength. Hopefully those will be paired with additional mass gains, but I'm presently yo-yo-ing between 196 and 198 lbs. Here's a link to the pancake recipe!
Felt really weak at the gym today, although busting out dumbbell rows with 94 lbs certainly didn't feel bad at all. Sometimes you get in the gym and feel really strong, and other times you're just not really there. Still, it was great to be back lifting after two days of rest and some lower back soreness. Can't wait for DLs, Squats and Bench tomorrow!
Workouts since last Thursday (Thu,Fri, Sun, Mon) have been good overall, with new PRs for the Squat and Bench on Monday! After also getting a new PR for the Power Clean on Thursday, I repeated the lift, but wasn't able to improve upon it. Overall, I've been seeing great things with my primary lifts, even if somewhat shortened workouts forced me to skip some of the additional movements on occasion. I was also able to do a Bicep Curl with an EZ-curl bar for the first time in months without pain in my forearms, which was awesome! My bulk continues, although I've somehow managed to avoid fat gain. At this point, I'm pretty much convinced that the obesity epidemic in the US is 100% the product of sugar and HFCS. I'll probably work out some more today, before a well-deserved rest day on Wednesday.
