So, with a lot of changes going on (buying a home, moving to Norfolk, etc) I've done a terrible job keeping up with this blog.

I'm about a month into Layne Norton's PHAT program (http://www.simplyshredded.com/mega-feature-layne-norton-training-series-full-powerhypertrophy-routine-updated-2011.html).

Today's workout was great, and I'll be posting a lot more going forward.

Newport, Rhode Island!

So my family has relocated to Newport, RI while my wife is in Department Head School for the Navy. I've gotten some decent videos over the last couple of weeks, and will be uploading them, including one of a new target lift of mine, the Snatch. I'm currently only doing the power snatch, but will be working up to the full snatch as the year continues. I'll also be posting new progress pictures, although I don't feel like I am where I want to be compared to my early May pics. Moving back to the US after two years away from Mexican food, coupled with not having any of our household goods (furniture, pots, pans, etc) has resulted in some poor nutritional choices. Our pots and pans came in yesterday though, so we're back to being a cooking household.

I also wanted to check-in on my 2013 goals, to see where I'm at as far as accomplishing them.

Get and stay under 10% body fat: Not there yet. I need to commit to doing more cardio, and do a better job of controlling what I'm eating.

Bench 275: I'm currently repping 225x5 or 225x8 for multiple sets consistently, rather than just occasionally hitting 224. 

Squat 400: This one's not even close. Although I've squated as much as 334 lbs in the last 6 months, I found it very difficult to get more than a rep or two. A 4-plate Squat is still on the menu, though.

Deadlift 450: I've hit 422, and more recently 405, but I think that this one is going to have to wait until I start eating a heavier diet over the winter.

Power Clean 245: I'm now fairly consistent in hitting a 225 lbs clean, although that seems to be the limit there. My ability to get under the bar is simply going to have to improve. 

I've added the Snatch to my power lifts in order to work on my hip flexibility and drive for the deadlift and power clean. I'm going to be on a 3x5 rep scheme through the end of September, when I'll switch back to either 3x8 or 5x5. 

Getting ready to move...

Had a good workout today, doing only compound lifts for a full-body day since I didn't lift yesterday and won't be able to lift tomorrow. I'll be moving back to the States at the end of the month, and getting in a daily workout between now and early June involving the gym seems somewhat unlikely. At least if I'm doing a full body routine I won't risk going over a week without training a body part.

Arm Measurement

It's a lot of fun to measure your arms before and after you work out, and have them be 2 cm bigger after you're done. Had a cold, flexed measurement of 39 cm (15.35 in) before doing my shoulder/tricep day work, to which I added some curls, and wound up with a 41 cm (16.14 in) bicep.

400 lbs (182 KG) DL x 2

Deadlifted 400 lbs (182 KG) twice tonight. One of the trainers at my gym was cool and sent me a vid of the lift. (Thanks Tom!) I think that I might've been a little too far back on the bar but my chest stayed up and my back remained straight. Just need to keep working at it. Might've had a third one in me but didn't want to risk anything going for a third rep when the second one had already been a little shaky.

Progress Pics from 29 APR

Continuing to cut. My biceps are showing a lot of development, and my abs are a little more defined, but I need to lose more body fat and increase their size before the six pack is going to  really come through. Definitely feel a lot better about these than I did my last set of progress pics.

One of the major advantages of my 4-day split is that when I have sufficient time to do so, I'm able to simply continually rotate through the split. Currently on my 10th consecutive day in the gym, and feeling great. I've seen some of my weights slide going from 5x5 to 3x8 simply based on the extra three reps inducing more fatigue, but that could also be partially due to the low carb diet. Probably my biggest challenge going forward over the next 2 weeks is going to be resisting the cookies my wife baked. Twenty grams of carbs a piece? Madness!

Rep Scheme Adjustment

So I've decided to switch from a 5x5 scheme to a 3x8 scheme to change things up while I cut. Hopefully the higher rep ranges will help with my cut.

Also, I'll be adding another round of pics on May 1st, along with full measurements.

Back from Paris

Just spent a four day weekend in Paris, France. Although I didn't have an opportunity to hit a real gym, I walked several miles a day and carried a 50-60 lbs stroller (weight includes the baby!) up and down steps the entire trip. The Metro and RER trains in Paris are not stroller friendly, so it was a pretty solid daily workout. Back at it this week, with a much better diet than what I was eating in France, and more gym-oriented training!

Update and Progress Pics

It's been a while since I posted an update, so there's a lot to catch up on. I've started my cut, am now augmenting a reduced calorie diet with Hydroxycut, am no longer using a mass gainer, and am now on a 5-day split for my lifting. The new split feels great, and I'm really looking forward to getting my abs back. So here are my pics!

Small Vacation

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!

Valentine's Day!

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!

Deadlift PR with Video!

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!"

Protein/Banana Pancakes!

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!

Weak Sauce!

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!

Catching up...

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.

Progress Pics!

Well, here they are, 4 weeks of lifting and eating with a calorie surplus. The side picture hurts, but I knew it was coming. I'm pretty stoked about my LBM gains, as well as strength gains. Looking forward to my next pics!

Monstrous!

I've just had an absolutely monstrous 3 days of lifting! Sunday, Monday, and Today (Tuesday) all saw significant improvements in a number of areas, whether it was in terms of new reps at a current max, additional complete sets at a current max, and even some new maxes! The three biggest areas of improvement were with the Power Clean (1 set of 5 @ 202 lbs, 2 sets of 2 @ 202 lbs), Bench Press (2 sets of 5 @ 224, 1 set of 3 @ 224), and Deadlift (New ORM, 400 lbs!).

Sadly, in spite of all of this quality improvement, my lifts tonight did not include the squat, because there was simply too much going on at the squat rack for me to work it in before heading home, and the wife was not going to wait on me for dinner. I'm up to 197 lbs, and I'm really looking forward to continuing to make gains in terms of strength and size over the next month. Tomorrow I'll be posting my 4 week pictures for the Dymatize Challenge, which will serve as my progress pics for February 1st.

Friday... Gym Day!

So, I'm writing this on Saturday, because Friday's workout was epic and took forever, and I was in too much of a rush getting to a birthday party to write a blog entry or even log the workout last night. I absolutely crushed it for squats and bench. I went ahead and tried a 5x5 setup, and I absolutely loved it. I definitely had a better feel going through the lifts, and really worked my legs hard. I worked them so hard, in fact, that by the time I got to my deadlift attempts, I literally had nothing left. I was able to pull 356 lbs (162 kgs), but 400 lbs (182 kgs) resulted in a failed pull. I simply couldn't get the bar more than a few inches off of the ground. I'll try to pull 400 lbs again when I deadlift again on Monday.

Today will be a nice relaxing rest day out of the gym. My bulk is going really well so far, as I've added about 3.5 lbs, only about 1/2 a lbs of which has been fat. Right now I'm clocking in between 195-196 lbs, with 10.8-11.1% body fat, which I'm attributing to differences in hydration and subtle diet variances.

Had some great workouts on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, in spite of coming down with the stomach flu again on Wednesday. Overall it's been a good week. I'm going to be adjusting my set/rep pattern to 5x5 starting with Sunday's lifts, just to see how I like it.  My bench has really improved, and I've also successfully added weight this past week, aside from the setback on Wednesday from my body dumping all the water I had in my body. I'm looking forward to continuing getting bigger, improving my lifts, and being in great form for the BB.com challenge, as well as for the Summer.