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.

Skip a Workout? Of Course Not!

Was going to put today's workout off till tomorrow, but decided not to put off 'till tomorrow what could be done today. It wasn't the longest or the hardest workout, but I got some good quality lifts in and hit everything that really needed to be done. Tomorrow, if I get back from my drive down to Hamburg early, I'll have an opportunity to add a few more lifts before doing my strength work on Tuesday. I love my gym days!

Thu/Fri

I had two of my least fantastic training days on Thurs/Fri this week. On both days I was just completely worn out by the time I got into the gym, and Friday my Power Cleans were just not there. I simply had no pop in my legs to get the bar travelling fast enough to execute the 2 times I tried at 224 lbs. I did successfully clean the bar twice at 202, however, and on Thursday I deadlifted 378 lbs (172 kg), which was a new personal best. Looking forward to getting into the gym again next week, and competing in a total points battle!

2 Weeks In!

So, I'm two weeks into the Dymatize Transformation Challenge, and thought I'd post my first progress pictures, along with some flexed shots for ego stroking. I measured in at 195.8 this morning, with 10.7% body fat, which is a 4 lbs gain in weight with no gain in body fat percentage. These pics are cold (which means that I didn't just come back from the gym prior to taking them), and were taken by my lovely wife.