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Week 6 Recap Goal #1: Consistently follow new workout routine 3 days per week Did main lifts all three days, my first totally injury-free week since week 1. However, no accessory lifts were done, so the grade is still only 80%. Week 1 - 93% Week 2 - 77% Week 3 - 80% Week 4 - no grade Week 5 - 73% Week 6 - 80% Overall - 81% Goal #2: Eat enough to fuel those lifts Monday: 3146 Tuesday: 3967 Wednesday: 3275 Thursday: 3202 Friday: 3030 Saturday: untracked (2830) Sunday: untracked (2830) Week total: 22,280 (+1280) Weekly grade: Fueled largely by Tuesday, I close this one out with a 100% week. Week 1 - 94% Week 2 - 100% Week 3 - 76% Week 4 - 99% Week 5 - 99% Week 6 - 100% Overall - 95% Goal #3: Recovery is important, and that includes sleep Monday: 7:25 Tuesday: 7:35 Wednesday: 8:22 Thursday: 7:21 Friday: 7:58 Saturday: 7:49 Sunday: 8:37 Week total: 55:07 (+157 minutes) No problems here. 100%. Week 1 - 100% Week 2 - 100% Week 3 - 100% Week 4 - 100% Week 5 - 95% Week 6 - 100% Overall - 99% Life Quest: A warrior doesn't have to be a lone wolf This didn't happen. Other things ended up taking priority. Side Quest: Don't overdo the cardio 3.28 miles on Wednesday and 4.60 miles on Saturday for a total of 7.88. Just snuck in under the 8-mile limit, so that completes a perfect challenge for this side quest. Week 1 - 100% Week 2 - 100% Week 3 - 100% Week 4 - 100% Week 5 - 100% Week 6 - 100% Overall - 100% The Numbersâ„¢: Weight (lbs) BF% (cal) BF% (scale)Challenge start 145.0 10.3% 11.1%End of week 1 145.2 10.0% 11.2%End of week 2 148.2 10.0% 11.9%End of week 3 148.0 10.0% 11.8%End of week 4 147.8 9.5% 11.7%End of week 5 149.4 10.8% 12.2%End of week 6 149.4 10.0% 12.2% Up about four and a half pounds over the course of the challenge, getting me almost halfway to my ultimate goal (at 5'7", 155 is my desired equilibrium point).

Day 38 - Wednesday, September 4 Morning workout: Deadlift 95x5 145x3 175x2 195x5 [ADVANCE!] Bench Press 50x5 70x3 85x2 95x5 95x5 95x5 [ADVANCE!] Evening run 3.28 miles in 35:33 (10:50/mi). Hot at the start, but we're now getting to the point where the sun is much lower in the sky, making the end of these runs (around 7pm) relatively pleasant. Food Today: 3275 calories [177 carbs, 177 fat, 188 protein] Week to date: 10,389 (+1389) Sleep Lights out: 10:23pm Alarm: 6:45am Nightly total: 8 hours, 22 minutes Week to date: 23:22 (+52 min) Day 39 - Thursday, September 5 Rest day. Food Today: 3203 calories [79 carbs, 194 fat, 270 protein] Week to date: 13,592 (+1592) Sleep Lights out: 10:24pm Alarm: 5:45am Nightly total: 7 hours, 21 minutes Week to date: 30:43 (+43 min) Day 40 - Friday, September 6 Morning workout, featuring a second day of squats for the first time in a while! Back Squat 95x5 135x3 160x2 180x5 180x5 [ADVANCE!] OHP 45x5 60x3 70x2 80x5 80x5 80x5 [ADVANCE!] I like this, I'm back in my groove now. Food Today: 3030 calories [327 carbs, 118 fat, 134 protein] - this number is actually low; there were a couple things I had today I couldn't find in the MFP database. I'd guess the actual total is closer to 3300. Week to date: 16,622 (+1622) Sleep Lights out: 11:02pm Alarm: 7:00am Nightly total: 7 hours, 58 minutes Week to date: 38:41 (+71 min) Day 41 - Saturday, September 7 Morning run 4.60 miles in 53 minutes flat (11:32/mi). Conveniently enough, the end of this challenge marks the point at which I need to start increasing my long run mileage again for the fall running season (though it stayed just low enough this weekend to still not run afoul of my challenge goal). Food Not tracked. Probably low. My surpluses this week have been large enough that it's really not going to matter anyway. Sleep Lights out: 11:28pm Woke up (no alarm): 7:17am Nightly total: 7 hours, 49 minutes Week to date: 46:30 (+90 min)

Day 36 - Monday, September 2 Back Squat 95x5 135x3 155x2 175x5 175x5 [ADVANCE!] I've made an executive decision to reduce the number of work sets on the back squat from three to two. The reason for this is that most of the time doing three sets results in me being far too exhausted to continue with the rest of the workout. Two sets appear to be a good sweet spot here. OHP 45x5 55x3 65x2 75x5 75x5 75x5 [ADVANCE!] Both upper body lifts remain at three sets. Food Today: 3147 calories [208 carbs, 188 fat, 163 protein] Sleep Lights out: 11:20pm Alarm: 6:45am Nightly total: 7 hours, 25 minutes Day 37 - Tuesday, September 3 Rest day. Food Today: 3967 calories [227 carbs, 234 fat, 215 protein] - wildly overshot my target, and on a rest day no less, largely thanks to a dinner that was apparently quite a bit bigger than I thought it would be Week to date: 7114 (+1114) Sleep Lights out: 10:40pm Alarm: 6:15am Nightly total: 7 hours, 35 minutes Week to date: 15:00 (even)

Week 5 Recap Goal #1: Consistently follow new workout routine 3 days per week The week that was (injury info in parentheses): Monday - main lifts only (none!) Wednesday - main lifts only (shoulder fatigued, but not really hurting) Friday - deadlifts, then warmup only on bench (elbow) 80% credit for Monday and Wednesday, and we'll call it 60% for Friday. 73% for the week. Week 1 - 93% Week 2 - 77% Week 3 - 80% Week 4 - no grade Week 5 - 73% Week 6 - ? Overall - 81% Goal #2: Eat enough to fuel those lifts Monday: 3340 Tuesday: 2698 Wednesday: untracked (2498) Thursday: 3312 Friday: untracked (2498) Saturday: 3372 Sunday: 3233 Week total: 20,951 (-49) Weekly grade: Not bad for missing two days of tracking. 99%. Week 1 - 94% Week 2 - 100% Week 3 - 76% Week 4 - 99% Week 5 - 99% Week 6 - ? Overall - 94% Goal #3: Recovery is important, and that includes sleep Monday: 7:40 Tuesday: 7:32 Wednesday: 7:28 Thursday: 6:58 Friday: 7:32 Saturday: 6:39 Sunday: 8:20 Week total: 52:09 (-21 minutes) First time I haven't quite hit the sleep goal for the week. The penalty will be 1% off my grade for every four minutes (meaning if I missed my goal by an average of 30 minutes per night, I'd end up around 50% for the week). That means this week's grade is still a pretty robust 95%. Week 1 - 100% Week 2 - 100% Week 3 - 100% Week 4 - 100% Week 5 - 95% Week 6 - ? Overall - 99% Life Quest: A warrior doesn't have to be a lone wolf Haven't started on this one yet (despite plenty of well-deserved nagging). No weekly grading component here. Side Quest: Don't overdo the cardio Ran about three miles on Wednesday, and that was it for this week. Well under the 8-mile limit, so still 100% here. Week 1 - 100% Week 2 - 100% Week 3 - 100% Week 4 - 100% Week 5 - 100% Week 6 - ? Overall - 100% The Numbersâ„¢: Weight (lbs) BF% (cal) BF% (scale)Challenge start 145.0 10.3% 11.1%End of week 1 145.2 10.0% 11.2%End of week 2 148.2 10.0% 11.9%End of week 3 148.0 10.0% 11.8%End of week 4 147.8 9.5% 11.7%End of week 5 149.4 10.8% 12.2% Quite the uptick in the caliper reading this morning, highest I've seen since June. However, it was below 10% on eight of the preceding nine days, so I don't think there's really anything to worry about here. The scale's started to move up again, and I'm now almost halfway to my goal of 155 there.

Day 33 - Friday, August 30 Deadlift 5x95 3x140 2x170 5x190 [ADVANCE!] Bench Press 5x50 3x70 2x85 Shoulder felt perfectly fine today. Unfortunately...now it's my elbow. This time, I at least know what I did to it - I hit it on the door of my car at work on Wednesday. I was very much not expecting it to be in pain during a workout almost 48 hours later, but here we are. Food Again untracked. Fridays are really rough for this. Sleep Lights out: 11:28pm Alarm: 7:00am Nightly total: 7 hours, 32 minutes Week to date: 37:10 (-20 min) Day 34 - Saturday, August 31 Morning run skipped due to time constraints - I had other things that had to be done this morning. Food Today: 3372 calories [198 carbs, 179 fat, 201 protein] Week to date: 17,718* (-282 cal) * assuming untracked Wednesday and Friday each count as 2498 Sleep Lights out: 12:26am - I honestly can't remember the last time I was up that late (while also being sober). Woke up (no alarm): 7:05am Nightly total: 6 hours, 39 minutes (yuck) Week to date: 43:49 (-71 min)

Day 31 - Wednesday, August 28 Deadlift 5x95 3x135 2x165 5x185 [ADVANCE!] OHP 5x45 3x55 2x65 5x75 5x75 Stopped after two sets on the OHP. My shoulder wasn't hurting, exactly, but it was getting fatigued more quickly than the other one, so I stopped as a precaution. Running 3.01 miles (looking at the map, the GPS looks a little funky - this is the same route that's normally about 2.92 or so) in 33:31 (11:09/mi pace). Not bad for one of the hottest days of the year (silly as it sounds to say that about a day where we only reached 92). Food Not tracked. That's gonna hurt. Sleep Lights out: 11:17pm Alarm: 6:45am Nightly total: 7 hours, 28 minutes Week to date: 22:40 (+10 min) Day 32 - Thursday, August 29 Rest day. Food Today: 3312 calories [283 carbs, 137 fat, 182 protein] Week to date: 11,948* (-52 cal) * assuming untracked Wednesday counts as 2598 Sleep Lights out: 10:47pm - opening night of college football season had me up a bit later than usual Alarm: 5:45am - though this was not nearly as difficult as I expected Nightly total: 6 hours, 58 minutes Week to date: 29:38 (-22 min)

Day 29 - Monday, August 26 Finally back under the bar. Decided to take it easy and do only one work set on the big lifts as a precaution. Back Squat 5x95 3x135 2x155 5x175 Bench Press 5x50 3x70 2x85 5x95 Food: Today: 3340 calories [245 carbs, 177 fat, 161 protein] - technically this is a low estimate, as it doesn't include the (fairly small) dessert brought to me by a friend. I'd guess the real number is closer to 3600, but 3340 is what was tracked. Sleep: Lights out: 11:05pm Alarm: 6:45am Nightly total: 7 hours, 40 minutes (+10 min) Day 30 - Tuesday, August 27 Rest day. Food: Today: 2698 calories [106 carbs, 128 fat, 233 protein] - and even that required a beer and an emergency snack of trail mix right before bedtime. I always think that steak has more calories than it actually does. Week to date: 6038 (+38 cal) - thanks to Monday's hefty total, actually still on track Sleep: Lights out: 10:13pm Alarm: 5:45am Nightly total: 7 hours, 32 minutes Week to date: 15:12 (+12 min)

Week 4 Recap Goal #1: Consistently follow new workout routine 3 days per week The week that was (injury info in parentheses): Monday - N/A (shoulder) Wednesday - N/A (shoulder) Friday - N/A (shoulder) I decided fairly early to just turn this into a semi-planned rest week to let my shoulder recover. No grade for this week (won't count against me). Week 1 - 93% Week 2 - 77% Week 3 - 80% Week 4 - no grade Week 5 - ? Week 6 - ? Overall - 83% Goal #2: Eat enough to fuel those lifts Monday: 2894 Tuesday: 3112 Wednesday: 3296 Thursday: 2911 Friday: untracked (2791) Saturday: 2891 Sunday: 3092 Week total: 20,987 (-13) Weekly grade: Missed my goal by roughly a stalk of asparagus. 99%. Week 1 - 94% Week 2 - 100% Week 3 - 76% Week 4 - 99% Week 5 - ? Week 6 - ? Overall - 92% Goal #3: Recovery is important, and that includes sleep Monday: 7:50 Tuesday: 7:45 Wednesday: 7:48 Thursday: 7:45 Friday: 8:03 Saturday: 8:02 Sunday: 8:15 Week total: 55:58 (+208 minutes) Maybe I couldn't lift weights this week, but I could darn sure sleep like a champ. 100%. Week 1 - 100% Week 2 - 100% Week 3 - 100% Week 4 - 100% Week 5 - ? Week 6 - ? Overall - 100% Life Quest: A warrior doesn't have to be a lone wolf Haven't started on this one yet (despite plenty of well-deserved nagging). No weekly grading component here. Side Quest: Don't overdo the cardio Ran 2.89 miles on Wednesday and 4.36 on Saturday for a total of 7.25. That's under the 8-mile limit, so still 100% here. Week 1 - 100% Week 2 - 100% Week 3 - 100% Week 4 - 100% Week 5 - ? Week 6 - ? Overall - 100% The Numbersâ„¢: Weight (lbs) BF% (cal) BF% (scale)Challenge start 145.0 10.3% 11.1%End of week 1 145.2 10.0% 11.2%End of week 2 148.2 10.0% 11.9%End of week 3 148.0 10.0% 11.8%End of week 4 147.8 9.5% 11.7% Been stalled out here for two weeks, but it could certainly be worse.

Day 26 - Friday, August 23 Probably could've lifted this morning, but I'm just gonna finish this out as a rest week (and I do still occasionally feel a little discomfort in the shoulder for a few seconds a few times a day). Starting again Monday with all lifts deloaded 10 percent. Food: Untracked. It started with a coworker bringing in homemade brownies (which were quite delicious) and went downhill from there. Let's just move on. Sleep: Lights out: 10:57pm Alarm: 7:00am Nightly total: 8 hours, 3 minutes Week to date: 39:11 (+101 min) Day 27 - Saturday, August 24 Morning run - 4.36 miles in 47:49 (10:58/mi). Food: Today: 2891 calories [314 carbs, 116 fat, 114 protein] Week to date: 15,106* (avg 3021*/day) * excludes Friday Sleep: Lights out: 10:43pm Woke up (no alarm): 7:15am Nightly total: 8 hours, 32 minutes Week to date: 47:43 (+163 min)

Day 25 - Thursday, August 22 Rest day. Food: Today: 2912 calories [238 carbs, 125 fat, 184 protein] Week to date: 12,215 (avg 3054/day) Sleep: Lights out: 11:00pm Alarm: 6:45am Nightly total: 7 hours, 45 minutes Week to date: 31:08 (avg 7:47/night)

Day 23 - Tuesday, August 20 Rest day. Food: Today: 3112 calories [295 carbs, 160 fat, 132 protein] Week to date: 6006 (avg 3003/day) Sleep: Lights out: 11:00pm Alarm: 6:45am Nightly total: 7 hours, 45 minutes Week to date: 15:35 (avg 7:48/night) Day 24 - Wednesday, August 21 Morning workout skipped again. I'm seriously considering just writing off this week's lifting to make doubly sure my shoulder is better and then picking it up again next week. Still did the evening run, though. Relatively short (2.89 miles), but I was apparently booking it - finished in 29:27, for a 10:13/mi pace. There was then the standard trip to the bar afterward, which was even better than usual - we had a trivia night (in which we were thwarted by my failure to realize that Wellington, not Auckland, is the capital of New Zealand - sorry, Kiwis!) and there were representatives there from a brewery that apparently just started distributing here, and they were giving out free full-size beers! No better way to celebrate after a run, if you ask me. Food: Today: 2871 3297 calories [167 189 carbs, 165 fat, 176 protein] - whoops, almost forgot the beer! Week to date: 9303 (avg 3101/day) Sleep: Lights out: 10:57pm Alarm: 6:45am Nightly total: 7 hours, 48 minutes Week to date: 23:23 (avg 7:48/night)

True, though the injury issues are starting to recur again (and that, more than anything, is what's souring my attitude). I suppose technically that would fall under week 4, though. So "meh+" it is. Certainly wasn't complaining Saturday morning, that's for sure! This whole year has just been utterly bizarre here. As for where I work out, the answer's not terribly exciting: my spare bedroom. When I decided to start doing strength training, I figured the best way to make sure I'd actually stick with it would be to make it as convenient as possible (namely, not have to drive anywhere) because I'm honestly a pretty lazy person. At the time, my apartment complex's gym was pretty barebones, with just a couple treadmills, a few weight machines, and a very small selection of dumbbells (with, if memory serves, no intermediate step between 25# and 50#). So I ended up buying a barbell, a set of plates (enough for a total weight of up to 300#), a rack, and a bench, and put them all in my spare bedroom. They all made the trip with me when I moved six months ago, though the gym here is considerably better than the old one. Day 22 - Monday, August 19 So I skipped the workout this morning. Shoulder's not feeling terrible, but still not quite 100 percent. Also, with the wonky eating schedule from yesterday I was unreasonably hungry when I woke up. I pondered the idea of working out after my workday concluded (I work from home on Mondays, so I have a little extra time to work with), but I've decided to play it safe and hold off for a couple more days. Food: About to cook dinner - as it stands right now, I'd be at 2894 after I eat that, so I may also tack on a small snack afterward to get me up to 3k. Sleep: 10:55pm to 6:45am (7 hours, 50 minutes)

Day 21 - Sunday, August 18 Lights out at 11:21pm Saturday night; unfortunately I failed to make a note of when I woke up on Sunday, so this counts as an untracked night. No workout on Sunday. Food was wack, in large part thanks to an odd 3pm lunch (at a restaurant, celebrating my cousin's birthday) that sent my entire meal schedule off the rails. Very rough estimate is that I ended up somewhere around 2800 for the day, which is pretty close to how it'll end up being recorded as an untracked day anyway. Lights out at 10:35pm. Alarm was initially set for 6:15 this morning, but I ended up cancelling today's workout (more on that later) and slept until 6:59, so that's 8 hours, 24 minutes. Week 3 Recap Goal #1: Consistently follow new workout routine 3 days per week The week that was (injury info in parentheses): Monday - did all planned exercises Wednesday - did all planned exercises Friday - bench press only (knees) Full credit for Monday and Wednesday, 40% for Friday. That's an 80% grade for the week. Week 1 - 93% Week 2 - 77% Week 3 - 80% Week 4 - ? Week 5 - ? Week 6 - ? Overall - 83% Goal #2: Eat enough to fuel those lifts Monday: 3252 Tuesday: untracked (2502) Wednesday: 2902 Thursday: untracked (2502) Friday: untracked (2502) Saturday: 3129 Sunday: untracked (2502) Week total: 19,291 (-1709) Weekly grade: That was just a complete disaster. You know how I said I'd count it as -100 points from the tracked minimum for untracked days? Yeah, let's make that -100 for each untracked day, because I can't justify a 93% grade to myself here. That makes it a much more reasonable 76%. Week 1 - 94% Week 2 - 100% Week 3 - 76% Week 4 - ? Week 5 - ? Week 6 - ? Overall - 90% Goal #3: Recovery is important, and that includes sleep Monday: 7:41 Tuesday: 7:41 Wednesday: 7:49 Thursday: 7:28 Friday: 8:15 Saturday: untracked (7:18) Sunday: 8:24 Week total: 54:36 (+126 minutes) Full credit here once again. 100%. Week 1 - 100% Week 2 - 100% Week 3 - 100% Week 4 - ? Week 5 - ? Week 6 - ? Overall - 100% Life Quest: A warrior doesn't have to be a lone wolf Haven't started on this one yet. No weekly grading component here. Side Quest: Don't overdo the cardio Ran 2.91 miles on Wednesday and 4.37 on Saturday for a total of 7.28. That's under the 8-mile limit, so still 100% here. Week 1 - 100% Week 2 - 100% Week 3 - 100% Week 4 - ? Week 5 - ? Week 6 - ? Overall - 100% The Numbersâ„¢: Weight (lbs) BF% (cal) BF% (scale)Challenge start 145.0 10.3% 11.1%End of week 1 145.2 10.0% 11.2%End of week 2 148.2 10.0% 11.9%End of week 3 148.0 10.0% 11.8%Week three: a steaming pile of meh.

Days 18-20 Thursday: - Rest day. - Food: 1880 calories plus whatever dinner was. I've been doing a lot of eating out this week, and as a result food's not being tracked very well. This goes down as an untracked day. - Sleep: 10:17pm to 5:45am (7 hours, 28 minutes) Friday: - Hurting again, mostly in the knees. Morning workout ended up being only bench press. Fell one rep short of completing 3x5 at 105. - Food: 1785 plus lunch. Friday catered lunch = no dice on tracking (largely because I'm pretty horrific at estimating the weight of my food by sight - how many ounces are these two slices of ham? Who knows?!). Third untracked day this week, which is going to drag my average down into the abyss. - Sleep: 10:45pm to 7:00am (8 hours, 15 minutes) Saturday: - Fantastic conditions for the morning run: a record-low 61 degrees this morning under overcast skies. 4.37 miles in 50:29 (11:33/mi). - Food: As soon as I eat my dinner it'll be 3129 calories [145 carb, 158 fat, 265(!) protein]. - Sleep: TBD

Day 17 - Wednesday, August 14 Morning workout like so: Deadlift 5x105 3x155 2x185 3x205 Had some grip issues at 205 despite chalking up and everything. Tried to adjust my grip after the third rep, but then couldn't get the bar back up after that. OHP 5x45 3x65 2x75 5x85 [tied rep PR] 4x85 3x85 That was my third "official" try at 85, which means I'm supposed to deload that now. A 10% deload would have me working at 75 next time. Parallel-Grip Pull-Up 3 (between OHP sets) Close-Grip Pull-Up 2 (between OHP sets) Close-Grip Bench 10x70 10x70 Then the traditional Wednesday evening run. This time the rain ended before the run, thankfully. Still went for a relatively short route, 2.91 miles in 35:32 (12:14/mi). Food: Today: 2902 calories [291 carbs, 84 fat, 195 protein] Week to date: 6154* (avg 3077/day) * excludes Tuesday Sleep: Lights out: 10:34pm (tired Eth was tired) Woke up: 6:23am (about 20 minutes before my alarm because, well, I really had to pee) Nightly total: 7 hours, 49 minutes Week to date: 23:11 (avg 7:44/night)