tenaciousglee Sticks With The Plan (for a change)

[tenaciousglee]

I've had a bit of trouble starting my thread for this challenge. The thing is: I have a long-term plan in place, but I couldn't think of a clever/interesting/pop-culture-referencing theme to use for this particular 6 week span.  Then it hit me.  Just stick with the plan!

 

 

My overall goal is to add muscle to my skinny frame.  My long-term goal is to put on about 10 pounds of muscle by my 40th birthday (Dec 2016).  I have been working for the last 5 months to lose a bit of belly fat and achieve a "lean base".  I have a new intermediate goal, which is to have a beach-ready body by the end of March 2016 when I am planning to head to Jamaica for a few days with several friends who are all celebrating our 10th wedding anniversaries.  So, having lost about 12 pounds and 2 inches from my belly since May, my plan is to eat at maintenance for a month to let things stabilize and then start eating at a surplus in December and January to try and bulk up.  I'll then probably go back to eating at maintenance or below for a few weeks before the Jamaica trip to burn any fat I pick up.

 

Having laid that out, here are my goals for this challenge:

 

Goal 1: Consistent strength gains on my "marriage" lifts

 

I re-started the 242 Method of working out back in July, where I dedicate 2 workouts a week to 6 "marriage" lifts that I never stray from: Deadlift, Overhead Press, Dips, Squat, Floor Press, and Pull-ups.  I split these over Monday and Friday and then have Wednesday to "flirt" with other exercises.  It's been 4 months now and I've seen consistent progress in those key lifts without the program hopping that I used to do every 6 weeks.  I want to keep making consistent gains by bumping up the reps or weight on each lift each week.

 

Goal 2: Consistent progress on my bodyweight skills

 

There are a few bodyweight skills that I've wanted to achieve for a long time.  Pistol Squats, Handstand Push-ups, One-Arm Push-ups, and L-sits.  I've worked on each of these at various points over the last 3 years to varying degrees of success.  This time around, I'm going to dedicate my Wednesday workouts to progressing on each of these bodyweight skills.  I've got a different progression for each skill:

• Pistol Squats - Neat Strength
• Handstand Push-ups - Kinobody Bodyweight Mastery Program
• One-arm Push-ups - Kinobody
• Leg Raises (as a precursor to L-sits) - Gold Medal Bodies

Goal 3: Maintain (or decrease) my weight and midsection measurement

 

As I said above, I've been working on losing some belly fat since the end of May and I'm happy with the level of success I've had. Even though I've still got another inch or two I could stand to lose, I'm at a weight that I consider about as low as I'd like to go.  So, instead of just jumping right back into a traditional bulk (where I traditionally add an few inches to my waist) I'm going to take it slow and just hang out at maintenance for a month.  As I look back at my last 3 and half years on Nerd Fitness, I've bounced around a lot - eating a ton in an attempt to gain weight, but then reversing course because I gained too much in my midsection.  I've never really spent time at a consistent weight.  I plan to accomplish this by bumping my daily calorie intake up to about 2000 per day, but I'll rely on my Jawbone UP tracker to keep a count of my steps and how many calories I've really burned.  If I'm successful in maintaining my weight and waistline for a month, I'll shift into a calorie surplus.

 

My grading will be a variation of a method I'm stealing from Raptron's challenge:

• Hitting my daily protein goal will be good for 1/2 a point.
• Hitting my daily calorie range will be good for 1/2 a point.
• Alternatively, I'll be weighing myself daily and taking a midsection measurement on Monday mornings.
• If my seven-day average weight is at or below my starting weight or if my midsection measurement is at or below my starting measurement, I'll get all 7 points for the week.
• Total of 28 possible points for November

 

Goal 4: Average 7 hours of sleep a night

 

One thing I'm told over and over again is that you need rest to recover and build muscle, so I'm making sleep a priority once again.  I will aim for drinking a cup of Natural Calm and getting to bed by 10:30 on weeknights and getting up by 5 for my workouts 3 days a week.  My Jawbone UP also tracks my sleep, so I'll just take an average for the week rather than grade based on number of days I hit 7 hours.

 

Okay, so typing this all out has taken longer than I thought it would, so I'm going to spare you all my proof that these goals have been vetted against Steve's 9 Mistakes Skinny People Make Trying To Get Bigger.

 

Let the challenge begin!

[tenaciousglee]

Starting measurements:

 

Height: 6'-1"

Weight: 152 lbs (7-day average)

Neck: 13.5"

Shoulders: 44"

Chest: 38"

Biceps: 11" (11.5" flexed)

Waist: 32"

Belly: 34.5"

Cheated Belly: 29.5"

Hips: 37.5"

Thigh: 21"

Calf: 13"

Wrist: 6"

Forearm: 9.5"

 

Average BF: 18.6%

Lean Body Mass: 123.7 lbs

Body Fat: 28.3 lbs

[Elastigirl]

Following for another great challenge!

[tenaciousglee]

Following for another great challenge!

 

Welcome, my fellow tenacious assassin!

[raptron]

Maintenance is a fun thing to play with! I bet you'll have a much better time at the gym working on maintenance cals. Solid challenge and solid plan! 

[tenaciousglee]

Maintenance is a fun thing to play with! I bet you'll have a much better time at the gym working on maintenance cals. Solid challenge and solid plan! 

 

I am indeed looking forward to some calorie-fueled bumps to my lifting.  This morning was a little underwhelming, but I think my rest week last week may have actually been a backslide week.  Oh well, I enjoyed the extra beer and chips and candy.

 

Here's this morning's workout:

 

Monday, November 2, 2015

DL + OHP + Dips

 

Deadlift - 5x180#, 3x240# (PR), 5x210#

OHP - 7x70#, 1x90#, 2x80#

Dips - 3x44#, 3x39#, 4x35#

Incline Bench Press - 2x100#

Tuck Jumps for the mini - 5x5

[tenaciousglee]

Week 1, Day 3

 

Came up a little short on day 1 calories and protein - 1977 & 82g

Just about right on for day 2 - 2024 cals & 90 g protein

 

Did my bodyweight mastery workout this morning and I think it's going to be a good one.  I'm expecting chest and ab DOMS tomorrow.

 

Decline side-to-side push-ups - 3x10 (will progress to assisted one arm feet elevated push-ups)

Seated Pistol Squats - 2x12 each leg (will reduce the level I'm sitting down on)

Hands Elevated Pike Push-ups - 3x10 (will progress to feet-on-bench and hands elevated pike push-ups)

Floor leg raises - 3x10 (didn't have great form on these as I felt them in my lower back instead of abs, but I will still progress to hanging knee raises)

[tenaciousglee]

Week 1, Day 4

 

Hit my cals and protein with ease yesterday.

 

DOMS confirmed today.  Hit my chest and my lats, interestingly.  I attribute it to the pike push-ups with my hands on parallettes to increase range of motion.

[raptron]

Oooh, yeah those will definitely get you! Go, go hanging raises!

[tenaciousglee]

Week 1 Wrap-up

 

Goal 1 - Consistent Strength Gains - I guess Week One sort of sets the benchmark to measure against.  I've been doing basically the same "marriage" lifts since July and my numbers have progressed nicely.  Last week was a bit of a stall, but I have already attributed that to taking the week off between challenges.

 

Goal 2 - Consistent Progress on BW skills - Week One was really the first week for doing these, so I can't claim progress yet.  To be continued in Week Two.

 

Goal 3 - Maintain (or decrease) my weight and midsection measurement - 7-day average weight went from 152.06 to 151.89, so that's a victory.  Seven points for me!

 

Goal 4 - Average 7 hours of sleep a night - Wound up with an average of 6 hours, 58 minutes for the last week, so TOTAL FAIL! Or, you know, pretty close.

[tenaciousglee]

Week 2, Day 1

 

This morning's workout:

 

Deadlift - 5x185#, 5x240#, 5x210# (Deadlift 5-rep PR!!)

Overhead Press - 7x70#, 2x90#, 4x80# (up from last Monday!)

Dips - 4x45#, 4x40#, 4x35# (up from last Monday!)

Incline Bench Press - 3x100#

Bear Crawls (mini) - 30

Crab Walks (mini) - 50

[raptron]

Nice week! Grats on the new 5rm on your deadlift!

[tenaciousglee]

Nice week! Grats on the new 5rm on your deadlift!

 

Thanks!

[tenaciousglee]

Week 2, Day 3

 

 

Bodyweight Mastery workout

 

Feet Elevated Assisted One Arm Push-ups (kinda like Al above) - 3x5 each arm

Seated Pistol Squats - 2x8 each leg

Feet Elevated Hands Elevated Pike Push-ups - 3x6

Hanging Knee Raises - 8,6,6

Bear Crawls for the mini - 50

Crab Walks for the mini - 50

 

Good workout this morning! I'm technically off work today because of Veteran's Day, but I've got a project deadline on Monday, so I thought I'd treat today like a normal day.  I was supposed to drop the kids off at day care for a half-day and get some work done, but they revolted and so they're staying home.  Now (once I get off NF) I'm trying to squeeze in a little work between calls for "Daaadddy!".

[tenaciousglee]

I'm taking a page out of Elastigirl's book and posting a Throwback Thursday post.  On the surface it seems like a great idea to remind yourself how far you've come.  I hit a bit of a snag because it serves as a reminder to me of how often I jumped from one program to another.  It's hard to gauge my progress if I haven't been consistently following the same routine.

 

For the first one of these, I'll go back roughly a year.  In reviewing my challenge from that time period, I have to chuckle because I was trying to cut in October, maintain in November, and bulk in December - just like this year!  In fact, if I go back and compare my measurements, they're almost identical to November of 2014.  Sigh.  That's depressing.  Let's see if I've gotten any stronger.

 

GLEE 90X - Day 41

Body By Science Big Five

Bent Over Row - 6x70#
Overhead Press - 3x60#
Deadlift - 6x100#
Incline Bench Press - 3x80#
Squat - 6x80#

All lifts done with 10s up, 10s down tempo. Held for 10 seconds after the last rep.

Total time 13 minutes.

 

 

As you can see, I was trying a Time-Under-Tension method with lower weights.  And the entire workout lasted 13 minutes. I don't know why I thought this would work...  Luckily, I've adopted a routine that I've been sticking with since July.  My deadlift is at 5x240#, my OHP is at 2x90#, my incline bench press is at 3x100#, and my squat is at 5x100#.  So there are definite strength improvements!

 

Here's an idea! Why don't I stick with my current routine and keep making strength gains.  Then I'll up my calories and see if my body feels like adding some muscle to compensate.  That's just crazy enough to work!!

 

[Elastigirl]

I'm taking a page out of Elastigirl's book and posting a Throwback Thursday post.  On the surface it seems like a great idea to remind yourself how far you've come.  I hit a bit of a snag because it serves as a reminder to me of how often I jumped from one program to another.  It's hard to gauge my progress if I haven't been consistently following the same routine.

 

For the first one of these, I'll go back roughly a year.  In reviewing my challenge from that time period, I have to chuckle because I was trying to cut in October, maintain in November, and bulk in December - just like this year!  In fact, if I go back and compare my measurements, they're almost identical to November of 2014.  Sigh.  That's depressing.  Let's see if I've gotten any stronger.

 

 

 

As you can see, I was trying a Time-Under-Tension method with lower weights.  And the entire workout lasted 13 minutes. I don't know why I thought this would work...  Luckily, I've adopted a routine that I've been sticking with since July.  My deadlift is at 5x240#, my OHP is at 2x90#, my incline bench press is at 3x100#, and my squat is at 5x100#.  So there are definite strength improvements!

 

Here's an idea! Why don't I stick with my current routine and keep making strength gains.  Then I'll up my calories and see if my body feels like adding some muscle to compensate.  That's just crazy enough to work!!

Hint: For my throwback Thursday I cheated, I didn't look for the exact day last year, I looked for something that I was doing then and now that were similar so I could compare exactly. I bet you would find some improvement from last year. I actually couldn't find the exact day, as I rarely dated things, as I thought why bother. LOL, now I try and date it. 

 

Awesome plan to stick with the current routine though.

[tenaciousglee]

This week has sucked.  I should have known it would.

 

The project that I've been working for 2 years finally went live on Monday.  I didn't get to bed until 2 am on Sunday night (Monday morning) and was back up at 5:30.  So no workout on Monday.  Or Wednesday.  Friday's not looking likely.  This week has been a blur.  Hoping to get back into it next week.  Assuming I survive this week.

[Elastigirl]

This week has sucked.  I should have known it would.

 

The project that I've been working for 2 years finally went live on Monday.  I didn't get to bed until 2 am on Sunday night (Monday morning) and was back up at 5:30.  So no workout on Monday.  Or Wednesday.  Friday's not looking likely.  This week has been a blur.  Hoping to get back into it next week.  Assuming I survive this week.

Congrats on the project. Hope you survive the week, give yourself a pass on the workouts, sometimes it is just about surviving.

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

Agreeing with Elastigirl - some weeks just are what they are.

Give yourself a pass on this one...sounds like you deserve it!

[raptron]

Congrats on the launch! Upset weeks happen, dude. Get in whatever you can. Maybe bust out a few bodyweight moves before bed, that kind of thing.

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

How are things going?

[tenaciousglee]

How are things going?

 

Thank you for asking.

 

The past two weeks have been hard. The week my project went live I spent a lot of early mornings and late nights at work. I was short on sleep and paid little-to-no attention to what I ate. During the same week, a close friend of mine suddenly got very sick and passed away.  He was my age and had a wife and two young daughters and his death has hit me like a ton of bricks. My wife and I left our kids with my MIL and drove down to the funeral on Tuesday, then back home on Wednesday in order to be with family for Thanksgiving.  The whole thing has just been exhausting.

 

I've tried to keep up with some fitness/health stuff, partly because the routine helps. I didn't lift at all during Week 3, but I lifted on Monday and Friday this week.  My sleep has been averaging just under 7 hours a night.  I haven't tracked anything in MFP in a couple of weeks.  I'm looking forward to the start of a new week and another chance to get back into my normal routine.

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Sharing that must have been tough, too. I'm impressed with your positive attitude; looking forward, even with your grief. Take care of yourself. You and your family deserve it.

[Elastigirl]

Sorry sending hugs your way.That is  rough.

[raptron]

Oh my gosh. So sorry for your loss.

 

Routine is good for times like these, so I hope you can find your groove in it again.