Hello and how do folks?! My name is Josh and I see some good stuff happening here at TF and decided to move my log over here as well. I am 26 years old and work as the strength and conditioning coordinator for Mizzou Recreation Department in Columbia, MO. I have been here for just about 15 months now since moving down from Wisconsin. I have a bodybuilding background after my college days as a wrestler. I have since been more on the power lifter side of things since Jan 2008. I have not done any meets in either sport since Dec last year. Work, CEU courses and some advisory roles I now play have taken front seat at this point in my life. I am 6'2'', 195lbs and around 12% bodyfat with the goal of getting bigger. I am a pure ecto more or less and have been taking this whole year to grow, get strong and grow some more. Doing it smart and slow so that the gains I make are good gains that I can sustain for years to come. I make all my own workouts and diet plans much as I do for the athletes and teams I work with through our club sport and intramural sports programs here at Mizzou. (I really am a Tiger people!) I have been on my current training plan for 3 weeks now. Week 4 starts Monday and will be the last week on this current training block before going to block 7 of my training year. I am open to all questions, comments and feedback you may have! Glad to be here with you all! Pics taken on July 3rd 2011.
OK folks so yesterday was an off day, no lifting, just cardio. It was also my cousins wedding so knowing that I drove 420 miles and 7 hours back home mainly for this wedding and to see him and his family for the first time in months, I planned to let loose a bit and enjoy myself, live a little. I have learned over the past 3 years that bodybuilding, fitness etc, needs to adapt to my life and my lifes enjoyments, not me sacrficing everything and everyone just to comply with the "rules" of the sport. Last nights wedding was one such example of putting my family and friends and first and my personal pursuits of fitness aside for one short little day. So yesterday as I have done in the past, when I know I may be drinking on a particular night (I despise beer mind you and could not be more picky with mixed drinks that taste too much like alcohol) kept my carb intake almost nill all day. Being an off day I stay under 200 grams anyway, the plan yesterday was to stay under 100 grams. I also dropped fats down to almost nothing as alcohol can supress hepatic fat metabolism by up to %70 per hour for every drink consumed. I prefer to let the alcohol do its just with the booze and keep fat out of the equation on these rare occasions. I started my day off with 25 minute HIIT on the AMT to stoke the metabolism with 30 seconds hard at 17 and 75 second recovery intervals at 8. This after a 5 minute warm up of course. Meals Eaten yesterday: 930am 14 egg whites 3 g fish oil 1230pm 1 scoop whey 1 scoop casein 3 g fish oil 330pm 9 oz baked cod fish 3 g fish oil 8pm 9 oz steak and veggies between 6pm and 11pm 1 whiskey & pineapple 3 glasses red wine (i hate whites) 3 oz UV Blue 1 glass champagne Overall my intake was around 25 grams fat, 90 grams carbs and 200 grams protein yesterday. Much lower then even a normal rest day. That and the alcohol intake is what lead to what is probably a skewed weekly weigh in this morning. I was 190lbs which is down 4lbs from last weeks weigh in. Not the direction I want to go of course but again, this loss is being attributed to water loss from drinking last night and the super low carb/food intake all day yesterday. No hang over, no headache, feeling good this morning, already had breakfast and doing good, HIIT cardio again later today while I enjoy yet another day off back home in Wisconsin with my fam! Peace out ya all!
Yesterday was an off day, just HIIT on the precor EFX elliptical (its now in my top 3 modes of HIIT ever!) 5 minute warm up and 25 minutes kill'n it! Today I decided to head back to back to Missouri vs try and hit the road at 6am tomorrow, drive 7 hours straight to work and then work an 8 hour day right after that. I took off from home (weekend went way too fast!) around noon, stopped at a gym half way and grabbed my lift which was as follows: warm ups not listed.... bb bench: 190x4 1 arm standing cable row: 3x8 each seated life fitness shoulder press: 4x8 weighted pull ups: 3x6 +25lbs assisted dip machine (used for close grip press downs) 3x10 life fitness preacher curl machine: 3x10 swiss ball cross over cruches: 2x10 each power wheel roll outs: 2x10 *shoulders, pull ups, bench press all clocked at 2 min rest, others go by feel for rest periods, shorter usually. cream of wheat mixed fruit walnuts lean center pork chop perkins: florentine benedict red potato canned tuna cold stone cake batter love it size myofusion whey berries chopped lean ham almonds spinach salad veggies casein strawberries pb Daily totals: 117f, 356c, 298p I hate leaving home after those fun family filled weekends and backyard grilling, pool party gigs all to make the 7 hour trek back to work and reality but now that I am home posting my log, it feels good to be back in a routine agian. Tomorrow is legs and groceries as I am OUT of everything food wise right now. Hello Hyvee!!
Hey gang! Back to reality today for sure! Talk about hitting the ground running.....all out running! Woke up this morning and started off the breakfast and a good hour of laptop time related to work. I held 5 student staff work evaluations, lead a computer software training session, placed ordered with 3 sports supply vendors, met with our associate director, and oh yes....ran the 330,000 building from 1-9pm at the same time! But all that was nothing compared to the lift this morning at 930am.... Dynamic warm up and movement prep done outback... trap bar deads (2 min timed rests between all sets) 225x8 225x8 315x5 405x2 (the gym was so humid the tape on the bar handles was peeling off making these a bitch!) 405x2 405x2 405x1 405x1 275x12 bulgarian split squats 2x9 each leg (+50lb bar) cable pull throughs with rope handle 2x10 nordic leg curls 2x10 bosu ball single leg calf press 2x12 hanging medball twists 2x15 each way 6 minute stairmaster at 150bpm or higher stretch cage......done! Short and sweet today, in and out in 75 minutes to get things moving for work. Grub: breakfast 3/4 cup grape nuts 10 strawberries 5 omega eggs during workout- 5grams higher power creatine, 3g higher power beta-alanine post workout pint sized Tasti-D-Lite Cookies n Cream (80 cals per 4oz!!) 2 scoops myofusion lunch 5 omega eggs 1/2 cup grits 10 strawberries mid afternoon meal 12 oz fat chobani greek yogurt 2 tbsp pb 10 strawberries dinner 2, 5oz cans tuna in water 2 tbsp pb 1 cup Hyvee organic tomato basil sauce (mixed with the tuna and chopped green pepper) before bed 3 cups stir fry veggies 2 tbsp pb 2 scoops casein OneADay mens multi 2000 IU V D3 (nature made) 2 tabs green tea (applied nutrition) That be all folks! Officially back to the daily grind and getting it done!
Today was only interval training, no weights. Elliptical intervals done as follows: Life Fitness 95xi cross trainer.. 6 minute warm up level 8 1:15 second recovery at level 7 0:30 second all out effort at level 17 repeated this cycle 10x cool down for 4 minutes at level 8 then.... 5 minutes incline walking @ 5% grade and 4mph via treadmill.......stretch cage.......done! Thats all for today folks. Back to biz tomorrow. Grub: 3/4 cup grape nuts 5 whole eggs 10 strawberries coffee 2 scoopw myofusion 1 pint tasti d lite vanilla marshmallow (80 cals per 4oz) 2 cups veggies 4 whole eggs 10 strawberries 4 oz chicken 4 oz lean ham 10 strawberries 2 cups veggies foot long roast beef sub, no cheese, mustard, on whole wheat.....wow good! 2 glasses white wine after work 2 scoops higher power casein 2 tbsp pb 1 cup frozen blue berry totals: 88f, 329c, 266p
Good to see you here bro! In Columbia myself and have every intention of making my debut trip over to KC yet this summer before it gets away from me. I here great things about parts of KC and things to do there. Been here 15 months and yet to make the trek west for a visit!
Todays story: Gym at 645.... dynamic warm up out back + cuff prehab, shoulder matrix, etc... bb bench 5x4 at 190 + burn out set of 12 reps at 135lb weighted chin ups 4x5 with 25lb chains bb push press 4x5 at 115 (4 sec ecc) 1 arm seated cable rows 3x9 each tricep close grip push downs (on the life fitness assisted chin/dip machine) 3x10 + burn out set of 20 life fitness seated bicep curl machine 3x10, + burn out set of 20 cross over crunch touches 3x10 each + burn out set of 20 double crunches anti extensions 2x30 seconds stretch cage....done!! Grub: 1/2 cup grits 6 strawberries 5 whole eggs 6 oz chicken 1/4 cup grape nuts baby carrots 6 strawberries same as meal above 6 oz lean ham and turkey cubes 1 medium kostaki's pizza (half the cheese, thin crust, wheat, veggie supreme) 2 scoops higher power whey 1 cup grape nuts 2 tbsp pb 2 scoops higher power casein 1 cup frozen blueberries 3 scoops anadraulic state during workout with 24 oz water OneADay Mens Multi at breakfast 2 tabs green tea at breakfast
So I had my blood work done back in Feb right? I thought I had a thyroid matter that the time but luckily I did not. What we did find was that my prolactin levels were high. 17 when normal for men is 14 and under. Not too bad but reason to look into it. My doc had me go on 3 months of bromocryptine to suppress the prolactin levels. 3 months later (3.5 weeks ago) I got tested again and shockingly, my pro levels were now at 23! I then asked them to have my doc call me asap to direct me to the next step. In this 3.5 weeks I have not gotten hold of my doctor once! The 2 times he did call I was in work meetings or on the line with my boss of course! His number was blocked so calling my doc back failed! Yesterday his nurse called me to give me some information from him. She says that my doc wants to run another round of bromo but at twice the dose. I was pissed to here that as I do not like to take any meds at all for any reason let alone one that had me feeling lethargic for about all 3 weeks near the end of the last 3 month stint we did. So double dosing would really leave me a zombie! Not to mention -$180 bucks for a med that failed to do anything at all last time..... The kicker the was the nurses note about my ALT and AST enzymes being high, just above normal ranges. She says that becuase they were normal in the first set of tests in feb It may be my supplements I take which really pissed me off! I am on the same exact supps, doses, frequencies now as I was then, so no, it is not my supps doing this. Besides that they are all GMP, NSF-CFS and CL approved supplements. It does not get cleaner then that! As someone with a MS in X-Phys its common to know that heavy, chronic resistance training will elevate creatinine, bilirubin, BUN, 3MH, CK levels to above normal ranges. I have seen this in a handful of studies I did back in graduate school and undergrad research projects as well as peer reviwed lit reviews I did in the process. Back during my last tests I was lifting 3 days a week moderate loads for an hour or so and running 4x a week 5-10 miles a day for a half marathon. Now I am doing 4 weekly lift sessions at 90 minutes each and 2-3 cardio sessions. Thats a big physiological shift to place on the body and likely produced the changes in liver enzymes they found. I do not care about the AST, ALT levels right now. I want my pro levels dealt with and fixed as its possibly causing or will cause a suppression of total T levels according to my doc who first noted the high levels of pro. So yes, this has been upsetting, frustrating and drug out longer then need be. I want this fixed, not run off on some liver tangent with no significance. The displaced cause as being my supplements just puts fuel on the fire more so as it delays them from looking for real issues and then real treatments. Thats my rant for the day!
Yesterday wrapped up week 4 of 4 for block 6 and it was a good one! Legs workout #2 as listed in the program in my first post. Off with a bang! Block 7 starts Monday and I cannot wait! Writing it up tomorrow afternoon! Tomorrow is weigh in day and body comp assessment as well. See what she brings! Today was just bike intervals on the stationary. 30 minutes in and out! Grub: meal 1 5 eggs veggies 1/2 cup grits meal 2 6 oz chicken 2 tbsp pb apple meal 3 1.5 cup greek yogurt 2 tbsp pb apple meal 4 2 scoops whey 1 tbsp coconut oil 4oz banana meal 5 6 oz 90/10 beef 6 oz yam 2 cups broco meal 6 2 tbsp pb 2 scoops casein 1 cup frozen blueberries
Training block 7 is underway! Had the last 2 days off to just cardio at 35 minutes each. Nothing crazy but just a little flush to improve recovery for the week to come. I have posted block 7 in the training program thread so see that section to get a picture of where I am at now. Today was the Monday workout which is upper body higher intensity day of the 2. Note I also spent 3 hours moving 11 woodway treadmills down 2 floors and across the the whole rec complex for staging (getting ride of 15 of the demos units and getting 8 new woodway curves) and 14 nautilus selectorized machined being slid around a 23,000 square foot fitness room. I easily burned more calories in that 3 hours then in a solid hour on the stepmill! My sweat stained shirt was proof of that as well! Tomorrow I get to do a bit more of that again, not as much as today but more just the same! Grub: meal 1 5 eggs veggies 1/2 cup grits meal 2 2 cans tuna 2 tbsp pb apple meal 3 1 cup greek yogurt mixed with .5 cup 1% cottage cheese 2 tbsp pb apple meal 4 (post lift) 2 scoops whey 2 grahm crackers small banana meal 5 6 oz 90/10 beef 6 oz yam 2 cups broco meal 6 2 tbsp pb 2 scoops casein 1 cup frozen blueberries
The lift for today: Day 2, week 1 of 4, block 7: dynamic movement, hip matrix, foam roll deep warm up squats with bar only squats: 135x10, 225x5, 265x6 (4 work sets) 4 sec eccentric per rep, 90 sec timed rests db rdl: 70's for 4 sets of 8 with 4 sec eccentric per rep, 90 sec timed rests db step ups, 4 sets of 10 reps per leg with 90 sec timed rests front plank with feet elevated, 2x45 sec side plank with feet elevated, 2x45 sec per side 5 minute cardio cool down, stretch cage, done! Grub: meal 1 5 large eggs chopped tumid veggies 1/2 cup grits dry measure meal 2 7 oz center cut pork 2 tbsp pb large apple meal 3 1 cup oikos fat free greek yogurt mixed with half a cup 1% cottage cheese 2 tbsp pb large apple meal 4 6 oz 90/10 ground beef fist sized boiled yam steamed broco meal 5 2 scoops higher power brand whey protein 2 grahm crackers medium small banana meal 6 2 tbsp pb 2 scoops casein 1 cup frozen blueberries 6g beta alanine at 2 divided doses 10g creatine mono at 2 divided doses 2 green tea tabs at breakfast 1 a day multi at breakfast 2000IU VD with meal 4 3 scoops Anadrualic State during workout Cooking fun thanks to Marc!! I do not suggest this brand whey protein (HyVee brand vanilla) since all I had was Myofusion strawberry I wanted to stick with a more neutral whey flavor. However it did not allow the cookies to come out as needed for "dough" consistency. I thus went for small mini cupcakes which came out pretty good. I have not tried any of the cookies or pancakes yet. Tomorrow will see how they taste!
Typing this out after a long day, my 4th straight day of moving some 40 pieces of selectorized strength equipment and some 15 Woodway treadmills all over our student recreation complex at Mizzou. 3 hours of this every day for 4 days (and one final day tomorrow!) Not to mention what will be my 11th straight day of work going 7-9 hours every one of those days as well. Not terrible but its been ah, rough. Managed my workouts and my cardio every single day without missing a meal either baby! Booya! Yesterday was 35 minutes on the lifefitness stairclimber and nothing more then some foam rolling and PNF stretching. The DOMS was a little rough yesterday, lets leave it at that! Not my legs from yesterday either, still upper body. Today still had a tad of soreness but way better then Wednesday. Surprised my legs did not get hit as bad given the similar training stress as upper body in terms of workout stimulus. Today: 5 minute warm up, shoulder series, scaptions, cuff work, band stretching.... Incline BB Bench 4x8 w/ 4s ecc Hammer Low Row 4x10 w/ 4s ecc BB Push Press 3x8 @ 115 w/ 4s ecc BW Neutral Grip Chin Up 3x8 Biceps and Triceps 3x10 each bb curls and skull crushers Anti-Rotations 2x12 each way Decline Sit Ups 2x12 Thats a wrap. Grub: whole eggs Marc's protein pancakes cheese cake protein cookies cottage cheese cottage cheese greek yogurt coconut oil sweet tater lean beef apple broco 1 scoop whey 10" veggies lovers thin crust pizza with light cheese pb blueberries casein Bed time!
Updates have been made! http://www.tigerfitnessforum.com/index.php?threads/block-7-starts.131/ Today was the 4th and final day of week 1 (minus this weekend cardio sessions) and I tweaked things a bit as can be seen in the link to my workout plan above. Workouts are now condensed to 65-75 minutes with warm ups and cool downs, stretching factored in. Its get in, bust ass and get out! No playing around. I train solo for the simple sake that I can keeping moving and not get side tracked or distracted one bit. The mental energy and focus I need to bring to this training block is going to be tough but I welcome the challenge! Wrapped up my 11th straight day of work today and now I have a nice 2 day weekend ahead of me! I am so going to enjoy the time off! Sadly my 2 best local buddies are out of town for a powerlifting meet and I am as single as a guy can come so it could be a solo mission weekend....ha! Grub: scrambled whole eggs bowl of grits whey shake couple of katies pancakes canned tuna small banana EVCO small boiled sweet tater lean beef patty 2 cups coffee + 2 tabs green tea whey shake (creatine mono+beta-alanine) medium banana couple graham crackers casein made like pudding frozen blueberries peanut butter Praying to GOD that I see the scale move up this weekend as it has not budged upwards in 3 weeks now. In fact its dropped a little if anything. Composition has been pretty static if not improved a hair but nothing significant. I am going to have to ramp up the calories to about 3,800 come Sunday if the scale refuses to budge yet come weigh-in time this weekend. Been hovering around 3,500 for the past 3 weeks so far.
Today was an off day from the iron but not from the cardio. Started it off with 25 minutes treadmill walking. Burned 250 calories. I woke up a little early and I was wide eyed awake so I figured what the hell? Lets use this! Skipped over to the apartment clubhouse across the street and got to it, in, done out. Then about 2 meals and some 5 hours later, it was time to break in our new Woodway Curve treadmills we just got yesterday at the Student Rec Complex! 4 minute warm up walk 25 second spring at 90% max speed 75 second walk 6 sets of this, then 3 minute power walk, 1 minute cool down walk, done! 400 calories in just over 18 minutes!! Got my HR up to around 165 during those last 3 intervals in just 20 seconds! I love this thing! Best part of all is that it uses no power at all! Used my Vibrams on the bad boy and it felt great to be running almost all out as humans were meant to run! Barefoot baby! Grub: greek yogurt katies pancakes grilled chicken breast sauteed veggies (from farmers market this morning) yum! banana whey shake apple katies pancake whole egg omelet with more sauteed veggies katies protein cookies greek yogurt casein made like pudding blue berries peanut butter
Sunday was 20 minutes of intervals on the Curve and it was short and sweet. 7 sprints at 20 seconds each with 90 second rests between sprints. My heart was literaly about to beat out of my chest! Got the HR up to 180bpm which is much higher then I can typically get it even during a VO2 max test! Today was as follows (not the best workout ever but still decent) high rep, light weight warm up sets on nautilus chest press and seated row machines, cuff series.....etc.. -incline bb bench 5x8,8,7,6,5 @ 135lbs -hammer low row 5x8,8,8,8,8 @ 190lbs -standing bb press 4x6,6,6,6 @ 95lb -1 set of unilateral eccentric only hammer shoulder presses, 1x8 each arm -bodyweight neutral grip chin up 3x8,8,6 -anti-rotations 2x10 each side -nautilus crunch machine 2x20 -bb curls 3x8-10 reps + 1 final set of unilateral eccentric only reps, 1x8 each arm -nautilus tricep extension machine + 1 final set of unilateral eccentric only reps, 1x8 each arm 3x-8-10 All sets still using a 3-4 sec eccentric phase and quick hard concentric phase. Rest all timed to 90 seconds. Trying to evaluate why the workout was not quite as good as others today. My workouts are usually wack for intensity and focus but today a little bit drained. Work day was fine today Diet was good yesterday and today Slept all night long last night Could be the 2 new days of Curve sprints I added in.......only change from the norm I can see.....? Grub: 5 eggs 1/2 cup grits dry measure 1 cup low fat cottage cheese 3 oz chicken breast 1 apple 1/4 cup chopped walnuts 1.5 cup low fat cottage cheese 1 apple 7 oz chicken breast 7 oz boiled yam 2 scoops whey iso 4 graham crackers 2 tbsp pb 2 scoops casein 1 cup frozen blueberries Bed time! Up at 430am tomorrow for work at 515am! Done at 1pm though so I cant bitch much either can I now?
Today went over much better to say the least! Here she is: Lots of foam rolling (stiff back, hips and neck today) Hip series, lunge matrix....etc Warm up squats with empty bar 16" box squats 4 sets of 8 @ 225, 1 sets of of 8 @ 245, 4 sec ecc, touch and go off the box + 1 set of 8 ecc only nordic leg curls DB RDL 4x10 DB Stationary Lunge at 105lbs + 1 set of nautilus leg press ecc only leg press, 8 each leg 3x8 each Unilateral BW Calf Press 3x12 each Flush Superset Leg Extension with Seated Leg Curl 1x20 each Thats it for today. Off day tomorrow. Just cardio and recovery. Grub: 5 whole eggs 1/2 cup grits 2 cups vanilla fat free greek yogurts same as meal above UCP Heartland Annual Wing Ding Competition (11 local spots come serve all you can wings for 2 hours and 3 are voted as winners 1st-3rd) I had free tix and my buddy was a judge! So.... I would say 30-35 wings of every kind you can think of...all good! (this was pre workout meal to lol!) 2 scoops whey iso 4 grahm crackers 2 scoops casein 2 tbsp pb 1 cup frozen bberries
So I missed a few days yeah, not going to backtrack and log yesterday but will go with today. Here she is: Been trying out a new gym in town to see if its more of a fit for me come post labor day when school starts up here at Mizzou. Students flood the place and the gym becomes impossible to train in at the student rec complex. Thus I bypass the matter and workout elsewhere. Thus my trial at Wilson's Gym yesterday and today. Upper Body lift 2 of the week: Cardio warm up, dynamic movement, hip matrix, stretching.... 3 lead up sets, then 4 work sets: front squats to butt to box, 195lbs, 4 reps a set hammer strength deadlift RDL: 4x10 at 225lbs freemotion gen II squat machine: single leg squats: 3x8 each superset back and forth with minimal rest for 3 sets each on single leg standing curl and single leg leg extensions 3x12 per leg, per set hammer strength calf press 3x10 with 10 sec stretch pause at bottom of last rep nautilus ab crunch 2x15 with 2 sec iso hold per rep Grub: 4 whole eggs 6 tbsp egg whites 1/2 cup grits 8 oz cooked pork loin 1 nectarine 8 oz lean beef 8 oz shwarma (lean lamb beef) 2 cups rice small side salad 2 scoops whey 4.5 grahm crackers 6 oz fat free lite blueberry yogurt 2 tbsp jiff pb 2 scoops casein Supps: multivit green tea extract fish oil creatine mono beta alanine VD
Weekly weigh in this morning had me at 196.5lbs and 10.6% bodyfat. Gain in 3lbs this week! About time to see some increase in weight and strength at the same time! Yesterday was 30 minutes cardio via treadmill walking. Today went as follows: 7 minute treadmill jog, dynamic movement, cuff warm ups, lite stretching.... All paired movements done in superset fashion for 5 sets of 5 reps, 2nd exercise listed performed with a 5-6 sec eccentric. Rested 2 minutes after each superset. bb bench and flat db fly incline hammer press and incline db fly wide lat pull down and single arm kettlebell row bb row and seated cable rows 7 minute treadmill jog, stretch, done! Grub 4 eggs 6 tbsp egg whites 1/2 cup grits 8 oz center cut pork loin 1 tbsp mac nut oil 1/2 cup grits 2 scoops whey iso 2 tbsp cane sugar 8 oz center cut pork loin chopped cucumber 1 nectarine cook out at bosses house: 2 cheese burgers with bun brat with bun (super good!) tortilla chips with veggie/bean dip strawberry short cake (small piece honestly!) 2 scoops casein 1 ff, lite banana yogurt 2 tbsp jiff pb That is all for today folks! Hope you all had a good weekend. Peace out, bed time for this guy!
930am: 1.5 mile woodway treadmill run All paired movements done in superset fashion for 5 sets of 5 reps, 2nd exercise listed performed with a 5-6 sec eccentric. Rested 2 minutes after each superset. 5 minute treadmill warm up: front squats and single leg stationary db lunge leg extensions and seated leg curl sumo deadlift and db RDL decline sit up and cable anti-rotations (10 of each for just 2 sets each) swiss ball stretch, done! Grub 4 eggs 6 tbsp egg whites 1/2 cup grits 8 oz lean beef nectarine 8oz chicken breast 1.5 tbsp evco 8 oz chicken breast 1/2 cup grits 2 scoops whey iso 3 tbsp brown sugar 2 scoops casein 1 ff, lite blueberry yogurt 2 tbsp jiff pb
