Last night I went to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. As I went off to bed I was thinking about my deadlift workout in the morning. As soon as I went to sleep I dreamt about my workout.

I'm up at 3:30 a.m. and getting prepared for my workout.  I have a protein shake blended with a portion of oatmeal.  I down that and fill up my shaker with a portion of protein, glutamine and some glucose for the insulin spike when I drink the shake after my workout.  I head off to the gym and begin thinking about my workout and what I'm going to try.

I walk into the gym and it is farily quiet as this is a holiday week.  I step onto the treadmill and do a 10 minute warm up.  I then head over to the squat rack that I use for my deadlifts.  I have been increasing my weight by 5 pounds on my deadlifts and this time I feel strong, so I add 10 pounds.  I am about to attempt a 195 pound deadlift for 10 repetitions.  I step up to the bar and squeeze my hands tightly.  I squat down and grip the bar with alternating grip on my hands.  I push my heels hard into the ground and with locked out arms, I begin to lift the bar off the ground.  I'm full vertical and my traps are squeezed together at the end of the lift.  I lower the weight.  That's one repetition.  This repeats for 10 repetitions.  I have completed one set of deadlifts.  Without any rest, I immediately drop and do 11 explosive pushups.  I follow that with 10 Bulgarian Split Squats.  Finally, I end the set with 10 two-point rows on each arm.  I rest for 60 seconds and my mind starts wandering to that deadlift I need to do on the next set. 

“Why am I trying to lift so heavy today?  I should've stuck with 190 for today.”

My mind is playing tricks on me.  I step up to the bar and again, I squat down and grab the bar.  I push hard with my heels and the bar is in motion again.  I complete 10 repetitions and move right into explosive push ups.  From those I move to the Bulgarian Split Squat and end the set with 10 two point rows on each arm. 

On the third set of deadlifts, I still manage 10 repetitions.  I move on to the explosive push ups.  The sweat is literally dripping off my head onto the mat on the ground.  My arms are shaking as I do the explosive push ups. 

“I wonder if I should drop the weight on the final set of deadlifts?” my mind is thinking.

I finish off the Bulgarian Split Squats and the two point rows and get ready for the next set of deadlifts.

“I need to push through” is what I'm thinking, so I don't change the weight. 

I push hard through the next set of deadlifts and manage 9 repetitions before I reach the point of failure.  I drop the bar to the ground and feel quite satisified with what I just did. 

“Why do I do this?” my mind wonders. 

I move through the 2 sets of the second giant set and then it is off to the cardio area.

“I have hit a pretty high heart rate during my workout, so maybe I can do cardio later?”  I think.

Despite what my brain says, I step onto the treadmill.  I am aiming for 20 minutes.  After 5 minutes I start to think strange thoughts.

“This is boring.  I can't believe I forgot my mp3 player in the car!”

I continue on and work towards that 20 minute goal.  Steady cardio at 4.5 mph with an incline of 4.0.  I am sweating profusely as I walk quickly on the treadmill.

“Why do I do this?” my mind wonders yet again.

It is now 10 minutes into the cardio workout.

“I should just go into the cool down now.”  my mind is working on tricking me again.

I continue pushing forward.  I am now at 12 minutes.

“I should stop now.”  my mind thinks.

I continue to work.  I am now at 16 minutes.

“Why do I do this?”  my mind continues to wonder.

Finally I hit 20 minutes.  What a dream this has been.  Except…

This wasn't a dream at all.  It is what really happened at the gym this morning and it gave me the answer to the question “Why do I do this?”  There's a selfish answer and a not so selfish answer.

The selfish answer:  I do this for the triumphs and victories I get at the gym like today's personal best on the deadlifts and because it is taking me closer to my ultimate goals.

The not so selfish answer:  I want to inspire others to do the same thing. I want to inspire others to workout as hard as they can and to get them to leave it all on the gym floor.

I do it because my goals have propelled me forward and I almost feel compelled to do my workouts.  Stong or weak on a given day, I give it my all and in the end, I feel better about myself (witness the smile on my face now).

My workout log:

Exercise	Results (Weight/Sets/Reps)
Deadlift	195 x 10   *[PB] 195 x 10  *[PB] 195 x 10  *[PB] 195 x 9  *[PB]
Explosive Pushups	BW x 11 BW x 11 BW x 11 BW x 11
Bulgarian Split Squats	25 x 10 25 x 10 25 x 10 25 x 10
2 Point Bent Row	40x 12 *[PB] 40 x 12 *[PB] 40 x 12 *[PB] 40 x 12 *[PB]
Deadlift from a box	85 x 20 85 x 20
Dumbbell Bench Press	35 x 20 35 x 20
Walking lunges	25 x 20 25 x 20
Seated Cable Row	80 x 20 80 x 20
*PB=Personal Best

I got up at 3:15 a.m. and headed out to the gym.  Today was my cardio day, so I got on the treadmill and cranked out a nice HIIT session with 1 minute intervals.  I did that for 30 minutes and then went to work.  I had a jam packed morning followed by a meeting filled afternoon.

After my afternoon meeting, I headed to the gym for HIIT session #2 for the day.  It felt great to be consistent and get to the gym as scheduled.  I had alot of energy during the workouts.  I am looking forward to more deadlifting tomorrow, but for today, the cardio work will suffice.

I spent some time in the car today listening to the new Led Zeppelin station on XM and thinking about what it means to be consistent.  I am not talking about the obvious meanings, I'm talking about the deeper meanings.  Consistency means so many different things.  The following are some quotations I found on the matter:

“A consistent man believes in destiny, a capricious man in chance.” — Benjamin Disraeli

“Without consistency there is no moral strength.” — Owen

To me, being consistent means doing things regularly.  It means not missing a workout as best you can.  It means working hard constantly.  Consistency is what brings you to the gym to do your workouts.

Until tomorrow…

 

So here I am at Day 24 of my first mission.  As my previous post today mentioned, I had a decent workout today and did a good amount of cardio as well.  I am aiming towards my goals and can't believe that I beat my first goal milestone. 

 

I just wonder about people sometimes.  I see people at the gym and they have all been going there for as long or longer than me.  I notice that most of them have had no results at all.  It is so common that the gym sells their personal training packages based on the idea that it is normal for people to see no results without a personal trainer's assistance.  But what I wonder is how these people can continually put in such effort and be satisfied with not seeing any results.  Yes, there are those that aren't really putting in an effort, but I see many who are putting in an intense effort at the gym.  I can only assume their lack of results is due to their nutrition.  Why aren't they at the point where they have to do something about it?  I mean, I got to that point myself.

 

I couldn't go another day without results.  I thought “Why am I spending so much time sweating if I'm not going to see results that I like?”  That's when I decided to do something about it.  I wonder what it will take for these other people. It makes me want to stop them and ask questions.  In fact, when I hit my ultimate goals, I plan to bring a picture of my old self and stop them and ask them why they can't go from what I looked like (and they currently look like) to where I will be at that point.  The idea isn't to say “Hey, look at me” but rather to say “I wish you would take control of your health and do something about it.”  Obviously these people care because they wouldn't be at the gym if they didn't, but they really need to take control like the Shredders are doing.  I'm not really sure yet why this bothers me so much.

 

I had a little surprise waiting for me in the mailbox yesterday. 

 

Here I am with my RTP Shredder shirt! I love what this shirt represents and that's why I picked one up. Yes, my RTP shredder shirt arrived!  I will wear it proudly and can't wait until my stomach is so flat and chest so big that the words pop out at you when I wear the shirt. I plan to wear this shirt when I workout tomorrow to remind me that I need to Eat Clean Shred Hard Think BIG! Well, I've rambled enough for one day.  I wish I could figure out why certain things bother me so much.  I wonder how much of it has to do with how my own mindset was for so long? “Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.” — Edward Stanley Until tomorrow…

Today is the start of the RTP Group Shred Phase 2.  You can read more about it at Adam Water's blog. 

I got up today and headed to the gym straight away.  I got there and started my workout.  The first and second set went smoothly with me achieving the goals I had for those sets.  The third set was disaster.  On my front squats, the bar slipped a little and I was unable to complete the 11 reps (doing only 10). I was severely disappointed and headed on to the next exercise, assisted chin ups.  Due to my disappointment, my mental state wasn't strong enough and I also failed to hit the goal for the chin ups on that set.  I powered ahead and when I hit the 60 second rest period, I visualized myself completing the front squats even if the bar slipped.  I stepped up to the bar and started the 4th set.  On rep 6 the bar slipped again.  This time I powered ahead and finished off 5 more reps for 11 total.  I also managed to make my goal on the chin ups and finished the giant set strong.

Overall this was a good workout. I  did my weights and finished with 20 minutes of steady cardio.  I kept my heart rate at 80% of max.  I listened to a podcast from Marc David about Nino Savona, a bodybuilder with a severe disability who has overcome that disability by using the attitude of no excuses!  It motivated me to say the least and I just spent a few minutes looking at Nino's blog.  I suggest you read it for some extra motivation.  Christy, you are gonna find it as amazing as I did!

My workout log is below:

Exercise	Weight/Reps
Front Squat	135 x 11 135 x 11 135 x 10 (Bar slipped) 135 x 11
Chin-ups (assisted)	(150) 11  (150) 11  (150) 10  (150) 11
Step ups	35 x 12 35 x 12 35 x 12 35 x 12
Dumbbell push press	45 x 11 45 x 11 45 x 11 45 x 11
Back Squat	75 x 20 75 x 20
Lat pulldown	75 x 20 75 x 20
Step ups	20 x 20 20 x 20
Dumbbell overhead press	35 x 20 35 x 20

This wasn't an incredible workout by my standards, but it did the job.  Some days you have a great workout and others you don't, but the key is to just forge ahead.

My day 24 pictures will follow later today along with a topical post.

Until later…

I just completed my second cardio session of the day.  This time I did it Body for Life style.  I started out at 3.5 MPH for 2 minutes then I did several intervals.  My cardio workout looked like this:

Minute	Speed
1	3.5 MPH
2	3.5 MPH
3	4.5 MPH
4	5.5 MPH
5	6.5 MPH
6	7.5 MPH
7	4.5 MPH
8	5.5 MPH
9	6.5 MPH
10	7.5 MPH
11	4.5 MPH
12	5.5 MPH
13	6.5 MPH
14	7.5 MPH
15	4.5 MPH
16	5.5 MPH
17	6.5 MPH
18	7.5 MPH
19	8.5 MPH
20	3.5 MPH