I must start by apologizing. My interview subject was unavailable today. Yes, I was very busy so I could not interview myself today. I have plenty of time tomorrow, so I will conduct that all important interview with myself tomorrow.
Today was an interesting workout. I keep my workout plan in Excel and each week I print out the workouts for that week only. I am doing a set routine, so I look back at previous workouts and up th weight as I can. Today was a 3 x 15 day for Squats and Deads. I left the old sheets in my car by accident, so I had to wing it. I thought about it and decided that the weight I should be lifting 3 x 15 on squats was 225 lbs.
I grabbed a bar and determined what 40% of 225 lbs. would be (90 lbs is the closest I could come) and I proceeded to do 2 warm up sets at 90 lbs. I then upped the weight to 135 lbs and did another warm up set. I then upped the weight to 205 lbs and did a warm up set. Finally, I added weight to make it 225 lbs. and climbed under the bar. My Manta Ray device was in position and I picked up the weight and started the downward movement of the squat. I reached parallell and pushed hard to go back up. I could tell that the weight was heavy, but I also knew I was going to complete the set. I squatted back down and then pushed back up…down…up…3 reps…down…up…down…up…5 reps….and on like that until I finally reached a grueling 15 reps. I took the requisite 30 seconds rest (gee, thanks for the enormous rest period) and got back under the bar. I pulled off another 13 reps, but just barely. On the final set I did yet another 13 reps. My legs felt like jello.
At this point I got my equipment into position to do the deadlifts. I did my warm up sets and then got to work. Again, 225 lbs. was loaded up for the working sets on deadlifts. I managed to get just 12 reps out and began to wonder what was wrong with me. In set 2 I only managed 10 reps and in set 3, just 8 reps. I finished off the workout and headed to the car. I looked at my previous 3 x 15 workout from last week and got a shock. I had done 205 lbs. in that workout. I had increased the weight by 20 lbs., something I never do. Now, while I wasn't able to complete all 15 reps, I did manage to completely outdo my previous 3 x 15 squat workout.
This taught me an incredible lesson in mental toughness. I went into that workout believing I could do the 225 x 15 x 3 sets and I got darned close. It shows that when you believe you can do something you can accomplish whatever you set out to accomplish. Weightlifting has a large mental component to it. You can't psyche yourself out of doing the work. Honestly, I don't even feel like I did the best job I could have. Something got into my head as I was lifting and that caused me problems now that I think about it. However, I did overcome my own mental block regarding how heavy I can honestly lift on the squats.
On a side note, my Manta Ray is turning out to be an awesome tool for squats and I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in squatting. It improves the positioning of the bar and allows me to stay back when I do the squats. At first it really caused me to struggle with the weights I had previously done, but with persistence, I am now back to where I was and am quickly making gains again.
I am a strong believer in using tools to assist when lifting as long as it is going to improve your strength and not cause you to weaken other areas of your body. The Manta Ray is as essential as my lifting straps for doing big lifts.
Accountability Log:
| Mission 1: Day 20 of 40 | Accountability | ||
| Meal/Training Plan: Real-time accountability | Each task completed? | ||
| Day 81: January 14, 2008 | Yes or No | ||
| 4:00 a.m. | Meal 1: Protein shake with glutamine and 30 g. of oatmeal and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 4:00 a.m. | Supplements: Animal Pak, Glucosamine Chondroiten, calcium, chromium, glutamine | Yes | |
| 4:30 a.m. | Workout: Lifting and 30 mintues of HIIT and 6 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 6:00 a.m. | Meal 2: Protein shake with glutamine, BCAAs and chromium and small salad and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 9:00 a.m. | Meal 3: 2 chicken breasts and large salad and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 12:00 p.m. | Meal 4: Peanut butter sandwich on 2 slices whole wheat bread and large salad and 8 oz. yogurt (plain) and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 3:00 p.m. | Meal 5: Chicken breast and large salad (24 ounce) | Yes | |
| 6:00 p.m. | Meal 5: Chicken breast, brocolli and sweet peppers and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 8:30 p.m. | Supplements: Glutamine, calcium and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| Accountability Areas: | Points | Possible | |
| Meal 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 5 | 1 | 1 | |
| Training | 1 | 1 | |
| Post Workout Nutrition | 1 | 1 | |
| Water | 1 | 1 | |
| Pre-sleep nutrition | 1 | 1 | |
| Accountability | 1 | 1 | |
| Daily Totals: | 10 | 10 | |
| Mission Totals: | 176 | 180 | |
| Workout Log: | |||
| Squats | 225 x 15; 13; 13 | [PB] | |
| Deadlift Shrugs | 225 x 12; 10; 8 | [PB] | |
| Bulgarian Split Squats | 40 x 15 x 3 | ||
| Step ups | 35 x 15 x 3 | ||
| Reverse Crunches | 21 x 3 | ||
| HIIT Cardio Session | 30 minutes | ||
| Chin up training | (60) 5 x 5 | ||
| [PB] = Personal Best | |||
| Push up challenge workout | 35; 25; 25; 22; 38 |
Push up challenge workout:
The workout today for the push up challenge was very challenging. I managed to get in 145 reps over the 5 sets that were required. I have to say that I truly believe in the workout at http://www.100pushups.info because so far it has increased my push ups by a count of 12 in just 2 weeks.
Nutrition today:
Today was back to a 40/40/20 macronutrient ratio. I still tend to keep my carbs low, replacing them with alot of vegetables and I think that works well for my body. I am going to shred hard in the final day of my mission. Mission 1 has 19 days left and I plan to make use of each of those days.
Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING…
