Matt's training journal.

As Jenng put it in her journal,

Well, I hang out here enough, I might as well start a journal.

Sounds like a good idea to me. I don't work out today so I thought it would be a good time to get the base information out of the way.

Male, 25 yrs, 174 lbs / 16.5% bodyfat, programmer/analyst. Besides some walking around the hospital, most of my time is spent sitting and pounding furiously on my keyboard and trackball. I've lived with my amazing wife for close to five years and we'll have been married for a year in September. We have a parson russell terrier named Bella Rosa (Italian for beautiful rose, we just call her Bella) who is one year seven months old. We also both go to one of the local GoodLife gyms for our training, only she goes five times versus my four.

I'm not sure of my goals for the gym right now. I am happy with the weights I lift but of course I'd like to see that increase. But I also want my bodyfat to drop to 10% or lower. I need to decide to bulk or cut.

I work out four times a week. Three lifting days, the fourth is cardio/abs. Here is my current routine and the weights. I don't list the reps/sets, I aim for three sets of four to six reps on each. I have a training partner, my older brother, but he's notorious for cancelling. He has yet to come for a full two weeks without missing at least one day. It is frustrating to say the least.

Monday, Chest / Bicep. The shortest day in the routine balanced by Mondays being the busiest day in the gym.
Bench press, 225 lbs.
Incline press, 175 lbs.
Barbell curl, 90 lbs.
Cable barbell curl, 140 lbs.

Tuesday, Legs / Shoulders. The longest day in the routine. My legs will often hurt for two days afterwards.
Squats, 245 lbs. I know I can do more weight but my form feels unsure at that point.
Leg curls, 110 lbs. I had been doing deadlifts but again I had poor form.
Calf raises, 295 lbs.
Shoulder presses, 150 lbs. Starting this week I'll be eliminating these, they're on a Smith.
Dumbbell shoulder presses, 2x60 lbs. These will be going in place of them. I'm just guessing at using 60's.
Side lateral raises, 25 lbs. I had been using 30's but with bad form.
Rear lateral raises, 20 lbs. I use two pulleys for these.

Thursday, Back / Triceps.
Wide-grip pull-ups, 3 sets of 5-8.
Bent-over barbell rows, 140 lbs.
Rear back extensions, 45 lbs.
Close-grip decline bench press, 205 lbs. Love these, by far the best tricep exercise I've used.
Overhead rope extensions, 100 lbs. Sort of like push-downs but with a rope and over head.

Saturday, Abs / Cardio.
My ab routine is a superset of a few exercises. No rest between exercises until the end, then I take a minute or so. Three sets in total.
Leg raises, 15 reps.
Crunches, 25 reps.
Left side bridge, 30 seconds.
Right side bridge, 30 seconds.
I hope I can remember to add shrugs in here this day. I used to do them on Thursday until I added in the pull-ups.
For cardio I had been doing a 12-minute guerilla cardio routine on the elliptical but my wife has me hooked on a group exercise called Bootcamp now. I tried it yesterday for the first time and it absolutely kicked my ass.

On to the next part of the introductory novel, my diet. On weekdays I eat six days a week, seven on a gym day.

Breakfast (229 cal, 20g prot, 28g carb, 3g fat)
1 cup of oatmeal (147 cal, 6g prot, 25g carb, 2g fat, http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-001-02s018e.html)
1/2 cup of 1% cottage cheese (82 cal, 14g prot, 3g carb, 1g fat, http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-001-02s000f.html)
2 tablespoons of currants
2 packages of Sugar Twin.

09:30
Either one scoop of whey or 1/2 cup of cottage cheese if I'm out of whey. So between 82 - 130 calories, 14g - 24g of that being protein.

12:00
1 cup of cottage cheese
Salad of the day in the cafeteria.

14:30
Same as 09:30.

17:00
Usually some cottage cheese but lately I've made up a half batch of oatmeal. Stuff's just too damn tasty.

19:15
Post-workout shake if it's a gym day. 1 scoop of whey and soon to be adding in around 40g of dextrose.

19:45
Supper! Here's the part that's almost sad, I know most of my suppers. Monday we go to a restaurant called Moxie's, I tend to get a steak with mixed veggies and garlic mashed potatos. Tuesday's usualy some piece of steak or fish on the BBQ. Wednesday's a low-fat pizza my wife makes and a piece of meat. Thursday's the really bad day, a slice at Pizza Pizza and 500mL of chocolate milk. The slice is 690 cal, 31g prot, 87g carb, 25g fat. Baaaaad. Friday's Lone Star, a Tex/Mex place here. Steak fajitas. Healthy if not for the fajita shells, I imagine they're pure white flour.

What else? I have a set of calipers on their way to me in the mail so I'll be doing weekly measurements. That's all there is I guess. Let's see where this takes me.

Not sure of your goals? Why are you training?

Matt

That one's easy enough, to get stronger / bigger, to be fit, to look decent / better, and because I enjoy it. I meant more along the lines of I don't know if I want to cut or bulk at this point. One part of me says that I'm strong enough for right now, concentrate on cutting some fat to look better. Another part wonders why I'd want to cut with winter approaching, now's the time to bulk up more!

Monday, July 26th, 2004
Evening workout.

I mentioned in my first message that my training partner isn't always reliable for the gym. Tonight was one of those nights. Chest is probably the worst night possible for me to not have a spotter, so I wasn't thrilled when he didn't show. Onwards to the workout. I almost forgot, tonight was the first night that I had an actual stopwatch to time my 1.5 minutes between sets. $6 CAD from Walmart and well worth it.

Chest

Warmed up with bench press, 10 reps at 135 lbs.

Bench press - 6x205, 6x205, 5x215. I was cautious and frankly a bit scared at the idea of possibly failing on 225 lbs. Normally I'll get off all of the reps without failure, but failing tonight wasn't really an option. So I lowered my weight a bit and cranked things out. Looking back, I think I could have did the 225 lbs.

Incline bench press (dumbbells) - 6x45, 6x55, 6x65. The incline benches were all busy (damn Mondays) and I got sick of waiting so I decided to try dumbbells. I should have used 70's or 75's, the others were too easy. I think I might use dumbbells from now on for incline, they were nice.

Bicep

Warmed up with barbell curl, 10 reps at 40 lbs.

Barbell curl - 5x90, 5x90, 4x90. This was a bit frustrating, the weights seemed harder to curl this week. Just psyching myself out.

Cable barbell curl - 5x140, 5x140, 6x130. Again, the weights seemed harder. I know it's just in my head but still..

Shrugs - 6x160, 6x160, 6x160. I decided to do these tonight instead of Saturday.

So there were two good things that came out of tonight's workout. First, I feel that I can safely do my normal weights without a spotter. Second, I've decided that cutting be damned! I want to bulk up some more. Sticking at these weights is not an option. So I'll be revising my diet a bit to increase the calories. Hoorah!

Tuesday, July 27th, 2004
Evening workout.

Training partner showed up tonight, that was a good start. I was looking forward to tonight all day because tonight was the first night I was going to do dumbbell shoulder presses instead of shoulder presses on the Smith machine. Plus work was boring as all get out.

Legs

Warmed up with squats, 10 reps at 135 lbs.

Squats - 6x225, 5x255, 6x225. The first set felt fine enough that I tried adding 15 lbs per side for the second set. Bad idea. Normally I'll go just past parallel but I wasn't able to reach parallel on that set. I bumped it back down and finished the last set with good form.

Leg curls - 6x110, 6x120, 6x120. Even 120 doesn't feel like enough, I'll try 130 next week.

Calf raises - 6x235 (standing), 10x80 (sitting), 6x235 (standing), 8x80 (sitting). My calves were just slightly sore from Saturday's Bootcamp but not enough that I thought I should avoid the raises.

Shoulders

Warmed up with dumbbell shoulder presses, 10 reps at 30 lbs each.

Dumbbell shoulder presses - 6x55, 6x60, 6x60. These felt great! I'm fairly sure I could do 65's without any trouble. The best part about these tonight was the looks I got from a few other guys when I lugged those 60's up on my shoulders.

Side lateral raises - 6x25, 6x25, 5x25. Again I think I can do more weight on these but the last time I tried 30's my form suffered pretty bad.

Rear lateral raises - 6x20, 6x20, 6x20. Same story.

I left the gym feeling a great shoulder pump, far better than when I use the Smith machine.

Side lateral raises - 6x25, 6x25, 5x25. Again I think I can do more weight on these but the last time I tried 30's my form suffered pretty bad.

Yeah, sometimes that 5 lb jump with DBs can really mess you up. I usually end up adding some reps when I am between weights like that. And then when I can get 3 sets of 8 at the lower weight, I go for the higher weight. So far it's been working for me.

Heeeey, great idea! It's funny when simple ideas go beyond me. *smack*

Just a quick note in the morning, my legs are killing me. It's the second morning since my leg workout, ugh. I hope they're back in top form for Saturday's group exercise.

Keep up the work mhartman!

Can be a tough decision when to train for size and cuts in the season.

I've gone into winter lean and ended up having to bulk up because I was always getting cold! haha

Matt

Whoa, that's the perfect excuse to feed to my wife :). Actually she's always cold since she lost a lot of weight. Her fat is down by a large amount (80 lbs over a year) and her resting heart rate is insanely slow from all of the cardio she does (44 beats, we've been to a doctor in case it was a problem but it's fine) so she freezes..

Thursday, July 29th, 2004
Food for the day.

I was scanning some other journals and noticed people posting their food for the day. What the heck, I'll do that too.

07:00
Oatmeal (1 cup oatmeal, 2 tbsp. dried currants, 1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese, 1 cup water) [246 cal, 21g prot, 3.3g fat, 31.7g carbs]
GNC Mega Men multi-vitamin

09:30
2 spicy veggie hotdogs [148 cal, 26g prot, 2.2g fat, 5.4g carbs]

12:15
Tuna salad (1 can light tuna, 3 tbsp low-fat mayo) [189 cals, 28g prot, 2g fat, 14.4g carbs]
Liver 'n Onions (just approximating from NutritionData.com, it was on the cafe menu) [191 cal, 29g prot, 5g fat, 5g carbs]

15:00
1 spicy veggie hotdog (tossed the 2nd, it got cold) [74 cal, 13g prot, 1.1g fat, 2.7g carbs]

17:35
1% cottage cheese (1/2 cup) [99 cal, 15g prot, 1.3g fat, 6.7g carbs]
Trutaste skim milk (2 cup) [182 cal, 17.6g prot, 1g fat, 26g carbs]

20:15 (approximately, this has yet to happen)
Protein cooler (1.5 scoop's, it's the wife's until my whey arrives, it's a whey isolate) [129 cal, 30g prot, 0.2g fat, 2.4g carbs]
No idea what's for supper tonight. If I can't edit this post later on I'll add another.

I had 3 coffees during the day (black with some sweetener) and 1.5L of water.

Totals : 1258 cal, 179.6g prot, 16.1g fat, 94.3g carbs

Jeez.. Looking at what I ate, I really need to increase my calories and my carbs big time. I should be eating around 2100 calories for my maintenance level, 2600 for bulking. I really doubt my supper will be 1500 calories and it should be distributed throughout the day, not in one lump sum. Looks like I need to figure out more foods to eat. In my defense, I'm all out of oatmeal today. Otherwise I'd have ate it for lunch and before the workout. Even so that'd only be another 100 or 150 calories difference. BOOOOOO Matt.

Edit: Supper was a shark steak (first time trying that, salmon's better) and a big yam sliced and fried in a pan (yam fries!). Afterwards I had a smoothy made from blackberries, strawberries, plain yogurt, and ice. The shark was 280 grams. Going from Nutrition Data that's 364 calories, 58.8g protein, 14g fat, no carbs. The yam's even more of a guess at around 300 calories. I've no idea about the smoothy.

Thursday, July 29, 2004
Evening workout.

I felt good going to the workout but it was a slight disappointment.

Back

Warmed up with 8 pull-ups using a 20 lbs counter-balance.

Pull-ups - 8, 7, 7.

Bent-over barbell rows - 6x140, 6x140, 6x130. This was the disappointment for the night. I've been doing 140 for a while now but it just didn't feel right tonight.

Laying back extensions - 6x45, 6x50, 6x50. These felt easy even with the increased weight. I'll try 55 or 60 next week.

Triceps

Warmed up with some dips. They felt so good that I might try incoporating them with a weighted belt in the future.

Close-grip decline bench press - 6x205, 6x205, 6x205. Oh yes, I love these.

Overhead rope extension - 6x110, 6x120, 6x120. These are good but not the best I've felt. These are the ones I might try weighted dips for.

So that was back / tricep night. The only exercises I really enjoy these nights are the pull-ups and close-grip decline bench presses. Onwards and upwards!

Friday, July 29th, 2004.
Food for the day.

Well I had a great fun day today but that meant tossing the food out and cheating. Around 10:30 the boss came into the room and suggested we have lunch at the patio of an Irish pub with another co-worker. To top that off I had supper at East Side Mario's with the wife and mother-in-law for the MIL's birthday. Here goes..

07:00
Oatmeal (1 cup oatmeal, 2 tbsp. dried currants, 1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese, 1 cup water) [246 cal, 21g prot, 3.3g fat, 31.7g carbs]
GNC Mega Men multi-vitamin

09:30
2 spicy veggie hotdogs [148 cal, 26g prot, 2.2g fat, 5.4g carbs]
Nature Valley banana nut granola bar package

12:00 (the pub!)
2 pints of Strongbow dry cider (mmmmmmm..)
Turkey wrap
Salad

14:30
2 spicy veggie hotdogs [148 cal, 26g prot, 2.2g fat, 5.4g carbs]
Nature Valley banana nut granola bar package

17:30
Linguine chicken amatriciana at East Side Mario's
Caesar salad
1/2 bread loaf

18:00
Cigar! My co-worker had a baby recently.

So here I sit feeling pretty mellow from the cigar. I can't remember the last time I had one but that was damn nice. Onwards and upwards!

Saturday, July 31st, 2004
Food for the day.

07:30
Oatmeal (1 cup oatmeal, 2 tbsp. dried currants, 1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese, 1 cup water) [246 cal, 21g prot, 3.3g fat, 31.7g carbs]
GNC Mega Men multi-vitamin

11:00
Cheese bun
Cheese curds
... something else, memory fails me

12:30 - 15:30
3 beers
Blueberry muffin
Hotdog

17:30
Big ass sandwich (swiss cheese, salami, roast beef, low-fat mayo, cheese bun)
Yam sliced up and fried in soybean oil

Probably some more later on tonight, maybe another bowl of oatmeal or something.

Saturday, July 31st, 2004
Morning workout.

Saturday's bootcamp and some light ab work. My wife had to leave bootcamp during the warm-ups, her left calf was really sore. Being the good girl she is, she ended up burning 600 calories on the elliptical instead.

09:15
Crunches, leg raises, right/left side bridges, front side bridge. I didn't really count, I just did each until I felt warmed up for bootcamp. There's ab work within it anyway.

09:30
Bootcamp! This is a great group exercise session, instructor led. There's jogging, sprinting, knee raises in ladders, out-steps in ladders, shoulder presses, barbell curls, skullcrushers, skipping, zig-zags, squats, crunches, and more. The class is split into two groups and each group does one exercise for a minute and then switches with the other group for their exercise. Each exercise is done a minimum of 3 times. Kicks my ass every time and I love it.