What surprises me about this Renaissance Periodization diet is that I’m losing weight but not strength — at least, not yet. It’s not major increases in my strength, but I’m going up a rep or two, feeling generally stronger and better each gym session. That’s not always the case on fat-loss diets. It may be just a timing factor — in 3 months it may not be the case. But for now, I’ll take it. I don’t expect to get stronger or to build muscle mass while I de-fat myself; at best I hope to just not lose any. But well, so far, so good. I’m happy with how things are going. Official weigh-in yesterday was 255 lbs.

Speaking of the diet, one thing the diet requires of me is on my “off days” to walk 1 hour (or some sort of physical activity for a while… so say all day on my feet teaching at KR Training would suffice). While I hate cardio, I’m dedicated to the de-fatting, so I do it. Thing is, while I’m not enjoying it, I think I’m going to appreciate the side-effects. That is, Jim Wendler and Paul Carter go on about how you should do SOME sort of conditioning; Prowler pushes, sled drags, tire flips, hill sprints, whatever… or at least, just walk. I can already tell my conditioning is improving in the 2-weeks of 4x week cardio. I hate the work, but I like the results. Besides, I’m finding listening to podcasts, like ITS Tactical’s Ridiculous Dialogue or Eddie Trunk’s podcast while I elliptical to be nice escapes from the day.

Today felt pretty good. I am feeling more in the groove on things. Can’t complain. Adding more reps, and generally getting stronger. Who can complain?

Oh my shoulder? It’s MUCH better now. Like I said, I have experienced this before and it’s often that something tweaked in my spine and I just need some vertebrae to “pop” and all will be better, but it’s always somewhere I can’t self-manipulate so I just have to wait, massage the muscles in the area, strecth them, etc. to help loosen them up so that things will eventually pop. And sure enough, over the weekend there was a small pop in my upper thoracic or lower cervical area. It was a small pop and I almost didn’t notice it; certainly wasn’t as dramatic a sensation and relief as usually happens. But it was it, and I’m MUCH better now. Still not 100%, but I’m over the hump. I did finally get off my duff and ordered a Thera Cane to help with the massage of that area; have wanted one for years, finally getting one.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Bench Press (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 115 x 5
  • 130 x 4
  • 155 x 3
  • 170 x 2
  • 190 x 1
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 5
• Machine flies
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
• Behind the Neck Press
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
• Hammer Curls
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10