Today’s workout went well. Continuing to improve, be it getting stricter and fixing form, or more weight, more reps, whatever. Feeling good.

I have noticed my weight going up. They would call this a “bulking phase”. I’m not opposed to that, it is part of what I’m wanting, but on the same token my clothing isn’t taking kindly to it. Had to wear a suit yesterday and it fit just a bit different. 🙂  It’s all good overall tho.

I did overhear a conversation at the gym. Trainer talking with a female client about goals. He was upping the weight on her, she was a little afraid of it, lots of joking about getting big and huge (tho that won’t happen). Was her goal to have big numbers? No, to have her clothing fit well. It was interesting to me because I too have that same goal, just working in a different way. 🙂

It may be Cinco de Mayo, but there are no 12oz curls in today’s workout. 🙂

Today was MUCH better than Monday’s workout. Mentally I was there. Physically I pushed harder too. My shipment came, so yesterday I started loading creatine. No idea if that actually played into today’s performance. I will probably continue to load for just another 2-3 days and then go on a general maintenance amount of 2-5 grams (not sure yet). It seems the modern wisdom is you don’t need to load any more, nor cycle. Just keep on a daily “maintenance” dose and always take it every day.

Anyways, the workout went well. Felt good. But I certainly am feeling like I’m not getting enough per bodypart any more. I do want to switch to a split and have more work per part. However, I’m going to stick with this at least for 2 more weeks. It’s generally recommended to stay with a routine at least 8 weeks to see how it does. I may switch off at 6, but I may not… but won’t consider it before then. It’ll play into the discipline factor, and THAT mental game is important.

As for supplements.

• Multivitamin. Right now just finishing out the jug of the “basic” multi from Costco. It’s good enough for now, better than nothing, and I’m not going to waste it.
• Fish oil. I forget what the capsule amount is, but one of those a day.
• Optimum Nutrition’s 100% whey gold standard. I like it because it’s one of the best whey’s out there, and well… it’s got digestive enzymes, which really help on the uh… “intolerance” factor. 🙂  I try to have at least one shake a day, maybe two, depending how my overall protein intake is for that day. Certainly have one after a workout.
• Optimum Nutrition’s Creatine powder. Pure creatine, (CreaPure). Doing a small load right now just to get me going, but I’ll eventually just revert to a standard 2-5g dose per day every day. Take it in the morning on non-workout days (whenever my shake is), take it after workout on workout days (in the post-workout shake).
• A lot of water. I’ve got a 16oz glass. I wake up, drink one of those. As soon as I have to pee, I’ll drink another full glass. Repeat this throughout the day. Keeps me rather well hydrated. I’ll have at least a gallon of water a day.

And that’s it. Nothing special, really. There’s all sorts of fancy shit on the market, but I don’t need to worry about that until a lot later. The male ego can’t help but be curious if it’s truly of any use and could get faster gains, but later. Right now my body should make great gains just because I’m new and fresh.

The bigger thing is diet, and that’s hard for me. The main thing? I’m not in control of the menu and the kitchen. Wife’s domain, and I don’t have time nor ability to short-order cook everything. Thankfully, Wife’s a fantastic cook, making not just great tasting stuff but also very conscious about what we’re putting into our bodies. Just that the needs of me, Wife, and 3 Kiddos doesn’t always align with my needs, thus some flux in the supplementation. For instance, last night Wife made this tomato pie (think a savory pie, like a quiche). Tasted fantastic, but not much for protein, so I threw back a scoop of whey in 8oz of water to help make up for it. But I can still do my best to watch my portions and exactly what I choose to put in my mouth.

Anyways, onwards. Enjoying the work. Enjoying the progress.

Not feeling it today.

For all the great progress and improvements I’ve made every workout well… eventually you have to stumble. Today was that day. 🙂

I don’t know what it was, but I have a few guesses. When I started my jog to the gym, another person was out jogging. I thought to myself that I’d like to see if I can keep up with them or even pass them. It was evident I wasn’t going to pass, but 1. that did push me harder, 2. at least I tried to keep pace. That confirms what I knew, that my jogs decline as I go along… slow down, stride decreases, etc.. By the time I got to the gym I felt I had worked harder than usual. I start into my lifts, squats, bent-over bb rows, bb flat bench press, and I found myself still breathing hard and also pushing every rep a lot harder, a lot faster, a lot more explosive.

I think I wore myself out.

When I did barbell curls and rope triceps pushdowns, I was pretty zonked and opted to just superset them. I was just starting to feel drained, and even felt like I could go home and nap for a few hours.

I know I lost the mental game. My brain never was into the workout (I recall not wanting to go, but no… you must push yourself through), and it just got worse.

I still pushed hard. I still worked towards muscular failure. I did go up in weight in some exercises, but stayed the same or dropped reps in other exercises. But pushing harder during the set well… you tell me how it all went. It’s not just about numbers, it’s about overall impact.

I still think it was a good physical workout, just not a very good mental one. Not going to worry about it too much.

I have been thinking about how to change the routine, but I’m not ready yet. I’ll stick on this at least 2-4 more weeks before I switch. When I do switch, I’m thinking about doing a 2-day split, 2x week (e.g. Mon/Tue, Thu/Fri). Probably upper body one day, lower and abs the other. I’m going to keep the same exercises I’m doing now, but then add an isolation exercise. So for instance, bb flat bench press, then cable flies. Not all strictly that way tho, for instance the bent-over bb rows but then lat pull downs… not isolation, but ensuring a more thorough workout for that gross body part. Not totally sure, still thinking it through for what would be best and not lead to overtraining.