Training Diary-Phase 1- Wk4.

I'm writing this at 12:40am on Thursday night/Friday morning. My training this week has been, well, non existent. Due to the public holiday on Monday (and the resulting concert: Soundwave, which was awesome by the way!), then having the day off Tuesday to sleep it off (re: not hungover, didn't drink at all, just uber tired and somewhat sun burnt), my first day of training this week was Wednesday night, in which I did day 3's workout. It was a pretty weak workout, I felt flat, and tired, mostly matched personal bests (went a little under on some exercises). Could be the break in the routine, could have been the sun from Monday, could be the diet.  Thursday, I didn't train, as I didn't work (didn't want to do the hour and a half drive) so now I have only tomorrow morning before work (as I have to take my car in to the garage after work), which will largely depend on how tired I feel in the next 2-3 hours, at the moment I'm hopeful I'll go in (note: I didn't go in). Maybe I could make it in over the weekend as well, maybe if I got to shmoopy's house on Saturday night, I could stop in an do a workout, hmmmm... That'll mean I only miss one workout, which is.. acceptable, as an anomaly (note: I didn't go in over the weekend). I started on day 3's workout as I anticipated only getting in for 2 sessions this week, if I go in on Saturday, I'll do day 1's workout. I have phase 2 next week of this superset program, which I expect will be hard, at first, as most programs are.

Oh one thing that I've forgotten to include which I am a total hypocrite on, is the warm up, I basically don't do one. Not a meaningful one anyway, I walk from my car, which is about 10 minutes away, is this a warm up? No.  Is it better than nothing? Mmm not by much. I haven't done it simply because I'm lazy, that's it, and I pay the price, with poor movement and tightness. I don't recommend it, and if you're one of my clients, you know how much of a hypocrite I am, by not doing a good, or even moderate warm up, it's something I intend to fix! When I start my new program I will attempt to warm up.


Program

Rob Build Up
Phase 1
Superset
Day 1
Upper Body	S	R	Wk3
BB Bench/ BB BO Row	3	12
DB Inc Bench/ Suppt T-bar	3	12
BB Military Press/ Pullup	3	12
Skullcrusher/ BB Curl	3	12
Dip/ DB Alt Curl	3	12
Day 2
Lower Body/Abs	S	R	Wk3
Hex Bar Deadlift	3	12
DB Split Squat/SLDL	3	12
DB Step Up/ Lateral Lunge	3	12
Rollout/ Dynamic Plank	3	12
Day 3	S	R	Wk3
Upper Body
BB Decline/ DB BO Row	3	12	70kg/30kg, 90kg/32.5kg, 100kg/35kg
DB Bench/ CG Seated Row	3	12	30kg/90kg, 30kg/90kg, 30kg/95kg
DB Military Press/ Chinup	3	12	20kg/BWx8, 20kg/BWx7, 22.5kg/BWx8
CG Bench/ Preacher Curl	3	12
Rope Pulldown/ DB Curl	3	12
Day 4	S	R	Wk3
Lower Body
BB Back Squat	3	12
DB Walking Lnge/ Good Mrng	3	12
Hack Squat/ Lying Leg Curl	3	12
Bodysaw/ Hanging Leg Raise	3	12

Diet wise things have been ok, I haven't had any meat in almost 2 weeks, I went to dinner twice (Maya Masala- Indian, Lido- Vietnamese Restaurant) last weekend, and had a vegetarian thali at Maya, and Tofu at Lido, both were excellent, even if I did miss the meat meals and looked enviously at everyone eating them (fortunately both meals I ate with other vegetarians with the exception of Claire at Lido, a former vegetarian herself). I thought energy levels were levelling out, I felt less reactionary, less angry, and much more reasonable, until I realised people are telling me how grumpy I've been and I succumbed to road rage the other day, which I never do (not exactly scientific conclusions I'm coming to here I know). I've been pretty tempted to rationalise a meat meal here and there (convenience and laziness mostly), but have resisted. I've bought some tofu this week, which I'm going to cook up into a korma curry and store in the fridge like I used to do with my chicken and beef, to be eaten over the week (post workout meals mostly). If anyone knows how long I can store cooked tofu I'd really appreciate some info.

Well, as of writing that on Thursday night, it is now Sunday afternoon, and 2 things have happened, (1) I had meat on Friday night (Maya Masala) and I've gotta tell ya, it was delicious and made me feel great! (2) As some of you know, there has been a debate on my Facebook page (my name is Rob El, add me if you haven't), regarding tofu/psuedoscience. It's based on questions like "is tofu safe", if it is "who's saying it is" and "are they reliable" some say yes, some say no. I want to do a blog on tofu because it's a great source of protein for vegetarians. And there is some controversy as to its safety.

Having said that, and as I originally claimed, I was going to take a more semivegetarian stance, but I've dived right into a vegtarian lifestyle, and it's been killing me, it's killing my relationships and it's killing my ability to think (which I admit could be my fault by going from 0-60 in 2 seconds or not getting enough from my diet). So I may perhaps try to include 1 meat meal a day, or every 2 days (or whenever I feel like I need it). Coincidentally a friend of mine, Wolf (awesome name right?) sent me a blog post, from his blog on beef/meat, and he contacted me (via Facebook) to send me some information about meat in regards to my blog on the nutritional benefits of a vegetarian diet:

" ...the nutritional argument for vegetarianism doesnt hold up to the available evidence and that while it *can* be better than the typical western diet, it is not (imo) the optimal diet for health. Meat contains a lot more nutrients than protein/iron/b12 and by cutting it out completely you are depriving yourself of one super nutrient dense food group. I posted this on my blog a while back which I think demonstrates that while there are concerns about red meat, you can have your cake and eat it too, if you take some steps in preparing it first."

Here is a link to his blog, for those who are interested: http://myopinionofthings.blogspot.com/2010/05/beef-is-not-four-letter-word.html

It's important to look at what he's saying simply in the context of nutrition, he's simply stating meat has benefits, and that my argument doesn't hold a lot of water (overall). Check it out guys, some great work there.

Breakfast: 1/2 cup of oats with 1 scoop protein powder, hilo milk, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. 700mL of water.

Meal after morning shift:  Smoothy- 1 cup of berries, 1 cup of mixed veggies, 1 banana, 1 pear, 1/2 cup of walnuts, a touch of cinnamon, 750mL of water, 1 cup of yogurt, 150g cottage cheese, 3 broccoli stems, handful of cherry tomatoes, lentils, chick peas (or various other types of beans/lentils). I also forgot to note, this makes 2 shakes that I have over the course of the day, or I have the next day.

Meal before training and afternoon shift: 1 can of salt reduced baked beans, 1 glass of Hilo milk. 500mL water.

Post workout shake: x2  up n go "energize"'s, 30g of protein powder. 500mL water during training.

Dinner: Various egg options, I have a kg of chicken to cook up too, I'll make a korma curry with that (I still haven't cooked it up, but will this week). I have the chicken still from the 1st week and I have tofu, but as you will see on Facebook, I may not eat it.

Supplements. 3-4 fish oil tabs with my morning smoothy, and I've started taking a multivitamin tablet once-twice a day.

Had nachos 4 times this week, I'm a fatty :(

Next week I'm into the new program, so it's "balls to the wall" again!! Stay tuned.

Here are some progress shots that I took on Friday the 11th at like 3 in the morning after I got home from my girls house (was the back story necessary Rob?)

I'm not sure what I weigh, but last check was 94kgs @ 17% Bodyfat.