Matter2003 BP Run #3, This time the Full Periodic...

[matter2003]

GLP II Squats today, really easy at only 70%, no issues

Squats: 349 x 6 x 6 x 6 x 6(24 reps/8,376 lbs)

20 Min EDT Block:

Squat/Push/Press(35lb DB): 5Rx17/4Rx1(89 reps/3,115 lbs)
- +5 reps and +175 lbs from last week

DB Swings(60 lb DB): 5Rx18(90 reps/5,400 lbs)
- +5 reps and +300 lbs from last week

EDT Weight: 8,515 lbs
EDT Reps: 179 reps

Increase of 10 reps and 475 lbs from last week...time to go up in weight, as I don't know how many more reps I could realistically do of these in that time frame...those are serious gassers

Total Workout Time: 40 minutes(had to go pee or it would have been 35 minutes)
Total Reps: 203 reps(+14 reps!)
Total Weight: 16,891 lbs(+871 lbs)
Lbs/Minute: 422.28 lbs(-35.43 lbs)
Lbs/Rep: 83.21 lbs(-1.55 lbs)

-felt pretty good, would have crushed everything if not for the 5 minute lag...damn pee getting in the way!!

[matter2003]

Woke up at 7am this morning to go to gym to do farmers walks. Upped them to 40 lb DBs and wow did that hurt...made it about 4 minutes before I had to put them down the first time, then maybe 3 the next 2 times, and then 2 minutes and 1 minute a whole bunch of times. Forearms, front delts and traps especially felt like they were going to spasm. Body was so wrecked after this for about 4 or 5 hours I could barely move.

Finished up my Kre-Anabolyn yesterday, and now am taking Kre-Alkalyn for my creatine needs...can't wait another few months for Synthagen....

Tomorrow is a rest day with Cleans on Sunday....

[matter2003]

I have been dealing with some issues in my neck/upper back that is likely going to lead me to a chiropractor to get resolved...it is uncomfortable for me to lay down to sleep and turning on my side ends up bothering it as well...

Also had a slightly scary experience as I turned my neck, heard a pop and then my left arm went numb for a minute or so before gradually getting the feeling back...

Thinking the cleans might have something to do with these as this is around the time I started experiencing this...going to lay off those for a while and start doing Bench/Close Grip and Shoulder statics on Sundays and my EDT Block...

[matter2003]

OK, attempted to do statics on Sunday, and got up 495 lbs on the flat bench in the power rack for about 15 seconds and noticed my left arm started going numb...

Stopped immediately and have only done cardio the past 2 days(God I forgot how much I hate that...). In the meantime, have been dealing with various numbness in my arms that comes and goes, as well as a burning sensation in the middle of my back...I am praying it is just a pinched nerve that needs to be released. Very hard to sleep at night because when I am laying on my back, one arm or the other starts going numb depending on how I am positioned...have tried virtually every angle, pillow, no pillow, etc and nothing is working...

Going to see a chiro tomorrow afternoon, so I am hoping to be reporting good news after my visit...

Weighed in today at 204.8 lbs...

[bigjoe]

Not good. Sounds like it's time to shut down for a while and heal. As much as I love statics I messed up my wrist to the point where I can't press anything right now. I think I'll heal up and come back with a better war strategy for next time. At least I can still do legs and pulls.

Get that nerve fixed and healed first. Not something to take lightly.

[matter2003]

Well, good news from chiro...no damage at all to the discs, just some stuff out of place and a pinched nerve. Also fixed an issue I have been dealing with for a long time where my pelvis is actually tilted causing my left leg to be about an inch shorter than my right leg by repositioning it. It never bothered me, but I knew about it because about 12-13 years ago I went to see a chiro and he told me the same thing and had me do the 2 scales and showed me how the majority of my weight was on my left side...

Anyways, I had 2 vertebrae out of place in the mid back area, he had me breathe really deep in an out and then pressed hard and twisted and I heard "POP!" and a little tingliness for a couple of seconds...then he was checking my neck out and started stretching my neck upwards, turned my head to one side and quickly turned it back the other way..."CRAAACK!!!!" Then he did the same thing to the other side..."CRAACK!!!"

OMG that felt so freaking good after he was done...almost as good as having sex...hahahaha(I said ALMOST....) He said my C4 and C5(or C5 and C6 can't remember) vertebrae were out of alignment quite a bit...gotta go back next week to make sure everything is still in place and to do any further adjustments, but I feel sooo much better already...no tingling or burning while laying down...neck doesn't bother me at all...

He said to stay away from anything really heavy but I can use some machines to workout...taking a short breather from my normal GLP II routine, should be back at it next Wednesday after I see him tho...

I would recommend going to see a chiro to anyone...it felt really really good and definitely helped a lot...

[matter2003]

Went to the gym today feeling like a million bucks, tried not to overdo it, but I got a little aggressive on the Hammer Strength Incline Chest Press and set a PR at 315 lbs...so much for not lifting heavy...hahaha

I also did some Tricep Pushdowns, Bicep Curls and Trap Shrugs...nothing too heavy, but enough to feel kinda wore down...then cranked out about 15 minutes of fairly high paced cardio, although it was SS...


No issues at all during workout...feeling really good and no issues while laying down either, so it looks like I will be having a good night sleep as well....

[matter2003]

Still feeling good, did some squats/leg extensions and Hamstring Curls yesterday...

Got up to 485 on the squats with no ill effects...wanted to push for 500 so bad, but decided that was enough...

Leg Extensions got up to 280 lbs, one pin from the bottom of the stack...stopped doing these for a while because they started making my knees very sore for a few days afterwards, but no issues from it today...

Hamstring Curls got up to 130 on the reverse curls where you are sitting up and you push down with your legs...

woke up this morning and did 40 lb DB farmers walks for 30 minutes...got up to 6 minutes on my initial walk before having to put the DBs down for the first time...

feeling pretty good, Sunday going to do some static work and an EDT Block...

[matter2003]

Now I am dealing with something very annoying and it is even more annoying how it happened. I had to help out on a pickup at a customers house, which is pretty rare that I get to leave the store since I am the sales manager. hey had a bedroom and mattress and we had the cargo van, so it was a challenge to get everything to fit properly and we had to re-arrange things several times. One time we had to pull the mattress out and it got stuck, so as I went to get it unstuck, my partner kept tugging at it, brought it loose and the mattress came down on my head, pulling my neck back with it, but my body had nowhere to go because I was up against the dresser. Felt weird, but didn't hurt at the time...this was Thursday...fast forward to Friday morning and my neck is killing me...not the vertebrae where it was adjusted at the chiropractor, but the neck muscle itself and my upper trap area...I now have a neck strain which is extremely bothersome, although I managed to still do some lifts with it...been putting vicks vapor rub, and heating pad on it while taking some Ibuprofen...this seems like it is gonna be one of those things that takes a week or two to heal, so I am kinda pissed about the whole incident especially since it was such a fluke occurrence...

Anyways, Friday morning I woke up early and did 30 minutes of Farmers Walks with 40 lb DBs...personal best of 6 minute at this weight before having to set them down for the first time...after that is downhill pretty quick tho, as after a few more times of 2 or 3 minutes, I was having to set them down every minute or minute and a half or so...forearms, arms, and traps felt like jello for about 5 hours after this...

Saturday I woke up super early and did 30 minutes of cardio in the morning at 7am...hate that I cant do my EDT Blocks right now...and I hate cardio even more...

Woke up today at 206.8 lbs

Today I decided to try static holds again even with the neck bothering me, and it didn't seem to have much effect on it...no issues with arm going numb or anything, so I wasn't overly concerned with it...
These were done in the power rack...

Static Bench Press: 495 x 15 secs/545 x 8 secs

Static Close Grip Bench: 495 x 15+ secs/525 x 6 secs <---PR!!!!

I freaking set a PR in my close grip holds twice actually...I could have literally held 495 lbs all day it seemed, which broke my record of 485 lbs a few months ago, then I got 525 lbs up for 6 seconds....likely could have gone to 545, but I was starting to get a little worn down...not bad for having a neck strain!

Then hammered another 30 minutes of interval cardio...noticing that my conditioning is getting really good as I am not even breathing heavy at all, even when my heart rate is up in the 150s...still able to breathe through my mouth...attribute EDT Blocks to that entirely...

Hoping neck issue goes away sooner rather than later, but it appears to be a pretty good strain...going to have to carefully plan my workouts to avoid any worsening of this...

[matter2003]

Well, I can say that doing those static holds was definitely NOT a good idea for my neck. A few hours after getting home, my neck started tightening up so bad and I was in so much pain I almost wanted to cry. Couldn't look up, down, turn my head, and it hurt looking straight ahead. I have no idea how people with chronic neck problems deal with this on a daily basis...

Filed a Workers Comp claim Monday morning and went to be seen...they took 6 x-rays and told me the chiropractor did a great job because my spine is perfectly aligned and all the vertebrae look good...said its a cervical strain and that I cannot lift til at least next Wednesday when I go back to see them. Told me to take Ibuprofen every 6 hours and also gave me Flexeril, which is a muscle relaxer to help me sleep at night since it was so painful to lay down Sunday night I almost wanted to stay up and walk around...got it filled since it was free, but by Monday night it was feeling much better and didn't even need to take it...not a big drug person, so if at all possible I stay away from them...especially new ones where I have no idea of the side effects(or even the regular effects)

Decided I will do double cardio in the meantime...30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at night to work on burning through some fat...if it works good enough I may keep the morning cardio even when I go back to lifting...

Today was my first day of that, feeling pretty good...neck is feeling much better, although it is still stiff and sore, especially notice it when I am driving and have to turn and look at an intersection to see if a car is coming...not comfortable at all...

[matter2003]

Weighed in at 204 lbs today.

Double cardio sessions continued today, sweating like a hog for 30 minutes twice a day. Neck still feeling tight and sore, really not much of a change over the past few days. The worst is when I have to look both ways at a stop sign or intersection because I have to turn my head and can't turn my whole body, which is how I have been doing it, to the great amusement of my coworkers who laugh every time they see me do it.

My female boss actually made a comment today that I was looking "Extra Diesel" today in my shirt and what the heck had I been doing(not in a hitting on me type of way, she is hilarious tho with the stuff she says). Kinda funny since I haven't even been lifting...its actually pretty funny cause the people at work never call me by my name, they always call me one of 3 nicknames: Big Diesel, Big Turk or Deibold...

Had to stop pumping my arms while on the elliptical machine and utilize the "cheat" method of holding onto the bars, since I believe this was having a negative effect on my healing process.

Single cardio tomorrow and Saturday, then back to double cardio Sunday again. If I can't lift, then I am gonna burn fat in the meantime for 10 days...

I really hate the fact that I can't lift. I also really hate doing cardio. Just trying to turn a freak occurrence of a situation from lemons into lemonade. Not much else I can do at this point with it, no use crying about it, its not going to do any good or change anything.

[matter2003]

Cardio went well this morning, no cardio at night because gym was closed by the time I got off work, although my wife helped me out in that endeavor

Also had a very pretty black girl come into our store today with a friend and as I asked them if we could help them with anything she just blurted out "Oh my God, you are a really handsome Caucasian man!" then her friend pointed out that I had a ring on and was married and she got embarrassed and said "Oh I am so sorry! You are just sooo cute!"
Why me?

Since I basically screwed my GLP II workout plan with this unintended break, I am going to embark on a fat loss mission. I am currently at 204 lbs with 14.1% Bodyfat as of today. I am going to be following a John Romaniello plan for 12 weeks, which if everything goes as planned, should have my bodyfat down to around 8% in time for the summer and then will be restarting The Periodic to pack on more muscle.

My reasoning is this: I have no issues gaining muscle. In fact, I would almost say that gaining muscle is easier for me than losing fat. I want to be shredded for the summer, or at least have my abs showing enough that I can proudly take my shirt off. So at this point, with a little under 4 months before temps get really warm enough to do that, its time to implement my plan.

I am going to be following a 10 day cycle, which is actually pretty brutal both diet and workout wise.

Diet is as follows:

Sunday: Full Cheat Day to reset leptin levels. Last food intake at 9pm.
Monday: Full Fast Day--water/tea/coffee only
Tuesday: IF 16/8 Fast Day with meals at 1pm/4pm/9pm
Wednesday: Full Fast Day--water/tea/coffee only
Thursday: IF 16/8 Fast Day with meals at 1pm/4pm/9pm
Friday: Warrior Diet---fruit/protein shake in AM then 12 hour fast, then large meal at night.
Saturday: Full Cheat Day to reset leptin levels. Last Food intake 9pm
Sunday: Full Fast Day---water/tea/coffee only
Monday: IF 16/8 Fast Day with meals at 1pm/4pm/9pm

-in this timeframe there are 3 times where nothing is eaten for 36 hours, from 9pm one night to 1pm a day and a half later.

-training is initiated in a fasted state with 10g BCAA's being intaken beforehand

Workout Schedule:

Sunday: Density Workout 1(EDT Blocks)
Monday: GH Surge Workout 1(lift slow, lower fast to produce lactic acid which produces a corresponding increase in GH)
Tuesday: 5-4-3 Dynamic Workout 1(fast paced circuit training with 3 circuits)
Wednesday: Cardio Only
Thursday: Complex Workout 1(Series of 5 exercises all done in a row without putting DBs down)
Friday: Cardio Only
Saturday: Density Workout 2(EDT Blocks)
Sunday: GH Surge Workout 2(lactic acid producing workout to increase GH)
Monday: Cardio Only

-John claims clients have torched 13+ pounds of pure bodyfat in 10 days following this plan(basically keeping insulin levels very low, GH levels very high and calorie intake restricted strategically)

-caloric intake will be 2550 calories broken down as follows:
263g protein/88g carbs/128g fat

ALL meals will either be protein+Carb or Protein+Fat NEVER Carb+Fat
(some Vince Gironda modalities here...damn that dude was ahead of his time in so many ways)

-Guess I am going to need to find a way to enjoy morning workouts, because 4 of the days are going to be morning weight lifting sessions...argghhh.

[matter2003]

Hit a milestone this morning!! For the first time in 10+ years, the scale's first number was a "1"!!!! Weighed in this morning at 199.8 lbs!!

Neck feels fine, but the issue is a deep trap strain that happened at the same time which is still bothering me. I attempted to do a few pushups to test it out, and while it didn't hurt really bad or anything, it sure didn't feel good, and it also feels weak in that area. Planning to continue cardio today and start doing some light rehab/physical therapy type work to try and coax this thing along. Obviously I am going to have to push back my 10 day plan outlined above back til next week at least, as I cannot do the workouts needed to get optimal results.

[matter2003]

Been doing some cardio and actually tested the waters doing a lot of different exercises tonight---dips, tri pressdowns, close grip bench, chest presses, bicep curls, DB curls, seated rows, lat pulldowns, etc...

Will know more tomorrow about how I feel, but it seemed to go pretty good, although I was using half as much weight as normal for the most part.

Have 2 appointments tomorrow...one to get cleared for full duty at work with the workers comp doctor, and the other with my chiro for the follow up visit.

Hoping to be getting it in tomorrow night at the gym and getting ready for Sunday and the start of my 12 weeks...