Saturday, December 30, 2017

Last 2017 Workout Check In

Welcome! If you have not visited before there is an "about" section at the bottom of this post. 

Today was the last workout of the year. It was tough yet felt good to get through it. Restarting the blog has been interesting. There are definitely more people reading it than before. Doing well in dealing with diabetes has been good. I've become much stronger than I expected for the first year back into it. I think using the Daily Undulating Programming (DUP) over the summer helped. Now using some stuff adapted from 5-3-1 had helped as well in going on after doing DUP. Sets of 5 seem easier to recover from though they were done before I knew my 1 rep max for my main lifts. I may do proper 5-3-1 program after this current routine. 

Challenges in life are still challenges yet I'm a little more confident on some of those and know that some will be there long after I'm gone. Hopefully next year will continue with the positive motion in life. OK, on to the blog. 

So Monday and Wednesday I did High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) with the exercise bike set to 21 for the sprints. I didn't do any cardio on Friday. 

I lifted Tuesday, Thursday, and today (Saturday). I was tempted in skipping today and figured that might not be a good way to end the year. This week I weighed in between 155-159lbs. A bit higher than most of the year and not high enough to worry about. 

Here's what I lifted this week:

Tuesday
Deadlifts 180lbs for four sets of 10.
Squats 145lbs for four sets of 10.
Incline Bench 110lbs for three sets of 10 and one set of 8.


Assisted pull-ups with 40lb assist for three sets of 12 and one set of 9.

Overhead press with 30lb dumbbells for three sets of 12 and one set of 9.
Barbell Curls with 25lb dumbbells for three sets of 6 and one set of 5.



Thursday
Deadlifts 180lbs for three sets of 10 and one set of 11.
Squats 150lbs for three sets of 10 and one set of 11.
Incline Bench 110lbs for three sets of 10 and one set of 8.


Body weight Pull-ups three sets of 3. The first time trying body weight pull-ups in a long time!

Overhead press with 30lb dumbbells for three sets of 12.
Barbell Curls with 25lb dumbbells for three sets of 6.


I realized that I didn't need to do 4 sets of the accessory lifts so only the first three lifts get 4 sets for the next 6 weeks. I'll see how I do after that. 


Saturday (today)
Deadlifts 180lbs for three sets of 10 and one set of 12.
Squats 150lbs for three sets of 10 and one set of 12.
Incline Bench 110lbs for three sets of 10 and one set of 9.

Body weight Pull-ups two sets of 3 and one set of 4.
Overhead press with 30lb dumbbells for three sets of 12.
Barbell Curls with 25lb dumbbells for two sets of 6 and one set of 7.


I'll keep at it next year. Next week is deload week (a week with low weight in order to recuperate). I will keep the bike at 1 resistance for the HIIT sprints and here's what I plan to lift. 


Deadlifts 145lbs 
Squats 120lbs 
Incline Bench 95lbs 

Body weight Pull-ups  
Overhead press with 20lb dumbbells 
Barbell Curls with 15lb dumbbells 




KEEP GRINDING!

ABOUT THE BLOG: This blog started years ago to talk about self-care and weightlifting. It stopped for a few years. It was been restarted when I was told that I was diabetic. I had an A1C of 9.3. A1C is an estimate of your blood sugar level over the last 3 months and 6.5 is pre-diabetic, and usually over 7 is considered diabetic. In March I was re-tested and my A1C was 5.0. That's below pre-diabetic (so, essentially non-diabetic). It was nice to have my doctor say, "you used to be diabetic." I'm still working on improving my insulin sensitivity and not thinking I'm out of the woods yet. My September retest came back with and A1C of 4.9. It is exciting to be working on this and I'm pleased people feel inspired by reading this blog. 

The results were from diet and exercise. Here is a quick summary of how I responded to being diagnosed as diabetic. I'm going to post this review every so often. Mostly when I post the blog to Twitter or Facebook.



My lifting approach was to gain muscle to help with insulin sensitivity so I focused on compound exercises mostly (deadlift, bench, squat, overhead press) with some other things to round out such as pull-ups and bicep curls. I'm currently still doing full body workouts. 

Between now and mid-February I will be trying to gain muscle with 60% of my 1 rep max weight and 4 sets of 8 or more. Then from there until the end of April I will change to sets of 5 or less with higher weight. I may go up to 4 "sprints" at some point. I'm hoping for an A1C between 4.8 and 5.0 on the next test.

I did 1 rep max testing with Lee from the Power Plant and here is what I pulled on 11/22/17
Squat 235
Bench 220
Deadlift 285


Comments:
Like Ahnold vood say: "Dees ard legendary voorkouts!"
 
Ok, ok. I know we are supposed to be motivating and inspiring people to work out, live a healthy lifestyle, etc, etc. But it's time to cut the crap. The gyms are full of wannabe losers this time of year with people occupying machines and basically wasting space. The VAST MAJORITY won't be working out past March so my advice is to stay out of my gym. You have no right to be there. You are just wasting your own time and the time of true workout warriors like Enrique and me. We are the guys who put hours of sweat equity in the gym as part of a dedicated lifestyle change. To all the rest of you losers, we don't need your failed resolution attempts in the gym. I know Enrique the community leader has to be the Mr. Nice Guy, and will never say it. But on behalf of the true hangers and bangers, stay away. We don't want you and we don't need you. I suggest keep eating, watching tv, sitting on the couch and complaining. By April you will be doing it anyway as part of your wasted life. Stay out of MY gym this New Year! It's the home of TRUE ROCK AND ROLL WORK OUT WARRIORS, not wannabes.
 
I think it is good for people to try and start now. It will be crowded. I started several times before it stuck. It is irritating to wait in lines at the gym. Yet if only a few stick with it, that's worth it.

It took me a few years to get started the first time and several years to get back on track. If you want to try, go for it.
 
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