Learning

Week two going good so far. The learning process never ends, nor should it. Read a great blog post at Chaos & Pain. The author was, basically, reminding us to not over-think things and move forward, learning as we go along. Excellent advice! I admit, I can have a tendency to over-think, but I've learned to not get bogged down in details, and to accept early failures, and to learn from them. A friend once said to me, while giving me pointers on deadlift form, that ultimately the goal is to just pick the weight up. This is definitely true, even if your form is horrendous, your body will only do what it can, and if you go beyond that, carelessly, then injury will - should - teach you. Sometimes learning is painful.

Still having some difficulty getting to sleep, but seems to be getting better. I'm thinking it may be a combination of things: some jet-lag from leave, the conditions here, and adjusting to a new routine and diet. My weight is reducing slightly and slowly, and feels right. When I first got here, I was around 270 and within a month dropped to 235, but I lost some muscle in the process. I would rather take the time to lose fat while maintaining, and possibly building some muscle, not losing it. So I don't want my weight to come down too much. I'm guessing at 5'11", with a wide frame, at my goals I will weigh anywhere from 200 to 220. Of course, the impatience in me wants to be ripped and big NOW! but I know the changes will come, and not overnight. They will require hard work and dedication on my part.

Tonight my big lifts are squat and bench press. As you already know, I added volume to my workouts, going with a 5x5 scheme for work sets, which requires a little readjustment of my working poundages. Based on last workout and tonight's, I will reset my poundages and drive forward. So far it's looking like my work weights, at the moment, are 115 press, 335 deadlift, 205 squat, 155 bench. The last two are projected, and I will know for sure after tonight's lifts.

The diet feels pretty good so far, and the supplement's seems to be helping, but some of that may just be in my head. One thing I am going to change is having a protein supplement as my last meal of the day, instead of nuts. This is part in due to having to shift my workout lifting time to 1:30 am, just after my work shift. This may actually work to my advantage, as I will be in more of a ketogenic state throughout the day. I did just order some casein, and I am considering where to add that in my diet. I feel the extra protein will be helpful.

New workout time: 01:30 - 03:30

New eating schedule:

12:00
wake, coffee + L-carnitine

16:30
chow
high protein
high fat
no carb
HMB
fish oil

19:30
whole nuts or peanut butter

23:30
chow
high protein
moderate fat
low carb
HMB
fish oil

01:30-03:30
workout

04:00
post-workout shake (whey + casein) w/sugar, lifting days
oats 'n' whey shake, non-lifting days
creatine
L-leucine
L-glutamine
HMB
fish oil
ZMA
alpha lipoic acid
glucosamine
multi-vitamin/mineral

05:00
sleep