Finished Fat Loss III !!

Yes.  Finally.  I finished the Fat Loss 3 program from New Rules of Lifting.  Wow.  That is one of the toughest programs I've ever done.  Thanks to my foot and the pure torture of this program plus the increased running, it took me over two months to complete 12 workouts.  I guess that isn't all that bad considering 2 straight a week would have been a month and a half.

Today's workout was a wonderful use of my new equipment.  The equipment is perfect in every way.  I also used my new Lynx grips for the first time.  They worked very well.  I'll have to decide when to use them.  I'm thinking mostly on the heavier weights.  After a while my hands get a little tired from having to grip a little harder or something.

The workout took 1:28 plus foam rolling.  It's so nice to have a foam roller handy for right afterward.  I'm pretty thrilled with how my squats are improving.  A little in weight, but a lot in form.  Also, my step-up form is improving... less help from the trailing leg.  I love not sitting for the pulldowns.  It seems closer to an actual chin-up/pull-up.

Now for the stats...

FL3B6

Front squat - 4x10@ 60#

Underhand lat pulldown - 4x10@ 90#

Step-up - 4x10@ 20# each hand, 7 risers (18")

Dumbbell push press - 4x10@ 25# each hand

Squat - 1x20@ 60#, 1x20@ 65# (woo hoo!  went up in weight!  used Eco Ball to keep bar from sliding on bare shoulders)

Wide-grip lat pulldown - 2x20@ 70#

Step-up - 2x20@ 15# each hand, 7 risers

Dumbbell shoulder press - 2x20@ 20# each hand

Swiss-ball crunch - 2x10@ bw (sat ON ball this time, arms overhead... surprised how much harder this is than resting back on ball)

2nd to last FLIII workout!

I'm glad to step away soon from the high reps in Fat Loss 3 from New Rules of Lifting.  I think I'll do Hypertrophy I next.

I went to the basement to do the workout over lunch.  Loved it!  Burned about 750 calories in about an hour and half including warm up.  Not bad.  The softer surface is so nice for the lunges.  I can lower my knee all the way down without worry.

FL3A6

Warm up - 3 minutes jump rope, mountain climbers, Swiss ball leg curls (single and double), deadlifts:  6x45#, 5x95#, 5x115#

Deadlift - 4x10@ 135#

Explosive push-up - 4x10 (with a pop off the floor at the end, arms not in much)

Bulgarian split-squat - 4x10 @ 15# each hand

2-point dumbbell row - 4x10@ 35# each hand

Deadlift off box - 4x10@ 115# (on aerobic step, no risers)

Dumbbell bench press - 4x20@ 25# each hand

Walking lunge with side bend - 2x20@ 20# each hand

Cable seated row - 2x20@ 70#

Hanging leg raise - 2x10

Playing with my new toys

Today, I got to break in my new toys!  I got to the basement to do Fat Loss III B5.  I am sufficiently wiped out!  After 80 squats, my legs are made of Jello.

The equipment worked out perfectly. I'm thrilled!  I liked doing the pull downs on my knees.  I find the position closer to what a chin-up or pull-up would be.  At the gym, I had to sit down unless I wanted to go around swapping bars out with other stations.

It took a total of 1:34 including 12 mintues warming up and foam rolling afterward.  According to SportTracks, I burned around 750 calories!  I think I might be more likely to warm up with this setup, since I won't be worrying if I will be the first to the power cage!

FL3B5

Warm up: 3 minutes jump rope, squats - 5@BW, 4@45#

Front squat - 1x10@55#, 3x10@60#

UH lat pulldown - 4x10@90#

Step-up - 1x10@ 25# ea hand and 6 risers, 3x10@25# ea hand and 7 risers

Dumbbell push press - 4x10@25# ea hand

Squat - 2x20@ 60#

Wide-grip lat pulldown - 2x20@ 70#

Step-up - 2x20@ 15# ea hand and 7 risers

Dumbbell shoulder press - 2x20@ 20# ea hand (last rep was not complete)

Swiss ball crunch - 2x10@ 15# on head

Long bike ride, sore foot, doctor visit, 1/2 a lifting session

After my run last Thursday, my foot soreness didn't go away as I had hoped.  So, I stopped running until I find out what's going on.  Sunday, I went for a 32 mile bike ride with the family.  I towed my son on the Trail-a-Bike.  When he really helped, I could tell it!  In fact, a couple times I had to tell him to hold back.  When he didn't help, well, I was towing 50 lbs of dead weight!  It was a nice ride.  When we got to our destination, 1-1/2 hours from home, we heard thunder, so we had to head right back rather than browse around the Iowa Arboretum, as we had hoped.

Yesterday, I got in to see a doctor.  He looked at my foot and didn't see anything obvious, which was not surprising to me.  So, he ordered an x-ray and referred me to a podiatrist.  I'll see that doc on Monday.  Until then, I'm going to take it easy.

I had been thinking about what I could do without aggravating the foot too much.  I realized most of my lifting is supposed to be done with most of my weight on the heels.  Since my foot issue is in my forefoot, I decided to lift today.  I started off with 5 minutes on the elliptical.  I realized that also doesn't stress my forefoot, at least as long as I don't reduce the incline too much.  I might try to do some of that until I know I can run again.

Today was half of Fat Loss III A5.  I did half of the sets, except both of the hanging leg raise sets.  No increase in weights, since it has been a couple weeks between workouts.

Warm up - 5 minutes elliptical, DLs 5@50#, 5@100#, 5@120#

Deadlift - 2x10@140#
Push-up - 2x10 regular on floor
Bulgarian split squat - 2x10@15# each hand
2-pt dumbbell row - 35# one hand at a time
Deadlift - 20@120# (it's amazing how much easier 120# is when you are coming off of 140# DLs)
Dumbbell bench press - 20@25# each hand
Walking lunge with side bend - 20@20# each hand
Cable seated row - 20@71#
Hanging leg raise - 2x10

Two more rounds to go!

I admit, Fat Loss III had been tough and rewarding, but I'll be glad to see the high reps go away.  Today was a good workout.  I went up a bit in squats.  The back squats went rather well.

FL3B4

Front squat - 1x10@55#, 3x10@60#

Underhand lat pulldown - 4x10@92#

Step-up - 4x10@20# each hand

Dumbbell push press - 4x10@25# each hand (oops, I did shoulder presses with no push!  No wonder it was harder!)

Squat - 2x20@60#

Wide grip lat pulldown - 2x20@75#

Step-up - 2x20@20# each hand

Dumbbell shoulder press - 2x20@20# each hand (last rep of each set was very hard!)

Swiss ball crunch - 1x10@25# on head, 1x10@30# on head

Halfway there!

Today I finished Fat Loss III B3, which is halfway through the Fat Loss III routine in New Rules of Lifting.  It was a great workout, but I'll be glad to move on to a lower rep workout after this.  The times are pretty consistent.  I finished today in 1:08.  The outside of my right hip/thigh is a tad sore.  I better go foam roll.

One guy I see at the gym often came as I was well into my program.  I felt bad hogging the squat cage, since my weights are so light, but I do get light headed and have to rack often.  One thing he was doing was cleaning and front squatting... something like 150-160#!  Yikes.  Maybe he actually wanted to clean that much.  He was only doing a couple reps per set.

Fat Loss III B3

Warm up - 10 lunges, 5 body weight squats, 5 front squats @ 45#

Front squat - 4x10@55#

Underhand lat pulldown - 4x10@92#

Step-up - 4x10@20# each hand

Dumbbell push press - 4x10@25# each hand

Squat - 1x20@55#, 1x20@60#

Wide-grip lat pulldown - 2x20@75# (felt the burn in my shoulders after the second set!)

Step-up - 2x20@20# each hand

Dumbbell shoulder press - 2x20@20# each hand

Swiss ball crunch - 2x10@25# on head

Return to the gym!

I've been wanting to get back to the gym for over a week now.  I made it back today.  Since I was still a little weak from my cold and from being away for over a week, and also because I didn't want to trash my legs for my long run tomorrow, I dropped back on my weights a bit.  That is a very hard thing to do mentally.  I always want to improve and increase weights, but practically, that's not necessarily the best thing to do.  It's not like I went back to barbie weights.  After 1:10, I feel great.  I did get dizzy quite a bit during the deadlifts.  I paused a bit every 5 reps so that I wouldn't go overboard and faint.  My heart rate only made it up into the 160s, but I was sweating like crazy and definitely pushed it.

It looks like a beautiful day today.  I'll certainly be outside as much as possible!

Fat Loss III A3

Deadlift - 1x10@115#, 3x10@120#

Push-up -4x10

Bulgarian split squat - 4x10@10# each hand

Two-point dumbbell row - 4x10@35# per arm

Deadlift - 2x20@115#

Dumbbell bench press - 2x20@25# each hand

Walking lunge with side bend - 2x20@15# each hand

Cable seated row - 2x20@71#

Hanging leg raise - 2x10

Speeding up

I thought I was going way too slow today during my lifting session.  But, it ended up taking 1:09, which is about right.  It was tough, of course, but I did increase the weights a bit.  I'm not sure if that will happen next time, though!  The strangest thing is that with all the squat troubles I have, the first set of 20 back squats were the easiest out of all 80.  Overall, not bad.  I tweaked something in my right leg.  It's somewhat on the side, kind of between the quad and hip.  Not sure what that is.  I thought it might be the IT band, so I foam rolled, but I couldn't seem to fire it up with the roller.  I'll stretch a little, too.  I'll be sitting on my bum the whole day at work, so it'll get some rest.


Fat Loss III B2

Front squat - 4x10@55#

Underhand lat pulldown - 4x10@92#

Step-up - 4x10@20#each hand

Dumbbell push press - 4x10@25# each hand

Squat - 2x20@55#


Wide-grip lat pulldown - 2x20@75#

Step-up - 2x20@20# each hand

Dumbbell shoulder press - 2x20@20# each hand


Swiss ball crunch - 2x10@25# behind head

A puke-worthy workout

Although I didn't actually puke today, I had some close calls!  I'm glad I didn't eat before I went to the gym, because that might have pushed me over the edge.

Today was the first of the Fat Loss III A workout from New Rules of Lifting.  It lived up to it's notoriety.  I made sure I went on Saturday so I could spend extra time at the gym if needed. It was needed.  All together, I spent 1:20 there, which included a 3 minute warm-up on the stair machine.  I think next time, I'm going to drop the weights a bit because I had to take more breaks than was called for.

I figured out that if you add up every rep, I deadlifted a total of 10,250 pounds!  My heart rate averaged 147bpm over that 1:20.  SportsTracks says I burned 648 calories.  Sounds about right!

Now, off to foam roll and stretch!

FL3A1

Warm-up - 3 min on stair machine, DLs - 5@95#, 5@115#

Deadlift - 4x10@135#

Push-up - 4x10

Bulgarian split squat - 1x10@20#each hand, 3x10@15#each hand

Two-pt dumbbell row (one arm at a time) - 1x10@30#, 3x10@35#

Deficit deadlift (not from a box, since my plates were already smaller) - 2x20@95#

Dumbbell bench press - 1x(6@25#ea, 14@20#ea), 1x20@20#ea

Walking lunge with side bend - 2x20@20#ea

Cable seated row - 2x20@71#

Hanging leg raise - 2x10