December 31, 2012
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Mass Made Simple – Done!
Yesterday was my final workout on Mass Made Simple. Sometimes I feel like I’m too hard on myself…I didn’t get to 50 reps with #205 but I did get to 30 and finished with 20. Three weeks ago my first try at 50 reps at #205 ended up with 17, 15, 13, and 5. So my 2nd set was better than my first set Dec 30 vs Dec 10. And I completed it in half the number of sets. Overall, not bad.
I also set a PR in bench press with a relatively easy single at #265 with very solid form. The spotter felt like I could have gone for another one but I was happy with the PR and I knew I still needed to finish my squats.
It feels good to finish all this up before the New Year. I’m also a little proud of the fact that while I may not have completed all the workouts as written, I managed to complete the 6 week program thru the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays with 3 business trips in there. That’s not too shabby.
Overall I started the Velocity diet @ #213.1 and got down to #194.7 and then went up to 206.5 as of this morning(I’ve got the digits in there because I’ve been weighing myself using kilos but I know most people reading this will relate to pounds) while being stronger at least in the bench and squat before I started. I know my quads and hamstrings feel bigger. I’m going to do another dexa scan and hopefully I’ll have at least maintained my body fat percentage. We’ll see.
Things I learned
1) Protein and fish oil at night before bed time can work wonders with your recovery. I have completed workouts that have wrecked me. A shake with fish oil and protein powder helps me not feel wrecked the day after. Not part of the program but helpful with recovery is magnesium oil.
2) Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches contain a ton of calories and are very easy to eat (at least for me). I went thru about 3 jars of peanut butter, 7-8 jars of jelly (strawberry), and countless loaves of bread. I feel like if I need to diet back down and lean out a little bit all I need to do is cut out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, replace with some fruit or some such and that’s like a 1500 calorie deficit right there.
3) I seem to work out better with a two day a week program with an option to go to 3-4 rather than start with a 3-4 day workout and do 2. Even though I may end up doing the same thing, psychologically I seem to feel better about planning for two and adding an extra workout when my schedule permits.
4) I seem to have a 4 week attention span in terms of blocks with week 5 the hardest but week 6 gets better mentally because it is the last week.
5) High rep squats and complexes can really boost your metabolism. I measured my heart rate in order to get an idea on how many calories I burned during a session and it measured in at 1000 calories for a session lasting about 80 min. Which sounds like a lot but that’s like 4 pb&j sandwiches.
Physical Goals for 2013
Squat – 450
Deadlift 540
Bench – 315
MP – 225
Weigh in at 181 (vs. 206 as of Dec 31)
Behaviors to focus on in order – make my own breakfast. Do short walk each day, preferably with weight vest but any walk is ok. Use 531 to progress up on 2 day template. Add a weekend conditioning session with football teammates.
Happy New Year everyone!
