Training and Self Assessment

Time to review and plan my fitness shit. The old plan (here) concluded right before my Georgia/Florida/Tennessee vacation. Since I've been back, I've been jacking around in the gym without any thinking. I just go in there and play around without direction. Fun, but I can't gauge progress. Additionally, my diet has been sketchy at best lately. Yeah, I expect to eat like 400-lb gorilla while on vacation, but vacation ended almost two-weeks ago. I need structure, but first I need to review my last plan:

Work Out
My immediate goal was to get Sherry back in the gym with a routine she was familiar with. To that end, we recycled Ian King's Twelve Weeks to Super Strengt for chest and back and Twelve Weeks of Pain for legs. We did the 12-week program in 8-weeks by shortening each of the four 3-week phases to 2-weeks. What a great routine. Sherry didn't miss a day at the gym. My long-term goal is a 200-lbs clean&jerk. No progress there, but I did test some of my maximums and achieved a new dead lift record:

• Dead Lift (overhand grip, no straps): 345-lbs (08/04/2004 at 160-lbs, broke old record)
  
• Squat: 385-lbs (05/25/2003 at 170-lbs, did not re-test)
  
• Bench Press: 245-lbs (08/04/2004 at 160-lbs, tied old record)
  
• Clean&Jerk: 190-lbs (06/02/2004 at 165-lbs, did not re-test)

Overall, good consistency and good progress.
Grade: A+

Nutrition
My goal was 8.5% bodyfat. I dropped from 10% to 8.9% (160-lbs) right before vacation and after 10-days of vacation and 2-weeks of no nutrition plan, I've risen to 9.7% (165-lbs). Thankfully, I'm only grading myself per the timeframe of my last plan. I dieted like a pro without any assistance from fat-burning dietary supplements. Fuck 'em, they're all useless anyway. Even though I didn't hit 8.5% bodyfat, I was consistent and stuck to the menu.
Grade: A-

Sleep
My goal was 8-hours and I did terrible. I probably averaged 6-hours/night. I really need to work on sleeping more. If it weren't for sucky sleep habits, I would've had a 4.0 GPA on my self-assessment report card.
Grade: D


New Plan
My new plan will be built around achieving a 200-lbs clean&jerk and meeting the physical requirements for a Ken-Po yellow belt. From what Brooklyn has told me, the yellow belt requirements include 20 pushups, 50 crunches, 10 mountain-climbers, 10 burpees, and one minute of running in place (I might be off on the number of repetitions, but I'm close). I doubt I'll have any problem achieving these standards, but they give me something to anchor my training to. In addition to weight lifting, I'll also try to practice Karate four times a week.

Monday (Strength)
I'll perform one of the following compound exercise at 10X3 and an opposing exercise at 3X10: squat & single-leg back extensions, bench press & seated cable row, dead lifts & leg extensions, pull ups & dumbbell shoulder presses.

Tuesday (Conditioning)
1. Clean&Jerks: 10X3 (90-second rest)
2. Push ups: 1XFailure
3. Burpees: 1XFailure
4. Mountain Climbers: 1XFailure
5. Crunches: 1XFailure
6. Front Squats: 8X15-5 (Tabata Method)
I'm not sure how long this routine will take. If it's a bit short I'll repeat 2 through 5.

Wednesday (Karate)
Karate lesson.

Thursday (Lower Body)
1. Dead lift: 3X10
2. Squat: 3X10
3. Good mornings: 3X10
4: Box squats: 3X10
5: Standing calf raises: 5XFailure (A 5-tiered no-rest strip set)

Friday (Upper Body)
1. Pull up: 3X10
2. Bench press: 3X10
3. Hanging cleans: 3X10
4: Dips: 3X10
5: EZ bar curls: 3X10

Nutritional goals:
Stick to my meal template. I'm upping carbohydrates and I think I can toss in two free meals a week without gaining fat. I'm pretty happy with my current body composition (165-lbs @ 9.7% fat), so if my bodyfat increases I'll have to revisit the nutrition plan… cut out the cheat meals, reduce calories, whatever. The meal template is built for workout days. On non-work out days meals will be rearranged so that the majority of carbs are consumed early in the day. This is only a template; macronutrient equivalent items can be substituted (e.g., eggs instead of tuna, or salmon instead of chicken).

Meal Template (Maintenance Level)

• 5:30AM: 1-cup oatmeal, 1-tbs honey, 1-serv whey
  
• 8:30AM: 2-serv whey protein, 2-tbs flaxseed oil
  
• 11:30AM: 4-oz chicken breast, 1.5-cup spinach salad, 0.5-tbs olive oil, 0.5-cup broccoli
  
• 2:00PM: 6-oz canned tuna, 1 egg, 1-tbs mayo (…yeah, tuna salad)
  
• (gym)
  
• 3:30PM: 1-serv whey protein, 8-oz yogurt
  
• 4:30PM: 4-oz chicken breast, 1-cup rice, piece of fruit
  
• 7:30PM: 1-cup cottage cheese, 0.5-cup pineapple, piece of fruit

(Stats: 2,700-kcal, 85-grams fat, 210-grams carbohydrates, 270-grams protein)

Once again, 8-hours of sleep a night, minimum. Hopefully, now that Lori is back in school the entire family will be hitting bed early in the evening. I'm plan on hitting the ol' bed at 9:00PM and waking up at 5:00AM.

In a month or so I shall look back and see how this all pans out.
...and so it was written, shenry at 8/27/2004 07:54:00 AM.
...and so it was appended with .