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Ryan's "Hope to compete again in 2014" log


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Few days off to relax, went in for an upper back workout Sunday night -

 

BB Shrugs -

1x10 @ 135

1x10 @ 225

1x10 @ 315

1x10 @ 405 (done behind the back)

2x15 @ 455 (also behind the back)

 

1-arm BB shrugs -

2x10 each arm @ 205 lbs.

2x30 each arm @ 135 lbs.

 

Plate-loaded Nautilus pulldown machine -

1x10 @ 320

1x10 @ 360

1x10 @ 380

1x6 @ 410 lbs.

 

Seated row machine -

4x20 @ 270 lbs.

 

Pull-ups

2x8 @ bodyweight

 

Cable face pulls -

3x20 @ 140 lbs.

 

Ultra wide grip cable seated rows -

2x20 @ 180 lbs.

 

That was it. Tomorrow, things change as I embark on a long-term slow fat loss mission, so we'll see how the new approach goes. Come morning, carbs are cut by 30-40%, protein and good fats will be increased accordingly, no sugars except possibly post-lifting, and...gasp...some mild cardio work thrown in for good measure. Should be an interesting time - I don't plan to do massive changes to my training except not much in the way of low-rep lifting for at least 2 months (nothing under 5 reps/set), more moderate weight/high rep work, shorter rest periods and that should put me in a good place to start. I intended to eat everything that wasn't nailed down tonight, but I couldn't bring myself to burn out with gorging tonight, so I guess I started eating well a day early

 

In the coming month or two, I'll start posting photos to track progress here, so we'll see where this goes!

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Nice Ryan! Stay strong. I would say it could be trying with that smorgasborg of a warehouse chocked with every vegan packaged food ever created but according to you, it's old news and no longer an alluring sensation. You be leaner and cut in no time! This will be exciting to hear about. Keep at it brother. Oh and also a pleasure to meet you. Take care of the plants and think of us as they grow

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Thanks for the kind words, Sosso and L&G! It's going to be a strange journey again (just as it was last time I dieted down in early summer - if only I'd worked to keep the fat off I wouldn't be back here again so soon!), but it'll be good for me. My whole mission is to do it wisely and slowly, no fast weight loss but enough to keep things going well while at least maintaining strength. We'll see how this goes over the next few months! By the way, definitely looking good in that avatar pic, L&G!

 

Yesterday was clean eating, put down about 2800 calories with no junk, so that felt good

 

Chest and lower back day today. Not the greatest, but pulled it off well enough to not be upset about it.

 

Snatch grip hang high pulls in the rack (trying not to set the bar on the pins just above knee height on reps)

1x10 @ empty bar

1x10 @ 135

3x10 @ 190 lbs.

All sets easy, just using these as a warm-up for deadlifts.

 

Deadlift from floor -

1x5 @ 225

1x3 @ 315

1x2 @ 365

1x1 @ 415

1x1 @ 435

8x5 @ 385

Seriously, I felt like dying on these. Last time with pulling just a few sets of 12 with 365 it felt super-light. Today, just 20 lbs. more almost finished me off. Every set felt tough except for one or two, not feeling strong on these, but some days just go better than others.

 

DB flat bench -

5x10 @ 90s

Just went light as I want to incorporate more chest work again with DBs. Easy enough, all sets felt good for a few more if I needed to crank them out.

 

DB incline bench -

1x15 @ 75s

1x12 @ 75s - crapped out on 12, just didn't have any gas in the tank to do more

1x30 @ 50s - did 20, rested for 10 seconds, did 7, few deep breaths, 3 to finish

 

Panora pressdowns (basically, a rope triceps pressdown that only does the lower half of the movement)

3x20 @ 90 lbs.

 

Cable pull-throughs, wide stance -

3x20 @ 90 lbs.

 

That was it - just a few changes to get back to benching a bit with DBs and putting something else back with deadlift day again. Tomorrow will be some light cardio work, then I'll be hitting the gym late on Thanksgiving to put the Field Roast I'll be eating to good use

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Hey, I'm hoping to see people knock me off the charts so that I can be more motivated than ever to get back to the top

 

If it weren't for my eye condition being a bit strange with this past few months (as in, not staying well as long as it should), I probably wouldn't be back to cutting again so soon. This is just a good reason to heal up for a few months and shed some flab at the same time, but come spring if things go well I'll be back to going after strength first and foremost once again. Don't let this change-up fool you - I'm still determined to beat my old totals, even if it takes me a while to get back up there!

 

Damn man, I'm closing in on your PL total on VeganFitness so I came over here to find how things are going. Do a little spying.

 

AND YOU'RE CUTTING!!!

 

Good luck with it though, hope the strength levels stay high

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Upper back and shoulders workout tonight -

 

Started with overhead standing strict presses from forehead height to lockout -

1x5 @ 135

1x3 @ 185

1x3 @ 205

1x2 @ 225

I haven't done them from forehead height in a long time, and I had completely forgotten, that's my absolute worst position for starting a press. That's right where the load starts to shift to my triceps, and once I start going heavy, everything feels off most times. So, I opted to switch things up and cut those there.

 

Wide-grip pulldowns -

1x10 @ 200 lbs.

2x10 @ 250

2x8 @ 265

1x6 @ 280

1x4 @ 295

Heaviest I've gone on these - looking forward to being able to put that last damned plate on the load to max it out at 310 in the future for a few good reps.

 

Hammer Strength plate-loaded shoulder press -

1x10 @ 200 lbs.

1x10 @ 230

1x8 @ 250 - crapped out on the 8th, triceps gave out after it cleared my head

1x15 @ 180

1x32 @ 90 - went until complete failure here, light but with a wide grip to remove triceps more and hit my shoulders better

 

Seated V-bar rows -

1x20 @ 200 lbs.

1x30 @ 160

 

Palms-in overhead press machine, narrow grip -

2x20 @ 160 lbs.

 

Seated 1-arm rows -

1x10 @ 150 each arm

1x30 @ 90 each arm

 

Pull-up station scapular retractions (hang from various grips, shrug myself upward a few inches via trapezius instead of using lats to pull)

3x20 @ bodyweight, 2 sets done parallel narrow grip, last set done wide grip

 

Felt good today, except for the garlic in the foule I had when going out for Middle Eastern food today. Let's just say, you don't want to be within 5 feet of my area of breathing radius today

 

I'll be reintroducing some cardio work tomorrow, Sunday will be squat day!

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Quick legs + biceps work tonight, done in 50 minutes.

 

Overhead squats -

2x5 @ empty bar

1x5 @ 95

1x5 @ 135

1x5 @ 155

1x3 @ 185 - lost it forward on the 4th and cut it short

1x10 @ 135

Haven't done these in a while, but they're a fun way to warm up everything from the shoulders on down through the 'ol legs, which makes them a good starting point for the session.

 

Plate-loaded squat machine -

3x15 @ 360 lbs.

2x15 @ 410 lbs.

All sets done legs far out in front, which destroyed my quads. Might do these every other week or as a secondary movement for a while since I like the machine and am cutting back on the constant squatting for a few months.

 

Lying leg curl machine -

4x15 @ 160 lbs., done slow and controlled

 

Preacher curl machine -

3x12 @ 50 lbs. each arm

 

Came home, did 3x15 for bodyweight glute/ham raises and 2x20 @ 80 lbs. for EZ bar curls and that was it.

 

Starting to get my good eating habits back - went a bit overboard on Thanksgiving despite my lack of intention, but that's only because the consumption of alcohol clouded my judgement for portion size and frequency Otherwise, the last week has been good for eating, been very close to being on plan except for the need to get more greens in my diet again, which I'm working on for this week.

 

Tomorrow will be some light cardio, Tuesday will be upper back and chest!

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Hey, I'm hoping to see people knock me off the charts so that I can be more motivated than ever to get back to the top

 

If it weren't for my eye condition being a bit strange with this past few months (as in, not staying well as long as it should), I probably wouldn't be back to cutting again so soon. This is just a good reason to heal up for a few months and shed some flab at the same time, but come spring if things go well I'll be back to going after strength first and foremost once again. Don't let this change-up fool you - I'm still determined to beat my old totals, even if it takes me a while to get back up there!

Aye it's a solid plan, JP is doing similar. Using some enforced downtime to sort a few issues out and shed some excess weight. The strength will come back quickly once everything is back in place.

 

Turns out that before I could nail another PB (I'm 2kg behind you) a guy called Adam nailed a good deadlift and overtook us both

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Turns out that before I could nail another PB (I'm 2kg behind you) a guy called Adam nailed a good deadlift and overtook us both

 

Then we shall crush Adam when the time is right!

 

I'm glad to see some numbers getting up there - it was getting sad to not see the table budge much for a year or two, but hopefully I'll be able to start working hard to move the numbers up this summer and that you'll keep me on my toes to constantly work to get stronger

 

Tonight was shoulders and upper back work (making this session a primary vertically pulling day, next one will be more rowing focus)

 

Strict standing overhead press -

2x5 @ 135 lbs.

1x3 @ 185

1x2 @ 205

1x1 @ 225

3x8 @ 185

 

Once I got to my working sets with the 3x8, I alternated with some wide-grip pulldowns, keeping rest periods 60-90 seconds between lifts as per the new program. A big shift again after spending more time lately taking 3 minutes to rest between sets.

3x12 @ 250 lbs. for the pulldowns after a few warm-ups (done between the overhead warmups)

 

Next, moved to alternate behind-the-neck push presses and jerks (kind of did a mixture on all sets) -

3x8 @ 205 lbs.

 

Alternated with short rest periods and going to Hammer Strength plate-loaded pulldowns, done alternating single-arm style -

3x8 @ 270 lbs.

 

Took a 2 minute rest before getting to the last of everything, was winded as hell and could barely keep going. Moved next to 1-arm standing overhead DB presses -

2x20 @ 60 lbs. for each arm.

First set got 18, dropped the DB, took 3 breaths and finished. 2nd set was 17, needed about 8-10 seconds rest, got the last 3 with ease. Triceps would give out on these, forcing that break near the end, but still got 'em done.

 

Alternated the 1-arm presses with a seated row machine for a few sets -

2x25 @ 250 lbs.

A bit of back lean almost made them into seated Yates rows, but they felt good, so I'm not complaining

 

Wrapped up with the final pairing of exercises to finish, starting with lean-away 1-arm cable lateral raises -

2x20 @ 30 lbs.

 

...Which were alternated with ultra-wide grip seated cable rows, using the handle that's a bit over 3 feet long and going as wide out as I could.

2x20 @ 180 lbs.

Only felt tough because I was sucking wind after the 15th rep, not due to my back getting too tired. I've built up to handle volume well and high reps, but it's going to take some getting used to with the shorter rest periods.

 

Tomorrow I'm trying something new - some lightweight strongman stuff in my warehouse as weighted cardio work, with sled drags/pulls, farmer's walks, log cleans and anything else that sounds fun. Still working on getting a few tires between 500 and 850 lbs. and I need to reclaim my yoke soon, but I'll still make good with what I've got for what I need to do.

 

Thursday will be lower back day, incorporating more olympic-style lifts the precede the deadlifts and assistance work. Lots of high pulls in the rack and from the floor, power snatches and all that good stuff. Will post when it's all over!

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Just in case you were wondering, I'm checking in to make sure that you are keeping up and eating ALL of your vegtables! Stay strong.

 

Glad to know you're back, Hilary!

 

 

No workouts the past few days, been absolutely crazy with a new kitten we adopted, holiday madness with our store, etc. I've got plenty of excuses, so if anyone needs more, I've got 'em

 

Was going to lift tonight, but got scolded for failing to shovel all the snow from late last week, so I spent 2 hours doing that instead of hitting the gym like I'd planned. But, last Friday had a good little lower back session that I forgot to list -

 

Hang power snatch -

1x10 @ empty bar

1x8 @ 95 lbs.

1x3 @ 135 bs.

Didn't feel bad for not having done them in quite a few months.

 

Power snatch from floor -

3x3 @ 135

Just getting the feel of them again so far.

 

Snatch-grip high pull from floor to mid-chest height -

3x6 @ 225 lbs.

Form wasn't great on these, need to get back on 'em again.

 

Snatch-grip high pulls in the rack, done from 2" above knee height -

3x10 @ 200 lbs.

Form would break down a bit near the end, would lose my hip power. Gotta get back on these as well!

 

Romanian deadlifts -

2x12 @ 315

1x20 @ 225

Nothing too crazy, just a few decent sets to do them after a long layoff

 

Cable pull-throughs -

2x20 @ 85 lbs.

 

That's it, just a decent lower back day focusing more on non-standard deadlifting movements. Will probably throw these in more to get a break from regular DLs while I'm doing the fat-loss plan, will do more standard deadlifting in the coming months.

 

Will be hitting upper back and chest later tonight (now almost 4:30 AM, time for sleep!)

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Hey, Tasha!

 

I actually haven't gotten to try the new Biochem vegan protein yet - only had it in for about a week, and with all the Vega and NitroFusion I have on hand I haven't had a need to open anything else just yet. I've heard from a few people who have tried it that it's pretty good (Biochem products usually are), and it has a decent ingredient makeup so I can say that if I didn't have plenty of other protien, I'd definitely keep it in the running. Hope this helps!

 

Ryan

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Much appreciated, Tasha!

 

Had a leg workout and upper back/shoulders workout in the last few days, but never logged what I did and have already forgotten most of it. Still eating 95% clean and doing some occasional low-intensity cardio for 30 minutes twice weekly for now, starting to look a bit better in the mirror when I pass by, which is nice since it's at least a measure of some progress since I'm not training as heavy as I usually prefer.

 

In other good news, the martial arts studio whose tire I would flip on weekends relocated, but put their tires out to get dumped (good news for me, at least!) They were buried under snow for the past week so I didn't even see them, but once a little more melting comes my way, I'm getting a trailer and rescuing them for my warehouse. Of course, we're supposed to get slammed with another 6" of snow this week, but eventually when it lets up I'll be going over to grab those things and give them a new home and plenty of use. Don't know why they didn't care to take them with, but their loss is my gain. And, Home Depot's as well, since I'll have to shell out $25 to rent the trailer to move them (it's that, or flip them uphill for a bit over a mile, which would certainly kill me before completion).

 

Busiest freakin' day at work I've had this holiday season, won't get to lift tonight as planned, but will just get my boring low-intensity cardio day over with for now and get back to the good stuff tomorrow for some lower back work and whatever else seems fun.

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Well, not going to be seeing me post in my log much for the next few weeks or so. As I told Robert via PM the other day, I slipped on an ice patch while shovelling, and managed to sprain my wrist and tweak my lower back a bit, so I'm going to be out of commission for a bit. While remembering to twist while falling via old memories of skateboarding may have saved me from smashing the back of my head, I managed to just deflect the damage to a few other body parts instead. But, I'm keeping my spirits up - I may need to take it easy through a good part of January, but I've got some much-needed rest coming my way anyhow, so this is my excuse to finally take it easy. The last 2 weeks have been 100% work - get up, walk to the computer, start working, go to the office, come home, go back to the computer, fall asleep as the sun comes up, repeat over and over. I love the holidays, but I lose the rest of my life in December, but now I'll just relax and heal up to try and start training normally again by February. So, don't expect much here for a while, but once I'm back up and not too sore to train it'll be business as usual

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Sorry about your fall VE

I fell too as I was running to the store, but manage to fall on my butt with an audience

So embarrassing lol

How was your Christmas ?

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement, everyone - while it sucks to be out of commission for a while, I can certainly use a rest on my body as those 60+ hour weeks leading up to Xmas really did me in. I still am surprised that I managed to get to lift a few times this month - last year, I felt like I missed training for almost all of December. But, the good news is that the overall timing could have been a lot worse - I've got my next eye surgery on the 31st, which would have kept me out for about 4-5 days, and I finally get to go on vacation in 4 weeks. It looks like I'll be spending my last bit of recovery time basking in the sun somewhere warm (we're thinking about heading back to the same resort in Jamaica we got married to celebrate our 7th anniversary), so it could be a whole lot worse Until then, the plan is to just keep eating well, do lots of walking, and see if I can't keep shedding some extra flab during this time. I'm not excited by walking, but it's better than sitting around doing nothing physical for a month or so.

 

Hey, Tasha - I had a wonderful Christmas this year. Lots of time with both our families, plenty of fun relaxing and chatting with everyone. Hope you (and everyone else!) had a wonderful holiday week, and I'll be lurking around in other areas of the board while I'm healing up!

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While remembering to twist while falling via old memories of skateboarding may have saved me from smashing the back of my head, I managed to just deflect the damage to a few other body parts instead.

Any part of the body is better than cracking your coconut.

Get well soon.

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VE, your in my thoughts and I pray for a speedy recovery for ya. Like you said, you can just tweak the diet and focus that much more time on it now. Whenever I cannot make it to the gym, if i'm motivated enough, that's what I do as well Have a happy holdiay and enjoy that much needed rest! You'll come back stronger than ever in no time

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  • 1 month later...

Okay, after a month's rest, it's time to get back to business!

 

Lower back feels normal again, so that's definitely good. Wrist, however, is not beyond about 80%, and the fun part is, now my other wrist is jacked up so both sides are definitely not the best. Right before I went on vacation, I was convinced to get back to skateboarding again, and while I had a great time after around 7 years being off my board, I found that falling on my hands a lot is not something my body is used to But, I should be able to get by on my recovery training, but any front squats or cleans are out for a while since bending my wrists back is anything but comfortable.

 

Diet wasn't so great for most of January. Had some stress and ended up pretty well staying even all month, but I did get lots of bloat from way too much salt. Cutting carbs this past few days has taken care of that, so now it's time to get back to training properly and get things in check.

 

Had my return with an upper back session yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that my strength is exactly where I'd hoped. No idea about the other body parts yet, but it was a fine start again. Still going higher rep for a while to help with the fat loss and keep endurance up, probably won't start going heavy and lower rep until April after a few months of good recovery.

 

DB rows -

3x25 @ 100 lbs. each arm

All sets easy for the rowing, but I just got too winded to go on. Rested about 90 seconds between each arm, then 2 minutes between each full set.

 

Seated cable rows w/ straight bar -

4x20 @ 200 lbs.

 

Seated Hammer Strength plate-loaded row machine -

1x15 @ 450 lbs.

1x20 @ 360 lbs. (both of these two sets done narrow position neutral grip handles)

1x30 @ 180 lbs. done ultra-wide neutral grip

 

Barbell Hise shrugs -

1x20 @ 315

" " @ 405

" " @ 455

1x10 @ 500 lbs.

Didn't aggravate my lower back at all having the weight on me, but my body wasn't too stable after a long layoff from supporting much weight on my shoulders.

 

Cable w/2 handle rope face pulls, pulling down about 30 degree angle to face -

3x20 @ 75 lbs.

 

That was it, felt great afterward and took a nice 40 minute walk keeping my heart rate at 65% today, tomorrow is lower back day. No deadlifting until March, so I'll be doing the wacky cable w/ bar setup deadlifts from a defeceit where the bar starts at the top of my shoes. Will keep doing these for a month while I'm rebuilding my lower back strength, will report my workout once I'm done tomorrow!

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