I'm bored with Richmond

Unfortunately, this is NOT a "I'm finally moving!" post... But instead, I think I found a way to get out of town, at least on the weekends. Now I have yet to run a half marathon but I think I can see myself enjoying those since it's not THAT taxing (I'm guessing) and it will only take like 2 hrs at most to complete (I'm assuming).

Ok, so my guess and my assumption could be completely off... but I'm fairly certain I can go out and run 13 miles in less than 2 hrs right now... and I don't even run per se (I do plenty of cardio with biking and swimming and bball). If I train, I'm pretty certain I can maintain a pretty decent speed up to about the half marathon. So, anyways, that's my long way of saying that in 2010, I'm considering doing all the Rock N Roll Half Marathon Series.

Currently, the following are scheduled:



I'm obv signed up for Vegas but now I'm considering doing a bunch of these next year.

The only problem is that they are mostly Sunday races... how ghey is that? If it were a Saturday, I can run, chill out for a few hrs and then enjoy the weekend night life in various cities. Who the fuck goes out on Sunday nights!? Wanna know who? Bunch of dudes watching Sunday Night Football. Bad beat!

Nonetheless, I think I'm gonna seriously consider pursuing this. Let me know if anyone is interested in doing something like this as well.

Oh, and here's the course map for Vegas half... Basically, we'll be starting out by the MGM-ish area and then run all the way down and back up the strip. This should be fun. I'm definitely getting excited about this.

Week 5 - FAIL

Going into week 5 of the JT Master Plan, I was pretty psyched. Today's workout included minimal reps of 250lbs which is my goal weight... I figured if I can even get one rep, I would be right on track... however, today was not a good lifting day for me. I wish I can pinpoint what happened but it just seemed like one of those days when I just didn't have it. Nonetheless, here's my report (for those of you completely uninterested in this weekly report, good news is, there are only 2 more weeks left!).

Flat Barbell
135 x 12-15 (did 15)
185 x 8 (done)
225 x 2 (1st one required some help, 2nd was forced rep - this is the beginning of the disappointment. 2 weeks ago, I was able to do this weight 3 times with no help... today, not even one)
250 x 1-3 (this is where I was psyched for - due to the plates, I did 255lbs - one forced rep and two negatives - I was fortunate that this one guy who is freakin huge and is at the gym all the time was there so I did get two very good negatives in FWIW)
135 x 15 (done)

This bench press killed me though... I didn't realize it at the time but my chest and my triceps were spent...

Incline Barbell
95 x 12 (done)
135 x 8-10 (did 9, no spotter)
155 x 4-6 (did 3 + 1 with minimum help)
135 x 8-10 (did 6 + 1 with help + 1 with major help - as in the last one, my left arm/tricep pretty much gave out... I had absolutely nothing left)

My last sent on the incline barbell really made me realize how little I had left in the tank... even more of that proof to follow...

Flat Dumbell Fly
3 sets of 50 x 8

Keep in mind that last week, I did 3 sets of 45 x 8... today, I did the 50lbs DBs but I could only do 6, 6, and 5... (on the 6th one on the last set, I had absolutely nothing left - I can bench press 90lbs DBs and yet I can barely lift 50lb DBs to even start the DB fly's)

Dips - 3 sets all to failure

This is where it absolutely shows that I was dead. Even last week, after the workout, I was able to do 14, 13, and 11. This week? My first set was 5... yep, FIVE reps of dips. I couldn't go back up... 2nd set, 6 reps... 3rd set, 4 reps. Essentially, after 3 sets, I can only do one more than my first set from last week. My arms were literally dead.

Good workout but man, I sure hope I can put on a better showing next week. This week, I have 3 fantasy football drafts coming up so the outlook is not good... we shall see.

Booked!

It is extremely rare that I plan things this far in advance unless it's something big (like my annual trip back home to Japan). Hell, even then, I still wait till the reasonably latest moment to book my trip... so the fact that I've already booked my flight to Vegas for the December gathering is definitely outside my comfort zone... having said that, I already know that a) I will be running the half marathon in Vegas on 12/6 and b) I will be there for the winter gathering to see some of my gay canadian friends as well as other friends* as well. And as soon as I typed this, I realized that linking a few was a bad idea but then again, amongst the others that I talk to, I'm guessing none of you would be offended whether I link you or not so yeah, deal with it.

Anyways, here's my itinerary...



Kuro and Peaker, it's unfortunate that you won't be there for the race but nonetheless, I guess I'll see you guys few days later.

The biggest win here is that my ticket cost $10... I had enough miles so I was able to score a free ticket ($10 for tax) so that is a win! Now I just need to book a hotel room but despite some others booking rooms at MGM and such, I am fairly certain I will stay at the IP where a) the rooms are cheap and b) I've never had any problems or bad experiences in terms of the quality of the room. I'm gonna be in the room for like 6hrs a day... I'm fairly certain I just need a bed and a working bathroom. And at the average price of approx $40-45 per night, you just can't beat that. (unless your name is bayne and you get sick deals cuz you're a luckbox)

See you all in Dec!

Week 4

Every week, when I update my chest workout (I obv do other things on other days), I start to wonder if I should just start another blog consisting entirely of my workouts... but then again, the only reason I post this is to provide feedback to my buddy JT... which then leads me to wonder if I should just email this to him... but then yet again, I would think, hey I'm typing this much, I might as well "blog" about it since otherwise, this will never get updated... Maybe that's ok. This blog is kinda on its last leg as of right now. I feel like I'm so busy these days that I really don't have much to post on here - or the time to post on here. Before, it was somewhat therapeutic to type thoughts on here... but now, not really. I don't hate it, nor do I force myself to do it because I actually love blogging/writing but I just feel like there's no sense of direction on this blog these days. Oh well... it is what it is and it's a reflection of myself so I guess feel free to keep reading if you are interested. If not, well, if you read this blog at some point, thanks for that nonetheless. After week 7 when I supposedly reach my goal, you won't be burdened by my chest workout blog... and I can see myself getting back into blogging about other things but right now, my focus is pretty much on the 7 week lifting plan to be able to put up over 150% of my body weight.

Ok, without further ado...

Flat Dumbbell Press
50 x 12-15 (did 15)
70 x 8 (done)
90 x 2 plus 2-4 forced reps (I did 5... but no forced reps... I think I fucked up here by not getting in any FR's but I didn't really know the spotter too well and so I just kinda gave up)
55 x 6-8 all negatives (55 x 8 regular - no spotter...)

This whole no spotter thing is going to be a theme for today which kinda pisses me off because I went to the Y earlier than usual today, hoping that there will be trainers working there who knows what they are doing. And yet, not a single trainer was found. That's one thing that sucks about the Y... you never know what you get.

Incline Dumbbell Press
40 x 12 (done)
60 x 6-8 (did 8)
70 x 2-4 (FAIL!!! I could not get this up and with no spotter, I just couldn't get it started... at the same time, my triceps felt pretty nonexistent... so, instead, I did 65 x 6...)

Flat Dumbbell Fly
3 sets of 45lbs (done)

Dips - all sets to failure
14, 13, 11

At this point, I had absolutely nothing left... first 6-7 dips went smooth and after that, it's almost like hitting a bump... and then once I got to like 10, it was like hitting a wall... first set, I couldn't come back up on my 15th attempt... same for set 2 and 3.

Overall, it felt like a good workout but I was pissed that my workout was slightly cramped by the fact that I didn't have a spotter. I feel like an idiot can spot barbells but not necessarily dumbbells. I might have to get my buddy JT in to the Y (he's a member at another gym) for the last few workouts leading up to week 7 since I would think the next few weeks would be critical. Dammit YMCA, how do you not have trainers working on one of the most crowded nights!?

Week 3

Man, how the days go by so fast. I feel like I was just posting results from Week 2 of the JT Master Plan (aka my quest to 250lbs bench press) and it's already time for a week 3 update. Riggs pointed out that he's now on a regimen to lose weight but unlike me, he'll just do it instead of talking about. Riggs, don't be Fuel. That's no fun. So, here I am continuing to document my progress.

You know, one day, maybe I can compile this into a book... like there are so many exercise books to go from fat to thin or lazy to fit or skinny to buff... but there's never any guide for an average-ish guy to go from average to above average or whatever the goal is... of course, that's not as catchy but you get my drift. Let's say you're a 20 something or a 30 something weekend warrior, involved in many activities, but not quite in the type of shape you want to be in. There's never a guide for that. Well, I can use this 7 week master plan as one of my chapters of "how to go from a weekend warrior to being FIT!"

Of course, someone can read this, think it's a good idea, and take it before I even get around to writing a book... oh well. So be it. Without further ado, here's week 3 (as usual, the weight in lbs times range of reps is what was JT's design and in parenthesis is what I actually did):

Flat Dumbbell Bench
50 x 12-15 (did 15)
60 x 10-12 (did 12)
70 x 8 (done)
80 x 4-6 (did 6)
90 x 2-4 (required help to initially get it up. Did 3 with little help on the 3rd)

I will say, I felt a little "tough" since the heaviest dumbbells that the Y has are 100lbs (they have up to 120lbs dummbells in the other wing).

Incline Barbell
95 x 12-15 (did 15)
135 x 8-10 (did 7)
155 x 4-6 (did 3 + 2 forced reps)
135 to failure (did 8 - 8th, I can barely get it up but required no help. Then did 1 forced rep - on the forced rep, my left arm felt nonexistent)

Pushups x 4 sets to failure
43, 21, 20, 15

After the first set, my triceps and chest was nonexistent... I was certain I can at least hit 100 after 4 sets so I was a little disappointed but on the last set, I really had nothing left... Actually on all sets, I was down and half way up but couldn't lock my elbows before I collapsed. At least it was to failure...

FOUR MORE WEEKS!

Week 2 of the Master Plan

Shockingly, this is only week 2 and yet I actually felt a little stronger. When I started warming up with 135, it was astonishingly light. The cool thing about this workout is that the incline dumbbell made me feel strong. I mean I'm 6'0 tall but only weigh 165lbs... so I clearly have a smaller frame than some of the guys that work out a lot... and yet when I was doing the 65lb dumbbells and 70lbs dumbbells, there's like a guy who looks huge doing the same weights. Of course, he was doing a few more reps than I was doing but not much. It just made me feel pretty good about myself. Pack a lot of punch in this tiny body. I mean unless you're a beast like Riggs, I'm pretty sure the weights I'm lifting for my weight is pretty decent... especially considering the height. On the board I was talking about which had the body weight %, everyone at the top of the list are several inches shorter than I am.

Well, here was the detail of week 2.

Flat Barbell
135 x 12-15 (I did 15)
185 x 8-10 (I did 8... I felt like I could do more but I didn't have a spotter. That was my mistake)
220 x 2-4 (I couldn't find 2.5lbs so I just did 225 x 3... 3rd one was spotter assisted)
185 x 6-8 plus 2-4 negatives (I did 6 plus 1 spotter assisted and 2 negatives... 2nd negative was reeeeeeeeeally hard)

Incline Dumbbell
40 x 10 (done)
60 x 6 (last week, I felt stronger on the incline so I tweaked this - did 65 x 6)
70 x 2-4 plus 2-4 forced reps (I did 4 plus 2 forced reps - perfect weight/rep combination)

Incline Dumbbell Fly
25 x 12 (done)
2 sets of 40 x 6 (done and done)

Decline Barbell
135 to failure (I did 14 plus 1 forced rep - I actually thought I would at least do 15 but around rep #13, my chest started giving out)