Update here for today and yesterday.

Thursday: Nutrition was bad. I opened up that second bag of chips and ate almost the entire thing. Felt so sick afterward and completely wish that I hadn't done that. At least they are gone now. Aside from that my eating was good for the day except for a cookie.

Training was good. I pushed hard on my intervals, and my legs were burning so badly. Did some core work afterward, and I also did some power cleans. James had said this is a good indicator of full body power. I'd done them in the past but never made them a regular part of my training. I concentrated and using very clean form and got 215x1 which I was happy with. I did this with clean form, I didn't go for 225 as I felt I was at my limit. I think it would be nice if I started working these into my routine and was able to get a 1.5x bodyweight power clean. That would be 275lbs which is definitely a lot but I don't think it is out of the realm of possibilities. I think that might have to be something for next winter though. Woke up a little heavy today, clearly I am guessing because of all the chip eating yesterday. Was 188.8 this morning.

Friday: It is early evening right now, but so far my nutrition has been spot on throughout the day. I had a great training session today and felt really strong. I was able to crank out 5 sets of the side press with the 60lb dumbbell which I was happy with, after only being able to do 2 sets on Monday. One thing I did change today was my deadlifts. I hooked some bands up to them to change things up and work on power some more. I'm going to do this for a couple of weeks to see how it helps with my overall deadlift power/strength, I also think it will help with my power clean as well. I didn't do them super heavy 225x3 245x3 and 265x3 each weight or two sets, supersetted with my weighted chins. I felt strong, and was definitely accelerating throughout the lift at every weight on every rep. Another plus today was that I got my weight chin up to 50x3, and I feel like I can definitely hit 55x3 as well. So pretty pumped all around with training today. Just went grocery shopping and got a bunch of great healthy stuff, so I should be set for a little while. Woke up at 188.8 again today, which I attribute to the chip eating yesterday as well. Overall great day and I'm planning on keeping my nutrition spot on for the day. Cheers.

Decent day today. My nutrition was right on throughout the beginning of the day and then I went to me parents house. They had just gotten home from Pennsylvania and had brought back a couple bags of my favorite chips in the world. Rarely do I get my hands on them so needless to say I couldn't hold back and sat down and ate almost an entire bag. I took some of my normal food out because of all the chips, but was still probably up about 1200-1300 calories for the day, putting me around 3500 total for the day. No worries, I think I am going to give the 2nd bag to a friend so I don't have to worry about them.

Training today was good. I had a lot of energy going into my workout, but it did see to taper a bit as my workout went on. Was moving a little slow in between sets, but all of my weights were good and I felt strong. Ripped out my last set of unilateral bent over rows with the 95lb dumbbell. The biggest problem there is just holding on to the damn thing, my back is strong enough to pull it, but I did notice that it really activated and worked my core a lot. Overall a good day, feel healthy strong and extra lean. I woke up at an astonishing 185.6 this morning. It seems the weight is continuing to come off. One thing I will note, for accuracy of my weight, I don't take my weight until I get the same reading 3 times in a row. My scale gets leaned up against the wall at all times except for when being used, so it usually takes a couple of readings to balance itself out. Overall good day, I'm tired and looking forward to hitting the sack and having another solid day of training tomorrow. Cheers.

Great day today. Hard training session. Pushed myself super hard on my intervals and this week also calls for an additional interval in each session. Got my heart rate up to 187 and was feeling really good. Legs felt a little weak when I step off the bike. Did a variety of core work after and overall felt fit and strong. My legs seem to be not only getting bigger but leaning out as well. I'm essentially working them 6 days a week so they are definitely being punished.

Nutrition was pretty much right on today. Had a little soda with dinner but other than that I was all good. Kept it to about 2250 calories today. Woke up this morning at 187.6 so it was nice to see my weight back down a bit. I'm interested to see if it drops down into the 186 range again like it did on Friday.  My traps, tris, and hams are all pretty sore today. Overall great day and looking forward to a good day tomorrow. Cheers.

Need to update here for the past few days.

Friday: Great training session today, felt strong, and started doing my front squats full depth, as far down as I can go. Was pleasantly surprised to get my last set out at 165x3 all the way down. My uni deadlifts and uni bent over db rows felt good and strong as well, using the 90lb DB for a couple of sets on the rows. Nutrition was great today as well. I had a 200 calories worth of extra raviolis at dinner, and god was I full. Went out had 6 beers between 9-2. Woke up this morning at a surprising 186.4 over a pound lighter than yesterday.

Saturday: Felt like shit all day, and did practically nothing. Slept most of the day and got a little homework done. Had no energy but I forced myself to go to the gym. Cut my intervals one short as my legs had nothing left in them and I was starting to cramp. Got off the bike and I was a little shaky on my feet for 5-10 minutes. My legs were definitely worked from the weeks training. Did my chest work which felt good, but my tris were definitely feeling toasted and were holding me back. Really had no energy and ended up cutting my ab work in half. Felt good to get in there, but afterwards I was absolutely exhausted. I ate well today, but at a lot, probably had upwards of 4000 calories. Brought some cheese into the diet, and got a big sandwich for lunch that had mayo on bacon on it so a bunch of extra calories there. Was just happy to get into the gym today with the way I was feeling. I'm going to try and do the next 2 weeks starting Monday of no drinking at all, and sticking to my diet. Going out on Friday night seems to really throw me out of wack for a couple of days so I think it is going to have to stop. Was 187lbs today.

Sunday: No gas in the tank today either. Slept until 1 and then went to work until 11. Ate okay today, but had a bunch of extra calories again. Probably around 3500 or so. Was 188.8 this morning, definitely shows how when I eat a bunch of extra food how it sits in my body for a while, probably will take a couple of days to lean back out.

Monday: Great training session today. Had to change up the bulgarian squats for front squats because of gym equipment usage. Busted a nice set of fronts squats for 175x3 all the way down. Overall training felt good. I was a little tired so I was going a little slower than normal but got myself through my workout and felt good. Had some nice deads, sticking to straight reps/weight did 5 sets of 315x3 really focusing on accelerating as I was picking the weight up instead of picking it up at an even tempo. Also got a couple sets of side presses out for 60x3 which was good. Nutrition was right on today, stuck exactly to my plan and had about 2100 calories. Looking forward to another good day tomorrow. Cheers.

Great day of training yesterday. Pushed myself hard on the weights and felt strong. My deadlifts felt really good and I really concentrated hard on my form. Had a couple good sets of weight chins, 45x3, and my side presses were strong doing all but one set with the 55lb DB. Overall felt good and really had a lot of energy yesterday.

I did cheat a bit yesterday nutrition wise. I had a half of an oatmeal raisin cookie while at work. I made them from scratch, nice and fresh and I just couldn't resist eating some of one. Other than that I stuck to my plan completely. Weighed in at 188.8 yesterday morning.

Today's training was brutal. As I said a couple of posts before I am doing all of my intervals standing up which I did today. To begin with my glutes and hams were quite sore from yesterday, and my quads were just damn tired. I pushed hard and felt ongodly agony in my legs. Another 6 weeks of this before riding starts I feeling like I should be a monster on the bike. Although my legs were tired I still pushed hard, and was able to get my heart rate up into the 180s. During the intervals which are lasting a minute I'm peaking my wattage according to the bike just into the start of the interval at around 550 watts, and by the end I am in the 400-425 range. Not sure how accurate the bike is, and whether that is good wattage or not. As I know I have to go for a minute I am pacing myself a bit, and I think if I was just looking solely to get my max power I could put down somewhere in the 800-900 watt range, judging by the power I'm putting forth in my intervals. Core work was solid today and I worked hard on that as well.

Nutrition was excellent today. I was up early, at least for me at 6:30 as I had some studying to do and I will be up late tonight because of an exam tomorrow. I snuck in a bag of pretzels out of the vending machine while at school because I was starving, so I tacked on an extra 180 calories there. Other than that I followed my diet to a T and kept my intake to about 2100 calories for the day. I'm feeling great and I weighed in at 187.8 this morning. A full pound lighter than yesterday. I body feels very flushed out, so I think I am getting to close to my actual bodyweight. That gives me only about 8lbs left to lose and I definitely think that will put me where I want to be, if not lower than I want to be. I've got 6 weeks of winter training left and I think I should be able to do it. Cheers.

Yesterday's training was good. My legs were really feeling it during my intervals and I worked really hard. Did some core work after my intervals. Made a couple of new decisions/changes to my training program yesterday. First going to start doing all my intervals standing. They are harder standing, and when racing I don't want to be sitting I want to be standing and pedaling as much as possible and putting the power down. Second I'm going to break my core work up a bit. I do intervals 3 days a week followed by core work. The First day is going to be general core work, the second day will be half direct ab work and half general core work, and the third day will be all direct ab work. Each day I'm going to do 4 exercises 2-3 sets each.

My nutrition for the day was good. For one of my class I went to a discussion forum thing about Palestine and Israel and to my surprise there was food offered. As a poor college student I couldn't pass up a free and awesome dinner. All the food was fresh made, I had some meat and veggie lasagna, a nice spinach salad with some nuts, fruit, and blue cheese, and some fresh baguette. Because of this my caloric intake was definitely over what it should have been, but the food I ate all day was healthy and I got a solid training session in. 

This morning I weighed in at 188.8lbs. Nice to see myself dip down into the 188 range. I also noticed when I went to bed last night how cooked my legs were. I must have really pushed it on my intervals because they were just feeling exhausted walking around my apartment. As well  they felt absolutely huge, I sweat they felt a solid couple of inches bigger. Overall good day. Cheers.

Yesterday was another solid day. Both my chest and core were still pretty damn sore. I have to say I was pretty beat and was not in the mood to go to the gym. But I finally got myself up and going and went to the gym. Gym session was pretty good. I had pretty good sets and felt good, but I didn't have that hard charging feeling that I was working my ass off despite moving similar weight as usual. Again my front squats seemed to be stalled out as I barely made 225x3. I've decided I'm going to drop the weight down and start doing them ATG, as deep as I can go. It seems like doing them heavy and not quite as deep isn't getting me anywhere, so hopefully doing them lighter with the largest ROM will spur some gains.

Nutrition was very good yesterday as well. Again stayed away from the food at work. Stuck to my diet as far as food intake goes. I had 8oz of Coke with dinner, and I went out for a beer with a friend who was leaving town. The two combined probably added about 300 calories which would put me around 2300 calories for the day. Woke up yesterday and was 189.0 Overall good day and looking forward to my intervals today. Cheers.

Awesome day today. Stayed away from all food at work, and stuck exactly to my diet. Super pumped on it and I feel great. I didn't get the cravings that I got all last week. Ended up taking in about 1700 calories today and I feel great. Not overly tired or anything from a lack of food

My chest, front delts and core are all wicked sore. I really like the feeling of having my chest sore and definitely something that I have missed that last couple months of training. I think it will be good to mix the minimal chest work in once a week. Weighed in at 189.4 this morning. Cheers.

Yesterday was a so, so day, weighed in at 189.4. I had a good lifting session, but my body was definitely a bit cooked from the weeks training. My deadlifts were a bit weak when I went for my heavy sets, so I decided to back the weight down to 275lbs and just focus on form. Realized my form needs to be refined a little bit, and I was really getting a better feel for pushing from my heels. In the past I think I had good form but I wasn't getting quite low enough and hence using more of my lower back. So I'm going to concentrate on that more, and I've decided when I do my uni deadlifts I am going to do them with dumbbells just so I can work on getting a bit lower.

Nutrition was good as far as what I ate yesterday, but I did eat a bit on the high side. I also went out last night and was up late. I had 7 drinks last night, and was up until about 3. Not the best thing I could've done, but I had some friends in town so I kind of had to go out. 

Slept in late this morning, and until about 6 I was going in between reading and sleeping. Weighed in at 190.8 this morning. I did get to the gym today, but I decided not to do any intervals. My legs just felt cooked and I feel like they could use a couple of rest days to recover. I will say I was looking today at my legs, and my quads seem considerably bigger than they used to. I feel like they are a solid 1/2" taller when I flex them, and my hams are definitely sticking out a bit more to. I decided I want to start doing a little chest work as there is about none in the Ultimate MTB program. I guess I really don't need it but I'd like to mix in a little just for looks, and chest definition. I'm going to start doing a little on Saturdays after my intervals. I did a few sets of dips and flat dumbbell presses today. That's all I'm going to do, just enough to keep on top of things. Besides that chest work, I decided I really want to destroy my core, so I did a ton of core work. Definitely feeling it right now, and I know I am going to be sore tomorrow.

Nutrition has been great today, been right in line, except for a little bit of ginger ale this afternoon. Just finished cooking food for the next 8 days so I should be set. Really going to try and concentrate on staying away from food at work. Hopefully another good day tomorrow. Cheers.

Good day of training today. Did intervals and some core work today. Felt strong on my intervals. Got the heart rate up high, close to 190, and had the legs burning a lot. For core work I did some kettlebell windmills, some high rep non-stop ab work, and this exercise I saw on an episode of the ultimate fighter. Lay down on a bench, luckily the bench at my gym has some foot hooks so I don't need someone to hold my legs. Unrack the barbell lower it to your chest, sit up holding the barbell in a rack position, press the bar overhead, and then lay back down, that's one rep. Good exercise to works the abs and shoulders. Going to try it again but use dumbbells next time to work more on my shoulder stability.

Nutrition was good today but I had some extra food. My roommate bought some smoked salmon and for whatever reason he didn't like it, it didn't taste the same as the normal brand he buys. Anyway I wasn't going to pass up $17 of the stuff. I had a bunch of it today, replaced some of my normal foods with it but added it into some meals as well. Anyway probably had about an extra 400 calories which puts me at about 2300 for the day. Overall good day and I feel healthy. Unfortunately 189 on the scale again this morning. I'm going to just start weighing myself everyday to get and idea of where I am, if I happen to be holding more food one day than another, etc. Looking for another good day of training tomorrow. Cheers.

I had an okay day yesterday. My diet was a little off, I consumed a few extra hundred calories. Again a cause of being at work, wasn't hungry but couldn't stop myself from grabbing little bits of food here and there. I guess you don't realize how much you enjoy food and in a sense are addicted to it until you take certain aspects of it away. I don't know if this shows that I have no will power but it is a bit upsetting. I feel like these little splurges of a few hundred calories here and there are what's really keeping me from shedding the pounds. I was 189lbs again yesterday morning. So I might have even gained weight this past week. I will say last week I started taking creatine again so I could have put on a little water weight. This is possible but in the past taking creatine I've never really packed on any significant weight just from taking the stuff. Hopefully it is a combo of the creatine and maybe some muscle gain. I feel like my upper obliques are really starting to pop out. I decided to start taking the creatine as this 6 days a week of training has definitely been taxing on my muscles. I can deal with it, but I definitely fine my muscles a bit sore and tired on training days and I am hoping the creatine will help out a bit with that.

Wednesday's training session was definitely a case of having some sore muscles all around. My entire posterior chain was still quite sore from Monday, and my legs were just feeling tired. This was definitely evident in my front squats. Although I put up some decent weight of 135x3 185x3 225x3 205x3 205x3 205x3 I barely made the 225 set which I was hoping to not have as much trouble from. My lower back was still a bit sore as well, and while it didn't push my weights down, during my uni deads and uni rows superset my lower back was on fire. On fire in a good way, not a hurt way, just that it was being worked really hard. So overall not a great day, but I got in the gym trained hard, and still kept my caloric intake to around 2500 calories which isn't a ton. Cheers.

Another good day of training and nutrition. Stuck right to my diet today, and feel nice and healthy. Going to hit the scale tomorrow morning to see where I'm at. Hopefully about another pound below last week. I did my intervals today, and felt good and strong on them. Not sure how accurate the stationary bike but I feel like I'm putting some decent power down keeping my wattage around 500 give or take a bit for a minute. Again not sure how accurate they are but it seems pretty decent.

After my intervals I did some Turkish Get Ups. I wanted to see exactly where my max was on this exercise, as it seems to be a great indicator of total body strength. I was able to get a rep on each side with a 75lb dumbbell which I am pumped about. Definitely more than I expected, and sets me up for a great goal of a 50% bodyweight TGU by the end of my winter training season. Only need to tack about 15 more pounds onto that number and I'm there. Great day of training and nutrition. Cheers.

Yesterday sucked. Nothing else to say really. I started the day off well, and then I got to work and just ate crap all evening. Wasn't even really hungry just felt like eating. My biggest problem with my diet seems to be work.

Had a good training session today. Worked hard and posted some good weights. I felt absolutely awful this morning after eating unhealthy food all afternoon and evening yesterday. I think I learned my lesson for the most part. Had to get up early this morning to study for a philosophy exam so have and extra long day today. I'll be up for about 20 hours, so I'm throwing in a few extra 100 calories. Overall good day though, I feel fine this evening, and looking forward to another solid week of training.

Great day of training and nutrition today. Overall inactive day, sat around and did homework most of the day. Got my intervals and extra core work in today. Seeing as I haven't done any chest work in the last 2 months except for some push ups here and there, I was curious to see where my bench press was. After my intervals I sat down on the bench warmed and decided to see where I was at with 185lbs, almost my body weight and the only weight I could really remember for reps when I was on a body building based program. Surprisingly I was able to crank out 8 clean reps at that weight, slow down, stopping just above my chest, no bounce, and back up. I honestly don't think I have lost anything on my bench maybe a rep at that weight but that's about it. I think that goes to show how much stronger my shoulders and triceps have gotten from all the overhead pressing. 

Just watched the fights which were great. Some awesome BJJ tonight. Anyway overall good day, got lots of school work done, good training, and good nutrition keeping it to about 1900 calories. Cheers.

Had a good hard training session yesterday. Went for a new PR on the front squats and failed so I actually know what my max is. I went for 235x3 but was only able to get 2 reps, doing these just past parallel. Still pretty good though I think, 45lbs more than my body weight. Makes me wonder what I could do right now in a normal back squat. The rest of the workout went good and I felt overall really good. Plenty of energy and my strength levels seemed good.

My nutrition today was good, but I overate, so I'm going to consider Friday my cheat day. By 4 o'clock all I had left to eat on my plan was an orange, and my dinner which isn't a big meal by any means. Figured it was friday night so I was going to be up reasonably late and I knew that, that wouldn't cut it for the next 8 hours. I got a huge sandwich down the street. I don't know probably another 1000 calories or more would be my guess. All pretty healthy stuff except for a couple strips of bacon, but tons of veggies. Hung out with some buddies, but kept the drinking to a slow pace I had 3 1/2 beers, and decided to call it a night early so I was in bed by 12. Even though I did eat a lot, I think my body used it right up because it wasn't long before I was hungry again after that sandwich. Pretty good day, a little high on the caloric intake, but nothing real bad, and I got a hard day of training in also. Cheers.

Another great day of training yesterday. I did intervals which went really well. I feel like my cardiovascular system is starting to come a long a bit. My peak heart rate during my intervals was 185 and during my active rest I was able to bring my heart rate back down to 141. Definitely better than it was 4 weeks ago. The current intervals I'm doing are 1 minute push and then 2 minutes of active recovery.

After the intervals I did some core work. I did 3 sets of Kettlebell Windmills for 26x5 35x5 35x5 per side, I did 3 sets of floor wipers with 135lbs barbell for 5 reps a side, and then I did 3 sets of the first exercise in the following video. I was doing them with a little more explosive power out of my hips. Definitely a good exercise I did 3 sets for 26x5 35x5 35x5 per side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGwiZ8Zeuvg

Good day nutrition wise, stuck right to my plan, and had roughly 2000 calories during the day. I hung out with a buddy last night and had 2 beers so I have to tack that onto the above caloric intake. Either way it was a great day. Just hopped on the scale for the hell of it, and Friday morning I'm at 188.4. Cheers.

Pumped, 189 this morning. Back into the 80's which is awesome. The lighteset I've been in the last 5 years is 185 which was spring of 08, but I think I had a bit less muscle on my body. Either way I feel great and hopefully I can chop off another pound this week.

Training was really good today. Enjoying Phase 3 of the Ultimate MTB program. Really focus today when doing my deadlifts to push from my heels. Something that I think I normally do put I really focused on it today as it is an important part of the lift. Was happy with my lifting today to considering how sore my hamstrings and glutes still were. Kept my nutrition right in line today, and consumer right around 2200 calories. Cooked up food tonight for the next 7 days, so I'm good to go. Going to have a planned cheat day either Saturday or Sunday, not exactly sure. I do 1 day a week usually, not eat bad, but just eat a higher caloric intake, helps keep me sane with the nutrition. Overall great day, and looking forward to intervals and core work tomorrow. Cheers.

Again a solid day today. Changed my dinner up, but my nutrition was right in line and I consumed about 2100 calories today. Forgot to hop on the scale this morning so I will make sure to check tomorrow morning. I had solid training session, and did intervals and some core work today. I alternated my intervals between seated and standing. I think that this is how I am going to do them instead of all seated one session, and all standing the next. I guess it would be more similar to a DH run with seated and standing pedaling. For core work I did some Kettlebeel Turkish Get Ups 35lbx3 44lbx3 44lbx3 per side, and some Kettlebell Windmills, 3 sets of 26lbx5.

I will say that my hamstring are pretty sore and my glutes are super sore from yesterday. Between the heavy front squats and the uni deadlifts the lower half of my posterior chain is definitely cooked. Hopefully I'm good to go for tomorrows lifting session. Also noticed today that my medial delts were a bit sore. Not really sure from what, maybe the Un Gaurd Press, but that doesn't really make sense. Lastly my biceps are in some pain from holding the barbell while doing the front squat. I do my front squats with a bodybuilding hold, because it is too much for my wrists to hold the bar in the clean/rack position. Overall another great day, I feel healthy, and have lots of energy. Cheers.

Didn't make it to the gym yesterday. I woke up and was in a bit of a slump all morning, and just did homework. I'm going to try and for the next 4 weeks not drink at all. Maybe a beer here or there, but no heavy drinking, and try and keep the super late nights out as well. The drinking is a little rough for training the next day, but clearly as last weekend demonstrated I had a great lifting session after a night of drinking so it doesn't completely destroy my training. On the other hand this past Friday night I didn't go to bed until 4 AM and I think that was my biggest problem, not the drinking as I drank less than I had last weekend. Staying up that late I feel really through my internal clock out of wack and I didn't really get back into the swing of things until today. My nutrition was good on Sunday and I kept it to around 2000 calories. A little more than I would have liked on a non-training day, but the restaurant was busy and I was really busy so I was in need of a little extra food.

Today went really well. Pretty much stuck to my nutrition plan, switched up one thing, but still kept my intake to right around 2200 calories. Since my last day in the gym was intervals I figured I would start today with weights. Today was the first week of Phase 3 of James program. I had a great weekend and I a liking the change after being on the same thing for the last 3 weeks. My last two sets of front squats were good (being my 5th and 6th set), I did 225x3 for both sets. Barely made the 3rd rep on both sets so that I definitely about my max for the given reps, and I can already feel the soreness creeping into my glutes. Now Phase 3 has one legged deadlifts and boy was I surprised with these. I wasn't sure where to start so I just plopped on a couple of 45lb plates and did my first sets at 135x3 per leg. Way harder than I was expecting. Was a little heavy for my first set, but in the end I rocked that weight for all 6 sets which I felt was a good weight. After the second set I took my shoes off to get a little lower and for added balance as I wear trail running shoes that have a bit of lift on them. The Uni Deadlifts also really rocked my core just balancing while holding onto 135lbs was tough and I could really feel my core hard at work. Overall great workout and great day. It has been about 2 weeks since I hit the scale, so I'm going to hit it tomorrow morning to see where I am at, as I feel and look leaner. Cheers.

Quick update for yesterday. I didn't end up making it to the gym, as I was just beat. Plan is to try and go today, but I may take it off, as I really don't have a lot of gas in the tank, but I did just wake up. I went completely off my diet yesterday, didn't follow it all. Wasn't necessarily  a bad thing, I ate healthy food all day, but just ate over the my caloric intake goal. I had been straight out for 6 solid days, so it was probably good to have a day where I got an extra 1000 calories or so. Probably ate in the 3000 range, but all good stuff, lots of veggies, fruit, and some sushi. GSP rocked it last night destroying BJ Penn. Thoroughly impressed. Watching the fights really made me want to get back in the gym and starting training some BJJ a couple days a week, but I can only do so many things. Hopefully going to make it to the gym today, but we shall see. Cheers.