Cylon357's Super Cool Covid 2020 Weight loss comp log!

[Cylon357]

Man, I have NOT got this timing in the 3 weeks down quite right. I was exhausted today and still a bit sore from Thursday's squat workout. I decided to just liss today and did a two mile walk. I'll double up the workouts in the next couple of days to finish week 3 strong.

To be honest, I have a hard time working out on Saturday and Sundays. I frequently mis-time my meals and end up with less than stellar workouts. But I'll figure it out.

Today, other than the walk, has been mostly watching playoff football, though The Wife did put together an excellent, fairly easy meal. Because I know posts are always better with pics, here you go.

[wango]

Nice meal! Nice games today.

Sat & Sun are hard to workout on, agreed.

[Cylon357]

So I have made this my deload week. Still had a good workout tonight, but kept it super simple with no HIIT.

I think my switch to Enclomiphene is driving down my estrogen. I'm switching back to Clomid for now (cause there is a conversation coming with the doc about the needle).

I did enjoy the football weekend though!

[Cylon357]

Good, easy deload back workout today.

Going back to the Clomid seems to be helping. I'm thinking Enclomiphene has too much AI action going on. I'll talk to the doc when I go back about switching to the needle, though I MIGHT add HGH to my regimen for a few months before switching. Just rando thoughts this evening...

[wango]

HGH, yes!

[Cylon357]

Good workout tonight to kick off the first week after my deload. I think I'm basically doing 531 with HIIT finishers 3 of the 4 days. As usual, I started with a one mile walk to warm up and get an Italian lesson in.

Tonight was squats, followed by calf raises with the barbell, supersetted over to kettlebell to get the last reps out of them. Did some leg curls and something else, I think, but maybe not. I'm still in the post workout feel goods.

The HIIT finisher tonight was
3 minutes on the treadmill
3 minutes on the climber
6 pullups
15 kettlebell swings
1 minute rest

I only did two rounds, but I did a bonus set of pullups. I like to work legs hard / back light and adding the pullups to the end of my squat workout fills the bill (at least for now). Finished with about a 1/3 mile walk, then some yoga stretches.

Had a protein blend, and ate some homemade sourdough bread with some ham. Damn that was good. This is why I can't lose weight, but I kept the portions down. Life's a marathon, not a sprint and all that lot.

[Cylon357]

Good bench workout at lunch today. Did my 3x5 for bench, then on to cable flyes for some isolation work. I'll post up my rigged up cable setup sometime. After that, I did some front side and lateral super sets, then moved on to skull crushers super setted with push downs, then ez curl bar bicep curls super setted with super light isolation curls. The word of the day, ladies and gentlemen, seems to have been 'supersets'. I was hurting but damn it was a good hurting.

My HIIT had been planned to be

87654321 continuous sets of dips and pushups. That is:
8 dips
8 pushups
7 dips
7 pushups
6 pushups, etc
all the way down to 1 of each
No or very minimal rest between sets.

There is probably a name for that type of pyramid / drop set / something because those terms aren't right.

I made it through 8 7 6 and on those last few reps of both dips and pushups I was shaking and the heart was thumping. I might could and maybe should have taken a break and pushed on through, but damn that pump was painful and I was getting gassed. But now I have a baseline and something to shoot for next week. Because evidently my head is broken or something. Don't judge me, ain't none of y'all slacking in the weight room, either. :P

[Cylon357]

BTW, I shot this pic when I finished my workout today. The pics you normally see of home gyms are all well organized, this is The Real. Once again, don't judge me. I can put my hands on anything I need within seconds. Seconds, I say!! :crazy:

Though I do admit that when I saw this I was like 'damn, I guess I need to put the theme from "Sanford and Son" in my playlist'.

Oh and yeah, that's a "waist bag" aka fanny pack on the heavy bag. I walk with it put my phone in it and listen to language lessons during warm up / cool down walks. Don't judg... ah, you know what? Judge away, jack. #iamwhatiam

[wango]

Great set up!

Lol, just bought a new “slim” fanny pack myself. There’s no gym lockers and don’t want to leave wallet/phone in the car. I still have my I-pod that is at least 15 years old and my earbuds are attached by a cord and not wireless. Yeah, I’m hip.

[Cylon357]

Great set up!

Lol, just bought a new “slim” fanny pack myself. There’s no gym lockers and don’t want to leave wallet/phone in the car. I still have my I-pod that is at least 15 years old and my earbuds are attached by a cord and not wireless. Yeah, I’m hip.

You know, some of us more... senior gentlemen get grief because of our 'fashion' choices. Listen, it's not that we (generally speaking) don't get it, it's just that we are SO over all the 'oh, I have to have X Brand shoes' or 'those super fancy earbuds from music guy' that it just ain't important to us. Nothing wrong with those things, but I have multiple pair of Sony corded earbuds that I use. I bought one set and was like 'damn, these are the best earbuds I have ever used', and bought a few more. The Wife's Apple ear buds (iBuds?) don't sound as good as these.

Really, I think for most of us older cats, we just don't care anymore about being hip or fashionable. No judging, just putting it out there.

I'm still a bit off from standing out on the porch and saying 'get off my lawn!' but I am starting to see the appeal

[wango]

Hey, it’s hip to be square.

I have 3 outfits for the gym.

Grey sweatpants with grey t-shirt.
Grey sweatpants with navy t-shirt.
Grey sweatpants with black t-shirt.

For daily life, replace sweatpants with jeans.

Simplicity.

[Cylon357]

Good deadlift workout today. Good, not great. Did deads, then barbell rows, followed by pulldowns of various varieties and calf work. Seems like that was it, except the mile walk to warm up and cool down. No HIIT today, mistimed my meals, I guess. Plus lunch was short today so I had to get in and get it done. HIIT tomorrow with overhead press day, though, probably the heavy bag if I had to guess.

Tonight was a cheat meal: ground sirloin burgers and tots! This is round 1 (round 2 was more of the same)

PS - That's not a salad, just baby spinach with ketchup and mustard on the top part of the bun.

[Cuz]

Good deadlift workout today. Good, not great. Did deads, then barbell rows, followed by pulldowns of various varieties and calf work. Seems like that was it, except the mile walk to warm up and cool down. No HIIT today, mistimed my meals, I guess. Plus lunch was short today so I had to get in and get it done. HIIT tomorrow with overhead press day, though, probably the heavy bag if I had to guess.

Tonight was a cheat meal: ground sirloin burgers and tots! This is round 1 (round 2 was more of the same)

PS - That's not a salad, just baby spinach with ketchup and mustard on the top part of the bun.

Damn, now im hungry

[Cylon357]

Damn, now im hungry

It was tasty! One cheat meal a week is all I'm allowing myself right now. The rest of my diet isn't as clean as it should be at the moment, but baby steps!

[Cylon357]

Good overhead press workout today. Man, I am SO glad I started buying equipment before the pandemic. Anyhow, I got my 3x5 on the OP weight... Actually, for the final set I went ahead and got 6. Anyhow, then did dips, final set with a 25 pounder. Worked in some high rep (25 - 30) sets of shrugs... that hurt so dang good. Moved on to pushdowns alternated with ez curl bar curls. Did lateral trifset (front raises, side raises and rear laterals supersetted). Then went on to HIIT that I missed yesterday.

I worked the bag for 3 minute rounds, with 1 minute between rounds. But that 1 minute ain't completely sedentary, brothers and sisters! Have to knock out 10 pushups (in the gloves for the first two sets) and get water (again, with the gloves on.... I just know I'm going to lose it at some point). So the rest of the minute is rest time. Did 3 sets, and took the gloves off for the final set of pushups.

Man, it is fun working the bag. I enjoy working out combos, though I still don't have a good way to do upppercuts. I've thought about buying a slam ball, 10 pounds or so, and hanging it as an upper cut bag. Multi purpose equipment is handy. But I have also just thought about hanging a heavy pillow or something. We'll see what I end up with.

BTW, here is the pic I promised up above about the cable fly setup. I had a few attachments from way back, and have assorted cable lengths to do pushdows and pulldowns, plus one to do low rows or any sort of work with a low pulley. Yes, it is kind of rigged up, but it works, jack! For cable flyes, you have to put your back to the loading pin and walk forward a few steps, but it gets the job done.

[Cylon357]

Nice squat workout tonight, but I kept it brief... not quite "I ain't doing sh!t" but close to it.

Squats (got my 3x3 weights), then calf work followed by reverse hypers super setted with hyper extensions. 1 mile walk to warm up, 1.5 to cool down and it was in the books tonight. No HIIT, but I will do something... 'inventive' tomorrow in place of LISS.

Took 12.5 mg of MK-677 last night and ate pretty much all day. I'm guessing it has gotten to the point where I can't even trust myself with small doses. But, it's all good, brothers and sisters. Life is cool otherwise.

[Cylon357]

Got both my LISS and some HIIT in today (though the HIIT portion was somewhat brief).

Did a one mile walk at a good pace to warm up. Then did 2 rounds of the following:

3 minute run/jog on the treadmill - no intervals
3 minutes on the rower - with intervals
8 pullups

No dedicated rest between sets or exercises, only what was needed to transition (and get water as needed). Then a one mile walk to cool down, though still at a good clip.

[Cylon357]

NICE bench workout today. I got my 3 rep goal (because this is the 3 week of 5 3 1), might have had another in the tank, but I wanted to get some slightly lighter work in. Dropped down to my 5 rep goal from last week and got 6 or 7. Then dropped even more and did a nice wide grip set for 8 or 9 reps.

BTW, these are what I call legit bench presses, not the arched back thing you see sometimes. Just do declines, man! Anyhow, these are probably not competition approved because I don't pause real long at the bottom, but there is no bounce or cheating.

Anyhow, moved on to dips. I REALLY like leaning my upper body forward and bring my knees towards my chest. That seems to hit the pecs HARD for me. 3 sets of 10 then moved on to shoulder lateral triset, followed by skull crushers alternated with dumbbell curls. Did my standard 1 mile walk to warm up and to cool down, but did not do HIIT today since I did it yesterday.

Oh, some stuff arrived today. Got my first HGH, will be running it at 1 to 2 iu per day for the long run. Will update here when results are clear.

[Cylon357]

You ever have one of those days where you don't feel like working out but go ahead and do it and end up with a GREAT workout?

Saturday was not one of those days for Cylon.

BUT I did force myself to get in there and do my deadlift workout. It was good, not great, but better than no workout at all.

Since this is the second week of 5 3 1, I'm doing 3x3 for the work sets. I got my weight tonight, though I don't know how. I was really not feeling like it today, but once I got going, things moved along reasonably well. I did barbell rows after the deads. Oddly, I felt stronger on the rows than I did with deads. I did some calf work, then supersetted (not HIIT) goblet squats and kettlebell swings, 4 sets of squats with 3 of swings. It was enough this day. The standard one mile walk to warm up and a bit over a a mile to cool down and it was in the books.

Kind of an odd occurrence for me today. During deads, I noticed some soreness in my left triceps and in my right lat. No clue what that was about, but at times it made me wonder if it was an injury and I needed to back down. I didn't and the lat feels fine now, though the left tri is still sore. Not sure what is going on there, perhaps I'm just falling apart from age. /shrug

BTW, I did start the HGH yesterday. 1iu in the morning for now, but I will be moving that up to as much as 2iu in the next several days. Nothing much to report there. I also have some Ipamorelin from Peptide Sciences that I may run before bed. I've had good luck with it before but I kind of want to hold off for a bit and see what the HGH does by itself.

Tonight's dinner was a healthy shrimp stir fry, damn tasty and all gone, though The Wife did help make it go bye bye

[wango]

Congrats on the perseverance of grinding out that workout! And, great looking stir fry!

[Cylon357]

Congrats on the perseverance of grinding out that workout! And, great looking stir fry!

That's the joy of getting to the end of the week and realizing I didn't eat all the rice for the week. Throw it in there!

[Cylon357]

Given that yesterday's workout was just sort of meh, I really wasn't expecting much from today.

Man, that was a mistake!

I started with one mile walk to warm up, then went to the rack.

Today was the final day, Overhead Press day, of week 2 (aka 3x3). I did my warm up sets, then got to my 5 rep weight from last week. I did it for 3, just sort of wanting to get that deep warm-up but not over do and have nothing left in the tank for the real work. It didn't feel as light as I thought it should. I went ahead and set up my 3x3 weight, and did my pre-lift ritual (clear the mind, focus, attack). I stepped up to the bar, brought it out of the rack and the first rep... got.... stuck about half way up. I soldiered though it but was kind of baffled. Maybe that was what I needed because I got my sh!t lined up and knocked out 3 more solid good reps. I felt like I had some more left in the tank, but I went ahead and racked it. So, I thought well hell, lets see where we land. So I loaded my weight for next week (3x1) and long story short, got 3 solid sets of 3 out of it. New PR on the horizon? Maybe.

But I didn't push it this week. I will adjust next week's weight up appropriately and see where I land. No HIIT again today, because I don't typically after over head press work and that got me to thinking. Maybe scaling back the HIIT this week contributed to busting this plateau. I don't know, but it seems like a theory.

Went on to do dips, shrugs, push downs and curls, then did a two mile walk, in part to celebrate, in part to make up for the lack of HIIT. As I'm sitting here typing this up, I realize that I completely missed my lateral tri-set... No bigs, I will take a good solid workout and be happy!

[Cylon357]

Good Squat Workout today. This is the start of 3x1 week. I did not do 3x1 with my target weight, but I did do 1 set of the target weight, then got froggy. I tried to add another 10% or so. That wasn't happening but I did do some heavy partials. Then back down to the 1 rep weight for another rep. Went down a bit more to get some reps in, then down more still to do a narrow stance set.

Moved on to leg curls alternated with standing calf raises. I know those aren't synergistic exercises, I just like to vary things up like that sometimes. Did some bridges from the ground, then on to HIIT.

I kept the HIIT brief but intense today. It looked like this:

2 minutes on the treadmill - jog / run with intervals
2 minutes on the climber - with intervals
pullups, as many as I could muster

I did two rounds of that, then changed to
3 minutes treadmill - jog / run steady pace
3 minutes climber - steady pace
last set of pullups

It was good. The heart was thumping during the intervals on the treadmill... 85% or so of max heart rate, if the cheap a** monitor on the treadmill can be trusted. Plus, I don't think I overdid it and won't have a negative impact on my other weights this week.

[Cylon357]

Friday.... So, today's bench workout was good. I got my 1 rep weight, yay! I MIGHT have had an additional rep, but I felt like maybe I didn't either, so no reason risking it. Did drop down to my 5 rep week weight and got a good solid 8 reps out of it.

Did dips, 2x10 body weight, then added weight. I got 8 good reps with 25 pounds, and 5 ok ones with 50. My chest was somewhat pre-exhausted, so I took what I could get cleanly. After getting the bench weight, everything else was gravy.

Moved on to french presses super setted with dumbell curls, then called it a workout. 1 mile walk to warm up and 1 more mile to cool down, then shower and back to work. No HIIT, as I have deadllift workout on Sunday and overhead press on Monday. I took my own advice from last week and cut back on the HIIT this week, since it is the last of a 3 week cycle. After this, I have a deload week and then will decide what I want to do going forward. Probably need to work on cutting but we will see.

BTW, I recognize that what I am calling HIIT, may not always qualify in the strictest sense. It ain't LISS and it has HIIT aspects, while sometimes being outright HIIT, so... yeah, that's just how it is.

[wango]

Keep up the killer work!

[Cylon357]

Good Dead lifts yesterday (Sunday).

I didn't say 'dead lift workout' because I really only did deads and some pull downs. BUT I got my 1 rep weight + 10 lbs. Yay! I felt a little froggy and added 20 more pounds. It was a no go on this day, though I was able to persuade it to come off the ground an inch or two. No bigs, goal met plus some, all is good.

I did pulldowns and single arm pulldowns but for some odd reason, I was feeling it in my triceps, which almost never happens. It might have been the angle, but I didn't want to mess up my OP workout today, so I just stopped. Did a 1 mile walk to warm up, 1.5 to cool down and called it a day.

Enjoyed the Super Bowl with some ground turkey tacos!

[Cylon357]

Got a new PR in overhead press last night! Details to follow.

[Cylon357]

So, yeah, I got a new overhead press PR last night.

I should qualify that with I got a new 21st century PR last night. I'm not as strong as I was in my 20s, but never really tested overhead press as a youth. So, I was probably stronger then, but just can't say. I was also 165# with maybe 10% bodyfat at times, and now I'm 185 with 25'ish. It's ok, I am what I am. It's called getting old, people! We all do it (if we are lucky).

Starting to sound like a cranky old man there. Next I'll be yelling at kids to 'get off my lawn' in my underwear.

ANYHOW, I wasn't really feeling it yesterday, but made myself get in there and get it done. Week 3 of 5 3 1 wears me down. My first work set was my most recent PR. It went up easy for a single, and I thought about trying for a double, but I had my eyes set higher. Re-racked and went up 20 pounds. Psych psych psych, step in, un-rack, presssssss... DAMMIT! I ALMOST got it, missed it by 1-2 inches. But was super stoked because I knew 10# increase on the PR was likely, if I hadn't burned myself out on the 20 over. I did take another shot at the 20 over but it didn't even get to my chin before I decided to save it for the next, lighter, attempt.

Dropped 10#, then went for it again. I got it this time, but it looked a little catty wampus, just a little crooked - my form otherwise is good. This is an overhead press, not a squat thrust thing. Anyhow, went back at the same weight and got it again in a completely clean rep.

Did some other stuff but really was just happy to move the PR up. I didn't dance (because Cylon can only do the robot) but was pleased all the same.

And now begins the deload week. What is next? Pheh, who knows?

[wango]

Nice work on the shoulder press! Regrettably an ancient memory for me.

Catty-wampus? Yeah, no wonder I like exchanging posts with you. Just no monkey-shines while you are working out, could lead to injuries.

[Cylon357]

Hmm, what's this, now?

Cylon357 has blue balls??? Lord, I hope not. Besides that's just one big 12lb ball.

I bought this slam ball because I need something to use as an uppercut bag. Since I didn't like the options I was finding, I bought this off of Amazon hoping that it will do double duty as a slam / medicine ball and something I can strap up with the heavy bag to use to work on uppercuts. It might not be the right density but I will be trying it out for real next Wednesday.

If my next post after that is talk to text, you will know that I broke both my hands. Sometimes life's lessons are hard. That said, I suspect the 12oz gloves I wear will do a good job of protecting my hands.

[wango]

It might be a little dense, but seems like a good idea/solution. I used to use bag gloves & hardly wrapped at all unless the instructor insisted. 12 oz. should be plenty I would think though.

[Cylon357]

It might be a little dense, but seems like a good idea/solution. I used to use bag gloves & hardly wrapped at all unless the instructor insisted. 12 oz. should be plenty I would think though.

Yeah, that is my concern. The lower part of the heavy bag is denser, of course, and that is probably about the same density as this slam ball. It isn't awful to hit, but I would probably move up to the 16oz gloves if the entire bag was that dense.

[Cylon357]

Good squat workout yesterday. I'm moving away from 5 3 1 but still keeping most of the exercises, just upping the reps. I will vary it up some, like I probably won't deadlift each week, but still going to include the HIIT'ish finishers.

I also did fasted LISS cardio this morning after dosing my HGH. 2 mile walk, always a little slower when I am doing language lessons, but two birds, one stone and all.

What I'm looking forward to is tomorrows bench / chest day. I am working the heavy bag as HIIT tomorrow, and that includes rigging up the slam ball mentioned above. I did try giving it some shots with the 12oz gloves on... It can be felt but it isn't too bad, probably about like I thought: similar to the denser parts of the heavy bag. Anyhow, we'll see how that goes.

[KittyO1]

You’re tough! I’ve never done any boxing but from what I’ve used those balls for, seems super dense! Haha What do I know though! What are you moving your rep goals towards now?

[Cylon357]

You’re tough! I’ve never done any boxing but from what I’ve used those balls for, seems super dense! Haha What do I know though! What are you moving your rep goals towards now?

8 to 12 or so, depending on how I feel. If I can get 8 reps out of my 5 weight from the previous month, I'll be happy. I really need to focus on HIIT and LISS to start getting some weight off. But danggit, I DO like lifting.

BTW, the 12oz gloves take a lot of the sting out. I can't always REALLY hit as hard as I can, like if the bag is swinging towards me or on one of the denser spots, but that just means more energy to focus on technique and speed.

[Cylon357]

I slept like garbage last night. Not sure what is up with that. BUT it did leave me feeling bleah for my bench / boxing workout today and that is no good.

I still got 6 out of my targeted 8 reps on bench and with how I was feeling, I call it a victory. I didn't have it in me to do dips, but I did start feeling some better after I got started working out. I kept it simple and just did skull crushers super setted with curls and then hung the bag.

That is not a colorful euphemism, BTW. It's not like "yeah dude, I got SO wasted and hooked up with this hot chick. We hung the bag! All night long!!"

That's not it at all. But maybe it could be, if we want it hard enough!

Enough sarcasm, I get it. I think I am having those post workout feel goods, sometimes they bring out the snark.

Anyhow, I literally hung the heavy bag from the rack and sort of looped the aforementioned slam ball over the hanger. It didn't work great. As @Kitty01 speculated, it was just a bit too dense. Maybe I can wrap it in a towel or something.... Also, I'm pretty sure I know what at least some of you are thinking:


MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST BUY A DAMN UPPER CUT BAG!!!

Yeah, there is that, too. Fine, OK, whatever, I will buy one.

But which one?

:P

[KittyO1]

8 to 12 or so, depending on how I feel. If I can get 8 reps out of my 5 weight from the previous month, I'll be happy. I really need to focus on HIIT and LISS to start getting some weight off. But danggit, I DO like lifting.

BTW, the 12oz gloves take a lot of the sting out. I can't always REALLY hit as hard as I can, like if the bag is swinging towards me or on one of the denser spots, but that just means more energy to focus on technique and speed.

Really enjoy HIIT but it can be hard to convince yourself to do it sometimes! [emoji1787]

I slept like garbage last night. Not sure what is up with that. BUT it did leave me feeling bleah for my bench / boxing workout today and that is no good.

I still got 6 out of my targeted 8 reps on bench and with how I was feeling, I call it a victory. I didn't have it in me to do dips, but I did start feeling some better after I got started working out. I kept it simple and just did skull crushers super setted with curls and then hung the bag.

That is not a colorful euphemism, BTW. It's not like "yeah dude, I got SO wasted and hooked up with this hot chick. We hung the bag! All night long!!"

That's not it at all. But maybe it could be, if we want it hard enough!

Enough sarcasm, I get it. I think I am having those post workout feel goods, sometimes they bring out the snark.

Anyhow, I literally hung the heavy bag from the rack and sort of looped the aforementioned slam ball over the hanger. It didn't work great. As @Kitty01 speculated, it was just a bit too dense. Maybe I can wrap it in a towel or something.... Also, I'm pretty sure I know what at least some of you are thinking:


MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST BUY A DAMN UPPER CUT BAG!!!

Yeah, there is that, too. Fine, OK, whatever, I will buy one.

But which one?

:P

Could you possibly buy a used one?

My snarkiness gets me in trouble sometimes too but man, don’t you wish those after workout feels would last all day!

[wango]

Yeah, maybe. Don’t need a needless fracture!

[Cylon357]

So, I had a wonky sort of few days, but got back at it today with Squat day. New week, new dragons to slay!

Good workout. Got my squats in ,1x8 and 1x6 with my previous 5 rep weight, so I call that a win. Dropped weight for both a wide set and a narrow set, then moved on to calf work, followed by leg curls. Seems like there was some other little something in there but maybe not.

I'm dialing the HIIT back just a bit. The heavy bag workout last week left me gassed for the rest of the week. Actually, that may be the key: leave the bag alone. I can't seem to just 'take it easy' when I'm working the bag.

Anyhow, I did some treadmill running, followed by 6-8 pullups and 15 kettle bell swings, then 45 seconds rest. First round on treadmill was 3 minutes with no intervals, second round was 2 minutes WITH intervals. Only two rounds today, but I will up it to 3 next week. Those damn intervals man, they get me every time. I'm trying not to burn out too early in the week, so I probably will not do the bag this week. I'll figure something else out after bench day.

Life is good, man, that's all that matters!

[Cylon357]

Oh man, I've got that 'you are going to walk like Fred Sanford tomorrow' feeling tonight (from Tuesday's squat workout). Yeah buddy!