Progress Log: Week 13

Details

Mode

It was a high rep/low weight week. The previous week was supposed to be this, but since I missed most of it, I’m doing a re-run.

Sunday

Nailed that Sunday workout. There was nothing that especially stood out, it was just a solid 2 hour chest and biceps workout.

Monday

I got into the gym on Monday. I got through all of my shoulder workout and most of my leg workout, including the kettlebell squats that I added in. I missed my leg extensions and leg curls, however, due to a time mix up I had on my schedule. I had to leave early to be back in my office for a department meeting.

I wasn’t super happy with it, but I still got an hour in.

Tuesday

My Big Three was completed on Tuesday with a productive back and triceps workout. It was a solid hour and ten minutes.

Wednesday

I’m liking circuit training day more and more. I just set the weight, go for four sets between 8-12 reps for each of my ten exercises and get it all completed less than an hour (55 minutes, to be exact). I bumped my weight up for six of the ten exercises and then finished it all off with 20 minutes on the stationary bike.

Alicia and I talked that night about circuit training and she’s showing a little bit of interest in, perhaps, joining me for a session. It would slow me down a little bit, but that would be balanced out by good quality time with my favorite person. I think I’d really like it and hope she decides to give it a try.

Thursday

For the first time in what feels like forever, I got that fifth day in. I put in an hour of much needed yoga and then had a 30 minute core workout that I felt pretty acutely later in the day. I really need to do that core work more than once a month. On the bright side, I increased my reps on all exercises and added a couple more seconds to all four sets of my planks.

I hate planks. Nothing makes me sweat like they do. Before the pandemic, back when I was a svelte 190 lbs, I could plank for a little over a minute and a half for four sets.

Right now I’m at 34 seconds for four sets, shaking, sweating, and swearing the whole time.

I just need to keep reminding myself that in a few months, it’s going to get easier and easier to add those seconds on.

Friday

So Alicia had a great idea.

She said “Hey! You should take Friday off and spend my Sabbath with me at the beach!”

Well…ya don’t have to ask me twice!

We had a great time over in Lincoln City, walking on the beach, hounding the rocks. It even stopped raining for us during the duration of our jaunt on the sand. I did end up getting almost 9,000 steps in, which is good because we rounded it all out with a trip to Mo’s. I had been dreaming about a slumgullion cannonball for pretty much the entire week.

For those who don’t know, slumgullion is clam chowder with a heaping load of cooked, tiny bay shrimp added in. A cannonball is when you put this chowder inside of a hollowed out sourdough bowl.

I then followed it with a little piece of marionberry cobbler a la mode which I shared with Alicia.

I felt no shame, y’all. This nourished my soul.

We got home by 1:30 pm, I got some errands done over in West Salem, went and picked up Jack’s food at Salem Pet Supply, and then got all my grocery shopping finished and put away.

It was time well spent. I was zonked by 7 pm. We spent the evening having pizza and watching Grease.

Friday was a very good day.

Saturday

Today is my Sabbath. No workouts, no major demands. I will do my laundry today but that actually helps reduce my anxiety about getting ready for the workweek on Sunday. It also helps to ensure I can get my Sunday workout in with nothing else blocking it. I have a pretty big week coming up next week at work and want to remove all of the obstacles that I can to make sure I both stay on track in the gym and stay focused and sharp at work.

Alicia and I are headed down to Albany today to have lunch with my pops and his fiancée, Connie. We’re going to Novak’s Hungarian restaurant. It will be Alicia and Connie’s first time, and it might even be my pop’s first time as well. I’m pretty excited about it.

Diet

I had a decent week, foodwise. I was in caloric deficit from Sunday – Thursday and have been working on getting more protein in.

By the way, 185 grams of protein a day is a lot, folks. Most days I’m doing really good if I can get in 100 grams. This is, in my opinion, the most expensive part of health and fitness.

I completely busted my diet on Friday, but I gave myself space for it. It was a long day, I had a couple of oat milk mochas…once in the morning on our trip to the coast and once in the afternoon before I went grocery shopping. Mochas/lattes and the like are things that I normally just do before long car trips or grocery shopping, and I can’t tell you the last time I had two of them in one day. I had the amazing lunch at the coast and then we had pizza in the evening.

Today, of course, will be Hungarian food, which is rich and delicious. My cheat day normally extends from dinner time on Friday night to dinner time on Saturday night. I have a feeling I might not be in the mood for a heavy dinner tonight, after lunch, however.

We’ll see. In any regard, I’m going to enjoy the time I get to spend with my family and not fret over hitting the mark calorically today.

With the exception of Friday, I hit my goal of at least 72 oz of water every day, and took in 96 oz on two days.

I’m feeling pretty good rolling into Week 14.