Strength III, Day A, Workout 4

With my lower back feeling normal again, I managed to match the weights I did before I took it easy with the Squats, which wasn't bad. A 424lbs.-1RM is still twice my current body weight (208lbs.). In any case, I "made up" for it with my last Quarter squats for the phase (maybe even for the year): two reps with ten 45lbs. plates plus two 5-pounders on a 44lbs. bar for a total of 504lbs. Believe me, just trying to balance that thing on my shoulders was enough of a workout.

Well, now that I got that out of my system, in two weeks' time, it's back to 15-rep Squat sets for me. Ugh.

P.S. First time someone in the gym ever asked me to flex my bicep. Haha...

Strength III, Day D, Workout 3

3 rounds down, 1 to go, then I get a week off before I go on my last phase of NRoL. Yatta!

Strength III, Day C, Workout 3

Workout went well since I went lighter-than-usual with my Deadlifts, but even then, the strain on my lower back was just enough to be felt, but not enough to upset its recovery. As long as I don't anything stupid, I'll be fine.

Strength III, Day B, Workout 3

Perhaps today's pathetic performance will teach me not to skip meals the day before a big workout, however unintended it may have been.

What a lousy way to celebrate a milestone.

Strength III, Day A, Workout 3

AKA, Strength III, Day Ain't-gonna-kill-my-back-because-it-ain't-worth-it, Workout 3

Though, with the help of the weight belt, I did manage to find out what 494lbs. on my shoulders felt like. Basically, I just lifted it off the rack and put it back down after a couple of Quarter squats. It'll be a long while before I can even think of doing this for regular Squats.

Strength III, Day D, Workout 2

Thanks to YouTube,  my Close-grip pull-ups are a bit better than they were last week. I had a feeling the chin-dip-leg raise apparatus I used was meant for close-grip chin-ups not pull-ups. Since I've been slowly getting heavier this month, I need all the help I can get.

For my cardio, I tried out a 17-minute 10/10 Transformation HIIT session so I know I'm in for when I start the routine in March after I finish Fat Loss I. Getting through the first 5 minutes was a bitch, but I worked up a bigger sweat than NRoL's. The worst one for me is still Body-For-Life's.

Strength III, Day C, Workout 2

I could have so many excuses as to why today's workout was a bust, but the bottom line is that I did the best I could finishing it and just have to try better next time. In fact, I may just lay off putting so much stress on my lower back for the Deadlifts and Squats since it's not adapting as quickly as I hoped. I considered stopping Strength III altogether, but my upper body needs more work.

Strength III, Day B, Workout 2

I was lucky having a trainer available to spot me this morning. For the past fortnight, the gym has been busy with new clients, most probably there for their New Year's Resolutions and using up their free introductory sessions with the personal trainers. Like in previous years, these numbers will drop off again come summertime as some of these guys are around just for that purpose. Hehe...

Anyway, I've been making slow progress on my Bench presses but progress nonetheless. Before this phase is through I hope to hit a 1RM at either 284 or 294lbs. or maybe even 304lbs. just so I can finally break that mental barrier. And my chest really needs to catch up with my butt.

Strength III, Day A, Workout 2

Today was a little easier than last week (the initial shock wore off), and I tried a 484lbs. Quarter squat 1RM where I noticed I had more trouble balancing the bar on my shoulders than doing the lift.

I'm glad I only have to do this routine two more times because I'm feeling a bit guilty hogging the only power cage in the gym for so long. In fact, I already signed up for my company's fitness center (it's more of that than a real gym) which I can hopefully use for the upcoming phases.

Strength III, Day D, Workout 1

Now that I've had a run-through of this phase, I'm gonna stick to the recommended routine in the book instead of adding an extra week at the end. First,  I started off Strength III knowing most of the exercises so I didn't need a trial week like I usually did before. Second, I wanna get to Fat Loss I sooner than later so I can officially "end" my first year of NRoL and move on to something new. And third, the whole of Strength III is a bitch. I'm not even sure if I'll come out of it in one piece. Today, thankfully, was the easiest Day, so I have something to look forward to at the end of every cycle.

Other stuff: I think I've mentioned I had to store away most of my Medium shirts since I looked like a stuffed sausage in them. I'll wear them again when I've trimmed down to 190 or so. In the meantime, I've been buying Large shirts, which now I can fill out a lot better than when I was a "Marge".

Strength III, Day C, Workout 1

Just when I thought Deadlifts couldn't get any deadlier, I got introduced to the Rack deadlift and the Snatch-grip deadlift off box. Like Day A's Quarter squats, the Rack deadlift (where the bar is elevated to just below my knees) is supposed to be heavier than what I normally do for regular Deadlifts, but since I'm starting out with this exercise, that'll have to wait till next week (or even the week after next). The Snatch-grip deadlift off box is the bastard child of two Deadlift variations, both of which I hated doing during the Fat Loss phases. Now I get to do them both at the same time. As Shaun of the Dead says, "fuck-a-doodle-doo."

Strength III, Day B, Workout 1

So that I don't have to keep relying on the kindness of busy trainers or strangers (though the guy who helped me out today was a pretty-hot looking man in his 40s who used to wrestle in his college days), I've been thinking of paying for a trainer specifically for this Day to help me with my Bench presses. I'm just not sure though how he'll be dealing with my 8-day rotation schedule if he already has existing clients. Since I'd miss out on any discounts for the bigger packages, I'm hoping four sessions wouldn't be that expensive.

Strength III, Day A, Workout 1

A New Year, a new phase, and once again I find myself cursing Alwyn Cosgrove's name for monstrosity that is Strength III, and Day A is all about Squats, Quarter Squats and more Squats. I just managed a 424lbs. 1RM Squat, but that was easy compared to holding up 474lbs. on my shoulders to do a Quarter Squat (going down ¼ the way). At least I finally had a reason to wear my weight belt again, which, thankfully, still fit me. I can't wait to see how the rest of this phase feels like. /sarcasm

Height	5'3"	Dec 07	Jan 07
Weight	205 lbs.	+2.5 lbs.	+22.5 lbs.
Chest	44.5"	no change	+2.625"
Neck	16.5"	+0.25"	+0.875"
Upper Arms (unflexed)	16"/15.75"	+0.25"/+0.25"	+1.375"/+1.25"
Upper Arms (flexed)	16.5"/16.375"	+0.125"/+0.25"	+1"/+1.125"
Forearms	12.375"/12.125"	+0.125"/+0.125"	+0.625"/+0.625"
Waist at navel	39.75"	+.25"	+3.25"
Hips	45.5"	+0.5"	+4.25"
Thighs	27"/27"	-0.25"/-0.25"	+1.5"/+1.5"
Calves	16.375"/16.25"	no change/no change	+0.5"/+0.5"

• I weighed 205lbs. before I took a week off lifting, and despite some undisciplined holiday eating, I found that I lost 3 lbs. when I weighed myself today. Weird.
• Arms went back to what they were in the beginning of November before my week off that month, but since I just came from another break this month, there's a good chance they'll shrink again this February.
• Damn, my butt's gotten even bigger. Hope I get the rest of my body into proportion when I switch back to weight loss mode.