10/10, Phase II, Day 6

Ran out of steam and motivation halfway through this morning's workout. First, it was the fifth and thankfully last workout this week, and second, high-rep exercises are not my favorite things to do, and because of that, I have to push myself more to actually do them.

If there's one thing I do like though is the One-arm push-ups giving me a two-fer-one deal. Not only has it been targeting my chest, delts and triceps as a regular push-up ought to do, it's also been making the oft-neglected obliques work overtime to stabilize the torso.

10/10, Phase II, Day 5

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: "Good thing each 10/10 phase is only 3 weeks long." I would've been in a worse way this morning if it weren't for the back massage I got two nights ago that loosened up the knots that formed there after my first workout this week.

I've also been crashing in earlier and even woke up late this morning, but I managed to get into the gym before a sports team came in and started taking over the free weights area (and almost the power cage, which I was using). They'll probably show up again next week so I'll have to figure that into my sked.

But even with these hiccups with my workout, so far I'm doing better than I how did last year. Now if I can just remember to take my damn BCAAs...

10/10, Phase II, Day 3

Fine time for my pathetic grip™ to make a comeback. I didn't think I'd have so much trouble holding on to 60lbs. DBs while doing Reverse lunges which made Wide-grip pull-ups all the harder during the last two sets. I suppose I could switch to carrying a barbell on my shoulders, but I'd have to use the power cage to be safe,  and I don't want to hog the only power cage in the gym.

10/10, Phase II, Day 2

Last year, I substituted Elevated push-ups with Double-leg Swiss ball push-ups. This year, it's one-arm push-ups, and thankfully, I hadn't bitten more than I could chew. Sure, it's a lot more challenging than even the Single-leg Swiss ball push-up, but it's also a lot more fun.

10/10, Phase II, Day 1

This morning's workout wasn't the best way to start off Phase II. For one thing, I completely blew over the designated rest periods, and another, I had a hard time even completing a couple of sets that only had 3 reps each. I probably am getting weaker.

10/10, Phase I, Day 19

Yesterday saw the end of the first of two fat loss phases in 10/10, and I'm not sure how I'll take not losing and possibly gaining some weight in the upcoming hypertrophy phase since I've been updating my wardrobe with smaller sized apparel over the past few weeks. Two days ago, I not only bought an S-sized gym shirt, but I unbelievably fit into a pair of 30" slacks. I went into the store with the intention of coming out with a 34" or even a 32" since the last pairs I bought from the same store last year were sized 38" and 36".

I've also been buying medium shirts to replace the large ones that now look funny on me, and completely unrelated to size, two new pairs of Chucks to let me do more Squats and Deadlifts. (Ain't going back to using trainers/sneakers for those two exercises.)

So until things change, I'll be making the most of being smaller, but if ever I do decide to get big again, I'll have all my old clothes ready to wear.

10/10, Phase I, Day 17

Damn, was my shirt soaked after this morning's workout. The single rep added to all the sets squeezed out a lot out of me.

Speaking of singles, last Saturday,  I tried my hand at doing one-arm pushups, and I was surprised at being able to do more than one, even reaching five. I'm a long way from performing the exercise smoothly, but I didn't think I'd get to start in the first place.

10/10, Phase I, Day 15

Yesterday was the last "heavy" day for this Phase, and I hope I didn't strain my hamstrings too much from the Deadlifts. I wondered what I was doing differently that that muscle group seemed like it was trying to get into the action more. Maybe it has something to do with my continued weight loss, which definitely affected how I fared in Maximum Strength.

As for weighing myself, I now have to start recording my measurements in kilograms because the gym replaced the scale that was allegedly giving inaccurate readings but was still good for showing trends in progress. If anything, I'm sure I've gone below 75kg, but I'm not sure I want to go as low as 67kg.

10/10, Phase I, Day 12

Got zonked out again last night from yesterday morning's workout, which was brutal and sweaty. While sleeping in earlier has its advantages, one disadvantage is not having the time to update my other blog.

10/10, Phase I, Day 10

Wednesday's workouts has been wiping me out. I think I've sweated more today than yesterday's cardio which I already made a little more difficult for myself. I've even taken to bringing a spare shirt just in case the one I'm wearing gets too waterlogged.

10/10, Phase I, Day 8

The past couple of days I've been sleeping in earlier, and in fact I forgot to write about yesterday's workout where I'd given any pretense of sticking to the 30-second rest period, which isn't enough time to set-up for the exercises, much less get into the right frame of mind to do them properly.

10/10, Phase I, Day 5

Having learned my lesson from Day 3, I pushed down all the numbers I originally wrote down on my notebook so I could finally keep up with the rest periods especially in this workout, which of the three in this Phase I hate doing the most.

10/10, Phase I, Day 3

I could only do so much trying to stick to the designated rest periods before I had to give myself some breathing room. I should've lightened the Barbell shoulder press a bit like I did with the other exercises, but at least now I know better. Maybe it'll help if I treat the fat loss phases of 10/10 as doing cardio with weights.

10/10, Phase I, Day 1

"Well, here we are again. I guess it must be fate..." that I'd be doing the 10/10 Transformation again, but now being 30lbs. lighter than than I was the first time I tried it. So far the big problem I have is managing the 30 second rest periods to maximize the fat loss and the time I need to set up for Weighted Dips and Deadlifts, which, at 3 reps, need to be heavy. Having to hook and unhook the weight dip belt got pretty tiring after 8 rounds.

30DWW, Day 33

Ok, now I'm done with 30DWW for this year, and I'm glad I stuck with it especially through last week where I had to force myself to show up at the gym. I even made things a bit harder for me this week by cutting down some of my rest periods between sets and getting even stricter with form, and it looks like it all paid off. As of this morning, I'm at 167 lbs., having lost 10 lbs. in 5 weeks (my first double-digit loss between monthly weigh-ins) and making me 41 lbs. lighter than my heaviest at 208 lbs. last February 2008.  (Check out the Jan '08 pics with Apr '09 to compare.)

Height	5'3"	Apr 09
Weight	167 lbs.	-10.5 lbs.
Chest	41"	-1"
Neck	15.25"	-0.25"
Upper Arms (unflexed)	14.5"/14.25"	-0.25"/-0.25"
Upper Arms (flexed)	15.25"/15"	-0.25"/-0.25"
Forearms	11.5"/11.25"	-0.25"/-0.25"
Waist at navel	33"	-2"
Hips	39.25"	-1.75"
Thighs	24"/24"	-1"/-1"
Calves	15"/15"	-0.5"/-0.5"

Next up, I'm going to give the 10/10 Transformation another go and see if I can't do better this time around.