"Modern bodybuilding is ritual, religion, sport, art, and science, awash in Western chemistry and mathematics. Defying nature, it surpasses it." - Camille Paglia
Body weight: 253lbs (-0.4lbs)
Calories burned: 3431
Calories eaten: 2802 (224g protein, 195g carb, 105g fat)
Steps taken: 9331
Workout duration: 35 min
Weight lifted: 32,580lbs
Leg Day - hit it and quit it. It took almost a week for my calves to stop aching from lat time, so what did I do? Trained 'em harder!
Legs
Barbell full squat: 135x10/10/10
Leg press: 360x8/6, 270x6/6
Calf press: 270x30/25/20
A good leg day workout. Started with full, ass-to-heel, deep squats. Three sets of 10 had me breathing hard - almost uncomfortably so. 45-second breaks between sets are killers on leg day! I hobbled over to the leg press machine, slapped an extra plate on each side, and pressed 360 for reps before finishing with calves, where I added 15 reps to last week's effort.
Closed the session with another 15 minute hydromassage, which helped the throbbing in my thighs subside a bit. Now, 2 hours later, they still pulse occasionally, and are definitely feeling fatigued when going up stairs.
Feeling good about today's workout and will likely do two things next leg day: increase the rest time between sets to 1-1.5 minutes so I can regain more strength and go heavier, and add another set to each exercise. With two microcycles nearly done, it's time to up the intensity for the next circuit.
A busy day tomorrow, lots of meetings and appointments, but it's also Arm Day. :) I just noticed some veins starting to peek out from my inner bicep, something I've never seen before, and I'm looking forward to seeing if I can make them pop tomorrow. I've never been lean enough to have much vascularity in anything except my forearms and am looking forward to the day I can get some serious vein action going - at least on my biceps. :)
Nine days of maintaining a 500-600 calorie deficit has not lost me any weight but I figure that's at least a pound of fat lost and a pound of muscle gained. That's one of the things many people struggle with when starting to train - the lack of weight loss and even weight gain, despite calorie restriction. It's because the body is burning fat and adding muscle at a pretty equal rate, particularly when starting out. It generally takes six weeks for me to see a noticeable difference in my body, although my shorts are already fitting more loosely than they were last week.
I have almost completely eliminated Diet Coke from my diet, at least at home, which is a big thing for me. I learned that artificial sweeteners still evoke an insulin response and thus can contribute to storing body fat. I always thought they circumvented that response, and have been a Diet Coke drinker for decades, but now I'm substituting carbonated water so I still get the fizzies but not the sweeteners. Making progress, one step at a time... :)
Feel free to read my original post about the why and how I'm doing this challenge: GymSamurai: One Year Birthday Fitness Challenge Begins, view all my GymSamurai posts at https://steemit.com/created/gymsamurai, or view my feed at @imagin8orr for other posts.