Today I got up and hit the gym at 4 a.m.  The gym was extremely empty.  It was even more empty than normal at this time of the morning.  Because of the empty nature of the gym I was able to recognize some interesting (to me) things.

I noted that the majority of people don't really push themselves very hard at the gym. They lift weights until it just starts feeling heavy and they stop. They don't push themselves as hard as they can.  They only do the cardio at a comfortable pace.  It is like a disease.  I really don't get it.  Why would you get up and be at the gym at 4 a.m. and then not give your best effort?  That is just senseless if you ask me.

I'm still not totally feeling this new workout called Hypertrophy III.  I'm not sure what it is that I don't like about it.

I noticed today that focus is extremely important.  There was a cleaning guy going around with a vacuum.  He was right in the area I was lifting and it was so distracting.  I had a hard time hitting my numbers. I'm so used to hitting the numbers that I felt like my workout was a failure as I left the gym.  It wasn't until my drive to work that I realized the workout was not a failure.  I had honestly pushed myself as hard as possible.  Just because I over estimated what I could lift didn't make the workout a failure—it simply made the workout hard.

Workout Log:

Exercise	Weight x Reps
Bent Over BB Rows	145 x 10 135 x 12 135 x 12 135 x 12
Incline BB Bench Press	145 x 10 135 x 12 135 x 8 * 135 x 12
BB Push Press	115 x 11 95 x 12 95 x 12 95 x 12
Mixed grip chins	(60) 12 (60) 12 (60) 12 (60) 12
Dips	12 12 12 12
DB Clean	30 x 12 30 x 12 30 x 12 30 x 12

* this was where I lost focus due to the cleaning crew

I'm down to two more days in my Mission 1.  I've been shredding hard.  I've done double cardio on my days that I am not lifting and I've been seperating my cardio by 8 hours from my lifting on my lifting days.  I've been mixing up the types of cardio I'm doing, the length of cardio I'm doing and the machines I'm using.  My nutrition has been BFFM style.  I'm sticking to 40/40/20 for this week on my low carb days and 50/30/20 on my high carb days.  I'm on a 3 days low, 1 day high cycle.  I'm rotating my calories so that I'm around 2600 on low carb days and 3000 on high carb days.  I'm enjoying the nutritonal aspect more than while on Metabolic Surge.  I just like being able to have some yogurt or to eat a little bit more carbs.  I will see if my results agree with me.  If they do not, I will change things up a little bit.  I will play with the ratios first and see where that brings me.

Accountability Log:

(Note:  I noticed that something was messed up with the days on this log, so I checked and adjusted it accordingly.  It is now showing accurate information.)

	Mission 1:  Day 38 of 40	Accountability
	Meal/Training Plan:  Real-time accountability	Each task completed?
	Day 98: January 31, 2008	Yes or No
3:30 a.m.	Meal 1:  Protein shake and oatmeal and 3 glasses of water	Yes
3:30 a.m.	Supplements:  Animal Pak, Glucosamine Chondroiten, calcium, chromium, glutamine, BCAAs	Yes
4:00 a.m.	Workout: Lifting, FYA workout and 6 glasses of water	Yes
5:00 a.m.	Supplements: Protein shake, BCAAs, glutamine	Yes
6:30 a.m.	Meal 2:  Chicken breast (1-1/2), oatmeal and large salad and 3 glasses of water	Yes
9:30 a.m.	Meal 3:  Chicken breast (1-1/2), oatmeal and large salad and cucumbers and 3 glasses of water	Yes
12:30 p.m.	Meal 4:  Chicken breast (1-1/2) and oatmeal and large salad and cucumbers and 3 glasses of water	Yes
3:30 p.m.	Meal 5: Chicken breast (1-1/2) and oatmeal and large salad and 3 glasses of water	Yes
4:30 p.m.	Workout:  HIIT cardio session for 20 minutes	Yes
6:30 p.m.	Meal 6:  Lean beef  and green beans and 3 glasses of water	Yes
8:30 p.m.	Supplements:  Casein protein shake, glutamine, calcium and 3 glasses of water	Yes
	Accountability Areas:	Points	Possible
	Meal 1	1	1
	Meal 2	1	1
	Meal 3	1	1
	Meal 4	1	1
	Meal 5	1	1
	Training	1	1
	Post Workout Nutrition	1	1
	Water	1	1
	Pre-sleep nutrition	1	1
	Accountability	1	1
	Daily Totals:	10	10
	Mission Totals:	376	380
	Workout Log:
	Bent over BB rows	145 x 10; 135 x 12; 135 x 12; 135 x 12
	Incline BB Bench Press	145 x 10; 135 x 12; 135 x 8; 135 x 12
	BB Push Press	115 x 11; 95 x 12; 95 x 12; 95 x 12
	Mixed grip chins	(60) x 12 x 4
	Dips	BW x 12 x 4
	DB Clean	30 x 12 x 4
	FYA workout	10 minutes
	HIIT Cardio Session (elipptical)	20 minutes

I've been eating alot of chicken breast lately because it is easy to cook up and eat while at work.  I've added 1/2 a breast with each meal in an effort to up the protein and calories for the day and it has been working.  I managed to hit my 2600 mark today.  Nutrition has been near perfect.

Tomorrow I am going to change things up just a little.  I'm going to give a fat shredding HIIT a try in the morning for 30 minutes with the following settings:

5min—-3.0mph
1 min—-2.5mph
1 min—-5mph
1 min—-2.5mph
1 min—-6mph
1 min—-2.5mph
1 min—-7mph
1 min—-2.5mph
1 min—-8mph
1 min—-2.5mph
1 min—-9mph
1 min—-2.5pmh
1 min—-10mph
1 min—-2.5mph
1 min—-5.5 mph 5.5 incline
1 min—-2.5mph
1 min—-6.5 mph 6.5 incline
1 min—-2.5mph
1 min—-7.5mph 7.5 incline
1 min—-2.5 mph
1 min—-8.5 mph
5 min—-3.0 mph

This should be one killer workout.  I will then follow up later in the day with my Max-OT cardio session for 16 minutes to further burn fat and boost my metabolism.  I want to finish this mission strong and go into my next mission with a major momentum.

Until tomorrow...GET BACK TO LIFTING!