Gettin' Arms

Arm day today was fast and fun. Went in, did a quick warmup, then started benching - 95 x 5, 135 x 5. Then, I decided to hit 155 for a max set, and ended up banging out 11 reps - which ties my PR at that weight. Considering I benched a ton yesterday, I didn't warm up nearly as well as I normally do, I wasn't pushing especially hard, and to top it all off I clipped the hooks a few times during the set, I'd say that's pretty good. It's so nice that my bench is finally improving. After that I did a max set at 135 (10), then switched to close grip and banged out a max set at 115, 95, and 65 lbs, till I had a nice little tricep/chest pump.

Triceps look weird. 

Next, I did a couple warmup sets of preacher curls, then grabbed the 30's and did 3 max sets with them - 8, 5, and 3 reps. 8 reps at that weight is pretty damn good: it appears that i continue to get better at this stupid, stupid lift. Without really resting, I then banged out a max set with the 20's and a final set with the 10's, then hit the road. I'm trying to keep these workouts as short and sweet as I can. Altogether, I was in and out of the gym in about 30 minutes, with a nice pump. Not bad.

I may hate preacher curls, but i have to admit this is a pretty cool picture

In addition, I'm dieting real hardcore keto today. In that first week back, I noticed a very immediate drop in body fat, but since then my fat loss seems to have slowed down - I'd say I've been floating in between 14 and 15% for the last two weeks, with my bodyweight staying at 200. SO, I'm just going to really lock in the diet, and make sure I'm going HARDCORE keto on Wed, Sat and Sunday to make sure I'm making the most of the diet. I'm going to probably have a big cheat meal this weekend to give my metabolism a kick, and then diet hard for the next three weeks, until my next "de load." If, after those three weeks, I still feel like my body fat % hasn't changed, I might start to think about tweaking the diet. BUT, my goal is SLOW weight loss, so even if I notice the slightest change that would be fine with me. I only want to change the diet if I plateau completely.

Mmmmmmm Ketogenic.....

One last thing worth noting: this is my third straight workout without any elbow pain whatsoever. Maybe it's a product of my new attitude in the gym - my better form, combined with not pushing myself to my limit every single workout is taking a lot of strain off of them. Or maybe it's just a nice random coincidence. Either way, lets hope elbow pain stays far away.