Day Twelve - Exercise (a little about carbs too)

I have to admit that I'm not eating as well as I did the first week. I'm not eating entirely bad but I've been taking advantage of the advice to eat carbs at the end of the evening meal while ignoring the fact that they should still be limited. I'm not even hungry but I still want to enjoy some carbs at the end of the day. I lied in the previous post and omitted the half cup of gelato I had before bed. Oops, and the yogurt was probably the full-of-sugar kind. The dried cranberries are pretty much sugar too if I'm being honest, I mean, it takes a lot of sugar to make cranberries palatable, even the dried kind, but they're so good in oatmeal. I also didn't count the spoon I dipped in the marshmallow fluff and then had to clean off with my mouth. But I did count everything in the calorie total and macro nutrient breakdown. I didn't go hog wild on these foods but I should be enjoying one or two of them, not all of them in one night.

The reason I relay the above information is because this week I've been having trouble waking up in the morning. Not waking up, but physically getting out of bed. I'm 75% awake at 5:00 A.M. but my body feels like I have no energy whatsoever. I don't know if I'm explaining it properly but it's not a feeling I've ever had before. I didn't have it last week when doing a better job of limiting the late night carbs so that's my culprit. I need to do better on that. I should substitute a protein shake for a last snack and maybe one of the foods I mentioned above.

Anyway, once I warm up in the gym I feel a lot better. Today I did Level 7 Day 3 of the basic Simplefit program. How fast can you do 40 pull-ups, 80 push-ups, and 80 squats. I did it in 9:47. That's almost 2 minutes off my previous attempt. The program suggests that once you can do a Day 3 in under 5 minutes you can go to the next level. Shaving almost five minutes off this workout seems nigh impossible but I've said that before. Just gotta keep at it.

I didn't have a lot of time because I got to the gym late (sleepy feeling, remember) so I did some deadlifts next. I usually like to lift heavy on Fridays so I don't feel the need to go to the gym on the weekend. I went up 5 pounds this workout to 255 and didn't get the 5 sets of 5 reps in, I got 4-4-3-3-3. Seems weird that I could do 250 and hit all reps, then move up 5 pounds and not get it but that's how it goes. If I don't get all reps by the next 2 workouts, I'll drop down to 200 or so and start over. Incidentally, when is it OK to use straps during deadlifts? I feel like I'm close to the point where my grip is beginning to be an issue. I don't use straps because I want to train my grip as well but at some point the grip will fail. Also, I don't want to be a girlie man. Maybe I could alternate, one workout with straps, one without. I hate using gloves too but my hands get so sore, mainly the callouses. I probably need to do a better job of reducing them before I puss out and wear gloves.

I then finished up with machines bench presses. I won't bother to mention the weight, it's a machine, they're all different. But I like these because they're the kind of machines that use regular plates so it's a bit more realistic then cable machines. I don't have any way of bench pressing heavy with free weights. All the people in the gym when I get there are retirees so I can't ask for a spot. But whatever, improvise and overcome. Total workout time was probably 45 minutes, not including warm-up.