Gotti's Journal

[Curt James]

(snip)

Had some trouble sleeping last night or at least getting to sleep. Not sure if it's related to the product, more so stress from work I'm guessing.

I did finally weigh myself, down 1.5lbs from when I weighed myself about 2 weeks ago. I'm at 152 which is not good, my goal for last summer was 160. I easily went under that this summer but I don't want to be this low, time to increase my calories a bit.

I was doing about 1,500 cals/d for awhile, but have bumped up a lot.

One complaint I've never had is falling asleep. A million other complaints but that's not one of them.

Great journal, Gotti.

[Young Gotti]

Wednesday

35 minutes treadmill

So about an hour before I leave work I get a text from my family. I have to transfer one of my cars over to my brother. The guy was giving us a discount and it couldn't wait until the weekend, blah blah. So I left work and did that, it didn't take to long but if anyone knows any old car repair/sales men all they want to do it talk so it was longer than it should of taken. Anyway by the time I left I hurried to the gym and decided to go straight cardio. I didn't mix it up because I wanted to get the most time out of the cardio as I could.

I didn't do farmers walks either, just played with the incline as I went. TBH with where I am weight wise I don't really need to do cardio but I feel like a break in the week is nice and I enjoy doing some just for overall health. I just won't push as hard during the winter months.

The one thing about cardio days is sometimes I don't sleep as good as lifting days. I think lifting just makes me exhausted and I have no trouble falling asleep. Last night was different, I was out cold. I usually also wake up about an hour before I need to then pass back out, none of that happened. Stayed in a dead sleep all night which felt great.

[Young Gotti]

I was doing about 1,500 cals/d for awhile, but have bumped up a lot.

One complaint I've never had is falling asleep. A million other complaints but that's not one of them.

Great journal, Gotti.

Thank You Sir

[Young Gotti]

Thursday

Incline bench superset with side lateral raise 4 sets
Incline bench superset with facepull 4 sets
Decline hammer strength superset with wide grip high row 4 sets

Quality workout except for one thing. Lets get to the good things, my incline press felt solid and increased but I was mostly happy with the overall tempo of the reps. Didn't get into the habit of just speed reps, slow and steady and I was really happy with the amount of weight I was moving. I increased my weight for 5 sets and then slowly decreased the weight the last 3 and by the end I was toast. Even the decline hammer press felt difficult because of the 8 incline sets. The facepulls felt amazing for my rear delts, a nice squeeze and mind muscle connection. The only issue I had was on the very first incline set I felt a pull in the back of my neck, it didn't bother me during the workout but last night at home I was in some pain and even now I'm in pain, if I touch it, it sends shockwaves through my body.

So far with Laxogenin the biggest thing I've noticed is the strength increase. I'm not adding 20lbs to a bench all of a sudden but even during supersets I'm adding 5lbs here or 2.5lbs there on lifts or I'm getting an extra rep or two on the same weight I'm using.

I've made an effort to eat more calories post workout. I've had the same diet for a bit now and I haven't really been concerned with the macros I'm adding in after the workout, just eating more. If I make a chilli and eat what I normally do, I'll have a small 2nd helping. Just minor tweaks like that.

[Young Gotti]

Wednesday

Farmers carries 5 sets
Rope crunches
Farmers walk treadmill 10 minutes
Weighted crunch machine
Treadmill 5 minutes
60 crunches
Treadmill 5 minutes

I've been logging for the company who gave me the product and just haven't had time to copy and link everything on the multiple sites I Log on. So I'll start focusing on these sites again now that I'm done with that product.

Just a normal cardio day. Did get an empty gym to do some farmers walks with though.

[Young Gotti]

Thursday

Deadlifts 8 sets
Seated Calve raise superset with DB row 4 sets

Not a good workout. I felt ok when I left work, had my normal protein at the normal time. But once I started working out, I felt shaky, like I hadn't eaten in several hours. This happened when I started overtime but I feel like I"ve gotten used to the extended time without whole foods but I did not feel good yesterday. I also had a back neckache which I'm somewhat used to but it didn't help. I also had to go to the bathroom half way through my workout which almost never happens. Not sure if I'm getting sick or something but overall it wasn't the most comfortable workout I've ever had.

Got home and about a half hour before bed I touched my trap that was hurting and wow was it tight. Now it's usually always tight but last night was a whole new level. And then in the middle of the night I woke up from neck pain which has happened before but I usually fall asleep again but this night I tossed and turned. At one point I was laying on my fingers in the spots that hurt the most hoping they would relax the muscle. This morning I have no pain but I may need extra coffee.

[Young Gotti]

Saturday

DB curl superset with v bar extension 4 sets
BB curl superset with behind the head db extension 4 sets
Double high cable curl superset with pushdown machine 3 sets
DB hammer curl superset with under hand extension 3 sets

Wasn't really feeling it. I had a massive neckache and the workout reflected it. I did force myself to do some extra volume and at the beginning I felt like it might turn out to be a good workout but after that it went downhill quickly. Nothing felt good, I didn't enjoy my time at the gym. It was also super muggy inside the gym that didn't help my mood.

Yesterday I woke up with a nasty stomach bug. Needless to say, today I really need to rehydrate myself.

[Young Gotti]

Monday

Flat bench superset with side lateral raise 4 sets
Flat bench superset with reverse peck deck 4 sets
Peck deck superset with hammer strength shoulder press 4 sets
Facepull 1 set

Not a bad workout at all. I had some stomach discomfort all day but the gym and the weight felt good. The squeeze during the bench was better than it's been in awhile. I mentioned using hammer strength equipment because of the stretch and squeeze but the bench yesterday felt like it really did the trick. The weight was solid. I wanted to include more volume and that was the plan the whole time but the last 2 sets on peck deck and hammer press, I felt wiped out. I finished with a set of facepull just to keep things loose in the back since my neck's been a bit iffy the last few weeks.

[Young Gotti]

Tuesday

Squat superset weighted pull up 4 sets
Deadlift 4 sets
Leg press superset with chest pad t bar row 2 sets
Leg extension superset with seated leg curl superset with straight bar pulldown 2 sets

Wasn't the best workout. The form felt good but I gassed after like 2 or 3 sets. I don't know if its the heat coming back after being cool for a few weeks or what but I was catching wind. I don't like squatting and deadlifting in the same workout but I decided during the day that I would try it again and went with it despite feeling exhausted. To play it safe I didn't go heavy on the deads in case the form started going.

I say all of this and as I was leaving the gym my legs and back felt like I went through battle. They already started to get sore and I could tell that I really worked them. I was also really sweating, my t shirt looked like a rag from just having so much sweat attached to it.

[Young Gotti]

Wednesday

100 sit ups
5 minutes treadmill
60 crunches
10 minutes farmers walks (20 seconds on, 40 seconds off)
60 crunches
15 minutes farmers walks (2 minutes on, 1 minute off)

Changed things up just a bit. I don't remember what the reasoning was haha, but I know the first 5 minute thing was because of something, maybe my phone wouldn't connect to music or something so I hopped on a treadmill. I went heavier than normal ont he first 10 minutes of the famers walks, the short time frame was ok but not great. The second bout on the treadmill was 2 minutes at a lighter weight and again it was ok but not too difficult. All in all it was a pretty mundane cardio session but I enjoyed it.

Weight still isn't increasing the way I want it to so I've made it a point to add calories into my diet even after my post workout meal. That's usually the last meal of the night but I've been chomping on some PB before bed.

[Young Gotti]

Thursday

Arms

It feels like so long ago that I don't really remember the specifics other than I did a lot of work. I don't do arms on Thursdays but I knew I had to leave town for a wedding this weekend so I hit every body part. The workout felt great from what I recall.

Went to a wedding and ate like crap all weekend, I'm feeling it today, a bit of bloat, tired, and groggy.

Overtime has ended at work and it's back to normal training again which is good. I like the schedule I've been using but for a few weeks I'm going to get back to my old training split of

Mon: Chest/Tris
Tues: Back/Bis
Wed: Cardio
Thurs: Legs
Fri: Off
Sat: Shoulders
Sun: Off

But I have weddings each Saturday of October except the first one so I still may have to tweak the training a bit. I'm only doing this for a brief time to get back into not supersetting things and really concentrating on one muscle at a time.

[Young Gotti]

Monday

Incline bench 4 sets
Flat bench 4 sets
Peck Deck 4 sets
Skull crusher into close grip press 4 sets
V bar extension 4 sets
Pushdown machine 4 sets

Good and bad workout. Felt good to not have to rush around the gym like a maniac and felt good to focus on one muscle. My recovery between sets/endurance has improved over the summer from working so fast. However I tried to go heavier and I feel like my muscles got fatigued fairly quickly with the extra weight. By the end of the chest work I felt like I probably couldn't get 100% on another movement. Similar in my triceps. Once I hit the pushdowns my triceps were pumped and almost a numb feeling. Its just nice to be back to a normal schedule again.

[Young Gotti]

Tuesday

Deadlift 4 sets
Weighted pull up 4 sets
T bar row 4 sets
DB curl 4 sets
BB curl 4 sets
Rope hammer curl 4 sets

Fairly good workout. Deadlifts weren't as heavy as I wanted but not bad. The pull ups hurt, I think mostly because my chest was sore or my front delts so they felt really tight. T bar rows though, bueno bueno. The squeeze I felt was phenomenal and I was really happy with the weight I used. Biceps were similar to triceps, by the time I was done, I was numb and toast.

Farmers walks after a good bicep workout is really tough but it feels really good. Reminds me of DC training with a weighted stretch for the bicep as you walk with the weight.

[Young Gotti]

Thursday

Leg extension superset with lying leg curl 4 sets
Squat 4 sets
Seated calve raise superset with vertical leg press 4 sets

Fairly good workout. This looks more like a normal leg workout for me. I like to start with extensions and curls before squats just to make sure everything is firing more than just a regular warm up. Sometimes I'll just do the superset and then squat until I cant move but since I've been supersetting all summer, the form felt a bit odd when I loaded up on the weight. Again I got a solid pump but it was a totally different pump than when I was supersetting everything which felt good.

I said yesterday that I felt less lean than I have felt but the weight really hasn't changed much although my diet does not feel as "clean" as it was all summer.

[Young Gotti]

Saturday

Standing Shoulder press 5 sets
DB side lateral raise 4 sets
Bent over rear delt fly 4 sets

After that I did some other shoulder work. YTI's and standing YTI's. Some stretching, some rope pull downs and what not. Mostly to get my posture in order, the YTI's done really slow really bring on the lactic acid that I like.

Shoulder press I went heavy for not doing them in awhile, I was impressed with the weight I was able to move. Everything else was run of the mill.

Again I don't feel as lean as I once was but the weight isn't moving on the scale so maybe it's all in my head.