Box Squats, Pull ups and Nutrition

Squeezed in a great lower body strength exercise last night. Box squats up to 315 lbs. Proper form, great results too! Whoohooo!

Just saw a great video on Craig Ballantyne's blog site on the "Evolution of Pull Ups". Craig shows in great detail on how to improve on them. Very helpful tips and bless this man's soul for really reaching out to his viewers and fitness followers. Here's great educational video on the evolution of pull ups:




This is no joke, pull ups, chin ups, modified variations...I couldn't even do a single one more than 2 years ago...it was all inverted rows or assisted chins/pull ups for me. I can only do 8 a year ago...but as I slowly developed upper body strength through exercises like inverted rows as Craig stated in his video - I in fact got stronger at the actual pull up looking back at all the workouts I did over a 2 years but more so while doing Turbulence Training.


On to other things. I did do a full 15 reps of wide grip pull ups this morning but failed to get it recorded on my digital camera. Rushing to get my kids ready for school, for some reason I thought it was recording all this time when it actually wasn't. So I got the kids ready for school, took my camera with me...went to the gym for some light cardio and it was off to the park at noon to do another attempt at it. My other mistake was I did a modified pull up instead of the wide grip after looking at it on video when I got home just a few minutes ago. Once again, my apologies on this but take my word that I did do 15 wide grip reps this morning...It won't happen next week! Promise!

So 15 reps of wide grips which is +1 from last week.

Anyway, here's the video I took at the park. I did say "2nd attempt" and I did say "trying to get to 15 today"...but if you listen closely, I did mention "2nd attempt at it"...sorry for the confusion ya'll!! Wrong script when I shot this one...original uncut version was left at home. "Tsk, Um, where's the director here???" Hahahaha!!! But kiddingness aside, I will not count this at all towards my original challenge as this is a modified version of the pull up. It was in fact 16 reps ON THIS MODIFIED VERSION...but again, it doesn't count on my own little week to week "track sheet" I got going here. Sorry for the confusion.

Again, this just goes to show how some of us are stronger at different variations of the chin up/pull up...Anyway, here it is:



Got a trainer to do skin fold measurements on me before I did some cardio work at the gym after dropping my kids off to school. Not bad overall. "Fit" is what he says. My electronic BF scale readings and his caliper readings are a bit off in comparing the two but I honestly think I have to improve on this. Nutrition will always be 90% of the battle. Something I have always seemed to struggle with...not as inconsistently as you would think. I think it's very good compared to a few years ago. It just tends to get very inconsistent, but I have that desire to always strive for 90% compliance as best I can....everyday. I'm realizing how harder and harder it is the closer you get. If I was sedentary and just starting to exercise and knowing then what I knew now - I may be dropping weight like crazy..but that's why I have to keep striving to improve on intensity of my workouts and of course - working on that nutrition. I'm honestly just so inconsistent with it but not to a point of total letdown. I'm well over that phase. Take the good with the bad...but expect the best. I was watching President Obama's speech today and he said something like this and I paraphrase: "Don't think what you can do about something tomorrow, do what you can do about it today..because tomorrow can't promise you anything". My nutrition has been great after a little splurging action over the weekend. But again, I really have to clean that up if I really want to succeed in this lean out goal of mine.

Someone had asked me if I journal my food intakes...I haven't in some time. Maybe she's right in that maybe I should for greater accountability.

15 reps this week...here's shooting for 16 actual wide grip reps next week!!


Andy