John Hansens Training Diary Week of February 3rd 2008

by: John Hansen - February 5th, 2008

John Hansen’s Training Diary – Week of Feb. 3, 2008

Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008
Super Bowl Sunday and I am off from the gym today. My weight today was actually up a couple pounds but my waist, thankfully, was exactly the same. My weight this morning was at 218 pounds and the waist is still 36 ¼”.

I went to see a movie today (“There Will Be Blood”, great performance by Daniel Day-Lewis!) so I gave in and had a small bag of popcorn (no butter) and a small Nestea Rasberry Tea. I don’t think this will make too much of a difference but I guess I’ll see tomorrow. Here is what I ate today (not including the popcorn and the Nestea):

Meal 1 – 2 eggs, 8 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Egg Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 3 – 4 oz lean ground turkey, 138 grams sweet potato, 3 oz. broccoli
Meal 4 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 serving Pro Complex, 1 serving Casein Protein
Meal 5 – Mini-Bag Popcorn and a Power Bar
Meal 6 – 6 oz marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

I also had a Power Bar today in addition to the Popcorn at the movies. This ended up bringing up my carb intake for an off day. I ate a total of 2563 calories with 268 grams of protein, 200 grams of carbs and 71 grams of fat. This breaks down to 42% protein, 31% carbs and 25% fats.

Monday, Feb. 4, 2008
I usually train chest and triceps on Monday but Matt and I had our schedules mixed up so we decided to wait until Tuesday to do chest and triceps. I would rather wait an extra day and have a partner for the workout instead of training by myself. I like having a spotter on chest and triceps day.

My weight and waist this morning were the same as yesterday. My weight was at 218 pounds and the waist was at 36 ¼”. I’m glad to see that the little bit of cheating I did yesterday didn’t have any negative effect.

I stayed on the rest day diet today to a T. I did have the Mini-Bag of Popcorn again. This seems to be my cheat food of choice on this diet but it’s not that bad because it’s only 100 calories. Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Whey Gold
Meal 2 – 2 eggs, 8 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 3 – 4 oz lean turkey burger, 159 grams sweet potato, 3.28 oz broccoli
Meal 4 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 5 – 8 egg whites, 1 t. natural peanut butter
Meal 6 – 4 oz pepper steak, ½ cup green peas
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil, Mini-Bag Popcorn

Today’s diet came out to 2452 calories with 277 grams of protein, 167.5 grams of carbohydrates and 67 grams of fats. This breaks down to 45% protein, 27% carbs and 25% fats. Back to the gym tomorrow!

Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008
My weight this morning was down a little to 217 pounds and the waist was at 36 ¼” again. I am disappointed that the waist didn’t make the drop down to 36” by today. It has been going down every Tuesday since I started my diet two weeks ago but it stayed the same today. I’m sure the little bit of cheating I did over the weekend didn’t help.

I went to the gym today to train chest and triceps. This workout was much improved over the same workout two weeks ago. Of course, that workout was my first workout back from my vacation so I was super weak that day. I intentionally went light on that workout, just to get the blood moving again and start the process of getting back in shape. I went heavier on every exercise today compared to that workout and I also stuck around to do cardio today. I’m going to do cardio at least three times this week. Here is how it went:

Bench Press 225x10, 255x6, 255x6
Incline DB Press 100x10, 115x6, 115x4
Flyes 75x10, 80x7, 80x6
Tricep Pushdowns 100x12, 110x10, 120x8
Decline Triceps Ext. 100x10, 120x8, 120x7
Dips BWx8, BWx8, BWx8
Seated Calf Raises 100x20, 150x12, 200x8
Standing Calf Raises 400x12, 480x10, 500x8

Cardio – 15 min on Treadmill, 3.2 mph @ 8.0 incline
Heart rate at the completion of cardio was 146 bpm

My diet was right on target today again. I kept the carbs moderate and the protein high. Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – (Pre-workout) – 1 serving Whey Gold, 1 serving BCAA + Creatine
Meal 3 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Vassive EA8, 1 serving Vassive-NO
Meal 4 – (Post Workout) – 2 scoops 2:1:1 Recovery, 1 serving BCAA+Creatine
Meal 5 – 4 oz lean turkey burger, 129 grams sweet potato
Meal 6 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 7 – 6 oz marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans
Meal 8 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Egg Protein
Meal 9 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet came out to 2744 calories with 309 grams of protein, 212 grams of carbs and 67 grams of fats. This breaks down to 45% protein, 31% carbs and 22% fats.

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008
My weight was down a little today to 216.5 pounds and the waist is still holding steady at 36 ¼”. I hope this damn waist goes down in the next day or two, this is getting ridiculous.

Today was leg day and, even worse, it was squats day! My plan is to increase the weights I use on the basic exercises each week over this 8 week training cycle. I want to increase my muscle mass and the way to do that is to get progressively stronger. With the squat and deadlift, I am aiming to go up by 20 pounds each workout. With the bench press, incline press and barbell rows, I am hoping to go up by 10 pounds each workout. That’s the plan so we’ll see how it goes.

I increased my squat today by 20 pounds over what I did for the last workout. Since my Hack Squats always follow my Squats, the Hacks also went up by 20 pounds. I also increased the reps on abs and I did more reps on the Leg Extension. This workout was so brutal that Matt and I decided to do hamstrings tomorrow after shoulders and before calves. We’ll see how that goes. Here is what I did today:

Hanging Knee Raises BWx35, BWx30
Kneeling Cable Crunches 150x30, 150x25
Leg Extensions (Flex) 150x20, 180x15, 210x12
Pause Squats (2 seconds on bench) 135x12, 225x8, 295x8x2
Hack Squats 180x10, 250x8x 2 sets

As for the diet today, I kept to my normal training day diet but I increased the carbs a little. Because I missed Monday’s workout, I am going to train shoulders and calves and hamstrings tomorrow so I could use the extra carbs. Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – (Pre-workout) – 1 scoop Whey Gold, 1 serving BCAA+Creatine
Meal 3 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Vassive EA8, 1 serving Vassive-NO
Meal 4 – (Post Workout) – 2 scoops 2:1:1 Recovery, 1 serving BCAA+Creatine
Meal 5 – 4.06 lean turkey burger, 142 grams sweet potato, 3.39 oz broccoli
Meal 6 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Egg Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 7 – 3.74 oz pepper steak, ½ cup green peas
Meal 8 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein Protein, Mini-Bag Popcorn
Meal 9 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet came out to 2718 calories with 301.5 grams of protein, 242 grams of carbohydrates and 56 grams of fats. This breaks down to 44% protein, 36% carbs and 19% fats.

I’ll go lower on the carbs tomorrow because Friday will probably be an off day so if I go lower tomorrow and real low on Friday, it should make a difference in the waist size.

Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008
My weight today was the lowest it has been since I started the diet. I was down to 215.5 pounds and the stubborn waist is still at 36 ¼”. I’m pretty confident that the waist will go down in another day or two.

I met Matt at the gym this morning to do shoulders and calves. I was supposed to train hamstrings also but I had an appointment in the afternoon so I had to leave the gym early. I’ll train hams when I do back and biceps, either tomorrow or Saturday.

I went heavier on everything today over the last workout. I was only going to go up 5 pounds on the Military Press but I was feeling strong so I went up 10 pounds. Here is how it went today:

Seated Military Press 135x10, 180x8, 185x8
Side Lateral Raises 40x12, 45x10, 50x8, 50x8
Bent-Over Lateral Raises 35x12, 40x10, 45x8
Seated Barbell Shrugs 225x12, 315x10, 385x8, 385x8
Donkey Calf Raises 190 plus 45 lbs x 25, 190 plus 135 lbs x 20 x 2 sets
Leg Press Calf Raises 540x12, 630x10, 630x9

My diet was right on target again today. I kept the carbs just a little over 200 grams and the protein was over 300 grams. I limited the size of the sweet potato I ate at lunch today and that helped keep the carbs lower. Here is exactly what I ate today:

Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – (Pre-workout) – 1 scoop Whey Gold, 1 serving BCAA+Creatine
Meal 3 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Vassive EA8, 1 serving Vassive-NO
Meal 4 – (Post Workout) – 2 scoops 2:1:1 Recovery, 1 serving BCAA+Creatine
Meal 5 – 4 oz lean ground turkey, 128 grams sweet potato, 3.03 oz broccoli
Meal 6 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Egg Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein Protein
Meal 8 – 6 oz marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans
Meal 9 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet came out to 2770 calories with 312 grams of protein, 215.5 grams of carbohydrates and 67 grams of fats. This breaks down to 45% protein, 31% carbs and 22% fats.

Friday, Feb. 8, 2008
My weight this morning was up a little to 216.5 pounds and the waist, FINALLY, went down to 36”. It took me three weeks to undo the damage I did in one week on vacation! Wow, the joys of getting older. The fat doesn’t come off like it used to baby!

I trained the last three days so I decided to take today off. I did cardio in the morning after I trained my first client. I had one scoop of Whey Gold protein about an hour before I did cardio and then had another scoop of Whey Gold protein with a serving of Vassive-CE immediately after the cardio. I kept the carbs lower all day and ate less than 150 grams total today.

For my cardio, I did the treadmill for 25 minutes, which was 10 minutes longer than when I did the cardio after my workout this week. I had the treadmill at 3.2 mph @ 8.0 incline. My heart rate was up to 140 beats per minute when I finished.
Here is exactly what I ate today:

Meal 1 – 1 scoop of Whey Gold protein powder
Meal 2 – (After cardio) – 1 scoop Whey Gold, 1 serving Vassive-CE
Meal 3 – 2 X-Large Eggs, 8 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 4 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 5 – 4 oz lean turkey burger, 137 grams sweet potato, 3.25 oz broccoli
Meal 6 – 8 egg whites, 3 T. salsa, 1 t. natural peanut butter
Meal 7 – 4.2 oz sirloin steak, ½ cup green peas
Meal 8 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet added up to 2607 calories with 292 grams of protein, 147 grams of carbs and 80 grams of fat. This breaks down to 45% protein, 23% carbohydrates and 28% fats. Back to the gym tomorrow for back and biceps!

Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008
My weight this morning was up to 217 pounds but the waist is still at 36”. If I stay on track and continue to lose an average of a quarter of an inch off my waist each week, I should be down to a 33” waist by May 3rd, just in time for summer.

My workout today was pretty good. My lower back was feeling a little weak but I got through the T-Bar Rows, actually increasing the weight from the last session. I did the Hyper-Extensions for my lower back after my rowing movements and I got a great pump in my lower back. I added Stiff-leg Deadlifts for my hamstrings to the workout after the Hypers because I skipped hams on Tuesday when I did legs. Unfortunately, I think I slightly strained the lower back from doing the Stiff-leg Deadlifts after the Hyper-Extensions. I might be better off keeping hams on leg day instead of trying to fit them in on back day. Here is how the workout went:

Close-Grip Pulldowns 130x15, 180x10
Wide-Grip Chins BWx10, BWx8, BWx9
One-Arm DB Rows 100x12, 125x9, 125x8
T-Bar Rows 180 (4 plates) x 10, 225 (5 plates) x 8, 245x7
Hyper-Ext. BWx20, 45x15 followed by BWx12, 45x15 followed by BWx10
Stiff-leg Deadlifts 185x12, 225x10
Alternate DB Curls 45x11, 55x8, 60x6
Preacher Curls 80x10, 100x8

My calories and carbs were up again today because it was a training day. My carbs were up to about 220 grams, which was a little high but I’ll go lower tomorrow on my off day. Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Egg Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 3 – (Pre-Workout) – 1 scoop Whey Gold, 1 serving Vassive-CE, 1 serving Threshold
Meal 4 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Vassive EA8, 1 serving Vassive-NO
Meal 5 – (Post-Workout) – 2 scoops 2:1:1 Recovery, 1 serving Vassive-CE
Meal 6 – 4 oz lean turkey burger, 143 grams sweet potato, 3.07 oz broccoli
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 8 – 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet came out 2725 calories with 290 grams of protein, 219 grams of carbohydrates and 68 grams of fats. This breaks down to 43% protein, 32% carbs and 23% fat.

Here is my weekly progress report since starting my diet on January 19th. I will post this every Saturday to rate my progress from week to week:

Beginning Week - 1/19/08 - Weight 229 - Waist 37"
Week One - 1/26 - Weight 218 - Waist 36 1/2" - Avg Cal. 2611 - Avg Carbs 213
Week Two - 2/2 - Weight 216.5 - Waist 36 1/4" - Avg Cal. 2619 - Avg Carbs 201
Week Three – 2/9 – Weight 217 – Waist 36” – Avg. Cal. 2654 – Avg. Carbs 200

The information contained in this article is not intended to be used for, or replace, the advice, medical diagnosis, or treatment of your doctor. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other licensed healthcare provider before starting any new supplement, diet, or exercise routine or when you have questions regarding any medical condition. Use of this article indicates that you expressly acknowledge and agree that Optimum Nutrition, Inc., its suppliers, licensees, and sub-licensees are not responsible for the results of your decision resulting from the use of this information including, but not limited to, your choosing to seek or not seek professional medical care based on the information contained in this article.