DAY 11 - Same Diet/Structural Attack, Part 4

Weight = 168.5 LBS (Up 4.5!! I guess yesterday WAS the start of a trend!)

WORKOUT

If you think I'm sounding like a broken record, you're right. If you think I *feel* like a broken record, you'd be right again! DAY 11's workout called for 35 minutes (up from 30 yesterday) of dead lifts.

My lower back was fairly sore and tired last night and today which didn't sit right with me. I went on line to see what I could find about dead lifts. As it turns out, I think my technique has been off these past four days of The Structural Attack. It seems my legs are weaker than I even thought which was causing me to slouch over the bar...particularly on the way down. Not good for the lower back! Proper form is to keep your chest out, head up/forward, and your weight on your heels. My bodyweight was definitely leaning up on my toes.

Needless to say, I didn't bring my ego to the gym...I mean basement...tonight and started with just 115 LBS on the bar. You're not going to believe it, but I think that was probably even too heavy for proper form. I was able to do that weight for a little over 10 minutes then I dropped down to my ending weight of 95 LBS for the last 25 minutes or so.

Although having to use such a light weight is disappointing, I'm learning a lot about my body. I really need to focus on getting my legs stronger. This could be tough as I've always relied on my back to do a lot of work. Having stilts for legs doesn't help! Developing those support muscles is going to be critical.

DIET

Breakfast (pretty much the same as DAY 9): Protein shake with creatine and glutamine. 2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites, 1 oz mozzarella with garlic and a little bit of tomato sauce (Italian omelet!). Then there was the chocolate peanut butter oatmeal with a banana, honey, cinnamon and walnuts. Makes my tummy all warm just thinking about it!

Snack (2): 1 cup yogurt with ground flax. 1 oz of cheese.

Lunch: Tortilla casserole leftover from dinner on DAY 10. I was *way* too excited in anticipation for this meal! It's worth repeating that the wife assembled one heck of a dish with this one!

Dinner: Post workout protein shake with glutamine and creatine. After that, it was time for round 2 of stuffed zucchini (see DAY 9). I think we could make a good living baking and selling this dish! I'm hoping we'll have one more round of this before the growing season comes to an end! For dessert, I had some watermelon and grapes with some almonds and walnuts.

Pre-bed Snack: 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, some almonds, and watermelon (yes, it was a big melon!)