Life behind the Med school scenes

Starting a small cut

Sat, 06 Sep 2014 21:03:25 +0000

Hey guys! I'm now completely done with holidays and back home, so I'll be posting more again. After going through several months of slow-bulking at 3000 calories a day, I'm starting a short cut to trim off some body fat and improve my insulin sensitivity and other numbers. I'm currently at 66 kilograms, which is 18.5 more than when I reached my all-time low of 47.5 kgs in January 2013.

My average daily intake will range around 2100 calories, with about 50% protein, 30% fats and 20% carbs. I'll be eating in an IF-style from noon until 8 PM, usually 3 meals. Since I've been eating within this window for quite a while, I don't really have any problems with it, nor do I suffer from hunger. The amount of 2100 calories divided over 3 meals is still a lot for me, considering the fact that I eat clean, nutritionally dense and satiating foods.

My training will consist of alternate days of weightlifting and HIIT. I'm also active outside training, as I barely sit down and walk everywhere instead of taking a bus/car.
Example:
-Day 1: HIIT 25 minutes (1 minute sprint, 1 minute jog, etc.) including warming up and cooling down for 5 minutes & ab training
-Day 2: heavy weights, low volume lifting Chest & Back
-Day 3: HIIT 25 minutes (45 seconds sprint, 45 seconds jog, etc.) including warming up and cooling down for 5 minutes & abs
-Day 4: heavy weights, low volume lifting Legs
-etc.

I have currently done day 1 and 2 without any problems, I will keep you up to date!

Importance of sleep in Medical School & Beyond

Mon, 04 Aug 2014 05:15:00 +0000

Think about it: would you let your children be sleep deprived? What about the bus driver of the bus you take to work, or the pilot flying you overseas? Of course not, they usually aren’t sleep deprived, but what about the people in the medical field? Surely, you wouldn’t want people dealing with humans’ lives to lack the ability to concentrate, do you?
Yet, medical students during residency have to work extra hard (and long) in order to get experience and meet the expectations, regardless of the price they pay for it. Doctors, too, are subjected to shifting work schedules and night duty, more often than not. Considering the enormous impact medical practitioners can have on people’s lives, the subject of sleep becomes even more important.

Modern medical training was founded by William Halsted, the first surgeon-in-chief at Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, in the 1890s. He required his residents to be on call no less than 362 days a year, a ‘suck-it-up’ attitude that resembled Medicine for the next 100 years. However, doctors and medical students are not a special class of people and are still subjected to the normal limitations of physiology, even though they often have to act like superhumans.

A Libby Zion Story

A tragic example of the severe sleep deprivation medical residents go through, happened in 1984. On the evening of March, 4^th 1984, Libby Zion, an 18-year old college freshman with depression, was admitted to New York Hospital because of fever, agitation, disorientation and strange jerks.
Two residents evaluated Libby but couldn’t find a clear diagnose and called it a mere overreaction to a flu-like ailment. After being approved by calling the senior clinician, she was given meperidine, a sedative and painkiller to control her shaking. During the night, one of the residents went to sleep, while the other treated other patients. When Libby started making sudden jerks again, the remaining resident ordered the nurses to place medical restraints on her so she could not hurt herself. She also prescribed an injection of haloperidol, another sedative, without reevaluating Libby.
In the early morning, Libby’s temperature was dangerously high (107 °F/42 °C) and emergency measures were tried to lower the temperature. Despite the several attempts, Libby had a cardiac arrest and died. The doctors called the case a “bad outcome of a mysterious infection”.

Libby’s father, Sidney Zion, a lawyer and writer for The New York Times, couldn’t believe the diagnosis and was sure her death had something to do with inadequate staffing at the teaching hospital. Zion discovered that Libby’s chief doctors were busy residents with little supervision and that no senior clinician evaluated his daughter. He wanted to ensure that nobody else would have to go through such tragedy, which made him start his campaign to change the regulations.

One of the probable causes of Libby’s death was the interaction between meperidine and phenelzine, an antidepressant she was already taking, but which wasn’t clearly checked by the residents. Another point of discussion was the use of shots and restraints for an agitated patient. Instead of treating her increasing agitation, she was just ‘tied to her bed’. Zion also complained about the fact that the available resident was on a 36-hour shift while handling cases of life-and-death and covering several patients, the senior clinician was not around and the other resident wasn’t notified.

Zion’s complaints stood strong until the state of New York adopted new rules –the Bell Commission-, mandating residents to work a maximum of 80 hours per week and no longer than 24 consecutive hours. Also, the attending physicians needed to be physically present in the hospital at all times.
In 2003, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) introduced similar regulations for residents across the United States. In 2011, work hours were reduced even more, letting first-year residents go home to sleep after shifts of 16 hours.

Medical School & Sleep Deprivation

A study published in Sleep in 2004, showed that medical students in their first and second postgraduate year go through a high amount of sleep deprivation.¹ Over 20% reported sleeping less than 5 hours per night, while 66% reported sleeping 6 hours or less per night. The former were more likely to report use of alcohol, serious accidents or injuries, weight changes, conflict with professional staff, use of medication to stay awake, making significant medical errors etc.

Residents in the fields of, for example, internal medicine and surgery often go through shifts of thirty straight hours, making the impact of lack of sleep even bigger. Regulations mandate a maximum of 80 hours of work per week, but logging false duty hours and working over 100 hours is not uncommon. A study published in the Sept. 6, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 80 percent of interns nationwide still sometimes work excessive hours.

In 2011, new rules were established to ensure first-year residents do not work longer than 16 straight hours, yet second and third-year residents still have to go through shifts lasting up to 28 straight hours. In contrast, a 2009 survey by BMC Medicine amongst American households showed that patients preferred a well-rested doctor over one that has been working for more than 24 hours, making the new rules still somewhat questionnable amongst the public.
Importance of sleep

Medical school, with its dozens of exams and rotations, as well as life as a licensed MD, calls for highly capable and quickly responding students. Nonetheless, sleep deprivation goes hand in hand with a severe decline in cognitive performance and reactivity.
A study done in 2000 showed that people who went without sleep for 17-19 hours showed a similar performance on cognitive tests as people with a blood alcohol content of 0.05% (roughly 2 alcoholic beverages).²
During wakefulness of more than 16 hours, sleep-deprived brains show significant changes in activity, which is reflected as a decline in alertness shown in EEGs. Also, the prefrontal cortex, responsible for many higher-level cognitive functions, is especially vulnerable to a lack of sleep, making logical reasoning and complex thoughts harder to execute.
Logically, these declines in performance do not go without consequences. It has been shown that sleep-deprived interns are more likely at incurring percutaneous injury as well as being in a motor vehicle accident.^3,4 Furthermore, performance on surgical exercises may be negatively affected, leading to lower grades and less developed skills.⁵
As if it that’s not enough, even doctors themselves show consequences of sleep deprivation. After all, they’re just humans too. Surgeons who slept less than 6 hours during the night inflicted more surgical complications the following day than those who slept longer than 6 hours.⁶
Medical students find themselves on the intersection of sleep and memory. They have to recall vast amounts of situations, knowledge and skills, while at the same time, they are required to do 24-to-36 hour calls with minimal or no sleep, even though the latter is actually essential for residents to be at their cognitive best.
In 2004, the New England Journal of Medicine published two studies comparing the traditional 80-hour weeks with a reduced schedule of <63-hour week without >24-hour shifts. Residents from the intervention group reported over 6 hours more sleep per week, 22% less serious medical errors and half the amount of attentional failures during on-call nights.^7,8
Mental health is another area that is severely affected by chronic sleep deprivation. In 2006, the Association of American Medical Colleges published a study about the correlation of sleep-deprived interns and their mood regulation. From the start until the end of the year, interns showed a significant increase in prevalence of depression, burnout and empathy due to chronic sleep deprivation. Students also reported lower quality of life together with their worsened mood.⁷

How can medical students, doctors and everybody in general improve their sleep?

The saying «Social life, sleep, good grades. Choose two of them» doesn’t always have to be true. By organizing your time and life and planning ahead, you might be able to get the best of all of them.
Here are some tips to improve your sleep and, consequently, your grades, evaluations, performance, mood, productivity, and so much more:

· Sleep about 7-8 hours on a regular basis. Sleeping less than 6 hours has been associated with a higher risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, mood disorders, cancer, dementia and even mortality. On the other hand, sleeping for more than 9 hours has been associated with diabetes, obesity, dementia and mortality. Furthermore, try not to ‘sleep in’ in the weekends, as this might disrupt your circadian rhythm. It is recommended to go to bed and wake up each day at the same time, in order to optimize your circadian rhythm and eventually even wake up without the need of an alarm clock.
· Avoid bright and blue light before bedtime. As the evening goes on, our pineal gland starts to increase its production of melatonin, the darkness hormone that makes us sleepier when it gets dark at night. The production is, however, suppressed by light, making it harder to fall asleep when using bright light before bed. In order to maximize melatonin production, it is best to dim the lights at night and avoid the television, computer, smartphone or any other personal electronic devices, which send out blue light. On the other hand, in the morning, try to expose yourself to natural light from outside, in order to wake up.
· Avoid caffeine and alcohol in the late afternoon and evening. As we all know, caffeine (e.g. coffee, green tea, energy drinks, Coca Cola) gives most people a boost in the morning to kick-start the day. However, consumption of these beverages later in the day will keep you up late at night, thus interfering with sleep. Alcohol, despite being used as a ‘nightcap’, makes your sleep lighter and decreases the amount of time you spend in REM and deep sleep, which are essential for proper functioning. Alcohol can also increase stomach-acid secretion and relax throat muscle tone, leading to increased obstructions and arousals during sleep.
· Limit stress. In today’s life, everybody tends to run from one place to the other, from one class to their books, from one patient to another, without pausing for a minute or enjoying the beauty of life and what surrounds us. Stress not only increases your risk for several cardiovascular conditions, but is also associated with mood disorders. The latter are in turn highly comorbid with sleep disturbance.
· Associate your bed with sleep. If you lie in bed, but cannot fall asleep after about 20-30 minutes, get up and go to another room to read or write until you are sleepy. This trick, called stimulus-control therapy, lets you associate your bed only with sleep and not with being awake, in order to make you fall asleep faster.
· If you nap, do it wisely. If you’re going through a period of inevitable sleep-deprived nights and wish to catch up by napping, make sure to nap on the same time each day. This way, your body anticipates the rest, similar to your nightly tiredness. Also, make sure not to rest for more than 30 minutes, as that might work counterproductive, by deregulating your circadian rhythm and giving you a post-nap funk.
· Do not count sheep. A lot of people have trouble falling asleep due to stress and having many things on their mind. In order to limit spending time on unnecessary thoughts, try writing them down so you can handle them the next day. Another trick is often said to be ‘counting sheep’, but research has proven this to be too easy to be effective. Instead, try this: count back from 300 with steps of three (or any other boring math exercise). It keeps out the stressful thoughts and makes you fall asleep due to boredom.

Even though many of the tips and explanations appear to be logical, especially for medical students and doctors, they don’t often apply them in real life, even though they are the ones who should set a good example. It’s true what they say: you really should practice what you preach!

References:

1) Baldwin DC Jr, Daugherty SR.
Sleep deprivation and fatigue in residency training: results of a national survey of first- and second-year residents. Sleep. 2004 Mar 15;27(2):217-23.
2) Williamson AM, Feyer AM. Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication. Occup Environ Med. 2000;57:649-655.
3) Ayas NT, Barger LK, Cade BE, et al. Extended work duration and the risk of self-reported percutaneous injuries in interns. JAMA. 2006;296:1055-1062.
4) Barger LK, Cade BE, Ayas NT, et al; for the Harvard Work Hours, Health, and Safety Group. extended work shifts and the risk of motor vehicle crashes among interns. N Engl J Med. 2005;352:125-134.
5) Kahol K, Leyba MJ, Deka M, et al. Effect of fatigue on psychomotor and cognitive skills. Am J Surg. 2008;195:195-204.
6) Rothschild JM, Keohane CA, Rogers S, Gardner R, Lipsitz SR, Salzberg CA, Yu T, Yoon CS, Williams DH, Wien MF, Czeisler CA, Bates DW, Landrigan CP. Risks of complications by attending physicians after performing nighttime procedures. JAMA. 2009 Oct 14;302(14):1565-72. doi: 10.1001/jama.2009.1423.
7) Lockley SW, Cronin JW, Evans EE, Cade BE, Lee CJ, Landrigan CP, Rothschild JM, Katz JT, Lilly CM, Stone PH, Aeschbach D, Czeisler CA. Harvard Work Hours HaS Group. Effect of reducing interns’ weekly work hours on sleep and attentional failures. New England Journal of Medicine. 2004;351(18):1829–1837.
8) Landrigan CP, Rothschild JM, Cronin JW, Kaushal R, Burdick E, Katz JT, Lilly CM, Stone PH, Lockley SW, Bates DW, Czeisler CA. Effect of reducing interns’ work hours on serious medical errors in intensive care units. New England Journal of Medicine. 2004;351(18):1838–1848.
9) Rosen IM¹, Gimotty PA, Shea JA, Bellini LM. Evolution of sleep quantity, sleep deprivation, mood disturbances, empathy, and burnout amonginterns. Acad Med. 2006 Jan;81(1):82-5.

UC Berkeley

Mon, 04 Aug 2014 04:53:00 +0000

Hey guys,

I know I haven't posted for a while, but I have been busy with my exams and immediately afterwards I left to Berkeley, where I'm now following the Summer Sessions.
I have been here for 4 weeks now (only 2 more to go) and it's an amazing place. Time flies by, unfortunately, I wish I could stay here for longer. The only BIG problems are:
-UC Berkeley does not have a Medical School;
-No Medical School in the Bay Area in California (or somewhere else in the USA/Canada as far as I've seen) accepts transfers from other Medical Schools, certainly not if they're international.
If anyone knows an exception to the rule, I'd be very happy to hear it!

Also, my next post is for a project I had to do for my class 'Psychology of Sleep' here, where we had to inform people (general public, children, ...) about the importance of sleep. As a medical student, I chose to write something about the importance of sleep in the medical field. Hope you guys read it, comments or remarks are welcome anytime.

I have been training still, and I'm still making progress. I will try and update as soon as possible!

Have a nice evening!

Note: finals

Fri, 06 Jun 2014 15:54:42 +0000

Hi everybody,

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting lately, but I'm in the middle of my finals currently, and you can understand that they are more important right now.
No worries, as of June, 26th, I'll be back!

Update on progress - DEXA

Mon, 19 May 2014 10:57:41 +0000

Hi everybody,

On October, 7th 2013 I did my first DEXA scan and skin fold measurement at the university's sports science centre. On May, 15th 2014, last week that is, I went for the second time to follow up on my progress. Below I briefly mention the results. Note that I only started with C60 2 months ago, so there is no conclusion about the effect of C60 on this progress to be drawn.

7/10/2013:
Body Fat: 9,6%
Fat Free Mass: 49,99 kg
Fat Mass: 5,31 kg
Bone Density Z-score: -0,9

15/5/2014:
Body Fat: 11,7%
Fat Free Mass: 54,08 kg
Fat Mass: 7,17 kg
Bone Density Z-score: -0,4

Personal opinion:
I'm very happy with my strength gains in the last couple of months. I have also gained a decent amount of FFM, even though it probably could have been better if I increased my caloric intake a bit more when plateauing for a few weeks. Nonetheless, I think I did a good job and will continue my slow bulk. I am now on 2900 calories on workout days and 2500-2600 calories on rest days, gaining about 0,3 kg a week.
My bone density, which was surprisingly low in October (I'm guessing due to the fact that I went to Peru, i.e. High altitude, for 3 weeks just before), has increased very well as well.

Hasta el final, Vamos Real!

Wed, 07 May 2014 15:04:33 +0000

It was 20:45 on tuesday, 29 April. The return leg of the Champions League semi-finals were about to start. We, Real Madrid, were facing a furious Bayern Munich after winning 1-0 at home. My heart was beating like madness, but then something incredible happened: we beat the favorites with 0-4 and trashed them at their own stadium. Yes, finally, on May 24th, I'll see Real Madrid in the final for the first time. We'll face our city-neighbours Atletico Madrid who have had an incredible season as well. Oh, too bad it's still so long..

Anyhow, sorry that I didn't post an entry for a while now. I'll post both my series of workouts.

Workout A: at gym
Wide-Grip Bench: 65, 60, 57.5
Chest Dips: BW+20, BW+18, BW+16
Military Press: 40 (6, 6, 6)
Underhand Cable Pushdown: 36, 32, 27.5
Cable Cross: 22.5 (15, 15, 15)

Workout C: at gym
Calf Raise:130, 125, 120
Leg Press: 90, 87.5, 82.5
Single Legged Romanian Deads: 2x22 (8, 8, 8)
Reverse Calf Raise: 100 (20, 20, 20)
Ham Curls: 41.5 (8, 8, 8)

Workout B: at gym
Pull-Ups: BW+14, BW+12, BW+10 (next workout, I'll go lower in weight, but slow down the movement)
Reverse BB Curls: 30 (6, 6, 6)
Hammer Curls: 22 (7, 6, 6)
Bent-Over BB Row: 55 (10, 10, 10)
T-Bar Row: 30 (7, 7, 7)
Zottmann Curls: 10 (9, 7, 7)

Session 2:

Workout A: at home
Wide-Grip Bench: 65, 62.5, 57.5
Chest Dips: BW+20, BW+17.5, BW+15
Military Press: 37.5 (7, 7, 7)
Underhand Cable Pushdown: 15, 12.5, 10 (somehow, it's easier at the gym, even though it weighs equally?)
Cable Cross: 15 (15, 15, 15)

Workout C: at home
DB Calf Raise: 30, 20, 20 (At home, I changed to DB as my back hurts due to the weight it has to bear)
Back Squat: 94, 91.5, 89
Single Legged Romanian Deads: 2x22.5 (9, 8, 8)
DB Reverse Calf Raise: 22.5 (20, 20, 20) (Same as regular raise; at the gym, I use a Leg Press)
Ham Curls: 32.5 (10, 10, 10)

Workout B: at gym
Pull-Ups: BW+8, BW+6, BW+5
Reverse BB Curls: 30 (7, 6, 6) (next time, I'll go lower in weight, to keep time under tension longer)
Hammer Curls: 22 (8, 8, 8)
Bent-Over BB Row: 57.5 (8, 8, 8)
T-Bar Row: 30 (8, 7, 7)
Zottmann Curls: 10 (9, 9, 7)

Cheers!

Dose 2 of C60

Tue, 29 Apr 2014 14:56:39 +0000

Good afternoon, my friends!

Last weekend, I took my second dosage of C60, 22.5 mg in 25 ml OO once a month, that is. I took it after workout C, the day before workout B.
My father took his second dose as well. He hasn't felt anything in particular, he said. My father is 73 years old and doesn't do any sports, except for an occasional walk. He is, however, still working every day from the morning until late evening, as he has several therapy centers and has to do conferences in various countries. His vitality is exceptional! (Note that this is not due to C60, he has always been like this).

All of my workouts were done at home.
Workout A:
Wide-Grip Bench: 62.5, 60, 57.5
Chest Dips: BW+20, BW+17.5, BW+15
Military Press: 35 (10, 10, 10)
Close-Grip Bench: 52.5, 50, 47.5 (last two sets incomplete, see note)
DB Flies: 17.5 (7, 7, 7)

Note: Next Workout A, I'll be substituting Underhand Cable Pushdown for CG Bench as the latter kills my wrists, hence not properly working my triceps enough.

Workout C:
Calf Raise:117.5, 117.5, 115
Back Squat: 94, 89, 86.5
Single Legged Romanian Deads: 2x20 (10, 9, 9)
Reverse Calf Raise: not done due to equipment problems
Ham Curls: 32.5 (10, 9, 9)

Workout B: after C60 the day before
Pull-Ups: BW+15,5, BW+13, BW+10.5
Reverse BB Curls: 27.5 (10, 10, 10)
Hammer Curls: 22.5 (6, 6, 6)
Bent-Over BB Row: 55 (10, 10, 10)
T-Bar Row: 62.5 (10, 10, 10)
Zottmann Curls: 10 (8, 8, 8)

Same thing as after my first dose: I don't know if it's placebo or the real thing, but I feel much stronger and lift heavier with more ease after taking C60. I still continue to increase my lifts each workout, but after a dose of C60, my lifts increase even more.

Tonight is the return/second leg of the semi-finals of the Champions League. Real Madrid plays in Munich against Bayern Munich, defending the 1-0 win from last week in Madrid. I hope we can finally reach the final again for the first time since 2002 (I was still too young back then to be a proper fan, so I haven't seen the final back then).
This will be the most stressful moment of this year for me thus far, I'm already sure of it! No worries, I have a strong heart!
HASTA EL FINAL, VAMOS REAL!

Back to life, back to reality

Wed, 23 Apr 2014 18:15:23 +0000

Springbreak's over. I intended to study, but I didn't too much as I was completely in the mood for holidays. Oh well, still about 6 weeks until exams and my grades are always great, so no biggie!
Last weekend, I went on a city trip to Lille (France) and I have to say I was quite impressed. We went through the train station a couple of times before when going to Paris, Disneyland or London, but we never thought the city itself was this nice! Definitely recommended!
The only 'downside' (in terms of building muscle, not in terms of CR, but this is not my goal) is that I lost weight, as usual on vacations. People usually gain weight from all the food on vacation, yet, since I am even more active on holidays (walking all day etc.), I eat gluten-free and health-conscious, and we have 3 meals max per day (in contrast to the normal 4 to 5 I have back home), I always come home lighter than before. No biggie, though, as it's most likely a bit of fat loss and it's good for my health as well.

At Medical School, I am chief editor of the student newspaper and this week I published a two and a half page (A4 formats) article about the fight against aging. I based it upon this site, Aubrey De Grey's Ending Aging, Heales and The Blue Zones, combined with scientific references, of course.

On a supplement note: yesterday, I started taking NOW Resveratrol 250mg/Pterostilbene 50mg once a day, which seemed the cheapest one on the market, especially since it's combined with pterostilbene. I don't expect to notice any difference, but it's merely for health purposes as it's a staple supplement with most people.

Workout A: at home
Wide-Grip Bench: 62.5, 60, 55, 55, 55
Chest Dips: BW+20, BW+17.5, BW+12.5
Military Press: 35 (10, 10, 9)
Close-Grip Bench: 52.5, 50, 47.5 (last reps of each set weren't in proper form)
DB Flies: 17.5 (6, 6, 6)

Workout C: at Uni Gym
Calf Raise: 120, 119, 116.5
Leg Press: 90, 85, 82.5
Single Legged Romanian Deads: 2x20 (10, 9, 9)
Reverse Calf Raise: 90 (20, 20, 20)
Ham Curls: 39 (10, 10, 10)

Workout B: at Uni Gym. I did much less on the T-Row than when at home. This is most likely due to the fact that I just put a BB in a corner at home. In contrast, at the gym it's a heavy equipment where you have to put weights on a bulky bar and handles.
Pull Ups: BW+14, BW+10, BW+9
Reverse BB Curls: 27.5 (9, 9, 8)
Hammer Curls: 20 (10, 10, 9)
Bent-Over BB Row: 55 (6, 6, 6)
T-Bar Row: Bar+40 (6, 6, 6)
Zottmann Curls: not done, I had probably outdone myself on the former exercises, which all went up quite a bit.

Tonight, it's the first leg of the semi-finals of the Champions League for Real Madrid. We're up against last year's winners Bayern Munich, which we hope to defeat, especially in Madrid this evening. Fingers crossed and blood pressure up!

Ganamos la Copa!

Thu, 17 Apr 2014 14:17:00 +0000

I am a happy man! I am always in a good mood, but now even more. My favorite soccer team, Real Madrid, has won the Spanish Cup (Copa del Rey) final against our arch rivals, FC Barcelona. God, what a run that was from Gareth Bale!

This blog isn't meant to be about Real Madrid, though (even though I can write books about it )
I have completed another three workouts and I am still breaking personal records again and again and again! My pre-workout will keep consisting of 200 mg caffeine, cup of coffee, scoop of Madre Labs CocoCardio, 1 g Taurine, 2 g Beta-Alanine, 20 mg PQQ, 3 g HMB and 500 mg Rhodiola Rosea. I might throw in the last citrulline malate I have left next week, but I doubt it'll have much impact as my combo already works for me like nothing else does (thus far).

Workout A:
Wide-Grip Bench: 62.5, 57.5, 55, 55, 55
Chest Dips: BW+17.5, BW+15, BW+12.5
Military Press: 35 (10, 10, 8)
Close-Grip Bench: 52.5, 50, 47.5 (I wasn't able to complete the last two 2 reps of the final set)
DB Flies: 15 (10, 10, 10)

Workout C:
Calf Raise: 117.5, 115, 114
Front Squat: 91.5, 86.5, 84
Single Legged Romanian Deads: 2x20 (9, 9, 9)
Reverse Calf Raise: 94 (20, 20, 20)
Ham Curls: 32.5 (9, 8, 8)

Workout B: Today I used my new dumbbells for the first time. Yesterday I bought EZ Dumbbells (similar to the Bowflex) that go up to 32.5 kg. This way I can go heavier and I don't have to use those clumsy big-ass plates anymore, as these are much more weight-dense.
Pull Ups: BW+13, BW+10.5, BW+9
Reverse BB Curls: 27.5 (8, 8, 8)
Hammer Curls: 20 (8, 8, 7)
Bent-Over BB Rows: 50 (10, 10, 10)
T-Bar Rows: 60 (10, 10, 10)
Zottmann Curls: 12.5 (8, 7, 7)

I won't be training for a couple of days as I'm going on a citytrip to Lille, France with my parents, sister and brother-in-law. Don't worry though, I'll get back soon!

Meet my new friend!

Sun, 13 Apr 2014 18:32:00 +0000

I admit it, I haven't posted the past few days because I forgot. However, I will not let you sit there and wonder how the past days have been and will thus be complete in this post.

Since there is not much to say about my rest day, I will continue as of two days ago, with workout A:
Workout A:
Wide-Grip Bench Press: 60, 57.5, 55
Chest Dips: BW+15, BW+12.5, BW+11.25
Military Press: 35 (9, 9, 9)
Close-Grip Bench Press: 52.5, 49, 45
Dumbbell Flies: 15 (9, 8, 8)

Yesterday, I reintroduced my old pre-workout friend: ye olde caffeine! Since I had the feeling it didn't do much for me, I thought I might had to take some time off of it. I didn't take any nor did I drink coffee for the past two weeks. I have now started taking 200 mg pre-workout again. I do not feel jittery or anything, but I do think it helps me since my lifts increased more than expected.

Workout C:
Calf Raise: 117.5, 115, 115
Front Squat: 89, 86.5, 84
Single Legged Romanian Deads: 2x20 (8, 8, 8)
Reverse Calf Raise: 84 (30, 20, 20)
Ham Curls: 32.5 (8, 8, 8)

After yesterday, comes today. This morning, I went to an antique market 30 minutes from here with my mom. As a collector of medical and sports antiquities, I was hoping to find some new (though old ) things for my collection. I found quite some things, but what pleased me the most was having found a 20 kg (44 lbs) dumbbell from the beginning of the 20th century, before they had changeable weights, the time of the real strongmen! God, how I love this piece! (EDIT: somehow, I'm not able to upload a picture as JPG, PDF or PNG, so you'll just have to visualize it!)
Anyways..

Workout B:
Pull Ups: BW+13, BW+9.25, BW+8
Reverse BB Curls: 28 (8, 8, 7)
Hammer Curls: 20 (6, 6, 6) (I did these with the old dumbbell! )
Bent-Over BB Row: 40 (9, 9, 9)
T-Bar Row: 60 (8, 8, 8) (it was 60 last time as well, just miscalculated back then)
Zottmann Curls: 12.5 (7, 7, 7)

I also want to mention I started taking 200 mg of l-theanine before bed since 4 days ago. Didn't expect it to be this good: it hits me harder than 3 mg of melatonin and 100 mg of 5-HTP combined! Good stuff..