Not replying to anyone... just providing a resource.

I haven't had time to do much in the way of music what with grad school and all. Sucks :(

All the creatine talk is making me consider getting some. Since you take it, Silock, I'm assuming that creatine doesn't necessarily encourage bulking/ballooning up and that you can build lean muscle with it?

What it does is increase your muscle's ability to do work. It's just more fuel for your body, basically. Now, it does increase sarcoplasmic hypertrophy a bit, and if you don't drink enough water, it can make you bloated. But it doesn't take THAT much water, and Kre-Alkalyn eliminates the downsides.

Overall, it will make you stronger and slightly bigger. It doesn't actually build muscle, though. What it allows you to do is to do more work so that your body can build muscle.

Thanks. So I'll bump it up a notch and do as many reps as I can up to 12, two times. Once I am able to do all 12 both times, I'll bump it again. I really appreciate it guys, I'd be lost as you can see. :)

****ing leg day. God, I hate it so much.

Bulgarian Split squats:

Per leg:
Bodyweight x 5
Bar x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
175 x 5
185 x 5
190 x 5
195 x 3

Finished up with some pistol squats and 3 rounds of the modified leg matrix.

Pistol squats x 10 x 3

MLM:
24 x bodyweight squats
12 x 2 x side lunges
24 x jump squats
24 x squat thrusts

Heh, I'm not training for size or aesthetics, though. Soccer season starts next week. Gotta train them to stay strong, even when fatigued.

I had the living shit kicked out of me tonight. I've decided to mix my routine up a little bit. On my running days, I run outdoors in the morning and then go to the gym at night. It's 3 days a week so I'm going to see how it goes.

This morning I ran 2.2 miles and then tonight I went and did a spin class. Mother****er. I drank like 60oz. of water during that class. To put that in perspective, I forgot my water bottle last Sunday and put in 7.5 miles in just over an hour on the elliptical machine and didn't need any water at all until I was done.

I've never done the spin bikes before, and I had no idea there was a class tonight, let alone right when I showed up. I don't regret it though. I may do it every Wednesday. Those people kicked the shit out of me. And I kind of liked it. :)

Spin is FTW

Good deal. I need to look into a spin class. I get most of my cardio playing racquetball. A buddy of mine is along the same skill level (medium) so we play pretty competitive games.

Following the calories in vs calories burned diet and staying around 2,000 cal I have lost about 15lbs in 4 weeks. I was consuming way more than I thought apparently.

Same here. There's still a little something off, but since I started logging everything I'm getting much closer to my expectations than before.

With this new schedule I'll be putting in a little over 8 hours a week into my exercising. As long as I consistently take those Sundays off, which I'm pretty determined to do.

I'm really not doing this for the weight loss anymore. I mean, of course I am, but it's not my main focus. I've found that I genuinely enjoy it and plan on getting very active in sports rec leagues, and different classes as I get more fit.

Right on. Being fit is fun :)