Metamorphosis

So yeah, I’m back… kinda. Not posting much here regarding my workouts. I really want to get a trainer, but I’ll be damned if anyone is interested in training me. Do I have that much attitude? I sent an e-mail to a few expressing interests and goals, and never heard back. I don’t think I have unobtainable goals, I am asking for change, advice, etc… not like I am closed minded from the get go or anything. It’s rather discouraging.

Well, I am closer to my 6-pack, but did not work hard enough to get it by june… or at all yet. You can see some progress… though I have chosen not to post pictures. My shoulders and arms have more definition, and more vascularity now. I need to loose the love handles still though they are smaller than they were. My waist has come down quite a bit. I had to buy all new work clothes, suits, shirts, slacks, etc. Nothing I had fits. all my summer shorts require belts otherwise they fall off… without my butt catching them. I hate clothes shopping.

I am trying to build lean muscle mass without packing on too much fat. I don’t want to be the same size I was or have to buy a new work wardrobe again… thats damn expensive! I want to stay as lean as I am now, or better until September. Then I am going to build as much as I can until March ‘10, and then try to drop the excess fat to lean out for summer. I’d still like to have a trainer to assist in obtaining those goals… any suggestions or volunteers?

- Doc

So, yeah… I ain’t been around much as of late. I ain’t one for making excuses so I’ll tell ya how it is.

We bought our first house! It’s great… but what a helluva lot of work! Luckily we have until the end of the month to move out of the old apartment, and into the new place. So what have I been doing. I have been busier than "Daniel-san" working on Mr. Miagi’s fence, cars, and deck. Wax on, Wax off… Sand the floor, Paint the fence… all translate to sanding and painting the walls. Whoever attempted to patch the drywall, and pain the place last obviously didn’t care about paint runs, clean rollers, or who would have to finish their patching work. So my shoulders and back got a great workout during the last two weeks. It is very tiring and I have seen long hours. I have been getting 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night (not a lot for me). This obviously has translated over into sleeping in, which kills my gym time. I have about 3 or 4 work outs that I still need to log, but I have not been in the gym in a week. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. All this work was expedited so we had the majority of the rooms and common areas painted before moving in this weekend. So after this weekend… All I have to do is help clean the apartment and from there, all time constraints are done! I can then get back into a regular gym routine. My diet has taken a hit, but I have cut back on the amount of food I am taking in in order to compensate for the bad food I have cheated on once a day or so. I can’t wait to get back to the gym!

I will also be switching up my workout completely from this absurd 7+ day rotation to a 4 day rotation with a concentration on cardio and maintenance in order to drop BF. I had a stupid bio-feedback test done at the gym last week and it said I was 25.5% bodyfat still! I don’t think so personally… which reminds me… I need to post some progress pics soon! it’s been too long.

Until next time…

What a day in the gym. I hunkered down and threw some iron around. I finally threw up 225 on my incline press… 305 here I come! My focus today was on going heavy… trying to get the burn… trying to make sure I feel it tomorrow and Thursday. I am not happy with my chest at all. I feel like I put too much shoulder into it at times. I would guess that means I lack proper form, but I am sure that I am very careful not to let it go. Take for instance Cable X-overs; when I am doing them, I take a step forward and make sure that I keep the pull on the same "plane"… nice and even to the center of the chest. Yet I feel the pull in my front shoulders? Certainly my front shoulders have seen a great development in the last 2 or 3 months. I want to round out the lower and especially outer and center pectorals. That doesn’t seem to be happening. I think I will save that question for the trainer when I get one.

Tomorrow, it’s back to the regular workout schedule, picking up where I left off with an Arms / Cardio day.

Until next time…

Writing this from the dr’s office on my iPhone. Just a routine blood work day. Got to work abs on Sunday. That is not a thing that happens often. Tomorrow Is Hell Day, of the Chest variety. My mission is to hit it hard, make it burn, make it grow.

On a side note… I have come to a realization that eating with the family for Sunday lunch has become detrimental to my goals. It is hard to find healthy food. It all tastes great, but it is far from being within my dietary restrictions. Come April, I need to further restrict my diet and clean it up further if I want that lean chisled 6 pack.

Until next time…

Today I achieved 10% of 1 of my 09 goals…. 260 workouts in a year.

I am slowly transitioning from a compound exercise / building workout… to a more cutting focused workout. This is in part due to my goal of my Washboard by June 1st, 09. I will keep some compound exercises in there, but I will be starting some more specific cutting exercises like DB rows, db incline press, etc. I will also be trying to step up cardio more each week. My objective isn’t to concentrate so much on the volume of each workout, more so the burn / second day soreness. I might be able to leg press 810 for 10 reps with good form… but I don’t react to it anymore. I don’t wobble (much) down the stairs afterwards… and I am only feel slightly sore in 2 days… not like I should if I really worked the muscle hard. So I am going to do whatever it takes to feel the pain, and make sure that I am working all areas efficiently and thoroughly.

Bring back the burn!

So yeah, I didn’t dump my old rotation yet if you are following my workout log. Tomorrow is officially Back Day… and into the new rotation as per the 2/17 post.

Until next time…

Shoulder day today. I was obviously lost when I wrote my last entry regarding what day was next. So I don’t confuse myself any further here is a "note to self…"

Note to self: your rotation is as follows…
1. Chest
2. Back
3. Abs
4. Arms
5. Legs
6. Shoulders
7. Abs

Ab days are always Cardio Days. If I don’t get at least 4 sessions of Cardio in during a week, Saturday is a dedicated Cardio day. Sunday is more times than not a off day. Every other two mondays are off days due to work schedule. Each week will have a hell day dedicated to the burning of whatever bodypart is next in the hell day rotation. Hell Day will be the same day each week (haven’t decided which yet). Hell Day rotation follows the same rotation as your regular workout rotation. Hell Days have no cardio in them. So as an example, the next few weeks are as follows assuming Hell day is Tuesdays, and I don’t miss a day:

Wed 2/18: Abs / Cardio
Thurs 2/19: Chest / Cardio
Fri 2/20: Back / Cardio
Sat 2/21: Abs / Cardio
Sun 2/22: OFF
Mon 2/23: OFF
Tues 2/24: HELL DAY - Chest
Wed 2/25: Arms/Cardio
Thur 2/26: Legs / Cardio
Fri 2/27: Shoulders / Cardio
Sat 2/28: Dedicated Cardio Day (less than 4 cardio days by Sat)
Sun 3/1: OFF
Mon 3/2: Abs / Cardio
Tues 3/3: HELL DAY - Back
Wed 3/4: Chest / Cardio
Thur 3/5: Back / Cardio
Fri 3/6: Abs / Cardio
Sat 3/7: Arms / Cardio
Sun 3/8: OFF
Mon 3/9: Legs / Cardio
Tues 3/10: HELL DAY - Abs
Wed 3/11: Shoulders / Cardio
Thur 3/12: Abs / Cardio
Fri 3/13: Chest / Cardio
Sat 3/14: Back / Cardio
Sun 3/15: OFF
Mon 3/16: OFF
Tues 3/17: HELLDAY - Arms
Wed 3/18: Abs / Cardio
Thur 3/19: Arms / Cardio
Fri 3/20: Legs / Cardio
Saturday 3/21: Dedicated Cardio Day (less than 4 Cardio days by Sat)
Sun 3/22: OFF
Mon 3/23: OFF
Tues 3/24: HELL DAY - LEGS
Wed 3/25: shoulders / Cardio
Thur 3/26: Abs / Cardio
Fri 3/27: Chest / Cardio
Sat 3/28: Dedicated Cardio Day
Sun 3/29: OFF
Mon 3/30: Back / Cardio

… so on, so forth….

This is of course subject to change pending progress, health, and decisions made based on all of the above. If I miss a day, the whole schedule shifts. No part goes a rotation "unworked".

Until next time…

So I have not been blogging as much as I would like to. Work is quite busy with a large number of projects taking precidence. Home life is hectic as well as the house buying process comes to a end and a large move awaits. Today was an early work day, tomorrow will be a gym day again. I believe either abs or Chest day as the cycle starts over again. I will be switching up some (not all) compound exercises to some cutting exercises, yet keeping the weight heavy as well as starting to add more cardio to the mix. This means getting up earlier even though I won’t be getting to bed any earlier. My rotation will be mixed up as well. I blogged ideas about that in my blog during January sometime. It will stress a different muscle group each week, and that group will be the first group worked that week. I think Sunday will be a mandatory off day for recovery. Other than that, we’ll have to see how it works out. I might throw a day of swimming in for cardio.

The Dr. suggested cutting some carbs (50%) from my diet in order to drop more weight as I am not entirely where he wants me to be. I have been eating clean carbs, though Feb 13th and 14th my diet was a disaster. It is difficult to eat out and eat clean. I will also be changing treatments as levels from my blood test showed that I am not where I should be, so a more intense treatment is an order. This is possibly a good thing as my metabolism will be forcefully kicked into overdrive when I start therapy next time around. this will enforce my cutting routine that starts this cycle and lasts until June. Washboard by June 1st… here I come!

I am late getting progress photos out, and the ones I took at the end of Jan aren’t anywhere to be found, so I will post at the end of Feb.

Until next time…

I have a few workouts to enter in my workout tracker. Got behind as this week was hectic with goings on at work and with the house buying process. I’ll try to get the details posted tomorrow afternoon.

an update… I am now 287.5! That weight was yesterday morning. In 71 days, I have dropped 22.5 lbs. That is a little more than .3 lbs a day. I NEVER thought I’d see myself under 300 again. I was wrong. I like being wrong in this case!

I’ll post progress pics as I get to it, maybe tomorrow.

Until next time…

Today is one of those days where you wish you didn’t get to bed so late the night before. I got int he gym about 45 minutes late today and Cardio took the hit.

I’ll post the workout tomorrow if I have time. REALLY busy week… Will probably get to the gym Wed and Thursday, but tomorrow and Friday are shot thanks to work… and afternoon appointments. Not much to read here, I know. Sorry about that.

Until next time…

Yeah! Back in the game! Weak as $#!t, still hacking up junk but only occasionally throughout the day instead of 3 times a minute. That fractured rib still hurts like hell! I worked abs because that is the first goal I have to meet in June… my 6 -pack. I am not so sure it is smart to work much else yet. I can stabilize my Rib Cage with proper breathing to a certain extent. A good deep breath in before the rep… exhaling slowly through the rep helped. Form was strict on all I did today, did not want to do anything to that rib. Whenit came to side bends though I had to call it quits. I felt the rib popping on each rep and that was enough to make me say "That’s All Folks!"

Cardio was boring as it ever was. I might dedicate the month of February to working just Cardio and Abs. Here are my reasons…

1. Cardio doesn’t hurt my ribs.
2. Cardio will help me reduce my bodyfat count.
3. Lifting my arms in certain directions hurts my ribs, so I won’t be lifting.
4. I can exercise my Abs (but not obliques) without hurting my ribs.
5. A month should put me in a position where I can start lifting again without the pain.

I’m not worried about tracking sets reps and volume until I get to a point where I can lift heavy / build.

On another note, I weighed in @ 290 today. I want to think part of it is because I was sick for so long. I want to think part of it is because I reduced my carb/calorie/protein intake while I have been sitting on my butt, sick. I want to think part of it is because I have been eating clean. I DON’T want to think part of it is because I am loosing muscle from not lifting for 2 or so weeks. I haven’t been under 300 in the past 10 years!  

Until next time…