520Muscle’s BodyBlog

So far my weight gain has been pretty stagnant. I managed to put on about 10 lbs in a little over a month, but lost 5 and am back down to 170 lb on average, with a new body fat of 4.1% (according to the hand held BF tester). I feel bigger and think I look bigger, and I’m definitely stronger, but true mass seems to elude me. Curse you metabolism!!!!

My workouts are going pretty good, somewhat inconsitent though with my school semester winding down and studying for exams kicking up. Overall though I’m doing good in school and am on track for my work out goals.

It’s been about a month since I posted an update on how things are going so thought I’d fill in the blanks with some info. I’ve been getting to the gym a minimum of 5 days a week and I am progressively pushing myself to do more each workout, be it more reps of  a same weight, or same reps of a higher weight. I refuse to become sedate and coast. I constantly tell myself to suck up the pain, weakness, exhaustion, and all other obstacles and work out…..Hard. The move to Golds gym was the right one for me as it is where people go to get fit, not socialize, and that’s my style. I’ve managed to put on 10lbs in around a  month and am looking to keep adding weight while keeping boy fat low. I was in an accident where my car was totaled but I was uninjured. I got a car I really wanted and am happy to drive it. (maybe post a pic when I get a chance) All in all life is good and I stay motivated through my friends and the great people here on BB.com. Keep up the good work everyone!

So I have been eating more of everything (healthily) in an effort to bulk and my body has pretty much just laughed at me and said, "I’m just gonna kick your metabolism even higher, you’re not gonna gain weight Biotch!" So, all you hard gainers and expert bulkers, I need eating tips and help. If you have a good bulking routine along with supplement suggestions or tips, let me know!

I have to admit, leg days had sucked big time for me for years. I didn’t like doing squats for sure so avoided them or never tried hard. Basically I coasted through leg days knowing I had to do them, but didn’t put much effort into the workouts. It’s also the reason my legs have never really grown. Now, however, I like leg days because I can see I am lifting more, I can see more definition in my legs, and my pants feel tighter at the calves and thighs so I know what I am doing is working. It is now inspiring me to work harder towards my goals. I found the positive in my negative and turned my whole attitude towards legs around.

Did shoulders today. I didn’t prepare a work out prior to the gym so my shoulder workout my change next week as I would like to to some different exercises to help with balancing out my shoulders. Symmetry is king to me, mass means nothing if it isn’t proportionate I believe. I once again lifted to what my max workout weight is so I have a baseline for March to improve upon. I also went shopping for some much needed foods to help round out my diet. Overall a good day again!

I had a good day at the gym today! I worked on my mental strength as well as my physical strength. I am working on keeping my mind focused on what I am doing at the gym, as well as what I do outside of the gym. Been a rough several months for me as work has slowed to a crawl and my paychecks are suffering for it, car trouble, housing woes, and the usual BS life throws at us. It kept me down for a bit I’ll admit. I realized it was killing my motivation and remembered life is what we make of it. So I became thankful for my job, thankful for my car and that I can still afford it, thankful for my living situation as I still have a roof over my head, and thankful for my friends and family. Whining is not allowed, even though I want to sometimes. I also joined up with the Super Human body group as I believe the group will help me achieve my goals. When I worked out, I told myself I can lift more weight more times, and anything else was just being lazy. And ya know what? I was able to, Mind over matter.

I gotta say, being an ectomorph or "hard gainer" is tough. The amount of food I need to consume to bulk makes my friends wonder if I have a tape worm or two. I’m ok with that, as most of them aren’t in very good shape, and give me crap for my diet. I just look at them and say to myself, "Yeah, but at least I can see my abs!" It amazes me how many people think it’s ok if I cheat and eat something with empty calories. I get looks of disgust when I don’t eat out with my friends because I choose to eat helathy. I just have to wonder, how many other of you bodybuilders, weight lifters, gym rats, fitness competitors, and the like get similar treatment. I guess it is similar to how overweight people get treated at times, just from a different perspective.

I’m starting over. I pretty much stopped hard training last year when Full time work, a part time job, and full time school didn’t leave me any time to work out like I wanted to. At least, that’s the excuse I wanted to believe. Truth is, I got into the best shape of my life and decided to coast. I was frustrated, I wasn’t gaining mass like I wanted to. I got lazy. Now though, I’m looking to come back better than before. So my goal is to hit 180 - 185 lb at 4% bf by July 09. Trick is, I need help with diet. I’m a hard gainer, and have to eat lots of calories to gain weight. I’ve gotten up to 190 before, but was on a 6500+ calorie a day diet to do so. My grocery bills and supplement costs were also about 3x more. So I’m asking the pros, hard core amateurs, and anybody else out there who has some good dieting and workout tips for help. I’m like a sponge and absorb it all. So go ahead, toss me some ideas, I’m all ears.

And yes, thank you too!

So I worked on my back Saturday with a bit of fear as I was pretty sure that would be the make or break point for me as to whether I would be able to train hard enough to do the show in October. It hurt, hurt like hell to work my elbow that hard. I suffered through it and kept thinking of the possible gains, and the potential losses. At the end of the day my elbow felt like it was on fire. This morning I apparently poured gas on the fire while I was sleeping cause the pain was worse. But I still went and worked out. I did shoulders today and knew it would be painful. But then something started happening. The pain started subsiding and the flexibility started coming back. I spent 10 minutes in the sauna and 10 minutes in the hot tub and by the time I had showered and gotten dressed the pain had subsided to just mildly annoying. As I type this there is almost no pain at all. I’m happy. I hate not being able to work out and feel like I’m slacking if I don’t, injured or not. Now I can get back to working out hard again and getting back on track with my goals.

This is just a thanks to everyone for all the great feedback. I have never really taken pics of myself like the ones I have posted and honestly had no true idea of how far I’ve come over the past few years in my workouts. It’s people like the one’s here at BB.com that confirm that hard work pays off. You also inspire me to do better. Especially if I come up against you in a competition. Work hard, train hard, and play hard!

Pete