ARCochran’s BodyBlog

    It never fails.  My lovely science teachers here at the University of Georgia have done their best to stress me out.  I don’t know what it is, but my tests always fall into the same week.  Twice this semester I have had four tests within five days.  For those of you reading this, I am not taking any candy classes, these are hardcore Pre-Med classes.  My grades thus far have all been high A’s and that is certainly not of my doing, but rather a blessing from God.  Honestly though, the two biggest downsides to having my tests clumped together like that are stress and stress induced immune suppression.  Stress seems to be the root of my problems though.  When I am stressed, my lifts just plain suck.  I cannot lift hard and I have no strength.  On top of poor lifting, I usually experience some immune suppression and consequently experience some type of respiratory illness.  I just dont know what I should do.  All of my finals are the second week of December and guess what; they are all within two days.  Fortunately, finals are my least stressful time.  My grades have been high enough throughout the semester that I can really just turn on cruise control during finals.  Any suggestions on how to deal with the stress induced sickness are welcome. 

Coughing and Sneezing,

                      
          Adam

Yesterday my only class was cancelled.  When free days like that come along, I do what any other nerdy student does, I studied.  I spent all day doing various things in various subjects.  By 5pm I was sick and tired of looking at notes, chemical structures, and metabolic pathways.  On a whim, I decided to attempt to make my own protein bar.  I was really sick and tired of taking the smelly old shaker bottle to class with some powder in it, so I need a good portable meal.  Being a college student on the meal plan and living in a dormitory, I dont have a lot of ingredients on hand.  All I had was some rolled oats, whey, splenda, skim milk, and natural peanut butter.  I figured will all of those things, I would be able to make a decent bar that would stick together.  After a little playing around, I did it.  I made a great tasting protein bar, that is stable at room temperature and is very nutritionally stable.  If you want the ingredient measurements and nutritional values, then PM me.  The only problem I can think of is that the whey I used might be heat labile.  Im investigating further on this one.  I’m very happy with my creation though.  I have a good meal replacement bar to carry to class.

It all began a few weeks ago.  I was doing straight leg dead lifts and I was trying to push myself to get as full of an extension as possible.  During one of my sets, I felt a an odd stretch in my right Hamstring.  It did not hurt at first, but began to later in the day.  I decided to take two weeks off in terms of hamstring exercises.  After two weeks of stretching and rest, I decided to get back into things with regular dead lifts.  The first week, dead lifts went well and there was no pain. Last week on the other hand, gave me the same stretching feeling that I got the last time.  Being the stubborn person that I am, I decided to give it another week and try deadlifts once more.  Bad Idea!!!  This week the pain was intense and I wanted to just lay down on the floor and die.  With my new found pain, I decided that a visit to the Doctor was in order.  I arrived at the Doctor’s office this morning and immediately upon reading my chart and seeing the six inch vertical bruise on my hamstring, he told me that I had torn my hamstring slightly.  I knew this was not good news.  The first thing that came to my mind was, "I have my first competition in August and I need to do my deadlifts."  Before I could express my concern, the Doctor saw the expression on my face and told me that I could do deadlifts again in six weeks.  Six weeks is a long time to lay off and exercise, but it could have been much worse.  On the bright side, he is allowing me to continue doing squats.  I suppose that’s a fair compensation.  So long deadlifts, I’ll see you in late December.

       Well, I did it, I decided that I would compete.  I would say that it is all thanks to several of the bodyspace members who have been very encouraging and helpful.  Numerous bodyspace members have repeatedly told me that I have "a good base".  I suppose this is a good thing.  I don’t want a good base.  I want a great body.  With that in mind, I began talking to a friend on this site about how to get a great body, the body I would need to compete.  I gave him the rundown of my diet and lifting program and he told me I was on track.  There was one problem though.  He said that I needed to add about twenty pounds and set a date for the competition.  I picked the OCB Intra Coastal Natural in August of 2007.  With the general time frame established, I figured out that I need to gain roughly one pound per week until late April to reach my goal.  I began immediately piling my plates higher in the dining halls and so far I have gained a couple pounds.  The scary part is seeing the definition getting hazy.  So here I am.  I have the guidance of a seasoned Bodybuilder, the proper diet, the proper exercise, and the proper motivation.  What will I look like in April; and better yet, what will I look like in early August?  It’s a very strange thing to realize that I will actually be competing for the first time and from that point on I will be able to call myself a bodybuilder.  That’s an amazing feeling.  I cannot wait to hit the stage.