Brady’s Thoughts on the Journey

I haven’t been getting on here as often as I would like, but with the exception of my wife being gone, it has been a good week.  I still had one of my lifting parters, my son, so I was good to go.  He is 16, and is getting fairly muscular.  He has a thin frame like I did at that age but he is putting on some good muscle, at least in his upper body.  His knees have a condition called osteochondritis dissecans which means he has dead areas of bone in each knee causing holes that cause pain.  Still looking for a solution but will keep praying.  I think about what he is going through and feel like a wimp now thinking about when I complain about my knees hurt, and my pain is mostly self-inflicted.

Anyway, my workouts looked something like this since I last blogged: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?p=413185281#post413185281  Took a break from legs yesterday while my wife was flying back home so we could do legs together today.  Will move right back into chest tomorrow; gotta lift when you can during the week, knowing that the gym will be closed on Thursday.

I can reflect on those things for which I am thankful; my Savior, my wife, my kids, my parents (they celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary this week), my health, my work, and all of my friends here on BB.com who encourage me weekly.

To all of you I wish you Happy Thanksgiving and pray that you enjoy the day of feasting even if it means you cheat a bit.  A little bit of extra hard work does us all good.

Take care and keep hittin’ it hard.

Brady

Finishing off the week with a day of rest.  This was another good week of workouts; after a month or so of power/density workouts with a 10 x 10 style of workouts, we switched it up this week to follow a power set with a higher rep density set.  This is how it went:  http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=113066641&page=5.  Thanks for taking the time to look through it if you did.  I love change; each workout is different and it keeps our muscles growing.

If you take the time to read these bodyblogs and spend the time on Bodyspace looking for ways to make yourself better, you are warriors.  We are those that are fighting through those end of year blahs, to keep doing work on the iron and cardio equipment to keep our bodies fine tuned.  We are those fighters who are still in the gym from October through December, chipping away at the weights.  We don’t wait for the beginning of the year to make goals and resolutions, we make them yearly, monthly, weekly and daily because we are about doing the work that will improve our bodies and help us to be the best that we can be.

Congratulations to all of you warriors and way to stay strong and consistent in your pursuit.  Keep up the good work.

What is the old addage; "Fail to plan and you can plan to fail!"  I think that I got the gist of it.  Anyway to conitnue on with the blog from yesterday; today was a day to plan to eat well, especially at dinner and beyond.  Typically I am good up to the point of dinner, usually following work and the workout.  So after the workout today we decided to hit the old warehouse shopping club and pick up all kinds of protein and a few good carbs.  Bought fruits and veggies and the like yesterday, so we are already stocked up there. 

Now that we have our supplies it is time to carry out the plan of attack during the week.  Rather than fast food or not so fast bad food, we will eat clean dinners and limit our bed time snack to primarily slow digesting proteins such as cottage cheese.  I keep saying we to include my wife in all of this.

Today’s arm workout was a good one, a good pump and burn.  Only small amounts of pain in my left elbow, even on lifts such as skull crushers, although I am staying relatively light on these because I am only taking 30 seconds between sets of 10.

Enough for today; stay strong and committed.

With school in full swing, along with family, working out and work, it is time to sit down and bring all things into focus.  Probably the main area in which I have been slipping is the diet; just way to easy to run out and grab something to eat at the end of a hectic day. 

Since this is a bodybuilding space I won’t bore you with the family, work and school stuff.  Okay I will bore you a bit; my wife and son are still working hard with me at the gym, both are getting strong and love the iron.  My daughter will be hitting the gym to increase strength and stamina for competitive cheer.  Work and PhD program are moving along.

My workouts seem to be going well (http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=113066641&page=4), shoulder isn’t bothering me too much, so I am hoping we are out of the woods on that front.  I will take it easy and try out a new joint supp that is supposed to help with tendons and ligaments. 

My commitment to you all and to my wife, are to begin eating cleaner and not be so lazy at the end of the day.  It is sad to be good all day and then blow the day by going out at night.  I will buy lots of propane for the grill and make sure lots of good lean protein and fruits and veggies are available.

I have been doing work in the gym, now it is time to do work in my diet.

Be strong and committed!!!

Haven’t visited the old blogspot for a while, but I thought that I would stop in and give you all an update.  By you all I mean all three of you that look at these when I write them ; )

Haven’t entered anything about my workouts lately, so I will copy in a link to my journal in the "over 35 section" of the forums:  http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=113066641&page=4  (Hopefully the link works)

I have been increasing in strenght over the past few weeks so that has been a good thing.

I want to encourage all of you with a thought from John Maxwell and that is: "Today matters!"  No matter what you are doing or what you are pursuing, today matters.  Whether it relates to our spiritual growth, our pursuit to better ourselves physically, and our mental pursuits (this includes work); what we do today to accomplish our goals matters.  Maybe the first step in each of these areas of our lives is to create those goals.  Today may be a first step (the toughest one) or a step way out in the journey, but what you are doing matters.  Make a plan and then step out in faith and see your life changed.

Since this is a body building web page, whether you are at 350 lbs and wanting to get in shape or you are chiselled and want to put on 5 lbs. of muscle, make your plan and then step out in faith. Today matters; the sooner you take a step the sooner you will see results.

Have a great week everybody!

Okay, okay; I know I missed a day.  Our meeting got out late and I didn’t workout yesterday and on top of that the internent at the hotel was not working.  I actually ate okay most of the day but ended up having a beer, actually only half a beer.

Today was another good day, ate relatively clean and and got in a good arm workout.

I can safely say aftern and intensive week of learning that I am ready to go home.  This puppy is tired and misses his wife and kids. It will be nice to settle back into my routine, because I love my routine.  Can’t wait to get back to my workout partners (wife and son).  I assume that I will take tomorrow off from legs and start fresh with chest on Sunday.

Until next time.

Another decent day on my trip to Seattle.  With regard to eating I was good until dinner.  Went out with a number of people and had Mexican food.

I was able to get a good intense back workout and some HIIT afterwards, before we went out, to level the playing ground.  Still impressed with the little gym in which I have been working out.  Decent equipment and not very many people.  Plug my earbuds in and just move around the gym and get er done!

My back is still bothering me but I am able to get through workouts.

Miss my wife and kids, and my training partners.  Okay my wife and son are my training partners but still.

See you all tomorrow.

It has been a while but I am on a trip to Seattle and will need to keep the diet relatively clean and the workouts going hard while I am here.  I found a local gym about two blocks north of the hotel that I am staying that only charges 20 bucks for the week, can’t beat that.  It it were a chain like Gold’s it would be $10 per day.

Today I was somewhat dreading doing chest because I tweaked my back doing legs yesterday.  I was more than pleasantly suprised to find that the gym had iso-hammer strength machines to hit my chest in every angle that my little heart desired which included incline, flat and decline.  I was also able to hit cables or pec decs for all my flyes.  I also did some HIIT on a Cross Ramp fitness machine; I was again pleasantly suprised because my gym at home got rid of theirs when they "upgraded".

A couple of other gems that I found when walking to the gym was a supplement store and a Subway.  I was also suprised with lunch today at the facility in which I am taking my course; they had fajitas, so there was ample chicken and beef, can you say protein.  I normally have to take protein bars to supplement at these types of gatherings because they are usually carb heavy, if you know what I mean.  I can just pray that the menu is similar for the remainder of the week.  I am guessing that the other attendees were disgusted by the amount of protein that I walked away from the line with.  Oh well.

If you get a chance pray for my back and I will see you here tomorrow night.

Peace

It has been a while but I am on a trip to Seattle and will need to keep the diet relatively clean and the workouts going hard while I am here.  I found a local gym about two blocks north of the hotel that I am staying that only charges 20 bucks for the week, can’t beat that.  It it were a chain like Gold’s it would be $10 per day.

Today I was somewhat dreading doing chest because I tweaked my back doing legs yesterday.  I was more than pleasantly suprised to find that the gym had iso-hammer strength machines to hit my chest in every angle that my little heart desired which included incline, flat and decline.  I was also able to hit cables or pec decs for all my flyes.  I also did some HIIT on a Cross Ramp fitness machine; I was again pleasantly suprised because my gym at home got rid of theirs when they "upgraded".

A couple of other gems that I found when walking to the gym was a supplement store and a Subway.  I was also suprised with lunch today at the facility in which I am taking my course; they had fajitas, so there was ample chicken and beef, can you say protein.  I normally have to take protein bars to supplement at these types of gatherings because they are usually carb heavy, if you know what I mean.  I can just pray that the menu is similar for the remainder of the week.  I am guessing that the other attendees were disgusted by the amount of protein that I walked away from the line with.  Oh well.

If you get a chance pray for my back and I will see you here tomorrow night.

Peace

Started out as an ordinary Wednesday, but as the day moved along, there were a lot of good things happening.  I think that it actually helped to fuel a good workout.

First, I went to the doctor’s and he determined that I can begin lifting heavy again because my hernia seems to be in good shape.  Woohoo!  While the exam wasn’t particularly fun; the outcome was great.  Still have the shoulder to worry about, but things are looking up.

On a work note, I have a proposal due tomorrow, so one less item on my "plate of life".

One thing that has been brewing for a while is my 14 year old daughters interest in weight training.  She is a competitive cheerleader and is interested in weight and endurance training to improve her performances.  If you are not familiar with the competitive cheer, it is not your everyday sit on the side line and wave pom poms.  These girls are athletes and do tumbling similar to gymnastics floor routines , lift and toss girls in the air, do pyramids, etc.  I am always impressed with the amount of athleticism demonstrated by these girls, but most of all am proud of my girl for wanting to improve.

I hope that you all have a great evening and continue to reach for your goals.

Brady