BuckSpin - A Year Of Change

I’ve been having a really rough time with the time management bodybuilding, when juggled with everyday life, requires and the resultant stresses it imposes (well, I impose) on myself. I keep wanting to get everything done, work harder, do more, etc. But it just doesn’t happen & I keep thinking that I could be doing so much more & be so much further along. Its frustrating to no end.

I look at myself & while I am still in a state of semi-disbelief that I actually LOOK like that, I still know that I could be looking better if I could just work harder, which means more time, which begats the cycle again.

Anyway, I digress from my early present.

Did you ever get something as a gift that was totally unexpected, unasked for & that you LOVE? I got one of those a few days ago.

My part-time gig is at a high end wine merchant. I handle all the beer, cigars & spirits (tough, huh? LOL) and I’m learning more about wine. Anyway, a female customer bought a case of wine the other day & one of my co-workers (a woman) was about to carry it out while I finished ringing up the sale. I told her "Put that down! I’ll get it!"

The customer, a tall, thin woman who was once a professional ballet dancer, said this in reply:

"Yeah, let him get it. Besides, his arms are looking really good!"

Huh? Excuse me? My arms? Really good?  I have noticed that I thought I was starting to slowly fill out a little, but its hard to tell & be objective.

She then said "I’m sorry if that was out of line, but as a dancer I knew what it was like to really work on your body & I tell people when I notice theirs".

My face lit up like Christmas morning. Her simple comment made it all worth while. All the mornings up at 4am. All the 1000s of lunges & bodyweight squats. The cardio. The dieting. The burn. The sweat. The aches. The months of almost constant focus & dedication.

Apparently God knew I needed a little encouragement, and sent an angel in the guise of someone whose body & ability to focus hard was their profession at one time. That angel objectively gave me that boost, that sign, that acknowledgment that its working.

I swear if I wasn’t married she would have received a big kiss from me. I never stopped to think if she was married or not and if it would have even mattered! LOL

Today is my birthday. I’m 42 years young. As I cited in a previous entry, I sit here today weighing less & in better overall shape than I did 26 years ago on my 16th birthday. If you had told me this on my 41st birthday I would have thought you were seriously ill.

Where I Was One Year Ago Today  (measurements from 2/4/08 in parenthesis):
Weight: at least in the 260s (was almost 270)
BMI: 36.6% (ouch)
Body Fat: had to be close to 40% (42.8%)
Chest: 48" (48.5")
Arm: 15" (15")
Waist: 46" (48"…ugh)
Hip: 45" (46"…double ugh)
Thigh: 24" (24.5")
Calf: 18 (18")
Blood Pressure: 160s/90s (163/96….yeow!)

Of course turning 16 = driving. That said, I’m claiming that today I get a 2nd "learner’s permit" with the 09′ "previously owned/reconditioned" model (LOL! ) of my body:

Where I Am Today  (inches lost based on 2/4/08 measurements):
Weight: 192.4lbs (down over 75 POUNDS!!!)
BMI: 26.2% (down almost 10%)
Body Fat: 13% and falling!!! I can FINALLY see my &^%$#@! abs!! LOL (Down almost 30%!)
Chest: 40.5" (down 8")
Arm: 14.5" (down .5")
Waist: 34" and fallin’!!!" (down 14" overall & 4.25" in the last 2 months…the midsection is finally melting!)
Hip: 38" and fallin’!!! (down 8" total & 3.25" in the last 2 months!)
Thigh: 22.25" (down 2.25")
Calf: 16.5" (down 1.5")
Blood Pressure: 120/80! (ka-ching!)

NOTE: I did not have any measurements for forearm, shoulders or neck.

There is almost a YARD (34.25") LESS of me just on the measurements I have. Its safe to assume I’ve easily lost some inches off the neck, shoulders & forearm that would push that mark over 36" lost total.

I know from the mirror that I’m steadily leaning out more & more where it looks good, but also starting to (despite what the measurements say) slowly fill out where it looks good. Now its time to turn the dial back to UP. Its going to be fun to have to eat MORE to start adding some serious, good, lean muscle and get to where I want to be on Valentine’s Day 2009….

…. but in the interim, for anyone wanting to find me this afternoon I’ll be at Round Top Ice Cream in Damariscotta having my favorite "cheat treat" (if you can call it a cheat)…their awesome Black Raspberry Light Ice Cream!!! And its gonna be a LARGE!!!

I have no idea why this was never released as a single. My guess is that it would have alienated the "new fans" (re: <20something). But for those of us who were the fans back in "the day" its an anthem. I listen to this every workout.

"You can’t win until you’re not afraid to lose"

Its been a rough week mentally & spiritually. I know I have chosen to bring all of this onto myself via dedicating a year of my life to developing my body to what I have always wanted it (and been afraid) to be. Still, the constant focus, tempered with the realities of every day life as a dad, employee, mortgage holder, etc, etc, can get to you. The physical part of all of this has, ironically, proven to be the easiest part. The nutritional has been a eye opening experience & I have no regrets over, for the overwhelming most part, giving up processed foods (IE foods with lots of commas in their ingredient list).

However the issue of time (more specifically running out of it) has really tested me. I get up at 4&^%$#@! am every morning to make breakfast, workout, etc. I practice time management to save time (packing the kid’s lunches for the week on Sundays, etc). Every night I have what I can do & will need for my next morning’s breakfast prepped & in place.

So why do I always run out of time???

It seems that, every evening, I have the choice of either getting to bed on time and sticking to my sleep schedule (which has been horrible lately), which means I have no time to unwind, chill, "lay my burden (albeit self-imposed) down" for just a little bit and relax my mind, heart & soul, or taking some down time and screwing up my sleep schedule. Plus all the "stuff" that just needs to be done.

It drives me nuts. Its a horrible feeling to wake up at 4am & just know that it will be near impossible to get done what needs to get done and have even a second to unwind by day’s end. Its like having all that extra weight on me again.

How ironic is it that when I was fat & out of shape I had none of these problems (mostly due to apathy & total lack of discipline) but now that I’m in arguably (well, actually…LOL) the best physically shape of my life and really practicing self-discipline I just cannot find time to unwind without it costing me somewhere?

You always read about overworking/overtraining and the ill effects it has on growth & development. If this is the case my mind, heart & soul have been doing set after set after set, every day, with reps to failure. I had no idea the muscle between my ears would be getting this kind of workout! But "what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger", so I carry on.

Its 4am again…..

Bring it on……

ADDENDUM:
- It’s later this same morning & I took my own advice. I slowed it down & savored it. Yup, I purposely slowed down….

…my reps during my 2x/week core workout! Oh, MAN did it burn good bringing the legs & hips up a little higher, the descent a little slower, tucking the knees tighter, stretching further on the ab wheel. It was a total exercise in sado-masochism, and it felt GREAT!

Ironically I had a pretty good workout (637 reps over 43 minutes…my 3rd best ever) as well!

I am a sick puppy…..LOL!

Tomorrow is my "day off". I get to go run 5 miles in the morning. I look forward to this (and a slightly bigger breakfast ) "down time" all week.

"Focus hard, work harder, keep your eyes on the prize."

Just got back from a visit (family wedding) to where I grew up. None of my family knew about my "transformation" (see my BodySpace Before & After pics) & to put it mildly they were shocked! I had a great visit.

My dad is in the process of selling his mom’s house & as a result doing a lot of cleaning. He came across a 1982 football program of my high school team (junior season) & gave it to me.

I thumbed it, looked at everyone’s pictures, read the roster. And there, next to #74, were my vitals:

5′1", 195lbs….

I almost dropped it.

195lbs???

I WEIGH LESS AT AGE 42 THAN I DID WHEN I WAS PLAYING HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL AT 16!!!!  And I’m an inch taller & it looks a A HELLUVA LOT better too!!!

Needless to say this made my day/week/etc and was the perfect topper to a great visit.

Everyone at some point just wants to push the SNOOZE button, or just shut the alarm clock off…

Everyone contemplates not doing a workout for (insert excuse)…

Everyone has doubt & fear….

Next time you feel these, perhaps this might give you a little jolt of faith, or belief, or strength, or just fire you up. I have the audio from this scene in my MP3 playlist, and I swear its everything I can do to not (especially doing cardio) not tear into a full sprint, claymore in hand, charging my personal enemies like laziness, apathy, temptations, lack of focus, etc.

Replace the British in this example with that workout, that last set of reps, that extra weight you added to the bar, those last minutes or seconds in the high intensity cardio. Listen to his words & envision "…dying in your bed many years from now…" with the regret over the SNOOZE buttons or excuses or fear of pushing yourself beyond what you think you can do, that you did have that "….just one chance…"…

Did you run & live "…without freedom"….or did you fight?

This is one of my favorite inspirational passages/quotes. Its an excerpt from a speech given by President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt at the Sorboone in Paris on April 23, 1910. History now refers to it as "The Man In The Arena".

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Its my hope all of you know this feeling……

These people inspire me beyond description:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=108359701

To all of them, you have no idea how badly I needed to see the results of your hard work. Your efforts were & are amazing and provide those of us still early in the journey with a peek at how brilliant that light at the end of that 12 month tunnel can be if you focus hard, work harder, eat right & keep your eyes on the prize.

Saw this one in a book I’m reading as well as here on BB - The Bent Over Two Armed Long Bar/T Row:

Problem: I don’t own a barbell, nor belong to a gym. I work out at home with my Bowflex SelectTech 1090 dumbbells…

Solution: Use said dumbbells, dumbbell.

I just use a single dumbbell at a high set (doing sets with 80/85s now). In that there is no bar to support/anchor the weight on one axis it really works your rhoms & lats big time and forces you to engage other muscles that you probably don’t have to utilize with a long bar. Also, in that dumbbell weights are much smaller than plates you can get an increased range of motion in the lift by bringing it much closer to your chest than a heavy plate would allow.

For anyone looking for a great add-on to a dumbbell workout, or if you use this with a barbell, I highly recommend this. Its one of my favorite lifts now & you can get a really good burn/pump going.

Give it a shot & let me know….

Many of us are familar with the basic principals of weight lifting & strength training as well as the various lifts one can do to target/exploit certain muscles/areas. That said, I know I like to do things that are different, off the path less traveled if you will. Everyone likes to put their individual stamp/imprint on the work they do. It allows you to take more ownership of the results.

I do not belong to a gym/fitness center. I work out in the living room. At my disposal I have a set of Bowflex SelectTech 1090 dumbbells (thanks GW for the "stimulus" to my pocketbook & my traps!), a balance ball, some bands of varying resistence, "Pascho" the ab wheel, some 10lb ankle weights, a set of Perfect Pushups (I’ll vouch for them) my own bodyweight and anything else I can utilize (like our wingback chairs for Reverse Dips).

I saw these in a book I have on Strength Ball Training:

…and added them to my Wednesday Shoulders/Traps/Tris workout.

Oh my….these are an effort but FUN! It works the core, totally blast your shoulders & upper back and tris, plus it requires a lot of mental focus & concentration.

They are now one of my favorite "lifts". I guess you could say I do 3 sets with 195lbs to   failure!!

So…..what "outside the ball" exercises/movements/lifts do you do? Why? Share a description so that other "outsiders" may benefit & join in the madness.