BuckSpin - A Year Of Change

Did you ever have someone(s) walk past you & say something, thinking for some unknown reason that the fact that they are now behind you by a few feet makes you impervious to sound? If so, read on:

Was out with the family today and 2, um, "well fed" men in their 60s walked past me & one of my boys. No one else was within 20+ yards of us.

I hear the one guy say within seconds of passing us "Psst… that was Chuck Norris"

HUH? ME?

You decide….LOL!

I weighed myself again early this AM to make sure…..

My 32" jeans are sagging. I’ve lost 2.5" off my hips in around a month. I’m seeing definition & hollows in places that weren’t there…

…and yet I’ve somehow gained around 5lbs in the past month or so. I’m around 196 or so.

I’m in "that good place", and I admit its a bit confusing & defies logic.

I do know my lifting has grown more intense, my PWO nutrition has changed & improved dramatically, I’m lifting heavier & heavier, my core workouts & weight training have some good cardio components, I eat very clean & don’t cheat, I stay on my sleep schedule….but still this is screwing with my head.

I know, from everything I’ve read & every description & self test I can take, that I have a mesomorphic frame. I’m still learning more about it, but perhaps there is something to it & I might be more of a "classic" mesomorph than I care to admit.

In the meantime, I’ll just keep on keepin’ on. Over 6 1/2 months into my 12 month transformation.

Just finished the last workout of my most recent 6 Week Cycle. I look like I fell in a swimming pool. I’m drenched & my midsection aches, but it hurts good.

Besides doing alternating split lifting sessions 4x week (Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri) I do a Core workout 2x week on Wed & Sat. Its a carry over from my "Biggest Loser" classes in which I was shown the importance of a strong core. I firmly believe in it, and as a result devote 2 days a week to it.

Each 6 week cycle I custom design a new core workout of 12 exercises utilizing a balance ball, my bodyweight, resistance bands, dumbbells and an ab wheel. This cycle’s focus was on torso rotation & the abdominal wall.

The workout is done linearly (in sequential order) 2x thru. The first time is as many reps as I can get in good form in 60 seconds, the 2nd set the same but in 45 seconds. I emphasize intensity and form & as little rest between sets as possible. This way not only do I get in some great core work but I get some good cardio as well as some enhanced metabolic fat burning! 3 birds in one workout!

Hard Core II:

Balance Ball Prone Jackknives/Pikes
Resistance Band Reverse Wood Chop
Double Crunch with Dumbbell Resistance
Ab Wheel Roll-Out
Seated V Twist
Plank Row Pushups w/ Dumbbells
Bicycles
Balance Ball N’ Wall Side Crunches
Balance Ball Prone Knee Tucks To Chest
Reclined V Leg Flexions
Supine ON Balance Ball Curl N’ Crunch (balancing ON the ball & doing leg flexions)
Small Ball Crunches (small ball in small of back)
Resistance Band Cable Crunches

It was a good workout & I made some good gains in my midsection. I nailed the very last one & set 2 PRs:
Total Reps: 531
Avg. Reps/Minute: 12.95 (41 minutes)

Next Wednesday I’ll start Hard Core III. This will focus on my serrats & external obliques as well as more abdominal wall strength work.

As I promised, I uploaded a few new pics of where I am now. Its in this thread (of which I am very proud to have been one of the 1st to reply to!):

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showpost.php?p=204642451&postcount=435

This is a good start, but in no way am I even remotely satisfied. If anything, I am even more critical & demanding of myself and what I need to do to get to where I want to be.

I have many miles to go before I sleep.

For my 2nd 6 week cycle of split workouts I decided to add some compound/full body/Olympic variant style lifts to each split. Some are pretty common & obvious (deadlifts, front squats, step ups, etc), while some are not.

While these are all great lifts, work a large number of muscle groups & typically require moving much heavier loads, without question the one lift that totally & completely kicks my @$$ are these - the Reverse Hi-Lo Dumbbell Woodchop. In his book "Power Training" (highly recommended, BTW) Robert dos Remedios, MA, CSCS calls these "Corkscrews". His first words in the description:

"This exercise is a killer!" He’s not being overly dramatic.

These are humbling beyond words. Deadlifts, squats, etc. all require extreme effort, but do not engage the three planes (sagital, frontal & transverse) like this one. Plus, if you are looking to develop those top four "fingers" of the external obliques so they intertwine with the serratus anterior this is THE lift.

I know these can be done with cables, but the axis on which the weight is directed (the cable) disengages a lot of support/core muscles that holding a dumbbell engage. Plus with a dumbbell you can make a full rotation & start the lift with the weight at floor height for a humbling & true arc of motion that only you control & will have you in your "happy place" fast.

Stand with feet shoulder width apart holding a dumbbell with both hands. (Note - I typically have the hand to which side I will be rotating underneath the other & holding the dumbbell). Squat down and twist to one side, attempting to touch the weight to the floor behind your heel. The heel of the foot opposite the side you are twisting down to will come off the floor & that foot will turn/point towards the dumbbell. Then, as fast as you can, drive the dumbbell upward, across & back, keeping your arms straight & the arc as smooth as possible. Finish with the weight above & behind the opposite shoulder. Reverse the motion & return to the starting position & repeat. Do all reps to one side, then switch.

Your body should resemble a corkscrew in its motion. Keep the arms as straight as possible and the arc of the lift as fluid as possible. Control the weight & really focus.

I use a weight than I can get 8 reps in good form but not more than 12, and do 3 drop sets (going down 5lbs a set) with as little rest between sets as possible in the logic that the one side was "resting" while you were doing them to the other.

If you do not seriously consider stopping the exercise 2/3s or 3/4s of the way thru your target reps you are not working hard enough, using good form or the right amount of weight. These are KILLERS! Its not uncommon for me to progress from grunts to yells to whimpers, and I’ve tasted tears thru the sweat streaming off me.

If you are really looking to challenge your mind & body and start/pop those cool oblique striations give em’ a try and let me know whatcha think!

I stumbled across this on YouTube one day, and it just lit…me…up. (disclaimer - played football for 7 years). Its a pregame speech by former NFL running back Derrick Moore, currently the Athletic Chaplain at Georgia Tech. At around the 1:20 mark he quotes his youth football coach’s mantra:

"You fight…
til’ you can’t fight no more.
You can’t fight no more…
you going to lie down and bleed a while.
We going to get up…
and fight some more"

When you are having trouble even lying down from that last set, and you have more sets to do, remember this.

Exactly 6 months ago to this day I was sitting at one of those "All You Can Eat" Chinese buffets stuffing my almost 270lb face…..on purpose.

I knew that the next day was the start of my "Biggest Loser" program. So in some sort of twisted rationale I decided to go out in a blaze of General Tsao’s Chicken & Crab Rangoons. I knew that the next day this was going to be off-limits, so I waded in one last time.

I had no idea what the future held, and that 11 weeks later I would win that "Biggest Loser" program with a 57.4lb weight loss, and then keep on going afterwards in pursuit of my "Grail"…the "1" on the left hand side of the scale. I got it 2.5 weeks later & for the first time since I had a "1" on the left hand side of my age I had it on the left hand side of my weight!!

It was a life altering experience, and I sit here today weighing 191.4lbs with my much sought after abs showing (not ripped but I can count 6 of em!) and my legs sore & tired from this morning’s cardio.

I ran a sanctioned 10K. (the Maine Lobster Festival)

My 1st legit 10K (I’ve actually been running 11Ks every Sunday for about a month & didn’t know it…see my blog for my Sunday running experiences).

It was a lot of fun & a great experience. While I didn’t hit my goal of a sub 9 minute pace, I did break an hour with a 57:22 time, good for a 9:14 average & 132nd place overall. There were a lot of great memories & experiences along that 6.2 miles that I’l always remember. And I even got in the Festival for free & scored a cool T-shirt! I’m sure 6 months ago I couldn’t have squeezed one of my legs into a M, let alone ME!!!

Its been an amazing 6 months, and the best it yet to come. I’m only 1/2 way to my 12 month commitment to developing my body to the best its every been. I’m already there as far as that, but I am not satisfied in the least with how it looks. I’m happy & pleased, and it seems every day brings something new that I didn’t notice before. I’m even going to pursue a CPT!

6 months down, 6 months to go.

Bring it on….