BurningHeart’s BodyBlog

Since I’ve wrote a blog post.  Well I finished up my Bachelor’s degree recently and now I have weeks of free time!!… before I start my Master’s which means more school.  Anyway I’m doing great with my workouts, as each week goes by I get in the best shape of my life. 

I’m down to 188 right now and pretty low bodyfat, I’d say 10-11%.  I’m loving the way my body looks, especially pumped up.  Pics should come soon once I feel like recording another workout. 

 The thing I hate is trying to maintain a tan.  It’s easy to get one cutting the grass, but then what?  Laying outside looking up in the sun hurts my eyes and is uncomfortable because I end up laying in a pool of sweat with bugs crawling all over me.  I wish there was some sort of continuous work that needed to be done outside.  Then I could get some cardio in also.  Speaking of cardio, playing the drums on Rockband is great cardio, it’s fun and effective!

 Well this was a short blog post, but it’s late and I really need to stop browsing the forums and get to bed. Take care

Ahhh I feel sooo good right now.  I just finished a leg/shoulder/trap workout and the endorphins are running wild right now… so much I just had to make a blog post.  Usually when I made a post it means I’m in a GREAT mood!

I took the first part of this week off.  Last week I felt my muscles aching a bit during my workouts and I felt that I was burning out faster.  Since I have been almost 100% consistent with my routine over the past few months I decided it was time to rest my body.  Even though I didn’t workout Monday and Tuesday I still stuck to my cutting diet.

Thursday came around but I had to go to work then go to school right after so I didn’t have time to workout.  Instead I decided to hit legs/shoulders/traps today (Friday) and hit the rest tommorow.

Well anyway I got my Superpump 250 in the other day and was dying to try out the new flavor, Refreshing Orange.  I have to admit Gaspari did it again, another great tasting and working product from them.

I taped this workout, as it was that time of the month.  I tape 2 workouts out of the month back-to-back, showing my exercises for each muscle.  That’s also where I get my pictures from.

As I am looking back at the tapes I realize I must be at my lowest bodyfat percentage ever, or at least what I was when I stopped cutting October of ‘06.  This is great news because at the end of my cutting cycle I was at ~180 lbs. and I am currently at ~190 lbs…meaning I gained about 10 lbs. of muscle mass during my 6 month bulk… a great amount for an experienced weightlifter.  It also means I’ll be able to get to an even lower bodyfat percentage this year, setting a new record for myself.

I have to say though, working out is the best feeling in the world!  Some people want to take drugs to make them feel good, when in actuality working out is just as good and the heathiest way to make those endorphins flow.  And no I didn’t time the writing of this post to take place on 4-20… it just happened to do so.

I just need to get a tan now to add contrast to my body.  Usually I get one by doing work outside, but it really hasn’t been consistently sunny yet.  Sometimes I think maintaining a tan is harder than a workout routine…since I work indoors on my two jobs and of course I go to school indoors. 

New pics will be up two months from now, in case you haven’t noticed I post pics every 3 months.  Take care everyone, and remember the only way to achieve your goals is to be consistent… you may not see results each day, but stick with it and over time you’ll notice your body take a more athletic shape.  Take your before and after pics!

Well I started my cutting diet Monday but didn’t get to start my cardio until Wednesday because of work.

It went good though, Wednesday’s cardio session that is.  I wrapped my hands in gauze,  dusted off the ole boxing gloves (not literally, they weren’t dusty), fired up the MP3 player with a new battery, and got into the boxing routine.

Now I don’t just wail away at the bag and call it a cardio session.  I started boxing, or for a better word flailing, on the heavy bag last year.  When I started I could only go 3, three-minute rounds before feeling too exhausted to continue.  Over time I built myself up to 8 or 9 rounds of boxing, not flailing, before cutting season ended.

Well anyway for the first time in 6 months I started boxing on the heavy bag again.  Now I box in rounds, like professional boxers do.  However I only take 30 seconds rest between rounds as opposed to 1 minute as professional boxers take.  The rounds last 3 minutes each.

Round 1 came and went and I was somewhat tired, I thought I’d only last 3 rounds at the most.  Well that wasn’t the case…

Round 2 ended and I was doing alright.  Round 3 came and went.  Even though I haven’t done cardio in months and was starting to sweat, surprisingly I wasn’t getting exahusted.

I went into Round 4 and kept up a quick pace, I estimate I was landing a good 70 punches per round.   I was still quick on my feet, dodging and circling the bag.

I completed Round 5 and was surprised I was still going strong.  I realized I had many more rounds left in me.

Again, Round 6 came and went, and even though I had a waterfall of sweat on my face and my arms felt like they weighed 30 lbs, I still wasn’t exhausted.

I went into Round 7 banging away at the bag.  The 100 lb. bag and heavy metal stand it’s hanging on had made its way a foot from the corner of the room to banging up aganist the wall.  So with each hard punch the stand would bang aganist the wall, further chipping away at the wood paneling.  (Yes I’m working on getting a gym room made in my backyard)

I started Round 8 with my arms feeling heavier than before and a bucket of sweat on my face.  As for how exhausted I was, I really wasn’t exhausted.  I finished the round and decided to call it a day, mainly because the stand was chipping away at the wall and I didn’t have time to unload its weights and reposition it.  Don’t get me wrong though, my body felt tired, my arms were heavy, I was breathing with an open mouth, and my upper back was already sore.

In conclusion to my first cardio workout of the cutting season, I had punched and moved at a constant pace for over 24 minutes.  I had practically picked up where I left off last year, and couldn’t believe it.  After doing NO CARDIO for 6 months, I was almost in the same shape as I left off.

When Thursday rolled around my body sure let me know it was my first boxing day.  My hands were sore (and still are) and my back was sore.  Still, it was great to get back into the mix of things.

Last year I started my cutting cycle at about 23% bodyfat and lost a whopping 12% bodyfat over the course of the cutting season to bring me to 11%.

Now starting at 14% bodyfat, I am anxious to see what I can accomplish this year.  I’m hoping to get down to 8-9% bodyfat before the cutting season ends.  This means I’ll be able to preserve more muscle mass during my cut and possibly start bulking season early this year.

Well it’s about time for me to hit the hay.  I have my 2nd cardio session of the year tommorow morning, and I can’t wait.

Working out comes first in my life.  I plan events around my workouts, this includes scheduling classes, days at work, studying, friends, and even family.  So you know when I miss nearly a week of working out something is wrong.  Further, this week has probably been the busiest week in years.

Let’s recap this week.  It all started out on a bright, sunny Monday morning.  The birds were chirping, the wind blowing in the trees, the squirrels foraging for food…me sitting at the computer reading posts in the MISC such as "I caught my dad having sex with my hamster".  So why am I doing this when it’s such a beautiful day outside???  Well because of my workout….

I wake up at about 9 and eat breakfast.  Two hours later my mouth feels dry and it’s time to eat again, so I have a muscle milk protein shake.  Two hours later it’s time to eat a pre-workout meal with some complex carbs so I can workout before school.  Of course I have to wait another hour and a half before working out to let the food digest.

By the time this rolls around it’s 2:30 p.m…and I haven’t even taken a shower…because guess why….I have to workout first.  So from 2:30 to 3:30 I workout.  Nice upper body workout, I recorded it so I can take some screenies later. 

I wrap up my workout at 3:30, have a whey protein shake then finally take a shower.  After the shower I eat a meal at 4:00.  From 4:00 to 6:00 I sit around and watch TV before heading to class.  Oh and I drink a Met-RX shake before class.  Come home from class, watch wrestling and hit the hay.

Wake up early Tuesday morning and head to work.  Get off of work and head to another city to pick up newspapers for my newspaper route (we’ll be coming back to this later).  I get back home and head to the town council meeting (I cover the meetings for the newspaper).

The town meeting lasts 3!!!! hours.  Yes 3 hours sitting on a hard metal chair while some people go over borrrriiinggg topics thinking these topics are a matter of life and death.  Such topics as: "The water is overflowin’ in T-Joe’s ditch" or classics as "We installed a generator at the fire station, now let’s all get a pat on the back and hug each other and talk about this for 30 minutes"

So anyway this evil meeting finally ends and I go home.  Oh did I mention this is also my birthday??  So I get home, unwrap my new PS3  (whoo!) and proceed to head to bed.  I wakeup real early Wednesday morning and start delivering the papers (yes remember them?) to businesses around town.  I finish the paper route and immediately drive 45 minutes to my next job.  I stay at this job until 5 p.m. where I then head to class.  Coming back from class I get a call on my cell phone.  "Hey can you come in to work tommorow?"  Great….I get home and hit the hay.

I wake up early Thursday morning to the sound of that dreaded alarm clock knowing I should be off today.  Already semi-pissed I get dressed and head to work.  I work work work and finally the time rolls around to get off.  I get off and immediately head to school.  I school for the rest of the night until I head home and again, exhausted, hit the hay.

Whooo Friday’s here!!!  Not….I wakeup to the sound of that bastard alarm clock and get dressed to go to work.  Didn’t I just do this yesterday?  Is it groundhog day?  I work work work until it’s time to get off.  Again I head to school, but for something different.  I had a test.  So I semi-bomb the test (there’s no way I got higher than a 85).  Could the day be over yet?  Nope…I then head to my other job and don’t come home until 12:00 a.m.  Exhausted I pass out in bed.

Now something has been missing this whole week.  Working out!!!!  Yes in all the confusion of my 3-4 jobs and school I didn’t have time to workout.  And this isn’t one of those excuses you see on the info commercials…I literally did not have time to workout.

Finally today (Saturday) rolls around and I can’t wait to be the BIGGEST BUM in the world.  It’s my time for R&R!  I eat, play PS3, eat, watch TV, play PS3, read MISC…repeat.  Now why don’t I workout?  Well that’ll screw up next week’s working out.  I like to stick to my routine and deviate as little as possible.

Which brings me to my point (yes there is one).  I can’t wait until retirement!!  Not old age, I just want to retire.  How nice would it be, being rich and having all day to do whatever.  Having all the money you need to buy any supplement you want and buying a huge nice gym for your home.  Ahh….

For those of you that are ADD and skiped all of the above post, I’m highlighting this for you… ****In the workout room****

Two weeks left of bulking season.  It’s around this time when I’m feeling fat and can’t wait until April comes so I can cut.  Of course I’m not fat, well at least not in my opinion…but I know I’m not as lean as I was back in December (when my profile pics were taken)  Of course I’ve gained muscle, but what good is muscle when you have fat hiding it?

So for all of you that just started cutting or is about to…here’s to: doing cardio until you are dripping with sweat, watching the scale move to the left rather to the right, feeling faster when doing everyday tasks, walking fast without breathing heavy, watching your muscles peek their heads out of your body, sucking your gut in around people rather than flexing your arms during a bulk, not having to worry about eating so many calories in a single meal…..and just plain feeling fit.

Now talk to me in 6 months, I’ll be cursing these very things I can’t wait to do.

Whew that’s enough typing jeez…. I didn’t mean for this to last so long, I just think of so many things I want to say when I start typing or talking.  It was even worse when I was doing the "Rant and Rave" huh??  I’ll see you all in 2 weeks or so when I start cutting!
 

Well it’s March…. It doesn’t have to do with the first day of spring, daylight savings time, or even my birthday.  For me it’s the last month of bulking season. 

Since I started bulking in October, I’ve gained about 15 pounds and only had my bodyfat increased by about 2%, which I think is a successful bulk for a non-beginner.  Although my goal was to be 205-210 pounds by the end of this bulk, I think I’ve done well for myself. 

When April begins I’ll start cutting down to < 10% bodyfat.  I’m hoping to reach 9% or so by October without losing much muscle mass (which would be the lowest bodyfat % I’ve ever been in my whole life)….followed by another bulk to reach 200+ lbs at 10% bodyfat by this time next year. 

But that’s all in the future, I’m continuing to make progress and each day that goes by I’m in the best shape of my life.  I should have some updated pictures soon that will resemble the end of my bulk.

Good training to all! 

Stay tuned….

Rant & Rave - September 30, 2006

Ok before typing these exact words I was distracted with about 3 minutes of crap on VH1.  There was a music video of this skinny guy just laying down singing in an emo voice probably talking about emo things.  Oh look….the next video is a guy playing the piano in an emo voice talking about breaking up or something.

Where are the kickass, testosterone filled bands from the late 80’s, and 90’s?  Metallica, STP, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Megadeth, White Zombie…the list goes on.  Kurt Cobain is headbanging in his grave because there’s no other music to rock out to anymore.  I guess it’s the channel I have it on, VH1…but what else would you turn it on?  MTV?  Hah get real.  MTV is full of 2 things: reality get you some shows, and rap.  The get you some shows I enjoy sometimes, where people compete to go on a date with another person. 

Rap I just can’t stand…I want to see how rap is in 100 years.  How can you go 100 years and talk about the samr things your ancestors did?  Oh well I guess we’ll see.  Hmm when I’m 90 years old, that would be 69 years from now (huhuh Beavis’th you said 69)  So in 69 years I will evaulate the music being played and how it’s changed.  Stay posted for that blog update.

Well we are getting better on VH1 now, the Chili Peppers are on with some kind of strange new song with weird people playing on a stage with them.  I never really cared for more than a few songs from them though.

Anyway what I was originally going to type was the promise of the TOTW and WOTW drama from a few weeks ago.  Most of you are probably thinking what the hell TOTW and WOTW means….well it’s the articles you read on the main bb.com page done by the forum members.  Anyway here’s the story…

I have been typing these things for a few months and been getting them online very often, a tradeoff from spending hours typing and editing each one.  All was well until one week there was a vacant 2nd place spot…only a 1st place picked for the topic - Best Barbell Workout.  I emailed the person who handles them and he says that mine wasn’t put up there because I copied and pasted a section from a previous article in that article.  Well yes I did, but it was how to eat right.  How to eat right doesn’t change between if you are working out with a barbell or how to avoid overtraining. 

This happened yet again with another article only 2 days later, same reason.  After a few emails exchanged they agreed to reconsider my articles, or at least fill the vacant spots with them.  That’s where we are at now, I got that email about 2 weeks ago but still no progress.  I guess I’ll have to email him again.

Anyway I have some BIG news for one lucky reader of this blog.  As you know from my main page, I work at a newspaper office.  Now I am not the boss or anything, but I do this section of the newspaper called "Man on the Street".  In case you don’t know what that means, it is a section where I go around the city asking people a certain question then putting their picture and their answer in the newspaper. 

The part where you come in is I am giving someone from another state, even another country, the opportunity to be in this paper….plus I’ll even mail you that particular paper.  All you have to do is PM me a picture of yourself from the shoulders up….with a shirt on.  I’ll pick 1 picture to be in the paper.  Then I’ll ask that person the question for the week and I’ll put their answer, along where they are from, in the Man on the Street.  Once it prints I’ll mail the newspaper to you.  If you live in Timbucktoo (another country) you’ll have to paypal me a couple dollars for shipping costs, whatever it costs to ship there (hey I don’t work for free!)  …..So here’s your chance to have your name, picture, and quote in a paper from Louisiana.  Let me know if you’re interested.

Oh btw remember I posted about the Pyschological Radio Commercials a couple of blogs back?  Well I used that for an essay for my technical writing class and got a 98.  Wouldn’t be a bad idea to use the same theory for your exams.

HAHA finally something good on VH1, White and Nerdy by Weird Al.

I love Saturdays, not because I’m off of school or work, not because of clubs (I hate clubs), but because of the Saturday night lineup!  Cops followed by Video on Patrol followed by UFC - The Ultimate Fighter, followed by TNA wrestling.  Whoo! 

In the weightroom… I took Thursday and Friday off.  I was starting to feel burnt out, plus I barely had time to study.  It’s ok though, I try to take off 1 week out of every 12 weeks of weightlifting, and those 2 days complete that week.  Progress is coming along and it shouldn’t be too much longer until I can reach my first goal of 200 lbs and 10% BF. 

Next update……First thanks to everyone who posted comments and sent me PM’s complimenting this blog and my bodyspace.  More is to come in the next update!  Not only will I add more info to the bodyspace…but yes….actual good pictures of me.  No more sitting down on the weight bench pondering about the meaning of life.  I’ll get my hands on a digital camera and produce the goods, in the next update. 

You may be wondering why the title of this post says "Changes."  Well it’s because I just got a new truck!!! No more ‘95 Dodge Dakota with a sputtering engine….I got me a shiny red 2007 Chevrolet Silverado Crew Cab, totally new, V8 engine and carpet interior.  Pics of that will come in the next update also. 

Take it easy everyone

(Yes I am remembering to copy and paste this because there is no chance in hell I have any tokens left)

BurningHeart’s Rant & Rave - September 16, 2006 

You know those weeks where everyday you have something big to do?  Yeah that was last week for me, and I still have 1 more day left to go.  Everyday last week it was either work, school, weightlifting, cardio, a project, or a test.  I’ll tell you what I was about to head to bed tonight but Ryan posted a comment that basically said, "Get up ya son of a bitch, cause Mickey loves ya!"

The topic of the week goes to an unknown poster (I just forgot who posted it and the thread seems to have disappeared ???) for this video…

http://www.blog.com.mx/tv/la-muerte-de-steve-irwin-en-video/

Whoever posted it can PM me to claim your prize. 

BIG MISC SECTION NEWS … Jiza is temp banned and stripped of like 100x his rep power.  This news coverage graced the MISC section for a few days.  The investigation started last Monday I believe (the original thread seems deleted) and ended the next day when it was deemed Jiza was abusing his rep power.  MISC fans gathered in the courtyard to see the lynching of Jiza’s major reps from 65,000 all the way down to 650.  A goodbye thread can be seen here…

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=900277

In the weightroom… I don’t know if it’s the Lipo-6 or just the constant dieting but the fat is shedding off.  Let’s see now, in the past year I went from about 200 lbs, 17% BF to 235 lbs, 25% BF.  Now down to 195, 13% BF.  Those were rough estimates in my head so you calculation nazis don’t have to PM me again about how they aren’t 100% accurate.

Well that’s it for now.  I know it was a short article today but I’ve got stuff to do for my last day in hell week and I’m still pissed off about the TOTW and WOTW.  I’ll get into that next time if it hasn’t been changed since if I get worked up right now I won’t be able to sleep.  Thanks Ryan for subtly telling me to get off my ass and post something. 

(EDIT: Uh huh good thing I remembered to copy this article before clicking save.  Seems my tokens ran out again!  Either I am a slow typer or bodyspace is a slave driver.) 

Damnit!  I tell you what I don’t know if we are in the year 2006 or 1986.  I just finished typing a long ass Rant and Rave, clicked save and exit…and I get this nice little message that says “Your tokens have run out, reload the page”  Well golly gee isn’t that swell?  Reloading the page resets the article, so does pressing back on your browser.  I guess I will start having to CTRL + C the article before I click save so I can paste it in when I am done.  It also says you must type the article within 24 hours of when it was loaded.  Well I surely did not take that long to type it out.  What the hell are tokens anyway?  I always thought it was called session timed out or something.  Don’t worry though, I won’t slack or make this Rant & Rave any less than the previous one was, and I am pissed now so it should be better anyway.  By the way you may have to highlight the article to be able to read it…seems like there is a bug that cuts off half of the text unless you highlight it.

Busy, busy, busy.  I can’t wait until I graduate college and one day have a secretary.  How cool is it to be able to take care of your stuff for you while away?  To organize everything for you and make the phone calls you don’t feel like making while you sit up in your office with your feet on the desk surfing the MISC section of bb.com, reading a post similar to "It burnz when I pizz, wut is rong wit me?".  Must be nice…

I’ll tell you what, Howard Stern is awesome.  I have been having Sirius for almost 2 years now, and I would hear all of this talk about Stern coming to Sirius, and they were paying him bookoo money.  You know how much his contract was for? 500 million dollars!!! for a 5 year contract, along with some kind of multi-million dollar stock incentive if he pulled so many new subscribers to Sirius.  That is crazy.  Anyway I listen to Howard Stern and his second in command, Bubba the Love Sponge (yes that is his real name)  I was actually amazed that I was listening to men and women talking on the radio about female ejaculation, shocking men’s balls with a tazer, torture chamber stuff…crazy.

The cool thought of the day…

That blue stuff they put in toilet water.  They use it all the time at the university over here.  I don’t enjoy pissing more than when I do it over here.  The piss combined with the blue stuff = green water.  It’s almost like they put that stuff in there to let you enjoy a piss.  For better results, take a multivitamin it turns your piss bright yellow.

Weight room talk…   

I started taking Lipo 6 to help cut down fat.  I am at about 14-15% at the moment.  The thing is my whole body is real lean, it looks as if it is 10-11% bodyfat, while my stomach looks about 16-17% bodyfat.  It’s common knowledge that men store fat in their stomach, but c’mon that’s just ridiculous.  Hoping this Lipo 6 will help cut my overall BF down so I can finally stop cutting (been cutting for about 6 months now).