Building a Better Jay

I know this may be a little premature, but I’ve been looking back at 2007.  It was a good year for me.  Despite the shoulder surgery which left me immobilized for nearly two months, I was able to gain about 15lbs of lean mass while losing 1lb of fat.  I realize some of this is "newbie gains", but it was still a good year.  I am looking forward to gaining another 1.5lbs of muscle in January and then cutting down to 8% bf.

Honestly, I didn’t think I’d have a chance at having a good year once I learned that I’d be spending so much time off due to the surgery.  I thought I’d be lucky to be doing any sort of workout at all by the end of the year.  Some told me I could expect to be off the weights outside of physical therapy until 6 months post-op, which was mid-December.  Fortunately, I was back in the weight room and cleared to lift in September.  It was a pretty good year and it should be fun to see what I look like once I drop some bodyfat.  The best news is that my wife really likes the "new me" and is enthusiastically asking how much bigger I can get.   Good things will be coming.

I just wanted to note here that as of next week I am mixing up my split a bit.  I wanted to separate out my deads and squats rather than doing them on the same day.  So, here is the old split:

• Mon: chest / shoulders
• Tues: cardio
• Wed: bi’s / tri’s / forearms
• Thurs: legs
• Fri: back
• Sat / Sun: one day off, one day long easy cardio

Here is my new split:

• Mon: back
• Tues: cardio
• Wed: chest / shoulders
• Thurs: legs
• Fri: arms
• Sat / Sun: one day off / one day long easy cardio

Once I start cutting in a few weeks (once I reach my lean mass goal), I expect to add in cardio on Monday, Wednesday, and maybe Friday.  I also may do cardio early on Thursday and then the leg workout at my work gym.  Unfortunately, that would mean doing Smith squats instead of free squats, but that may not be a big deal.

….still waiting for the family to wake-up for Christmas.  When I was a kid, I never slept by 3AM on Christmas morning!!