DJINN’s BodyBlog

In light of the events of my life as of late, I have adopted a much strengthened "carpe diem" attitude.  As such, I have made a decision.  I have scaled metaphorical mountains in my life and have been faced with a number of difficult times, however I’ve always tried to remain positive and keep my eyes on the prize.  I am announcing my committment to compete for the 1st time…I will make my debut in 2010.

 Why make the announcement now?  Accountability.  I am a big believer in accountability.  By posting this goal, I make myself accountable to all who know me not only in my day-to-day life, but to every member of bb.com.  That’s a large committment.  I chose 2010 because I still need time to decompress now and then slowly get back into the swing of battling the iron and having razor-sharp focus on my nutrition.  I am dedicated to bringing nothing less than my best to the stage and I will set my sights on not only competing in 2010, but earning my pro card as well.  Lofty goals?  Sure.  But I enjoy a good challenge.  In the interim, I will reacclimate to a 100% balls-to-the-wall assault in the gym and the kitchen, and focus on slapping on as much lean mass as I can over the next year and a half.

I’ll continue with additional blog entries with updates and post new pics later in the year.  As I select comp dates (and yes, I said dates as I intend to enter more than one show), I will post that info as well.  When I am set to enter contest prep, I will begin a thread in the contest prep section and welcome all to join the journey at that time.

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring closure to the issue of my son.  I’d like to extend a HUGE thank you to everyone here for the kind words of encouragement, support, prayers, and kindness.  It meant alot then, it does now, and it forever will.

My fiance’ and I have looked forward to the arrival of our son since we first learned we were pregnant.  He was due April 27^th, but as with so many 1^st time pregnancies, our little boy decided that he wanted to stay inside a little bit longer than that.  We were scheduled to have cesarean section delivery on May 9^th to bring our little boy into the world…

…well, our anticipation of parenthood has come to an end…unfortunately not the celebratory end that most people hope for.  It is with a very heavy heart that I announce on Thursday May 8, 2008 Anthony Christopher Washington entered this world deceased.  As a result of acute placental rupture requiring immediate intervention to try to save him, my son was neither able to see a glimmer of sunlight nor inhale his first or last breath.  He weighed 9lbs, 4oz and was blessed with hair that would make me quite envious.

It is most tragic that this occur at any time to anyone, but to occur the day before his scheduled arrival adds insult to injury.  My fiance is physically well and recovering.  Emotionally, we are both devastated.  This is the worst thing that has ever happened to us as quite literally, a piece of both of us has died.  There are no words to describe how we feel, nor any condolences that will ease our pain.  I guess time really will be the great healer of our wounds.

I share this news because we realize that we have a long road ahead in grieving and recovery.  A parent should never have to bury their children…it should always be the opposite.  As we stumble through our loss and plan private arrangements, we hope to avoid reliving this day countless times but know that it will take time and talking to get through this tragic event.  Sharing my loss is part of my recovery from it.

On this day, Mother’s Day, I ask that you not grieve our loss, but behold and take not for granted the loved ones in your lives.  Make the most of each day you have, hug those you love, and never let a day pass without telling those close to you how much they mean.

It has been a while since I posted anything in my blog, but timing is everything as they say.  As much as I looked forward to stepping on stage in April/May of 2008 and tearing it up, my competitive debut will have to be delayed…and for an awesome reason.  My girlfriend and I are expecting our 1st child in April 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I wanted to wait until after our initial appointments and making it through the 1st trimester prior to posting anything here…not to mention the fact the we needed to make the news known to our family and close friends as well.  This is the most exciting thing in my life and I have no qualms about putting my competitive situation on hold……..for now.

I will tentatively shoot to compete now in early or late fall of 2008…this gives me more time to focus on my new family and enjoy the ride that is pregnancy.  It also gives me more time to add mass while keeping fat low…when I do step on stage, I want to do so in a "leaving no doubt" kind of manner.

I am also in the process of preparing for a move and the upcoming holidays, so life is busy!  I will continue to do my best to keep updating regularly and I thank all reading this for their support.

Just thought I’d deviate from the norm here and blog a few entries over the next few weeks regarding topics central to bodybuilding, fitness, etc. and our determinants of success or failure in these ventures.  Today, I’ll share a few of my thoughts on motivation.

Why should anyone spend hours of their week and collectively, weeks of their year in the gym?  Why spend so much time preparing healthy meals and making decisions to lead a healthy lifestyle?  Why sacrifice so many seemingly good things to ultimately achieve a healthy body?

Motivation comes from several sources, the most important and sustaining being intrinsic.  Sure, there will always be some transient external source of motivation such as looking good for the beach, attractive attention from others, fitting into ‘that” dress for the upcoming wedding/party/etc. (if you are a woman), and the list goes on.  But these are all short term goals and thus self-limiting in nature.

The drive to sustain hours spent in the gym and preparing meals and living a healthy lifestyle go beyond the superficial and extend deep within ourselves.  It starts with a goal and from that, several objectives should be spawned.  For example, one might want to lose weight and gain muscle.  This is a goal.  The objectives we create provide the means of measuring progress, or lack thereof, towards our goals.  Objectives are measurable and observable, whereas goals are ideals and subjective in nature.

It is when we feel the passion for bodybuilding, fitness, etc. burning within, that we can exude that fire externally into each detail of our lives.  This is a lifestyle, and not simply a means to a short-term end.  My motivation comes from having an insatiable desire to exceed my genetic limitations…or at least my perceived genetic limitations.  I want to always be better than I was…this may mean 1 more rep on an exercise, 0.25lbs in mass gain, a 1% improvement in dietary consistency…even these infinitesimal changes, while seemingly insignificant in the short-term, become cumulatively impressive in the long-term.

What’s your motivation?  What gets you going and keeps you in motion?  Write it down, create a mission statement for yourself…share it with others.  Accountability to only oneself is simply too easy to undermine.  Accountability to others is a bit more difficult to circumvent.

No new pics as of yet…life has been quite busy!  However I will have a full update posted within the next week as well as detail some very exciting news and changes in my competitive plans for 2008.  Stay tuned…man, I’ve always wanted to say that.

I will not be posting new pics again until September, however thought I would log a little note regarding what I’ve been up to.  The past 2 weeks, I ran a mini-cut just for kicks and it is amazing how fast my body responds…this will definitely help in planning the length of my precontest prep…a shorter prep time will be in order…probably 8-12 weeks.  Two weeks time have resulted in:  clearly separated and dry hams, bifurcated gastrocs that jump off the soleus, tibialis anterior that pops off the tibia, fully separated and striated quads with fibers that dance with every movement and a sartorius that flares across, feathered lats, lower back christmas tree, clearly bifurcated biceps, striated tris, striated pecs, striated delts, and diced abs.  I am dry, hard, and grainy.  This is the standard that I will hold myself to when beginning contest prep.  I’m not posting pics of this little experiment as I don’t want to let the proverbial "cat out of the bag", however it will all become apparent next April, May, September and November when I take it to the stage.  I’m off for a retreat the next week, then its back to the iron and getting big.  Until the next update…

Ok…just posted the last update photo for now…its a back double bi.  I’ll keep updates coming…next one probably at the end of August or 1st of September.  As of September 1st, its time to turn up the juice and really get things cooking…that will be the true start of my principle "mass gaining" phase.

Just uploaded a couple of updated leg shots…so far I’m please with the way things have been going.  I’m up 33lbs since I began my "comeback" in late April and still maintain good conditioning.  I really couldn’t be happier…I’ve put on some fat and holding some water obviously, however it comes with the territory.

Okay so this update is a bit premature, seeing as my goal was to do this on the first of every month.  I decided to log the August installment in 4 separate entries for the sake of time and to give me time to upload pics accordingly.  I took two weeks off in early July and actually just got back in the gym.  The two week break was most welcomed as a few sore joints can attest to.  Anyway, I have begun what will be a two week acclimation period before going full on into my next phase of training.  The training phase will consist of simple 100-rep sets.  I will complete one, 100-rep set for each exercise selected for this cycle of training.  During my first chest/shoulders/triceps acclimation workout, I managed roughly 60-reps for each exercise and gosh was I burning after.  Current chest/shoulder/tricep workout looks like this:  Hammer Strength Incline Press, Front Shoulder Press, DB Laterals, and alternate weeks of Tri-dips or Pressdowns…all will be done for one set of 100-reps.  So in concert with this, I will now upload photos highlighting the progress made prior to the start of this new plan, with emphasis on upper body (front).

July 1, 2007….I am up to 191.5lbs and still happy about where I stand in terms of being lean.  I will continue adjusting macros and cals during July, August and September.  The plan is to end September at a lean even 200lbs.  Then in November and December I will push the boundaries and get my weight as high as I am able.  I will use January as a transition month and begin contest prep in earnest starting mid-Jan or early Feb 2008.  I have posted a few new pics.  Next update will come at the beginning of Aug.  Rock on!