This is It….My Obnoxious

This unfortunately is not a joke. You may have noticed that I haven’t been on Bodyspace as much as usual, but there’s a reason for that.  It seems that an obsessive cyber-stalker (claims to be female, but you never know), has developed an ‘unnatural’ attraction toward me, and that this person will do everything within their power to maintain some form of connection, even one that is nonreciprocal in nature.  I’ve known this person for a number of years online, but only recently became aware of the severity surrounding their obsession after I abruptly dissolved the e-friendship a few months back.

In the interim, fictitious Facebook & Bodyspace accounts have been created in order to gather access to my personal information, and/or to interact with me on any level. A number of my friends/acquaintances (both online and off), have been duplicitously lured into friendships and subsequently harassed as a result of this event, as have a number of my message board & Facebook acquaintances. I’m posting this openly, as I’ve been directed to do so.

Please feel free to contact me via e-mail or private message if you’ve received any suspicious contacts or communication with my name attached, but only regulars or long term-Bodyspacers please–I pretty much know who’s who at this point.  

Thank you.  

This blog was inspired by ’soleuvanathlete,’ a member here who posted this in the women’s forums…

soleuvanathlete writes: "LOL, Demetria!! Quit bragging about your darn roosters!!!!  Your home gym sounds rustic yet effective - kinda "Rocky-esque".  I’ll be checking back for those pics of your home gym! (I’m picturing a decrepit shed-like cottage with a wall falling down (where you can catch a glimpse of the coffee plants and beyond, the ocean, during weighted crunches-the weight being a rusty old anchor you found in your backyard), straw over a dirt floor (must be the rooster thing), a sturdy yet filthy old bench and some rocks in different sizes ranging in weight from 20# to 200#). How’d I do?

Close, very close! But you’ll never witness as much luxury as you’re about to now!  So feast your eyes as you prepare to embark upon a gym experience unlike no other–the Taj Mahal of Hawaii, housed inside a 3000 square foot greenhouse.  Pure and incomprehensible luxury! The picture below is of my home gym photographed from a clearing on my property.  Have you ever encountered anything so extravagant, notice the roll down screens?  These do an excellent job of keeping those pesky ‘Tiger Mosquitoes’ at bay!  Who needs wasteful walls or windows when you can have screens that flap in the wind?

Okay, here it is, the epicenter of my universe–the workout room (pictured below)!  A little incomplete, but my treadmill (not pictured here), is on the porch, and I work my legs elsewhere.  Notice the new birthday bench–haha, the old one with the all stuffing hanging out was recently replaced by this fine wonder.  I’m all class!  Not the heaviest of the ‘heavy’ duties, but good enough for a chick who can barely bench 100/110.  I still haven’t attached the leg extension/leg curl apparatus, but I’ll get to that later this week.  Also, notice the many ‘friends’ and ‘training partners’ milling about.  Good company to have around, but not worth a damn when I need a little assistance with spotting or getting to failure.

Another spectacular angle showcasing the ultimate in Hawaiian luxury–have you ever seen such amazing gym floors?  Nothing like getting my Puma’s really deep into the gravel and hearing it crunch beneath my feet as I hoist my lifts.  Makes me feel like a gladiator!  Notice my twin roosters on the left, are they in sync or what?  And that’s Lawrence, my alpha rooster on the right–he’s as bad ass as they possibly come!

Below is a fine example of Hawaiian decorative art–and old horse skull alongside a ‘project’ door that I’m working on.  Who needs Damien Hirst when you can have this type of affordable luxury!  Again, all class!  Hey, how many roosters can you count in this picture?  

In the pic below is the dude known as “The Vice President.”  Yep, that’s his name because he’s 2nd in charge behind Lawrence (just a heartbeat away from Commander in Chief).  Notice how he lovingly admires his wattles, comb and proud rooster chest.  What a guy, he teaches me a thing or two about vanity–sexy damned beast!  Notice also the ‘emergency’ piles of supply wood that I keep around.  Who knows what I’ll need all that wood for, but I do know that it’s good stuff to have at the ready!  What, haven’t you ever seen ‘Night of the Living Dead?’

Okay, below is a sore reminder that I need to finish-off this bench.  The leg and preacher curl attachments need to be addressed soon, but that’s the thing here in Hawaii–many of these projects just sit and sit until the ‘one day’ that never seems to come.  Much like that previous picture of my ‘door project’ that’s been looming for six months now.  

This is my boy Angel pictured below, also quite vain.  Some of my roosters are spooked by the mirror, while others seem to gaze endlessly at themselves (similar to some people I suppose).  Narcissus (one of my boys not pictured here), will endlessly fight his reflection because he thinks it’s an intruder on the farm.

Below is the view in back of the gym–coffee trees, a few palms, etc.  Yes, that’s indeed the ‘Jungle Cafe’ you see there!   This is where I might sit to enjoy an energy drink, to mix up my supps before a workout, or just to zone out and clear my head.  The ambiance here is quite exquisite, although business is poor.  Notice my emergency water supply?  You should also see my ’survivalist’ inspired supply cabinet–I’m well-prepared for when the zombies take over!

Another fine view of the Jungle Cafe–look at that skylight!  Who needs glass when you can have an industrial strength plastic tarp over your head?  One side even has a shade-screen with a few dead insects trapped inside.  How’s that for luxury?

Below are a few pics of the luxurious outdoor shower accommodations.  Yes, I have indoor plumbing as well, but who says I want to track all that filthy dirt and gravel into my house in order to take a shower!  I might be a Hawaiian coffee farmer, but I certainly don’t have to look or smell like one!  And yeah, I love the color pink, I also love Barbie, Hello Kitty & Juicy Couture–so sue me!  Girlie-girls rule anyway!

Look at this pic below, amazing huh?  You see, if I ever get hungry while showering, I can always grab a snack because the cafe is right around the corner!  The service is lousy, but who cares when the luxury is beyond human comprehension?

What’s this?  No, a meteorite didn’t crash into my property, what you see below is the Koi pond that I’m building right below my ultra-luxurious home gym.  But, not just any Koi pond, this one is roughly 20 ft. wide by 6 ft. deep–a modern marvel unknown to man, my own private cenote!  Took me months to dig that hole and to build up the rock walls that will house this unit.  No easy feat because there’s hardly any topsoil here on the Big Island, it’s all mostly rock–so what you see here was accomplished with a pick-axe, a crow bar, as well as buckets of blood, sweat and copious girl tears.  I can’t go any deeper because I’ve hit a slab of solid rock, but this baby is much deeper than any Jurassic, or even Triassic layers!  In the end it will be a magnificent pond equipped with a waterfall, and when it’s done I can gaze down upon it as I work my lats.   I have a friend that’s giving me 8 large Koi, so all I’m waiting on is for the liner to arrive.  So there you have it, a most spectacular Hawaiian styled-home gym. So how’s that for luxury!

I’ve gotten a few e-mail’s inquiring about my current bulking routine, and about how I’ve crossed over the hump from the skinny/hardgainer to someone that’s finally starting to look more like a ’strong’ person. But instead of revealing what I’m ‘doing’ per se, it might actually be better to discuss those things I’ve been doing ‘differently’ in these past weeks. I made the big life-changing decision to build a better/stronger body on June 1, 2008, which is when I started weight training and doing cardio. I’d been basically keeping fit on Keto for years and nothing more, but decided it was time for a change. I was relatively pleased with my results up until about 6 weeks ago, which was about the same time I decided to revamp a few things in order to achieve more impressive bulk and muscle. So here for your perusal is a list of things I’ve done ‘differently’ to get over the skinny hump!

Weight Training Schedule:

What’s different? Less workouts per muscle group.

I scaled back from doing my usual 2-3 full body workouts per week to now doing a split. I was probably overworking my muscles and not giving them enough time to heal as well as to hypertrophy, thus increasing size.

Current Split (subject to change the minute I’m bored with it)…

Monday–Back/Delts
Tuesday–Abs/Cardio
Wednesday–Biceps (strong focus)
Thursday–Legs/Abs/Cardio
Friday–Chest/Tris
Saturday–Abs/Cardio
Sunday–Video Games!

Training Style:

What’s different? More macho training style.

Okay, I’m a chick, so that means I’ve pretty much been working out chick-style–meaning doing everything precisely, performing each repetition slowly with a strong focus on ‘full range of motion’ and absolute stellar form–no jerky ego-inflated movements here! Hey, but you know what? I couldn’t really lift heavy utilizing this ‘ladylike’ style, and we all know that lifting heavier very often equates with greater muscle gains. So I’ve been sticking my head in on the men’s forums here, as well as keeping an eye on the really big guys at my gym–and although I would often scoff at the way some of these guys would jerk on the weights, I would also notice that they were sporting the most impressive muscles! Yeah, I thought these dudes were stacking it on ‘too heavy’ in order to impress people, but who was I to talk when I was still quite skinny and they were buff as all hell!

Then I started looking around at the few really buff women who also train at my gym, and I then compared what they were doing to the those less-muscled ladies like myself.  What I noticed was that hard-muscled chicks moved the weights like men, they jerked on them, they stacked heavy and sacrificed some form and range of motion in exchange for the bigger, choppier looking lifts. I’m not talking sloppy lifts, but definitely a lot faster and not as committed to the most pristine form. Then I’d look over again at the less-muscled ladies squeezing out higher reps with the most exceptional form, yet they didn’t seem to be making the types of solid/swift muscle gains as those rooster chicks that I was so envious of–the ones with the big biceps and puffed-out chests! So the difference in my workouts now is that I’ll sacrifice some style and form in exchange for heavier/faster and somewhat imprecise lifts. So yeah, I do the macho thing now too!

Cardio

What’s different? The ‘Cardio-Bunny’ has chilled.

I’ve scaled back my cardio from 5 moderately intense 45 minute sessions per week, down to 3 HIIT sessions. Each session now lasts about 30 minutes, which I’ll alternate between 10%-12% incline and 3.6-4.0 mph. I was a bit terrified to cut back on cardio (I thought something terrible would happen), but realize now what a tremendous impact ‘too much cardio has on decreased muscle gains.’

Supplements

What’s different? Nitric Oxide and BCAA’s.

The big difference here would be the addition of two supplements–Nitric Oxide and BCAA’s. I’ve been using CL’s Green Mag since mid July, and feel I’m getting good results from this creatine product. I’ve also since read a great deal about BCAA’s and the importance of these critical building blocks, so I went ahead and ordered CL’s Purple Wrath, which has improved my workouts considerably. Actually, I was so impressed with this product that I wrote about it on my very first blog here!

I had also read a great deal about Nitric Oxide products, mainly from reading my favorite bodybuilding magazines geared toward men. It’s funny, because not much is written about NO’s in the women’s magazines, so I was a bit skeptical about whether to try these or not. But despite my concerns, I went ahead and ordered CL’s White Flood and have been using it since late August. Along with Purple Wraath, I’d say that both of these supplements have made the critical difference in how much weight I’m able to move, the intensity of my workouts, my endurance levels as well as my pumps. My workouts are now stoked, and I feel like a she-beast after ingesting my delicious concoction of GM/WF/PW!

Current Supps…

White Flood–1 1/2 teaspoons in 12 oz. water
(utilized pre-workout on weight training days only)

Purple Wraath–3 teaspoons in 50 oz. of water (yeah, I’m a guzzler)
(utilized intra-workout on all training days with both weights and/or cardio)

Green Magnitude–1 1/2 teaspoons in 12 oz. water
(utilized pre-workout on all days except Sunday)

Diet

What’s different? Consuming an additional 800 calories per day.

My diet has always been very strict, so that part hasn’t changed much. I’ve been doing Keto for nearly 10 years now (65% fat-30% protein-5% carbs), and I consume the obligatory 6 meals per day, as well as blending up my favorite Oryx Goat whey shake after workouts. The only thing I’m doing differently is that I’ve bumped my caloric intake from roughly 2000 calories per day, up to about 2800 calories–where I’m currently at today. I’ve been reading so many threads in regard to the importance of ‘bulking’ when packing on the muscle, but never really understood why this was so important. I also didn’t comprehend why so many folks were carrying on about the importance of carbohydrates when building muscle. However, it’s this part of the equation I reject, as I oppose carbohydrates with a burning passion! I decided to substantially increase my caloric intake, but was not willing (and am still not willing), to beef-up on the carbs. And contrary to those predictions that I wouldn’t be able to pack on muscle without the aid of carbs, I have noticed considerable size, as well as strength gains. I’m also drinking a lot more water (about a gallon a day), as dictated by my creatine usage.

So there you have it, these are the only things I believe may have had an impact on my current physique status, and how I’ve crossed over from being a skinny/fat girl to a more interesting and less jiggly one. I’ve still got a long way to go (especially in the quad/hamstring areas), but I will continue to alter my routine/diet in order to achieve maximize results.

Demetria

Okay, my tagline here at BB.com states that “I’ve got a big, strong brain–I want a body to match!” But Judas Priest, I’ve gotten so huge lately! I’ve been following the advice that I ought to do a bulk in order to get big muscles (and God knows that I ‘do’ want big muscles), so for the past 6 weeks I’ve bumped my caloric intake from 2000/2200 up to 2800 per day (all strict Keto, mind you). For the first couple of weeks it seemed as if nothing was happening (no change at all), then all of a sudden two weeks ago it hit me–I gained about 5 pounds in a single week! I took some progress pics of myself yesterday and couldn’t believe how large I looked–I wanted to delete the pics immediately because I didn’t recognize myself. Was that me? I’ve never seen myself looking so big and solid!

EDIT: Okay, I posted a new progress pic taken today.

However, the pics in no way describe how I feel, which is unequivocally MASSIVE! I walk around my house and I can hear my legs thumping hard into the floor, like that monster in Cloverfield. I even have to walk with my legs slightly ajar, something I’m not accustomed to because my thighs have always had a gap wide enough for a Ford F-650 to drive through with ease. Another sad thing is that most of my cute stuff doesn’t fit. I can’t even get my size 2 capri jeans over my thighs, nor can I get my cute little pink ‘Juicy Couture’ hoodies to slide up over my arms (sob)!!!! I also can no longer wear my tiny ‘Hello Kitty’ panties because kitty’s face looks distorted when stretched over my expanding glutes.

On a positive note, I do feel a lot stronger and can push more weight (woot)! Also my biceps are finally taking on some size as well, as is the posterior region (yahoo)! I’ve never had a big, round butt, so I’m definitely looking forward to getting some solid basketballs built back there! But strangely enough (even with all that’s going on), I don’t feel terribly fat. I’m not seeing the same fluffy lard or embarrassing muffin top that I remember from my skinny/fat days. I instead feel solid like a somewhat diseled chick ready to lift the back-end of a small Volkswagon, which makes me feel pretty good despite my increasing girth.

With that said, however, I’m having incredible urges to start leaning out–even just for the sake of my sanity, lol! I’ve cut back considerably on my cardio these past weeks, but I think I’m gonna start running off some of this bulk, as well as scaling back my caloric intake just to see what happens. Hopefully there’s still a considerable amount of muscle hiding under there, maybe even a few newly formed abs as well (please God, I hope this is the case)! I wish that I could get one of those Hydrostatic dunk tests in order to figure out my bodyfat so I won’t have to worry about these things so much–but in the meantime I’ll just have to figure it out on my own, through trial and error I suppose. So on that note, there’s a 40 minute/12% incline/3.8 mph cardio workout with my name on it! See ya later!

Hey, what a shock to wake up and see myself on page one (I still don’t get it).  I can’t see very well in the mornings (need new glasses), so I really thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.  Thanks to those that have dropped by, but I’m a little embarrassed and don’t feel worthy of the attention at all.   I know it probably a fluke based on my cool FBI t-shirt, but I do appreciate being there even if it’s just for 5 minutes.  And if it’s one thing I’ll walk away with (no inflated ego), it’s that I need to get a lot more serious about my workouts/goals and to stop jerking around on those days when I might feel tired. 

I’m a simple Kona coffee farmer here in Hawaii, with lots to do on the farm and 16 roosters (as well as their countless ‘lady’ friends), that need tending to.  I do make some time for generalized glamour/girliness, and also enjoy lifting weights so that maybe one day I can have the body I’ve always wanted (a really muscular one)!  I sometimes fantasize about competing and other fun stuff, but I’m a long way off from my goals and I’d also have to get over my stage-fright in order to walk proudly in a tiny velvet bikini before a group of judges and audience goers, lol!

There are more than a few truly spectacular bodies on this site that I keep my eyes on daily, as well as a host of magnificent ladies that provide me with a never-ending source of inspiration and motivation to move my sorry ass whenever I’m feeling lazy.   These are my day-to-day heroes, especially the really muscular girls that take femininity up a notch!  I adore these girls (no homo), and strive to be more like them–so please ladies, forgive my wimpiness and wobbly legs for the time being.  I’m getting there and will hopefully one day be as dieseled and ripped as some of the really buff/badass girls on this site!

Okay, see that pic I posted above?  That’s my Hoshidana (drying deck), with about 1200 lbs. of fresly sun-dried coffee resting upon it–looks nice, but all of that needs to come up today!  It’s all got to be hand-shoveled into 100 lb. burlap bags and then hoisted on my shoulders to be carried over to my dry room.  How’s that for a chick that can also pose in a bikini and fur boots, lol? 

I don’t know how many others have experienced this phenomenon, but whenever I miss a workout I get this strange sensation that my muscles are ‘wasting away.’  My arms definitely feel and look smaller, my shoulders appear suddenly minuscule, my lats look narrowed, my leg muscles seem dwarfed, soft, or as if they’ve completely vanished, and my stomach looks as if it’s never seen a crunch in all of my good days on this earth.  I end up feeling that my physique (in only one short day), has reverted back to it’s former self–leading me to mirror-check and re-check my body obsessively, or to reluctantly seek out the almighty ‘tape-measure validation’ in an effort to ensure that I’m not losing either my muscles or my mind. 

Logic tells me that I shouldn’t feel this way, but the guilt that comes with missing a workout just hammers away at my psyche, causing me to sometimes see and feel things that just aren’t there.  I asked my brother in law (who’s a competitive bodybuilder), whether I’m going nuts or not, and he assured me that he also sometimes feels this way–that he gets anxious whenever he misses a workout, or when he’s on vacation, or anytime he’s too far away from the gym.  My sister also confirms that on these ’skipped days,’ my brother in law will walk around the house compulsively dropping his pants and removing his shirt, then harshly critiquing his physique in the mirror, or even demanding to know whether his muscles have somehow deteriorated or not.  Whew, thank goodness I’m not the only paranoid one!  Maybe this is a typical phenomenon, something we all encounter every now and then in our journey toward a better physique.  Or maybe it’s even a type of override mechanism that ensures we don’t get too comfy with our appearance (or on that couch), and that we keep longing (despite the reasons), for additional workouts and even greater results.  I don’t know what it is, but I’m feeling it now because I’m one workout short this week.  And if it’s guilt (or even fear), that drives me to pick up those weights today, so be it! 

And while on the topic of madness, I’m also experiencing some form of strange supplement-induced mania (if there is such a thing).  I was sure that I had a half container full of whey tucked in the back of my cupboard for use in case of an emergency.  Well, the emergency struck this morning when I realized that I’m down to my last few scoops of my favorite goat whey (not available here in Hawaii).  And why didn’t I notice this earlier?  I went looking for my back-up stash, but it’s mysteriously vanished!  And silly me, for a moment I actually believed that it was stolen, or that maybe my roosters took it and that’s why they look so big these days and are fighting all the time.  I then rushed over to the BB.com store to place an order before it was too late to get it sent out today, but now I’m already feeling somewhat anxious that it won’t arrive in time before my last precious scoops run out (in fact I know it won’t).  So again, will my muscles shrivel away in the meantime, will I revert back into a wimpy girl?  Should I call my bother in law for psychological reinforcement?  Do I have rabies, or could it be that I am indeed going crazy?  Hopefully not, lol!

Demetria