Operation : Body Iraq

Well, it has been about 5 months of working out and a month left until leave and I believe I have made some great progress!  Specially in this last month.  Looking at my May progress pic and then the one I took this month I saw some huge changes!!  Changes I am very happy with!  I hope to continue to make gains in lowering fat so that I can go home on leave in the best condition of my life!  I am down to 32" on my waist, according to Army standards that gives me a 14% BFP.  I don’t trust the Army system as I believe it to be severely flawed so…  I know my BF is much lower than before I started lifting I can attest to that much lol.  I also have a pretty good little following going now lol…  Every time I hit the gym I have at least 2 people who want to go with me.  Definately throws a wrench in my engine but I adjust with supersets and drop sets to ensure the pump is heavy and lasting through the rotation of people!!!  The past few workouts have been pretty intense just because of the adjustments to make sure nobody is just sitting around.  I just want ot say I love this stuff lol.  Working out is definately one of my favorite things to do and I hope it remains that way for, well… ever!  Maybe someday I’ll be the next Lee Priest?!!? HAHAHA.

Its been awhile since my last post, and it seems the thing which I feared would happen has…  My gains have slowed.  I admit my motivation has taken a bit of a hit, but since I have been preparing for this it isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  Just means the real work is about to begin!

I am still preparing to go on leave, but I admit the diet isn’t goin so hot.  I started taking Lipo 6, in hopes it would help me lose the little bit of fat I have around my stomach area and are not seeing any gains in that department…  My waist has sat at 33" for a few months now.

I think after leave I may start taking creatine and a natural test booster, I know N.O. Xplode has a little bit of creatine in it, but its not a dedicated product, plus I need to lay off of it for awhile because its not working the same for me.  Cycle it out for awhile and see if it comes back strong lol.

Any advice on supplementation (post leave, when I will be hitting the gym with a madness lol) would be greatly appreciated!!!

Just have to stay motivated, stay pumped and keep working!

Well my first pics are posted.  My work and body are out there now for the world to see, and judge and scrutinize…  Its a big step for me, I know the pictures are better than when I started (which I will try to find my picture before I started working out and posting it….  Anyone say fat boy? lol…  I am doing this as much for personal motivation as much as hoping to get positive feedback from people who know what they are doing and can help me in a good way to get bigger, stronger and all around feeling good about myself!  So don’t hold back, I am at the mercy of BodySpace users…   Plus my wife is going to be checking them out… lol.  If all goes as planned I should be thinner by the time I come home (in 2 months) so I won’t look exactly like those pictures…. If all goes according to plan lol… 

Stay motivated and stay pumped!!!

P.S. — I know I need a tan, leave my white @$$ alone lol…

Well I have decided to set an accomplishment goal, my first ever self contest.  I am going to go for the 800 lb Ironman at the main FOB.  800lb combined Squat, Deadlift and Bench Press.  Well my "test" run of the event I maxed my bench at, of course, 250.  My squat I was able to pound out an amazing (for me) 330 (thats with a towel around hte bar to relieve some stress off my shoulders, not sure if it will be ‘legal’ for the event, but if its not I will suffer a bit of pain for the gain lol) and after finally researching it on BB.com to find the ‘proper form’ for the deadlift, I was able to do (without straps..) 265×5.  So according to the ‘One Rep Max’ calculator I should be able to throw 300.  Not sure I can hold 300 without straps and I am pretty sure straps are not legal so…  Either way… 250+330+265= 845!!!  Which means I am GOOD!!!  All I have to do now is get back to the FOB and line up a ‘test’ with the ‘judges’.  Since I have pretty much already accomplished that I am now going to aim for the 1000lb by the end of deployment…  165 more lbs to be dispursed over those events….  To me, it sounds like its going to be a hard road, but it is a road I will be traveling! 

I would just like to thank my first workout partner for showing me the wrong way for doing a dealift… (Not the wrong way as in I could have hurt myself, just not doing a real deadlift… Once I found out the proper way I jumped up almost 100lbs just in doing it right lol)

Well I reached my benching goal of 250… only 81 days ahead of schedule?!!!  I am amazed how fast its going up, 60lbs in about 4 months…  It makes me wonder, when am I going to start slowing down?!  I know its coming….  I can’t continue to get these kind of gains forever.  If that was the case I would be doing like 400lbs by the end of deployment???  Seriously I do not even imagine that happening lol!  I just hope when I do reach The Slowing, as I am calling it, that I will still maintain motivation!  Its easy to stay motivated when you jump weights and get noticable increases pretty much every time you lift…  We can only wait and see and keep the motivation and the pump up!  Stay frosty… lol

Well….  To start last week sucked…  My workouts sucked.  I don’t know why they just did.  I was motivated to do them and when I did them they all fell short.  My head was saying lets go my body said screw off.  Was not a good week at all.  I took a few days off, figuring I was just over-training and just needed a bit of rest.  Started again. The same.  Was just not living up to expectations.  But finally…  I am back in the flow.  Last 2 workouts have been intense and turned out excellent.  I guess I just had a bad week, hopefully its done and over with so I can get back to the task at hand!  I also managed to get my BF % yesterday and was surprisingly happy to find out I am down to 16%!!  That is about 4% lower than I thought, or even really hoped to be.  So I am gonna stick with it and hopefully get well below my goal of 15% by the time I go on leave! 

Well, I have been doing the 5×5 for about a month but one thing I am noticing is that I am not feeling the "pump" after most of my workouts.  I know I am maxing out my 5×5 weights, but I am just not feeling like I really accomplished something with the workout.  I have been seeing gains like I was expecting its just a head thing.  I am not feeling the workouts so I am less motivated to keep going.  Its hard out here when your workout partner switches all the time because of people coming and going, then theres the days when I work alone.  Which is perfectly fine by me really…  I think I am just going to up the reps so I get that more complete more accomplished feel.  I am also throwing in a few new exercises I have been checking out on bodybuilding.com to see how they work for me.  I also need to up my protein intake…  Its just so hard staying on top of taking my vitamins/nitrix and such and making shakes all the time.

Well this is my first post in my new blog.  Wonder what my wife will say about me posting blogs in this but never on my Myspace?!  Ohh well.  I just started a new workout based off the 5×5 program with tweeks, some of which I found on a new friends bodyspace.  Thanks again Greg.  Hopefully I can stay motivated and really start seeing results from it.  I will be putting up measurements when I get back to the main FOB.  No tapes or scales out here to be able to post so they will be posted within the week.  I am somewhat new to heavy lifting.  New in the fact I don’t know the exact workouts that my body really responds to but not so new I am gonna get myself hurt every other week…  I have researched this new program enough that I will be somewhat unhappy if the results don’t show after a few months.  My initial short term goal is to lose my little gut and look buff when I go home to my wife on mid-tour leave!!!  August, plenty of time!!!  Just have to stay motivated, this site helps a lot.  Able to look and talk to people with like-minded goals really boosts my motivation!!!  Keep hitting the gym and realizing your dreams and goals!!! Later!