Dutchmeister’s BodyBlog

I’ve uploaded some new pics of me working my butt off and sweating like a dog in my Muay Thai kickboxing class.  I did weight training and Muay Thai both on the same day two days in a row, and boy am I feeling it!  We did push-kicks and low kicks on Thai pads, and the instructor was really pushing us (me, especially, since he was my partner on the push-kicks).  The last two nights of Muay Thai was so brutal that at the end of each class I was drenched in my own sweat (check out the new pics and you’ll see for yourself).

 Today, I did biceps, triceps and forearms (great workout!), but I just didn’t have the gas to do any cardio at the end (two days of Muay Thai is more than enough cardio, anyway).  So, I just stretched my sore legs and called it a day.

Tomorrow (gasp!) is leg day.  Given the fact that my inner thighs are a bit sore, I’m going to play it be ear regarding my intensity level.  God willing, I’ll try to do Muay Thai on Friday, depending on how I feel.

Although I’m really putting myself through a rigorous exercise program, I can safely say that I’ve never felt so in shape.  I’m accomplishing my goals of gaining muscle, losing fat, and with Muay Thai, my cardiovascular conditioning is on a whole new level.

With all of that, I can’t complain about too much.

Yesterday, I did weight training and Thai boxing all in the same day - and I’m alive to blog about it!  No question, it was brutal, but I’m proud of the fact that I did it.  Furthermore, the fact that I was able to do both lets me know that I am getting in better shape each day.

Some folks have asked me how much weight I want to lose.  I tell them I’m not so much trying to lose weight as I want to :

1. Gain muscle,

2. Lose bodyfat, and

3. Improve my cardiovascular conditioning/heart health.

I can see and feel the physical progress every day, and I love it!

I just had an unbelievably intense leg workout today, made even more so after having used a new powder supplement I recently bought - Muscle Tech NaNO Vapor.  This has got to be the most potent pre-workout supplement on the market.  The label says it all:

“NaNO Vapor is extremely powerful, so do yourself a favor.  Start off by mixing 1 scoop (1 serving) with 3 to 4 oz. of cold water and downing it about 15 minutes before hitting the weights.  Then grab something heavy.  As you develop respect for, and understand the power of NaNO Vapor, you can gradually increase the dosage to 2 to 3 scoops (2 to 3 servings) mixed in 8 to 12 oz. of cold water before working out.”

Truer words describing a product were never spoken.  I had 1 scoop of this before my workout, and almost as soon as I began my warm-up, I could literally feel my core body temperature rising; my heart rate increased with each rep; I was sweating buckets the first 15 minutes… 

To put it bluntly, NaNO Vapor had me CRUNK!!!

So much so, that today I did supersets with Smith machine squats with hack squats, the intensity of which will all but barbeque your quads and hamstrings!  The NaNO Vapor had me so jacked that between supersets (I did 3 total, 10-15 reps) I had to take at least 3 minutes rests - just to get my heart rate down.  When I was done, I felt a pump in my quads the likes of which I have never - ever - felt before.

NaNo Vapor is POTENT!  From now on, I’m gonna ease myself onto it by just taking 1/2 a scoop with water before each workout, then gradually work up to 1 whole scoop.

NaNO Vapor is a great pre-workout supplement, but be careful with this stuff.  It’s no joke.

It’s amazing what taking a week off to recover from the flu can do for you!  Yesterday was back day, and for the last few months I’ve been concentrating on widening my lats (I’m trying to achieve that vaunted "V-taper" a la Lee Haney and Ronnie Coleman).  I was never able to do pull-ups using my own bodyweight, because I just wasn’t strong enough to get even one rep; that is, until yesterday. 

Since about March I’ve been doing lat pull-ups using the assisted lat pull-up/dip machine (you know, the one with the weight stack and "kickstand" that you can rest your feet on to help you pull youself up).  I would start off using light weight - i.e. using the entire stack so that I could easily pull myself up. (There’s an biomechanical inverse relationship between using heavy weight and the ease with which one can pull oneself up; don’t ask me what that is.)  Well, yesterday, someone was ahead of me on the assisted pull-up machine, so I decided on a whim to try to do regular pull-ups using my own bodyweight. 

Lo and behold, I was able to do three full reps!

Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.  So, I ultimately did a total of four sets of bodyweight pull-ups to failure, which for me was three reps.

For the rest of my back workout, I did bent-over barbell rows, regular seated and straight-arm lat pulldowns, and T-bar rows.  I super-set regular and straight-arm lat pulldowns, and, for the first time, utilized DROP SETS for bent-over rows and T-bar rows.  And my lats are nice and sore this morning, which means I successfully hit those muscles hard yesterday.

‘Til next time…