Fredell’s BodyBlog

Well as always October reaked its usual havoc on my diet and exercise routine. For some reason I always get busy, sick and preoccupied with life in October. Luckily I didn’t put on to much fat, but I put on enough excess weight (5lbs) to discuss myself and re-evaluate my diet and workout regimine. Since I was always pressed for time within the past month, I chose to forego much of my cardio routine in exchange for shorter, more intense heavy weight training. While I have had amazing gains in stregth, the lack of cardio has left me a little soft. On November 1st I will be reverting back to my old 12 week boxing inspired workout that worked so well in previous months. It consist of the 3 month long stages. The first month consist of heavyweight lifts (Squats, Deadlifts, Benchpress, etc.) complemented by HIIT and light low-impact cardio once a week. Stage 2 consist on moderate lifts and bodyweight exersices to increase stamina and overall tone while continuing the previously mentioned cardio routine. Stage 3 consist of moderate lifts and a bootcamp style cardio routine to shed fat and tone muscle while building endurance and stamina. Of course this will all be complement with a revamped diet. The goal is to be 235 by February! I have a plan, all that is left now is the successful execution. Wish me luck!

Today I was at the gym and during my workout although (very productive) was hampered by this jerk who fails to re-rack his weights or wipe down his equipment. He had weights on three different benches and then just left. Some days you just wanna take a dumbell bash these idiots in the head. The only good that came out of this jackass being at the gym was that it pissed me off to the point that I increased my maximum bench and flew through my 30 minutes of cardio. So heres to you sir, the Jackass in the black tee shirt who fails to wipe down equipment or re-rack weights and makes the gym inconvenient for all its other patrons. Thanx for being an Ass!

While in most movies, "Good triumphs over Evil" and "Light over Darkness," I would like to take time and appreciate the under appreciated "Bad Guys." While their obsessive, narcisisstic, over-confident and sometimes revenge driven tyrades are frowned upon but society; there is something to be said about these antagonistic characters.

Clubber Lang: One of my favorite examples of this would be James "Clubber" Lang from Rocky III. While he was the "bad guy," his tenacity and narcissism were personified in his training and physique. While I’m not suggesting that anyone turn into a sociopath, I am suggesting that the drive to be the best can be very beneficial from a training or competitive standpoint. While some may argue that Clubber was merely a fictional character for which Mr. T was hired to fit the role because of his physical attributes, it should be known that Mr. T’s (once a former bodyguard for people such as Muhammad Ali, Steve McQueen, and Joe Frazier) business cards read: "Next to God, there is no greater protector than I."  If thats not some confidence, then I fail to understand the definition of the word.James “Clubber” Lang

 Apollo Creed: While Apollo was technically not really a “bad guy,” he was an antagonist. He was over-confident and cocky, but with a 46-0 record; who wouldn’t be? While he eventually grew to respect Rocky; his drive to be the best also resulted in an impressive physique. Another one of my favorite characters from the Rocky franchise.Apollo Creed

Ivan Drago: Essentially a character to based on a stereotype of the cold war Soviets, Ivan Drago, who dispursed Apollo form the Rocky franchise, is somewhat of a prototype of many boxers from the former USSR such as the Klitschko brothers. Although his character was more of the cold blooded enforcer, he he was symbolic of unwaivering commitment to a goal to destroy Rocky and anyone else he faced. Oh, and I can’t forget he was ripped beyond reason.Ivan Drago

Well this concludes my unintended attempt analyze characters from Rocky, but until the movie "300" hit the movies, these were some of the best specimans of ripped characters to hit the big screen. I hope this encourages someone to take a page out of the "Bad Guy" handbook and build a physically imposing physique. Rest assured, you build the body and the conifidence will come!

Finally since changing my diet and eating habits I am starting to see improvements in my body. Im getting great results and I am confident that my current approach is the one that is best suited for me at least at the moment it is. I have also decided to continue doing cardio four to five days a week to trim some extra body fat.

To day is a bittersweet day. I just got home to find that the clothes I ordered online have finally arrived and the look great; except for the fact that I ordered them all a size small. Although this was on purpose, I’m wondering I if my technique of buying clothes a size smaller will be as effective as it was last go ’round. This method of making myself fit my clothes helped me lose 30 lbs once before. This is mostly due to the fact that I like nice clothes and once you get pas 2x your choices become limited. Also there is the fact that I am extremely frugal and I hate wasting money. At the moment I am a size 44 in the waste 3x in shirts but I ordered pants that were a 42 and shirts that were 2x. I can actually already wear 2x shirts but I want them to actually fit comfortably again and not make me look barrel like. I am hoping to fit comfortably into these before I fly out to Vegas in July and before I have my 5 rd bout with an old classmate. If all goes well and I stick to my current diet and exercise these goals shouldn’t be that difficult to attain. Wish Me Luck(Side note: After getting off the keto my strength and energy are steadily coming back and my muscle are experiencing that wonderful pump from working out again. I also notice I sleep much better.)

After only a few days of  re-incorporating the proper amount of carbs  and calories into my diet, I have experienced substancial gains in in stamina, strength and overall "feel-goodness" LOL. I dont feel half as lerthargic as I did following the low carb diet.The only thing that I am not happy with is the dramatic weight gain even though I have upped my cardio. I am hoping that this is only temporary. My strength is slowly coming back also which is most evident during my sparring sessions. Due to the weight gain (which probably means I only lost water during the keto) I am forgoing progress pics until probably the middle of June. Im sure there isn’t much change anyway. Along with my chang in diet, I also changed my workout some what to help me recover my lost strength. For the next 4 weeks im only doing  Squats, Bench Presses(Flat and Inclined), Bent-Over Barbell Rows, Dead Lifts, Calf-Raises and a few combination dumbell exercises during workouts(I get my ab workout in during my boxing workout). By limiting my workouts to these exercises and alternating between heavy low rep weeks and light high rep weeks, I hope to maintain strength and burn fat. Im not really trying to bulk up or anything. Stay tuned for the progress pics in a few weeks.

Ive been depriving myself of most carbs this week in anticipation of my birthday. Today I will savor the flavor of cheesecake. Carbing up never tasted so good. On a side note; I never thought I could miss eating oatmeal in the morning for breakfast. Who would have thunk it? LOL

This morning I got on the scale hoping to see that the numbers had dipped into the 280s only to find that I have gained another 2 lbs. I dont really know how to explain this. I have changed my diet and Im working out 3 days a week w/ 3 to 4 days of cardio yet while I feel Im looking somewhat slimmer in the face and there is a definate shrinking of my moobies(man boobs), the numbers on the scale continue to rise. I would like to be an optimist and say I am genetically gifted and that Im putting on muscle but Im more of a realist and I simply dont beleive that is the case. I can only assume that maybe I havent cut enough calories out of my diet or I am overtraining. On the positive end of things I can say that I have experienced gains in strength and stamina. I was thinking about using creatine to help with my recovery after intense workouts but now I fear that if I do I may gain even more weight due to water retention. If anyone has any suggestion on dropping weight; more specifically fat, I would be more than happy to hear it. Due to my build, I am not really interested in getting my weight down to the low 190lbs-205lbs range. From my former life of being somewhat slimmer and in better shape, I have learned that my best target weight for strength , speed, and stamina is between 225lbs and 240lbs. Im built more like a line backer than a wide receiver. Ideally I would like to have a physique like Evader Holyfield when he was in his prima and weighed around 230lbs.

After yesterdays brutal leg workout, I realized that i had been neglecting one vital part of my training regimine; stretching. Now in an attempt to ge back on the right track and prevent injury I have began stretching at night before i go to sleep, in the morning when I wake up and immediatley after my workouts. If realize that its useless you to have a warriors physique if you cant move like one too.