Freedomwarrior’s BodyBlog

Greetings everyone. Since April of 2009, I have decided to be a semi-vegetarian. What I mean by "semi-vegetarian" is that I eat mostly fruits, vegetables, tofu, etc only eating fish and meat once a week. The reason why I do this is because putting myself on this diet plan helps to increase my intake of protein, vitamins, minerals, and unsaturated fat, and keep the levels of saturated fat and especially trans fat to which contributes to high cholesterol and therefore causes certain circulatory problems like hypertension (high blood pressure) down to almost 0%.

I am quite aware that fruits and vegetables don’t have certain vitamins and minerals that meat and fish do have. For example, fruits and vegetables lack Vitamin B12 which helps the body produce red blood cells. Which is why I do still eat meat and fish but only on rare occasion. I do take supplements like protein powders and vitamins and mineral pills and capsules from nutrition stores, but I don’t want to rely on those very much as I like to just try to get all my nutritional need from natural foods as much as possible.

My main problem with many meats and fish is that many of those products while they have excellent amount of protein, it also have a huge unhealthy source of saturated and trans fat like I mention earlier, and some meats and fish even have a way too much sodium or salt in it too. Sodium in small amounts (about 700 mg at least) for example helps the nervous system in the human body transmit nerve impulses and helps maintain the right balance of fluids in the body. However, most meats and fish products have more than 700mg in it and too much sodium can attract and hold water therefore making your blood volume increases (making the blood thicker than it already is). As a result of increased blood volume this makes heart’s job of pumping blood much more difficult and could lead to certain cardiac and circulatory problems like congestive heart failure. Meats like barbecue, sausages, steak, and beef and fried chicken I will not ever eat again. However, I do on rare occasion eat chicken breast which have a decent amount of protein, and saturated fat and trans fat is non-existent. I also eat lemon pepper fish from the company Gorden’s where it is loaded with Omega 3 and Omega 6 unsaturated fatty acids. I know that the human body needs fat for things like the cells rebuilding their plasma membrane, for natural insulation, long term energy storage, and for natural steroids which give men and women their characteristics by producing testosterone in males and estrogen in females. However, I prefer unsaturated since it’s liquid in room temperature and it doesn’t clog the arteries as oppose to saturated and transfat which both are solid in room temperature and causes arteries to clog up and causes health problems like hypertension (high blood pressure). Also the levels of sodium in the lemon peppered fish is fairly decent too (about 500 mg in most of them).

Fruits and vegetables have sodium in them but the amount is so small (less than 100 mg) that on one would give themselves and overdose and therefore give themselves cardiac and circulatory problems. Also some fruits and vegetables like peanuts and walnuts have a fairly decent amount of protein in them too without the saturated and trans fat and have healthy amounts of unsaturated fats in them as well.

Those are my reasons why I’m a semi vegetarian. Eating mostly fruits, vegetables and anything else that is not meat and fish, and only eating anything meat and fish that is not high in saturated and trans fat and anything else that is not healthy for the human body on rare occasions.

To get a little off topic with health and nutrition, I would like to tell the vegans that are rooting for me that I lowered my meat and fish consumption and hope that I stop eating meat and fish altogether for ethical reasons like killing live animals and tampering with nature something. While many vegetarians and vegans have convinced me to lower my meat and fish consumption for health reason, I will remain a semi vegetarian and eat healthy meat and fish on rare occasion and will not stop eating meat and fish on rare occasion anytime soon. While I know that eating meat and fish may mean that I’m contributing to killing animals, keep in mind that animals and insects in wildlife also kill and hunt other animals too because they must survive that way and it helps keep the population of certain animals and insects in check. I don’t like hunting of any animals regardless if it’s other animals or human beings, but it’s natural and necessary. Also, keep in mind that fruits and vegetables, especially the organic kind are also living things too, hence the word "organic". The fruits and vegetables may not be alive in the same way that human beings and animals are, but they do have DNA (bananas for example have 4 pairs of DNA seriously) and hydrogen and carbon in them making them living or "organic. If you full blown vegans are so worried about eating meat and fish and contributing to killing of animals, then why are you not worrying about eating fruits and vegetables, especially the natural organic kind which all of them are living and have DNA in them as well?

Thanks.

Greetings everyone. I wanted to let everyone know that I’m no longer interested in bodybuilding and trying to gain huge muscle mass. I have many reasons that I want to point out, but the main one is because since I do allot of cardio and need only certain amount of muscle strength for sports like horseback riding, archery, western martial arts, and rock climbing; I decided to leave the sport of bodybuilding for good. I don’t need to be Lee Priest, Flex Wheeler, or the Incredible Hulk to do those types of sports. I just need to maintain a lean and toned physique for those type of sports that I do.

That does not mean that I will stop going to the gym and stop taking exercise and nutrition seriously. Before I started taking exercise and nutrition seriously before May of 2001, I was so out of shape that I couldn’t do even simple things like walk up 10 steps up some stairs without getting tired. Also, I was almost at risk of certain health problems like heart attacks forming form eating too much junk food like snickers and eating fatty foods like pizzas from restaurants like Dominos and pizzas from the food stores.

Now since I started taking exercise and nutrition seriously since May 2001. I can do a whole allot more. My physical and even my mental abilities have increased. I’m no superman or anything like that, but I can at least run a mile and a half without getting tired, can do push ups, pull ups, and I can at least swim in water long enought to get out of it at least. I can also concentrate on certain things like my school work and difficult games like chess when I say that exercise and nutrition have help my mental abilities as well. I never have gone to the gym to get huge in the first place, just have enough strength and energy to at least do some simple stuff. The only reason why I have gotten into bodybuilding is that I thought I could get some helpful advice about exercise and nutrition so I can increase endurance for both weight training and cardio. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t oppose to other being huge like Lee Priest, Kevin Levrone, Flex Wheeler, Stan Mcquay, etc and I those bodybuilders are my idols because I like their attitude and they take health and nutrition seriously obviously. However, trying to be be like them was never my goal in the first place and it’s just not for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I will always take exercise and nutrition seriously and will train in the gym forever. However, as far as being a bodybuilder and trying to gain huge muscle, I decided that I don’t need that in my life anymore.

Thanks everyone.

Greetings everyone. I’m sorry that I haven’t wrote anything in my blog in a long time. I have been busy with both school, work, and other events like traveling to other cities and countries. I will leave the lame excuses at rest *L*. Since June started. I have been exercising both inside and outside the gym doing mostly cardio with huge intensity. I have also be doing a small clean bulk, but with the intense cardio that I’ve been doing, it’s kind of hard for me to gain weight. I have to do tons of cardio exercises like jogging (outside and on the treadmill in the gym), indoor rock climbing, jump roping, and especially swimming (because I need to work on endurance really bad) because the sports that I do like rock climbing, basketball, horseback riding, and soon I will be scuba diving; and other activities like camping requires me to be active all the time. One good thing about doing a clean bulk even though I’m not gaining too much weight because of the constant cardio is that I gaining all the vitamins, minerals, protein, carbs, and unsaturated fats that is used up from metabolism so my body can replenish and repair itself quickly and efficiently for another day. I will continue to eat 5 small meals a day every 3 hours.

I can’t really give anyone a schedule on what exercises that I do on what day because my schedule is sort of unorganized at this moment. However, what I can tell you is that I do cardio almost everyday. I do chest and triceps on one day. I do upper and middle back, biceps, and forearms on another. I do lower back and legs on another day, and I do shoulders and traps on another day. I always do those muscles on that same day. On rare occasions I sometimes do split my routine like for example, just do biceps and do back on another day if I’m short on time at the gym. Otherwise, I always do the same muscles that I mention together on the same day.

I do take supplements. Mostly soy protein and isopure because protein isolate goes into the muscle to repair them much faster than protein concentrate and it’s natural. I mix soy protein with my cereal in the morning and I mix isopure with powerade and juices like orange juice for example and drink at least 2 cups, one 2 hours before exercise and immediately after. I don’t take any other supplements.

Sometimes next month I will put up some progress pics of myself so everyone can see the improvements that I’ve made and how hard that I’ve been training at the gym.

Thanks.

Hola. Como Estas todos mi amigos? As many of you may have heard the topic about free radicals and how experts in nutrition tell you that they are bad because they do things like increase aging and cause health problems. You may have also heard that there are things called "antioxidants" where they help stop free radicals and decrease the process of aging and make you healthy again. However, do any of you know the scientific facts behind both free radicals and antioxidants such as how they work on a biochemical level? Here I’ll explain what both free radicals and antioxidants are and how they are both beneficial and hurtful to the human body. Explaining both free radicals and antioxidants is going to involve some knowledge in chemistry, but only knowledge in the basic stuff. You don’t need to be Madam Cure or Albert Einstein figure out what I’m talking about *L* I’ll start with free radicals first.

Free radicals are basically atoms, molecules and ions with unpaired electrons in it’s outer shell. Free radicals are highly unstable and take part in many chemical reactions in order for the atoms, molecules, and ions, to have it’s outer shell to be full. Those of you that haven’t taken basic chemistry in college or haven’t taken chemistry in a long time, valence electrons are the electrons in the outer shell of atoms, molecules, and ions that does most of the chemical bonding by either getting rid of an electron or gaining an electron so they can have a full shell of the right number of electrons in it’s shell. For example, the element Sodium have ll electrons total. 2 in it’s first shell, 8 in it’s 2nd shell, and one in it’s third shell. In order for sodium to have a full 3rd shell it need to have 18 electrons in it. Otherwise it’s highly reactive and unstable. What one can do is merge sodium with an another atom like Chlorine which have 17 atoms but need one more electron in it’s last shell in order to be full by taking that one electron in the third shell of the sodium atom and giving it to the chlorine atom so it will have the right number or electrons and be stable and less reactive. Sodium will be a shell less, but since it have 2 shells with the right number of electrons, it is also stable and less reactive. Therefore since electrons are negative, sodium is a positive charge atom (or ion) because it loses an electron, and chlorine is negatively charge because it gained an electron. I’ll will get to what does all this have to do with free radicals and antioxidants in a little while. BTW, combining sodium and chlorine forms a compound as we all know called table salt.

Anyway as a said earlier free radicals which are atoms, molecules, and ions that don’t have enough electrons in it’s outer shell tends to be high reactive and engage in many chemical bonds. Because of this atoms, molecules, and ions that are free radicals can actually be helpful to the human body and biological process sometimes. Some free radical molecules such as Nitric Oxide (like the supplement NO Explode but also created by the amino acid arginine and oxygen with the help of nitric oxide synthase enzyme) helps smooth muscles to relax by vasodilation and increasing blood flow inside the muscle to help them get bigger especially after an intense workout. Neutrophils are white blood cells in the human body and other organisms that uses free radicals to kill harmful bacteria. However, what gives free radicals a bad name among the world of health and nutrition is that the unstability and highly reactive nature that they do also causes many health problems such as damaging DNA causing mutations and cancers and increase symptoms of again like Parkinson’s disease and atherosclerosis.

Now we will talk about what antioxidants do.

Antioxidants are molecules that stop free radicals by donating or sharing their electrons with the free radical atom, molecule, and/or ion so they be less reactive and damage DNA, cells, and increase aging. Remember the example that I talk about the sodium and the chlorine atom combining so they both can be stable. This is sort of similar to antioxidants combining with free radicals so both can be stable and the chemical reactions won’t cause so much damage to DNA and increase aging.

Some things that are antioxidants are ascorbic acid a.k.a vitamin C found in foods like oranges, kiwi, broccoli tomato blackberries pork liver and chicken liver. Tocopherols a.k.a Vitamin E found in foods like my favorite blueberries but also avocado, almonds, hazelnuts, wheat germ, whole grain foods, and vegetable oils like olive oil, soy bean, sunflower, and canola. I recommend that everyone eat these type of foods with these vitamins in them to help fight unnecessary free radicals.

The body does have it’s own source of antioxidants too without it being required by diet, like the hormone Melatonin found in human and animals created mostly by the pineal gland located in the brain which is also an antioxidant that can cross the cell membrane and the blood brain barrier to stop free radical easily.

I hope now that everyone have a better understanding of what free radicals and antioxidants are. If now, let me know and I’ll try to see about explaining to you a bit better.

Thanks.

Greetings everyone. I wanted to apologize for taking so long to update my blog. I’ll spare you the excuses and just say that I’m back to writing it again. Here I’m going to talk about how I exercise the muscles of the shoulders (the deltoid muscles) and trapezius muscles. The shoulder consist of 3 muscles. The Posterior (front) deltoids brings your arm back and helps to rotate it out and is located near the upper trapezius muscle. The Medial deltoids moves your arm out to the side and is located outside of the shoulder. The Anterior deltoids moves your arms forward and is near the corner of the upper chest (pectoral) muscles. The  trapezius muscle extends hortizontally from the occipital bone to the lower thoracic vertebrae, and vertically to the spine of the scapula (shoulder blade). It’s function is to rotate, retract, elevate, and depress the scapula.

Anyway, here is how I do my shoulder muscles (call the deltoids for those of you that don’t know that). On one week I do the upper deltoids with exercises like sitting shoulder press with the barbell and dumbbell and my favorite upper shoulder exercise called the Arnold Dumbbell press where one start by holding the dumbbells in the hands with their palms facing them in front of their face, then as the raise the dumbbells above their heads, they rotate their arms to where the palms facing the opposite direction while they have the dumbbells in their hands. The reason why this is my personal favorite shoulder exercise because it works both the upper and to a lesser extent the front of the shoulders and the triceps muscle too. Any exercise that does two or more muscles or part of the same muscle at once are always my favorite because I can in a manner of speaking, "kill two birds with one stone". In other words, working two or more muscles or part of the same muscle can save one many hours at the gym. I also do standing military presses where I move the barbell up and down behind my neck  As for the trapezius muscle I do 2 types of shoulder shrugs. One with the dumbbell and one with barbell.

Another week I do dumbbell raises for the anterior deltoids and do the same exercise again but weight plates, side lateral raises for the medial deltoids, and for traps I do 2 different upright rows for the trapezius muscle. I also do 2 bent over dumbbell raises for the posterior shoulder. One where I stand with my upper body almost parallel to the ground and another one where I lie myself on a flat bench. This works the posterior deltoid muscle and to some extent the middle back muscle.

An another week I do both shoulder and traps using the weight machines like the smith machines and loaded plate machine presses.

That’s it for my shoulder and trap exercises. Read it and let me know what you think. If you have any advice on what I can do to make my shoulder and traps exercises better feel free to send me an email and tell me about it.

Thanks.

Greetings everyone. For those of you that are interested in how I exercise each muscle in the gym here is my workout routine. I will be posting each muscle that I workout in a separate blog because what I’m going to be talking about allot of stuff on what exercise I do for each muscle and I don’t want to make this blog so long that everyone will get eye sore from reading this *L*

I try to exercise in the gym at least 4 days a week every 2 hours. Some people think that this is overtraining, but I had never had any serious health problems with it and I try to take at least an isopure protein supplement every hour during my workouts.

Anyway here is how I do my exercise routine at the gym. I will start with how I do my chest (pectoralis major and minor) and biceps (biceps brachii and brachialis):

On one day a week I do chest and biceps. One week I do regular flat bench presses (medium grip), dumbbell flys, push ups and bent arm barbell row, and I do a special type of bench press with ez barbell with close grip for middle of the pectoralis, all about 5 sets of 10 to 12 repetitions. On another week I do chest exercises that involve the upper chest like incline bench presses and dumbbell flys and bench press machine. On another week I do the decline bench presses and dumbbell flys for lower chest and decline push ups by elevating my feet on a bench and performing a push up from there. I also do my favorite exercise which is the chest dips. The reason why I like this exercise because it work the chest (and to some extent, the triceps) perfectly using one’s own body weight (I sometimes use my weighted vest to add weight on too). Just to do a recap, I do middle chest on one week, upper chest on another week, and lower chest on another week. I do this so I can try to put some variation in my workouts. If one have variation in their exercises then one’s muscle can adapt and grow more.

As for my biceps exercise. I do biceps curls with dumbbell, my personal favorite exercise which are hammer curls because with this biceps exercise I feel as though one cannot ever lose form no matter how heavy the weights one uses are. Also, moving one’s arm up and down with the dumbbell in hand in a way that is the same as using a hammer to pound a nail in a wall (which is why it’s called the "hammer curls") works the biceps brachii perfectly. I also do close grip pull ups (meaning when one grips the bar they have their palms facing them). Many people think that close grip pull ups works the back but this exercise actually works the biceps and one can tell by the way I’m position my hands on the bar and lifting myself up on the bar. On another week I do biceps curl with a barbell (which I prefer over dumbbell curls because one can have a bit more better form using dumbbells). I do about 3 sets/10 reps of medium grip, then close grip, and then wide grip. How one’s hand position on the barbell when doing barbell curls matter because since the biceps brachii consists of 2 heads (hence the prefix "bi" in biceps meaning two) and there is the brachialis which is the flexor of the forearm and the pronator teres which flexes and pronate the forearm at the elbow, one can work these muscles instead of just one of them. For example when doing barbell curls with close grip like your hands being about 6 inches away from each other as one grab on the barbell while doing the exercises works the outer portion of one’s biceps brachii while wide grip barbell curls works the inner portion. I do biceps curl with cable machines as well such as the machine preacher curl where I sit at a machine relax my arms on a pad and grip the handles and do my biceps curls on the machine. I use the machines where I load a weight plate, not the ones with the square weights attach to a cord.

I forgot to mention that I also do forearm exercises too, the forearm also need attention too. If someone wants to grab something with a strong grip, one need strong forearm muscles. Forearms are usually worked with the biceps when doing biceps exercises but there are exercises that are exclusively for the forearms like my personal favorite call Behind the back wrist curls where one hold a barbell behind them while standing and move the barbell up and down moving only their hands with their wrist. This exercise works the forearms perfectly.

That is pretty much it on how I do my chest and biceps exercise.
Feel free to read and let me know what you think.

Thanks.

Greetings everyone. For those of you that I don’t know this about me. I like to do allot cardio exercises. When I do cardio exercises, I try to do them all. Jogging, crunches, push ups, pull ups swimming, rock climbing, mountain bike riding, etc. What I don’t tell everyone is that when I do cardio, I do things the old fashion way. What I mean by that is that I do all of my cardio exercises with the use of any cardio machines like treadmills, or some of those fancy machines you see on TV like Ab slide or bowflex.

Why do I not use cardio machines like treadmills for example you ask? Because they don’t offer a realistic way of doing cardio exercises. For example when one wants to jog at the gym, one can go onto a treadmill and jog in place while being on that belt on the machine that is moving and if one wants to adjust the speed of the how the belt is moving so they can jog faster or slower, one can push a button on the treadmill machine to adjust the speed. When one is about to go into failure and want to get in that last mile on the treadmill, one can sometimes hold onto the bar that is right in front of them so they won’t fall off the treadmill from going into failure.

This to me is not realistic way of jogging because, especially for those that are in running sports like track and field, no one will be adjust their speed in that manner by pressing a button or will be holding onto a bar in front of them when they are trying to get in last few feet while about to go into failure.

Another thing that I don’t like cardio machines is some of the measurements that cardio machines like treadmills do like calculating how much calories (actually kilocalories which is a unit or energy) one have burned are not really accurate. One time I was on a treadmill I jog for at least 12 minutes looking at the time on my watch not the time on the treadmill and at the speed of about 6.0 on the treadmill. After I was done the treadmill claimed that I have burned 300 calories from running about 3 miles, but I have barely been sweating and I don’t feel the muscles in my legs tightening like I do jogging outside. I really did not believe that I have burned 300 calories nor believe that I have ran similar to 3 miles in 12 minutes. I guess something may have been wrong with the treadmill machine or something.

Also what I don’t like about cardio machines like treadmills is that people created those machines to wear it is comfortable and to damn easy for people not to get hurt while jogging. For example, why jog outside where one may have go though and there are many rocks and stems from trees and plants and one can trip over and hurt themselves or where it is too hot or cold, etc. when one can just jog in place on a treadmill jogging on a moving belt inside a comfortable gym? As far as safety or if someone have some type or problems with their legs like weak knee joints (which I don’t understand why would they even be jogging in the first place), using cardio machines may help, but as far as offering me a challenge like not only running on a flat surface, but adding a bit of endurance for myself like jogging up a hill or a slanted surface for example, the treadmill as far as I know don’t offer any of this for me.

That is why I don’t like to use any cardio machines at all. I like to do good old fashion jogging outside wear I know for a fact that I am actually jogging at least 3 miles and feeling my leg muscles working out and sweating to death regardless of temperature outside although I don’t jog outside if the weather is bad like it’s rainiing or it’s snowing. Like I said earlier I don’t just jog on a track and field, but I also like to jog any where that is a slanted surface like a hill for example for a little resistance training. As far as there being rocks and stems or some other object that blocks my way or I may trip over I can just avoid them by jumping over them or jogging around them. That is just a few extra work and feet that I can do to help work my body too. Remember exercises of any kind when one does them correctly is not always going to be comfortable or to one’s liking but that is how the muscle are stimulated for growth and how one can for example lose large amounts of fat in their body.

It’s the same reason why I don’t use those machines with the square weights attached to a cord or those fancy machines on those TV ads like ab slide and bowflex for exercises for the abs, biceps, triceps, etc. when I can do different types of sit ups and crunches, and good old fashion free weights.

Thanks.

Greetings everyone. I remember about 4 months ago while I was exercising at the gym doing triceps kickbacks (I was at a 24 hour fitness gym at the time), I overheard a conversation between 2 guys that look like they were in their late 20s to early 30s. One of them was talking about buying a supplement called NO explode because one of his friend told him he took it and it made his muscles bigger. They way these guys were talking, it didn’t seem like they knew what NO explode is and what it does. I interrupted them politely and ask the guy that wanted to get NO explode does he know what it is and what it does. He had this look of confusion on his face like I was speaking another language or something and told me, it’s a supplement that helps make your muscles get big. With sarcasm, I told him thanks for being more specific as I can buy and supplement that can do that. Then I ask him how does it do that exactly? What NO explode does to make the muscle get big that no other supplement does? He and his friend just stood there and look dumbfounded and told me that he wasn’t quite sure. With luck I did research on NO Explode and gave them the basic info. I told them that NO means Nitric Oxide (a combination of nitrogen and oxygen). It is a important molecule (it’s a gas) that biological organism like we human beings need for something like vasodilation of blood vessels therefore increasing blood flow and helping out the circulatory system (also part of the reason why muscles seems get bigger especially during a pump after working out that muscle). They also help with other things like helping neurotransmitters which are chemicals used to relay signals from neurons and another cell in the nervous system. NO is also a free radical which can speed up damage to DNA faster and those with ischemia (restriction of blood supply from problems with the blood vessels which caused damage to organs because the organ is not getting oxygen which blood carries) might not want to either breathe NO or take the supplement because it can speed up ischemia. I explain this to them and they were really surprised. It’s like they discovered science or something *L*. Then I told them without being rude to not waste your money on something that you don’t know anything about. Do research first and ask questions and I told them not to just take my word for it. To ask a doctor or someone who are experts in supplements this and they will tell the same thing I’m telling you. They where very happy and thank me for telling them the info.

I have met many people like this that talk about exercise and nutrition but don’t know how to do certain exercises correctly or don’t know what nutrition like vitamins, minerals, and supplements are. Some of these people are not even beginners. There are even people that have been into exercise and nutrition for years that I have seen do things like doing an exercise incorrectly and talking about supplements and certain diets but know what those things do. These people even include personal trainers and professional bodybuilders.

For example, back in December while a was exercising at the gym at Lifetime Fitness running on the treadmill (which I don’t do anymore and I’ll explain this in another blog at another time) I saw a personal trainer that was showing a woman that look like she was in her early 20s how to do squats so she can work the muscles in her legs. The trainer was was squatting up and down really fast with just the 45 pound (close to 20.45 kg) bar without any weight plates on the it and started to loose a bit a form after the 4th rep. Then I overheard him told the woman to do that. The woman did the same thing and after about 20 reps she started complaining to the personal trainer about having pain in her knees. He told the woman to take about 20 minute rest. After I was done with jogging on the treadmill I confronted the guy and ask him why do you do squats really fast like that? He told me that it works the muscle allot quicker. I didn’t like his response because back when I was a beginner I did this same thing with squats with a 45 lb (20.45 kg) barbell with 35 lb (about 15.9 kg) plates on each side and I started getting pain in my joints in my right knee and haven’t accomplished working my glutes, quads, and hamstring muscles in my legs as I didn’t feel any burn or stretch. I was working out at Bally Total Fitness at that time and a personal trainer there that actually had good knowledge and common sense told me not to do any exercise like that really fast because I will not be able to exercise the muscle properly and I can cause injury to myself which the pain in my joints in my right knee proves his point. I explain this to the personal trainer here at Lifetime Fitness this. He just stood there looking clueless and told me that I guess it makes since to do the exercise like that. Then he walked away from me and that’s it. I didn’t say or do anything further except look back at the woman that look like she was serious about getting in shape and then shook my head in shame because she is dealing with a personal trainer that doesn’t know what he is doing and went on with my workouts. I would think that since the price of the gym memberships were high and some people are actually seriously about exercise and nutrition, the gym would hire people that have good knowledge in exercise and nutrition.

That’s not all. I have also met certain people in nutrition stores like GNC and Vitamin World here in Houston, TX United States that doesn’t know anything about the products like supplements they are trying to sell. For example, Last month I wanted to get a creatine product to help supply the muscles with energy before and after workout for muscle recovery. I overheard the GNC employee talking to a woman that said she was a vegan wanted to know what vitamins she needed to get that she cannot get from fruits and vegetables because those foods do not have them and that only meat products do. The GNC employee didn’t sound like he was sure and then started suggesting all types of vitamin and mineral products to her which some of them she probably doesn’t need since she can obtain them from fruits and vegetables. He offered her vitamin A pills which plants (more specifically carrots which have carotene inside when eaten the body converts the carotene into vitamin A for use in the body).
After that the lady had a look on her face like she didn’t know what the guy was talking about and told the guys thanks and that she’ll see what she can get. I approach the woman and told her that one of the vitamins that she needs to get is vitamin B12 (a.k.a cyanocobalamin) which helps the body produce red blood cells which carries oxygen because plants and fruits do not have this vitamins. She was really happy that I help her out and bought the vitamin B12. While I was buying a gallon of powered creatine the GNC employee thanked me for helping the woman out as he didn’t know what to tell her because he really didn’t know too much about vitamins and minerals. I looked at the guy with a blank stare while he was thanking me and after he was done talking, I said you’re welcome. I paid for the creatine and left. I couldn’t believe that GNC would hire someone like that.

I know this sounds really cliche, but "knowledge is power". The more info on bodybuilding, exercise and nutrition, the more you are better off. I have been exercising and studying nutrition for 8 years now. It’s really said that so many people out there are really clueless about many things involving exercise and nutrition. Again some of these people aren’t even beginners, they personal trainers, professional bodybuilders, and even people that sell nutrition products in nutrition stores.

Greetings everyone. I thought that for my first blog I would introduce myself to everyone here on Bodybuilding.com.

My name is Roshard Davis, but I’m Usually called Shawn for those that I have trouble pronouncing my first name (it’s not really that hard, it’s just 2 syllables). I was born in February 16 1980 (I think you can guess how old I am with this information so I won’t mention my age). I live in Houston, TX United States. I work as a non-commissioned security guard (meaning I don’t carry a gun, but thankful where I work there aren’t too many weirdos around so I won’t need one *L*) I go to a community college trying to get a certificate in pharmacy technology and an Associates degree in Biotechnology.

My hobbies are video games (Nintendo Wii and Gamecube only. I’m also a huge fan of Guitar Hero, Super Smash Bros, and all Legend of Zelda games), horseback riding, rock climbing, western martial arts, exercise and nutrition of course, study languages as I can speak spanish and I am trying to learn french right now (Puedo hablar espanol. J’essaye d’appendre francais maintenant), heavy metal music (I’m a huge fan of Iron Maiden, Manowar, and Overkill), and studying the science of biology (especially a fan of trying to stop environmental pollution and global warming).

I sponsor 5 children in poverty in different countries. 4 though a charity organization call Children International and 1 through an organization call World Vision. I have already visited 2 of the kids I’m sponsoring. One in Mexico and another in Dominican Republic. I hope to visit the others in Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Philippines soon.

I have been exercising since May 2001 when I was 21 years old. Back then I didn’t take exercise and nutrition into consideration and was so out of shape that I couldn’t do even simple things like walk 5 steps up a stairs without getting tired or run less than 1/4 of a mile without looking like a dog that’s been out in the sun too long without water and constantly panting. I wasn’t fat back then, but I was one of those skinny guys with a small pot belly. I always get picked on by some the kids back when I was in middle and high school too for not running far enough in sports like football and track and field and not feeling like doing anything involving sports. Even after I graduated high school I still always felt weak at times and couldn’t do really simple common sense things like I mention above about walking 5 steps up a stairs. That’s when in May 2001 I decided to start making some changes.

One day while I was riding my bike to greenspoint mall here in North Houston. I saw a Bally Total Fitness gym that I was going to pass by and decided to go there first to see about getting a gym membership and exercise there. I spoke to an representative there. I forgot his name but this even though the guy was nice, at the same time he was really pushy and even one time took my debit card out of my hand without permission and charge my card for the 1st month’s membership. I wasn’t too happy about this as I wanted to come back and thing about this, but then again I probably shouldn’t have wasted my time going in there in the first place if I wasn’t sure that I wanted to join. Anyway, now that I’m a member of the gym and the next day I went there in the morning to exercise for the first time. I felt unsure, but excited at the same time (I’m weird like that sometimes *L*). I guy that was a bodybuilder and personal trainer was even nice enough to help me out with some of the simple exercises that I could not do at the time like basic crunches, bench presses, jogging, squats, etc. He also help me out with certain foods rich in vitamins and minerals and convince me to stop eating junk food allot. I use to eat about 2 snicker candy bars almost everyday before I started going to the gym. I know, very healthy huh *L*. I also asked him about supplements too I don’t remember what supplements he told me about and which one’s I took. I know I took some type of protein power by mixing it with milk, but forgot about the band name and what company that makes it. Anyway I stick with exercise and nutrition for 5 months and by October 2001 I have gained lean muscle all over my body. I was still small, but I was small and muscular as oppose to being small and out of shape. Back then I just wanted to have the strength to start doing simple things. I didn’t care about trying to be as huge as say famous bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Lou Ferigno (sp?). Now that I have gain lean muscle, that is when I decided to stay with exercise and nutrition and even get into a bit of bodybuilder forever.

Since then I am do many activities that I have not done before and more. For instance I can jog at least a mile without looking like a old run down 1952 car *L*. I can lift heavy things that I could not lift before. Also I can play sports like football (not my favorite sports but it keeps me active), basketball, rock climbing, etc. correctly.

Right now I practice and study western (medieval) martial arts. Learning different hand to hand combat techniques and learning how to use a quarterstaff, swords, and axes the way that viking, greek, roman, persian warrior did back in history. To me this type of martial is better for me than say Karate, Judo, Tae Kwon Do, and Mixed Martial Arts (all of these are Eastern Martial Arts) because can learn to defend myself against an opponent with simple moves without doing moves like roundhouse kicks and acting like bruce lee on speed *L*. This is not to say that I have a problem with eastern martial arts of this those that practice it. I just think that medieval or western martial arts is better for me and since I’m a fan of greek and norse myth and real history this would be the right martial arts for me.

Right now I workout at Lifetime Fitness. I now exercise at least 4 days a week every 2 hours. Some people claim that this is over training, but since I eat about 5 small meals a day and input all the protein vitamins, and mineral that I need and have an Isopure drink immediately after I workout for muscle recovery, I don’t see the problem. I don’t do all of my exercise at the gym either. Sometimes I do certain exercises like jogging outside on a track or just around the neighborhood. I stop using the treadmill because running on a conveyor belt type thing and pushing buttons to set the kind of speed that one wants to jog on doesn’t seem realistic to me as one will not be adjusting the speed like than when one actually runs on a real track outside. Sometime I actually use a playground for my workouts like pull ups and different types of sit ups when I can’t go to the gym or don’t have the proper gym equipment at home when it’s the day to exercise those muscles. I know it’s seems weird, but hey if you don’t have a hammer to force the nail in board use something just as hard like a pipe. In other words, it’s all about improvising.

Also as I said earlier, I go to a community college. I have taken 4 biology classes so I know some things about creatine (Nitrogenous compound acid that is created from the amino acids arginine, glycine, and methionine in the human body naturally that supple energy to the muscle cells and nervous system) amino acids (the building blocks of protein created by transcription and translation), ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate, the energy that all cell in the body need to function), the human body and so on. If someone wants to ask me anything about supplements or why it’s not a good idea to be on this diet and what happens if you consume too much sodium in your diet. I can answer those question without any problems. If I can’t I can refer you the person that do know, or look for the answer for you. One way or the other you have an answer to your questions on exercise and nutrition.

Well I guess that is all I can say about me. If anyone have any question that they want to ask me, feel free. Thanks for reading my first blog, even though I’m sure I’m not going to get an award for grammar or proper writing technique *L*.

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