HKR-Chief’s Body Blog

I’m a smoker. I’ve been a smoker for almost 20 years. I know it’s bad for me and I think I’m at a perfect point to quit the habit. I’m starting to work out again and I know the smoking not only is bad for me, but it can hamper my efforts in attaining my goals here.

I have 8 packs left before I start the agony of no cigarettes. I’ve quit a couple times before;once for about 2 months and once for 3. Both times, I started back up. I think if I can quit while living the healthy lifestyle of nutrition and working out, I’ll be able to kick the habit for good. I have some smokeless cigarettes and some nicotene gum. I’ve also gone through a smoking cessation class. I came here with the hopes of quitting smoking so I am prepared. I just know how edgy it makes me.

Can I get some encouragement and motivation toward quitting smoking? Let me hear your motivational words to help me finally put this nasty habit to bed. Thanks in advance.

Well, I finally started my workouts. I was waiting for my supplements to come in, but decided to borrow some protein powder from someone. I took my Pinnacle NoX2 this morning at about 0615, ate a breakfast at about 0730, and had my protein shake at 0930 just prior to my workout.

I worked chest and triceps and a little bit of abs. My chest workout consisted of 2 warmup bench sets with light weights (about 10 reps), followed by four heavy sets (about 6-8 reps for failure). Then I did three sets of cable presses (or flies. I don’t know the terminology yet) (about 8 reps for failure) and finished chest off with 2 sets of machine flies. For triceps, I did 3 sets of straight bar presses (about 8 reps for failure), two sets of v-bar presses (about 8 reps for failure), and two sets of machine assisted dips to failure. After that I did some leg raises and hip raises for my abs. I just wanted to give them a good burn.

After my workout, I was actually very surprised at the pump in my pecs. Yeah, I called them pecs. I have never seen my chest pumped like that before. granted, there’s not much on my chest, but I could actually see the pump. Talk about motivation. That felt good. I’m sure I’ll probably be sore tomorrow. I’m going to try to work my back and biceps in a day or two, depending on recovery of this workout. I wanted to work my shoulders today following chest, but my ticeps just weren’t able to push any heavy weights out. It would have been more of a tricep workout than a shoulder workout, so I’m thinking I’ll work shoulders and legs a day or two after my back and biceps.

Overall, I think my first workout was pretty good. My muscles did feel very week but this was the first weight training I’ve done in years, so that’s no surprise. I’d log the weights that I was using, but some of them were in Pounds and some were in Kilos. Maybe after my first week I’ll record the weights I’m using.

I’ve got my supplements on order. I ordered 2Lbs. Optimum 100% Whey Protein, Rocky Road Flavor, 6 week supply of ASN Humagro, and 90 Tablets of Pinnacle NoX2. They should be in within a week and once they come in, I will begin my training. Until then, I will continue my better eating habits. I have cut out all my normal deserts. I’m eating mostly lean meats, vegies, and fruits. I’m trying to prime my body to get it ready for the stresses that are about to unfold. I’m also drinking plenty of water.

Yesterday I took my starting measurements and posted them. A couple surprises there. 1, I was surprised my arms were almost 14 inches, and 2, I was surprised at my waist being 34 inches. I really thought I was at 32. I’ve been doing research on the best ways for Hard Gainers to gain lean mass. I’m ready to give it a try. I’m jsut not sure I’ll be able to eat enough out here. I only have access to 3 meals a day. While I can grab some snacks here and there, and I’ll have protein shakes, I’m still not sure it’s going to be enough. Plus the meals that I eat are pretty small. My stomach has really shrunk up since I was younger and I can’t eat that much now. Hopefully, all this stufing myself over the past week will help increase the capacity of my stomach.

My plan at this point is to bulk up as much as possible for about 2 months, then diet a bit to burn off some fat, then cycle again. If anyone has any words of wisdom, or advice they would like to share with me before I begin, I would love to hear it.

If you’re reading this, thank you for your interest.

You’ve already seen my goals. You’ve seen a little bit of my history as well. I was a wrestler in high school and did some limited weight lifting there. That added a little bit of muscle to my very thin frame, but not much.

Since then, I have only lifted weights for one stretch of time. That was about 6 months while on my first deployment. My weight went up to 172 during that time frame. Since then, I haven’t done any weight training and now, here I am at 36 years old, stuck in Iraq for a year. I thought this would be a great opportunity to get back into working out and see if I can add some meat to my bones and get back the chiseled abs I had in high school.

I plan to start my work outs tomorrow. I’m going to start slow, mainly because it’s been so long and I dread the sore muscles I’m going to have at the beginning. I haven’t taken any supplements yet and I haven’t yet bought any. I’d love to hear what other thin framed people are using to help them bulk up. I’d also like to hear any comments, suggestions, or words of encouragement anyone may have.

Thanks again for visiting my blog. I’ll try to post updates at least weekly.