HKR-Chief’s Body Blog

My chest workout on Saturday was awesome; still feeling it this morning (it’s Monday morning here). I went in to work out Back today. It was a great workout. Along with my regular back workout, I included some lower back specific work today and it feels great. I figure making my lower back stronger might help with my bad posture.

After my back was done I worked my biceps real good today. I supersetted ez-bar curls with hammer curls. Oh the burn that gave me! After a few sets of that, I did three sets of concentration curls for about 7 to 8 reps each. The kicker was the way I did the last set. By this time, my weight was 20 Lb. dumbells. I grabbed a 20, 15 and a 10. I set the 15 and 10 at my feet and did 6 reps with 20, swapped it out for the 15, forged mysel to do 6, grabbed the 10, forced myself to do 6, then with no weight, did 6 empty handed curls to flex. I finished off each arm with that set and it was awesome. My arms were burning so good. I figured it’s time I shock my arms with a little unexpected torture. We’ll see how well it works come tomorrow morning.

That’s the way I tend to do each workout. I never walk into the gym set to do a specific regimine. I go in open minded and do what I think is best for that workout on that day. I usually keep the basics in mind, such as power moves first, followed by isolated and/or shaping movements. I’m constantly hitting different parts of my muscles from different angles and with different intensity methods. It seems to work for me. I have never done the same workout twice which is why I think I’m getting such good progress.

To finish up my workout, I hit my abs again. I did abs as part cardio, part development. During my weight workout, I got my heart rate going pretty good and I was sweating and breathing heavy so I decided to keep that going for my ab workout. I layed down on the mat and did Air Bikes (but kept my feet about 6 inches above the floor when extended). I did 100 reps and stopped to take in the burn. After stretching for a minute, I did another 100 reps. My body wanted to quit at 50, but I pushed all the way through it without stopping. AAAHHHHH, it hurts! But just for about 10 seconds. Ok, pain’s gone now. That was my ab workout - Short and sweet, High speed, and painful. I’m sure I’ll feel it tomorrow.

When I first started 2 months ago, My arms’ flexed measurement was 13.8". At that time, my goal was 15". THis week, I hit that goal with a 15 inch Flexed measurement! I’m still not seeing much increase in my relaxed measurement, but that will come. I guess increasing the peak is a good thing, huh? Like I mentioned in a post entry, I don’t know what my starting relaxed measurement was. They look bigger relaxed, so I can only guess they were something below 13". While my current official goal for my arms is 14" (relaxed), my new goal for my flexed measurement is 16". I’m going to give myself until Christmas for this. I know that’s a ways off, but I’ve got a vacation coming up that will impede my progress. Going home to see the family and I plan on spending it with them, not in the gym. Who can blame me, right? I’m sure my wife will be quite surprised at seeing me in my current condition.

On a side note, my legs are in their final stages of recovery from their previous workout which was Wednesday morning. I need to really force myself to work legs more often. Maybe then they won’t get so sore. I know the rest of me doesn’t really get sore after a good hard workout. I took yesterday and today off from workouts to allow my legs a good recovery. I’m going to hit the gym tomorrow morning for a good workout. Starting back into my cycle with chest and triceps. Later all.

I discovered real quick today that I should get plenty of sleep prior to working legs. I got about 5-1/2 hours of sleep last night. Got up at 0530, took my dose of No-Xplode, and eventually made my way to the gym. I was going to work shoulders but when I looked in the mirror and saw my legs, I knew I should work legs instead. They definitely need the work. Even though today was my best leg workout so far, I was dead tired. I still convinced my self to do shoulders afterward, which brings me to my second learning point. For now on, Legs will have their own day. I may still do abs or something like that, but no major work on Leg day. They take up so much energy to work them, it’s hard to really work something else hard on the same day. Needless to say, my shoulder workout wasn’t the best.

So now, I’ve decided I will have four distinct days at the gym. Chest and Tris, Back and Bis, Shoulders, and Legs. I’m not big on setting a distict weekly plan as my schedule changes quite rapidly out here. I work it out as best I can. I just need to figure out when I’m going to do cardio. The weather is starting to cool down just a bit, so I might find myself doing some cardio after work. Over the past two months though, it’s been too hot for me to run outside, and I hate treadmills. If I’m gonna run, I want to get somewhere.

of gaining 20 pounds. This morning I weighed in at 180. I managed to do this in 2 months without gaining inches on my waist. My new goal is going to be to get my waist down to 32 inches. I’m going to try to continue gaining muscle at the same time, but mainly, I want to keep the muscle I’ve added. If I don’t gain any that will be acceptable.

To accomplish this goal I’m going to change a couple things. First, I am going to lower my carb intake a bit. Second, I am going to incorporate more cardio. I really hate cardio work. If I feed my appetite with protein and easy to burn calories, I should be able to knock my waist down fairly quickly. I’m going to set my goal for 20 October. If I can get my waist down to 32 inches and still be at 180 pounds, that would be awesome, but I don’t see it happening. I’ll probably drop to about 170 or so, but I’m not going to go by weight. I’m going to pay attention strictly to appearance and measurements.

I had to travel to a different Forward Operating Base to finish training our new Chiefs and then did their pinning ceremony. This training required me to be up all night Friday night and I didn’t get to sleep until 0630 Saturday morning. I only got 4 hours of sleep after that, so I was dead tired. I know my body didn’t like it. I got good sleep last night though, and this morning, I was quite sore. I’m going to take today as a recovery day and then jump back into my workouts Tomorrow. My last workout was This past Wednesday morning. I hated to go 3 days without a workout, but maybe my body will respond well to it. We’ll see.

I ordered some Universal Animal Pak and  some Controlled Labs Blue Up. They should be here within the next couple days. I’m going to replace my ASN Humagro for the Blue Up and see if it works better for increasing my test levels. Of course, the Animal Pak is going to be my daily supplements for making sure my body gets everything else it needs. Looking forward to getting them and trying them out.

The Chief Selectee training season is over with so now, I will have more free mornings to do my workouts rather than a crappy PT session with the selectees. Granted, I really need to incorporate some cardio sessions, but I hate cardio. I guess I’m going to have to endure it and learn to like it, huh? At least I’ll be able to do the cardio sessions on my own terms vice with a group. Plus, the weather is starting to cool off a little so I should be able to start doing cardio in the evenings without dying of heat stroke. Yeah, I could always do cardio in the gym, but I hate treadmills. If I’m running, I’d rather actually be getting somewhere rather than running in one spot.

 So, to finish up, I’ve got a mornign workout session tomorrow and I should be able to get a new progress picture as well. I think I’ll start using the Picture gallery some more, and use the progress pictures for just similar pictures instead of throwing all of them in there. That should make it easier to compare and see the progress in the pictures. Later.

This morning when I went in for my workout, I weighed myself as usual. The scale I have been using is a large,upright dial scale, probably spring loaded. I always weigh myself with my shorts, t-shirt, and sneakers and subtract 2 pounds for that. This morning the scale showed 169.5. By my typical standards I would record my weight as 167.5. That’s pretty good. Now here’s the kicker: Just for the heck of it, I decided to try weighing myself on the small, flat, bathroom type scale that was next to it. It told me I was 177. "Wow, that’s a big difference" I thought. So then, I decided to get a third opinion. There’s another scale inside the locker room. This one is one that I can zero out before weighing myself. I zeroed, and then stepped on. After moving the little weight adjustment things around, the scale balanced out at 176.5 pounds. So it’s confirmed, I’m a little heavier than I thought. Now, this isn’t to say I’ve gained 15 pounds since I’ve started working out about 6 weeks ago, but it’s not unthinkable. Before I started working out, I’m pretty sure my weight was in it’s normal 155 - 160 range, but I suppose it could have been a little higher. Maybe 165. Either way, I’m a happy camper. Why is this? Because today, I’m two pounds heavier than I was 10 years ago at my heaviest weight when I was working out. It had taken me 6 months to get up to 172 back then. My big problem then was I didn’t do any research on nutrition. All I did was eat a little more healthy and I drank one protein shake a day. I really didn’t know anything about muscle growth or recovery. Today is a different story. I have done lots of reading and I know much more about it now. It seems to be working. I am now up to 176 and I need to review my goals and see if there is anything I need to revise.

Yes, today was a good day at the gym. I had a great chest workout and followed that up with some triceps. I’ll post some new pictures here today as well.

and I figure "Why not?" It’s not like I’m getting fatter and I need to slim down. O contraire, my stomach has gotten smaller since I’ve started bulking. With that in mind, why shouldn’t I continue doing what I’m doing? As long as it’s working, right? My initial reason for wanting to cut this coming month is because toward the end of October, I will be going home for two weeks. I figured if I cut, I could show my family and freinds how much progress I’ve made. However after thinking about it, aside from the point I made above, If I slim down this early, without adding a lot of mass, everyone will think I’m just getting skinny and not eating enough. All they’ll notice would be how thin I am without paying any attention to the real improvements.

Maybe I shouldn’t worry too much about what they will think. My real thinking now is precicely what I stated above. I’m not gaining any fat, so why cut? I’m not prepping for a contest. I’m not getting ready to hit the beach. I think I should continue to keep my main priority as "gain lean mass."

I must confess, though. Over the last week, I have really been slacking off. Not in my workouts, but rather in my eating. I haven’t been eating breakfast. A few days this week, I forgot to take my mid-day shake. Even yesterday, which was my shoulder workout day, I forgot to take my after workout protein. I know, I know. Stop screaming at me. Probably one of the great muscle building sins. When I finished my workout, I started right in with a gatorade to replenish some carbs and electrolytes. That lasted through my shower and my return to work. While I was finishing up my gatorade, someone had made coffee and I told him sure, I’ll drink some. That did it. As soon as I got that coffee, I had completely forgotten about my protein. I didn’t realize it until I left work at 7:30 that night. This behavior isn’t going to cut it, so now, after doing some internal searching and coming to a consensus that I’ve been messing up, I have decided to fix this beginning now. I will have oatmeal with my protein this evening. I will go to sleep early. I will wake up a little earlier so that after my workout (and my shake) I will have time left to eat breakfast. I will start keeping my nutrition log again. I will try harder to stick to the plan…

In my previous weeks, I had been keeping a nutrition log which kept me active in looking for ways to get the proper nutrition. After a few weeks of doing that, I figured "I’ve got it figured out now. I no longer need to track my intake." Oh how wrong I was. It starts off with a little extra dessert here, a bit fewer veggies there, and before you know it, you’re subbing coffe for meals and shakes. Here’s a sample of what my average diet used to look like a couple weeks ago when I was keeping track of it:

Time        Meal/activity                Quantity        Protein    Carbs     Fat

6:30       Rip it energy drink         1can               0          33           0
7:15       pre workout shake        1/2 packet       22        10           2
7:45       workout     
9:20       post workout shake      1/2 packet       22        10           2
12:00     Lunch:Chicken Salad Wrap   1              16        5             2
                 yakasobi                  
 1 serving         5         16           0
                 banana w/ PB            1                    4         15           8
                 fruit juice                  1                    0         30           0
14:41     snack Mini Mr. Goodbar  1   
15:30     Shake                   Â
 Â Â Â Â  1/2 packet        22       10           2
                       w/ milk               1                    8         12           0
17:20     Dinner: steak               5 oz.               45       0            25
                    fish                    
  2 oz                16        0            4           
                    mixed veggies       1 serving          0         12          0 
                    honeydoo melon    1 serving          0        30           0 
19:00     Snacks plum                
1                     0        15            0 
               turkey slice sandwich   1                     8        30           1
21:25     evening protein            1 full packet     45        20          4
                      
       w/ milk         1                     8         12          0
Totals                   
                                         221       260        50

All the items I eat would change every day, but I was getting a decent mix of what was available. I was getting sufficient amounts of nutrients, especially considering where I am and what is available. But I have slacked off. Time to get back on track. If I don’t eat, I won’t grow!

My room mate works in a diferent area, so he’s only around for two days a week. Last night when he showed up, he told me "Dude, your guns are getting bigger." That was quite a lifting thing to hear. He only learned last week that I was working out when he came home and saw my No-Xplode and Protein on the tv stand. He doesn’t see me all the time so I guess it’s easier for him to see change than it is for people that are around all the time, including myself. Pictures help, but pictures really don’t cut it all the time. I think it was good for me to hear a compliment like that. It was a big boost to my motivation and determination to get back in the gym and keep pushing hard. During this past week I was starting to get those doubts that my improvements have stopped and I started trying to convince myself that maybe I should stop for a little bit and then come back. Well, between the compliments I got, and a remeasuring of my arms this morning, I am definitely going to keep going. My arm measurement this morning, relaxed was still 13 inches, but my flexed measurement went from 14.25 last week to 14.75 today. When I originally started out on this site at the beginning of August, my arms were at 13.8 inches flexed. At the time, my short term goal was 15 inches. For my flexed measurement, I’ve almost reached my short goal. That is a big boost internally for me. Now I can continue on, hitting it hard, knowing that my hard work is paying off. Tomorrow is shoulders day. I love shoulders day.

Well, it’s been several days since my last post. Since then, I’ve managed two workouts, and two cardio days. I worked Chest and Tris on Monday and then Back and Bis yesterday. Today, like Tuesday, was cardio day. Tuesday I did a 25 minute run and today I did sprints. My workouts were pretty good. I’m looking at doing a shoulders workout tomorrow. Not sure yet, whether or not I’m going o hit legs tomorrow as well, or just do legs alone on Saturday. I’ll decide tomorrow.

That’s about it. No new progress pics. Maybe I’ll have some in the next few days.