HKR-Chief’s Body Blog

Yesterday I developed a nasty chest cold. I was hoping my body would fight it off over night last night while sleeping, but that didn’t happen, so I had to skip my chest workout today. This chest cold, if it’s anything like ones I’ve had in the past, will take at least a week for me to get rid of. Looks like I’m going to miss some workouts. I don’t want to weaken my immune system by asking my body to rebuild muscle. This really sucks. The big question is, do I stop taking my Test while I’m recovering from this cold? I don’t see what good it will do for me to continue taking it if I’m not working out. What a lovely time to get sick.

176.5 lbs today. My weight seems to be keeping pretty steady; I’m probably not eating enough. Nevertheless, my shoulder workout was real good this morning. I think next to legs, the shoulders are the most painful workout. When you really get them pumped and max out the reps, the burn in the delts is a killer. I really hit them hard today.

I may be having a second opinion of Animal Test. During the first week of taking it, I wasn’t at all impressed. I didn’t notice any difference in strength, performance, or mindset in the gym. However, now I’m starting to think that my initial reaction was hampered by two things: 1, I had just started taking it, and 2, I was just coming off of a vacation. Now that I’m through my second week, I’m beginning to realize something. I do seem to be more focused in the gym. I’ve also noticed that I’ve been using the same weights I did before my vacation except now, instead of only getting 3 or 4 sets of 6 or 7 reps, I’m now doing 4 and 5 sets with 8 reps. I find it’s easier to push myself further and the urge to keep going is more dominant now. I find myself doing my exercises with more determination as well as doing them slower and with more concentration. I think this means that it’s time for me to up the weight just a little bit to initiate the extra growth I’m looking for. I think that’s going to mean I need to force myself to eat a little more than I have been. Outside the gym, I haven’t really noticed anything different about myself with one exception… let’s just say, I miss my wife more… especially in the mornings when I wake up.

So my opinion of Animal Test is getting better. At first, I wasn’t impressed. Now I’m starting to see some differences that will definitely have a positive effect. My current rating for Test, with 1 being don’t waste your money, and 10 being steal the money so you can get some, I would rate this at 6… for now. (a 6 would be like, if you can afford it, you should try it.)The effects it’s having on my workout intensity are worth the money. Whether or not it’s actually raising my test levels? Well, judging solely from the first 2 minutes of my waking up in the mornings, I’d say it is. As far as actually seeing results in the form of mass gains, we’ll have to wait and see. I have a feeling though, that over the next two weeks, my rating for this product will go higher.

Tomorrow is a day of recovery for me and I start in on Monday with Chest/Tri’s and Tuesday with legs. I’m looking forward to putting more weight on the bar on monday to see what I can do. My personal best on bench is 170 lbs one lift max (October 17th). I know… it’s low, but I’ve never been a heavy lifter. Some day, I hope to hit 200. I think maybe on Monday, I’ll go for 180. Any thoughts on how to warm up for a one rep max attempt without wearing yourself out?

I worked back and biceps pretty hard. My triceps and chest were still a little tender and I was really feeling it when starting my workout with lat pulldowns. After a few sets I got good and stretched out and it didn’t bother me anymore. My weight was at 175.5 yesterday morning. I have a feeling I’m not eating enough. I’ll have to try a little harder in that area.

Thanksgiving was pretty good. I ate a HUGE lunch and then took a 2 hour mid-afternoon nap. I figured the extra sleep would be good for me. Today I can still feel the triceps workout from Tuesday. Of course, I can feel the back and biceps from yesterday as well, so I know I worked them hard. Tomorrow I’m going to do shoulders and traps.

My legs are fully recovered from the squats I did last week so I’ll be ready for my next leg workout. I think that’s scheduled for Tuesday. Well, that’s about it for today.

My muscles aren’t necessarily "sore", but I can feel them - maybe a little tender. That’s good. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I’ll "giving" my back and biceps a nice workout in the morning. they can "thank" me for it later. I’m feeling pretty good about my workouts. I think that 3 week break was just what I needed to get some good results. I’m hoping I’ll be up to about 186 or 187 by the 15th of December. Don’t know if it will happen, but I’m going to hope for good gains.

A couple of my friends here on bodyspace would like to wish everyone an early seasons’ greetings. Go to this website to see it: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9548559138

I continue my workout tomorrow morning with Chest. My legs are still a bit tender, but they’ll be fine. See you all later. And enjoy.

Just as I figured they would be. The good thing is that my back isn’t bothering me at all today. I think I just overdid it for my lower back yesterday with those squats. My legs definitely got a good workout though. It feels good. Now I’m looking forward to Tuesday so I can get back into my good workouts.

My long 3 week vacation really allowed my muscles to weaken a bit. My upper body workout on tuesday took me 3 days to get over the soreness. Today I did a total leg workout. I might have pushed the squats a little too much. It didn’t hurt at all when I was doing them but now, 5 hours later, my lower back is kind of sore. Almost feels like I pulled a muscle, but it doesn’t quite hurt like that. It’s just very tender and aching. I’ll probably have to take a good 2 days off to recover.

 I’m planning my next workout for tuesday and I’m going to get back into my old routine. I should be able to start my regular schedule again without the soreness. Only thing is, I’m going to start Tuesday with Ches/Tris and then skip the leg workout until the following tuesday. I’m looking at 4 workouts per week:

Mon: Chest / Triceps
Tue:  Legs
Wed: day off
Thu: Shoulders / Traps
Fri:   day off
Sat: Back/ Biceps
Sun: day off

We’ll see how that works for me.

My upper body workout was good because I’m definitely feeling it today. I’m making sure to get plenty of food and supplements for recovery. I’m planning to go in tomorrow and hit a lower body workout.

That’s about it for today. Later.

I just got back to Iraq yesterday. My vacation was nice, but I’ll be glad to get back into working out. I was away from workouts for 3 weeks. After I got home, within 4 days, I had lost 5 pounds. I assume that was all water weight that was stored in my muscles. We’ll see. After I start working out again, that 5 pounds will probably come back fairly quick. I ate a lot of junk food, mostly in the form of sweets while I was on vacation. I probably gained a little fat. That’s ok. I’m going to be bulking anyway.

I plan on starting back up tomorrow morning. I’m wondering, do I start with a moderate full body workout and then give myself a few days to recover? Or do I jump straight into a chest and tri workout and really break down the muscles? What would you all recommend?

For my supplements, I’ve got my Animal Pak for vitamins, I’ve got some grape No-Xplode, and I picked up some Muscle Tech Hardcore Chocolate protein the other day as well. I ordered some ON Whey, but don’t have it yet. It should be here within a couple days. I have two different proteins because I like to keep one at my room, and one at the office. That way I’m not trying to portion it out every day to take with me. And finally, I also have the Animal Test that was sent to me for testing. I’m really looking forward to some good gains with this.

When I left, my weight was at about 189 and it had leveled off right around there for a few weeks. I haven’t weighed myself since I got back but I’m guessing the scale will show me at about 174. If that’s the case, my goal for the next 4 weeks will be to surpass my previous plateau and get up to 185. I’m hoping that by the end of the year, I can reach 190. My new long term goal, long term being when I deploy out of Iraq in July, is going to be for a bulk of 200 pounds and then a cutting phase to bring out my abs. As I haven’t done a cutting phase, I have no idea how much weight I will lose so after I reach 200 pounds, I will cut until I like what I see.

It sure is good to be back. I’ve definitely missed the burn and look forward to hitting the gym tomorrow morning. I’ll be sure to let you all know how bad it hurts after I’m done working out.