J Wes’s BodyBlog

Well, great intentions are just that- great intentions.  Work has been so busy that i have not been able to update my workouts on here like i wanted to.  So, i will have to think of a new plan.  Probably will just update monthly.  I thiink that works better.  Oh well, back to work.  take care.

it is new years eve and a few weeks ago, i started my beast training (LOL) for the new year.  With the spring as my goal (no particular date , just when it starts to really warm up), i am on a mission.  So here is my workout for today.

 legs:

legs Extensions

Leg Press, Squats

Cardio- 45min Spin Class

I will try to update the workouts at least once a week.  Alright-  Good luck to me.  take care and happy new year everyone.

This week is the end of the second month (8 weeks) since my leaning out phase.  It has not been a drastic lean out since i am not training for a show, but i am trying to do it slowly in order to not lose much muscle, as i have done in the past.  Basically i have tightened up the foods that i eat, and have slowly increased my cardio.  I have also been dabbling with a vegan type diet for half of my foods.  Just trying to get to most out of my food and to eat the things that digest the fastest and most efficient in my body.

 For this third month (weeks 9-12), i am still focusing on cardio, as i am now incorporating Spin class back into my cardio mix.  I have just started with the vegan type thing, so i am basically only eating one meat meal a day, two egg white meals, one with rice and beans and protein powders and raw nuts to fill out the rests of the meals.  My meals still range from 5-6 a day.

 My workouts have been going great.  I just changed my back and shoulder routine, as well as my arm routine, since i was starting to get stagnant with it.  i will keep this new routine for 8 weeks, like the previous ones and see what happens from there.

My motivation is soaring through the roof as i have lost 5 pounds the last 8 weeks, but people have been saying that i look bigger.  My legs are filling out well and my back fills tremendous.  I can really feel all the muscles in my back.  Not bad for a guy that did not workout back for 8 years just becuase i felt i did not have to, since i could not see it without a mirror.  Yes, stupid theory, and i actually beleived it.  I used to work on the front muscles since i could just look down and see them all.  THankfully, i got smart and learned to do back.  Actually, i learned that lesson from a woman in the gym i used to work out at.  She was a fitness girl, with a great back.  She used to do pull ups and everything.  I would drool when i saw her cuase i thought she just had the best shape ever.  Long story short, i envied her back so much, it convinced me to do the same.  And now i get complements on my back.

By Mar 09, i want to be in the best shape i have ever been.  That is my gift to me for turning 37 this coming december.  I will look good by my b’day, but i don’t want to rush things.  By taking it slow, i will be able to retain shape a lot longer since it wasn’t done under an extreme diet or training schedule. 

 I will make another blog after the third month.  Take care.

This is the end of the first month of my relaxed diet.  I had lightened up on the cardio and i just have been concentrating on weights mostly.  Going into the second month, i will clean up my diet a little.  It is not to say that i have been bad, but i think i can get a little too used to eating alot and that could be a real problem in teh long run.  I have already gained some weight , and i know that i don;t want to gain weight too quickly. 

Starting this week, i am going to go back to HIIT cardio (20-30 mins, 3 X/wk).  I will continue to pound the weights and rehab my shoulder.  My shoulder is doing great and last week was the first time that i have done a shoulder workout since going to rehab.  It was a good start.

I am keeping my power movements in my workouts, such as Deadlifts and Squats.  And i am going to start doing abs again.  i took off of abs for the first month and now i am about to step up the training again. 

Ok, time to build some more muscle. 

Hi everyone,  My name is J. (Hi, J).  I have come to a realization that probably was years in the making.  Let me explain.

As like most of you, i have been at this for a long time.  i have endured this journey for over 15 years.  during those 15 years, i have had my goal of looking the best that i can possibly be.  During that journey, i have veered off course at times, i have been sidetracked and distracted, and i have even doubted myself at times.  A funny thing about goals- they can change or be revised.  And as we get older, i have found myself revising and changing to due to either the season, work or dating life. 

But here is the odd part.  A friend of mine asked me last night if i was happy with myself.  And at first, the question took me by surprise.  She just felt that with all that i do, that i did not seem happy.  i told her that i love my personality and all of traits and faults, but just not happy with my physical (my body).  I told her that is why i spend so much time in the gym and dieting.  And i told her that, i realized that maybe i am confused about the whole issue .  Well let me not say that- i am not confused on my goal, i am just too impatient to do what is necessary. 

when i first started 16 years ago, i was very patient.  I had no real goal other than to just get stronger and not have a stomach , and in less than two years, i gained 25 lbs and had a six pack.  Pretty nice for someone that was still eating whoppers at BK.  Remember, i was 20 at the time.  fast foward over the years and now i eat the cleanest i have ever eaten in my life, i restrict calories and i do tons of cardio, and yet, i am no where near where i want to be.  I would love to be where i was at 16 years ago, but i know that i would have to let go of being lean temporarily. 

i know most of you will just think that there is nothing to it, and i should think that too, but i  i worry so much about being out of shape or having my stomach big for a while in order to put on good muscle.  But i have to admit, that i am very envious of alot of you on this site.  The time you spend in the off season gaining that needed muscle, eating regular food and just enjoying life.  Once upon a time i felt like that, and somewhere during my journey, i lost it.  Everytime i diet, i just lose more and more muscle, and i never grow it back since i never really have an offseason.  My injury has taught me about resting.  And now, it has caused me to think about things. (as well as my friend Charlene, who asked me a question earlier). 

i put so much into the way i physically look, that i have become what i have most hated-  the epitome of a caricature of a narcissitic bodybuilder.  I pretty much eat, sleep and live fitness in order to achieve a goal and i am no closer to that goal than i was two years ago.  Though, now, i am more fit due to all the cardio i do, but no where near the hear muscular look that i would like.  i always heard non-workout people say that we (fitness people) just live in the gym and eat salad all day and do all of this just to look good for now, since looks tend to go as we age.  i have disappointed myself since i did not want to become like this.  When i was younger, i was not as vain about it.  i did not even know anything about dieting.  I just worked out and worked out hard.  And i ate.  As i learned more and studied about nutrition and working out, it just seems that i got more book sense, while losing sense.  I have made all of this so hard for myself - thus just complicating things. 

So with all of that, what have i come up with.  i would like to take a year off of heavy dieting and just relax and workout hard and see how much muscle i can put on, with out excessively over eating.  I think if i gradually increase my calories over time, i will be alright and will be able to at least minimize the amount of fat i put on.  i have always been patient with other things in my life and now i have to re-learn how to be patient in the gym.  Now that will be hard.  Like i said, i panick when i notice my waist line getting bigger.  Silly, i know.  But unlike everyone else, i have this thought that i have to look a certain way to gain acceptance and to have a productive social life.  I am single,  so i think of the example my best friend used when she was trying to sell her house.  You have to fix it up, cuase most people will not buy a house as is.  i am single and trying to meet people.  To get more looks, it is better to look good instead of ordinary.  you have to stand out and a hard body stands out quicker than i soft one-  Just a thought.  I know this is really strange and probably confusing to understand, but i never said that i was sane 

i have wrote alot here.  This is just a little insight of the mind of J_Wes.  i just want to thank all of the people in my friends list cuase they have given me motivation to pursue an off season and better myself, like many of them have been doing for many years.  I just want to say that i appreciate it. 

Yes, i went to the Physical Therapist yesterday and i do have tendinitus.  So i started rehab yesterday.  the good thing about it is that i thought that i would have to stop all upper body workouts, like i had to do when i had rotator cuff problems two years ago, but luckily there are a few exercises that i can still do.  So i was pleased with that.  I am still just going to concentrate on legs and cardio, but i am glad that i can still do one day of back and chest, as well as my rehab exercises (which i will be doing 2 times a week).

I really hate the fact that i have to stop certain exercises, but i hate being pain even more.  i hope that i can make mentally.  I rarely take breaks so this is going to be hard for me, but i will learn.    

Well, today is first day for the second month.  I went to doctor over the weekend and found out that i have tendinitus of my left shoulder. I have been having some pain in my shoulder for the last month, but it had really got bad this month. My diet is going good, but today i made another change where i dropped my meals from 6 to 5, and i upped my cardio. I am looking to see some major changes during the 2 nd month.  I am also starting back on the creatine and bCAA’s. 

I am going to do rehab for my shoulder, but really can’t see myself stop doing back for two months.  I only do raises for shoulders and i do very light chest with dumbells. 

Heres to a good second month of dieting 

I know that it has been a while since i last wrote.  In the time that has passed, i have revised my diet and changed my training routine around.  As much as i liked the training program i was getting from my trainer, the diet was not working for me.  If anything, my BF increased due to the diet.  i had to take control of things again.

I just finished the first week of my new diet and cardio program.  i am leaning out- Really leaning out.  After the 4th week, i will make some more changes to the diet to get rid of all milk products (which for me is just cheese and cottage cheese).  The diet will be 12 wks in total, but training like it is only 8 weeks. 

i have been noticing all the new progress pics everyone is posting and they look great. i want to contribute to the progress pics, so i am takin pictures as teh weeks go along and at the end of the 12 wks, i will post the before picture, and the progress pics for the end of week 4, week 8 and week 12. 

I need this.  I need to be motivated so that i can still look great for a small part of the summer.  I have already hung up pictures of how i looked in my hey day just to keep me motivated. 

I will try to give updates as time passes.  Other than that, see ya in 11 weeks. 

After a good talk with my trainer, i have came up with a very attainable Goal Date.  The Goal, as you may be asking, is to look great naked.  So, what does that entail?  Well i think it is different for everyone.  A flat stomach makes some think they look great.  Toned chest and back make others feel the same way.  For me, i love the bodybuilding/ fitness proto type.  So, of course, i am not trying to look an big gym freak, but i want a lean muscular look like Tom Venuto (who wrote the Burn the Fat book), Brian Wiefering , Kendafriend (Bodyspace) and JammerJay (bodyspace).  I think these guys, as well as others, represent the look that i want to acheive too. 

I have dieted for so many years that i have burned away alot of good muscle that i used to have.  So i need to build back alot of it and that is why i am giving myself 11 months instead of trying to do a quick fix in 3 months.  I would be lean in 3 months, but i would be a soft lean and i want that hard, greek god look 

We all know that building muscle is not an easy or quick task, and with me being 36, it will take longer for me now than it did when i was 22 and weighing 205 lbs solid.  So now, i have to hide my ego for a while, cause we know that spring and summer are here, and prepare for my coming out party when i turn 37 in december. 

It would be nice to be 205 again at the end of the year, but remember, i am looking for lean weight gain and a muscular look.  I am going to try for it, but as long as i can get close, i will be happy.  When i turn 37, i not only want to look fine for my age, i want to look Amazing- period. 

As the months pass, i will try to get some progress shots during the summer when i hit the 6 month mark.  I am about to start month 3 next Wednesday.

take care all

hey everyone,

 this one will be short.  i am curious to hear from everyone on the site.  I know my die hard fitness people pretty much live in the gym     But i am wondering if any of you take vacations from the gym-  you know, to let you body heal.  I know that we all have to take time off when we REALLY get injuried, becuase if you are anything like me, aches and pains don;t prevent you from going to the gym. 

 So i am wondering, do you any of you take time off from teh gym and for how long?  With all the wear and tear that we put on our bodies, i know that we all need a vacation- but wonder how many people actually do take one. 

 If you do, do you just relax from training and diet, or just training alone?  How much weight, if any, do you usually gain?

 Thanks.  Can’t wait to hear from all of you.