KASR5277’s BodyBlog

JoshBme posted a request for what others do to get or stay motivated and it took me about 2 seconds to come up with my reply - since I’ve been feeling "unmotivated" these past few times. By staying true to my new mindset, this is how I verbalized it:

I like to cruise through my progress pics and then remember that on days where it’s hard to lift, are the days that I need really re-focus my motivation/energy/and determination.

On days like that, I try to hit a new max on a working set or I try to push past a breaking point. I look for some new challenge and pursue it.

By doing so, I let me body know that I am in control and it can come along kicking and screaming - but either way, it’s coming with me!

Hit it hard!

Well, like I mentioned in my earlier blog, C.J. swung by to let me know that he wouldn’t be able to lift anymore (for non-life threatening reasons) - which was a major bummer, becuz he had been integral in helping me achieve quite a few gains by just being there to spot me as well as providing some positive encouragement and reinforcement during lifts.

So as I sat there playing some xbox with my oldest son, I realized that I could either continue playing video games, or drag my depressed ass into the home gym and hit the weights.

I chose the weights.

I set up my webcam on yahoo, just in case anyone wanted to stop by and send encouraging messages and then I hit the weight….and I didn’t slow down - I hit my legs warm-up and then throw my medicine ball down on the floor in front of the squat rack - I was gonna do full squats the serious way - load the weight up and lower down into the squat position until I felt the medicine ball beneath my ass (which is really, really sore now!) LOL!

Next up, I hit normal squats with my bench as the spot - I was able to increase 20lbs on my regular set weight - just to remind myself that even though I’m alone, doesn’t mean I get any free rides. Remembering: that if you want to grow, get under the most weight you can lift and press it out!

Biceps were a challenge - a hit a heavy set of barbell curls - and maintined strict posture to make sure that my arms where doing the work and not my body motion. It was hell and my arms were blasted, but I did it dammit.

Triceps got the same focus - increased my close grip bench numbers dramatically (by 40lbs). Sure it sucked not having a spotter, but that just gave me more reason to push that weight up and back onto the rack - it was just me in there.

So now I get my weekend break and hit it all over again next week - luckily alot of my chest and shoulder exercises will be with dumbbells and I’m gonna try to hit it with alot of intensity - but in the end, it can’t make up for a good training partner.

C.J. …. you bastard!  LOL!!!

Well, my one consistent training partner came in today and said he can’t lift anymore - which really sucks. So I’ve fired up the webcam on Yahoo messenger ( screenname: xxkasrxx) in hopes that a virtual partner will stop by every once in a while to lend me some encouragement to press past the hard parts of the lift while I endure alone…..or atleast until I find someone new to torture! LOL!

Ok, so we’re settling into a nice two-day HIIT workout, splitting the body up between two intense days of lifting:

Mondays: Chest, Back, Shoulders, Traps, Abs
Tuesday: Yoga and light walking/jogging
Wednesday: Legs, Calves, Triceps, Biceps, Abs
Thursday: Tuesday: Yoga and light walking/jogging (noon) and then Cardio and Plyo (evening)

Friday thru Sunday: Rest

I felt an incredible pump from Monday’s lift and that dense feeling lasts pretty much all week long - last night we missed our workout, so we simply swap Wednesday for Thursday and we’re good to go. I’ll get the actual workout and post the exercises - or you could check out the workout tracker for the first day (exercises alternative on a bi-weekly schedule) I’m just glad to get more variety in the mix!

Diet is going well - I still cheat more than I should - but then it dawned on me when I saw a picture of ChickenTuna 

- she had picked a profile pic that was of her simply wearing jeans and a black shirt. The pic just struck me funny in that she was fully clothed and obviously looked great. It made me reflect on how I was passing the large mirror at my house and thinking that I’m glad my shoulders are wider than my hips - my belly wasn’t pouching out obnoxiously…and I looked healthy and good in clothes. (ok, so I was checking myself out! LOL!)

It made me realize that even if I don’t get to "competition" quality, to still look good and feel good about it just might be a goal realized and often times that’s good enough for me!

My sleep hasn’t been going so great for the last few months now - not sure if it’s the 6month old or what. She’s sleeping mostly through the night - but for some reason I just can’t get a deep sleep - I know it’s hurting my progress in the way of proper rest - but I simply refuse to use sleep aids. we’ll see how that goes!

Heavy winter storm coming tomorrow - should be fun to see how that turns out - atleast I don’t have to lift that day! I thought I was thru with cold-ass workout days in the home gym!

So my last blog entry was about how I had pulled the trigger on buying some more weight plates and brand-spanking new barbell! Good stuff! Obviously, that’s the good news - and here’s the new setup in all it’s splendor!

So the bad news is, later that night, I noticed what was supposed to be “just a bug bite” looked like this at about 9PM:

Yeppers - yours truly was the victim of some nasty Staph infection - with a follow up visit saying it was most likely MRSA….well, isn’t that a whole load of CRAP!!!!

So Friday was bittersweet for me - the antibiotics I’m taking making my stomach turn and I was running a low-grade fever most of the weekend becuz of this freaky stuff….but glad I went into the ER when I did, since it was entering my lymph-node system. Just weirdness, I tell ya! You can’t be too careful - so make sure to check yourself out every once in a while - I don’t know where I got it. more updates are coming!

Ok, so when I got there, I pretty much knew what I was gonna walk out of there with. But while I was there waiting for them to dolly out the plates and weight tree, I noticed a stationary bike for only $138 bucks AND the fan bike for $99! Sheeesh! Talk about great prices for items that I WANT and WILL use.

But firsts things first - got me some shiny new plates and a brand spanking new bar - add that to my already 450lbs worth of weights and I’m set for a while. So what does this all mean? I’m all of 180lbs and 5′8"…do I need that much weight?

The short answer is yes.

The long is, yes and here’s why:  I now can load up equal amounts on two dumbell bars and start working on my body symmetry with heavy weight on the curl bars. I can load up both barbells and super set compound exercises instead of stopping to change plates. I now how more incentive to push, pull and grunt out my weight and reps to get bigger and bigger. I may never break loose of my mold, but dammit, that doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop trying. Even if I only pack on another 5lbs of lean muscle mass, that’s still a 2% increase (the operative word being INCREASE) and as long as I’m not going backwards, then it was all worth.

So in short - I did the right thing and I’m thrilled at the idea of continue to grow. Hell yea!!!!!!

OK, so I’m kinda sitting on the fence on this one. I’ve got some extra change this pay period and I can either invest in one of my other hobbies or invest in some poundage for the weight set. This is a particularly hard decision becuz I have invested (solely) into the home gym and it’s fairly respectable (for the most part). But I could use some more plates for the curl bars I purchased, more plates for the ever-increasing squats and deadlifts that we are doing…I’m even eyeing that plate tree to house all of this stuff.

Or…

I can move away from investing into the home gym and massage one of my other hobbies - my home theater setup, my console gaming hobby, a box of Troya Clasico Robusto’s aren’t so out of the question either!!!

I suppose here, I need to consider the ‘greater good’.

• In the end, a new box of cigars won’t benefit anyone but me and they’ll be gone in under 12 months (since I’ll want to age them a few months).
• The gaming console stuff could benefit me, the kids, the wife, the friends…but eventually the shelf life/playability of the game(s) in question would fade.
• Home theater upgrades would benefit all of the aforementioned but I’ve kinda already sunk waaaaaaaaay too much money into that.
• So now, we look at the home gym…if I keep on dumping money into the home gym, am I really saving money opposed to a walk in gym. I think the answer is still yes. Am i saving time and gas: hell yea. Do I need the upgrade? I think so - C.J. pointed out that paint was chipping off on several of my existing plates and my current barbell is showing the wear and tear - both symptoms of frequent use by more than just myself.

I think I’ve already talked myself into this - 300lbs of plates and a barbell, plus a weight tree…or do I go the other direction and get that treadmill or wind bike to really nail my cardio? Bahhhh…I can’t decide. I guess I’ll impulsively decide when I get there.

Well, true to my word, last night C.J. and I went big on the chest and triceps workout - and let me tell ya, it was pretty intense. Most of the last sets on every exercise was a failure/assisted rep range and the weight was well within our 90-95% of 1RM range, which is HUGE for a workout.

Here’s how the workout broke down:

1    Incline Dumbbell Press    50lbs x 15
2    Dips - Chest Version 3 sets: bodyweight x 10, 35lb plate x 10, 50lbs x 9
4    Barbell Bench Press - Medium Grip    6 sets: 165×10, 185×8, 195×6, 205×4, 215×3, 155×10

5    Compound superset: decline dumbbell press with flye: 30×10, 30×10, 50×5

6    Triceps Pushdown - Rope Attachment    1 set 30×15
7    Lying Triceps Press 3 sets: 75×13, 85×10, 85×8

8    Seated Triceps Rope Pushdown    3 sets: 40×5, 70×10, 80×8

9    Seated Close-Grip Concentration Barbell Curl   3 sets: 65×10, 85×10
10    Alternate Hammer Curl drop set    2 sets: 40×8 then 30×6

It was kinda nice to just lift some weight instead of being restricted to a set routine - and we could feel a great pump at the end of it all.

So today I’m feeling the soreness from Monday’s workout and instead of discouraging me from today’s lift, I can’t help but feel like when I get to workout time, that I want to push all out tonight - deviate slightly from the workout routine and instead of working the sets as prescribed in the workout routine, to just go balls out on all lifts. Starting with incline bench - hit a high 1RM percentage and then lift for max reps - rotate next lifters, then when it’s my turn again, increase weights like I’m trying to determine max.

I think this new attitude comes from a paragraph I read in FLEX - it said that if you want to grow you have to stack as much poundage on the bar and get underneath it and pump it out (with form, of course).

I think we’re doing that tonight - gonna put as much poundage on that fu*king bar and LIFT.

Ok, so true to my plan, I participated in lunch time power yoga today - and "power" was no joke! Even though we’re following along to Rodney Yu - we popped in a pretty strenuous little routine this time out! I was glad that we were able to find one that we could complete start to finish - that way, we have the warmup - exercises - then cool down, which is pretty important (atleast to me!)

On a side note - my flexibility is not so great - but this balance of lifting, plyo/cardio, and yoga should help rounds things out nicely.