Kaged Muscle’s BodyBlog

My wife and I arrived at Branch Warrens house yesterday and its been great to catch up with he and his wife Trish again.

They have both began dieting for the Olympia but you wouldnt know looking at the amount of food Branch is putting away.

I havent seen Branch stripped off as its not normally something I ask upon greeting him - "get your pants off mate, lets take a look at ya!" Lets say he is just looking massive.

It feels good to unwind here an get away from the office for a few days but as you can see, its hard for me to put down the computer (how can I when I have a job at Bodybuilding.com).

 Last night went to a steakhouse - I had steak soup, 12oz steak and potato, and a chicken sandwich. Marika and Trish then went the fat free/sugar free yogurt route. Branch and I watched.

Today I am going to hit Metroflex Gym with much less intensity than I would like. I am still in pain and discomfort in my shoulder joints and neck so I will go through the motions needed to maintain muscle.

I have loads of meatballs packed - (ground turkey and rice) for the day. Marika cooked a cooler bag full of them before leaving Boise. Some were defrosted so we wouldnt miss a meal on the flights here. The rest were frozen to eat today. Later I will hit the supermarket and cook food to last for the next two days.

My wife and I arrived at Branch Warrens house yesterday and its been great to catch up with he and his wife Trish again.

They have both began dieting for the Olympia but you wouldnt know looking at the amount of food Branch is putting away.

I havent seen Branch stripped off as its not normally something I ask upon greeting him - "get your pants off mate, lets take a look at ya!" Lets say he is just looking massive.

It feels good to unwind here an get away from the office for a few days but as you can see, its hard for me to put down the computer (how can I when I have a job at Bodybuilding.com).

 Last night went to a steakhouse - I had steak soup, 12oz steak and potato, and a chicken sandwich. Marika and Trish then went the fat free/sugar free yogurt route. Branch and I watched.

Today I am going to hit Metroflex Gym with much less intensity than I would like. I am still in pain and discomfort in my shoulder joints and neck so I will go through the motions needed to maintain muscle.

I have loads of meatballs packed - (ground turkey and rice) for the day. Marika cooked a cooler bag full of them before leaving Boise. Some were defrosted so we wouldnt miss a meal on the flights here. The rest were frozen to eat today. Later I will hit the supermarket and cook food to last for the next two days.

My wife and I arrived at Branch Warrens house yesterday and its been great to catch up with he and his wife Trish again.

They have both began dieting for the Olympia but you wouldnt know looking at the amount of food Branch is putting away.

I havent seen Branch stripped off as its not normally something I ask upon greeting him - "get your pants off mate, lets take a look at ya!" Lets say he is just looking massive.

It feels good to unwind here an get away from the office for a few days but as you can see, its hard for me to put down the computer (how can I when I have a job at Bodybuilding.com).

 Last night went to a steakhouse - I had steak soup, 12oz steak and potato, and a chicken sandwich. Marika and Trish then went the fat free/sugar free yogurt route. Branch and I watched.

Today I am going to hit Metroflex Gym with much less intensity than I would like. I am still in pain and discomfort in my shoulder joints and neck so I will go through the motions needed to maintain muscle.

I have loads of meatballs packed - (ground turkey and rice) for the day. Marika cooked a cooler bag full of them before leaving Boise. Some were defrosted so we wouldnt miss a meal on the flights here. The rest were frozen to eat today. Later I will hit the supermarket and cook food to last for the next two days.

My wife and I arrived at Branch Warrens house yesterday and its been great to catch up with he and his wife Trish again.

They have both began dieting for the Olympia but you wouldnt know looking at the amount of food Branch is putting away.

I havent seen Branch stripped off as its not normally something I ask upon greeting him - "get your pants off mate, lets take a look at ya!" Lets say he is just looking massive.

It feels good to unwind here an get away from the office for a few days but as you can see, its hard for me to put down the computer (how can I when I have a job at Bodybuilding.com).

 Last night went to a steakhouse - I had steak soup, 12oz steak and potato, and a chicken sandwich. Marika and Trish then went the fat free/sugar free yogurt route. Branch and I watched.

Today I am going to hit Metroflex Gym with much less intensity than I would like. I am still in pain and discomfort in my shoulder joints and neck so I will go through the motions needed to maintain muscle.

I have loads of meatballs packed - (ground turkey and rice) for the day. Marika cooked a cooler bag full of them before leaving Boise. Some were defrosted so we wouldnt miss a meal on the flights here. The rest were frozen to eat today. Later I will hit the supermarket and cook food to last for the next two days.

My wife and I arrived at Branch Warrens house yesterday and its been great to catch up with he and his wife Trish again.

They have both began dieting for the Olympia but you wouldnt know looking at the amount of food Branch is putting away.

I havent seen Branch stripped off as its not normally something I ask upon greeting him - "get your pants off mate, lets take a look at ya!" Lets say he is just looking massive.

It feels good to unwind here an get away from the office for a few days but as you can see, its hard for me to put down the computer (how can I when I have a job at Bodybuilding.com).

 Last night went to a steakhouse - I had steak soup, 12oz steak and potato, and a chicken sandwich. Marika and Trish then went the fat free/sugar free yogurt route. Branch and I watched.

Today I am going to hit Metroflex Gym with much less intensity than I would like. I am still in pain and discomfort in my shoulder joints and neck so I will go through the motions needed to maintain muscle.

I have loads of meatballs packed - (ground turkey and rice) for the day. Marika cooked a cooler bag full of them before leaving Boise. Some were defrosted so we wouldnt miss a meal on the flights here. The rest were frozen to eat today. Later I will hit the supermarket and cook food to last for the next two days.

The rehab is still moving forward but I am beginning to get just a little frustrated now. I still cant lift much more than 10Ib DB’s on chest press and this week confirmed why. I still had bruising for 5 weeks on my left pec so another MRI confirmed I had torn my pec minor. I am straaped with Kinesiology tape at present to help drain inflammation. I havent lost much mucle though as I have been very good with my diet - 7 clean meals and 4 protein shakes per day to stay anticabolic. Tonight I am going to stay with my Yoga teacher in her cabin, have yoga in the morning and then drive to Stanly for breakfast. From there we are going to drive to Red Fish lake and camp before going for a hike the following day. Next Thursday I go to stay with Branch Warren for several days. He laughed last night as we made room arrangments for his smaller dog (I have a phobia of little dogs). I could hear his wife shouting in the background "get over it" We will get to train legs together but thats it for fear that a bodypart might fall off me.

Yesterday was my first day back at the office since my accident. Its so good to be back. I was getting pretty bored at home not able to do much but whine at my wife. I couldnt really write as the painkillers, anti inflams and muscle relaxants really hazed my brain. All I felt like doing was sleeping. I dont like taking meds at all but I couldnt sleep without them and the pain wouldve killed an American.

Not once did I get frustrated faced with the fact that I cant workout for a while, or get pissed when I couldnt get my protein powder off the middle shelf, and getting dressed by someone else really isnt that bad (I could get used to getting old real quick).

I am making an effort to become a little more spiritual to keep stress to a minumum. I always believe things, good or bad, happen for a reason. This is what I thought throughout this time. Looking back I know that reason was to bring my wife and I even closer than we have been before. Marika is my best friend. It has been great to reconnect and feel you are the luckiest person in the world to find your soulmate.. Its so easy to get so caught up with work (and yourself) that you lose touch with whats closer to you.

I began rehab training yesterday to increase mobility throughout my shoulders. I didnt take my meds last night and I must say I had a restless sleep. Today I was very stiff and sore - back on the meds tonight

 I am taking plenty of Glutamine and BCAA’s, and my diet is spot-on. My nutrition is as important as ever now to ensure optimal recovery and to prevent muscle loss.

PS - Check out my wifes awesome feature as the PT of the Month - http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/personaltrainer_marika_johansson.htm

My wife and I went for our early morning mountainbike ride last friday. I nnormally enjoy the downhill section much more than the uphill but tis day was a little different. As I pushed my bikes limits on the decend, my rear brake snapped and within an instant all tension went onto my front brake. From there on everything blacked out. When I came round I was bleading from a couple of places and I had obvious pain in my toes of the left foot, left wrist (which I have broken twice before), my skull, but nothing compared to the pain I had in my back, shoulders and neck.

I remained still throughout the day hoping the next day I would be fine. I didnt get to sleep that night and went to the Dr’s early the following morning. Xrays showed that I had seperated both AC joints and today I have my MRI appointments to find out if any muscle damage is apparent.

I have torn my rotator cuff before so I expected it to be a long the same lines of movement restriction and pain but nothing can be further than the truth. I can only type with my arms supported on a low table, I have to put my head down to my hands to eat and drink, I cant drive, being a passenger going around corners and over bumps is not a pretty experience, and lying down and getting up from my bed is unbelievably painfull. I am on painkillers, muscle relaxers and anti-inflamatory but they dont seem to do anything but make me high and sleepy.

The Doc tells me it will be 6-8 weeks before I can get back into the gym but I hope to recover much quicker with my physical therapy experience. I have been in the gym on the bike for 20 mins of cardio the last two mornings to ensure blood is able to get around the body and improve repair. Glutamine is upped to 50gms per day. I am not down about this experience, just relieved nothing is broken or worse (I never wear a helmet).

The face pics look far worse than what they feel - my back and shoulder pain take care of that. No worries - as long as I take care of my food, rest, supps and physical therapy, Ill be back in no time.

Gotta go now, time for my wife to spoon feed and sponge bath me

My wife and I hit the gym last night with our usual intensity - all out.

We did antagonist supersets with bi’s and tri’s.

The first exercise was single arm overhead tricep extension. I use the flexsolate straps as my handle so I dont have to worry about gripping a cable or using my grip. I prefer this over a dumbell as it keeps the tension on the tricep throughout the whole range of movement.

After each of the three sets we would hold a straight bar on a lower pully, lie down and then curl up. I would curl all the way up, half way down then all the way back up again - that counts as one rep. I prefer to lie-down on cable curls as it prevents any cheating and is easier on the back.

Next was decline dumbell tricep extensions. I chose a dumbell over the bar for variation and fuller range of movement - I like to stretch the tricep.

Followed was heavy dumbell preacher curls - working way up to 70Ib DB’s

The last superset was a movement I took from Brandon Curry. On a smith machine, lower the bar until it is a couple of pegs from the bottom, lean towards the bar grabbing hold of it about shoulder distance apart (feet way back, legs straight) and then lower yourself so the arms bend and head goes under the bar (like a reverse skull crusher). Then I would lie on the floot, grip the bar above me and curl my body towards it to work my biceps. This is a great finishing movement and pumps loads of blood into the muscle.

Non training day today - just cardio

Saturday evening my wife thought it would be nice to watch our wedding DVD. As I was watching it I couldnt believe how much I had seemed to have aged in the last 1 1/2 years. I have been eating right, training often and drinking plenty of water. It dawned on me that it had to be stress. Working at Bodybuilding.com can become a little overwealming at times, and stress takes over. Dont get me wrong, I consider this a good stress. Its the stress of meeting deadlines, making contacts, doing deals etc but its all to give our visitors the best quality content in a short time. It feels good because its my subject of passion, a job I love, and the feedback is pricless. However, no-matter which way you look at stress, it can age you.

That night I decided to look at the timetables for Yoga the following morning to take time out for myself and begin my brain detox. My wife and I got up at 6.00am, went for coffee, rode our mountainbikes in the rainy hills, had breakfast and then arrived at our Yoga class at 930am. It felt so good to stretch, take some deep breaths, clear my mind and finish off with meditation (I fell asleep at this part).

We went home feeling tired but as soon as I made our smoothies (protein powder, blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, banana, watermelon, yogurt, walnuts, almond butter and flaxseed) we felt really energized for the entire day.

In the afternoon I met with my buddy Jim Britain to go through a leg workout.

First we met at Starbucks for a coffe kick and where I was to have a meeting with a new guy to Boise - Pitbull Pasquale  http://www.davecourtney.com/articles/060302_pitbull.htm . Jason is a sought after trainer and strenght coach who will be a great addition to the Bodybuilding.com site. We spoke about various opportunities he could provide in the way of video content for uour visitors. He moved here two days ago from San Diego. He is here as a registered nurse.

We began with giant sets - Leg Press, imediatly followed by Hack Squat and then walking lunges. On the leg Press I had 16 plates, did ten reps with feet at bottom of plate then shifted them to the middle - 10 reps, then shifted them to the top - I only managed 5. Then onto the Hack Squat (6 plates) - started with 15 reps feet together and then 15 reps with legs apart. To finish the giant set, we did walking lunges (I had 45Ibs DB’s in each hand).

We then crawled over to the leg extension and lying hamstring curl. I launched into 20 reps with the entire stack and then continued to lower a couple of pins so I could squeeze out 10 reps with each weight until I totaled 50reps. The same was done on the hamstring curl - 50 reps total.

We then went over to superset seated calf press with standing calf but it was at this time Jim had to go to the restrooms to puke. I continued with my 3 super sets of 20 reps each, first set feet pointing in, second neutral, third - feet pointing out.

I had to force my isolate and vitargo shake into me as the last thing I felt like was food. Within 10 mins of having my shake I felt recovered and fine.

Arms tonight.

K