Mongo ZO6’s BodyBlog

well it’s been more than a few days since my last post and I just wanted to update everyone on what’s going on.

First, the guy that I’m training is doing great at the gym.  He has the will and determination to do every exercise I instruct him to do and do as many reps we set out to acheive.  He’s now going in the mornings and doing cardio and will be meeting up with me on certain days after work to do more cardio and a solid weight lifting routine.  He’s usually works long hours and is also a family man so sometimes making it to the gym in the evening is hard so I think the morning session is great for him.  He’s definately learning and will be on a solid track for the next couple months as long as we bump up his intensity along the way to keep stripping the fat off.  Ok now the on to the bad part, his diet still needs help.  I’ve coached him and given him a run down on carbs, fats, proteins, foods to eat, foods to avoid, how much to eat, when to eat, how to season, sample meals, etc…. I’m even working with him on a "menu."  The only thing I can’t do is force the food into his mouth.  He’s still eating fried foods, still loading sandwiches down with Mayo, still drinking soda, still trying to argue with me over justification as to why he can eat "this, this and this."  I’ve given him a chart to fill in so we can track his diet & exercises and he hasn’t filled any of it out.  I’ve also instructed him on the "21 days to get rid of a habit" theory to help eliminate junk from his diet…  I think he needs a rude awakening of some type so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

 On another note my future wife has asked me to help train her.  She said she needs some help in weight training dept and wants me to give her a plan to follow.  I told her she would benefit more by having me there to instruct & assist, this way we can keep every training session dynamic.  She however refused my help on the nutrition side, she feels that she has that aspect handled properly.  I would prefer that we evaluate her diet together so we can make sure we get the results she’s looking for but she never wants to listen anyways.  I guess she’s going to have to learn the hardway that sometimes you don’t always know what’s right and that a diet plan in a magazine isn’t for everyone.

Other than these 2 things everything is going smoothly and I’ve had some great training sessions.  I’m going to go back to using Met-Rx protein powder to help keep my food costs down and also enable me to take in more protein each day.  One more area I need to work on is eating and training on the weekends.  With my projects out of the way this shouldn’t be an issue anymore.

Well today Pizza was completely ruined for me.  It’s not like I eat it all the time, however a slice or two once a month isn’t too bad and it fills that hunger I may have for some.  Today at work I was eating my post cardio workout meal that consisted of steak and sweet potatoes.  One of our departments had a function and brought in Pizza and Wings, they of course gave us one of the pizzas b/c we are always helping them.  My boss who is the pinacle of "unhealthy eating" was eating some pizza (no biggie right) however the sound he was making while he was eating just made me sick to my stomach.  When he eats it reminds me of Jabba the Hut, he’s got food all over his mouth, he’s making weird noises and likes to talk with his mouth full.  The sound he was making today was like jello being squished in someone’s hands, it was just nasty.  After hearing those sounds I can’t look at pizza the same.

This brings me onto an interesting topic, trying to eat healthy in a world that doesn’t understand… My boss and co-workers don’t understand why I eat 6 meals a day and why I eat what I eat.  My boss especially always has snide comments about my eating and has the nerve to say I’m "fat" and that I should weigh 600 lbs.  I’ve tried to explain to everyone why I do what I do in hopes they would take note and take a step in the direction of living a healthy life .  Another thing that I should mention is lunch time.  Sometimes you’ve got to do lunch with co-workers, however they always want to go to places where everything is deep fried or cooked in grease.  This poses a huge problem for those of us trying to watch our calorie intake to ensure we’re getting the right amount per day whether it’s for packing on mass or leaning out.

How do we make due in a world that doesn’t understand??  The answer is somewhat easy, stay focused.  As long as you "stay focused" working towards your goal and know what your working towards there’s nothing that anyone can say that will affect what you do to get there.  If you have to do that occasional lunch, stay focused on your meals and when you’re out at that restaraunt get a salad, extra veggies are always good and you can never eat enough "greens."  Try to disregard what your co-workers think and say about what you’re doing because they will never ever understand.  The things that we do as health/fitness advocates, athletes and bodybuilders may seem outlandish and odd to others but to us it’s everyday life.  "Stay focuesd," know your goal, know the path to your goal and remember that there’s numerous people out there dealing with the same crap trying to achieve the same goals as you and I.

First let me start by saying that the guy that I’m training has the determination however he’s short on time right now.  This week so far has been a little hard for him to make it to the gym as he’s been working late.  Hopefully things will slow down at work and bit and we can get him back on track.  He needs to get his diet on track however I guess we just need to take baby steps.  It’s not like he’s eating bad, he’s just not eating enough to help speed up his metabolim.  Kinda sounds weird "eat more to lose weight" … I must admit though it does work but you have to get your calories and macronutrient ratio’s right for it to work.

On to what I mean with the title of this post.  I was in the gym tonight doing back and chest.  One of the guys I talk to on a regular basis was with his training partner, who is fairly built, doing reverse grip pulldowns.  The guy I talk to told me that his training partner is a monster and is just maxing out the cable machine.  The training partner looked at me and said no "he’s the beast" and then proceded to ask me my weight and a couple other questions about my training and diet.  I typically don’t like to talk about myself however it felt pretty good to hear someone who I think is big look at me and think just the same.  A little bit later another guy that was there for the first time with his friend who has been coming for quite sometime came up to me to ask how I got soo big.  He was asking diet advice and complimenting me on my size all the while his friend was getting mad b/c the friend was there to help train him.  I must say he was doing an excellent job especially when they were doing bicep curls and I heard the correct way was to swing your body to get the weight up and to bring the barbell to your nose at the top of the lift.  So I guess in reality they were training their backs and front delts….

 Well it’s bed time but not before I have a protein shake. 

Well we start this week off a little different than most, I’m finally putting some of my knowledge to use and training someone.  The person I’m training is a co-worker that needs to lose a more than a few pounds.  Currently he’s pushing the scales at 500lbs… yes 500 lbs.  I’ve got him going on a circuit style program where we are rotating what exercises we do for each body part on every consecutive cycle.  We started yesterday and today he said he felt different, he felt better.  We are definately on the right track and one of the guys at the gym stopped and gave him some positve re-enforcement.  As long as he is willing to stay focused I believe he will get the results he’s looking for.  I will keep everyone posted on his progress

I saw something in the gym last night that inspired me to write this post.  All to often do I see young guys in the gym (even someolder) trying to "blast" their calves and put some size on.  The one thing they all have in common is they are using too low of a weight.  I see it over and over where someone will be lifting 200-250 lbs, although it sounds like a lot it really isn’t.  If you can stand on one leg and basically do a "standing calf raise" that one calf should be able to lift the same as your body weight when it comes to exercises thus both calves together should lift double your body weight without any problem.  If you weight 200 lbs you should be doing 400 lbs, 250lbs -> 500lbs and so on.  I used to have small calves until I learned how to really train them with the proper weight.  Another think to make sure your doing is getting a full extension, work the muscle entirely and don’t go "flat foot" as the start or finish of your rep.  One more thing I see is people "bouncing" when they do their calves… stop doing that.  Just like other exercises slow it down, ensure that the mucle is getting enough "time under tension" inorder to get a proper workout.

To sum it all up, atelast do twice your bodyweight - get a full range of motion while doing your exercise - don’t bounce - and always remember to think "safety first"

Today is a special day as Spike TV is showing the UFC fights for FREE!!

UFC is definately a very tough sport and the fighters have to be in tip top shape.  I respect these guys for what they have to go through in and out of the ring to get where they are today.  UFC has definately grown into the main stream and is now stores are carrying "Ice Man" shirts.  The only gripe I have with UFC is that it’s gotten so main stream that now (almost) every late teen/early twenty something guy thinks they are UFC fighters.  If you truely believe you can be the next Randy, Chuck or Tito more power to ya.  However I’m getting tired of going out and being surrounded by a bunch of "Billy Badasses" that think they have to prove they are tough by bumping into me and sizing me up.  If you really think you are tough I recommend you take a boxing class and tell the lead trainer you’re ready to hop in the ring and don’t need to do any training.  Most likely your tune will change very quickly after the first 2 minutes.  I’m not trying to hate on anyone, any MMA fighters or boxers, I’m just a fairly large guy trying to avoid a lawsuit

Ok Folks, I have a little more than a year to prepare for my Wedding.  I became engaged on the 4th of July and we plan to "sign over half my stuff" October of 2008.  To help me stay focused I plan to post regularly in my blog for all to keep track of my progress.  I have pics of myself however they are on my external hard drive and since my laptop literally burned up on me I have to use my work computer until I purchase a new PC and luck have it the HD won’t work with Windows 2000 

Well anyways let me get to "blogging" a little…

First let me start by venting a little about some fellow "lifters"… Please do yourself a favor and stop walking around like a gorilla.  By this I mean bent over a little with your shoulders rotated inward and your arms hanging in front of you.  It looks silly… You should walk around with your shoulders back and your chest out some.  It makes you look more confident and proud of yourself.  On the opposite end theres no reason for individuals to walk around with their arms way out to the sides like your carrying luggage.  It looks just as silly and I’m sorry but that hot girl on the treadmill isn’t paying attention to you.

Now that I’ve pissed off some readers lets piss off another small group of gym go-ers.   To those of you who like to sit on the racked dumbbells STOP!!  Whenever I go over to the DB rack I really don’t want to be picking up something that has your ass-sweat on it.  It’s a pain that I have tell you to get up and nasty that your sweaty butt was on them.

And finally this is targeted to a very small group.. Hey it’s great that you and your significant other are going to the gym together however I really don’t want to watch you dry humping each other on every peice of equipment.  If you need to take care of your business please save it for the parking lot, a hotel, your home or even the bathroom.  I have enough self-respect to not dry hump my fiance’ while we’re at the gym so please have the same respect for yourself.

Some of this stuff may sound far fetched but I have seen it all in the gym I go to and have multiple witnesses to confirm.

 Ok, now on to the good stuff.  Tonight was Bi’s and Tri’s night.  I ate pretty good today and had a pretty good workout.  Did some various DB curls and cable pull downs.  I had a great pump but that’s from taking "Superpump" and "Nitrix"  Both products seem to work pretty good so far but the long run is where the true results are.  Well I’m off to bed as I’ve spent too much time on "complaining"