Muscle Mania Matt’s BodyBlog

Today will be the last blog i write for a while. We had to stop my video series(turned over to Ryan Suydam) because I leave for military training in a couple days, and I won’t return until mid July. I dropped about 20 pounds overall, although i essentially stopped dieting about a week ago, since i won’t be eating any quality food for several months. I am expecting I will come back under 200 lbs, and will be primed to put some muscle (back) on. If will try to keep a journal while i am away, as I think that would be a cool thing to post up on the site so other people can get an idea of what it was like for me.

Rave

Today is a big day. I just finished my workout, and despite being a little under strength due to dieting, i still pulled a 545 deadlift for six. Not bad. the big part is that I have a few of the guys from AAEFX coming in today (the kre-alk guys) and they are bringing FLEX WHEELER with them. I am so excited i can barely contain myself. I am bringing Jammin Jack with me, and I will pick them up from the airport. Tomorrow we have several meetings, we’ll go out to lunch, and run some interviews. If at all possible, I am going to work out with Flex. The ultimate would have been to christen my new gym at home with Flex, but it is incomplete at this time(waiting for several pieces of equipment to arrive). I find it hilarious that i am doing things that i would have done before something like a first date, such as cleaning my truck and such. I can’t wait! FLEX FRIGGIN’ WHEELER!!!

Rant:

For anyone who has been (kind of) following my video series, or lack there of, i apologize. We have filmed several videos, and i even have my own camera to film stuff at home, but none of the videos, articles, or updates have been posted by the web/video team. I’m not sure why, but i believe that it’s because they have so much going on , such as with the Arnold. I was going to be going to the Arnold to represent BBcom, but as I ship out for the military 2 days after, I decided we should send Jack in my stead. While i am gone, I am going to keep a journal of my experience, and I will have someone here post it in this blog so everyone will know what it’s like.

My training is going very well, although i had a bit of a setback at the beginning of the week. My wife and I both got food poisoning, I am assuming from the fish that she made Monday evening. Not a good time! On the positive side, I am shooting film of us reworking the garage into a gym. Over the last few days, we painted the walls, installed new lights and a couple of mirrors. We also have a power rack set up, an adjustable bench, and about 1200 pounds of free weights and a platform for olympic lifts and deadlifts. I did my push workout in there two days ago, and that was pretty sweet. I still have some stuff on the way, that being bumper plates, a bench press, the workbench lever system from powertec(essentically a lever with an upper/lower pulley and a bench), and a leverage squat/calf machine. That should all be here in the next week. Hopefully it will all be done by 2/25, because i would like to have Flex Wheeler help me break it in! He will be flying in with a few folks from AAEFX, and if i am lucky maybe he will feel like training.

With both eyes, i normally see fairly well. My right eye sucks, but i am right eye dominant. Wednesday, I am going through MEPS, and i didn’t think about it until a little late, but they will want my vidion perfect, even if corrected. I went to one of those eyemart express and got a "trial" set of contact lenses ( i will get a box/glasses from my normal doctor, it just takes 10 days).  My eyes are wigging out though. Sometimes the picture is crystal clear and i am amazed, and other times i can’t see #$%. I need to learn a little more about contact lens maintenance or something, because i am going nuts.

I have started doing power circuits to get my cardio up. I have been running a mile for time as a warm up, and then proceed with a couple of core/stability exercises, and then 4 sets of a heavy strength/power movement. I then follow that up with a giant set of 3-4 exercises, selected from core multi-joint movements. The rep ranges are submaximal 6-8 on most of the giant set movements. This has gone very well for me thus far, except in the busy gyms it can be hard to do circuits. Here is what my first workout doing this looked like:

Warm-up 1 mile run

4×20 sets overhead squat (light)

4×20 sets snatch balance (light)

4×3 mid-hang power snatch(heavy)

4 sets of the following, performed in circuit:

clean and jerk; chin up(weighted), push up(to failure), situps (to failure)

I was doing my leg workout yesterday (calling out buff brady for not showing up) and hurt myself doing front squats. i did 5 sets of back squats, and on my 5th set of fronts i went for one too many. I was feeling pretty good about them, but i have never done more than 275(x5) on the front, and sunday that felt fairly easy, so i took it to 295. On the third one i had trouble coming out of the bucket and my form broke enough to lose my "shelf". The left side of the bar moved down my shoulder an inch or so. I got it up, but i wrecked my back doing it. I think i pulled my multifidous, which is a muscle that runs parallel to the erectors in your back. Foolish pride!

Last week i picked up one of the altus thermal training suits. I thought it might be something to try wearing while running out in the cold. Firstly, i got a large, and this thing is HUGE. I could get 2-3 of me in this thing, but their is elastic on the cuffs and waist, so it stayed on (to a point). Friday i put this juggernaut on the first time and go for a 2 mile timed run. at exactly one mile, while turning around, one of the pant legs ripped apart from the very bottom, and all the way through the seam in the crotch. I stop running, and decide to walk the mile back to the house, while attempting to cover the goods with the flap of material from the pantleg. A few cars passed, but i wasn’t too bothered by this. I also had a dog chase me at one point, which was awkward. And right as i was getting to my house, the neighbors saw me and rolled down the window to say hello. At least i wasn’t naked underneath that thermal suit piece of crap.

I have been doing my normal workouts this week, but they are making me unbearably sore! Not here to whine exactly, but it is suspect! I have been taking X-factor, and arichadonic acid supplement that is supposed to increase androgen sensitivity as well as inflammation, for about 5 weeks now. I never noticed any difference until this week, and most users that report soreness notice it within the first ten days. who knows? As of right now, my monday leg workout is leaving me hobbling around.

Last night i did chest and abs with a good friend of mine. He usually lets me take point, and i did so with our chest workout. I haven’t trained with anyone in a good while, and it was nice having a spotter. The fun part was actually abs. I typically find ab training to be quite boring, so usually i don’t train very intensely in this area and try to just get it overwith. I let my buddy take point here, and he put me through the abdominal grind. I felt like my abs were going to rip off at one point, so i was quite happy about that. It went well enough, i think i will come out of my bubble and try to train with him more frequently.

My grandparents slept in separate bedrooms. So did my best friends parents when i was growing up. I always thought that was extremely odd, and wondered if they were having marital problems, because my parents slept in the same bed room. Recently Michael Savage was saying that he thought the only reason that couples would actually sleep in the same bedroom is due to money. Anyone who could afford to should have separate bed rooms to help sleep quality. My wife snores (sorry honey), and last night I finally tried sleeping on the couch at around 3 am, but my cat wouldn’t leave me alone. I woke up at 5 am for a leg workout, and i fell right back asleep(until my cat woke me up about 90 minutes later). I will do the leg workout tonight, but I am starting to understand the value of this potential separate bedroom, because this occurrs regularly. I was going to put a recliner in my office, maybe a daybed for futon instead?