NoWhereToRun’s BodyBlog

One of the most frustrating things in bodybuilding has been enduring the countless setbacks that often completely erase a season’s worth of gains.  This is the first time in about 5 years or so that I’ve weighed less than 190lbs (currently sitting at 188lbs).  This is largely due to my recent illness.  But this just further contributes to my weight loss overall since the beginning of the school year.  Luckily the winter break is not far away and I can devote my full attention to training again and look to get back what I’ve lost.  I just hate the constant battles that I’ve had over the years.  I’ve had whole summers of training wiped out because of sickness.  I’d love to see where I’d be if I hadn’t gone through all these setbacks.

But we all carry on–determined to reach our goals, whatever they may be.

Right now I’m battling some flu symptoms.  I can’t tell what it is going to develop into, but right now I can feel my strength dwindling and have continuous congestion and wake up with mucus in my chest and throat.  However it is not full blown yet and knock on wood that it doesn’t reach that point.  I do credit the fight my body is giving it to my fitness.  I always have epic bouts with sickness as whenever I gain the upper hand it is gone for good.  Two years ago I literally willed away a case of the flu because I was so angry of the timing of my diagnosis (finals).

But sickness pisses me off for other reasons as well.  The long and short being that it quickly erases hard earned gains from the gym.  Countless hours spent improving the body and suddenly nature denies you of your hard work.  In fact I attribute sickness to the many back steps I’ve taken along my fitness journey.  Oh well, time to get some rest!

I’ve had two weeks off from training and will enter a new phase as I prepare for a heavy bout of off season training when winter vacation hits.  I’m sticking with agility work for my leg workouts and increased running.  The PFA is within the next month so extra attention to push-ups and core work will be included.  I’m going to try and get back into PST form before the break hits.

I’m one week away from beginning open tryouts for baseball.  My workouts are going well and PT with Navy adds a second source of fitness to keep me in shape.  On the down side my shoulder is still suffering anytime I throw.  Last week seemed to be the worse its been in a while.  I’m taking the week off to let things heal–although it wont be enough.  I’m seeing a massage therapist on Friday.  However I experience no pain or any issues whatsoever when I lift.  The forces on my shoulder joint are much greater when I lift too.  So it is only rotating motion that is giving me problems.  But come Monday at 2pm its go time!

Usually I don’t need incentive to train, but due to my current lapse, it certainly couldn’t hurt.  So as part of my time as a kinesiology student I get to spend time in the University training room.  Getting to see the room first hand puts in perspective the weight of my upcoming goal.  I’ll be participating in an open college tryout for baseball.  To be down in the training room and seeing all the facilities and pampering the athletes receive makes me realize that I have a legitimate shot to be in the same position they are.  To be elevated in status like that is particularly appealing to a kid who has been hungry to prove to the world what he’s made of.  It may be a long shot, but an unlikely chance is better than no chance at all…

I’m currently in a rut.  I can’t seem to pull myself together mentally and emotionally while creating workouts and during the workout itself.  The workouts seriously lack the passion and anger and emotion I’m used to bringing to the table.  This is very similar to the baseball slump I experienced this past spring.  I came off a good weekend series and slipped into a terrible hitting slump which lasted for a good part of the season.  Like my baseball slump, this bodybuilding slump occurred after a solid two months of summer of exceptional conditioning.

How can I go from fully motivated and in the best condition I had yet to achieve to someone who has completely lost his fire?  So now I train as if I’m just going through the motions.  Like a zombie in the gym who has no purpose.

My summer journey is now over and although I failed terribly at achieving the goals I set for myself, life continues on and I look forward to autumn training.  A time to beef up and be a gym beast.  But the problem at the moment is deciding how to organize myself to hit the fall semester with ferocity and prepare for the 2010 spring baseball season. 

What went wrong this summer is that my training with the Navy actually caused me to lose weight due to the high level of activity and the low amount of food to keep my weight constant.  This was not what I had imagined for a summer in which I was supposed to put on close to 20lbs.

However I’m looking forward because my weight loss did allow me to become more agile, something I lost when I was doing heavy leg training, so now I have the opportunity to maintain my new found speed, but I am having trouble coming up with a favorable program for that while still doing exercises like heavy squats and leg presses.  *open to suggestions*

Anyway, life continues on and I’ll find my groove soon.

Referencing the previous post, my friend who made the challenge, is highly motivated and should not be taken lightly.  Although he stands at 5′8" 165lbs, and I’m 6′1" 195lbs, I know he is going to have something up his sleeve and will stay true to his challenge.  Unfortunately for him he is at several disadvantages which serve as crucial advantages for me, and vice versa.

For starters, he has limited room for growth, and has already personally expressed problems gaining weight.  I have an enormous amount of growth potential in continuing to fill out my frame–AND–I have learned to manipulate my weight much better and have  been able to increase my growth tremendously in just a couple months, which roughly reflects the duration of the challenge.

Secondly, I have better resources available to me, more knowledge on training, and better instincts when it comes to training.  He is extremely motivated towards fitness and poses a great threat this way, but remains really impatient and doesn’t take time to analyze things and fully understand him.  I have about 2-3 years experience over him and it will come into play a great deal

Lastly, I am obligated to train.  Leading up to my summer assignment, it is no joke going to be a tough road ahead.  These people don’t **** around, and I’m not one to embarass myself.  Therefore, I am forced to continue heavy training up to the time of my depature.  Moreover, the summer assignment is heavily based on physical fitness and training, and therefore will not lose any ground during my time there.  And when I return, I will be ready to begin a new phase of training, which will very greatly in style, and I won’t have any catch-up period to overcome.  I do trust him to keep up with his training over the summer, but is subject to more setbacks that I am.

I can’t wait to see the results, its going to be a fun competition!

I have recently been challenged by one of my close friends, Brian Sica, who I currently share the outfield with on the club baseball team.  After our season came to a close during regional playoffs with a loss in the championship game, I made an announcement that I would become bigger, stronger, and faster with every dying day until the season returns.  Not to be outdone, my friend quickly responded with a challenge that he would be better than me by the time we return to school.  I accepted his challenge and will show him the true depths of my motivation and dedication to both baseball and bodybuilding.

When I made my claims, I personally set goals of increasing my weight to 215lbs, the heaviest I would currently ever be, and at or below 8% bodyfat.  I currently reside around 195lbs and 12% bodyfat.  They are rather ambitious goals for such a short time, but might as well aim as high as possible to push myself as far as possible.  I have yet to ever eclipse 200lbs and dropping bodyfat while gaining mass is no easy task.  But I have set these goals because being 5lbs away from 200, I realize I don’t look and perform the way I originally anticipated, so I increased the weight to 215 and will analyze myself again at that point.

Today is March 23 and I have roughly 2 months to continue preparing for my summer training.  I recently submitted scores to be selected for one of these slots and although they were good, my biggest surprise coming from the 21 pull-ups that I did, I still have a long way to go especially by their standards.

I just came off of spring break, and more or less took the whole week off to rest as I just completed the fitness exam the Thursday prior to break and was training pretty hard up to that point.  Plus the wear and tear from baseball season was an added reason to take time off completely.

I need to continue working on my cardio exercises to bring up my endurance.  I’m too slow as a runner and if we’re going to work in boots it will be especially hard to keep up.  However, training for this cruise has presented me with a great deal of benefits in a very short amount of time.  The large increase in demand I’ve placed on my body has given me a much more defined and powerful looking physique and I feel more efficient. GTG for now!