Phat-J’s BodyBlog

Seriously, I just met Jamie Eason.  Yes, THAT Jamie Eason; the one who’s photograph is all over this website!  Considering how well her career as a fitnes model is going, I would imagine that she has more than her fair share of stalkers; therefore, I won’t say where it was that I ran into her.  I will only say this, it was quite by accident (i.e., while doing a very mundane chore, one where you wouldn’t expect to meet a supermodel). 

I will also say that she is as nice and gracious in person as she is beautiful in her photos.   

Well, I ended up using all of my sessions at the local 24 and so, when I went to see about buying more with the trainer, their manager told me that it would cost me almost $1200 for 20 more one-hour sessions.  "The price is only going to go up in the new year," he told me. 

Yeah, right.  In this economy? I don’t think so.

I said no thanks and decided to jump into the Cross-fit full time.  I am doing it 4 times a week now; Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  This past week was really tough and by the time I got to this morning’s workout I had NO gas left in the tank.  I finished the routine but not exactly with an exclamation point. 

My weight is going in the wrong direction.  I was expecting to have lost weight this past week (as I can feel and see differences in myself over the past few weeks) and was VERY dismayed to find that I had actually gained 3 lbs.  Jesus wept!  I am going to have to take a carving knife after myself to lose fat!  I am being diligent on my diet and, like I said, I can see and feel changes.  It’s subtle, but it’s there.  I figure I must be adding lean muscle even though cross-fit isn’t a hypertrophy workout.  I’ll continue to be patient with it.  I am getting stronger already, especially in my legs.  I was noticably better on box jumps this week, doing 3 sets of 10 on a 20" box twice this week. 

This morning’s workout was called "the 150."  There’s only 2 exercises, wall-ball shots and lunge curls.  We did 3 sets of 50 reps of each.  Yeah, that’s not a typo . . . that’s three sets of FIFTY.  The idea was to partner up with someone and, while one did the exerise inside, the other went out to the parking lot and ran a 100-yard course back and forth until the other one was finished.  We did alternating sets of 50 wall shots (for which I used the 14-lb. dyna-max ball for my first 2 sets and the 12-pounder on my last) and lunge curls (for which I used 20-lb. dumbbells). 

It was a good workout, even though I had to power walk my runs after the second set.  We’re gearing up for our next "Fight Gone Bad" routine which almost killed me last month. 

Things are fine.  I am still training with the 24 trainer and doing my weekend Cross-Fit with Jose.  This past weekend’s workout was a total bitch (as usual) and had me seeing stars, but I loved it. 

I am also working on the diet and have had more than one person tell me that I’m not taking in enough calories to support my exercise.  Apparently, as big as I am (295-lbs. last weekend) and as hard as I work out I need to be taking in a hell of a lot more that I have been.  So, I have ben trying to ingest more calories lately, albeit taking care that they’ll be the right kind of calories.  For my size, ager and activity level I have a have a daily need of OVER 4000 calories!  I can tell you that, unless it’s a rare free meal, I don’t take in nearly that much.  Aparently, my calories are so restricted that my body is metabolizing muscle instead of fat, which explains why I’m just treading water instead of making better progress.  Argh! 

It’s a trail and error process.  Just got to keep trying. 

Well, after training and dieting all week, I felt like crap yesterday (Friday) and so didn’t train at all.  I felt weak, dragged out and had a bastard of a headache.  I always feel like this on Fridays when I’m training.  I bought a pizza and a 6-pack of Miller Lite and watched TV until around 9:30 when I passed out.  No, I didn’t pass out from the beer; I only had 2 of them before fatigue overcame me.  I needed the carbs because (a) I felt so bad and (b) because this morning was my first crossfit session in over 2 months. 

The title of this post is the name of the routine.  Supposedly, it got its name when the UFC fighter BJ Penn described how he felt after doing it.  "Damn," he is purported to have said, "that felt like a fight gone bad."  Here’s what it was:

1.  Wall-ball squats

2.  Sumo squat deadlift high pulls (i.e., a deadlift and upright row in one motion). 

3.  Power ball squats

4.  Surges (i.e., overhead presses using your legs for momentum)

5.  Elastic band pulls.

We were to do 3 circuits and were given 60 seconds per station to do as many reps as we could.  The only rest we got was 1 minute between circuits to gulp oxygen.  One other guy, who was about 16 years younger than me and appeared to be in pretty good shape, ran out after the second circuit to puke in the parking lot.  He didn’t come back. 

It was good to train with Jose again.  I got an endorphin buzz from it that almost put me in a coma.  And I mean that in a good way. 

The rest of the week was fine, too.  I trained with Courtney on Tuesday and Thursday and she put me thru her trainer stuff, most of which was core-related.  On Thursday, while doing deltoid raise lunges, she noticed that my calved were trembling so she cut off the workout to stretch me.  The soreness from that lasted 2 days. 

For my cardio, I used the elliptical one day, the rower on another and ran 2 miles on the treadmill on the last one.  All in all, it was a good week. 

I weighed in at 297 this morning.  Not happy about that, of course, but totally falling off the horse for 6 weeks or so and only gaining 12 lbs. isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. 

I am crazy sore from the workouts this new trainer is putting me through.  It’s mostly what I call "trainer stuff," i.e., stuff you’d almost never do on your own without someone pushing you to do it.  Things like doing dumbbell squats on the flat side of a bosu.  Curiously enough, what hurts the most on me are the soles of my feet.  Tottering on the bosu like that, I could almost feel my toes straining to keep purchase atop it.  Another exercise that she’s having me do (my trainer is a young girl who not only is–I am guessing–about half my age, but also has the same name as my daughter) is something that involved light (17.5-lb. yesterday) dumbbells.  The same ones as the bosu squats.  This time, I put them on the floor with the handles parallel to my body.  First I do a pushup–very slowly–then pull one up for a one-armed row.  I put that one back down, do another pushup then do a row with the other arm.  I then do another pushup then jump my feet forward and stand up with my dumbbells at waist level.  That’s one rep.  I did 3 sets of 6. I could have done this, if not easily, then certainly with a lot less pain and quaking of my triceps a few months ago.  As it is, it almost killed me. 

This new girl may be young but she’s also pretty tough on me, which I appreciate. 

I am however a single dad and that has had me really busy. 

Here’s what’s gone on the past few months.  First of all, after my daughter told me that she wanted to move in with me, I got a new place and then moved her in.  After that came getting her enrolled in school and all that good stuff.  This has been a big and wonderful change in my life.

After I cleared up the knee tendonitis that resulted from my running earlier this year, I developed a really nasty bout of hip tendonitis after runing a few months ago.  I could feel it hurting but, as is typical for me, I tried to run through the pain.  Big mistake.  After driving home from the gym and letting my body cool down, I could barely climb the stairs without crying.  I got on a course of NSAIDs again but they worked a lot slower this time.  The bottom line is that I took about 6 weeks off to let my joints fully heal, which they have now done.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that there’s no way in hell I’ll be able to do the half-marathon in November. 

And that’s to say nothing about Hurrican Ike . . .

In order for me to maintain workout and diet discipline, I have to have my life in a comfortable routine.  There are probably people here in the BB.com community who could lose theirs jobs, lose their families and beome homeless and still not miss a protein portion or cardio session.  I wish that was me, but it’s not.  My life has been anything but calm recenly, however things are now finally beginning to settle back down.  Don’t get me wrong, the turbulence in my life of late has been happy turbulence (excepting the storm, of course) but it’s knocked me off my stride, as far as working out and training goes. 

This week, I got back on the horse.  I hired a new trainer as I still had 12 unused sessions at the 24 that I paid for earlier this summer and also started my cardio again.  I was running 5 miles at pop before my hip bummed and now I just about kill myself doing 15 minutes on the rower.  I am dreading weighing in this weekend, too, thinking of all the comfort food and just plain crap I have let myself eat over the past month and a half. 

Nevertheless, Phat J is back.

I have still been working out and training religiously, even though I don’t check in nearly as often due to the increased tempo at work. 

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Austin to help my aunt move into a new house.  It was either the Mexican food that we ate or the beers that I drank with dinner but something really stoked my metabolism while I was there.  After we got her moved in, I pointed it south to go see my daughter in San Antonio.  After I got to town, I went to a local gym (more proof that it’s a good idea to keep multiple memberships like I do at 24-Hour Fitness and Bally’s) to do my weekend run.  I actually ran 4 miles on the treadmill non-stop.  I don’t think I have run that far since 1991.  It felt great, too! God, it is so nice to be able to run again! After that, I showered then picked up my daughter and took her to dinner.  At dinner, she dropped the bombshell on me that she wants to move to Houston and live with me.  My heart almost jumped out of my throat when she said that!  After all of the depression and loneliness I went through being so far away from her during my years in Florida, I never dared to hope that I would ever hear those words from her.  And her mother must be on some really good drugs too, because to my UTTER surprise, she’s going along with it. 

It’s settled!  I am going to be a single dad to a 13 year-old girl! I can’t wait! 

In addition to finding a new place to live and all of that, I have been keeping with it in the gym.  Here are some of my latest workouts:

6/30/08: This was a real bastard of a workout that Picants called "the little bear."  Basically, you get the bar with 95-lbs. on it.  You do a hang clean, then–without putting it down–do a front squat, then–still not putting it down–do a thruster.  That’s 3 squats in one rep.  You do that 10 times for a set, then do a set of modified pullups.  That’s one round.  The workout calls for 5 rounds.  I did pretty well but had to lighten the bar after my 2nd set.  Pride hath no place in Crossfit. 

7/2/08:  5 sets of decreasing repetitions of the following exercises:

Bottom-to-bottom squats.  Ass to ankles with arms outstretched in front of you.

Parallel bar dips

Jumping pull-ups

1st set: 50 squats, 24 dips, 20 pullups

2nd set: 40 squats, 18 dips, 15 pullups

3rd set: 30 squats, 12 dips, 10 pullups

4th set: 20 squats, 6 dips, 5 pullups

7/4/08 (yes, I workout out on July 4th):

Snatch clean with bar only (45-lbs.)

Frog Squats

Curls (45-lb. bar) 

I did a total of 5 sets, starting at 30 then decreasing the reps by 5 every rotation so that the last set was 10 reps. 

The running’s going fine too.  I have been running 3 miles on the treadmill every Tuesday and Thursday then going for the big run on the weekend. 

285-lbs., a loss of 4 this week. 

Well, with my daughter being in town the past few weeks, I sort of lost diet discipline, being that I was hanging out with her at my brother’s house and (as is usual for being over there) drinking a lot of red wine.  Man, you can diet as strictly as a Benedictine monk and still not lose weight if you throw alcohol on your system.  Be that as it may, my daughter went back home last weekend so I have had all week to clean myself out and eat strict and clean again.  Last week I gained 2-lbs.  This week I hope to show a good loss.  I will weigh in tomorrow morning and we’ll see how well I did. 

I have a problem with my training now and it’s really bugging the hell out of me.  My problem is this: my gym fired my trainer.  I still have 11 sessions left and none of the other trainers are certified in Cross-Fit.  Jose (i.e., Picante) is setting up his own studio now but he tells me that it won’t be finished for another 2 weeks or so.  Thus, what we’re doing to keep me sharp is he’s texting my workouts to my cell phone and I’m just putting myself through them alone.  Here’s what we did this past week:

Monday:  Picante texted me early that he couldn’t make the workout so I just went and jogged on the treadmill for 25 minutes.  I won’t forget that goal of the half marathon so I will work myself up to being able to keep my legs churning for at least 2 hours to be able to run it this coming November. 

Tuesday:  My last session with him.  We did a FRAN session.  3 sets of 15 reps interval thrusters witha 95-lb. dumbbell and jumping pull-ups.  The 95-lb. weight is standard for Cross-Fit.  It’s simply an Olympic bar with 25s on either side.  It is amazing how heavy that thing can get after 20 reps or so. 

Wednesday:  Sumo deadlift high-pulls (combination deadlift/upright row), barbell upright presses and frog squats.  The lifts were with a 65-lb. barbell.  4 rounds, 20 reps each.  I was seeing stars by the third round.  The idea was to finish it in 20 minutes and I did so in just over 16. 

Today:  Front squats with 95-lb. barbell (holding the bar on my shoulders like for an overhead press), modified angle pull-ups and kettlebell swings using a 35-lb dumbbell instead of a kettlebell.  4 rounds of decreasing (25, 20, 15 and 10) reps.  I had 30 minutes to complete the routine and did it in precisely 20. 

All in all, I am feeling pretty good, both in my physical conditioning and my life in general.  My legs are starting to bulge above my kneecaps (haven’t had that since high school) and I am even seeing some definition in my neck muscles, of all places.  I think, if I remember my Tom Wolfe correctly, they’re called "sternocleidomastoids," or something like that.  My "standing creases" (those disgusting flesh creases around my beltline and above my love handles in my lower back) have completely disappeared and my overall girth continues to slowly whittle away.  Also, people are telling me that they can see my cheekbones for the first time in a year. 

Will log in tomorrow after my Friday weigh-in.

Since I am able to run again, I thought I would set a goal.  After thinking it over and discussing it with my trainer, I have decided to train for the Rock ‘N Roll San Antonio Half-Marathon to be held this coming November.  I am barely able to complete 3 miles without dying as it stands now, and there is a WORLD of difference between running 3 miles and running 12 miles, but I have 6 months to get in shape for it and I know I can do anything if given that much time to prepare and train.