Reemy’s BodyBlog

The Northern Kentucky is almost here again. March 14th is the day. It’s amazing how time flies! 

Since joining the new gym, I have learned so many things. I just wish that I would have learned them a little earlier. I wonder how many improvements that I can make in so short of a time. I’ve learned the importance of using shocking principles to bring out extra details and quality muscle. (I’ve always been a late bloomer …..) I find myself lifting with more moderate weight now, and really trying to feel the movement. (However, you still have to get beasty sometimes!)

I’ve just recently learned about little things that help finish off your physique like hitting the serratus muscles. I want to build up mid back musculature as well as lower trap development. I’ve known for some time that I need more inner arm bicep/tricep seperation. Of course, I need years of work on my pathetic hamstrings and calves. So much work to do!  I’m up for the challenge though!

Well, lately I’ve been in hermit mode. It’s been work, workout, and sleep! Unfortunately summer has flown by!

I’ve been learning tons from Roger, a personal trainer at the new gym. I ‘ve started to incorporate drop sets, supersets, and rest-pause as a way to increase intensity, instead of just relying on the same old straight set/heavy weight routine. Roger is real big on training for conditioning. It’s get in there, get blood in muscle, and get out. He also has me taking more sets to failure, which isn’t something I’ve always done.

It has been so much fun experimenting with different techniques. It’s brought excitement back into workouts, and lots of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness afterwards! In the back of my head, I always knew intensity was going to get me to where I needed to be, but it was so easy to get complacent. 

Like I said before, I’ve incorporated a few Chipoltle Burritos a week to increase the calories. That’s the only junk food I eat. I’m at the point where I need to eat less dense carbs in order to gain some mass. One can only eat so many bowls of Oatmeal and sweet potatoes!

I had been eating tilapia a few times a week, but someone told me they were bottom feeders   YUck! I do buy Tilapia from Whole Foods, and they are Farm raised (which isn’t the best thing either.)  You can’t eliminate all the toxins out of your life, right??  Plus we only live once!!  Have to do some reseach on that. 

Dude,  I’m so lame that I’m just getting hip to whole grain pasta. I haven’t had pasta in like 4 years! As you know, I’ve been trying to limit my sugars for some time now. Those Lundberg boys are doing their thing! I already buy gluten and wheat free "brown rice" rice cakes from them. Now they have a rice pasta! It’s nice for me because I don’t need to eat too much wheat.

Lets get ready for some football!!!!!!! Hope my boys represent.  Catch you later.

Welllllll, I have not been diligent on the eating like I said I would and my water intake is horrible. I’ve had to switch to 3/4 cup of cream of wheat with the eggs because I was getting burned out on the 2 cups of oatmeal. I’m stuck at 182 because of it. I’ve been falling off tremendously on the weekends  and that doesn’t help. I’ve tried to eat a little junk by stopping at Chipotle. It has helped a little. This monday I’m going to have to get back at it, and switch some things up. Maybe start eating some whole grain pasta for lunch.  I’m getting in that bodybuilder rut of eating the same stuff all the time. I need some new recipes!

Training has been Ok, but It’s time to kick it up. Chest and shoulders are definitely stronger, but my leg routines have not been as intense as they should be. I have been diligent with the romanians though. Need to get back to walking lunges. Haven’t done those in 3 months! It’s about time to give the legs a little shock!   I’ve been kind of complacent with arms, because of the arm injury,but It’s slowly healing. I still can’t do weighted pullups and LORD knows that I need lats.  I just got back to being able to row 225 with no pain in forearm, but I can still feel that its not quite right, and it is one mistep away from being re-injured . I’ll stick with that until I fully heal. I’ve had to do T-bar and sinlge arm rows instead because they didn’t aggravate my forearm much. 

I’ve been trying different things like supersets, drop sets, running the rack, and it’s really a nice change from what I’ve been doing. I’m eager to try giant sets. Well, I gotta get to sleep. I need to get up back in the habit of getting up  6:30 and making breakfast. Once I get my internal clock back on track, everything else will fall into place. 

Another weekend is gone! Things are looking up lately. My rear delt/rhomboid strain is gone, and my elbow tendinitis is much better. I give it 2 more weeks. It’ll be nice to get back to pounding the biceps , weighted pull-ups, and bent over rows. I had to sacrifice all those things because of those injuries. Luckily, it wasn’t too serious and hopefully I’ve learned my lesson.

  I started playing in a basketball league on Sunday.   We beat this team 105 to 35. I didn’t have to do too much since their guard play was horrible. I did see some faces from the past on other teams, and it’s going to get more difficult very soon. Watching the other teams got me motivated to start doing cardio and pull out the plyometrics. I want to be able to bring my game out on a high level, and lock some dudes up on D.  We have some strong, quick dudes out there. Got to see some folks get dunked on too, and I am not trying to be one of them.

I was off work today, so I got up and ran 5 miles.  I chugged a 40g protein shake with Barleans greens and hit the road.  I haven’t jogged in so long, and this added weight does not help.  I’m no where near my normal pace, but I wasn’t as bad as I thought I would be. A few more times and I’ll be golden. I never get to out of shape to where it’s extremely difficult to get back.  Usually, I’m back up to par with two weeks of running.

I have to definintely get my carbs up now, because I will mess around and lose weight easily. After my little 40 minute escapade, I ate my 4 servings of Oatmeal and 3 yolks and 9 whites scrambled. Three Hours later, I had a 60 g protein shake and 4 more servings of oats. At 6:30, I’ll eat some fish and 2 medium sized sweet potatoes, string beans, and a salad. At 8pm, I’ll drink another shake, and eat 2 rice cakes. At 10pm,  I may eat some chicken, string beans and a salad depending on how hungry I feel, and then maybe I’ll drink another shake at 12:30am. Did I tell you how much I hate eating! Shoot, I have to eat all this just to keep up with my damn strong ass workout partners.

Hopefully, all this added eating well translate over to intensity when I hit the gym tonight. I’m going to quit being lazy and hit abs and core first. Gotta get them back popping, plus I want to increase my deads and squat very soon. Oh..my food is done heating up. See  you later…………………..

Hard to believe that it is already July 11th.  Summer is flying!!!  I’m still on the fence about competing at Monster Mash in October. I admit it!  I have been really lazy on calves and abs lately. I haven’t done cardio in like a month and a half.  I was hitting the stair stepper hard to see if I can get the striations in the booty. LOL. 

I just got invited to play in a basketball league soon, so I’ll get back on the horse next week.  This weekend, I’m going to relax and maybe pull out the pencils and draw. I had been burnt out lately and had to scale things back.  For 3 months straight, I had been eating 4 servings of oatmeal,  2 yolks and 10 whites scrambled with 5 oz of turkey for breakfast.  3 hours later, I came back and ate another 4 servings of oatmeal and a 60 gram protein shake mixed with Barlean’s Greens and cod liver oil. I had 3 other meals of either tilapia, meatloaf, or steak with sweet potato,green beans, and a small salad.  I also managed to sqeeze a 60g protein shake again with two rice cakes inbetween those 3 somewhere. I didn’t eat any starchy carbs after 7pm, where as before I did the show,  I would carbs all the way up to 11pm.    My strength went up tremendously, and I was still able to keep my bodyfat low. This is the heaviest I’ve ever been without using creatine. I can’t see how you guys can get over 200lbs.

Eating that much damn Oatmeal was starting to wear on me!  I’m only 182lbs, and probably a natural 160lber. It probably does’t help that I make it with distilled water and no seasoning or preservatives, huh? Unfortunately, my candiases has flared up a little because of the excess carbs and protein. I kinda fell off with the supplements that I should be taking though, and my water intake could be better. I’ll make those tweaks shortly.   I started changing  a few things around. I’m definitely going to have to get more carbs at my fourth  and fifth meal if I want to continue to grow. Sometimes I think "is it really worth it?"  Then I look on Bodyspace and see all the great physiques, and start eating.

I went to watch a powerlifting meet last week, and got there just in time to catch the deadlift.  Learned a lot cool things on form and technique from being nosey. It was cool because I got to see first-hand how important form is in moving as much weight as you can.  Obviously, the people that didn’t sit back enough had problems with the heavier weight, because they would use more lower back than legs. You could easilly point out if they would get a certain weight up or not.  This one guy who weighed about 290 was the best.  He had really good hip flexibility and sat back in it well.  That allowed him to get good drive through his legs. I noticed how aggresive the guys with successful lifts were.  In contrast, I saw a guy totally sike himself out of a lift. Overall it was great to see people smash state and personal bests.  Fun times. Fun times.

Up until this point, I’ve been working out at a Health club, and I’d like to think that I’ve done a fairly good job.  I’ve been able to overcome the lack of bodybuilding equipment for some time. The scowls that you get from old people if  you drop a weight  or deadlift, are never very welcoming either.   I work out with a group of guys now, and they convinced me to join World’s Gym.  I love this place!  It’s a no non-sense weightlifter/powerlifter type place. It just screams motivation!   There are posters of Arnold and other bodybuilders everywhere, and there are more people with the same kind of goals that I am  trying to  achieve. It’s nice to be around other Brothers of Iron.

For years, I haven’t had a military press bench, and feel that my shoulder developement has suffered because of that. There are actually 3 power racks, 3 military benches, and a chest flye/rear delt machine that is my new favorite.  There is also a donkey calve raise, standing calve raise, and seated raise.  I might get a decent pair of calves out of this just yet. This is also the first time I’ve ever had a hack squat machine! I’m like a little kid in there. My energy level has risen tremendously just from the change in atmosphere.

 6 days until the Northern Kentucky.  Don’t really know what to expect.  Monday -Wednesday I reduce my carbs until I hit Ketosis. While doing that, I use Ketostix to monitor where I am at, I should hit ketosis on Wednesday, and immediately carb up after that.  My goal was supposed to be 165-168 according to my mentor.  I will probably hit that on Wednesday. I don’t have too much more to lose.  Maybe in the oblique area and some water weight.   I’m anxious to see how I look when I carb up!!!  

I started tanning last week.  Rather do that than that messy pro tan!  Even though I know that’s the norm now a days.  It’s funny to see the reactions when I come in there.  I guess it’s not a common thing for black people to tan in Cincinnati. 

This week is pose, pose, pose. Gonna get waxed tommorrow, edit my music,  tan some more, Then pose, poae, poae. What fun!!! 

 I just got my posing trunks tonight. Nothing fancy….. No glittery aspects to the trunks either.  Just plain ol’ black!!! Black really sets my skin tone off and creates a nice contrast. I’m going to try them on when I get off of here.  I can’t believe I’m actually going through with this!!! Too late to turn back now!

I cut my carbs down to 150 grams this week.  I am definitely feeling it at work.  I can’t hold water for nothing. Not enough carbs or sodium to hold it. I’m drinking somewhere around or over 2 gallons of water the last two days. Talk about pisssing the night away!

Workouts are OK, even though todays leg workout  was downright painful. I finally got the order and poses for my routine down tonight!! That is a gratifying feeling.  We work on the transitions and the rest of the little nuances from next week on.  All I’m thinking about is pose, pose, pose, and pose.

 Everything is getting sharper, I still need to get rid of the last bit if fat around my waist. My cardio sessions are getting easier.  If I do another show, I’ll definitely start doing cardio sooner instead of just beginnning around week 4. Luckily my genetics/metabolism lets me get away with not having to do too much cardio.

 Man, I’m beat…I’ll write some more later when I’m not falling asleep every other paragraph!!!

 4 weeks out! I started consistently doing cardio this week. I skipped some rope for 30 minutes on Sunday, and did some interval training on the bike Monday night. I did one minute sprint and one minute slower paced cycling for 20 minutes. Those intervals are bustin’ my butt! Talk about difficulty walking!I’m trying to alternate that with regular cardio for variety.

My calves were ridiculously sore from not skipping rope for about 7 months. Bought some handwraps along with my brand new Nike rope (love that thing!!)  Might start hitting the bag again. I haven’t hit a heavy bag in like 15 years. Probably be extremely exhausted after that, but it’s nice to have different options than just the treadmill.

 I might get some more cardio in Friday night or Saturday morning.  I got all the way up to 183 at one point in weight, and now I’m down to 175.  168 here I come! I cut 40 carbs a day out of my meal plan this week. That puts me around 180 to 200 carbs now.  This is my 4th day on the lower carb total. I can definintely feel the difference. Workouts are good because I lift in the morning and feel fresh, but when 9pm rolls around I’m strugglin’. 

I went to a black history banquet for work yesterday, and had to shake my leg just to stay awake around 9pm last night. I had lunch @ 3:30pm which had a  sweet potato, and drank a 60 g protein drink with Barleans greens @ 6.  We had dinner @ 7 for the banquet. I had a 2 nice pieces of baked chicken but they had macaroni and cheese and carrot cake! I pushed that aside and had a little sliver of mashed sweet potato.  It just wasn’t the same as the medium sized sweet potato I usually have at that time. That’s why I was struggling big time between 8 and 10 last night.   

My legs are get more defined, just need to get some fat off my obliques!! Gotta get more diligent in my posing and water intake. Those are my goals for the weekend and next week! Not too much time left!

I ordered my posing trunks. V-cut in the front with the 1 inch sides.  What the hell have I gotten myself into!!!!!!!

6 more weeks until the day…. uh-ohh.  I have so much work to do.  I got all the way up to 183 at one point,  because of the  Trac (Creatine/No2) that I took for a few weeks. I’m starting to shrink down to 176, finally losing some of the water weight since I stopped taking it. I’ll actually start doing  cardio tommorrow (ugh)  when I get up.  Probably around 6:30 am. I’m going to try the interval training on the bicycle for 20 minutes.  I’m already around 5% right now, so I don’t have to cut too much.

One of the trainers helping me says I may  be coming in around 168 to 170 shredded. We’ll  see about that. 

Posing sucks!! Learning Diaphramic breathing sucks!!!  I am startring to get a little better after only a week of practice, however. I hit the aerobics studio every night to use the full mirrors. I gotta get out this weekend and get a full mirror for home.

I actually have another guy thats helping me out with posing! I am fortunate to have a some very good resources. He is an awesome poser and is well known in this area. I’m meeting him this Sunday to start creating a routine.  I’m really looking forward to that. Other than that, not too much going on.

I may get to wear the sensewear arm band for a week.  This band monitors the calories you burn, steps taken, protein and carbs taken in, and it has a graph comparing when you burn the most/least calories. You also get to see how many calories you burn at rest.    Should be interesting.   It’s a neat little gadget. 

Time to eat. Talk to you later.