Armour Plated’s BodyBlog

Yeah I bet yall are tired of reading about my leg days, but I appreciate every one of you who reads my blogs and even more so you who comment (hint, hint!)

Today I used the Smith machines for all my workouts except the ab and back stuff at the end of my work out.  I say machines because I had a chiropractic appointment 1/2 way through my workout and went to the other gym across town to start my calf raises, abs, and lower back.

Squats: 135×12, 145×10, 155×8, 160×6, 155×12 I reached my goals for this week!!

Lunges 65×12, 75×10, 85×8, 90×6, 85×12

Then I went to the chiropractor and had a good adjustment.  I thought he’d find me stiff after my leg workout but I seemed pretty limber — at least he didn’t comment on how people tend to be tenser on certain days.  I told him that I did him a favor and changed my shirt before leaving the gym, and he said "Don’t worry about that.  I’ve had patients come down from roofing dripping with sweat.  We gotta do what we gotta do."

Then I drove across town to the gym nearer my home and did calf raises on the Smith:

145×12, 155×10, 160×8, 165×8 (oops went beyond the goal of 6), 160×12

Cruches 40, 15 to the left, 15 to the right, 20  leg lifts, and some other ab exercises I remember from a video I had.

Lower back machine: 90×12, 115×10, 135×8, 150×6

Good workout; now I’m sitting at home, blogging my workout, wondering who’s gonna respond and when my gf will call — and what’s for dinner?

Today was upper body with the Body For Life workout.  I thought it’d get easier to do, but it gets harder.  Maybe the reason is that I’m seeing my girlfriend a lot more this summer than I have since we started dating.  So I’m not going to the gym as often.  I know, I know, I’m can already hear the boos, hisses, and complaints about bringing her along….

Today’s workout was pretty much my standard upper body workout.  I need a new routine as I’ve pretty much got this one memorized.  But according to the comments on my pic "Proof I did shave" I’m getting results from it, so maybe I’ll stick with it.

Bench: 125×12, 130×9, 135×7 (one away from my goal on set # 2 & 3 argggh) 140×6 (with a heavy spotter, meaning he took more away than I wanted him to another argggh.)  135×4 (going for 12 but I was spent after that set.)

Incline DB Flyes 35s x 12  — YAY I hit the goal!

Tricep extension — Dumbbells - 20×12, 25×10  woohoo another goal accomplished!  But when I tried to increase the weight to 30, I could only do 4.  Any suggestions on how to do db tri extensions when the next weight is too heavy??

So I changed to a machine:  65×7 (although my elbows were hurting every rep) so I reduced the weight to 50 x 12 and my elbows hurt from 7-12.

Pullups bodyweight (139) x 16, 13, 9 (and felt a momentary pain in my right shoulder so I stopped doing them)

DB Bicep curls –15x 12, 20s x 10, 25×6 (again going for 8 — any suggestions??)  25s x 6

Side Raises: DBs 15s x12,  machine 50×8, 45×10  — By that time my body was tired and hungry, my mind dizzy, and my spirit a bit disappointed.  So I left and went to Burger King to totally destroy the workout I had just done.  But I saw a friend of mine there whom I haven’t seen in a while, so God had a plan in my being there at that time. 

 Maybe I need to do another routine besides BFL.  Supposedly it only takes 46 minutes if you only take a minutes rest between most sets, but I need more.  And working all the upper body muscles exhausts me.  Yeah yeah, I hear the suggestions to eat more during the day like the BFL book says …..

Thanks for reading and the suggestions!  Have a good week!  Monday is over!!  Woohooo!

Today I decided to work legs.  My regular readers know that I love working legs, one of those crazy few who feel more motivated working legs than chest or arms.  Soon I will post a front/side calf pic.  It turned out much better than I had imagined especially in comparison to the other pics I tried and deleted. 

Here’s the workout:

Smith Squats 135×12, 145×10, 155×8, 165×6, 155×12; Lunges 30s x 7 (need to reduce to 25s)

Ham curls (per leg): 20x 12 — I had been struggling to get up to 20 and to do 12 of ‘em, I’m so excited!!   22.5  x 6,7,5, 20 x 8

Smith Calf raises:  155×12, 160×10, 165×8, 170×6, 165×12; Angled CRs 135×12 (Next time I’ll start with 160).

Then I did some weighted crunches but forgot to  journal the reps.

That’s it.

 But I did something last night just to relieve some tension from working off the clock when people called me for something that could’ve waited until today.  Anyway, I had been thinking about it for some time and went for it.  It has been sooo hot and humid in Georgia — thank God because we NEED the rain so badly!! — so I decided to shave my chest.  Trying to get a decent shot of it has been hard with my cheap camera that I have to take mirror pix of myself.  Anyway, I may try to post a pic soon as proof.

 Thanks for reading!

I went to the chiropractor last week since one of the members of my gym arranged free health screenings and X-rays at his chiro office.  Well long story short, my lower back is really messed up and my neck a bit messed up.  I had my first adjustment today.  My neck feels much better and my back somewhat better.  It will take several appointments to get it back in alignment.  I guess I will take it easy in the gym especially with the squats and calf raises.  I’ve even considered dropping the gym membership since my contract is up — but I can continue to go at the same price until I cancel my membership.  Tough decision, not one made in a single day.

Well thanks for reading everybody, and have a safe Happy 4th of July!!  To any military people, thank you for serving our country to protect our freedoms and independence.

I’m sure yall have wondered where AP has gone, what he’s been doing, if he’s been working out etc.  Well I’m here to tell you all is well.  I am still alive and have gone to the gym 2-3 times each week for the past 3 weeks but more than likely 2.  Busy weeks at work and the grilfriend is in town

Here’s the leg workout:

Squats 95×12, 115×10, 125×8, 135×6 (free weights)

Leg Extension: 80×12, 100×10, 120×8m 140×6, 120×12ish (probably didn’t complete the last few reps)

LUnges: 5, 10, & 25 x 8

Calf raises: 135×12, 145×10, 155×8, 160×6, 155×12 (back felt a bit strain so I did load up too heavy on the last set) Angled Calf Raises 135×12

Crunches on a ball 50?

Supermans 3 sets of 20

Breakfast

2 packets blueberry oatmeal

8 oz apple juice

lunch

2 reduced fat peanut butter  with some jelly that was only naturally sweetened sandwiches on honey wheat bread

Sweet tea

Snack:

Protein bar (yum yum …hehe)

Dinner

Hamburger helper (not eaten all tonight!)

2/5 cups water, 1 cup 2% milk, 1lb ground beef, noodles, powder

1 glass apple juice, 1 glass Gatorade

 OK, I’m already seeing how I need to eat more and improve my food choices.  Just hard to do while working with a mentally challenged man while doing administrative activities.  Just need my kitchen timer to go off every 2.5 hours to remind me to eat.  LOL

I went into the gym yet again without my scheduled workout.  From previous weeks I knew today was upper body day but because I got off schedule last week and had worked out my upper body on Saturday I was still a bit sore …. But I went on with the upper body workout.  Today I put 2 45’s on the bar and laid down to bench them.  I got up to about 7 before I knew I couldn’t go on…. As if that’s not embarrassing enough, when I felt rested, I went back, added some more weight (5lbs) and did a few more reps.  Next set I took off those 5 lbs and started doing the 135 again.  About the 6th rep, I thought I can do one more … well and here’s the embarrassing part, started to go up on hte 7th rep and couldn’t get it up.  It came down upon my chest but fortunately a guy was in the room and got it off me. 

I did some inclines after that about 3 sets ranging from the bar 45lbs to 55 to 60 since I don’t like the incline bench.  Right then I got the idea to get my nutrition better and start planning my foods better.  I got home, started cooking the beef I had already got last week before it went bad, drank some apple juice and then some Gatorade — boy that apple juice tasted much better than the Gatorade! 

That’s been it.  I will finish up what I have left to eat tomorrow, Wednesday at the latest and start the healthier foods then.  New category: Nutrition

I’ve only gone to the gym twice this week; I’ve missed it and didn’t realize how much til today when I was there.  I guess I didn’t care that much since I’ve seen my girlfriend on my gym days.  (She’s only 1.5 hours away this summer, not the 8 she normally is!) Yeah I could’ve "worked out" my schedule around seeing her, but one needs priorities.

So here’s my workout today.  I was tired but I made it through everything despite not hitting the goals on some exercises.

Bench press — I used the smith machine because I didn’t wanna bother the other guys there today — AND I actually lifted more than with a spotter!  Yeah I know the machine takes some weight off, but it was a comfort to know I could let that rep go without disappointing my spotter.

135×12, 140×10, 145×8, 150×6, 145×6 (came nowhere close to the desired 12 but one has to accept less than perfection sometimes.) 

DB Flyes: 35s x 12

Shoulder side raises — as tired as I was I still managed to do most of the desired sets and reps til the last set: 10×12, 12×10, 15×8, 20×3 (aimed for 6) 15×7 (going for 12)

Shrugged 135×12 again on the Smith machine

Tricep extensions: 15×12, 20×10, 25×8, 30×2 25×12 (dang those 4th sets!!)

Bench dips body weight (139.5) x 20

Chinups: 20, 13, 10, 5 for a total of 48

Bicep curls 10×12, 12×10, 15×8, 20×6, 15×12  — FINALLY an exercise I completed all my reps and bi-curls which is not my favorite exercise.

Concentration curls 12×12 (not sure i was doing them right as I hadn’t tried them much before, probably too light for one thing.)

Today I took my car to the shop for an oil change.  I went to the dealer since it is close to my new employment and the dealership had sent some coupons for oil changes, etc.  So the service manager tells me that the oil filter had not been changed, several fluids were low, a screw was in a wheel, brakes needed replacing, and I had missed a 30,000 mile checkup.  Well the screw was in a place that if it punctured the tire, it would not be repairable, it would have to be replaced — and it was a fairly new tire.  But he took it out, and it was very short, missing the tire and was not leaking air!!  Meanwhile I had brought in my MR client until the next shift started, thinking the appointment would only take 30 mins but it didn’t.  Not wanting him to sit there for 2 hours, I tell the manager to only do what’s necessary and I’d bring it in later, thinking when would I have time to do that?  So I call the next shift and ask her to pick him up and she arrives in a few minutes and I immediately ask the manager if it’s too late to fix all the problems.  He said no and tells them to go ahead.

Okay, so the bill totals $450 and I’m thinking, "Thank you God for the $600 bonus (pre-taxes) I got Tuesday night and that today was payday with 11.25 OT hours on the last pay period!"  Otherwise I would’ve had to dig even further into my savings and probably put some on my credit card.  I am so grateful that His sovereignty and grace provided for that need.  Even when I wasn’t sure what bills I was going to spend it on, He knew where it needed to go and provided me the money to keep me and those who ride in my car safe.  Thank You Lord Jesus!

In the first two days of this week, I worked almost 20 hours; I didn’t sleep that well until last night when I went to bed at 8pm but didn’t go to sleep til closer to 9 and even then woke up around midnight and couldn’t return to sleep til 1.  Then I slept til the alarm went off at 5:30 to give me enough time to shower and eat something before being at work at 7.  I worked today til 2:45 and if I hadn’t started talking with my co-worker, I could’ve left at 2:30. 

But anyway I left work today feeling the most rested I had all  week, so I thought my workout would be okay; well I was wrong!  Yes this Armour Plated man had a chink this week, actually 2, I haven’t eaten enough to maintain my weight much less put some on.

But here goes the workout, such as it is.

Bench: 135×12 (with the last 2 spotted) 140×10 (with spot toward the end) 145×7, 150×5; 135×1 (I knew when to say quits!)  Incline bench 105×4

Shoulders (isolateral machine) 35s x 12, 40×10, 45×8, 50×6; front raises (db) 15s x 10

That was it!  I knew I couldn’t continue with my BFL wo with back and arms left; I was toast mentally and spiritually.  Maybe I will get to bed early tonight and finish the workout tomorrow.  But for now my reward for Monday’s and Tuesday’s long hours is …. (gasp, I know I should feel guilty — but I don’t, some ice cream!)