TheBugMan’s BodyBlog

As I look around the blogs here on Bodyspace I see a lot of people who have figured it out.  What is "it" you may be asking yourself.  "It" is fat loss.  I think I have an idea, but until I see the end result on my body I will constantly be searching for more info.

1.  Don’t eat sugar.

2. Move.  For me HIIT  Burn calories all day.

3.  Avoid simple carbs.

4.  Eat more protein.

5.  Eat less calories than you burn.

I am loosing body fat.  My weight is holding at 180, but I can see more and more vascularity.  My waist measurement is dropping.  I am starting to see shape under the layer of fat that is still there. So I am seeing progress, just not sure if I am making good progress, or if what I am doing is right on and to just be patient.  I think the last place that I loose fat is my chest and waist.  I am seeing separation in my legs, but little in my arms or body.

What Is Your Body Type?

Your body is between an EndoMorph and a Mesomorph. Choose a middle approach between the follow recommendations.  

Endomorph: An Endomorph’s biggest concern should be the losing of fat and adopting a lifestyle that keeps it off. Strength training should be done to get a better muscle to fat ratio and therefore improve metabolism. Use moderate weights at a fast training pace (very little rest between sets and exercises). You should lower your calorie intake (but not try to starve yourself) and should eat frequent but small meals. Sugars, sweets and junk food should be eliminated from your diet. Engage daily in some activity like brisk walking, biking, etc., and try to increase the amount of time you spend each week.

Mesomorph: Mesomorphs have a naturally fit body but to maintain it or improve it you should exercise and diet correctly for your type. Strength training can be done more often and for longer sessions then would be good for an Ectomorph, but you must still be carefull not to overdo it. You should train with moderate to heavy weighs and at a moderate pace, not resting too long between sets. You will find you gain muscle quite easy (some women and even men might not want to get too bulky, but this won’t happen suddenly. When you are happy with your muscle size simply train to maintain it). Stick to a good healthy diet to keep you lean and muscular, and watch for any slow creeping fat gains. Engage in and enjoy aerobic activities, sports, etc. but do not overdo.

This was a test I found on Bodybuilding.com by Paul Becker and confirms what I have figured out on my own years ago.  I am a combination between Mesomorph and Endomorph.  It seems that as long as I am hard at it, I can overcome a lot of the Enomorph in me.  I just don’t wake up looking muscular.  It takes a lot of time and effort.  I also have to be very diligent about my eating.

So are there any Endomorphs on this site that have really figured out what really works for them?  How long did it take to get cut?  What kind of fat % loss did you achieve and what time frame did it occur over?

So if your feeling like letting a 10lb dumbell whip your butt, then this is the Routine for you.  I am still hobbling around sore as hell from the leg workout I did two days ago.  Even my butt is sore.  Today was upper body.  Chest, Shoulders, Back, Tri’s then Bi’s.  OMG,  nothing like Bench Pressing two 20lb dumbells 100 times to make you feel silly.  Around 40-50 your still throwing them up like they are air.  When someone walks by and you are at 90, and your struggling to push them up 10 more times, pray they saw the first 90 reps.  Better yet, when your doing shoulders with even less and it is a complete struggle, you really feel like a whimp. 

One the other hand, if you really could care less what people thought as long as you got some gains from it, this is for you.  You will shock your muscles.  You will get sore.  I am no expert on this, but the article that Katitude had on her blog said to lift 30% of your One rep max for 100 reps.  I did two exercises per body part.  Man did I feel the pump. 

One thing that I found helpful.  Stick to excersises that you can’t really cheat on.  Also machines are good just incase you push too hard and can’t finish with the weight you are at.  I could lower it quickly and keep pumping out the reps.  If you can have a someone spot on excersises that if you can’t get the bar up, your in trouble.  I can’t wait to see if I get sore in the morning. 

I woke up this morning at 5am.  Headed to the gym to do my HIIT for the day.  I noticed my legs felt exhausted and had a muted soreness from the previous days workout.  I am expecting as I sit at my desk today that the soreness will increase.  I am going to make an effort to be up and walking around as much as possible today.  In reality though, I would be disappointed if I don’t get sore.

I did my HIIT on the Elliptical Cross-Trainer.  It said I went 2.15 miles and burned 285 calories in 20 minutes.  I am not really sure how good this is, but it keeps going up.  When I am at the higher intensity level I always feel like 10 more seconds and I will die, then when I am done I always wish I would have gone harder.  The best part is seeing how hard it is getting for me to push my heart rate up.  I used to hit 180 just looking at the machine.  Now I am lucky to hit it going 7 miles an hour and the level set at 15.  If anyone else uses this machine, let me know what you think.  Is this considered an intense level, or do I have a long way to go?

Okay so that is only one word.  What can I say?  I’m nuts!  My legs feel like Jello.  The pump was amazing.  I am expecting that my legs will be sore in the morning.  Time will tell.  I can not wait to do upper body.  I was actually not able to do 100 calf raises straight.  I did 50 seated with 35lbs and hit a wall.  I stood and did the rest without any weight.  Burn baby burn.  What a great workout.

I have been plugging away and actually am a little sore today.  Tonight I am going to experiment with the 100 rep sets that was mentioned in Katitude’s Blog.  I had done this before out of necessity in the past. `I had a hernia from doing Leg Presses with a weight belt(actually they say it is genetic predisposition), but that was the moment it happened.  I didn’t want to loose what I had gained and wanting to continue working out while under Doctors orders to not lift any more than 20lbs I had no choice.  I did curls for example with 10lb dumbells.  The only way I could really feel it impacting the muscle was to do ridiculously high  numbers.  It’s been 12 years, so I am not sure how high, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t hit 100 reps per set.  So I am excited to go in the gym and do  something new.  I will let you know how it goes.

Got up this morning and hit the gym.  I hammered the legs hard.  I went up at least 10 pounds on each exercise, some more than 50.  Felt great afterwards.  I am leaving in about 30 minutes for a trade show, and will be working long days.  I am bringing my Lifeline USA cables for working out just in case the hotel has a crappy gym.  I am amazed the workout I get from those rubber bands.  I also plan on getting out on the beach and doing some sprints.  I am going to stay consistent even while on the road.  I am not sure if they are wireless, but I will try to keep up with the blogging as well.

My daughter had Skate Night tonight.  I was going to do 20 minutes of HIIT, but instead went to Skate Night and roller bladed with my daughter and her friends.  I am wiped out!  I had a blast.  One of my daughters classmates is really fast.  I am a pretty good roller blader, but this little 7 year old is the energizer bunny.  Reminded me of the kid from an old John Cusak movie…"I want my two dollars"  She chased me for 2 hours almost non stop.  I was the fastest one there, but she was a close second.  She is from Germany.  East Germany I suspect.  I think they have been giving her steroids since birth.  Maybe had her in one of those top secret East German training facilities.  It was a blast.  Tomorrow is arms and I can’t to hit the gym at 5am.  I need to sit down and look at my workout plan here in a minute.  I am going to blast everything! 

I have broken through the 180lb barrier for the first time in years.  I am not really focused on loosing weight so much as lowering my body fat %.  So realistically if I stayed 180 and had a body fat % of 10, I would be ecstatic.  I will probably do my measurements tonight.  I try to do them on a non lifting day so I am not relying on the after workout pump to inflate my numbers.

I can still feel the impact of my upper body workout on Friday.  Not very sore but aware of every muscle that I worked. I did legs yesterday.  They feel exhausted.  They felt wobbly yesterday, and are not really what I would call sore, but there is no doubt they were worked, and worked hard.  I went up over 100lbs on Leg Press and it felt like a good intense workout.  I did Lunges with the Smith Machine rather than with dumbbells. I like the overall feel better, but the bar has bruised my spine.  Right in an area that I have had persistent neck problems.  So either I am going to have modify the way I hold it, or go back to dumbbells.  I hate lunges. I really do.  But man do they get the job done.

I like to wake up at 4:40am and get to the gym when it opens at 5am.  This is the best time to have unfettered access to the equipment.  I never have to wait on anything, and anyone else that is there is serious about working out.  I like being there with like with like minded people.

Unfortunately, I have slept in the past two days.  Wednesday morning I hit the snooze from 4:40am to 7:00am.  I don’t normally do that, but for some reason I felt completely run down.  I was so tired I hadn’t really noticed that I must have a cold.  I wouldn’t let a cold keep me from working out, I generally just back down on the intensity a little.  I still hit the gym last night for an hour, doing my legs.  This was definitely a less intense workout than normal.  For three reasons.  One I was not feeling 100%, there were too many people working out at 5:30pm, and I hadn’t sat down and filled out my workout plan with the exercises I wanted to do.  Making a plan is the only thing I had 100% control over and didn’t follow through.  Big mistake.  Waisting time trying to figure out what exercise to do and what weight to use just takes too much time, and really takes away from the intensity level of the workout.  Failing to plan is planning to fail.  So I will make sure I get it done beforehand from now one, even if it means I have to sit in the parking lot for 10 minutes planning it out.  Trying to do it in the gym during a workout just doesn’t work.

So tonight I have a HIIT aerobic session.  I plan on hitting it hard since I am starting to feel much better, and I always feel better after a workout when I am dealing with a cold.

Tonight it’s lights out at 10pm, I need to get up on time and do upper body without every weight being used, and every machine occupied.  Besides I miss seeing the people I see every morning.