Vaflyer’s BodyBlog

Anyone who has read my posts in the past know that I spent some time looking for an answer as to why my bench press was not going up….I seemed to have stagnated.  Well, in order to fix this, I spent some time poking around on here and in the forum looking for answers.  What I found was that I needed to make sure my form was good before anything else.  I needed to make sure that HOW I was lifting was correct before I worried about how much I was lifting.  So, back to the drawing board I went.  I lowered my weights down and focused on how I was lifting.  I knew I could put up more than what I was doing, but I was focusing on form not pushing weight.  I found 3 things, and hopefully for anyone who is struggling with their bench this will help you as well.

1.  First, I did not have my body position correct on the bench.  Yeah, I was on my back, but otherwise it sucked.  I didn’t have proper tightness to my back or upward positioning of my chest.  I was letting my shoulders roll up making me weaker than I really was.

2.  Second, I discovered my hands were too close on the bar to be effective.  I was placing my pinkie finger right on the marking where my hands were to go.  It seemed a comfortable width when I started lifting.  Here is the problem for me, when I lowered the weight this hand position when combined with my faults from point 1, forced my elbows to go lower than my body was on the bench. 

3.  Third, I was lowering the weight at a weird location on my body.  I was lowering the weight to about 1/2 way between my nipples and my neck. 

Sort of get in that position for a split second, even without the weight while you are reading this and think about trying to push up the weight.  Hands narrower than comfortable, shoulders positioned above the chest, and the bar about 1/2 way between the neck and nipples.  Imagine trying to push up any weight.  #2 and #3 were relatively easy to fix, lower it to a different place and make sure my shoulders aren’t artifically above my chest, but #1 I had to experiment with.  I didn’t want to go so wide that it was an ineffective exercise, but it had to be wider.  Well, instead of putting my pinkie finger against the edge of the mark, I moved and placed my ring finger right on the mark.  This meant about an inch wider hold on EACH side….this has helped immensely for me.  I was able to force up…on my own today reps I wouldn’t even have attempted without these corrections.  It has been a big difference. 

Best of luck everyone and keep working hard!!

Well, I last took my measurments on July 8.  That was a long time ago…what 4 months.  I figured it was time to do so again.  The changes came back in with mixed results, but I think that has to do with the fact that I am still losing body fat…and have more to lose.  Yes, I am working hard and am getting stronger, but my diet could be a little better.  I think I see more changes than I have recorded.  I wish I would have had the guts to do this back in May when I started, because I KNOW I look better than then.  I hope to take some new pics tonight at some point, and will either post them tonight or tomorrow.

Here are the results (all in inches):

Weight   192 up now to 192.4

Chest    42 up now to 43.5  I attribute this mostly to the back however as my bench is one area I still am struggling with.

Arms (relaxed at side)     13.75 up now to 14  Not really what I wanted to see here.  Why does Bodybuilding.com tell you to measure this at your side?  I am disappointed with this, but I still am working them hard and hoping they will catch on and grow the way I want eventually.  Again, I could be seeing the effect of losing fat here as well.

Hips    40.50 down to 40.25   Okay honestly, unless I lose it in the rump, I am not going to lose much more here.  I can feel my bones on the side and unless my bone structure is going to change as well, I think I am close to the ballpark to final here.  At least I lost some, which is really good considering I am on a bulk right now.

Waist (at belly button)    40 down to 39.25     Okay, so I am finally fitting into 33" jeans.  Not the dress slacks yet, but the jeans.  More work to do here, and I know it.  Again though I have been bulking and putting away more food than I need probably as long as it is clean.  Thanksgiving and Christmas are no time to do a cut, so I am going to keep bulking until January.  I am thinking about doing P90X then for a cut for 90 days.  See what happens with that.  That puts me hopefully where I want to be by May….at least cut wise.

Thighs    23.25 down to 23    Well, I wasn’t really lifting for the legs until the end of September…that was my mistake and I guess as a newbie I should have asked more.  I feel like I will make some gains here now, but I think this is mostly about losing fat.

Calves   17.0  down to 16.5   Here is a danger spot for me.  I have trouble right now even getting the calves to hurt.  I add more weight, I do more reps, but never much burn or pump.  Maybe I need to try something else. 

Forearms  10 stayed the same 10   Again this was taken relaxed.  It is hard for me to know, but I am going to assume that I lost some fat….and gained some minimal muscle which was equal to no change.

Shoulders   49.5  stayed the same  49.5   This one actually bothers me quite a bit.  Why no change?  Visibly there is a change, but why not with the tape.  Has me confused.  I don’t think fat would be a major player here…am I wrong?

Neck  16.5  stayed the same 16.5  Again, not sure why this is the case.  I have only been doing traps since Sept. 28…did nothing for them before….so maybe I just am not seeing the gains yet.

Well, write me and let me know what you think.  Again, I am mostly a newbie who only knows what he knows from what he reads here and in the magazines that I look at every once in a while.  I am thinking about having someone design me a diet, but I only eat so many foods that it can be tough on them.  I don’t know….thoughts??

I honestly cannot figure out why my bench is not going up.  Everything else is going up, and it seems like every workout I put into the tracker I get…personal best marks for about 1/2 of my exercises with them sort of alternating between what it is choosing.  Here is what I do for flat bench:  4 sets total 6 reps, 8 reps, 8 reps, and 10 reps.  I have tried adjusting it in all sorts of ways to get those last 10 out and still struggle with it.  I started at 135, you know just the bar and 2 45 pound plates, but I have gotten it all the way up to 165 for the first 3 sets, but even if I lower my weight down to 135 I cannot get those last 10 out.  I backed up to 135 for all of them, but again struggled on that last set.  I am looking for suggestions here people.  My goal was to do 185 by the end of the year, but I don’t feel like I am making any progress.  Should I try a 5×5?  Something else?  Thoughts? 

Okay people I really could use some help here.  I am taking a business trip to Greenbelt, MD on October 21 and 22.  While the hotel has a workout center, I doubt they have what I will need on that day, based on what I should be working out the morning of the 22nd.  It is back/bi day for me.  This means deadlifts….barbell rows…etc.  Usually I need some 45 pound plates for these and "rarely" have I found a hotel which actually has anything but a machine with various stations and dumbbells….oh yeah and lots of treadmills. 

 So what do I need?  I need a place where I can throw an owner a 5 or 10 dollar bill and work out for the morning.  If you know of any place where this might be able to happen, please let me know.  Thank you.

Okay, well took my first dose today.  Haven’t been on a NO for a while, but this is what I think.  Good energy.  Good focus.  Pump…seemed to be lacking at least compared to SuperPump250.  Now I only used 1 scoop with 4 oz of water, but in all reality I just didn’t feel the pump very much.  I will complete the 4 days with just 1 and if I don’t feel it with biceps…which is where I always feel it the most, even when I was on SuperPump250….I will up it to 2 scoops.  At the price, I hope it works because it is a much better deal than the SuperPump….IF it works.

As you try to change your body from soft all around to ripped, there is a process that must be gone through.  For me, it is adding muscle and reducing fat.  Up to this point, I have pretty much alternated month to month.  Cut one month, bulk the next.  Sept. 7 is supposed to be the start to a cut cycle for me, but I just don’t feel like not doing heavy weights and being on the treadmill all the time.  The date was originally chosen because it was when I was supposed to come off my supplements for a week or two.  Creatine and SuperPump250 have been in my body for about 2 months straight, so I wanted to give them a week or two without.  When looking at my work schedule the next few weeks, I have decided to sort of change my plans and not do the cut.  Here is what I will now do:

2-3 weeks with no supplements but protein
Mon - Chest/tris
Tues - Treadmill 1 hour
Wed - Back/bis
Thurs - Treadmill 1 hour
Friday - Shoulders/Traps
Sat - Rest
Sun - Rest
Abs will be worked daily, but not to failure.

I will do this probably until the 28th of September, I then will go back to my normal bulking cycle and program.  Supplements will be added back in, but with new supplements.  I am going to go with Jack3d and a different creatine.  My muscles need the rest, so I will only push them so hard over the next 3 weeks.  Hopefully after the break, I will be able to add to my number and increase my weights once again off of this plateau.

Okay everyone I need some help.  I need to get on a fat burner next Monday.  What should I choose?  I have been working at the gym now for a few months.  I have changed my body greatly, but I am ready to take off that tire and last bit of belly I have left.  What do you all recommend?

Okay, I don’t write much, but here is my 2nd post in as many days.

I was at the gym this morning working out when I noticed the others there working out with me.  I had gone to get some water and looked around on my way to notice 2 types of lifters, one which gets my anger up and the other whom I admire in so many ways.

Let’s first look at the bad.  This guy makes me angry.  Here I am working my tail off.  Lifting higher weights…higher reps…more sets, but this guy has a better physique than me.  He is ripped, but everything he does at the gym shouldn’t have made him look like that.  One set here….take a break…another set over there.  The guy comes in after me and leaves before me.  He only does about 4 different exercises and yet he looks like that?  Horrible technique and less weight than I do, but the guy is ripped.  It just ticks me off.

The 2nd guy I totally admire.  Here is the guy doing everything right.  He is right where I want to be at some point.  He is working his tail off.  Yes, he looks great already (in a totally non-sexual way, "not that there is anything wrong with that") and looks great for it.  Yes, he could slack off and not push himself as hard, but there he is set after set digging out that last rep, the last set, the little bit of extra weight he hasn’t done before.  He hasn’t settled for what he is…he wants more. 

I hope as my body changes, my fat roll goes away….and it will EVENTUALLY…and my body becomes ripped…because I won’t stop until it is, that I am the 2nd guy….not the first.

Okay, so I have been going at it pretty hard for a while…doing something 5 days a week.  My question is, where is the weight loss?  I have trimmed down my diet, and my calorie intake when I was doing the cut, but as soon as it was over…right back up to where I was.  Is this a plateau that I am on?  Is there a way for me to break it?  I don’t feel like my spare tire is leaving either, despite the hard work and clean diet.  What are my options?  Is there a supplement I should take to help me with this?  I am going to start another cut on Labor Day—September 7.  What is the next step?  Any helpful thoughts are appreciated….

So what am I doing for my wife at this point?  9 weeks ago she had our 3rd baby.  So what does she want to do?  Lose that BABY WEIGHT!  She has already lost a bunch as she is lighter now than she was when she got pregnant, but she still has weight she wants to lose from babies one and two.  So how am I playing a role in this?  Well, as to be expected I am providing support to her with encouragement, etc.  The largest issue she has at the moment is NOT wanting to exercise.  So, I have started doing her workouts with her at night.  Hopefully this is temporary, and honestly I don’t push myself very much as I don’t want to hurt my own program.  That being said, if by my doing her program as well I can help her out, I will do it.  She has chosen P90, not P90x, just P90.  Sort of a preliminary to P90x, but at the moment just about what she needs.  She started on Monday….and hopefull the scale will move a little soon so she doesn’t become discouraged.  Good luck baby, I’m with you.