Making Statements, Not Excuses

Its been a crazy weekend. I’m at that point to where if I don’t get at least one protein  shake a day I feel useless. I went the whole weekend without one and man i just felt like there was no energy or motivation. I didn’t feel the hardness of my muscles or the feeling of them growing. I finally downed one today after my chest and triceps workout and now i feel great again and am ready for the rest of the week. I am going into the first football saturday feeling strong and jacked. Maybe it was psychological or physical but i kniw i felt lost without it. Thank God for other sources of protein. DO WORK!!!!

I feel like i’ve been down this road before. I just don’t get some people. I see people al the time stressing about the numbers on the scale not moving even though they are slimming down and looking much better each week. As much as they have been told that the body is a complex machine, and muscle, when being built helps to burn fat they are still not happy. they are obsessed with that number on the scale. You tell tham that muscle is heavier than fat so even if that number goes up they are gonna feel lighter and have more energy, they are still not happy. I read an article in Natural Muscle Magazine where the trainer asked one of his clients if they had the choice to weigh 125 lbs have lean muscle and look healthy and strong, or weigh 115 lbs and look pale, skinny and shapeless, he said that about half of his clients said they would take being 115 lbs. My mouth dropped. I write this because so many people are always coming in talking about the changes their body has made but they are dissapointed in the fact that they haven’t dropped any weight. Listen, if i go from 220 lbs with a 40 in waistline and 25% BF to 235 lbs with a 32 inch waistline and 12% BF, I don’t think I will have the scale reading 235. That’s because the numbers I care about are the ones that are not on that scale.

In my gym i walk around and i see it all. Plastic dumbbells, rubber weights and of course steel. Now i know that all of these serve a propose. But when i see a guy that’s as big as me doing walking lunges with pink 15 lb dumbbells, i had to stop my workout and say, "man are you even serious?"  I know we all have to start somewhere, but there are iron 15 lb dumbells there. I got a feeling that rubber and for certain, plastic is not as heavy as Iron. As I wrote in my goal, Superman is not the Man of Rubber and Arnold’s film was not called "Pumping Plastic". Want muscles to blow up. Pick up that Iron. Its called "IRONMAN" magazine. Let’s DO WORK!!

Do you have a workout partner that seems to be aloof when you are trying to get better during workouts? You are stuck under the bar while the guy that should be spotting you is talking or looking off in another direction? One who wants to go a little heavier while the other wants to simply be contenet where he is or quit when it gets a little challenging. Let me ask one more question….Why are you still training with this person? Why not get a partner that holds you accountable? I have a lot of good friends and I love them to death. But sometimes our best friends can be our worst enemy when we are training. You need the person that will not just take the bar from you when you think you have had enough, you want that person thatsees that you have 1 or more reps left in you and will make you force it out. Two like minded individuals making each other better and stronger, bringing out the best in each other. Iron Sharpens Iron, Iron doesn’t sharpen wood. Do you have someone that will challenge you to go just a bit farther, to force out that last rep, to help you go that extra five minutes of cardio, to get you to push past your pain? I’m not trying to get in between you and a good friend, just saying that good friends may not be the best workout partners. Have fun in the gym but stay focused and DO WORK and then the fun will follow

TO SERVE SUM SUCKAS UP!!!!!

When i played football in high school, i was on a team that had only won 9 games in three years and we had just come off our worst season ever my junior year. We were 2-8 and quite franly were a pathetic excuse for a football team. In comes a new head coach. He immediately changed the attitude of the program. He asked us all, "why go through all of these tough practices in unbearable heat and humidity day in and day out only to go out and not play to win on Friday night". Something woke up in us. We realized that maybe we weren’t losing because we were bad physically, but we were losing because we had already made up in our mind that we would lose and no sonner than our opponents scored their first touchdown, we instantly conceded the game to them. Well the next week he went out and purchased a tombstone and had engraved on it, " the fear of losing died 1985". That year we went 5-5 and never lost a game by more than a touchdown. Critics say you can’t learn life’s lessons from sports. I say Bullsh!t. Because our new coach said those few words and made the gesture of buying that tombstone, our program went from being the laughing stock of our area and now it is one of the best high school programs in the entire state of Florida and also has been ranked in the top 10 several times by USA today. He is no longer at the school but his legacy led to the great and respected program that Madison County High School is today. What does this have to do with Bodybuilding? Well people the problem of going to the gym and giving up too fast because they don’t see the changes they want to see. I thought about what he told us years ago in the little weight room the day he introduced himself to us. I’m gonna repeat his words, why put yourself through the hard work and sweat, tears and soreness only to quit because things weren’t happening fast enough? Once you start studying the art of training and doing things like keeping a journal, learning the importance of proper nutrition and cardio and proper lifting techniques, you’ll started seeing changes that you want to see. And you can’t put the fear of failure behind you as you get better and better as your life goes on. I often thought about buying a tombstone that reads "the fear of FAILURE died today" like my coach did 24 years ago. And now that i’m starting to get through another tough mountain in my life I realize that failure and losing is no longer an option for me unless its doing a set to FAILURE or LOSING fat. What do you fear that you need to put to rest? DO WORK!!!

Give your child’s lunch an extreme — and deliciously nutritious — makeover. We know that maybe your teenager will eat what they want, sometimes to their detriment but at least for your elementary kids you can make them an alternative to the seemingly destructive lunches that the schools are serving these days
 USE A BENTO BOX
Japanese-style bento boxes and their nesting compartments are perfect for kid-size nibbles. Best of all, when your child pops the lid, the entire spread is at her fingertips, which puts the carrots on par with the PB&J and grapes for super-easy grazing. (Find the box shown above at laptoplunches.com.)
 SNEAK IN EXTRA VEGGIES
If the produce in your kid’s lunch is making the return trip home, consider hiding it. Add finely grated carrots to tuna and chicken salad, swap lettuce for nutrient-dense baby spinach, or try Horizon’s new Little Blends yogurts, which offer surprisingly tasty fruit and vegetable combos, such as Strawberry-Carrot and Banana-Sweet Potato.
 ADD (MORE) WHOLE GRAINS
Pack whole wheat pretzels instead of other salty snacks. Or take a cue from nutritionist Barbara Storper, author of Janey Junkfood’s Fresh Adventure!, and make a checkerboard sandwich. Use one slice of whole wheat bread and one of white, then cut the sandwich into quarters and rearrange the squares as shown.
 OFFER NUTRITIOUS SNACKS
Apples not making the grade? Try freeze-dried fruit, such as Brothers-All-Natural or Crispy Green. Another option from chef and school-lunch reformer Ann Cooper: homemade gorp. Kids can choose the ingredients, then mix up their own combinations each night before school.
 SERVE LOW-SUGAR DRINKS
In lieu of traditional juice boxes, pack a juice-and-water blend, such as R.W. Knudsen Family Organic Sensible Sippers, or fill a thermos with flavored water (make your own or try a store-bought variety — just be on the lookout for artificial sweeteners).

I am always looking for a way to up the intensity of any of my workouts to push mt body to new limits. Well after looking in this month’s M&F mag, i saw a drill that will definately test your limits. We all know what a suicide drill is. This is the ultimate suicide drill. It combines suicide drills with HIIT. You go to a football field and start on the 50 yard line. Sprint 10 yards to the 40 yard line. Sprint back to the other 40 which will cover 20 yards. then you sprint back to the 30 yard line and back and forth each time adding 10 yards until you do a 100 yard sprint. For each sprint you rest the amount of seconds for the total of number of yards you run. I’ll lay it out in complete detail in a sec. So if you want to increase speed, and want to blast out some mean leg muscles, try this…If you dare.

Ultimate Suicide Drill

Start at the 50-yd line, Run to the home 40 (10 yds) Rest 10 sec.

Run to the visitor’s 40 (20 yds) Rest 20 sec.

Run to the home 30 (30 yds) Rest 30 sec.

Visitor 30, (40 yds) Rest 40

Home 20, (50 yds) Rest 50

Visitor 20, (60 yds) Rest 60

home 10, (70 yds) Rest 70

visitor 10, (80 yds) Rest 80

Home Goal Line, (90 yds) Rest 90

Vistior Goal, (100 yds) Rest 100

Well my hamstring is feeling a little better today, so i’m gonna get back in the gym because i’m already two days behind because i tweaked it the other day and it forced me to stay in Yesterday. Man were people right when they say, when you miss one day you miss a lot. I realy hated missing my biceps and back workout yesterday so i’m gonna have to combine it with my 30 minute walk/run today. Not gonna be as hard core as i normally go but at least i’m gonna be there. Man this really is addictive. I was going through withdrawals yesterday. But at least I ate right so i think i’ll be fine. So i wonder how some people when they start just give it up. It only took me one workout to get hooked and now i go crazy if i miss a workout.

Back/ Biceps workout:

Deadlift: 3 sets 5

T-bar Row 3 sets 6-10

Upright Row 3 sets 10

Lat Pulls 3 sets 12

Preacher Curls 3 sets 6-10

Dumbell Hammers 3 sets 12

Cable curls 3 sets 12

Someone asked me this morning why i like to use all three of these types of equipment when i workout. I told him for me each serves a specific purpose. I use Free Weights for the bulking, cables for some isolation movements and Machines for me to handle heavy weight when i can’t find a spotter and for better form on such lifts as squats. I have however seen people use only one and swear by them and I guess you could serve your purpose by doing only one. But I just find it hard personally to believe that I can have an effective Bench press by pushing stacks on a machine, And i’d prefer Dumbells for isolation curls over cables. I guess to each his own. What works best for you or do you find all three helpful?