WolverineGuy’s BodyBlog

I like my workouts being a challenge.  I do not like that challenge being due to the fact that I can’t breathe through my nose.  Ugh.  I absolutely pushed myself just to get through my chest workout, much less triceps or *gasp* cardio (that gasp was more of what I was trying to do for air than anything).  I’m really right on the cusp of my aesthetic goal for the summer…just need to drop the water weight, bring out my abs and pecs a LITTLE more, and tan.  That’s it…I figure a month for the extra size on those bodyparts, and then a few weeks cutting and I’m good.  At least, that’s my realistic goal for the summer…next summer is a totally different matter.

What do you guys do when you’re sick?  Do you throw in the towel until you’re better, or do you plug through?

So my girlfriend told me yesterday that I was obsessed and have body dysmorphia.  Basically, I spend too much time in the gym, and too much time worrying about getting my abs to pop.  I mentioned this to someone (a miscer…one that actually lifts), and he responded with "obsession is a word used by the weak to describe the dedicated."  While I laughed (if I EVER said this to my girlfriend, my balls would never see the light of day again), it did get me thinking.  I don’t think people understand my mentality…or anyone’s that does bodybuilding as a hobby.

Let me make this clear:  I don’t think I’m fat.  I was a chubby when I started, but not horridly obese.  I’m fairly lean now.  I can’t see my abs due to excess water weight.  Its not that I think I’m out of shape.  On the contrary, I don’t think there are many people that I know that could possibly keep up with me in the gym (people I know personally, not overall people in the world).  My workouts are not the most brutal, or the most intense, but they’re more than the casual gym goer could handle.  I’m in great shape, both cardiovascularly, strength-wise, and how I look.  I’m not where I WANT to be though.  And that’s a HUGE difference.  I have a vision in my head of where I want to be as opposed to where I am.  I want to get there because I need a goal.  Is that goal unreachable?  No, but its not an easy one; if it was easy there would be no point. Strokes run on my dad’s side of the family; cancer runs on my mom’s.  I owe it to myself and my kids to be as healthy as possible.

I had a ridiculously high complement paid to me yesterday.  One of my buddies, Alex, called me, and we talked for a bit about bs, and then the subject shifted to the gym.  He really believed that my progress picture that I use for my avatar/profile picture was some random person that I had set as my goal for my body.  He did not believe it was me.  Then he went on about how reading my facebook updates and my bodyblogs was his motivation for hitting the gym every day.  Up until he saw my progress and dedication, he thought he was just too old to make any real change to his body.  It absolutely floored me.  I’m glad that I’m making a positive difference in people’s lives.  It feels good.  Then he told me someone asked him why he hits the weights so hard every day.  He replied: "because I want to be able to kick Kevin’s ass."  I laughed my head off at that.  Brilliant.

Today was chest day…benched 155 lbs for five reps.  I actually did five sets leading up to that, and did it twice.  It may not seem like a lot, but you’re talking to a guy that four months ago was happy he could bench 100 lbs.  My bench has never been my strong point.  Did cable crossovers for five sets, Incline DB presses for five sets, and flyes on the machine for five sets.  Finished off with cable pulldowns on my tris, then went to TOWN on my abs.  Finished off by running for a solid 1.7 miles at an average of 5.7 mph (two minutes of 2.5 warm up, two minutes of 2.5 cooldown was included in that average, it was more like 6.6 mph for 1.4 miles).  I’m feeling great, and yearning to do MMA again.  Until next time…

Squatted more than I weigh today…that’s always a good time.  Currently I’m doing a 5×5 on all of my big lifts, and 3×10 on everything else.  I killed my abs today too…

LEGS

5×5 @ 195lbs squats

3X10 @ 70lbs seated calf raises

3×10 @ 110 lbs romanian deadlifts

ABS

3×10 plank rollouts on medicine ball

3×10 bicycles

3×10 lying leg raises

3×10 weighted decline crunches @ 45lbs

3×10 cable wood chop @ 70 lbs

3×10 weighted side bends @ 55 lbs

Then I did 23 minutes on the treadmill, sprinting every other minute at 9mph or above.  I feel really good today, but water weight is plaguing me.  Until next time.

Finally done with the show, and not a moment too soon as far as my fitness is concerned.  My diet has been absolute crap since we got to production week.  I tried to minimize the damage with smaller portions, but I’ve been drinking Coke like its going out of style.  So today was my last day of said crappy eating (just haven’t gotten time to go to the grocery store, plus my kids begged me for pizza), and time to start hitting the gym again with renewed dietary strictness!  Today I started a stack of Superpump, Sizeon, and Nolvadex.  Gaspari reps, effing sponsor me already, cuz I buy tons of your products.  Had a fabulous workout tonight:  Chest, tris, abs, and ran for two miles.  Managed to put up 155 lbs on bench for three reps, which, if you know me, is some feat.  Benching has never been my strong point.  Did five sets of five, averaging around 135 lbs.  Did incline presses, cable flyes, cable pulldowns, and then absolutely destroyed my abs.  Then ran for two miles, in case I didn’t mention that.

For those of you that follow this blog, sorry that I haven’t updated in so long.  My time has been taken up by the show, so now I’m back!

Oy veh, real life sucks.  I hate the fact that I have to WORK!  Doesn’t leave much time for training MMA.  I’m working full time serving, plus musical director for a local high school.  After that, I’m taking a quasi promotion to shift supervisor.  This totally cuts out MMA/BJJ.  I still lift in the morning, but I was really hoping to start working toward my blue belt.

At any rate, I was sick for about a week, now I’m back in the gym (except for today…my kid is sick, so I had to stay with him…probably gonna find a way to work out at home, at least my abs and some light cardio).  Weight is hovering at 194, which I now need to get back down to around 185.  I have a performance on April 25th and I need to look as cut up as possible (gotta work the sexiness factor for tips…yes, singing can be total prostitution for anyone!).

Diet has been mediocre at best due to my schedule…sometimes all I have time for is fast food.  Ugh…wrestlemania is coming up sunday too, which WILL be a cheat day.  Right now I’m relying on cardio and CL REDuction for cutting, which is not going to be NEARLY as effective as it should be if I was eating right.  Wish me luck.

So last night I did MMA class for the first time.  Let me tell you, there’s nothing so humbling as getting your ass kicked for two solid hours.  Back in the day, I rolled every day and was pretty good.  This was honest to God the first time I’ve rolled in two years, and the first time ever with no-gi (at least, seriously).  I got absolutely schooled.  Which is a blow to my ego, a bit, but also not completely unexpected, since these guys roll minimum three times per week, sometimes five.  My endurance was actually better than I’d envisioned, which gives me a confidence boost heading into the Arnold’s, but my no gi skills need some definite help.  I also banged up my elbow pretty good last night hitting the pads.  Yes, just hitting the pads.  They were heavy, brand new, and I was banging em pretty hard.  So I burst a blood vessel in my elbow and bruised up pretty good.  It looks pretty sweet. 

I’m feelin pretty good about everything, overall.  I just want to make a good showing down in Columbus really.  The plan is to obliterate everyone.   I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve, and I need to be more active (I’m just so used to judo guys that are WAY more slow and methodical…the pace in BJJ, espeically no gi, is wicked).  I also tend to be a bit passive and wait for openings…definitely need to create openings and attack.

As for weight training, things are going well…I’m combining a few different things:  plyo, 5×5s, and pyramids…just depends on where in the workout I am.  Weight today was 188, but I’m wearing my button down warmups…those effer’s are heavy.  Pretty sure that puts me at 186 ish.  But, until I can weigh myself sans pants, I’m going with 188.

Diet…oy veh.  I’ve just got so little time to prepare food at home.  Yesterday I had to go to McDonald’s TWICE.  I didn’t eat much from there, but I cringe every time I pass one, much less get in the drive thru.  But my time crunch didn’t allow for much else.  Back to strict eating today, hopefully.

Until next time…

Mind you, this is with full workout gear and shoes on.  Pockets empty.  So…maybe 193 or 192…either way, I have a few pounds to lose to get over that 190 hump (or is it, under).  Anyhoo…

Next week, I’m changing a few things up again.  I’m going to try to incorporate some plyo and circuit training into my regimen, since my endurance is teh suckzors.  Also adding jump rope…and since taxes came in, its time to dive back into BJJ and MMA.  I’ve been doing so much informal training and classes just here and there, I need something structured again.  When I roll, I can hang with blue belts pretty well.  My sub defense is actually good (I’ve had people call it frustrating), but my offense is…well…again, teh suckzors.  Its not necessarily my offensive repertoire, but simply my flow and speed.  That comes from a lack of quality partners to train with, and a VERY small handfull of decent instructors to show me setups and combos.  I’ve figured out a ton on my own (serious), but I need to go beyond theory and occasional rolling.

I’m also VERY interested in boxing.  Not so much muay thai yet.  And I think I’m gonna take the judo a little more seriously.  But the concentration will be on BJJ.  I’m determined to get ranked. 

Until next time…

Just quick update.  I’m now officially ten pounds from my target weight of 185.  I got on the scale today and kept on pushing to the left.  195 feels good.  I’m now officially over half way to my goal, and it feels great.

Stay motivated!

Until next time…

I’m always amazed at how you reach a certain point and you think you have a great amount of knowledge on a subject, and then something happens and a light bulb comes on.  You then realize how little you know about a particular subject.

Take weight lifting/bodybuilding for example.  I’ve been on bb.com long enough to where I’d say, at least in theory, I’m pretty knowledgeable.  I’ve been in the gym, put things into practice, etc.  But every day, I realize how little I do know…

For one, its never worth sacrificing good form for amount of weight.  I’m the type of person that does not like taking things slow…I think that’s true of a lot of people…so I don’t really do beginner anything.  I’m learning that I need to sacrifice putting up big numbers in order to keep my form good and to actually make progress.

Supplementation is good.  Having the right supplements is even better.  What’s working for me?  Check my currently used supplements…they’re doin pretty darned well.  I’ve used supps that suck.  And just because you are taking a LOT of supplements, doesn’t mean you’re really helping your progress along (I could bash a particular company, but I don’t want them to come at me with dat dere lawsuit).  Not saying that the supps from this particular company are bad, but I’ve never seen so many different products.  Its insanity!

Cardio is your friend.  I hate cardio, but I hate it a lot less than I used to.  I had asthma as a kid…bad.  I was in the hospital a lot.  Physical activity scared me when I was younger.  Now I run at least a mile per day (except leg day).  And I’m reaping the benefits (lost almost ten pounds in a month!).

Finally…new year’s resolutions are useless.  What I’m doing is a lifestyle change.  If you want it, you have to want it bad enough to stick through all the plateus, the frustration of being a beginner, and the willpower to not cheat on your diet.  I’ve had some very tempting moments, especially working at a restaurant.  Don’t get me wrong, I have cheat days, but I don’t go crazy (actually, I don’t really do cheat days too often if I can avoid it, but it does help keep the sanity - you better believe Super Bowl Sunday is a cheat day).  You want to lose weight?  Write out a reasonable goal, and a plan to get there.  Get a support system in place.  And above all…be honest.  Don’t exaggerate, and really stay true to the diet.

Until next time…

Worked back, bi’s, and did cardio.  I don’t feel I’m making progress with my back or bis right now…perhaps I need to add some volume…but I’m not really feeling anything.  I’m going to add more sets next week and go to a 5×5 program to shake things up a bit.  Cheat day was yesterday…oy, I felt disgusted with myself when I ate my first burger in a while.  LOL

For cardio, I did the p90x Kenpo workout.  Got my heart rate up, but with all the martial arts I do, I already have the muscular endurance.  Great workout though. Gonna start doing a few of those per week…I have six of the vids, have only checked out Kenpo so far.

Until next time…