benjamminb6’s BodyBlog

Double cardio update:  14/16.

Ok…so tonight was back and triceps.  I skipped pullups tonight on purpose, I wanted to give them a day off and do my workout a little different than normal tonight to switch things up, so I will see if that affects my pullup strength next week.  As for the workout, I was just feeling a little frisky I guess, and wanted to challenge myself but not go overboard in terms of sets, etc. since I am saving the heavier and high volume days for when I work bodyparts individually.  So what I decided to do was some giant sets instead of just my usual supersets.  Man did I work up a sweat!!!  I was pouring sweat, and was absolutely soaked by the time I was done, but I really enjoyed the giant sets, and may incorporate them into my other two bodypart days in the future.  I started off with a giant set of lat pulldowns, v-bar tricep pressdowns, seated cable rows, and one arm reverse grip tricep pulldowns.  I did the exercises in that order, and did not rest at all between exercises or sets, I just went one to the next to the next to the next….until I had done four sets of each and was sweating and breathing very heavily haha.  I used more weight on the lat pulldowns than I have in a very long time, it just felt lighter, but this is probably a combination of me getting stronger, and me having skipped the pullups that I usually start with.  After that I did another giant set that consisted of deadlifts, one arm dumbell overhead tricep extensions, t-bar rows, and rope pressdowns.  I don’t usually do rope pressdowns, especially if I have already done v-bar pressdowns, but I wanted to use both grips tonight and do something different.  I felt really strong on the deadlifts and the t-bar rows also, and used more weight than usual on both….so maybe my back is just getting stronger, who knows.  I finished it off with a superset of serratus pulldowns and cable kickbacks.  Overall it was a good workout, and very different from what I usually do.  I have never done the cable kickbacks before, haven’t done giant sets in a very long time, left out some of my regulars like pullups and skullcrushers, and did heavier pulldowns, deadlifts, and rows than usual.  So it was a nice change of pace.  Man I can’t wait to get in my high volume days now!  So I was planning on taking a day off tomorrow, but may go and do leg day since I haven’t gone too heavy on them this week and they aren’t sore.  I guess it will depend on how my hamstrings feel after the deadlifts I did tonight.  If I do take the day off from lifting, I will still get in my two sessions of cardio and I NEED TO DO MY ABS!!!!!

Ok.  So this keto diet that I am gonna start.  I have pretty much already started it.  I am still tinkering with how many calories I need and am trying to get as much info as possible so that I know I am going about it correctly.  The diet that I have written down on paper only has about 2250 calories, and that is fairly low for someone my size who probably eats closer to 4000 calories most days.  I put my numbers into one of those calorie calculators, and it says that my maintenance calories would be about 3800, but I don’t know if that is how many I would eat because of my level of activity, or just regardless.  So, if I only eat 2250 calories, that’s nearly a 1600 calorie deficit, and I usually burn roughly 1200 calories a day between my two workouts (maybe more, but that’s the lowball estimate I came up with), so that would mean I end up with only 1000 calories a day?  I’m not sure if that’s how it works or not….I need to figure that out too.  I just don’t want to be eating too few calories and end up losing muscle as a result.  But if those numbers are accurate, then I think that would mean that I was at a 2800 calorie a day deficit below my maintenance number, which would equate to about .8 pounds lost per day!  That’s like 24 pounds between now and my bday, so I may be way off on those calculations.  Anyway, I’ll figure it out and finalize my meal plans this weekend.  In the meantime, I am basically eating every 3 hours, alternating between chicken breast one meal, and 4 eggs the next, with 1 tablespoon of olive oil at each meal, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter with my eggs, and one cup of broccoli twice a day with my chicken, and then a protein shake post workout.  Seems pretty keto to me….but who knows.

Ok.  So there is this girl at the gym.  She’s not there everyday, but she is there about every other day, and I always notice her because she is cute, but quiet, and she always runs on the treadmill, then swims laps in the pool, and spends some time in the jacuzzi reading.  I have been in the jacuzzi with her on two other occasions, but we have never even said one word to each other.  So tonight, somehow we started talking about ghosts of all things hahahaha!!!  It was sooooo random!  But anyway, we both were telling our ghost stories about our personal encounters lol, and that just led to a long and interesting conversation.  She’s really cute and sweet, but she seemed very innocent and naive in a way, I dunno.  She seemed nervous and self conscious, but she was really nice.  Her name is Kim, and she is 23, but when talking to her, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she was 16 or if she was 30.  She has a very youthful (innocent and naive) way about her, but at the same time you can tell she has experienced a lot, which makes her seem older too.  She looks pretty cute in her bikini too haha, but we both joked about how badly we needed a tan.  Anyway, since we had never ever spoken before, despite seeing each other there probably 40 times this year, I didn’t really think anything of the conversation, and just figured I had caught her on a chatty night.  So we both got out and went to our locker rooms and she said bye and I thought that would be it.  But after I showered and got dressed and did all my guy stuff in the locker room lol, I walked out to leave and she was waiting for me!!!  I was shocked, but it made me smile.  So she asked if she could walk with me, and when we got to my car she asked me if I wanted to take a walk with her.  "Now?"  I asked.  It was 2:30 in the morning and kinda cold out, but she wanted me to go take a walk and talk to her more, so I put my stuff in the car and said sure.  We walked around the block, probably a mile and a half, I dunno, but it was about 25 minutes, so it was a decent walk, and chatted the whole time.  About halfway through the walk, she grabbed my hand to "show me how cold her hands were" lol, and then she held my hand or my arm and felt my biceps haha the whole rest of the walk.  This girl was definitely flirting with me in a very subtle and sweet way, without saying anything flirty at all.  It was flattering and fun, so I’m glad I walked with her.  When we got back to our cars, we talked for another minute or two, and then she said she had to go.  So, she gave me a hug, and then I said bye, and she ran over and gave me another hug lol, and then she decided to go for one more big hug and just kept hugging me for like a minute or more!!  She told me she thought she was gonna have a crush on me and asked if that was ok, then quickly said that she shouldn’t have said that cuz guys only want what they can’t have, so that would mean I wouldn’t want her.  Anyway, I said goodnight and waved goodbye and we left.  I didn’t ask for her number or anything, which may have been rude, but I figure she will be at the gym again in a day or so and we can chat more then.  She’s definitely cute, and unique, so who knows, maybe we will hang out soon.  Anyway, it made for an interesting end to my workout, and gave me some extra cardio haha. 

So that was my odd day.  Tomorrow is my fantasy baseball draft!  I have been talking plenty of smack and emailing the rest of the league saying a bunch of funny insults, etc., but not one person has responded!  So I dunno if they are just not getting the messages, or just don’t care.  I also need to do my midterm tomorrow, and hit the gym, so it should be a full day

Double cardio update: 13/15.

Another day, another disciplined two sessions of cardio, so that’s good.  I am planning on starting a keto diet on Monday, or maybe sooner, I have been writing down my meal plans on paper, and need to tinker with it a tiny bit more to adjust some of the numbers, so if I keep working on it this weekend, I should have a solid day by day meal plan set up by Monday.  I still need to do my research on the "carb up" day on Saturday or whatever day it is.  I am not sure what I am allowed to eat on this day, and don’t want to just go crazy and wreck the whole process of ketosis that I am trying to obtain.  So, a few more days of going through all of the forum posts and other info I can find online, and I should be ready.  I will need to go back to the store and stock up on essentials like olive oil, chicken, cheese, etc.  Once I have my meal plan down, I will be off to go shopping.  Other than that, what I need to be doing is practicing piano and getting caught up on homework!!!!  Next week is spring break, so no classes, but I am already very far behind in two classes, and hate to fall farther back.  I hafta do my online midterm before Saturday night for my Reading class, and I know that I am going to fail.  I am pretty certain that Reading and Spanish are gonna be very close calls in terms of passing or failing.  I am currently failing Spanish badly, and I had a B+ in Reading, but have missed a few assignments, plus am planning on failing the midterm, so that should bring my grade down substantially.  I know that sounds horribly pessimistic, but it isn’t, it’s just extremely realistic based on the lack of effort that I have been putting forth in the class.  So in order to pass, I will need to really up the ante on my work in these two classes for the second half of the semester.  And piano seems like it will be easy enough for me to get caught up or even be ahead of the rest of the class, if I can just convince myself to spend less time screwing around on Youtube and more time practicing.  The sad thing is that I have been watching instructional piano videos on Youtube, but not actually practicing the piano…..doesn’t make sense at all!!

Ok.  So tonight was chest and biceps.  I worked very quickly and very hard.  I felt pumped and sore, but I didn’t overdo it.  I only did 4 exercises for each and 4 sets per exercise, which felt pretty good, but I am anxious for next weeks bigger workouts, individual bodyparts everyday and 8-10 exercises per bodypart!  It will be interesting to see how this keto diet affects my energy levels and my ability to work hard in the gym.  I have been reading that the first few days are very tough, but after awhile, you have more energy than usual.  So, I am a little skeptical still, but also excited about trying something new and different.  Should be interesting either way.

Other than that, not a whole lot is going on.  I spoke to Heather via text today for the 1st time in a few weeks, she texted me to ask a question, and we ended up having a mini conversation, and she sent me pictures of her new haircut.  Meh….she just looks like she is trying to copy her friend Ashley’s style and be super hip and semi-emo, which I guess goes right along with her lame new tattoo, she may have more than just the one, and she will probably end up re-piercing her body and face.  She has major issues with attention, identity, and self awareness.  It’s pretty sad, and if she never recognizes it and continues down this path, she is gonna be so gross and miserable in a few years.  Tough luck I guess, but some people just have a hard time facing the reality of their own self destructive behavior.  As for my personal life, nothing going on AT ALL!!!  Kind of sad haha.  I have been so busy with school, 2 gym sessions everyday, eating, and doing research/playing around online, that I really haven’t had much time for a personal life these past two weeks.  I usually go to bed around 6am, and wake up around noon everyday.  Then I check my email, take my vitamins, use the restroom, stretch, and get to the gym around 1pm.  Home around 2pm.  Eaten and showered by 3pm.  After that I’ll screw around online for about an hour and maybe look at some homework, or play a poker tournament online.  All of a sudden its after 6pm and time to eat again.  Then I usually try to get out of the house for an hour or so to get some fresh air and go walk around the mall or go to the store or something.  Home at 8ish, eating again at 9pm.  Clean up my dishes and spend an hour or so talking to friends online and reading the forums, and then its time to change and get ready for the gym.  At the gym at midnight, usually lift until about 115am, then cardio for 20 minutes, sauna for 15 minutes, jacuzzi for 15-20 minutes, shower, and leave the gym around 230am.  Home and changed by 3am.  And then I’m here writing this blog and listening to music to unwind.  Afterwards, maybe watch a movie, or do some more reading, and before you know it, its 6am and I’m finally sleepy.  So my day is pretty full anyway.  There is room for improvement in terms of how I spend my time, and I will hafta make these changes soon since I need to start finding a job!!!  But yeah, I also need to have better time management so that I can start playing golf once a week, and who knows, maybe even start dating at some point if I ever meet a nice girl.  Anyway, its getting late, and I’ve blabbed enough, so I will get off here.  Keto here I come!!

Cardio update: 12/14.

I took yesterday off from lifting, but still went and did two really good 45 minutes sessions of cardio.  So I am feeling pretty good about my discipline and dedication, and now that two weeks are done, I am completely on pace to reach my goal of doing two sessions of cardio per day for 45/51 days leading up to my birthday.  I am contemplating doing the keto diet, since it seems to be unbelievably popular right now, and is what Dave Palumbo apparently uses to get his pros in shape for contests.  I know he had worked with Toney Freeman last year leading up to Toney’s two IFBB wins in a row, and people seem to respect his knowledge, so I may give it a shot.  The problem that I have with it is that the guy who created it Lyle Mcdonald, I think thats his name, has a fairly shitty looking body, and so does Dave Palumbo!  No disrespect to either guy, but if that’s the diet that they are using, no thanks!!  Toney Freeman on the other hand, looked incredible last year, and I would love to have that kind of body, so who knows, maybe it works differently for each individual.  The other thing, is that in the forums on here, everyone who posts about keto that is apparently on it or has knowledge of it, does not have a picture up on their page!!!  All these people are posting repeatedly about what is correct or incorrect on keto, and how amazing it is, and how low their bodyfat and big their muscles are……but they haven’t got a single picture to back it up!!!  Why not??  If it’s really so great, wouldn’t they all be showing off their fabulous results??  Anyway, that makes me really curious.  Also, the amount of fat is at least double what I would normally expect to intake in a day, so when cutting fat is your goal, it is a little scary to be doubling your fat intake!!!  But they say that you need fat in order to burn fat, so who knows.  If I try it and am strict about it for 2 or 3 weeks, and I feel like I’m gaining fat, or just not enjoying it at all, I can always quit and go back to a lower fat diet.  I emailed a guy who said he had been using it, and he emailed me back about it and had pictures to show.  He said that he lost tons of fat quickly, and he looks amazing in his pics, but he also said that the minimal amount of carbs left him feeling very cranky and tired, and that by the time he had gotten his bodyfat down, he was overjoyed, not because he looked great, but because he quit the diet.  So it was sort of a mixed review haha, he claimed that it worked and fat loss was great, he had great abs, but he said he hates the diet more than anything in the world because of how it made him feel throughout.  I need to really read up a little more on it, and maybe start it hardcore next week.  I think I have my daily diet down, as far as what I will be eating, and when, and the numbers equate fairly well to the 65% fat, 30% protein, 5% carb ratio that is supposed to define keto.  However, on the one day a week that I "carb up" and eat a cheat meal, I’m not really sure what I am supposed to eat and how much carbs, etc.  So I have a little more research to do, which is good cuz that will allow me a few days to finish off the milk and other carb-y foods in the fridge haha.

So my workout tonight!  It went well, I could’ve worked a little harder probably, and done another exercise or two for each bodypart, but I have decided to use my 2 bodypart days to go a little lighter and faster, while really going heavy and hammering each bodypart on the days that I work them individually.  I think that this will keep me from overtraining, keep my body guessing a little by switching back and forth between lighter weight with high reps, and heavy weight with low reps and more sets/exercises.  I did hack squats tonight with my leg training, which felt good.  I am curious to see how my legs feel tomorrow.  Overall, I have been feeling pretty pumped lately, especially in my chest, biceps, and shoulders.  I still need to be very focused on my back and triceps, as they have a ton of work needed, and I also need to really figure out my diet so that I am burning as much fat as possible.  Anyway, tons to do but I have tons of time do figure it all out right??  I definitely have certain goals for the next few weeks, and the weeks leading up to summertime.  I want to have fun and be fairly ripped this summer, but I am aware that it will probably take a lot of hard work from now until summer of next year before I truly peak and feel satisfied with my physique. 

Cardio update: 10/12.

So the debacle of missing two days during my first week of double cardio is long behind me it seems, and I have been making sure that I get it done regardless of what is going on in my day.  For example, this morning I had been up all night working on an essay, had not gone to sleep yet, and had been awake for more than 24 straight hours, but I still hit the gym for my morning cardio.  I was reading some articles on cardio, and although I do use the interval setting on the bike or elliptical machine, I think I need to be more focused during my cardio and really make sure to emphasize those intervals and change up my intensity during the workout.  As for my essay….I was up all night, and I think it turned out alright actually, so we’ll see.  I was falling asleep in class today though, and my professor caught me napping haha.

This week has been a fairly solitary week.  Since my phone was temporarily broken, my contact with the outside world was limited to email.  So I haven’t spoken to Dave, Roger, JR, or really any of my friends all week.  Laura stopped by one day to check on me and hang out for a bit, but that was it.  I have also been having terrible allergies and fits of sneezing all week.  I thought it was the result of the fan at the gym blowing dust in my face, but now I’m not sure.  I seem to be sneezing more when I’m in my room than any other time!  Which seems odd, cuz prior to this week I didn’t seem to have any allergies in the house….so I dunno what has changed that is affecting me so much.  I wish I could get my hands on some ephedra, it is a very good product to help with hayfever and allergies, and the fat burning would be nice too haha.  Maybe I will research online to see if I can find some.

So I have been really wanting to go to Vegas ever since my trip got canceled last week, so hopefully I will get to go in the next few weeks.  Some guys are going for March Madness, so I may try to go then.  I feel bad cuz JR was supposed to go with me, but now he probably won’t have the opportunity to miss more work, but if I end up going alone, it won’t be bad at all….it will be nice to relax.  I have a ton of things that I need to be doing though, getting a job being the most important.  I was hoping to get to go to Vegas before I absolutely had to find a job.  Once I get hired somewhere, it will be difficult to take days off for a Vegas trip, so I need to take my trip first.  Also, I keep having vivid dreams about going to Hawaii whenever I am asleep, so maybe its a premonition of things to come lol, I sure hope so!!!

So tonight, my sneezing was out of control, and I considered skipping the gym, but since I am trying so hard to be diligent, I decided that that was simply not an option.  I did my back tonight, and tried to focus on using heavier weights than usual in an effort to switch up my routine, and I also did a few hammer machines that I have never used before and tried to target my lats, since this is the bodypart I feel I need the most work on.  The workout was really good.  The only thing that I didn’t do that I had planned on doing, was barbell rows.  I always have these in mind, but never do them, and I need to start making them a part of my routine.  I always worry about form and so I need to just suck it up, swallow my pride, and use a really light weight until I am sure that my form is ok and then I can move on from there.  That has been my mentality on deadlifts lately too.  I have been trying to do them always, and have been keeping the weight light and focusing on using proper form.  I will start going a little heavier or pyramiding up in weight next time, but for an exercise like deadlifts, my form has to be my first consideration.

Tomorrow I am planning on taking a day off from lifting, and just getting in two good sessions of high intensity cardio.  I have class tomorrow night, so when I wake up I need to spend an hour or two practicing the songs I was supposed to learn for piano class.  I may actually take two days off from lifting, but it just depends on how I feel, because I have been working really really hard all week, but haven’t gotten enough sleep.  I need to put more effort into having a regular sleep schedule, especially since I’m not working right now.  I also need to spend a lot more time and effort on my homework!!!  I really don’t care to do my spanish or reading homework, and its sad cuz I may end up failing those classes simply from lack of effort and desire.  I have been keeping up in english because professor Gebhard is amazing and always emails me and keeps me laughing and interested in the class.  She is easily the coolest teacher that I have ever had.  My broadcasting class is lame, but should be an easy A.  But more than anything, I need to put in a lot more effort on practicing piano.  I have this super awesome and new piano in my house, and I never use it except on Tuesday mornings in a last ditch effort to get some practice in before class.  By doing this, and I am just keeping up in class, when I probably should be excelling!!  I need to spend at least an hour a day playing, and I think I could be learning more, understanding a lot better, and pushing myself to be more advanced more quickly.  I have a strong desire to learn and play, I just haven’t been making the time.  I even watch tutorials online, and watch a lot of demonstrations and instructional videos on Youtube, which just makes me want to learn even more so I can play super cool songs that I love instead of the remedial stuff we are forced to learn for class.  I think that starting tomorrow that will be my new project…..play piano for an hour a day.  I certainly have the time, I spend more than an hour a day watching videos on Youtube, chatting with friends, or jerking off haha…so if I limit my bullshit unimportant activities, I will have more time.  I need a day planner or a calendar so I can write all this stuff down and check it off.  Piano for an hour everyday, golf at least one day a week, homework at least an hour every night, etc.

Ok, its almost 4am.  So I am going to sleep till 10 or 11 and then get up and go do my cardio.  Then I can eat, shower, and spend 2 hours practicing piano, then rest for an hour before I hafta go to school.  Gnite.

Double cardio quest update: 9/11.

So I have always felt very disappointed in my triceps.  I am strong, and can push a lot of weight on tricep exercises….it is probably one of my strongest bodyparts in terms of the amount of weight I use when I work it.  However, I can barely see my tricep when I look in the mirror or try to flex it.  I dunno….sometimes to me it looks like I just dont have a tricep.  I see these skinny guys with huge looking triceps that pop out of their upper arms, or muscular guys that can’t use half the weight that I can on tricep exercises, and they also have amazing looking tri’s.  But me, nothing.  I have tried it all too.  Heavy weights, lighter weights, high rep counts, low rep counts, supersets, tri sets, giant sets, drop sets, straight sets, and every possible exercise under the sun……nothing helps.  I need to really do some research and make sure that I have been and am doing everything I can to possible build up the mass and definition in my tri’s, but I fear that it is probably just a case of bad genetics in this area, and there may be nothing I can do to change the present circumstances of my arm development.  I feel like it really holds back the overall look and size of my arms, and is a constant source of frustration when after pounding away at them with every possible tactic, they look and feel the same week after week, month after month.  They don’t even get sore the next day either.  Every other bodypart has at least some soreness the next day after a brutal workout, but not my triceps.  I can do 50 sets and 500 reps on 12 different exercises, and the next day they feel and look as if they have never been worked at all.  Who knows…..but I really wanna figure this out, cuz if it is just my genetics, and there’s nothing I can do about it, at least I can stop thinking about it so much.

So my workout was good anyway, or at least I felt like I worked really hard.  I was tempted to go to the beach today since it was such a nice day, but went and did my morning cardio instead for 45 minutes when I woke up, so I’m proud of myself for being disciplined.  I had a nice chat with a girl named Ashley in the sauna after my workout tonight.  She and I were laughing at Dave Chappelle since it was on the tv, and she is there almost every night, so we are both regulars haha.  She’s a nice girl, she could probably beat me up in a fight tho lol.  Tomorrow is back day, which I am always anxious for.  Back and triceps are the 2 bodyparts that I feel could use the most improvement, at least visually, tho my back does seem to be making some good progress lately.  I also need to spend a few hours working on my piano stuff tomorrow since I am kind of behind in class, and would like to learn some new stuff on my own anyway.  I pretty much hate all of my classes except piano and am probably in serious danger of flunking 2 of them.  If I make it through this semester, I’m not sure at all if I will be going back to school again or not….this has all seemed like a huge waste of my time, but maybe I just am enrolled in the wrong classes.  I should go see a counselor and discuss possible classes for next semester, maybe the right schedule will inspire me to want to finish and know what the heck I want to do once I graduate.  I have considered becoming a personal trainer.  Most of the trainers at the gym are fat and have these people doing ridiculous exercises that aren’t gonna help them at all, and it frustrates me to watch.  I may enjoy being a trainer since I love fitness so much, so that might be something I look into this summer.  Anyway, essay to finish before class in 8 hours, so hasta mañana.

Double Cardio Update….8/10.

Ok, so today I did go a little lighter on the cardio, but I did do two sessions, so I’m counting it.  Today was an interesting day….got my phone fixed finally, still have congested sinuses, and went grocery shopping.  I have been spending a lot of time reading various articles on here about health and nutrition, as well as training.  Some of the stuff regarding nutrition is really amazing….it makes me wanna take a class at school about it.  Anyway, I am not going to blab about a bunch of crap tonight cuz its late and I need to get some rest, so I will keep it brief.

I did my biceps tonight, and it felt really good.  I did 7 exercises, 4 sets each.  I was reading an article in which some guy was saying that 4 exercises, 3 sets each, would be all that you need to build big arms, but I dont believe that to be true.  At least not for me.  My arms dont feel worked unless I really go at them hard, so I try to do a ton of sets, some heavier with low reps, some lighter with high reps, and I include supersets and dropsets.  Lee Priest once said that he uses 30 or more sets for his biceps and triceps in order to make them so spectacular, so as far as I’m concerned, more is better for my arms.  I have always felt like I had really shitty triceps, so I need to figure them out a little bit better, and it could just be genetics, who knows.  Anyway, I was completely pumped after my workout and felt really good.  I have played basketball a few times this week in order to warm up.  It’s a lot more fun than warming up on the treadmill or whatever, and even tho I haven’t played in almost a year, my jumper is still pretty good haha.  Tomorrow is triceps, and then Monday will be back, and then I will probably take a day off and just do cardio.  Anyway, overall a really good week, and I feel great about my continued progress.

Double cardio quest update….7/9.

Happy to say that the number on the scale continues to drop.  Although, my goal isnt really to lose weight, just to improve my physique.  I wouldn’t mind weighing 250, as long as I had good abs and looked shredded….however, I do think that I will be more comfortable and more likely to be shredded if I get down between 210 and 225.  So I was roughly 250 when the year started, and am now down to 231.5….so almost 20 pound weight loss in 10 weeks, not too bad.

Tonight was my chest workout.  My allergies have been bad all day….well, really all week.  I think I realized what its from…When I go do morning cardio, I always use the same elliptical machine because it is in front of the tv that is tuned in to ESPN.  It is also directly below a fan, only about 3 feet below, and I think the fan is probably blowing dust and allergens right at me.  I always feel fine in the morning, but end up sneezing by the time I leave the gym, and continue to do so afterwards.  Anyway……on to my workout.  A good workout, although I skipped the barbell bench press.  I was reading something that said the barbell bench works your front delts more than your chest, and is really an overrated exercise in terms of sculpting your pecs.  I already have a pretty good amount of mass in my pecs, so sculpting is more important, and so is the health and pain free-ness of my wrists lol.  I did 7 exercises, 4 sets each, and worked really hard.  So it was a good workout.  I have been feeling pretty strong on the incline dumbell presses, and may start doing flat dumbell presses as well.  Nothing special to report otherwise in regard to my workout.  Tomorrow is biceps, but I may take the day off from lifting and just do my 2 cardio sessions…I haven’t decided yet.

Sooo that really cute girl Corrin was at the gym again tonight!  Ooooh she is so cute haha!  Anyway, we chatted for about 10 minutes, and were joking around and being very flirty.  Then came the question of doom haha.  I asked her age, and she is only 18!!!!  Yikes!  I’m not opposed to 18, it is a very nice age, and 18 year old girls are yummy lol, but only if they have the mental maturity needed to communicate and get along with me.  However, just because I don’t mind, doesn’t mean that she feels the same way in regard to age.  After we discussed the age thing, I felt like she got a little weird about it, and she seemed genuinely surprised to hear that I was 27!!!  That’s kinda nice, cuz it means she thought I was much younger lol.  But she came to say goodbye before she left, and she certainly didn’t have to do that, so who knows….maybe she wasn’t apalled by the age difference.  I suppose it doesn’t matter haha, cuz its not like I’m planning on asking her out or anything, at least I wouldn’t plan on it anytime soon.  But someone as nice and as cute as her could probably change my mind, and I certainly wouldn’t say no if she asked me out….  Anyway, that was it for tonight.  Have school stuff to take care of tomorrow, and nothin else really going on in my personal life.  I am really proud of myself for going and doing my cardio everyday.  And although I still feel chubby, and need to take new pics and measurements, the scale doesnt lie, and I am losing weight.  Ok, I’m gonna go make something to eat and play some poker before bed.

Twice a day cardio quest update…..6/8.

Okie dokie.  Not tons to report here tonight.  Did my legs, and my cardio tonight.  I have been going back and forth in my mind about leg day.  Sometimes I think I should work hard, but not too hard because of my cardio goals, and working too hard may hinder my ability to effectively do cardio the next day.  On the other hand, if I don’t thrash my legs, I always feel kinda disappointed afterwards.  Last time I even squatted, and worked pretty hard, but still felt like I wish I was doing more.  I enjoy waking up and not being able to walk up stairs the next day.  But if I do that, will I be kicking myself the next day when I can’t do cardio cuz my legs wont move???  It’s a difficult balance right now.  I guess until my bday, and the end of my cardio quest, I will continue to take it easy on my legs, and then at that time I can reassess the situation.  So tonight I did leg extensions, hamstring curls, leg presses, and calf raises……thats it!!!  I feel pathetic!!!  I wanna do squats or hacks or lunges or something else!!!  Grrrrr…..

So thats about it.  Have been really focused in the gym and really thinking about working out a lot even when I’m not there.  My frame of mind is outstanding right now, and I’m pleased with my discipline and diligence.  Tomorrow night is chest night, and I am gonna try to do something that I havent done in years!!!  A regular flat bench barbell press.  Yep.  Haven’t benched in probably 3 years.  I’m not sure why, I just always use dumbells, hammer machines, etc.  I think that the last time I attempted to bench, it hurt my wrist, so I haven’t done it since, but I wanna switch it up a little, so I’m gonna go ahead and give it a try again.  Also, I believe Corrin will be there, she said she always goes on Friday nights after work, so that will be nice if I get to chat with her lol.  Ok…..gnite.

Cardio quest update 5/7. 

So today was a weird day, I felt kind of shitty and down all day.  I woke up really late, like afternoon late haha, which was a bummer.  JR and I were supposed to leave for Vegas this morning, but I obviously killed that by sleeping all day.  I was supposed to wake up early, go to school to finish something, then go get him and go.  So that didn’t happen and I had to be at school later in the afternoon.  JR was mad too since he had taken vacation days specifically for this trip.  So I ruined that, plus my friend Melissa in Vegas had gone to the trouble of hooking us up with show tickets to go see 2 shows, so all her efforts were now wasted.  So I woke up kind of in a bad mood.  Then I went to go get my mail, and have been anxiously awaiting 2 much needed checks.  One is my grant money for school, which I need BADLY, and so hopefully that will come ASAP.  The other is my tax refund check, which I was going to use for gas, groceries, and some supplements since mine are all running out.  Well instead of a tax refund check, I got a letter from the gov’t informing me that instead of receiving my refund, it would be sent to Laura, my daughters mom, and applied towards my child support that I owe.  Now I’m not complaining about my kid getting money from me lol, that’s a good thing.  But I just wasn’t expecting that to happen, and had already made plans for the money, so it kinda put my financial situation out of whack, and was another damper on an already rough day.  Then I went to school and finished my lab work, and proceeded to write my teacher informing her of her worthlessness and the fact that her class serves no purpose and teaches nothing.  Basically I took my bad mood out on her, and it will probably ruin my grade, but I can’t take it back now, and I was being honest.  So my bad day continues.  Then, later in the evening, my cell phone got shut off!!!  I have my plan set up so that if I go over my minutes, or my bill gets up to 150 bucks, they shut off my fone so I can’t incur any more charges, and they send me a message letting me know what my bill is so I can pay it down below 100 bucks before using it again.  The only problem is, I just paid them 70 dollars YESTERDAY and I paid them 100 dollars 4 weeks ago.  So I have paid 170 bucks in 30 days, and they are trying to tell me that I still owe 160 more dollars!?!?  I haven’t gone 1 second over my allowed minutes in the past 2 months, and my monthly bill is supposed to be 60 bucks.  So please explain to me how I could still owe 160 bucks after having just paid 170???  That would mean that in the past 2 months, my bill totaled 330 dollars, and I know for a fact that that is just not true!!!  My bill for the past 2 months combined should have been about 140 bucks, and I had about 70 bucks left over from December, which means that they are trying to over charge me by 130 bucks?!  And when I paid yesterday, in the t-mobile store, the girl said that I owed 65 bucks and that was it, so I paid 70, and she said I would have a 5 dollar credit towards next months bill.  So all of this just pissed me off, and confused and frustrated me, and has added to my horrible day.  I am going to call them 1st thing in the morning to try and straighten this out, but I doubt there will be anything that I can do, they will talk a lot of mumbo jumbo and try to say that this and that carried over and there was some charge or fee added and the girl at the store didn’t know what she was talking about, and basically they will do what it takes to screw me so that I hafta pay the money if I want to use my phone.  So it was a shitty, demoralizing day, especially for my finances lol.

At least my shoulder workout was good.  I worked really hard, and I felt a good burn.  I know they will be sore tomorrow, cuz I couldn’t lift my arms when I was done.  So that made me feel a little better.  That really cute girl Erica was at the gym tonight.  I haven’t seen her there in almost 2 weeks, and so when she walked in I was kind of stoked lol.  The past 2 times that I have seen her there, she has spoken to me and been more than friendly and talkative, but tonight….nope.  She smiled and waved, but not one word……so it was a nice shitty end to a shitty day haha.  As for my shoulders….I did Arnold presses, rear delt flyes, upright rows, front raises, side raises, shrugs, and hammer machine presses.  I did my cardio afterwards on the treadmill and watched a bit of Conan, which was really funny haha!  I used to watch Conan every night b4 bed, but my tv here is broken, so I dont get to see him, or any tv, very often.

So tomorrow……I need to figure out what the heck is going on with my phone.  I need to work out of course.  I need to start working on homework for this week!!!!  I have tons of stuff to catch up on, and hopefully my grant money will come because I am running out of food and supplements and am low on gas too!!!!  I’m such a mess.  I need to get a job!  I have been putting it off because I have money coming, but now that money is going to be much less.  Its tough to get a job without a working phone though….AAAHHH!!!!