Brian Westgate’s Journey

Decided to start adding creatine into my diet so just before I worked out I gulped down 2.5g of creatine.

I was really happy with the workout today, I managed to do pullups for the first time in 4 months!

10 minute run at 6.2mph and 2.0 incline

Pulldown at 70lbs for 20 to warm up arms and back

Pullups - 10, 10, 8

Bent over rows - 45lb bar for 20 to warm up, 135@15, 155@10, 165@10

Cable rows - 140@15, 160@10, 160@10

Cambridge barbell curls - 80@12, 80@10, 80@10

Triset - straight arm pulldowns/inverted pullups/hammer curls - 60@10/10/35@10, 60@10/8/35@10, 60@10/6/35@10, inverted pullups killed me.

lower back raises - 15, 12, 12

10 minute warm down run at 5.8mph and 0 incline.

I have added more weight, more back excercises and took out upright rows because of the pain they cause me.  I also added a 10 minute warm down run.  These runs will be getting faster and more intense each day.  I ended the workout with a protien shake and 2.5 g of creatine.  So far a great day!

Today was cardio and abs.  I decided to take a page out of body for life and do that interval routine.  What I did was put my treadmill to 6.0mph and 0 incline.  Every minute I changed the incline like this: minute 1, 0, minute 2, 1 then 2, 3, 4 , 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, then back to 1 then back to 0.  That was 20 minutes.  Great workout.  Then I went on to abs where I did 3 sets of 20 V-ups, 3 sets of 20 ball crunches and 3 sets of 15 side ball crunches.

To end the day I also did 20 minutes of stretching (yoga) and 20 minutes of posing (I need a lot of work here).

Well I managed to consume 2500 calories total with 241g of protien, 304g of Carbs, 33 grams of fat and 41g of fibre.  This is about 150 calories more than yesterday but this was due to the whole eggs I ate in the morning instead of just egg whites.  Here is my eating broken down by meal:

Meal 1 - 2 eggs, 7 egg whites, 1/3 cup of oatmeal, and raisins (475 calories, 38g of protien, 43 grams of carbs, 15 grams of fat and 5 grams of fibre)

Meal 2 - Protien shake - with banana, strawberries, 1.5 cups of milk (516 calories, 51g of protien, 68g of carbs, 1g of fat, and 8g of fibre)

Meal 3 - Steak, sweet potatos and broccoli (475 calories, 52g of protien, 51g of carbs, 11g of fat, 8g of fibre)

Meal 4 - Tuna casserol (411 calories, 37g of protien, 62g of carbs, 2g of fat and 10g of fibre)

Meal 5 - 2 sole fillets, brown rice and broccoli (488 calories, 49g of protien, 60g of carbs, 4g of fat, and 10g of fibre)

Meal 6 - large glass of skim milk (135 calories, 14g of protien, and 20g of carbs)

That breaks down to 42% protien, 52% carbs and 6% fat, exactly the same as yesterday.  What do you think?

Well I am a bit embarrased.  I have posted my "before" pics.  I have been off for 4 months with an arm injury.  Then I went through the holidays.  In the last 4 months I have basically eaten everything bad, drank a lot of alcohol and not gone to the gym.  I have been on a downward spiral these last 4 months, my mood has gottn worse and I have gotten very negative.  Weightlifting is the best way I know to reverse this downward spiral and start spiraling upwards again.  These are the results of my 4 months of poor nutrition and lack of excercise:

Yuck!  Here is my back shot.

I am so embarrassed to post these but I have 4-5 months to get into the best shape of my life.  I want to enter a contest, 2 actually, the first a transformation contest here on bb.com and then a bodybuilding contest in Fort St John on June 6th 2009.

For all of you who have been here or are there right now, feel free to join me on my journey.  I will be posting my workouts and eating every day.  I have updated my goals section and am looking forward to both looking and feeling better.  Let the games begin.

I did a nutritional breakdown of todays eating and here is what I founf:

Calories: 2322

Protien: 227

Carbs: 284

Fats: 30

Fibre: 38

That breaks down to 42% protien, 52% carbs and 6% fat.

This surprises me.  What do others think of this?

By the way myt 6 meals all fall into a similar range so each meal is balanced…

I love to eat.  6 meals today all yummy and healthy.  I am focusing on making these meals more healthy every day.

Meal 1 - 10 egg whites (35g of protien), oatmeal and raisins

Meal 2 - salmon (24g of protien) whole wheat bun and a large carrot (some honey added to the bun for taste)

Green tea

Workout

Meal 3 - Protien (40g), banana, strawberry, milk shake

Meal 4 - tuna casserole (whole wheat rotini (8 ounces), 3 cans of tuna in water, 2 cups of peas, 1/2 a cup of skim milk, 1 can of low fat, llow salt mushroom soup) (30g of protien)

Meal 5 - sirloin steak (with a touch of montreal steak spice)(48g of protien), sweet potato fries (lightly salted and oiled with pam), and broccoli

Meal 6 - Large glass of milk (15g of protien)

Let the games begin.  Today is chest, tris and delts.  Here is my workout for phase 1 which is trying to get my muscle memory working and ease my body back into bodybuilding:

10 minute run on the treadmill at 6.0mph and 2.0 incline to warm up

Inclined dumbell press - 50@15, 70@12, 75@10

Bench Press - 185lbs for 10, 10, 8

Military press 95lbs for 3 sets of 12

Triset - inclined flyes/seated side laterals/pushups - 30lbs@12/20lbs@10/15, 30lbs@12/20lbs@10/12, 30lbs@12/20lbs@10/10

Done!  Very heavy today.  Form could be better and time between sets needs to speed up a bit.  Great workout though and my muscles are burning, feels great.

It is always hard to eat right and excercise when travelling.  My family and I had 11 hours of travelling to do and came from a house with little healthy food.  Here is what I ate for my trip…

Meal 1 - 1 egg, 6 egg whites, oatmeal and raisins

Meal 2 - piece of salmon (24g of protien) on a whole wheat bun with a touch of honey and a large carrot

Meal 3 - 4 eggs and one all bran bar

Meal 4- fat free cottage cheese (30g of protien), fat free sugar free yogurt, and half an apple

12 almonds and 20 raisins because dinner was running late

Meal 5- M&M meats shrimp and scallop bowl (out of food in the house) 2 protien pancakes.

Then I had to go outside and shovel my truck out because it was hung up in 3 feet of snow.  Crazy amounts of snow!  Killed my back and arm!  I went back inside and rubbed A535 all over my lower back and arm, did 10 minutes of yoga and did 3 trisets of 20 reverse crunches, 20 crunches and 15 side crunches.

Meal 6 - 1 egg and a glass of skim milk

Not bad for 11 hours of training.

Well I am still visiting and so I am trying to eat as healthy as I can.  here is what I ate today…

Meal 1 - 1 egg, 5 egg whites, oatmeal and raisins and coffee

Workout

Meal 2 - protien shake (40g of protien), green tea

Meal 3 - turkey breast, mashed yams, one large carrot

Meal 4 - cottage cheese (no fat), yogurt (no fat, no sugar) and a half an apple

Meal 5 - 2 pieces of salmon (48g of protien) with lemon juice (no teryaki today - dropped all that excess sugar and salt), white rice (no brown in the house) and one large carrot

Meal 6 - large glass of 1% milk

I am traveling tomorrow so I have taken 2 of those salmon pieces and put them on whole wheat buns and added a bit of honey to each.  I also used up that other half an apple, cottage cheese (30g of protien) and yogurt for another meal.  The last meal I have made is 4 eggs and one all bran bar (9 grams of sugar, oh well).  For breakfast i will be having a banana, strawberry, oatmeal protien milk shake.  Not to bad for traveling.