cr8zjoe’s BodyBlog

Well I’m back in the gym again after an almost 5 month absence. Back down to 130 lbs. And trying to eat as much as I can handle , and then a little more. I’m easing back into it, and my goal is to get back to at least 4 days a week sometime in June.

Merry Christmas, happy holidays to all my friends out there.  Be mindfull of what and/or how much you eat over the holidays. (That is, unless you are prepared to work harder in the gym next week). I have taken a little break from my weight training for the past few weeks but plan to get back in the gym soon. Til then,

 Joe

I don’t usually get sick, and when I do its usually gone in 2-3 days. But this time it hit me hard. I expected it to clear up quickly. Its been about 10 days now and I’m just starting to feel myself. I haven’t been to the gym or exercised this entire time. I miss being in the gym and working out. But I did need a break. I would go for 4-6 weeks non stop without any slow-down in my workouts.

Here soon I’m gonna have to restructure my workouts and reevaluate my goals. In a few weeks my wife is going back to work and I will play the "Mr. Mom" role for awhile. Without a second vehicle I will be forced to do all my exercise at home. This is all new to me. I don’t have any equipment or weights yet. My thought is that I’ll get some dumbells, a pull-up bar and some resistance bands . With these I can get some basic exercises in and maybe focus on toning and some endurance training. Any thoughts or ideas on this are really welcome. Like I said, this is new to me adnd I’m not really sure how I may be able to get some serious resistance training at home without having the heavy weights that I’m used to using.

Other than the music I listen to while working out, I seem to have little motivation while I’m at the gym. Its like some kind of mind game. If I go into this with a negative attitude, or not feeling well, or sluggish AND I don’t combat that before I start working out, I end up doing a half-ass workout. BUT usually I can beat that mind game. At times I’ll just get pissed off about something and channel that energy into the weights.

If I start my workout all happy and spiritual and loving the world then I get all relaxed and don’t get a damn thing done. So…for those of you in my gym who might see me walk around with that ****-you look on my face - don’t take it personal.  When the workout is over, if it was a good one, then I might smile. Maybe one day I’ll do a cardio or aerobic workout and be all happy-happy joy-joy about it - but I doubt it.

Each workout for me is like waging war, so sometimes I gotta grunt or groan, or yell, or cuss, or drop weights, whatever…some people look at ya like yer crazy, and they’re probably right. I’de rather get crazy and GET results than be lazy, complacent, and waste my time in the gym treating it like some social club!!!

Here lately I’ve only been going to the gym about 3 days a week. So…when I do ,I go in there and bust ass, I take it up a few notches and increase the weight and intensity. Instead of doing a 5-day split, like I used to, I go in and do a whole body workout comprised mostly of compound exercises (Bench, Squat, Deadlift). I also add in there - parallel bar dips, and some abdominal work. In addition to this, if possible I do one workout a week, where I focus on back and shoulders. So far so good.

Until today I havent done a back workout in 2 weeks! I thought I’de be strong and pick up where I left off. Boy was I wrong. I pushed through it and managed at least 3 sets of low pulley rows at 8 reps each for 100/110/130 lbs respectively, and 3 sets on each arm for one arm bent over dumbell rows, each set for 8 reps using 50/60/70 lb dumbells, respectively. These weights were about 10-30 lbs less than my usual. But…with the recent chest and shoulder workouts I’ve been doing I expeect that the decrease in wt. was cos’ I wasn’t quite fully recovered yet.

Training is going pretty good. I’m 15 pounds heavier in 3 months and my bodyfat is still low. The hardest thing for me is getting all of my calories in…I was taking a weight gainer a few weeks ago, but since I’ve used all that up I haven’t gotten anymore. I don’t like cardio at all, so I don’t wanna get all fat and soft looking from taking in too many calories.

My workouts are hell, brutal…so if I do eat alot, or maybe eat too much junk, I can burn it all off - and build lean muscle, which has been the trend over the past 12 weeks. I guess my focus now should be on tweaking my diet, and MAYBE doing a lil’ cardio, since this is the time of year I tend to eat more of that shit that gets most of us fat.

~~JOE~~

I’m taking a step back to reevaluate my training and my goals. I started off at 130 lbs and gained over 10 lbs of muscle in about 2 months. At that time I was working out once a day at least 5 days a week. I was taking creatine, protein and weight gainer supplements. A few weeks ago I started to scale it back to about 3-4 days a week. I’ve used up nearly all of my supplements. Right now I can’t afford to buy all the supplements I need. Unlike some people around here, I don’t have alot of money lying around to spend on $50 and $60 supplements that only last a week or two.  I don’t have a large appetite so I cannot nearly eat enough to get what I need.  So right now I’ve gotta do everything I can just to maintain my current weight. I’m guessing I can do this if I still work out 3-4 days a week and eat as much as I can, and can afford to.  I considered taking on a second job, but then when would I have time to train? I’m not gonna bust my ass in the gym day in and day out for nothing….so, for now, at least until I can get all my ducks in a row, I’m gonna scale back my training a bit…and try not to be too negative about things that don’t always go the way I want them to  

I’m starting a push/pull routine today. Its got me in the gym 5 days a week - 2 days on, 1 day off… This pre-written workout calls for 8 sets of 3 for nearly every exercise. It says that it can be changed to 4 sets of 6 or 2 sets of 12. Either way, it equals out to 24 reps. Does anyone have experience with this kinda routine? I think I’m gonna do this with 4 sets of 6 reps. It also calls for 60 sec. rests between sets on heavy days, 45 sec. on light or moderate days. Any tips would be welcome.

So I just took a week off all weight training. I didn’t even step foot in the gym. I didn’t plan it that way. Three days turned into a week when things in life got a lil’ crazy. I have a minor knee injury and problems w/ my left wrist thats setting me back, so a week off should’ve done me some good. However, I’ve lost 3 1/2 pounds!! and I feel weak and small. I don’t even wanna know what my measurements are. I do know that I gotta get my @ss back in there and hit those weights.  - I have some discipline when it comes to that, but not so much when it comes to my eating…Thats my biggest struggle - eating enough and eating right.