Speak it, believe it, achieve it!

2 cups whole milk - 300 calories, 16g protein
2 Tbs Jif peanut butter - 190 calories, 7g protein
3 large eggs - 225 calories, 21g protein
3 scoops BSN True Mass (Yeeeah, Buddy!) - 630 calories, 46g protein

Totals 1345 calories and 90 grams of protein. And, no, I don’t wanna hear how you can only digest so much protein in a certain period of time. NO! Ignorance is bliss and those calories are going to kickstart The Diesel Machine That Will Be curt_james!

Or, hey, I’ll be that much more cuddly come December. ;)

Blending next…

Man! That was sweet. The True Mass had some True Cling to the sides of the pitcher, but scraping it away was a snap with a small kitchen knife.

Tastes great, too. And, bonus, I added just the right amount of ingredients so it didn’t splash all over the top of the blender or overflow. I remember as a teenager trying to squeeze too much in the pitcher and having it froth over. Washed out the remaining mixed drink with water and a teaspoon of glutamine and another teaspoon of creatine. Hey, why not?

10 p.m. and feeling full!

Yes, I did. Encouragement and LAUGHTER!

You must visit Dymondintheruff. 

She’s going to eclipse 300 in the deadlift very soon. Be there when she does! :)

This is Blog 100    for yours truly. Huzzah!

Hey, some of them have been nonsense, fun, goofiness, brief, and more or less inconsequential in my opinion but this one is of note because it cuts to the core of BodySpace’s    fundamental importance and worthiness of anyone spending any amount of time online - friendship creating success.  

That’s right, encouragement, motivation, achievement, goal setting, and the positive benefit of a friendly (or not so friendly) challenge!  

Bigal33  (Thaz a link to his blog) challenged me to a battle of self improvement recently. He’s on one end of the body size spectrum and I’m on the other and our battle is to make it somewhere close to the midway point while simultaneously achieving our shared goal of body transformation. Kinda like being on either ends of a football field and meeting at the 50 yard line.

Then again, what I know about football is zip, so perhaps there’s a better comparison.

The weapons in my arsenal will include the blogs and posts of my fellow gladiator Bigal33  (& that one is a link to his profile), my-calorie-counter.com  , my BodySpace workout journal  , and, of course, lifting, eating, and SLEEPING.    

Check it out: The Official Bigal33 vs. curt_james Battle to the Death Workout Journal!!! 

Challenge a BodySpacer today! THE TIME IS NOW!    

Me?

I’m lifting. Though weak as hell, I’m putting in the effort. I’m beginning a four-on and one-off routine and was faithfully in the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during my 10 weeks of cutting.

I’m eating. Three thousand calories per day minimum, plus 200 or more grams of protein in that same time period.

But sleeping? No.                    I got five hours at best last night. No nap today. Typically, I get five hours a night. I think I got seven this month at some point, but mostly it’s five or even less. BAH!

So I’ve got to correct that. Because when  does a person grow? Thaz right - when they’re sleeping.

This could just be synonymous with Curt gets “skinny fat” again, but I’m planning on increasing strength and size (if probably my gut, too) along the way.

Here’s a strategy that might help. I’ll add a column for “Sleep.”

Date: Calories, Protein, Sleep                  
11/07: 3093 (Wednesday a.m. bodyweight: 156 lbs.) Week 0
11/08: 3285
11/09: 3507
11/10: 3195
11/11: 3385
11/12: 3303, 288g (Monday a.m. bodyweight: 160 lbs.) Week 1
11/13: 3512, 289g
11/14: 3347, 245g
11/15: 3284, 286g, NOT ENOUGH!              
11/16: 3815, 237g, bed @: 12:45 a.m., rise @: 9:35 a.m. (8:50 elapsed)
11/17: 3943, 318g, nap: 30 min., bed @: 4 a.m., rise @: noon (8:00 elapsed)
11/18: 3230, 281g, bed @: midnight, rise @: 6 a.m. (6:00 elapsed)
11/19: 2940, 154g at 10 p.m. (Mon. bodywt: 164.5 lbs.) Week 2
11/20:
11/21:
11/22:
11/23:
11/24:
11/25:
11/26: x, xg (Mon. bodywt: x lbs.) Week 3

This could just be synonymous with Curt gets "skinny fat" again, but I’m planning on increasing strength and size (if probably my gut, too) along the way.

160 lbs. (burp!)

Uban Dictionary is a slang dictionary that defines the Subject line quote quite well, in my opinion:

Refers to the way we tend to look at other people’s lives and other things that we don’t have in general through rose colored glasses.

Comes from the idea of looking at a neighbours lawn and seeing it as better looking, healthier and overall greener then your own when in reality you’re just ignoring anything negative about it and downplaying everything positive about your own.

Friend#1: You’re so lucky, you went to a great college, have money and you’re so smart and will probably accomplish more by the time you’re 30 then I will in my entire life.

Friend#2: Are you serious? I’ve always envied you. People expect so much out of me. I’ve never been able to have a life because of studying and other schoolwork. If I get less then an A, people freak out like I got an F. I may accomplish that much, but with all the pressure on me I’ll probably be insane by the time I’m 35. In so many ways, I wish I could just be a regular guy with normal expectations and a normal life.

Friend#1: Wow, I honestly never looked at it that way. I guess it’s true that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

What’s that quote got to do with BodySpace? Well, I’ve always been a skinny guy. I started lifting at age 15. I was 6′0″ and a buck-fifty. I can literally remember being a 97 pound weakling. When I attended grade school, the school nurse would weigh all the kids either for sports or just general purposes, but I remember being less than a hundred. Then 120, 136, 145 over the years. After lifting a few weeks my weight climbed (if you can call it climbing) to 155.

The very most I’ve ever weighed was 180 and that was after a full meal and probably wearing some heavy duty work boots. I guess I peaked physically or “physique wise” (again, if you can call it a physique from a bodybuilding perspective) in 1990. Going on 20 years ago! I was lean and weighed about 175.

Over the years since that time I’ve lost muscle mass and strength and have accumulated the aches and pains of an older age as well as a trip to an orthopedic surgeon’s office only for him to tell me that he can’t find a tear in my rotator. I guess that’s good news, but I really wanted a doctor’s excuse to explain away my crappy bench press total. heh :)

Anyway, the grass is always greener, for me, relates to BodySpace and my own bodybuilding efforts in that there are people who are huge and they want to slim down and there are people (like me) who are sticks and want to be huge.

A fellow BodySpacer and yours truly have been kicking around how we can challenge each other to exceed our own expectations. Maybe he didn’t say it that way, but I think he’ll agree.

Anyway, my side of the fence is 160 pounds and Al’s side of the fence is 300 pounds. Actually, I think there’s a field separating the fences.

Something like this:

skinny field (fence) that field in between (fence) 300-plus field

Hopefully that is on one line. So, what we’re both hoping to do is find some happy middle ground where we can both look at ourselves in the mirror and say, “Damn, you are one healthy, diesel, son of a…”

Nothing wrong with a goal and I don’t mean to speak for Big Al necessarily. Check out the accompanying forum:  

The Official Bigal33 vs. curt_james Battle to the Death Workout Journal!!!

Cathy LeFrancois photo and unintentional video (maybe).
J.M. Manion and a new action comic book series!
BodySpacer ALEX1984 takes Bronze in his first bodybuilding contest!
Seven p.m. to Midnight! The show that would not end! Class after class of quality athletes in bodybuilding and figure competition!
World’s crappiest sound system, bungled music cues, missing music, and worst “house music” ever?
But, yes, rockin’ supplement representation with GNC, Gaspari Nutrition, Labrada, et al. in attendance!
Security personnel, Althea, makes me even more grateful for the amount of my rent. (She’s paying $1140 a month in Brooklyn!)
Laughs and free Internet and black coffee at the Holland (where am I?) motel.
More videos (LOOK OUT, YOUTUBE!) and photos than you will be able to shake a stick at. Trust me.

That’s the Reader’s Digest version of an outstanding Saturday night. Details to follow.

The Eastern USA Bodybuilding & Figure Championships.

Although I didn’t get an opportunity to speak with him, I did get video of ALEX1984’s posing routine as well as the trophy presentation for his class. Patrick Fleming a.k.a. ALEX1984 placed 3rd in the Novice competition. Congratulations!  

But I’ve never actually seen the movie Apocalypse Now.

If this blog’s title and the first line has you scratching your head, well, I’d say you’re on the right track.

“Smell that? You smell that? Animal Pak, son. Nothing in the world smells like that.”

In other unrelated to bodybuilding news:

Not certain about Barack Obama, although he does have rack in his name… BARACK “SQUAT RACK” OBAMA!!!!   Going to have to take a closer look at all the candidates. I do love the smell of Animal Pak, though.

I’m heading out around noon. New York. Eastern show. Unless I get lost.

It happens.

Here’s my Photobucket link: NPC Mountain Valley show

The Mountain Valley show is noted as the biggest Bodybuilding & Figure show in Reading, PA. It was held November 3, 2007. This was the promoter’s third show in Reading. I had a fantastic time!

Check out http://www.worldprofessionalwrestling.fws1.com/photo_1.html and http://www.myspace.com/147265032 for the original info.