dk40’s BodyBlog

Going through the typical valleys one encounters after exercising and dieting regularly for a long time, and the best remedy for a rut is a change in focus. I’ve lost a lot of weight and feel pretty good about how I look, but the midsection is still lagging and sagging too much. With that in mind, I’ve decided to devote my full attention to creating rock hard, chiseled abs in the weeks and months to come. If nothing else about my physique changed except that I got a nice washboard stomach and finished shedding these damn "love handles", I’d still feel 100% better next spring when the sun comes back out. So for the time being, it’s abs, abs, abs! 

Of course, I’ll go back to targeting other areas more intensely fairly soon. For now, though, it’s time to attack my biggest weakness head on, to prove to both myself and the world that a 38 year old man can go from tubby to tight if he really commits with his whole heart and mind.

I’ve been very good about my diet for the last three months, but every now and then you have to let yourself cheat. Tonight, after a hard day’s work and a fairly rough week, I decided that four medium-sized slices of cold pizza (left over from a staff meeting at my wife’s work) was just the reward I needed to give myself. It’s not a healthy meal physically, but psychologically, it’s just what the doctor ordered!

Tomorrow, it’s back to the strict regimen. For one meal tonight, however, I’m pleased to say I cheated!

When it’s time to change, it’s time to change. I haven’t been doing my routine for that long yet, but I feel like my progress is stagnating a little bit. Worse, monotony has set in, making it harder to get motivated to go into the gym each day. Sometimes, you just have to change things up to keep from burning out or losing interest.

Beginning tomorrow, I will be doing a four day split. Legs on Monday, chest on Tuesday, arms on Thursday, and back and shoulders on Friday. Wednesday and Saturday will be cardio days, while Sunday will be a full day of rest. I will be doing some ab work everyday that I’m in the weight room. This new routine will allow me to put more emphasis and spend more time on specific bodyparts, but will also ensure that I’m getting enough rest to stay motivated and keep growing. With my weight under control but muscle mass and definition lacking, I feel confident that the time is right to change things up.

Wish me success!

Semper Fi,

DK

Rest, it seems, is a good thing! I had probably my most intense day in the gym yet today, after wisely opting to move Tuesday’s workout to Wednesday due to fatigue and exhaustion. Not only was I able to top all of last Tuesday’s rep totals and move heavier weights for some exercises, but I had the energy and motivation to add a couple of unplanned exercises to the workout to target some very specific muscle areas. I’m spent now, but I feel great about today’s effort. And I owe it all to taking a day off!

Each week I face the scale with dread, but so far each new weigh-in has brought encouraging news. Today I weighed in at 190.5, the lightest I’ve been in years. Since my first weigh-in back in the first week of August, I’ve lost 17.5 pounds! And it hasn’t been through complicated dieting or a lot of scientific knowledge gleaned from bodybuilding magazines - I’ve simply cut the carbs, hit the weights, done plenty of cardio, and stayed active even when I wasn’t exercising. I feel better, look better, and am better than I was two months ago.

If I can shed 17.5 in two months, imagine what I’ll be able to do in six, or twelve, or thirty-six! 

My schedule lately has been grueling. I workout in some capacity everyday, my workload at work has been heavier than usual as we head into the fall and my vacation approaches, and my plan to walk to and from work more often received an unexpected assist a few days ago when my car died for good. The result of all this is that my energy is low, my attitude is bad, and my temper is particularly foul - even by ex-Marine standards.

After walking to work at 7AM this morning and not trudging through the front door until after 5PM, I was supposed to go into the gym and hit the iron. I put it off for a little while before finally coming to the stark realization that if I try to train with weights tonight, there is simply no way I’ll be able to give it the effort and intensity a session in the gym calls for. Knowing that high-intensity, low-volume training simply cannot be done half-ass, and bearing in mind that I’ve already walked more than six miles today at a pretty good clip, I made the difficult decision to shift my normal Tuesday bench work to Wednesday (ordinarily a cardio day). I still have to walk to and from work tomorrow, but my vacation begins on Thursday, meaning I can hit the weights full force after work tomorrow evening without having to worry about being up at 6AM the next morning.

Advocates of high-intensity, low-volume training like the late Mike Mentzer and multi-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates will tell you that making sure you get enough rest is essential to getting the most out of your workouts. I’m going to heed their advice and take tonight off, so that tomorrow I can give it everything I’ve got!

Congratulations to Dexter Jackson, Iris Kyle, David Henry, Jennifer Gates, and Jen Hendershott for winning in their respective categories at the 2008 Olympia! In particular, shout out to Dexter for walking the walk after a year of talking the talk to Jay Cutler. You’re officially "The Man" in pro bodybuilding now, Mr. Olympia! Looking forward to seeing how you carry the title over the next year!

Weighed myself this morning, before a 3-mile fast-paced walk, and came in at 193.5 pounds. That’s 14.5 pounds less than I weighed 7 weeks ago when I started keeping track! God has truly blessed my workout and diet program, giving me the strength and resolve to stick with it, and the results to show for my efforts. The battle to slim down and then bulk up with muscle has only just begun, but I can see from this morning’s good news that it’s a fight I’m going to win.

The caveat to all of this is that I can see from having lost so much so quickly that I was really fat and out of shape two months ago. The fact that I have lost 14.5 pounds and seen a decent increase in the amount of weight I can lift, reps I can do, and level of exertion I can maintain but I still don’t look the way I want to tells me just how far I’d let myself go over the last decade and a half. I intend to use this new level of self-awareness to my benefit, reminding myself where I’ve been whenever I start to doubt that I can make it where I want to go. I may not have any progress pictures up yet, but in my mind I see a picture of a fat guy getting up off the couch, putting down the Doritos, and making a commitment to change his life forever. That picture will definitely help me stay off that couch and away from those Doritos in the weeks, months, years, and decades to come!

My current goal is to shed a figurative ton of bodyfat and become the leanest, meanest Marine I can be. I learned a long time ago that (aside from not eating crap) there are two important steps to reshaping the body this way - crush the weights, and pound the ground.

I hit the iron hard three days a week, and I plan to continue upping the intensity until I’ve reached the absolute limit my body can handle. At which point, I will work to raise that limit just a little higher. Though the weights are my partners in this training plan, they’re also my enemies. The harder they push me, the harder I’m going to push back, and I will not lose the fight.

I do some form of cardio everyday that I’m not lifting - stationary bike, Tae Bo, various aerobic DVDs, etc. But I’ve also added a new element to my workout. I call it "Leaving the car in the driveway!" I work about three miles from my home, so walking to and from my job almost everyday adds considerable cardio and endurance work to my regimen each week. With Fall setting in, we’re in for a lot of cool days over the next couple of months, making this travel option even more appealing. The more I pound the ground, the more calories I burn and the more fat I lose. Plus, I’m saving a hell of a lot of money at the gas pump!

Crush the iron and pound the ground. That’s how I’m going to win this battle.

Semper Fi,

DK40 

No, I’m not a competitor (I wish!), nor am I attending (again, I wish!). But I love the Olympia. It’s the SuperBowl - the Presidential Election - of bodybuilding, a weekend when the very best in the world are crownd the King and Queen of the sport. As a newcomer to, but longtime observer of, bodybuilding, it’s inspiring to me to think that just a week and a half from now, the world’s best developed male and female bodies will be named for posterity, and their place in history assured forever. The notion of so many great contenders gathered in one spot, seeking the ultimate prize, really makes me want to work harder toward my personal goals.