Don’t Have a Keg…

Okay, I may regret doing this little experiment of weighing in every day on my fancy body fat scale. I had a slight decrease in weight today (negligble in the terms of weight loss - less than a pound) but another +1% in body fat percentage! At the rate I’m going I’ll be over 30% bodyfat by Saturday…there’s a scary thought.

Tonight is New Year’s Eve and I’m hosting an annual party for some family and friends. Fear not, true believer (as Stan Lee might say) I’ll have plenty of vegetables on hand to avoid the fatty treats that I’ll be serving everyone else. Though I might have to have one pizza roll…no, I’ll stay strong.

Happy New Year!

Continuing my daily weigh-ins I found today that interestingly enough, my weight is exactly the same today but my bodyfat did increase by 1.1% according to the scale. My weigh in was after 30 minutes on the stationary bike and breakfast.

I think I did well in terms of nutrition yesterday, but I am working on getting my fiberous starches up (aka vegetables).

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Since I am off work this week and not going to be in a rush to get out of the house each morning, I thought I’d do my weigh in daily for a couple reasons. 1) I’m curious to see how much my weight does fluctuate during the course of a week and 2) with my focus on cardio and diet this week to see if I can start pushing things in a downward trend consistently from day to day.

It’s been a long while since I weighed in daily, so it should be fun to see what happens. Okay, maybe fun isn’t the right word - how about interesting? At least to me if no one else.

Well, I got through today pretty well. After the weather settled down and the medicine kicked in I was feeling close to 100% - close enough to play a little three-on-three basketball with some of the cousins and my niece (our gathering was at a city rec center). I hadn’t played basketball in quite some time and forgot just how demanding it can be in terms of a cardio workout! It was good to do some actual running and jumping though, if nothing else it proved to me that the "old" body still has some kick left in it! It was also a reminder that if I wanted to keep playing with the younger relatives (a friendly family game with participants from my age down to about 14 and a couple 30-40ish guys too) I need to stay with the cardio. Otherwise, it’s on the sidelines with the other old folks - and I’m not quite ready for that yet!

And not because of workouts - there was a drastic change in the weather last night (from about 60 degrees F to about 30 degrees F) and predictably my Crohn’s kicked in so I didn’t get much rest last night and had to sit up most the night. The good news is that I’m feeling better this morning as the medicine is kicking in, but I have a family gathering to go today and though I’d rather stay home and sulk, feeling sorry for myself of course, I’ll be toughing it out and going so I don’t disappoint the relatives.

The good news is that I won’t be overindulging on any treats today - the bad news is that I probably won’t be eating at all. Not good in terms of keeping up strength and recovery, but better than vomiting.

Yeah, more information than you needed or wanted, but I’m kind of using this blog to keep track of my physical well being each day so I can look for patterns in the future if needed. Plus, I like to vent and whine on occasion…okay, all the time!

A little surprise this week, my weight is up a few pounds but my bodyfat percentage is actually down a tad. Nothing dramatic in either case but as we all know a little change each week means a big change over time. For example if I can keep gaining 3 lbs a week and losing 1% of body fat in just 10 weeks I’ll weigh over 270 lbs at a bodyfat of 14%! Haha!

Though I don’t doubt I could weigh 270 lbs in 10 weeks - there’s no way I’d actually get there at a lower body fat. I just have to eat everything I want, focusing on fats and simple sugars of course, and stop doing any exercise - that’s the way to pack on pounds without effort!  

But frankly, 270 doesn’t seem as fat as I once thought it was only because that’s about 10 lbs less than my training partner weighs and he doesn’t strike me as obese (he is about two inches taller than me though) though no one would ever accuse him of being underfed. However, the reality is that me at 270 would be me unable to get up off the couch, go up a flight of stairs, or even walk across a room - plus I imagine my medical bills would go sky high because of my frequent trips to the emergency room for "chest pains."  Nope, 270 lbs has to be avoided at all costs!

So in terms of "cutting" I’ve got good news and bad news for myself. The bad news is that I’ve come to the conclusion I need to avoid lifting for a week or so. Unfortunately, this pain in my arm keeps coming and going and I think I’ve finally found that it actually originates in my left pec. I think the best course of action is to follow some advice from Strongergeek and rest for the coming week - i.e. no benching or curling - and give things a chance to heal. Just pushing through the pain is the path to serious injury.

Of course, this is an opportunity to really focus on cardio for a change. Once I start lifting again, I’m going to go light with higher reps until I’m sure that the soreness is gone. This is also my plan in part because my training partner is scheduled for some minor surgery - nothing serious and life threatening, but to help him with sleep apnea and snoring - and will be out of training for about two weeks. For him the good news is that he should start sleeping better and be more rested once everything is done - which should translate to better workouts for both of us!

So, the new year won’t start with a new bench PR and I won’t quite hit my stated goals, but if I can get my bodyfat percentage moving in the right direction again it will be worth it. There will be time for big benching when I’m healed again.

In what is sure to be on of many blogs today and tomorrow wishing everyone a Merry Christmas add this one and for those who do not celebrate Christmas itself, may you still find happiness and joy this holiday season as well!

I hope that Santa brings everyone a big supply of their favorite supplement and an extra does of enthusiasm as we all look forward to yet another year of training, learning, and growing together. Happy Holidays to one and all!

How can weight training make decorating easier? Well, I finally got around to putting the tree up to date. This is a chore I hate because I have an artificial tree which I keep up in the attic (basement has a tendency to flood on rare occasion) and dragging the thing up and down is awkward plus my memory was that the tree weighed a ton.

Surprise, surprise, this year the tree was still awkaward but it actually felt light! I was able to move it by myself without much effort. I wasn’t even breathing hard after carrying it down the stairs (fortunately, their are stairs to the attic as opposed to one of those ladder contraptions)!

I guess it sometimes takes finding that a typical chore is atypically easy to realize that progress has been made  - regardless of what bodyweight, bodyfat, measurements, and pictures might suggest.

Tomorrow, is chest day - we’ll see how it goes. The good news is that my left arm is feeling a lot better tonight than it has all week, so I think that whatever was wrong has healed up. Now the trick is to not overdo it and reinjure myself.

Keep lifting big everyone!

Based on my scale things are going back in the right direction this week if only slightly. My bodyfat is still much higher than a couple weeks ago, but consistent with last week though a percentage point or so lower. Overall weight is down, but only slightly so not enough to really call weight loss. However, on the bright side at least it isn’t going up again.

As I’ve always done I’ll be taking the week between Christmas and New Year’s off from work. In the past I’ve used this time to vegitate, destress and catch up on work around the house. This year I think I’m going to add to the list and spend more time working out and working on the diet. Without the distraction of the "job" I should have time to really try a few new workout routines and exercises and really work on developing a nutrition plan to carry me into the new year.

Of these two items (diet and workout) diet is the critical piece. It’s clear to me that I actually do pretty good on the lifting portion. I’m not super-strong but when I review the weights I’m using, see what other men are lifting by looking at their logs, etc. here at Bodyspace and just around the gym, I’m not only "competitive" within my own age group but keeping up with the young bucks as well (how’s that for an old-fashioned term). At least when you take out the top 10% or so who are actual competitive bodybuilders and powerlifters - most of us are, after all, recreational lifters. Even of those who actually build competition worthy physiques, most don’t step on stage and are lifting for other reasons to feel good, attract life/sex partners, build self-esteem, etc. and then there are those who geniunely just enjoy working their bodies and seeing the changes that regular lifting can provide, reviewing the results in the mirror and then changing their routine to improve their look and/or proportions.  In some ways, these lifters are the more "pure" bodybuilders. They are their only judge, and they are doing the work to become in their eyes more aesthetically pleasing. These people are the artists of the bodybuilding community, no dreams of glory or fame and an adoring public, they’ve just choosen their bodies as the canvas to create their art. But, I digress…

Today, is a rest day as will be tomorrow. I’m still mildly concerned about the feelings in my left arm and want to be fully up for the workout on Monday. Plus, as I mentioned in an earlier blog I’ve got shopping to do! Oh joy…I can hardly wait to get out there among the masses…pushing and shoving…waiting behind "those people" who seem to get to the cashier without any clue of why they are there and what method of payment they are going to use and who forgot that one item in the back of the store - please wait while they run back to get it - and so on, and so forth. And I haven’t even mentioned the drivers. We got some snow and that, of course, means that everyone has to re-learn how to drive in winter (hint: ice + brakes = bad).

Take care everyone, keep lifting, and may all your mass gains this season not come from Egg Nog (mmmmm, nog…). 

Okay, tonight’s chest workout went way better than Monday’s. My left arm is still a little sore, but strong enough that I didn’t notice any weakness during my lifts. Tonight was the heaviest night of the workout I’m following - ending with a "negative" of 325. The 325 was a true negative, but I did better than I was afraid I was going to and did keep it controlled all the way down before needing the assistance to get it back up.

My training partner somehow hurt his hand though during his first set. The "padding" on his palm apparently got very sore and he wasn’t able to continue. Hopefully, it’s just a temporary thing.

My guess is that given we are both older now these big lifts are just harder on us than they used to be - recuperation I’m sure is the key and I’ll get plenty of that this weekend. Then back to a couple good workouts before Christmas…which reminds me, I’ve got some shopping to do! Nothing like a dash through the mall for cardio…

PS - up to 906th place!