FlaBouy’s BodyBlog

Another fresh week to continue my experiment… my chest is all clogged up from my morning foray last Tuesday and it is starting to piss me off. The weather has been nasty, rainy and cold and the forecast for the next couple of days looks no better… The chest congestion is leaving me weak and I am drinking a ton of liquids to try and flush this nonsense from my body…. ate nothing but protein and salads all weekend with the exception of one bowl of chili on Saturday, so right now the diet is not in jeopardy..

This morning was chest and back, and although I felt weak, I decided to go 4 sets of 6-8 reps… heavy… damn this cold… I need to apply a little pressure and send it on down the road….

Monday Chest/Back
4 sets 6-8 reps

Rack Pulls - 200, 250, 290, 340
Superset
Bent Over BB Rows (EZ Curl)- 110, 160, 200, 220

WG Bench - 185, 235, 255, 275 (Shoulder still squawking)
Superset
Pull Ups - BW x 8 x 4

Incline DB Press - 60, 70, 80, 90
Triset
Cable Crossover, - 35, 42.5, 50, 57.5
Triset
Seated Cable Row - 160, 180, 200, 220

Hyperextensions - 45# x 15 x 3
Roman Full Leg Raise - BW x 15 x 3

Weight: 232.2

Semper Fi

Tale of the Tape

3 weeks left to Ground Zero - Last measurement will be Thursday, December 31st… Time to Ramp this puppy up

Bodyweight: 233.0 (Lost 14 pounds on this cut)
Bodyfat: 11.46% (Lost 2.5% on this cut)
Bodyfat: 26.7# (Lost 10.7# on this cut)
Lean Mass: 206.3# (Lost 3.3# on this cut)

Quads: 25.5/25.5
Calves: 16.75/16.75
Forearms: 13.5/13.75
Arms: 16.5/17
Shoulders: 55.5
Neck: 16
Chest: 47.75
Hips: 42.75
Waist: 37.25

So far this cut has done damage to the weight and bodyfat, but I am also starting to see body measurements flatline and turn south… BUT… the taper grows more pronounced with the widening of the shoulder/lats and the shrinking of the waistline.. there is also a small spurt of growth in the forearms… all in all I am pleased… I just need to figure out a way on these cuts not to lose a little hard earned mass and all will be well…

Semper Fi

What Makes 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 103%? What makes up 100% in life?

Here’s a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:

If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then:

H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

and

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But,

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

And,

B-U-L-L-S-H-I-! T
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%

AND, look how far ass kissing will take you.

A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that While Hard work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it’s the Bull**** and Ass kissing that will put you over the top.

"REMEMBER SOME PEOPLE ARE ALIVE SIMPLY BECAUSE
IT IS ILLEGAL TO SHOOT THEM"

Marathon session this morning..  It was a good workout…..A lot of what slowed me down was today I had the gym to myself, so I spent a lot of time in front of the mirrors while working to watch my form… I picked up on something during my Side Laterals and dumb bell shrugs that I corrected and man, what a difference… for whatever reason, during both stations, I was not keeping my chest up and out… I corrected that by setting my abs first, and then setting my chest outward and upward like I was proud of it, and then started slow and deliberate reps.. I instantly felt the change…

Today was shoulders and traps. I settled on 5 sets, with the first 3 sets at 15 reps and then the last two at 8-10 reps at working weight. I consider working weight the maximum weight I can make 18-20 reps on in two sets with good form and no swinging, bowing, jumping or any other kind of failure assist… Just good slow pump with heavy negs….

Saturday Shoulders/Traps
5 sets - 3 sets 15 and 2 sets 8-10 reps

Standing Military Press - 95, 95, 95, 135, 135
Superset
BB Shrug - 200, 200, 200, 250, 250

DB Side Lateral - 20, 20, 20, 25, 25
Superset
DB Shrug - 70, 70, 70, 80, 80

Standing Rear Delt Raise -20, 20, 20, 25, 25
Superset
SA DB Rows - 70, 70, 70, 80, 80

Seated DB Shoulder Press - 60, 60, 60, 75, 75

Roman Full Leg raise - bw x 15 x 3
Superset
Hyperextensions - 45# x 15 x 3

Diet is kicking.. I can feel the effects of the Animal cuts whereas it does not leave me feeling hungry between feedings. I feed every 3 hours and hit my bedtime casein to protect my daily gains… 25 days to ground zero… Bring it on…

Weight: 232.4

Semper Fi
_________

Alright, lesson learned… there will be no more 315 attempts until my shoulder is completely healed. That bitch was barking last night… I had to add a heating pad to it so I could move my arm…. I swear the voices have manifested into actual physical beings because every single one of them were roasting marshmellows on my rotator cuff while I had the heating pad on it and I swear to god I heard all of them singing Kumbaya….

This morning was another story… Leg Day… I always look forward to the pain and destruction I put into my legs every Friday.. this morning was no exception except for one tiny little detail. I never understood before today why some people commented about how squats or presses made them hurl… I have put that question to bed. Not sure whether it was the new Animal supplements I started taking this morning or the actual squats followed by heavy presses but this morning my stomach fought back… I literally almost did not make it to the head before I started making cookies and cream…. I most certainly felt better afterwards, but by the time I finished out legs, I was weak as hell… I literally had nothing left to give this morning… I worked everything heavy… I shot for 10 heavy reps minimum on everything but squats, which I worked 8-10 reps heavy…. My legs are like rubber right now and there are moments when I don’t trust them to carry my fat ass any further…. TGIF….

Supps:
Pre-workout whey shake (44G)
BCAA’s
Animal Storm
Animal Shock Therapy
Animal Cuts

3 scoops/1/2 gallon water XTEND during workout

Post workout whey/22G Casein/22G - 40G Maltodextrin
5G Creatine
Animal Pak
Animal Flex

Friday Legs
5 sets 8-10 reps

Smith Squats - 200, 250, 290, 380, 430
Superset
SL Deadlifts - 185, 235, 235, 185, 185

Leg Press (High) - 568, 748, 838, 928, 1018(5)

Seated Leg Curls - 145, 160, 175, 190, 205
Superset
Leg Extensions - 145, 160, 175, 190, 205

(20Reps)
Calf Raise (leg Press) - 568, 658, 658, 658, 658
Superset
Calf Raise (Smith) - 340, 340, 340, 340, 340

Roman Full Leg Raise - BW x 15 x 3 sets

Diet: Since I am walking away from the 315 for the time being, I started my Animal Cuts this morning and will start working towards the 225 pound goal by the end of the year. Should not be an issue and I figure my BF % will settle in around 10% by then… All in all not a bad years work..

Weight: 232.4

Semper Fi

Thursday…. Abs/Cardio day….. Nah, I don’t think so… I have this thought that has been eating at my brain for a couple of weeks… it has started to consume my thought process. It gives the voices something to taunt me with… those suckers just love to have something that they know will piss me off when they bring it up….

315…

"Your punk ass can’t lift it… " one voice claims..

"If you try, I will kick you in the balls during the lift… " another one says…

"No reason to kick him.. he doesn’t have the balls… " a third exclaims…

I have had enough of the background noise, so I blew off cardio this morning to go in and shut those ****ers up. I delayed my arrival until 5 am so the feeding would take good hold before my arrival since I am on the cut right now. I am running out of opportunity to make this lift since the overriding goal this cycle is 225 pounds by New Years. I have held 233 for about 10 days now at 2000-2200 calories to keep as much strength as I can until this lift is met, then I will drop the calories and make my run at 225.. I need to start cutting back in a few days, so I need to hit this goal and move on… My Animal Cuts arrives today with my December supplement order, so I figure I have until about mid week next week before I start working on that last eight pounds….

Arrived about 5 am and noticed Jerome and his son was already there and finishing up their bench work, so I made a mental note I had my witnesses… after a short conversation with them while stretching, I started warming up with an empty bar…. Then walked over to the Olympic bar and started my first couple of warmup sets and moved to the Smith Machine once I got over 200 pounds.. after hitting 6 reps at 250, I loaded the bar with 315 and walked away to clear my mind. I was trying to ignore my right shoulder which still reminded me that although it did not hurt, it still had limited range… I stepped over and did a couple of full stretches on it and then turned back to the bar… I have already lifted 290 so I knew 315 was in me… I lay down on the bench… dropped the bar …. nada… about a quarter way up the bar stopped… my left arm was still pushing but I could not get my right shoulder loaded… I racked the bar and walked away… I came back a minute later and reset the bar. I lay back down on the bench and cleared my mind of nothing but that bar…. I dropped the bar… same result… I reracked the bar and got up pissed…. dammit.. I can do this, but I am more concentrated on my shoulder than I am the lift, so discretion took priority over valor and I left that lift for another day….
I stood at this same crossroads a month or so ago with the 185 pound Military lift. I fought it for two weeks before I met that goal.. so it shall be with 315… it is just a matter of time. I have Monday and probably next Thursday to attempt it before the overriding goal of 225 takes over… You can bet your sweet ass I will be busting my ass to support that lift….

So I finished the morning doing a few stations working the chest. Tomorrow is Leg day so we should be able to get some good volume in.

BTW, the voices? They are singing like a high school glee club right now… someone please pass me the extra strength thorzine…..

Thursday Chest workout
6-8 reps

WG Bench - 135, 185, 200, 250, 315(fail)

DB Incline DB Bench - 60, 70, 80

Flat DB Fly - 20, 30, 40

Smith Incline Press - 100, 150, 200, 250(1)

Cable Crossovers (10 reps) - 35, 42.5, 50(5)

Hanging Full Leg Raises - BW x 15 x 3 sets

Calories: 2290 (302/140/50) (P/C/F)
Weight 234

Semper Fi

Ok, lets not talk about how bad I hurt and how stove up I am from yesterday’s run. Clocked it in the truck last night on the way home… The gate of the field is 1.4 miles from my driveway… Why did it seem so much further than that yesterday?

Fast forward to this morning… a tad warmer but you would not know it with the 65 mph winds and driving rains we have had going on all night… no signs of it letting up anytime soon so I was glad to be hitting the gym this morning…

The pain and stiffness was excrutiatingly orgasmic this morning while stretching out the kinks… today is Bi/Tri day and I have a renewed focus due to something I have been reading on these boards the last few days. I thought I brought intensity into the gym with me every morning, but alas, I have been shown I am sadly mistaken… we shall correct that…

Pre-workout shake - 44G Protein, 5G Creatine, Cycle Plus, 10 oz 2% milk
8 oz OJ
BCAA’s, morning supp’s
Animal Pump

During Workout - 1/2 gallon water with 3 scoops XTEND

Post workout Shake - 22G Whey, 22G Casein, 45G Maltodextrin, 5G Creatine, 5G BCAA’s, 10 oz 2% Milk
Animal Pak
Animal Flex

Wednesday Bi’s/Tri’s
4 sets 12-15 reps

BB Curl (EzCurl) - 40, 60, 70, 90(8)
Superset
CG Bench - 110, 160, 200, 225(6)

Hammer Curls - 30, 35, 40, 45
Superset
BA DB Pullovers - 90, 90, 95, 95
(shoulder might let me do skullcrushers again next week)

Cable Hammer Curls (rope)- 50, 50, 50, 65
Superset
Tricep Cable Pushdown (rope) - 50, 50, 50, 65

Preacher Curl (Machine) - 140 x 6, 155 x 6, 170 x 5, 170 x 4
Superset
Bench dips - +45# x 15 x 4

Concentrated DB Curls - 30, 35, 40(6)

BB Forearm Bench Curls (palms up) - 80, 80, 80, 80
DB Forearm Bench Curls (palms up) - 40, 40, 40, 40

Swiss Ball Crunch - 25 x 2
Hyperextensions - +45# x 25 x 2
Hanging Full Leg lift - BW x 15 x 2

Cut is going nicely. Last few days have been extremely clean, but still a tad higher in calories than I would like, but until I make the 315 bench, I need the strength….

Calories: 2096 (252/82/78) (P/C/F)
Weight: 233

Semper Fi

As I get older, I notice that some things become harder to accomplish and not only are they harder to perform, it is harder to reach the same level of accomplishment… take sleep for example… I run hard during the day, usually 14-15 hours wrestling with machine designs… not as much a physical exhaustion as a mental exhaustion. Rarely am I working on a design that has ever been built before… there are similarities in processes at times, but usually we are dealing with OEM equipment sold to manufacturing bean counters and engineering departments that meet budget requirements, not so much process requirements, so people like me get stuck with making it work…. so my brain housing group is usually on fire by lunch and toast by mid afternoon… and by the time 9 pm rolls around my body is ready for bed… then, sometimes usually between the hours of midnight and 12:01 am, my brain bitch slaps me with a forgotten response to some insignifigant issue I was wrestling with the previous day… and therefore, my needed sleep just got sacrificed…. so it was this morning…. I honestly tried to lay there and shut back down…. no dice… so I get up and drink a protein shake… that feeds my body in hopes it will make me drowsy.. nope… so somewhere around 3 am, I decide it is time to kick my new cardio program into high gear.

You see, this month makes one year I have paid my dues to the iron. It has become a religion for me. I am the preacher, the convert, and the altar boy… It has become second nature to me that I will beat the sun up every day and it will usually find me laying on a bench at the local gym paying my tithe’s…. In the last month I have been forward looking at my routine trying to find ways to improve upon the progress I have already achieved.. Everytime I look, there is this great big gaping hole that needs to be filled to find the balance I seek in my quest for a better body….. cardio….. The mindless effort of raising one’s heart rate over an extended period… I see the cardio cows huffing and puffing every morning on the machines up front, and I despise the sight of them because they point to my one area of training I side step like Bo Jackson around a Bammer lineback… I hate it… and usually will avoid it at all cost…

Anywho, to get to the point, I have decided to take up running again. I ran cross country in high school and in the Marines and have always had a runner mentality when it comes to trying to find the wall and breaking through… I have found several paths away from my house that will break the monotony of running and actually found one that ends at the base of a set of high school bleachers…. that is the route I chose this morning…

At 3 am I got into my new sweats (had to buy new wardrobe after losing 60 pounds this year) and headed towards the door.. It was at that moment I was reminded of my age again. It was freaking cold outside. No check that, it was freaking frigid outside… Here in Florida, anything below 69.9 degrees is cold. Below 50? Well, one can’t survive more than 3 minutes in that harsh enviroment… and the thermometer read 45*’s…..So I bundled up in my winter parka, donned my snowshoes, and set out… (lol, not really.. Nike doesn’t make snow shoes do they?) Slow pace and concentrated on my breathing… watch the sidewalk Rick…. Truck delivering newspaper came by… Carbon Monoxide poisoning for thirty seconds… step..step… step… soon I could see the lights of the school ahead… turned down the side street and headed towards the football field….. cut across the field and headed towards the bleachers…. stopped short on wobbly legs and wondered why my chest was on fire…. I looked at the bleachers and decided it was for another day… my legs were burning and my chest was about to explode. I realized I still had to make it back home, so I turned and headed back… Good Intentions were had by all….

So this morning, I could not sleep and after testing myself in the cold blizzard of winter, I failed to meet a goal of running those bleachers, but I did manage to get the run in… so I am batting 1 for 3 this morning. Rome was not built in a day…

Semper Fi

Monday Chest/Back
3 sets - 15 reps

Note to self… I need to get off my ass and buy a set of lifting straps. My grip is limiting my deadlifts…

Deadlifts - 200 x 8 x 2, 290 x 3 x 1
BB Row (ez curl)- 110, 160, 200

Wide Grip Bench - 135, 185, 250(8)
Superset
Pullups - 8, 8, 8

Incline DB Press - 55, 60, 65
Cable Crossover - 30, 35, 42.5(8)
Seated Cable Row - 160, 180, 200
Hyperextensions - 70# x 15 x 2

Another glorious pumpfest…

Semper Fi

Thank God it’s Saturday…..

Today was shoulders and lagging parts. Since this is my second shoulder routine this week, I held back a bit to keep from over working the injured right rotator that I tweaked a couple weeks back doing skull crushers. Most of the pain is gone, but I still have a bit of loss in range of motion due to tightness of the muscles trying to protect the injury… but all in all, I was satisfied that the job got done this morning.

Last night we stood the Christmas tree as we always do on the Friday after Thanksgiving. This routine usually involves me unboxing the tree, putting it together, and stringing the secondary colored lights to the assembled lit tree.. then I sit back on the couch and watch my two daughters and my wife hang all the ornaments, some of which go back 17 years to the year we were married… we have trinkets from every milestone the children have made, and sadly, some that represent those who are no longer among us but in spirit… It is a very meaningful moment in my life every year as I place the last ornament, the tree topper which is different every year to symbolize the new beginning, and then light the tree for the first time. I swear every year I have the same reaction. As the tree takes life for the first few seconds, I always hold my breathe, because that moment of purity always reminds me how lucky I am to be witness to this years tree. I always share that exact moment with all my fallen comrades in my mind because to me, they always enjoy it as much as I.

This year, I am reminded that this is a milestone. It represents 5 weeks left from where I began my current journey to get my body into shape to enjoy many more of these celebrations. 5 Weeks from now I will wake up on Christmas morning and reach down and tie my shoes without losing my breathe. I will be able to throw my daughters on my back and carry them around listening to their laughter… I will be able to hug my wife with all of me, not just my belly…

So it is with me on this day, this last training day of the week, 5 weeks away from my 1 year milestone. I am pleased with my progress, but not even close to being satisfied… If nothing else, I have awakened the old warrior. I have stood with conviction, I have tested my commitment, I have overcame moments of weakness when my motivation was seriously lacking… I stand on my own two feet and walk my own path, for that is the only way I know to roll….

Semper Fi

Saturday Shoulders and lagging parts
3 sets - 15/25 reps

Standing Military Press - 95, 95, 135
BB Shrug - 200, 200, 290
DB Side Lateral - 20, 20, 25
DB Shrug - 70, 70, 80
Standing Rear Delt Raise - 25, 25, 25
SA DB Row - 80, 80, 90
Seated HS Shoulder Press - 140, 160, 180, 200
Hyperextensions - 45 x 25 x 2
Hanging Full Leg Raise - BW x 15 x 2

Weight: 234.2

Body measurements tomorrow. Have a good weekend gang….