getripped5h1’s BodyBlog

   It is hard to believe that it has already been two weeks since my last entry. I have been hitting the gym hard the last couple of weeks and am feeling it. I have noticed that I have shown pretty good increases in weight lifted in every area but bench pressing. I will be working on setting up a more detailed workout that will let me isolate the body parts a little better than I have been. I am thinking of moving to a single body part per workout but am concerned that I will not hit each part often enough. From what I understand the "one body part per week" is for pretty advanced lifters so will experiment a little.

   I have started Geocaching with the kids to help me get out and get more cardio exercise. It has turned out to not only be fun but can be a pretty good workout in itself. This last Saturday we hit two places and one was at the top of a 500 plus high rocky mountain which was a good breather to get up. Beats the heck out of running on a treadmill!

   I am feeling so much better since I have been back into the gym, I have always known that it helps me to feel better but this just re-inforces it. I am getting my workout plan put together this weekend and will get serious about working out come Monday. I really do not mind DOMs but I hate the pain you get when you start back up after a long break from working out so I am glad that is finally over.

   I am wondering if any of you out there around my age (48) do anything different to continue to make gains as I have been reading alot lately of needing to change not only workouts but supplements as well. I really don’t want to mess up what has been working for me but if there is a better way I have no problem trying it out. Anyway I will be trying to make back the loss I have experienced in my down time (gained about five lbs) I am calling it my bulking phase;) but would like to see more gains that I was showing before. I had been working out 5-6 days a week realy hard and my gains had slowed to almost nothing.

   Well, since I recently started working out again I had to get through that initial pain phase as I call it, where the muscles are really sore after a good workout. I enjoy the pain that comes from a really good hard workout I have just always hated the feeling of starting back up after a layoff. Anyway, I am just about over that now and can start to really focus in on my workouts now.

   I have been working on finding a new workout plan and have found one that I hope works, it is a combination of heavy lifting for size one week and then something like 10×10s the next week for density and mass. I have just about gotten my plan put together and once I see how it works I will post it on here just in case someone else wants to try it.

   I have also read that many of the supplements that I have been using may not be helping me as much due to age. I am finding that creatine for example is only about 50% as effective for those over 40 as opposed to those under 40. I am still trying to figure out the reasoning but have found it in two magazines. (could be one of those "don’t believe everything you read" articles also though)

   I really have to work at getting back into the habit of getting on here alot more often. I did get started back up in the gym and am beginning to enjoy it again. I have been told by my wife and grandkids that I need to go to the gym every day on my way home from work as I am in a better mood when I get home. Not sure what that is all about but ok, who am I to argue about having to hit the gym.

   I am trying to put together a workout plan again as I have a few goals that I want to reach. I have so far just been hitting a good variety of exercises to help get me of the "pain phase" so I can really get serious by next week. I want to build up my chest as well as my biceps. I also still want to get down to that magical 32 inch waist but that may have to become a secondary goal. I have always worked my chest and biceps pretty good and have added alot of size but have trouble getting that "fuller" look in the chest and the peaks on the biceps. Hopefully it is my plans and not the genetics. One I can change the other I don’t think I can do anything about it.

   Well it is almost time for me to hit the gym today so will read a few posts and then get to working out.

I have been absent from here for a few months (the gym also) but have finally gotten everything settled to where I can begin a routine once more. My wife and I are raising two of our grandkids and that along with the new job put a routine for me in shambles. This is my wife’s last week at work so she can be home with the kids which frees me up some time to get back into the gym. I really cannot wait as I believe that the past few months of being quite sedentary have really hurt my health.

   I have been suffering quite badly with severe pain in my back and hips as one of my herniated disks is pinching my sciatic nerve causing pretty bad pain down into my rear and upper hamstrings. I did not have this problem nearly as bad with regular workoputs so am hoping and praying that this will help out. I will obviously have to work out some new exercises to do until I see some improvement but hey, thats one of the fun things about working out, learning new things and having friends on this forum giving ideas certainly helps as well.

   I have been doing just enough to maintain what I had with regular morning push ups, sit ups, and core exercises like the plank but just not the same as pushing iron. I will be spending the time between now and Monday, when I plan on starting back up, working out some exercises that I can do without causing more problems.

   Anyway I just wanted to get back to posting my thoughts and things on here again as well as to letting my friends know that I am still around and not giving up just had alot of issues crop up that took awhile to work through. I am happy to be back and getting back into touch with you all.

   Well, I have gotten settled (to an extent) into the new job and have gotten a bit of a routine going to get back to the gym. I started my workouts again last week and decided to try something new on Friday. I went to a "power Yoga" class and while it was a bit awkward getting started I found some muscles that apparently I never realized that I had. I thought that I was in pretty decent shape but by the end of that hour I was thinking that I may need to hit the gym even harder. I think that alot of it was the fact that you hold the positions for so long. I can do the "wall sit" for about 61/2 minutes but holding some of those yoga moves really had some muscles shaking.

   I don’t know how long I will keep it up but it does seem like it will help with my flexibity which is rather poor so I will give it a try for a few weeks and see any improvements. I have been improving on my pullups which has always been a bane of mine, I managed 3sets of 7/7/5. I have got to concentrate more on using the proper technique, since I have been paying more attention to using my Lats the count has gone up steadily.

Well, today was leg day and I obviously had a good workout since I could barely walk to my car afterward. Luckily there were no cops around to try to get me for public intoxication with the way I was stumbling around. I have gotten back up to over 600 lbs on the leg press (4×12) and calf press (4×10) and that really smoked me. Wasn’t sure if I would be able to finish my squats but managed. I had trouble though with the weighted lunges, seemed to be a shortage of oxygen in the gym for some reason at that time?

   Still doing well on the eating but beginning to wonder if the lower calorie intake is/will hurt any muscle/strength gains. I am supposed to be allowed 1828 calories per day and have been averaging only around 1500. I don’t really want to up that as I am trying to drop the fat now but trying to think ahead as well as I do want to get bigger (musclewise anyway). Guess I will have to give it a little more time.

   I have been reading alot of peoples blogs and have noticed a huge difference in how they are written. Some write and simply state their exercises, some write great stories and still others (like me I guess) just put down a few comments and call it good. Is there a right and wrong way or what??? I do not use any of those online blog things like myspace or anything so not sure what an actual blog should look like. Oh well, noone has critizised it yet so I will try to continue to learn as I go. 

Well, I finally got my progress pictures posted. I didn’t get to the gym today due to work but will be making it up by skipping my off day this week and getting the make up workout done then. I always feel kind of low on energy when I miss a workout and right now I feel like I am running on fumes, just feel tired so I am looking forward to tomorrow to get back on schedule and hopefully have more energy afterward.

   I have been doing pretty good with my eating showing a deficit average of calories about 2,000 per week for the past three weeks so hopefully it will soon start showing it in my measurements. Guess I just have to give it time so I will be patient (maybe) and see how it goes.

   I am late in writing since my work computer doesn’t like the blogs very much. I did a really good chest, shoulders and Tri workout on Wednesday and pretty much smoked myself But I am feeling really good with the good type of DOMs instead of that pain I had from Monday. I have my regular Friday workout today which is abs and a few other compound moves thrown in. I am really syched right now and am looking forward to gettting busy.

   I will be going through a job change next week so have alot of uncertainty coming up both in my life as well as getting to the gym regularly but I will find a way to get in and keep up the work in progress I have begun. Fortunately (I guess) I am used to drastic changes in my life after 20+ years in the Army with moves every few years and five combat tours so hey, whats a little job change? It will be a new challenge and I am looking forward to getting started on learning it.

   I will let you all know how my workout went later. I also still remember that I said I will be posting some progress pictures this weekend so I have to get that done as well.

Well, I finished legs today and now am feeling totally drained. I dropped off a little from my normal weight as I wanted to be able to walk tomorrow. I still had a pretty good workout even with the lower weight though I didn’t get close to muscle failure on any of them. I will finish off this week breaking myself back in and get on it hard next week again. I will try to get a few progress pictures posted this weekend so I will then have to be more accountable for my actions since it will be apparent when I slack off.