gymfreak713’s BodyBlog

Well yes another week is down the drain, time to party this weekend.  ALbor day! whoo hoo!!! BBQs, BEER, WOMEN, MORE FOOD, BEER AND WOMEN. Just kidding.  Its all work for me this weekend, work (career), working out, making my meals for the week, you know, the usual.

Does anyone else ever feel like certain muscles, while they are defintiely being worked out hard, never seem to harden up when flexed?  My right biceps is softer than my left.  or my quads have certain areas of softness to them. i dont know. just wierd

Well, lets see, been checking out a few friends’ progress photos.  So many hot people on here. i really am motivated each and every time i come on here.  Heres to everyone having a great weekend!

Has anyone ever tried giant sets for legs?  I did today and my legs are completely fried.  I set up a barbell with around 400 on it, and had another one with 225 on it lying down.  I did a set of squats with the 400, racked it, immediately did stiff legged deads with the 225, then cleaned the bar and did lunges, followed by lying leg curls.  5 sets of that circuit and i couldnt leave my little home gym!.  What a great thrashing workout though.

I believe that at some point, outside influences can either truly hinder our progress or push us forward.  This weekend completely sucked! The woman i was seeing, who i let my feelings get way out of control way too early, called me on sunday, after not calling me saturday or saturday night (which she normally would do) and told me her and her ex got back together.  this was 3 days after getting a bunch of roses from me delivered to her work, after telling me she missed me on saturday, etc.  Well, needless to say, at first i was pissed, angry that i let myself fall for someone who obviously doesnt know what she wants, even at 37 yrs old.  Then i realized a few things:

1. this was her choice.  In her mind, heart, groin, whatever, she decided that she can see a future with someone from her past more so from someone new and exciting in her life.  my reflection on this? good for her.  Thanks for finally being honest with me

2. I have been neglecting my diet as we all do in the beginnings of the dating stages. lunch here, dinner there, late night coffee or dessert here.  the calories add up.

So i used all of this as fuel for a workout this morning, i only had 30 minutes to get one done, but let me tell you. My shoulders are 100% completely fried.  i might not be able to lift my arms tomorrow, but I am definitely a warrior and will press on.  Now , where is my warrior princess?

Well, I have had to change my training up a bit due to time constraints and some budget cuts i have made. No more double trips to the gym. Well i have started doing old school Circuit training.  I do a set of barbell squats on my smith at home, then immediately move my feet back and do a set of stif legged deads.  this is followed by bent over rows, bb benches, a set of curls, a set of overhead extensions and finally a set of militaries.  do this 6-7 tomes and trust me, you will be gasping for air and sweating buckets.  The weight isnt dropping as fast on this regimen but at least im not sitting on my ass at home!

Hi heres an easy chicken wrap recipe that I absolutely love!

1 chicken breast, cooked and cubed

1 apple, chopped

a few carrots, shredded

a handful of raisins, black or golden, either is ok

plain yogurt, and a little lemon juice to taste.

mix it all in a bowl until it tastes good to you and has a tuna fish sandwich consistency, then roll up in some whole wheat wraps.

A lot of friends have been sending me comments wondering where i have been.  i am still working out, and dieting, but progress has slowed do to financuial constraints which hurts the gas needed to hit the gym and to buy good food.  so i have been running at night, and hiking on off days for cardio, and hitting the home gym in the mornings.  not a lot of fun, but i will be back soon. talk to you all then

Jason

I made some killer tuna the other day.  I took some tuna in the pouch, some chopped cilantro, some chopped tomato, some chopped red onion, 2 hard boiled eggs, and a teensy bit of lemon juice.  i mixed that up and then took some avocado, garlic, and a little mor cilantro and onion and threw that in my food processor.  i toasted some ezekiel sesame bread. (MMMMM. toasted sesame seeds? tons of flavor) i then spread a little of the avocado mixture on each slice and then topped it with the tuna mixture.  I personally dont know if anyone else will like it, and honestly it could use some salt, but i dont like to add salt to my diet

Tuesdays are always shouder days.  I love training my shoulders just because the pump i get in them is incredible.  honestly, when I feel other bodyparts lagging, i take out my shoulder workout because I know its the delts overpowering in certain exercises.

First up was machine presses. i love getting into that groove and feeling the muscle start to get warm, blodd start to rush in, etc.  3 warm up sets, 15-20 reps, decent weight, just to get some blod flowing.

Next up was a tri set (4 sets) of bent lateral raises, side laterals, and finally front raises with a barbell.  Loved it.  I pulled my shirt sleeve up and the veins were popping through my skin. (if only i could lose this gut!!!).  Why is it thast all of my fat is in one area? its very frustrating! Well after that, I grabbed the 90 pounders and did some seated presses, 10 reps, 5 sets.

Lastly, i did shrugs with a barbell.  I tried doing them behind my back, but my shoulders were so pumped my arms wouldnt reach. so i did them in front.  Does anyone else feel like they are going to black out when doing shrugs?  I dont know why but i feel like i see stars by the end of each set.  maybe the pinching of my traps is causing a lack of blood flow.  thats all i need right? death by stroke cause by heavy shrugs. LOL

Well tonight is cardio, if the weather is nice i might do another run up a trail.  I am starting to love taking adavantage of living in southern california.

Until next time

So today i did the unthinkable.  I train my legs on thursday mornings, but this morning, i woke up after having a full 9 and a half hours of sleep, and i was pumped! I went to the gym and hopped on the bike, fully ready to do a cardio session, try to get that 23rd mile in an hour, but when my legs started filling with blood, i had to go see if i could push through a few sets of squats and leg presses. 

 I would normally not recommend doing this, but for some reason, i felt strong today, so i went over and warmed up qith 225 on the squat bar, did some stretches, did another warm up set, and then POW! loaded up to 365, did 10 reps and was feelign good.  then 455 for 10 reps was still feeling good, and finally a working set of eight reps with 505.  Whew! my heart was pumping, and my chest was screaming. by the Way, i only rest long enough to change the weights (10-15 seconds?) and watch the clock for 30 seconds.  So my lungs were sreaming for a breather.

I walked over to the leg press machine, of course the last person who used it had the seat all the way up (big no-no), and i put it all the way down, and lucky for me, this person had left three plates on each side, so i added three more to each side and banged out 18 reps.  i got up added to more to each side and knocked out 15 reps. these arent your pansy @ss move three inches reps. these are knees to chin, butt staying flat against the pad deep reps.  I added one more plate per side and did 12 reps, then did one set of 10 with 10 reps per side.  I then called a buddy over and asked him to help me with one drop set.  So we started with 10 per side, i did 10 reps, he removed 2 plates on each side, i did 10 reps, he removed 2 more plates on each side, i did 7 reps, removed two more, i banged out four reps, and my legs were shaking so bad that i racked the weight and my legs just dropped.  I slapped his hand and mouthed the words: "Thanks, Bro."

I must have sat there for three whole minutes. 180 seconds of nothing moving but my chest as i breathed, and the sweat pouring out of my body.  I then got up, wiped the machine down, re racked all the weights, and went back to the bike. i did a quick 15 minutes of cardio and called it a day. 

Was this workout going to cause me to be automatically thrown into the "overtrained" category? Probably not, and thats why I did it. Something inside said to attack those F!@&ing weights and deal with the pain tomorrow.

well its saturday, 10 minutes until i leave work.  I wanted to spend my saturday evening with Lisa, but she is seeing the simpsons with her friends and her friends son.  No biggie, gives me a chance to go get some good old agression out on the bag tonight.  Tape up my hands, cause that I dont plan on stopping until the tape wears through and my knuckles are hitting the leather head on.  Maybe i will do some ab work also.  I hate ab work. i mean, if i am squatting with 400 pounds for reps, are my abs not tight? or i I am doing heavy pressdowns with the stack, arent my abs being kept tight?  i know they need some direct stimulation of their own, but honestly the sorest my abs have ever been is once as a teen, we went off this rope into a river and i forgot to let go (little fear of heights). well i swung like three times with my legs perfectly parallel to the ground below me and eventually did end up going off that rope all day and obviously for many summers after that, but i tell you what, my stomach has never been as sore as it was the next day.  Another great way to get a burn in the stomach is to do 20 crunches, followed by 20 of something else, pushups, calf raises, whatever to keep your body moving (dont pick something like squats because you wont be giving your energies to the abs) then 19 of each then 18 and so on.  basically you end up doing 210 reps.  you WILL remember that ab workout the next day.

 on a personal note, gotta ask some of my friends here:

NORMALLY, i am sort of the standoffish guy, meaning women i date or sleep with, or whatever, really never know how i feel about them until its an established relationship, etc. i mean, i am still romantic, and still do call (sometimes), but mostly i am the guy who sort of ignores them until they call me. 

Anyway, the reason i guess I am asking, is that normally this creates a desire in people to spend time with me. you know the whole absence makes the heart grow fonder, etc. 

Well with Lisa, i couldnt help it.  After our first date, i told everyone I knew (but not her) how great she was. Hell i told you guys.  The thing is, the other day she asked me what i think of her (it was while i was driving and it was like 12 o clock at night) and I blurted out that I thought she was amazing and quite honestly everything i have ever wanted.

Ok so now to my question: I dont play games and so trying to hide my emotions would have felt like a game… BUT… in the beginning it can be scary to a woman for a man to spill the beans.  Plain and simple, she still wants to see me, and in fact, seems more open to me now than before.  All i am asking is what do you think caused the positive reinforcement of our growing feelings for each other instead of the "too heavy for me. dont call me again" line? Was it my openness? or do you think it might have been just that she thought it was sweet? i am only asking because now that I have blurted that out, I am the vulnerable one in the relationship and its driving me nuts.