hedleylamar’s BodyBlog

Well, the last few months I’ve been bulking and it’s been going well.  I’d added a few pounds of lean muscle mass which is a big deal for an extremely hard gainer like myself.

The problem is that over the last month or so, I’ve been unintentionally doing some dirty bulking.  I’ve been on the road a lot for work and just didn’t make wise choices in my eating plan.

I’m obviously still getting calories in, but it’s really starting to show up around my mid section and I don’t like it at all.  I understand that some fat gain comes with bulking, but this is too much.

I do have one more business trip starting tomorrow, but I know that I’m intent on making better choices and still meeting the needs of a bulking diet.  Within a month, I’m hoping to start the 25 min. bike ride to and from work each day which should help melt some of the new fat away, but I know that better eating now will result in better results at that time.

I can’t say the dirty bulking hasn’t been fun at meal time…

..and I think it’s just due to my ego.  I’m putting a little fat around the belly and to add muscle, I think that’s just a temporary thing I’m going to have to deal with.

In saying that, I’d like to be able to look my best and I’m hoping to keep the fat gains at bay while adding some muscle mass.

I’m only planning to bulk for about another six weeks or so but I’m looking forward to shedding the small tire I’ve added. 

Well, the flu is running through our house and there’s no worse thing that can happen when you’re trying to bulk.

I’ve put on about 6 pounds in the last month, which is big for a hard gainer like myself.  My wife is also bulking in hopes of competing in figure later in the year.  I’m lost half the weight I’ve put on and it’s really frustrating.

However, the worst part is my 6 year old son has pneumonia (see, I learned to spell that word in grade 6 for a reason).  He’ll be fine but you hate to see little guys like that feeling sick.  Our baby and 4 year old also went through the bout this week.

Anyway, our house is rather disgusting these days but I can’t wait to get healthy and back at it.  A new batch of protein arrived from BB.com today so I’m anxious to try out some new flavours

Well, I’ve been bulking for the last few weeks and I can already see the difference.

It also doesn’t hurt by the fact that I’m as pain and injury free as I’ve been in the past 2 years or so.  The one injury I’m still fighting is the strain and tightness in my right forearm, but that mainly on affects bicep curls, and I can gain size by not going as heavy as I can on those.

I’ve been focused on compound exercises and it’s going well.  To focus on my arms, I’m hitting them twice per week.  My split is:

Day 1: arms

Day 2: chest

Day 3: legs

Day 4: back and biceps

Day 5: shoulders and triceps

Hopefully later, I’ll post some pictures.  It’s only been a few weeks so it’s not really obvious and I’ve added a little around the waist, but I can clearly see it in the mirror.

So the Vikings clinch the NFC North today.  I was lucky enough to be at the game and it was an awesome time.

I went with 2 of my 3 young sons and we had a blast.  I was much more stressed than they were, but my boys looked very cool in their Adrian Peterson jerseys.  

It will be great having the Vikes back in the playoffs and they have the kind of team where anything can happen.  It would be awesome if they could get at least one win in the playoffs.

So my wife has really embraced a healthy and fitness lifestyle and has decided to enter her first figure contest.  I’m extremely proud of her.  She does need lots of help and encouragement.  She’s never really been an athlete or been competitive in any sport, so she’s slowly learning what dedication to something like this is really about.

She’s a stunning woman and has great genetics and the body type to do well in figure.  Like most people, she just needs to better commit to the diet requirements and I think she’ll be fantastic.

We have three kids and there are very few women that look like her.  I think since she’s been working out for about a year but seriously since the summer, her mood is better, she feels better and our relationship is stronger.

I’m really proud of her and hope that this change in lifestyle lasts for the rest of our lives.

I’d love to share a picture, but I don’t think she’d be comfortable with that yet.

This has made me tremendously happy.

I’ve been fighting elbow pain for quite some time and have now realized that it’s related to tightness I get in my forearms.  With heat, deep massage and even rotating hot and cold, I’m able to ease the tension in my forearms and alleviate the pain.

For a while, I was treating it like tendonitis, but this now seems to be consistent with the problems I’ve had with my shoulder.

When my scapular gets tight, mainly from a chest or pressing workout, I get a lot of shoulder pain.  It subsides with deep massage and heat.

My body is unbelievably screwey….

Anyway, don’t discount muscle tightness if you get an injury in your knee, shoulder or elbow….

I think I can successfully live with this injury, from which there seems to be no simple solution.  The problem is I don’t think I can lift the heavy weight that I have in the past, particularly with chest press moves. 

When I do the press moves, I get an instant soreness in my scapular area which after a day, results in some very deep shoulder soreness and pain.

The injury seems to be constant but when I do activity like other lifting, particularly for back, it seems to subside the pain.  I’ve seen numerous doctors, physiotherapists, massage therapists, chiropractors, etc….but nothing seems to help.

Anyway, as I get older (I’m going on 38), perhaps it’s just time to adjust the way I train and what I put my body through.  That’s going to be tough because I’ve been pushing it all out for at least 25 years.

I’m not a rabid follower of bodybuilding, but when you read magazines and visit sites like this, it’s hard not to follow it to some degree.

I’m really glad that Jackson one. The IFBB has been threatening to transition judging to reward more for symmetry than size and they’ve never put their money where their mouth is.  Personally, I think Darrem Charles has the best physique out there, but he loses to bulks like Cutler and Badell simply based on their size.

I hope this is a transition for the IFBB, even though those that placed after 1st place were ’size guys’.

That said, looking at Jennifer Gates as the winner of the Figure competition and the subsequent placings, it seems that size is becoming key in figure, which is unfortunate.

Then again, this is more my style…..

 http://www.bodybuilding.com/contest_media/2912/7256/d/img_42691220906619.jpg

I don’t know why, but the tightness I get in my scapular area….particularly after I do presses and more so with chest presses, is screwing up my shoulder quite a bit.  It’s been doing this for about 6 months.  I took time off, got physio, am getting massages about every 10-14 days and stretch and massage it every day.

I even bought a self massaging wand so I can do it myself and not have to rely on my wife.  Anyway, this tightness has left me with shoulder pain that doesn’t go away.  When it subsides slightly and then I press a little heavier, it comes back in full force.

I may just have to resign myself to the fact that this won’t go away.  I’ll always be treating it, but I may have to train the way I workout, which will obviously limit my gains if I can’t lift heavy on basic pressing exercises.

I really don’t know what else to do. I even went to a chiropractor yesterday, but I’m not confident about that.  I’ll continue my accupuncture, but my new approach to training may need to be on really focusing on pre-exhausting the chest muscle with isolation exercises and then doing some presses.

It will be a lot of wait and see, but my frustration level is off the charts….