hzagadinow's BodyBlog

Short term goal accomplished

hzagadinow — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:40:00 +0000

I love setting goals, especially once they are accomplished. I have achieved my personal short term goal of gaining some quality lean mass while reducing body fat. It seems like forever since I’ve been doing this but I have made record results in four months. What makes it especially meaningful is that I’m doing everything post a traumatic accident a couple of years ago because a 28 months ago I was told I wouldn’t be able to do much for the rest of my life and that was unacceptable to me. I was down but I wasn’t out. I’m a fighter and what I do best is perform under pressure or unusal circumstances: physical, mental, or spiritual.

I commend everyone who work their butts off in and out of the gym to achieve their goals. America’s a great nation because we have loads of non-stop fighters and "go for it" people in our nation. Working, training, and dieting is only small aspect of my persona. I believe it leads to greater achievements in life. Now, that my short term goal has been completed, it’s time to set another goal and so on. I just keep on moving and don’t stop!

Food is my best friend and worst enemy

hzagadinow — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 22:37:43 +0000

I am starting to fall into the typical fat American battle with food struggle. I eat healthy and mean really healthy. I’m talking eggs with tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and turkey along with turkey sausage and a bowl of old fashion oats every morning. Then I eat chicken breast (2-3) with rice, every other day, and medium bowl of broccoli. Then I have the same thing for dinner. I have a protein shake in between each meal and one when I wake up for a total of six meals a day. The hard part is I’m sneaking in a roll every now and again during lunch or dinner, even sometimes dessert. I’m not really a dessert guy but it tastes good at the time. When I feel drained or just tired of eating clean I binge on soy-milk and sugar cereal. I feel like this fat kid eating in secrecy because most people look up to me for eating clean most of the time and they try to entice me with the unhealthy foods so they can feel better about themselves. How do other people battle with this problem? I can’t take the bad foods away because I’m in Iraq and it’s a big Chow Hall (DFAC) area. I have to sit with my crew/co-workers all the time because of my job. I feel pretty isolated and alone at this moment. I will continue to fight the battle; the toughest part is when I have to prepare for contests. I’m a raving loony when I am dieting without cheating. Oh well, I guess I’m using this post to vent.

Food, training and more food

hzagadinow — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:16:29 +0000

I wish I could just jump to the end results of my daily training and struggles but life isn’t that easy. Waking up early to get my first meal in, workout, post workout supplements and meal, lunchtime (meal three), I wish for afternoon naps but I’m at work everyday but every now and again I might sneak one in, then its meal four, dinner time (meal five) and finally meal six the one before I go to sleep. Not immediatley before I go to sleep but the last meal of the day. It seems like all I’m doing is eating, it’s not even enjoyable. I do it because I must in order to achieve my goals. Hell, working out and training is easy. I mean anyone can go to the gym, lift some weights, do some cardio and then leave. But eating clean, counting your protein, carbs, fats, and calories is a pain in the ass. Luckily, I’m in Iraq. What I mean by that is, it’s sorta easy. We do the same thing everyday and we have a set schedule. There’s nothing to really throw off your routine besides an attack and all but that’s a give-me, I mean I’m in a war-zone you know.

But for the most part, it seems like a continous non-stop daily list of chores. It feels like I’m living in Ground Hog Day (movie). I do appreciate that my meals are already cooked at the DFAC and that they have chicken breast (yummy) everyday for lunch and din din along with steamed rice and broccoli. It’s even more of a pain when you have to prepare all of your meals:( Basically, what I’m getting at is, we train our cans off, eat like its going out of style and by the time someone notices it, they say something stupid like "Yeah, I’m going to go to the gym and work on my abs" as if they will automatically come into effect after a few workouts.

I try to explain diet and they smile at me with ketchup falling from their face as they’re stuffing greasy burgers and oily fries into their faces. I don’t even bother anymore. I just say, "yeah, workout." I guess eating like this is getting me pissed and irate. I need some bad carbs to get me in a good mood:)

Work with what you got/have

hzagadinow — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 13:58:50 +0000

I read many articles, magazines, and books. They all give awesome advice but the advice they give is in some type of idealistic world and environment. They talk about what foods to eat, how to prepare them, what type of equipment to use at the gym, how long you should workout for and that’s fine. But everyone doesn’t fit into that idealistic category. Some things are more difficult to achieve than others and depending upon your lifestyle/situation, it makes it extremely difficult to do everything fitness. Many people have children, work long hours, have long commutes etc. Depending on what type of job you have, you may not be able to wolf down a meal or protein shake every 2-3 hours as suggested to keep your body anabolic. I once had a part-time job, to make ends meet of course, along with my full-time job and my part-time job didn’t have the same atmosphere of my regular job. I couldn’t just go to the kitchen and boil up some eggs or drink a protein shake in the middle of a meeting. So, I would cook and cut up some chicken breast, put it in a sealable plastic bag then put it in my pocket. I simply would munch on chicken breast like it was chewing gum (true story) throughout the day. One day a female employee was wondering why I kept digging in my pocket and I told her I had chicken breast in there, awkward moment to say the least. What I learned was that no matter your situation, if you want something bad enough you will do whatever it takes (within reason) to accomplish your goals. Let’s face it, we are not all paid fitness models and bodybuilders, plus they don’t get paid much unless you’re in the top 10% of an already elite group of people. We’re fitness fanatics with regular lifestyles doing our best with what we have. As a matter of fact, I’m currently living in Iraq, living in less than desirable conditions, not to mention there’s a war going on. Regardless of that fact, I and many other soldiers, sailors, marines, airman and civilians find a way to stay fit and healthy. We’re not living in the US, don’t have a Gold’s gym or LA Fitness, we work long hours, live in harsh conditions, in a war zone but we find a way to keep and maintain our healthy way of life. Sometimes, I’m so tired that I just want to sleep at the end of the work day but that’s what average men do. I decided long ago to be much more than the average person and go that extra distance needed to separate a champion from a chump (no disrespect to you chumps out there). At the end of the day, all that matters is your desire to improve yourself, everything will eventually fall into some type of order.

Stepping out of your own shadow.

hzagadinow — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 18:00:16 +0000

Hey, I don’t know how times I hear a "so-called" bodybuilder or your average workout Joe say, "I used to yoked, I used to be jacked, back in the day I was a monster." Then when I said it myself, there was a certain clarity about the situation. Most of the guys that say that were never really that "yoked or jacked" but I was and I had proof: the contest pictures, first place trophies, and friends who remember to prove it. I lost a good protion of my overall develpoment but I had a serious motor vehicle accident as the culprit. Another funny thing I used to hear was, "you should have seem what I looked like before my accident." Now, with me actually being in a life-alterating accident that nearly claimed my life, I’m trying to get past my previous achievements and give people something current to talk about. I hate it when one of my friends say, "this guy here was a monster back in the day." They talk as if I’m not even standing next to them. I went from being almost paralyzed to being bound in a wheelchair for over 6 months, to using a walker for 1 month, and finally a cane for about 7-8 months. I was out of work for a year with a broken neck, ribs, shoulder, wrist, pelvis, totally torn left knee and three damaged disks in my back. I was told I probably wouldn’t walk properly again but now I walking and working out. Yeah, my knee was re-constructed with the LCL repair and I can’t run or bend it much but I’m working around it and I’m making descent progress in the gym. I won’t be a strong as I used to be but I think I’m making great quality muscle gains and maybe I’ll even step back on stage one day. So far, so good. I’m slowly making quality gains and even getting a good portion of my strength back. So wish me well and let’s see if I can step out of the shadows of my previous achievements and make new ones to be proud of.

Zag

Welcome!

hzagadinow — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:44:35 +0000

Welcome to the Bodybuilding.com BodyBlogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!