inweightlifter’s BodyBlog

Some of you on here may know my lifting bud, Tanner Parkes.  Well, the good news is he is featured in the March issue of Muscle and Fitness, which should be hitting the newstands today.  He has worked his butt off the last couple of years and now is getting the recognition he deserves.  If you haven’t already, pick up the new issue and look at the Training Notebook. 

Well the year is drawing to a close and time to update my workout posts.  Been following the five day split, with Chest on Mondays, Legs on Tuesday, Back on Wednesday, Shoulders on Thursdays and Arms on Fridays.  Most days involve four or five different exercises with chest and shoulders being done with all dumbells.  Diet has been cleaned up somewhat, with protein shakes being taken immediately after the workouts.  Presently I use EAS whey protein.

Lifting has been going good, strength is going up in several lifts, and we are making progress towards our goals.  My workout partner has competed again, and won his contest.  It was at the end of September, and he competed in the ABA for the first time.  Interesting event, to say the least. 

Mondays we do chest, Tuesdays it is legs, Wednesday it is back, Thursday its shoulders and Fridays we finish up with arms. 

Been working on cleaning up my diet, little by little.   Most of my sweets are gone, except for some homemade protein bars, that I cook up from a recipe from one of the guys here on the net.  They are made with chocolate protein powder, oats, skim milk and peanut butter, so they have just enough sweet taste to keep me away from the bad sweets I used to eat.

Pressing the 90 lb dumbells now for 8 - 10 reps, so that makes me feel pretty good.  I can’t wait until I get the 100’s.

Well, its time to get back to the hard lifting.  Summer was pretty good for me, with workouts staying pretty consistent, but without the workout partner it was sometimes hard to keep lifting hard.  That has changed this week, and we are now focusing on gettin big.  The current workout plan calls for chest on Mondays, Legs on Tuesdays, Back on Wednesdays, Shoulders on Thursdays and Arms on Fridays.  We will be hitting abs heavy with at least two days per week of weighted exercises as we try to bring in the thickness to the ab muscles.  I will continue to clean up my diet in my quest to get more ripped, and the workout partner will work on try to add size while staying ripped.

Well, lifting has been going good lately, although my workout partner is gone for the summer.  I managed to reach my goal weight this week, which made me feel pretty good.  Something about cutting out those late night carbs sure seems to do the trick for me.  I have learned not to try starchy carbs anythime in the afternoon/evening hours.

As far as supplements go, just going on protein shakes after workouts, and still trying to hit the weights five times a week.  I have been trying some caffeine supplements to burn that extra fat. 

Sweets were always a downfall for me too.  I am learning that in order to lose weight, I have to forego them.

A new year and a new focus on getting fit!  This year is off to a good start. I have decided to start watching the diet a lot closer than before and hitting the weight room religiously.

The diet involves cutting out starchy carbs from the evening meal.  I am trying to eat more consistently.  No more sweets except for protein shakes and bars.  In addition, I will be adding protein drinks post workout in order to maximize gains in the gym.

Workouts consist of five days a week with a training split of Mondays, chest, Tuesday, legs, Wednesday, back, Thursdays shoulders and Fridays arms. With abs thrown in at least two of the five days.