Jacks This and That!

Well, I am up five pounds from my bottom.  I was playing a ton of racquetball, sometimes two hours at a time.  I was restricting carbs and ended up losing some muscle.  The actual remaining fat I had, held on no matter what I was doing.  Anyway a few, “you are losing too much weight”, comments and the fact I was not able to push as much weight made me increase my calorie intake with some extra carbs and maybe a little more protein.  I have not done much in the way of cardio and I am up five pounds.  The question is how much of that weight is muscle?  Well I know some of it is fat but I am planning to increase cardio slightly, and then dial back on the carbs a hair. It’s my understanding that if I put on the weight too fast its bound to be part fat. Muscle is harder too put on, so if it comes too easy….  My 1 rep max for bench is almost where it was and the plan is to actually obliterate that max before I make too much of an attempt at leaning down.  The thing is my lower abs are not there and that bothers me.  I’ve got to find a balance to where I can lift heavy and still be ripped to the bone.  That means being tighter and smarter with my diet.  I don’t like to be scientific about it.  It bores me.  I like to be instinctual about it but you got to pay close attention and I seem to missing the mark.  Maybe I am having a few too many cheats…I love The “Golden Spoon Frozen Yogurt”, but the toppings kill!  I added Casein protein before bed and I am going to give that some credit for helping with the weight.  After all, fat does not push the weight, muscle does.  I also think I was over trained.  All the cardio left me too tired.  Balance is everything.

 
That’s enough rambling for now.

I’d love to go to the Olympia this year.  I have never seen a bodybuilding competition of any type.  More than seeing the competition I would like to gp to the expo, walk around see how many people I can spot. Look at some of the other competitions that go on and just be immersed in the environment. The funny thing is it only a six-hour ride from here. 
Last year I watched the web cast and made a night of it. If I can swing it I just might go this year!

OK, I hate Cardio as a rule, or rather I hate running for the sake of running.  It is boring.  Now if I was running for a short distance to a place for a reason like 1^st base, that’s different because everything else involved keeps my interest.  I started doing light treadmill and cleaning up my diet and that worked to a point.  So I upped the cardio but I decided not to do any more treadmill work.  Instead I started playing basketball with the kids.  I know that is working because at some points I think I will die.  Well that was going ok but the basketball people tend to hog the court.  Not that I mind they are there for that reason.  Well, a friend asked me to play Racquetball with him.  Now that is cardio insanity.  I have fallen in love with it.  The treadmill has gone by the wayside.  I guess the point I am making is that if you find cardio important and necessary as I do, but don’t enjoy the treadmill, spin classes, jazzercise or whatever they do in those little rooms find something else.  I have; and I am hoping that new progress will be made in my efforts to shed the little annoying fat pockets that stand out over and above my body fat percentage.  As they say there is no substitution for a healthy diet eating several times a day with the right combinations and proportions of food.  I have to make sure I remember that.

Ok. I am 42 years old.  I don’t feel old.  Then again I don’t feel like I did when I was 20 either.  Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me.  Maybe I was not as resilient back then as I tend to remember.  In my heart I am still rockn and rolln.  In fact I think I can out pace most, as far as effort goes.  My son can’t hang with me and he is 17.  Then again I think for him it’s a motivation thing.    I love working out.  On the basketball court (I’m not any good), I seem to get winded faster than I’d like.  That troubles me some.  I am working on my endurance.  They talk about target heart rate and age plays a factor and that irritates me.  I know though that when my heart rate gets near max I am hurting and younger people have a higher max.

Another subject is wear and tear.  In May I will be at this for two years, and I have a shoulder that is killing me.  I tell my self to get past it and to work around and try and protect it but it really gets in the way.  Also I have a lower abdominal / groin strain.  That scares me.  I don’t want another hernia operation.  I don’t want any setbacks.  Is age the reason or what?  I think so to some extent.

I worry about testosterone levels limiting my growth.  I need to have mine checked.  I have some trouble eating enough for growth, in part because I am trying to lean out some.  My max lifts are going down, my cardio is going up, but the changes are small. The body fat thing at the gym put me a 9.5% but I still have some fat on my abs that I feel is disproportionate to that percentage.  Can’t seem to kill it off!  On the good side I seem to be more vascular.  I see some veins trying to pop out on my shoulders while working out.

I’d like to bulk some but I am desperate to get rid of the fat pockets, so I don’t want to over eat.  I only keep a strict eye on protein intake.  I try to take in at minimum a gram per pound. That is minimum, its usually higher.  Carbs I go back and forth depending on activity level.  I measure carbs by how I feel.

Well I am laying off hard leg work and ab work until my lower abs and groin strain subside.  Not sure what to do about the shoulder as I know it will never be 100%.

Last thing is my schedule is so busy; I have to fight to get in everything that needs to be done. I am not worried about holiday eating just holiday commitments. Christmas party, School programs my mom visiting.  ARRGH!

At any rate I know age plays a part even where my schedule is concerned.  I had no commitments at 20!  That I am sure about!

I will not go quietly into the night!

I was sick all week.  I did not work out from Sunday until today.  I also binged on ice-cream to make me feel better. Geez is it just me or do I sound like a whimp?  It was only a cold too.  Dont laugh, it was a nasty cold.  I hate being sick.  My nose was running so bad I had to shove a tissue up my nose so I could sleep.  I was miserable.  I dont know what it is about being sick that turns me into a putz but it does.  I have wrecked a motorcycle, gone through surgeries and other various procedures and that is nothing compartively to how bad I act when I get a cold or the flu.  Well I blew the week workout and diet included but I am feeling better.  I had a light workout today and tomorrow is leg day.  Back to work. That was the first time I have had a cold since before May of last year because I have not missed working out to this extent since then.  I’m glad I was only down for a few days.

I am not posting a bunch of new pics lately because I am not making big gains.  I have had a little confusion in what my goals are, sometimes it’s hard to do everything you want at once.  I am grinding through though.  I am working on getting leaner.  I have increased my cardio by a good amount. I also want to increase my endurance some.  That sorta throws a monkey wrench in the muscle growth.  Anyway if I can lean out a bit more I will be happy.  I need to mix things up more, but I love the comfort of a regular routine.  I’ll try not to get too down over the lack of noticeable improvement and keep enjoying the ride.  I love the whole deal.  It really is a good way to live!

I am becoming the fitness advice guy in the circles I travel.  I’ve been at this for a bit now and I have been consistent if not 100% successful.  People tend to admire the physique of someone that is in shape.  Now of course not everyone will admire the extreme but almost everyone is a little admirable of a lean muscular build to some extent especially on a man. Others see that you are in good shape and probably sense that you are happy about it and they start to want it too.  I’ve seen some people join gyms and start at it really wanting to look and feel good.  I commend them for that.  However most are not willing to give up this or that, or God forbid they give up football or whatever it is that they covet.  In most cases it’s not necessary to give up things but there are sacrifices to be made.  If you want it you have to work at it.  Diet and exercise hand in hand.  You have to want it; that is the key.  I have a couple of friends who are in fact a couple.  They ask for advice and I give it.  I say something like well eat carbs early in the day and towards the end go to protein and avoid unhealthy fat and keep the fat low but have some.  They will look at me strange and then I say look eat several times a day and don’t have ice cream before bed.  I have been asked to help them in the gym by suggesting exercises or by actually working out with them.  She was supposed to show up to work legs and he wanted to hit the upper body on seperate days.  They both backed out.  It really is a shame because I was actually looking forward to it.  The truth is the reason so few are fit is because it takes work and lots of it.  It takes discipline and determination to get fit.  To become one of the people in the best shape it take even more of those things and sacrifices many are not willing to make.  So I will not expect anyone to have the same determination as me and try to help them on their way to whatever health they want and hope that they are happy.  I, on the other hand will look to those in even better shape and see what they are doing that I am not.  Then I will need to decide for myself if their sacrifice is worth the payoff.  For now it is safe to say that I spend enough time at it to be in exceptional shape.  I just need to be smarter about it. That is a whole other area that requires attention.  All in all I like to help and if asked I’ll try.

Ok, Well I am working out like a mad man.  I am very busy and trying to eat clean.  I only have so much time in the day so some times I improvise.  I eat a lot of protein bars and powder.  I try to keep my metabolism moving towards the faster side by eating often and timing the carbs.  I will be backing off on the carbs some.  I think I have been overdoing it.  I have increased the cardio (not that there was much to begin with), to try and lean up a bit. I am increasing the protein to try and hold on to the muscle.  I will keep playing with things until I find what works for me.  I am also trying some new things in the gym and trying to mix it up a little.  I want to try and grow my injury-ridden shoulders and upper chest a bit as well as continue to hit my chicken legs hard.  I will try to go a bit lighter on everything but legs and focus on form and hitting each muscle from every angle.  I am hoping this will help me prevent injury, tighten up while still allowing me to grow a bit.

 
On a side note I am becoming an influence on others. This is cool.  Problem is most people don’t have the willingness to do what it takes for long.  Anyway I try to be nice and encourage them.  I say things like don’t eat ice cream at 10 pm.  Make sure you eat several small meals a day.  Try to limit the crap to one day a week.  Make sure you do some resistance training.  Do cardio in the morning or at the end of a workout.  No carbs late at night and on and on.  Don’t be discouraged and keep at it.  I like to help people.  A friend told me he wanted to start following me to the gym.  I asked him if he was sure that he wants to be that fit.  Everyone wants to look and feel good, but not everyone wants to put in the work.  Still I am glad if I plant a seed.  Truth is I make some sacrifices in what I eat and my time because doing this really makes me happy.  I like it and I guess I always have, just had to put it higher on the priority list than it ever has.

 
I am still not where I want to be but I am enjoying the ride.

I hate when it happens.  You want everything to go well.  Optimize the time for the best possible results.  I had a slight headache that would not go away.  I did half of what I should and with far less effort.  At least I went and tried to push through.  I think what gives someone that extra edge is how they handle times like that.  Some might have pushed harder and worked thier way through it, or on the other end someone might have called it off all together.  I wonder where I fall on the spectrum.  I realize that there is much more to being successful at achieving fitness goals, but I really do believe that the difference between the trully great and those that fall just short comes from how we overcome the obstacles that come our way.  On the other end of that I wonder if the trully great have to give up so much of everything else that they lack in other areas of life.  Balance is important.  Some things are more important than others.  Am I forsaking too much in other areas in the quest to achieve my goals.  I just would like to know what price some people have paid. Just something to think about.

I am just getting back on track. I cut both my feet a couple of weeks ago and one of the cuts got infected.  I have not been 100%.  Things are getting back to normal and I am ready for intensity again.  I am hoping to make some changes.  I have been lifting fairly heavy and I am a little beat up.  I am going to try a different tact for a bit by going a little lighter, higher reps per bodypart from differetn angles, focusing on weak areas, detail and by using good form.  I will try yo mix it up often.  We will see what happens.