jacked in MI’s BodyBlog

I was at an assembly plant early today to assist with the launch of the new 2008 Chrysler and Dodge minivans. With the ramp up process underway, we will be at the plant for the next few weeks assisting with part installation and process changes to make the assembly of the vehicles as easy as possible. So for today, I had a good breakfast at 6AM but did not eat again until 4PM due to how the shifts were running and making sure each of the line operators/assemblers were met with to review the parts. I ended up sharing the bottle waters I brought with my co-workers so I was left with just one for the day. Probably not a good idea since I usually drink many through out the day. I experienced a pretty intense headache around 1PM that went away on its own. The icing on the cake was my 4PM meal. A double Quarter Pounder with cheese from Mickey D’s (I meant to order a regular ) and I topped it off with a Coke (something I have not had in many months). All I can say is that it tasted great and I felt great afterwards. No sluggishness or feeling ill. Even with that said, I won’t be doing that again any time soon. 

Fortunately tomorrow I’m only at the plant from 7-11AM so I will bring plenty of water and a few good snacks. After the plant visit I am off to see a Tiger’s game with fellow co-workers. No beer for me but I will probably have a few dogs   Keep training strong everyone! 

-Jeff

I’m back from a great week of fun in the sun along the Carolina coast with my family.

I can honestly say that I was not sure about taking a week off from training and my 5AM cardio  But first thing this morning my scale and caliper showed that I dropped 1 lb and lost 1% of body fat while away.

I did hit the gym this morning and blasted chest. The amount of weight lifted did not suffer but the number of reps were harder to hit. I walked away from the gym sore so I know the workout was a good one. We will see if the rest of my training this week goes as well.

Keep training strong everyone! -Jeff

After months of focused training, I have finally broken the 180 lbs barrier I’ve been at for a while.  This morning I weighed in at 179 lbs, AWESOME! My weight goal is to get down to and stay at 175 lbs. I’m continuing to shed the unwanted body fat around my waist and chest, and it will help me achieve my weight goal without sacrificing muscle. 

An update on my training experiment, I’m happy to report that my quads and calves are looking even better with improved size after hitting leg extension and rotary calf each day. 

Also, I’m finally taking one week off from training; I have not done this since I started my focused training nearly 8 months ago. We will see if I have screwed myself by not taking time off earlier, when I return to the gym after the down time. 

Keep training strong everyone! -Jeff

Some say that you shouldn’t but I have been experimenting the past few days with hitting the same muscle groups during each training session. My experiment has been with my quads and calves. This past Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, while following my normal muscle group training, I have included leg extension and rotary calf training each day. Now, it is possible that my legs recover quickly from training but I have been able to get in 10 sets of 10 reps per exercise each training day sticking with a difficult weight. I can barely walk afterwards but the results are looking good. 

I’m now thinking about foregoing my normal training schedule and applying my experiment to chest with bench press (5×10) and to my back with ISO rows (5×10). My goal is to see how much mass and definition I can add to my chest, back and legs over the next few weeks to become a big mo-fo on the mountain bike. Stay tuned and we shall see how it goes  

Keep training strong! -Jeff