CPT Jeff’s BodyBlog

I would much rather lift weights….   I did hit the treadmill first for a mile run at a slow pace, then I switched over to intervals, and finished up with a short time on a bike.  Then off to some sit ups.  I really wasn’t feeling it this morning either.  I would have rather stayed in bed…

Tomorrow is chest and triceps day so it’s back to the exercises that I like.  I really need to get over this not wanting to run thing…

Today was back and biceps.  I substituted t-bar rows for barbell rows and decided to go light on dead lifts.  That last couple of times I did them my lower back was sore for a couple of days afterward.  This time I tried to focus on form while using less weight.  Well see if it helped.

After my back workout I moved on to biceps and proceeded to smoke them.  I did concentration curls, standing isolated curls but added a twist by leaning back against a squat rack to remove any swinging movement, then I did one arm curls over an incline bench.  After the incline bench I moved on to doing some cable curls, and finished up my biceps with some pull ups. I finished my visit to the gym off with some sit ups and some side bends on the Roman Chair….

Well, I also decided today that I’ve got to stop using NO-Xplode…  I took some this morning on an empty stomach (I ate a lot last night and wasn’t hungry at all this morning), still didn’t feel the kick that Black Powder gave me, and needed to stop in the middle of my workout to hit the can…  Rather annyoning..  About the only thing that it seems to do for me is to give me gas…  I didn’t have that issue with Black Powder….  Time for a change….

I woke up to a Valentines day card from my wife followed by a healthy dose of NO-Xplode (two scoops) before heading off to the gym.  I did, however, remember to leave behind a card for my wife with a Valentines Snoopy stuffed animal.  The trip to the gym took twice as long as usual since we got a few inches of snow last night.  Once there I kicked it into high gear.

Today was shoulders and legs.  Shoulders went pretty well.  I finished them up feeling really good with some shrugs.  Then I moved into squats.  I was able to get 245 ten times, then 255 six times.  After squats I moved over to the leg press and got up to 640lbs four times.  I did a few more leg exercises and finished up my morning with sit ups.

All in all, a good day at the gym….

Wow, time really flies when your having fun….   Since I got home I’ve had a seven year old daughter permanently attached to my neck (hugs - not that I’m complaining at all), a ten year old golden retriever running around my feet, and a wife who’s wondering who I’m writing to now and when she’s going to get a turn.  In all of this I’ve still been keeping up the workouts.  I’ve managed (so far) to get in about two to two and a half hours per day since I started back up this past Monday.  I have about ten days worth of workouts to update in the workout tracker, I’ve really fallen down on that one.

Well, Monday was chest and triceps, I went slow with that as I had to grab random people in the gym to spot for me on bench.  For anyone who continually excells on bench in the gym without a lifting partner, my hats off to you.  I feel that I’m intruding when I ask one of the other gym patrons to spot for me, it’s not much like the gym in Iraq where we were all meat heads and nobody was bothered by giving a spot.

Tuesday was legs and shoulders.  I felt good doing squats and was able to make some more headway in trying to catch Ryan (Stryka).  Wednesday was back and biceps day, and I did some barbell rows and more deadlifts.  I think that I may need to slow down on the rows and deads, or maybe put them on different days.  Last week, after I did rows and deads, my lower back was sore (it just kind of ached) for two or three days.  This time it was sore for about a day and a half.  I don’t know if that means that I’m getting stronger and used to the movements, or if I really do need to slow down.  Thursday, my no-lift-day, I did cardio on the treadmill (more intervals), then finished off with some sit-ups (ha, then went grocery shopping with my wife…  the small pleasures not afforded us in Iraq).

Today was a little frustrating…  It was chest and triceps day again.  After my warmup I hit the bench feeling good.  I started with 245lbs for ten reps and that felt good.  Then I hit 265, then 275 still feeling good.  This was the point where I really needed a spotter and started to look around for someone.  Believe it or not (maybe this is normal), the entire free weight area was completely empty other than me.  I found someone who had just finished in the nautalis area to spot for me a couple of sets.  That got me up to 295lbs, then my spotter left.  I was still feeling really good, so I asked the girl at the counter to spot for me.  From her reaction (what, me??  Is it a lot of weight?) I don’t think that she’s used to spotting.  Without her help, I was able to knock out three more reps at 305lbs.  I really wanted to go higher, but again, the free weight area was completely empty, and now the nautalis area was as well…  AAAARRRRGGGGGG!!!!   I really, really wanted to go up, but without a decent spotter, I wasn’t going to make the attempt.  Funny, in Iraq, the free weight area is never empty… ever…  Around the time I was moving on to triceps others started coming in to use the free weights, but it was far too late to help me with the bench…  Rats….

I don’t know if I hit a lul in the gym crowd, or if this is normal for Friday’s, or if I’m hitting between the busy times, or what…  If this is a problem for you, how do you work around it and still maintain progress and growth?

Well, I’ve finally made it back to the US…  We have a little bit of travel left to get us to Camp Atterbury, IN, then we’ll be able to begin our out-processing.  This is usually a three to five day process that includes checking our medical conditions, taking care of any final pay issues, and basically getting us out of the active Army systems.

Once this has been completed, we’ll be catching a ride back to our home station (Ft. Custer, MI), and meeting our families.  The schedule at Camp Atterbury should be fairly light, they want to reduce the amount of stress we have during our demobilization.

This should give me at least three solid days where I can hit the gym.  I just hope that the gym at Camp Atterbury has enough equipment.  At this point I’d just like to drop my gear in my room and take a nice hot shower…

Correction, the fitness center as shown on the Camp Atterbury website looks like it’s well stocked with everything a body needs…