Joe’s BodyBlog

This particular drink is an issue for me. Whether it is too much or too little, or caffinated or decaf, I have a problem with COFFEE. And I am coming clean, right here right now about this issue and how I feel it is impacting me.

Here is the deal. I just drink too much coffee. It dosen’t matter if it is decaf or regular. I drink too much and it is impacting me in a big way.

 
1. By drinking coffee I am drinking less water (yes I know coffee has water in it, not the same)

 

2. If I drink coffee with Caffine in it, I have to drink it before noon, otherwise I can’t sleep

 

3. Some days I would rather drink my coffee peacefully in the morning rather than go to the gym

 

4. It is a bad sign when a Starbucks employee recognizes you, and then gives you a free pound of coffee because they don’t drink it, but they get it for free!

 

5. Sleep and Recovery issues (see number 2) are hindering my gains

So now I have come clean about my issues with coffee. I feel much better but now I need to change my habits..

Ok this is more for me than anyone else, but I have to admit, I had a crazy week last week and missed many of my workouts - prolly 3 out of the 6 days! Ouch. Not good. Work got in the way. I worked 16 hour days most of last week except Wednesday my golf day. So that is why. But I did shoot a great score for me at my golf league! Yeah!!!

Got back on track over the weekend and it felt good getting back into the gym. Not doing enough cardio so I need to change that. I think it is time to buy an elliptical trainer. Only two problems with that 1) No place to put it in my house and 2) How do I convince my wife we can afford it (we can’t right now, but it is nice to dream!)..

So in the meantime I guess I will just have to make sure I get my butt to the gym. The reason I want an elliptical is because I am trying to slowly build my own home gym. I like working out at the gym and all, great machines, plenty of free weights, occisonally some good conversation with others etc, but I feel like I would be more consistent if I had a home gym. Plus that $500 / year I am spending at the gym would make for a great home gym (think about it, $500 x how many years! = Lots of equipment). Plus my wife needs more equipment than we currently have at home. I might just have to turn the Garage into our gym. I would have to get my garage cooled down a little - maybe a new AC unit installed or somthing, plus a rug / mat system on the floor, but it could be done. I would park my car in the driveway to make this happen… but that is for another day.

Anyhow - I have been doing this AnimalPak workout now for the past 6 weeks maybe? Might be a little less, anyhow, I did arms today and it kicked my butt, bigtime. My arms felt sooo pumped afterwards, it was great! I need to do some new measurements and post some updated pics. I can do that now cuz at least I feel a little better about posting myself on the web! LOL

On another note, my wife has decided that she really wants to progress out of our limited home gym, not sure what this means yet (like when I will get the go ahead to spend the money we don’t have on our home gym!) but anyway she wants to work with or at least speak to a Personal Trainer. I predict that a couple fo things will happen when she does this. 1) She will either decide to have us go ahead and build the home gym or she will join a gym (might not be mine because of it’s location versus our house and HER work). 2) She will get discourage by what ever the trainer tells her - why? Mostly because she is doing all the right things but not seeing the results she wants and once that is confirmed by a trainer it will bother her. 3) She will get mad about this and kick some serious butt… she has that personality. Don’t tell her she can’t do something… So this will be an interesting development.

Today this my blog topic becuase I had my bodyfat measured the other day with the Eltrostatic testing process. I might not have the name correct, but it is the kind of machine where you place your hands on the thing and it sends a current through your body after asking you for some measurements, like this one http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/om/body.html. Height, Weight, Activity level, etc… I decided to try this after going to the store to purchase some calipers and learning about the tricks of using those things… Anyhow, I have to admit I was surprised by the results. According to the machine my BF is 17.7%, which if that is true, is one of my lowest measurements in a long time. I usually use the online calculators to check my bf % and they are always very high for me. Right now they say my bf % is 23 %, much lower than the machine… So that makes me wonder.. Where is the true number? Am I somewhere between 17.7 and 23? Or closer to one than the other? The guy doing the measurement told me that this particular model (can’t remember what it was called) is known for being pretty accurate and that the online calculators never take into account your activity level and how that affects the bf %? Does this sound right? He also told me that by looking at me he could tell I was under 20% because he could see muscle definition in my arms and legs, which he wouldn’t or shouldn’t be able to see if I was above 20%. If any of this is true it would make me very happy, but I am gaurded about this because what do I know? Not much when it comes to this, so outside of getting dunked into a pool, I will just say my BF % is 17.7% cautiously…

So there isn’t any- why not? That is the $64,000 question isn’t. Why am I not making any progres on my cut? Am I eating too much?, not enough? Not doing enough Cardio? Well for me, it appears that ALL OF THE ABOVE applies. I am looking back at my work out notes from the past couple of weeks and noting the things I have done or haven’t done to help my cut. So here they are, in no particular order:

1) Cheat Foods, too many too often

2) Inconsistent workouts - Speaks for itself, but I have to acknowlegde this for me

3) Diet - ok I now this seems to be the same as number 1, but I have a distinction here. This really refers to the normal clean foods I eat and if I am balancing my nutrients correctly. I haven’t checked it with any of the online calculators like http://www.fitday.com/ so I think has to be my greatest downfall, with the addition of number 1!

 It all comes back to Diet doesn’t it. Even knowing this am I doing the right things? No, but as I often say the first step to correcting a problem is acknowledging it.

Anybody want to help a guy cut? I am willing to listen to good advise..tips etc from the successful folks here.