Joe’s BodyBlog

Chest day was an ass kicker even with a sore shoulder.

 
Forward dips 2 x 20,  2 x 40
Flat bench 80 lbs to failure x 2
Flyes  30 lbs each side 2×15 , 35 lbs each side 2 x12, 45 lbs each side 2 x 10, 55 lbs each side 2 x 8, 25 lbs each side until failure
Incline db bench 35 lbs x 15 x 2, 40 lbs x 12 x 2, 45 lbs x 10 x 2, 50 lbs x 10 x 2
Decline db bench 25 lbs x 20 x 3, 30 lbs x 15 x 3, 35 lbs x 15 x 3
Dip machine 90 lbs x 20 x 3, 60 lbs to failure
Pec Deck machine 50 lbs until failure
Cable crossovers 30 lbs each side  3 x 20
Push ups 3 sets 20 reps
 
Changing things up a little for the meals.

 
Meal #1

Zero carb isopure shake, d-drol, Tonalin, Vitamin B complex, Glucosamine

GNC mega man sport multi vitamin

 
Meal#2

Whole wheat bagel with fat free cheese and fat free turkey

 
Meal #3

Plain albacore tuna with sliced white onion

 
Meal #4 Cytosport Cytogainer shake

 
Meal #5 Pre workout meal Isopure shake, BCAA’s, Vitamin B complex

I have a cold that migrated from my chest into my sinuses.

Today’s gym time 3 hours.

 
Today was arm day, had a great workout

Preacher curls, hammer curls, bicep curls, tricep cable pulldown, worked abs.

Cardio- Swam for an hour.

Got into the sauna and sweated for 45 minutes

Then hit the hot tub for a good soak.

 
Meal #1

Breakfast- Isopure shake

 
Morning Supplements

BCAA’s

D-Drol

GNC mega man sport multivitamin

Glucosamine

Tonalin

 
Meal #2

Mid morning snack- plain albacore tuna in water with sliced white onion

 
Meal #3

Lunch- 4 boiled egg whites, plain romaine lettuce and 2 slices tomato.

 
Meal #4

Afternoon meal- Isopure shake

 
Pre workout supplements

BCAA’s

BSN N.O. Explode

 
Post workout supplements

D-Drol

Glucosamine

Bcaas’s

 
Meal #5

Post workout meal

Isopure shake

 
Dinner

Meal #6

Two 90% grilled lean burger patties

fat free cheese

romaine lettuce

 2 slices tomato

 
Meal #7

Nitro Core 24  casein protein

 
Todays motivation level 9.5 with cold

Mood- optimistic 

Weight 173 pounds

Bodyfat 17%

Today was leg day and instead of taking my BSN’s N.O Explode, I have been trying and evaluating N.O. shotgun by VPX all week.  Have had some inconsistencies with it. I had good expectations but did not get the power out of it like I did when I first used it and did not get the focus either. Has a weird side effect for me.  I have found that it makes me angry during my workouts. Never felt this way while taking N.O. explode.

 In any case, I pushed through and got in a good leg workout.  Also did some core work and worked abs. Then I swam for 45 minutes and soaked my shoulder and sore legs in the hot tub.

I ate very clean all day and all week. 

 Last night I started using a new casein supplement for nighttime use.

Woke up this morning not hungry.  This slow burning casein protein matrix seems to balance out my blood sugar levels, but I had my egg whites anyway this morning to keep up with my eating schedule.

 
Weigh day tomorrow.  At my last weigh in I made it down to 173 and it will be interesting to see if I dropped any more.  It would be awesome if I could hit my 100-pound weight loss goal before my birthday at the beginning of next month. Am also going to have my body fat measured tomorrow at the gym. Hopefully the numbers will be good.

My day started off great.  I dropped another pound down 97 with 3 more to go. My knee was a little swollen from last nights Hit cardio.  Decided to take the day off from the gym and break up the routine.

 
Had dinner at the Chinese buffet but stuck to the diet and munched on steamed chicken, shrimp, clams and vegetables and a little grilled beef with green bell pepper. I love won ton soup but I decided to pass on it.  I tried out the sushi without the rice and it wasn’t too bad.

 
The glucosamine that I have been taking has really helped out my shoulder. Hopefully it will be healed up completely in a few more weeks.

 
Tomorrow it is back to the routine. 

 
Bring it on!

Today I worked my shoulders and got in an excellent workout.  Ate clean all day as usual.  Tonight’s Hit cycling class went well and I worked harder than ever and sweated like a pig.  Tonight’s Hit cardio convinced me that I have to lay off of it because even though I put in a great effort, I didn’t feel as though I got a benefit from it. I could have gone another hour easily.  I guess my body adjusted to it.  I decided today off of the Hit cycling for the rest of the week and switch out my cardio routine.

 
I didn’t get into the pool because in my haste to get to the gym I forgot my towel.  I made up for it by doing an hour of martial arts.  Weight is still stuck at 174 at 17% body fat.  It seems strange to say this but I got spoiled losing 2-3 pounds each week and the first 96 pounds were easy to lose compared to this.

 
In place of the N.O. Explode by BSN, I have been trying out N.O. Shotgun by VPX.  It looks like milk of magnesia and tastes really bad. However while using it I was able to do preacher curls with a 110-pound barbell for 15 reps. That was a personal best for me and my biceps felt like they were gonna explode- awesome pump.  I was able to zip through tricep cable pull downs topping off at 170 lbs for 15 reps. I noticed one side effect of this supplement- anger. I also noticed that it wears off faster then the N.O. Explode and it will not keep me awake at night. Focus with the N.O. Explode during workouts is stronger.

I will continue to evaluate this new supplement once I have completed a full week of workouts while using it.

 
On the home front all is well.  Tied up a lot of loose ends. Got a lot of painting done, installed a new toilet, organized my DVD collection (I have over 500 of them) and separated out the remainder of my FAT clothes.  I tried on my old size 44 fat belt  that I wore when I weighed 270  and it practically wrapped twice around me.  I’m going to hold onto it as a reminder of where I started.

Ok,  I did my venting for the day.  Time to crash.

Today I attended the Philadelphia sports extravaganza and wellness expo and took my first step into a larger world.  Attending an event like this was something completely new for me.  I am more accustomed to attending science fairs or laboratory robotics expos for the newest and latest in scientific technologies. 

Anyway, the extravaganza was awesome. To my surprise, I ran into one of my HIT cycling cardio instructors at the Ballys exhibit and he introduced me to the rest of the Ballys gang and to the reps from P90X.  They made me feel right at home and the people from P90X were awesome!  They checked out my bb.com bodyspace on their laptop and they were amazed at my transformation. They put me on their team.

I visited every booth and got a lot of excellent info about a lot of different supplements and walked away with a ton of free stuff including a bb.com T-shirt and a bodyproud.com T-shirt as well.  The events there were cool.  They had a power lifting event, a martial arts exhibit and an arm wrestling contest.

I met so many great people there and even wound up giving an on camera interview for bodyproud.com.  That was a shock. They were really interested in my weight loss and transformation and they wanted to document it. It was surreal and I was flattered and it was a reminder that my hard work is paying off.

I spent the whole day there and what a great day it was. As a result, I am more motivated and inspired then ever. I’m definitely hooked and can’t wait to attend the next one.

Happy Friday! I had another productive week. Had another great chest workout today Did incline bench presses, flat bench presses and dumb bell flies. Got a great pump. Got in my cardio by swimming for an hour. Rehabbed my shoulder in the hot tub and then checked out the sauna and sweated out some toxins. My shoulder still a little sore but it is getting better. I am preparing myself for the 2 hour HIT cycling cardio on Sunday morning. So far the 90 minute HIT cycling sessions have done have been no problem and I’ve adjusted to them. I was going to work legs tomorrow but will hold off so that I can get through Sundays cycling because it promises to be an ass kicker. I will probably work arms and abs tomorrow. I remained faithful to the diet all week and even have been taking in carbs in the mornings so that I can burn them off in the evening cardio. Saturday is my cheat day but within reason. I know that any carbs that I have will be burned off on Sunday morning but I wont overdo it. The responses I got on my blog about carbs helped a lot. Weight is still stuck at 174 but I will see what happens after Sundays 2 hour HIT cardio. Another day another victory!

Got some good information about carbs that were posted on my blog. Ok I got my carbs out of the way this morning.  Had ½ cup of plain oatmeal along with 1 slice of Canadian bacon and 2 boiled egg whites.

 
Ate clean the rest of the day and have eaten clean all week. Thats nothing new.

 
Switched out my cardio and tried something different other than a HIT cycling class. Instead, I worked out on 6 different cardio machines for 10 minutes each one right after the other.  It was pretty good and I was surprised that it was not boring at all.  The variation was great. I got an excellent 60-minute cardio workout and sweated throughout.

 
Did some shoulder work and it feels great to be able to lift on it again.  The more I lift, the stronger it is getting.  The pain in it is 95% gone.  Also did 3 sets of pull-ups 15 reps each.  Did a lot of ab work hitting all angles and a lot of core training.

 
Sometimes I get discouraged because I put too much pressure on myself.  I am and have always been goal oriented and focused.  I want results and I certainly put in the effort.  My conflict strems fromt he fact that my results dont come as fast as I would like them to.  I guess thats a common complaint about many others in their fitness goals. I take no shortcuts because it is all or nothing..

Today I tried on my old University sweatshirt and it fits!  I knew there was a reason why I held onto it for the last 21 years- a victory!

 
Had another great chest workout and it feels great to be able to work my chest again. Did incline bench presses, flat bench presses and dumb bell flies. Got a great pump.  My shoulder is 98% better and I am able to work out on it again.  I also worked biceps and triceps.  My arms seem to be going up again and veins explode all over the place and run down from my shoulders to my biceps as I’m curling. I also noticed veins popping out on the front of my forearms and on my calves also.  Kinda gross and surreal but cool.  I did 170 lbs on the tricep cable pull down and did 3 sets of 15 reps each. Also did 500 ab crunches hitting all angles. 

I skipped cardio today because I decided that HIT cardio every other day is more beneficial and gives me adequate recovery time. On Sunday, I was asked to participate in a 2 hour HIT cycling class.  I know it will be an ass kicker and I’m ready for it. 

 
Bring it on!