lil_how_how’s BodyBlog

Well I’d went off my diet over the last month or so.  I’m not going to make any excuses, life happens and I just need to suck it up.  I’m just happy that I managed to maintain my weight instead of blowing up and getting back over 200 pounds.

So Monday I decided to get back on my 3000 calorie a day diet, eat clean, and get back on the road to attaining my goals.

- 3000 Calories a day.

- 200g’s Protein a day.

- 1 cheat meal allowed every Thursday.

- No excuses.

My life has been pretty hectic the last couple months.  Going through a divorce, working a lot at the job, lots of obstacles.  However, I haven’t let that get me off of training and eating right…ok so the eating right could be a little better but I haven’t missed any workouts!

I updated my weight stats and I’ll get measurements and pictures up as soon as I can find someone to measure and picture me.  At any rate I’m pretty happy with the progress I’ve made and I’m staying driven despite what’s been going on in my personal life.

I recently got permission to use the weight and fitness room at the High School I work at after my shift for workouts.  I’ve been using it for the last two weeks and it’s way better than just using the simple stuff I have in my basement.  I don’t like working out after I’ve worked a 10 hour shift as much as I liked working out before work but my present circumstances make this the only time I can work out at all.

It’s a pretty big school and the weight room has almost anything you could want in it so I’m pretty happy to be able to use it since I didn’t want to pay for a gym membership.  Plus I get it all to myself at night with no one to bother me!

Well I started January at the same weight and BF% that I ended November.  I decided not to even go through the trouble of updating my picture because it’s exactly the same as the Nov. 22nd picture, which means I basically wasted all of December.  Damn you Holidays!

Well my initial thoughts were that I didn’t do that well.  Honestly compared to the other top five I got trounced.  Those guys kicked ass and I’m proud of them, they did great.  I voted for Ronto.  I was leaning heavily toward voting for TheKansan but Ronto really dialed it in and added some quality muscle.  I need to ask him what his diet was like the last two months because that guy really cut himself up.  TheKansan is a walking/talking aura of inspiration and I’m sure he’ll get there some day and bring no less than 20 people with him kicking and screaming!

Admittedly I fell off the wagon a couple of times, gave in to urges, etc.  Changing careers was a big part of it but I don’t like to make excuses.  Besides, for a guy that did this as part of shoulder re-hab I think I did pretty well.

Stats:

225 lbs. from 271 (at contest start)
30% bf from 39% (via Navy Circumference Method)
Chest: 46.5" from 49.8
Arms: 14.5" from 15.3
Hips: 43" from 48.5
Abdomen: 45" from 51.8
Thighs: 25.3" from 25.3 (I found that strange)
Calves: 15.3 from 16.8
Forearms: 11.5" from 12
Shoulders: 49.3" from 51
Neck: 18.3 from 18.8
That’s a decent bit of inches and bf% lost.  I’m happy with what I accomplished but I know I could have done better.  What I’m most proud of, though, is that I went from being unable to even complete a 60 pound flat barbell press at the start of the contest to being able to rep 225 pounds ten times with no shoulder pain.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get back over a 300 pound bench press again or not but it’s certainly a goal of mine.  After I had surgery I didn’t think I’d ever see 200 pounds again and I ended up surprising myself.

Here are some pictures from the contest start and finish.

Before Pics:

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/7295/33261origea4.jpg

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/584/1000203xb1.jpg

Shoulder Pics:

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3456/1000208hj8.jpg

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/1852/1000207mv0.jpg

After Pics:

http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/2913/1000963zj5.jpg

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/8858/1000962nq3.jpg

Today ends a two week dirty bulk for me.  I decided to do this because I’d went about three weeks straight only losing 1 pound with my diet restricted to the point that I was getting cravings and really really wanting to cheat.  It just seemed like my metabolism had plateaued and my strength level was lower than I was used to.

During these last two weeks I noticed my strength going up a lot.  I kept strict to my workouts and ended up being able to increase poundages a lot.  So this little mini-bulk phase helped me realize I was too strict on my diet.  I gained 5 pounds but the knowledge I gained outweighed that. 

Today I’m back on my cutting diet with a few extra calories mixed in because of what I learned.  I’ll be staying on this cut until the end of the contest.  I’m hoping to lose 15 more pounds before this is said and done.  I probably won’t meet my original goal that I set at the beginning of the contest, but this has already changed my life so much for the better.

I’ve been very busy with work so I haven’t been posting my training logs daily.  Rest assured, however, I haven’t missed a single scheduled workout.

I weighed in this morning at 243 pounds, according to the Navy Circumference method found here http://www.he.net/~zone/prothd2.html I’m at 34% bodyfat.

At the start of the contest I was 271 at 39% bf

Last month’s update I was 254 pounds at 36% bf

Shoulders/Traps/Abs

Seated DB Press - 30×10, 30×10, 30×10

Upright Rows - 63×10, 63×10, 63×10

lateral raises - 15×10, 15×10

DB Shrugs - 30×50, 30×50

Crunches - 2 sets of 50

Legs

DB Squats - 30×10, 30×10, 30×10, 30×10, 30×10

Single leg DB Calf raises - 30×50, 30×40