mikschu’s BodyBlog

Dualism, the idea that the body and mind are seperate, is as old and archaic as the dinosaurs.  It’s clear that having the right mindset in the gym (and in life in general) will produce the best results.  I have changed the way I think about training and now I am seeing the results.  Before everything was "here and now!"  I hammered out as many curls as I could before my arms felt like they would explode thinking my arms were getting bigger as I trained them, thinking they were growing in the gym and the more I did the bigger I’d grow.  Oh how far I’ve come…  I wish I could build a time machine and go back and shake my head at myself in disappointment…  Little did I know that the secret to real size, strength, and overall athleticism lay in the compound movements.  I never imagined my arms would get twice as big in half the time with bent over barbell rows and pullups instead of curls.  I never used to work in push/pull until now.  The mind and the body fuel each other; being in the right mental state produces results, seeing results satisfies the mind and creates more mental strength, and it’s all a downhill ride from there.  There is one thing I can attribute to the past me, the me that lifted ignorantly and neglected many body parts and didn’t stay consistent with reps or sets, just kept going until he felt the "burn."  The one thing I can attribute to that ignorant person, is some huge mental will to lift as heavy as possible, to push past thresholds every day.  Before when I didn’t see results I thought I just wasn’t pushing myself hard enough, so I learned to really push myself.  I suppose in that way some strong mental connections were forged.  In that way my hard training is now starting to pay off.  I know some people started lifting and did it the right way from the start so they never had to really try too hard to see results.  Now I am doing it right but I also know how to push myself to get out every last rep.  We have to suffer first before we can succeed.  I’ve suffered, now I will succeed.  And there will be more suffering in the future, but I will be smart enough to know to step out of my comfort zone next time and try new things that I may not want to accept at first.  What was I talking about?  I look back on the last few lines and can’t tell if I’m talking about weight lifting or just life in general…  Maybe I’m talking about school and the career that follows…  I believe there is no difference.  Medical school is going to be a challenge, and I will suffer greatly, but I will know how to push myself, and I will grow, and I will love every singe minute of it.

I’m on a new program that emphasizes only compound movements, push pull for a more condensed workout, and plenty of rest (only 3 days a week in the gym.)  Usually only 30-45 minutes in they gym because many lifts are superset in an agonist / antagonist fashion (push/pull.)  The intensity is also altered every day, so I have one high intesnsity, one medium, and one low intensity day every week.  I can already tell changes are taking place.  Today was low intensity and I just did palms-in close grip incline dumbbell bench superset with close grip supanated barbell rows, 5 sets of 8.  I pushed the weight up to numbers I’ve never hit before, numbers I never imagined possible at this point in my program.  Did 165 8 times on the bent over rows and 50 lb dumbbells on incline palms-in press.  Wow…  I just can’t wait to see what I look like in a couple months.  I’m going to really get my money’s worth with 5×8 so I’ll probably stay on it for at least 3 weeks before I go down to 6×6.  I may even go to 5 reps for 7 sets because I really like training in the strength bracket, and my body reacts to it very positively, so I’ll see.  I might just do it for one week but my main goal right now is size so I don’t want to linger in the strength bracket for too long.  Anyway…  New program, new looks, new me!

Today was my first day running on a hilly dirt trail in several years.  Woh, what a difference.  I used to do it a lot but then I got lazy and just started running on the streets around my neighborhood.  I never want to run on streets again.  I can tell the trails/hills are going to produce much better results much quicker.  It’s all about going outside of your comfort zone.  You will get twice the benefit in half the time if you push yourself to train without your security blanket.  It’s good to also go running on trails that you’ve never been on before so you lose your barings.  This will really make you grow quickly.  It’s the same concept as weight lifting.  You have to change your program up routinely in order to ensure constant growth.  Speaking of weight lifting, I have been utilizing the same basic theory of change to stimulate growth.  I’m on a push/pull routine now which I’ve never done in the 2 or 3 years since I started lifting, and I can feel changes occurring in my body.  I’m on a program that only requires 3 days a week in the gym and only 30-45 minutes on those days.  It’s super condensed and basically just consists of all the big compound movements.  I’m really looking forward to seeing the results a month from now, should be good.  Anyway, going to try to start a running/fitness club at my college so that should be good.

Since I’ve used the workout tracker…  I’m really cheating because the last couple of weeks have not been so satisfactory so I just haven’t been tracking the workouts, lol!  I’m such a bum…  As soon as I get a great workout in I’ll probably track it.  I just don’t want to see the curves stay the same or even go down!  I know if I put a workout in there that makes some lifting curves go down I’ll just be discouraged  I do well with positive reinforcement.  Having a curve tell me I’m weak won’t make me do better next time, it will make me not want to go.  Anyway, today will be a great day so I know I’ll be tracking this one…  First day of a brand new program, woot!

In 4 or 5 days I will be starting an agonist/antagonist routine recommended to me by a friend who knows what the hell he’s talking about.  This will work better for my busy schedule as it is very condensed.  I should be able to pack some serious mass with it because it really condenses the workouts and leaves plenty of time for rest.  Arms should get way bigger on it even though they don’t actually get hit directly, there’s push/pull a few times a week so they get worked consistently.  Real men know you don’t get bigger arms from curling anyway, the secret is in the compound movements!

I’ve been working out first thing in the morning for 3 days now, and as a result I’ve had 3 incredible workouts!  I’m definately a morning workout person.  I have so much energy in the gym if I do it right away.  To make sure my muslces don’t go into a catabolic fit I drink a big glass of milk and orange juice as soon as I wake up, with a cup of coffee.  I head to the gym about 30-45 minutes after I wake up and hit it hard.  This is so much more convenient than waiting till midday or evening to go and then having to plan everything around the gym, and I can just eat for the rest of the day and not have to think too much about meal timing with a workout somewhere in the middle.  Another thing is that breakfast, my first meal, is also my postworkout meal, so I can really just load up and have no guilt about throwing in an extra bowl of cereal or some more fruit, because I need as much as I can get!

I woke up bright and early at 6 am,  had a cup of coffee, orange juice, and some milk and got in the gym by 6:45 for leg day.  It was INTENSE!  Considering my body was a little shocked because I sort of went cold turkey into the AM routine (I haven’t got up at 6 am in like 7 months) I did really well!  I finished all my sets and all my reps without too much difficulty.  Leg days are always a pain in the ass but I did quite well.  Last time 145 lbs gave me a little bit of trouble on front squats but this time I finished all 10 reps without a great deal of difficulty and kept great form the entire set.  Another difference I noticed is that unlike most leg days I didn’t feel sick to my stomach after the gym, so that’s a huge bonus!  I think I’ll find that I am definitely an AM routine person.  I can’t arrange my Life around my workout schedule, I’m getting it done first thing in the morning so I can be free the rest of the day for all the other BS.

I know a lot of people on here are fighting hunger and really forging strong will power to avoid snacking on excess junk, but I’m having the opposite problem.  I’ve already gone through the diet phase of my life, not eating food is easy for me.  Now I just have to really focus and make sure I eat ENOUGH so that I grow.  I’ve never measured my metabolism and calculated the exact amount of food I need but I just sort of played around with different amounts until I found the amount that works for me, and you know what?  I need a LOT OF DAMN FOOD!  I have to eat so damn much to grow…  I weigh around 192-195 right now and I’m pretty lean, I’m guessing around 10-13% bf, so that’s a pretty decent amount of mass reving my metabolism up.  On top of that I’m trying to bulk while keeping my cardio up, so I run 3-4 days a week.  I’ve been having amazing results for a few months now, I just have to stay focused.  The last couple of days have been a little bit disappointing and I think it’s from a combination of not enough sleep and not enough food.  I’m going to make up for the difference by taking a couple days off from running and just eating as much as I can (still smart eating though, I eat at least 6 meals and all clean food.)  I will do one more week at 4 sets of 10 reps to try to see if I can get some results out of that range and then starting increasing weight and going down to 5 sets of 8 reps, and eventually 6×6.  I may possibly even go further to 5×7, for some real nice strenght gains, who knows.  I love the heavy weights

Well that’s what I felt like anyway…  I jogged for 10 minutes for the warmup, stretched out very well and then took off.  Last night for the first time ever I really noticed a difference in my running from my leg workous.  I really felt like I was picking my legs up the entire time and focused on my breathing to keep up a steady great pace for 3 miles.  My dog somehow got out of the yard and caught up to me when I still had about 400 yards left, so I just made her run with me.  She’s a pitbull full of energy so she made me really sprint out the last stretch which was awesome.  I don’t really time myself but I’m going to have to buy a sports watch and start because I want to get the 3 mile time under 18 minutes.  I’m not training for military or anything, it’s just a personal mental goal.  If I had to guess I’d say last night’s 3 mile time was around 21 or 22 minutes, so I have a ways to go but it should be a good challenge.  I like the idea of gaining muscle and getting much heavier but actually running FASTER!  I’m not going to look like a damn marathon runner to be fast, I want to look like a SEAL, lol.  Yes that’s right gaining muscle mass and doing pretty intense cardio, I’ve been keeping on top of cardio and still gaining muscle weight!  It’s not a secret, just lifting and eating smart.

I was really tore up after my first week on 4 sets of 10, so I took another day off between microcycles.  It was a good decision!  Hit the gym last night and did 5 wide grip pullups completely unassisted!  I have done 10 but I weighed 20 lbs less then.  5 at 195 (200 with all clothes) is pretty damn good for me.  Set a new record on the bent over barbell row as well, did 145 10 times.  The form was kind of fudged for the last 5 reps but that’s okay, it works for me to swing a little bit and control it on the way down.  I’ve had much better results by cheating a little bit than I ever did from forcing strict form for the entire set.  I guess it’s good to be very strict with form when you’re a beginner, but later on learning how to cheat correctly without injuring yourself can benefit you.  Today is legs and I plan on really pushing the limits.  I want to try 145 x 10 on front squats and 225 x 10 on deads.  It will be a good day.