Mike’s blog

I just happened to read a blog titled:

Help…I’m an old man…and I want to make the nationals!

I clicked the blog to check it out. jeffchristian2007 is the person in which I am referring top. When I opened the page, I couldn’t help but notice the profile picture of the man writing this. I thought to myself, "he doesn’t need any help!" This guy has an awesome physique. I responded to his blog (not like he needs my advice LOL) and was curious about his profile. After very little reading, I read that he had just lost his daughter at two years old. I can not even imagine! My children are my life besides my wife. Turns out she was sick for the two years and he was always by her side. He now has the goal to make the 08 Nationals. Anybody and everybody show your support and visit his blog. I can understand wanting to move forward in your life to keep your mind off of the subject. I can’t help but respect and admire this guys heart and determination. Good luck jeffchristian2007!

hit legs pretty good today. I was pretty tired because my daughter did not want to sleep last night! I took 2 scoops of my superpump and was pretty disappointed with the energy it gave me. I am hesitant to try three scoops because when I did that with NO explode, I got so dizzy and light headed that I couldn’t even work out. Who wants to take a "pre-workout" supplement that makes it hard to work out with? I am not going to loose faith in the product just yet. My sleep probably had a lot to do with it. Tomorrow will tell. ARMS!

Got a really good shoulder workout in today. Nothing fancy, just the basics. Next week I will hit my higher intensity workout again. I will choose a main compound exercise for a body part. Because today was shoulder day, I will use shoulders. Military press (You can also substitute bumbell presses or smith machine presses to the mix) The first set would be a light set of 20 focusing on controlled movements and negatives but NOT going to failure. The second set would be a heavy set of 5 (again not focusing on failure but getting close. You will use a pretty heavy weight for this set) The third set would be a set of 10. (Lighter weight, not to failure, again focusing on controlled movements and negatives)
Then you close the deal with 3 sets of 3. Heavy weight rest paused style. What I mean by this is you pick your 3-4 rep max. Rep it out 3 times. Rack it. rest 10 seconds and rep out three more, rack it, rest 10 seconds. Then rep out three more. You should hit failure on this one and WILL need a spotter. That is your 3×3. This works very well for me and i thought i would share it. I cal it the "staggered pyramid". Good luck and lift hard!

I was inspired to write this because of a conversation I was having with a fellow body spacer. (Thanks Pixi!) First of, what is an epidemic?
Defining an epidemic can be subjective, depending in part on what is "expected". An epidemic may be restricted to one locale (an outbreak), more general (an "epidemic") or even global (pandemic). Because it is based on what is “expected” or thought normal, a few cases of a very rare disease like rabies may be classified as an “epidemic,” while many cases of a common disease (like the common cold) would not.

Common diseases that occur at a constant but relatively high rate in the population are said to be “endemic.” An example of an endemic disease is malaria in some parts of Africa (for example, Liberia) in which a large portion of the population is expected to get malaria at some point in their lifetimes.

Okay, so is obesity contagious? Is it a virus or bacteria? The obvious answer is no. So why do they call it an epidemic?

Now if you look up “epidemic”, there is a little side note at the bottom like this was added in recently.  The term “epidemic” is often used in a sense to refer to widespread and growing societal problems, for example, in discussions of obesity, mental illness or drug addiction. Epidemics lead to death of people.

When I look at this last definition, I examine the three comparisons: Obesity, mental illness, and drug addiction. Let’s start with the obvious. Drug addiction is something that people choose to take the chance of having. We all know that most drugs are addictive. What separates this from obesity is the mental threshold drugs have on the human body. Most people can’t just "quit" using drugs. They need therapy and guidance.

When I look at mental illness, this is when I get confused. No, I am not mentally ill. Are obese people mentally Ill. Some would think so. But what about the other people? I, on the other hand believe obesity starts as a child. Maybe some people that were skinny children turn into obese adults but this is my reasoning. Children learn from their parents. They learn social behaviors, manorisms, activity choices and even food choices. They tend to eat a lot like their parents do. This is why I think obesity has risen so quick. You have an obese couple that have three children. They eat out every night at fast food restaurants and become fat. These children continue that same trend and eventually get married. Now you have three more obese people that have three more kids each and teach them the same eating habits. Now multiply that by how many obese people that are in America right now an you can easily tell that the number will multiply by at least 3 in the next few years. Is this an epidemic? I think not! I believe this to be a bad habit! How do you break bad habits? First of all, there is the "want" to do so. You need will power but more importantly, education. These people don’t know any better and the ones that do, don’t have the will power to do things right. That is why their is so many people calling us gym rats "addicted" to the gym. I like to say that I am addicted to life! That is the difference. Obese people are slaves to the way their parents made them. There is so much debate among fast food restaurants and the oils and fats they use. Should we really be attacking them? Why don’t families sit at the dinner table anymore? They would rather sit on the couch eating KFC watching the biggest loser! you ever notice that most obese people smoke and drink? They have addictive personalities. So is obesity an epidemic? I think not! You CAN help yourself. I see so many people changing their lives for the better on body space. To all of you that have transformed your bodies, congratulations. Your will power and perseverance are very admirable. We should be attacking the parents of these kids, not the fast food industry. If people made the right food choices, more than likely most fast food restaurants would close due to lack of business anyway!  Ignore the negative comments we receive from the obese that don’t care about themselves or their children. We can all make a difference. It is amazing how much a little education can go!

So I went to the gym today thinking it was heavy leg day! I love heavy leg day! I got my stuff together and met my partner on the floor. He immediately said,"we are doing back right?" Wait a minute….back? I thought we agreed last night today was heavy leg day? "No." He insisted, "today is back day." Okay, okay. Back is fine. I went back to the locker room to get my wrist wraps and straps when it dawned on me…..he hasn’t got over the last time we did legs heavy…..he is afraid history may repeat itself and I fart in his face again. C’mon! I didn’t mean to! I asked him about that and he just smiled…kind of like he was embarrassed. I should be the one embarrassed! Anyways, awesome back workout. Felt it good too. I took two scoops of the superpump and I didn’t feel a difference in pumps between one and two scoops but my energy was higher.During deads, I got a little light headed. I am assuming this to be from the energy and blood flow I was experiencing. All in all, good stuff. Time will tell. I do believe this to be better than the Animal Pump I just finished.

I am finally able to get back to the gym. Hit chest pretty good today. Got in incline barbell, flat dumbell, and incline cable flies. Finished off with a drop set of hammer strength incline press. I had a major major pump. Today was my first day of Superpump. I only used one scoop. The energy i go from one scoop was equal or better to that I got from Animal Pump. I am going for two scoops tomorrow. I’ll need it since tomorrow is LEG DAY!!!
On another note, I got an awesome ab workout last night while putting my son to bed!
My protein intake is back where it should be now. Trust me, my gas isn’t used to it anymore. It’s been about two weeks or more since my diet has been on track. The rest has done me good though. The pain in my right forearm is gone. Then again, I have not hit back or arms yet! I feel pretty confident though.

Since I am going to be home next week, I have decided to go to the gym in the afternoon instead of when I would usually go…after work (3:00am) It will be a change but I am sure it will be nice.

On another note, I spent my Thanksgiving in the hospital with my wife and little girl. They wanted to keep her since her jaundice was pretty bad. We had to hold off out high class Kroger Thanksgiving dinner for a day. But, we had an even higher class Denny’s Thanksgiving dinner! WooHoo! You know the funny part about that was there was actually a family of about 40 people eating their Thanksgiving dinner there. I can understand people in my situation eating there but an entire family? What? Nobody cooked? I am glad I am not in that family!

On another another note! I found the perfect time to get some abs in on the weekend….When my son is going to bed! He likes for somebody to be in the room with him so he can sleep. I am sure not to look at him and I emphasize that it IS bedtime. He doesn’t argue. He just goes to sleep. Since it takes him about 10 minutes to fall asleep, I can do crunches and leg lifts until I can leave the room!  Man, it must be nice falling asleep in 10 minutes huh?

Does anybody find it awkward that the doctors that were performing my wifes C-Section were talking about chicken and dumplings during the surgery? I had already went 6 hours without eating (that really sucked since I am used to eating every two and a half hours) and they kept talking about food. I finally asked if they had any leftovers for me. The nurse laughed and said they had plenty. I never saw any food. I guess she is kind of like me in the sense that I like to eat my food. The only time I share food is when I cook for guests!

My wife and baby girl are home now. My wife was in the hospital for a week! It has been a very rough week but we made it. My daughter is so beautiful! My son is actually taking this very well. He likes holding his baby sister and he likes "helping" us with her. He will help hold the bottle and get diapers and wipes when needed. He also like telling her,"Wake up Lili, it’s time to eat!" He’s going to be a great big brother.

That’s about all I have in my mind right now….except the food thing. I’m gonna eat!!

It’s been weird not having my wife home. It’s time to clean up and my son’s mess in the house since baby and mama will be home tomorrow! I have had a lot of fun with my son the past few days but man I am beat! I could only imagine how my wife feels. I ordered a Thanksgiving meal from Kroger, yeah I know I am cheating, so anybody that wants to come up and see the new addition can do so and eat too! I hope everybody has a fun and safe Thanksgiving!

Well, per my previous blog, this week I have to get creative to get a workout in. I have found a whole new meaning to "sandbagin it". I started off with 2 bags of sand and did some deads. Pretty interesting. I added another 2 and well, it’s not heavy but awkward as heck! I kept dropping bags and well, I got a little frustrated! Maybe I could go find a Miata somewhere and deadlift that a few times!

I ordered my SuperPump250, Intrapro protein by Gaspari, Evopro protein by Cytosport, and reordered my Myozene Ultra Pro by Bioquest. The Evopro has a mix of whey and casein so that will be a good protein to take before bed and first thing in the morning.  Can’t wait to try the SuperPump. I have high expectations since a lot of the people I talk to on here use it. The Intrapro is a new protein by Gaspari but it seems to be very complete. I am looking forward to using it as well. As far as the Myozene goes, if nobody has used this stuff, you are missing out. Use it right after your workout…..before you leave the gym. BB.com does not stock the Myozene Ultra Pro unfortunately but you can get it here http://www.prosource.net/myozene-ultra-vanilla/7526-1/24790/   Can’t wait to get settled back into a routine and chart my progress!