Ramrod

My legs are still dead from the other night but I decided to run today until I couldn’t go any farther. Seeing all the dudes on here with insane bodies and that being my end goal, cardio has to be a big part of my training. I have got my diet nailed in and my routine, now it’s just time to kick up the running a little bit. I ended up only doing 4 miles in 33 minutes but that still isn’t to bad. For not running in almost 3 months and my legs being so sore, I still pushed myself pretty hard. Gotta get that body fat down baby!!!

But I still went and I crushed it. I dread the night when it’s legs. I do not want to be the idiot who focuses and obsess on one part of his body though and leaves the rest to look out of proportion. So I’m giving it my all even on the parts of my body I hate to work on. I know I don’t look good, and probably never will, but the vision I have in my head of want I want to look like keeps my full throttle in it. I can’t stop. It isn’t easy to get into great shape. I suck at it, but I’m doing my best w00t!

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything. Not that anyone reads these, but I’m back. I haven’t stopped working out but the 11 months i was back home I didn’t really hit the gym as hard as I wanted to. It was my time for family. But now that I am back in Iraq, it’s game on. I am kicking the shit out of my body. I have been training really hard the last 2 months or so since I have been here. I got my team to work out with me as well. They can’t keep up yet but they are giving it their all. I can’t believe how cut I am getting. I just keep picturing myself with the body of a Greek god. Nothing can stop me. I finish off each workout with a 7 minute mile for cardio. So I’m doing 90 min workouts, and finishing it off with a great run!!! There is nothing better to forget about home than hitting the gym hard. i’ll try to get some new pics up soon.

Well I thought I planned out my training and supplement intake to last me until I got home. Now I have 3 weeks left until I get home and I’m out. I don’t want to order anything else and have it come in after I’m gone. They havent had any eggs at the Dfac in a few months so it looks like I’ll just have to triple up my food intake on fish and chicken nights. Bring some back here and eat some fish after a workout instead of whey. I hope 2 weeks of no supplements doesnt make me lose any of the mass or tone I have built up so far. It isn’t much compared to a lot of people on here, but what I have gained so far I am proud of. Being a nasty fat body is no longer an option. The goal is to get back up to my pre-gym days of 225 lbs. but this time have it be with muscle instead of fat.

I love working on chest and arm night. I got my second anthrax shot the other day so my shoulder has been sore. But tonight I can go back. I can’t wait to get into the gym and just start lifting. Get away from everything and forget about it. Lift and concentrate on that one goal. Getting back up into the 220’s but this time with muscle and not fat. Just more motivation to hit the gym and keep eating right. From the few pics I have up my body looks like complete crap compared to others on here. But oh well. It is getting where I want it to go. And the difference I see from when I started out back in April compared to now are great. Another year or so and I’ll finally be where I want to be. Then it’s just a matter of keeping it up.

Last night was supposed to be leg night but I really wasn’t feeling it at all. I did squats and I could tell that if I went any further it was going to be a wasted night at the gym. So I decided, hey why not some cardio. There were a few treadmills and things open so I went and got on an elliptical machine and decided to burn some calories. I ended up running for only 25 minutes but man did it feel great. I forgot how much I truly enjoy running. It’s been almost 4 months since I have have done any running but I was suprised at how well my body reacted. Those 2.7 miles felt like half a mile. Now I’m looking forward to getting back and taking my next PT test and I am going to shoot for a 250 on it. Running is great and I think it’s going to take over one of my leg nights and also my "day off" from the gym.

So now that I am starting to see actual real muscle growth, I can feel each group I target more and more. Take pecs for example. When I first started working on them, I never felt a burn or felt like I was working them. But now that they are growing and are visible, I can actually feel them being worked during each set and they burn the next day and are sore. My back is another example. I can feel the muscles I am trying to hit, while I am working them. My lats also. So now I see that patience does pay off. Sure it took almost 3 months of working out before I started to feel certain areas, but it is more than worth it. Now it is a little extra incentive to work out. Because while I work out, I can actually feel the muscle being worked and it gets me more and more excited to keep hitting the gym.

So we had a new guy come to replace one that is leaving here soon. I convinced him to come start working out with me. The last two nights I finally have a spotter. Since I do now I wanted to see what I could bench. Last night was chest night and I put up 235 lbs FOUR times. That is my max one rep bench normally. So I think I might be able to lift somewhere near 250 for one rep max now. I’ll give it a go next chest night. Now if anyone actually reads these, that is really good for me. Most people will read it and think 235 lbs is a normal set weight for them. I am pumped about though. Tonight was ab and back night. My back is sore and my abs feel like I got punched in them for an hour straight. Tomorrow is the dreaded leg night. And an update, I havent had any time to do the cardio I wanted to put in after my workouts. So that will just have to wait until I get back to the states.

Well the title says it all. I have seen tremendous gains as far as muscle growth in the two months I have been lifting weights. Now I want the muscle under my fat to show. So I have a new goal to achieve and work towards as well. I plan on on continuing eating the best I can out here. Also I am going to try to run a minimum of 3-5 miles after my workouts. Plus running in 115 degree or hotter heat will be good for me to sweat it out. It should be easy to do and I need to start doing it so that when I get back to the States in a few weeks I won’t miss a beat during morning PT. I would like to continue to gain muscle mass while at the same time lower my BF% by at least 5% in the next 2 months. Also I have 3 packs of cigarettes left and I plan on quitting after them to help my lungs, my bloodflow, and oxigination in my blood. Plus my daughter won’t ave to grow up around parents who smoke. We don’t smoke in the house or in the car at least. But still, smoking sucks and it’s a pathetic habit. Ok so I have my new plan of action for the next bit. I’m actually excited about it.

Tonight when I went down to the gym I was mad and decided to make my arms and chest pay a price. Not that they did anything wrong, but because I am so pissed about being over here. Having so little time left before I go home eats at me all day. So i decided to take my frustration out on my body at the gym. I started out with flat bench. I did as many sets as I could and upped the usual weight I do. I don’t have a spotter ever so I keep the weight down. Usually it’s only 145 pounds but tonight I bumped up to 175 per set. I did probably 5 sets of 10 until it felt like I couldn’t do any more sets. Then i went to decline bench. It was 195 pounds per set of 10 for 5 sets. The last 2 sets though I could only push out 8 and then 7 reps. After that was curls. I don’t know the exact weight as I don’t know how much the curl bar weighs. But i would guess its 15 pounds and I put a 10 pound weight on each side. I stood in front of the mirror and curled that bar as many times as i could for 3 sets. First set was roughly 18, second was maybee 12, and third set was 12 or so. Next up I headed over for some dips. I did 3 sets of dips. As many as I could push out each set but making sure it was at least 10 each time. The last 2 i only hit 10 dips. Then i went over to the tricep machine. I can’t do much weight on it yet as my triceps aren’t that big. So i could only do 80 pounds and i had to force myself to do 10 each set. Only 3 sets on that is all I could do. I wasn’t feeling like I had pushed myself hard enough so I went over and 3 sets of 10 on shoulder shrugs. After that I felt good enough to go. On my way out I passed the tricep machine again and decided what the hey. So I did 3 more sets of 10 on it and then i was spent. Total time was 90 minutes in the gym and I can barely type now. I’m going to hurt tomorrow, but it was worth it.