mrdead’s BodyBlog

As the New Year approaches, people are making their New Year’s "Wish Lists". I call them wish lists, as a VAST majority of those that make "resolutions" don’t stick with it past February. Myself, I plan on taking things to the "next level", and beyond. I’ve already set my sights on competing in the same show I did last year, but am doing both novice and masters groups. I’ve been through the setback of my surgery, and am all out of "reasons/excuses". So now, I’m ready to kick a$$ and chew bubblegum, and I’m all out of bubblegum. (Man, that was cheesey! *L*) But, I spent my off time picking people’s brains, looking at my contest video and pictures from last year, as well as reading all that I can. I’m tweaking my diet from last year, and I won’t be going down from 220 to 180 (Talk about torture!) I now don’t have a bellybutton the size of a golfball, so my abs better be "perfect". (My wife/Coach/Torture Master DD2INXS got me some Under Armor shirts, so I HAVE to get my abs ripped!) So, my wish list is as follows:

1) Greatly improve on last year’s placing at my comp

2) Six-pack!!!!!

3) Beef up!!!

4) Below 10% bodyfat.

5) Less setbacks!!!

Speaking of setbacks, here is the "Cautionary Tale". I’m writing this not to hear, "I’m so sorry for your friend". He did it to himself. I’m writing this so that others might learn!!! My best friend, who is like the brother I never had, is a 35 year old truck driver. He ate at the truckstops, his meals at home were fried, greasey, fat laden (But very tasty, I admit) dietary equivelants of "crack". He ate cheese by the block. His exercise was the PlayStation, and got to the fridge and bathroom. He suffered a heart attack last Thursday. He even had the "white light" experience. Now all of a sudden he wants to "eat right", go to the gym, be more active. Don’t wait until you nearly die, to do the right thing for yourself, your family, and friends!!!! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Anyhow, have an awesome New Year, and best of luck with your resolutions/wish lists!!!!

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Now that I’m allowed to lift heavier, I’v been cutting and moving the larger portions of the 3 trees that went down. Talk about a full-body workout!!! Between lugging the chainsaw, logs, bending over, and stacking I’m getting a lot of much needed work. But with all this "lumberjack" work, I wonder if I should grow a beard and start wearing plaid! *L* It’s definitely great to get back into physical activity.

I’m still in the process of finding a new gym. More than likely, I’ll be working out on base. (It’s free, but I hate dealing with the little "wannabe’s" that think the rule everything. Damn kids…) But, it’s still better than using the wax-covered cement weights.

Also, the doctors I work with have aided me in my quest to get tickets to see one of my favorite comedians. My wife and I have 2nd row seats to see Jeff Dunham. It’s really great knowing that those that you work for appreciate what you do.

But, anyhow. I hope this season finds everybody well, and that Santa spoils the crap out of everybody!!!

Well, I had my first workout since my surgery. The pump was definitely something I’ve missed. However, the soreness that day after is something I could live without. *L* I hit tris, delts, traps and chest. I’ve lost a lot of size and strength, so I’m hoping muscle memory will kick in soon. Breathing, raising my arms, heck anything in general brings about not so gentle reminders that I’ve been away from it for awhile.

On another note, I will more than likely be changing gyms, soon. It seems that my membership is about to expire, and they want to charge me one price, and my wife a different one. So, more than likely, I’m going to say "Screw Bally’s" and start working out at the gyms on base. (It’s free)

And one final side note: Two of my favorite stand-up comedians are coming to town in February… Jeff Dunham and Josh Blue. It turns out that they are coming on back to back days. So, I’ll be scrambling to get tickets for those dates! *L*

The workout was as follows:

Incline Bench Press- 3 sets of 15 with a warm up set of 25

Flat Bench Press- Same

Decline Bench Press- Same

Cable crossovers- Same

Shoulders:

Rear Delt Cable Crossovers?- 3 sets of 10

Millitary Press- Same

Side Laterals- Same

Tris:

"V" Bar Push downs: 1 set of 20, 1 set of 15, 2 sets of 10 (Increase weight by one plate each set, except for the last set, and increase by 2 plates)

Dumbell kick-backs: 3 sets of 10

Close-Grip Bench Press: 3 sets of 10

Almost forgot… Traps:

Calf Machine Shrugs: 5 sets of 10 (Increase the weight by 2 plates each set)

Well, it’s finally here! The day I get to get back into it. My main goal is to obliterate last year’s version of me. Yes, I will be competing in ‘08, and, I’m still undecided about what class to go for. I think that will be determined on how much ground I can make up, after weeks of nothing. I’m really hoping "muscle memory" kicks in quick.

Also, I want to thank all of you for the well-wishes and support. It really means a lot! Most everyone here has been awesome! And, for the "haters", thank you for the motivation. *L*

As most that read my ramblings know, I’ve been chomping at the bit to get back at it. Well, you know how they say, "Be careful what you wish for."? Well, I got my chance yesterday. As some may know, a state of emergency has been declared for the state of Washington. Hurricane force winds, flooding, downed trees, power outages, etc… Well, we fell into the downed trees category. 3, to be exact. And, they decided that the corner of the roof over my front of my porch was a great place to land. This was at 1:30 in the morning. So, at that time of "night", it was a bit difficult to survey the damage. (From what we could see it looked like one, maybe two trees.) So, since I still had a ton of leave time, I got to deal with it, the following day. Now comes the fun part. The damage to the house was minimal, but the damage to the outdoor Christmas decorations was catastrophic. And, to top it off, the cords to the lights were under the trees.

So, I start out there with my handy dandy chainsaw. (Yes, I got chewed out for lugging it around) Well, that was a no-go. The @#$#%#@ thing wouldn’t start. So, I revert to the great and wonderful hand saw. Several hours of cutting and stacking limbs (limbs, not logs), bending over, standing back up, slipping on my a$$, in the pouring rain, I finally got my exercise. (It’s amazing how I get chewed out for trying to go to the gym, but it’s okay for me to do all that other stuff in the time of "necessity" *L*)

So, today, I’m tired and sore as heck. The insurance company has us down at the bottom of the list, since we don’t have water coming into our house. (We were actually the lucky ones) So, they might get to us by friday or saturday. But, I’m VERY greatful that we didn’t have the damage a LOT of other people had.