So it runs into August and the past month has pretty much been a wash.  Was nice to have some vacation and then got some nagging hand injury that makes it hard to work, let alone workout.  Be back in the gym to start the comeback later today.

Heading down to Columbus sometime this weekend.   Looking more like Friday, but may end up being Saturday.  Always a good time down there, seeing the freaky crowd.  Looking forward to seeing some of the BB.Com'ers there.  If you are going, let me know.

What I had anticipated was going to be a good month ended up just the opposite.  I think I hit the gym about 4 times during the month.  My mother was hospitalized in October and passed away in November.  Have to say that she lived a good life and was a great mother.  Kept me on the straight and narrow growing up, was a good grandmother to my children and will be missed by all those who knew her.

Getting older is a bear that I never really thought much of my mortality or of those around me.  Helped me put things in perspective and hopefully a better person, husband and father.  Hitting the gym as one of the most important things I do has taken a backseat to a lot of other things this month.  I've gotten the motivation back to renew myself in the gym and in life.  That was the big improvement for this month, had nothing to do with how I looked or felt physically.

Not much of a training month for me.  Got wrapped up in a lot of things that rendered the month rather ineffective.  Took almost a week off at the start of the month as part of a normal recovery and then took the last 2 weeks off to deal with some personal issues.

Not everything is resolved and the remainder of the year looks like it will be hit or miss.  I'll keep plugging and chugging along as time permits but it definitely hasn't been a festive October.

Good year so far and it keeps getting better.  Have to say that injury free has been a great help compared to the past.  M training has been really consistent and I haven't had to take a step back every so often to let something heal or avoid other damage.

Big things for me putting more muscle on and retaining roughly the same body fat percent.  Think I continue to be successful with that throughout the year.  I can see that I've added mass most everywhere this year and the gut hasn't gotten much bigger.

It has been a slow process, but no change is ever fast in this game.  Looking to finish the year as the first 8 months have been, and then get into refining the mass.

Good year so far and it keeps getting better.  Have to say that injury free has been a great help compared to the past.  M training has been really consistent and I haven't had to take a step back every so often to let something heal or avoid other damage.

Big things for me putting more muscle on and retaining roughly the same body fat percent.  Think I continue to be successful with that throughout the year.  I can see that I've added mass most everywhere this year and the gut hasn't gotten much bigger.

It has been a slow process, but no change is ever fast in this game.  Looking to finish the year as the first 8 months have been, and then get into refining the mass.

Been a really good first half of the year.  Got to train hard, remained injury free and made loads of progress.  I was able to take the past week off and do some vacationing and recharge my batteries.  Breaks are great. One of the interesting things off taking a break and getting away from things is the chance to see and do things out of the ordinary.  For example, I went to a Golden Corral and eat well even at a buffet.  And had people staring for some reason.  Rather weird.  Had my beautiful wife as well with me and got complemented that we were an attractive couple.  That felt really nice coming from complete strangers.

Feels good to get the ego stroked every so often after all the hard work that this journey takes.  Has both ups and downs though.  Feels good from my perspective, but it is tough to keep the image up and realize that there is a lot further to go.  Satisfied - never.  But, good to know that the work that you put in ii noticed by others.

Another good month for me, injury free.  Think I got a theme with that.  Good is no injuries and limited amount of Overtime at work.  Was able to hit the gym on a regular basis and contrary to all my thinking and better sense, I even went running a couple of times.  The running wasn't very fast or very far, but it was painful and embarrassing.  The wife goaded me into those runs and she kicked my butt.  So I have since gone out and got some running shoes and hope this helps the lower leg pain out.  More to follow on this.

That was a solid month of training, and even included some unwinding work in the gym.  Wasn't going full intensity the whole time as my body was telling me that I needed a bit of a break.  So for about 2 weeks I just had some fun and did some different things in the gym to liven things up.  The advantage of that is that I will be adding some different exercises to the normal mix on this upcoming training rotation.  You can say that I will be forcing the muscles to adapt to new loads based on those exercises.  Hopefully, with enough recovery, they will produce some nice gains over the next month.

What a way to start the year.  Basically been injury free all year and have been able to get some solid training in.  What a difference a year makes.  Last year was a lot of overtime and injury and this year has been minimal OT and no injuries.  It has allowed me to get back to using weights I haven;t used in a couple of years.  Both strength and mass have returned and I'm pretty pleased with that.  Did a trial with some Products from Double T, and have to say they helped as well.  Time to work on the diet a little more and drop some body fat to be more of lean mean power-making machine

Absolutely solid month for me.  Only a couple of days of overtime, so my schedule was not as demanding as it can be at time at work.  Didn't have problems with nagging injuries, so I was able to get workouts in without avoiding things.  Been able to push more weights on chest and delt things as the elbow is feeling better.  The knee is in good shape and got back up to five plates aside on hack squats.  Didn't do that much on regular squats as I was still in the rehab mode for most of the month.  Rest of me was doing good.

Also doing a trial with some products I normally don't use and feel I'm getting some results there as well.

Overall, very pleased with current current direction of things.

Have to say that I had a good month.  Got to the gym often, didn't work much overtime and was healthy all month.  All this contributed to a very good month for me.   Let's see how the next couple of months follow on.

Spent the weekend down in Columbus.  Got to see the inside of Nationwide Arena at the Blue Jackets game on Saturday and it was a pretty good game.  11 goals but the Jackets lost.  Still not bad.  Also got around to the Thurman Cafe for the famous Thurmanator, as featured on Man vs. Food.  Great burger, even with the long wait.  I'd definitely do that again.  Time to diet down a bit.

The cahllenge will be to stay healthy this year.  Last year was not a great one for me on the training front.  Had a lot of nagging injurues that restricted me doing a lot of things.  Finally got 'better' at the end of the year as I finally went to see the doc and get things fixed.  How permanent the fix will be is undetermined, but I have a lot more ROM back and been pain free for the last 2 weeks.  Giid sign of things to come.