ssmoimo’s BodyBlog

Ok, Well some good news this weekend.  Checked my bodyfat and it is now down to 15%!  Thats pretty close to my all time low.  It turns out that I must have gained a decent amount of lean mass while losing fat, since my weight did not change much, but my bodyfat went down 2%.

I did decide to crank it up a notch though.  I shaved my head this weekend as a dedication to my cause.  Now when I look in the mirror, I’ll remember to work my butt off.  I am going to be hitting up the extra cardio and trying to burn at least 3700 calories a day now, preferrably upwards for 4000.  I am also cutting down carbs.  I am going to leave protein the same amount, so that I can continue to gain lean mass.

One of my goals for this 12 week period is to be able to do 20 pull-ups or chin-ups without stopping.

This goal is definitely harder than I thought, but I am pretty sure I can get there.  Right now I am at about 13 pull-ups.  So I have a bit of a way to go.  I am trying to figure out the best way to train for this.  My current plan of attack is just to do pull-ups and chin-ups and often as possible.  If I do a biceps workout in the morning, I always add chin-ups.  If I do a back workout in the morning I always add chin-ups, and on my second work-out (cardio), I’ll do pull-ups or chin-ups for about 4 sets to failure, pretty close to every day.  My thinking here is that the muscle will adapt, just like our legs do to walking and I should be able to do pull-ups like its nothing, eventually. 

I did have another idea for increasing pull-ups, which I got from a benchpress tactic.  I might try decreasing the amount of time between sets gradually, so that basically there is no time between sets and I can do 20 total.  I better invest in a stopwatch if I am going to do this.

Just got my Bodybugg today.  It is extremely cool!

Basically it works like this.  You wear the thing on your arm all day, and with various sensors it will record your calorie burn.  You upload the data to the website and it tracks how many calories you burned all day long!  You can also track your nutrition and workouts.  The coolest thing is that you can set a goal to reach, like bodyfat %, and it will come up with a plan for you to reach that goal.  It will even make the menu for you if you want.  It calculates how many calories you need to burn and eat each day and you can see where you stand each day.  This this will revolutionize weight loss and personal training.  I keep uploading data, because its so fun.  It was a little expensive at $360 on Ebay, but I am pretty sure its going to end up being worth it.  No more questions about how many calories did I burn, or am I in calorie deficit.  This thing is sweet.

   Today I did my workout of shoulders and triceps in the morning.  One of my long standing favorite, but feared triceps exercises is the seated triceps press. (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.php?Name=Seated+Triceps+Press).  I was able to get 135lbs today for about 6 reps.  I might have been able to get 2 more, but I didn’t have a spot today, so I didn’t risk it.  I felt like I could go up even more, but I am a little catious, because it is already seeming to be a dangerous weight.  This exercise will always leave my triceps sore the next day.  In my opinion it is the best tricep mass building exercise.  I do them with elbows flared, which reduces the joint stress.

  I also managed to put up 185lbs for 4 reps on the behind the next press for shoulders.  I finally started keeping tracking of workouts and writing down each workout last week, so my plan is now to start adding on small amounts of weight each time.  I am going to try to gain muscle mass while cutting, so far I have been successful, but I am not sure if that can continue.

  Also busted my butt on cardio today.  I did intervals at 2 min 6mph, 1 min 10 mph and finished off with a minute of 12 mph for a minute.  Total time was 18 minutes.  I will start adding in more cardio and probably a second session as weight loss decreases towards the end of the 12 challenge.