GRUNTGRUNT TYPETYPE

I don’t know how, considering my schedule over the last couple weeks has been crazy… and my lifting sessions haven’t been as stable as they were in the past, and my meal plan hasn’t been as strict as I had been keeping it from Jan-Apr… but somehow, now my body fat is at around 9.6%.  I ended up remeasuring 4 more times, just to be sure… and the numbers all averaged down to the same 9.4-9.6% area.

Could be the fact that I’ve been sleeping like a bear lately, or pumping a lot more water than usual… but even still, I know I haven’t been keeping up with cardio like I should have, and lifting was put somewhat on the back burner for a while.  If anything, I guess this just means I’ll have to kick my ass back into gear to make sure I stay in the single digits and work on the cutting and lean gains.

Priority #1 over the next couple months will be cutting.  I’m happy with the amount of muscle I’ve got now, but I’d like to get somebetter definition going - especially with the abs.  I should be headed back home toward the end of June, so getting nice and cut (maybe with a poolside tan?) would definitely be good.  Wish me luck, guys!

Hope you all didn’t party too hard for Cinco de Mayo - and if you did, don’t forget to kick it back into gear this week to make up for all the enchiladas and tequila.

Sadly, this past week has been incredibly chaotic for me… and I think, since a week from today, I’ve hit the gym maybe 3 times, and done MAYBE two sessions of jump rope cardio.  Man oh man do I feel like a flabby little fatty.

Of course, this would be due to the fact that work has been insane, and since I work nights and have been pulling longer hours than usual, I’ve had time to get up, head to work, come back, run an errand or two, then go pass out until my next shift.  Thankfully it was just for last week though - this next week will be much more laid back since my evaluations and other junk are all done now.

Even though I haven’t had much of a chance to hit the gym as frequently as normal, I still tore it up the couple times I went.  I did a bit of sampling of the Cellucor packets (because really, how can you hype it without having tried it first? ) and I can honestly say, I had one of the best bicep/tricep days EVER.  Granted, I think I should’ve eased up a little bit on some of them in combining with my other supplements at the time… but overall it was a great experience.  (For those wondering, two packets of M5, two packets of NO, two D4 thermal shock pills, Anavol, and CT Purple wrath.. all taken within about two hours of each other, will make you feel like you need to be sprinting while doing curls - my legs were going insane.  You know those Powerthirst videos where they talking about kicking mother nature in the face with your energy legs?  No joke - my legs honestly felt like they were made of twitchy, uncontrollable energy.)

I’m fairly proud that I was able to stick to my normal diet over the past week… but I know I’ve missed out on some meals here and there, and ended up having about 2-3 cheat meals instead of my normal 1 per week.  Thankfully they weren’t too bad, cheat-wise.. but now that I got the time to do some hardcore grocery shopping in, I should have no problem skating through the next two weeks cheatless.

One more thing - I’ve finally decided how I wanted to switch up my split.  Currently, it’s as follows:

Day 1: Legs/abs
Day 2: Chest
Day 3: Biceps/triceps/abs
Day 4: Back/shoulders
Day 5: Rest
It was working out pretty alright, but by the time I got around to day 4, my arms were feeling pretty shot.   Another problem I noticed was I was having a problem keeping the pump going during day 3 when I was constantly switching biceps/triceps/abs, and on day 2 my chest would be dying after 30min and my shoulders would kick in to start picking up the slack.  So starting this week, the split will be more like:

Day 1: Back/shoulders
Day 2: Chest/abs
Day 3: Biceps/triceps
Day 4: Legs/abs
Day 5: Rest

Hopefully this way, I can knock shoulders out in the beginning (in hopes that they’re less likely to kick in the next day), and by switching off on chest/ab exercises that should give my chest a little more time to recover between exercises.  Also, that way I can tap into bis and tris a little bit on the first two days, then finish them (FATALITYYYYY!) on day 3.

Still trying to establish a good cardio schedule though…. but I’m guessing that will come with time.

In other news - it’s practically summer weather here!  Here’s to hoping the sun will stay out and the tan won’t take too long to come back.

Finally, I *should* be in the clear for getting tat #3 finished toward the latter half of May… and if I’m lucky, #4 might be started at the same time.  Pics will, of course, be posted.

I got my ‘welcome to the Cellucor Affiliate Program!’ box from Cellucor today, and to put it simply - I’m really freakin’ excited.  After this round of supplements runs out, I’ll be switching over to their products for the most part and hitting the training just as hard (if not harder) than I have been through this point.  This is one stepping stone to possibly becoming a sponsored athlete, and my eyes are locked on to the goal with no intention of being distracted.

I’m hoping to get at least one or two new pictures up this week, just to mark the start of the new training ‘era’… even though it might be a few more weeks until I can actually start up with using some Cellucor, aside from trying a sample packet or two.

Motivation levels are quite high.. and I’m definitely glad, too - training was starting to get a little bland.  Time to spruce it up with something and keep on DOING WORK.

Wish me luck, everyone - these next 8 months will be quite the adventure.

(Even though I haven’t made the switch over to using their supplements just yet, I figure I’ll throw my promo code out there for anyone interested.  Enter MU888 during the ordering process for a discount!  And if any of you happen to live in my local area, I can hook you up with some samples and info, haha.)

Happy training!

When I initially started working out, my schedule was fairly iffy… I wasn’t sure exactly how I wanted to go about rotating my days and exercises.  One of my friends was helping me train and get into a gym-goer lifestyle, and we basically hit one body group every day of the week.
I can’t remember exactly how it went, but it was basically:

Day 1: Legs
Day 2: Chest/Triceps
Day 3: Abs/Calves
Day 4: Back/Biceps
Day 5: Shoulders
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Off

It worked alright, but a good portion of the time I didn’t really feel like I was hitting the areas frequently enough, and doing the chest/tri and back/bi days didn’t seem to be too great.  Due to using the same compound muscle groups, I tired pretty quickly and usually didn’t see too many different exercises during the lifting session.

After a while of doing some on/off lifting, occasional running, some dabbling in boxing here and there, I decided to get a full cycle together again to see how things went:

Day 1: Chest/Tris
Day 2: Back/Bis
Day 3: Legs/Abs/Shoulders
Day 4: Off
That was good and all, until another friend suggested trying to do opposing muscle groups on the same day… so I switched again, after a couple months of the previous program, to:

Day 1: Chest/Back
Day 2: Bis/Tris
Day 3: Legs/Shoulders
Day 4: Off
…with cardio every other day, abs every other cardio session.

That was working out well, but I wanted to switch things up a bit since the back/chest days seemed much less intense than some of the other workout days… which led me to the most current rotation:

Day 1: Legs/Abs
Day 2: Chest
Day 3: Biceps/Triceps/Abs
Day 4: Back
…with the same cardio plan as before.

Two days into it, it seems like I’m taking the right path.  After finishing an insane chest day, I have a feeling I’ll finally start making the gains I’ve been looking for.  We’ll see what happens, though!
That’s about all from here… just felt like getting this up here before my memory started erasing those older cycles.  As always, input and/or suggestions are greatly appreciated.  Happy workouts, everyone!

I’ve started trying to weigh myself and take body measurements after each workout, but I’m noticing that it’s not very accurate.. so for those who might see this, I have a few questions.

In your opinion(s):

1) When is the best time to weigh yourself, and why?  Best time to take body measurements, and why?
2) What is the best way to measure body fat %?  I’ve been thinking about buying a scale with the electronic readings.. not sure if this would be worth the money or not though.

3) Is there an easy way to take measurements of your chest/shoulders/neck by yourself?  I’ve had quite an interesting couple of experiences trying to measure my shoulders.. got the tape all misaligned, twisted up, etc etc.  Fun times.

I was originally going to post this in the forums, but I didn’t exactly see any board that this would have fit under. :\

Thanks in advance!

Spent most of today gauging my foot intake JUST right, water intake included.. got plenty of sleep last night, too.  Two hours before my gym closed (they’re only open for 8 hours on Sundays), I have my pre-workout ‘meal’ and supps, then get dressed, stretched, and prepped to head over.  Everything was just about perfect.  Then I head out to my car, attempt to start it up…

Nothing.  Battery was dead.

No clue what happened, but it had gotten to the point where all sorts of funky indicator lights were popping on, and the doors were even refusing to automatically lock/unlock.  I still don’t exactly know what caused it, since I never turn any of my interior lights on, and my headlights automatically shut off when the car is off and a door opens.

After half an hour of messing with it, I called up a friend and managed to have him come give me a jump.. and in no time, it was working with no problem.  I look at the clock — 5:48pm.  12 minutes before the gym closes.

…and then, depression set in.  I retreated back to my apartment, a sad and defeated man.  I contemplated doing some pullups and body-weight workouts, but considering yesterday was back/chest day, it would have interfered with the recovery process.  So unfortunately, today’s arms day has been entirely wasted.

Mental note - invest in some barbells for home use on days where the car desides to be stubborn.

I think I’ve finally gotten a hang of this whole Bodyspace thing.  My only challenge is going to be getting on the scale and taking body measurements on a regular basis.  I’m not scared of seeing the numbers or anything, I’m just never really in a mindset to record them.  I don’t own a scale (though I’ve thought about picking one up), so the only place I can do that would be at the gym.. and usually I’m either too concentrated on getting in there and tearing it up in the beginning, or getting out of there and getting a shower and protein shake in at the end.
If anyone has any recommendations for a good at-home scale that would be worth buying, please let me know!

I’m also starting to get used to using the speed rope for cardio.  My calves no longer feel like exploding, and I’ve been averaging between 50-150 rotations per set.  Still nowhere near my goal of 15min straight, but I’m slowly progressing.  Again, for anyone looking for some good cardio… I would DEFINITELY recommend doing this.  It takes a lot of patience to get used to in the beginning, but the feeling is completely worth the effort.

Unfortunately, today’s chest/back day wasn’t quite as good as it has been in the past.. but I had to take it a bit easier than normal, due to straining my shoulder a bit about a week ago.  I noticed that, due to having a bigger frame, it’s a bit harder for my back to rest completely even on the benches for doing dumbbell presses - usually one shoulder will hang off the edge more than the other.  Thankfully it’s getting a bit better, and I was hardly feeling any pain at all - hoory for quick-healing minor strains!

On a good note, I expect to be using this blog a lot more.  Only two or three friends of mine are serious about fitness and spending time at the gym, and due to conflicting schedules, I’m pretty much left to workout-talk with people who hit the weights once every 4-5 months and order pizza and buckets of beer multiple times per week… and I’m sure some of you can see how well that goes over.  They think I’m as crazy for all this as I think they are for all that!

Oh, and on another good note, I finally finished off my Nano Vapor.  I can’t say I’ve ever been happier to be rid of a supplement before.  It was… alright, for the most part.. but my stomach just couldn’t handle much of it at all, so I was left to take the minimum servings the entire time, or my gym session would basically be a waste due to severe indigestion.  Back to NO-xplode this week.

Time to wrap this up… now I’m just babbling.  Hope you all have a great weekend, and happy workouts!  For those celebrating St. Patty’s Day, don’t drink too much!

Now I feel a bit like an idiot… after attempting to change a bunch of things on here (and failing), I finally noticed that I hadn’t even activated my account yet.  *headdesk*

Since that’s all taken care of now, I can actually get this going in full swing.

So um… yeah, not really much going on this week.  I’m switching over to a new pre-workout supplement to test out over the next month or so, just to see what happens.  Other than that, lifting has been about the same.

I’ve decided to change up cardio a bit, though… I talked with a few friends that are big into MMA and training for fights, and they’ve recommended working with a speed rope.  Naturally, I read up on it and saw some great things, so I dropped $10 and picked up my own rope.

Day 1 - Self mutilation via speed rope… I had completely forgotten any jump rope coordination I once had from childhood, so I ended up stumbling around for 15 minutes, double-jumping and waving my wrists in circles to try and get the thing to do what I wanted.

Day 2 - Finally broke away from the double jump and was able to figure out the coordination for full-speed jumping.  I only managed to get up to about 36 rotations at a time though.. I’d do as many as possible (between 10 and 30ish), break for a few seconds, then get going again.  For the next couple days, my calves were KILLING me

Day 3 (last night) - Getting back into full speed jumping wasn’t hard at all, and this time coordination came much quicker.  I’m currently just trying to last as long as possible before either tiring out or tripping up.  Made it to 107 rotations, and afterward my calves were (once again) on fire.  The websites and recommendations were definitely right though… 15 minutes was amazing cardio.  Can’t wait to get up to the point where I can go for 15-30min straight, no breaks.

So far I’ve been on the strict diet/lifting program for just over two months, and I’m confident enough to start seriously tracking my progress.  Over the next few days I hope to upload more stats, pictures, and set my specific goals so motivation will stay high and progress will continue.