In Hell without a snowball.

Arms again tonight, Yaaaayyy, biceps are still my favorite bodypart. I do not know why but I no longer like to do chest exercises. The chest is my second favorite bodypart (of course I am a guy), but I hate to do chest exercises. Maybe because it seems so much harder to do them versus other body parts. I have no problems with my back or legs, I just do not look forward to chest day. Hmmm, maybe it is some weird neroses that I have gained. I do not know where from. Well, it is almost time to hit the gym. Voices, i will talk to you later.

Well, since I received very few responses to my last blog, I will just keep on the same path I have been on. I do feel the need to gain a workout partner. I have not had to worry about not going to the gym because every time I think, maybe I won’t go today, I force myself to go. I have been more motivated to work out than I have ever been in my life. I am loving it! But, I would like to move back from DB to Barbell for chest. I do not feel comfortable doing these alone, because I can’t really push myself as much as I would like. I do enjoy the fact that not having a workout partner I can go to the gym any time I feel like it. With a workout partner I can ensure I have great form and also have him/her push me to do even more. Enough for now, I will just have to change the time I workout to make it a more regular schedule.

I have been losing weight and gaining in the gym which is a double plus. As much cardio as I am doing plus the weight training and watching what I eat so far has been working for me. I know there will come a time when something will have to give. I will either start to gain weight due to my calorie intake or I will stop making gains in the gym due to my low calorie intake. So far it has not hurt me (in the effect that I am still making gains and losing weight) too much. I do not doubt that I would be making more gains if I upped my caloric intake and added more protein, but I am happy with how things are going so far.

   I did shoulders last night and it kicked my butt! I am thinking about changing my strategy on weight lifting. My problem is that I enjoy being in the gym. I actually feel really good working out. I know it is coming from having a goal and knowing that I am working my hardest to meet that goal.  I start out with 15 minutes of cardio to get my body warmed up and after this, I have been taking 1 minute between sets and 2 minutes between exercises. I think I need to give myself more time to recover between sets and exercises. It bums me out to be done with weight lifting in 45 minutes. I know this is actually good for a beginner and that as I progress I will be adding more exercises and more sets. I guess I am no good in the patience department. It will come in time.

I am going to keep the calories low until my bodyfat drops. I do not know my current BF. I bought a caliper, but I am not doing it right. I have read alot of information on them, but when I use them it tells me I am at 34%; this cannot be right. I can believe somewhere between 20 - 24%, but not 34%. I am 5′6" and weigh 162. I have always been somewhat active being in the Army, but lately I do have a desk job. Hmmm, I will keep using the Army way of measuring BF and go from there.

   Week 2: I was trying to workout 6 days a week, but my body had other plans. I felt dead all weekend. I believe it was my body’s way of saying, let’s work on this slowly, okay? I am going with 5 days a week for now and see how this works. I have also added 5g Glutamine in every protein shake or NO I take.

   I am still fine tuning the diet which is okay for me. Every time I try to make a drastic change it will backfire on me, but gradual changes seem to go okay. I need to work on getting sleep and finding time to cook all the chicken I will be eating. I think that I will have to buy a second freezer. I am having a hard time fitting all of the meat and vegetables in my freezer to last me 2 weeks. I thought about going to canned veggies, but they usually contain too much sodium. I still take my protein bars fro snacks which work well, but I should make it another meal type and save my bars for an occasional snack. So far a good beginning to week 2.

At least it is the good kind of pain. I have worked out the last 4 days straight and the only part of my body that is not in pain is my chest; that will be hurting after tonight. I had a good leg workout Tuesday (translation: I am barely walking) and a great back workout last night. The only problem was my grip cannot keep up with my back muscles. I need to get lifting straps so that I can push my back muscles harder. Other than that I am loving the burn.

I had another great day in the gym. This time I had NO in my bloodstream when I entered the gym and damn I could feel the difference. I also gained in every exercise from when I last worked out. I was scared of losing on everything, but I guess the break (stress relief) really helped. I am going full steam (with a sanity check) and working out 6 days a week. I am trying for an hour of weights, with 1 minute between sets, and 45 minutes of cardio (15m warm up and 30 m after weights). I will take progress pics and measurements 2 weeks from now to see how my workouts are going. Wish me luck!

   Well almost. I had some personal issues with friends come to a head and basically told one of them that I did not need friends like him. It was a messy ending to a good friendship but sometimes you need to take a stand in what you believe in. It was very stressful and afterwards I knew that I had to hit the gym.

   It was unbelieveable! I had not lifted for over 3 weeks (read previous blogs) but it felt like I was entering the gym after only having a few days off. I gained in every exercise and I did all of this with NO Caffeine, Creatine, or NO! I felt the difference after the first few sets but I lifted more in Bicep Preacher Curls than I ever have! I was amazed. I am still a little ways off from my Bench max, but Biceps are my favorite muscle group and I was surprised. After I was done for the night I was flying high and it added to the determination I have to keep working out.

     I took the following few paragraphs from an article I found on Comcast, on health and science, labeled: "Eating Less Meat May Slow Climate Change" 

   Eating less red meat would also improve health in general. Powles and his co-authors estimate that reducing meat consumption would reduce the numbers of people with heart disease and cancer. One study has estimated that the risk of colorectal cancer drops by about a third for every 100 grams of red meat that is cut out of your diet.

"As a society, we are overconsuming protein," Brewster said. "If we ate less red meat, it would also help stop the obesity epidemic."

Experts said that it would probably take decades to wane the public off of its meat-eating tendency. "We need to better understand the implications of our diet," said Dr. Maria Neira, director of director of the World Health Organization’s department of public health and the environment.

Since I am still not able to lift weights I have been doing some "light" cardio which is 60 minutes on the elyptical on the "fat burning" setting. Keeping my heart rate low and kept it up for 60 minutes last night. The only difficult part of working out was seeing all of the weights just sitting there calling out my name; it was a temptation. I made some "protein waffles" this morning that tasted very good, but they were very dry! I think I ended up drinking two large cups of water to get them down. I will need to adjust the recipe and see what happens. Any ideas?

   I am hitting the gym tonight for some light cardio. I have not worked out all weekend due to a systems upgrade that didn’t go as smoothely as possible. Everything is good, but I ended up working all weekend and I was mentally fried by the end of the day. i know I still should have went to the gym, but I needed a little R & R. I will update as possible throughout the week.

   The good news is still good though, nothing on the test so far. I am tempted to have my doctor perform a blood test just to give me the 100% good sign. I have not had a physical done in like 6 years so I am contemplating it. Enough for now, I have to get back to work.