Todd’s BodyBlog

Wow, I don’t know about all of you but it sure is a chore to get all the protein in that I need per day.  I am only shooting for 195g but still, that is a constant feeding of protein shakes, eggs, turkey meat, chicken, beef and what else?  Dunno.  It feels like I am eating all the time.  I guess it is working though because I am steadily gaining weight every week and by my calculations have only gained about 0.6% bodyfat since Oct 22.  Sure, some of the 11 pounds gained is water from the creatine (about 3 pounds) but that means that in 3 months I have gained around 7 pounds of actual lean muscle.  Yee haw!

A couple funny stories from the past week:

I noticed a trio of age 16-something girls enter the gym and stand awkwardly around the dumbbell rack.  They nervously pulled some weights from the rack and started moving them around.  It looked kinda funny as they were so NOOB but you know what, everyone starts somewhere so good for them for having the guts to even start somewhere.  It turns out one of them seemed to know a few exercises and showed the other two how to do Incline Rear Delt Laterals.  I was only half noticing this stuff while I took my 3 minute rests between heavy lifts.  Then I sensed some disturbance amongst the trio - two of the girls told the other that when she lay on the bench you could see down her top (from what I could make with bodylanguage)!  LOL, so she lay on the bench to see for herself and lo and behold you could see some cleavage.  The funny thing was 90% of the girls that workout there show some amount of cleavage, no big deal, it’s just part of working out IMHO, but these girls were really concerned by it.  It was cute.

Then, a few minutes later, I heard a male voice speak up and say "Uhh, you are doing that the wrong way" and there was cleavage-girl with her legs all twisted spaghetti-like through the leg curl machine, trying to use it like a leg extension.  They were so embarassed, even though no one around them paid any attention.  They left shortly thereafter

DOMS in the legs as I type from yesterdays session   Doesn’t that feel great?  Anyhow, I am in the middle of a M&F routine and unfortunately my gym doesn’t have a Hack Squat machine so I start with Leg Press, do Front Squat (Smith) and then I go back to the Leg Press and place my feet very high on the platform to try and simulate a Hack Squat.  Is that reasonable?

This month I am only called upon to do 3 leg exercises.  The cool thing is that even though it is only 3 exercises (total of 15 sets and 180 reps) I am pushing so hard that I still get DOMS.  Strength continues to increase every single workout, now 7 weeks in.  What a great feeling.

I am eating like a pig, about 3200 cals on training days.  On non-training days I eat a few hundred less, but still careful to get my 1g protein/lb in.  I was reading in this month’s M&F that they recommend 2g/protein/lb while mass gaining.  That sure sounds excessive to me…thoughts?

I am halfway through Month 2 of a "Get 25% Stronger" routine set forth in the Dec ‘08 Muscle & Fitness and I have to say I am VERY impressed.  All sets are low reps (5) per set with 2-3 minutes rest.  My body has EXPLODED with growth since I started 6 weeks ago, to the point that one of my friends asked me if I was taking steroids.  Wow.

Month 1’s "trick" was to finish each exercise with a set of one-sided exercises since research has shown greater results by focussing some attention on one limb at a time.

Month 2’s trick is to finish each exercise with a high-rep set of 30.  Apparently research has shown a 5% greater increase in strength by mixing in high rep sets with low rep sets.  Whatever, those 30 rep sets burn so good

TTYL

I just want to give a shout out to all you beautiful ladies who take part in the blogging!  Most of your stories are facinating and incredibly motivational.  I am also unashamed to admit that I derive great pleasure in seeing such gorgeous bodies in the galleries.  Aside from my natural attraction I remind myself that your athletic figures are created by years of consistent training and disciplined eating, all of which are in our control.

Did a Back/Tri workout today (was supposed to be Back/Bi…long story).

Here are a few observations:

1) I have a hate-hate relationship with pullups.  I think the major dissatisfier is related to the fact that I have gained 20 pounds since the summer and my pullup strength has not kept pace, thus making them VERY HARD   Yet another good motivator to trim down for the summer.

2) I rarely get a good pump/feel in the muscle after the first exercise.  It doesn’t matter what it is, bench press, bicep curls, bent-over rows…although working very hard after the first 4 sets it doesn’t feel like I have really stressed the muscle.  Truth is, I probably haven’t.  Terribly self-evident isn"t it?

3) Doing weighted bench tricep dips by yourself is HARD - the plates also make gross indents in my knees.  Overall, a very uncomfortable exercise to do by oneself as you have to get the weight on your lap, extend across the far bench and get back again.  Even harder still, decline dumbell presses with very heavy dumbells.  I have ripped so much hair off my legs wrestling 80 pound bad boys onto my lap…arg.

Otherwise, the workout went well.  I was quite tired this morning for some reason and wondered where my energy for the workout would come but it came from somewhere.

I am so addicted to this website!  I have received such inspiration and motivation from private messages and reading other people’s blogs.  I love it!  Thank you all for being so positive.  I am telling everyone I know about this site.

p.s. did you know a recent study found that "nut eaters" have less bodyfat than "non nut-eaters"?  They speculate that even though nuts are calorically dense that the fat content provides satiety (feeling of being full) which helps people eat less during the day.  Cool.

I am very happy to report that after an 11 days rest (6 unplanned days due to sickness) my Chest/Shoulder/Bi workout went off spectacularly!  All of my weights were up.  I powered through a 2.5 hour workout and felt great throughout.  Phew, I am so glad to be active again.  Thanks to all "fellow sickies" who expressed their condolences and support

One embarassing note:  I don’t know how many of you have ever done this (and perhaps you can ease my mind by telling me it is OK) but I was so psyched about my workout and the pump I was getting that I actually started posing in front of the bathroom mirror during one of my breaks and got "caught" by a guy who walked in.  I immediately felt like I was doing something wrong.  Was I?  Anyways, I felt sheepish

I am going back into the gym after having been sick for a week.  Funny, "one week" doesn’t sound very long but it sure feels long.  I have a hopeful feeling that my strength will not have decreased but even increased since my last workout 10 days ago.  I know this is possible because it happened the last time I had to take an extended break in my schedule (although it was not due to sickness).  I guess we’ll see…and I will share with you all

Chest/Shoulders/Tris - here I come!

I have now been sick 5 days.  This morning was the first morning that I felt I had energy and hope.  In the shower it actually felt good to stretch.  No more throat pain but this slight cough is continuing and my ears are still a bit plugged.  I could probably hit the gym today but I will wait at least one more day - my workouts these days are killer and I don’t want to suffer a health setback if my immune system is already working hard.

 Good news: I am only down one pound in 5 days, which is well within my normal daily fluctuation so it would seem my eating and supplementing has been appropriate.  Yay!