unimoose’s BodyBlog

I started working out earlier this month.  I started simple with a decent beginner workout.  After 2 weeks I moved to a more advanced workout which I mentioned in my last blog.  That lasted for about a week.  Tell you the truth it kicked my butt!  So I backed down for a couple days and added some of the exercises to my old workout.  The thing is when I left the gym I didn’t feel as if I got the most out of my time.  I tried it for a week tweaking and tuning stuff here and there but only felt like I was working parts and missing a lot in between.  So I went back to the advance work out, one major muscle group a day from every angle.  When I do legs my legs are exhausted, arms, shoulders, chest are completely spent on the way back to my room.  I feel like I accomplished something with my time.  For a majority of the first month I looked forward to Friday.  Friday is my off day.  I wake up at 4:30am to work out and on Friday I get to sleep in.  Tomorrow is hamstrings and I’m looking forward to it but not as much as Thursday.

Thursday brings me to my other first.  One of my reasons for wanting to workout is my upper arms are pretty small.  I work with a lot of big (muscular) guys so I actually feel a bit self conscious if my short sleeve shirt doesn’t cover my upper arm.  The other day I looked in the mirror while I was brushing my teeth and noticed something.  I’m getting arms.  I would have to say my bicep area has increased almost X2 and my triceps just as much.  It’s nothing to really make me impressive but it’s a big step and a change I can see.  Thursday is arm day and I can’t wait to work them out again.  Seeing results is the biggest motivator.  It’s pretty exciting.  I don’t get the muscle "burn" that most people do but man is it hard to move those muscles that I’ve worked.  Today was shoulders and when I walked out of the gym lifting my arms took a considerable amount of effort.  My last exercise was one arm cable laterals and for the final set I needed to use one arm to help the other start the movement.  I’m looking forward to going home the end of next month.  The wife only sees me on the webcam and while she knows I’ve been working out she has no idea how my appearance has changed.  I’m excited about it.  For the very first time in my life I’m actually looking forward to going to the gym and my physique!

This is pretty big for me.  When I was growing up I had acne very badly.  Even at 40 I have a continuing issue with it and my back and butt are covered with the scars.  Add to that fact that when I was 18 I was 6′4" tall and weighed 160lbs.  I was bone thin.  I didn’t really put on any weight until my 20’s but even at 195 (Sophomore year of college) or 220 (graduation weight) I was never really in great shape.  I’ve never really been happy with my body’s appearance so I ignored doing anything about it.  It was just easier to do.  So this is a pretty big step for me.
Unfortunately I left my camera at home when I flew back from my last leave so I don’t have a decent before picture.  In the one I attached you can see that my arms aren’t really that much to show off.  The only thing I ever really worked to avoid was a beer gut so instead of a spare tire I have a spare inner tube.  A half hour on the treadmill 6 nights a week is helping with that too.  Feeling better on top of it is an even bigger plus.

So I continued on my original workout for 2 weeks and increased the number of sets.  For the first week I felt the soreness I expected but by week 2 it was gone even though I had increased weight as well in most exercises.  This week I changed things again.  I found a decent workout online that targets one major muscle group every day for 6 days.
http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/weighttrainingprinciples/qt/onemusclesplit.htm

Right now I’m trying to fine tune what I’m doing for weights so I can get the most out of each exercise without jeopardizing form.  So far this week I’ve done the chest and back days.  After day 1 I came to the conclusion that my head was far too high for my arms to reach in the shower! LOL  Tomorrow is shoulders, I’m sure by the end of that day I’ll be more then happy to do legs the following day.  I’ve also been using more free weights then cable machines to get more of a work out for the supporting muscles and such.  Thanks for looking, any advice is definitely appreciated!

One of the best pieces of advice I saw on this forum was a person answering a question for a new member.  His suggestion was to start slow and build up instead of trying to change everything all at once.  So for the past 3 weeks I’ve slowly changed what I’m doing.  It started with my diet.  One cup of coffee in the morning, no soda, no fries, and no junk food.  I give myself one day a week to eat something bad for me so I won’t completely crack but it’s been paying off.  The following week I started doing cardio.  I started slow, running at a moderate pace for 1 minute and walking for 4 minutes for a full 20 minutes.  This week I started weights.  Nothing earth shattering but my plan is to work up to working out.  I do 5 exercises, 2 sets each, that work the major muscle groups.

Day 1 is legs.  Squats, leg extensions, leg curls, and calf raises.  Day 2 is the upper body.  Bench press, seated row, curls, tricep push down and shoulder press.  I finish each workout with 2 sets of crunches and take 1 day off a week, which coincides with my off diet day, and use both MuscleTech NaNo Vapor and Optimum 100% Whey Protien.

Add to all of this that I work as a private security contractor in Afghanistan.  My menu is pretty limited but I’m used to working with what I have.   Well, that’s it for now.  Thanks for reading, if anyone reads this…

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