vandukester’s BodyBlog

Due to some ill fated incident today I had to rearrange my schedule, which wound up in my going to my nearby cafeteria in some free time I had to do the following damage: 

1 twix package + 1 snickers (before lunch)

lunch + a big butter based cookie

And after coming back from work I had the pleasure of dining with some of my friends and wound up eating a nice pasta dish, which doesn’t have to be considered calorie packed.  The trouble with my night meal is that it included when I returned home a nice surprise of assorted sweet goods made from the local bakery that my brother left for me to eat (conniving ripped bastard that he is). So let’s add to the equation:

assorted pastries…

I’m not going to be negative about the whole thing because I know that I need the sugar in my system (or maybe not as much before a workout), and I don’t eat that much when I’m not working out (which is why I’ve been leaner lately), but today I just HAD to do it.  I swear, I hear the chocolate bars talking to me man! It’s like their on to something!!!

On a healthy note:  I brushed my teeth afterwards!

I decided this week to measure my bodyfat percentage on saturday morning (today) just to monitor my progress, and since the only place I can measure my bodyfat % is there, I didn’t hesitate to visit the physician that was on shift this morning before I started my workout.  The results came in: 13.1% bodyfat… "Not bad, since my last check up I have gone down 0.3%…" I said to myself, while walking away from the tiny office.  After that nice workout this morning (worked back, biceps and 30 minutes of cardio) I rushed to my computer to update my stats on my bodyspace chart, when I come to realize that I have not had any change in that parameter. "WTF?!" I thought, then I remembered that it’s better that I stay a 13.1% than to gain some more pounds.  But I ain’t stopping until I hit my 6% goal.  Eventually I’ll have to consider using fat burners, but I’m going to check how I do without them first.  Too much caffeine leads to me not sleeping before 10pm which is vital for me to get a good rest (8 hours always good) and that always helps when I want to increase the amounts of weights I use.  That’s something I am trying to do; my bench press weight max at the moment is 110pounds, watching my form.  I like the challenge of increasing the weight. To me that’s the essence of weight training:  You go, do a set you feel comfortable with and THEN you increase the weight until the veins pop out around your neck… heheh!

w00-h00???

I went out to try some pants yesterday to replace some office pants.  I’m at the store and I try out my usual 32 waist pants and, to my surprise, they were loose.  And by loose I mean I could stick my hand between the pant and waist and I would be able to make some space between the whole circumference of my body.  I’m not popping the champagne bottle open yet, until I get my body fat % checked no impressions I get from loose pants will be official; however, it does make me wonder if it was all fat that I lost.

I started to take a post work-out "shake" yesterday (details on profile).  First time taking post-work supplement.  I used to drink casein and whey protein before, and frankly this is a whole other thing.  The one thing that stood out the most is that is not based on milk (like whey and i think casein), then after that the 2 scoops + 20 oz of water formula (recommended on the packages label) resulted in a gooey dark jelly reminiscent of something found on Metroid Prime Echoes. That last part made me laugh for about 15 minutes straight after I saw it ready.  It did do what it was suppossed to, so I can keep chugging down the dark matter. But next time, I’ll go for one scoop not 2. 

I realized today how much I wanted to feel just a tiny pump.  I’ve moved since sunday of last week from a 5 day routine to a 4 day routine for weight training (still the same 3 day cardio quota per week).  It didn’t occur to me that I would want to lift to make up for that 5th day.  The current routine is shorter, meant to be effective w/out over training.  The previous one, was not as organized and I didn’t keep track of how much I lifted on the last rep.  Add to this the anxiety I’m feeling right now about not going over 13% body fat. It’s weird, I did all three 30 minute cardio sessions at interval courses…  Maybe I need to chill… Yeah! That’s it! I’ll chill…

 Yep, my first time posting twice within the same day… 

 VanDukester

It’s been 20+ days since my last post here.  This week I met my cardio and weight quota.  Although I don’t see any progress, it is the first week that I successfully meet both my aerobic and weight lifting training requirements. 

I wanted to post today also because it’s the first anniversary of the death of a good friend of mine that I met in the gym.  She was a trainer there and was the first person to ever notice (even before me) how much heart I put into each workout.  No judging of whether I was too bulky or too thin, just that one thing that you need to hear sometimes, but hate to admit you want to: that you’re doing good.  Besides this, she made me feel pretty much like I was part of something more than anyone else I’ve met in my life, and the funny thing is that I only knew her for 2 years.

I’m proud to say I met her, and also that every step I take in my fitness goals I have her in my heart.  Pauline may you rest in peace.

Cheers,

Vandukester

W00-H00!!! So I’m back to my lowest point in body fat percentage in my fitness history: lucky number 13%!!!!  I’ve never been this excited about mediocrity since I heard Ashley Simpson singing!  Now, I’m not thinking of going back up in that percentage, since that is more than twice my body fat percentage goal; however, I’m taking the time here to log this in the blog since it means that I’m almost half way there.  I don’t want my head patted yet, I’m still going to do more work.  I want and have to get more disciplined and keep the 3 times a week interval cardio quota i established (right now for instance I’ve been doing 2 out of three, so discipline would help me get where I want faster).

My point (and motivation) is that if people that have more hectic schedules than mine can achieve it, then so can I and the rest of the people that really want to be leaner, bigger, or whatever.  Hell, even if people that have it easier than me can do it, that shouldn’t stop me!  I want this, and that’s it.

Regards

Vandukester

For those of you who’ve continued reading my posts thanks for taking the time to read it, and thank you even more for leaving comments.  The new ones, basically my main issue since day one has been to shed the fat.  I have no problem gaining muscle mass (call it Murphy’s law applied to physical fitness) but I pack fat around the mid-section without making an effort.  I started getting a better view of the things I do and have fine tuned a couple of things:

- Late night meals, as of 3 weeks ago not happening more than twice a week (before I used to eat out most of the time).  This helps me control what I eat.

- Cardio, before I left out cardio because of time restraints, now my goal is to complete three 30 minute sessions of interval training.

- Abdominal muscle group: by the end of may I started doing an ab routine, this I apply 2 or 3 sessions per week.

So that’s basically what I wanted to do and I have, now I keep on this track and add other things later, but to avoid any "jinxing" I’ll report and not forecast the results. 

In other news, I’ll hopefully be posting pics of my progress soon (or at least of how I look now).

I decided to stop swimming since I couldn’t make it to the lessons in time.  Just going to the gym and implementing 30 minutes of interval training plus a 3-day-a-week ab attack should help me lean down that mid section.  The fact that someone called me santa claus didn’t strike me as flattering, nor the "dude, what the hell with the belly?" comments;  I kinda lost track of the main reason for me to start working out: get a six pack.

What can I say? I like being stronger and buffer, but not fatter.

I couldn’t step into the gym this week, I guess I’ll run later and use the dumbells I have at home.  No swimming either.  A wasted week.