Thursday February 25, 2010

Today I trained Chest and Abs. I felt great training today! I am still not back to my peak strength level, but I felt good. I did 225lbs on the flat bench for 7 and 100lbs on the incline dumbbells for 5! This was the first time I did bench with dumbbells in a long time. The arm strap has helped a lot in allowing me to do normal movements again. I hope to keep seeing gains like this in the upcoming weeks!

Here is my log today, I did eat more!

February 24, 2010

I did cardio today, no weight training as planned. However, my cardio was with the Wii Fit. I did the "free run" and I was able to get my pulse up to 150bpm and sweat a pretty good amount. I did a total of 28 mins of cardio. It wasn't as effective as running outside but I definitely burnt some calories. When the weather is better, I will plan to get outside. However, I was able to get my body moving enough to keep my heart rate up with the Wii run so I may do that again as a last resort.

Here is my log:

February 23, 2010

Today I stayed on track with my plan! It always feels better to follow your plan than to make excuses for why you can't do everything you hope to in a day. It also helps to boost confidence.

I trained quads today. I noticed that my strength is not anywhere near what it used to be. I hope that the creatine this week and regular training will help to bring my strength back up to close to the peak level.
I only did 450lbs about 300lbs less than what I could do before on the leg press and 80lbs on the lunges that is about 30lbs less than my max.

I will continue to stay steady this week and hopefully next week my strength will be higher.

Here is my log for today:

Reality Check!!

It's a little over 12 weeks until the competition in Oxford, Mass on May 22. I came to the conclusion that I have been not doing nearly enough to get the job done. I have been making way too many excuses. I know my back and arm has beeen causing me pain, but I really haven't worked hard enough to find work-arounds. It has become more of an excuse than an actual issue.

Today, I had my bodyfat % checked and I found out I am up to 10.5% bodyfat! This is the highest I have been in 2 years! To add fuel to the fire, my weight is down to 210! So, I weigh less and I am fatter! Wow, what a wakeup call! Here is what I look like at that bodyfat percentage (the messy room in the back is symbolic of how I have let myself go):

Of course, I shouldn't be surprised at all this. It's very obvious why the changes I was hoping to make never came about. I only did about 1, maybe 2 cardio sessions each week (which leads to the bodyfat increase) and my weight training has been quite sporadic. I have been taking 2, sometimes 3 days in a row off after I did back exercises because I thought it would help in healing my forearm and lower back. I can easily see how people who get an injury fall off the wagon! In addition to that, I have been using the excuse that I am "trying to gain weight" to eat practically whatever I want! Since the scale really hasn't been moving for me, I have been giving myself the freedom to eat until my heart's content. Not a good habit to get into! As you can tell, even though the scale may not change, the bodyfat sure does!

So, here is my plan for the next couple of weeks. Since I haven't made the strength gains I was hoping to before I started the cutting phase, I will try about 2 weeks of more VERY regular strength and 3 days of cardio with calories around 4500 and loading with creatine.

This is my schedule:
1 bodypart workouts:
Quads
Arms
Hams
Shoulders
Chest
Back
(rotating abs with calves)

I plan to do 5 weight training sessions each week, with Wednesdays off and doing cardio only.

This plan should help boost my strength a bit and then after 2 weeks, I will start to increase the cardio. These are my plans from now until showtime May 22.

10 weeks out: 5 days weight train (1 bodypart), 6 days cardio (30 mins), 4500 calories (300-350g protein)
8weeks out: 5 days weight train (2 bodyparts), 6 days cardio (3 days double sessions) 4000 calories (300g)
6 weeks out: 6 weight train days (2 bodyparts), 6 days double session cardio, 4000 calories (300g)
4 weeks out: 6 wts, 6 day doubles, 3500 calories (275g)
3 weeks out: 6 wts, 6 day doubles, 3000 calories (250g)
2 weeks out: 6 wts, 6 day doubles, 2500 calories (250g)
1 week out: 6 wts, 6 day doubles, 2000 calories (250g)

This plan should bring my weight down at least 15lbs of bodyfat while hopefully sustaining, if not increasing some lean muscle.  If it doesn't, I will simply modify the cardio or calories so that I bring my bodyfat percentage to less than or equal to 5%.

So, today I trained arms and did weighted abs. I had a quick workout because I only gave myself 1 hour to get everything done. It's amazing how little things tend to steal your workout time! I need to make a more concerted effort to give myself at least 2 hours to do strength, cardio and stretching. So, with my 1 hour I quickly did some tris, bis and abs and 20 mins of cardio! It was effective but I could have done more.

Here is my log for today:

February 18, 2010

Today was the first day back to normal food and exercise after getting the stomach flu on Tuesday. That wasn't fun! I'm glad the 24 hour bug is just for 24 hours! It's also amazing how good food tastes after not eating much of anything for 24 hours!

I trained chest today and did decline bench w/ 250lbs for 4 reps. I was pretty surprised considering I've been sick and I am down 3lbs! I think some of that may be attributed to the creatine I took on Monday and a little on Tuesday. I'll try to get back on a regular schedule with it next week.

Here is my log for today:

February 15, 2010

So today I called my doctor about a referral to a physical therapist about my back and my right forearm. I should hear back tomorrow about what I need to do. I am glad to finally see what I need to do to take care of all this. It's been so frustrating trying to make progress and have to take 3 steps back every time I try to take 1 step forward.

Until I know exactly what I need to do based on what my doctor or PT recommends, I figured it's best that I try to work as hard I can until I know what my prognosis is. So, I started back on creatine today. It's amazing how much more hungry I get when I start taking it again. I plan to take at least 20g of creatine for the next week, maybe even more. It really helps with workout stamina. I felt quite energized today during my workout.

Today I trained quads and did a lot of ball squats. I did 30 ball squats with 75lbs dumbbells. I tried to do lunges afterward, but I felt my legs were so tight that it almost felt like I was tearing my quad muscle while I did the lunges. So, I backed off and did cardio. Hopefully tomorrow I can get a more thorough workout in.

I weighed 212lbs this morning. I hope to see this number jump up again especially now that I am back on the creatine. Here is my log for today:

February 11, 2010

Today was a real off day. I did a chest workout and felt very weak and tired. I really feel like I have hit a wall with my workouts and training in general. When I do train hard, I usually end up with a very tight low back or a hurting forearm the next day. If I don't train hard, I get lazy and run down. I'm starting to feel like my body is falling apart and I'm in a catch 22. It may be time for me to see my doctor about my back and forearm. I've been holding off to see if it may recover on its own, but it doesn't seem to be doing any better.

I have often had aches and pains in the past which have all surprisngly gone away even with training. These issues may eventually go away as well. However, with my forearm being one of the main problems, it's getting hard just to lift up a weight. I'm thinking I may need physical therapy. I'm going to give my doctor a call and see what he recommends.

Here is my log for today, it's not pretty:

February 10, 2010

Today all I did was cardio for 30 mins and some stretching. This is what I've been needing for awhile. I still haven't been getting in as much stretching as I would like.

Yesterday, I missed my workout because my older son was sick. He caught some kind of stomach bug on Monday night and I had a mess to clean up Tuesday morning. Lot's of fun!

My weight this morning is down to 212. I know I haven't been eating as much I need to. Here is my log for today:

February 8, 2010

Today I trained Quads and Traps and Abs. I did 110lb ball squats for 8 reps and 32k lunges on the human sport machine for 8 reps. I also did 225leg extensions for 7 reps. I also trained traps and abs.

I felt stronger today than I have in awhile. However, my right forearm and lower back really felt tight today. Unfortunately, I didn't take the time today to stretch afterwards. I also didn't do any extra cardio. At this point with my schedule, I need to determine if I want to focus on stretching, cardio or weight training only. I am not able to schedule all 3 at once right now. I may be able to squeeze 30 mins cardio and 15-20 mins stretching but not much more than that.

I have been trying to put some ice on my forearm (when I can remember it) at home. Other than that, that's all I know to do sense stretching my forearm doesn't really help that much. If this continues to persist for much longer I think I may look into physical therapy.

Here is my log for today:

February 4, 2010

Today I trained Back. I was very cautious about how I did the rowing exercises. I didn't want to aggravate my right forearm any more than it already is. I used the cables with the new Human Sport equipment. I kept an underhand grip for all my exercises to avoid aggravating the muscles. I think it really helped.

Here is my log:

February 3, 2010

Today I trained hamstrings. I did the glute/ham machine, single leg curls and lying ham curls. I also trained calves.

The highlights were the glute/ham w/ 25lbs for 12 reps and lying leg curl w/ 160lbs for 6 reps. It was a pretty quick workout and not that exciting.

Here is my log for today:

February 2, 2010

Today, I decided to change up my workout plan. I plan to follow a 1 bodypart rotation for now. I will train each of these bodyparts on their own individual day: Quads, Chest, Hams, Shoulders, Back, Arms.  I don't plan to workout 6 days/wk, maybe 4-5 so that means I won't get to everything each week. That's fine, but I plan to continue where I left off. The extra rest time between bodyparts may be helpful for recovery. Also, I plan to do 4 days of cardio each week. The more cardio, the more I will want to eat and help push the higher calorie limits that help to pack on muscle.

I did chest today. I did decline bench w/ 245lbs for 7 reps and the hammer press chest machine w/ 230lbs for 7 reps. I also trained abs. These weights are pretty close to my all time high, so my strength level is pretty close to peak on chest.

Here is my log for today:

February 1, 2010

Today I trained Quads. I really didn't feel like I had that much energy today. I only did 3 exercises: ball squats, lunges and leg extensions. My weights were about 10-20% less than what I normally do.

I did ball squats with 100lbs for 15 reps and 50lb lunges around the track once. I did leg extensions with 180lbs for 8reps. I really felt tired and winded. What I really noticed was that I needed to do more cardio. I only had 1 cardio session last week. So, I decided to do 25mins on the spin bike when I had a client cancellation. The cardio really helped me feel a lot better!

My weight this morning was back to 212lb! I am getting pretty frustrated. However, I did stop all creatine about a week and a half ago. I know that is playing a big role in not keeping the weight up. This may also be a big reason for why I was having a hard time today. I also tend not to eat as much on the weekends as I do during the week. It is literally a chore for me to eat as much as I do! If I am not keeping track of it, I won't eat as much.

I think it's time for a change in weight training/cardio planning. I think I might need more cardio and a little more consistency with weight training. The more often I do cardio, I think the more I will be able to eat and potentially build more muscle and increase my recovery time. I know when I am not doing it, I have a hard time recovering from my weight training sessions and I am really not that hungry. I will need to do some gameplanning...

Here is my log for today: