Weeeeee

Alright, so I think I'll only be updating this thing once a week, because let's face it, it's going to be a lot of the same "I ATE GOOD AND WORKED OUT GOOD" and I don't think you'd want to read that every 3 days. So anyway, I ate good and worked out good! But I guess the big news is getting a nice new HDTV! I know it's kinda counter-intuitive for what I am trying to accomplish, but who cares, NEW TV!

Actually, I did have my first actually cheat MEAL. I met up with my mom to get my TV and had a Ruby Tuesday chicken BLT on a pretzel roll. I also got fries, but I had like 2 of them. On the PLUS side, I had water, no soda, which a plus. My lifts are continuously going up which I am stoked for. Unfortunately, there's really not much else going on... I haven't tried out any new food, just stickin with chicken, port and lean lean lean beef for protein.

Til next time!

Yikes!

So Friday marked the "2 week" period for this training. I put it in quotes because it isn't technically 2 weeks. 2 days short of it, but my trainer asked I report to him every other Friday with a food log, and a quick questionnaire. Anyway, for you guys I'd rather not spill my details just yet... but I will leave it like this, I got stronger, lost a small bit of weight, and I think I fucked up my measurements when I did them 2 weeks ago as everything was kinda fubared this week. I trust these measurements since I had help, so they're more accurate, and therefore, probably closer to the truth.

I just came back from a gym session and holy cow, am I getting stronger. Last week, when I did the barbell bench press... I got up 185 for 3 sets of 5 reps. The last set was tough, but I got everything up. So I figured this time I'd be ok to move up to 195 and expect the same results. But what actually happened was that I went through all 3 sets preeeeeety easily. (at 195). That was a little freaky in a way. Now, back when I was lifting regularly, I think my max was 255lbs on the bench, which I got 2 good clean reps on. I guess that's eventually my goal, but right now, getting 2 plates for 3x5 seems reasonable.

I also started doing this thing called "complex" which is very P90Xish. I take a barbell with no weights on it. And in order, do 6 reps of the following, with no break inbetween- Deadlifts, Straight Leg Deadlifts, Bent Over Rows, Hang Cleans, Front Squats, Push Press, Back Squats, Good mornings. And that is ONE set. I did that 3 times! That is one fucking pain in the ass, but I can tell it's going to work. Anyway, that's really it, enjoy the Nice weather today and for those who care.... Ravens, Cowboys, Chargers and Card's this weekend.

First Weekend report

So I am pretty much finished with my first weekend on my new plan and this whole week has been pretty... easy. The only thing that sucked was the pain I was in during the middle of the week in my legs. That was awful. But outside of that... my routines were tough, but doable... as was my diet. I did stray off a little bit on Saturday. I went to the movies and got some popcorn with some butter on it. So the worst thing I had this weekend was about a shot and a half worth of artificial flavoring. I think I did pretty well! I also prepared more food for myself this week then I have in like any 6 month span. I am also domesticating myself, what the shit?

I also overcame another big hurdle in this, as I kinda had to do. To explain this, I need to give a bit of a background, although for most of you reading this, you probably already know the story. Back in August I encountered a little tumble. And by little tumble I mean I fell off a roof. I wasn't drinking or anything, I was helping a friend who was repairing their roof. What ended up happening was that I fractured my L-1 vertebrae which is essentially the middle of the spine. I was out of work for about 3 weeks I believe. My doctor cleared me to lift back at the start of October, but warned me to work myself up to heavy lifting (I've felt really good since about mid Nov which was good timing for this program I am on). One of my big worries was the deadlift. A very important lift, but the main area it hits is the mid/lower back. I didn't do the lift since I went back to the gym since I had some weird feeling I was going to re-break my back. BUT, on the docket today was indeed deadlift. Sooooooo, it was either do or die.

And do I did. It felt really good to have the confidence back in the lift, since like I mentioned before, is really important.

I am also trying to plan my meals out a little better. I am about to cook a boat load of chicken, which will probably last until Wednesday, haha. Hopefully I can do this frequently.

Anyway, I will leave you with one link- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ2-83QBy4I

Ah the weekend!

Alright, so I did manage enough will power to start blog number 2. I start off by answering a question asked in the comments section. Basically why I am on the diet I am on and who gave it to me. Well I kinda took the advice of a trainer that was recommended to me. I answered a survey/questionnaire, explained what I wanted to accomplish and was given what I gave to you. It's not a diet in the sense of giving me step by step instructions on specific meals, but I was given an outline of everything I could and SHOULD eat. The focus on protein is because I am starting to lift heavy. And one of the things I, and most people, under-estimate is protein. So my meals are supposed to focus on protein. Here's what I had today-

Meal 1 - 3 jumbo egg omelet with green peppers and onions and feta cheese. Multi-grain bagel and one scoop of whey protein powder. This was at 6:45am.

At around 9:45am I had a rice cake with 1.5 tablespoons of natural Peanut butter, 2 scoops of whey and 2.5oz baby carrots.

Meal 3 was at 12:50pm and was 1 can of tuna with a teaspoon of olive oil based mayo and 1.5 tablespoons of virgin olive oil (I didn't expect it to be good, but here we are) on romaine lettuce and a... thing of string cheese

Meal 4 was at 3:40 and was 4.7oz of roast beef with cheddar cheese on rye bread and a scoop of whey

I INTERRUPT THIS BORING LIST WITH A DIFFERENT BORING LIST BECAUSE IT WAS HERE I WENT TO THE GYM!

Bench Press 3 sets of 5 reps - I got 185lbs, which is ok. Before my injury I was able to hit 245 lbs on the bench

Incline DB Bench - 4(sets)x8(reps) I did 55lbs, which again, is ok. This my first attempt at lifting with these weights, so I just wanted to get a base. I can probably go heavier next time.

Standing BB Shoulder Press - 3x8 I did 60 lbs, which was harder then I thought. I might have to try the weight again to see if I got it stronger.

Skullcrushers - Yeah, it's a bad-ass sounding lift, isn't it? It's a tricep lift and I had 40 pounds on the bar, which is the smaller, EZ bar. I can probably add a bit more.

Then I finished with weighted decline situps.

BACK TO THE OTHER BORING LIST

6:40pm-ish - 3 scoops of whey protein and a multi-grain bagel

9:20pm - MOTHERFUCKING 96% LEAN BEEF TACOS ON RYE BREAD MOTHERFUCKERS. With lettuce, tomato, onions and cheddar cheese. THAT was awesome.

And water, lots and lots of water. To keep things interesting, I obviously will not be making each post like I did above, but it's just an idea of what I am dealing with. Also, the "diet" I am on is going to last about 2 weeks, then my trainer is going to make a more detailed plan that is probably going to revolve around the same ideas. Please, continue to comment or question if you wiiiiilllllllll

The Intro

I haven't even begun to explore how blogger works, so hopefully you guys can work with me with this upcoming wall of text that you're about to read, with no pictures yet. Sorry!

Anyway, this blog is serving me two fold. I am a really apologetic person, especially to myself. Especially to a fault. I have tried numerous times to become a healthier person on a consistent basis. Where going to the gym and eating healthy is like second nature. The former, I have pretty much accomplished. Going to the gym totally rules! The later though... I have problems eating healthy, on a constant basis at least. I can do ok for a week or two. But then a cheat meal becomes a cheat day which becomes a cheat week which becomes a cheat month and so on and so forth until I get annoyed with myself. That's the problem, I always let myself get to that point. I guess I feel that keeping this log will give me some.... reason to keep on going (I know there's a word for this, I have been trying to think of it ALL day). As if I let you readers down, then at that point I am letting myself down.

But it's weird since I am doing this healthy thing for me, not you.

So here's the deal, I will be posting what I eat and summarize what I do in the gym, hopefully everyday, but I know right off the bat that's gonna be really tough. I have also been asked to give recipes for what I make, which is doable, since it's nothing complicated. To you give you an idea of what I've been eating (started on Monday), it's a plan that gets me to eat (4)5-7 meals per day (every 2-4 hours, roughly) with a heavy focus on protein. I am talking about 30-50 grams PER MEAL. Chicken breast, beef jerky, cottage cheese, salmon, tuna have all been eaten regularly since Monday. I also compliment (supplement?) it with whey protein. It's a powder that's heavy on protein and you use it to make a shake. It comes in flavors (currently have a tub of chocolate) and is pretty decent tasting.

Anyway, I also have a serving of veggies per meal. Even if it's just a leaf of lettuce... I don't have to remind you how good veggies are for you :). Lastly, the big thing is eating "healthy" fats. I am not a dietitian or nutritionist, so I am not going to go into detail on "healthy" fats, but it's based on cheeses, natural peanut butter, nuts, olive oil... that sort of thing. I also eat complex carbs, or "starchy" carbs, like whole grain bread, multi-grain bagels, brown rice whole wheat pasta, etc...

Basically I need to get out of the mindset of "breakfast" "lunch" and "dinner" they're just meals and I can just as well eat chicken breast first thing in the morning and cook myself an omelet at the end of the day, I have that luxury!

Now I also have a routine that was outlined for me, and as of now (thursday) I've only spent one day in the gym so far. I went in on Tuesday and did a routine focusing on lower body. I did heavy squats (2 sets of 5x225lbs and 1 set of 5x245), straight-legged pull throughs (think stiff-legged deadlift with cables), bent over rows and calf raises on the leg press machine. Everything went smoothly, I lifted heavy but was able to meet the set and rep requirements. I definitely "felt" it, but it wasn't anything I haven't been through before. I also did about 10 minutes on the stairmaster (it was semi broken and everything else was taken). Next day (Wed) I went walking after work with a co-worker (about 40 minutes) and everything felt fine still. Got home, sat down for a couple of seconds, tried to get back up and holy shit, I have not felt so much pain in my legs before. My calf muscles were in so much pain that I had to walk on my toes on my left foot so I didn't have to put pressure on the calf, and it still hurt. Needless to say, I didn't move very much last night, and most of it was me rolling in my chair from the computer to the kitchen and back. Today was better, but not by a whole lot. I could move, I made it to work, but the morning sucked balls. Right now, I can still feel it, but I am feeling so much better then what I did 24 hours ago. I plan on going to the gym tomorrow and once again on Sunday.

Anyway, hopefully you stayed through all this and hopefully you'll continue to read. I'll be sure to answer any questions that may come up. THANKS FOR READING.

First edit! It should also be noted that I am not drinking soda anymore and my beer consumption has diminished. It's just WATER WATER WATER WATER WATER. I am not quitting drinking the alcohol, but those days will be few and far between!