Starting Over (a selfish training blog)

[Pork Chop]

A little bit of background:

Had a tough time in November. Was a week or two into getting back on my feet when I got taken out by the flu. For the past month and a half I haven't been working out as often or as regularly and my diet's atrocious.

I don't expect to be fully back into the swing of things until after the holidays, but I'd like to start making plans and arrangements so the execution doesn't require much thought. I'm also a selfish basted so I wanna start up this thread kinda as a journal to keep track of my plans & progress; without my train of thought getting interrupted by posts on fencing or Japanime. Don't get me wrong, I would be ecstatic to hear any advice or comments, just want a little more coherency for being able to go back and read what I did than jumping on another training blog thread out there.



The Schedule:

Mornings:
I know I can work out Tuesday and Thursday mornings. These are skill workouts, with a lot of pad work, and some cardio. I also plan to work out Wednesday and Friday mornings; with more of a weights and cardio focus.

After Work:
Going to join the work gym at $15 a month because of the convenience. It's not crowded like the Gold's Gym normally is in the evenings, but they also don't have all the equipment. I think I can handle a daily workout immediately after work; with a focus on weights and cardio (probably more weights than cardio).

Evenings:
Untill Chinese New Year's; if I'm well enough to work out, I'm kinda stuck into going down to my kung fu school Mondays through Thursdays from 5 or 6 till 8. I'm planning to quit after Chinese New Year for a bunch of reasons. Mostly, it's just too much. The drive down there is an hour, and I don't get home till 9 or 10 o'clock, sometimes way later. The workout down there is usually counter productive to my goals, leaving me injured or overly sore/overtrained. Mostly into it for the skills work, but even that isn't really consistant with my goals. It really grates to do something I don't wanna do, that's counterproductive, but I'm not gonna screw 'em over before Chinese New Year's.

Weekends:
Friday nights from 6:30 to 8, Saturdays from 2 to 4pm, and Sundays from 2 to 4pm are san shou days. Sometimes the workouts go longer. I've tried adding weights around these workouts and it usually ends up being too much. Sunday may also end up being grappling day.



The Workouts:

Cardio:
Ideally I'd like to have 2 to 4 hours of pure cardio a week. Doing cardio before work kinda lets me go into work feeling warmed up; whereas lifting in the early morning sometimes feels like a heartattack. Also, I like elliptical, which is only at Gold's, not at the gym by my work.

Weights:
After talking with Suntzu, I like the idea of having 1 mandatory workout and at least 1 open workout. The mandatory workout has some basic compound lifts that I need to hit each week. The open workout will consist mostly of compound, olympic, & kettlebell type lifts that I do as I can fit in. The point is to keep both workouts each balanced between upper & lower; pushing and pulling, so missing a workout doesn't mean causing an imbalance.

Mandatory Workout:
Exercises include Dips, Pullups, Squat, Deadlift. 5 sets of each sounds about good as does 3 to 5 reps.

Open Workout:
Exercise Group 1 (classic lifts): Bench, TBar Row, Calves, Lunges, Ham Curls, Quad Kickouts, Reverse Flies, Military Press. 5 sets, 5 to 10 reps.
Exercise Group 2 (Oly lifts): Clean, Snatch, Clean & Jerk. 5 sets, 3 to 5 reps.
Exercise Group 3(KBell Lifts): Swings, Overhead Squat, anything else on the tape. 2 sets, 10 to 20 reps.



The Diet:
Gonna go back to my old diet of trail mix, peanuts, raisins, oatmeal, slimfast (for vitamins), and the weekly cheat day. This time I think I'll supplement with more skim milk and peanut butter to add some protein. Adding a microwave meal midday didn't work too well- though might be a future consideration- I see soup working better than a straight micro meal.



The Process:
Planning to post on here with daily results once I start making progress. I'm not the type that jumps into a plan all at once. I kinda gradually have to ease myself into it. So as I'm able to do more, it should be reflected in this log. Like I said, I appreciate any advice and comments. First day's workout results, weight, and food log should be forthcoming.

[Pork Chop]

First update.

Weight's pushing around 215; which is embarassing.
The diet's still garbage obviously, but I'm actually getting tired of it.

Aside from some early week nausea, I'm not too sick anymore.
I cough once in a while, but I could probably work out.
Turning on the heat in my house is helping.

Having sort of a passive aggressive reaction to kung fu.
Tired of going down there, but holding out 'til chinese new year to quit. So Mon through Thurs I dread goin down there so bad, I'm more likely not to work out all, than hit the gym in addition to the kwoon.

Last night was a good example. Saw Lord of the Rings last night; but didn't get out until class had already started (long @ss movie); so I didn't work out at all.

Managed to find a roommate. Not gonna help me much monetarily but it'll at least be someone around to talk to. Says she will help clean the place. Just paranoid about someone takin off with my stuff.

Next week's christmas, then new year, then; not long after, chinese new year.

Hit the school on tuesday, will hit it again tonight, tho i'm dreading it.
This weekend it's time to get back to the gym.

[Suntzu]

good idea...... i thought ablout doing something like this.... but i suck at doing consistant updates............

might wanna add some dead and cooked animal to that diet......

[Pork Chop]

Oh there's tons of that...
Some of it cooked in a yellow building with a redheaded girl on the front with pig tails....
Some of it sitting atop a big, round, cheese & sauce covered table of bread....
Some of it that has to take a bath in some smelly stuff first....

Ended up wasting a lot of chicken and steak because I left it marinating and didn't get around to cooking it in time; pi$$ed me off!


Definitely gotta fix my sleeping habits. Been not sleeping & wakin up late all week.

FYI- I'm not stressing over making an entry everyday; just when I actually do something. If I don't feel like bragging about my workout everyday, then it's a lot easier to summarize at the end of the week... and on this slow board, it won't disappear to page 3 too fast. :D

[MasterKiller]

Originally posted by BMore Banga
Says she will help clean the place. Just paranoid about someone takin off with my stuff. *in 70s porn music voice* Bon chicka chicka wah wah

[Pork Chop]

If you only knew....






I mean... is it bad to trust an ex stripper who takes fetish calls with a key to your place?

[Pork Chop]

Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever gonna drink beer again....

I've never been so painfully hung over from such little alcohol before. Didn't do anything Saturday.

Only another week to go before the holidays are over; and things can maybe get back to normal, back on track. Unfortunately January's gonna be a bad month work wise, and I may be traveling a lot.

Just want to get my sh*t back together; but can't seem to stop shooting myself in the foot long enough to get there.

Tomorrow is another day.

[fa_jing]

mmmm. beer.

[Pork Chop]

beer is da debbil

After my Saturday failure, Sunday went suprisingly well.
Hit up a san shou workout first.

It was nice to get in there; hadn't seen some of the people in a few weeks.

The workout was decent- strenuous warm up/workout, followed by some weighted shadow, and a bunch of rounds of combo work on the heavybag.

It wasn't one of those drop dead workouts with someone screaming at me the whole time, but it was nice for that feeling of refining something on my own time- like when you practise your forms alone.

After san shou, I tried out my first JiuJitsu class/workout. It was a ton of fun. The workout ran 3 or 3.5 hours; but a good deal of that was learning. Rolling at the end was pretty fun, but my brain was fried trying to digest and reapply the stuff I'd just learnt.

I have a new respect for guys like MerryPrankster; and I can't wait 'til the next time I can roll- more for refining what I learned last time, not 'cuz I'm ready to learn anything new.

All-in-all, probably not the most high-intensity of days, but over a 4 or 5 hour period, it's still pretty decent.

Christmas coming up soon and I'm still planning on hitting up the kung fu school monday and tuesday. Thank god the holidays are almost over, now if I can only make it through January.

[Crash]

Originally posted by BMore Banga
Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever gonna drink beer again....

I've never been so painfully hung over from such little alcohol before. Didn't do anything Saturday.


If you're having trouble with the effects of alcohol, you should really add Iron Stomach technique to your training schedule. It's an old Irish MA that has been in my family for generations. One of the first forms that you will learn is Hair of Dog. It's a good talou that is meant to introduce the student to the style. Afterwards, you'll learn forms like Happy Hour, Dee Yu I, or the classic favorite, Drunken Boxing...with a cop outside of the poolhall whose owner has told you a dozen times not to come back.

It's not too difficult to find a trainer. You can probably find one at any bar, however, you run the risk of ending up with a McIronStomachSifu. South Buffalo, Boston, and parts of New York are popular areas for quality instructors, however you can probably find a pretty decent sifu at any bar within staggering distance to a trailer park.

Good luck.

:D

[Pork Chop]

LOL good one.

Not gonna drink anymore beer, but even if I did, I never drink outside my own house.
Drinking at home, alone, is the only way to go! :D

[Pork Chop]

Holidays are going as expected, although I did get in 2 good workouts at my folks' place last week.
One workout was mostly cardio- jump rope, rowing machine, shadowboxing, and some calisthenics.
The other workout was all calisthenics.
This week's gonna be crazy too with new year's, a new roommate moving in, and going back to my parents' house again next weekend.

There's a light at the end of the tunnel at least.
If I can make it through this week and my 2 business trips this month, I should be golden to get back on track and back in the ring before summer time.

Working out's at least something I WANT to do again, so I'll probably slip in a few more home workout sessions; in between house cleaning. Hey does cleaning count as a workout? :D

[rubthebuddha]

depends if you're in your stances the whole time, or if you pick up the couch to vacuum under it. ;)

[Pork Chop]

Well it tends to involve a decent amount of picking up heavy stuff, repeatedly running up and down stairs, intense scrubbing, bodyweight straight leg deadlifts, and trips to the dumpster.

Dunno if I do too many stances.


On a seperate topic:
Anybody tried integrating a Game Boy Advance into their cardio?
Seems like it'd work with a treadmill, stairmaster, or bike.
How about DDR as a replacement for aerobics?

[rubthebuddha]

make sure your form is good on the deadlifts, treat the stairs like calf raises, and do lots of your walking in lunge format, and you'll be good to go.

[Pork Chop]

Sweet, thanx.


Captain's log... Stardate 12-30-2003...

Woke up pi$$ed off this morning, but at least I woke up.
Been having trouble waking up before 8 or 9 for the past few weeks so it was nice to be able to get into work early enough that i don't have to stay all night.

Woke up basically just pi$$ed at the way things have been going; which is basically a good thing. Motivation and drive have been my problems since November, so taking some forced time off has done a bit to light a fire in my belly so to speak.

Back eating right so far this morning. Tired of seeing my weight inch back up and tired of generally feeling like garbage. Should be motivation to stay on it.

After doing my finances last night I realized that I should probably cut back on as much driving as possible. It got me to thinking about how I want to schedule this routine once I no longer have to worry about driving down to the kung fu school (quitting after chinese new year). I think I'm just going to focus mainly on my diet and exercise geared towards fitness.

I still plan on doing san shou; but I'll be more content to spend my non-class days doing cardio & weights; with only some technique work, in the form of shadowboxing & possibly bag workouts.

Cardio & weight workouts are easy to do at the gym near my house, so I should be on the road a lot less, with a more normal schedule. Also it seems a more direct way to up my endurance & strength while dropping fat.

We'll see how it goes.

[Pork Chop]

Had a respectable calisthenics/dumbell workout last night.
Was back on my diet till dinner.
Celebrating tonite so i wasn't expecting much anyway.

New Year tomorrow, back to work on Friday, back to my folks' for the weekend.

Might be able to slip in a workout with the DC peeps on Friday if I decide to drive home late.

Monday I sign up at the new gym & head back to kung fu (till chinese new year).

May try to eat clean on friday, to put a little break in there.

Not too much longer till I can get going; 2 roadbumps ahead with the 2 business trips, but I gotta focus on some momentum.

[fa_jing]

It is clear that Kung Fu is ruining your life. Run away!

[Pork Chop]

LOL

Maybe not THAT bad, but my problems with the people and mentality down there have made it a bit like pulling teeth everytime I go. It's not really the direction I want to go and I end up feeling miserable the more I go down there. At one time I was a total devotee but I stick with it out of sense of duty. It's a long drive and I respect the guys that are still hardcore down there, but it's just not for me.

[Pork Chop]

Made it back to the gym for the first time in a while.
The one hour boxing class kicked my bootie pretty good.
I'm so out of shape it's pathetic.
Didn't wake up this morning, so I'll be spending most of this evening in the gym.
Probably going to be real hard to get back into the swing of things for the first few weeks.
At least I'm learning patience.

[Pork Chop]

Had a nice workout last night.
10 min warm up on the elliptical- interval training.
4 sets of 10 on bench; had to use smith press because the work gym is somewhat lacking in free weights.
4 sets of 10 on seated rows
3 sets of 10 overhead squats (with pretty low weight)
Quick set of lunges 5 double lunges per leg
4 sets of 10 back extension machine (had to do what I could to replace deadlifts)
3 sets of 10 hamstring curls
3 sets of 10 quad kickouts
3 sets of 10 seated leg press
3 sets of 10/10 assisted pullup/dip supersets
30 minutes back on the elliptical doing more interval training.

Diet went okay; adding some tuna this time around for a little more strength and energy. Tuna with reduced fat mayo rox my world.

Went to bed too late cuz the roommate got chatty (and apparently doesn't understand the meaning of "hey, i gotta get to bed").
Couldn't wake up this morning to work out as a result.

Diet going okay today too.
Going back to the gym after work for round 2.
Have had a headache all day, dunno why.
Not as sore as I thought I'd be, but that'll probably come tomorrow.

[Pork Chop]

...and Tuesday was starting out so weeelllll...

famous last words

Had my fitness test yesterday to get my baseline.
Required me not to eat or drink anything except water for a couple hours before hand & it lasted a good hour.
Needless to say I had a run in with a certain evil, little red-headed girl with pig tails afterwards and was in the bathroom all last night. Wonder if Wendys doesn't mix with Slim Mate (senna) tea.

We will hereafter refer to that day as "Black Tuesday".

Anyways, my results went a little something like:
weight: 219
height: 5'9.5"
bf%: a pathetic 25.7% thus a lean bodymass in the 160s.
resting pulse: 47 (probably closer to 50)
blood pressure: 130/90

bike test apparently went real well
did 70 or 80 crunches in a minute
only cranked out 30 pushups because i was still sore from the chest work out the day before; and a good 5 or 6 more that didn't count because I didn't go low enough.
flexibility test was like 18 inches

Going to get another fitness test in a month so I can start charting my progress.

The bodyfat thing was the electrical joint that looks like a gameboy advance or a dreamcast controller.

[Pork Chop]

Despite my indescretions the night before, I actually managed to wake up today.

Got to the gym late because I was trying to find some christmas presents I had in a white plastic bag. The bag was on my couch before my roommate moved in, I'm hoping she didn't throw it out. It pi$$ed me off because I had the Staind "14 shades of gray" cd in there and I wanted to check it out this morning.

Got to the gym and talked a little shop with the dude who ran my fitness test yesterday. He liked my ideas for a workout plan and set me up with some progress sheets.

Warm up: Elliptical 10 minutes on L18
Work out:
Bench 5 x 8 to 10
Bent Row 5 x 8 to 10
Squat: Overhead 1 x 10 Front 1 x 10 Smith 3 x 10
Deadlift: 4 x 10 and a 1rm

I know the evils of the smith machine, but sometimes your options are limited.

I can use either the smith machine, dumbbells up to 100lb each, eazy curl bars preset in 5 weight increments up to 110lb, and an open ez curl bar with up to 400 something pounds from the smith machine.

I wanted to go with the overhead squats but they felt more like a total body workout than something blasting my legs.

Front squat with a 110 pound ez curl bar was like mastrbating with a cheese grater- interesting at first, but mostly painful.

I suppose I could use dumbells for squats and deads, but I was planning on rotating 3 days: 1 machine/nautilus, 1 smith machine, and 1 dumbells. I'm just not sure how to squat or dead with dumbells, and not sure how to do bent rows on a smith machine.

Thinking of doing those 4 in the morning: squat, dead, bench, row; then in the evening doing primarily cardio with supplemental exercises, mostly consisting of: pull ups, dips and lunges (forward and back); and if I have time, adding: military press, reverse flies (or upright rows), hamstring curls, and quad kickouts.

That's 3 variations on my 4 main exercises and at least 3 different ways to do each. It should at least help me stay balanced and give me enough freedom to keep things from getting stale.

Reading through this thread, I can see that I'm really disorganized; but my time schedule has a huge influence on what I get done in the gym. I realize that whatever I institute as routine and make a habit, is going to be what works.

[Pork Chop]

Got through Wednesday pretty good.
Finished up the day with:
15 minute warm up on the elliptical, hard level
dip/pullup supersets: 3x(10 for each)
quad kickouts: 3 x 10
hamstring curls: 3 x 10
20 minute cardio session on another elliptical, level 18

Diet went good Wednesday.



Thursday was decent:

am workout:
10 minute warm up on the elliptical level 18
machine chest press: 5 x 10
seated row: 5 x 10
seated back extension: 5 x 10
seated leg extension: 5 x 10
calves: 3 x 10

pm workout:
Went back to boxing class.
Barely survived the warm up.
I've gotten sloppy, slow, and easily winded.
My jumping rope stinks, but otherwise, I'd say my strength is improved from before I left.
My endurance has tanked though.


Friday:
Woke up real late today cuz we got home real late last night.
Planning on hitting up san shou this evening. I may be terrible, but the only way I'm going to get any better is to keep going back.




Thoughts:
It was suntzu's bday party Thursday evening so I didn't have any illusions of maintaining my diet. I think I may have to go more moderate on the diet this time around. In general I feel a lot stronger and I'm putting up more weight than just before the competition in November. But it's hard to take that as a bright spot when I'm so much heavier though. The only thing I can do, is the only thing I know to do: keep plugging away in the gym, keep trying to improve the diet, and hope I eventually start showing results. It'd be nice to win a fight and get a girl (that I didn't have to pay for) sometime this year.

[Pork Chop]

Sunday my ribs were hurting like I'd been in a car accident, Suntzu's knees are bloody good. :D

Monday morning woke up having a tough time swallowing. Think I'm sick. I had the same problem this morning as well: swollen throat, throat cough. Going to go back to the gym tonite and hopefully sweat some of it off. Been sleeping a ridiculous amount lately- mostly because I struggle to go to bed early and am then unable to wake up early. Diet's not bad but not great.

Lots of stuff coming in the mail soon so I should have some more inspiration. In the meantime I probably need to take some vitamins.

[wentwest]

BMore,

Just want to give you some encouragement. I'm checking out your log every now and then. Good job, man. I should have a fitness check one of these days. I have no idea what my body fat content is. One of those things I've always wopndered about. I definitely don't have to lose any weight... perhaps even gain a little, but I'm definitely not cut. Haven't seen my six pack in two decades :p

I'm 38, 5'9" 155 (estimated).

At my heaviest from weight training and high calorie & protein regimen, I was about 167 or so. I looked much bulkier than I do now, but at the expense of being a bit less flexible. I think I'm better being a bit leaner than that.

I need to start doing some additional exercise daily (aside from MA training about 4X weekly). I'm going to try to take inspiration from you.

[Pork Chop]

Thanks for the support man, I appreciate it. :D

Good luck with your program! :)

[Pork Chop]

Coughing up nice big gobs of goo; but got back to the gym anyway last night.

Yesterday I emphasized weights, because cardio & breathing hard kinda heart right now.

Ended up with:
Warmup: 15 minutes interval training on the elliptical
Dumbell Deadlifts: 5x10
Dumbell Lunges: 1 lap with 40 pounds
Dumbell Press: 3x 10, 1 x 2 - new PR
Dumbell Row: 4x10
Quad Kickout: 5x10
Seated Leg Press: 5x10
Pullup/Dip superset: 3x10 (each)
Incline chest press: 3x10
Seated Row: 3x10

This morning, I bit the bullet and tried to put in some more cardio time:
Warmup: 10 minutes interval on the elliptical
Crunch Machine: 5x10
Back extension machine: 5x10
Cardio: 25 minutes interval on the elliptical

Tonight I think I'll do more weights; but still probably focus on cardio.

Tomorrow morning should be my heavy day.

Diet's not perfect, but it's not crazy; yet I've gained weight- 7 or 8 pounds according to the electronic bathroom scale.
It's pretty frustrating, but I think it's the normal "first 2 weeks back" kinda thing. I'm lifting almost as much as I ever have and I don't really feel all that much fatter. I think I'm going to pull a Henry Rollins and just work out, don't weigh myself, don't look in the mirror for a good 6 weeks so I'm not so hung up on progress early on.

In the meantime I am doing what I can to keep from pigging out all the time and I suppose I could lean it up a little more. If things are still real bad at the end of 6 weeks, I guess maybe I'll have to go back to my super strict diet.

[Pork Chop]

Last night, more lovely cardio.

Warmed up for 10 min of interval training on the elliptical
Did 3 sets of chest press
3 sets of assisted pull ups
3 sets of hamstring curls
3 sets of quad kickouts
3 sets of seated leg press
finished up with 30 minutes back on the elliptical

This morning was my smith machine love fest
10 minute warm up on elliptical
5 sets of squats (maxing out the last set)
5 sets of deadlifts (failing my max out on the last set)
4 sets of bench
4 sets of seated rows (dont like bent rows, prefer seated on a machine or t-bar laying on my chest)

My lungs feel like one, big, huge, open sore.
Coughing hurts, breathing hurts, even swallowing hurts sometimes.
It was killing my endurance and even doing a number on my strength this morning.

Diet's kinda middle of the road right now. Not eatin junk food or pigging out, but not eating quite as lean as I used to. The added protein feels good though.

Boxing tonite.

[Pork Chop]

Last night stunk.
Got to the gym for boxing almost an hour early.
So I warmed up with a quick mile on the treadmill and then started doing warm up drills.
I did warm up drills and shadow boxing for probably a good 30 minutes before class started.
Class started, and it was more warm up drills.
I barely survived jumprope.
I was dying by the time we got to shadowboxing.
30 minutes into the class my whole torso was cramping up so bad I really couldn't do anything.
Tried to drink water, but it didn't help.
Went home and got to bed by 8:30 or 9.
Woke up at 9 this morning feeling like azz.
I'm not weezing as bad when I breathe, so maybe that's a start.
Missed my morning workout, but I'm still going to try to go to class tonite. Suntzu and I are now even on all accounts. :p
Little brother's coming this weekend and I'm getting his Gamecube :D

[Chief Fox]

Dude, you might want to slow down a bit. 3 days ago you said that you felt like you were getting sick and it sounds like you're doing two work outs a day. I admire your drive and determination but you might be on the road to burn out.

[Pork Chop]

Moderation and I aren't good friends.
You got a point tho.
I'm just real ticked that i got sick when I was finally starting to get stuff back on track.

I'll take it easy tonite and see if I'm feeling any better tomorrow.


DAM N YOU SUN TZU!!!!!! :p

[Pork Chop]

Skipped friday night training.

Worked out Saturday. Took some BodyQuick before hand and managed to have a pretty killer class. My skills are cr@p but at least I'm working on it.

Went out Saturday night, in the snow, still sick. Long story short: dumb idea.

Didn't do anything sunday or monday, barely even got out of bed.

Still hurting today (Tuesday) and will probably just take it easy tonight so I can get back on track tomorrow.

[Chief Fox]

haven't seen a post in a couple days. How's it going? Hang in there.

[Pork Chop]

Had a kickazz workout on wed

Warm up 15 min on the elliptical
Bench: 5 sets (most in the 10 rep Range)
Deadlift: 5 x 10
Squat: 5 x 10
seated row: 5x10
dip/pullup superset: 4x10 (assisted of course)
crunch machine: 5 x 10
standing calf raise: 5x10
Cardio: 45 min on the elliptical

Diet on wednesday was mediocre, but not super terrible.


Got stuck today (Thursday) at a meeting that I shouldn't have been at because it didn't really involve me. it made my work day about 13 hours, so eventho I couldn't workout, I ate garbage, and I'm having trouble getting to sleep, at least I got 5 credit hours.

Spent the whole time in the meeting drinking coffee and shadowboxing in my head so as not to fall asleep. The more I visualize shadowboxing & sparring the more natural southpaw feels. I think I'm going to give southpaw another serious shot. I don't really have any excuse not to, except for my coaches giving me a hard time about it. I'm more balanced as a southpaw, it makes better use of my strengths as a kicker (right leg a better jab leg, left leg better for support and power), and there's not a huge dropoff in power (kicks or punches).

Been watching some new fight & training tapes I got since I got home, so it's given me tons of ideas. Hope the new banana bag's at the gym.

Next week I gotta go to colorado for work. I'm really not looking forward to it. Next month I have another trip, and I've gotta move into a new apartment. Hard to get my momentum going with this cr@p. Kinda frustrated right now. In general, I can't tell if the added food & weights is making me more muscular or just fatter. My job forcing me to be inconsistant is definitely not good.
Just gotta keep rolling with the punches and hopefully inch my way to where I want to be.

[Chief Fox]

Where in Colorado are you going? I live in Colorado Springs.

[Pork Chop]

Going to Denver, to lockheed martin.

Didn't wake up today until like 11.
Gonna make up for it by tearing it up in the gym tonite.
Rumor has it the new Fiartex banana bag is in town; hope it's already up. :D

[Pork Chop]

Worked out for 3 hours on friday evening. Love the new Fairtex bag. Even went southpaw with some success; fighting southpaw is way more comfy for me.

Hit the gym for another 4 hours on Saturday. 3 hours of working on san shou followed by 1 hour of weights. Getting adjusted to southpaw, it'll take a little time to get combos and everything to the level I was at as an orthodox, but most of it feels a lot better already.

Weights I hit:
Dbell Bench: 3x10
Squat: 3x10
TBar Row: 3x10
Deadlift: 3x10

Sunday I was at the folks' place.
Monday was snowed in.
Going to Denver today (Tuesday) and won't be back till Friday.
Hope the hotel has some kind of gym, but I'm not expecting much from this week; which is why I despise traveling for work so much.

[Pork Chop]

Colorado Tuesday until Friday.
Was exhausted on Friday- slept like 10 hours in colorado total.
Saturday I hit the gym for 4.5 hours and had a nice skills workout.
Saturday night I stayed up too late and I was in bed all day Sunday.
Woke up at 7:30 last night and haven't been back to bed yet.
Only have to work about 4 more hours before I can go home.
Don't know if I gonna work out tonite. I'm feeling it pretty bad.

Did manage to have a nice little conversation during my trip; where I realized that I need to purely devote myself to what I enjoy. In other words, no more beating myself up over women (or lack thereof), no more silly, self destructive, bad habits, and no more extraneous cr@p. It's self perpetuating; because screwin up makes me upset & more likely to screw up some more.
Baby steps, but I think that's the right direction.
Screwed up a little this weekend, but managed to meet the goal I set for myself.

[Pork Chop]

Rough day monday

Crazy day tuesday- woke up on time for morning workout but couldn't find my checkbook to pay rent so I spent an hour and a half looking for it instead of training. Tuesday night I was on my last nerve with work, stressed out, worked late, so I went out on a date instead of dealing with the evening crowd at Gold's coz my gym at work was already closed.

Wednesday- fun fun fun. date ran real late ;) Missed work; let alone my am work out. In the evening I hit up Suntzu for an evening workout. Weights & cardio for a good half hour (at least), and then a 1.5 hour workout. Good stuff.

Thursday- Didn't wake up till 4 on Wed; so I got to bed late Wed night, and 3 hours just wasn't gonna cut it for sleep so yet another AM workout down the toilet. It's not destined to be I guess. My sleep schedule is all about screwed up.

Boxing & weights tonite then hopefully wake up on time tomorrow.

[Pork Chop]

Forgot that a guy from my gym was fighting.
Went to the fight after the boxing "class", no weights.
Cornered my team mate to a smooth victory.
Got home late.
Had a hard time wakin up.
Got to work late.
Luckily it's kind of a "snow day".

Tonite I'll make up the weights.
Got san shou too.

[Pork Chop]

An hour of weights and 3 hours of sanshou & grappling on Friday.

Squats: 6 sets 8 to 10 reps
. 1 heavy 4 rep set at the end
Deadlifts: 4 sets 8 to 10 reps
. 1 heavy 2 rep set at the end
Seated Calf raise: 4 sets 10 reps
Seated crunch (to offset the deads): 4 sets of 10 reps

My deads are a lot stronger than my squats, so I end up offsetting the load to focus on the squats more.


Saturday, first judo class for 2 hours at a pretty slow pace, but o my gawd it hurt.


Sunday rest. Did lots of sparring this week & hitting weights right before class on friday combined to leave me real sore. Plus I went on a date in another town a couple hours away, so I didn't get home till real late.


Looking to start doing Judo on mondays; got a ticket on Saturday rushing to my date so money might be tight. It looks like a lot of fun and I'm still excited.

[Pork Chop]

Got stuck at work yesterday but still managed to get in a good hour at Judo class.
Lots of fun, worked chokes and went over my ogoshi.
My neck looked like I was wearing a barbed wire chain.

[Pork Chop]

Tuesday
Hit the gym Tuesday after work for a killer workout.

15 min warmup on elliptical

Dumbell bench 2 sets of 10, 1 set of 6, 1 set of 3, and failed trying a 1RM with a couple 80 pounders.

Bent Row 4 sets of 10, 1 set of 6

Front squat 5 sets of 10

Back extension 4 sets of 10, 1 set of 3

Ab curl 4 sets of 10

Single leg seated press 3 sets of 10 each leg

Weighted toe raises 4 sets of 10

Dips 2 sets of 10, 1 of 5, 1 of 3 (reduced the amount of assist)

Pullups 2 sets of 10, 1 of 5, 1 of 1 (reduced assist)


Wednesday
Wednesday I woke up early and did a machine based workout.

10 min warm up on elliptical

Ab curls 4 sets of 10
back ext 4 sets of 10
incline chest press 4 sets of 10
seated leg press 4 sets of 10
quad kickout 4 sets of 10
hamstring curl 4 sets of 10
toe raise 4 sets of 10
lat pulldown 4 sets of 10
seated row 4 sets of 10
chest press 4 sets of 10
tricep ext 3 sets of 10
bicep curl 3 sets of 10

Wednesday night we had a small little san shou workout for a good 1.5 hours. I mostly held pads, but it was decent. Shoulders were killing me- probably from holding pads on hooks.


Thursday
Thursday I decided to take it easy on the weights coz of my shoulder.
Had a good 30~45 minute boxing workout in the evening. It was short coz I was stuck in traffic, but it was intense.
Jumped on the elliptical for a 45min cardio session.


Friday
Warmed up 10 min on elliptical.
Had a smith rack day today.
Bench: 2 sets of 10, 1 set of 8, 2 sets of 3; close grip - 2 sets of 10.
Front squat: 4 sets of 10, 1 set of 6, 1 set of 3
Lunge squat: 2 sets of 10 each leg
Stiff Leg Deadlift: 3 sets of 10, 1 set of 6, 1 set of 3
Bent row: 3 sets of 10, 1 set of 5

Dunno what I'm gonna do tonite coz the gym might be closed through monday. If we don't get something goin at the gym, i'll go work some judo.


Overall
My sets and reps might be a bit mixed up, having a hard time remembering, i should probably keep better track of that stuff. Overall I can definitely say the weights are going up.

Diet wise- doing so-so. Far from great, wouldn't say I'm pigging out tho. Could definitely do better and may have to get back on a cutting type diet sooner than I'd like to.

Weight's been hovering about the same for a while now. Couldn't tell you if i'm getting fatter or slimmer. I feel stronger and my endurance doesn't feel terrible (tho it could always better); so I almost don't care.

Finally got out of my slump with tha womenz and it's done a lot for my confidence and self image. It wasn't that getting one put me on top of the world, but that getting a little attention, helped me to see the game for what it is.

[Pork Chop]

went to judo friday night, woke up with a sore sore body on saturday

chilled on saturday cuz the plan was to go to virginia for a full day of training with khun kao on sunday.

sunday was fun, but i sprained my ankle on the mat.
ended up drinkin a little more than i planned while i was waitin to hear from some friends.
made the mistake of startin to call around before too long and you know what they say about drunk people and phones....

Monday just chilled.
Lil hung over, mostly just bored
ankle still hurts pretty bad, tho i can walk on it okay

going to florida for work in a few hours so this week's probably toast.

once i'm back i really gotta clean stuff up.

[Pork Chop]

Got back from Florida late last night.
Feel fat, eventho the weight's been pretty steady.
This will probably be my last week of freedom.
Sick of the downward slide.
If I need to add a can of tuna and a gallon of milk to what I was doin before, I think I better do it that way.
Plannin a "detox" of sorts next week, startin on monday.
Wanna get to a good fighting weight by May or June.
I'll be checkin in with progress.
Didn't do much all week.
The ankle's still a little tender but I'm going to try to hit up class tonite.

Think my head's finally back in the right spot and my body's ready to get back on track.

Keeping my fingers crossed against unforseeable interruptions.

[Pork Chop]

Friday night worked out for a good 3 or 4 hours
saturday went to judo a lil late (1045) and worked out till 12.
Got some bad food for lunch and then hit the gym.
Warmed up with my normal 10 min of elliptical and then managed to put in a good skills workout from 1:30 to 5:30.
Sunday I managed to put in another hour and a half.
Monday I don't think i got out of bed.
Tuesday still not feeling great, I barely managed to go to work.

All in all the whole week's pretty pathetic.

Hurt my elbows and shoulders holdin thai pads over the weekend.
Still nursin a sprained ankle and bad knees.
My body feels drained- sick even.
Feel sluggish, kinda nauseous, and i'm hopin this lump in my throat doesn't turn more serious.

My lil detox didn't go too well today.
Have too much crud goin on at work so a day where I'm not 100% is askin a lot right now.

I also have a lot on my mind- work's more stress than I ever said I'd let it be, thinkin of at least 3 girls, still broke, and wondering when I'm gonna get my act together and get back on track.

Anyway, things ain't goin so well.
I can either suck it up and try harder, or i can give up and accept failure.
I don't like failing.
Just gonna do better tomorrow.

Wednesday. Have an AM workout on the agenda, but i'm havin problems sleepin and not feeling well so I don't think I'll make it.
Tomorrow night it's back to the gym.

[Pork Chop]

yup i'm sick

there's no other explanation for feeling this sh*tty

and the throat thing's flaring up

maybe i caught it early enough that it doesn't progress to something even more debilitating

[Pork Chop]

Still getting over this nasty whatever it is.
Massive headache today.

Roommate's got the flu, see myself getting it.

Going to take today off and get some sleep to be safe.
Tomorrow I should be back on the routine.

[Pork Chop]

Been sooooo sick for so long.
Tonite I think I'm okay to head back to the gym.
Might be going to Massachusetts next week.
Then I move Mar 21.
Fresh start once I move

[Pork Chop]

had a nice hour and a half long workout today.
got in some jump rope, shadow, warmups, bag work, and stretching.
pretty easy day in the grand scheme of things but a nice welcome back.
still not 100% health wise and i think it's going to be a while until i'm back in shape.
think i'm gonna make sure i do 45 minutes of cardio a day when I can get back on a normal routine (probably after I move), just so that i can get some endurance back.
time for bed.
let's see how i do tomorrow.

[Pork Chop]

The vicious aerobics attack dogs came into our hour-long boxing class 15 to 20 min early last night.
It was hard to punch or kick without smackin one in the head.
People were droppin like flies, it reminded me of a zombie movie.
Okay so maybe I didn't hit any, but I came awfully close, and I kinda wish I did...
Must be nice to work out at a kwoon/gym/school where you dont' have to worry about people taking over your floorspace DURING your workout.

[Pork Chop]

Had a decent work out Friday night, did 30 min of cardio before class and had a decent class.
Felt like I'd maybe pushed it a little too hard with my cold (or whatever it is) by Saturday morning; so I don't know if I even got out of bed on Saturday.
Felt like hiney on Sunday too, with the same result.
Frankly, I'm tired of being sick; so my priority right now is to heal up and not be sick.
I have been sick like every 2 to 3 weeks for the past 4 or 5 months or something and I just can't take it anymore.
I'm not going to get serious on my routine until I feel 100%; by that same token I'm doing what I can to take the unhealthier influences out of my life to reinforce the recovery.
Leaving for Boston tomorrow.
It's significant because it's the last trip I'm taking for a long while.
Then the week after it's time to move.
Just like the start of this blog, I feel if I can make it through the next 2 weeks, I am home free.
Unlike the start of this blog, there's nothing looming on the horizon that could get in my way.
Packing and moving's gonna stink.
I'm going to be under 200 again by my birthday (June 19), mark my words.

[Pork Chop]

Survived boston.
Got sick again.
Went to the doctor this weekend.
Got an antihistamine & got instant results.
Wow, my body works again.
Hit the gym this morning.
Trying something new; not sure I wanna jinx it.

[Pork Chop]

Still working on the "new thing".
Still reluctant to jinx it.
Suffering a lot of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) this time around, some of it not so delayed, most of it so bad I can barely move without feeling like I've got a charlie horse.
As the old saying goes "this too shall pass".
I'm sure of one thing though; I'm going to make 200 by my birthday.

[Pork Chop]

Survived the move.... barely
So exhausted I only got out of bed for like 6 hours on Monday.
Now it's time to get everything else sorted out so i can get back in the gym.
Lots going on at work
still trying to unpack boxes
Gonna have family issues for most of the next month.

[Pork Chop]

Things are going okay, made it back into the gym after taking a few days off for the move. Talked with coach last night and he was all about me planning out my workouts. So eventho I didn't wanna jinx it, I'll post what I've been working on.

In a nutshell, here's what my schedule's shaping up to be:

M,W,F - mornings - full body weight-lifting workouts with 10 min warmup on elliptical cross trainer.
Monday - flat bench, t-bar row, squat, deadlift, abs, calves
Wednesday - squat, deadlift, dips, pullups, calves, abs
Friday - bent dumbell row, military press, lunges, quad kickouts, ham curl, abs, calves

T, Th - mornings (or evenings) - 30 to 45 min cardio on elliptical crosstrainer

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - individual skills workout for a good hour covering jump rope, shadow, and bag; with some calisthenics and flexibility thrown in.

Thursday - boxing class for bout an hour

Friday - san shou class from 6:30p to whenever

Saturday - san shou class from 2p to whenever



Looking pretty good so far.
Better than trying to do weights every single day.

If I don't wake up then I can always do weights before my skills workout, but that entails much suffering and will probably be avoided at all costs.

Will probably have to do a lot more to get my diet in check, but short of hiring a nutritionalist (which I'm considering), it's very difficult for me; unless maybe I go on an other ultra-low-cal spartan diet.

In the future will probably flesh out my skills workout schedule so I can plan for training certain things.

Picked up some protein, milk, creatine, and even some amino acids to help me out.
Not too sure about the creatine, might turn out to be a bad thing.
Still taking my multivitamin.
Allergy pills have kept me from getting sick like I always do.

Weather's starting to warm up.

Thinking about a tanning package...
gonna make sure I get cancer in style...

[Pork Chop]

Keepin up pretty well with the schedule I posted.
I don't think the ham curls and quad kickouts on Fridays are gonna work, at least they didn't today.
The lunges (2 laps across the aerobics room) ended up really kickin mah bootie.
I added in some back extensions on the machine next to the ab one (kinda like the ab machine in reverse) as well.
Had a good day on the dumbells; or at least an okay one...
Was oh-so-close to chest pressing with 80s, but after really going to war for 2 reps at 75, I just didn't have it left in me.
Have a decent sized chest, but my bench has always been nothing short of pathetic; so 80s are pretty good for me.
My chest press battle reminds me of wednesday's battle with deadlift. I failed half way up on a 350 pound straight legged deadlift. If I'm able to hit 350 soon, that means I'm well on my way to getting 400 again.

Think the supplements are taking some of the edge off the soreness; or maybe it's just gradually decreasing week to week. Still hurts like a mofo so I can't wait for the aching to subside.
Next week I may start cutting out, or at least cutting back on lunch, my major meal of the day. Lately it's been oatmeal for breakfast, supplements for dinner, and a "regular" lunch out with the coworkers. If I ever wanna get back under 200 I probably gotta fix my lunch habits.

[Pork Chop]

Taking a few supplements is very very good.
I feel about 10000 times better.
Mighta been malnourished before.
Trying to eat for performance.
I'm able to push it in the gym like I want.
My lifts are going up too, which is kind of scarey.
Think i'm probably going to go ahead and invest in some more decent supplements.
It's a lot of money and I'm not really loaded; but the difference is almost night and day.
If I can get the weight issues resolve I think I'll be ready to go by June or July.
Doing my best to clean up my diet; the supplements help on that front too.

[Pork Chop]

Was having a pretty good week last week.
Met my cardio requirements, lifted twice (with new PRs), and even put in some time on skills work.
The holiday cut the week short.
Ate a little bad for easter, but didn't think it was THAT bad.
Came back home last night and nearly screamed when I saw the scale this morning.
Well it's another set back.
Just going to try to use it to make me more motivated and to use it as a positive.
Gotta prepare for the possibility that I might not be able to cut down to 198, and may have to fight at heavyweight if I want to fight.