Thread: Bronze Place

Ok... This journal is going to seem fairly lame to most of the regulars at IM. I'm fairly-well out of shape and I'll list my medical parameters below. I anticipate giving at least one significant update per week as an over-all status log.

I'm committed to getting fit, and I hope that the knowledge that you all will be able to check-up on my progress will add even more resolve.

Ok, here are my stats, etc.

Weight: 216.5 (bathroom scale)
Height: 5' 10"
Age: 31
Pct. fat: too much (probably around 30~35%)

Current max lifts...
NOTE: I don't know exactly b/c I workout alone
Bench Press: ~175 est.
Leg Press: ~300+
Chin ups: 2 (unassisted)

Medical limitations
No Thyroid - removed 3 yrs ago b/c cancer
Low Calcium - parathyroids barely functional (probably b/c same radiation that caused thyroid cancer)

In the last 10 weeks or so, I've lost about 10 lbs. This has been primarily the result of calorie reduction, made possible by will power and significant stresses in my personal life which have helped cut my appetite. I'm currently consuming somewhere around ~1800 to 2000 calories per day.

As a teen I worked out a lot and developed wide shoulders and a thick rib-cage and chest.

I stopped working out when I went to college... I was engaged at the time so I didn't need to impress anybody and my major (engineering) took all my spare time. I've earned a BS and MS in engineering, worked as an engineer for about 10 yrs, and am now about 7 months from finishing my law degree.

I've had enough of being out of shape, and have started to do something about it.

The low calcium, however, is a significant limitation on the length and intensity of my workouts (muscles twitch and cramp-up when calcium levels get too low, not to mention all the tingling).

A typical workout consists of cardio (treadmill 1 to 1.5 miles) chest (3 x 10 sets of bench, incline, decline, and butterfly) various lat machines (total ~6 sets) dumbbell curls (~3 sets), tricep extensions (~3 sets)

(I also climb the stairs in my office building approx 3 days per week during lunch hours)

Sometimes I'll do a couple sets of leg exercises too. I do abs every night (sit-ups, crunches, and "bicycles").

Supplements:
> Ginko biloba
> St. John's Wart
> some herbal men's health horse-pill thing
> Redline (pills - before workouts)
> B-Fit (Bally's fat/carb blocker - before high-carb meals)
> Flaxseed oil

NOTE: After reading that alcohol and stress reduce T, I've cut back on my alcohol consumption, and ordered Anabolic Matrix, since I can't eliminate the sources of stress in my personal life.

Goals:
> "To get fit!"
> Ideally, I would like to get my weight somewhere around 180 lbs, but I would be ecstatic if I could get my weight below 200 by mid-December.
> I would like to get my bench press to sets of of 8 over 200 lbs and a max of over 250.
> I would like to drop my waist from current ~38 to ~34
> I would like to get my chest over 50" (Currently I wear a 46" suit jacket)
> I would like to get my arms over 18" (currently ~16")

Basically I don't have the time or will power to get work toward some competition-grade physique, but I would like to have an attractive athletic build.

I happily take advice, so if you've got some, feel free to share it. For the immediate future, I'm attempting to lose the fat I've apparently worked so hard to accrue, while, if possible, gaining some muscle mass and strength. I do not plan on ever taking steroids, though supplements that optimize what I've got and help me produce my own T, are cool by me. Many of the weight loss supplements seem to try to stimulate the thyroid, so those, obviously won't do anything for me. If any of you know of other things that will help me lose my love-handles, I'm very interested in hearing about it.

Wish me luck!
B

i didn't think i would b up 4 it, but, this evening my hand felt ok, so i figured i could go and just see if i could take it. i could I walked about 1.5 miles at 3.7 mph, and then jogged 1.4 mile at 4.4 mph... 29 min... 252 cals burned, and i sweated like a pig. since i felt good and surprisingly strong (blame it on anabolic matrix and redline, i suppose) i went and did 3 sets of seated leg-presses, 3 sets of leg-curls, and two sets of situps on an inclined bench.

i know it's not much of a workout, but i feel good for having gotten into the gym this week.

thanks for the encouragement!