All or nothing...

[Exordus]

Well, I've been lifting now for just over 2 months straight and on a bulking diet for a lot of that time so I figured maybe I should start keeping some sort of journal for myself. Not to mention I've got all kinds of time at work to update it.

35 YOA, 190 lbs, 6'3", tall and thin....but I just found out I've got 18% BF. Which isn't bad considering I was at close to 22% about a year ago and never exercised and ate pretty much whatever the hell I wanted. I'm pretty sure my BF is going down naturally b/c I have a much better diet now and I'm hitting the weights pretty hard.

I'm cutting back on my bulking diet though so I don't get my BF too high, but I'm still going to go a little over maintance cals as clean as possible.

I've been trying to lift to build size so I'm doing 3 sets of my 4-6 max weight(sorry I don't know all the lifting abveriations yet). B/c my work schedule changes weekly, it's almost impossible for me to stay on any set workout schedule. I usually hit the weights 3 times a week (I haven't been doing cardio b/c I was trying to bulk up some, but will be adding cario in now). I know that this isn't the usual pair up on lifting, but this is what I've started on so I'm just sorta sticking with it for now.

One day I'll do Bi's and Chest. Another day I'll do Back and Shoulders. The third day I do legs and abs. B/c I can't get into the gym as much as I'd like, I usually throw in my Tri's with my back and shoulder day and my forearms with my Bi and Chest day, etc. When I do get into the gym I can usually stay there for hours so I have time to work in extra body parts.

For my first 2 months of working out I added a good 20-30lbs on most of my exercises but have since started to even out. I am not very strong, which is one of the reasons why I never worked out in a gym before. Sounds stupid, but thin/weak people feel self-conscious about that sorta thing. Once I got over that and started working out my body has made a huge change. I'm stronger and have some definition for the first time in my life. No, I'm still not using full plates on my bench press yet, but I'm almost there!

Anyway, let's get this journal started....I feel like I'm talking to myself here.

Today I worked my Back and Shoulders and threw in some Tri's. I write all my weekly gains down on my exercise sheet, which of course is at the gym...i'll have to get that tomorrow if I'm going to be keeping this journal .

 

[Exordus]

OMG, I just realized it's been 2 weeks since I've posted here! So much for trying to keep up with my online journal. LOL I haven't had time to write everything down, but I'm still working out and trying to eat right. Although I worked 30 hours of OT last week I was able to do

Chest/Bi's/Forearms on Monday
Back/Shoulders/Tri's on Tuesday
Legs/Abs on Thursday
Chest & Bi's again on Friday

I started my 1 week a month set of day shifts on Saturday so I haven't been able to workout as much as I'd like. I got into the gym on Mon for some cardio and won't get back in to actually lift until tonight (Weds.) then hit it really hard on Thursday and Friday.

I've been eating my usual diet, which is never what I consider steady. I eat 5-6 hard boiled eggs (only 1 yoke) and a few whole wheat waffles for breakfast everyday. I have at least 2 protein shakes a day with a banana and some nuts (walnuts & almonds). I will usually eat 2 meals consisting of grilled chicken or lean steak with a sweet potato and some veggies twice a day as well then eat a late snack of cottage cheese at night before bed. I know I can do a lot better with my diet, and I'm slowly working on it. I'm still just trying to keep it clean. Those snack urges come up every now and then. My only real vice is drinking coffee. I have stopped using sugar completely and have somehow managed to survive on Splenda, but I still drink about 3 cups a day...especially at work. Trying to cut that down a bit.

I'm going to start bringing a new log to the gym to keep a closer tab on exactly what my weights and exercises are so that I can post them here for possible feedback. My hardest thing is that I don't know what all the exercises I do are properly called!! I'll do my best.

 

[Exordus]

Well, I got stuck with an 17 hour work day yesterday so I didn't get to workout Wed. night like I wanted to. So, this morning I hit the gym hard. I'll list the exercises, but unfortunately I don't know the proper names of most of them but I'll do my best.


Lat Pulldowns: 130 x 12
140 x 10
140 x 8
150 x 5

Seated Row: 130 x 10
140 x 8
150 x 6

Hammer Low Row: 130 x 10
140 x 8
145 x 8
150 x 6

T-Bar: 10 x 12 <----I have no idea how much the T-Bar wieghs
20 x 10 this is weight I added.
25 x 10
35 x 6

Hi-Lat Row: 150 x 10
(Hammer) 160 x 10
170 x 7

Cable Upright Row: 80 x 12
90 x 10
100 x 10
110 x 6

Seated DB Press: 30 x 8 <-----I think I could have done more, but I have a
30 x 8 small fear of DB's since I almost dropped
35 x 6 one on my face once a few years back.

Kneeling DB Pull: 40 x 10 <----Not sure the name of this exercise, I use a
40 x 9 bench to kneel on leg on and pull DB up from
40 x 8 floor to chest.

 

[Volume]

Wtg man!

Good to see someone besides myself starting out a lil later in life. Im 34 225lbs 6' 3, but at 30% bf! I just upgraded my home gym to a power rack, and olympic set weights. I bought all the usual suppliments, multvits, creatine, glutamine, and pyrovate. I also quit smoking and my religious beer drinking. Ready to kick some a! Good luck bro.

 

[Exordus]

Thanks Volume. It's always nice to hear from someone in about the same position myself! Later in life is better then never at all! Never too later to start! Talk to you again soon! Good luck with your training as well.

 

[Exordus]

Going at it again...

Wow, has it been so long since I've been here? It's been over a year since I've written and about a year since I've worked out (steadily). I was doing so well until life issue's caught up with me. Then as usually, I lost interest/motivation to come back. But my life routine has become a bit, well stagnant. I've become addicted to video games (which I truly enjoy) and would sit and play online for hours instead of taking the time to workout. I've gone back to eating fatty food, fried foods, junk foods, no food at all for a day at a time, etc. My life is filled with stress right now as well...I've been at the point where I just haven't given a damn. Telling myself, this is who I am, love it or leave it. My wife and kids love me either way, but I find myself berating myself while I'm driving around at work for being so lazy and vow to change, but never seem to do it. My typical M.O. But then I realized that I was embarrased to take my shirt of in public, even outside of my house. I'm not even fat, but I've got "fat".

So, the other day I picked up a Men's Health magazine that had some flashly headline about losing that belly fat in 9 days, or whatever. I didn't believe it, but I read the magazine. Which put me back in the frame of mind I was over a year ago wanting to make myself healthier, stronger, physically more attractive. I popped back into IM and started reading forums again. It seems the more I read, the more motivated I become to want to start again. Which is a good thing.

So, here I am. Hopefully "beginning again" for my last time. I think one of the problems I had last year was that I jumped into the whole thing full throttle. Completely changing my diet, pushing myself much harder then I should have off the start, and wore myself out. If that's actually possible. This time I'm going to try a different route. I'm going to ease into everything. Eat a Healthier diet instead of a particular workout diet. Slow down on the junk intake and make healthier choices. Not that I'm being perfect, but more aware of my body's intake. I read that if I wanted to get rid of my "tire", 75% of it is diet. 75%!

I've been paying for an unused gym membership for the last year. Better use it or cancel it right? So, I've decided to just try and make a habit out of getting my lazy ass to the gym. Doesnt matter what I do when I get there, as long as I go. I'd like to make a habit out of going, period. I want to work on cardio more often, particularly biking b/c my department is getting some patrol bike donated next month and I'm actually the only one certified with training to ride them (from about 8 years ago). Maybe hit the weights slowly. I'm still extremely self-conscious about my lifting ability. But I know that only gets better with time.

I'm using the journal pretty much as a dairy for myself and for a little support as well. Thanks to everyone here at IM. You've always been helpful and supportive of everyone. So, without further adu:


I'm 36 years of age, 6' 3" tall, about 190 lbs (give or take), tall and thin build. Not much changed there from last year, but given the size of my midsection, which to everyone else I'm still considered "thin", I'm guessing I've got about 20-22% body fat. Just a guess and I'm not planning on having it checked anytime soon, I know it's high, no guessing there. Since I've decided to try this out again 3 days ago I have yet to hit the gym b/c of working ton's of OT, but have worked on changing my diet.

I'm eating 4-5 meals a day (again, this was always hard since I work swing shifts) . I've cut most of the sugars out of my diet. I've always been a HUGE coffee fan so I've been using 1 splenda in my 16 oz coffee's instead of my usual 8 packets of sugar (x3 coffee's a day). I've stopped the candy bar or chip snacks and have a "Nut's, Seed's and Raisin" trail mix bag with me to snack on. Water instead of coke. For lunches at work i've been having grilled chicken wraps (flatbread with a hint of mustard subsituting mayo) instead of pizza, cheesesteaks and fastfoods. More fruit instead of cheese or peanut butter crackers. Yadda-Yadda-Yadda.

And so it has begun....

 

[Exordus]

Hit the gym yesterday for the first time in, well, I can't remember. I wanted to get my body used to just going to the gym and using weights again so I did 1 exercise for each major body part. Chest, Back, Shoulders, Bi's, Legs (2 for the legs) and Abs for a total of 8 excerises. Then I hit the bike for 20 minutes.

Needless to say I was sore, but it felt good getting back in there. Working a 12 hour day today (Thursday) so I plan on hitting the gym again on Friday morning.

Been trying to watch what I eat. I'm so used to just grabbing whatever out of the pantry and eating it that I find myself having trouble on decided what to snack on at times. I'm working on it though.

 

[Double D]

Hey could u post ur entire workout?

 

[b_reed23]

It's GREAT to have you back, hon! First of all...how is the family doing??

Secondly...let's get off our butts and get this journal off of page 1!!!!

Take care,
Billie

 

[Exordus]

It's GREAT to have you back, hon! First of all...how is the family doing??

Secondly...let's get off our butts and get this journal off of page 1!!!!

Take care,
Billie

LMAO. Yeah, yeah. I'm working out, just finding it hard to find the time document it!! Not to mention, when I don't work out, you want me to post what I ate all day???

Ok, didn't workout today b/c of work, but yesterday I did a full leg workout. I'll be damned if I know the name of all the exercises I did. But I did 7 of them. Trying hard to eat right, hard sometime when the kids want a pizza when we're spending the day together running around.

Oh, speaking of that, the whole family is doing well. Thank you very much for asking!

 

[Exordus]

Hey could u post ur entire workout?

I don't have an "entire workout" per-say. Not yet at least. I'm currently just trying to get into the habit of getting my lazy arse back into the gym and off the computer games. LOL

Anything specific you're looking for?

 

[b_reed23]

it's been almost a month...and we are still on page 1

 

[Exordus]

Been what, years now? On and off exercising and dieting. How is it that I always have the best intentions but never seem to follow through for long? Well...i'm back....again. Giving it another go. I'm what, 42 years old now? Hard to believe I started this threat 7 years ago and never got off the first page, huh B? Well, not much has changed over the last few years to be honest. I'm more like 205 lbs now...probably at least 20% BF. Trying to keep up with my kids now, one is in little league football, the other one is in cheerleading, cheering for her brother. All I hear about my 12 year old son's 6 pack or my 10 year old daughters "8 pack" and wonder how long it's been since i've had this dam little tire around my waist. 4 months ago I had elbow surgery on my right elbow to anchor down my Ulnar Nerver which popped out of socket and was rolling over my elbow whenever I bent it. Now that recovery is complete, I was told my my physical therapist that the best thing for me would be to work out in a gym. So, I rejoined my gym a few weeks ago to work out again. I've come to realize that I truly have ZERO muscle mass in my body. I mean, it's rough going to a gym and not being able to bench 100 lbs. But, I have to work at it, for myself and my family. So, any help would be appreciated. I mostly came back to see what I used to do, workout wise, it's been too long. And my diet has got to change!! Ugh, say, it's all in the portions, but then realize no matter what size portion of General Tso's Chicken i'm eating is going to be healthy for me!! Anyway, I will try to begin posting my diet and workout when I actually start some type of routine. I work 12 hour days, swing shift so it's not an easy task.