My twenty weeks to glory !!

[Preacher]

Marathon man!

That's it ... I recently bought me a digital camera and asked my girl to take some pics of me ..
needless to say I was pretty ashamed with the outcome and decided to do SOMETHING about it ...

I don't get it .. I've been eating 'pretty' clean lately, working out three times a week...
Maybe I really should throw in some cardio in the morning ...

I'll post some pics for you guys to critique, but be warned, don't lose your lunches.

 

[Preacher]

Finally got around to resizing them (gym closed today, owner's dad died).
Now remember: These are my "before" pics.

As you can see, I'm one scrawny shrimp, but I think I can change that, since being big runs in the family
(My mom's over 240, my dad over 200, and both above 30%BF - sigh - ).

Stats in this pic:

158lbs, 18% BF (Tanita scale, weighed at 6pm).
5"8, 100% male (although I don't have the body to prove it yet).

Goals:
160lbs at 12-13% BF within 20 weeks.

Realistic ? No.
Worth moving my ass for ? Yes.
Now start working !


----

Anybody care to add a comment ? How should I start ? Eat more, move more weight, stop whining and get on with it?
Lemme have it.

 

[Preacher]

Here's the famous Arnold "Front double biceps" that gets me so many looks ...

 

[Miss LeDix]

Preacher, you look a lot better in your before pics than most people do in their after pics!

I see definition in your abs, chest, and arms.

Good luck reaching your goals!

 

[Stacey]

Preacher...I totally agree with Miss Ledix!! You look Great!!
GOOD Luck with your goals!! You will kick a$$!!!!!

 

[CLPgold]

OMG you are way too hard on yourself. You indeed look good.

As for your goals, in 20 weeks if you apply yourself in the gym, get enough rest, and eat enough, but clean, you can surpass those goals. GO FOR IT!!! You've got the shape and body to work with.

 

[Preacher]

Went running this morning and got passed by 65 old ladies.
(Since they were all riding the same bus, I blame the driver ...)

Just kidding, I wanted to run this morning, but I figured I had a long day ahead of me
(Novell seminar with two 5-minute peebreaks and one 20-minute 'lunch hour' - there goes the diet).
I really ought to get out of bed at 6 and get those miles in before breakfast.

Come to think of it, I ought to have breakfast too ...

Went pretty much all-out on the bench today (has been a while since I've trained with a spotter, I'll feel it tomorrow),
and nearly killed myself doing skull-crushers again.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. I'm setting the alarm now.
I WILL RUN!

 

[Preacher]

I just started taking two caps of Biotest MD6 again .. don't know if the stuff works, but hey ..

 

[Preacher]

I think I actually got a good day in today ... I'm not able to train back tomorrow since I will be out of town, so I decided to train them today ..

Got up to 265*8 with my deads
5 clean sets of chins
Rows nearly made me lose my lunch (that's what you get from eating cr*p)

you gotta love training biceps!
I'm pretty much always training to failure (between 8-10 reps),
do you people think this is bad practise ? I'm not overtraining or anything (biceps is only trained on back-day).

Got NO breakfast again (time is of the essence),
but made it up with a very good lunch and topped it off
with 2 big slabs of chicken and 1 Tuna steak for dinner (2nd meal after workout).

Mental note: from this moment on, my shaker does not leave my sight. I gotta have those shakes in at regular intervals.

D*mn, I just remembered I've got to prepare food for tomorrow, since I'll be out of town. Gotta run!

 

[Preacher]

Last off-day today: got some good food intake yesterday, screwed up a little today
(laying in bed till noon and eating Chinese food doesn't qualify as 'diet' these days). Made a 2 1/2 hour walk with the dog though (on an almost-empty stomach, so far for cardio for this week).

tomorrow is leg day. Since I've got the day off, I'll probably get in some miles on the bike
before noon and hit the weight in the evening.

It's now three days since my last back workout, and the soreness is gone ... good! Let's kill that lower back again tomorrow!

Have taken some pics and the diff is already showing .. in one week, the bellies seem to be a little fuller, abs seem a little more defined ... or it could be that my photographer skills are finally coming around .. oh well.

as long as I'm happy ...

 

[Preacher]

See, this is what I mean by a good start of the week!

Slept till 10:30 (oh yeah, long weekends rule!).
Made preps for my 'cardio' session.

WENT ON A 35-MILE ROLLERBLADING TRIP! (I faintly remembered the feeling of wheels under my feet from a whole year ago...).
Yup, no biking today, we decided to give the blades a shot and it went very smoothly ..
the dog was kinda DOA, but she recovers VERY quickly.

Leg day went good (all things considered).
Didn't do any squats (tried but felt kinda shaky on the legs, so went for Leg presses instead).

Could still do 485*6 so my quads weren't too exhausted
(must have been my hips and bum that were tired instead).

Shoulders felt like sh*t - don't know why, will try to add more high-incline presses wednesday to target them a bit more during chest day, we'll see.

Here's a pic of my dog and girl after the trip ...

 

[Robboe]

lmao.

You look in your pics too man.

 

[Preacher]

You look in your pics too man

I look WHAT in my pics (I know I'm not any good - sob ...).

New stats: 155 at 15%BF .. gettin' there.
Must have been really sedentary, if this little cardio knocks of so much fat ...

 

[Robboe]

haha oh shit man sorry. My bad. That was an imposter sentence. Here's the real one:

"You look in your pics too man."

 

[Preacher]

That's kinda like Homer Simpson:

"Oh Lisa, Do I know what retorical means ... ??"

 

[Preacher]

Today's eating sucked big time ...

Today was without contest the worst day of this month (when it comes to dieting).

I know that a cheat day is allowed once a week, but today was just awfull ..
I had chips, Fries, Chicken dips, 2 chocolates ...

That AND I have to be at work VERY early in the morning, so there'll be no time for morning cardio.
Ah well, I'll have to bite through the weekend without the usual binges now (gonna be hard).

Damn, why don't I have more self control when it comes to eating?

 

[Preacher]

Back on track after that cheat day ... Did some grueling lightweight deads friday .. 2 very heavy sets and
after that got to 23 reps with 210 (although they looked more like shrugs in the end according to my training partner ).
Also went all-out on 5 sets of chins (no weighted this time).

Back is feeling pretty good today .. still a little 'heavy' but no joint pains like I feared ..

Made it to the store today .. Eat more chickin!

Got me 5 pounds of frozen salmon (atlantic), 4 pound of tuna and 12 chicken breasts ..
that oughta hold me for the week.

As for training: I'm delaying leg day till tomorrow (back still not 100%):
Since the gym will be closed on wednesday,
I might as well shift the whole program up one day.

Great pump on deads! Will try again!

Oh! Almost forgot! Did 20 minutes of cardio this morning at 5:30am
(went biking - froze my nuts off .. but if that's the price ..).

Now flush that chicken down with a shake!

 

[Preacher]

Been a while, kept myself busy (Actually I'm being kept busy at work,
seems they don't want me to realize I've still got 25 days of leave left ..).

New stats: I'm coming in at 161lbs at 16% BF today

Smacked on some "good" weight (might not show in the pics, what is 4lbs, right ?).

Albeit, I'm on the right track, but at this rate I'll be 80 before I'm at my target weight. Gotta get back in there ..

New pic (added some 'creative lighting' for overall effect ... lol):

 

[lina]

Hi Preacher!

I can definitely see the difference! Especially in your arms!!!

Good work, you look fantastic, very cut!

Gefeliciteerd!

 

[Miss LeDix]

lina, that was very strong-willed of you to comment on the pic (which is very nice by the way) and ignore the fact that the light was coming from his crotch! Very unique, I must say.

 

[lina]

Hehe, well as he said before, he was being creative so...it was ART!!!

Nice work of art!

 

[Preacher]

the light was coming from his crotch

It being only a 15Watts bulb, I resent that comment!

I felt more comfortable taking naked pics than with my boxers pulled down my ankles, so ...
Finally able to see my flexors.. took a while.

My girl thinks my arms are getting to big for my height, go figure..
with 15" arms, I must be a midget ... I always pick the wrong women ..

Next pic will be at 165lbs (haven't figured out the BF% yet, don't think I'll go cutting this summer (since there's not really much left after cutting)).

Thanks for the kind comments , you girls are too sweet!

 

[Erilaya]

just got to add my .02cents.. the bigger the better.. wink.. arms are never too big.. LOL.. hee hee. and umm the creative lighting sounds painful.. hope it was not too hot down there.. aye carumba. You are really looking great. nice cuts.. nice arms.. nice..umm lighting...wink

smiles

Erilay'a

 

[Preacher]

hope it was not too hot down there ..

Tying the flashlight to mr. Winky wasn't too hard,
getting him to look up was the tricky part

Just put myself on the scales again, I'm 161 lbs at 18% BF.
Basically, I just let myself go the last two weeks ..
Nothing too bad, you know, the occasional french fries, pack of M&M's a day, ...

I put a giant "YOU'RE FAT" backgorund on my monitor at work and at home ..
You can never be reminded enough.

Will uppen cardio and watch food intake again. Started today with a good chicken/peas meal, going for a 75-mile MTB-ride tonight ..

I WILL be shredded by the end of next month! Watch my words!

 

[Preacher]

I WILL be shredded by the end of next month!

Famous last words, no ?

I'm feeling a little sick at the moment (pneumonia), but I've agreed to run a 13.5 mile run the first of June,
and my buddy and me would like it to be under 1'20" .. that'll be 10 miles/hour

I'm hoping the training will take some of the excess fat away from the waist and leave some muscle mass there ..
I'm beginning to see that running, biking and bulking are not things that get along nicely

After I kicked this coughing thing, I'm getting back in there, but since I'll be taking in more carbs (running & biking),
I'm not really sure what this will do to my body.

Anyway, let's hit the road!

 

[joecamp4]

75 MILE MTB RIDE!!!!!!
Damn...how long does that take? Great journal by the way. Keep up the good work. Hilarious pic of your girl and dog.

 

[Preacher]

4.5 to 5 hours at 26-27km/h .. wasn't too hard of a trip though, mostly flats and roughs ..

MTB champion Van Meirhaeghe is Belgian, must be the air ...