Daily News Archives
February 2008
02/29/2008 - Incredible weather continues, and inspired a great leg workout yesterday!
02/28/2008 - Perfect day for outdoor lunges; Where to take my monthly pictures?
02/27/2008 - Shoulder feeling better, but going to skip this week's chest workout; Progress.
02/26/2008 - Shoulder pain; Switching my diet up a bit.
02/25/2008 - Costco pizza review; Deads; Ice cream man?
02/24/2008 - Insane Costco shopping spree; Freezer drama.
02/23/2008 - Body fat reading and measurements; Cheat meal today!
02/22/2008 - Almost lunged--and nearly fell--into a big pile of dog crap!
02/21/2008 - Good, but not great, workout; I'm out of shape, picture.
02/20/2008 - Feeling good; Planning on a great workout today!
02/19/2008 - Real good workout yesterday, but not good enough; Tired this morning.
02/18/2008 - Fun day yesterday; Record bloat; Today's back workout.
02/17/2008 - Ah, a day off and my weekly cheat meal!
02/16/2008 - The past week in review; Today's plans; March "100 Challenge" open for entry.
02/15/2008 - Last night's meal; Yesterday's workout; Lunk alert.
02/14/2008 - Leg day; Lean steak for dinner tonight.
02/13/2008 - Enjoying the TV in my gym; Very, very sore.
02/12/2008 - Last night's workout; The benefits of gym mirrors.
02/11/2008 - Home Gym page redesign and update are complete!
02/10/2008 - Home Gym page redesign/new version to be completed today.
02/09/2008 - New backyard brings new fitness opportunities.
02/08/2008 - Update on new home gym page; Backyard fence means easy grilling.
02/07/2008 - New "Home Gym" page not done, but I have lots of pictures!
02/06/2008 - My new gym is complete--big update to my Home Gym page forthcoming.
02/05/2008 - Nice to return to "normal"; Gym almost done; Weak; New AtLarge product!
02/04/2008 - I'm finally back!
02/03/2008 - No update - moving.
02/02/2008 - No update - moving.
02/01/2008 - No update - moving.
February 29, 2008
Yesterday the weather was absolutely stunning, and today will be no different. Some people here in Florida complain about these cold snaps, but I absolutely love them! While it may be a bit frosty first thing in the morning, by mid-day the air is cool and crisp, the sun is warm and the skies are endless seas of deep blue. I love to open the house up when the weather is like this.
The dogs love this kind of weather, too; when I open all the windows they get comfortable in the family room and enjoy the fresh, cool air blowing through the big screened patio doors. They lay quietly for hours at a time, gazing out at the world beyond, and occasionally dozing off. It's so peaceful and relaxing. I wish the weather could be like this every day.
When I went outside to complete my leg workout yesterday the cool air was invigorating. I felt a burst of strength and energy that propelled me to my best walking lunge performance yet. Being outside on such a nice day definitely helped take my workout to a higher level. Now I know why muscle beach was so popular with all the classic bodybuilders. It feels awesome to be outside lifting when the weather is nice. I'm tempted to put a squat rack back there...
Hey, it's Friday! Enjoy it, and I'll see you tomorrow!
February 28, 2008
The weather in my neck of the woods is going to be absolutely stunning today: highs in the upper 50s/lower 60s and crystal clear blue skies. What perfect timing, as today is leg day! I can't wait to get the first half of my workout done so I can head outside and do walking barbell lunges. I really enjoy this exercise, and it's so cool that I finally have a big enough back yard to perform it. This week I'm going to make 100% sure that there are no hidden piles of dog crap.
I've got my monthly pictures coming up on Saturday morning, and I need to figure out where I'm going to take them in my new house. I had a place in mind, but it's not going to work out because we wound up putting furniture in the way. I've got a couple of possible alternate locations, but I need to take a few test shots to make sure the distance and height of the camera is pretty close to what I used at the old house.
After a couple months of no workouts and a fairly crappy diet I have a feeling my pictures this month are not going to be too impressive. At least the photos will serve as strong motivation to continue down the road to being ripped! I have to admit I'm a little nervous about the pictures. I've done well with my diet and training this month, but I'm still not back in shape yet.
Time for breakfast. Have a great day!
February 27, 2008
OK, my shoulder is feeling much better this morning. In fact, it's not bothering me at all, which is surprising because yesterday it really didn't feel too great. I'm somewhat inclined to go forward with today's chest workout, but I think I'm going to play it safe and wait until next week to work my chest again. I'll get some more cardio in this morning instead.
My diet has been spot-on again this week, and my consistency is slowly starting to undo the "damage" caused by two months of crappy food and almost no training. I still have a lot of work ahead of me before I'll be at my preferred body fat percentage, but it feels very satisfying to be well on my way. Another couple of months and I'll be there.
February 26, 2008
My right shoulder got a little tweaked during last week's chest workout. It's not all that bad, but it has been bothering me on and off this week. I think I'm going to do some cardio this morning and wait and see how my shoulder feels tomorrow before making a final decision on this week's chest workout. If it's still hurting tomorrow I'm not going to tempt fate and will skip this week's chest workout.
I'm so completely sick of cod that just typing the word "cod" induces a slight gag reflex. I will be changing my cutting diet a little bit to preserve my sanity. My macros really won't be changing, just my protein sources. I knew I was going to be making this change when I went protein shopping this past weekend, and that's why I bought stuff like shrimp, eye of round, lean turkey, chicken breasts, salmon and orange roughy. These are are good, clean, healthy foods and incorporating them into my cutting diet should not affect my progress at all. In fact, I think making this change will help my progress by greatly reducing the temptation to cheat. Lately I've been so sick of eating the same thing day after day that the temptation to cheat has been extremely strong. I've been able to resist the temptation so far, but I'm only human and at some point I'm probably going to snap and eat an entire chocolate cake fried in butter or something. I think a little variety is just what I need right now. Thinking back to my original transformation in 2003, I was eating a nice variety of foods and I honestly think that was a big factor in my ability to go almost 6 months without a single cheat meal.
OK, I gotta run now. Have a great day!
February 25, 2008
Yesterday morning I got so involved typing up my Costco shopping list and talking about Saturday's freezer drama that I ran out of time before I could discuss the hand-made Costco "Pizza Margherita" cheat meal I had Saturday evening. You know, Costco almost got this one right, but ultimately the pizza was a disappointment. In its favor the pizza looked incredibly appetizing: huge chunks of fresh cheese, large slices of tomato and gigantic whole sweet basil leaves had our mouths watering. We cooked the pizza as directed and it came out of the oven looking perfect. The sauce was hearty and a nice match for the light toppings. What killed it was the horrible crust: bland and dry, and the aftertaste had a mildly rancid oil flavor. I don't know if we got a bad pie--doubtful, as Costco has always impressed me with the freshness of the foods they carry--or if that's just how they taste. Either way, neither of us enjoyed the pizza and didn't even finish it. I won't buy another one.
Today is my back and biceps workout. I think instead of going very heavy on my deads I'm going to do something a little different. I normally do 3 warm-up sets: 20x135, 12x225 and 8x315. Today I'm going to take the 2nd warm-up set (225 lbs) for as many reps as I can, rest one minute and repeat for a total of four sets. That should get my heart rate up, and provide a little break from the wear and tear of going heavy for the past 3 weeks.
OK, why does the ice cream truck drive by my house like 30 times every single day? It seems like every single time I glance up at the security camera I have fixed on the stop sign at the corner of my street there is an ice cream truck sitting there. And the truck is always blaring some vaguely familiar and maddeningly insipid tune from the rusty horn mounted on its roof. It's 8:45 in the morning for crying out loud! Who eats ice cream at 8:45 AM?
February 24, 2008
Yesterday was an interesting day...
As many of you know, I always stock up on my protein foods (among other things) at Costco every 6-8 weeks. I like buying in bulk because it saves time, and with two big freezers I have plenty of space for all the food. Yesterday Lisa and I went to Costco with our two big annual rebate checks in hand: one Costco "Executive" rebate check, and one Costco American Express card rebate check. Both rebates totaled just under $500.00, so we decided what the heck and bought even more food than usual. The total came to just over $800.00, but we bought enough food to last two months or more. Here's a partial list of what I got: 5 pounds Orange Roughy (they were out of Cod fish!), 6 pounds shrimp, 9 pounds Wild Sockeye Salmon (I was so glad to see that Costco is now carrying wild salmon--a little more expensive than farmed, but much better), 4 pounds lean turkey burger, 6 pounds hamburger (not lean, for cheat meals), 56 pounds boneless/skinless chicken breasts, 10 pounds chicken thighs (I don't eat these, but Lisa does), 18 pounds eye of round steak and 18 pounds of Quaker old-fashion oats. We also bought lots of bottled water, Pam cooking spray, coffee beans, chewing gum, olive oil, Glucosamine/Chondroitin/MSM, nuts and canned pineapple.
So here's the interesting part. We got home with all that food, and the freezer in the garage was NOT WORKING! I had just been in the garage freezer that very morning and it was working fine, but when I opened the door after returning from shopping the interior was warm and the compressor was not running. Thank goodness there was no food in there--we were just about out of everything, and what little was left I had just that very morning moved to the main freezer in the kitchen. The problem was there is NO WAY all that food we'd just purchased was going to fit in the main freezer. Lisa and I started calling all over town trying to find someone who could deliver a freezer, like, that minute. Thankfully after almost giving up hope we finally found an appliance company that had a brand new GE 17-cubic foot upright freezer, and could deliver it within the hour. Whew!
So, there went our rebate money. Oh well, I just look at it as getting a freezer for free. Also, as I told Lisa, it could have been far worse: imagine if the freezer had died after we'd loaded it up. We might not have noticed for several days, and all that food would have been ruined.
I see it's almost 9:00 AM, so I'd better get this update sent to the server. Thanks for stopping by--have a nice Sunday!
February 23, 2008
This morning I took a complete set of measurements and a body fat reading. Actually we took several body fat readings, and I went with the highest one for my "official" stat. My body fat has gone down from 11.1% to 10.4% (as measured using a 7-site pinch test with the FatTrack PRO Digital Body Fat Calipers from the JSF Amazon Mall). I've lost a little fat from my waist, thighs and hips and my chest, arms, calves and forearms have all remained the same or increased slightly.
Dropping from 10.4% body fat down to 6% should not be all that difficult. At this point in my cut I can still enjoy a weekly cheat meal, but as I drop below 8% I'm going to have to get 100% strict with my diet and avoid any foods that are not on my all-natural cutting diet.
Speaking of cheat meals, mine is tonight! Last week I had barbecue pork and it was awesome, but I bloated up the next day with 5 pounds of water and it took most of the week to shed that water. This week I'm going with lighter fare: homemade pizza with tomato and basil served with focaccia bread and olive oil. Actually the pizzas we'll be having are not technically "homemade", but they are made fresh at Costco each day. I've seen them at Costco before, but I've never bought one before. I hope they taste as good as they look!
I'd better go get my cardio done--I've got a lot to do today! Enjoy your Saturday.
February 22, 2008
Yesterday's leg workout was even better than last week's workout. I've always had fairly strong legs, and I've not lost much strength at all in that area. It was a nice mental boost to be able to go heavy so soon after returning to my regular workouts.
The rain stopped a few hours before my workout, so once again I was able to do walking lunges in the backyard. The grass was still wet and I was concerned about slipping with loaded barbell across my traps, so I decided to do a couple bar-only test runs. My footing felt surprisingly secure, so I proceeded. The only problem was I somehow missed cleaning up a big pile of dog crap. I suddenly spotted the mess at the very end of my first set just as I was about to lunge into it. I had to adjust my stride with an extra looooong lunge, and my very fatigued legs came extremely close to buckling out from under me. Thank goodness they didn't, because I would have wound up sitting in the dog poo. If I had landed in the smelly pile and were truly hardcore I would have finished the workout covered in dog crap. Mastover certainly would have continued, and Zen probably has dog crap and/or puke on his clothes most of the time anyway. But I'm kind of a clean freak, so in all honestly that incident would have ended the workout for a hot, soapy shower.
Today I'm working delts and traps. My right shoulder is bothering me a little from my chest workout on Wednesday, but it's not too bad. I'm not worried about today's workout, as direct delt work almost never bothers my shoulders--it's mostly chest exercises, such as weighted dips and bench presses, that irritate it.
Happy Friday!
February 21, 2008
Yesterday's workout was good, but not great. I shortened my rest intervals, and that certainly had an effect on the number of reps I was able to do. I was going for maximum intensity, and to that end it was a very solid performance. I think more than anything else I'm having trouble accepting how much size and strength I lost over my extended moving break, and that my body fat is higher than I'd like. What I'm trying to keep in mind is that I've only been back less than three weeks, and with consistency and hard work I will return to form. I do look and feel very out of shape right now (here's a picture I took last night), so I certainly have a lot of motivation to stay on track...
It's already leg day again?! Man, I feel like I just recovered from last week's leg workout. The forecast is calling for rain, but hopefully I'll still be able to go out back and do my walking lunges again--I really enjoyed those last week!
Time for breakfast--have a good day!
February 20, 2008
I think moving my chest and triceps workout from yesterday to today was a wise choice. This morning I feel much more rested than I did yesterday (I slept an extra 30 minutes this morning, too), and I no longer feel like I might be coming down with something. A day of rest and some extra vitamin C (along with 6 clean meals) is all it took to ward off the bug. It just goes to show that it's important to listen to what your body is trying to tell you. So many people I know are sick in bed right now, but I won't even miss a day of training. I'm not saying that I'm infallible to illness, but I honestly believe that I do everything in my power to stack the deck in my favor.
So today is chest and triceps, and I want to blow last week's workout out of the water. Of all the big compounds I'm doing right now, my bench press is where I lost the most ground while I was taking a break from lifting to move and get settled. While I've never had particularly spectacular bench press numbers (in part due to my chronic shoulder problems), my ego is a little bruised right now. I swear, it's a good thing I workout at home. If I worked out in a gym I'd probably be constantly injured because I'm so competitive. I can't help it, it's just how they wired me up at the factory.
I'm late for breakfast, so I'd better get in the kitchen!
February 19, 2008
Despite feeling a little tired yesterday I forced myself to do my workout (back and biceps). I'm glad I pushed through, as it was my best workout since my return. Even though I improved reps and/or weight on all lifts over last week's performance, I can't help but compare my lifts to my all-time personal bests; unfortunately I'm nowhere near those high water marks, and the competitive side of me is annoyed by that. I'm trying to balance my strong competitive drive with a bit of pragmatism to avoid injury. For someone like me, this is harder than it sounds.
By early yesterday evening I started to feel a bit under the weather. There's a lot of stuff going around right now, and I may have picked up something. This morning I feel a little cloudy-headed and slightly run-down, but otherwise OK. I think I'm going to shift today's weight training workout to tomorrow and do some light cardio this morning. I've not been sick in a couple of years, and I really want to keep that streak going and fight this bug off!
I'm going to go get a 30-minute ride in, take a hot shower and get a good breakfast in me. I'll bet I'll feel fine after that. Have a good day!
February 18, 2008
We had a lot of fun yesterday hanging out, eating, drinking and watching the Daytona 500. Actually, we didn't really watch the race until the final 10 laps. I don't follow or even particularly like NASCAR; the race was more an an excuse to have a fun get-together.
As planned, we had pork barbecue for dinner last night and it was incredibly good. After eating so clean all week the high salt content of the cheat meal shocked the heck out of my system; I'm holding 5 pounds of extra water this morning! I think that's a record for me. Heck, I didn't even have any cheese and crackers or desert--just the barbecue dinner.
As good as the cheat meal was, today I'm happy to be back on my regular diet. I was still pretty full this morning (or maybe it was just bloat), so I skipped my normal breakfast of egg whites, natural peanut butter & grapefruit, and just had a protein shake instead.
My legs are still pretty sore from Thursday's workout, but they are recovered enough to allow me to deadlift today. I'm anxious to see how much weight and how many reps I can manage. I feel like my strength is coming back pretty quickly, and deadlifts are such a big exercise that they are a nice benchmark for overall strength progress.
Time for me to get to work. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a great day!
February 17, 2008
This morning I'm going to do some light cleaning and then it's time for a well-deserved afternoon of rest, relaxation, racing and really good (but not so good for me) food! I'm glad I saved my cheat meal for today. We'll probably have some gourmet cheese & crackers for appetizers, and then tonight we're going to have pulled pork barbecue, garlic bread, french fries and baked beans. I've been working hard and eating clean all week long, so I'm really looking forward to my weekly indulgence. Sorry if I just tempted those of you who have already had your weekly cheat meal (or are abstaining from them entirely!)
Enjoy your Sunday--see ya tomorrow!
February 16, 2008
This past week has been very satisfying from a diet and training standpoint. While none of my workouts were especially memorable (save leg day, which introduced outdoor walking lunges), every workout was a very solid effort. This week I continued to build on the progress I made last week; slowly but surely my strength is returning, and I'm feeling more powerful and confident in the gym. Other than one minor deviation from my planned cutting diet (steak as a protein for Valentine's dinner), my diet has been 100% perfect.
Normally tonight would be my cheat meal, but I'm saving it for tomorrow. We're having a little Daytona 500 gathering, and I want to be able to indulge a bit. I think we're going to have pulled barbecue pork--one of my favorite cheat meals!
I can't believe we're closing in on March already--soon it will be beach season! If you want to walk around this summer showing off a body you are proud of, NOW is the time to get serious with your diet and training. I've opened the March "100 Challenge" for entry--JOIN! These challenges are are great way to keep yourself honest and motivated. Details are immediately below today's update.
I'd better get going now because I've still go cardio to do, and my landscape designer friend is coming over right after his morning radio show to plan out our front yard. He did an amazing job with our old home, and I'm very excited to see what he comes up with for our new home. My only request is that he incorporate two or three mature Queen palms, a Magnolia (or two!), perhaps a ligustrum tree and plenty of roses.
Registration for the March 2008 "100 Challenge" is now underway! Your Official Challenge post must be made by 7:00 AM (EST) on March 1, 2008 if you plan to participate--NO EXCEPTIONS! To participate, you must be a member of the forum. If you are not a member, simply create a free account. It can take up to 24 hours for your account to be activated, so don't wait until the last minute to register! For all the details, official rules and sample entry data, just head over to the March 2008 "100 Challenge" thread on the forum. If you are ready to work hard and want to challenge yourself in a fun and competitive environment, then please take part!
February 15, 2008
I'm not presently eating steak as part of my cutting diet, so I don't have any in the freezer right now. Yesterday after work Lisa stopped at the store to pick up a couple of lean cuts for our special Valentine's dinner. They didn't have any lean steaks at all, so we wound up having New York Strips. I trimmed all the fat off the edges and grilled the steaks to a perfect "medium" (with a quick 1-minute sear on each side to give it a nice crust). I served the steaks with huge sides of broccoli. Man, that was one seriously good dinner!
I'm not going to count last night's dinner as my weekly cheat meal. The steak may have had a bit more fat than I'd prefer--especially post-workout--but considering the brutal leg workout I had a few hours prior I think the steak was a fine choice.
So, about that leg workout. Wow. I pre-exhausted with moderate weight sets of leg extensions and lying leg curls, then I went heavy for three sets of barbell squats. Before my workout I placed one of my barbells and some plates out back. After my squats I went outside and did three sets of walking barbell lunges, each to failure. The weather was perfect for outdoor lifting, and I really enjoyed being outside with a barbell across my back. I only have one neighbor right now, and she's out of town, but if anyone else happened to be walking by my fence while I was lunging around the backyard I can only imagine what he or she might have thought was going on. Yeah, I'm a grunter when I workout. I can't help it. Planet Fitness would not really welcome me. I'm just a big, dumb lunk who carries a gallon jug of water around; I unapologetically grunt & bang my way through workouts, and I really like my deadlifts.
Speaking of Planet Fitness, I'm so glad Lisa decided to quit that place after giving our new home gym the "thumbs-up". I can't tell you how disgusted it made me every month when I saw the "Planet Fitness" auto-deduction from our checking account. I really hated giving them my money.
Today is not a very high volume workout, but it's going to be a good one: delts and traps. I am going to do some direct delt work and some Olympic lifts. I think I'm also going to do some leaning dumbbell shrugs at the tail end of the workout. Should be fun...
My stomach is telling me that it's time for breakfast. Thank for stopping by--happy Friday!
February 14, 2008
The weather in Orlando today is absolutely perfect for an outdoor leg workout! It's clear and cold--40 degrees as I type this--but the temperature will warm into the low 60s by workout time. While part of my leg workout will be indoors, I am definitely going to grab a barbell and some plates and head outside for some walking barbell lunges. I've always wanted to be able to do parking lot lunges, but until we moved into our new home my backyard was just too small. I'm really excited about this new exercise, and the weather couldn't be more ideal.
It's Valentine's day, and I will be deviating from my planed diet just a little bit. No chocolate or anything like that, but tonight I'll be preparing lean steak, brown rice
and broccoli for me and Lisa. I normally stick to protein/carb meals after my workouts (especially when cutting), but who is going to argue that a nice lean steak after a
grueling leg workout is a bad thing? Not me! 
Enjoy your day!
February 13, 2008
I did my cardio first thing this morning and having a TV in the gym made the time just fly by. I was watching some MMA action, and my cardio session actually ran a little long because I wanted to see the end of the fight I was watching. While I normally don't mind LISS cardio, sometimes I have to force myself to get in there and do it; with a TV & DVD player in my gym I think those days will become very rare indeed.
I also use the TV when I lift to listen to the digital music service offered by my cable company. They have a music channel for just about every genre of music under the sun. I'm really glad that I decided to add the TV feature to my new home gym. While some might scoff at the idea of having a TV in the gym, if you ask me anything that increases motivation is a good thing.
I'm glad today is a cardio-only day, as I'm unbelievably sore. My back, calves, biceps and forearms are completely fried, and I'm already starting to feel the DOMS in my chest and triceps from yesterday's workout.
I'm really looking forward to leg day (Thursday), as I can't wait to do walking lunges in my new backyard! I always wanted to do them at my old house, but
there was simply no room in my backyard and I was too self-conscious to do them out front. 
Time for me to get to work--have a great day!
February 12, 2008
I'm pleased with my performance in the gym yesterday (but never satisfied!) My strength is up from last week, and yesterday's workout was easily the most concentrated and intense effort since my return.
I used the same weight as last week for my deadlifts, but this week the plates didn't feel twice as heavy as they should have.
I did more reps than I did last week, but I've still got a way to go before I'm back where I was.
I also did T-bar rows and wide-grip lat-pulldowns. I like doing lat-pulldowns as an alternative to weighted pull-ups from time-to-time, as I feel that by doing so I can focus 100% on using my lats to move the weight. I always use straps when doing pull-downs so that my fingers can just hook over the bar. This seems to allow for better lat isolation and helps to minimize bicep recruitment.
I also did vertical calf raises using the Titan's vertical leg press machine, barbell bicep curls and dumbbell hammer curls.
Having the five huge mirrors in my new home gym is very cool! For example, while deadlifting I was able to watch my form from the front and from the side. I noticed as I became more fatigued my shoulders came forward and my back started rounding a little. It was nice to have instant feedback like that. Also, while doing lat pulldowns the mirrors really seemed to assist me in isolating the lats.
I'd better wrap this up and get to work. Man, it's great to be back in the swing of things again!
February 11, 2008
Yesterday was a very productive day, but I didn't get to relax much. After Lisa and I finished cleaning the house I got right back to work on revising the Home Gym page. I finished up around 6:00 PM, and got it uploaded shortly thereafter. You can check it out here.
I think I covered all my current equipment on the new "Stage 4" home gym page, but I'll go back over everything today and look for any accidental omissions or anything that requires further clarification/correction. If you have a question or see that I forgot to cover something, shoot me an email and I'll try to address it in a future revision.
Today is back, biceps and calves. Last week was sort of a "welcome back to training" warm-up week, and this week I'm going to start stepping up the intensity. I definitely lost some strength and some lean mass while on hiatus. Even though I'm cutting right now, I should be able to gain strength and maybe even a little size thanks to muscle memory. We shall see!
February 10, 2008
This is going to be a brief update, but I have a good excuse: I've been hard at work redesigning the home gym page and working on newest "stage"!
I decided that having all the different stages on one page was not a wise design choice, so I gave each stage its own separate page. I've already made those changes "live", and you can check out the new format here.
I'm now working on the current version of my home gym page, and I will complete it today. Unfortunately I have to break away for awhile to clean the house with Lisa, but I promise that as soon as I'm done with the cleaning I'll return to this project until it is finished and uploaded to the site, so check back later today!
6:23 PM EST EDIT: Home Gym Page is complete and uploaded!
February 09, 2008
I'm sorry, but I didn't have time to complete the home gym page yesterday. I promise to carve out some time this weekend and get it done by Monday morning at the latest! I know some of you are anxious to learn where I bought everything, my thoughts on the new equipment and the approximate costs, so thanks for your patience as I get everything typed up!
Our vinyl backyard fence will be completed today! It's 95% done as of this morning--all that remains is the gate and about 8 more feet of fence. Our new backyard is about 4 times as large as our old backyard, and there is a huge amount of open space. The large fenced backyard has several fitness-related benefits:
First of all, as I mentioned yesterday, I can finally put my grill on the back patio again. I love to grill my chicken breasts, steak and shrimp, so not having easy access to my grill was driving me nuts. That ends today!
Something else occurred to me this morning while I was out back enjoying the sunrise... all that extra space is going to be AWESOME for walking lunges:
We plan to put in a pool and do some landscaping around the patio and pool area, but there is still going to be a huge amount of open space that I won't ever get rid of. This extra space is a great place for the dogs to play, and for me to do outdoor weight training. I'm very excited about that prospect, and will be definitely be doing some walking barbell lunges (aka "parking lot lunges") this week on leg day!
I've got a lot to do today, so I'd better get it in gear. Have a great Saturday!
February 08, 2008
I got up early this morning and managed to get quite a lot of work done on the revised home gym page. I should be able to complete it this evening and have it up by tomorrow morning. The home gym page is getting quite large, so I'm thinking about breaking it up into separate pages for each of the four "stages". If you missed yesterday's update, I went ahead and posted all the new photos with short descriptions here.
My diet and training have been on-point this week, but I decided to have my weekly cheat meal last night. That means I'm going to have to be good and resist the strong temptation to cheat on Saturday night, which is my usual cheat meal night.
Thankfully our backyard fence will be completed on Saturday (as of this morning it's about halfway done). Right now grilling is a
bit of a pain because I have to keep the grill in the garage or someone would probably steal it. Once the fence is up and I can lock the
gate I'll feel more comfortable about leaving our expensive grill outside on the back patio. I like to grill pretty much all my protein foods, so
I'm very excited about having easy access to my grill again... and I'm even more excited to finally be able to let the dogs explore their new back yard
without their leashes! Our new backyard is like 4 times the size of our old back yard, so Loki and Turtle are going to have a
blast running and playing! 
Happy Friday!
February 07, 2008
I'm afraid that I didn't have time to even start on the revised home gym page yesterday. The more I think about the changes, the more I realize that it is going be a fairly significant undertaking; it may take me a few more days to get it done. I want to do it right!
I did take all new pictures yesterday, and I sorted through them and selected ten photographs for the new page. I think these new photos do a good job of displaying the entire gym. I've gone ahead and posted all the new photos with short descriptions in my picture gallery journal. You can check them out here.
My body has undergone many changes since I started working out back in 2003, and my gym has evolved right along with it:
-=> My home gym, January 2003 <=-
-=> My home gym, February 2008 <=-
A lot of planning went into making the best use of the space in my new gym, but until it all came together I couldn't be 100% sure how well it would work in practice. Now that everything is in place and I've done a few workouts in there, I couldn't be more pleased with the end result.
February 06, 2008
Except for the window treatments, my new home gym is finally done!
Yesterday the gym's HDTV arrived and I mounted it on an articulating mount placed close to the ceiling at the corner of two walls. I'm so glad I had the builder pre-wire for cable and electricity 18" down from the ceiling in my gym. The television looks awesome there, and there are no wires showing at all. The TV looks like it's just floating up there in the corner. Very cool.
Last night I also got the gym's artwork completed and hung on the walls. I framed and matted some 8x10 black & white photographs of some of my favorite classic bodybuilders: I've got an awesome photo of Frank Zane, a great shot of Mike Mentzer posing the beach and, of course, several shots of Arnold (including a mind-blowing side-chest pose). The pictures are very motivational to me, and really add a nice finishing touch to my gym.
Finally, I installed 16 brushed-steel hooks mounted on white backplates on the walls. These hooks get my wrist wraps, straps, hooks, dip belt and other stuff like that off the floor and ready for quick use.
There are a lot of other things in the gym that I will go into detail about, including all the equipment I use, the flooring, the mirrors and even the radio-controlled clock! I'll list all the stuff that I have in there, where I got it and the approximate costs. I'll also do mini-reviews on all the newer stuff that I have not yet reviewed. It's going to be a huge update to my home gym page! My goal today is to get a whole bunch of photographs and complete the write up. I hope to have it done tonight.
February 05, 2008
It felt really nice yesterday to return to my "normal" routine. Sort of like slipping into old, very comfortable clothes. I did diverge from my planned diet slightly because I forgot that I had some salmon defrosting in the refrigerator and didn't want to waste it. I made my cilantro salmon recipe, but I spiced it up a bit with a fresh jalapeņo, a little red pepper and some ginger. It was awesome, and very healthy.
I've already installed the articulating HDTV wall mount bracket high on the wall in my home gym, and today the trucking company is supposed to deliver the television! Installing the TV should take less than 15 minutes. I still plan to put up framed photographs of some of my favorite classic bodybuilders, and Lisa keeps insisting that we have a cornice installed over the top of the window in there (my reply: "...but it's a GYM!@#"). Other than those two items my new home gym should be completed today. I don't think I'm going to wait for those purely aesthetic items to be completed before taking pictures and updating my home gym page, so you can expect a big home gym update tomorrow or the next day!
I sure have lost a lot of strength and size over the past couple of months. I felt like a wimp in the gym yesterday! I was able to deadlift around the same weight I was using before I tore down my Titan, but for far less reps. I'm confident that with a few months of hard work my strength and at least some of my size will return, but it's probably going to take a full-on bulking phase to get me back to where I was.
Some of you may already be aware that AtLarge Nutrition is launching a new product this week. I've known Chris (co-owner of AtLarge) for years, and I've never seen him this excited about a new product! He has been using this product (called "RESULTS™") on his latest cut, and he has gained strength while shedding body fat--on a caloric deficit. I'm cutting right now, but I'm utilizing a carb-cycling approach so I can't try the product yet (it contains dextrose). I definitely plan to try it on my next bulk, though. I'm very interested in reading reviews from the JSF members, so if you try the product please be sure to post your thoughts! See immediately below this update for a personal message from Chris Mason of AtLarge Nutrition.
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AtLarge Nutrition - New Product Launch: RESULTS™! Daniel and I are very proud to announce our newest and most potent ergogenic supplement to date, RESULTS™. The product will be available for sale at www.atlargenutrition.com the evening of Wednesday February 6th, 2008. I am going to diverge from our normal announcements and marketing to make a personal statement about this product. I have been using it for the better part of a month now. During this time I have decided to go on a cut and lose as much body fat as possible. To that end I have severely limited my caloric intake. In the past, to include preparing for bodybuilding shows, I have experienced pronounced loss of strength and muscle when attempting to get as lean as possible. My experience with this cut has been like nothing I have ever personally gone through or witnessed (with the caveat of individuals who were using anabolic steroids while dieting). I have lost a tremendous amount of body fat in a very short timeframe and have simultaneously added strength and lean muscle tissue! I have quite literally never looked better in my life and I am setting PRs in the gym every session! Anyone who knows me online, or in person, knows that I do not lie or exaggerate about experiences. Quite honestly this cut has blown my mind and made me more excited than I have ever been about any product AtLarge has ever released. The ONLY thing I have done differently on this cut is to include RESULTS™. I attribute my extraordinary experience entirely to the product. To be clear, RESULTS™ is NOT a fat burner. It is a product which promotes increased lean muscle mass and strength. The fact it has provided me the results I have experienced while cutting is to me an unbelievable testament to its efficacy. I know there will be doubters who read this. I am writing it simply because I cannot think of another way to relay my absolute belief and enthusiasm about this product. Bottom line, there is a lot of hype out there on a lot of products, but what I am relaying to you is nothing more or less than what I have personally experienced. I am 100% confident that you will share my excitement about this product after using it.
Chris Mason
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February 04, 2008
It's great to be back! 
The time I took off to move and get settled was only a little over a month, but it feels like I've been away forever! I've been looking forward to this morning for quite some time. I missed updating the site, but it was necessary; I've been very, very busy over the past few weeks.
First of all, Lisa and I are in the new house and all settled in now. Everything has been unpacked and put away, and we feel right at home. We're still waiting on some furniture to be delivered, the window treatments to be completed and a few other things like that, but for the most part the move and the "settling in" process is finally behind us!
The move itself was a grueling 3-day ordeal that required 5 fully loaded 24-foot trailers. Chris (1FasGTX) helped on the first day (two huge trailers full of stuff), and me, Lisa and her parents did 3 more trailers over the next two days. By the end of those three days I was a bruised, banged up, tired, blistered mess. It's been a little over a month since the move, and one of my big toenails is still black. I must have stubbed that same toe a dozen times while we were moving. At least it doesn't hurt anymore.
After we got all our stuff in the new house, I didn't waste any time. I worked non-stop every single day for weeks on end: unpacking, assembling, putting things away, installing, painting, doing all kinds of random projects and on and on...
I'm very single-minded, and that's both a blessing and a curse; it's why I needed to take time off from work and from this site to move. I knew I'd want to devote every spare minute and all my resources to the task at hand. I'm glad I did it that way.
My Titan home gym was not nearly as difficult to unassemble and reassemble as I thought it would be. I installed my new gym flooring the day before we closed on the house, and I got the Titan assembled in just a few hours a few days after we moved in. Over the past few weeks I've been putting the finishing touches on the new gym, including some awesome HUGE glassless mirrors and a wall-mounted HDTV on an articulating arm (the TV will be delivered this week). The TV should make those LISS cardio sessions fly by! Anyway, once I get the TV installed I'm going to get a bunch of pictures of my new home gym and update my Home Gym page. I'll go into detail on the mirrors, the flooring and everything else in there. Look for that update later this week!
So, for almost the first month at the new house we had no refrigerator. Sears was backordered on the one we ordered (ordered way back in AUGUST--don't get me started). We have a spare fridge in the garage, but wouldn't ya know it, the refrigerator started malfunctioning and we couldn't keep any fresh food in it...
...and that brings me to my diet and training. I'll sum it up for you in two words: TOTAL CRAP. My diet has been terrible, and my training has been almost non-existent. The week before last was the only week that was "perfect": I ate clean all that week, trained very hard and didn't miss any workouts or meals. The rest of the time I've been eating poorly, missing meals and not working out. I've been so focused on all the projects that everything else took a backseat for awhile. I knew it was going to be like that, and I don't regret it.
My body weight has not changed (I'm still at 197 pounds), but I have lost a little muscle and added some fat. I'm between 11% and 12% body fat right now (measured 11.1% two weeks ago), and my strength in the gym is down. I'm bloated right now from last night's Super Bowl pizza, so I'm going to wait a couple days to take a new measurement. Actually, considering the way I've been eating, I can't belive I didn't put on more fat.
So, the plan now, of course, is to get back to my normal diet and training starting today! I'll be cutting back down to 6-7% body fat, and I'll be following the exact same diet and training plan that I used for my 2007 cutting cycle. I'm going to start with week 14 of that plan because at that point in the cut I was around the same body fat level as I am now. This is a carb-cycling diet, and it utilizes 100% all-natural foods.
My training split will be as follows:
Monday: Weight training: back, biceps & calvesTuesday: Weight training: chest & triceps
Wednesday: Stationary bike, 30 mins (aerobic, fasted AM); Stationary bike, 10-18 mins (HIIT, PM)**
Thursday: Weight training: quads, hamstrings & calves
Friday: Weight training: delts & traps
Saturday: Stationary bike, 30 mins (aerobic, fasted AM); Stationary bike, 10-18 mins (HIIT, PM)**
Sunday: Stationary bike, 30 mins (aerobic, fasted AM); Stationary bike, 10-18 mins (HIIT, PM)**
Well, it sure feels great to be back to "normal" again. I'm very excited to finally return to my usual daily updates to this site! I'm also more than ready to get back to a clean diet and hard training.
I've got a busy work day ahead, so I'd better sign off now. More tomorrow...
February 01, 2008 - February 03, 2008
No update - moving.
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