Daily News Archives

November 2005

 

11/30/2005 - Last night's workout; Intensity, drive and focus for results; New photo.
11/29/2005 - Bulking: one month progress report.
11/28/2005 - Very sore; Change is important for growth; Last night's workout; New photo.
11/27/2005 - Last night's delt/traps workout; Upright rows; Tonight's bicep/tricep workout.
11/26/2005 - Last night's leg workout; Tonight's workout; Working on Titan review.
11/25/2005 - Thanksgiving pictures.
11/24/2005 - Happy Thanksgiving; Workout updates; New photo.
11/23/2005 - Last night's back workout; New pictures; Tonight's chest workout; Tomorrow.
11/22/2005 - Cold, windy morning; Tentative new back workout.
11/21/2005 - Weekend recap; Last night's workout; New picture; New Video.
11/20/2005 - Early Christmas workout; New pictures; New Video.
11/19/2005 - Giving thanks and the power of positive thinking.
11/18/2005 - 16.5 inches, cold. Key differences between this year's bulk and last year's bulk.
11/17/2005 - Picture page feedback; Yesterday's chest & abs workout; Calm before the storm.
11/16/2005 - Redesigned picture page/CMS is live; Yesterday's back workout.
11/15/2005 - Updates: Titan review, merchandise redesign, redesigned picture page/CMS.
11/14/2005 - The weekend; Last two workouts; Cardio day.
11/13/2005 - Yesterday's delt workout; New pictures; Euphoria.
11/12/2005 - Size gains; New measurements; Shoulder update/delts day.
11/11/2005 - Smilies are done; Why I love Friday.
11/10/2005 - Shoulder doing good; Last night's workout; RSS/XML; Smilies; 1FastGTX.
11/09/2005 - Logo finalized; New feature: RSS feeds; More pictures; Fan mail.
11/08/2005 - New logo is up; Tonight's workout/shoulder.
11/07/2005 - Shoulder updated; Workout log/new pictures; New music; Lisa.
11/06/2005 - Shoulder pain; Yesterday's workout; New pictures.
11/05/2005 - Yesterday's leg workout; ATW has new products!
11/04/2005 - Forum upgrade complete; Leg day.
11/03/2005 - Forum upgrade notice.
11/02/2005 - First bulking workout; New pictures; My strength training program in detail.
11/01/2005 - The last three years: A retrospective.

 

November 30, 2005

It's been roughly 12 hours since my back workout, and I'm already starting to feel the DOMS. For several reasons, last night's workout was a breakthrough workout...

First, I elected to utilize the lifting straps that have been sitting idle on my gym floor for the past couple of years. Simply put, the strength of my back has outpaced the strength of my grip. Over the past few months I've been consistently adding 10 pounds per week to my deads, and last week my grip started to fail me. Last night I added another 10 pounds, but had to stop and adjust my grip a couple of times during the first set. After that first set I decided put on the straps and that changed everything; the straps allowed me to focus on the body part I was working instead of worrying about hundreds of pounds slowly slipping from my hands. I also utilized the straps for the weighted wide-grip pull-ups and the shrugs. The straps allowed me to go heavier on the shrugs than normal and perform far more reps. I'm feeling the results of that this morning.

The other reason last night's workout felt like a "breakthrough" was due to my intensity and resolve. I always go into the gym with single-minded focus and the desire to push myself to new levels. Encouraged by the first month of my bulk and with yesterday's Daily News Update echoing in my brain, I hit the weights like I never have before. I'm going to strive to increase that level of intensity each and every workout for the rest of my bulk. I know I have a lot more in me, and I'm going figure out how to tap into that power.

Do you have a plan, or do you go into the gym and just throw the weights around for a little while? Do you chat and laugh with your workout partner and the people around you, or do you maintain focus at all times? Are you intense, or do you barely break a sweat? When you step into the gym you should be thinking about one thing, and one thing only. If you half-ass it, you're going to get half-assed results. Be honest with yourself. Challenge yourself to step it up. Work hard and push yourself past your "limits" each and every time you step into the gym. You want results? You gotta earn them, and it ain't easy.

For more details on last night's workout along with a new photo, check out my photo journal. Here's the direct link to last night's entry.

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November 29, 2005

The first month of my current bulking cycle is drawing to a close, so I thought I'd do a status check (all measurements are cold/unpumped):

Body Weight: +12.8 pounds (currently 201.6 pounds)
Body Fat: +4.5 pounds
Lean Mass: +8.3 pounds
Waist: +1 Inch (currently 31.75 inches)
Hips: +3/4 Inch (currently 38.75 inches)
Arms: +1/2 Inch (currently 16.5 inches)
Thighs: +1.5 Inches (currently 24 inches)
Calves: +1/2 Inch (currently 16.5 inches)
Chest: +1/2 Inch (currently 42.75 inches)

Current statistics, along with all my stats history, can always be found here. My weight statistic is updated daily, and I take new measurements at least once per week.

I added some body fat, but that's to be expected. I'm definitely packing on some quality mass and growing stronger. Not surprisingly, my arms and legs are growing the fastest: they are my genetic strong points. My delts, traps and lats are not reflected in the above measurements (except, I suppose, upper lats in my chest measurement), but they are starting to show good improvement in the mirror. Of course it's only been 4 weeks, and I expect the next two months to be even better. I've been working very, very hard and have not missed so much as a single meal, let alone a workout. While I'm encouraged by my progress thus far, I know I can do even better. Hey, there's always room for improvement. I'm going to dig deep this month and push myself harder than I've ever pushed before. At the end of December I'm going to look at November as a vacation by comparison! Intensity? You ain't seen nothin' yet. Tonight's back workout is going to be insane.

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November 28, 2005

"Ouch!" That word pretty much sums up how I'm feeling this morning. Not a bad "ouch", but a good one. The pain I'm feeling right now reminds me that I worked my tail off in the gym over the past three days. The soreness is a constant, and oddly welcome, reminder that my muscles are rebuilding. By the time I work those muscles again, they will be bigger and stronger than ever.

I think one of the reasons I'm so sore is because I changed all my exercises routines up this week. This extra soreness I'm feeling reinforces the notion that our bodies adapt quickly and, for maximal results, regular change is required. Even though I'm working the same muscles I've always worked, changing the exercises works them slightly differently. As long as I fuel my body properly and get plenty of rest, my body will respond to the new challenges by growing.

Last night's workout was my biceps/triceps superset workout. My new exercise routine, along with details of the workout and a new photo (arms almost 18 inches!), can be found in my photo journal. As always, here's a direct link to last night's post-workout entry.

To those of you have been away celebrating Thanksgiving, welcome back! Our Thanksgiving day was wonderful (our photos).

Mercifully, I have no weight training today. Just some light cardio this morning and some well-deserved rest. I'm going to need it: tomorrow is back day and it's going to be a killer workout.

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November 27, 2005

I had a fine delts/traps workout last night. My new delts training routine can be found in my journal. Here's the direct link to last night's entry. As you'll see a little further down in the thread, "JoeSchmo" pointed me to some articles that discuss the upright row, and how hard it is in the shoulder. This was new information to me, and I'm glad Joe took the time to mention it. Obviously with my shoulder problems I try to avoid exercises that are especially hard on it, such as behind-the-neck pull-ups/lat pull-downs/overhead presses. I think I can add upright rows to that list, too. Needless to say I'll be making an adjustment next week. As I mentioned in the thread, I'll probably substitute an extra exercise for one of the three delt heads, and rotate that every 3 weeks.

Tonight is my favorite workout of the week: bicep/tricep superset workout! I'll be changing my exercises up, but I have not worked it out yet. I'll work on that later today and will post the final routine in my journal tonight after my workout.

Have a fantastic Sunday!

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November 26, 2005

Fueled by my vast post-Thanksgiving meal energy reserves (along with several meals of leftovers), I gave my legs one hell of a beating last night. I switched up my workout and I really like how it felt. Details on the new leg routine and last night's workout are in my journal. Here's the direct link to last night's post-workout entry.

Tonight is delts and traps, and I still need to create my new workout. I'm going to do that later today and will post it in my journal tonight. Thankfully I've had zero shoulder pain lately, and for that I'm definitely thankful!

In case you missed yesterday's update, I've posted our 2005 Thanksgiving pictures.

Until 6:00 PM when my delts workout starts, today should be pretty relaxing. I'm going to spend some time working on my Titan review, which easily could be summarized as: "If you lift weights, you have the money and you have the room, buy it".

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November 25, 2005

Short update today, I'm running late because I wanted to get the Thanksgiving 2005 photo album done in time for this morning's news. Our Thanksgiving was awesome, and hope yours was, too. Here are this year's pictures.

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November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans! As I wrote earlier this week, I think each of us should take a little time every single day to focus on all the good things in our lives. To me, Thanksgiving is the "formal" day on which family and friends gather and celebrate that which we should never lose sight of in the first place.

I could fill a book with all things for which I'm thankful, but I want to name a few: Thank you, Lisa, for giving me the best 17 years of my life, for making each year better than the last and for always being there no matter what; thank you, Mom, for being unconditionally supportive and loving; thank you, Don and Bernie, for being my "Florida" parents and treating my like your own son; thank you, Loki and Turtle, you are the best puppies in the whole world and you bring me more joy and happiness than you'll ever know; thank you to all my friends who understand and accepted the changes I've made in my life; thank you to all the people who visit my web site and have made positive changes in your own lives - you inspire me more than you may realize; thank you to the forum members who make up the JSF online community - I consider you all family; thank you to all my sponsors and to the people who continue to support the web site and forums financially - without you, all this would be a memory.

I'm also thankful for some of the more material things in my life, because they bring me great pleasure (and there's nothing wrong with that!): I have a good job, a nice home that is full of new furniture and adorned with fresh paint and professional landscaping, plenty of food to eat, a sweet car, a nice wardrobe of clothes, a luxury watch, a big home theater with great picture & sound, loads of DVDs to watch, guitars, a telescope, a room full of computers and network equipment, an alarm system, firearms and two big dogs (I figured that I should put that information in there at this point ;)).

No workout today, just lots of cooking, food and fun. My back is REALLY sore this morning (and in all the right places), so I've decided to stick with the new back workout I did on Tuesday. I also did my new chest workout last night, and it was excellent. Details of the workout along with a new photo are in my journal. Here's the direct link to last night's entry.

Have a wonderful day!

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November 23, 2005

I went with the new exercises I posted yesterday for last night's back workout. For details on the workout along with some new pictures (and some comparison photos of my back's progress), check out my photo journal on the forum. Here's a direct link to last night's entry.

Tonight is chest and abs. Here's my planned workout, which I will do for the next three weeks:

CHEST
4x10 Smith machine bench press
4x10 Incline DB press
4xBurnout Weighted dips
4x10 High cable cross-over (middle chest)

ABS
4xBurnout Incline weighted crunches
4xBurnout Vertical leg raises

Again, I may change some of that before tonight's workout. If I do, I'll post the revised workout in my journal tonight.

Today is my last day of work for four whole days! I can't wait for tomorrow, it should be a wonderful day. I'm really looking forward to having everyone over for the day and cooking. More on that tomorrow. Until then, enjoy!

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November 22, 2005

It sure is windy and cold (well, cold for Orlando!) this morning. The dogs love to go outside when it's like this - the cold weather makes them very playful and frisky. I like it, too. It feels good to go outside and feel something besides heat and humidity.

I'm starting the fourth week of my bulk, and that means it's time to switch up my exercises. Tonight is back and traps night, and I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do, but I'm thinking something like this:

BACK
4x10 Reverse-grip upright ez-bar rows
4x10 Weighted wide-grip pull-ups
4x10 T-Bar rows
4x10 Deadlifts

TRAPS
4xBurnout Dumbbell shrugs

I may change that before tonight's workout. I'll post the final workout in my journal tonight.

Time for me to get to work - just two more days of work before the 4-day holiday weekend, and I have a lot to get accomplished before then. Have a great day!

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November 21, 2005

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Lisa and I spent Saturday cleaning and decorating for the holidays (very early, I know, but we were in the mood), and Sunday we watched some DVDs, finished the decorating and Lisa did some shopping.

As for my workouts, they were both outstanding. I know many of you don't visit the site on the weekend, so check out Yesterday's "Christmas delts workout" update if you missed it. It's pretty funny.

Yesterday I was feeling really good - lots of energy, very positive and in good spirits. I was looking forward to my workout all day long, and by the time 6:00 PM rolled around I felt like I was going to come unglued! I took all that energy and left it in the gym; it was an awesome workout! I had so much fun shooting the quick video during my delts workout, that I decided to shoot another one last night. The details of this workout along with the video and some new pictures can all be found in my Sunday journal update.

It's been three weeks since I started bulking, so this week I'll be switching up most of my exercises. I'll post the new workouts in my journal, and perhaps here.

Well, today's a cardio day. I'd better get started because it's a short work week and it's bound to be a very busy three days!

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November 20, 2005

Last night's shoulder/traps workout was... interesting. Have you ever grunted out heavy-ass upright cable rows while Jewel sings, "Fall on your knees/Hear the angel's voices/O night divine"? Well, I have. For more details on last night's magical early Christmas workout (complete with pictures and a very silly video I made of myself in the middle of the workout), check out my photo journal. Here's a direct link to last night's workout log.

The inside of the house is done, but there's still more work to do. Today Lisa and I will be outside working in the yard. Actually there's just some weed pulling and a bit of trimming, so it shouldn't take too long. We'll probably get to relax and watch a couple of DVDs before my tricep/bicep workout tonight (sans Christmas music, I assure you).

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November 19, 2005

Thanksgiving is this coming Thursday (USA), and I've got a lot to accomplish before the big gathering at our house. Today Lisa and I will be shopping, cleaning and planning the festivities. I like this time of year a lot. I'm looking forward to the cool weather, a few days off from work and spending time with my family and friends.

It's dangerously easy to take all the good things in our lives for granted. Many of us spend a lot of our time complaining about our problems instead of focusing on the countless positive things in our lives. I've found that if I take a little time each day to think about how fortunate and blessed I am, the problems I face are put into proper perspective. I encourage those of you who only give thanks one day a year (or not at all), to spend a little time each day considering the good in your life. Focus on adding something new to that list of good things each day. When I was a negative thinker, little things like an appliance breaking down would send me into a tailspin. How spoiled of me! If my dishwasher broke down this morning, it wouldn't make me angry or upset; I'd wash the dishes by hand while thinking about how fortunate I am to have a machine that washes my dishes (even if it needs repair)! I'm not saying I never get angry, that's silly. What I'm talking about is making a conscious effort to think positive and put life's problems into their proper perspective.

I'd better get going, I've got a haircut at 8:30 AM and I still need to shower and eat! Have a wonderful day.

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November 18, 2005

I had a nice day of rest yesterday, and am more than ready to work my legs tonight. While I was sitting around yesterday afternoon wishing I could lift, I decided to measure my arm while it was "cold" (no pump). I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I've already hit 16.5 inches, cold. That's the biggest my arms have ever been, and I'm only 2 weeks into my bulk (and still at a fairly low 9% body fat). I have to admit that I'm a little surprised that I've broken new ground so quickly. I started thinking about some of the key differences between this bulk and my last bulk (which was very successful). I think some of these differences are why my body is responding so well. Here's what I came up with:

I thought I'd post that information because maybe it will be useful to some of you. This journey is a continuous learning process and we're all different, so I can't guarantee that any of the stuff I posted above is right for you. However, it might be worth looking into if you're having trouble gaining mass.

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November 17, 2005

Thanks for all the positive feedback on the redesign of the Pictures section of the site. The thumbnails make browsing the "other pictures" archive much easier and more enjoyable. I knew an upgrade to that section of the site was long overdue, but I never seemed to have the time to get to it. I decided to work on it a little bit at a time whenever I could. Before I knew it, the project was completed. Adding new pictures is so fast and easy now that I may go back and add some older pictures that I never bothered to put up before.

Last night was chest and abs. I had a little pain in my left shoulder, which is my "good" shoulder (although I don't really have a "good" shoulder, so I guess I should call it my "less bad" shoulder). Anyway, the pain was not too bad and it actually went away during the workout. This morning both shoulders feel good. I've got a little pre-DOMS tightness in my chest and it's only been a little over 12 hours since my workout. Yesterday's workout log along with some new pictures can be found here.

No lifting today, just cardio. I think of Thursday as the calm before the storm: the onslaught begins tomorrow with legs, continues on Saturday with delts and traps and the finale is Sunday with an intense bicep/tricep superset workout. By Monday I'll feel like I was hit by a jet airplane, but in a good way. :)

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November 16, 2005

I've pretty much completed the CMS (Content Management System) and the new layout for the pictures page, and have made it "live" as of this morning! I set out to create a simple CMS but it wound up getting a lot more complicated. I am using the GD libs to dynamically re-size and crop the full-sized images and then display them as uniform 120x120 thumbnails, regardless of the aspect ratio of the original picture.

Resizing images in realtime is very CPU-intensive, so I had to implement a caching system, and it seems to be working very well: If the main image ever changes, then a new thumbnail image is automatically generated in realtime the first time a visitor requests the new thumbnail image. The fresh thumbnail is then stored in a special cache directory on the server. It's these cached images that are served up for all future requests so that GD doesn't have to generate them in realtime. Anytime an image is added or altered, the thumbnails are automatically generated and cached. It's a great system and will make life much easier when it comes to adding new pictures to the site.

The alternative to this system, of course, is to have my CMS automatically resize the images I upload and then place them in a thumbs directory at the time of upload. I went with the more dynamic solution because it seems more "hands-off", and, as a bonus, I didn't have to re-upload all my current images!

I also had to write a front-end to make adding new pictures a snap, and then I had to automate the display of the images to automatically sort them from newest to oldest, and automatically divide them into the proper years. There's also some simple mouseover stuff going on. Everything is done with GD, PHP and MySQL. There are a couple of other features I may add soon, but for the most part I'm pleased with how it came out. You can check it out here (scroll down to the "Other Pictures" section).

I had an insane back workout yesterday! I didn't take any pictures, but here's a direct link to yesterday's post-workout log.

Tonight's chest and abs, and it should be a good one. Right now my stomach is telling me it's time to eat, so I'd better get on that. See ya tomorrow!

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November 15, 2005

I'm juggling a few JSF-related projects right now. Let me bring you up to speed:

First, I'm working on the official JSF Titan review. It's going to be pretty detailed, so it's taking a while to get it right. I've gone back and redesigned the outline about 3 times now. I'm trying to strike the right balance between informative and overkill.

Another project I'm just getting started on is the JSF merchandise re-design. Everything will be redesigned using the new logo. Some items will be retired, and the product line will be more streamlined. Some like simple designs (like the current product line) and we'll have that, but some people want more color and more visual pizzazz. If you have an idea, feel free to send any design suggestions my way.

The third project I've been working on is programming a simple CMS for the "Other Pictures" section of the pictures page. The current "Other Pictures" section is just a hyperlinked list of textual descriptions. The list is growing way too long, it's ugly, it's cumbersome and it's a royal pain for me to add new pictures. The new system I'm working on will display thumbnails of each image along with the date. I'll probably group them by year. Anyway, when you "mouseover" the thumbnail image, a popup will show the complete description of that image. Clicking the image will enlarge it and show the full date and description. I'll probably also add navigation buttons to the enlarged image pages so you don't have to return to the index if you just want to browse through them all. I may add individual image counters and a user comments system, too, but I'm undecided about that since my thread on the forum already has comments/discussion well-covered. The front-end for adding new images will be entirely web-based, so adding new photos to the web site will take mere seconds instead of several minutes. I'm excited about completing this project because it will allow me to take my picture whoredom to dizzying new heights. Whenever I can do something to please my supporters while stimulatingly further enraging my detractors, I'm all over it. :) This project should be done very soon...

Tonight's back and traps night, and I can't wait! Last night was not a training night, and I was absolutely coming out of my skin. I know I was driving Lisa crazy, so - sorry about that, dear!

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November 14, 2005

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I got some work done around the house, Lisa and I spent some time outside working in the gardens, we watched a couple of movies and I had a couple of very intense and very rewarding strength training workouts: On Saturday I worked my delts & traps and yesterday I toasted my biceps & triceps (links go to their respective journal entries w/photos).

My shoulder feel fine this morning, so that's a huge relief. My two workouts over the weekend were pretty tough, so if my shoulder was going to hurt it would be hurting right now for sure. I'm glad I was able to work through it this time, I've built up a good head of steam and I don't want to slow down for anything.

I only do cardio two days per week now, and today is one of those days. I'd better go get started because I've got a long work day ahead. See ya!

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November 13, 2005

I'm pleased (and relieved) to report that my shoulder held up just fine for yesterday's delt and traps workout. There's a little pain this morning, but I'd say it's only 10% of what I was feeling last week. I guess I just strained it.

As for yesterday's workout, my shoulder felt so good after the first set that I decided to forgo the planned reduced weight "test" workout and use normal, heavy weights. It was an excellent workout, and, as you can tell from yesterday's ecstatic post-workout journal entry I was just a wee bit amped up when it was over. I took a couple of new pictures, too. Here's the direct link.

Tonight I'm going to hit my biceps and triceps. Because I superset those two body parts, it's probably my most intense and unforgiving workout. It also happens to be my favorite workout. I'm sure I'll be posting another over-the-top journal entry tonight, ranting and raving as I revel in my euphoric post-workout buzz. As a former chronic pot smoker, I can honesty tell you that the buzz I used to get from weed and other drugs does not even approach the feeling I get after a great weight training work out.

Enjoy your day!

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November 12, 2005

Post-cheat meal bloat is in full effect this morning: My face and body are puffy and I feel a bit groggy. I'm up almost 10 pounds since I started my bulk 12 days ago. That's not all that surprising. I'd say 4 pounds of that weight is excess water from high carbs and last night's cheat meal, maybe 3 pounds of it is due to the creatine, a pound of fat and a pound or two of real muscle. Figuring all that up is not an exact science, but that's probably in the ballpark. My muscles are now fully saturated with water, so from this point forward my weight gain will slow down and will be comprised of mostly muscle along with some fat.

I took some measurements this morning and updated my stats page. My arms are up to 16.25 inches (cold) and almost 17.5 inches (pumped). That means they are already more muscular than they were at the end of my last bulk, because back then I was at 14% body fat and now I'm around 8 or 9% body fat and a little bigger. My chest has also increased to 42.5 inches (cold) and my quads have exploded nearly 3/4 of an inch to just shy of 23.25 inches. My quads will be 25-26 inches by the end of this bulk, mark my words. They grow FAST. If the rest of my body grew as quickly as my legs, I'd be a freak! My overall strength is up, and every one of my workouts has been amazing. Aside from the shoulder strain, I don't think I could have asked for a better start to my bulk.

Speaking of my shoulder, today is delts & traps. My shoulder feels good this morning, and has for a few days now. I've decided to go ahead with tonight's delt workout, but I'm going to reduce the weights I normally use by a third. This will allow me to get a decent workout in while testing to see if the strain is truly healed. If my shoulder starts hurting I'm going to cut the workout short. I'm not taking any chances after last week's scare - that was a terrible feeling. It seems I've been blessed with a second chance, and I'm going to do everything I can to prevent another incident. I've got big plans and big goals for this bulk, and they don't include nursing an injury.

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November 11, 2005

I may tweak one or two of the new smilies on the forum, but I think we're mostly done with the smilies upgrades. There are now approximately 40 carefully selected smilies, so those of you who like using them in your posts should enjoy this little "upgrade" a lot. Those of you who don't like smilies will have your patience continually tested, thanks to doordude42's breathless and giddy smilie overuse. Because doordude posts in just about every single thread, no one is immune.

Now, let's move on to more serious matters. Nah, forget that - it's Friday! I love Friday for four reasons: 1) I get to train my legs. 2) The weekend is almost here. C) The mood on the forum is usually light and fun. 4) Cheat meal! Tonight I'm having pork BBQ (ribs, sliced and pulled), french fries, beans and garlic bread. Since I started bulking my stomach has expanded, so I am capable of eating obscene amounts of food... and that's just what I'm going to do!

Speaking of food, I need to get breakfast in me. Enjoy your day!

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November 10, 2005

Last night's workout was chest and abs. After aggravating my shoulder injury during Saturday's delt workout, I was worried about how my shoulder would handle the heavy presses. I'm happy to report that it was just fine. I changed my workout slightly to minimize the risk, but I still went hard, heavy and intense. This morning my shoulder feels absolutely fine - no pain at all! What a huge relief. As always, I've posted my workout log with some additional thoughts in my photo journal. Here's a direct link to last night's entry.

The RSS and XML feeds are working perfectly, and are now a permanent feature of the forums. Just scroll to the bottom of the forums while viewing any page and you'll see the icons. Click on either one for the link. Firefox and Opera browsers should automatically recognize the feed. If you have questions about this new feature or are unfamiliar with RSS, you might want to check out the discussion thread.

All of the known vBulletin 3.51 upgrade issues mentioned in the vBulletin 3.51 upgrade thread have been resolved. With no more bugs to squash, the thread has kind of morphed into "Smilies land". I've been changing some of the old smilies out, some of which just flat-out sucked. As soon as all the existing smilies are replaced with better ones, I'm going to add some new stuff. A big thanks goes out to 1FastGTX for taking the time to find a number of excellent replacement smilies, and even creating some of his own. Most of you already know 1FastGTX from his countless helpful posts. If JSF had a "Member of the Year" award, 1FastGTX would walk away with it. Thanks, Chris!

No lifting today, just boring cardio. That's OK - I need a little rest! My back is so sore (in a good way) it's not even funny.

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November 9, 2005

I want to thank Brian "Genetix" Howard once again for his help in tweaking the logo colors and the "JohnStoneFitness.com" text yesterday. Brian gladly went well beyond his obligations as the logo contest winner, and his efforts have made a huge impact on the look of this site and on the forums. I love the new look and the new logo! Thanks again, Brian.

Another requested feature has just been added to the forum: an RSS 2.0 feed! It's in beta right now (so the final link may be changing). If you are interested in testing this new feature, please check this thread for details.

Last night's workout was excellent - very little shoulder pain, and ZERO shoulder pain this morning! I've updated my journal with some post-workout thoughts, some new back pictures (including an absolutely pitiful rear-lat spread) and some interesting "fan" mail. All that fun, and more, happens here.

Tonight's workout is chest and abs, so this will be a real test for my shoulder. I may substitute decline bench for dips tonight. Dips are always hell on my shoulders, and I don't want to take any chances right now since my shoulder seems to be recovering quickly from Saturday's scare.

Time to eat!

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November 7, 2005

As I mentioned in Saturday evening's post-workout journal entry and again in yesterday's Daily News update, my right shoulder started bothering me while working my delts on Saturday night. I'm happy to report that last night's biceps & triceps workout went as planned, and there was very little shoulder pain. In fact, this morning my shoulder feels pretty good! I'll keep a close watch on it over the next couple of weeks. I may have to miss this weeks' delt workout to let the shoulder fully recover - we'll see how I feel.

I updated my journal with yesterday's workout log and some new pictures. What a workout! I took a picture of my arm with tape around it and was surprised to see that it was just shy of 17.5 inches. That's a personal record and a great way to start my bulk.

Lisa hates my lifting music (Hatebreed, Fear Factory, Shadow's Fall, Unearth, Diecast, God Forbid, Stampin' Ground, Dry Kill Logic, etc.), so I was surprised when she offered to pick up some new CDs for me while she was out shopping yesterday. She came back with another Shadow's Fall CD and some Killswitch Engage. I'm such a lucky guy to have a woman like Lisa. She comes home from a hard day's work, only to be greeted on most nights by insanely loud "lifting" music. I'm so sweaty and focused on my workout that she can't even give me a hug. Even though at times she must feel like she married one of our neighbor's teen-aged sons, she never complains and always supports me because she knows I'm doing what I love. Lisa and I have been madly in love for over 16 years, and every year she manages to make me love her even more. I am one lucky dude.

After three days of intense workouts, today is a cardio-only day. I'm actually looking forward to a day "off". Enjoy your Monday!

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November 6, 2005

I'm a little worried about my right shoulder this morning. Last night was delts & traps. While I was doing bent over dumbbell raises I experienced the same pain that I felt back in 2003 when I injured my right shoulder. After my workout I iced the shoulder down and took an anti-inflammatory, but this morning it's still not feeling quite right. Tonight's workout (biceps and triceps) is still a tentative "go", but I'm going to do the smart thing and stop if my shoulder protests in any way. Obviously a re-occurrence of what happened in late 2003 would be frustrating (to say the least), but at this point I'm not willing to accept that's the case.

I updated my journal with yesterday's workout log, and some new pictures. The new journal entry can be found here.

Have a wonderful day - see you tomorrow!

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November 5, 2005

It's been a little over 12 hours since my leg workout, and I've already got that familiar "pre-DOMS" feeling that I love so much. By this time tomorrow I should be really sore. I've updated my journal with yesterday's workout log.

All The Whey has a couple of new products that I think you'll really enjoy! I don't know how they did it, but somehow they've manage to make their hydrolyzed whey protein isolate taste AMAZING. That's right, I said HYDROLYZED WHEY and AMAZING TASTE in the same sentence! As many of you know, I use hydrolyzed whey exclusively for my post-workout shake, and have had excellent results with it (I started using it on my last bulk and have never stopped using it). I think it's fair to say that most people find the taste of the unflavored hydrolyzed whey to be downright nasty. Personally I've grown to enjoy the unflavored hydrolyzed when it's mixed with dextrose, but that's definitely an acquired taste. Up until now ATW's hydrolyzed whey product was only available in "unflavored", but now they've introduced Chocolate and Vanilla Hydrolyzed whey and the taste is outstanding. There's not even a hint of the signature unflavored hydrolyzed taste - just great flavor and all the benefits of hydrolyzed whey. I've tried these products personally, and I honestly believe ATW's chocolate hydrolyzed whey tastes even better than their chocolate isolate. If you recognize the benefits of incorporating hydrolyzed whey into your post-workout recovery shake but have always been put off by the taste, these new products are for you! If you try them, please post a review in the ATW Official Review thread.

I'd better go eat, lots to do today and tonight is delts and traps! I'm really glad that I decided to go with a five-day split for my bulk. My delts need a lot of work and deserve their own day of torture.

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November 4, 2005

The forum upgrade was completed yesterday and it went extremely well. There are only a few outstanding (mostly minor) issues I need to resolve. There are a lot of excellent new features in the latest version of vBulletin, some of which I've listed here. If you are having any problems, please read through that thread before posting, as your problem may already have a solution.

One of the most exciting new features of vB 3.5x is the ability to install "hacks" (modifications to the stock vBulletin product) as plugins. Until now hacks had to be installed by modifying the php code directly. This method of customizing the forum made upgrading a real pain in the butt: all custom hacks had to be manually re-installed (and often times re-written) to work with vBulletin each time a minor new version came out. Minor versions are released frequently, and it's not uncommon for vB admins to install literally dozens of hacks, so you can see how the old system was a major problem. The new system will make life much easier for us poor, overworked vB admins. The net effect to the end user is that I'll be a lot more willing to customize the board. I've already got some great ideas, and I'll be working on implementing those ideas in the coming days and weeks. Watch for announcements!

I had a nice cardio session yesterday morning. It sure is weird getting used to doing cardio just twice per week after doing it seven days per week for almost three months straight. Tonight I work my legs, so no cardio this morning. It's kind of nice to wake up and not feel rushed to get my update done. Now I can relax, have some coffee, type my update and then eat a humongous breakfast. Have I mentioned how much I love bulking? ;)

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November 3, 2005

I've been dreading it, but it's time to upgrade the forums to the 3.5x family. It's going to be a pretty big job, as I have to manually upgrade the custom skins and the hacks I've added. I expect the downtime to be several hours. I'll try to get things back up as quickly as possible, and then I'll work on the cosmetic stuff while the forums are "live" (keep in mind that things may not look quite right while I'm doing that). The trouble is, I don't know when I'll have time to do this upgrade - it depends on my work schedule. I'm shooting for today, but it may not happen until tomorrow. I'll have a message up when the forums are down to inform you on the latest news and an estimated ETA.

Last night's workout was pecs and abs. I didn't take any pictures, but I posted my workout log in my journal.

I don't train tonight, but I've got cardio this morning. I'm going to go get it done. Have a great day!

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November 2, 2005

I'm still full from all the food I ate yesterday. It was tough getting it all down, and even tougher keeping it down after last night's awesome back & traps workout! I know I sounded a bit like a giddy schoolgirl on a sugar rush last night when I posted to my forum journal, but between the endorphin blast, all the excess calories and the satisfaction of having an amazing workout to kick off my bulk, I was pretty darn happy when I posted. Tired, yes - but happy. I took one picture when I was done to mark the occasion. All that can be found here.

I can't talk about the SUP2 nutritional program due to the confidentiality agreement, but I am allowed to talk about my strength training program as it's not the standard SUP2 "STS" training program. You can find that information a little further down in my journal. Here's a direct link.

Today is another HUGE day of eating, and tonight is my chest and abs workout. I can't wait! Say, did I mention how much I like bulking? ;)

In case you missed it, I posted a 3-year retrospective of my transformation on November 1st. There are lots of pictures augmented with my thoughts and feelings. It was a lot of fun to recount some of those fond (and sometimes not-so-fond) memories. You can find that here.

Time to fire up the stove and fill my belly! See ya...

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November 1, 2005

As everyone who even occasionally visits this site already knows, today is the first day of my bulk and the end of my SGX cutting cycle. As I begin this next phase of my lifelong fitness journey, I thought it would be interesting to take a trip down memory lane and revisit some of the highs and lows I've experienced over the past three years...

 

January 6, 2003: This is where it all began. I had a plan, and I thought I knew what I was doing. As it turns out I really didn't have a clue, but at least I was highly motivated and very determined. Shortly before I started, I came up with the idea to take pictures every single day to help gauge my progress and keep me motivated. I had no idea what a huge impact that one (seemingly small) choice would have on my life!

January 6, 2003

Get in my belly!
Front: before
Get in my belly!

 

March 10, 2003: Apparently suffering from brain damage due to lack of calories, I let Lisa wax my chest and bleach my hair. The waxing created bleeding welts and skin irritations that would last almost as long as the horrible hair color. The ridiculous bleached hair left bruises on my ego that have yet to heal.

March 10, 2003
March 10, 2003

 

May 2, 2003: I remember this day! After a very long slumber under countless pounds of adipose tissue, this was the day I first noticed my abs were starting to show. I was still far from ripped, but considering how I looked just 4 months prior, I was very proud of myself. Of course I still had that horrible hair, and was starting to look like a poster-child for muscle loss.

May 2, 2003
May 2, 2003

 

June 4, 2003: At the time I remember thinking that I looked great, but now I can hardly stand to look at pictures from the summer of 2003. I had a six pack alright, but I had less muscle than the average 8-year old girl. I was also spending way too much time in the sun trying to get tan (George Hamilton even called and told me to chill). I suppose I was going overboard because after being fat and pasty for so many years, I instinctively wanted to go as far as I could to the opposite extreme.

June 4, 2003
June 4, 2003

 

October 10, 2003: Finally recognizing that I needed to put on some muscle, I started bulking. At the time I remember thinking I was fat in this picture, but now I think I was suffering from "former fat guy distorted view syndrome". Unfortunately I injured my shoulder the following month and was unable to do much upper body work for almost a year.

October 6, 2003
October 6, 2003

 

January 6, 2004: One year anniversary! I think this is one of my better early pictures. January and February 2004 were huge months for the site: I was popping up in newspapers all over the world, doing interviews and my site was being posted on a lot of heavily trafficked sites such as Fark. Due to popular demand, the forums were born on January 21st. Thanks to incredibly fast growth and massive bandwidth requirements, on February 14th the main site and the forums were given a brand new server and moved to a dedicated co-location datacenter. A few months later a second server was added in order to handle the ever-increasing load.

January 6, 2004
January 6, 2004

 

April 28, 2004: This was a significant day for a few reasons. First, it was the last of my "daily pictures": ever since the first day of my program, I'd taken a front and a profile picture every single day for 479 consecutive days. I never missed a day, and I was never once late updating my site by my self-imposed deadline of 9:00 AM. It was bittersweet announcing the end of the streak, but it was unavoidable: A few hours after this picture was taken I underwent surgery to repair a hernia. I still update the site 365 days a year (and am always adding new photos), but now I only take posed "daily" photos once each month.

This is also one of my most lean pictures. I was probably around 7% body fat even though my logs show I was at 8%.

April 28, 2004
April 28, 2004

 

August 6, 2004: My inability to do upper body workouts for almost a year was continuing to take its toll on my body. I was wasting away again, and was very frustrated. Thankfully my patience and months of treatment on my shoulder would soon pay off: A few short weeks after this picture was taken my shoulder was "good enough", and I began my most successful bulk to date, adding around 20 pounds of muscle.

August 6, 2004
August 6, 2004

 

December 4, 2004: My bulk was going great! My shoulder was feeling fine, and I was adding mass like my life depended on it.

2004 Bulking Progress
2004 Bulking Progress

 

January 1, 2005: The end of my 2004 bulk, compared to my pre-bulk photo. Lisa calls the January photo my "big boy" picture. :)

August 6, 2004

January 1, 2005
August 6, 2004
January 1, 2005

 

July 1, 2005 & November 1, 2005: The July 1, 2005 photo was my first picture after coming back from vacation. Not a good picture: I'd lost some size, and my definition was poor. I was still cutting from my bulk, which had ended six months prior. I admit that I was rather lax over the summer: I worked out, but my diet was loose as I enjoyed the long summer days. Hey, nothing wrong with that! Anyway, about six weeks after the July photo was taken, I knew it was time to get serious again. I partnered with SwoleCat and started his SGX cutting program. I expected to get ripped on SGX, and I did. I did not expect to add lean mass, but I did that, too. The November 1, 2005 picture was taken the morning after completing the SGX program.

July 1, 2005

November 1, 2005
July 1, 2005
November 1, 2005

 

Today: I appreciate everyone who has shared in this journey with me. I want to thank each and every person who's ever sent me an email, joined our community, supported my sponsors, flamed me, encouraged me, donated, inspired, ridiculed, praised and/or critiqued. I owe each and every one of you a huge debt of thanks. My life would not be the same without you.

So, there it is! Thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me. It was a lot of fun for me to create, and I hope you enjoyed it. It is on this note that, with regret, I must say farewell. I will no longer be updating JSF after today.

Heh, just kidding. Suckers! Train hard and, as always, I'll see ya tomorrow!

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