This is not intended to be a public journal in the respect of me promoting it at all, though if you do somehow stumble across it and like it, I do have a couple other blogs (http://d-dubhsc.blogspot.com/) Happy Sippin' Companion, which is my wine blog and (http://d-dubisyourhero.blogspot.com/), The Stars Are Also Fire, which is my hot sauce blog, either of which will also take you to my rather sizable collection of Yelp reviews as well. I am putting this here primarily as a more permanent journal, rather than using LiveJournal as I did the second time (I didn't use one at all the first time, back when I was in college) or Bodybuilding.com, as I did the 3rd time (though posts from here will probably appear there, if I decide to resurrect my presence on that Forum) in a section I called my War Journal.
So, why then put it here? Psychology. Even if an imagined audience, this helps hold my feet to the fire. My story will follow from here, as to why I'm now doing this starting-over (sort of) business for a 4th time, but I find this is one thing the internet is useful for...keeping an accounting. This will also help me track progress as well...
Some time ago, probably back about 12 years ago, as of this writing, or so, I elected to undertake a course towards better physical health and overall fitness. This basically involved losing a bunch of weight, quitting smoking entirely and changing my diet notably, all of this in an effort to regain my formerly excellent conditioning of about 10 years or so prior to that, back when I was in college...or rather, that was my starting point. I went with juicing ala Jay Kordich for a while, raw vegetables also and then started hitting a REC Center (ditched the raws, kept the juice), but rather quickly over-ran all the equipment in the gym when I turned to strength training.
It came as somewhat of a surprise to me that I enjoyed it as I did when I discovered it in college, as prior to that, I hated the gym, completely loathed it. I now realize this was due to the shitty weights my dad, in his effort to be helpful, bought for us as well as the ridiculous arrangement my old high school had with theirs. I've also found most enjoyment when my workouts tend to be an intensely private thing, combinations I was able to discover and keep going forward.
From that previous REC Center, I went to another (abandoned the juice in favor of a
"scientific" approach, with a heavy emphasis on supplements), overran that one and finally joined a Gold's Gym, which I thought was decent, but then it moved in the company's effort to leave the bodybuilders who made it into something (yes, by this time, I was well into "bodybuilder" mode) behind while it chased to fluffy/poofy crowd. I dropped that membership and went onto 24 Hour Fitness, which I really loved (this was across 3 moves, by that point). It was there that I really REALLY got heavily into that mode as well as biking (I harbored notions of racing competitively for a while, before realizing that was beyond foolish) and for a while, was having a blast on that front.
In 2009, however, a couple things laid considerable damage to that plan. The first of these was an abdominal hernia, that I'd managed to "achieve" during an intense coughing fit one night. I placed it probably back to 2007 sometime and it had gotten successively worse, to the point I could barely engage in band practice, let alone workout, even lightly. By the time they operated on it, the hole would have easily fit a softball. The second was my then-girlfriend becoming pregnant with my son, my first and only.
Prior to that, I was unquestionably in the best shape of my life, easily the strongest and thanks to the bike, very strong in the cardio department as well. In the final numbers prior to the surgery, this is where I left off:
Goals: Long Range: Current Status
Legs:
385 Deads | 405 Deads | 365
18 plates for reps on Inverted Leg Press | 20 plates | 17 plates
Shoulders:
135 Rocky BB Press for reps | 155 | 135X2
Stack Shoulder Press machine (255) | N/A | 200
265 C. Glass Upright Rows for reps | 315 | 225
Chest:
BW + plate for reps | BW + 2 plates for reps | 4 sets at 8 reps/15 X BW reps
180 on Hammer Super Incline for reps | 200 | 180 X 2
320 Hammer Decline for reps | 360 | 300
Back:
315 C. Glass Hammer Rows for reps | 360 | 300
10 @35 plates T-Bar Row for reps | 10 @45 | 10@ 25/ 7 @35s
The physical injury healed quickly enough that I could return to the gym for light workouts or do them at home on the Air Dyne, but I quickly found out that going to the gym was a waste, as my heart wasn't in it. My head definitely wasn't and I could not concentrate on all for my infant son. Rather than chance damaging myself with weights, I punted on the membership and dove headfirst into the daddy thing. The Air Dyne got demoted to the basement once the child became active and my job went full tilt skidding downward. I eventually quit that job for another, but the new one, while much more pleasant, was also correspondingly busier and it turned that I was eating out every day, sometimes more often. Obviously, this is not a good recipe, though I think I have that more in hand, in terms of balance.
Suffice to say, as of today, my cardio is in what I would charitably refer to as piss-poor shape and I could get nowhere near the final lifting numbers I left off with, but I will never again have that kind of luxury in order to immerse myself that deeply and probably not the desire, either. So, this one goes to something hopefully more sustainable. Along the way, I also passed 40, which makes the fight that much more uphill. I will get into as many of the starting numbers as I can bear and so on in the next post, but here's where I left off...
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 209
Chest: 44"
Arms: 15.5"
Forearms: 12"
Thighs: 25"
Calves: 15.5"
Yep...I've got a long way to go...again...
No comments:
Post a Comment