So who the heck is Mr. X? I’m a 48 y/o male, married with children. I’ve been going to the gym off and on for about 5 years, but have had a number of ‘issues’ that have kept me from being 100%. 4 years ago January I had laproscopic abdominal surgery, 2 years ago January I had my shoulder put back together, 1 year ago last October I suffered 1st, 2nd, & 3rd degree high pressure steam burns to my left arm, armpit to wrist, with the worst of it to my bicep. I have arthritis in my back (lumbar and thoracic region). I am on HRT. But I’m not complaining, 'cuz I’m relatively healthy, and I am able to go and work out.
“So what do I care, and whys this guy posting this for?” you might be asking yourself…
Accountability. Input. Ideas. That’s why I’m posting this.
I plan to begin a journey to transform myself after the first of the year. Why wait? Because if I began now, I wouldn’t be able to commit to my workouts like I need to, and after the first of the year my work load will change back to nearly normal. And accountability? If I feel have to post regularly and actually show progress, I won’t have an excuse for slacking off, and if I do begin to slack, I’m sure somebody will call me out for it.
If anyone cares to reply with any ideas, my weak points aren’t so much knowing how to lift (or how NOT to lift), but my diet. I am one of those strange individuals that can forget to eat. I enjoy food, but I also just consider it as fuel, and if I’m not hungry… I don’t think about eating. I know that I need protein,carbs, and fats, and that I need to eat multiple small meals throughout the day. I just have no clue how to put together a meal plan.
BTW, I’m 5’11" and 175#. I have no idea what body type I am, but I can post a current pic if anyone gives a rip.
So until I can begin a serious assault on my body, I will crank up Metallica in the headphones and get my workouts in as I can.
Do yourself a huge favor and order this book by Dr. John Berardi. He is a T-Nation author so you can read some of his stuff here.
The book will explain to you in plain simple language how your body uses food and the best way to feed it. It is a great read and will give you a terrific foundation in modern sports nutrition.
Includes meal plans too, recipes and a weight lifting program. Also includes membership to an excellent online forum.
Seriously buy this and read it. It is about $16.00 – to me the info is worth about 16,0000000000 dollars:
John Berardi The Metabolism Advantage: An 8-Week Program to Rev Up Your Body’s Fat-Burning Machine—At Any Age
Before buying any books I would suggest going to the archives here and selecting authors John Berardi and reading all this articles from 2000 until now.
Pay good attention to 2 articles called “the 7 habits” and “precision nutrition”. You can start implementing those ideas while you decide what will be your plan of action before the start of this year.
Depending on your line of work the easiest thing would be to wake up a little earlier than usual and prepare a liquid jug with protein in water or milk and supplementing that with your meals.
Read the “7 habits” article as it outlines the steps to go from bad diet to great diet. Did I mention to read it before???
[quote]e-loo wrote:
Do yourself a huge favor and order this book by Dr. John Berardi. He is a T-Nation author so you can read some of his stuff here.
The book will explain to you in plain simple language how your body uses food and the best way to feed it. It is a great read and will give you a terrific foundation in modern sports nutrition.
Includes meal plans too, recipes and a weight lifting program. Also includes membership to an excellent online forum.
Seriously buy this and read it. It is about $16.00 – to me the info is worth about 16,0000000000 dollars:
John Berardi The Metabolism Advantage: An 8-Week Program to Rev Up Your Body’s Fat-Burning Machine—At Any Age
–
[/quote]
I thought this WAS an excellent online forum… LOL! Just kidding… e-loo, I will probably purchase this book. I have so much research about eating that I need to do. My wife (Plant_Lady, above) has an excellent handle on what works for her, but what she does, her metabolism, and her goals are so different from mine, it’s not feasible to try and incorporate her diet into mine.
BTW, I gotta figure out how to multi-quote here,so I don’t have to answer similar posts seperately! (I can build a computer from scratch, but I can’t figure out how to post correctly… sheesh!)
[quote]sawadeekrob wrote:
Before buying any books I would suggest going to the archives here and selecting authors John Berardi and reading all this articles from 2000 until now.
Pay good attention to 2 articles called “the 7 habits” and “precision nutrition”. You can start implementing those ideas while you decide what will be your plan of action before the start of this year.
Depending on your line of work the easiest thing would be to wake up a little earlier than usual and prepare a liquid jug with protein in water or milk and supplementing that with your meals.
Read the “7 habits” article as it outlines the steps to go from bad diet to great diet. Did I mention to read it before???[/quote]
sawadeekrob, I have read a few of Johns articles, but I will definately go to the archives and catch up on the rest. I have not read the ‘7 Habits’ or ‘Precision Nutrition’ articles, yet…
OK, so I figured I may as well get a w/o in since I have the day off from work. I didn’t get to the gym yesterday, but I hand loaded my pickup full of 5/8" gravel in a downpour. That should count for something…
I was smart enough to fix a protein shake before leaving the house.
I got to the gym, cranked up my metal mix on the mp3 player, and spent 30 minutes on the AMT (All-Muscle-Trainer) machine (it’s like an elliptical, but it also has step function, as well as a running function). Got the heart rate up and sweated real good.
Decided to get a lower body w/o in, since I haven’t done one in a while. I have gotten out of the habit of writing everything down, so I can’t give you exact numbers, but that won’t happen again, since visual record is part of my ‘Accountability’.
I can tell you I did
Leg press.
200x12
300x12
400x8
200x10 All were done trying to keep a 3-1-3 rhythm.
Seated Calf Raises
70x12
80x12
90x10
70x10 (calves were burning by this point!)
Seated Leg Extensions
70x12
80x12
100x12
120x10
80x12 (had a good burn in the quads. I like it!)
Lying Hamstring Curls
70x12
80x12
100x10 (lost form on last one,so dropped weight)
80x10 (kept form on last one)
Couldn’t get down to the Squat rack, or dead lift area, all the ‘Big Boys’ pretty much had that area locked up, but in the future that won’t be a problem (they’re all good guys).
All I was trying to do today was work on strengthening. I’m not trying to hit my 1RM or nothin’, I need to balance my body so I don’t get injured when I do start kicking up the intensity.
Went ahead and posted some pics in my profile… they are from a few days ago, relaxed posture, no poses or sucked in gut, what you see is what I am (the poses are for later when I have a reason to pose! LOL).
Thanks for the posts guys, and the input. Keep me honest…
Merry Christmas!
No gym time today (they’re closed, as they should be).
Back to work tomorrow, will see how things go once I’m back to reality. Reality bites!
Peace.
[quote]Mr. X wrote:
Merry Christmas!
No gym time today (they’re closed, as they should be).
Back to work tomorrow, will see how things go once I’m back to reality. Reality bites!
Peace.[/quote]
Welcome Mr.X, sometimes eating right is the hardest part. I try to remind myself, if it’s been a couple hours since I’ve eaten and I’m not hungry, I’ve gotta get some food in me or my efforts will have been wasted. Rock on buddy!
I have historically been a ‘pot of strong coffee before noon’ coffee drinker. Yes, I mean the whole 12 cup pot, by myself. I decided if I’m gonna make lifestyle changes, I might as well work on that one too. So I’m limiting myself to one cup first thing in the A.M., someday I MAY be able to switch to nothing but Green Tea, but right now I have to have my morning java.
Dayum! I’m tired and I have a constant low grade headache. Caffine withdrawal sucks!
As per previous suggestions, I have been reading a lot of nutrition articles, now to develope a way to impliment them. (or should I say develop the habit OF implimenting them)
OK, so I’m upstairs kicked back reading ‘7 Habits’, when my lovely wife comes in and says her sister wants to go to the gym and do I want to come too? Crap! Well, if my wife, who has had a bad cold for the last week, can make it, then my being tired and having a little headache, is no excuse to not go… so Mr. X goes to the gym… grudgingly.
I know I need to work cardio into my routine, but I just didn’t want to today, so I figured I would work on my shoulders, since they are a definate weakness.
OVHD DB Press - seated - upright
warmup - 25lbs x 12 reps
45x12
50x8 (didn’t get full extension so dropped a couple pounds
47.5x5 (getting tired. I know, wussy… LOL)
35x10
DB side lateral raises
12.5x10x4 sets
I do these seated, and try and do a 2-1-2 pace, being sure not to ‘throw’ the weight up. with upper body.
2-handed front raises w/plate
25x8x4 sets
controlled raise and lower 2-0-2
DB Shrugs
55x12
60x12
70x12
75x10
Finished off with a good ROM w/o on the Pullover machine
80x10
100x10
120x8
110x5 tried for 6, but just couldn’t get it to break below face level… next time I guess.
I know I need to strengthen my shoulders more, since they are integral to many other exercises, and I have already had surgery on my right shoulder. Don’t wanna go through THAT again!
I know my numbers aren’t impressive (and I’m not worried about impressing anybody) but I gotta learn to walk before I try running.
Chest today. Began with 30 min. on the elliptical, got a good sweat going and the heart rate up.
Incline DB press
30x12 warm up
50x12
60x10
60x8
Cable Flys
70x10
90x8
90x8
90x7 (tried for 8, couldn’t quite pull it together)
Horizontal BB Press (had my son spotting for me)
135x7
185x3 (as of right now, a PR)
135x8 (wanted to quit at 5, but the boy pushed me to get the last three… said it was all me, he didn’t help.)
Wasn’t part of my workout per say, but the boy and his buddy were on the leg press machine, and were comfortable at 200#, so I jumped in and pumped out 10x200, then I threw another 100# on and they did fine, I did 10x300, then I slapped another 100# on and neither one was willing to do THAT much, so I pumped out 8x400, and felt great. Now to get the back stronger so I can do squats without low back pain (arthritis).
I then went and did another 30 minutes of high intensity cardio… did I ever mention I hate cardio?
Probably will be a few days before I get back to the gym, but will post again as soon as I do.
I have a love/hate relationship with cardio. I hate the feeling of doing it, but since I incorporated it regularly my body has done a nice recomposition without doing any drastic dieting.
This has been hell week, and it’s not over yet. If I’m lucky, I might get to the gym Sunday. Next week just as bad, but by this time next week my schedule should be back to normal. This was exactly why I didn’t plan on hitting it hardcore until then. 12, 14, 16 hour days are not fun.
[quote]Mr. X wrote:
This has been hell week, and it’s not over yet. If I’m lucky, I might get to the gym Sunday. Next week just as bad, but by this time next week my schedule should be back to normal. This was exactly why I didn’t plan on hitting it hardcore until then. 12, 14, 16 hour days are not fun.
[/quote]
Having just survived another Christmas season as a mailman I feel for you. Just get in your workouts when you can and don’t beat yourself up about the missed ones. Get your workouts when you can and remain flexible. Hang in there.
[quote]hel320 wrote:
Having just survived another Christmas season as a mailman I feel for you. Just get in your workouts when you can and don’t beat yourself up about the missed ones. Get your workouts when you can and remain flexible. Hang in there. [/quote]
Dude… my work doesn’t even compare to what you’ve been through! USPS, Brown Santa, FedEx, etc… I was feeling sorry for all of you! At least I can see the end in sight, you all just wait for the next big holiday rush!
Probably get a w/o in tomorrow, then I’ll see how the week pans out. If I can make it by Saturday, I’ll be pumped!
M.
