New Equipment

I'm bitting the bullet and going out to buy some additional fitness equipment today. To supplement what my Bowflex is missing or is weak I'm getting a Deluxe E-Z Kurl Bar and a set of dumbells as well as various plates. Going to check out Play It Again Sports first thing this morning to see if they have what I need as far as plates go and then run over to Canadian Tire to buy the rest.

The 1,500 calorie a day nutrition plan is moving along. I'm supposed to up my caloric intake once a week to prevent my body from becoming accustomed to the low calorie diet. It's really not that different from what I have been eating but I find I'm drinking a lot more protein shakes to keep the fat out. I maintain a steady weight of muscle gain fat loss at 3,000 calories a day and I'll probably lower that to around 2,000 to 2,500 calories once I finally reach my muscle size goals and go into maintenance.

My wife said "You're on a diet...and a very strick one too." So I reminded her that it's not a diet but a nutrition guideline for reducing my daily caloric intake to lower by body fat percentage more quickly (this sounds way more manly than diet).

I laid it out as frankly as possible. If I want a lean cut body then I need to lose more fat. I'm not at an unhealthy weight but I don't have the lean muscular body I want. I'm still working towards that goal. I'm also still not as muscular as I want so I'm still working towards that goal too. Once I reach those goals then both my eating habits and my workout routine can go into maintenance modes.

I do however wish I had started this at a younger age. I'm just not sure if I can progress to where I'd like to be starting in my mid/late twenties. We'll see I guess.

Time for a change

I dont' know about you but I think I'm looking pretty damn good.
My goal has been simple...eat right, train right and sleep right. And based on my results so far I'm very happy. I've stayed at a consistent weight (which varies slightly) from 165 to 170 pounds and during that time I've been getting more lean and lowering my body fat percentage. I'm currently sitting at 25% body fat. I'm not so happy about that part but it's not intended to be a fast process either. Today is one day on the road of lifelong good health and a kick ass body to boot.



Although I've been considering cutting my caloric intake to get my body fat down faster I've been really concerned about loosing muscle. I eliminated a lot of fatty protein (beef) from my diet and replaced it with protein shakes which are a great source of lean protein.

I found a book called the "The Action Hero Body" by Jorgen de Mey which outlines his ideas on nutrition and fitness regimen. I haven't tried his fitness routine yet and I'm still doing my own but I've definitely taken to his nutrition program with cuts fat and keeps the hard earned muscle.

So, for the next few weeks I'm get more cut up for all the ladies in blogland who like visiting my blog for the pictures.

Vanity

Its not always easy getting pictures to post. I take them myself standing in a mirror so I can't use a flash. About 50% of my pictures are too blurry to use.

My biceps and triceps are much better than before although in my original vanity shots my arms were much fattier so by appearance there isn't a huge difference. You can "feel" it though. Also my shoulders and forearms are both significantly improved over my earlier pics.



From the front...


I've set up a new routine 3 day/week routine and decided to start tracking my supersets rather than doing them undocumented.

All exercises are 2 sets of 12 to reach failure and a 3 "super set" if possible.

Day 1 Chest & Shoulders:
Incline Bench
Decline Bench
Chest Fly
Shoulder Press
Rear Delt Row
Standing Lateral Raise
Shoulder Shrug

Day 2 Back & Arms:
Seated Latt Row
Narrow Pulldown
Wide Pulldown
Bicept Curl
Reverse Barbell Curl
Lying Tricept Extensions
Standing Tricept Pushdown
French Press

Day 3 Legs and Core:
Standing Leg Curl
Leg Extension
Standing Hip Extension
Trunk
Standing hip Inflection
Lying Leg Extension
Standing Hip Adduction
Resisted Crunch
Trunk Rotation
Resisted Oblique Crunch

Anyone got any suggestions on improving this? I just found I wasn't giving myself enough time to heal and therefore wasn't progressing. In theory, I should be able to do more (at least a little) every time and my records showed me that either I was the same and worse than that...sometimes doing LESS. The answer? More exercises on each musle group and more rest between.

King of my Castle

I got off my lazy ass and when to the mall last night to buy some new work clothes. I've bought new workOUT clothes and some new weekend wear but, until yesterday, I hadn't actually purchased any new officewear.

Believe it or not even my SHOES are too big for me now.

Sort of like when I post new vanity shots...it's amazing just how many new ways you end up surprising yourself.

The pant legs need to be tailored because I have shorter legs than most but otherwise they're great and, I have to admit, make me look like a million bucks. Much better then my current overlarge pants and shirts. Soon enough I'll get rid of them all.

A bit disappointed with my Bowflex...

I've read a lot of debate on the limitations of resistance machines against the "weight" counterparts. I'm a big fan of the Bowflex however I do have some problems with my model. Specifically the resistance limitation of 210 pounds.

On approximately 40% of my exercises I'm maxing out my Bowflex. I wrote Nautilus to ask what I could do and, although very supportive about it all, they could only suggest adding more reps to my sets until I fully outgrow the machine...or I can always purchase a new one today. I have to admit I'm not so happy about that one but I simply don't have any more money to spend on new fitness equipment less than one year after I bought my Bowflex.

So my approach is pretty simple. I'm paying way more attention to FORM and SPEED. Taking the time to do the exercises more slowly (about 3-4 seconds for each rep) really adds a level of challenge. This should keep my workouts good for another few months at least. Then...I'll figure something out. Probably by a bench and some weights and do it the old fashioned way.

Is this the end of my Bowflex Love Affair??? I hope not but I don't know what else to do? Until people start giving them away I'm sorta stuck aren't I?