goodgame's transformation log

[goodgame]

Ok.. been lifting several weeks, and thanks to some good info on here, I think I finally have stuff down right... diet is clean, form is good, (or getting better). Thanks to those who have helped out with info... etc.

A little background, I was my heaviest at 340 lbs... ugly... tried dieting, etc... and eventually lost 40lbs doing Atkins.. but it was not all fat... figured out something was not right... did some research, started doing cardio and lifting... (even though the program was all messed up). Even then, I dropped another 20 lbs... down to 280.

Found this site... learned that liftin HEAVY appears to be the way to go... started that, and am up to 289, but fat is dropping... I actually fit in to size 36 shorts yesterday... big change from the 44's of old. I intend to use this diary more as a means for me to track my progress, etc.

I worked shoulders yesterday, did Mil. Presses for the first time.. DANG those are hard... got some work to do on those!

[goodgame]

Did chest last night... I had to lower the weight, as I am really focusing to be sure that form is correct. Felt good. Had some trouble keeping the shoulder blades tucked in (my shoulders are really broad, and the blades hang off the bench otherwise). Once I got it down, I could feel more work in the chest and not the shoulders... thanks for the tip Mighty Mouse. Ate clean, need to get more protein I think.. only got 272 g. protein in... and 224 carbs. I need to get more protein.. I just felt like I was eating non stop.

Need to get bigger dumbbells, and figure something out for dips... I work out at home, so things can be a challenge at time.

Strange thing happened this morning.. I noticed my arms... lol. They actually have a shape other than just flabby now... nothing great, but visual signs of progress are always good. Tonight is arms and abs. I love arms days... not sure why... maybe cause I can start to see veins stick out a little when I do it.. lol.

Some good advice from folks on squats for tomorrow, I think I am going to go for no pad.. don't know why.. but for some reason it just looks right. I might take Tae Kwon Do guys advice and use a towel till traps are big enough to cushion.


**
Change in plans, leaving for New Orleans at about 230am tonight/tomorrow morning. Will do Arms/Abs tonight, and the squats will have to wait till I get back.... Visiting my folks, the trip was planned, but the timeline got moved up... I should have no problem eating clean there... maybe one cheat meal... taking my tub of protein and mrp packets. lol.

[goodgame]

back from the trip, and recovered sleep wise... travelling with a 2 year old is hard.. leaving at 2am to keep her asleep.. lol. Diet stayed pretty clean while there... and taking a little break helped, this nagging pain in my right upper arm is gone... tonight is chest... we will see how it goes.

Took advice of some guys on here, ordered my eca stack online seperatley, vasopro, caffeine, andi have aspirin... much cheaper this way... also ordered trib, i am getting old... lol... good to be back from the trip... ready to get back to work...

[goodgame]

Did chest last night.. got a new set up for home, has pec deck and pull downs... good squat rack... gonna keep benching on the old bench, like it better. Chest feels good today, can tell I worked it.

Got up and did cardio, rode the bike about 30 minutes around the neighborhood... hiit... felt good, but got chilly towards the end, the wind I guess..

Breakfast, oatmeal, 2 eggs and 5 egg whites.
mid morning- protein shake (50g) and an apple.

[goodgame]

been a while, that pain in the arm came back, so I laid off for a bit... I lifted and did chest/bis today. The pain was there, but really slight. Did some research, reading on here, etc... it is a muscle thing... honestly, it feels like the knots I have in my shoulders from stress are making it happen, the knots in the right side are huge... gotta get rid of those... summer is almost here.. so they will disappear when the kids do I hope.

I think I just need to eat clean, work hard.. and will get what I need. I can be patient to get what I want. I did not gain anything in the lay off from lifting, and honestly, with work, i pretty well laid off everything that was not work... just tried to eat right, and maintained where I was.

Lifting today was good, benched 215, not bad for taking a couple months off... gonna do HIIT cardio to help with fat loss.

It seems everyone, or several, say to eat like a g or 1.5 g of protein per lb of body weight... some say my lean body mass, which is it? If it is my body weight, that is a lot of protein, I weigh 285ish...

Determined to stay on track, if the pain starts to worsen, gonna see the doc right away to figure it out. My wife is going to try to work out those knots for me, she can dig her elbow in my shoulder and really get to them... maybe that will help.

good to be back,

[goodgame]

Ahh.. Memorial Day, another day I was able to work out in the daytime... a good thing. Today I did legs and shoulders. I had never really done squats correctly before. I was hurting at the base of my neck really bad last time I tried... turns out, I was resting the bar up a bit more than I should... Mouse set me straight on how to hold it, and it worked out well. I stayed pretty light, to feel out how my knee was going to do. I have some torn cartilidge, but it felt good...

I did leg squats/leg raises/rev raises for legs

mil press and arnold presses for the shoulders. I really like Arnolds... and the squats were killer! I need to get a set routine written down, I am still experimenting with what I like when.

Tomorrow will be an off day for weights, HIIT for cardio in the morning.

[goodgame]

holy crap my legs hurt... I can tell I worked them.. sheesh... I did not get the cardio in this morning, had something to do with an inability to walk. I had planned on today being off, but think I am going to do back and triceps tonight. I worked out a schedule I think I like.. with work getting a lot easier next week, working out will be easier to fit in. I only work until noon starting monday for summer school, then off for most of July.

Did I mention my legs hurt? Believe it or not, I rather like doing squats... twisted pleasure I guess....

[goodgame]

Sweet... joined a gym today... got a deal cuz I am a teacher for just $19 a month... I no longer have to make do with what I have upstairs. I'm stoked!
Today was moving day, so no workout... spent the day (last day of school for kids) moving to my new room for next year... I realize, I have too much stuff. lol.

The gym thing has been a sore spot with the wife for a while, and I would not do it, as she was not comfortable with it... but she has decided she is cool with me chasing my goals, and if thats what it takes, go for it. Another reason for being thrilled.

[man_i_dono]

congratz on the gym membership.. make good use of it.. just wondering why was ur wife not comfortable w/ it?

[goodgame]

she had an old relationship from years past that the guy ended up joining a gym, just to oogle the women there, etc. It took a lot of time for her to understand my reasoning for joining had nothing to do with oogling, as I could stare at her all day. It just took time to get over some old hang ups, and time is something that I have readily available.

[man_i_dono]

i see.. u could always ask her to join u.. itd b more fun too

[goodgame]

Was out of town a few days for work, did light workouts in the hotel... first day in the new gym today.. loved it.

I did legs today, and felt great. I could have done more, but wanted to stop so I was not dead from it tomorrow... ease in to it. It is nice having all the equipment available at the gym.. good investment.

I did:
leg press 6x180 and 3 sets of 6x360... good burn, barely able to finish the last set.

leg raises 6x100 and 3 sets of 6x160
leg curls 6x60 3 sets of 6x120
calf raises 3 sets of 15x180

10 mins light cardio to warm up.

[goodgame]

awesome workout today. I tell ya, the difference of having the gym is amazing... I did bi/tri/abs today. I am doing the Max OT training, but honestly, not sure I dig doing bis and tris same day... I will give it some time and see. Funny, I have read from a lot of posts here that there are guys in the gyn that just show up and do whatever, and you can tell they put no thought in beforehand. I am thankful for the posts on here, I gained a lot of insight, so I could go in somewhat prepared, and not look like an idiot.

The diet has stayed really clean, and honestly, it has not been hard, maybe cause i have kicked up the workouts a great deal. I am thinking about taking some before pics... I have an old really fat one (about 50 pounds heavier than now). I will get the wife to take a few current ones, i think it will help to monitor progress.

[goodgame]

off day today... ate good... went to my niece's bday party, and even avoided the cake and ice cream... I big step for me.. I love ice cream. I did have to eat fast food for lunch, but tried to stay good, got a dry grilled chicken burrito... ate a big taco with extra lean ground beef and a soft tortilla for dinner. Had lots of veges on it, and my homemade salsa. I read a lot that you need a cheat day to stay sane.. my problem is my cheat days have always been really bad... i count today as one, as the flour tortillas were probably not the best when trying to lose weight... I am going to go for more of a relaxed day than a cheat day... if that makes sense. Going to do cardio tomorrow morning before church.

[goodgame]

Did legs today, great workout. I know I just did legs Thursday, but I wanted to get on the right scedule, and they felt good. Diet still clean... feeling good. I am taking green tea, and Animal M-test. I got a good deal on it, so thought i would give it a go. I am still looking for the right dwo shake... not entirely sure what should be in there. Looking on the web, if I find 20 sites about it, I get 25 opinions. I experimented today... put some gatorade powder, glutamine, and some banana whey with water... and sipped it through the workout and finished it off at the end... figure that way, I am getting the protein in me asap too.... is that cool? any suggestions are more than welcome.

I dont feel right doing stiff leg deads... I need to do some looking on form.. maybe it is because I am so tall, but it just does not feel right.

Tomorrow is supposed to be arms/abs... but did those friday, and figure I will trade and do shoulders and traps tomorrow and arms/abs on wednesday. After that, arms will be on tues and shoulders on wednesday. Clear as mud?

[goodgame]

Feel good this morning, I expected my legs to be more sore. I did 3 sets of 6 on the leg press with 450 yesterday, they are sore, but not killing me. I am liking the max ot workouts now. I have heard that you get results. It is hard to resist doing more sets of some stuff. Going to start max ot cardio as well. School is back in 2 months, so that gives me 2 months to make some changes... I want to be able to buy all new clothes... yes, it is vain, but it is a motivator for me.

[goodgame]

AWESOME workout today. Did shoulders and traps... first real time to do shrugs.. i started with a light weight to get used to the motion, it is kinda awkward.. but I got it. I found that I really suck at the military press... I was able to do (after warming up) 2 working sets of 135... tried for a third set, and found no way, not gonna happen... Seems like I should be doing more than 135, but as long as I improve my weights, I am happy... in time, all will get there.

I did a few minutes cardio today too, more to see if I liked the recumbant bike than anything else, it seems comfortable, and easy for a 6'6" guy to sit on comfortable, so I will start max ot cardio with that.

So far so good on the diet, been super clean for several days now... was pretty clean before, but really focusing on it hard now. Gotta go pick up the little one...

[goodgame]

Good workout today... went up on some lifts. Arms were today, was supposed to do abs too, but for some reason it took FORVER! Diet still looking good. I have dropped a few pounds in the last week... started the ECA again, so that helps... plus pounds come off easily with so many extra there.

[goodgame]

Woke up this morning, and my shoulders have some pretty good soreness in them... also my forearms. They were hurting while lifting, almost like they were having trouble supporting some of the weight I was lifting. I figure, as long as it is that kind of hurt, its probably a good thing. I imagine they will adapt quickly enough and grow stronger. I have never really been able to stay clean on diet this long, I always blow it with something within a week. I bought a nice steak last night to have. The butcher helped me get a nice lean one to try to keep fat content low. I think I will get some zucchini and I have some bell peppers to grill, dinner is sounding good already... motivation to be good today. I know steak is not the best of meat for losing weight, but I tried to stay lean, and it is the first red meat I have had in a week, the rest has been chicken. I make my wife beef tacos, but I have chicken tacos. She is really being supportive of the diet, and trying to keep me motivated. I get paid in a week, and am thinking about looking into the Ripped System. I have heard some great stuff about it. Also need to get a better multivitamin... I have a centrum, and from what I am reading, it is not enough when lifting. I will look online for that. Today is back workout. I have never done much with the back, esp. the lower, as I have scoliosis and it is usually killing me, but time to cut the crap and get busy, the stronger the muscles there are, the straighter the spine will stay... excuses at this point are no excuse.

[goodgame]

Ok, I feel great... did my back and abs... and managed to do the 16 minutes of cardio afterwards. It took everything I had to keep it going. I did take a protein shake to drink after lifting before cardio... aside from feeling it sloshing the first few minutes, all was good. I really am proud I got through it... there were several times I told myself, hey, I am at 8 minutes... or 9 or whatever, that is close enough... I just told myself "No one ever got better just sitting on there butt!" and kept going.

I am going to try to start posting my actual routine, we will see how this goes.

Today:
Lat Pulldowns: 10x100 8x130 8x150 and 3sets 6x170
seated cable rows: 10x110 6x170 (form felt bad) 2 sets 6x150 (felt better)
good mornings 10x45 10x95 6x115 2 sets 6x135
hyper extensions 10 at bodyweight 2 sets 6X25
ab crunch 3 sets 6x150
incline crunch 1x10 2x8

16 minutes Max OT cardio. This was really to get a baseline for the rest of the trainings... got 4.0 miles in 16 minutes.

diet:
breakfast 4 egg whites 1 whole egg, 1 cup cooked oats, 2 scoops ON whey

snack myoplex low carb + 1 scoop on whey

lunch 1 cup oatmeal (preworkout)

Post workout shake: 2 scoops ON whey

Snack banana, myoplex lite

dinner 8 oz. steak, grilled bell peppers, green beans, and black beans.

late snack 1 scoop on whey, 8 oz ff milk

Too much whey protein today, instead of real food, but I was running non stop... tomorrow will be better.