a_welch503 WORKOUT JOURNAL

[.V.]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Just out of curiosity, I pulled out the tape measure and did the math - of course it isn't 100% accurate but I'm actually at 12%BF today - abs flexed to push the abdoment out and be consistant with measurements...sucking it it would be cheating you know. That means 172lb of lbm - no real difference from september unless I've forgotten...I'll go back and look. Why cut for summer - because when I'm out at the lake without a shirt, I don't want to be an embarrassment to myself or my family. Besides, to build quality muscle - the goal is to build it slowly with minimum fat gains. The 32 waist jeans are getting a little snug when I have things tucked inside the waistband so it's either cut a little, quit packing IWB, or buy bigger jeans. What the heck, a smarter cut than last time designed to save muscle just might be the perfect thing. Another reason is with all the protein I'm eating, I am burning up...I've never been hot natured before but now I'm always sweating...any excess body fat needs to be minimized or I'll roast this summer.

[.V.]

Brain fart - double posted.

But to answer the question "what are you trying to do", my wife asked me almost the exact same question a few days ago. So did a guy at work. My answer, "to develop a physique by age 40 that will turn 18 year old gay women straight".

Answer both times - "you've got a long way to go".

[maverick]

I understand completely. You worked your ass off for the past 2 years and now this is your summer to look like the cover of a fitness magazine. To achieve that, you need a solid muscle base (check) and the ever-coveted 6 pack. Keep the cardio up and the diet reasonalbe and you'll have it in no time. There's no need to starve yourself while shaving off fat, as I'm recently discovering. Yeah, it takes a bit more patience, but I would think you would have patience in abundance after taking the time to shave off, oh, about 140 pounds. Or did you use up all of it?

[.V.]

Maverick, you've got the right idea - but I waited too long and got too fat for that ever to happen. Too old, too much saggy skin. But the 6 pack is nice - even when it's surrounded by oldness.

I saw an old guy with the 6 pack, rock hard obliques, and saggy oldness all around it (he was close to 70) when the "polar bear" idiots did their swim this winter...it wasn't THAT bad.

[sunmedicFL]

Originally Posted by a_welch503

but I'm actually at 12%BF today

Hmph.

[Maxgain]

Originally Posted by a_welch503

develop a physique by age 40 that will turn 18 year old gay women straight".

How by getting bigger breasts than their girlfriends!!!!!!!

Ha just wanted to say that feeling bitter today. I actually feelin same position not sure whether to cut or continue bulking not happy with how i can grap chunks around waist. However i will be doing exams in a few weeks and typically lose 1/2-1 stone in this period so this may be my super cut.

How do you measure your bf. Is it callipers or just tape if just tape will you tell me how to do it if I apologise for above comment.

[.V.]

http://www.he.net/~zone/prothd2.html

Came on to edit in my cardio and saw the post. No apologies needed. I don't know how accurate it is. I don't have calipers just a tape measure. But as long as measurements are made in the same place each time - the results will be consistant at least to let you know if you are moving in the right direction.

Actually, I'd love to make a muscular chest that sticks out better than breasts. Not happening yet though.

[.V.]

3-16-206

Chest
Flat Bench......175x5,5,4 (I,I)
Incline Bench.....155x3x5 (I,I)
Decline Bench.....165x3x5 (I,I)

Abs
Crunch...........120x3x10 (I,I)

Cardio
Midday

Warmup.....1 min jumprope/10 burpees - 3 sets
SS strike practice 4 strike combinations, full power, full speed, total precision - taking time between each combination for bag to stop swinging. 10 minutes - Alternating lead hand.
Cardio combination drilling (same combination), no time between combinations 1 minute rounds (16-20 combinations/minute). 2 minute rest between rounds - 10 rounds (5 with right hand lead, 5 with left hand lead).
Today's combination: R palm to sternum to stun and make step back, L front kick to bladder to stop counter and lean body forward, L palm to nose to tilt head back and open mouth, R cross to jaw to break it or PGN for KO (whichever presents - it is a bag after all - it doesn't react totally like a person). Then reversed R/L.

Evening
Bike ride.....16 miles in 1:14:18. Raised the saddle and improved my pedaling power, I still need a wider saddle for my sit bones to fit it. Also need better gooch padding - I saw my prostate in the back of my throat after the ride. If it wasn't for that, I'm ready for 20 miles...but due to the pain in the perineal area I was happy when it got too dark to see at 16 miles.

Nutrition
Cal-3008, P-316g (49%), C-292g (38%), F-43g (13%), Sat Fat - 5%

Comments
Improvements all around on chest work today. More weight, more reps. Increase reps next time. I just thought my lats were sore last night. Today they are totally miserable. Tomorrow I hope they are better because I'm afriad the chest is gonna be really sore. Damn - it's leg day too.

No cable crunches today - still waiting on replacement cable.

Interesting side note. My little girl has a broken thumb so her workout was just kicking practice. She was wanting to do jumping kicks (a waste of time). I'm insisting on low level, knees, bladder, tarsal bones kicking strikes. She wanted to know why I don't like high, jumping kicks, so I made an a$$ of myself. I said, "because they are weak and don't work in a real fight, watch this". Then I did a nice jump/turn, roundhouse kick to the head area on the bag. The chain broke and the bag went flying across the porch. OOPS didn't prove my point very well. Like that would ever happen on purpose in real life - more likely, one would take a fist to the groin and be out of it quickly.

[KaiserSose]

A_welch, great improvements on Flat bench. By my count you have gained 25 pounts on this exercise in the last month alone. That is impressive to me, especially when I consider that I've worked hard just for a five pound increase.

[.V.]

Thanks Kaiser, it was hard though - I was stuck at 150 for quite some time. I didn't realize it was a 25lb increase until you just now pointed it out.

[.V.]

03-17-2006

Legs
Squat..........225x3x4 (I,I)
Calf Raise.....315x3x6 (I,I)
SLDL...........225x3x4 (I,I)
Leg Ext........160x3x8 (I,I)
Leg Curl........75x3x8 (I,I)

Cardio
Run.................3 miles
Time..................28:25
No walking breaks, no stops. My crazy plan to do sprints/walks has paid off.
Next time - 4 miles.

Nutrition
Cal-2927, P-361g (50%), C-226g (30%), F-65g (20%)
A bit lazy post run. Just ate a couple of Tyson chicken breast fillets. Breaded, 9g of fat each. I'm eating them again before bed with a salad - I'm not cooking any more today.

KFSS Practice
This one doesn't count as cardio because of the nature of today's workout. I wouldn't ordinarily post it, but there have been several members PM me with interest in my "weird cobbled together style". So I will be posting all of them for a while.

Rising circle strikes - 100 each side
Down circle strikes - 100 each side
Tarsal kick/Hammerfist to superior cervical gangling nerve - 100 each side.

These are round, flowing movements from the various kung fu styles. Different from the linear, strong blocks in karate or the ducking behind the gloves or absorbing a blow on your shoulder from boxing. They aren't pretty, don't look good on TV. I prefer these over blocks, because if you are blocking you are reacting to your attacker. You are fighting his fight. These are used to deflect blows by attacking the attacker - taking his arms/legs/weapons out of the fight - opening him up for follow up attacks of your choice.
The circle strike is the replacement for all upper body blocks from whatever martial art you choose. These are strikes not blocks. It is performed by moving the arm with an open knifehand or closed hammerfist in a circle from the waist, UPS across the body, in a circle back to the waist. This strike is thrown full power, full speed. This strikes the offending arm - usually on the radial nerve, musculospiral nerve, or the median nerve on your opponent - weakening their arm, causing it to feel like they've hit their funny bone, opening their hand, making them drop weapons, and taking that arm out of the fight momentarily. It also brings their head down and toward the side you've injured. It doesn't matter if you hit with your hand or ulna. Even though the ulna is a smaller bone than the radius - it doesn't have nerves running along it to take YOU out of the fight. The ulna when used properly is like adding a length of pipe to your arsenal.

The "DOWN" is thrown exactly the opposite, from the waist around the top, across the body, down to the waist. It does the same as the up strike against blows thrown low toward your body. It also deflects kicks aimed at your torso and groin. It will cause a similar effect on the internal saphenous nerve (inner thigh and inner calf) as striking the arm nerves.

The only drawback to these is they are useless against a muy thai fighter who is working on your knees and outer thighs. But that's OK other techniques that will end his fight are coming later. I've actually used these strikes against boxers and against my 3rd degree black belt karate teacher - after they made fun of them. Neither of them was able to lay a glove on me in our match. In real life, on the street, against an attacker who probably isn't a trained MA, they are unbeatable. Used them there too, many years ago when I was young and dumb.

Tarsal/Neck strike = Dirty, cheating streetfighting technique (based on kungfu techniques with the hammerfist borrowed from shotokan and taekwondo). A side thrust kick, but instead of aimed at the body - is more of a stomp - on the tarsal bones (upper foot). Don't hit the ankle or the toes - this will just get you hurt. If done correctly with great force, this will break the bones of the top of the foot - bringing your attackers body forward, taking their weight off of that foot - opening them up for a knee breaking kick to the other leg or a hammer strike to the back of the neck (what I did today). This is usually a KO blow.

Comments
I'm tired. Maybe tomorrow will be a slow day at work. I'm pretty satisfied that I got a 10lb increase on squats today. I think I'm getting close to slowing down on the sudden improvements though. Changed back to the 4-6 reps for calf raises and decided to go heavier than I've been going. Time to hit the shower and stand under the massager for a couple of hours.

[.V.]

03-20-2006

Arms
BB Curls...........125x3x6 (I,I)
Skull Crushers.....115x3x6 (I,R)
DB Curls............55x3x6 (I,R)
Tate Press..........40x3x6 (I,I)

Nutrition - Very clean yesterday and so far today - but not enough food. Trying to play catchup today but not getting there very well.

Comments
Missed yesterday. Work ran over by an extra day. Then another extra half a day. Then today finally made it home to my gym about 1:30 this afternoon. Got yesterday's arm workout then. I called my wife yesterday and told her I had to work an extra 24 hour shift to bring my food. She forgot until 6pm. Had to eat resturaunt food. Today, wife and kids all acting like tards. My stalker is getting to be a pain in the butt. The gym is my private place to myself - I was looking forward to my biking or running this evening...too cold and rainy...too close to workout. I blasted the hell out of my arms today though. Made them give everything they had in them to give. Weather permitting, I'll bike and run tomorrow.

[rangers97]

Originally Posted by a_welch503

I blasted the hell out of my arms today though. Made them give everything they had in them to give.

How they feeling now?

you going up to 130 next week? I gotta tell you, 5 pounds on curls is like a ton. I hit 130 for 2 sets of 6 last week and I went up to 135 today and it was hell...huge difference....good luck to you:

[.V.]

Yep, going up on BB curls and tate press, repeating on DB curls and skullcrushers. Right now - they just feel tired. Tomorrow they'll feel sore.

[.V.]

Well, I knew it was coming. I just didn't know when. I had hoped it would wait 3 more workouts before it happened. I've been waking up tired. Heartrate close to 80 early in the day instead of my usual less than 60. Lack of motivation. Looks like it's time for a break.

I've really enjoyed the recent gains. But today when I finally got out in the gym I was supposed to start with MP 120x3x4. Couldn't get even one, I barely got it past my nose. I dropped the weight down to 115 (which I did easily last time for 3x6) and couldn't budge it from my chest. I've especially enjoyed the cardiovascular improvements - not the actual cardio but the improvements. Perhaps 2 workouts a day often 3 a day is too much? Or at least leads to a need for rest quicker than planned.

Maybe I'll still go for a bike ride and run this evening. Maybe I'll just take the next few days completely off. Don't know yet.

Perhaps I'm on the edge of overtraining again, or perhaps it's just that missing out on eating day before yesterday has taken it's toll.