Pain's Journey

[PIJW]

Well its been 2 years since i left the Marines. I blew my knee out 1 year before i got out and was not able to do anything because of the pain and the Navy slacking to figure out i tore my entire ACL and part of my meniscus. Once they figured it out i had less than 3 months left so after my surgery i did all i could do to get off limited duty so i could just get out. I was depressed because of what i had let myself turn into. Well we moved and its been 2 years since i have thought about a gym. Well i let myself go from 190 up to 240 with just video games and work. My wife pissed me off about 3 months ago so i completly changed my diet. I started limited my intake to about 1700 calories a day. I cut out ALL carbonated drinks and anything pumped full of sugar. I was doing cardio about 4 times a week from 15 min intervals to 60min runs. About a month ago i hit a plateu and decided it was time to start lifting again. I started slow and now i am also back to my military workout schedule i was following. My work out:

Day 1: Legs, Day 2: Cardio, Day 3: Arms and Back, Day 4: Swim with kids, Day 5: Chest and Shoulders, Days 6: Cardio and any muscle group i think i didn't hit enough, Day 7: Off

I pushed my calories back up towards 2200 and i started Animal Pak(every day), Animal Pump and Nitro(workout days).

I have started at 24% body fat at 240 pounds. I am now at 17% body fat and hover around 225 pounds. My current goal is to get to around 10% body fat but with more lean muscle.

My current sets are Deads: 3 sets of 5 reps 225 pounds, Squat: 3 sets of 5 reps 225 pounds, Bench 3 sets of 5 at 200 pounds. My secondary goal is to get to Deads 400, Bench 300, and squat 500.


BTW i love these forum and i read them every day and work to pass the time.

[PIJW]

Damn off day about killed me, glad tomorrow is legs day, granted my daughter wants to go swimming after my workout. Guess i get to sit in the shallow end and watch.

[PIJW]

Just finished my legs workout a couple hours ago. Maxed out on squat at 275 which is a great improvement from 225 last time. Pushed my leg press up to 270 as well up from 200. Feels great and tomorrow is a cardio day and will more than likely punish my dog with me since she loves to walk and run.

[Shamus11B]

Great job brother. Welcome to the FORVM!

[PIJW]

TY and i am glad to be apart of a group like this. I plan to keep this updated on what happens and what i change. Was just glad to get back in the gym yesterday and feel the soreness today 2 days off pretty muched killed me, granted i spend all weekend in the sun painting my house trim.

[PIJW]

Was looking for some feed back on my workout split. I tend to do 5-6 differnt exercises per group and i am doubled up on some of those days and i am just wore out by the time i am getting to my last 2-3 execises. I am wanting around 17% BF and i am looking to get closer to 10% and stay "around" my current weight of 225. Any feed back is great and this is not my 1st time lifting, i have lifted on and off for years i am just wanting to get more dedicated to it now for my overall fitness and health, not to mention my wife has loved the fact i dropped from 240 to 225 which was 24% to 17% BF.

[PIJW]

Well great workout this afternoon, guess ill hit my arms in the morning before work. I worked my back

Bendover Rows : 185x2x5 225x2x5
Deadlifts: 225x1x5, 275x1x5, 315xx23
Lat Pull Down: 110x1x8, 120x2x8, 130x2x8
Sitting Row: 120x2x8, 130x2x8, 140x1x8


Worked on my Tri's a little with pull down and skull crushers. That was my personal high on deadlifts now at 315. Guess its time to move that goal towards 400 now. Ill post my arm workout from work tomorrow.

[PIJW]

Feeling great so far just got to work after my arms workout. I don't have my log with me atm but i did some hammer curls, bicep curls, bb curls, reverse bb curls, tri push down, skull breakers, and close grib DB bench. Also did 15 min cardio before i had to head out to work.

Can't wait for tomorrow for chest and shoulders(if not on saturday morning)!

[PIJW]

Tomorrow is going to be fun, chest and shoulders then head home to take my daughter to her 1st day of kindergarden with a day full of meetings and presenations. Glad i have the soreness to make my day better and the lovely over weight people choking down soda's and passing out climbing one flight of stairs. These people just force me to hit the gym as early as i can 5 so i don't feel like a slob.

[PIJW]

Shoulder workout was great, feels good right now sitting and watching these people drink soda while i chug on my water. Chest is not as sore as last week, guess its time to change it up some and increase my weight a little more. To me my chest still feels like its lacking compared to the rest of me, granted i still have a little gut but i just dont feel as strong there as every where else, i even did bench 135x3x8/185x1x5, incline DB 50s, decline DB50s, low/high cable fly40/40, and the peck dek 110. Any thoughts on what i could do differently

[boondocker]

weighted dips! imo, one of the best chest day supplemental workouts.

[PIJW]

I did not even think of those, damn 5AM workouts i forget from time to time, ill have to write that down in my log for next time.

[PIJW]

Today was my cardio day, i did 30 min on the treadmill at 4 incline with intervals. The intervals started with a 4.0 speed and then up to a 6.0 speed, around the 15min mark i changed the 6.0 speed to 8.0 to finish up. Felt great afterwards. THen after a quick shower i headed out for a round of golf with my brother en-law ans father-enlaw. I have to say not hitting a ball for almost a year, DAMN I SUCKED. Granted they got tired of me after about the first 9 holes cause i was walking and i kept up with thier pace. Tomorrow i am going to have to do my Legs instead of taking a day off cause monday they are removing about 6 skin tags from undear each arm and from what i heard that can get pretty sore so i thought i would use monday and tuesday as off/cardio days. If anyone has any thoughs on the removal and how it feels afterwards it would help a lot cause i hate missing days in the gym now.

[PIJW]

Today was awsome, i found a new supplement store that sold animal cheaper than GNC and Vitamin Shoppee. Bought me a can of Animal Flex since my generic stuff ran out, then i hit the gym. Today was legs day and it went as follows:

Squat:
225x2x8
275x2x8
295x2x8
315x1x5(PR)

Leg Press:
225x2x8
315x2x8
405x2x8(PR)

Calf Raises:
90x2x12
135x3x12

Hamstring Curl(laying down):

110x1x10
120x1x10
130x1x10
150x1x10

Awsome day and i feel great, tomorrow i get those blasted skin tags removed and hopefully my arms feel better during lifts and don't get as bothered by them. If my arms don't hurt to much tomorrow i might do some light cardio if not tuesday will be my cardio day.

[PIJW]

Well i just got back to work from the clinic where i had them damn skin tags removed. Other than the sore spot on my back and my damn arms pits sticking to my everything it was not bad at all, i just hope they dont come back. So tomorrow it looks like i am going to hit the cardio up with no problems at all.

[PIJW]

After talking with my dad, who used to BB way back when, he suggested i change my days up and bit, so starting tomorrow they will go as follows:

Tomorrow: Cardio
Day 2: Biceps and Back
Day 3: Shoulders
Day 4: Chest and Tri's
Day 5: Cardio
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Legs

And i plan on fitting Abs in when ever i can along with my diet that is around 2000-2200 of whole foods from eggs, chicken, fish, etc. Any thoughts?

[PIJW]

ok change that post about my arms, they have been on fire for the past 2 hours, hopefully a good shower and being able to hold them up and air out will help since they have been rubbing for most of the day

[PIJW]

Well this morning was awsome, i was able to get back into the gym after 2 days off to rest my arms. Today i worked on biceps and back. I started off with some deads just for fun:

Deads:8x225x2, 5x295x2, 5x315x2(they were done slowly so i could watch my form and be sure they were perfect)
Lat pull down: 120x8x2, 130x8x2, 140x5x2, 200x3x1
Sitting Cable Row: 120x8x2, 130x8x2, 140x8x2
Bend Over Row: 135x12x3 (Had to do light weight because my arm pits were on fire by this point and i didnt want to open any of the wounds so i did lighter weight than normal at a higher rep)

Standing DB Bicep Curl: 40x5x2, 45x5x3
Standing DB Hammer Curl: 40x5x2, 45x5x3
Reverse Cable Curl: 70x5x2, 80x5x2
EX Curl Bar: 45x8x2, 65x8x2, 75x8x2(slight jerking motion i caught myself doing by i was pumped and they were feeling good so i had to back it down on them so i did not throw my form out the door)

30 min on treadmill at 3.0 incline, 3.5 speed and kept my heartrate in the FAT zone for almost the entire time which was around 120.

Feeling great right now and ready for my midmorning snack(tuna) and ready to hit the stairs again like i did yesterday in my 12 story office building).


Tomorrow i am going to Chest and Triceps and try to do cardio again and save my shoulders for Friday.

[PIJW]

I have a question tomorrow i am going to be doing my chest and i was wondering about doing it in the smith machine. I get to the gym at 5 in the morning and i dont think grandma with her 5 lb walking, or soccer mom on the treadmill would help much with a spot. So A should i just do a little lower weight where i know i can maintain it or use the smith machine where i dont have to worry so much if i get in a jam. i dont mind doing either cause almost everything is open in the morning to use unless grandma is lat pulling 15 pounds.

[PIJW]

Just wondering before i crash for tonight and get up at 5 for the gym if anyone has a though about benching with or without the smith machine and which is better.