Workouts

Well I have been getting back into my normal weight lifting routine over the past two weeks. Everything has been going very well but next week I will be bumping up the intensity. I will begin cutting (dieting down) starting around the middle of May. That should be a new challenge as I will be focusing on losing weight but keeping muscle mass. I currently consume around 4200-4600 calories a day to gain about .5lb-1lb a week. During the cutting phase I will cut back at first to a max of 4000 calories a day and take it from there. After a couple weeks into it I may carb cycle as well which is when you eat a couple days in a row of low carbs and one day eat a normal amount. 

I'll leave you with a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"Every Artist was first an amateur."

Something to think about but more on that next time.....

Dreams

We all have dreams don't we? Or maybe more appropriately we all once had dreams. I am not talking about the dreams you have at night, I am talking those dreams you used to have about your future. Maybe when you were a kid you used to dream of being an astronaut, or a movie star, or maybe being a great athlete. What happened? 

Well for many of us people told us that our dreams weren't very realistic. Instead, they said, why don't you focus on school work or getting a "real" job. The people that told us this had good intentions, they were our parents, our educators and our friends. They didn't want to see us get hurt. 

Then there are those people that had someone coach them along telling them they could have whatever they wanted, to keep at it and don't give up. While these people may have met with obstacles they never did give up and they went on to become some of the most successful people in their respective fields. People like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. 

If you have a dream I strongly encourage you to pursue it, never lose sight of it and don't let other people steal it from you by telling you that you can't do it.

Until next time.....

Catching Up

Well I went back to the United States for 15 days and just came back. I hadn't been back in a little over four years so it was good to see my family and friends again. My wife and I finished up our LifeSuccess consultant training. Actually that was the first phase of training, we now move on to a more advanced one year training curriculum. 

Self development is a life long process and we have committed ourselves to it. I only managed to do one real workout over the last three weeks. I am currently overcoming a fairly severe sinus infection. I plan on doing an easy Chest workout on Saturday and my first week of workouts will be light.

Until next time.....

Workout Updates

I have had some phenomenal workouts over the last week. Highlights include: 

Squatting 315x1-this was done just below parallel not all the way to the floor 

Dumbbell(DB) Shrugs: 120lb DB'sx40 

Dips: 7 reps with an added 70lbs.

Incline DB Bench Press: 90lb DB'sx4

Barbell Row: 345x2

Persistence has definately paid off but more on that later.

Imagination

I would like to talk a little about our intellectual faculty (I will discuss all of our intellectual faculties in detail later) of imagination.  Imagination is our ability to conceive and envision something. I want to share with you two powerful quotes regarding imagination:

1. "Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future" - Charles Kettering, Inventor and holder of over 300 patents.

2. "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Albert Einstein

You see many people imagine the worst case scenario about anything. For example, lets say someone has worked in their job at the factory for the past twenty years and one day he/she hears that the factory may close. What usually happens? Most people start imagining all the bad things that will happen - How will I afford my house, food, car, kids college etc...? What if he/she  instead imagined themselves, lets say, starting a business they have always wanted?

Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, said that with every seemingly bad situation comes a seed of oppurtunity. You may say well what does he know? Well, during the Great Depression, Hill lost all of his money and had to start over again. He was in his late forties at the time. He perservered and became even more successful. 

I would suggest to all of you that you begin imagining the life you want. Whatever it is that you want, imagine yourself as if you have already attained it. Stop letting your current results control your future. 

Until next time......

Workouts

I had really great Shoulder, Arm and Leg workouts the past few days. I did 515x2 on Barbell Shrugs so that was a new record for me. My workout schedule is as follows:

Day 1: Chest

Day 2: Back

Day3: Shoulders

Day 4: Arms

Day 5: Legs

There are almost always two off days thrown in there somewhere. I usually don't work out more than three days in a row without an off day. 

I have basically been on a bulk for a long time. Currently I am 6' tall and weigh around 232lbs. Ten years ago I was a horrifically thin 133lbs.  My goal is to hit 240 by early May and then begin cutting. I am the type of person who has a hard time gaining weight but an easy time losing it so I'll be careful during the cut.

Until next time....

Back Workout

Here is my Back workout from today. It was my first time to pull 495lbs for deadlifts. I had failed at it twice before, once in December and once earlier in Febuary. Next short term goal for deads is 515.

Back (18 sets)
T-Bar Row: 3 platesx12, 4 platesx10, 5 platesx8(PR), 5 plates+25x4(PR)
HS Row (wide parallel grip)(total weight listed): 180x15, 270x12, 270x12, 320x6
Pullups: 12, 10, 9, 8
Parallel Grip Pullups: 10
Deadlift: 245x6, 315x5, 385x3, 495x1(PR)<--no straps, belt used on last two sets Hyperextension: 20