Here is a progress picture of me from 2008 - 2012. The 2008 picture was me as a runner before lifting any serious weights in 10 years. 2012 was me before starting to diet properly (as I do know) and before my training started for NPC body building.
Great change. Inspirational!
ReplyDeleteThanks brother! I appreciate the support. The 2012 pic is also before I started my diet and got it under control. I believe I need to post some updated progress soon - after I get my tan back! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing so much of your diet and exercise. I've stumbled many, many times and quit because my diet wasn't right.
DeleteYour help and Fito have worked. In fact, I’ve lost two inches around my middle in two weeks. I haven't lost any weight yet, but I've been eating a lot of healthy food to support my muscle gains. I feel as if my lifts are getting easier so I might add some weight next time.
What keeps you going to the gym? Why bodybuilding? I've always wanted to look like a bodybuilder but never could stick with it because it was too hard to do and I wasn't making any gains except pounds and inches around my middle. You make it look so easy, going from 140 and adding lean muscle of some +40 pounds. I am impressed change and admire your openness and willingness to help others learn from you. Because of that, I feel like your brother when you write brother. You are my cool brother.
When are you going to get your tan back so we can see updated photos? Thanks again for sharing so much of your routines with us. It is appreciated! I am looking forward to seeing your winning pose at the Knox BB competition.
Take care and stay injury free
My son said I could make the same change over four years as you did. We'll see. He also said 2 guns and one axe doens't sound right. The two guns are your arms and your one axe is your brain, right? You can use your mighty arms or 'strength' wisely then.
DeleteAbsolutely, I believe you can do it. Stay focused and don't try to do it all at once. Gains will come. If you can keep your mental focus on what your goals are, the rest will be easy. Staying injury free helps too - which I definitely have not been over my 4 year transformation. I had several injuries including two shoulder surgeries and a lumbar injury that required cortizone shots.
DeleteHaha - 2guns1axe. Yes, the guns are the arms. The axe was just an axe I was carrying around the yard one day when a good friend stopped by. He hadn't seen me in awhile and he said you're armed with 2 guns and 1 axe! :)
That is awesome - keep up the good work! Definitely keep me up to date on the progress. 2 inches off the waist is a HUGE accomplishment!
DeleteWhat keeps me going to the gym? Well, it started as a great way to de-stress during my lunch breaks from my office job. It gradually turned into a strength contest between friends, and then my arms exploded and everyone noticed. That's when it morped into bodybuilding. I have always admired Arnold's physique, and studying his career slowly convinced me to change my body. Last year, several people I didn't know started randomly coming up to me in the gym and asking how i do it and why I do not compete. They told me they have been to the shows and I was already bigger than some of the guys that do compete. Eventually, I heard enough, and I started to research a plan for competition. A lot of the guys I know just learn from some of the local guys who have done the show or read about how to do it online, but I thought there had to be a better way. I began reading about Franco and Arnold's routines and diets. I started to experiment with what they ate and the vitamins they took. Within two months, everything changed. Veins popping, waste shrinking, muscles growing... strength increasing. If you truly want to get into bodybuilding, my advice would be, find someone with a physique to like (a professional, not some personal trainer or average Joe) and do some research on what they did to become what they are. From there, tweak the diet and routine to fit your body and workout style - because everyone is different and you can't just do exactly what they did and expect to look like them.
What keeps me going to the gym? Currently - My goal of winning a body building title. If I win, will I stop going? Hell no! :) No, it's taken too much work to build what I am, so I will always body build; albeit, I will not always compete. After this summer's competitions, I plan on resting my current (hopefully minor) injuries and then start a bulking routine up to 200-215 lbs. I plan on gaining slowly to avoid adding too much fat, so it will take some time. Ultimately, I would like to compete in the heavy weight or at least light heavy weight class.
DeleteI do plan on posting a workout video on here soon (basically me in the gym doing several of my routine exercises) and also share parts of my posing routing I am working on. I would like to get some feedback - positive or negative! :)
Thank you for all the kind words and encouragement!
Great advice. I like your physique and will be following your diet and excercise routines and adjust it to how my body responds.
DeleteDo you ever drink alcohol? If not, why not?
If you ever get close to Indiana in competition, let me know. I'd like to come.
What do your wife and kids think of your abmitions? I say go for it. I can't wait to see what you look like as a heavy weight. You look great now.
Thank you for all your help!
Awesome! Can't wait to see the results!
DeleteRight now, I am not consuming much alcohol due to training. I am a pretty consistent social drinker, but my goals right now limit me on how much I consume. Once I start the cutting phase, I will limit myself to one glass of wine or beer per day maximum; I'm actually consuming less than that on average right now, but it's easy since it's not the summer time! :)
If I ever get good enough to travel and compete in Indiana, I will definitely let you know.
My wife is sometimes supportive and sometimes not depending on her mood. :) She gets tired of seeing the endless boxes of vitamins and protein containers arriving at the front door every month and misses me when I spend 3 hours in the gym on most Saturdays. The kids are really young, but I can tell they miss me when I'm in the gym - fortunately, they enjoy my gym's daycare, so sometimes they come with me and play while I am working out.
You're welcome! Thanks for the feedback and encouragement!
My wife just yesterday evening comment how every time turns around she see a new bottle of supplements, which is an exaggeration. She's just not paying attention and the pow there's something she thinks is new and it's been on the kitchen shelf for weeks. So I kinda know what you mean. Last weekend my wife was upset because I wanted to schedule something around a quick work out at the gym. It's like she's not used to me being active and resists my new way of life. It'll take a while before she gets used to it. I'll have to paint the house this summer, change out an old toilet, refinish our wood floors to get her support, which is worth it. I haven't had a part-time job in over a year now. Fortunately for us she's found a higher-paying one and is very happy there. So we can afford a simple supplement:)
DeleteHaha, sounds like working out and dieting are becoming higher priorities for sure! Agreed - it will take her awhile to get used to it, but I'm sure it will work out in the end. She will be absolutely amazed by your results and then she will understand.
DeleteThanks for helping and your positive outlook. Your feedback has been great!
DeleteThe truth is, as for exercise and diet, I have not been making a great example for my kids to follow. Let's say I have been adequate with feeding them a healthy diet most of the time and gave them just enough exercise to keep them from going out of control.
So my new direction is to take the time to get fit and keep my kids as involved in it as possible. It is not easy to convince my wife that it is not just for vanity. Recently, she has been thinking I am obsessive. My new way of life is definitely going to take her a lot longer to get used to, but I am, like you, thinking she will like the results. It’s not easy being green.
After twenty years of discarding them, I have added egg yokes back into my diet. After keeping an eye on yours diet something stirred within me. As I recall, there seemed to be essential fats that keep a body slim are in those egg yokes. I remember reading about it somewhere a long time ago but had forgotten until now. It was already taking the omegas and B-vitamins, so it was nice to see you taking them as well. Your timing of meals, ratio of carb/protein/fats, spacing of meals, and calories in the day, have all been useful diet tips. I am giving my own diet an overhaul and hopefully will be getting into shape faster because of it.
Do you keep an eye on your waist measurement? When do you know you are gaining weight to fast?
Thanks a million!
It's great to hear you are getting the kids involved. They will learn a lot from you and if you get them started working out at the appropriate age, they will benefit much more than you or I would at our ages.
DeleteI hear the word obsession in regards to diet and working out a lot. I think it has to do with the opinion people have with why you do body building; they think, as you stated, it is for vanity and show and nothing else. But frankly, for most people I know, that is not true. Competitions are for show, but it's also about living a healthy lifestyle and keeping your body in the best shape possible. Would the ones who say we are obsessive about working out say the same thing about someone who trained for a competitive sport? I think not. And I would ask, what is the difference? There is no difference. We train our bodies to look a certain way the same way a football player would train their body to perform a for his sport. Then end goal is different, but time spent training is similar.
You are absolutely correct. Egg yolks contain many healthy, muscle building enzymes, proteins, and essential fats. If you ever worry you are consuming too much fat, I do NOT recommend removing egg yolks from your diet; find the excess fat elsewhere. I do space out my consumption of egg yolks, as you may have noticed, to reduce the amount of fat intake for breakfast. I'd rather consume all the egg yolks, but not all at once. You can apply this principle elsewhere as well; in particular, vitamins. I'm glad you found my diet useful!
Yes, I routinely measure several body parts on a monthly to bi-monthly basis including my waiste. While I have been on my current diet routine, which is supposed to have been a bulking routine, I have trimmed 1.5 inches from my waist. My workout intensity increased so much when I reformed it for my body building goal, that 3500 calories became a maintenance goal instead of a bulking goal. Actually, I look at the picture above on the right, and the first thing I see is my bulging waiste in that picture, :) which is no more. Since my cut is coming soon, I have decided that 3300-3500 calories for maintenance is fine and I should not try to add any additional weight until after my last show later this Summer.
I have also observed in your diet the spacing of vitamins and egg yolks. So I have begun to space out my vitamins and started eating whole eggs, spaced out over several meals. Do you hard boil the eyes or fry them?
DeleteI understand your goals of being as fit as possible and keeping your body strong and healthy as possible. What you do is super cool. I would love to develop the same kind of personal fitness in my lifetime. While I seek this fitness level I keep in mind my ultimate goal and hope: to show the children how I am becoming fit and to maintain a new fitness level for life. I do not want them struggling to maintain a normal size and fitness level in their adulthood. I know I can do this and be better role model.
Thank you for showing the way. Again, thank you for all your input.
Yes, I do enjoy a nice hard boiled egg with paprika. Usually I am waiting for my wife to do this for me as I don't have the patience to peel the egg shell. :)
DeleteWhat you're teaching your kids is awesome. This country needs many, many, more parents like yourself.
You're welcome! Drop me a line anytime!
How often do you feel DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness)? I've been experiencing DOMS a lot. It most noticeable when waking up in the morning. Once I get moving around and have something to eat the pain subsides almost to where I don't notice it. If you do feel DOMS,is it so bad you take ibuprophen? I'm not taking anything for my pain because I fear side effects more than I fear pain.
DeleteGreat question! Yes, I occassionally get DOMS and there are several differing opinions of whether it is good or bad to work out so hard to get DOMS. My opinion is that once in awhile you should push the barrier in training to do more than you're body can handle, to push beyond your normal training limits. This is not only for physical gains, but also for psychological and mental gains. The result is often DOMS. How often should you do this? Again, there are differing opinions. When I am trying to produce gains (often during a bulking cycle), I like to test each of my major lifts every other week. This means I would go heavy on dead lifts one week, then heavy squats the next, heavy bench the week after that, and finally heavy shoulder presses a week or so after that.
DeleteI do take NSAID's such as ibuprofren for abnormal pains, but usuaully not for DOMS. As you indicated, there are side effects with NSAID's such as stomach bleeding, but you have to take a lot for a prolonged period of time. My advice would be to use them sparingly and try not to get hooked on them since they do work very well for moderate pain.
Finally, I would not advise any weight lifter, unless they are in a competive training cycle, to work so hard they experience DOMS week after week. This can be a sign of overtraining and will limit your gains. I have experienced this first hand as my overtraining from years ago even led to poor form and eventual injury. Contrary to what many people say, the body needs rest. Some of my best workouts have been after a 1 or 2 day rest period. If you are experiencing DOMS consistently, you may want to do a few less sets/reps per major muscle group. You can still work out for the same amount of time, just move on to another muscle group.