What does the scouter say about his power level?

So, I'm not sure where the idea originated, but I'm pretty sure
absolutely positive it involved lots of booze in the Sin Bin. Me and Tutes have been talking about it for a while, but never really got around to taking it seriously: We would dress up as Goku and Vegeta for Halloween. Well, now is the time to get serious.

For those of you not familiar with the anime DBZ, I don't blame you. It is mostly a whole bunch of yelling, cheesy banter, with 30 seconds of fighting if you are lucky. Really, I think it gives anime a bad name, but for whatever reason, it is one of the most popular animes around. Goku is the most powerful warrior in the series, and at some point he achieves a legendary strength and power status, a Super Saiyan.

This blog will chronicle my attempts to become my own personal Super Saiyan. No, I won't be shooting Kamehameha waves out of my arms, or flying around on a nimbus cloud (sadface) but I will be battling back to a physique and fitness level that I once had. The past two years I have been wracked with injury and medical issues that have pretty much prevented me from working out at all since July of 2009, when I tore my labrum. The recovery for that injury was long, and hard, and it took until September 2010 before I could lift (regularly) again. However, just as I was beginning to get back into things, I had to get another surgery which prevented me from lifting for another few months. Before these two injuries, I was the most fit and in shape I had ever been in my life, and I was actually only about 6 months away from achieving my lifetime fitness goals. Once I got there, I could workout 3 times a week, if that, to just maintain my level of fitness. It is much easier to maintain, then to gain, and the stronger you get, the harder it is to put on more muscle. To give you an idea of where I was, according to weight training performance standards, I was at a level of strength that "fewer than 1% of the weight training population will ever achieve". Just like the Saiyan race, fewer than 1% of them will ever become Super Saiyans (though in the series, every single one does, wtf). So, my goal of becoming a super saiyan is very fitting. I want to get back to where I was, and then some.

I have been weight training since I was 13, and doing so regularly since I was 18. In all that time, I have never had a specific goal, I always just wanted to get stronger, lift more, push myself harder. I loved the feeling, it is a natural high when I push myself in the gym, and I feel the endorphins rush all throughout my body. Now, I have a specific goal, and here it is:



Not related, but funny. When I searched for this picture, I typed "Goku Jacked" And Google said "Did you mean Goku Naked?"

Anyways, I doubt I will actually look like that, but my training, at least until Halloween, will be slightly different than it has been most of my life. I am actually still strong enough, from years of NATURAL weight training, that I could really just diet/cut weight/do cardio until Halloween, get down to 200lbs, and look pretty close to that (just not as big). Even though I want to look the part, I still can't give into a complete training regimen that focuses on looking good (cutting weight), I need the strength too, for me. Instead of focusing on 95% strength goals and 5% looking good, I will probably be doing about a 50-50 split until Halloween. Here is my current plan:

February 6th - 12th: Start new diet (ketogenic)
February 13th - March 5th: Low intensity cardio, shoulder PT exercises
March 7th - April 3rd: High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT cardio) early in the morning, Resume Weight training in the afternoon/evening
April 5th - May 5th: Halt Ketogenic diet, start standard cut diet, kick the HIIT up a notch, as well as the weight training
May and June: Bulk Diet, strength (BEAST)mode: 5x5 training or German Volume Training (10 weeks), followed by low intensity cardio.
July + August: Change lifting program, Normal clean diet
September + October: HIIT resumes. Lift easy here, focus on cutting.
2 weeks before Halloween: No carbs

There it is. The purpose of this blog is two fold: Yes, it will be extremely epic to be dressed as a super saiyan, look jacked as hell, and scream at my saiyan counterpart and do shots all night on halloween. More importantly though, it is about me getting healthy and fit and strong again. I had my quarter-life-crisis back in May 2010, and I have almost everything settled out again except for my health. Being strong and fit is a part of who I am, and it feels weird not being where I was a year and a half ago. Time to get back there, for me.