The Pain, The Plan, The Progress

THE PAIN
I’ve been living with various amounts of daily pain since last May. The fact that this may be a lifelong ailment is something that took me far too long to come to terms with. I remain hopeful that I will eventually be pain free. I am definitely on the right track since February when I won my case VS. AIG and started receiving consistent and proper medical treatment. It's amazing what doctors can do when you ACTUALLY GET TO FUCKING SEE THEM. At least twice a week I see some sort of doctor – be it chiropractors, acupuncturists, pain management docs, or back surgeons. It has made a world of difference, and I am rapidly on my way to becoming healthy, which is my #1 and essentially only priority right now. The shooting pain down my back only comes rarely now, and the dull ache and tightness is (very) slowly fading. When I work out or lift weights the next day I get flare-ups and the pain increases, but it seems temporary and these are becoming more bearable.

THE PLAN

My plan has been for April and May to focus on primarily weight loss, with a secondary focus on strengthening the core. These are the most two important aspects and elements for having a healthy back, and recovering from the serious injury I sustained. April I have mostly been walking daily for an hour, and sometimes doing HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) on a stationary bike. I follow this up with various core/abs/back/Physical Therapy lifts and stretches designed to target my core and make it stronger and more stable. I have also interlaced light weight-lifting sessions only about twice a week. The main point of these is to get my muscles and joints acclimated to lifting weights again. My back is still not healthy enough to handle most of the lifts or bear heavy weight. Once may hits, I plan on ramping up my Hot yoga sessions. I’m going to attempt to go to it every other day. Hot yoga has been amazing for me; I feel great after, get a great workout in, and also strengthen my back.

Once June 1 hits, I plan on ending my Ketogenic diet, and moving to an Intermittent fasting diet. I will make a post about that when I have done more reading and research on the topic, much like I did about the Ketogenic diet back when I started this thing. Additionally in June, I plan to ramp up my training/cardio. The more weight you lose, the harder it is to lose. I imagine that once I hit around 210lbs, the weight will be very difficult to drop. I will also want to really start hitting my core and build more muscle in that area. It is for this reason I have decided to start the 60-day Insanity program. It is basically like P90x, but more focused on cardio and core workouts. Where P90x is a full body workout more focused on building muscle everywhere, Insanity is a ridiculous cardio workout which also has the benefits of strengthening the core. This will take me to August 1st. Once that time arrives, I hope my training and vigilance will render me healthy enough to start my true passion (with respect to fitness) which is weight training. I will probably never ever come close to lifting the weight I was before all this crap happened, but it is something I can work towards (Carefully!). The strength and the weight I lifted was never really a primary goal, it just came as a result of doing something I genuinely loved – PUMPING IRON!

THE PROGRESS

As of today, I am 219lbs. In the throes of my depression and pain, I got up to 235lbs before I stopped stepping on the scale. So, I’ve lost at least 16lbs in 23 days. I’ve been very vigilant with staying to my Ketogenic diet (which is fucking difficult, I miss a nice cold beer at the end of the day), and doing at least an hour of cardio every day. My goal is 200lbs by August 1st, and it is looking very doable.

I find that my mental health is directly tied to my physical health. That being said, I had a HUGE victory this past weekend. I went hiking for the first time since September of 2011. I hurt myself last year literally days after my summer break from grad school started, and I am just now healthy enough to once again start hiking. I hiked Mt. Monadnock on Sunday, which is one of the easiest hikes (for a mountain) around. Today my legs are still jelly, my back is still sore, but it isn’t the soreness that comes from having three herniated disks (beyond what I normally feel), it’s sore for using it for the first time in a long while. I’m ok with that. It was an enormous mental victory for me, and this made it even more sweet:


EXCELSIOR!

I'm done.

(on a whiteboard)
“LIFTING RECORDS, UMASS DARTMOUTH, 1998 – 2010”

DEADLIFT: 500lbs.
Cute.

BENCH PRESS: 450lbs.
That’s only 35lbs more than me.

SQUAT: 600lbs
Impressive, but I should be able to top that by the end of my first year here.

It happened the other night. That was it. That was the moment. That was the moment I got fucking pissed. Not at anyone else, not at my situation, and not at unfortunate circumstances outside of my control, but pissed at ME. How in the fuck did I become that way? That was the moment I was fucking done. I am done feeling sorry for myself. I am done focusing on what I have lost instead of what I have left to earn. I am done focusing on what I can’t do, instead of what I can do. I’m done focusing on what could have been instead of what there is potential for. I’m done being jealous or resentful of what others have instead of getting it for myself. I’m done thinking instead of doing. I’m done being fat instead of being healthy. I’m done avoiding my problems instead of attacking them. I’m done being depressed instead of being fucking pissed. No, pissed off isn’t happy, but being pissed off gets you places. Depression does nothing except put a man down and keep him there. Furious anger is more powerful than nuclear rocket fuel and I’ve just acquired a hellish supply of it. Fuck you depressed Eric. I don’t need your shit.

As I drove home daft punk came on. I turned it up. I turned it up louder. I put the windows down. I turned it up so loud I couldn’t hear myself think, and then I screamed. I screamed as loud as I could. I truly channeled my inner Goku. Have you ever done that – screamed as loud as you possibly could? Have you screamed unhindered by anyone else, or any social faux pas, or even the sound of your own voice? I did it again. It felt…. Amazing. I don’t think I have ever yelled like that ever. I had a tear on my face for some reason, and I hope that was the last one I will shed for a long time to come.

Back to the whiteboard though.

“LIFTING RECORDS, UMASS DARTMOUTH, 1998 – 2009”

DEADLIFT: 500lbs.
Cute.


BENCH PRESS: 450lbs.
That’s only 35lbs more than me.

SQUAT: 600lbs
Pretty good, I should be able to top that in a few months.


That’s what I remember thinking as I smugly stared at the whiteboard in the Umass gym. I remember thinking I could shatter all those records by the time I finished grad school. I did some warm up sets, and then proceeded to do five sets of five deadlifts at 500lbs. That’s just over 6 tons, or about 5 of my Honda fits. That’s more weight than most people move in a year. I did it in 30 minutes or so. I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember looking to my future with high hopes. I was just starting grad school, I could take the next few years to work on my education, my career, and my body. I remember that being the last time I was really in shape.

The universe will have its way, and it proceeded to have its way with me. A series of unfortunate accidents, unrelated to lifting, ruined all my hopes and aspirations. A snowboarder who shouldn’t have been on a black diamond ruined my day, and caused me to wipe out. I separated my right shoulder, and tore my right labrum. Fuck. I had dealt with a torn labrum before. I tore my left one, but I bounced back from that, and that shoulder doesn’t give me any problems anymore. I could get through it, and I did. That knocked me out of the gym for another nine months. Shortly after I recovered from that, I was involved in a minor bus accident at work. I was working with children with autism, who were very aggressive. The short abridged version of it all, is that this kid got up to attack someone while the bus was moving. I had to put him back in his seat, and put his seat belt on. While I was doing this some asshole cut the bus off, the driver slammed on the breaks, and I went flying and wretched my back over a seat. The next morning I could barely walk. It turns out I herniated 3 disks, and did some minor damage to my pelvis. To make matters worse, the worker’s comp insurance my employer has was Chartis (AKA, AIG), and they are fucking cunts. After only about two months of treatment they sent me to one of their own doctors who examined me for all of 10 minutes and said I was fine. Despite what four other doctors and myself said, AIG claimed that the word and recommendation of this one asshole, who was essentially paid to come to conclusions beneficial to AIG, was enough evidence to deny me proper medical care and benefits.

It took me seven hellish months get them into a court room. That’s a long time to have your life on hold. During that time I had no income, I couldn’t work, I had to drop out of grad school with only three classes left (all my remaining course work required supervised clinical hours, and applied research, which I couldn’t do), my back fucking hurt all the time, and I couldn’t do anything about it. So in court, well, this is what happened to them (pretend AIG is the car):

I got all my back pay (plus some damages), I got them to have to take care of my back for the rest of my life, even if it gets 1% worse, and I got them to pay for job re-training if I chose. Finally, some closure.

I used to be a paragon of health. I wasn’t just strong, I was strength incarnate. I essentially worked out at least 3 days a week (often 6 or 7) from 18 – 24. I used to do labor for work, then go to the gym and workout, then go do some other physical activity on the weekends (hiking, biking, climbing, scuba, etc). I used to almost never miss a workout. If I knew I was going to be busy, I would get up at 4:30 am to get to the gym before work. When I went up north to visit my girlfriend at the time, I would bring workout clothes so I could hit the gym up there before/after I saw her. I tracked every calorie. I timed my meals around my workouts for maximum efficiency. I tried every and any workout that sounded interesting. 5x5 program? Nailed it. German volume training? Sounds fun. Super-set routine? Let’s hit it. The only real setback I ever had before all this was when I tore my (first) labrum, and I bounced back from that relatively quickly. So now, to possibly have a lifelong back issue, is still a real shock to me. I will probably never power lift again, or at least, anywhere near how I used to. That’s unsettling to say the least. I used to lift for strength, but maybe now I can lift for overall health. Maybe now I can get that six pack I always wanted, which is pretty much impossible to do while eating 6,000 calories a day just so you don’t lose weight. Maybe I’ll actually get good at cardio. Maybe I’ll do more hot yoga or rock climbing. Those things are all attainable for me, even with herniated disks. One year from now I’m going to wish I started to improve my health and well being today. That’s why I started yesterday. When I started this blog (ironically) right before all this started to happen, I wanted to become a super saiyan. Maybe I won’t be a super-saiyan, but I can be a super-Eric.


MY BODY IS READY. I'm done. Or maybe I just need more Daft Punk.

WEIGHT: 227 lbs

Charlie Sheen is a Super Saiyan, and Progress So Far

I never knew Mr. Sheen was a super saiyan:

vs.



Speaking of Saiyans, I am putting my weekly DBZ spoof first because this is a long post, and I'd rather have you watch this spoof than read this entry, haha. It is amazingly funny, more so if you have seen the TV show:

EDIT: Booo, embedded disabled. CLICK THIS LINK INSTEAD





Anyways, things are going pretty well so far. I am down to 220lbs from 240lbs in the course of a month. My weight loss has sort of halted at 220lbs, and that could be from several reasons. I did start lifting again, two weeks before I said I would (I can't stay away from the weights), so I may be gaining muscle on top in place of the fat. I also have been FOOD BINGING on weekends, because I am supposed to on CKD. I bet if I ate clean on weekends, it would aid my weight loss much more.

I am already noticing some differences in my body. When I lose fat, I tend to lose it FIRST from places where I don't have a lot to begin with -- my arms, shoulders, upper back, and face. My thighs and stomach, the places where I would LIKE to lose fat, almost lose it last. However, my obliques (side abs) are showing again. I would estimate I am around 17% Body fat at 220lbs from 19/20% BF at 240lbs only a month ago.

In addition to diet, walking, and lifting, I have become addicted to rock climbing. Thanks to my awesome friend Mr. Duffy who works at EMS, I was able to get all the gear I needed for 50% off normal price. Schwing! I have been going 3 times a week. Unfortunately, I think I did too much too quick -- my elbow is starting to really bother me, so I am going to have to stop lifting (at least upper body stuff), until it recovers.

I love rock climbing for many of the reasons I love lifting. It is only you against yourself, it is a willpower game, it is INTENSE, it's a workout, and it gets your blood pumping and your endorphins flowing. I am lucky to have (i think) the biggest rock gym in new england 5 minutes from school.



I have a very hard time going to the gym, and NOT pushing myself, so it is the hardest thing for me to lift easy, less, and lighter. The same thing in climbing, I want to try to do the hardest one I can, and if I fail I will keep at it until I get it. It's hard to break this habit, because it never got me in trouble before. Even when I hurt my shoulder, it wasn't because of this attitude -- I hurt my shoulder just doing a bad lift, jerking the weight wrong - it was only 75lbs or so that did it. I guess I am getting old enough now, that when something begins to hurt, I can't just power through it, I have to fix it first. No climbing, or lifting (that involves my elbow) for at least a week, maybe two.

I had intended to start the INSANITY program this week for High Intensity Interval Training, but I want to give it one more week before I do that. I'd like to lose 5 more lbs if possible before I start that. I'm also going to be snowboarding on saturday, and I know from starting this program before that my legs will be JELLY on saturday if I try to snowboard after doing insanity for the first week.

For those of you not familiar with it, Insanity is a DVD workout program by Beachbody -- the people who make P90x. While P90x definitely is not for me, insanity is. Just like P90x is mostly for people who have no idea how to build a workout plan, or probably haven't lifted weights before, or in a long time, Insanity is like that with cardio. I would have no idea how to build a proper cardio workout that focuses on weight loss, and also increases my endurance. With Insanity, all I have to do is pop in a DVD and follow instructions. It is easy, convienient, and effective, especially for those who don't know what to do. I am clueless with cardio.

Anyways, back in the gym, it is discouraging. As I mentioned before, I WANT to push myself, and I want, right now, to be able to lift what I did before, but I know it is going to be a long process, and I have to ease into it. The three solid weeks of shoulder PT have left me supremely confident that my shoulder is 100% better, and (the ligaments/tendons/etc, are) maybe even stronger than it was before. I think that all the shoulder PT, along with the plunge into rock climbing may have agitated my elbow though. Here's my routine for the last week or so. I didn't keep track of what I was doing before this, I just kind of messed around on the weights.

2/28/11
Flat Dumbbell Bench
1 75lbs x 10
2 100lbs x 10
3 105lbs x 6
4 110lbs x 4

--- This may seem like a lot, but back in my prime I was doing sets of 120lbs for 15 easily. The only reason I wasn't doing more, is because those were the heaviest dumbbells in the gym.

Incline Bench Press
1 185 x 10
2 205 x 7
3 225 x 4

Pec-Dec Flys
1 140 x 10
2 150 x 7
3 150 x 7
4 170 x 4

1 hour walk

3/1/11
Shoulder PT -- Lots of stuff I don't feel like listing. Did it for an hour or so, and also did some scapula work.

Leaning Preacher Curls
Most people know what a preacher curl is -- you sit down on the preacher seat, and curl the weight. I do this laying down at an angle on the seat, this puts ALL of the weight in your biceps, and does not allow you to use your back at all. Most people who do curls are more so doing some crazy back/upper cut exercise and not working on their biceps.
1 70lbs x 10
2 80lbs x 8
3 90lbs x 6
4 100lbs x4

I went to look for a youtube video of this so you could see what I mean, but I guess nobody else does this. Everyone sits on the thing. Maybe I will make one.

Drag Curls
3 sets of 10, 60lbs

Drag curls often get confused with forearm curls. They are completely different lifts. A forearm curl, or reverse curl, is when you curl the weight grabbing the bar from the top, and bring it out in front of you and to your forehead.
Reverse curl:


The drag curl is similar, except you have your elbows WAY behind you, and you "drag" the weight up your chest, so it is touching you the whole time. This works a different part of the biceps. Arnold Schwarzenegger used to do them, and I enjoy them very much.

Zottman / Twisting Curls
3 sets of 12 (each arm), 15lbs
In my years of lifting, I have found that people are the least creative with biceps. Almost everyone just does massive sets of straight bar/dumbbell, or EZ bar curls. This is another curl variant I have found and I enjoy. It again, works a different part of the biceps, as well as the forearms.


I perform these slowly in order to get a stretch out. After this workout, I did a 45 minute walk, and after class I rock climbed for 2 hours.

3/2/11
Today was a rock climbing day. Rock climbed for 3.5 hours after class.

3/3/11

Squats
1 135 x 10
2 225 x 10
3 275 x 7
4 315 x 4

Just a note here on squats, I suck at them, and my leg strength for some reason seems to disappear quicker than the other muscles. However, I do not PRETEND to be good at them. A squat is not a squat unless you go to 90 degrees with the legs. You want your thighs parallel with the ground. That is where the hard part of the lift comes in. There's a kid I always see at the gym, he huffs, and puffs, and makes a lot of noise making sure everyone is watching him do reps of 405 in the squat rack. The thing is, he barely bends his legs. He goes to MAYBE 45 degrees, if that. That's not a squat buddy. I bet he couldn't do ONE squat at 405 to 90 degrees. I always want to say something to him, but I'm not an ass, so I just let him think he is the man doing fake squats.

Bad Squat (horrible quality)


Good Squat (video from the 80's apparently, but it has narration also):


Hack Squats
1 1 Plat Per Side (PPS) x10
2 2 PPS x10
3 2.5PPS x7

Quad Extension
3 x 10 315lbs

1 hour walk

3/4/11

Triceps-bench

1 135 x 10
2 225 x 10
3 245 x 6
4 265 x 4
5 135 x 10

Dips
3 sets of 15, bodyweight

Drawbacks/kickbacks with a twist
I was just shown these by someone at the gym. He saw me doing regular drawbacks, and he showed me the twist at the end. WOW, You definitely feel a pinch right where the three muscles of the triceps meet. I love it. There's always new lifts and tricks to learn.
1 12lbs x 15
2 15lbs x 12
3 20lbs x 10

RACK PULLS
I fucking love deadlifting. The least amount of my strength of all my lifts was lost in the deadlift. However, my sciatic nerve started bothering me. I started doing rack pulls instead, which is a deadlift, but done from the knees instead of the ground. This allows you to focus entirely on the back, and not the legs/hamstrings. The deadlift also intensely uses the legs, which many people don't realize. Rack pulls also put a lot of tension on the trapeziums muscles for added bonus.

1 225 x 10
2 275 x 8
3 315 x 8
4 405 x 8
5 455 x 6
6 495 x 4
7 545 x 2

Back Extensions
3 sets of 10 with 25lbs

1 hour walk

3/5/11
ROCK CLIMBING -- 3 hours

3/8/11
It was after today I decided to stop doing lifts that use my elbow for a while. The reason for this was because in the past when I had elbow pain, if I avoided certain lifts, or alternated how I did them, the pain would go away. I alternated my grip (using a hammer grip, which is when you hold the weights so your palms face each other, essentially in a fist) on my biceps exercises today to see if it made a difference, and it did not.

Hammer Curls (with french bar)

That's a french bar for reference. Notice where you would grip.

1 70lbs x 10
2 90lbs x 8
3 100lbx x 7

Incline Bench Dumbbell Hammer Curls
1 25 x 12
2 30 x 10
3 35 x 8

Drag Curls
1 60lbs x 12
2 70 x 10
3 90 x 8
4 40 x 20

ABS Workout
1 hour walk.


That's it so far. Things are going relatively according to plan. Intending to begin insanity a week from today. My next post will include some half nekkid pictures of me, so be warned. I will use them to compare my before, and after insanity pictures.

Abs Are Made In The Kitchen -- The Cyclic Ketogenic Diet

Abs are made in the kitchen. You can train your abdominal muscles every day your whole life, but if you aren't under 16% body fat, you won't even BEGIN to see them. It is different for everyone, but for me, I start to get oblique definition at around 16%, upper abs at 14%, and I have never been below that. My goal for October is 12% BF. I believe I am currently at 17% or so. I can currently do the maximum weight for three sets of 30 on every abdominal machine in the gym, but I can't see my six pack at all. The same is true for every muscle actually. If you never lifted a day in your life, but dieted down to 6% body fat, you would LOOK jacked, but be weak as hell. People who look strong, aren't necessarily strong, they just diet well, or run a lot, or both. My goal in lifting has ALWAYS been strength, I didn't really care how I looked (as long as I wasn't a fat blob). That's kind of why this new blog/Halloween thing is exciting to me, I've never trained with the idea of looking good in mind. In the end, you are what you eat.

Before I started this blog, and keeping track of my weight and what I eat, I was 240lbs, the heaviest I had ever been in my life. This was due to what was essentially 18 months where I could not lift, workout, or be active due to various medical issues. Thankfully, 13 years of weight training, an active life style, and an uber metabolism have still left me fairly muscular and in good shape, but nowhere close to my goals. Step one in Super Saiyan training, is to lose weight (preferably mostly fat), so I can afford to put it back on in the form of muscle.

Most everyone knows what Atkins is -- a low carb diet for those who are usually quite sedentary, don't work out, and just want an easy way to shed the weight quick. Atkins works quite well for the duration you stay on it. Many people swear by it. The Cyclic Ketogenic Diet (CKD) is for people whose main concern is FAT LOSS, and muscle preservation. It is almost impossible to lose weight while retaining muscle mass and strength, but CKD does a very good job at it.

Here's a quick overview of CKD:

CKD's are based on periods of your body being in a state called ketosis. Being in ketosis means your body produces ketones, which burn fat cells for energy instead of carbohydrates (glucose). Your body will actually naturally want to break down your muscle mass for energy. After 5 - 10 days (your preference), you begin a period of carbohydrate 'loading'. The theory behind CKD's is that breaking Ketosis every 5 to 10 days for 1-2 days of high carbohydrate intake will:
Restore muscle glycogen (the energy in your muscles)
Restore gym performance
Rebuild any lost muscle (and hopefully add some new muscle)

As a bonus, by loading in carbohydrates from a depleted base it is possible to super-saturate our muscles with glycogen. That is (in lay terms) muscles that are almost empty of glycogen (and water) are so hungry for glucose that they can be 'tricked' into taking up as much as 50% more glycogen (and water) before they realize why or what has happened. In this super-glycogenated state our muscles look and feel perpetually 'pumped' and swollen. And swelling a muscle cell to the limit is a powerful stimulus for muscle growth.


Explaining it a little more, carbohydrates in your diet cause insulin (a storage hormone) to be created in the pancreas. It is used to store glycogen, pump amino acids into muscles, while causing excess calories to be stored as FAT. If the purpose of this diet is to break down fat, how can you do that when your body wants to store it for later (just in case it needs it)? It is difficult to do.

Once on CKD, and your body realizes that it is out of carbs to burn for energy, it must find another resource: FAT. This will happen during a metabolic condition known as "Ketosis". This is when your liver is out of glycogen, and starts to produce ketones. If you are fed pretty much entirely fat, and protein, your body will use the dietary fat, along with body fat for energy, while the protein goes to muscle repair. So, ironically, you need to EAT FAT, to BURN FAT. You generally want 70-80% of your daily caloric intake to come from fat. The diet allows for some fibrous vegetables at dinner time (broccoli, asparagus, spinach) to help… move things along, so to speak.

My daily diet looks like this:

7am: 3 eggs, 3 sausages/bacon/steak (all cooked in coconut oil) and green tea to drink
10am: 4 slices of salami, 4 pieces extra sharp cheddar cheese, water to drink
1pm (after workout): Tuna/chicken salad (spinach) with walnuts and peppercorn-ranch dressing and green tea to drink
4pm: protein shake (40grams protein) with 1tbsp all natural peanut butter, and 1tbsp coconut oil, water for a drink
7pm: Salmon/swordfish/steak (all cooked in coconut oil), water again
+ almonds
10pm: More coconut oil / peanut butter / flax or fish oil. more water

This is my food pyrimand, minus the fruits:


There is a reason for the coconut oil, you can do some research on MCT oil (or coconut oil) but it is essentially fat, that tastes amazing, that WILL NOT STORE AS FAT. It also helps your body get into a state of ketosis quicker. There is lots of science behind this.

Now, what is the most effective way to lose weight on this diet? Walking. Yup, that's it. If anyone has ever been on a treadmill, you see the cardio zones, right? warm up, fat loss, cardio, max, or whatever they are labeled. Having your heart beat around 120-130bpm (which I think is about 60-65% of maximum) is OPTIMAL for fat loss. Even if you are not in ketosis, your body will want to burn fat more. Just an aside here for those who lift, and run in the same workout: LIFT FIRST!!!! If you run first, your body will use its stores of glycogen right away, which you NEED (unless in ketosis) in order to build muscle. If you run after your workout, it doesn't matter, you are still burning calories.

I have been on this diet three weeks, while eating junk food and drinking booze like a motherfucker carbing up on weekends, and I have lost 15lbs. I am down to 225. My goal weight before I start putting on muscle again is 205lbs (maybe 210 if I get impatient).

The only lifting I have been doing at the gym is shoulder-rehab-physical therapy type stuff just to make for DAMN SURE my labrum is 1000000% when I actually resume weight training (lightly) next week.

I will remain on this ketogenic diet for at least two more weeks. I am going to switch my cardio to High Intensity Interval Training soon, which also lends itself to fat loss, but I don't know if it is a good combo with CKD -- I guess I will find out. Until then, I'll just be walking a lot -- outside (took a nice long walk under a full moon that warm night a few days ago) and at the gym

And now, your weekly DBZ spoof.

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.