physique

February 26 2019

Empire Stars week 2

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I’ve been on my 12 week diet/workout plan for almost two full weeks. At this point, I’m quite sick of eating so much meat every day. As someone who didn’t eat a whole lot of meat before, it is a bit annoying. To save myself from cooking the 600 grams of meat each night in preparation, I’ve been adding in some tuna from the can. Tuna is a bit easier for me to get down than chicken breast and ground beef.

I haven’t seen too much of a change in my physique yet. The first two weeks are supposed to be a little bit of a bulk to gain some muscle. Tonight, I started adding cardio into my week to help with dropping some fat.

I’ve been pretty decent about being able to stick to the tough daily requirement of downing 2800 calories. Last year’s transformation was achieved by lots of cardio and about an 1800 calorie diet. This time, the plan is to keep as much muscle as possible and get shredded.

My job doesn’t help with the meal timings for six meals. Busy all day and finding myself trying to cram food between 5:30pm and 11:30pm. Typically I go to bed at midnight and wake up without an alarm at 6:30am. I just completed a 64 hour week and was able to stick to my meal plan and training days. The only barrier has been the continuous snow that Wisconsin is getting.

I’ve had to travel to my tiny, old gym twice now because it is much closer to my apartment. Less risk of death on slippery roads.

A clothing company found me on Instagram. Empire clothing! I thought that was pretty coincidental. I bought some joggers and a shirt that I’m going to use as my “goal outfit.” When I’m shredded, I’ll wear the clothes and have someone take pictures of me and my new physique.

November 6 2018

All of Life is a Foreign Country

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Upon the realization that birthday 34 was days away, I became introspective about how my life has been going. I was able to accomplish getting my LCSW by failing and changing tactics. One of my other goals accomplished was to hit 128 on the scale. It wasn’t healthy but sometimes sacrifice has to be made to get to the goal. My photography was in two different venues at the same time this summer. I had two portrait opportunities that subjects were happy about the finished product.

I had a much needed conversation with someone who has already been a mover and shaker at multiple levels. Whether it was in the cards or not, my successful ventures have found me in a place of authority that I didn’t plan on reaching so quickly.

Truthfully, I’ve passed over people around me as having different ideas of what success means and how to get there. It was lazy and socially ignorant to assume such from others who have conquered their own life stories. I started taking in the advice of others who have made connections with movers and shakers. At the same time, I cringe at the thought of being a part of a boys’ club. Maybe I need to get over what my idea of a boys’ club means in the grand scheme of making successful connections for different facets of success.

The brutal reality may just be that I lack social skills from all of the surgeries, recoveries, and doctor’s notes. But I like to believe that I’ve learned a few things about life that the vast majority will realize far too late. And for now I’m keeping my secrets.

In year 34, I want to work on getting a house I can afford and set up shop in the surrounding area as a mover and shaker. I really want a dog. Its been eight years. The dog comes with the house. I want to take a trip to Toronto preferably not in cold weather.

Right now I find myself fighting mental body ideals in a quest to gain weight in order to gain muscle. Going against society’s thirst for always losing weight. Being inundated by an Instagram feed of bodies that remain skinny all year long. Seeing the growth of my quads has only solidified my goals as I see difficulty in gaining weight but improvements in my level of workout intensity. It’s also difficult to be aware of what I can realistically reach with a physique when so many influencers have used cheat codes to get them to their Instagram glory.

2018’s theme was, “Get what you came for.” 2019’s theme may be, “You don’t get to sit down.”

-Relentless Advance-

January 24 2016

Vision Sunday

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I’m back at 130 lbs which has been my lightest in the past year. Twelve weeks until Fox Cities Showdown. My temps in HS said I weighed 125 lbs. I think I’ll drop below that by competition time.

Every day it’s either lifting or cardio and I get it in whenever I can even if it’s late. I listen to people talk about how they created their brands instead of listening to music. I don’t watch television, at least on a regular basis. I’ll catch a few shows like Greys Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder or Project Runway; those are all Thursday shows. Don’t ask me about all the other popular shows or movies because I haven’t seen them.

After writing yesterday’s post, I started some Basil seeds so I can watch something grow instead of watering houseplants that don’t do anything but collect dust.

I spent some time this weekend trying to find a blazer that fits me. I’m so short and skinny that I need a 36. No one carries size 36 blazers or size 29 dress pants. I even tried the kids section but the biggest size they had was 18. Usually I can go to Walmart and buy some size 20 t-shirts in the kids section to make some stringers. I found out that I need to go get my dress shirts tailored to get some darts put in the back.

Tonight, there were mozzarella sticks and onion rings for the NFL games. I enjoyed them and I fit them in to my calories and then I did my cardio. I will not falter in this journey. 2016 will be the year when people look back and say I woke up and discovered that I am powerful beyond measure.

January 17 2016

Physique & Macros Update

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Since before the new year, I’ve been trying to carb cycle but I’ve also been doing carb back loading. I am seeing some results as far as physique but not weight. I’ve been doing cardio on my non-lifting days because I’m not active enough on days off. Anyways, I have had to open myself to being honest about my current routine and seeing a maintenance weight on the scale. In July 2015 at the tail end of one year of dieting down 20 pounds, I did a 10 day show prep diet. As far as physique, I am currently where I was after that 10 day prep. I then tried to bulk but I couldn’t mentally gain weight, so I stayed at a maintenance.

I think my biggest failure in the last 4 weeks is in trying to carb back load after my weight lifting sessions. Having dieted down before I began weightlifting, I didn’t develop the muscle mass I thought I needed to compete in a show. So I thought I should carb back load to be able to continue building muscle mass.

My current high carb day routine has been roughly 100g carbs for breakfast, 1.5 to 2 hours of weightlifting, and then another 100-150g carbs post-workout 3 days a week. I need to stop back loading on carbs and just finish my macros for the 50/30/20 split.

January 4 2016

Fox Cities Showdown 2016

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After following a dry run at carb cycling and getting feedback from various sources, I altered my carb cycling. In the 16 weeks I have to get ready to hit the stage, I’m going to be smarter about my approaches.

My non-lifting days will be cardio days and I will keep my carbs at a moderate level. My three lifting days will add an additional 100-150 grams of carbs in a pre and post workout fashion.
My method is specifically tailored to my body and my experiences with carbs and weight fluctuations. I know that the greatest benefit to my process will be the added physical activity on my rest days.

I am doing this to strive towards a goal, to dream bigger than my comfort zone, to be fearful but take action anyway. I have a continual desire to be a role model for people I come in contact with. I know that by following my dreams, I give others the courage to follow their dreams.