Week 31 Updates

Sorry for the 2 weeks break folks but I was out on a week long Carnival Cruise this past week M-F and did not have the chance to post up Sundays pictures from last week. I also have no net all week either. I was then up in Irvine CA to help a friend in a powerlifting meet this past weekend Saturday so it was a fast, busy week for sure.

I went from 204.6lbs last Sunday morning to 201.6lbs this weekend Sunday morning. Sunday the 27th I was 207lbs. So I seem to be dropping a bit over the past 3 weeks despite no real change in diet (actually moved up a bit in calorie intake). I have had a little bit more cardio from work the past week but only this week and nothing major. I did start taking CLA and HMB 3 weeks ago but I do not see how those would lead to weight loss let alone this much given their benefits of use are not the weight loss kind of supplements. My strength and energy is till way up so no real scare in the big picture, could be water/carb flux for all I know.

Last week was a deload week being I knew I would be on the cruise all week with a small limited gym on the cruise liner. I did 4 workouts but nothing to failure, mostly bodyweight and machine based movements to get a pump and that's all. hour long workouts tops. It paid off big time cause the day we got back through yesterday I hit knew PR in my 3RM incline bench press, max db shoulder press, 3RM deadlift, and 1 rep max squats. All those lifts went up by 5-10lbs each in 4 back to back workouts! It never ceases to amaze me what the body can do when the correct rest is given to it to allow maximum adaptation and performance!

My pictures from yesterday morning are found here:

My 4 workouts I added in some advanced training techniques of which most were drop sets and rest pause sets to increase the intensity of the workouts coming off the deload. My key lift for the workout was the exception as this is still always a straight set to my rep max goal. Workouts were about 90 minutes long each but I killed it start to end. I even went adding in some Vitargo to my intra workout drink of glutamine, creatine, beta alanine and bcaa's. I take 1 scoop or 35g Vitargo during my workout from rep 1 to the very last rep. I consume about 32oz of water during my workout to keep hydrated and try my darndest to stave off any catabolic effects of long hard workouts like these and to try and minimize the crippling DOMS that can follow for days after. 

I had to go ahead and make sure I got a shot og my Sunday splurge supper in here to so take a look and drool away! Slaters 50/50 PB&J Burger (2/3 pound) and Truluck's famous colossal carrot cake. This was purely divine let me say that! I had this after last night killer leg workout and so I was like a crazed bear awakening from hibernation ready to demolish the next thing to hit my lips.

Thats all for now folks. Stay tuned for more next week as week 32 rolls in.

29 weeks offseason

Sorry I got this in a few days late but the laptop was getting some upgrades done so I was without it for 3 days and got it back today....anywhoooo.....gonna keep this on shorter and get right to it.

Sunday check in had me at 209lbs and 12%. Thats 29lbs up in 29 weeks since my last show. Slow and steady continues to win the race!

Pics......

Also got a few pics from Sunday nights Splurge Suppler.



Hash House A Go Go in Hillcrest, San Diego. This is their famous 18 oz hand hammered crispy pork tenderloin Benedict. Only $18 for this massive meal! So good! I am told almost no one finishes this lone or even in pairs. I did it in 30 minutes and was considering dessert still only to find out they were closing in 5 minutes.

Still doing a 4 on 1 off split routine with a powerbuilding basis. Powerlifting with a bodybuilding backdrop to with it. My cardio is almost nill outside of work demands from teaching classes as I need the energy I do have to stay in the gym for lifting. Otherwise I want to be recovering and growing as much as possible when not in the gym. You only adapt to what you can recover from as Lee Haney always said. Wise words indeed!

28 weeks after....still gaining!

Hello my friends and followers! I have some updates to present, some additions to announce and some pictures to post up. So let me get to it!

As of this weekend Sunday morning, 28 weeks post show day, I am......208lbs, 11.2% bodyfat. Thats 28lbs gained in 28 weeks at 5% bodyfat increase.

I like the fact that the scale is going up weekly now at a steady rate along the lines of my strength gains in the gym. They should for the most part but not always, be pretty linear in their progressions and thats just what I have been seeing here so far.

I am now eating around 275g protein a day, 375g carbs a day and 85g fats per day on lift days. Ony my 5th day off day (cardio only) I drop carbs a bit to 200g by taking smaller carb portions in the meals that would normally surround my workout. The rest is the same day in and day out all week.

The new supplements I added it as of today are:

HMB @ 3g a day (sustain more lean muscle during high volume training)

Tonalin CLA @ 3g a day for body composition support (more muscle, less fat)

Liver Support Blend @ 2 tablets a day (keep the liver in check due to higher protein diet)

Other then that let me throw up a pic from this weekends grubz:

http://instagram.com/p/mxmFEmOjwv/

DIY omega eggs, low fat cheese, turkey bacon omelet with sweet tater

"My Usual" @ Brian's 24, Triple Decker Club on Whole Grain Rye with Turkey Bacon

http://instagram.com/p/nHMHLcOj5-/

That be it for now folks......hope you all had a nice Easter weekend and spent some time with fam and friends! 

Peace out and take care!

A change up!

As of yesterday I am making a little change up as I move forward in my training off season. That change will be about 3 weeks long as I move into my next mesocycle of training. The major switch is going to be in volume increases. I have been doing about 240-26 sets a workout lately and will go up to 30ish sets now and that is with less muscle groups being hit per workout as well.

I am also going to a 4 days on 1 day off split routine vs the 1 on 1 off routine I had been with for the past 12 weeks. To assure I do not get overtrained I am dropping my cardio down to just 30-40 minutes once every 5th day or the day I take off from the gym. This will be mild intensity at most and more on the low end or about 130-140 beats a minute HR wise. More of a recovery modality then anything really.

My split will look like this:

day 1 chest abs
day 2 back/traps
day 3 arms/shoulders
day 4 legs/calves
day 5 off (cardio)
day 1 repeat....

I am still going to keep 1 staple prime multijoint powerlifter movement at the start of each workout to sustain my max strength from the past 12 weeks. It will look as follows:

all lifts below will be 8 progressive sets going from 10 reps to a 2 rep max with timed 2 minute rests between sets

day 1 flat bb bench press
day 2 bb deadlifts
day 3 seated db shoulder press
day 4 medium stance squats

My workouts will take about 90 minutes each which includes general and dynamic warm up time, movement prep time and pillar activation movements before every lift. I foam roll after back and leg days and do PNF band stretching after arms and chest days as well and that's factored in to total workout time.

I am adding in CLA (3g a day), HMB (3g a day) and a Liver Support supplement daily now as well to help combat the volume, added metabolic stress and sustain my general health overall. I am also going to "toy" with some BCAA pulsing between my meals over this cycle. Meaning I will take 5-10g doses of my Dymatize Recoup upon waking, pre/during lift, 2 hours after my post lift meal and again an hour before my final meal. I want to see what this does for my soreness and recovery rates.

Thats all folks. Take care and look for Sunday's pictures and stats check in!

Almost 27 weeks in!

We are back!! After almost a month (24 days) at sea we are back at long last! It went by very quick to be honest, much quicker then I thought 24 days on the water living on the carrier 24/7 would go anyway. Talk about your daily habits and routines! Groundhog day almost every day but to be frank, I like routine and structure, always have and its likely why I like this job and took the gig in the first place!

OK, OK, so where am I now and what's new right?? Let me tell ya......

As of today I have got all my updates and stats in since it was almost impossible to get good pics, an accurate weight or any body comp data at sea. As of this morning I am 203lbs and 11% bodyfat based on my regular scale and BIA handheld device. Pictures are below:

I lost about 3lbs while at sea which for me is not bad at all! Teaching 3-4 classes a day 6x a week and then my own workouts and half my meals from shakes/bars usually has me down 4-5lbs in just 2 weeks or less so this was a good maintaining period as I see it. My strength after 2 workouts back in my normal gym on my regular routine have only dropped a hair and thats simply because I was unable to do some of the lifts I normally would do on land while at sea. Should come right back after a week or two.

I will also note I am getting my quarterly dunk tank test done today to see where I truly lie on the body composition progress since Jan 4th this year. I then reference that to my BIA device to gauge the difference in the two for better precision on my own when I do weekly measures. I will post up my results when I have them.

I have added 2 new supplements to my daily regimine since we got back as well. This is on top of my year round supplement stack of Dymatize brand Creatine/Glutamine/Pursuit/Recoup.

An all in one multi vitamin-mineral support pack from BB.com which has gotten good reviews all round lately. Its purity tested and 3rd party validated to contain what the label says so that much I like! The Alpha is for some basic T support which can NEVER hurt a guys goals and objectives in and outside the gym so why not right?

My very first meal back on last the night we pulled in and got let off was at one of my favorite downtown 24 hour spots. The only 24 hour spot in downtown San Diego actually. Brians24 Bar and Grill. They all know me by first name I go so often. I got the "Giant Triple Decker Turkey Club" with house potatoes. See below.

This thing was just amazing let me leave it at that! A-Mazing!

Not really had that chance to hit the store yet to shop and fill my now empty cupboards and fridge. Really need to do that today so I can get back to the kitchen magic and my good DIY eats!

Hitting up lowey body deadlift pull day today. Did an epic upper body push day yesterday back at 24 hour Fitness Balboa and it rocked to be back in biz like normal!

I have my results in from todays quarterly dunk tank test and I had to post them up for all to see!
Down 5% bodyfat and yet up almost 15lbs lean muscle! That's 13 weeks of progress baby! Hell yes! With the gains in strength I have had in the big 3 lifts and these values here I think thats a clear sign to ride the tide and keep tucking exactly as I have been......because its working! Booya!

weigh in and pictures for 23 weeks

We got delayed one more day yet so I took the chance to get my pictures in along with my weigh in for my 23 weeks of offseason check point.

208.5lbs (+30.5lbs since day after my October 5th show)

Oh and once more! Do not forget to give me your vote to be on the November 2014 cover of Men's Health Magazine!

http://www.mhguysearch.com/entry/52

23 weeks off season update

So here I am Saturday the 15th, 2 days after I should have left for sea....

Did not know if I would get a post in this weekend at all but I guess I will since we are still dock side waiting to get the green light to pull out to sea for what should be just over 3 weeks(ish) at sea. My longest stint at sea yet since taking my current job as the commands Fitboss in July 2012. I love being at sea for any time at all because I get the chance to offer fitness classes and workshops 3-5x a day 7 days a week with no less then 30-40+ sailors at everyone of them! Its like 5 fold better then what I get in port on land so you can see why I like time at sea!

Until we hit the open waters though I have been able to squeeze in a few more homemade meals, get a few more workouts in at the gym vs on the ship (which is not easy when your ship is never standing still!) and a couple more nights of sleeping in my own bed without F18 Super Hornets taking off just a few levels above me.

As of this morning I was 209.5lbs. I as always take my pictures on Sunday mornings so I am going to try and get those in my stateroom on the ship tomorrow morning since we need to be on the ship by 6am I cant do them at home. I plan to get on the ship late tonight to be there already and avoid parking issues, traffic and other hassle I can do without!

My maxes from this past week (my last 3 workouts) HIIT yesterday, deadlift max day Thursday, bench press max effort day Wednesday and squat max effort day Tuesday. HIIT was Monday as well.

Same maxes as the week before except deadlift. I hit 450 solid Thursday and it felt good! I was able to add 1 more rep to my max on squat and bench press though so an improvement just the same baby!

Sadly I have no good pictures of any foods this week as most my meals accept breakfast and before bed were take out meals or grab n go meals from subway, the ships galley etc...dont want to hit the grocery store and do mass shopping with the plan to be at sea for 3 weeks. The one I do have is from what I thought was my last meal on land off the ship last night at Souplantation, see below:



Double duty green salad and veggies, veggie soup, lean ham, fat free honey mustard dressing and sourdough croutons.

Oh and one last important thing I need you all to do for me!

Please vote for me to be the next Men's Health Cover guy!! Do so here please! Make this dream of mine come true!

http://www.mhguysearch.com/entry/52/

22 weeks of offseason update

Here I am at 22 weeks offseason with new 1 rep maxes from just this week as you guys saw in my last post.

440 dead
255 bench
365 squat

Best lifts since well before my October 5th MPD contest took place. I am almost 30lbs up from the day of that show now to! I was 178 then and 207.4 as of this morning baby! Like them gainz!!

Pictures from this morning at 830am are posted below:

Just sent these stats and pictures off to Jason as well so I await his reply on any changes to my diet/supplementation plan in the coming week.

The last 2 days and today are my dynamic effort speed days with workouts that play out as follows:

Friday was speed box squats: 205x3 for 13 sets 3 with 1 minute breaks (56% of max)
Saturday was speed bench press: 170x3 for 13 sets with 1 minute breaks (66% of max)
Today is speed deadlifts: 260x3 for13 sets with 1 minute breaks (60% of max)

Now of course I did/do more then just whats listed for these workouts but the lift above is the goal move for the workout followed by 3-4 other movements of 3-4 sets of 6-12 reps for more volume based training and hypertrophy like training effects.

Dropped out all cardio except that I do on my rest day from lifting, still doing the HIIT training there for 30 mins and 30 mins only, not a minute more. Keeping most my efforts off the cardio and under the iron these days folks!

I just had to make sure I posted these images from one of my favorite local restaurants in downtown San Diego called Brian's 24. I am certainly what could be called a regular here as I go about 2-3x a week for like the past 4-5 weeks. I get pretty well the same thing around 4pm after work as my pre lift meal.

House taters with either lean ham slice or Canadian bacon with 2 eggs and 2 buttermilk pancakes. Its just $11 bucks and what I love is that I have my $250 card still be chipped away at that I won last month at the fundraiser event they put on so it keeps my wallet happy to!

With Canadian Bacon but I ate the pancakes already......opps!

 With lean ham steak

That is it for now folks. I will post again by Thursday night because as of Friday and then over almost a months time I will be out to sea with the command for work so posting, pics, updates will be hit and miss during that time. I hope to be able to do 1 post every Sunday at least to keep you all in the loop but picture updates will be hard since cell phone use and uploads are almost impossible.

Have a good Sunday everyone! Stay healthy, stay fit!

Some Gainz!!

OK its been a while I know.....I hate going so long without a post or update on things but I have been super busy with a number of things and training of course is one of them. This will be short and sweet since I have no tasty food pics to update from my recent eats or any progress pictures to add since my darn camera phone is not saving any pics I take with it! No idea why but it just started acting up recently thus the absence of any pictures this past weekend.

My weight on Sunday morning was 205lbs which is a nice little jump in weight from the week before and I am still holding the same today yet so this was not just an acute spike from food, diet, water etc as far as I can tell.

The past 3 workouts I had were max effort days I hit new PR's in every session!

Wednesday I pulled 440lbs in the deadlift using conventional stance (+10 since last)
Tuesday I benched 255lbs using touch and go tempo (+15 from last)
Monday I ass to grass squat 365 (+5 from last)

These are my near highest maxes I have ever had and some of the best progressions I have made for this many weeks consistently! I love it as you can imagine!

I have my macros bumped up per Jason's directive since last weekend. My intakes are now as follows:

405carbs (200 rest days)
100f
270p

As long as the strength and weight gains keep up like this I am going to ride out this tide for as long as I can!

Oh and I did post this image just the other day after the goods came in the mail from bodybuilding.com.

http://instagram.com/p/lMF2Lrujza/

Love me my Dymatize supplements! Been using these 2 products year round for about 2 years now and do not plan to change that anytime soon either. Cannot beat their flavor variety and the flavor authenticity either!

Peace out ya all! I hope to have pics up fro this Sunday's check in so stay with me as I get things rolling again for that and beyond.

Laterz!

Quick update and new PR's!

I simply had to make this post after that last 3 days of workouts as they were stellar! I not only hit my PR goals for this weeks max effort workouts but I CRUSHED them! Get this....

Sunday's max effort squat day: hit 360 single for 3 sets going ass to grass with perfect form, belt only!

Monday's max effort bench press day: hit 240 single for 3 sets touch, stop and go with ass down. I also did 3 working sets of 3 using 75's for seated db shoulder press AFTER doing the max effort bench work just prior! Heaviest DB's I ever used for shoulder presses!


Tuesday's max effort deadlift day: hit 430 single conventional style for 3 sets, no hunch, no hitch!

Now look where I was at my final week of max testing in December 2013 to see the improvements already!

335 parallel squat single
225 single bench press single
405 rack deadlift from under the knee for 3 reps

I love it when a sound, strategic program when coupled with consistency, commitment, effort and a focus delivers undeniable results and outcomes such as this! Its what makes the field of fitness, exercise physiology, strength and conditioning and training so fascinating to me. Watching the body adapt and improve over time due to the proper training stimulus, nutritional intervention and lifestyle modification is just so damn cool in my eyes! Be it myself or in others I cant get enough of seeing fitness/exercise work!

Oh and no post would be complete without a shot of some recent grubs so here you all have it!

DIY homemade huevos rancheros! This was my first time making this on my own and it turned out awesome!

20 weeks of offseason progress!

Ok well here we are at 20 weeks to the day since the morning after my last MPD contest held right here in SD. That morning I was 178.0 around 7% bodyfat. As of this morning I am 200.8 and between 13% based on 7 site skin fold assessment measures. That's a whopping 22lbs gained in 20 weeks. Specifically the math shows that I had 12.4lbs of fat on my body (internal and subq) and now I have 26lbs. I am thus now 174lbs of lean tissue (non fat mass) where as I was 165.6lbs of lean tissue the day after my show (Oct 6th). That means I have gained 11.6 pounds of pure muscle in 20 weeks time! I love it! I need people to understand how very hard it is for me to gain weight and keep it on for any decent amount of time and has been for a long while! After this show was over I was very concerned with being able to fill out and gain the much needed muscle mass I needed for my 6'2'' frame. With the watchful eye of Jason Theobald on my diet and nutrition since just before my show through this very day coupled with my own strategically designed workout programs, thing are firing on all 6 cylinders and that's when progress like this is eminent! See pictures below"

My strength has never been so high either with my new PR numbers being put to the test starting today through Tuesday when I hit my next series of max effort bench, squat and deadlift workouts. I look to hit 360 in the squat, 245 in the bench and 415 in the deadlift this week for trifecta in the log book baby!

Yesterday was HIIT cardio only but the 3 days before that were my dynamic effort days with deadlifts focus on Friday, bench press on Thursday and squats on Wednesday. I had to use the next strongest band for all speed work exercises to keep the resistance tension high enough to get the effect needed on those speed/dynamic effort workouts.

Below are some images of my awesome eats this past week: No drooling!

the protein cookie company sent me a box of 40 of these Thursday to sample out with my command. Shown here 1 of each flavor:

trail mix, classic pb, fudge pb, classic choco chip, oatmeal raisin (got 8 of each). tried all but classic choco chip and they have been diesel! each cookies macros is about 7f, 30gc, 18p

some Thai food from Pear's Thai Cuisine in San Diego,CA

L-R: Thai veg garlic soup, garlic-onion rice soup, tom yum soup

chicken satay skewers with veg spring rolls

some double duty chicken fajita from a joint in El Cajon, CA. 4 corn tortillas each in the foil (only $7.25 each!)


Some homemade "Fitboss Muscle Muffins" (did a video for my work nutrition series) dark chocolate cherry flavor.

186cal, 3.5f, 26c, 13p for each
video is found here: http://youtu.be/g7YnDC29Rxs

Ok folks.....long enough.....got legs max effort squats tonight so I hope this mornings HIIT session for work does not impact things too much for tonight......I got a PR to smash!

Have a great Sunday all!

19 weeks!

Going to be a quick one folks....basics and thats all for now.

198lbs and ~13% pics taken yesterday morning, see below......(I am up 20lbs from the day after my show!!)

My new max's from the week are as follows:

Bench Press: 240x1

Squat: 355x1

Deadlift: 405x3

This morning I did 30 minutes mild paced uphill hiking outside since it was ideal weather for it....just had to get out! Tonight will be max effort deadlifts/upper pull day, tomorrow is a 100% rest day. 

I have got a few more awesome nick-knacks from the ever popular and well known EAS folks as seen below.....this is why these guys rock! This was the first brand supplement company I ever bought supplements from when I got started with fitness and to this day I still get certain items from them and refer my sailors clients to as well.

Also got some "treats" from my guys at Lenny and Larry's as seen below:

 The cookies and the brownies taste awesome! I cant decide what flavor I like most.....they all good and feel/taste like the real thing....no joke folks.

Pictures as promised

Really short and sweet post here.....as promised here are pictures from yesterday morning, marking 18 weeks since last show and into my offseason. I was 197.2lbs yesterday AM.

Jason has me holding steady since the last dietary change was made last weekend. I am still set at about 275g protein per day, 70g fats per day and 350g carbs on training days with 200 on my non training days. Cardio is kept to just 30 minutes every 4th day (my non training day) HIIT style. Any other cardio I get is just residual from my job/classes I lead.

Thats all folks......peace!