We are back!

Well, Well, Well, we are back!

After 7 days at sea which flew buy I might add, we are back on dry ground and ready to spend the next 6 full weeks without any sea time which means both good and bad things for me during that time.

The Good: consistent schedule, able to cook all my own meals at home, take my own meals where and when I need to, shop for my own foods, sleep in my own bed, work the same hours 5 days a week, hit the regular gym when I want to with full equipment access.

The Bad: work is going to be a bit slow in port over this time as the command has set work day of 7-4ish and that leaves limited time for sailors to attend my classes in big numbers if at all. Then after the work day 75% of the command scatters off base to get home, the beach, downtown, anywhere but base as this is San Diego remember, who can blame them for getting the heck away? Thus it's hard as hell to get anyone to stay and attend classes after work also. I really need to look for work to keep me busy during those times. Usually I make projects or programs, do admin work or hold consults to fill time and be productive but I would rather be leading classes and holding command wide fitness challenges each week as I get during sea time.

Any who......the last 7 days were very productive and offered me a much needed change up in workouts, rest, nutrition etc. I have to go more functional, bodyweight based workouts since its very hard to go super heavy on a moving/rocking air craft carrier 24/7. I did more TRX based exercises, DB work at lower loads, kettlebell work, plyometric work with boxes and medballs as well as band work and manual resistance type exercises. It was actually very welcoming and fun to change up the workouts, my exercises and the general feel of new movements during the past week.

I also took Tuesday and Wednesday 100% off from workouts (planned workouts that is) I arranged for a command wide 12,000 pound tractor pull fitness challenge in our ships hanger bay on Tuesday night where groups of 4 people (1 female minimum) had 10 minutes max to pull the tractor 75 yards as quick as possible or as far as possible in 10 minutes time. I wanted no excuses from me or my team so I wanted to be 100% ready for this! (My team tied for 4th place out of 8 teams total.)

Then on Wednesday morning we had a 5k run on the carrier flight deck so I also wanted to be good and fresh to hit a good run for that vs run on sore shaky legs from leg day. I also had not taken 2 full days off from formal structured training in 12 weeks so it was due time for some extra recovery.

Today I was able to get a accurate weigh-in once the ship was final stable and the scale showed me at 196.6lbs. Moving up nice and slow and that I like! No cheat meals at all while under way and no Sunday splurge like usual either so having gone 2 weeks as of this Sunday without a cheat may help my body "clean out" a bit and make the next one taste that much better to!

Being the first day back on dry ground I got things jump started with a nice easy 25 minute session of cardio on the ship this morning at 730am we dropped anchor. Gauntlet cardio of bike, tread, elliptical and rower. Then at 6pm this evening we nailed out legs! Being 100% fresh from the 2 days off I was golden for a PR.......

5 min cardio elliptical warm up
pillar prep/dynamic movements/foam rolling

• squats: 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 245x5, 305x3, 315x3 (4 sets) (2.5 minute rest periods)
• front squats: 135x10 (3 sets)
• db bulgarian split squats: 40lb db each hand 3x8 rep per leg
• seated calf press: 1x20
• straight leg seated calf press: 1x20
• reverse crunch-bosu crunch-cable twists: 2x20 each back to back to back

5 minute cardio elliptical  cool down

My first "real" meal back home was my favorite item to buy from FitzeeFoods seen below:

Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas (588 calories, 21g fat, 45g carbs, 59g protein) My pre-workout meal today.....so good and so good for you to!


When I got home today to my apartment I also found this nice little surprise at my door from Perfect Foods Bar based right here in San Diego. I have had a few of these before and LOVED them for both taste and nutritional content. I have since been in talks with the PR guy PJ and he is awesome! He sent me all these samples for myself and my command sailors to sample out. How cool is that?! Peanut Butter is hands down my favorite but trust me, all of them are good! Get yourself some and see what I mean.




OK I have went on long enough but I just had lots to cover since it had been a while since my last post/update. I will have another post Sunday with pictures, weigh-in numbers and more workout, nutrition and life events for you guys to follow up on.

Stay healthy, stay fit and peace out folks!

15 week check in

Yes it has been 15 weeks already since my last contest! I cant even believe it myself really. Time fys indeed!

So workouts are going great! Been hitting new PR's rep wise on all my main lifts for max strength days and even the loads used on speed days are improving as well so good all round. My shoulders have been a little tender the past week so I have laid back on the free weight barbell and dumbbell work as this seems to really aggravate my rotator cuffs right from the get go. Perhaps going with behind the neck presses the past few times is just not for me is what I think. Been doing more machine OH pressing and lateral raise work this week to nurse it back 100% before hitting the bb and db work hard again this coming week.

My weight is up to 194 and holding well also. I feel that dropping out the cardio every 4th day and allowing that to be a 100% rest day has been a big player in my improved performance in the gym and the strength improvement I am seeing. More recovery/less stress = more growth and adaptation! Pictures from yesterday morning are here:

Some recent awesome eats from last week and this weekend.

DIY Smoked chicken breast and sweet fries!


Souplantation visit for post workout grubs! I added my own steak strips to the salad mind you) And yes that is fat free ranch dressing you see there.


DIY chicken fajitas with the works! (Love NFL Sunday's)


Brunch at Bamboo Lounge, Breakfast burrito (eggs and veggies) with beans and rice)


Typical Sunday Splurge Supper of burger and fries....this time from Anny's Fine Burgers
#16 Monster Burger and side of awesome as hell sweet tater fries!


The ending of another "sweet" Sunday Splurge Supper.... Oreo Overload baby!


I am going to post again on Wednesday as I will be heading out to sea for almost a week following. May not get a post in until the following Thursday after we return. I will try and get updates in next weekend but pending net connections and my ability to get pictures and a private space on this ship to do so may limit that from happening. Will see.

As always, stay healthy, stay fit, peace out folks!

Check In Time!

Sorry for letting my Sunday check in post slip away from me gang! Busy weekend and start to the week as normal so it got away from me. Here it is better late then never right!

I was 190.4 Sunday morning and 14% bodyfat. Pictures from 14 weeks into my offseason are posted below. Take a look:

My best lifts (max lifts) after the first 12 days of the year are now:

320 squat
415 rack dead
235 bench press
155 seated bb shoulder press
bw chin ups 13
bw dips 20

I hit up upper push day on Saturday, legs on Sunday and then yesterday was my 100% off day. Today we is right back to the start of the 3 day rotation with upper pull day!

Some good eats from this weekend are linked right here so take a look please.

Weekend Eats!

Quick Check in!

Hey gang! Yes its been a little bit I am sorry for the layoff. Been busy getting back into first full work week after the new year.


I got a couple things to touch on for you all......

I found out Thursday this week my mild hyperthyroid issue (diagnosed in August 2013) was not getting better while on the low dose meds to help it over the past 5 weeks. That said the endo specialist I am working with has increased my medication dose as he feels that will help for sure. The key is that I need to keep the next 4 weeks consistent in terms of exercise and diet to assure the med can take effect without any outside changes being to blame. That said I am not to do any extra aerobic kinds of exercise training then what I do now. I am not to do any more eating challenges either as those really big meals like that seem to make my hyperthyroid matter worse I am told. If I did not mention this before...... the case I have is rare but simple. I do not make too much thyroid hormone as in most typical cases, I simply convert too much inactive T4 to active T3 at my tissues which causes me to intake more oxygen and burn off more calories/body heat then I should be. The med I take reduces the conversion a bit. It has little to no side effects at my dosage which is nice of course. I am told its a gene disorder that is overactive in my tissues.



Very ticked off I cannot do any eating challenges for 4 weeks now as I had 1 lined up every Sunday for the next 3 weeks with some fellow eater friends of mine. My YouTube Channel fans will be so dissapointed!



Its not a total loss though as I am now going to adjust the focus to become a "cheat feat" vs an "eat feat" series. I still plan to do my Sunday Splurge Suppers every week as I have but rather then feature some big eating challenge it will be a simple cheat meal at a local San Diego restaurant. Rather than film the whole thing start to end it will just be a written review of where I am and what the place is about. The meal I get and why I picked it and then a quick review of how it was. I will have plenty of mouth watering pictures to go with it as well of course. I will then link/post to my Yelp.com page as well.

I also got news that I am now a partner/sponsored with the following company out of Carlsbad, CA. I use the product featured below which I love for immune system modulation and recovery! Is it a cure all? No not at all but it does help big time I find! I look forward to my growing partnership with these guys as they are on to something big with this!


OK.... so for the workouts now....

Had a little bit of a rough week in that I did not have 100% gusto in the gym my last 2 workouts compared to normal. Still good but just a little less then par is all.

Thursday was 100% off day to recoop and yesterday was upper pull day. Check it out:

Week 2 concentrated loading block:

NASNI Base Gym: 230pm-4pm

• 6 min warm up, dynamic movement prep....
• db pull overs: 3x15
• mixed grip lat pull downs:3x15
• rack deads: 385x3 (4 sets) (lead up sets not listed)
• hammer high-low row: 3x12
• Navy Seal abs routine
• machine preacher curl: 3x10-15
• 10 minute incline hill run on treadmill

Today will be upper push day later on. Tomorrow is legs. I will have weekly pictures and stats posted up tomorrow for you all to see.

Have a good weekend folks!

13 weeks into offseason

So as the new year rolls out and we all jump head first into our new years resolutions for health and fitness and what not.....I find myself doing just the same. Below are my most recent pictures and stats from yesterday morning.

192lbs, 14.8% bodyfat (got dunked Saturday for an official reading) also seems I grew an inch since last summer when I was last measured for height formally. I am 6'2" so go figure that!? Still getting taller at 29 years old it seems??

So we see below I am making some gains slowly but surely. Strength is way up over the past 13 weeks since my last contest. PR's being hit every week for the past 3 weeks and I love that. I cant say I see much size on my frame yet other then what the scale shows. I am up 12lbs since the day after my show which is not bad but still slower then I wish the gains would come.......which leads to the big news I got today....

I got my labs back from my routine quarterly blood work I just had done last week. My labs show that I have VERY low T levels unfortunetly. Most labs consider 300ng/dl for adult men to be clincally low. I am sitting at 160!! They find these levels in men 70+ years old! FML indeed!

I have had very low sex drive for the past few months but I attributed that to not getting full nights sleep mostly. I have been waking up 3-4x a night most every night and that I know can ruin REM sleep, GH release, Testosterone production etc. Figured it was just an acute thing is all. Now in hindsight I feel the low T is what lead me to poor sleeping. All my other hormone levels checked out just fine other then having very low neutrophil counts which my doc says is nothing to worry about unless I get sick often which I don't at all. What is really perplexing is that at my age and with my lifestyle why and how are my levels so low? Even with my background in Exercise Physiology I cant really pin down what would cause this?

On Thursday morning I speak with an Endocrine Specialist to see what he thinks upon review of my labs.

PS........Yesterday was once again my Sunday Splurge Supper and for this weekends Eat Feat I took on a challenge set my Jamie The Bear McDonald who is the #2 ranked eater in the world by APE. He did the challenge (made it up) last spring at Hash House A Go Go here in SD, CA. Took him 27 minutes to complete. Took me 54 minutes and I was hurting at the end!!

Breaded Pork Tenderloin w/ mashed taters, biscuits & gravy underneath and scrambled eggs on top
Thick Cut Giant Banana Pecan French Toast
Giant Cinnamon Apple Pancake w/ Fresh Fruit
Bacon Waffles and Sage Fried Chicken w/ 3 eggs

Freaking Delicious!!!

2014 Kickoff!

The first post of 2014!!

Now back in Sunny San Diego for 4 days as of this posting I have already hit the ground, the gym and the kitchen with a wave of motivation to make sure I start the year off right where I left of 2013....with markers of major progress in my professional life, personal life, recreational/social life and my sports life. 2013 was a fantastic year for me and I plan to make 2014 an equally productive, memorable, enjoyable and awesome year!

I already took time to sit down and purposefully write down my goals in my workout journal where I log my weekly weight, workouts, daily diet etc......so let me spill the beans for you all to see as well.

2014 Fitness Goals:

1. Break 200lbs and keep bodyfat under 13% (192lbs as of Jan 1)
2. Hit 600lb deadlift
3. Hit 315lb bench press
4. Hit 450lb squat
5. Hit 185lb seated shoulder press
6. Compete in 3 powerlifting meets
7. Compete in 3 strongman meet

7 Major goals for the year to bring my fitness to levels never before reached. Lofty goals indeed but ones I will have to work for strategically to make them happen which I will 100% all year long!

Also since getting back I have already been getting my EAT back on by hitting up some new local restaurants....take a look at the grub stops from late:

Salsa Flight with house made tortilla chips + Macha Salsa marinated skirt steak with spicy black beans (Blind Burro)

Post workout meal (Souplantation Buffet) I bring in my own Greek Yogurt since the buffet has minimal protein sources if any. Its vegetarian based after all. This cost me just $9 to!

Alligator Burger 2/3lb (Tiolis Crazee Burger)

Southwest Wrap with sweet fries (Broken Yolk Cafe)

So the eats are going well so far but so are the workouts! Very good in fact!

I have hit PR's in both bench and rack deads in my first week of this 4 week concentrated loading block. 235lbs in the bench press, 150lbs in seated bb press and 405lbs in the rack deadlift. Today I will see if I can also PR in squats to make the whole last week pegged with PR's! Today I also go in for a formal dunk tank based body composition assessment which I do every 4 months each year to gauge objective outcomes of my training and diet. I will have that info for you as well as my pictures tomorrow.

I want to real quickly give you all a glimps of my training program for this 4 week block to see the big picture.

3 days on 1 day off split routine

upper pull-upper push-legs-off

30 mins HIIT on off day + 10 mins HIT post lift days

bench press and shoulder press is major focus of upper push day

rack dead is focus of upper pull day

squat is major focus of leg day

I swap each 3 day rotation with a max effort basis trying to go as heavy as I can from 8 reps down to 1-2 reps to hit a new PR in those lifts mentioned above. The next 3 day rotation that starts I do speed training with 10-12 sets of just 4 reps every 60 seconds as fast as I can using 50-60% of my max weight. Shoulders get more volume on on speed days as well doing 5 sets of 10. Box squats replace normal back squats for speed day as well. On pull days I do a vertical pull focus one rotation and then a horizontal pull focus the next rotation. Biceps and triceps always get 3 sets of about 15 reps with a drop set of about 20 reps. This is to maintain muscle balance, prevent injury and improve muscle CSA in those muscle groups. All lifts outside of the main lifts above do not get more then 3 sets of work. This is why its called a concentrated loading block. I concentrate almost all my work sets on the core lifts and only "tap" into the time and effort spent on the other assistance work. 

Yesterdays workout: Upper Pull

• 5 min treadmill run, + dynamic warm up
• rack deads below the knee max effort: 405x3 for 2 sets (best sets only listed)
• wide bodyweight pull ups: 3x8
• close grip lat pull downs: 3x10
• standing db curls: 3x18 + 1x25 drop
• db shrugs: 3x20 @ 90's
• special ops abs: 6x30 reps various movements
• 10 mins HIT