the growth of rise

[Rise]

well, almost 8 months after joining the forums i've decided to start up my own journal. i have started to develop some strength goals that i'd love to achieve in the coming months/years. so here are my goals, and my story as i go.

Goals:
250lb bench press
25 Pull ups
25 Chin ups
10 Muscle ups
1 bw pull up
1 bw dip
300lb squat
300lb dead
10xbw pistol squats
10xbw DB military press
10x3 Handstand pushups
sub-6 minute mile
20 minute 5k

Current Ability: parenthesis are theoretical maximums from here until i try my 1RM for each exercise. i will edit this as i progress.
(210lb) bench press
22 pull ups
22 chin ups
4 Muscle ups
15% bw pull up
33% bw dip
225lb (x8) squat
275lb deadlift
1x pistol squat
120x6 db military press
10x1 handstand pushups
8.5 minute mile
30m 5k

My Starting Stats:
5'9
154lbs
12.5" biceps

Current Stats:
5'9
151lbs
13.25" biceps
??? waist
??? thigh
??? chest

if you have any all-around fitness goals, please let me know and if i think its interesting i'll add it to my list! this is just the first things i could think of based on what i can do now, what i'd like to be able to do, and what i've seen other people on the forums are aiming to do (that i found interesting).


Before Pictures:

Current Pictures:


Next time i'll have my fiancee take the pictures... she just wasn't home at the time.

[Rise]

Well today's workout was fantastic! i did the back-focused lower split today and i blew my old max away. the most i had previously dead lifted in a rep set was 205 (that's the most i've ever tried) and today i threw 2 45s on each end of the bar for 225 lbs. i finished the full 10 reps and i'm pretty sure i could have done more weight. the hardest part of it all is my hands hurt so much. there were lifting straps at the station and i tried them but i don't think i used them correctly. i started to lose circulation in my hands or something and i managed to get blisters in the middle of my palms. i guess i still need to work on that a bit... it also looks like a couple of my goals aren't really a reach anymore since my theoretical deadlift is already @ my goal... not that i can actually do it or have tried to do it, but if i'm that close, i need to go for something higher.

i can't wait for friday's workout. it's chest day and since a friend from work has been going to the gym with me, i feel comfortable doing more weight. i'm even going to use a barbell which is a rarity for me.

i never used to get excited about going to the gym. i feel like it's really becoming a part of my life, and i enjoy it. i feel good, i feel strong, and i want to keep going!

i need to go eat some more before bed... Seacrest, OUT!

[Rise]

my back & hammies are a wee bit sore today, but i guess that's to be expected after the workout i had yesterday. but it still makes me feel like if i'm only getting sore after pushing it that hard that it really is time to start "raising the bar" both figuratively & literally and really start to progress. i feel like in the next couple of months i'm really going to see some serious weight lifting gains for some reason - i hope that it turns out to be the case!

also, i bought an engagement ring today

[Rise]

I've been doing a lot of reading other people's journals lately. I've come to the realization that I really need to stop and look at what i'm eating. Throughout my bulk, i've just been eating a lot of whatever. sometimes it's clean, sometimes it's not. i've been lifting since april and i've made great progress in the gym, but i feel like i'm still holding myself back by not learning enough about food and more importantly, not implementing what i've already learned about food. i've thought about the cut that i'll have coming to me in february, and i just realized that i have no idea how to know how much i should be eating. i'm just getting used to what has been working for me and kind of sticking to that...

For some reason, I just don't know what to do. i've read a ton on it, i've read all the beginner stickies twice, and i've even been able to give other people advice on what to eat (on occasion). i guess it's time that i try to give myself some of that advice and stop being a hypocrite of sorts. but even now, i'm not sure where to start. i've tried writing up food plans but i don't follow them, other than trying to eat a lot and trying to hit my calories. it's frustrating.

so i'll try. i know oats are good, but i don't really like them other than in my protien shake. so if i have a protien shake every day (after my workout on gym days) I'll be heading in the right direction (i think). i put maybe a half a cup in them now. i also take my protien shake with 1% lowfat milk, and i think that's pretty good as well. that's 1 of 2 consistent meals i think i can have every day, and it's basically the afternoon snack or evening meal depending on when i get to the gym or whatever. 1 meal down, 5 to go!

next, i'll attack 2nd breakfast. 2nd breakfast i already generally eat the same stuff every day - 2 eggs & whole wheat toast w/ butter & juice. i don't know if this is really an ideal meal, but it's what is available at the cafeteria and seems healthy, so i eat it. i could use some help on the quality of that meal, so i'll look into it.

the only other meal that i can predict in anyway would be first breakfast which often ends up as a cup of OJ & my multivitamin. i really don't know what to eat for this meal though. and now i'm lost. i don't know what to eat for lunch, dinner, and my snack meal other than i obviously need some meat and veggies in there, somewhere. but lunch tends to end up as nothing more than some sort of sandwich like a tuna melt or chicken salad on a roll or something along the lines of those items. i don't know how good any of that is for you, and i don't think that it's the healthiest of options either.

i've rambled on enough for now i guess. i need to do some thinking.

[Rise]

i just finished my chest/tri's workout for today and man, am i wiped out!

BB Bench
warm up w/ bar
warm up @ 95lbs
135lbsx10reps
145x10
155x10 <-failure

BB Incline Bench
95x8
105x10
115x8 <-failure

DB Flies
25x10
30 crunches
25x10
30 crunches
25x10
30 crunches

Dips
184x8 <-failure
184x5 <-failure

Tricep Pushdowns
90x10
100x10
100x10

Muscle Ups:
0 <-big failure

so today was a bit of a weird day for me. first off- this is the FIRST time i've done BB bench press since i've started lifting. so i do my warm ups and kind of expect to push up some serious weight since i can do 160 w/ dumb bells. well, that wasn't the case as you can see. i actually couldn't bench as much with a BB as i can with DBs and i went into the work out today feeling absolutely great! that said, i did push myself to the limit one way or the other and i had a great work out today, i'm just so confused as to why i can't bench as much with a BB compared to DBs.

the next part of the day that was weird for me was adding an extra exercise in - incline bench press. i haven't really done 2 bench exercises in a row like that before but for some reason i thought it was a good idea. maybe it is, it confused my body at the very least. i didn't put up very heavy weight for that, partly because i was still kind of spent from the BB bench, but i still went to failure on those as well. it actually felt pretty go to do them to be honest.

anyway, after that i realized my arms were dead, but i tried to do some weighted dips anyway. since my gym is retarded and doesn't have a simple weight belt, i had to use the weighted dip machine where i literally need to seat belt myself in to not get propelled straight out of the seat like the glass elevator in charlie and the chocolate factory. well, i threw on the same weight that i started with last time i did these and i barely could do any! my arms were shot, big time. so i did what i could and finished out with tricep pull downs. a bit of a weird day, but a nice change as well. maybe next time i'll start with dips!

i had a protein shake so far since then and i am starting to get hungry for some real food. i think i'm going to pick up some chinese because i have nothing in the house to cook... then again i'm so tired i don't feel like driving so maybe i'll just make a pb&j or eat some eggs.

i can't lift my arms.

[Rise]

well, no work out today, but i'm trying to find a way to keep on track with my diet all the time. i went food shopping but the place i went to didn't even have a lot of the stuff i was hoping to pick up. so i guess i'll be going food shopping again tomorrow. i've been eating a lot of eggs lately and i'm worried that i'm eating more than are healthy for me since i eat them whole - yolk and all. today i had 3 hard boiled eggs but i made sure only to eat the whites today, and i had them with edamame. tonight my fiancee is cooking some chicken/broccoli/rice thing and it looks/smells good except that she is using white rice... oh well. so i've managed to stay mostly clean today.

so i'm wondering how much sleep really matters to a muscle growth. i imagine it does matter a lot, i just don't know why. i usually get 6-7 hours of sleep during the week (occasionally less) and 8-12 on the weekends. i'm going to try and get myself to 8-9 hours a night during the week and at the same on the weekends. i'm tired of being tired all the time during the week and if it is affecting my work outs, i'm really selling myself short since its something that's so easy to do.

squats tomorrow, can't wait.

[digitalnebula]

Originally Posted by Rise

if you have any all-around fitness goals, please let me know and if i think its interesting i'll add it to my list! this is just the first things i could think of based on what i can do now, what i'd like to be able to do, and what i've seen other people on the forums are aiming to do (that i found interesting).

Don't forget military presses (as a goal, I see you are doing them in your workout...). Working on your shoulders will *REALLY* help with your BB bench press...

[Rise]

Originally Posted by digitalnebula

Don't forget military presses (as a goal, I see you are doing them in your workout...). Working on your shoulders will *REALLY* help with your BB bench press...

good call. i've modified my goals to include repping some bw military presses. i prefer DB mil presses over BB though, ergonomically.

[Rise]

well this weekend was pretty crappy in terms of everything fitness related. i got a bit tipsy last night and woke up to toss some cookies which resulted in a rough day today. i had the opportunity to work out with my friend while i'm visiting NY but that got put off with the condition i've been in all day. on the plus side, i got a massage and a haircut so I'm feeling fresh as a daisy that someone just stepped on.

im goin to bed.

[digitalnebula]

Originally Posted by Rise

i got a bit tipsy last night and woke up to toss some cookies which resulted in a rough day today.

I have noticed that when I am eating healthy and cutting, my alcohol tolerance goes out the window. I had two drinks last night with my cheat meal, and I had to have the wife drive home... I'm such a lightweight now!

Stick to it Rise. If you never had an off day, we would all accuse you of being a robot...

[carguy]

Hey Rise. Beautiful ring and setting. What does hers look like?

Congrats on the personal bests. You should end up a lot stronger, even after you cut down to be ripped for your wedding.

[Rise]

Originally Posted by digitalnebula

I have noticed that when I am eating healthy and cutting, my alcohol tolerance goes out the window. I had two drinks last night with my cheat meal, and I had to have the wife drive home... I'm such a lightweight now!

Stick to it Rise. If you never had an off day, we would all accuse you of being a robot...

yeah, you hit the nail on the head with that one. not to mention, i'm very much used to 5-6 meals a day and i hadn't eaten in 5 hours (which is not usual for me) so on top of a low tolerance to begin with, my stomach was empty. moral of the story: i'm a moron

i'm going to try not drinking at all during the next 2 months of my cut with the exception of new years eve... i'll probably drink a bottle of champagne for that

[Doubleoqueso]

Wow... My goals are similar to yours, but your a heckuvalot closer to them than I am. What's your diet like?

If your fiancee was stuck in the snow, why not just pick the car up and move it to traction :P A buddy of mine did that once, picked up the front end of his stuck car and set it down a foot or so to one side where it was able to get traction.

[Rise]

Originally Posted by Doubleoqueso

Wow... My goals are similar to yours, but your a heckuvalot closer to them than I am. What's your diet like?

lately its 5-6 meals/day that break down like this:
meal 1 (6am): OJ/multivitamin & cereal or oatmeal if i don't oversleep (which i usually do)
meal 2 (9am): 2 whole eggs, whole wheat toast with butter, 16oz. 1.5% milk
meal 3 (12pm): tuna melt or chicken salad on whole wheat
meal 4 (3pm): a bowl of cereal or protien bar or hard boiled eggs
meal 5 (6pm): lots of meat - chicken, beef, whatever and some green veggies & brown rice or whole wheat pasta or something like that
meal 6 (9pm): whey protien shake w/ maybe a 1/2 cup of oats, maybe a bit more than that

If your fiancee was stuck in the snow, why not just pick the car up and move it to traction :P A buddy of mine did that once, picked up the front end of his stuck car and set it down a foot or so to one side where it was able to get traction.

honestly, it was so icy that if i walked up the slope at all, i would just slide back down. i couldn't get a good footing anywhere around the car until we salted & at that point it was easier to just give the salt a minute to work its magic.

[Rise]

man, today was a rough work out. i went to my holiday party and had a (singular) Guinness which basically ended up being a meal replacement since they didn't have any real food there to eat. just some fried crap that you would microwave at home. anyway, after that i was going to skip out on my work out since i needed to buy some driveway salt @ home depot, but then they were all out of it and so i had time to go to the gym! and that's what i did! the best part was, today was dead lift day - my favorite day!

RDLs:
warmup @ 135lbs
205lbs x 10 reps
215x10
225x10
235x8 <-PB for repped weight

Step Ups:
40x20
40x20

Hamstring Curls:
60x10
70x10
80x10 <-pb

Standing Calf Raises:
240x10
260x10
280x10 <-PB, i think

i gotta be up by 5:30 am tomorrow morning... ugh. g'night!

[cwbolton]

Well this is an excellent journal. Keep up the good work ill be checking this thread often

Good luck and keep at it

[Rise]

Originally Posted by LoneStarChick

Can't wait to read it! (If the title's witty enough, I mean...it all depends on the title.)

it shouldn't be too hard, a lot of things rhyme with "rise" like Rise's Surprises, although I guess that doesn't make sense in terms of fitness...

Kidding, of course! After all, any title is better than the one I thought of!

At least it's original!

Originally Posted by cwbolton

Well this is an excellent journal. Keep up the good work ill be checking this thread often

Good luck and keep at it

Thanks, I see you've started one yourself! Good luck with it and be sure to ask questions if you have any. If I can't answer them, there are plenty of other people who probably can

Update
Softball yesterday. I didn't get that much exercise because the games went by so quickly but we had fun. I did manage to scrape up my left leg on a slide to 2nd base. Apparently sliding in shorts on a crappy field covered in gravel is a bad idea. It hurt like a @#$%! cleaning it out when I got home but you gotta do it or you'll regret it later...

Since it was our last regular season game as a team we stayed after the game and had a few beers. I had a couple of miller lights & a budwieser which wasn't necessarily the best nutritional choices to make but more importantly I got to get to know some of my teammates better. It was my first season with the team and other than small talk throughout the game I never really got to know the other players. Fun times

I set a date for me to get back into the gym scene a bit more seriously: August 18th. I picked this day because it gives me some time to finish figuring out my goals, whatever they are, and lets me finish the softball season to clear my schedule up a bit. This is going to be the beginning of the real transformation

[digitalnebula]

Originally Posted by Rise

This is going to be the beginning of the real transformation

Now your talking....


bulk time? shred time?

[Doubleoqueso]

Originally Posted by Rise

This is going to be the beginning of the real transformation

Rock on! Gonna join the big arms club, right??

[Seltzer]

Originally Posted by Rise

I set a date for me to get back into the gym scene a bit more seriously: August 18th. I picked this day because it gives me some time to finish figuring out my goals, whatever they are, and lets me finish the softball season to clear my schedule up a bit. This is going to be the beginning of the real transformation

The 18th has come and gone. Did you start the transformation?

Hope all is well.