John Stone's Picture Gallery and Video Archive - Page 118

lil_dave · Tue, January 10th, 2006, 08:34 PM

maybe just take it easy for the next month or so.. then start your cutting.. sorta a crappy way to end your bulk but its better to take it easy now then to rush into things and make your injury worse..
even if you do cut the bulk short I wouldnt be upset.. you made some impressive gains in a short time..

Sapperstang · Tue, January 10th, 2006, 08:44 PM

Sorry to hear about the back. Hopefully it's nothing serious.

Reeze · Wed, January 11th, 2006, 01:02 PM

John,

I know how you love to push yourself, but please do be careful and make sure you are properly recovered. If you've been flat on your back for a few days, I'd say it was serious enough to warrant a decent recovery period.

A concerned reader

JoeSchmo · Wed, January 11th, 2006, 08:01 PM

Hey John -- Just read your update today ... glad to hear your back is feeling better. I've hurt mine like that before too ... to the point where sitting, lying, and even breathing hurt, and a week later, I was perfectly fine. So, hopefully this is true for you as well. Good luck on your recovery -- and i look forward to seeing what the last few weeks of this bulk will bring!

chicanerous · Wed, January 11th, 2006, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reeze

John, I know how you love to push yourself, but please do be careful and make sure you are properly recovered. If you've been flat on your back for a few days, I'd say it was serious enough to warrant a decent recovery period.

What's a little extra time off if it will ensure a full and safe recovery? I know it's hard to be patient (who would want to stop training!?), but you're into this lifestyle for the long-haul. Recover well and fast,

!

***John Stone*** · Wed, January 11th, 2006, 08:42 PM

I really appreciate all the concern (honest!), but I think most of you know me well enough to realize that I am disciplined and will back off when I must. I've listened to my body, and done nothing but sit on my ass for the past 5 days. I know my back is not fully recovered, and that's why I'm not going to be doing any squats or deadlifts (and perhaps other exercises that may strain my back). Having said that, I'm also not going to be overly-cautious. If I feel I'm capable of working out, then sitting it out feels more like an excuse than a legitimate reason to miss it. Tonight was chest night and required very little involvement from my back. My back felt pretty good, so I decided to hit the weights and I'm VERY glad that I did.

Man, I needed tonight's workout. When my shoulder was injured at least I could do lower body work and cardio. This time around it was nothing. Zilch. Sitting around doing nothing for the past 5 days has been totally maddening for me. The pent up energy has been killing me. Like I said, I needed this workout. My mental health is important, too!

I reduced the weight by about 20% on all exercices but my cable crosser work, which I did at my normal weight. The only time my back hurt was when I was getting into position on the bench: before my pressing lifts I always expand my chest, and when I did that I felt a twinge in my lower back, but it always stopped after a second (and I never felt it at all while lifting). Lifting with the reduced weight allowed me to go super slow and I did a full 2-second pause in the lowered position. My form was textbook, and I was very careful to make sure I was not feeling any back pain. It was a great workout!

When I finished the workout I noticed that I actually had more mobility in my back than before my workout. Even now, it feels better than it did before the workout.

I'm so happy right now.

No training tomorrow, and I'll be skipping leg day on Friday. I should be able to work my delts on Saturday and my biceps and triceps on Sunday, but we'll see how I feel.

I took a couple of pictures...

ABguy · Wed, January 11th, 2006, 09:41 PM

ahhh....The man is BACK (so to speak

) !!!

yogro · Thu, January 12th, 2006, 07:42 AM

The first one of those two photos, IMO is one of the best ever! Great chest and great facial expression.

jstalljon · Thu, January 12th, 2006, 08:32 AM

Awesome John! Glad to hear you are on the mend!

Happy Monster · Thu, January 12th, 2006, 02:32 PM

John, someone's replaced your pics with some of a crazy looking body building guy!

***John Stone*** · Thu, January 12th, 2006, 03:31 PM

Thanks everyone - it's great to be back! That was the longest 5 days of my life.

My back is feeling better than ever this afternoon. I'm going to go ahead and squat tonight, but I promise to keep it light and not go over 225 pounds.

I'm kidding, I'm kidding!

I think if I tried to squat even 2 plates right now I'd wind up in the hospital.

Masher · Thu, January 12th, 2006, 04:24 PM

So John, what is your aim? Do you want to just keep getting bigger and bigger? I think you're looking great just now. Personally, I wouldn't go bigger than that.

Glad to see you recovering. And did you get to listen to my "If it's not scottish . . . it's CRAP" clip?

***John Stone*** · Thu, January 12th, 2006, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masher

So John, what is your aim? Do you want to just keep getting bigger and bigger? I think you're looking great just now. Personally, I wouldn't go bigger than that.

I want to get a wee (

) bit bigger. I fully expect my next bulk to be my last one. My final goal is 220 pounds at 8% body fat (or less), and I really do not want to be any bigger than that. Having said that, I will continue to work on proportion and symmetry if there are any lagging body parts, but my "all out" bulking days will likely be over.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masher

And did you get to listen to my "If it's not scottish . . . it's CRAP" clip?

I did, they were both great! Thank you very much for taking the time to record those.

I was remarking to Lisa that hearing your voice (with your Scottish accent) helped to reinforce the fact that JSF is a truly worldwide community. I think it's a great accent. Maybe we should start a thread and get people to record their voices so we can hear accents and languages from all over the world. It would be fun to hear how everyone sounds.

Chopaholic · Thu, January 12th, 2006, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Stone

I was remarking to Lisa that hearing your voice (with your Scottish accent) helped to reinforce the fact that JSF is a truly worldwide community. I think it's a great accent. Maybe we should start a thread and get people to record their voices so we can hear accents and languages from all over the world. It would be fun to hear how everyone sounds.

Allow me to be the first to say that we New Englanders don't have accents. Everyone else does.

(A constant [humorous] bone of contention between my English husband and myself.)

1FastGTX · Thu, January 12th, 2006, 05:28 PM

Ya'll want me to record my voice?

John sounds a lot like Tony Robbins to me, listen to his interview with Jeremy. I don't mean that to sound offensive, by the way, just an observation.

I like those latest pictures John. I assume your weight stayed about the same during the time off? 1-2 pound drop?

Masher · Thu, January 12th, 2006, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Stone

I did, they were both great! Thank you very much for taking the time to record those.

No problem - hopefully the laughter helped take your mind off your back!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Stone

I was remarking to Lisa that hearing your voice (with your Scottish accent) helped to reinforce the fact that JSF is a truly worldwide community. I think it's a great accent. Maybe we should start a thread and get people to record their voices so we can hear accents and languages from all over the world. It would be fun to hear how everyone sounds.

I like that idea. It makes it a bit more personal. And it's great to have a place where there is truly no discrimination AT ALL.

If you want to make it worldwide, why not have one of the forums in another language? I'd say Spanish would be the most likely to be used. I'm learning Spanish right now and I'd love a chance to practise it but I'd be able to contribute in French too. I wouldn't say there'd be much call for Scottish Gaelic . . . so I won't suggest that.

I speak enough French and Spanish to moderate the forum if that'd be a problem.

***John Stone*** · Sat, January 14th, 2006, 09:01 PM

Fantastic workout tonight - even with the lighter weight. The slow reps, 2-second "pause & flex" between the positive and negative phases and short rest intervals made it extremely challenging. I'm very anxious to see how my body responds to this modification to my training routine.

No back pain, except a little bit when I was doing my bent over side raises. Nothing to worry about.

Today is my light-weight shrug day, and normally I grab a pair of 90 or 100 pound dumbbells and do four sets of burnout shrugs. With my back still on the mend, I can't even deadlift 200 pounds of dumbbells into position, and I thought I was going to have to skip my traps tonight. Then it hit me: duh - the Titan has a smith machine traps/squat attachment. I put the pads on, and had a great traps workout!

One post-workout picture tonight. Do I look happy, or just demented? Maybe a bit of both: I was so happy that I was able to workout that I may have been bordering on dementia.

Zendorian · Sat, January 14th, 2006, 09:20 PM

You look happy

I would also : ) happy to hear u're back lifting and back almost healed!

Devery · Sat, January 14th, 2006, 10:15 PM

Looks like a pretty good pump with those there traps and shoulders. I agree that it's kind of neat to keep your muscles guessing at what you are gonna try next...will it be Max-Ot, or higher reps with a lighter weight. Slower or explosive movements. Interesting.

bbgonnabe · Sat, January 14th, 2006, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Stone

Fantastic workout tonight ...
One post-workout picture tonight. ..

Wow!!!!!!!! [to tonight's pic and the one's on 1/11]