Archive for the ‘My Story’ Category

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Transform Your Body With Commitment

September 24th, 2009 | by lorenzTweet This

commitment

For the last eight years, I’ve worked out three to four times a week almost every single week.  I remember clearly how I started working out.  In 2001 I was 6′3″ and 175 lbs with a mild pot belly.  I was so skinny it looked like my head might roll off my body.  Like a lot of people, the first few times I tried working out I got really gung ho about it and swore that I was going to start working out every day and get “jacked.”  Three work outs later I found plenty of reasons to flake out on that promise and stop going to the gym.

I did this a couple times before the gym finally became a part of my life.  One day I was at the doctor’s office and I picked up a men’s health magazine.  It had a list of motivational things to do to get back in the gym.  One of the points changed my life: “If you commit to going to the gym, you go no matter what.”  No matter what happens, you at least show up and touch the gym door.  No excuses.
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Full Body Stats 7/23/09

July 23rd, 2009 | by lorenzTweet This

It’s been exactly a month since my last full body stat update.  I’ve spent the majority of the last month focusing on core strengthening, with little emphasis on heavy lifting or bulking up.  With that in mind, my diet has remained mostly flat, with calories in roughly equal to calories out.

(The blue line is calories out, the green line is calories in.)

Weight: 203.2
Body Fat: 10.6%
Waist: 34.75 in
Chest: 42 in
Shoulders: 49.5 in
Forearms: 11.75 in
Neck: 17 in
Thigh: 22.75 in
Calf: 17 in
Arms: 14 in

Most of my measurements have stayed the same or gotten smaller.  This makes sense since I haven’t been focused on getting big for the last month. I find lifting lighter weights and focusing on core strengthening not as satisfying as lifting really heavy.  It doesn’t give me the same stress release as killing myself in the gym.  Although I always thought that I lifted with good form, over time the little issues with the way I lift have added up to an imbalance in my muscle structure which makes me more prone to injuries.  Trevor and I have been working together to eliminate those imbalances.  It’s amazing to workout with someone who has deep anatomical knowledge and can tell me exactly what I’m doing wrong.

One major source of frustration is that I somehow managed to get tennis elbow.  This is particularly frustrating since I haven’t been lifting heavy and just don’t get why I have such a bad case of it.  I’m even having trouble shaking hands.  Hopfully this will go away real soon.  Overall, I feel good though.  My body feels more solid than ever and I feel muscles in places I never even thought of before.

My appearance hasn’t changed much since the last photo I posted.  In the next few weeks we’ll be upping the kind of weight I’m lifting, assuming I get over the tennis elbow.  I’ll start growing a lot more at that point.

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Awesome Doesn’t Like Stats Either

July 15th, 2009 | by lorenzTweet This

Apparently, Awesome (my dog’s name) wasn’t too keen for all my body tracking equipment. Or rather a little too enamored with it. Either way, he chewed up my Garmin GPS / Heartrate monitor watch :-(

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Giving In To Temptation… Is Awesome

July 14th, 2009 | by lorenzTweet This

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Where Did The Body Metrics Go?

July 9th, 2009 | by lorenzTweet This

I stopped posting daily body metrics after July 4th.  Tracking my daily calories and workouts can be a fun and challenging process.  However, the value of it isn’t really in the daily data, but rather in the periodic analysis of the data.

I’ve been spending well over half an hour a day just posting daily stats data.  Aside from my day to day diet, which tends to repeat itself, the daily stats don’t really add value.  With that in mind, I’ve decided to save you some bandwidth and save me some time.  What I will continue to do is track every aspect of my body and post that infomation in an analytical weekly blog post designed to study trends in my progress.  I hope this will give you some insight into what works and what doesn’t.  I’d love to hear any advice you have as well.  I’ve never done a body building competition before and if you have any suggestions, I welcome them.

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Daily Body Metrics 07/04/09

July 6th, 2009 | by lorenzTweet This

Fourth of July was a “relaxation” day.  I thoroughly enjoyed half a pizza and really didn’t think about my fitness much for a whole day.  The workout is actually from the day before, but I figured I’d just merge the Friday and Saturday post.  I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed for the last two weeks, and needed a weekend off.  I spend all of Sunday watching the Matrix trilogy.  Yes, all three movies.  It was awesome.  I’ve only ever seen them once.  I forgot how good those movies are, especially when you watch them back to back.

Calories out: 3261, Calories in: 4097, Protein: 264g, Carbs: 370g, Fat: 111g

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Daily Body Metrics 07/02/09

July 3rd, 2009 | by lorenzTweet This

I had a great workout yesterday with a lot of focus on rehabing my shoulder and spine muscles.  I spent 45 minutes just doing shoulder blade rotations, shoulder blade pushups, and stretches.  Then Eddie and I did a light back workout with a strong emphasis on perfect form.

Calories out: 3272, Calories in: 3300, Protein: 255g, Carbs: 395g, Fat: 78g

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Daily Stats 07/01/09

July 2nd, 2009 | by lorenzTweet This

I actually worked out twice today.  I had an easy going session with Trevor this morning where we mostly focused on light core training movements.  A few hours later, Eddie and I got together and did a light leg work out.  The heart rate chart is from my second workout with Eddie (my batteries were dead for the first one).

I’ve scaled down my lifting weight a lot in the last few weeks to fix my body and reprogram myself to lift with proper form.  I think one of the hardest things I’ve ever tried to do is to rewire my neuro-muscular communication.  Once your body gets used to doing something in a particular way, it’s very hard to change.  That’s why old habits die hard.

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Daily Diet 06/25/09

June 25th, 2009 | by lorenzTweet This

I’m always amazed at how quickly my body can gain and lose weight. I’ve gained almost 5 pounds since I’ve adjusted my diet.  Hopefully most of it is muscle and water weight.

Calories out: 3002, Calories in: 3450, Protein: 330g, Carbs: 302g, Fat: 89g

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Daily Diet 06/23/09

June 24th, 2009 | by lorenzTweet This

It’s pretty challenging eating 6 – 8 times a day.  I think the hardest part is staying creative about what to eat.  When I get lazy, I just stick to sandwiches.  Lots and lots of sandwiches and wraps.  Today I was lazy, but I came up with an awesome wrap: whole wheat tortilla bread, sliced chicken strips, hummus, chopped tomatoes and onion.  About 250 cals total and super healthy and filling.  By the way, I generally don’t record low calorie vegetables unless I eat a large amount.  They’re usually just 10 – 20 cals.

Body bugg says I burned 2727 calories today.  I’m going to have to disagree.  I didn’t wear it for about 7 hours today between 5 and 12 pm.  I would expect that the BB would take my historical daily average to compute what I most likely burned when I don’t wear it.  Instead it flat lines my caloric output to pretty much sleep level.  Not very user friendly.

Calories out: 2727, Calories in: 3188, Protein: 352g, Carbs: 304g, Fat: 69g

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