Summer

well i havent posted in a long time, but up until 3 weeks ago i was at 162 and decided to drop/cut down on some fat and now weigh in at 150, that was my goal for summer. i did cardio daily for about 2 weeks for about 30 to 40 min a day and last week of cardio did only 20 min every other day or so. i got busy with school towards end of May, finals papers and all that, a lot of stress. i kept strong and motivated and went to the gym religiously 5 days a week as i always do and ate 6 times a day, we have been doing legs twice a week and i feel a big difference and see some shape as well. now that i dropped the weight i kind of slowed down my metabolism and not eatint as much, but that's gotta change, gotta get back on the grind, my next goal is to hit 170lbs, i dont have a set time but it will happen. a lot of people told me that i was getting too big at 160 but i didnt really buy it, i look at my self every day so i didnt really see the difference and then i looked at some pics and yea it felt good and i feel like it looked ok as well. well good luck to everyone and stay motivated, anything is possible, just look at Hanh;s buddy Andrew, that guy is ripped. that just shows, hard work pays off. stay at it. have a good summer everyone, remember to do it for yourself and not to show off.

Summer Goal

havent posted in a while, i have been busy with school and hitting the gym 5 days a week. changed things up a bit and started doing legs on monday heavier and friday medium weight. currently at 155, still eating the same amount but its hard gaining that weight without any gainer, eating lean is important. my goal for this summer would be bigger/more defined legs as well as arms and chest. a lot of people tell me that i got bigger and they notice the difference, which only motivates me because i am doing something right. i dont want to get too crazy like some ppl and look like a mini fridge since i am only 5'6 and 155lbs right now, i want to go to at least 160 and stay there, and for summer cut back down to 150 and stay lean. it is going to be a lot of work but definitely worth it at the end. keep it up

First week back from the minor break

i came back to hitting the gym on Sunday after the long break of 1 week. We did back and changed up our normal routine, which felt awesome. I was worried that i wouldnt be able to pull off the same weight i did before but after a little warm up, got right back into it. My back was sore for 3 days, it was a good sore. then on Monday we went ahead and did legs, also an awesome workout, did 10 sets of 10 reps of squats to begin with, repped them out fairly quickly and did some more extensions, wall squats, leg curl and presses. legs were sore for another 3 days. even tho it hurts like hell in a way it feels awesome. day 3 on tuesday we did chest and i started to notice i was getting sick. i had a lot of energy and finished the workout strong. Wed is our day off, and since i got sick and felt really weak i took thursday off as well to get ready for fridays workout bicep/tricep and legs. We decided to add another day for legs to do something else, upper body is worked out most of the week and legs only once, time to step up and even it out a bit.

Ive noticed that even though im sick, i still try to eat as much ( 6- 7 times a day) to keep my weight. A lot of people tend to eat less and lose weight while sick, but i couldnt let that happen. im still at 154 and wanting to move up to 160 if not 163 soon.

the week off was really good for my body, to fully recover and i do feel a difference in my workouts and my energy. feels great and i see that i am getting awesome workouts every day so far.

time for me to sleep, class at 10 am tomorrow then gym at 4. going to be a good day. have a good one

LA Fitness Expo

It was a really kool event to go to, they had bunch of people and samples to try out, even tho i didnt try any, mostly energy (pre workout) as well as muscle milk and protein bars to try out for free. bodybuilding.com booth was the best one, they were giving out free goodies such as tshirt, little backpacks, key chains and autographs and pics of the models and stuff. there were competions for lifting and as well as bodymass spokesperson for this year, Jay Cutller was there, but didnt get a pic of him, dont think he would have fit in the screen. i have some pictures and videos taking from my iphone. enjoy

I recommend for everyone to watch this movie and my buddy spotted Chris, he made this documentary. awesome film.

Onto some videos from the competitions, sorry for the crappy quality

and last video for shits and giggles, im sure all of you have seen this, lolz

LA fitness Convention

2 days left until i will be returning to the gym, finally, this week long rest was necessary but im looking forward to it, on the other hand my buddy and i will be going to LA Fintess Convetion on Sat, i will try to take some pics with my iphone and post them up later, i dont know what to expect but should be fun, until then, hopefully everyone is having a blast at the gym.

Meal of the Champions

Meals that Hanh and Thomas both suggest to eat on daily basis. well i try to focus and eat these kinds of meals at least 4 times a week where i prepare the chicken in order to get at least 6 or 7 meals out of it which will last for a day. other days i eat home made food that consists of potatos, different kinds of meat whether its pork or beef since i still live with my parents. on the side i will add a yogurt in between and some fruits and veggies and to be honest i will have some pizza once out of the month (not the whole thing, 2 to 3 slices) but no other fast food, no soda, no chips or candy.

How i prepare my chicken  - cut it up, i use masterpiece seasoning and let it sit for couple of hours, then light up the grill most of the time i add bbq sauce for the better taste, sweet potato on the grill usually takes about 30 min to cook and it tastes so much better than when you make one in the mircrowave. dont have the rice cooker (i should) but i make the rice out of the box (boil the water, add a bit of salt for taste and then three cups of rice.

                                                   grilled chicken with sweet potato and rice (previous meal)

                    more of the same stuff grilled chicken, ketchup and rice actually eating this one as we speak

                this is one of the meals i made, sweet potato and chicken made in deep pan with this sauce
                                           and peanuts kind of roasted i would say,tastes good.

                                        and another one with sweet potato and grilled chicken.

time off from going to the gym sucks

well after 2 to 3 months of working out straight 5 days a week, my workout buddy and i have decided to take a week off  to fully recover in order to be able to push again and make some progress with gains. also i had a minor injury of not paying attention to my weight and not letting my spotter know i was going for it, i ended up dropping a dumbell on my chest and feel like bruised my side a litte, with that said it was probably a sign that i was getting worn out, needed some rest and a learned a lesson. always keep your eyes and thought on your weight and go up when you are ready. no way that this will stop me in any way. its been 4 days out of the gym and i feel like im getting withdrawals, i miss it because i enjoy going. on the other hand im able to eat more and more so hopefully gain a little healthy weight. i am looking forward to next sunday when we go back to do a back workout.

Supplements i've tried

When i started to work out, i was told to try out the 5lb Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein which seemed a bit expensive, it tasted good and mixed well with milk, i often would add banana's or strawberries in and mix it up, i kept drinking  it for a long period of time and i felt like it was helping with recovery. I didn't think i wanted to try pre workout supplements, or creatine, but i did go ahead and bough Cell Mass by BSN usually bought for $34, which helped me out a lot since i wanted to bulk up and i have noticed the difference after about 2nd to 3rd week of taking it. Another thing you gotta push yourself and move up in weight in order to . So don't stay at 25lb weight and expect to gain. I gained a good amount of weight by working out, eating healthy but then hit a point where i couldn't get pass 143lbs. i felt really good after taking the CellMass and was ready to go the next day, when it came to recovery it was awesome and tasted good too. I definitelly recommend Cell Mass and they say that NOExplode goes hand in hand with it (never tried it). As far as Pre-workout my buddy whom i was training with bought Jack3d and it he let me try it couple of times. They have 3 or 4 different flavors but i liked the Grape Bubble Gum the most. its not that expensive only around $26 at a local nutrition shop. Others sell it for more, but i have found great deals on Amazon and sometimes got free shipping. And lastly last september i wanted to bulk up even more and heard a lot of good things about Pro Complex Gainer. i got a 5lb of double chocolatte from my buddy, the scoops were huge and drank 2 of them through out the day plus eating 5 meals a day. after i finished the 5lb, i bought Serious Mass Gainer since Pro Complex is way too expensive. Serious mass cost me about $40 for 12lb bag (looked like dog food bag) and seemed worth it. once again eating 5 meals a day plus two of those shakes one in the mid day and one after workout. one shake was about 900 calories with milk. I ended up gaining weight and finally passed my goal of 150lb. if you are trying to gain weight with the gainer, some tend to gain weight in their stomach and sides well you will have to take the chance, do abs and cardio. since im still trying to bulk up, i dont do any cardio because i want to gain and not lose weight. i do abs as well 3 to 4 times a week with regular workouts. this is what i have tried so far and worked for me, everyones body is different and everyone has different tastes. im sure there are better tasting supplements out there. I have cut down on buying protein or cell mass, although i still take jack3d which helps me with the intense workouts that i do. eat right and you will see significant gains soon. patience is a virtue.

Some workouts that i follow

these are the videos that i have been doing for a while now, my and my buddy like to push each other as far as motivation goes, these routines might not be for everyone, we try to change up the routines every 2 to 3 months just because you get used to doing the same thing.

Sunday -  Back ( me and my buddy are trying to work our way up to muscle ups, not there yet, i do the weight that im comfortable with, and you will slowly be able to work your way up, and make sure you have your form right when it comes to pull ups) we usually spend about 1hr 30 min or so depending on how tired we get. (pull ups are very important, we did body weight pull ups for a while then added barbels with the belt with the chain.

 

Monday - Legs (typically we do couple warm up sets consisting of 2 light warm up then 3sets of heavier weight with of the leg curl and extension machines, then do calves and squats 10 sets of 6-8 reps, with two warm up sets with 135lbs and add on each set, 10lbs, 25lbs, 45lbs, lately we have stopped after 225lbs and last 10th set will be a burnout of 135lbs. after we do couple sets of wall squats. Time we usually spend on legs is 1hr 20min after that we are burned out. (make sure to strech before and after workout) also some people prefer to go all the way down some only go to 90 degree angle, do what works for you and get your form right before you go heavy and lastly Squats are the important and work out everything!!!

This video is helpful as far as a technique goes and we are planning on changing the work out by starting out with squats as Hanh does and continue on the other fun stuff.

Tuesday - Chest we started following this workout from the video for a while then kind of modified it, but still push good weight, moving up is important just like hanh and frank say in their videos and its pretty much a common sense you gotta break the muscle up in order to rebuild it and get stronger (protein), always have a spotter and get your form right.( we have adjusted this for us with doing pushups on the burnout with barbell weights on your back. usually 1hr 30min it varies.

Awesome workout routine btw

Wed - Rest

Thursday - Bicep Tricep we do different types of curls, rope and bar on the cable machine, for triceps we

do weighted dips with barbell (buy the belt with the chain it works very well) skull crusher and rope as well. 1 hr is well enough, we try to keep it 30 seconds between the workout but most of the time we take longer.

Friday - Shoulders i never really liked doing shoulders but this video made me enjoy this work out as well as get a lot of out of it. wes started off doing the same routine Hanh has and after we modified it a bit to work for us by doing more presses, including the arnold press, barbell shrugs and dumbell shrugs in between the excercises. either way here is the video, 1hr 30 min between 2 people

Saturday - Rest

Some Pre and Post pictures

well this is me how i looked like before i started working out (too skinny) i think i was at 120 or so and i dont have any top off pics and that would be too much for everyone lolz

this is me at 152 current weight as of 1/16/2011, winter weight is all about bulking up and trying to gain weight, my first goal was to get to 150 and now i want to see if i can get to 160.

First post

well i am new to this blog thing, but me and my buddy whom i work out with decided to create one since its a kool thing to do and possibly help someone who is starting to work out and as well as learn something new from people on here. To start off, my name is Tomas, i am 5'6 and have been working out for about year and a half now. When i started working out i was 120 - 125lbs little skinny dude and now im finally bulking up and i am at 152lbs as of 1/18/2011. Feels great. i have been following Frank and Hanh's videos on youtube as well as Hanh's new blog http://hanhchampion.blogspot.com/ as well as Thomas's blog http://clutchlifter.blogspot.com/ both have some good info whether its eating right or work out routines/techniques. i will be updating this with videos and the workout routings which work for me. Last week i had a minor injury and wasnt as focused as i should have been, ended up dropping the dumbell on my left upper chest and i will be taking a about two weeks off for recovery. time to put on some weight lolz. feel free to comment as well as any advice will be helpfull