Quick update

So on 7.11 I decided I need to lose some weight and I was at 200. Its been a little more than a week and I am at 195!! 3weeks in to intermittent fasting and it is fantastic.

how it all started.

This was March of 2010- at Coit Tower in SF

I was in good shape since I've been consistently exercising and eating healthy...

this is May of  same year during a photography class from SFAI. I had gained about 20lbs in 2 month.

well, actually in a month.

05.13.10- I was at well over 235lbs... weight was getting out of control. 

I came back home from SF, CA... 07.19.10

in two month, I had dropped quite a few body fat but still was weak slob... 

I started P90X this day.

@216lbs

21 days since I started P90X. 08.08.10

I struggled benching 185 here...

@203lbs

08.18.11 on top of Twin Peaks in SF. 

09.30.11 about a year later from image above. I had gained a lot more shape and gained much strength

weighing @184 

Today: 

07.11.12 another year had passed from image above. So it's been 2years of journey to get in shape.

 @200 lbs

07.09.12 after finishing 4days of CEO:Dead Lift 

weight @205lbs

when compared to 08.08.10 image my back has definitely gotten bigger and thicker.

however, my body weight is about the same- which means, I had dropped body fat and gained muscle

I wasn't able to see how much I have developed over the time but seeing these images side by side helps a lot. Honestly, I can't really tell how much better I look now than I did before... I definitely looked best last year. This entire year was focused on building strength and learning different movement and mastering them.

I gained so much strength. But better yet, so much knowledge on how to exercise- 

overall idea of what I really want and how I want to be.

Like I mentioned from previous post- I'll try hard to lose unnecessary body fat and drop some weight to get better figure. I'll train as hard or harder to build strength. But, I do need to get my body smaller a bit.

Compared to some other people who transform their body in such a short time... I feel like, my body is lagging so much development. I know I have to remember and remind myself that everyone's body is different and everyone reacts differently. Right now, I have found the diet that works for me and exercises that help me. Therefore, all I'll be seeing from now on is good gains and better development!

EAT CLEAN, TRAIN DIRTY and LOVE LIFE!!

screen shot from last year's dieting video

I made a bet with few of my friends to do something for one month- and whoever didn't make it through a month will have to buy others tickets to the Texas Rangers game.

two of my buddies are partial alcoholics and their 'not to do' was to not drink for entire month.
one buddy of mine wasn't allowed to eat anything fried for a month.
and for me... being such a fatass I was- I had to lose 15lbs in a month.
I started at roughly around 200 and had to drop down to 185. that's about .5lbs in a day... damn
From that point on... I didn't keep up with my blog so much- I was too damn tired from exercising and not eating bad food... It was tough for me because I hated cardio... really really hated cardio
but the most affective exercise that helped me lose so much weight was 10x10:German Volume Training.
10 sets of 10 reps of 2 different exercises.
chest/back
arms/shoulders
legs/back
chest/shoulder
legs/chest
on and on....

on the last day of this challenge I was at 184. I was able to drop down all the weight and had abs showing also.

so how am I now compared to then?

I am stronger bigger and faster. but little bulkier...
my abs aren't showing. but my entire body feels tighter and fuller.
so I am starting a new challenge...
from today until Aug 5th... for 25days. I'll be dropping 10lbs of body weight.
right now
I'm at 91kg / 200lbs
my goal is to drop down to 86kg / 190lbs
my ultimate goal is to stay around 83kb / 185lbs with same strength level.


first entry about the bet

after 1month challenge last year @184lbs

bench 225lbs

Dead Lift 250lbs
Squat 225lbs

one year later @200lbs

bench 315lbs

dead lift 475lbs

squat 405lbs

A great site for IF(Intermitten Fasting)

http://www.leangains.com/

Found a fantastic website talks no BS and gets straight to the point-
makes total sense and sometimes hilarious how true some stuff are.

Also have great deal on IF- since the title of website is 'Intermitten fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health'

I've been doing IF for past 11days- feel really good. Haven't really gotten AMAZING result yet, since it's been less than 2 weeks. However, I personally think it's the best style of eating I've done by far.

Eating small meals every 3 hrs only made more hungry and wanting to eat. But, consuming all my daily intakes in 4-5 hr window had kept me from wanting to munch on stuff and boosted my energy level.
Almost as I'm constantly taking jack3d or some sort of caffeine-


Yesterday was my first day of CEO:BP-
Due to my weakened shoulder from stupid wiffle ball- I couldn't start with my maximum strength- but bench press movement didn't really bother so much and I feel much better today. So I'll try to go full strength today and see how I feel afterwards.
Nonetheless, my chest felt incredible after the workout. It started to get a little boring- counting time to go by- trying to finish up my last reps-

I'll post up a photo of my setup for CEO:BP later today...

anyhow

EAT CLEAN, TRAIN DIRTY and LOVE LIFE!

Messed up shoulder -

Dang...

who would've thought tossing a wiffle ball can mess one's shoulder?!? LOL
I think I pulled my right shoulder trying to toss some wicked curve ball with a plastic wiffle ball that weighs just few ounces ... how stupid am I???

I am supposed to start my CEO:BenchPress today... but my shoulder isn't up to its full strength yet.... well I won't be lifting till later tonight. We'll see how my shoulder responds till then.

Well. I've been stretching it with rubber resistance band-

Hopefully I can continue to warm my shoulder up and get the lifting going. or other wise... I'll have to switch oner to squat instead.

New Purchase.

Unfortunately my cheap chrome bar from local Academy had failed broke the sleeve is broken off. I can still use it for bench press, so it won't' stop my CEO: Bench Press this week. But, won't be able to use it for future dead lifts or any power movement lifting. Therefore, I have just ordered a new barbell from online. It's not one I really want "rogue bar" but seem sturdier and well built for my use. Its maximum capacity to hold the weight is at 600lbs, but I won't ever use my home gym to lift 1000+ pounds ever.... ever.... SO don't need any "TOP NOTCH" bars with superior built... I just need something that's better than 'CAP'- made in china barbell you find at the walmart or your local sporting goods store.

It should arrive in a week or so... in a mean time, I'll be using my not-so-perfect-partilly-falling-apart bar to bench press the heck out this week.

I've also ordered wrist wrap... tried one out yesterday at sporting goods store and it felt really nice. Along with the wrist wrap lifting chalk is coming as well... Bar will not going to slip off my hands anymore... well it just may since my grips are as strong as I wish them to be.

Update on back development-

CEO : DeadLift was fantastic. Tomorrow: Beginning of CEO : BenchPress!

EAT CLEAN, TRAIN DIRTY and LOVE LIFE!

Another great Power Clean Tutorial

It's a new video uploaded by Elliott on how to Power clean from his previous video on (Power Clean Workout: Strength and Power)

I've always been wanting to build overall strength on my body since I feel very weak for the size of body I have. Therefore, I've been training with more compound movements and more power movements such as power clean for awhile. However, power clean is one exercise that is really really really hard to learn how to do it right if you don't have someone to watch how you perform the exercise. It took me a very long time in my garage to practice them since I didn't want to make a fool out of myself by 'trying' to power clean at the gym when I have no freaking idea how to perform them properly. 

So far, I can power clean 225 but not multiple times because my grip fails on me. I've been also training with Fat Gripz to build my grip strength in order to perform more pulling exercises without using lifting straps. We'll see how that's really going to improve the necessary strength to better myself. 

It's day 4 and my last day of Compound Exercise Overload : Dead Lift today.

My back is very weak and fatigued due to 3 straight days of intense DLs, but it sure feels a lot thicker and tighter. Maybe it's due to my back muscle not being stretched out properly... I should have my brother do a full back massage for me tomorrow. After today's workout I'll take 2 days off (sunday and monday) from doing any sort of lifting exercises... I'll maybe do some light jump ropes to add cardio. 

Then, I'll be doing CEO : Bench Press. 

For the BP, I'll be setting my bench at home with safety bar low enough so it is at my chest level and push the weight straight up from my chest 3 times per set instead of racking the bar to the top notch. Since that'll cut out some time from 30seconds of precious resting time and I think it will help me generate more power by just pushing the weight up (or pushing myself away from the weight) and serve better purpose of this CEO routine. Ofcourse, I'll have to rack the bar so when I need to drop some weights from it. 

4 days of CEO : BP (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) 2 Days of rest (Saturday and Sunday)

4 days of CEO : Squat (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) 2 days of rest (Friday and Saturday)

after that I'll be doing my regular exercises with finishing sets of "barbell power complex" exercises and on the last day of the each week, I'll perform CEO exercises. 

the schedule after CEO will be something like this.

Sunday: Chest / Tri + BPC

Monday: Legs / Abs + BPC

Tuesday: Back / Bi + BPC

Wednesday: Cardio only

Thursday: Shoulder / Abs + BPC

Friday: Chest / Tri / Abs + BPC

Saturday: CEO DL

Sunday: OFF DAY

and alternate my last 7th day routine from CEO DL to CEO BP and onto CEO Squat

Let's see how this will be like!!!

Eat Clean Train Dirty and Love Life!

 Did one session outdoor to get some sun tan.... well didn't really work instead, I just got dark on my shoulders....

Plant your feet and keep it at spot.

Yesterday's CEO DL

back's getting bigger.... i think

It's day 3 of CEO : DeadLift

oh man...
my back hasn't been this sore and stiff in such a long time!!
It's funny because it's not painful, but my entire body feels very tight! and I love it.

So Yesterday for my second day of  Compound Exercise Overload - Dead Lift, I took my weights outside to the backyard and performed everything.... Just so I can get some sun and exercise at the same time. Well... that wasn't such a good idea lol. I got tired too quickly and the plates were burning up!! but, I did manage to finish the session and felt amazing!
I couldn't add anymore weights than previous time so I kept them to very similar sets per weight. But I didn't have to put my straps on.

In about 40 minutes, I'll be hitting another session of CEO:DL - the day3!!! tomorrow will be the last day of  DL. I'll have 2days off. completely from lifting anything and move on to CEO : Bench Press next week.
So, I'll have 4days of CEO:BP and 2days off and move on to  CEO:Squat.

after one cycle of this routine, I'll do another three weeks of my usual workouts but will be adding
barbell complex exercises as my finish up workouts on  after every workout to add explosiveness and strengthening training.

I'll add more informations and maybe videos on what they are and how to perform them in few weeks.

Squat and Clean boost your explosivness

A lot of people neglect on doing power cleans (hang clean) and lots of squatting

Squat and Power Clean are the staple exercises to add explosiveness and burn the most calories.

First reason is because it's hard... very hard and if you do not know how to do it properly, it's a very dangerous movement to perform. But! very easy and beneficiary when it's done right!

In this video- Frank, aka Ice1Cube, does a box jump close to his height... I don't think he's very tall, yet it doesn't matter since it is his damn height- 

I used to be able to jump very high back in high school when I was play soccer and ran track- back in the days... I only worked out my lower body 

-Squats

-Leg press

-Leg extension

-Leg curl

-Calves Raise

Only because I thought that's the only muscle group I needed to kick harder and run faster. 

I used to be able to grab the basketball rim at 5'9" and I weighed at 145lbs 

Now, I'm standing 5'11" @ 204... can't grab the rim. My entire body had gotten stronger but I've added 60lbs.... 

My goal right now is to drop down to 180s - so maybe 15 - 20lbs lighter while keeping my strengths and gains. This is going to be done without 'cutting' meaning I won't be doing any calorie restrict diet nor cut down my carb intake. I'll be eating plenty so I can perform all the necessary exercises I need and want to do, but by doing them in high intense training, I'll be losing excessive body fat!

Let's see how this goes - 

After first attempt at CEO(DL)

I just finished 45minute session of CEO / DeadLift

started with 375 but didn't think I could keep it up for a long time so after one trial set I dropped the weight to 305.

No belt- No Strap

305 x 3 x 4 sets with exactly 30 secs of break each
dropped 10lbs on each side
285 x 3 x 5
dropped 10lbs on each side
265 x 3 x 5
dropped 10lbs on each side
245 x 3 x 5
dropped 10lbs on each side
225 x 3 x 7
dropped 10 lbs on each side
205 x 3 x 10
dropped 10lbs on each side
185 x 3 x 10

First off. this thing is not easy... OMG especially in sauna like garage.
also, watching a baseball game does not pump you up at all... especially if it's a defensive ball game on both sides lol

so for this week I will try to dead lift CEO only without doing any other workouts.  to see how much it really works. My back feels so full and hot it's ridiculous-
I dropped weights as my forms start to go bad, like when my back starts to bend, I dropped the weights. I feel like I could've done more so maybe for tomorrow, I'll keep the weights little more heavy for more sets.

Total of 138 Reps of dead lift. and dead lift only. from Nick's report it was supposed to be around 135 reps per workout session so I did okay. However, my grip started to fail around 90th rep and had to use wrist strap. but didn't use lifting belt through out. I can't imagine using FatGripz for this exercise. hmmm maybe oneday I'll be able to do so.

Anyhow, I'm still sitting in the garage as I'm typing this with the garage door opened all the way. Watching the Rangers play and hearing the fireworks in the background.

Happy 4th! and Keep working hard!

Compound Exercise Overload (CEO)

I came across this new training method- not really 'new' in a sense that it's been done for decades by powerlifters and strength training.

It is somewhat similar to 10x10 or 5x5 all the German Volume Training. But one different thing about this is you only do ONE compound exercise and one exercise only for day training day.

Also you perform this with just
-Bench Press
-Squat
-Dead Lift

so basic routine of CEO goes something like this.

Perform Bench Press or any one of those three CE with heavy enough weight so you can perform 6-8 rep range. But! only do 3reps only.
After 3reps take 30sec break and do another 3reps. Keep doing so until you can not push the weight, then take off 5lbs or 10lbs on each side and perform another 3rep sets until you can not do anymore. Keep dropping the weight and do the exercise for 40minutes. and 40 mins only.

By doing so, you'll be able to build so much more strength and thickness to your chest, back and legs. And will be able to add much more weight on your regular exercises.

So, for Dead lift
I would start with 365 since that's the all the weight I have at home and move down as I go.

Since you'll be using one bench or squat rack for about 40mins you want to avoid heavy traffic time at the gym-

that's simple explanation on how the CEO is performed and I'll add a link to different site where they explain in depth benefits of it and why.

http://nicknilsson.org/compound-exercise-overload/

http://www.criticalbench.com/compound-exercise-overload-ceo/

http://fitnessblackbook.com/muscle-building/compound-exercise-overload-to-force-muscle-growth-and-gain-strength/

Happy eating!

it is one of those special days to pig out... well not pigging out but eat more than usual LOL

Ate more than enough protein for the day- well it's going to be hard squatting and dead lift day today!

Eat well- Train Hard

Chest day-

Since I got myself a gym ring, I've been training in my garage for past week.
Hung the gym ring onto my pull up bar and been using it to do pushups and do cable flies on it. Well... it's been super tough! but I feel like I've built more core strength and so much overall balance on my body!

My brother and I decided to go back to the gym and hit the chest. I mean hit it really really hard.


Flat bench - started with warm up sets and moved on to working sets
Bar x 50
135 x 25
185 x 15
205 x 10
225 x 10
275 x 10

Incline Dumbbell Press
60 x 20
80 x 10 x 3
super setting with incline Dumbbell Fly 40 x 10
and alternates the super setting with incline dumbbell champagne with 40x10

Decline Bench Press
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 10

Laying down dumbbell Press/ laying down on the ground push the dumbbell up and touch the elbow back to the ground and push back up.
One arm each - 85 x 10 x 3

Move right up to Dips
3 sets until failure

Isolated incline machine press
starts with 3 plates and drop a plate after each set
until failure

Cable Fly with three different movement.
pulling up
pulling down
and with lateral movement

and finished the entire exercise off with push ups until failure.

Elliott Hulse

Elliott Hulse - an youtube fitness guru and a owner of Strength Camp-

I was talking to my brother couple of weeks ago and he introduced me to Elliott's youtube page.

He is a strength coach and focuses a lot of exercises on resistance cardio, meaning doing hybrid exercises with weights to build lean muscle and burn fat at the same time.
Which I always had knowledges of and did try 10x10, 5x5 and sort of exercises where my weight lifting training becomes cardiovascular exercises where I keep my heart rate up the entire duration of weight lifting.

Anyhow, he has some great exercises on his youtube channel. He has people ask questions on what's wrong with their form or exercises or routines and such and do a comprehensive videos to reply on the topic.

I wish I can tell each and everyone of people I meet at the gym how to use proper form and what to do and what not to do on certain machines. Example; DO NOT CURL AT THE SQUAT RACK!
and PLEASE work on your DAMN LEGS!!

Back to talking about Elliott, he shows variety of ways to do exercises in proper form and to actually build overall strength rather than building aesthetic body. Which I think is very very very important.... at least personally.

Train hard- Train smart- and reach your goal!

DO NOT DO CRUNCHES