It’s a Bright and Shiny New Day……………

I am back home. After three and a half years of travel I have finally made it back to my adopted hometown, Kennewick Wa, the old Club 24 gym and the old friends that I work out with. And when I went to renew my gym membership at the Club 24 near my home, they informed me that they had opened another gym, a new location, near my office in Richland WA. This was great news; I wouldn’t have to join a second gym to get in my afternoon routines. I was counting on afternoon routines, directly after work and close to the office so that I could miss the evening rush hour traffic and……..beat the pm rush hour to the gym. Ah the benefits of split workouts, cardio in the morning and pushing something heavy in the afternoon; no one at the gym at 4:30 am and missing all that traffic in the gym and on the road at 4:30 pm. These are the benefits of working on that Last 10 Pounds; maybe!

 During my final travels between Kentucky and Washington, I took more than a little time off; from work and from workouts. I left Kentucky on a Saturday morning and drove 12 hours straight through to upstate New York. Again, we made the trip in a 1974 Porsche; it ran a whole lot better going to NY then it did in June driving it to Kentucky. Another story for another blog. I spent a few days in NY and then flew back to WA. The whole ordeal; 9 days. And during those 9 days, I completed one morning 3 mile run. The run was completed the last Sunday of my vacation. And Monday morning I was back in the gym, back on a secluded, just getting started on the Sculpting Macro; the last phase of my one year exercise journey to a better me. And during my 9 day hiatus from almost all forms of exercise, on about day 3, there was that noticeable improvement in the reflected image that looks back at me from the mirror. Yes, I can definitely say that after five months of Volume Training, e.g. Metabolic Training, e.g. my Endurance Macro, after the puffiness subsides, the improvement could be readily seen; lots of lat, lots of pec, and lots of quad definition, a lot more than I have ever seen before. However, the improvement could be short lived; I went from 200 pounds on September 25^th to 195 on October 15^th. We’ll see as we progress through the Sculpting Macro if we can improve on the foundation laid by working through the Power Macro and the Endurance Macro.

 Just a review of my new schedule; morning cardio five and six days out of seven with resistance sessions  Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The Monday and Tuesday resistance sessions are upper and lower splits with the Thursday and Saturday sessions being whole body. We will discuss the actual routines in future articles. One thing I will initially say is that the first 30 minutes of these workouts are not nearly as intense as the triple pec and triple leg routines completed during the Endurance cycle. We do a quick warm up and jump right into the first group of sets. Kinda’ laid back.

Sculpting Macro Cardio……………….

In a few posting back, Planning the Sculpting Macro, I posted the cardio schedule and the different types of cardio I would perform. Again, lots and lots of running, more and more up and downs and fast and slows, plus mixed cardio, running and biking or running and some sort of circuit. It never crossed my mind to mix cardio with resistance training. During the second week of the first month of the Sculpting Macro, that’s just what I did, and it felt wonderful. So we did a 20 minute split (10 minute SS run plus 10 minutes of sprints) followed with four sets of eight deep squat sets. I kept the weight at 135 and completed the reps fairly rapidly; got a great pump. The next day we did the same run (20 min split) followed by four sets of eight bench press sets. Again, keeping the weight fairly light at 135 lbs, I got a pretty good pump, not the best, but good none the less. This may be the basis for something new, only I think I’m gonna’ trade the bench presses for military presses (overhead barbell presses). We’ll keep you posted……………..these seem to be a lot of fun; maybe!

Now, keeping the running times under 30 minutes (actually closer to 20 minutes) has its benefits, my legs aren’t as fatigued going into the resistance sessions; I can get away with daily runs whereas I was holding back on leg days throughout the Power and Endurance macros; based on the injuries I had endured 2 years ago in Japan. We’ll see if we can sustain this effort.

Supplements and Diet……………………

 

On the supplement and medication side; nothing! I’m not taking a damned thing and don’t plan on it through the month of October; cleaning out my system so to speak. No patches, no pills, not even a vitamin. I have a doctor’s appointment on the 22^nd of October for an ‘old man’ checkup. This will be followed up with a colonoscopy and an endoscopy. We will also do a full blood workup. I’m anxious to see how that turns out, especially the HbA1c and maybe total cholesterol.

On the diet side, after the weight gain during the Power and Endurance Macros, I’ve gotten back into the habit of logging (a food journal) what I eat. Only this time instead of a paper file, it’s a photo app for my i-phone. Take a picture, enter a few comments and you’re done. The app’s name is ‘My Diet Tracker’. So at the end of every week, I will download the photos and try to create a collage or……… a pile-o-food picture of the week. I’m hoping that I can sort out my macronutrients a little better. I’m off someplace, not so much in the total calories per week, but the percentages of protein, carbohydrates and fats.

 

On both supplements and diet issues, you’ll have to wade through previous and future postings to find any real conclusions.

Be good and work hard; you will gain on that Last 10 Pounds.

 

MMJennings