Spaghetti legs

I can not tell you how incredibly useless my legs are at this moment.   I did legs on Thursday and changed up my routine to squats and deadlifts ... my butt, my hams, my quads, useless... I still have yet to make it to the gym today for my upper body workout as I am moving around so gingerly!

Cumulative Week 26

I'm still here... but have been missing in action if you haven't noticed.  The last few months have been very hectic for me.  I just recently resigned from my current employer for one, a very big change for me after thirteen years.  Due to my injury I had in week 19, I have had to tread carefully with my workout program.  Over six weeks I had two weeks off,  in the third week, I only had a few days in the gym with cardio running before aggravation leading to another full week off.  I finally completed a full week that felt good, but I had further aggravation out of the blue and had to take some time off that week.  During this period I  tried to keep on track nutritionally but had a few stray days.  I have managed to find a happy medium with my sciatica issue with trial and error using warmth for preworkout and icing post workout.  I have also begun using my lifting belt in situations where I may have been unintentionally causing bad form to help reduce injury.

Currently I'm in week 27.  During my injury I was in a fat burning phase, but decided to start back in a muscle building phase just recently in the last few weeks.  I am actually up in weight,  however have made some improvements with lean mass.  I'll post up more information over the next few days.  I will keep this going for four weeks and then will switch back to a fat burning phase and will try to lose 12 lbs of fat in those 4 weeks.

   

Challenge 2 Week 9/10 Recap (IR)

Week 9 Recap
There wasn't much to recap for this week as I tried to run on three days, but decided to stay away from the weights do to the upcoming vacation we had and since we were driving, I could not be in that discomfort I was in and survive this trip.

Week 10 Recap
It was officially vacation week and travelling two days with kids 1200 miles is interesting to say the least, but we survived.  I brought my shakes and I managed to keep my nutrition on track.  We arrived late Saturday night to our grandpa's home and Sunday morning we hit the grocery store to stock up on the necessities.  I picked up my containers of cottage cheese, turkey, bread, yogurt, etc.  Unfortunately, this trip was part true vacation, but we had some sad news less than a few weeks ago, and my wife's grandfather passed away.  We helped organize and clean up the place and we had some time to reflect on the whole situation.  It was strange without Grandpa, but the home didn't feel uneasy, it felt at peace... something I was worried about.  We lost my wife's father last year around the same time, when he was visiting Grandpa, but her father never made it back home :(  We miss you guys, love you guys, rest in peace, and keep us on the right track down here ;)

Normally our vacations to Florida consists of spending time with Grandpa and a get away for a few days to Clearwater Beach.  We decided to continue on to the beach for a few days after we found a condo for the family.  While the kids were enjoying their time on the beach, it was good that the hotel had a pool for after nap time swimming, and an evening dip in the pool was nice too.  Staying on track wasn't so bad, as we had a fridge, but we only brought what we needed.  We decided to stay an extra night and day on the beach and this became a slight challenge, as I didn't bring all of my supplements with me.  I tried my best to stay on track, but in all honesty I would say that up until Thursday night, I was at 100%, but ended up off track the remaineder of the vacation.  All my meals were good, but when I get to dinner I fell off the wagon.  I told myself, that as soon as I get back, I would get back on track.

During the vacation I felt like working out, but just didn't want to take the risk, but what I did do was run outside.  I did about 2 miles on 3 days during the vacation, and was surprised that I did so well considering that all my running except one day back in week 8 have been on the treadmill.  One day, my son even convinced me to take him in the stroller, he kept me motivated... but can you believe he kept telling me to run faster?  Made me chuckle...  I averaged about 5.5mph and a little over 11min/ mi.  I was proud of myself :)

Challenge 2 Week 8 Recap (IR)

It has felt refreshing taking a break, although I am anxious to get back in the gym, I feel like this is doing me some good.  My three year old son on Friday made a comment to me that stung a little. During this whole process, he has seen me go to the gym, explain how I can't eat certain things because Daddy is getting healthy.  The conversations I've had with him on exercise and nutrition floor me and he is picking up the healthy life style out of it.  By him telling me on Friday when I was leaving for work, why I wasn't going to the gym, kind of made me second guess, why am I not in the gym yet?  Well we obviously know the reason, it's my back!!  That being said, I made the consicious decision to go to the gym Sunday morning to get an idea of where I was at with no physical activity in 12 days.

First, I weighed in at 249 lbs.  Then I moved over to an open area and did about five minutes of stretching and focusing more on the lower back.  I decided to try a moderate run on the treadmill to see where I was since the injury.  I did much better that I thought I would.  I was able to run 3 miles in 40 minutes at about 4.5 mph.  I was thrilled that I hadn't lost a step, I could have pushed up to 5 mph, but didn't want to risk injury with too much too fast.  I finished and stretched again for about five more minutes.  The remainder of the morning went well, but what I found as the day went through that my lower back was tightening up on me, not a good sign.

Monday morning came and it was the beginning of my challenge 2 week 9.  I went for my HIIT and addtional 20 minutes of moderate cardio.  I had a slight tingle in my back with 3 minutes left and thought, come on man, I'm almost done, don't do this to me now!  I was able to phase it out as it didn't feel like major injury, but made me wonder what does this mean.  The day went very well, but by the time I was in bed, I had some pretty intense discomfort.  Morning came and I made the decision to not hit the weights.  I can't afford to aggravate this back to where it was before and I have a family trip to FL where we are driving and there is no way that I can drive with the pain I had originally when I first got hurt.

Tomorrow is a new day, back feels ok, so I will try to keep to my cardio sessions for the remainder of the week and treat them just as I did before.  I'm hoping to Thursday complete a low intensity circuit type lifting session, just to help burn some calories and help maintain my muscle.  This should help me possibly get range and stretch in the muscles slowly.  I don't want to lose any of the effort I have had up until now.  Please keep me in your thoughts, need some of those positive vibes ;)

Challenge 2 Week 7 Recap (IR)

Monday morning I took a drive to the gym to weigh in at a 239 lbs.  I had to see where I was at... 1/2 lb heavier, but the reductions in size continue in my belly and my thighs... so I am guessing that this would be some of the loss of fat and lean mass maybe increasing due to my rest.  Although I came close to going to the gym today... I didn't.  It's probably a good thing, because as the day progressed I had some aggravation on what I thought was my sciatica.  I'll continue on my nutrition and hope to get back in the gym soon, just don't want to rush it.  Here are my picture from week 2 to tonight.

I consider myself on IR this week lol... injured reserved.  Although I stated that I would begin active rest, the reality is that it's just rest.  There hasn't been exactly any physical activity at all since last Tuesday's workout where I injured myself.  Sitting, standing, walking... EVERYTHING has a pain in my lower back.  I have been constantly wearing my weight belt super tight, hoping that the extra support will fix me.  Well... it hasn't :(  I find myself trying to stretch and crack my back in a milliion different directions hoping that the miracle crack will make it all go away, but again it hasn't.  I find myself on my back legs up on the couch most of my free time.  It has been rough not making it to the gym, because I have been worried that I would just resort to old habits, which I haven't. The only good thing is that I have continued my nutrition.

I needed this weekend... mentally I was a downer, but I really try to be optimistic.  Saturday, the wife and I had a chance to have some adult time, thanks to my mother in law.  We had four events to attend in very little time.  We started at a 80's them birthday party, where I felt like I was home lol... this cake was awesome.

Our night then progressed to another friends birthday party on the other side of the world... my wife didn't tell them we were coming, which ended up being a nice surprise for them.  From the second I saw them, their facial expressions spoke volumes, and then the compliments started rolling.  It hadn't dawned on me that I haven't seen any of them since before I started BFL in November of last year.  Many compliments on how great I looked, people squeezing my biceps, and even a few, look at your face!  It's so weird to get so many compliments, it's initially embarassing and hard to take, but then you realize it's ok.  The more I think about it, the more I realized I needed this night.  I did loosen up and I decided that a drink was in order for the start of my cheat day... a dreamsicle martini!  Yes, that is my drink... and my wife with her Hacker-Pschorr... yes, I was ridiculed for my choice lol...

Mid morning meal

Scrambled eggs and turkey

45g protein
4g carbs
7g fat

I then added a serving of Quaker Oats :)

Still not better... it's time for active rest.

Although I am feeling slightly better, the pain is still there.  After talking to a few friends they have convinced me that even if I feel better, just take the rest of the week off and if I can take an additional week off and just rest up and heal.  I have kept to my nutrition of course and will stay on track.  My wife was teasing me today if I had fallen off the wagon, something I keep saying I  might, but of course I haven't.   My body is trained to eat every 3-4 hrs so there is no escaping that and to be honest I haven't thought about eating less healthy food as I did prior to my challenges.  Guess my taste buds are changing...

This obstacle is just another one thrown in to have to adjust to the "for life" part.