Perseverance: My Training Journal

[audieswu]

One word that define my mindset sums it up to "Perseverance".

Perseverance –noun
1.steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

Here's my story:

Growing up in the Philippines was never easy. It is the reason why my outlook in life is so different than others and what keeps me going. My family was very poor growing up. We lived in an approx. 500 sq. ft. house with 7 people living in it in the slums! No indoor plumbing and our means of getting water/showering was using a faucet outside by the street. So yeah, plenty of street showers for me as a child. Our playground? There was a garbage dumping area near our house so my little buddies, my bro and I used to play in it and go for scavenger hunt for toys. To make matters worst, our neighbors are hard ass criminals/drug dealers/druggies. I remember at 4 or 5, our housing complex was raided and the cops then decided to open fire, some of the bullets hit the concrete wall of our living room. I knew about drugs since I was 6, because our local druggies will roam around and talk to us kids while they are high and using them.

Another memorable events I've experience I was a part of bunch of typhoons, earthquakes, flooding but the most memorable one was experiencing a full blown volcanic erruption. The town my family moved too (to actually have a better life) was 50 miles from Mt. Pinatubo back in '91. I remember getting awaken by my grandma with my bro and I to help our grandpa to shovel sand off our roof because it was about to collapse. We bust tail and manage to save it, I was 12 yrs. old then. Then about a week later the power went out. The power was not fully restored 3 years later. I remember renting Home Alone VHS and did not return it 3 years later ...Of course my family fled that town for at least 6 months to stay with relatives. It was unbearable to live in those conditions. The Philippines is a tropical place so very hot during the summer months.

Lastly, when there's a will there's a way...My mom has been working here in the US for so many years and she made so much sacrifice for my whole family and petitioned us to move. I have been here in the US since '94, became a citizen, I received my college degree 4 years ago and have been working for a good company as a business analyst, on May 29th I'm marrying a wonderful lady...

So with my life experiences, I'm forever grateful of all the great things that are now happening. I'm not writing this for you to feel bad but hopefully reach someone that when we think our current life situation is bad, others have it worst and we should all be grateful that we are blessed.

This is were my STRENGTH comes from, a new chapter in my life is unfolding and I am starting my bodybuilding journey through this journal. I have been lifting the past 15 years but now been fully committed to the sport through my lifestyle change.

I will use this journal to log my efforts in the gym and through PERSEVERANCE I will finally hit the stage.

[audieswu]

Short Term Goal: Get to 10% or less bodyfat, get a six pack, keep increasing my strength. Maintaining as much muscle mass will be ideal too.

Long Term Goal: Compete on my first bodybuilding competition by 2011-2012.

My Stats:
- 223 lbs. loss 40 lbs. since February 1, 2010.
- Currently cutting to get the bf to the single digits
- Athlete: Played football in H.S.(Tight End), 2 years of Div. I Rugby in college (Second Rower) and 1 year of Semi-Pro Football (Outside Linebacker)

Training Style: Hypertrophy (5 Day Split) 8-10 Reps @ 4 sets, I go heavy on weights
- Legs
- Chest
- Back
- Shoulders
- Arms
-Abs every other day
-Cardio every training except on Leg day

Diet is consistent and followed through Fitday.com. 2100-2300 cals per day.

I will follow a 40/30/30 diet on this program but will switch it up to 40/20/30 or 40/40/20 as I see fit.

**Progress pics will be posted on my Bodyspace page**

[audieswu]

Update as of 8:30am

Yesterday was an OFF day. Decided to carb up last night for today's Back training. Will post my training results later tonight.

[audieswu]

Daily Summary

Overall Rating: 5/5

Good back training tonight. Added pullups and straight-arm pulldowns to my routine.

My Back Training

Pullups: BWX6, BWX5, BWX4, BWX4 -- New to me, 3 months ago I can only do 2 reps at best. BW = Bodyweight

Bent Over Barbell Rows: 225X10, 225X10, 275X8, 275X6, 295X8 <-- last set with straps

T-Bar Rows (# of 45 lbs. plates X reps) 3X12, 4X10, 5X6, 5X6, 3X10 -- all with no straps

Low Pulley Row: 170X10, 170X10, 170X10 (with straps), 170X10 (with straps) -- Still getting used to my new gym, my old gym I used to do 230-240 lbs., new gym stack seems harder

Lat Front Pulldowns -- Wide Grip: 120X10, 120X10, 120X10, 120X10 -- Again still getting acclimated to the new gym's weight stack

Straight-Arm Pulldowns: 100X10, 100X10, 100X10, 100X7 (burnout sets)

Abs Training

None today

Cardio Training

20 mins. Arc Trainer

Training Session

1 1/2 Hours consisting of stretching, weights, and cardio

My Calories/Macros Today

Calories: 1,820
Protein:237g
Carbs: 139g
Fats: 42g

Macros (protein/carbs/fats): 51/29/20

*Ate like a bird today but trained like a beast...Carbed up last night.

Goal for next week:

Improve on pullup reps so I can start doing weighted pullups soon.

Bedtime: 11:00 pm

[audieswu]

Update as of 7:30am

Got a good 6 hours of sleep on me. I say good because 6-7 hours is enough for me to have a good day at the gym later on...I've been taking ZMA with one melatonin tablet every night for the past week and I can tell a huge difference with my sleep...I feel more rested when I wake up and have more energy. Today is shoulders day and doing some ab work too.

[adoboandryce]

Subbed! Great story manong. Keep it up. Lift heavy and be strong!

[audieswu]

Subbed! Great story manong. Keep it up. Lift heavy and be strong!

Thanks buddy! I'll subbed on your log too, you're getting strong my friend, keep it up!

[audieswu]

Daily Summary

Overall Rating: 4/5

Shoulders training tonight started slow but finished strong. Went to the gym a little later and good thing the staff decided to stay O.T..Made the mistake of going to straight heavy without properly warming up and enough stretching.

My Shoulders Training

DB Military Press: 90X10, 90X10, 70X10, 70X10 -- *each arm, also had to dropset tonight to finish the set (superset with DB Side Raises and Front Barbell Raises)

DB Side Raises: 35X10, 35X10, 35X10, 35X10 *each arm

Front Barbell Raises: 60X8,60X8, 60X6, 60X10 -- no rest in between supersets so I'm feeling the burn at this point

Barbell Upright Rows: 95X10, 95X10, 115X10, 115X10 (superset with Ground Base Jammer)

Ground Base Jammer: 180X8, 180X7, 90X15, 90X15 -- plate loaded (burnout sets)

Facepulls: 160X10, 160X10, 160X10, 160X10 (burnout sets) 160 = whole stack

Abs Training

Leg Lifts (BW): 25 reps X 5 sets
Weighted Cable Ab Crunch: 25 reps X 4 sets @160 lbs. (whole stack)

* did'nt have the chance to do straight bar body twist tonight

Cardio Training

none tonight

Training Session

1 1/2 Hours consisting of stretching, weights, and abs

My Calories/Macros Today

Calories: 2,086
Protein:251g
Carbs: 163g
Fats: 56g

Macros (protein/carbs/fats): 46/30/24

Goal for next week:

Increase weight on DB shoulder presses or complete all sets at 90 lbs. DB's.

Bedtime: 11:00 pm

[audieswu]

Update as of 5/8/2010 at 3:00pm

Been busy taking care of some wedding stuff with my lady...I trained on Thursday had a nice arms training. I was off yesterday and will be off today to take care of more wedding stuff...Gotta love that the big day is getting closer, everything is hectic

Diet wise I've been good at keeping up with calories in. Staying at my goal of 2300-2500 cals per day. I find this to be ideal for me, I stayed at 223 lbs. as of this morning but felt more rested from not lifting last night...I can already tell I will be hitting the weights hard tomorrow for Legs day and Chest on Monday.

Will log my arms training on thursday tonight when I get some free time. 'Til then, train hard!

[audieswu]

Have'nt forgotten about this log. Life is just busy in general since I am getting married in 2 weeks and trying to squeeze in my training sessions every night...I will make my updates when I get the chance. I'm also doing a one week log for MHP, you can see my training logs in there. Thanks for subbing.

[adoboandryce]

Have'nt forgotten about this log. Life is just busy in general since I am getting married in 2 weeks and trying to squeeze in my training sessions every night...I will make my updates when I get the chance. I'm also doing a one week log for MHP, you can see my training logs in there. Thanks for subbing.

ah, i figured that you'd be busy with your wedding and all. see you when real life stops getting in the way haha!

[audieswu]

ah, i figured that you'd be busy with your wedding and all. see you when real life stops getting in the way haha!

Yeah brother, life can get out of the way with training...I'm actually averaging 5-6 hours of sleep/day but still train 1 to 2 hours every night. Weight still at 223-224 lbs..Glad I'm still gaining strength.

[audieswu]

Have not neglected this journal at all. Life is just really busy at the moment with my upcoming wedding, while trying to train and eat right (yes, it takes time to prepare healthy meals)...For the meantime, you can also follow my 1 week log of the NO-Bomb and Dark Rage pre-w/o supps. I update it daily. After this contest I will be back on here to continue my journal.

Here's the link:http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=124250181

[audieswu]

Alright, back to my journal. Finally completed logging MHP's NO-Bomb and Dark Rage stack. It was a good stack for a week...You can see my results and final review of the products at the link provided above or on my sig.

I'm combining back and shoulders tonight and thanks to my friend Manu for introducing FST-7 to me, I actually enjoy doing it. I will be doing FST-7 tonight. Still tinkering with this training routine. Will try it out before I completely switch to it.

[Jmead25]

u must be starving!!! what do you normally eat on a regular day?

[audieswu]

u must be starving!!! what do you normally eat on a regular day?

I try to eat around 2100-2400 cals. But the past 2 days I've cut back even more, last night down to 1900, I had a cheat day or two this past weekend and I want to keep my weight in check so the reason I cut back. Weigh-in this morning at 223.2 lbs..

Meals today consist of:

Breakfast:
2 scoops of WPI
1 chicken biscuit (provided at work, we had a 6:30 a.m. meeting)
1 cup of O.J.
1 small banana

For lunch I'm having: 6 oz. lean chicken breast, 1 cup of brocolli

at 1 p.m. I'll have 1 servings of almonds, 1 can of tuna on water (drained) with mustard

4:30-5:00 -- 2 lean pork chops -- 6 oz. (yes they are lean and that's what the future wife cooked last night), 1 cup of brown rice, 1 cup of brocolli

Back and Shoulders training tonight from 7-9PM.

Post workout (9 PM) -- 2 scoops of WPI, 1 scoop of Creatine mono

Later tonight (10 PM) -- egg beaters (1 cup = 4 eggs)

Cals: 2317
Protein: 244g
Carbs: 175g
Fats: 76g

Macros: 42/29/29

Just like Manu's mantra, I train hard only difference is I eat like a bird.

I adjust my calories accordingly, especially like this morning I would normally will not eat a chicken biscuit and drink a cup of O.J. I normally eat Oatmeal, banana and 1 tablespoon of natty peanutbutter for breakfast along with my WPI upon waking.

Tomorrow, I think I'll eat at 2500-2600 cals. since I am doing an all day Habitat for Humanity event with co-workers.

I also plan on bringing some Xtend (4 scoops) to sip through tomorrow since I will be moving around all day.

[Jmead25]

i was lookin at the xtend and am thinking about tryin it since a lot of people seem to like it. wheres the cheapest place online?

[audieswu]

i was lookin at the xtend and am thinking about tryin it since a lot of people seem to like it. wheres the cheapest place online?

Hit me up with the PM bro. I will let you know...Out of respect of bb.com rules.

[PBateman2]

SUBBED, brutha! Nice entries thus far.

Question: Since you are much more experienced than me with the Xtend, how often do you take it on a daily basis? Any suggestions for me? Right now Im only doing intra-workout. Im thinking taking in the evening too like with my last meal of the day.

[audieswu]

SUBBED, brutha! Nice entries thus far.

Question: Since you are much more experienced than me with the Xtend, how often do you take it on a daily basis? Any suggestions for me? Right now Im only doing intra-workout. Im thinking taking in the evening too like with my last meal of the day.

Thanks my brutha from another mother (literally).

I take Xtend only as Intra-Workout too bro. I take 2-4 scoops and sip through out the day, the day after a rigorous training (when I'm really sore and hurtin from the previous night's training --usually a leg or back day prior)...Taking it as part of your last meal won't be bad since it will aid your recovery and nice to have some recovery aminos while you are sleeping.

[PBateman2]

Thanks my brutha from another mother (literally).

I take Xtend only as Intra-Workout too bro. I take 2-4 scoops and sip through out the day, the day after a rigorous training (when I'm really sore and hurtin from the previous night's training --usually a leg or back day prior)...Taking it as part of your last meal won't be bad since it will aid your recovery and nice to have some recovery aminos while you are sleeping.

Cool! Yeah I kind of like the idea too of sipping throughout the day too. Alright thanks for the info. Will see what works best.

[audieswu]

I'm doing shoulders and back combo training tonight, gonna be fun but also going to hurt. I'm planning on hitting FST-7 on the rear delt/mid back exercise, will toy around with varying heights with the cable, the same setup as last week (low, mid, high).

It's 5:30 and my chest is still sore from doing an FST-7 with cable crossovers last night! I can tell, I'm gonna love this type of training.

[audieswu]

Cool! Yeah I kind of like the idea too of sipping throughout the day too. Alright thanks for the info. Will see what works best.

I'm glad to see you and Wilmar are subbing, a nice support group will keep my motivation up +10. We sure are a no slacker, no excuse bunch.

[Jmead25]

I'm doing shoulders and back combo training tonight, gonna be fun but also going to hurt. I'm planning on hitting FST-7 on the rear delt/mid back exercise, will toy around with varying heights with the cable, the same setup as last week (low, mid, high).

It's 5:30 and my chest is still sore from doing an FST-7 with cable crossovers last night! I can tell, I'm gonna love this type of training.

get em man!!! im hittin legs tomorrow should be a pretty intense workout!!! ill post what im doing tomorrow morning when im home as im at work right now...

[audieswu]

get em man!!! im hittin legs tomorrow should be a pretty intense workout!!! ill post what im doing tomorrow morning when im home as im at work right now...

Yeah bro, I will post my training log tomorrow. I am worn out tonight

I also did supersets tonight...craziness. I took 2 scoops of Xtend and 1 scoop of Intrabolic to fuel my training...I need too since I'm eating low carbs and low cals.

I'll be curious to see how'd your training went. Train Hard.

[Jmead25]

My workout went like this today...

Stiff Legged Deads 6sx12r
Leg Press 6sx8r
Wall Squats 6sx Failure

Planks 3sx2mins hold
BB Side Bends 3x12r
BB Roll Outs 3sxFail

Standing BB Calf Raises 3s x 10r
Standing BB Calf Raises 3s x Fail
(Everything is done superset the calf raises were done heavy 1st then about half the weight the second set.)

Almost took myself out doin the calf raises kinda scary today i was standing on this L shaped platform they made at my gym and the friggen thing flipped forward on me and luckily i ditched the weight in time but everything came crashing down and i fell on my knees pretty hard...luckily the only thing really hurt was my pride

After all that i decided to do some hanging leg raises i did 3 sets for 10 reps...pretty much toast after

[audieswu]

My workout went like this today...

Stiff Legged Deads 6sx12r
Leg Press 6sx8r
Wall Squats 6sx Failure

Planks 3sx2mins hold
BB Side Bends 3x12r
BB Roll Outs 3sxFail

Standing BB Calf Raises 3s x 10r
Standing BB Calf Raises 3s x Fail
(Everything is done superset the calf raises were done heavy 1st then about half the weight the second set.)

Almost took myself out doin the calf raises kinda scary today i was standing on this L shaped platform they made at my gym and the friggen thing flipped forward on me and luckily i ditched the weight in time but everything came crashing down and i fell on my knees pretty hard...luckily the only thing really hurt was my pride

After all that i decided to do some hanging leg raises i did 3 sets for 10 reps...pretty much toast after

Geez, don't kill yourself there bud. Sounds like a good training though. You always go to fail on your last set? Also, for calf raises, try the smith machine instead but do them in 20-25 rep range, works well and much safer.

[Jmead25]

i shoulda said that i was on the smith just a crazy accident lesson learned tho use a platform that looks like an upside down T not really sure what to call it tho

[Jmead25]

[QUOTE=audieswu;493296481]You always go to fail on your last set?QUOTE]

yeah pretty much...just burn it out

[audieswu]

i shoulda said that i was on the smith just a crazy accident lesson learned tho use a platform that looks like an upside down T not really sure what to call it tho

Gotcha bro. I use the safety hooks on the smith machine if I'm doing standing calf raises there. I also use the safety locks on a leg press machine if I'm doing calf raises on it.

From the look of your training, it'll be no time you'll be having huge wheels! My legs are the ones I'm trying to catch up with my upper body now. Squatting is my friend, at least that's what I tell myself