Well, I Went And Done It, Gunny...

[Gunny]

While I may sound mostly insane, there IS a method to my madness. Minus a burp here and there, I stick mostly to the "inch my way up" plan. When I DO lift too much, I'll lay off. My lifting is set up that way mostly anyway. My two biggest concerns are legs and lower back, because of the joints, not the muscles. If I hit one or both particularly hard one day, I'll do pullups the next day. If I trash out my shoulders, I'll do something like front squats, squats or dust up on some deadlifts and some curls next day.

I don't separate by upper/lower body per se; rather, by what muscles are being worked directly on a given day vs which ones are not. I won't do back squats or deadlifts more than once a week, nor will I do both exercises in the same week.

I got all crazy a couple of years ago and power cleaned and pressed 205 for the first time in years and it kept my hip jacked up from that point until I was hospitalized. Silver lining, I guess. I couldn't walk, but the hip pain was gone I've tended to err toward the side of caution.

Let's be real. One workout isn't going to make or break me for anyone or thing but me. My social event of the day is a 7-11 run and my work out audience is a stray cat and some crows

[Gunny]

FUKKIN' A! Ass to the grass squat with 185 (3 times just to make sure I was awake). FINALLY! I weigh 180. I've never been able to go ass to the grass with my bodyweight. Only take a year and a half.

200. YOU'RE next

[High_Plains_Drifter]

FUKKIN' A! Ass to the grass squat with 185 (3 times just to make sure I was awake). FINALLY! I weigh 180. I've never been able to go ass to the grass with my bodyweight. Only take a year and a half.

200. YOU'RE next

I've been slackin'. Haven't done much in the last 3 days and I'm starting to feel pretty guilty. But I've been pretty busy with cleaning, organizing, Christmas shopping and a couple different little projects. I'm busy from after the morning coffee to finally knocking off for the day and watching some TV. Going to put an end to that tomorrow though and start from the shoulders and work down again, get back in the routine. Even though I haven't worked out in a few days, I can still feel the benefits of what I've been doing for the last 3 months.

Congrats on the legs. I think they're the hardest to work out. Even though the leg curls start out easy, it doesn't take long for the BURN to set in. I usually don't keep track in sets, I just curl until the burn is too much, but I try to get to 100 total. Made it to 87 curls last time, I plan to push to 100 next time. The rear leg curls are a bitch.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Up at 5:30 this morning, workin' out by 7:00, Gunny. Going to push it today, but definitely my only hold back is this damn atrophied right arm triceps. I do believe I might be adding a little strength to the tiny bit that works, but it's frustrating. I could lift a hell of a lot more if only the freakin' thing ALL worked. Hard to build up the tri's on the good arm when the right arm holds me back. I won't get discouraged though. Always onward. Who knows what kind of a difference I might make in a year, two years... whatever. It'd be nothing short of a miracle if I actually built it up some.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Holy SHIT @Gunny... there might be hope for me after all... look at these freakin' animals... older than I am... MAAAAaaaan... I got work to do...



My greatest obstacle is my weak right side. It's not only my triceps but partial pecks, partial lats, etc. I can feel that the smaller parts of the pecks and lats WORK, they move, I can flex them, they're just lesser than the left. So as long as I can tell they WORK, I'm going to trash them. I figure if they MOVE, then I can build them up. I think I'm going to start working that side double, just to see if I can get it catch up to the left side. When I get pissed, it just makes me double my efforts. I don't like NO for anything, even building muscle. I'll wear that gym out before I quit... and that ain't gonna happen. Lifting is just part of the day now. I look forward to it, and I'm seeing results. I noticed today for the first time that the veins were starting to pop a little on my biceps. Never saw that before. I regret that I didn't start lifting right after I had that discectomy, and they told me I'd get 95% of everything back. I probably would have. Fuck it... I'll make it happen now.

Oh, and I bought a new curl bar. Much better, wider, heavy duty, great bar, angled, makes doing curls a helluva lot more comfortable. Strange that out of all the bits of the right side, arm that were effected by the crushed nerves, my right bicep is normal. It's as strong if not stronger than the left... weird.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Nothing like PINK FLOYD while working out. Bought another JBL Extreme bluetooth speaker, excellent price right now on Amazon, and can pair it with the other one I have and now have stereo, sounds fantastic, is cordless, wireless, perfect, take it anywhere and even run it off your smart phone.

I've lost TEN POUNDS now @Gunny. Hit the scale yesterday at 211.4 lbs. I haven't been down this far for a good 4 or 5 years. Getting some good definition going, and it will be even better losing weight. Target weight loss is down to 190 so, I still have a ways to go but I'll get there. I've changed the diet around completely along with the working out. People are going to look at me next summer when I'm getting the first tan in 20 years and think, what the hell happened to him, is that really Tom? ...

[Gunny]

Nothing like PINK FLOYD while working out. Bought another JBL Extreme bluetooth speaker, excellent price right now on Amazon, and can pair it with the other one I have and now have stereo, sounds fantastic, is cordless, wireless, perfect, take it anywhere and even run it off your smart phone.

I've lost TEN POUNDS now @Gunny. Hit the scale yesterday at 211.4 lbs. I haven't been down this far for a good 4 or 5 years. Getting some good definition going, and it will be even better losing weight. Target weight loss is down to 190 so, I still have a ways to go but I'll get there. I've changed the diet around completely along with the working out. People are going to look at me next summer when I'm getting the first tan in 20 years and think, what the hell happened to him, is that really Tom? ...

My strength has gone WAY up and I haven't gained an ounce.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

My strength has gone WAY up and I haven't gained an ounce.

I've read that lifting heavier can increase your strength without necessarily increasing your bulk... could be what you're doing.

[Gunny]

I've read that lifting heavier can increase your strength without necessarily increasing your bulk... could be what you're doing.

It IS pretty-much what I am doing. I'm not really trying to increase my weight. One thing I DO remember about being 205 is I had to carry 205. I also had a few more issues with joints. I had knee problems for years as in decades "years". My right knee is still obviously messed up but unless I do something to injure it, it isn't painful. Used to have chronic pain in it.

One of my original goals was to fill my skin back out at least. I looked like a bag of bones coming out of the hospital

[Black Diamond]

My strength has gone WAY up and I haven't gained an ounce.

Define way up and how long has it taken you to get there

[High_Plains_Drifter]

It IS pretty-much what I am doing. I'm not really trying to increase my weight. One thing I DO remember about being 205 is I had to carry 205. I also had a few more issues with joints. I had knee problems for years as in decades "years". My right knee is still obviously messed up but unless I do something to injure it, it isn't painful. Used to have chronic pain in it.

One of my original goals was to fill my skin back out at least. I looked like a bag of bones coming out of the hospital

As I was walking through the store yesterday I noticed that my pants felt BAGGY. Had to buy 38" waist pants when I started putting on weight. Wore 36" waist for the longest time. Want to get back in those. Don't know if getting into 34" is doable or not, but we'll see. The pounds are coming off, more so from the new diet than working out.

I hear ya about the weight though for sure, I FEEL LIGHTER. Imagine carrying around a ten pound dumb bell with you everywhere you went, and then NOT. But the more weight I drop, the more dedicated I get to keep it going. The diet change is permanent, period. NEVER going back to the bad eating habits I used to have. I had basically given up, it was stupid. My cholesterol was going up, my blood pressure was up a bit and I just didn't have a lot of energy. That's all changing. I'm starting to feel like my old self again.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

@Gunny... hey man, I'll tell ya, instead of just doing my regular routine of working top to bottom, blah, blah, blah, I've started mixing stuff up. Just working totally different parts in one session. Like flies and then leg curls and then crunches, etc, just mixing things completely up.

You ever do that? I've heard of this "muscle confusion" stuff. I don't know if what I'm doing is exactly that, but it kinda makes it a little more fun, just so I don't lose track and not work out a muscle group for too long.

[Gunny]

I gained 2 whole pounds over the holidays

Back in the day when he laid claim to everything and anything he could label " Weider", it was called the "Weider Confusion Principle". I've always used it. Didn't know Joe Weider invented it Well, until I was assured by Weider himself in Muscle & Fitness that he indeed DID invent it

[High_Plains_Drifter]

I gained 2 whole pounds over the holidays

Back in the day when he laid claim to everything and anything he could label " Weider", it was called the "Weider Confusion Principle". I've always used it. Didn't know Joe Weider invented it Well, until I was assured by Weider himself in Muscle & Fitness that he indeed DID invent it

Yeah after doing it for awhile I've pretty much gone back to my regular routine. Just easier to remember where I'm at, and I like to work close muscle groups. Seems to feel better, why get that muscle group all warmed up and pumped full of blood and then move away from it? Doesn't seem like a good idea.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Hey... another thing @Gunny... I don't know about you, but my BACK seems to be the strongest part of my body. The exercises seem to be easy, and I've added more weight to my back exercises than any other part. I can just burn my back down and it just takes more, lat pull downs, straight back pulls on the press bar using arms, and pull backs keeping the arms straight and leaning/pulling back with the back, I can do almost the whole stack of 160 lbs, even the shoulders, I can work the holly hell otta that stuff and it just feels GOOD.

You?