Free Your Mind Man!

I missed my goal again today of waking up at 5:30 and didn't get out of bed until 5:40 but I did manage to make a breakfast of egg whites, sausage, and a bowl of cheerios. I know I'm going to have to pay more control to my nutrion but right now I'm mainly focused on keeping to a steady workout schedule.

Tip # 1: Don't overwhelm yourself. Stay focused on one goal at a time.

I really don't have much to say today because today was my day off. 

What's a day off you say? 

Tip # 2: It's important to allow your body to rest. You can start suffering from fatigue and then you are more likely to injure yourself. 

Instead of doing nothing, I did do 45 minutes of Yoga.

Yoga?!

Yep Yoga. But before you leave in outrage, understand that Yoga is a great way to stretch all your sore muscles and making you more flexible so you can lift more. I only did P90X yoga before and that was more intense than the session I did today. I plan on doing the P90X version next week.

It's really hard for me to take it seriously when they say things like "Become the tree" and "Let go of all your woes". It's hilarious.

I went by my favorite store in the world for athletics Dick's Sporting Goods. I bought a new gym bag, a jump rope, and those grippers for your forearms that I plan to use at work to improve my grip.

I really needed a new gym back.the old one was falling apart. I plan to use the jump rope to warm up. I think it's a fun way to loosen up my body before a workout and increase my heart rate. 

The gripper came from something I noticed in my workout. Yesterday when I had to do the supersets of DB lunges and Stepups, I had a hard time pushing through to the end. Not because my hamstrings were yelling at me,  but because the dumbbells started hurt my hand for holding them so long. It would be a tragedy for my legs to suffer because a weakness in my upper body. I'd imagine by improving my grip and forearm strength,  this will allow me to bare the weight longer. 

Tip #3: Always strive to improve. 

Leg Day, Why Lord?

My phone screams at me at the ass crack of dawn also known as 5:30 AM. I roll over and laugh maniacally. Getting up at this time was just wishful thinking. I roll over and catch another 25 minutes worth of Z's.

My error didn't take long to manifest.

Tip #1 Don't lie to yourself about what you are going to do. You only hurt yourself.

In order for me to make it to work on time, I have to be on the eastbound train for downtown Dallas that leaves North Lake College Station at 6:17 AM. I live 1.2 miles from the station on the same street and in order to ensure I'm on that train I have to leave my apartment at 6:08 AM. Now since I didn't get up until 5:55,  that makes cooking a decent breakfast impossible. Smartly, I already ironed my clothes for the week, packed my gym bag and lunch, and showered the night before so all I had to do was was my face, brush my teeth, and dart out of the door.

Tip #2 Prepare for the next day the night before. You don't want poor preparation stopping or delaying your workout goals.

I read an article on the train ride to Art District in the 9th largest city in the country about 5 ways we are wasting our workout. Here's a list:

1) Your warm up is too long
2) You're too comfortable (You're not pushing yourself)
3) You're sacrificing proper form for more weight
4) You're neglecting your nutrition (just eating whatever you want)
5) You're full of excuses

I think reading fitness articles really you keep you focused your goal throughout the day. You can find new techniques and bad habits. I usually can't wait to get to the gym.

Full Article Here

Today my focus is to eat meals throughout the entire day and drink more water. I failed my first task within moments of waking up. I thought I could get by on a banana and an apple alone but that only poked the bear. I had to go out and get a breakfast burrito satisfy myself.

We have a gym on the 13th floor of my building so a coworker and I cut out at lunch time to utilize it. I did the P90X Ab Ripper X workout. It's intense but I have been doing it for years so I get a nice ab burn then return to work.

Link to Ab Ripper X Video

The moment I have been dreading since the day before is finally upon me. I can't run from it any longer.

Why does leg suck so much?

Well since we use our legs throughout the entire day, we have to really push our legs to the limit in order to really get any muscle gains and fat loss. I arrive at the gym at 15 minutes until 5.

"I will complete this workout within an hour," I say to myself.

Tip #3 Keep the intensity up during your workout and don't simply stumble from one activity to another.

Here is the routine

Barbell Back Squat     4/10

DB Walking Lunges superset with DB Step Ups  3/12 each leg for each exercise

Leg Extensions 3/12 last set is a drop set

DB Romanian Deadlifts 3/12

Leg Press at 60% of max weight completing as many reps as possible in two minutes

Notes:

A drop set is where you complete the set and then drop it by 30% weight and perform as many reps as possible.


OK so the super set in this workout was absolute murder for me. I guess in essence it's not really ideal because it works the same exact muscle group, but I don't care. The deadlift with dumbbells was awkward to me and I can feel it wasn't truly effective. I'll have find a better exercise to replace this. 

Tip #4 If you aren't truly feeling the exercise, replace it for something more effective that works the same muscle group. 

I ran around the gym looking crazy and sweating up storm, but by cutting out the BS, I was able to finish my workout in 1 hour and 2 minutes. 2 minutes too slow. 

Tip #5 Don't pat yourself on the back for not achieving your goal. Work harder next time. 

Day 2 complete.

About To Hit The J. I. M.

I'm Malcolm Lee Kennedy (MLK) from South Carolina and I live in Dallas, TX.

I took a shower this morning and caught a good look at myself in the mirror in my birthday suit, and I was disappointed.

I'm out of shape....

Well not really. But I'm not where I want to be physically. Where most people seem to gain weight when they don't workout, I'm the complete opposite. I shed muscle like coma patient. I mean I lose it quick. 15 lbs of muscle will disappear in like 2 weeks of no gym time. Even though I'm 184 lbs, at 6'2 I'm not satisfied with it.

Not a picture of me you bastard.

I hear the uproar of the crowd now. "You call that a problem?! I'd give my left nut for that!"

Well strange person who gives up nut quite easily it is a problem to me. It's funny how people society frowns upon talking about overweight people but it's perfectly fine to talk about those who are skinny. They are really two sides of the same coin. We are both far from this:

That's not even fair...

So I created the "30-Day MLK On My Fitness" Challenge to hopefully turn my current situation around. There isn't really much to it. This is just a way of publicly holding myself accountable for the next 30 days and tracking my progress. 

So let us begin before this gets too long.

Here was today's workout.

Chest and Back

Barbell Bench Press 10 reps/ 4 sets

Single Arm DB Row and Single Arm Incline DB Bench Press 12 reps/ 3 sets

Seated Cable Row 12 reps/ 3 sets (Last set was a dropset)

Cable Chest Flye 12 reps/ 3 sets (Last set was a dropset)

50 Pushups

Weighted Hyper-extensions

Machine Chest Press 20 reps/15 reps/ 12 reps (couldn't get the weight right)

Today's weight is 184 lbs (Ok ok 183.8).

This workout took me exactly an hour and not a second more. Which is perfect. I'm not  one of those gym rats who thinks they are saving money on rent by living at the gym. So I try to do a lot of compound exercises to save some time. I found before that if your workout is too stuffed, then eventually you will start dreading it. It's a lot reassuring when you can say to yourself, "It's only an hour." 

Great workout for getting back in the swing of things. Maybe I could have kicked the intensity up by sticking to a 45 second between reps schedule, but I worked up a sweat and I feel great.

Tomorrow brings a day that surely God must have created to punish us.

Leg Day