Well, I have been a member here for a few years now but have sort of cycled in and out of the gym. This is largely due to my love for riding bicycles (currently a single speed 29er mtn bike). But I can say that my fasicnation with lifting started after years of being called skinny. I hated it. I was a frickn rail growing up. I wrestled my freshman year of highschool a 102 lbs! I was very fast and dominated my weight class but would get my ass handed to me at practice when wrestling up in weight. Cycling on the other hand was something I was built perfectly for and excelled at. Enough to get myself a scholarship for to Colorado University. This of course is when weight lifting really started for me. I don't think I ever did so many leg exercises in my life. None the less I was still scronny!

So in 1995 I got orders to Panama (I was a Ranger in the Army) for a year. I only had a stretch of 7 miles of paved road that I could ride my bike on so I ended up living at the gym. A fellow soldier sort of took me under his wing and trained me. I soon found myself becoming a power lifter of all things. In that year, I went from weighing 135 to 165. It was great. Right up to the point when I got off the plane in DC and the temperature was like 29 degrees and I had no winter clothes to wear that fit me any longer.

I was then in and out of the gym for a number of years. About 6 years ago, I got serious about things again and started back at it. My goal was to get to 180. I worked hard and I think I hit 181 once and the next day was back down at 178. My body just couldn't seem to hold the weight no matter what I did. I decided it was time to try some real "supplements". I came on here, met quite a few people (Smiley to be specific ) who really helped me out both with my cycle as well as mentally (what a great guy he was). I did dbol, test E for the most part and my weight shot up. I ended around 184 I believe but then found myself back out on the bike only to lose alot of it and was back down around 178. The following year, I gave it another shot. I had a little more experience with what I was doing this time around, had my workouts down and my diet was much better. But my body fat was still a little high at around 12% or so. I did the cycle anyway and this time shot up to around 194 before suffering some tendonitis that really strained my abilities to workout. There were simply alot of movements that I suddenly couldn't do and I had to cut the cycle short by 2.5 weeks or so. I was devistated and again found myself out on the bike as that did not seem to bother me much at all.

That was about 1-2 years ago now. I have been riding/racing my mountain bike since and been in and out of the gym on a weekly basis but mainly for maintenance. Things are changing however. I realize that I am a little heavier than I want to be for riding. So about 3 weeks ago I started a new workout plan. Instead of the old Dog Crap style, or push pull exercises all done with weights, I went back to more of a circuit training style with giant sets. Some exercises w/ weights and many others without. More of a cardio style workout similar to what you see MMA guys doing. I also started doing cardio in the morning and focusing on my diet. Cutting calories by 500 initially (now at about -600/day). Things are going well. I started off at 183 and am currently at 175 so things are working. I try to add 1-2 exercises in during the workout that hit some target areas for me. Things like a normal military press, chins, or bb curls. But other than that, it is all about high intensity to get the hr up. It really reminds me alot like basic training PT back in the day.

I can honestly say that dieting down is harder than what I have grown accustomed to over the years. I realize now that it is so much easier to bulk up. Largely because you get to eat...a lot! Now I constantly feel hungry even though I am eating every 2 hours or so. I am constantly sweating, drinking a ton of water, and going to take a leak on the hour at best. It is tuff physically as well as mentally. Even though I have lost almost 10 lbs in about 3 weeks, I really can't see the difference short of the numbers on the scale. I know it will start showing soon though.

Its funny, I started all of this training 3 weeks ago. A week and a half into it my wife asked me if I wanted to join in on their little Biggest Loser comp that she and some friends from college and their husbands are all doing. I said why not. Best case is that I win and take their money. Worst case is that I lose and still come out looking better than all of them. I already told her that if my abs are popping and I lose I will still pull up my shirt to show off as I know none of them are going to remotely have abs! Unfortunately, my starting weight is not where I wanted it to be though. I mean, I had already lost almost 5 lbs before I was involved in their little comp. But I didn't want to lie about my weight so my starting weight is officially 177 on 1/6/12. I have no idea what it will take to win this thing. But I know that if I really wanted to I could put all my experience/knowlege to work for me (weight cutting for wrestling and help from you guys) and drop down to 155 or so. My plan would not be to stay there mind you but to hit a number for the final weigh in and take their money! Not like it is alot or anything but $100 is a $100! I think bragging rights is what it is all about in the end.

So there you have it. I am on a new quest to lean out and drop weight. Sure it would be great to take their money and win the thing but I am more interested in getting down to about 5% body fat or less with some popping abs finally. I know that may sound stupid but I have never really had abs since I got into lifting. I think that if I can get down to that, then the experience I will gain during the process will go along with to helping me build back up to 175 or so. The final goal will be to come in at a very solid 170-75 by this time next year without running another cycle (though I will keep that option open down the road).

I tell ya, if the abs are popping 9 weeks from now, I will definitely be stepping on the scale in front of all of them damn near naked just to show off!

I am going to try to use this entry as a bit of a diary if you will and will provide updates on a regular basis starting with yesterday/today.

1/10/12
So I got up at 4 AM and rode the spin bike in the basement for about 25 minutes before heading into work. I felt great and wide awake. My diet went well and I was definitely still somewhat hungery shortly after eating every meal. I popped a Hershey Kiss in the evening when I was craving something sweet and to my disbelief it really did the trick. The craving was gone with one little piece of chocolate (I'm not a big chocolate person to start with so I have no fear of eating the whole bag). In any case the plan was to come home and do a pretty hard workout. It basically consists of about 10 exercises that you do 50 reps of each. Total reps is 500. It is all timed. The goal is to complete it all and write down your time. Then the next time you do it, you want to beat that time. Right now, my time is 27:42. But I got a text from a client (I do personal training part time) asking if we could meet an hour earlier. I said sure since I knew my wife had a meeting to attend that night and it would minimize the time that two of our daughters were home alone. Unfortunately I got caught up in traffic taking my daughter to soccer practice and got home later than expected. I realized that it was more important that I eat something than bang out my workout before going to train my buddy so the workout was postponed. In the end I did quite a few exercises with my client and hopped on a new eliptical machine that was actually pretty firckn cool for about 10 minutes. I came home, took a shower and ate nothing more than a protein shake and drank more water.

1/11/12
Since I really liked the new eliptical machine at the gym, I figured I would get up early and go to the gym in the morning to do some cardio instead of riding the spin bike again. I showed up at the gym at 4:47 and it wasn't open!!! Finally someone showed up at 4:55. I threw my crap in a locker and started the cardio. Unfortunately, I have to be at work at 6 and traffic sucks the later I leave. I ended up only getting in about 25 minutes on the machine because I had to do the normal shower routine and what not. I ate a good breakfast of about 3 scrambled eggs (1 yolk), 1 cup oatmeal, and about 1/2 cup cottage cheese at about 7 AM and I feel great. I also popped my fat burner pill about 30 minutes prior to eating. I'm sitting hear feeling normal/comfortable but can feel sweat dripping down my sides occassionally. It tickles actually but is really somewhat disgusting.

My plan is to get home and do my workout as mentioned above and beat my time. I will probably then hit the spin bike for 30 minutes after that since I could not get it all in this morning. Honestly, the only way I will be able to get 45 min of cardio in in the morning is if I do ride the spin bike in my basement which will get old quick. The other option is to go out for a bike ride for about an hour in the evening/afternoon. I have no problems riding in the dark as I have done a couple of 24 hour team races in the past and have all the lighting/gear that I need to do so. But the wife might get a little irritated so we will see. Wish me luck.