Posts written by Michael J. Mahony

Today was the first time I've worked out on a Monday in quite some time.  It was a medium heavy day with the goal being to achieve 8 reps on each set.  As I settled in to do my first superset of bent over barbell rows and incline barbell bench press, I was determined to hit a personal best.  I managed 170 pounds on the bent over barbell rows (personal best) and 155 on the incline barbell bench press (personal best).  However, on the final set of the incline barbell bench press I picked up the bar incorrectly and it shifted to my right.  I managed to hold it up and adjust, but as I was pushing out the reps I could feel a slight pain in my right shoulder.  I stopped at 5 reps to be smart.

As I walked to my next piece of equipment I began rotating the right arm over and over again.  I massaged the chest all the way up through the shoulder.  I then proceeded to do my lat pull downs and my barbell push press (personal best) and left the gym with a slightly tender shoulder.  I iced it and somehow it no longer hurt and hasn't since.

The moral of the story is to play it smart.  React to the situation and handle it accordingly.  Listen to what your body is telling you.  Had I felt pain at all after that initial point I would have stopped the workout on the spot.

Today begins my caloric increase to 2600 calories and was it a job getting there.  I can't imagine what it is going to be like getting to 3600 when the time comes.  It is just so much food!  The only change I've made to the conditioning program is that I'm including the refeed day every fourth day like I originally planned.  Eventually that won't matter because my calories will be at maintenance.

Accountability Log:

Nutrition Log:

Workout Log:

I also did my Flatten Your Abs Level 1 workout.

I think that making decisions is another key element to this process.  Sometimes we have to make decisions that we are not 100% happy with, but our gut tells us is correct.  I personally prefer the analytical approach to problem solving, but lately I've had to go with what “seems right” because that's what my gut is telling me to do.

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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Last night and this morning (while at the gym) I thought alot about the results I produced this past week.  When I returned home from the gym I had comments from Lilla and Mike regarding those results.  I then went into physiquetransformation.com to check off my meal for the morning (I use it for tracking my food intake) and there was a message about the “conditioning phase” that hit me hard. 

You see, physiquetransformation.com strongly believes that most people have damaged their metabolism by consistently not eating enough food throughout their lifetime.  They have a Physique Transformation program that is split into 3 phases–conditioning, fat burning and maintenance.  How it works is you first go through an analysis of your diet.  For a minimum of 3 days and a maximum of 7 days you enter everything you eat without censoring your food intake.  When analysis is done, the system starts you on your conditioning phase.  For me, this meant I was to eat 2400 calories in the first week.  The program has charted a course for me as follows:

Week 1 – 2400 calories
Week 2 – 2600 calories
Week 3 – 2800 calories
Week 4 – 3000 calories
Week 5 – 3200 calories
Week 6 – 3400 calories
Week 7 – 3600 calories
Week 8 – 3800 calories
Week 9 will begin fat burning phase

As I thought this through I realized that since I definitely agree with the concept of a conditioning phase, I need to stick with this program of nutrition to see what happens.  They guarantee results or my money back, so what have I got to lose?  Thus, I am going to be aiming for these caloric targets for the next few weeks.  It actually plays into my hands because in 2 weeks I plan to start a bulking phase and that will be when I hit the 3000 to 3200 calorie mark.  It just fits with what I'm doing and it seems to work (so far).

Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

Now…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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Today was a rest day for me.  I took the day off entirely.  No exercise at all!

I spent the day today watching two hockey games and what I saw made me think about perseverance.  The team I was observing has played 34 games this season and lost all but 4.  Yes, their record is 3-30-1.  However, this team came out today and played with passion, heart and desire.  They played like a team that was used to winning rather than a team used to losing.  They won their first game 6-1.  It was quite a sight to see.  They actually seemed to be having fun on the ice.  Fun–something that was missing during the season.

The second game was another example of perseverance.  They played against a team with a goalie that was just stupendous.  He stopped everything shot at him.  However, the team persevered.  They pressed on and did what they could.  Eventually they broke through for a goal.   This was followed by 2 more goals.  They won that game 3-1.  Tomorrow they will play for the tournament championship.  Perseverance will carry them through. 

It is much the same with a physique transformation.  You have to believe.  You have to persevere.  You will have highs and lows, but you must push ahead.  You need to make the adjustments and do what is necessary to achieve your desired results.  I'm facing that same issue today.  I lost 2 pounds last week and dropped 0.5% body fat, but I also lost some LBM.  All of this despite training extremely hard and pictures that show I've obviously picked up some muscle.

With this said, I will persevere. I am going to conquer my own body and find the formula for nutrtion that works for me. 

Accountability Log:

Nutrition Log:

Workout Log:

Today was a rest day.  There was no workout.

Remember, perseverance brings success.

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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I do better than last week, but man, do I have a long way to go to hit my goal!

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The stats are in for the week:

I am now going to drop my calories by 5% because I'm not exactly happy with the fat loss the past 3 weeks.  My high carb days will be at 2897 calories and my low carb days will be at 2375 calories.  This represents a 5% reduction over previous levels.  When you aren't happy with your results you have to take decisive action and that's what I'm doing.

Until later…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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