Prickett’s Charge: T-156

Thursday, May 17, 2012

BODY COMPOSITION:
Weight: 228.8

•

FOOD:
9:00 am : Home
Scrambled eggs – 5 whites, 1 whole
Cream of Wheat – 1 packet (3 tbsp)
Wheat toast – 2 slices
- Grape jelly

11:30 am : Home
Protein shake

2:00 pm : Home
Eye round steak – 6 oz
White rice – 3/4 cup

5:00 pm : Home
Rice cakes – 2
Apple – 1
Protein shake

[Exercise]

8:00 pm : Home
Chicken breast – 8 oz
Baked french fries – 1 potato
- Ketchup

11:00 pm : Home
Protein shake

Yes!  I set a goal of eating the entire menu accurately, no omissions, no additions.  And I did it!  Not even so much as a random Cocoa Puff as I passed my kids eating breakfast this morning!

One could argue that I had wheat bread instead of whole wheat bread, and forgot the honey in the Cream of Wheat, but frankly, I’m counting this day as a success.

•

EXERCISE:
Prickett Garage
Legs [Undocumented]

But I recall it included some squats to begin, and at least some dumbbell straight-leg deadlifts, lunges, front squats, quad extensions, calf raises, and wall sits.  But any additional details are fuzzy.

Prickett’s Charge: T-157

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

BODY COMPOSITION:
Weight: 229.2

•

FOOD:
9:45 am : Home
Scrambled eggs – 2 whites, 1 whole
Cream of Wheat – 1 packet (3 tbsp)
Whole wheat toast – 2 slices

11:30 am : Home
Protein shake

12:30 am : Home
Eye round steak – 4 oz
White rice – 3/4 cup

5:00 pm : Home
Peanut butter sandwich – 1/2
- Wheat bread
Apple – 1

7:45 pm : Home
Chicken breast – 8 oz
Baked french fries – 2 potatoes
- Ketchup

[Exercise]

I’m running out of a few things and didn’t notice until it was actually mealtime.  Time to shop!

Oh, and yes, my wife was making a peanut butter sandwich and I just got overwhelmed.  Man, when I am hungry, resistance is painful.

•

EXERCISE:
General Neighborhood
Cardio: Walk, Casual
- Time: 30 minutes

While I have a job teaching elementary students how to make movies for the next five Wednesdays, this will be one of my two days off.  The timing of the class makes it awkward for Mark’s schedule as he has an evening obligation.

I intended to do something more vigorous at the track but just had no energy for it.

Prickett’s Charge: T-158

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

BODY COMPOSITION:
Weight: 228.0

•

FOOD:
Undocumented

I need to carry a little pocket notebook or index card around with me, because remembering the details of time and meal, especially with the menu’s being the same day after day, becomes impossible if I don’t note it almost immediately.

I do know I didn’t get to everything on the menu, and there were the odd handfuls of things like the breakfast cereal my kids were eating.  Thankfully no serious deviations or weak moments.

•

EXERCISE:
Prickett Garage
Chest: Incline Bench Press – 6 sets
Chest: Circuit – 3 rounds
- Incline Dumbbell Fly
- Pec Fly Machine
[Incomplete documentation]
Triceps: Circuit – 3 rounds
- Overhead Dumbbell Extension
- Rope Pressdown
- Skullcrusher, Bowflex Machine

It really does bug me when I don’t have all the details, but that’s what I currently remember.  Oh, and I remember that it hurt by day’s end, ha ha.

Prickett’s Charge: T-159

Monday, May 14, 2012

BODY COMPOSITION:
Weight: 228.8

Well, it wasn’t the egregious weight spike I feared it would be after yesterday’s festivities.

•

FOOD:

[Exercise A]

10:00 am : Home
Scrambled eggs – 5 whites, 1 whole
Cream of Wheat – 1 instant packet (approx. 3 tbsp)
Whole wheat toast – 2 slices

2:00 pm : Home
Eye round steak – 3 steaks (approx. 6 oz)
White rice – 3/4 cut

4:00 pm : Home
Rice cakes – 2
Apple – 1
Protein shake

[Exercise B]

8:00 pm : Home
Chicken breast – 8 oz
Baked french fries – 1 potato
- Ketchup

A tentative venture into the first quarter’s menu.  I missed the opening and closing protein shakes, probably subconsciously to avoid the horrid taste.  Nor am I a lover of jelly: I’ve had my toast plain with butter for years because I’ve just never cared for the stuff, so today I did not brave it.

Mark said the eggs were to be hard-boiled, but hard-boiled eggs truly give me a feeling of nausea.  There are foods I don’t like but will eat to attain the goal; hard-boiled eggs won’t even stay down.  I get sick just smelling them.  I mean I would drop out of bodybuilding if I absolutely had to eat them to achieve the goal.  That’s how much my mouth and stomach cannot handle hard-boiled eggs.  So I’m going to talk to him about whether scrambled eggs can be an option.

All else was good.  The steaks are delicious, and my first attempt at oven-fried potato slices was not bad.

•

EXERCISE:
A: High School Track
Cardio: Track, Variable Speed
– Time: 32:42
– Distance: 3.0 miles (12 laps)
– First Mile: 9:42
– Average Lap: 2:44
– Average Mile: 10:54
– Fast Lap: 1:57

B: Prickett Garage
Circuit for Back & Abs – 5 rounds
– Wide-Grip Pulldown
– Close-Grip Pulldown
– Straight-Arm Pullover
– Machine Row
– Bent-Over Dumbbell Row
– V-Sit
– Cpt’s Chair Knee Raise
– Cardio, 25 calories

I once kept detailed notebooks of all the sets, reps, and weights for my workouts.  This is impossible with Mark as a trainer, because there is no time to stop and write things down.  (Plus with someone else making all the decisions, there’s no need to reference each previous workout myself.)

So what’s listed is about all I can tell you.  This was a timed circuit, with a maximum allowed time of five minutes per round.  I averaged about 4:30.  It is designed to keep me moving, keep the heart rate up, and thereby burn off fat while stimulating the muscles.  And it’s quite breath-taking.  Literally.  My lungs hurt more than any given body part.

A Body in Progress: Prickett’s Charge

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Welcome to a new phase of A Body in Progress.  Previously, I attempted to enter the Bill Pearl High Desert Classic in Bend, Oregon, which took place yesterday, May 12th, 2012.  For a number of reasons, including weaknesses on my own part, I failed to reach that goal, but I got in a lot better shape in the process.  (I also failed to update this blog for any significant portion of that process as I had intended, so it was a double failure.)

As of today, Sunday, May 13th, 2012, I am on a new quest to enter the Seven Feathers bodybuilding competition in Canyonville, Oregon, on October 20th, twenty-three weeks from now.  A nice, even 160 days.

Assisting me on this journey is Mark Prickett, a personal trainer here in Redmond who happened across my YouTube channel this past March and ultimately volunteered to do everything he could to get me on that stage in October.  He offered full-time training, including resistance training, diet plans, and all other advice, for free.  In exchange, I become his walking billboard, testifying to the quality of his knowledge, expertise, and dedication every time I whip my shirt off on a hot summer day.  It sounded like a win-win, so who was I to argue?

And if you don’t think, after twenty years of being embarrassed about my body, that his offer just about made my heart explode, then you’ve never been a big fat man wishing he were in better shape.

So this 160-day journey is Phase Two of my quest to compete.  And in deference to my insatiable desire to turn everything into a dramatic story, I picked a Civil War theme that is especially fitting since Mark phrased what was about to happen as: “Going to war with my own body.”

This, then, is “Prickett’s Charge”!  (Let’s just hope it ends better than Pickett’s Charge did for the South.)

•

BODY COMPOSITION:
Weight: 228.6

This is my official starting weight for this new quest, and Mark is confident that, if I follow his plan to the letter, I will be down under 200 by late August.  That will be amazing: Not the possibility of it, but being that lean again after more than fifteen years of obesity to varying degrees.

•

FOOD:

I have dropped over 50 pounds in the past four years, with almost 20 of those pounds being in 2012.  Bodyfat has dropped from an estimated 34% to a fairly accurate 18%.  But I still have a lot left, even for a 23-week period.  Since my goal is a personal one, simply to craft an acceptable stage body by October 20th, Mark is recommending skipping proper bulking for now and simply stripping off this stubborn bodyfat as fast as we can without sacrificing what muscle I do have.  Part of that will still involve adding muscle with intense workouts, because more muscle equals more calories burned; but it will also rely heavily on what my novice nutritional wisdom senses is a very low-fat diet.

For the next five weeks (I think), this is what is prescribed:

Meal 1:
Eggs – 5 whites, 1 whole
Cream of Wheat or Malt-o-Meal – 3 tbsp + honey
Whole wheat toast – 2 slices + jelly

Meal 2:
Protein “Shake” – Water and protein

Meal 3:
Eye round or Flank steak – 6 oz
White rice – 3/4 cup

Meal 4:
Rice cakes – 2
Apple – 1
Protein “Shake”

Meal 5:
Chicken breast – 8 oz
Baked “french fries” + ketchup

Meal 6:
Protein “Shake”

I put “shake” in quotes because water and protein powder is hardly a delicious shake.  I survive the nasty taste by drinking it as fast as possible through a straw almost to the back of my throat.  A different brand of powder may alleviate some of the pain, but on my budget I need to finish what I already own.

I think everything else is self-explanatory.  I throw in spices and such to flavor the foods, but that’s the foundational menu.

By contrast, here is what I actually ate.  If an actual baking term is used (“1/2 cup”, “1 teaspoon”), then it is meant as that actual baking amount.  If “helping” or other vague term is used, it’s because I didn’t have a way to measure.  A helping is a reasonable portion, not piled high or filling the plate.

It didn’t help that this whole thing started on Mother’s Day.

9:30 am : Home
Waffles – 4 squares
– Butter
Potatoes – 1 helping
Juice – 1 cup

12:00 pm : Church
Cookies – 4
Punch – 1/2 cup

4:00 pm : Home
Rice cake – 1
Apple – 1

5:15 pm : Mom’s House
Pot roast – 1 helping
Mashed potatoes – 3 helpings
– Gravy
Peas – 1 helping
Jello – 1 helping
– Diced apples
Tortilla chips – 1 handful

Yes, I love mashed potatoes and gravy.  Major weakness.

7:00 pm : Mom’s House
Cake – 2 slices

[Exercise]

I insert “Exercise” into the relative position on the eating schedule because when I exercise and how effectively I reach my goals can be affected by what meals come before and after.

•

EXERCISE:
Redmond High School Track
Cardio: Track, Variable Speed
- Time: 33:34
- Distance: 3.0 miles (12 laps)
– First Mile: 10:00
– Average Lap: 2:48
– Average Mile: 11:11

On its own, a decent beginning.  As a continuation of the past two years, it’s kind of weak.  I’ve had miles as fast as 8:07, just a couple months ago.

And there’s Day One.