Before Pictures and Progress

So I am a little late on sharing my before pictures as I had said I would. l did get them uploaded to the contest on Tuesday as planned, I just didn't get them posted on here. So without further ado here they are.

As you can see I have some fat to burn off but that is what this is all about. Getting myself into better shape and more aesthetically pleasing, for myself.
Today is day 5 of the 1-2-3 Lean program that I am following right now. The workouts are kicking my butt which is good. The program is a constant moving, constant working program. That means from the time I start to the time I finish which is about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes, I am doing nothing but sweating my butt off while doing cardio and weight lifting. This program has my whole body sore but I know it is for a good thing. It doesn't limit my daily activities just gives me a reminder that I am doing something about my fitness condition.
Exercise is half of the solution to the body fat. The other half is nutrition. You cannot expect to put crap in and get a diamond out. You have to put in quality to get quality results. I have been eating pretty clean and pretty lean. I am only eating whole grain foods which means no processed flours, sugars, or starches. I am eating a lot of fresh vegetables, lean proteins, and like I said whole grains. Sample of my daily diet is as follows:

Breakfast:
3-4 Eggs (omelet)
1/4 shredded fiesta cheese
2 slices turkey bacon
1/4 cup tomatoes
1/4 cup mixed peppers
1 TBSP Salsa
1/2 Cup Plain Quaker Oats

Snack:
1/4 cup Almonds
1/2 cup fresh or frozen fruit

Lunch:
2 Cups Leaf Lettuce
1 Cup Baby Spinach
1/4 Cup Tomato
1/2 Cucumber
1/2 Cup mixed peppers
2 TBSP Fat Free Dressing
6-8oz Grilled Chicken Breast
1-2 slices Whole grain bread

Snack:
1/2 cup frozen/fresh fruit
1/2 cucumber

Dinner:
Similar Salad as lunch normally no dressing

I am also taking Muscle Pharm Combat Protein Powder with Muscle Pharm Assault for pre-workout and Muscle Pharm Combat Protien Powder for post workout.

Right now my diet isn't as balanced as it should be but it is getting closer. I am shooting for 40% Protein, 40% Carbs, and 20% fats. Currently running 40% Protein, 30% Carbs and 30% Fats but I am still eating pretty healthy. The change of the percentages is slowly moving more toward optimal so I am going to keep going and get it done.

God Bless

Travis

2013 The Year of Goal Accomlishment

So it has been a while since I have posted. The good news is I am still hitting the gym at least 5 days per week. I have been seeing great gains strength and definition wise. Weight wise I haven't lost any poundage but I am down between 6 and 8% body fat.
So goals have been set for this year. Since I have spent the past couple months building muscle, my goal is to get shredded and lose the body fat. I am set to steer clear of high fructose corn syrup ie no soda, and only whole grain bread. I don't know what my goal weight is but I do know that I want to be sub 12% body fat.
Motivation right now is pretty high because I am gearing up for a new program that is designed to burn the fat and develop lean muscle. I have seen some pretty awesome before and after photos of other people who have had great success with this program. Another tool that is motivating is that I am entering into Bodybuilding.com's 2013 $100,000 Transformation. This is an 84 day or 12 week competition that they put on where grand prize is $50,000 with supplement prizes, gym membership, all expenses paid trip, and video/photo shoot. The motivation is doing the contest and challenging myself to push past my goals. I also have a couple of friends, that make up our #GoGreen team (see Pic Below), that are also joining the contest. I am getting so much motivation from my friends and family as I keep getting compliments on the progress that I have already made. Thank you all for the support.
So what am I doing different for the next 12 weeks? Well I am starting a program by Jim Stoppani called 1-2-3 Lean which is going to kick my butt and I am looking forward to it. It is only a 6 week program so I am going to follow it up with either Jim's HIIT 100 program or his Six Weeks to Sick Arms. Which one will be determined by where I am after the first six weeks us up. I'm you want to know more about the programs check out Jim's website jimstoppani.com.
Meal wise I am going to be eating very lean with chicken breast, tuna, and lots of vegetables. Also going to be eating slow burning carbs and cutting out all the sugars and "white" carbs. Lower glycemic carbs are healthier and better for fat loss.
So my contest starts on Tuesday and I am really excited to see the results in 12 weeks. I plan on keeping you all updated along the way. If you want to know more about what I am doing either exercise wise or food wise leave a comment and I will expand more in my next post. Come back on Tuesday to see my contest before pictures. I will get them up as soon as I can. I am thinking of maybe doing a video blog in the future. Let me know what you think.

God bless
Travis

My Review

Originally submitted at A1Supplements.com

Muscle Pharm Creatine Works Great

By T-Rav Miller from Yuma, Az on 11/13/2012

 

5out of 5

Pros: Strength gains, Muscle gains, Highest Quality, Great perfomance, Great price

Best Uses: Power lifters, High Intensity Athletes, Bodybuilders, Athletes

I am a non competitive Bodybuilder that is getting back into shape after 10 years of letting myself go. I started using this product about one month ago. I cannot believe the gains that I have seen. Great muscle growth and definition. Strength gains have been impressive. Product is to be taken pre and post workout 1 scoop (about 3 grams) with approximately 8 oz of water. I add it in with my regular protein shakes.

(legalese)

My Review

Originally submitted at A1Supplements.com

Best Multivitamin I have ever used

By T-Rav Miller from Yuma, Az on 11/13/2012

 

5out of 5

Pros: Highest Quality, Energizing, Great performance, Comparable price

Best Uses: High Performance Athletes, Runners, Bodybuilders, Power lifters, Regular Gym Patron, Everyday use

I am currently a non competitive bodybuilder working on getting back into shape after letting myself go for 10 years. The product label recommends 6 capsules daily. This is the only drawback if you have issues with taking pills. I do not and don't have any problem with them. Go down first time every time. I started out with over the counter multivitamins this time around and I did not see or feel any different taking them. With the MP Armor V I feel great and my performance has been enhanced since I have been taking them. The only time I start to feel sub pare is when I don't take them for a couple of days. Both my wife and I take them and we are enjoying the benefits.

(legalese)

Here is the Update I Promised

So I have not posted anything substantial in about a month. Last time I posted I told you about the Rock Hard Challenge exercise program that I was starting. This is the program that does 1 minute of exercise after each set of weights lifted. Followed by 2 minutes of rest before the next set of weight exercise. I followed this program for about a week before I stopped following that one. I didn't enjoy or care for the cardio exercise between my lifting sets. There are 2 main reasons for this. The first is superficial and shallow but I don't like the feeling of being watched while doing the cardio because of my large belly. The second is the easiest cardio to do as I see it was jumping jacks. This caused discomfort also due to my large belly. I decided to go with the Shortcut to Size program by Jim Stoppani on Bodybuilding.com. This is a program that I have wanted to do since I first heard about it. I did the Bizzy Diet to cut some weight and fat before moving on to strength training. <br>
But enough of the history lesson and on to the information. The Shortcut to Size program is just what I was looking for. I was down to 260lbs after the Bizzy Diet and when I started the Shortcut to Size program. My thoughts going into this program was that I need to build some lean muscle and then move to another cardio intense program to burn the fat. The program is setup so each week you change weights and rep numbers which keeps your muscles in a state of shock and keeps them building muscle to compensate for the constant changing. I enjoy this program immensely and I will have continued to burn fat and continue to see visible changes in my body. I have gained weight up to 265 but I am certain that it is all due to building muscle to replace the fat I have been losing. <br>
I was half way through week 3 when I found out that I was starting 14 hour days. This prevents me from hitting the gym throughout the week. I asked advice from Jim Stoppani of what I should do if I can only hit the gym on the weekends and he suggested doing chest, back, and shoulders on Saturday and legs, biceps, and triceps on Sunday. So I modeled my workouts after Arnold Schwarzenegger's superset workouts search Bodybuilding.com for Arnold + superset man to find the chest and back superset that I modified for my own workout. I then made a superset workout for Sunday's program. I followed these last Saturday and Sunday and was very pleased with the workouts. The only thing I am changing for this week is I am going to add my shoulders to my chest/back supersets to reduce the amount of time that it takes me in the gym. <br>
So that is my update, I am going to be updating my bodyspace stats on Bodybuilding.com so you can check that out and look into my progress. <br>
I will go back to the Shortcut to Size program as soon as I get back on normal shift. Starting back at week one will be exciting and interesting to see if I have made any gains since my first week one.

Still Here

Sorry all, I haven't made any posts recently but stay tuned for some news on my progress. Will be posting in the near future

God bless and Good night
Travis

Bizzy Diet Day 14

Hi All,
This has been a pretty great week for me. I discovered something that I was missing from my life. Heavy weight training. I was really enjoying the results and the workouts from the Bizzy Diet but I was not feeling the rush of the weight training like I wanted to. So here is where I stand. I am not going to continue with the bizzy diet because I am only 4lbs away from my 21 day goal and it is only day 14. I did some research and I consulted with a trainer from BodyBuilding.com and he suggested trying his Rock Hard Challenge. I took his advice and gave workouts 1 and 2 a try on Friday and Saturday. I love them and I am feeling the affects.

So I didn't just randomly pick a trainer off the web to seek information from, I did my research and I found out that he is the Chief Science Editor for Muscle and Fitness magazine. He has a PHD in exercise physiology. I also started following him on twitter to see what information he was passing out and what other people were saying about him and his workout routines. I would have to say that I am impressed with the results that I am hearing about from his programs. Who is this guy? His name is Jim Stoppani and he is one of the video trainers on bodybuilding.com with his Shortcut to Size program. This is the program I was originally interested in but I wanted to drop weight before going into it. So this is what I did, I tweeted Jim and told him that I am still 50lbs overweight and I was wondering if Shortcut to Size would help me cut weight while building muscle or would the HIIT and Weight circuit training (ie bizzy diet) that I was currently doing best for me. His response to me was that I should look up the Rock Hard Challenge.

I looked into the RHC and found that is sounded like something I would be interested in. This program is an 8 week program designed to transform your body. It has listed the workouts, the recommended nutrition, and the recommended supplementation which of course is the official challenge sponsors. I am going to try and stick close to the nutrition and the supplementation with the exception that I will be using Muscle Pharm as my supplementation brand of choice.

So on Friday, I went to the gym to do workout 1 to judge overall gym time and to figure out where I am going to be starting on the weight ranges. A brief overview of work out 1 is as follows a chest shoulder and triceps workout where you are doing 2 sets of 10 reps and 1 set of 12-15 reps per workout or 2 sets of 12-15 and 1 set of 10, which seems pretty normal with 2 mins rest between sets. Here is the kicker, before you get to your 2 minutes of rest you do 1 minute of cardio, ie treadmill, stair climber, or calisthenics after each set before the rest period. This makes all the difference in the world when it comes to kicking your butt. I came out of the workout feeling great and ready to come back and do some more.

Saturday shows up and I decide to give workout number 2 a try. This is legs, calves and abs with the same workout schedule as workout 1 to include the cardio between sets. I can tell you now why I know they use the term "you been stoppani'd" on the twitter microblog when talking about Jim Stoppani's workout routines. Today I went to the gym to do slow steady cardio to loosen up the legs a little but I am still wincing in that wonderful pain of muscle growth as I sit up and down through out the day.

So here is where I stand currently I am down 16 lbs overall and down 2.5 inches around my waist. I am seeing slimming across my entire body and increased definition around muscles as the fat is burned away. Tomorrow, I am starting the RHC with workout 1 and I look forward to the amazing results that are going to come of this program and my dedicated hard work. I want to transform my body into a lean healthy machine.

My new favorite term Swoldier thanks to Steve Cook from bodybuilding.com for that one.

Also, keep an eye on FromTrialstoTriumphs as it is under construction but should be up soon. But to give you a sneek peek go there now and see what happens when you tell a conqueror that they will never walk again.

God Bless all,

Travis