progress Archives - Uncommon Sense Physique

Finally able to eat more

It’s taken weeks, perhaps even three months or more, but I finally seem to have increased my capacity to eat. Sure, I still can’t sit and eat a single, blow-out meal, but I can at least now eat at a decent clip every two hours and not feel like I am dying.

When I first started this latest bulking cycle, increasing my intake to the point where I could hold and make gains was brutally hard. Gut was permanently distended and I was not remotely hungry from the point I finished breakfast right up until I’d hit the sack. It was really pretty depressing and I wanted to bail on the bulking process more than once.

Another milestone in the rear view

by Paul Thiel

We reached a new milestone this morning, seeing 185lb on the morning scale for the first time! Sure, we need to see it more than once, but once is a great start.

For perspective, last November I was 169lb, and on January 1st, I was holding 175lb in the mornings. As it turns out, 175lbs was a HUGE sticking point for me. It took another two months to break that plateau and inch toward 180lb. I’m not sure what’s happened, but 185lb has come pretty quick by comparison… just a month since I was dunked at 180lb on March 25th. Gettin’ chubby.

With 185lbs in my grasp, I’ve been thinking about quantifying my goals. The numbers make it real, and kinda scary.

Too long to Tweet

by Paul Thiel

Sometimes, I have a lot to say… other times, not so much. Of late, I’ve not had a lot good to say, so I’ve kept pretty quiet. Twitter is where I spend most of my time, and a closed Facebook group I am part of. You can also see crappy progress pics and photos of food up at Instagram.

So why let the blog slip?

I’ve pondered this long and hard and come to the conclusion that I need to lower the bar somewhat. Not necessarily in terms of quality, just in terms of airing thoughts and getting stuff down. I tend to set the bar too high for the blog, looking for ways to write an elaborate detailed and thematic post, and that can turn into a half day commitment… time I just don’t have (or want to dedicate) to blogging.

So my plan is try and post a few times a week, but to make those posts shorter and easy to digest. That way, I still get to write, you still get to read, and collectively, they still tell the story of me.

As I always point out, this blog is more of a journal than a resource, and thus usefulness and/or interest to the reader will vary dramatically. There’s too much information on health, fitness and bodybuilding out there, and if you do want REAL information, you’ll already be following the likes of Adam Bornstein and Bryan Krahn.

As always, if you have questions about what I am doing, my goals, plans etc., just ask – I’m always happy to share my experiences and what I have (or at least should have) learned.

Closing in on 180lbs

It’s been a pretty good week overall, with solid progress in the gym and on the scale. I also had my body fat tested again this week and followed up with the doctor about the palpitations.

Let’s start with progress.

I was dunked in the hydrostatic testing pool again this week, courtesy of the FitnessWave Norcal mobile testing team; they come out to our office at work just about every two months. Sessions start at just $40 and get cheaper if you buy in packs of three. Take a look at their calendar, they are all over the Bay Area week to week.

Crushing goals, inching forward, still here to tell the tale

Overall, it’s been a pretty good week. Sure, I’ve definitely had some ups and downs–this is real-life, after all–but on balance, I’ll take it.

In terms of progress in the gym, it’s been a real roller-coaster! I went from starting out the week with multiple, epic PRs, to fizzling out last night with a pretty lack-luster workout; at least as far as the numbers are concerned. But given I am trying hard to play-down everything negative in my life right now, let’s keep things positive and start with those PRs.

Oh, and I’ve got to keep this post to less than 1K words, or my good friend Bryan Krahn may unexpectedly hurt himself if he pushes through to the end.

Keeping to the schedule

Alright guys, just a little over a week since I last posted. Trying hard to not let things slip and keep on top of a weekly posting schedule. The challenge, as always, is not finding time to write, but committing to writing something of value. Still, I personally get a little something form journaling my own progress and experiences, so maybe that’s reason enough.

Too much of a good thing?

I’ve slowly gotten myself bit of a reputation at work as the gym guy; that middle-aged dude that looks like you wouldn’t wanna mess with him. The same guy with endless tubs of supplements all over his desk that eats the same shit every day, at the same time, and sits scratching at his face around 3:45pm as the beta alanine in his pre-workout kicks in.

Still, I like that people notice I lift. I mean, it’s taken 34 years for me to even remotely look like I lift, and throw a sweater on, and I could be any other skinny-fat dork that’s never even seen a barbell, let alone used one. Like I say, I’ll take it.

So what’s happened this week… let’s see.

Measuring your progress and how to drive improvement

I was commenting on a post from a blog I follow this morning–getting all carried away and verbose as I do–when James Clear’s words jumped into my head:

Every keystroke you type is one stroke closer to your last. And because every keystroke counts the same, why spend so many of those keystrokes answering emails that 1 person will read and then never look at again, when you could be using those same keystrokes to write an article that will help a thousand people?

Now I know for a fact that there are not “thousands” of people reading my blogging efforts up here, but still, the message from James was sound. If you have something to say, especially something that you consider helpful, why not share it in the widest way possible?

I can see my abs

On February 8th this year, I decided to set a new step-goal of seeing my abs. I can recall the date explicitly, as it’s the same day I signed-up for Adam Bornstein’s Getting Shredded event. Two months later… BOOM; abs!

Yup, that’s not stock imagery on on the right, that’s me sporting my new six-pack!

So what was different this time around?

Progress and goals

After a couple of months of clean eating, intermittent fasting and, more recently, community coaching from Adam Bornstein, I am down 10lbs from 168lbs to 158lbs. I haven’t tested body fat again, but I certainly look and feel leaner; waist size is also down over an inch.