Curtis Matthews

The last six months or more I have been working out without any supplements I have not ever taking a lot of supplements in my life. I can make a two pound container of protein last three or more months.

I would only drink a serving of protein if food was not available and food is always around me. The last time I used creatine the bottle lasted for almost a year. I don’t know why I never got into all those different supplements maybe because I did not see any use in them if you ate enough food.

I have been drinking more water lately and because of the higher water intake I loss ten pounds. I usually weigh 205lbs now I am at 195lbs.

I am not happy with that because I see these guys on UFC fighting at 175lbs and they are the same height as me but in a lot better shape.
So I am now going to substitute some of my meals for supplements, instead of sandwiches I will drink a protein drink and I will start drinking a protein drink before and after my workouts. Which protein drink I will drink? I am think I will try the advice on Bodybuilding.com for my choice.

This is a cool way of tracking your workout progress. Handy logs fitness app on the Blackberry app world. The application is free and you can sync it with there website allowing you to track your progress online and from your Blackberry.

Today was the first day I tried it out. I entered each set of each exercise after the set with the reps, weight used and a description of the exercise equipment used.

Below is a sample of what I get from Handy Logs. I copied this information using the Bolt browser and pasted the info into the Wordpress application on my Blackberry.

New entry First Previous 8 to 22 of 22 Date & Time Exercise Sets Reps Weight (lb) 04-23-10 07.06 Tricep Pressdown 3 11 110.00 Detail 04-23-10 07.03 Arm Curl 3 11 130.00 Detail 04-23-10 06.54 Incline Press 3 11 160.00 Detail 04-23-10 06.52 Incline Press 2 11 140.00 Detail 04-23-10 06.51 Incline Press 1 11 120.00 Detail 04-23-10 06.49 Incline Press 5 7 135.00 Detail 04-23-10 06.46 Incline Press 4 7 120.00 Detail 04-23-10 06.43 Incline Press 3 7 95.00 Detail 04-23-10 06.42 Incline Press 2 7 70.00 Detail 04-23-10 06.38 Chest Press 3 10 150.00 Detail 04-23-10 06.34 Chest Press 1 11 110.00 Detail 04-23-10 06.34 Chest Press 2 11 130.00 Detail 04-23-10 06.29 Chest Press 4 7 140.00 Detail 04-23-10 06.28 Chest Press 3 7 115.00 Detail 04-23-10 06.26 Chest Press 2 7 70.00 Detail  

Since February 14th 2010 I have tried to figure out the correct way to track a diet and workout on a Blog. I wanted to put all my workouts and food intake on this Blog eaisly with my Blackberry Bold 9700 and the WordPress application.

I started to make 2 pages a day for the day’s food intake and workouts. It was not hard to do these post but somthing did not make sense with the format.

While I continued to make two pages for each day I saw on the Blog it placed the pages on the bottom of the Blog under the headings (my daily eating habits) or (my daily workouts). I did not want that formating, logging one after another on the bottom like that would make a very long footer with days of workouts and eating habits. What I wanted was every days diet and workout to be listed only under the corresponding pages only with the heading, (my daily eating habits) or (my daily workouts. I want that you have to click on the page About and on that page you see the links to my daily diet and workouts.

My web guy said each daily log should be one page for each category and just add to that page the daily logs. So yesterday I started to copy the daily pages into their categories and it did look a lot better but I am want to try some other things.

One of the main things I do not like is when I want to add to the post it becomes very difficult to do from my Blackberry Bold 9700 now using the WordPress application. I have to scroll way to much to add more daily deatails because of the amount of preivous logs and the pictures html. I need a easy way to add the daily logs of workout and diet on the Blackberry.

Until I can figure out a better way to do my posts I will not continue to do my daily logs with the WordPress application on my Blackberry Bold 9700. I have done the last 2 weeks in February and edit it on one page like my web guy told me too.

The last couple of days I added a few pages with my daily workouts and food intake. I started doing this on Valentines day and almost kept good records of everything. I say almost good because I wanted to record all the foods by picture, video and text on my Blog. I have not taken pictures and written text of all foods but most is here and with time and efficiency I will only get better.

I am using the Wordpress application on my Blackberry and so far today 2/17/10 almost everything was done with this app. Besides the video of lunch on one of my food days everything was easy.

The lunch video could not upload with the Wordpress application in my Blackberry Bold 9700. I had to send to Youtube then download back to my 9700 as a MP4 then upload with the word press application.

Then the format which the days a shown on the bottom of my Blog seem to be a little busy with all the days listed on the bottom. I thought I would be able to file under specific pages and the only way to view the daily pages was to go to the main page of workouts or food to see the daily logs.

I have gone to the gym at least four days this week. I am back on track with my training. The last couple of months with the holidays and activities going on I did not make time for my training.
My workouts were sporadic and not intense enough for me to achieve my goals. So this is the week I started back on track with my training and I will keep a record of my progress on this Blog.
I just downloaded an application to make the posting a lot easier for me to do from my Blackberry. http://www.mobilewiseguy.com/wordpress-application-for-blackberry/

Protein is the what your body needs to grow muscles. Without the right amount of protein your body will cannibalize your muscle tissue for a energy source.

I realized eating a big steak for dinner wasn’t enough protein in a day to maximize my muscle growth from the workouts I am doing. My body seems stuck in a rut.

I read in a article published in a Max Muscle magazine that for my body weight of 200lbs I need 160 grams or protein a day or if I split that into 4 meals 40 grams a meal, 5 meals 32 grams a meal. My concern was where to get that amount of protein from without having to eat 5 steaks a day. So today I Google protein sources and it came up with this chart.

The Protein Content of Common Foods

The best way to get the protein your body needs is from food.  Once you have determined how much protein your body needs, it’s time to determine the best food sources. 

Plant-Based Sources

Protein Content (g)

Tempeh (4 oz.)

17-21

Tofu, firm (½ cup)

10

Soy milk, plain (8 oz.)

10

Soybeans, black, cooked (½  cup)

14

Soybeans, green, cooked (½  cup)

11

Peanut butter, chunky (2 TBSP)

8

Kidney beans, cooked (½  cup)

8

Black beans, cooked (½ cup)

8

Chick-peas, cooked (½ cup)

8

Hummus (¼ cup)

5

Refried beans, cooked (½ cup)

8

Pinto beans, cooked (½ cup)

7

Lima beans, cooked (½ cup)

5

Peanuts (½ cup)

19

Almonds (½ cup)

15

Pine Nuts (½ cup)

15

Cashews (½ cup)

10

Sunflower Seeds (½ cup)

13

Walnuts (½ cup)

10

Flax Seeds, ground (2 TBSP)

4

Wheat Germ (2 TBSP)

4

Whole Wheat bread (1 oz. Slice)

3

Oatmeal, instant, cooked (1 cup)

6

Broccoli (1 cup)

5

Corn (1 cup)

5

Rice, white (1 cup)

2.5

Rice, brown (1 cup)

4.5

Pasta, cooked (1 cup)

6.5

 

Animal-Based Sources

Protein Content (g)

Chicken, boneless, cooked (3 oz.)

27

Turkey, roasted (3 oz.)

25

Ground Turkey, cooked (3 oz.)

23

Roast Beef, lean, cooked (3 oz.)

24

Ground Beef, lean, cooked (3 oz.)

24

Beef Sirloin, cooked (3 oz.)

24

Pork, roast, trimmed (3 oz.)

25

Ham, cooked (3 oz.)

21

Tuna, canned in water (3 oz.)

23

Tuna, fresh, cooked (3 oz.)

26

Yogurt, low-fat, plain (8 oz.)

12

Frozen Yogurt (½ cup)

2.5

Milk (8 oz.)

8

Cheese (1 oz.)

7

Cream Cheese (2 TBSP)

4

Egg (1 medium)

6

Egg White (1)

3.5

Egg Substitute (¼ cup)

6

Cottage Cheese ( ½ cup)

14

Cod, cooked (3 oz.)

20

Salmon (3 oz.)

22

Shrimp, boiled (3 oz.)

21

Lobster, baked or broiled (3 oz.)

17

Ice Milk, soft-serve (1 cup)

10

Sources:  Health Canada, Nutrient Value of Some Common Foods (1999);  Tufts University School of Medicine; Harvard University; USDA National Nutrient Data Bank

This holiday season has been bad for my workouts and we won’t go into my diet. I have not trained regularly or hard in weeks. My Blog show my slackness because I usually update this Blog while doing cardio after my weight training.

I will use this time to reflect and rest my body and joints. My knees and forearms have been sore for over 3 months now. I must have ripped something in my forearms and its hard for me to grip things or hold on to the dumbbells. My knees are stressed from the heavy weights I use or old age. My training has to be adjusted for my continued progress without injuring myself anymore. I don’t see myself progressing in my endeavor.

I think for the next week I will do a new workout routine. The exercises are broken up into groups and done without rest between sets. I will do one set of the first exercise in the group then moving immediately to the next exercise in that group. I will do 3 sets of each exercise in each group. The whole workout should not go beyond 45 minutes or I am moving to slow between exercises. I will do this workout until the beginning of January and evaluate my progress and my body before training heavy again. I also will be drastically changing my diet in the new year so to lose my holiday fat.

Extended PHA training

Group 1
Leg press, seated dumbbell press, crunches, pull downs

Group 2
Curls, leg lifts, press downs, seated calf presses

Group 3
Leg extensions, cable rows, leg curls, peck dec

Group 4
Incline dumbbell presses, calf raises, dumbbell shrugs, hyper extensions

Today I did my first mat pilates class. First I did about 10 sets of pull ups, and then I took the pilates class. All my years of weight training, I never stretched properly so I thought that pilates class would benefit me. I did exercises and stretching that I never did before. I see the benefits from stretching so I’m deciding to take that class as much as I can with time permitting. Since they class starts so late I only can take it on my days off and my days off are not consistent so the class may or may not be available that day. Tonight I planned to take a different class, I’m going with my stepdaughter Rebecca to do a body shape in class. This class uses light weights with aerobics. Hopefully these different exercises we’ll help stimulate different muscles in my body. I need to continue to grow if I want to compete in a natural body building competition.

This post was completely done by a speech recognition software that I have on my Sony laptop. So this is basically a test, hopefully I will get much better at this allowing me to do more post to my Blogs.

This is my friend Anthony son Jay first time lifting weights and I really never wrote a workout routine for any one before. I workout out certain body parts at the same time when I started lifting weights, so I will outline my first routine I did for him here.

What I did is a three day split, meaning I worked out on the first day.
Chest shoulders and triceps. The reason is that when you do chest you encompass your shoulders and triceps. So they are already warm up so I worked these body parts together.
For chest I did flat bench press 3 sets of 10 reps. I would try to increase the weight with every set so the last set is very difficult to do the 10 reps. Next I would do incline bench press this works the top part of my chest. I did the same 3 sets of 10 reps. The last exercise I did for my chest would be flat bench dumbbell flys this is done by grabbing two dumbbells and getting a could stretch at the bottom and when you bring them up to the top squeeze at the top your chest to pump blood into them.
Now my shoulder workout I did behind the neck military presses. Do 4 sets of 10 reps increasing the weight as much every set.
After I would do cable push downs for my triceps.

I am more advanced now these days so I do a lot more exercises now for shoulders triceps and chest, but for you stick with this routine for a few weeks to get your body used to lifting weights. Don’t rush it take your time doing every rep slowly. Balance and form is the most important thing now so you won’t hurt yourself.

The second day or the next time you go to the gym do back and biceps. When you do a back work out you use your biceps so they are already warm up.

If you have a lat pull down machine do 3 sets of 10 pull downs in front bring the bar down close to the top of you chest. This works the width of your back or the lats giving you th V look. My next back exercise I would do bent over barbell rows. The bent over barbell rows can be substituted with a cable row machine if you have one or the other in your gym. This exercise is for the thickness in you back. The safer of the 2 exercises is the cable rows. Do the same 3 set of 10 reps. The last back exercise is upright rows, this works out your traps and upper back as well. You can use a straight barbell or a ez curl bar for this. When doing the exercise bring the bar high to nose level squeezing your traps at the top of the exercise. I guess you noticed most everything is 3 sets of each exercise doing 10 reps. These are the basics latter on you will add or decrease reps depending on the exercise and what you are trying to achieve. Every exercise is the same increase the weight as much as you can every set
The biceps work out should be started with a straight bar barbell curl or a ez curl bar. Do standing 3 sets of 10 reps. Then the last exercise for that day is dumbbell curls do these alternating on arm at a time and when at the top squeeze the blood into your biceps for the pump.

The next day is leg day if you have a smith machine do squats on that it is safer because it has the rails to help guide you and you can set up stoppers in case you fall. Even safer would be leg press machine to do the exercise. The next leg exercise will be leg extensions. These first 2 exercises work the front part of your legs the quads. The next leg exercise for you legs would be leg curls. This works out the back part of your legs or hamstrings. Do your calves the same day as your legs, standing calves raises and seated calves raises.

Do your abs every other workout. So this workout that I am giving you is called a 3 day split meaning you can do this every 3 days rest a day and start the 3 days routine again. You can also train one day skip a day do the next day of the routine and so on. The basic thing you want to do is try and do at least the whole routine every 5 days or 7 days which ever you can fit it in.

I am sorry if this confusing you, I am trying to figure out how to explain this to you in easy terms and expecting you to know how to do the exercises that I am talking about.

First day: chest, shoulders and triceps
Chest
3×10 flat bench
3×10 incline bench
3×10 flat bench dumbbell fly
Shoulders
4×10 military presses
Triceps
3×10 triceps push downs

Second day: back and biceps
Back
3×10 Lat pull downs in front
3×10 barbell or cable rows
3×10 upright rows
Biceps
3×10 standing barbell or ez curl bar curls
3×10 alternating standing dumbbell curls

Third day: legs
3×10 smith machine squats or leg press
3×10 leg extensions
3×10 leg curls
3×10 standing calves raises
3×10 seated calves raises.

Do an ab workout every other workout day.

We made it to the Finals last night of the Fame Natural Body Building competition in Fort Lauderdale, Florida held at the War Memorial center. I was very happy that I could attend and see my first live body building show. What sucked was my camera batteries died after 2 pictures and the one posted is the best of the 2. I did have my Blackberry Bold with me but from where I was sitting the pictures came out fuzzy. I was proud to see the contestants on stage knowing these were the real deals not some Roid Boybut hard working real people from all walks of life and people whom had obstacles such as one guy used to be parlayed and the lady named Amy who loss over 300lbs. I wish this event and other natural body building events would get a better following but I guess most people rather look at a freakish monster than a person whom does not use steroids and trains hard.
The only thing that I saw bad was the turn out it was terrible. Most of the seats were empty and they had to drop the general admission tickets to $2 stating it was to promote drug free body building. What they called VIP seating was the fold up chairs in front of the stage and those tickets were $40, so you can guess most people sat in the general admission seats. The sponsorship was week, they had a new company that Donald Trump is backing that creates personalized supplements based on your body make up. The other sponsor were a vitamin water company, personal trainer certification and a guy promoting his energy pill. I did not stay to the end but the guy who did the Terminator routine and I think is name was Malik, he did a routine with a sword. Those 2 should have place very well in the competition. The 69 year old guy looked great and much respect to him.