Week 5 day 37

Tonight when I get off work will be chest and ab boot camp. I've not missed a day on my new routine except for free day. The eating is at 90%, but like I have said before I think I have a little to give since I am trying to gain. Today we had physicals at work and my b/f was at 16% on their Tanita. I was 17.8 at thesports center, so that was close. I did the physical because of the bloodwork to check theliver panels again to see how they are. I still haven't tried any supps, not even whey, so I'm interested to see where they end up.
In other news Susan has started working out again, but the twins aren't cooperating and has been getting sore quickly. If she exercises tonight she'll have done 4 days in a row!
I brought 2 more Stone Heads to the bed liner guys to spray. I intend to put them up at the front gate and call them the Gate Keepers.
The bedroom is getting close to completion.
Other things in our local news: The YMCA they are building down the street(in the country down the street is 10 miles or less, this is 8.275 miles) is finally a go after 2 years. We have decided against putting in a swimming pool, especially due to the high utility bills and joining the Y and use their pool. I might also do my heavy lifting there if I find a workout partner.
Other than that, hope everyone has a great w/e.

Scuba diving in our bedroom

O.K. that could be possibly taken wrong in some sort of a different way, lol but here are a few more pics of the mural with some of the art. That goofy looking fish is about 2 foot tall and 4 foot long, and the penguin is almost 3 foot long, so that's about how big some of the pieces are. When it's all done I'll see if I can get better pics of the 4 walls.
K- That big fish is hollow and Mike and I are working on an idea of putting a light inside him. As far as other lighting to accentuate the room or individual pieces, that's still up in the air.
Jeremy- that's our bedroom. We are trying to fix up one room a year in a certain style.We finished the "Purple room" last year. That's the room that we painted purple, lol. We have some of our Warner Brothers cartoon collection, hurricane shelter and library in that room. Next year we hope to fix up the little den. I am collecting African stuff like masks and animals and would like to paint the room like a savannah with the tall grasses and of course name it the African room.
Jim - your routine is kicking my ass but I'm finally seeing measurable results.
The exercise: haven't missed a day and just finished week 4 of Jim's customized routine for guaranteed results and deflation of the male ego lol.
I have gained 3 pounds, and a quarter of an inch to my biceps and chest! I can't wait to see what another 4 weeks will bring!
The food: well I have been having a battle with frozen yogurt, but it's not that bad, and I am trying to eat a little more and gain a little weight for mass, so we'll see. I am debating not putting my food into fitday.com for awhile just to see how I do. I do it for accountability , but for the most part I have the eats down pretty good and am getting bored of entering it every day
Well, that's all folks!

Sneak preview

This is some of the mural the artist "still known as Mike Quinn" is working on in our bedroom.We have been collecting his 'Fish With Attitude " sculptures for some time now.When we met him at a show we told him we were getting bids on a mural to incorporate the 20 or so pieces we have of his. He told us he and his mom do murals, but it would be like his art, on the whimsical side.We thought it would be a great idea, so here is a little looky-sea(lol). The next pics I take will have some of his pieces included.
In other news, the workouts are still on plan and I finally finished up that frozen yogurt. The other 5 to 7 meals a day have been EFL friendly.
And this week, no snakes to report, but we did order a snake grabber. That big one I have been chasing has me a little spooked now.
See y'all soon,
Troy.

Week 4 Day 24

This is The Land Yacht. She's a 1998 F-250 Super Duty 7.3 diesel pick up. She's my primary driver during the summer(diesel costs 30 to 40 cents more in the winter and it gets less mileage because of the way it's cut for home heating fuel up north). She has 222, 480 miles on her and has been damn dependable. If and when we get a bigger horse trailer we will name that The Land Ark. The trailer behind my truck is a 9 foot bed from a chevy p/u that I use for hauling dirt and mulch. It has hydraulics to lift the bed to dump the material. It's very useful. It's funny the locals have their hydraulics to make their cars bounce up and down and I have mine to make the trailer go up and down. I think mine is mo betta,lol.
Anyway the workouts have been on track, still moving up in tiny increments on most of the weight(2.5, maybe 5 lbs if I have had my wheaties), but my eating of late needs a little improvement. I'm into frozen yogurt his past week and can't shake the habit. It's not as good as yogurt and cottage cheese at night, but boy it tastes soooo much better. I'll have to work on that!
Let's see, Susan named the baby cow Dino, so no Z names this time.
I think that's it for now. Man I can't wait to go back to work, I need a little rest, lol.
Later!

Feeding Frenzy

Because I'm not too computer savy yet, the picture on the right is the before and the one on the left is the after. Now if you notice the right picture under the palm tree, that's Emmitt, my male swan and he shares in the duties of hatching and rearing the cygnets. So guys, after the recent revelation of Bev's Vegas trip and how awesomely romantic Jeremy is, there are male animals in the animal kingdom that pull their load. Now me , against my better judgement thought that I could gain a few valuable points with the Mrs. by telling her about Bev and Jeremy, and that yes I can recognize romance and romantic things a mile away, and maybe on our 25 anniversary come up with something that would rival Jeremy's proposal(though I hadn't shared that with her yet) forgot that the 4th of April was our 12th anniversary. OOOPS! Well let's just say that Emmitt has earned more points in the romantic responsible male of the month club than I'll have!
Anyway back to the pics, Man I need to fly K down here to take hundreds of pics so I post decent pics, and then Jess to help me with the computer savy, and hell I might as well include Jeremy for some good pointers on how to be a romantic.Anyway again back to the pics, the right is a before, the left is the water bubbling while I feed my pet pirrahnas. They are lovely little fish aren't they!Look familiar, that looks like me at the chinese buffet on free day,lol.Actually they are the catfish I stocked my pond with. And yes we do eat them. Only eggs and fish are eaten here, the rest of the animals have names.
Well I need to get, I think I have an urge to go visit a jewelry store or two.
Oh, exercise : NO DAYS MISSED!
food: pretty good , semi authorised food binge last night:frozen yogurt bar, ginger snaps, p/b.
Later
Edit, after I post, the pics go from top to bottom, the top being the after pic.Go figure?

Week 3, day16 Busier than a ...

one legged man in a butt kicking contest.Work's been busy and after work hasn't been much better. Come on Friday.... 7 days off and boy do I need them! The workouts have been continuing and I have been adding weight each week. The eating has been on track and havee been trying to stay above 2400 cals, but not exceeding 3000. After things settle down I'll go back to outlining my workouts again. They are still tough though.
Comments:
Jim- good guess, it's a 66. Had it been a side shot the differences in the side vents would be the most noticeable difference. It's nice but it's not all original, but I'm working on it.
JunoJen- thanks for dropping by Our Zoo and not feeding the animals, we don't encourage it as it causes them to become a little rowdy, lol. As far as what the neighbors think, well, they stop me all the time to ask questions and I usually give them a tour. That's why I never get anything done.
Tom- no interiors were scuffed, marred, or torn during the photo shoot, and in several instances a stand in double was used, lol.
Well guys, that's it for now, have a fantastic week,
Troy.

Muscle Heads and Muscle Cars

This is Stone Oak Muscle Head. He is teaching me the finer arts of muscle gain. So in his honor I have made this head and named it so, due to his inspiration and patience. So, since he can't be here in person, he is now here with me in spirit, and I thought, what could be cooler, Stone Oak Muscle Head in a muscle car and teaching him how to drive a stick shift. Dude, is that how they drive in Indy?

W2, D11 Snakes alive!

Got up and headed for the mower to finish up and darn near stepped on a snake. Let the cardio begin! Man some of these snakes are fast and it took me several minutes to catch him. At one point he even reared up and leapt toward me. He was a yellow belly water snake and was about two foot long. They mimic a water moccasin in the way they look and even give off a pungent odor when disturbed, which I was doing to him. Anyway I finally caught him and released him in the ditch in the front of our place. Then while I was mowing I almost ran over another one. I guess they are starting to stir. Susan saw the 6 footer I have been pursuing for 2 years now.We still can't figure out what kind he is but he left a skin by the pond the other day and he is some kinda big!
The workout today was cardio, which was the second cardio of the day,lol. I did the recumbant and burned 390 cals for 9.8 miles at a steady resistance of 3.
That's about it. Hope y'all have a good day.

Week 2, day 10, Sleeper is broke!

Fucksticks! I think my sleeper is broke. Got home at 0600 and was up by 1030 a and couldn't fall back to sleep. So I got up and started on chores. Finished mowing the front, cleaned the mower, fixed and rehung a set of windchimes. Watered some blueberry bushes I planted, carved and finished up on another stone head, loaded him in the truck, worked out, cooked Susan and my dinner, and then dropped Mr. Stone Head off to the bedliner spraying dudes, on the way to work. I hope this lack of sleep doesn't hurt the lack of progress I seem to be having.
The torture went something like this:
I headed down to the dark dungeon and IT was waiting on me. I looked at IT, IT sneered back at me, I studied IT profusely when I remembered most of this routine is done with a barbell. Whew, I thought I was in trouble. IT would get a crack at me though!
Warm up barbell hack squeel like a pig, er I mean hack squat, SQUAT:
10,8,5,3 reps at 80,80,120,130 lbs
The real hack squat:
8,8,6,6 reps at 160 lbs as they say in Norway UFF DAH!
Barbell Power Clean the floor with my ass after this one:
5,5,5 reps only got 4 reps the first go around but 5 reps the last 2 at 100 lbs!
Leg extensions on IT:
10,10,8 reps at 172.5 lbs
Romanian dead or is it dead Romanian lifts:
8,8,6,6 reps at 130 lbs
1 Legged Curls on IT:
10,8,8 reps at 55 lbs
IT kicked my ass, the barbells kicked my ass, I kicked ass! I went up on all the weights except the Hack squat this week. I'll bump them up next time.
That's it for another day, hope everyone has had a fantastic day!
TROY
Chow for the day; cals at 2685 ratio 42/34/23.

Week 2,day 9, no nap day.

First the chalupa and bean dip recipe:
Grab the keys to your car, start car, drive to nearest Taco Bell, order Chalupas and bean dip, pay $7.70 at the drive thru, drive home, slam food! Oh you mean the EFL style recipe!
Grab the keys, drive to the grocery and pic up these items:
1 lb of lean ground meat 97% lean, or ground turkey or chicken,
1 15.5 oz can of beans, kidney, navy or black,
1 15.5 oz can of tomatoes and green chilis
1 bag of ff or lf cheddar(everythings better w/ cheddar)
1 bag or head of lettuce
1 onion
1 package of taco seasoning
1 little old tub of ff or lf sour cream
1 loaf of ww pita bread, my bag has six frisbee size pitas in it.
1 jar of picante sauce

Go home and brown the meat, add the seasoning and a little chili powder to taste.
Dice up onion and lettuce and put on a paper plate(our finest china)
Cut up the pita into Dorito size chips and put a couple of whole ones on a cookie sheet and put in oven for ten minutes at 350 degrees or until chips are hard.
Take the can of beans and tomatoe and chilis and drain excess liquid and put into a blender, and blend to the texture you desire. This will serve to dip the chips in and I also like a tablespoon or so on my chalupa.
When everything is done cooking take a whole pita and spread a tablespoon of the bean dip on
it , on that add your meat, 4 oz if you are getting lean 8 oz for muscle gain,lol then top that off with lettuce, onion, cheese, picante and Susan likes the lf sour crap, I mean cream,lol. So that's about it. Some people like cilantro and an extra bite in the dip i.e. cayenne or jalapeno, but Susan's from up north so I had to tone it down. Enjoy!
Got up at 0800 and went to Lowe's to exchange a sprayer, got home and sprayed Roundup for an hour, mowed and cleaned mowers for 3 hours, fed animals, changed papers in the bird cages, and cooked dinner before I went to work, which is where I'm at until 0500.
Oh and the most important part:
The workout:
Warm up Bench press, 10, 8, 5, 3 reps at 100, 100, 135, 145 lbs
The real bench press: 8,8,6,6 reps at 170, 170, 190, 190 lbs
Icline press: 8,8,6 reps at 150, 150, 160 lbs
Dumbbell pullover 10,10,8 reps at 70 lbs
And then we finished it off with ab boot camp for a total of a 42 minute workout.
I wasn't hurting until a few minutes ago and now I'm getting sore, or is it that warm tingly sensation one gets for a job well done, either one's good for me.
And remember OGR (OLD GUYS RULE!) Y'all have a great one,
Troy. Chow line totals: 2932 cals at 43p/37c/20f.

Week 2, day 8. Jim is my friend!

Yes Jim, you are still my friend! It was brutal but I SURVIVED! I hope you won't tell me that I didn't hit it hard enough then lol. Anyway the day went like this, returned insulation to the Depot, cut bamboo in the back for my friend's parrots for nesting material, dug a ditch going in the pond to facilitate catching the 4 swans for their new homes, was attacked by Emmitt(black swan) and have a knot on my calf,mowed 2 islands and the back yard with a push mower(almost an acre total), carved on a stone head, moved a bail of hay to the barn, tried removing sutures from the cow, removed sutures from the dog,cooked an EFL form of chalupas and bean dip with Pita chips I cut and baked,did my calf exercises, and after I post this will help Susan clean her salt water tank and it's almost 7p my time. I was going to add a little cardio, but I think I'll pass.
The calf workout:
Even though it was short(25 minutes) and sweet it produced a decent burn.
Standing barbell raise: 12,12,10,10 reps at 130 lbs
Calf presses: 10,10,8,8 reps at 190 lbs( that's all the machine has)
1 leg dumbbell calf raise: 15 ,15, 15 reps at 80 lbs, last set was only 13 reps on the right leg, that knot from the swan hit was starting to hurt!
That's all she wrote! I'll add the cals later, not done eating for the night!
When do I get to retire? Soon I hope.Have a great day guys!
Grub totals: 2509 cals, 37/45/18 ratio.

Free Day, day 7

Today is freeday , but yesterday was shoulders and tri's. It is also the end of week 1 of a new exercise routine aimed at gaining mass. Heavier weights and lower reps is the game, pain is the name,lol.
Anyway yesterday's routine was tough, but due to technical difficulties on my part, it should have been tougher. I left out a routine!
The routine:
Over the shoulder boulder holder and triceps:
Shoulder press warm up on the machine:
10,8,5,3 reps at 50, 50, 75, 80 lbs
The real deal shoulder press
8,8,8 reps at 100 lbs, the last 8 bumped to 110
Uptight and upright rows:
8,8,8 reps at 80 lbs each
Front raises on the machine:
10,10,10 reps at 30, 32.5,35 lbs
The technical difficulty rear dumbbell rasies:
0,0,0 reps at 0 lbs for 3 cals burned over forgetting about them
Triceps pushdown on the machine:
10,8,8, only got 6,8,8 reps at 70, 60, then somehow 70 lbs!
Triceps extensions on the machine:
10,10,8 reps at 50,60,62.5 lbs
Well there you have it! The rotation is an 8 day one though, so Monday I'll finish off with calves.
The fuel ratios
Cals for the day 3145 at a 41p/43c/16f split.
Have a great Sunday!

Day 6.

Started day shift on Friday,which is 12 hour days so my routine posted is what I did yesterday.Make sense?
O.K. to the cows, we call them the mini moo moo's. I had two of them dehorned last week and since I am always in the need of a little extra cardio I told the Vet that I could remove the sutures when it was time. Hell, they only weigh 300 lbs. I have always subdivided my tasks into smaller portions so as not to get frustrated over something being to large to handle. Like BFL, I plan it in 2 week increments instead of 4 or 12. Well the 2 cows had 4 horns that were removed 4 seperate times and had 4 seperate stitched areas. Looking at the whole picture and when I came at Zazu with the suture removers(little scissors made for removing stitches) I soon realized this was going to be a much bigger task than I had anticipated.After a couple of near launches to the ground and getting pushed around the stall for a few minutes I decided to focus on just one area. I got some feed in a bucket and let him stick his head in there and started to remove the stitches from one side(or as I was thinking a .5 portion of the task). That went fairly well and as I started on the next .5 portion, Will and Grace(the white swans) came to investigate, and then started attacking us any time I had my back to them. (they are so brave aren't they). I had to stop that for a few and go put some food out for the swans so they would let me finish. I got back to the chore at hand and then because of all the commotion, Dottie and The Dahli(the llamas) had to come and investigate. Well when they saw there was additional feeding going on, they wanted some. So I had to put everything down again and give them some more feed to keep them occupied.From all the excitement I could see Zoe was getting antsy. As I was working on Zazu, Zoe had been coming over to get some grain and I would get in a snip or two on her stitches. I only had a few more minutes to work on both of them before the extra feed ran out for everyone so luckily I was able to finish up Zazu(1.0 cows done ) and started to finish Zoe(1.0 cows to go). All I got done on her was half of one side and that was it. She hauled ass to the pasture, Will and Grace came in for some more sneak attacks and the llamas wanted more feed. So I only got 1.5 cows done.
Answers and comments :
Erin- my friend sold his plane to get another Harley, so it might be awhile before I get any aerials.
Tom- I'm trying to increase my cal intake but fall short due to shiftwork. That's why the totals bounce around periodically.
K- The chores are fun sometimes, until a chicken poops on your head or you step in cow poo. I could open our place up for a week and have a BFL ranch week for all the blends. Or maybe it would be better calling it BFL free week. 7 days of free days, no workouts! Susan is still sore, the twins are looking fine, but I'm not allowed to hold them yet,lol. Oh, and they are little cows. Not the twins but the Zebu.
The Workout: which was done yesterday.
The routine was plyometrics and ab boot camp
How it went:
Jump squats: 4 sets at 5 reps
Tuck jumps: 4sets at 5 reps
Box jumps: 4 sets at 4 reps
Jump box 18" to 24 "4 stes at 5 reps
Once I build a little more stamina and coordination, I will increase the reps. On good weather and days off the plyometric routine will be more of the sprinting type that Jim recommended.
The cals for yesterday: 3225 at 39/40/21 ratio of protein to carb to fat.
Well guys I hope that explains the 1.5 cow head thing. Y'all have a fantastic day!
Troy