Cobalts journey with no set destination

[Cobalt]

Got back from the ortho doctor this morning. She said I'm cleared for full use of my hands.
I very specifically asked if I could jump back into the gym, her answer was "I encourage it".

I celebrated by going to the grocery store and getting a ton of chicken, broccoli, and some linguine (gotta satisfy my Italian cravings).

Hopefully I'll be in the gym tomorrow, TIME TO GET SORE AGAIN!

[longBallLima]

I've thought about it, and the BBing scene is pretty big around here, but the wife doesn't like it.

I'm not saying that I'd want to be the next Mr. Olympia or anything, but I'd love to get into competing for the motivation.

As a matter of fact, I know quite a few people in the area that are active in it. One guy who owns some 'juice bars' inside a few gyms (protein shakes and stuff) also runs personal trainers through it. A good number of them compete, and hes tried to get me to get into it with them to see if I liked it.
I met him about 6 years ago when I was fat and weighed around 180 - 190, I worked as a repair tech on the weight room equipment at the gym. I recently started going back to that gym, and since that point, I've totally changed my physique and he was very impressed.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the wife, I may have gotten into it by this point. It is probably the ONLY thing in my life that has made me feel better about myself and something that I just can't get enough of.

Life isn't anywhere near over though. We will see how things turn out.

Do physique. Women who are afraid their men will turn into ungodly beasts usually have no issues with physique. Or check some other federations, such as the WBFF since they have so many different categories. I'm sure if it's something that makes you feel better about yourself, your wife might be understanding, no?

other than that, good news on the hand, hit it hard, broski!

[Cobalt]

Finally got in a good workout. First time in almost 6 weeks.
Everything was great, except for rows and pullups. They require a lot more gripping strength than I can offer, so I ended up going light on the rows. Pullups just didn't happen.
I hit everything at least once so that I don't kill myself. I figure I'll do a couple weeks of full body working out and slowly increase the weight each time. From there I should be able to slip into hitting a couple muscle groups during each workout.

I was surprised how much my arms have been leaning out though. My left bicep was a tad weaker from almost not using my left arm while my hand was hurt, but while doing curls my veins were really popping out.

The worst thing about it all was that I put on shorts because of the weather warming up. I was able to see how damned pale my legs are compared to my arms.
MT2 may be in store...

Do physique.

Thought about it. Wife doesn't like huge muscles, but also thinks very low body fat is ugly too. Although, she mainly sees the fake-tanned 200lbs+ 5% bf BB'ers, so who knows.

[olddawg]

fuck she's a keeper and power lifting it is. no cutting, no cardio, I love her!

- - - Updated - - -

eat, eat, eat

[Cobalt]

fuck she's a keeper and power lifting it is. no cutting, no cardio, I love her!

- - - Updated - - -

eat, eat, eat

Do what?

[Cobalt]

One solid week of being back at it, got 4 good workouts in.

Gripping strength is only limited by the pain in the tips of my fingers. That is mainly due to hypersensitive nerves and will go away with time.

I was able to hold onto the bar long enough to do a few pull ups, and even some dead lifts - with straps though. But even with the straps, you have to really grip the bar. I was able to pull 315, but I could only do one rep because of the soreness in the left fingers.

Everything is going good, but my hands/fingers are sore as shit. Not the painful sore like in the 2 hurt fingers, but sore from having to be away for 6 weeks. Feels good though.

One thing that I have started to do - packing my shoulders. I've always been told to hold my shoulders 'back' when doing certain exercises (like benching), but never back AND down. Makes a huge difference. I tried packing my shoulders and benching only 135 to see how it felt and holy hell it hit my chest pretty well.

[Cobalt]

Thought i'd add some photos.

Summer of 2012, roughly a year ago:

summer 2012.jpg

Then today:

ava1.jpg


Full-body workouts were not cutting it. I wasn't feeling much, any soreness would be gone within a few hours of showing up. I switched over to a normal routine of hitting a couple muscle groups per session. It did the trick, I'm so sore and loving it.

[longBallLima]

cobalt, you a metalhead or just sporting the look?

[Scope75]

What's your stats in the pics??

[burlyman30]

cobalt, you a metalhead or just sporting the look?

Or of strong Viking heritage...