My Fitness Motivation: Taylor Lautner of Twilight New Moon

In searching for ways to stay motivated, I have been trying to find a workout partner. I haven't had much luck, so I have almost given up. There are just too many reasons that make it hard to find one. First of all, among the small amount of people who actually want a work out partner, there are even fewer who actually go to the same gym. So I have decided to continue to stick with my 12-week workout plan and occasionally repost the workout partner ad on craigslist.org until I actually find one.

As I enter week4, I know that many factors are involved with how fast you gain muscle: genetics, nutrition, rest, and a proper workout program for your goals. You also have to make realistic goals, and understand that it does require time and dedication to make the most of all of those factors.

Some people actually dedicate enough time and effort to bring all those factors together and put on muscle weight very fast. My motivation comes from actors Tobey Maguire (5'8") and Taylor Lautner (5'6").

Here's an interview of Taylor Lautner while he was in training for Twilight New Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEYT5cNK-pA:




Actor Tobey Maguire put on a lot of muscle for Spiderman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymCpKe6LlMo:

Week 3, week 3, and week 3

I've loosely repeated week 3 of the 12-week workout plan about three times in a row now. I've got to try some new motivation. I'm posting an ad for a workout partner on www.craigslist.org soon.

Well into Week 1 of Twelve Weeks

I'm well into week 1, at this rate I will be in swimsuit shape by winter! (Actually my 12 weeks is over on October 16).

 

The Day 1 routine (upper body) wasn't too bad, I completed all of the exercises in the realjock.com plan, but I was able to use light weight. I immediately felt more energy during the workout and the next morning, even though I was just a little sore. 

 

Day 2 (lower body) was rough because I didn't stick to the nutrition plan throughout the day and therefore I didn't have much energy. I couldn't lighten my own body weight either for doing the squats, lunges, and  jumping squats (I do those in the privacy of an empty aerobics room so people won't give me the WTF look). From lack of nutrition and from being out of shape I got a cramp in my hamstring and couldn't complete all the exercises. Better safe than sorry!

 

Here's an article about muscle cramps:

http://www.medicinenet.com/muscle_cramps/page2.htm

 

Apparently I didn't have enough Potassium, Calcium, and Magnesium throughout the day. I was covered with the magnesium because I had guacamole salad from Chipotle at lunch. The romaine lettuce had some magnesium, but I definitely haven't had any calcium in milk or yogurt in a long time. Gotta stick to that nutrition plan on the realjock.com website.

Fresh start to my 12-week fitness program

Today, I am starting Day 1, week 1 of my 12-week fitness program. I'm actually psyching myself up by looking forward to my first day back in the gym. I anticipate doing all of the sets of the exercises, with really light weight.

Back in the Game

Trainwreck of Motivation
I made it to week 8 of the 12-week realjock.com program, almost three-fourths done, and then I bought a house and it all went to hell. I was punishing myself for being lazy about repairing our houses (now two houses total) by not letting myself go anywhere, even to the gym. I started receiving discouraging words from those closest to me and before you knew it, I lost all motivation.

Well now it's time to pick myself up again start anew. I'm gonna start back to the gym with some light treadmill today, and start back on week 1 of the workout. So before I can overcome my obstacles, first I need to identify them:

Motivational Article
My key motivation this week is this article about the Twilight star beefing up. This guy really beefed up in a short amount of time. So if he can put on 30 lbs of muscle, then so can I:
Taylor Lautner Reveals Secrets To Ripped 'New Moon' Body











Challenges:
I'm facing the challenges of:
* Getting enough sleep
* Getting to work early so I can get home and the gym in the evening,
* Taking care of errands and house repairs,
* Getting enough nutrition with a non-functioning kitchen.

Preparation for Week 1
Today I have to take care of some long-neglected errands so that I can stay focussed on my routine next week.
Today I commit to:
* Getting new tires and oil change
* Getting to the gym for a light workout
* Washing and folding laundry
* Organizing the junk dump which is my entire house right now.

Rewards
Tomorrow I will reward myself with either a bike ride or a scenic hike.

Tomorrow's plan
Must go to the grocery store and plan out my meals for the month.

Week one day one here I come!
I remember all the compliments that I received 6 weeks into the program when I went out for the first time in a long time. My friends immediately noticed my results and complimented me on beefing up. Well, it shouldn't take too long to get there again.

Week 6, almost halfway through!

I started week 6 tonight and I noticed a huge difference in my strength since I got over 8 hours of sleep last night. I could finish all the exercises in the plan, and I doubled my weight. One of the exercises was bench barbell presses. Last week, I was using 15 lbs each, now I used 30 lbs.

I'm so glad that I am getting results so fast. I've been seeing some of the other guys who have been working out almost every night that I'm there, and I don't notice much has changed in their physical appearance. I almost want to make copies of the routine and hand them out. Even my friends who haven't seen me in about 5 weeks noticed the difference immediately. I'm in the best shape now than I have ever been, and I have 6 more weeks to go!

Week 4 of the 12-week Realjock.com Workout Plan

I started out the week great, completing all of the tough exercises during the first three days of the week. The routines were beginning to seem less impossible, and I was actually really getting into the exercises, and enjoying the challenge of trying to complete them all.

Then I wound up skipping the last two workout days on Thursday and Friday, with the intentions of catching back up on the off-days on the weekend.

On Thursday, I had to skip a workout when I had a late night closing a new house. Friday, I had to skip again because I had to rip out old carpet to get ready for the installation of new carpet. Today, was yet another skip because I spent the entire day preparing floors for my tiling work.

I plan on trying to get caught up on my usual off day tomorrow. At least the days spent working on the new house was labor intensive, so I got some good physical activity out of yanking up carpet, hauling it downstairs, and moving appliances out to make room for new deliveries today.

One thing that I have noticed was that this much physical labor would have been drudgery for me before I started the new 12-week workout plan. Now, it actually seemed fun, because I had a lot of energy to spare, and the work didn't really feel like work.

I was kinda like that lady on "There's Something about Mary" who ate the doggy uppers, when she was on a cleaning binge, lifting couches with one hand. Here's a clip of it in French (the only clip I could find). Can you believe this movie is ten years old?

Augh!

I quit! I am so done right now. I have worked 2 14 hour days back to back . With another one tomorrow. I am exhausted. I give up. I feel like I may as well cancel my membership, because I will probably never see the inside of a gym again. Unless they build one at work. SIGH!

Week 3 of the 12-week Work Out Plan on RealJock.com

I started week three of the 12-week work out plan. I actually finished all the exercises and sets tonight. I took a pic of myself to chronicle my progress. Okay, so maybe I took 30 pics to choose from the very best one that had the lighting just right to hide all my wrinkles.

Sigh

I was lazy today. I admit it. Tomorrow I will have the chance to redeem myself.

Test Post from a Cell Phone

The email to use for posting via cell phone is j.aron.hinson.fitnessjournal@blogger.com. The subject line of your cell phone's email becomes the subject line of the blog post.

Week 2 of the 12-week workout plan

So week one went by pretty well. I couldn't finish the entire routine each night, but I have been able to complete all the sets for week 2 so far.

I noticed results during week 1, and I have gained about 2lbs of muscle mass since I've been eating right, weighing in at 119 lbs. I should reach my goal of 125 by summer.

During week 2, I haven't noticed as much of a difference in my appearance, maybe it's because I'm not as sore, and my muscles aren't in the inflammatory-response and swollen stage anymore. At least I've put on a little bit of healthy weight, so that's enough motivation to keep it up.

I am seeing my massage therapist for a 30 min session today because my upper back muscles have knotted up behind my left shoulder, and it's even noticeable in my posture. If I can get the knots worked out, I can probably continue on this week's routine without it doing unwanted damage to any tissues if I keep going without getting getting some therapy.

Keep on Trucking

So I have not been able to post due to technical issues. However I am not usurping my gym duties. I have been in the gym as often as i can. I have during cardio days, I have added 50 bench presses with a barbell before, in between and after cardio. Help keep the heart rate up.
I'm staying optimistic. I know that the results I want will come soon, I just need to be patient.
It has been another great work out week. Hopefully with many, many more weeks to follow.

Day 2 week 1

I moved on to day 2 today on my lunch break. It was an intense lower body workout that looked gentle on paper. Well, I can definitely see why my legs are so skinny, because just doing a few sets of squats and lunges had me walking more wobbly than a Friday night at the drive-in. I started to feel like I was pulling my hamstring, or a cramp, so I knew it was time to stop before I really pulled something. Sometimes you gotta know your limits. I ran outa time anyway and had to hurry back to work.

Didn't make it

So it is 4:40 am and I just got home from work.
I am totally exhusted, so I am going to hit the gym tomorrow.
I feel really guilty. Like I'm not disciplined enough.
Aww well. Good night.

Day 1 of a twelve week program

Well I trudged my way through the icy roads to the gym to start my 12 week program from www.realjock.com. It was really gruelling and very hard. I did all four sets, but couldn't do all the reps. Well, at least my arms were super inflated, and could almost pass for boyish.

Trying to make time

I have to work a 12 hour shift today. Hopefully I will be off around 1 am.
Since my gym is 24/7 and down the street from my apartment, I hope I will
have the energy to go. If not I will go during the day on Tuesday, my off day.
We will see how it goes.

I'm going to get all cardio on your ass!

Day 2.
Motivation is kicking in. I like that.
I even drove through "Snow Storm 2009" to get to the gym.
My goal is to make my body lean. I don't want muscle mass, I want lean muscle.
So every other day I need to focus on cardio, which is what I did today.
30 minutes on the bike averaging about 12 RPM
20 minutes on the elliptical averaging about 1.8 RPM
The last 5 minutes of the work out was grueling. Janet Jackson's If pulled me through to the finish line. (Thanks Janet)
All in all I believe today was a great work out.
Back to work tomorrow, so that means more schedule shuffling.
However I need to remember my fitness goals.
2009 is the year for me.

Back to work-out

Well after a 2 month hiatus, due to intense work scheduling, exhaustion and sheer laziness, today marks my return to the gym. Yay!

Yes it took a lot of convincing to motivate myself to go. I was lacking in energy.

I ate a bowl of oatmeal, a granola bar, drank a cup of hot tea and a bottle of water. Pulled on my gym shorts and my tennis shoes and was out the door.

Almost drove passed the gym, but I parked the car and strolled in. Once I was in, I was face to face with members of the "Cute Club", to which I let out an exasperated sigh. However if I want to join this exclusive cute club, I figured I better get to work.

I started off body sculpting with weights:

chest fly

chest press

bicep curls

triceps curls

abdominal crunches

3 sets of 15 reps with 40 #

Followed by 20 minutes on the elliptical.

I hope that this blog will help keep me motivated to maintain a steady workout.

I really do hate playing catch up after being away from the gym.

Fitness Goals

What are my fitness goals?
I generally want to put on about 20 lbs of muscle within the next year or so. I'll settle for about 10 lbs of muscle by 6 months, around August?

What are my current stats:
Weight= 118 lbs of scrawniness
Short goal= 125 lbs by June

What am I doing to obtain them?
Staying on schedule of getting about three workouts a week, and loosely following the Real Jock strength foundation workout.

What are my obstacles?
I have a hard time getting enough nutrition. I sleep-in late a lot and don't have time to make breakfast.
Also, I only get about 6 to 7 hours of sleep a night, then I'm too tired to work out.

What am I doing to improve?
Try to go to sleep early for 8 hrs, have enough time for breakfast and getting my gym clothes together. Set reminder alerts in my calendar to remind me when to take a protein shake.

What is my current routine?
I've been working out regularly for about 5 weeks now, trying to stick to my New Year's resolution. I've only strayed for about a week, where I was feeling low energy.

I've been doing three days a week, generally Mon, Wed, Fri, but sometimes Fridays are really busy so stay flexible and just make it up on Saturday. I'm thinking of starting a different realjock workout. Right now, I'm on the beginners 12-week program called Strength Foundation. I'm thinking of switching over to the muscle-building one in about a week.

My first Blog

Here goes...I've decided to keep a workout diary as a motivational tool to keep on track with my new year's resolution. So far, I'm in week four of the strength foundation workout on www.realjock.com. I'm starting to get some of my old definition back when I used to work at a college gym. I'm trying hard to keep up the good work, but I keep running into distractions, like inclement weather. We are having an ice storm, so I just came straight home from work. My weight at the moment is 118 lbs. I'm definately a lightweight, but I'm making progress. My goal is to be 125 lbs by March.