Bill Cammack » gym

Instant Weight-Loss

Bill Cammack — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:24:14 +0000

My first day back in the gym was Saturday, two days ago. I had meant initially to go every day after that, but I hadn’t counted on getting in as good a workout as I did that day.

I’ve always had the top-level membership to my gym, so I didn’t realize that if you have a lesser membership, there are times that you’re actually restricted from using the gym. This is FANTASTIC!!! because people that have no reason to pay more can’t even show up until like two hours after I get there.

This is useful because my workout style is similar to my socialization style, which is to do whatever I feel like doing whenever I feel like doing it. I have to stop and “feel” what I need to work on next and then when I get that direction, I hop on that machine and knock it out.

So, Yeah.. Two days ago, I overdid it and I was out of commission yesterday. In fact, I didn’t want to go to the gym this morning either, but I was like “**** That! You’re Going!” and I dragged my ass to the gym.

Walked in the door, hit the scale, 177 lbs, similar to Saturday. Put in some work, drank some water, weighed in at 176. Way later, I hit the scale again, and this trainer goes “That scale’s off. You have to use the one in the locker room.” :/

I was like “Thanks a lot, dude! :D”.. Walked about 30 steps to the other scale and immediately weighed in at 170, which is what I’ve been saying this whole time.

Started out doing isolation machines this time. Last time, I concentrated on my staple machine, Weight-Assisted Dips & Pull-Ups. That’s really actually a finishing machine for me because it fills in the blanks. Anything upper-body you didn’t hit during your isolation workout is going to be stressed by doing supersets of pull-ups & dips.

Since I was just starting up again, I went straight to that machine on Saturday. This time, I started out with close-grip pulldowns. I was still pretty stressed from my last workout, so I wasn’t pulling any serious weight, but I definitely did enough to stimulate my system.

I ended up super-setting those with cable pressdowns for triceps. This is basically the same thing as doing my staple machine, but with different grips and as far as triceps, you’re rotating your forearms instead of pressing straight down for dips, so you get way more tricep isolation. The dips work a large percentage chest, depending on how far forward you lean, and I like to get my LEAN on.

Actually, I lean when I’m doing tricep pressdowns also, once I get to actual heavy weight. Back in the day, I used to push the entire stack with a 25 lb weight attached to the stack. When I felt like showing off, I’d place the pin in the lightest weight, probably ~30 lbs and get a chick that weighed around 105 lbs to stand on it while I worked out haha :D I’ll let you know if I get back to that status. ;)

After that, I did dumbbell shrugs.. Again, with relatively light weights for me, since I’m just getting back into this now. I maxed out at 60 lb dumbbells when I normally use 90s. Any heavier than that and they’re practically impossible for me to pick up off the floor and since I’m not using wrist wraps, I can’t grip them very long either.

Next was something I shouldn’t have done when I did, but it was what I felt like doing, so I did it. Decline Bench Sit-Ups. Ugh! :( I did a couple of sets of those and I felt… disconnected. I can’t really explain it, :) It’s like basically your abs are used in exercises where you don’t even know they’re working. Once I stressed them, I felt instantly less able to do other exercises, haha.

Of course, that means that I went back for several more sets during the two hours I was in the gym. :/

Eventually, I hit my weight-assisted dips/pull-ups super-sets with an embarrassing amount of weight assistance! :D

That’s one of the things about the gym. You have to get past “Pride”. You have to do what you know YOU have to do to get the workout you need to achieve the look you want. If you’re doing dips and it’s obvious to some chick that passes by that the weight stack is offsetting 90% of your bodyweight, you have to eat that. :D You won’t be very impressive to her in the gym, but when she sees you with your shirt off at the pool, she’s gonna be sweatin’ the technique! >:D

Back In Action

Bill Cammack — Sat, 08 May 2010 19:11:45 +0000

ok, Y’all.. I’m back in the gym, except I’m serious this time. :D

Had a decent-to-good workout this morning, considering I haven’t lifted in ages at this point. Went to a gym I just found out about that’s WAY more convenient for me with better eye candy on my way there, haha.

The upside is they have the only machine I actually need, which is the weight-assisted dips & pull-ups. Basically, what you can do with that is continue to do those exercises WAAAAY past your actual point of fatigue. That’s important because most of the time, there’s only one sticking point that stops you from doing an exercise and if you can get past that point, you can keep going practically indefinitely. If you have to do regular pull-ups or even if you have a spot, you’re still pulling so much weight that you’re going to have to stop before you actually make any valuable advances.

The downside is that they don’t have dedicated heavy-bags. They’re on the side in the aerobics class room and there are hooks in the ceiling that they can be attached to. Unfortunately, that means that you have to get a gym worker to help you put the bags up AND that if a class is going to start, you have to take it back down.

Fortunately, my other gym has dedicated heavy-bags, so if I feel like hittin’, I’ll just go there. There’s no reason to take my gloves to the new spot to take the chance that I won’t be able to use the bags anyway.

So I walked in to yet another new scale, which registered me @ 174 lbs right off the bat. I think that’s wrong and I’m probably actually only 170, but anyway, I was drinking water, so an hour later, I was 178 lbs and an hour after that, when I was ready to leave, I was back down to 176.

I bring that up at this point as a point of reference. I’m no longer on my weight-gain kick. I’m just interested in documenting how much I weigh vs how well my body performs. I’m expecting that I’m going to progressively lose weight towards 170 while my physical performance evolves in a positive direction.

So now it will depend on whether I feel like working out or punching the bag, which gym I go to. Either way, I’m getting ready for this to be a regular occurrence at least throughout the month of May.

Plan C! – Skate To The Gym

Bill Cammack — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 01:31:26 +0000

ok… Here we go AGAIN! :D

The last entry I made in my “Gym” category was back on August 4th. The plan at the time had been to increase my weight by 20-30 lbs. That didn’t work AT ALL and right after that, I got bogged down in work to the point that I wasn’t thinking about or caring about working out at all.

When I started putting my game plan together for 2010, I realized that the area I needed to make the most improvements in physical shape. I’m always in good physical shape because of my parents’ genes, but I used to be in the gym every day and I used to enjoy the soup-up-factor of being in insane shape. It was necessary for sports I used to play and it makes it about a gazillion times easier to pick up chicks when all you have to do is take your shirt off. :)

That was a long time ago. Recently, I started doing dumbbell exercises and I’ve retrieved a decent amount of shape from that, but I’m not going to make any real gains until I hit the gym. Unfortunately, my gym is too far from my house for me to feel like going all the way over there! :D

So I’m talking to Lou yesterday and I tell him I’m going to get a monthly metrocard so I can take mass transit to the gym and he tells me “Stop being lazy. Jog over there. Get your cardio in” (which, I’ve never done cardio because I’ve always been trying to INCREASE weight, not DECREASE it. About the only cardio I get in is marathon sessions hitting the bag.

So I’m like “Nah. I already know I’m not going to do that. :)” So not wanting to let me off the hook, he goes “Take your skateboard!”

So I’m in the process of starting to laugh at that suggestion as I see myself taking my skateboard outside and making my way UPHILL to the gym, when for some reason, it’s suddenly not funny as I’m seeing myself NOT buying a metrocard, but instead, buying my roller hockey skates that I’ve been meaning to get for ages but never bothered to.

I used to play roller hockey every day too, but all the places I used to play started banning hockey and the only spot left was Chelsea Peirs, which may as well have been in Staten Island as far as I was concerned for the amount of time I’d have to spend traveling all the way down there.

So all of a sudden, everything made sense. I went and bought my skates today, which eliminates my excuse for not going to the gym AND actually MOTIVATES ME to skate so I can get my skillz back together. I’m already seeing myself skating just to skate or going somewhere to practice puck handling or visiting different locations around the city to get my Foursquare on or to videoblog.

Of course, that eliminates any potential weight gain.. \o/ C’est La Vie! :D I’m pretty sure I’ll be satisfied with my results by the end of the month. Actually, since it’s already 9 days into the month, I think I’ll give myself until Valentine’s Day, next month on the 14th. I was fortunate and got EXACTLY the skates I wanted, so I’m hyped and ready to go….

Now.. All I need is my workout music…

“Blows your mind, drastically, fantastically.”

~ Bill Cammack | @BillCammack

Plan B!

Bill Cammack — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:06:06 +0000

About two weeks ago, I announced that I was going to try for 190lbs. That plan is SCRUBBED, as of yesterday, haha. It’s not going to work. :D

The first thing I did was overeat. That immediately put me to sleep for a couple of hours, so I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to sustain my productivity with this style. After that fiasco, I switched up to eating a bunch of small meals all day. This works out fine, and at this point, on a scale that I wasn’t using for my previous weight assessments, I’m a consistent 164, which is actually a perfect spot for me to hop back in the gym.

Previously, I had to work my way UP to 164 as my weight ceiling used to be 160. My metabolism’s too high for me to gain or carry extra weight. After I get over a certain level, my body just REJECTS extra pounds. The only way I’m going to be able to get even to 170 is going to be by working out and putting on more muscle mass, because anything else is going to disappear as soon as I change my eating habits.

The reason the goal of 190 is off the table is that I already feel sluggish. I’ve never been overweight in my entire life, so speed’s natural to me, or at least that’s what I’m used to. Being physically heavier gives me more energy and more aggression, but it’s weird… It’s kind of like walking through water. Things are more of a chore to do, haha. I don’t think I’m psychologically interested in that.

However, I’ve already achieved what I actually wanted. If I don’t feel aggressive, I can’t work out properly. There’s no point to it. Now, I have two goals instead of one. Goal #1 is to increase muscle mass & decrease useless weight that I’ve acquired over the last week and a half. Goal #2 is to remove this feeling of sluggishness and replace it with focus and good action. That’s another problem with my attempts to gain weight. I can only do it if I’m not in the gym. I can easily lose four pounds in one day after it took me a week to put those on, so eating more is relatively fruitless. For me, it’s really all about energy & aggression spurring on good workouts.

I’d like to say I’ve finally kicked my weight issue, but I really haven’t. What I’ve definitely kicked is doing it through food consumption! :D

190 lbs… or else!!!

Bill Cammack — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:31:29 +0000

Having nothing better to do with my life, I decided about 5 minutes ago that I’m going to attempt to make myself 190 lbs… just to see how it is.

My previous weight limit was 160 lbs, but I passed that pretty easily the last time I started working out. I made it to around 163 or 165 IIRC. The last time I was serious about the gym was a week after the last post I made to my Gym category… whenever that was.

Do I think I’m going to make it? No. :D It would mean I’m putting on at least 20 lbs, assuming that I’m currently 170, which I doubt.

We’ll see what happens. I’ll keep y’all informed. ;)

~Bill

Bill Cammack » gym

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