...:::Six Pack Attack Challenger:::...

Week 5 Update (later than ever)

2008-02-26T22:12:00.000-08:00

So there're a lot of things going on in my life and while i gather my energy to keep going through this hard time I decided to update this blog a bit so here are my week 5 pictures... As you may see my progress kinda stopped cuz so did my training... it's a hard time I will be able to get out of soon, i hope... Now I should be in week 7 but I haven't exercised since last wednesday (Week 6 RT day 2) because school workouts are draining my energy...

I will be posting new pictured for week 7 at the end of it (so around saturday or sunday)

Here are the so promised pictures:

Week 3 - Update, as promised at the beginning!

2008-01-28T23:36:00.000-08:00

So I'm currently doing week 3 and I think I'm doing so much better than in the last challenge. I've been doing a lot of work to get rid of those extra pounds I gained during christmas time and even though my weight remains the same I definately can see some progress... Judge yourselves though, cuz here are my pictures, from today, the beginning of week 3 for me.

I'm currently doing the following workout schedule:

Monday: RT
Tuesday: Ab routine + HIIT (Whenever I'm really tired I skip the ab routine).
Wednesday: RT + Arm workout (Thanks Mauricio!).
Thursday: Ab routine + HIIT (same as tuesday).
Friday: RT or Rest day, depending on my plans to go out.
Saturday: Ab routine + HIIT or RT (if I rested on previous day)
Sunday: Rest day or Ab routine + Cardio

I think 6 days a week should be enough of a workout so I decided to make fridays my rest day when I get plans to go out! (yay for my social life). If I do this I will make saturday my RT day and then sunday my ab+cardio day. If I become a mushroom and stay home on fridays, I will do RT on that day, and then I will do HIIT + Ab routine on saturday, and Rest on sunday.

Good news for all of you watching my progress: This coming Wednesday January 30 I will be going back to school after my well-desserved exam break, and Starting that day I will be taking Gym 20, which means an extra 80 minutes of workout (mostly Cardio) for me every school day. I'm very excited because last year, when my weight reached 200 pounds and I started working out, my weight dropped rapidly due to my cardio at school + workout at the gym afterschool.

Any thoughts though? Do you think I will be overworking myself? I know I can stand it... Cardio in the morning, workout in the late afternoon and sometimes that plus a 4 shift of work, would that be a lot? Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated...

Julian

Side and Back Starting Pictures + 2nd Front Picture(Just for reference)

2008-01-24T00:39:00.000-08:00

PICTURE TIME!

Ok so I was reading through the forum and found I am Batman's comment about my underwear, sorry about that again, but my other pictures are the same, and I remembered I have to post them so I can keep a good record of my own progress. So here they are.

<=Me looking at my big belly after xmas.

I can't even look at myself in the mirror anymore... I'm too fat!

So i'm looking away a the future, when I WILL have my 6 PACK ABS!

So this was for the record. Thanks for seeing my fat me, and remember it, cuz you are not seeing much of this guy left here.

Julian

I forgot the pic, Here it is!

2008-01-19T11:36:00.000-08:00

Here is me after the over-eating during the christmas season. Hope to hear your comments... So how much of a good-looking man am I? lol... Get to know my face!

Challenge #2

2008-01-14T23:53:00.000-08:00

So I started this challenge back in September 2007, but due to several reasons, most of them being associated with my lazyness I didn't finish my 16-week challenge to get my six pack abs.

This time, I'm all in! I'm so sure that I will get them that I have made an official bet with my mother.

Here is my personal bet:

I will be exercising for the next 4 months, and on the date of April 23 my time will be finished (the time for the bet).
I will be getting a six pack, or something similar to a flat tummy, which will be around 2 inch reduction in my waist, or going from 34 inches to 32 inches in the end.
I will be lowering my body fat from around 20% to less than 15%
I will be going from 185 lbs (present) to less than 175 lbs, and stay there unless I have bulked up with lots of muscle.
My side of the bet: If I can't reach my goals, I will be loosing my iPod, my cellular phone, and my wirelss device for my desktop, which means I will not be able to access the internet, and the main purpose for the use of my phone will be lost.

As you can see I'm all in for this challenge. I'm so confident this time that I'm making the biggest bet in my life, throwing in all I posses and that I use daily.

My special motivation is coming from my girlfriend, the one I love and that my life stands upon.

I will keep you all updated, but I hope to hear from you too.

Julian

Update coming tomorrow

2007-12-30T22:32:00.000-08:00

I know I promised one update today, but I still have to take the pictures and measurements so I will update tomorrow with those, I PROMISE!

Julian

I'm Back

2007-12-22T23:52:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

I'm really sorry with myself for not being able to update this blog. I read it over and over and every time I find more motivation in my own words. I haven't had the time or energy to do either the update here, but (the worst) neither the exercises....

I feel like I've gone back to September 10, when I was a loser and my belly gut was hanging on the side of my pants... Now IT IS TRUE! Here is the story: I was walking by the mall and we went shopping. I was carrying some bags and decided to pull up my pants a bit because my belt was one of those American Eagle ones, that slowly unties around your waist, the ones you have to re adjust all the time. I went to pull my belt, and then, suddenly, fell something really strange - my gutt was back, on the side of my pants...

I feel like a total as****e right now. I not only let you guys down, but I also let myself down.

That's probably why I have been making all this booze about the new group - I WANNA HAVE MY ABS BEFORE SPRING! Even if I get my 6 pack abs after spring's started, I will be lean and cut by summertime.

So now with my life-style changes lately:

I have stopped exercising (which is something I HAVE FIXED RIGHT AWAY)
I'm starting to eat healthier (mainly because I'll cook myself) on the 27th of this month.
I now have a good job at Calgary's Co-Op, carrying out groceries for people and bagging them as well (which is a lot of fun because I get to socialize a lot)
I will be posting my face on the pictures (that I'll do for more motivation and to put some pressure on myself -facing the world will make me wanna face them with good lean and cut abs)
I will be wasting less time with MSN, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, and several other recognized websites that I waste my time surfing through.
I have promised myself that the ending date for my challenge will be on Sunday, April 20th (counting in that I'll forget a couple times, lol).
My motivation is no longer coming from others. It is coming now from the center of my heart, which keeps telling me that I need to break the chain and not be a fatty like the rest of my family.
I will be doing and sticking to it till the end.

I have several things to come in the next few months, but I will stay as updated as I can.

So for now I will stop saying random stuff and go to bed (look at the time, oh my God, how late!)

See you guys all back into the challenge.

Julian

Stats and Update - Week 7!

2007-11-13T01:39:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, I'm still alive!

I've been in a baaaad ass month... I haven't had the time to do any of my stuff, but somehow I have managed to still include my workouts. Week 6, which was like 2 weeks ago was a mess. I did it very slow and slacking a lot, so I re-did week 6 last week. It was much better and it was a killer to alternate between advanced level and medium level(for some exercises I can't go all the way through). I started week 7 today - the spartan week! I have finally gotten to the one week I have wanted to do since day 1. It has always looked incredibly easy because that's the way I used to train before 300 and all this even came out. I WAS WRONG. It was a killer and I had to stop in between sets to take a break and go again. Here's what I did:

Jump Squat (30 reps)
Staggered pushups (30 reps) in two sets of 15 each
Alternating Split Jump (30 reps)=>a lot of pain after
Explosive pushups (30 reps) in 3 sets of 10 and it did hurt for a while. I decided to take my shirt off and look at the mirror I have right in front when doing my workout - Good call! I could see my pecs getting better and better over the sets. Omg I'm soooo doing that from now on.
Prison squat (35 reps) and I loved them
Hindu pushups (30 reps) in 4 sets -set 1 x 10 reps, set 2 x 8reps, set 3 x 8reps, and set 4 x 4 reps.
Kneeling Band Row (30 reps) I don't have the bodylastics yet-I sent a mail of complaint because there is a problem with international orders (why do you not want to send it to Canada? your mail people won't get cold, I promise!)
Burpees (30 reps) 2 sets of 10 each
Double Crunch (45 reps) I love them and they hurt a lot, specially cuz I did more than I was supposed to.

I decided to spike it up with an Ab workout at the end, and did the ab workout # 2. Great feeling right after. I still had my shirt off, so I could see my abs feeling the burn!

My stats keep changing and getting new stuff. I had the time to look in the forum for the new posts and found one made by Steve where he gave a formula to find Lead muscle in LBS and same with Fat.

"To get lean muscle in lbs you take your body fat % and multiply it by your weight in lbs, that gives you your total fat in lbs, subtract that from your weight and thats your lean muscle in lbs.
Peace" On Nov 13, 5:25 am

So thanks to Steve, now I will be putting this up with my stats.

Here we go with the new stats:

Weight: 176 lbs (80 kg, which I have kept since 2 weeks ago)
Body Fat %: 18 (same as two weeks ago)
Waist Line Measurement: 34 inches -> ~6 inches less since day 1.
Lean Muscle: 144.32 lbs * (a)
Total Fat:31.68 lbs * (b)
BMI: 23.2 (I've made it to a healthy state!)
Chest: 42 inches->2 more since last time
Bicep: 13 inches
Forearm: 11 inches

*=based on Steve's post, which I'm not 100% sure of.

(a) According to this I have gained 9.42 lbs of Lean Muscle.

(b) According to this I have lost 23.42 lbs of Fat.

I weight myself every day in the morning before school, and if 5/7 days I weight the same, then I'll know I have achieved a new weight I gotta keep down!

That's it for me now.

Oh wait there's something I almost forgot - Hey Kevin! you are looking good bro! keep it up! and thanks for being the one who actually cares. I bet the others have had a look but they r just too busy to type "keep it up!" or something short, but inspiring. Good job m8, you are looking cut and lean! and that's gotten me jealous, but inspired! You were right when you said that if I make it through school and all my day, hw and all the stuff I do at home, and STILL go workout I'll feel great... U were 100% right...

Feel obligated to leave me a comment after reading this, even if it's a "Hey". I will know I made my point if u do so -Thanks!

Julian

Week 6: RT Day 1

2007-10-30T22:19:00.000-07:00

Ok so today was my first day of Resistance training for week 6 and it burns! I am soooo tired... I almost fainted after the workout. I always have a banana right after and today my cousin came home early and ate it b4 I noticed so I blame it on him that I almost fainted! I had my mom's help and she made me some egg whites omelet. It was tasty. Where can I get protein supplements? I wanna start having those if I'm gonna be this tired.

I have started a new excel spreadsheet to keep track of my statistics and will share it as soon as I get more stats in.

For now here are a lot of pictures from week 5, I'm kinda proud of them cuz I'm feeling a lot more lighter than b4 and looking better, I think....

Clicking on the slide will actually give you a bigger look at the pictures (if you want). I'm soo excited, and yeah, as I said before, I will continue!

BTW, is anyone else using excel spreadsheets to keep their stats/others?????

Here is what I did today on my workout:

Chest Press(Bench Press): Round 1 -x25, Round 2- x20, Round 3-x20 with weights(approx. 55 lbs rnd 1,2, but 65 lbs on round 3)
Linear Stability Jump: Round 1-x20, Round 2-x15, Round 3-x15.
Standing Row: Round 1-x15, Round 2-x15, Round 3-x15 (same weighted bar than the one on chest press).
One -leg Step-Up: Round 1, 2, 3- x15 each leg (alternating till 30)
Tricep Bench Dip: Round 1,2,3 - x15.
Walking Lunge w/DB: Tough one. Round 1,2,3-x15 each leg.
Standing Overhead Tricep Extention: Round 1, 2- 15-20.
Toe Touch: Round 1,2-x20, Round 3-x25
One Arm Standing Concentration Curl (no bands): Round 1,2,3- Curl x20.

Week 5 almost over!

2007-10-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

If you read my long post right before this one you may just know entirely that I have done my best to keep up with this week.

The tough parts:

Doing ball push-ups with feet on ball (I try to use only the tip of my toes) and stand up right after to do squad and press with weights (dumbbells)! OH IT BURNS!
The other part is doing the ball transfer, however, the soreness in my abs is awesome! "da da da da da I'm loving it!" (hahahhaahaha)

So far this week:

Monday: Day 1 Resistance training (at 1am or 1:30 am). Took me 30-40 mins. Rest between sets 50-60 secs.

Stuff I did: Ball push-ups x15, squad and press x15, Row(with weighted bar) x 15, Hamstring Bridge x20, Bicep curl x15, Tricep Pressdown x15, Ball transfer(tough one) x15(each, when ball in legs and free hands was half, then when ball in hands and free feet finished 1), and superman x15 (each arm/leg)
Round 1, and 2 were exactly the same in reps, but round 3 was so tough I tried to make all reps go to 20 just so I could feel the burn, and believe me I DID!!!

Tuesday: Day 1 HIIT

I did 3 rounds of HIIT and i was beaten up cuz I had done so much on tuesday (school I mean) that I was super tired. I went to bed like 20 min after and I was still feeling my legs moving as if I was still pedalling in my static bike!

Wednesday: Day 2 RT (at 1:30 am)

Stuff I did: Ball push-ups x15, squad and press x15, Row(with weighted bar) x15, Hamstring Bridge x20, Bicep curl x15, Tricep Pressdown x15, Ball transfer(tough one) x15(each, when ball in legs and free hands was half, then when ball in hands and free feet finished 1), and superman x20 (each arm/leg).
Round 1 I did exactly as stated before. Round 2 I started to push it a little bit forward and did x20 or x18 on most exercises, except squad and press, which was a killer for me!
I had to keep working (on my homework) right after the workout because I had no time to waste, and guess what? The work out WOKE ME UP so good that when I was feeling sleepy my body will kick me with some burn in my abs, chest, arms, or legs... I loved it!

Thursday: Day 2 HIIT - UNABLE TO DO, because I had tons of hw piled up.

Friday: Day 3 RT- Went to bed early for the first time in the entire week, I was so beaten by my hard week that I couldn't do a thing. In the afternoon I went with my girlfriend to the doctor because her little 1 n' 1/2 year old brother had ear infection. I offered my services as a translator (or interpreter) because she is afraid of speaking english, but she CAN! however, I was not gonna leave her alone during this time. We waited for 3 hours to be seen. This is my public complain to the Canadian Health care, it sucks! waiting times are sooo long! I went home at around 9:40 and went straight to bed after dinner. I was super tired and had to rest.

Saturday: Day 3 HIIT - Day 3 RT

since I was so exhausted I am writing you right before I go and do my RT and HIIT today. I will obviously push it hard, as I have during the entire week. I wanna keep going hard because I wanna reach the spartan training(which is how I used to train, even before it was called spartan, I only did 4 or 5 exercises though) which only comes up till week 7.
I will post a little bit later to let everyone know how I did. BTW I can't believe I slept more than 10 hrs! I'm soooo pumped! I wanna hit my training right now!!!

Thanks to all those who keep track of my posts by commenting and letting me know that you care(even if it's only a bit). I will be certainly reviewing your blogs and letting you know I do.

Julian

Week 5 (Resistance-Training Day 2)

2007-10-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone...

As those of you who commented asked me: I WON'T QUIT!

I know I may not have the timing, due to work, gf, school, family, etc, etc, etc... but if I keep going with the excuses I'm gonna get nowhere close to getting my six pack abs [and yes, abdominater, I want my six pack abs pretty bad so I WILL STICK TO THE WORKOUT].

I've been trying to get the bodylastics. I talked to my cousin and he said he would buy them for me with his credit card and everything, but just when we were trying to order them the website told us that they're out of stock till november. So I'm gonna have to wait till november because they're not taking any orders in rite now. BUT, that doesn't mean that I'm gonna stop. I'll simply replace all the exercises I can and if I can't well I will just change it to meet my available equipment. What I can't do could be summarized in my lack of the bodylastics and the pullup bar. I'm doing a lot of work on the other stuff I can do so I can make up for the lost stuff.

I wanna thank to all those who have left me a comment here because I can feel your motivation coming to me. I'm trying my best to keep eating my 5 meals a day. It's tough, but I'm doing my best to eat at least 4 with 1 or 2 small snacks. My basic 3 meals have gone from huge Colombian meals to smaller ones.

My mom has noticed my change a lot. Another person who noticed my change was my mom's friend, who also cuts my hair every month, and she told me yesterday on the train:"Oh my god, I believe that you are working too much because you are starting to drop weight" (small changes in the translation, translated from spanish). So yeah, people are starting to notice it. Also, my gf saw me the other day and she said that I look awesome (btw, yes, she saw me, but not naked!)

I've improved myself, and I plan to keep it that way. I will keep going. I don't guarantee I will do all HIIT because I barely have time, but I can keep it up when it comes to Resistance training. I will slowly fall into the diet and will keep it up with it cuz I understand it is incredibly good. I can't keep it up rite now because of my lack of time to plan everything, to cook everything, etc, etc... but I promise after this weekend I will solve everything.

HUGE UPDATE: I QUIT MY JOB! and just today I talked to my cellular phone company [Rogers] and arranged to make payments of $250 dollars every two weeks so I can relax a lot on that, which relieves huge amounts of stress from me... I am super happy because of that right now and it's just excellent.

Thanks for commenting to all those that will, and like they say 'The more the merrier' so please comment!

Julian

Motivation

2007-10-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

Ok here's the deal:

I'm lacking motivation because I cannot do any exercise after doing a full day of high school, a full weekend of only work, and the left over time is for my girlfriend. What should I do? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The most I get is after 2 am that I've finished everything. Tonight, however, I will do the resistance training for week 5 because I really want my six pack abs and I've been slacking a lot. Hopefully soon my step-father will be getting paid and I will be buying all the things I need to keep my diet. I haven't been able cuz all we buy now is cheap food= high fats!

I know my blogs are not very organized because all the thoughts come to my head like at the same time - but I will keep you all updated!

Little update though, I weight myself every day and yesterday has been by far the lowest weight - 80 kg / 176 lbs! which is super great for my usual weight of almost 190 lbs or 86 kg. I keep the weight usually between 80 kg and 84 kg (176 lbs and 185 lbs) for some weird reason, it might be that I'm not eating healthy. I will as soon as I can, though, I PROMISE!

Thanks for all the comments that you guys have given me. I really appreciate the help of this group, and if you could keep the comments up I'd be more motivated.

Now touching in the motivation subject and if I should keep going, what should I do? I think it's called sleep deprivation - I believe I'm getting that for not sleeping enough, but I have barely any time to sleep. I will get going with the workout rite now cuz I've been typing about the same stuff over and over.

Julian

Quote

2007-10-11T02:49:00.000-07:00

I can't recall where I got this quote from, I believe it was one of the blogs from the team, but it is so motivating that I can't go to bed because I keep repeating it over in my head.

"You’ve got to get up in the morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction."

I just wanted to share that with all of you. Keep it up everyone!

Julian

Update and some background story

2007-10-11T00:50:00.001-07:00

Ok so as I mentioned in the forum I am still in the challenge, but I've had no time to do anything. Why? Here are a few reasons that involve my daily routine and just my life in general:

I have a girlfriend whom I love with all my heart.
She had a kidney biopsy almost 2 weeks ago and she did not take good care of herself so she ended up in the hospital with some internal bleeding. I am taking GOOD care of her now.
Now the big one: This goes back to summertime - I went down to my home country (Colombia) for the summer, I visited family, friends and ate all the food I could. I also made the BIG MISTAKE (I really mean BIG) when I decided to take my cellphone down there and use it. I enjoyed my summer, but when I got back I got an incredibly huge bill of CAN$ 2,526 which is a huge amount for a teenager to pay by himself. I got a job right away, although the first thing that I got was as a dishwasher at a restaurant. HEY! It ain't that bad, but I get so tired because I work all weekend and have no time to anything else. I have payed around $600 now, but I still have a long way to go. I will probably finish up in February 2008 or something. Here's where things get rough: I always eat at work, which means fries and a bacon and turkey wrap on saturday, sunday, and monday. That is real bad, but the worst is that I can't eat every 3-4 hrs at work so I eat only once and work for like 10 hours and go home and eat again. So it's very rough.
I am getting so much stress and I get so tired that I am starting to lose my concentration at school.

Those are not excuses why I will leave the challenge. I've had a break from it since October 1st, which was my last workout (also the first one for my week 4). I am ready to get back on track, even if that means I will be tired at school all week. I consider myself a very intelligent person, therefore I will be able to stand both the workout effort and the school at the same time. The problem begins when the weekend hits. I get home so tired after work that I will have no energy left to do any workout (interval). So what do I do? any suggestions?

I just remembered I've measured myself today to see if the lack of exercise is affecting my body and I guess it could be worse. Here are a few quick stats I just got:

Weight:186 lbs => 4 lbs less
Body Fat %: 18 => 5 % less!!!
Waist line measurement: ~35 inches =>~ 5 inches less
Chest: 39.5 inches => ~4.5 inches more
Bicep: 12.5 inches(left), 12. 7 inches(right) =>~2.5 inches more!
Forearms: 10.5 inches =>~3.5 inches more

So even though I've been a little bit off track I've improved a lot since day 1 (September 10th)

Judge for yourselves. Hope to get some feedback, one never learns from his mistakes WITHOUT FEEDBACK FROM OTHERS!

Julian

New Pics

2007-10-02T23:02:00.000-07:00

As promised I am posting the pictures from last friday, which was the last resistance training day for week 3. It's been a little bit less than a month and I'm already seeing results. Am I the only one seeing these??? Compare for yourselves.

Blogging Day 2 - Week 4

2007-10-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in my first blog, I've started the challenge from a month ago; however, I've been only blogging for 2 days including today. My abs are burning so bad. I'm feeling so much pain, specially when I laugh, cough or stretch. I've started to feel a lot better lately and I'm just going to get working out, so I will be doing abs and interval today. What I'll do is Abs workout routine #1, found at http://www.iwantsixpackabs.com/ab_workout_routine/abs1.html.

Now stats from yesterday:

Ball Pushups: 4 Sets of 10-15 each
Ball Squat: 4 Sets of 20 each
Seated Band Row: I don't have bodylastics or other bands, so I did row with weights =>4 Sets of 15 each.
Hip Bridge: 4 Sets of 20-25 each.
Side Lateral Raise w/ band: Again, no bands, so I used 10 pound dumbbell on each hand=>4 Sets of 15 each.
Tricep Extensions:No bands, so I did them with weights=> 4 Sets of 15 each.
Ball Crunch: (I love the ball) 4 Sets of 20-25 each.
Superman: 4 Sets of 20-25 each.

Workout was a killer - Week 4 is strong, yet rewarding, because all the pain is being felt all over my body, so I will continue harder and harder. My abs are killing me today, which means I did something good yesterday. I'm loving it (No pun intended with McDonald's ad).

Before Pictures - We'll see the progress - well, I WILL!

2007-10-01T23:47:00.000-07:00

I'm just getting used to all the features that this blog posseses and they are pretty cool. Here are the before pictures, obviously edited for legal reasons.
Enjoy the fatty, for the last time!

And the one showing my fat, I mean, my back!

More pics will be coming soon!

Before Picture

2007-10-01T22:40:00.000-07:00

Here it is: My before picture. This is me as of September 10th, a body I will change into a great looking body through Arnel's workout and guidelines. Enjoy!

Hello Everyone

2007-10-01T22:35:00.000-07:00

My name is Julian. I'm a 17 year old challenger to the Six Pack Abs Attack group. This group is focused on motivating each other to complete the 16 Week Abs Challenge from www.IWantSixPackAbs.com, made free for use by Arnel Ricafranca. This blog will be focusing on my progress, my stats, my story, my own journey to Six Pack Abs.

As said before, I'm only 17 years old, and this disqualified me from appearing in the official list of challengers from http://groups.google.com/group/arnels-6-pack-attack, but this journey is a life-changing experience and thus I have started it for the improvement of myself.

My journey's motivation might be divided into many categories, but the first one and the most important is myself. I will change my life-style and thus I will make my journey to happiness, which is my goal in life, more easily undertaken.

My journey started on September 10th, a week later than the group should have started. It's been incredibly hard to addapt to the exercising but I'm making my way through.

My life story, stats, pictures, etc, will be coming pretty soon...

Julian