Thur., 2/26/15, LEGS

Inspiration of the day: "What you want he's dusting!"

I got in a killer leg workout this morning. I definitely was not my strongest, but I thoroughly stimulated the muscle and, I believe, stimulated some growth. The volume was low and the intensity high. Here's how it went:

squat: 45-25; 135-10; 225-6; 315-5; 385-8
leg press: 405-10; 720-8; 900-10
calf press: 360-25; 540-20; 720-12,10
1-calf press: 180-20,12,8
1-leg curl: 65-10,50-6
standing leg curl: 80-6

Tue., 2/24/15, Arms/ Diet update

Verse of the day: Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my soul. -Ps. 57:4

I got in a killer arm pump this morning. It was very fast, very focused and very intense. I did only 3 exercises for biceps and 3 for triceps. Everything was super-setted. This was probably the best pump I've had since my last contest.

The diet is pretty clean in general with "cheats" here and there. Here is what I ate yesterday:

meal 1: chicken; oatmeal; apple
meal 2: chicken
post workout: 40g whey protein isolate with vitamin c and betaine (I like P4P MUSCLE ISO-WHEY); oatmeal (about an hour later)
meal 3: chicken; oatmeal
meal 4: 4 eggs (whole); 1/2c Greek yogurt w/ honey
meal 5: turkey spaghetti (w/ whole grain pasta and extra veg sauce)
meal 6: casein/whey protein shake w/ 2 tbs peanut butter

Mon., 2/23/15, Chest/Back/Shoulders

Verse of the day: O God, Thou art my God; I shall seek thee earnestly; my soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh yearns for Thee, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. -Psalm 63:1

I got in a great workout this morning. The volume was fairly low and the intensity high. The pump was awesome. I finished feeling strong and tight. Here's how it looked:

incline dumbbell press: 5 sets of 6-10
flat dumbbell press: 2 sets- 12,5
Hammer incline: 1 set-9
Hammer pulldown: 4 sets-6-12
row: 3 sets-6-10
incline rear lateral: 3 sets- 7-12
laterals: "The Choo-Choo Train" (Sets of 5 with each set of dumbbells up the rack til I can't get 5; then back down the rack getting as many as possible with each- no rest at all.)
Hammer press: 3 sets- 8-15
dumbbell shrug: 1 set 8 reps

...This took about 45 minutes.

Thr., 2/19/15, Legs

Inspiration of the day: True fearlessness is not the absence of fear, but going beyond it.

I got in a great leg workout today. The volume was low and the intensity pretty high. My main squat set today was not a record breaker for me, but it was the best feeling set that I've done on the squat in a while. I took my time and focused on every rep, took note of everything. It was good. Here's the whole thing from start to finish:

stretch all muscles thoroughly
foam roller for quads
squat: 45-25; 135-10; 225-6; 275-6; 345-16
leg press: 270-10; 450-10; 630-10; 810-8
standing leg curl: 55-10; 100-6, 70-10
calf press: 360-20; 540-15; 720-10; 540-15
stretch neck, back and legs
10 minute cool-down on treadmill

Wed., 2/18/15, Arms

Verse of the day: ...if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. -Phil. 4:8b

I had a great realization this morning: 9 years ago today I entered and won my first bodybuilding contest. It was the 2006 NASF President's Day Open. It was not a huge show (I think there were 20 men competing that day), but it was a good experience for a first contest. I brought home the young men's title, the short class title, best chest, best arms, best legs and the overall trophy... Not too bad for the first go round. Now after 9 years, just having placed 3rd in my 20th contest (2014 WNBF World Championships), I feel like I'm just getting started.
So to celebrate 9 years of competitive bodybuilding, here's my 25 minute arm blast:

8 sets of rope pushdowns
   super-set with 7 sets of dumbbell curls
3 sets of spider curls
   super-set with 3 sets of skull crushers
4 sets of under-hand grip pushdowns
   super-set with 3 sets of cable curls
..very little rest

Mon., 2/16/15, Chest/Back/Shoulders

Verse of the day: Unless the Lord builds the house, they that build it labor in vain - ps. 127:1a

I got in a great workout this morning. It was a little heavier and more intense than last time. The volume for each muscle is still pretty low. I did more volume for the shoulders than for anything else. My focus right now is bringing up the shoulders. So, you may ask why I train them after chest and back. The theory, again, is to fully stimulate the muscle and then allow maximum recovery time for it. And I feel that the shoulders are being hit pretty hard by the weights that I use for chest and back, so it's really a pre-exhaust for the shoulders. Here's how it looked today:

incline dumbbell press: 25s-25; 40s-10; 55s-10; 70s-10; 85s-10; 100s-6
dip: 15,10,8 (40 sec rest)
wide pulldown: 135-12; 165-12; 180-10; 195-10; 210-6
row: 135-6; 185-6; 235-6
1-arm cable lateral: 20-12; 30-10; 40-10; 50-6; 30-10 (no rest at all)
incline rear lateral raise: 25s-11,10,9,10
seated dumbbell press: 50s-12; 60s-8,7
dumbbell shrug: 75s-12; 110s-7

Fri., 2/13/15, Friday the 13th Leg Day!

Verse of the day: And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. -Phil 4:5

I got in a very good, very fast leg workout early this morning. It was 45 minutes, with stretching warm-ups and all- just 4 exercises: squat, press, curl and calf. Here's how it went:

squat: 45-30; 95-6; 135-6; 225-6; 315-5; 405-6
leg press: 450-10; 720-16
standing 1-leg curl: 40-10, 55-10, 70-8,6 (no rest at all)
calf press: 410-20; 590-20,20

Thur., 2/12/15, Arms

Verse of the day: Unless the Lord builds the house, they that build it labor in vain. -Ps. 127:1a

I got in an excellent pump today. It was not very heavy, but was fast-pace and intense. There was not much rest at all- one exercise to the other, one side to the other. Here's how it looked:

rope pushdown: 60-25; 80-15; 90-15; 100-12; 110-12; 120-7; 130-6
   s/s dumbbell curl: 10s-20; 15s-15; 20s-12; 25s-12; 30s-10; 35s-6

hammer curl: 30s-8,8,8
   s/s seated 1-arm triceps extension: 30-12,12,10

concentration curl: 35-8,6,6

1-arm reverse pushdown: 40-20, 50-15, 60-10,5

...try this without stopping at all... its a pump!

Wed., 2/11/15, Chest/ Back/ Shoulders

Verse of the day: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. -Phil. 4:6

So, Monday I put down the wrong split (I'm a trainer- I do splits for people every day and I put someone elses' in there.) Ha. Here's what I'm on: #1- legs; #2- chest, back and shoulders; and #3- arms. The theory is to allow the shoulders as much recovery time as possible, while nailing them as often as beneficially possible.

Today was an excellent chest, back and shoulder workout. I didn't do a whole lot of volume. I'm easing into it. But the pump was great, and, as always, it was very focused. Here's how it looked:

5 sets of incline dumbbell press
3 sets of flat dumbbell press
4 sets of wide pulldown
2 sets of row
2 sets of straight arm rope pulldown
3 sets lateral raise
2 sets Hammer Strength shoulder press
3 sets machine rear lateral
3 sets dumbbell shrug
...eat food, let's see what happens;)

Mon., 2/09/15, Legs, AND SO IT BEGINS...

Inspiration of the day: The reason most people fail instead of succeed is that they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment.

So, here I go embarking on an extended muscle growth phase. I don't like to call it off-season. There is nothing "off" about the way I train when I'm not losing fat. The goal is to build quality muscle. I have decided, after much calculation, to sit out 2015 from the contest stage. I will return to the stage (God willing) in 2016, after having added some muscle and improved my physique. I will be posting my workouts, videos, meal-plans, training split, etc. all focused on growing quality muscle. So, let's rock and roll...

I took off last week to recover and heal up a bit, after having not taken a week off in over a year. So the first week will be a little lighter, easing back into it. I am starting off on a 3 day split: #1 legs; #2 chest, delt, and tri; and #3 back and biceps. The plan is to train 4 days per week with 3 rest days spread out as I need them. Todays' workout was legs. I always start with 10-15 minutes stretching to prepare for the heavy weight. Starting off the weights, to really stretch all the muscles out and pump the blood in them, I did 25 rep squats.  With this pre-exhaust it didn't take much weight on the other exercises. Again this week will be a little lighter, easing into the intense work later, nothing was really to failure today. Here's how it went:

squat: 45-25; 95-25; 135-25; 225-25
reverse lunge: 145-8
leg press: 360-15; 540-12
1-leg curl: 65-10,6, 50-8, 40-10
1-leg calf press: 90-25; 180-20,15
seated calf raise: 90-20; 140-15