Verse of the day: And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. -Rom. 4:3
I got in a good little pump this morning. I'm still nursing my knee back to health, so it was not an intense workout- just a pump and taking it through the range of motion. It was all very basic: 4 light sets of squats; 3 light sets of leg presses; 5 very light sets of leg extensions; 4 sets of progressively heavier single leg curls (the last set here was pretty intense); and 3 progressively heavier sets of smith machine calf raise + 2 sets of 1-calf presses (again, for the calves I put in some intensity.)
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Monday, March 30, 2015
Mon., 3/30/15, Upper Body
Verse of the day: ..."to those who by persistence in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life"
After 6 days completely off weight training, I am feeling healed up and strong. This past Saturday marked 19 weeks since I competed in the World Championships. It takes at least as long for your body (metabolism and all) to recover from a preparation as the preparation was. So, after a 19 week contest prep and 19 weeks in off season, I should be pretty much back to "normal."...Whatever that is. I am happy to say that after all this, I am almost 15 pounds lighter than I was at the start of the contest prep. I put a great amount of discipline into NOT getting fat after the contest.
So, as of today, I am starting a "base-line" training program. This means I am starting with the least volume for each muscle group that I can -this means 1 working set - and I will build slowly on this. Again, the Main Focus for me at this point in the game is recovery. For the last several years I've worked so hard on improvement that I've over-trained A LOT, and really have not made the improvements that I want. So I start over. I work from the ground up. I train with focus, intensity and purpose. There are no wasted sets, and there are no extra sets. The body Must be able to repair, rebuild AND grow between my workouts in order to make improvement...
GOOD GRIEF! I sound like an addict... Hello. My name is Levi. I am addicted to PAIN.
So, Here's the 1st workout of this new chapter of "The Great Construction":
incline Hammer Strength press: 50-25; 140-12; 210-8; 280-8; 350-6
V-grip-pull-down: 130-12; 180-12; 225-10
Hammer Strength shoulder press: 140-12; 210-10; 280-5 (+a little drop-set)
pushdown: 120-15; 150-12; 190-10; 230-6
s/s cambered bar curl: 65-10; 85-8; 105-6
bosu ball crunch: 33
After 6 days completely off weight training, I am feeling healed up and strong. This past Saturday marked 19 weeks since I competed in the World Championships. It takes at least as long for your body (metabolism and all) to recover from a preparation as the preparation was. So, after a 19 week contest prep and 19 weeks in off season, I should be pretty much back to "normal."...Whatever that is. I am happy to say that after all this, I am almost 15 pounds lighter than I was at the start of the contest prep. I put a great amount of discipline into NOT getting fat after the contest.
So, as of today, I am starting a "base-line" training program. This means I am starting with the least volume for each muscle group that I can -this means 1 working set - and I will build slowly on this. Again, the Main Focus for me at this point in the game is recovery. For the last several years I've worked so hard on improvement that I've over-trained A LOT, and really have not made the improvements that I want. So I start over. I work from the ground up. I train with focus, intensity and purpose. There are no wasted sets, and there are no extra sets. The body Must be able to repair, rebuild AND grow between my workouts in order to make improvement...
GOOD GRIEF! I sound like an addict... Hello. My name is Levi. I am addicted to PAIN.
So, Here's the 1st workout of this new chapter of "The Great Construction":
incline Hammer Strength press: 50-25; 140-12; 210-8; 280-8; 350-6
V-grip-pull-down: 130-12; 180-12; 225-10
Hammer Strength shoulder press: 140-12; 210-10; 280-5 (+a little drop-set)
pushdown: 120-15; 150-12; 190-10; 230-6
s/s cambered bar curl: 65-10; 85-8; 105-6
bosu ball crunch: 33
Monday, March 23, 2015
Mon., 3/23/15, Legs
Verse of the day: In my trouble I cried to the Lord, and He answered me. -Ps 120:1
I'm still nursing a sprained knee back to health, so this was not my normal leg workout. But, it was an excellent pump. My goal was to work toward a full- functional range of motion and get a good pump at the same time. Here's how it worked:
leg extension: 40-25; 55-25; 70-25; 85-25
super-set with leg curl: 65-25,25
squat: 45-25; 135-25
leg press: 140-10; 270-100
toe press: 270-15; 360-15; 450-18
standing leg curl: 70-15
lying leg curl: 110-10
leg extension: 100-15
I'm still nursing a sprained knee back to health, so this was not my normal leg workout. But, it was an excellent pump. My goal was to work toward a full- functional range of motion and get a good pump at the same time. Here's how it worked:
leg extension: 40-25; 55-25; 70-25; 85-25
super-set with leg curl: 65-25,25
squat: 45-25; 135-25
leg press: 140-10; 270-100
toe press: 270-15; 360-15; 450-18
standing leg curl: 70-15
lying leg curl: 110-10
leg extension: 100-15
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Thu., 3/16/15, Back/Arms
I got in a great workout this morning. It was a fairly big workout, and I had not eaten very much carb before- so it was a tuff workout.. But those are the best kind. The volume was a little higher than what it has been recently for back. But, still relatively low. Again, my focus is very much on stimulating the muscle to grow, but also on being able to recover from the workout. Here's how it went:
6 sets Nautilus plate loaded pulldown
3 sets cambered bar under hand grip row
3 sets neutral grip pulldown
3 sets seated row
3 super-sets cambered bar curl with rope pushdown
3 super-sets cambered bar spider curl with v-bar pushdown
3 super-sets cambered bar preacher curl with seated over-head extension + 2 sets 1-arm reverse grip pushdown
I'm not sure the exact amount of time it took, but it was about an hour + 20 minutes treadmill.
6 sets Nautilus plate loaded pulldown
3 sets cambered bar under hand grip row
3 sets neutral grip pulldown
3 sets seated row
3 super-sets cambered bar curl with rope pushdown
3 super-sets cambered bar spider curl with v-bar pushdown
3 super-sets cambered bar preacher curl with seated over-head extension + 2 sets 1-arm reverse grip pushdown
I'm not sure the exact amount of time it took, but it was about an hour + 20 minutes treadmill.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Tue., 03/17/15, Chest
Verse of the day: For Thou hast girded me with strength for battle - Ps 18: 39a
This week I am breaking my split up a little and will do some more focused intensity on each muscle group. Today was just chest, all by itself. My volume was still not very high, as I still want to be able to recover from the workout. But, the intensity and focus is 100%. Here's how it looked:
incline dumbbell press: 25s-25; 40s-10; 65s-6; 85s-6; 110s-9
incline Hammer press: 180-10; 270-8
flat dumbbell "fly-press" (a hybrid wide-stretch-hammer-grip movement): 50s-9
flat dumbbell press: 85s-8
cable fly: 90-9
incline dumbbell press: 75s-11
The entire workout, with stretching and all, was about 30 minutes.
This week I am breaking my split up a little and will do some more focused intensity on each muscle group. Today was just chest, all by itself. My volume was still not very high, as I still want to be able to recover from the workout. But, the intensity and focus is 100%. Here's how it looked:
incline dumbbell press: 25s-25; 40s-10; 65s-6; 85s-6; 110s-9
incline Hammer press: 180-10; 270-8
flat dumbbell "fly-press" (a hybrid wide-stretch-hammer-grip movement): 50s-9
flat dumbbell press: 85s-8
cable fly: 90-9
incline dumbbell press: 75s-11
The entire workout, with stretching and all, was about 30 minutes.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Mon., 03/16/15, Legs
Verse of the day: Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. -Phil 1:27
Today was really a "feel out workout." I'm trying not to aggravate the knee. I tried several different exercises to find a couple that didn't aggravate it. I ended up doing 4 sets of 25 reps on the leg extension just to warm it up. I threw in 2 super-sets of leg curl between sets, and stretched thoroughly. Next I gave squats a shot and decided it was not a good idea. So.. leg presses: I hit a couple feeler sets, then did 1 set with 270lb for 100 reps using the constant tension technique. Then I hit 1 set for hams and 1 for calves and that was it. That set of 100 really torched the legs. Around 60 the glutes started burning good and not long after that the inner thigh started screaming. So, I hit them pretty good.
Today was really a "feel out workout." I'm trying not to aggravate the knee. I tried several different exercises to find a couple that didn't aggravate it. I ended up doing 4 sets of 25 reps on the leg extension just to warm it up. I threw in 2 super-sets of leg curl between sets, and stretched thoroughly. Next I gave squats a shot and decided it was not a good idea. So.. leg presses: I hit a couple feeler sets, then did 1 set with 270lb for 100 reps using the constant tension technique. Then I hit 1 set for hams and 1 for calves and that was it. That set of 100 really torched the legs. Around 60 the glutes started burning good and not long after that the inner thigh started screaming. So, I hit them pretty good.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Fri., 06/13/15, Weak Points
Verse of the day: And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. -Acts 13:52
I got in a great workout this morning. I was actually scheduled to train legs today, but the knee is not 100% so I decided to just focus on the weak points: upper chest, upper back, delts. This was a very unconventional workout. I did not know what I would do when I started. I took it as it came to me. I did no more than 1 set of most exercises. There was not much rest- just stretching and weight adjustment between sets. The flat barbell bench press has been out of the routine for about 4 years now due to shoulder problems. So, I decided to just warm up with it. Here's how it went:
thorough stretching
rotator cuff exercises
light pulldowns
bench press: 45-25; 95-10; 145-10; 195- just feel for a few
flat dumbbell press: 110s-8
incline dumbbell press: 110s-5
incline hammer strength press: 210-15
hammer strength shoulder press: 250-10
seated lateral raise: 30s-13
hammer strength iso-lateral pulldown: 180-12; 250-10
incline rear lateral raise: 35s-15
incline "high" dumbbell row: 50s-12
bent over row (to chest): 95-15
upright row: 90-12
reverse crunch, crunch, twisting crunch, bench crunch
....As you can see, it was very mix-match- not my norm. But, it was a great pump and felt good. It took less than 45 minutes from start to finish.
I got in a great workout this morning. I was actually scheduled to train legs today, but the knee is not 100% so I decided to just focus on the weak points: upper chest, upper back, delts. This was a very unconventional workout. I did not know what I would do when I started. I took it as it came to me. I did no more than 1 set of most exercises. There was not much rest- just stretching and weight adjustment between sets. The flat barbell bench press has been out of the routine for about 4 years now due to shoulder problems. So, I decided to just warm up with it. Here's how it went:
thorough stretching
rotator cuff exercises
light pulldowns
bench press: 45-25; 95-10; 145-10; 195- just feel for a few
flat dumbbell press: 110s-8
incline dumbbell press: 110s-5
incline hammer strength press: 210-15
hammer strength shoulder press: 250-10
seated lateral raise: 30s-13
hammer strength iso-lateral pulldown: 180-12; 250-10
incline rear lateral raise: 35s-15
incline "high" dumbbell row: 50s-12
bent over row (to chest): 95-15
upright row: 90-12
reverse crunch, crunch, twisting crunch, bench crunch
....As you can see, it was very mix-match- not my norm. But, it was a great pump and felt good. It took less than 45 minutes from start to finish.
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Wed., 6/11/15, Arms
Verse of the day: May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! -Ps 20:1a
I got in a great arm workout this morning. I probably spent more time stretching before the workout than I did working out. It was very focused, very fast and very thorough:
5 super-sets close cambered bar curl with lying triceps extension
2 super-sets spider curl with seated overhead triceps extension
2 super-sets preacher curl with 1-arm rope pushdown
...Not much volume at all, but I accomplished everything I set out to do and got an incredible pump.
I got in a great arm workout this morning. I probably spent more time stretching before the workout than I did working out. It was very focused, very fast and very thorough:
5 super-sets close cambered bar curl with lying triceps extension
2 super-sets spider curl with seated overhead triceps extension
2 super-sets preacher curl with 1-arm rope pushdown
...Not much volume at all, but I accomplished everything I set out to do and got an incredible pump.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Tue., 03/10/15, Chest/ Back/ Shoulders
Verse of the day: I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality. -Acts 10:34b
I got in an awesome workout this morning. It was very fast (I only had 35 minutes to do chest, back and shoulders.) The exercises were pretty much the same as last time, with a different shoulder press and rear lateral raise. Here it is:
incline dumbbell press: 25s-25; 40s-10; 60s-6; 85s-6; 110s-9
incline Hammer Strength: 180-6; 320-6
flat dumbbell press: 100s-9
pulldown: 160-10 + 12 chins; 200-8 + 6 chins
1-arm dumbbell row: 95-8,6
seated cable rear lateral raise: 60-12,12,10
seated lateral raise: 30s-10; 40s-6
Hammer Strength shoulder press: 180-10; 250-5 + dumbbell shrug: 75s-8
....Boom- chest, back and shoulders in 35 minutes! Again my whole focus right now is on building the deltoids, upper chest and upper back. And this workout is totally centered on maximally stimulating those muscles. So, you'll notice that there's nothing for lower chest and not much for lower lats (I'm doing my 1-arm rows with a slightly flared elbow to hit the upper back.)
I got in an awesome workout this morning. It was very fast (I only had 35 minutes to do chest, back and shoulders.) The exercises were pretty much the same as last time, with a different shoulder press and rear lateral raise. Here it is:
incline dumbbell press: 25s-25; 40s-10; 60s-6; 85s-6; 110s-9
incline Hammer Strength: 180-6; 320-6
flat dumbbell press: 100s-9
pulldown: 160-10 + 12 chins; 200-8 + 6 chins
1-arm dumbbell row: 95-8,6
seated cable rear lateral raise: 60-12,12,10
seated lateral raise: 30s-10; 40s-6
Hammer Strength shoulder press: 180-10; 250-5 + dumbbell shrug: 75s-8
....Boom- chest, back and shoulders in 35 minutes! Again my whole focus right now is on building the deltoids, upper chest and upper back. And this workout is totally centered on maximally stimulating those muscles. So, you'll notice that there's nothing for lower chest and not much for lower lats (I'm doing my 1-arm rows with a slightly flared elbow to hit the upper back.)
Monday, March 9, 2015
Mon., 06/09/15, Slight Set-back
Verse of the day: Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord. -Ps 27:14
Well... Yesterday I had my knee slammed in the car door... Yes, it hurt... Today, like the sometimes over-ambitious person I am, I was to train legs.. Yes, "was"... So, I started with stretching and then proceeded to squats. Warmed up thoroughly, then worked up to 405. Rep number 3, there was a sudden pain in the knee. I immediately stopped, stretched, did abs, cardio and went home. This is improvement, as before I would surely have finished the workout... Maybe in the future I'll be smart enough to just not squat 405 the day after slamming my knee in a car door... I'm sure with some rest, ice and light stretching (and prayer.. I've prayed my way through many injuries now ;) over the next few days my knee will heal up, and I'll start back a little lighter.
Well... Yesterday I had my knee slammed in the car door... Yes, it hurt... Today, like the sometimes over-ambitious person I am, I was to train legs.. Yes, "was"... So, I started with stretching and then proceeded to squats. Warmed up thoroughly, then worked up to 405. Rep number 3, there was a sudden pain in the knee. I immediately stopped, stretched, did abs, cardio and went home. This is improvement, as before I would surely have finished the workout... Maybe in the future I'll be smart enough to just not squat 405 the day after slamming my knee in a car door... I'm sure with some rest, ice and light stretching (and prayer.. I've prayed my way through many injuries now ;) over the next few days my knee will heal up, and I'll start back a little lighter.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Thur., 3/05/15, Chest/Back/Shoulders
Verse of the day: The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, -Ps 11:5a
I got an excellent workout in this morning. It was a decision to do it today. I was tired and did not want to, but I put it in and got a great pump. It was totally by feel. Some things I thought I would do I didn't and vice-versa. Most would look at this and say that it is fairly unconventional, both in the rep scheme and number of sets- maybe even order of exercise. But, I am trying to maximize my efforts and put the stress it needs to be, and focus on my weak points. Here it is:
incline dumbbell press: 25s-25; 40s-10; 60s-6; 85s-6; 110s-8
flat dumbbell press: 85s-6; 110s-5
incline Hammer press: 210-6; 280-6
neutral grip pulldown: 140-12 [+12 chins]; 200-6 [+8 chins]
seated row: 200-6
1-arm dumbbell row: 85-10,8
seated lateral raise: 20s-12; 30s-10; 40s-6
machine rear lateral raise: 165-12; 220-6
smith machine press: 90-12; 180-4 + 90-15 + dumbbell shrug: 75s-8
bosu ball crunch; Swiss ball crunch; bench crunch
...That's 28 sets (+ my rotator exercises that I do before every chest and shoulder workout), with only 10 sets to failure.
I got an excellent workout in this morning. It was a decision to do it today. I was tired and did not want to, but I put it in and got a great pump. It was totally by feel. Some things I thought I would do I didn't and vice-versa. Most would look at this and say that it is fairly unconventional, both in the rep scheme and number of sets- maybe even order of exercise. But, I am trying to maximize my efforts and put the stress it needs to be, and focus on my weak points. Here it is:
incline dumbbell press: 25s-25; 40s-10; 60s-6; 85s-6; 110s-8
flat dumbbell press: 85s-6; 110s-5
incline Hammer press: 210-6; 280-6
neutral grip pulldown: 140-12 [+12 chins]; 200-6 [+8 chins]
seated row: 200-6
1-arm dumbbell row: 85-10,8
seated lateral raise: 20s-12; 30s-10; 40s-6
machine rear lateral raise: 165-12; 220-6
smith machine press: 90-12; 180-4 + 90-15 + dumbbell shrug: 75s-8
bosu ball crunch; Swiss ball crunch; bench crunch
...That's 28 sets (+ my rotator exercises that I do before every chest and shoulder workout), with only 10 sets to failure.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Tue., 3/03/15, Legs
I destroyed the legs this morning. I am slowly gaining my strength back- still far from my best ever, but climbing the ladder. It was all very basic. The volume was low; the intensity high... same game: squat, press, curl, calf. Though, I did both the standing and lying leg curl; and both the calf press and the seated calf raise.
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