Wed., 7/29/15, Legs

Verse of the day: Those who trust in the LORD are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. Psalm 125:1

So, I went "light" on squats today. Last night I told my wife that I was going to keep the weight light on squats today, and she said, "It's good to take it easy sometimes.".... Who said anything about taking it easy?!! I said: "Keep the weight light." To me this implies that I will do something out of the ordinary to make it harder, more grueling, so painful that I cannot use as much weight.
So, today I did  sets of 25 reps for squats and used a narrow stance with the toes straight on, hands up on the plates and no knee wraps. My tempo was very fast: do a set, light stretch, add weight and go. By the time I was finished with the squats my legs were shaking and trying to lock out on me. Here's  the whole thing:

squat: 45-25; 95-25; 135-25; 225-25
leg press: 450-10; 630-10; 810-7
leg curl: 80-25; 110-20; 140-5
smith machine calf raise: 160-20; 300-20
machine calf raise: 400-15

Week #36, Mon., 7/27/15, Chest/Back

Verse of the day: He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. -Rev. 21:7

I got in a good workout this morning. I tweaked my neck the other day, so I didn't set any records, for sure. But I did get an excellent pump. Here's how it looked:

7 sets of incline dumbbell press
   alternate with 5 sets of medium grip pulldown
3 super-sets of barbell row
   and flat dumbbell press
3 super-sets of incline machine press
   and seated row
+ 1 set each: wide pulldown, rope row and cable fly

Fri., 7/24/15, Shoulders and Arms

Verse of the day: ...and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. -Rev. 19:11b

I only had about 40 minutes to do a 10 exercise workout this morning. So, I was booking. There was not a whole lot of rest. I got in excellent pump. Here's how it looked:

seated lateral raise: 10s-25; 20s-15; 30s-12; 40s-10
seated dumbbell press: 45s-12; 65s-10; 80s-6
standing 1-arm cable crossing rear laterals: 80-12,9,6 (no rest)
seated dumbbell shrug (no wraps): 75s-12; 100s-10; 120s-5
curl: 65-10; 90-5; 110-5
   super-set with lying triceps extension: 70-10; 90-10; 110-8
seated hammer curl: 45s-12
   super-set with seated 1-arm tri-ex: 45-12
spider curl: 80-6; 60-10
   super-set with pushdown: 220-7; 180-12

Wed, 7/22/15, Legs

Verse of the day: great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are Thy ways Thou King of the nations. -Rev. 15:3

So, this month I'm focusing more on strengthening the whole body ( joints, weak points, ancillary muscles) by using wrist wraps little as possible and no knee wrap at all. So the weights have not set any records for sure but I'm killing the muscles. Again for squats there was no wraps and I used a more narrow stance with toes straight on and my hands are out holding the plates. Here's today:

Squat: 45-25;95-5;135-5;225-5;315-5;365-3;275-8
Front squat: 185-11
Leg press: 450-6;720-20
Walking lunge: 50s-12ea
Standing leg curl: 100-10,5,5(no rest)
Leg curl lying: 135-11+3
Smith machine calf raise: 180-10;250-10;380-11
Machine calf raise: 400-15,10

Week #35 HUGE, Mon., 7/20/15, Chest/Back

Verse of the day: But as for me, the nearness of the Lord is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Thy works. Ps. 73:28

I am continuing on at least this week with the same split. So, today was chest and back. Unlike the last 2 weeks, I did not super-set. I trained chest 1st, and then back. I only had about 35 minutes to do it, so I was not messing around- all business (as usual:) It was an incredible pump. I shot for 12 reps on most of the working sets, though not all. Here's how it looked:

incline Hammer Strength press: 45-30; 90-12; 180-8; 270-6; 310-12
flat dumbbell press: 100s-12
cable fly (for lower chest): 125-12,8
incline machine press: 160-10
pull down: 150-12; 195-16
seated cable row: 140-8; 180-6; 220-5
V-pull down: 180-8; 195-8 + close-grip pull up: 7
decline reverse crunch: 16,10

Fri., 7/17/15, Shoulders and Arms

Verse of the day: Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. -Ps. 127:1a

I got a killer pump this morning. This was the best pump I've had in a while. None of my weights would impress because the pace was very fast and I was doing sets of 15 until I couldn't get 15. Ome of my goals this week was to stay away from the super heavy weights- just easing back into it. So just laugh at the weights:

seated lateral raise: 10s-25; 20s-15; 25s-15; 30s-15
seated dumbbell press: 50s-15; 60s-13
standing cable rear lateral raise: 80-8; 50-15,15; 65-15
dumbbell shrug: 50s-15; 65s-15; 80s-10
straight bar curl: 65-15; 85-15 (barely-haha)
   super-set with lying tri ex: 80-15; 100-13
cable curl: 100-15,10
   super-set with rope pushdown: 120-15; 100-12+3
hammer curl: 25s-15,15
   super-set seated dumbbell ex: 25-15,15

This took about 35 minutes.

Wed., 7/15/15, Legs

Verse of the day: To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God. -Revelation 2:7

This was another almost lost my metaphorical cookies workout. I was messing with some black mold the other day and my sinuses have been jacked up ever since. So, after the heavy leg training, my ears pressurized to the point that I almost threw up.
I decided to try another workout squatting without knee wraps and hold on to the plates (using a wide grip with my hands) and using a narrow foot position with my toes straight on and the reps slow and controlled. It was all very basic and very focused. Here's how it looked:

squat: 45-25; 95-5; 135-5; 225-5; 315-17
front squat: 225-4
leg press: 540-6; 810-10
leg curl: 105-10; 135-10; 165-7; 120-8
   super-set with machine calf raise: 270-10; 330-10; 400-10,10

Mon., 7/13/15, Chest/Back

Verse of the day: in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. - 1 Thes. 5:18

So, to all who follow my blog on a regular basis: I am not dead. The guest posing that I spent 4 weeks prepping for went excellent. I had a great time and was very happy with how I looked. It was just a very busy weekend. The week after that I took completely off. The following week I trained Monday (chest and back), Wednesday (legs) and Friday (shoulders and arms); and it was a de-load week (it was light and not intense, the focus was on recovery.)
This week I will use the same split as last week. Today I got in a great workout. It was very fast paced and focused. My goal was to not use very much weight and pump as much blood in the muscle as possible. I aimed for 15 reps on everything and went up in weight until I couldn't get 15. Here's how it went:

4 super-sets of incline press and pull-down
3 super-sets of flat dumbbell press and bent over dumbbell row
3 super-sets of cable fly and seated cable row
2 super-sets of incline Hammer Strength press and V-grip-pull-down