[quote]Modi wrote:
It’s amazing how feel like if you just drop 10-15lbslbs or so, you’ll be at a certain point, and when you get to that weight, you still aren’t there…just keep plugging away.[/quote]
That isn’t what I want to hear. I weighed myself this morning and was already down to 231 after only about a week of starting to lean out. Losing weight is always pretty easy for me.
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
[quote]Modi wrote:
It’s amazing how feel like if you just drop 10-15lbslbs or so, you’ll be at a certain point, and when you get to that weight, you still aren’t there…just keep plugging away.[/quote]
That isn’t what I want to hear. I weighed myself this morning and was already down to 231 after only about a week of starting to lean out. Losing weight is always pretty easy for me.[/quote]
Sorry man, I’m down close to 25lbs and still not where I want to be. (Actually I’m down 40lbs from my heaviest)
08/14/10 - Shoulders & Bench Acc.
A) Seated Shoulder Press
barx10
95x8
135x5
165x5
200x5x5
B) Close Grip Bench (45 sec rest)
185x5
225x10,8,8,6,5,3
C) EZ Upright Rows (45 sec rest)
+80x6
+100x10,10,10,10
D) Rope Pushdown (45 sec rest)
65x6
85x12,12,12,4
08/16/10 - Squat Day
BW - 249.5lbs
A) Squat
barx10x2
135x8x2
225x5x2
315x3x2
365x3
405x3
455x3
455x1
B) Hypers (30 sec rest)
EZ+120x8,8,8,6
C) Pullups (wide overhand) (30 sec rest)
6,5,5,4,4,3,3
D) Hanging Leg Raise (straight legs) (30 sec rest)
8,8,8,6
I did a nice long warmup again today, lots of foam rolling and dynamic stretching. I kept waiting for the pain in my glute, but it felt good all the way up through 455x3. I started to feel it on the third rep, but thought I’d be good for one more set of 3. I tried a second set and felt it on the first rep. My PT thinks I may have some S-I joint stuff going on as well. The hamstring pain that was associated with the glute (knock on wood), has pretty much resolved. Now when I try to fire my glutes to push my hips through I get this tweak of pain and the glute literally just shuts down, so I have to finish the Squat with all low back and it doesn’t look pretty.
I changed my accessory work a little, and dropped down to 30 seconds of rest shooting for 30 total reps. I’ll do this for the next couple of weeks, and then I’m going to go up to 1 min between sets for a couple of weeks.
Oh, I had my cheat meal last night. I had a hawaiian pizza with jalapeno peppers and a bunch on mozzerella sticks, and a handful of beers to wash it down. I was up 5 or 6lbs today on the scale. Might be holding a little water today…
I haven’t posted for a couple of weeks, so I’ll do the quick update…
I sprained my ankle a week and a half ago, rolled it over until the ankle bone bounced off the ground and it swelled up to the size of a softball, so I took a week of Squats and DL’s, but still trained upper and lower back, abs, etc. I played around with some high rep/short rest interval stuff, and in the process managed to send my left upper back into a spasm that lasted 7 days. I just tried to train around the injury, doing whatever didn’t hurt, but nothing worth posting. Yesterday was my first real lift where everything felt good.
09/01/10 - Bench Stuff
A) Bench Press
barx10
135x12x2
185x10x2
225x8x2
275x5x3
225x8x3
185x10x3
B) Incline Bench
185x8x6
C1) Incline DB Flye
35x10
45x10x5
C2) Incline DB Press
35x10
45x10x5
Good chest pump. I actually lied about everything feeling good. I sprained a ligament in my left wrist (sliding unsuccessfully into 2nd base playing softball) which only hurts when I pinch grip something or press, but it felt ok if I cast my wrist tight with a wrist wrap, so it didn’t affect the workout, except I looked like a donkey using wrist wraps on the DB Flyes. Luckily I was in my basement, and my dog doesn’t seem to care whether I used wrist wraps or not.
09/02/10 - Back, Shoulders & Bi’s
A) Low Pull (seated row)
60x6
80x6
100x6
120x6
140x6
160x6
180x6
200x6
170x6
140x6
120x6
100x6
80x6
60x6
B1) Lat Pulldown (wide overhand)
80x6,120x6,150x6
150x6
140x6
130x6
B2) Lat Pulldown (narrow overhand)
150x6
140x6
130x6
B3) Lat Pulldown (reverse grip)
150x6
140x6
130x6
C1) Rear Delt Raise
20x8x5
C2) Side Delt Raise
20x8x5
C3) DB Upright Row
20x8x5
C4) Front Delt Raise
20x8x5
C5) DB Shoulder Press
20x8x5
D1) DB Hammer Curl (full)
45x6x5
D2) DB Supinating Curl (bottom 2/3)
35x6x5
D3) DB Curl (top 1/2)
25x6x5
E1) DB Shrugs
90x20x5
E2) Barbell Curl
barx20x5
High Volume.
[quote]Modi wrote:
Good chest pump. I actually lied about everything feeling good. I sprained a ligament in my left wrist (sliding unsuccessfully into 2nd base playing softball) which only hurts when I pinch grip something or press, but it felt ok if I cast my wrist tight with a wrist wrap, so it didn’t affect the workout, except I looked like a donkey using wrist wraps on the DB Flyes. Luckily I was in my basement, and my dog doesn’t seem to care whether I used wrist wraps or not.[/quote]
Your dog actually called me and was laughing its ass off about you using wraps on the flyes. Also was going to ask you if you needed to change your tampon. 
How’s life been treating you, BTW?
[quote]novaeer wrote:
Your dog actually called me and was laughing its ass off about you using wraps on the flyes. Also was going to ask you if you needed to change your tampon.
How’s life been treating you, BTW?[/quote]
Life’s good. Really sick of injuries. I’m not sure if it has to do with the lower calories, and therefore insufficient recovery, or if some of them (sprained ankle, sprained wrist) are just a fluke.
I’m definitely much more fit than I have been in a while. I’m continuing to lean out, even though my weight is holding fairly steady. I could compete at 242 right now without any problem. I still want to get leaner, but I don’t want to sacrifice any muscle.
Also still working on the glute/hamstring issue. I kind of hit a plateau on my rehab, and my insurance kicked me out of PT. I knew I should have just lied when filling out the forms. I had a bad feeling after my last re-eval (definitely not my PT’s fault). Anyway, I haven’t Squatted or DL’ed heavy in a while, and that pretty much sucks. My arms are too long to be a BOF, so for now I’m just trying to look good in a thong. 
[quote]Modi wrote:
Life’s good. Really sick of injuries. I’m not sure if it has to do with the lower calories, and therefore insufficient recovery, or if some of them (sprained ankle, sprained wrist) are just a fluke.
I’m definitely much more fit than I have been in a while. I’m continuing to lean out, even though my weight is holding fairly steady. I could compete at 242 right now without any problem. I still want to get leaner, but I don’t want to sacrifice any muscle.
Also still working on the glute/hamstring issue. I kind of hit a plateau on my rehab, and my insurance kicked me out of PT. I knew I should have just lied when filling out the forms. I had a bad feeling after my last re-eval (definitely not my PT’s fault). Anyway, I haven’t Squatted or DL’ed heavy in a while, and that pretty much sucks. My arms are too long to be a BOF, so for now I’m just trying to look good in a thong. ;)[/quote]
What was the diagnosis on your glute/hamstring injury?
Do you have any plans to compete in 2010/2011? I’m not going live until Feb '11 as our first child is due any day now; while I plan to maintain a 3-day-a-week setup, you have to be flexible.
[quote]novaeer wrote:
What was the diagnosis on your glute/hamstring injury?
Do you have any plans to compete in 2010/2011? I’m not going live until Feb '11 as our first child is due any day now; while I plan to maintain a 3-day-a-week setup, you have to be flexible.[/quote]
I have some adhesions in there, along with tight psoas. A lot of deep tissue work (ART, foam rolling). The problem is that my glute only bothers me at lockout on 85-90%+ weights, so it’s kind of difficult to replicate in the PT setting. My hamstring will bother me with things like a single leg SLDL, even with just bodyweight.
When I get the glute pain, that side just shuts down. I can deal with the pain, but it doesn’t want to/won’t fire and I have to compensate to finish the lift.
No plans for the next meet as of yet. I’ll definitely find a meet (maybe a local one), just to get back in the game. The last meet I did was the Arnold’s earlier this year. That may or may not be the only one this year. Regardless, the next one will be at 242, and I’ll just go in to smash my old 242 records, and then worry about climbing back to my 275 levels after that.
Good luck with the new schedule! Let me know when you become a new father, that will be a life changer!
09/06/10 - Squat
A) 14" Box Yoke Bar Squat
barx10
145x8
195x8
235x8
285x8x3
B) Neutral Grip Pullups
12,12,10,10,8
C) Plank w/Chains around waist
Feet on bench/3 chains x 60sec (+52.5lbs)
Feet on bench/4 chains x 40sec (+70lbs)
Feet on floor/4 chains x 50sec (+70lbs)
D) Hypers w/Chains around neck
2 chains x 10 (+35lbs)
3 chains x 10 (+52.5lbs)
4 chains x 10 (+70lbs)
It looks like I went light on the Yoke Bar Squats, but these were actually pretty hard. I forgot how hard the Yoke Bar makes these. Fortunately there was no pain in my glute with these, they were just hard on the mid/upper back. I will probably keep these in the rotation as long as I can stay pain free. I’d like to go for 305 next week, and 325 the following for 3 sets of 8.
The rest of the workout was solid, pullups felt very easy for the first two sets. This was the most weight I have used for planks. I think I could do 70lbs around my waist with my feet on the floor. I may try that next week.
Since I was in the mood for chains, I looped them around my neck for the hypers. While this made the exercise harder, I think the real challenge is in not passing out as you have 70lbs of weight pressing down on your carotid artery/jugular vein.
good to see you still killing it over here man…sucks about the injuries though…but when it rains it pours.
40lbs down from your heaviest is impressive, i am sure you joints and heart thank you.
Just letting you know I am still watching brother…and waiting for those progress pics in the daisy dukes!
[quote]Alpha wrote:
good to see you still killing it over here man…sucks about the injuries though…but when it rains it pours.
40lbs down from your heaviest is impressive, i am sure you joints and heart thank you.
Just letting you know I am still watching brother…and waiting for those progress pics in the daisy dukes![/quote]
Thanks man. I’ll work around the injuries. I’ll get you that daisy duke picture when I get to where I want to be.
09/08/10 - Bench
A) Bench Press
…225x5
275x5
285x5
295x5
315x2x3
B) Incline DB Fly/Press
35x10/10
40x10/10
45x10/10,10/10,10/10
C) DB Hammer Curl/Shoulder Press
50x6/6,6/6,6/6,6/6
A little pressed for time. I was just going to blast some singles at 315 after the 3 work sets, but I still had a little left in the tank, so I doubled them.
That’s it for now, I may hit tri’s tonight if I get home at a decent hour.
09/10/10 - DL Stuff
A) DL from 10" Box (rack pull)
135x8
225x8
315x8
405x8
495x5
545x3
B) Pendlay Rows
225x10x3
C) Shrugs (1 and 1/2’s)
315+105lbs chainsx12x3
C2) EZ Curls (1 and 1/2’s)
+70x10x3
D) GHR’s
12x3
E) Abdominal Alphabet <— HARD!
x2
Elevated Deads felt good today. I was pretty sure these would hurt my glute but did them anyway. Usually it’s the lockout that hurts, but everything felt good today. 545 was hard, but these were starting from a little below my kneecap which is a tough starting position.
I used the chains on the Shrugs because I was originally going to do a drop set with these. I had 3 chains on each side and was just going to jettison all three as soon as my traps were on fire, but I did one and a halfs instead. Chains made a cool sound with this exercise, so I went with it.
GHR’s felt much easier at a lower bodyweight!
I don’t know if there is such a thing as the Abdominal Alphabet. I made these up today (I’m sure someone else has done something like this exercise before). Anyways, I was warming up my glutes for the DL’s with some glute alphabets (prone on hands and knees, one leg extended drawing the alphabet with my foot), and thought it would make a good exercise for the abs as well. I used the GHR, but with my body facing upwards, with the pad at butt level. I drew the alphabet with my torso, trying to stabilize at my hips and just move with my abs instead of my hip flexors. I did it once with upper case letters and once with lower case letters. Either these were very hard, or I am very weak, or quite possibly both.
09/11/10 - Shoulders
A) Seated Shoulder Press
135x10x2
165x8x2
185x6x2
B1) Seated Shoulder Press (bottom 2/3)
135x10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
B2) EZ Bar Upright Row
EZ+70x10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
C) Nose Breaker/Pullover/Press
EZ+70x6x3
I went a little lighter on the Shoulder Press today and focused more on hitting the delts than putting up big weight.
I then dropped the weight to 135 and supersetted Shoulder Press with EZ Upright Rows with 70lbs. I did 10 reps of press, then 10 of upright, then 9 and 9…with no rest between sets. My traps were already fried going into todays lift, so the upright rows just burried them even with a light weight. My delts were also smoked by the time I got down to 4 or 5 reps. The last few sets were easier than the middle sets.
I finished with a combo of EZ Curl bar Nose Breaker, barbell Pullovers, and Close Grip Bench. 6 was about all I could handle with these. My shoulders/tris/traps are done.
09/14/10 - Bench
A) Bench
…225x5
275x5
315x3
295x4
275x6
255x8
235x12
B) Pushups w/Feet on low back extension
25x3
C) Rope Pushdown
80x12x5
Fighting a cold, short on time and low on energy. Just worked as hard as I could for 30 minutes and called it good.
09/16/10 - DL Stuff
A) Elevated DL’s from 10" box
135x10
225x8
315x8
405x8
495x1
B) Shrugs (1 and 1/2’s)
405x10x3
C) Reverse Grip BOR’s
225x8x3
D) EZ Curls
+70xlots
Still recovering from the cold, and I just didn’t have it today on the Elevated Deads. Not much I can say, I just didn’t feel like DLing today.
The rest of the weights felt decent. I’m going to take a quick power nap now and recharge for the second half of the day.
09/20/10 - Squat
A) 14" Box Yoke Bar Squat
barx10
145x8
195x8
235x8
285x8
305x5
B) Yoke Bar Lunge
145x5x3
C) Plank w/Chains (feet on floor)
3 chains x 75sec (+52.5lbs)
4 chains x 60sec (+60lbs)
5 chains x 50sec (+87.5lbs)
Squats felt hard today. I am going to add in some single leg stuff, because I can train it fairly heavy without aggrivating anything. I’m also going to move my upper back work to it’s own day rather than have it on my Squat day.
Planks are getting better. I worked up to 5 chains wrapped around my waist for 50 seconds. I think I could have done it for the full minute if I hadn’t done the two sets before hand. Core is getting stronger.