My New Life in Colorado...

Training Bodybuilding
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Thursday December 16th

Hey guys!!! Hope each and evryone of you are enjoying this time of year, holliday season, as much as I am! Im still freezing my butt back home in Montreal, Canada, but still, the buzz around this time of year is always fun for me!

Rehab is still going good, really good in fact, as my arm is back to normal size wise, and the strength is coming back quickly! Mt weight as gone down a bit, running around to see friends and family that missed me for 3 months will do that to you, Im closer to 260 than to 265, like I was in Colorado, but I’ve cut back on my calories a bit, since my bodyfat was about to go over the 9-10% mark Im setting for myself year round. Slowly but surely, I want to drop the bf to close to 6-7%, and maintain it pretty much year round, give or take a few pounds…

Anyways, shoots in 2011 will give you a good idea were Im at, and what I’ll look like onstage! In the mean time, keep up the good work, spend some quality time with family and friends, eat as much as you want during the holidays, because in 2011, I want you guys ready for the final push, I’ll need your help and motivation for sure!!! Take care guys!

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First off, many thanks for the time and effort you put into this thread. I found it two days ago and have been reading up to the current point. Your journey has been incredible - way to make the doctor’s 6 month time quote look like a complete joke! I’ve broken 6 bones in my life and know how tough it can be, but your resilience is unbelievable. Tons of people talk about “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” but you truly live that - amazing! Keep it up!

Also, I’ve been consistently blown away by the intensity you bring to workouts in the training lab videos. Watching those gets me focused for a session and ready to go in and kill it! When you guys were using the sled for shoulders work I kept laughing at how you were absolutely throwing the thing forward on the front raises - made it looks like childs play even with many plates on the sled.

I’ll be following this well into 2011 and beyond. You guys putting a face on elite bodybuilding/athletes is great (thanks guys and thanks T-Nation/Biotest). I’ll be cheering you/Kevin/Daryl on - I’ve never had bodybuilders to cheer for until now =P

P.S. It’s great to see my country represented on the world stage!

Tout le meilleure, (my french is horrible but wanted to try it :slight_smile: )

Zack

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@zack726: Thanks a lot man, it means the world to me!!! Yes, thanks to the medical support and all the tools provided to me with Biotest, I can honestly say I now feel at 95% of what I was before the accident…the last 5% is the mental aspect, fear that I feel when Im going all out on a heavy set, I’m still affraid to pop something again, thus the reason why I use ramping as a training technique, but with sets of 8 reps instead of 5 or 3.

Lol! That sled, let me tell you, it’s a love/hate relationship!!! When I first got to Colorado, not being used to the altitude, the sled work killed me, it’s sneaky, you feel fine and strong while doing it, but when you stop it hits you like a ton of bricks!!! First exercise I did was front raises…I wasn’t sure how heavy it would be, so I gave my best shot, only to get hit in the heals by the sled! Hahahaha! As the weeks went by, I got use to it and now that Im back to trining in normal gyms back home, I miss it a lot!

Im very happy that you’ll be onboard in 2011, watching, following and cheering me on, it’s gonna be a blast, I promise! In the mean time, stay focus and keep pushing hard!

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Monday December 20th

Hey guys! One quick note, to talk to you about a tough reality, but one you need not to ignore, in order to make the best gains possible…knowing when to slow down and rest. Easy concept, but so tough to aply to most of us die hard lifters, because we’re not use to it. Since I got back from Colorado, 2 weeks ago, my life as been ecthic, to say the least…friends, family, girlfriend, going out, dinner here, dinner there, meeting with coach Thibaudeau’s 2h30 hrs away from my house, settling back to my old schedule, getting use to the colder weather, all of this while training twice a day, eating when I can, sleeping as much as I could, sometimes 8, but often times 5-6 hrs with different bed time.

Finally things caught up to me and I got sick this week with a cold, fever, shivers, the works…even then, I was still trying to train twice a day, and was able to do it pretty much everyday so far, but yesterday, I hit the wall…midway through a tough chest and back workout, even though I lifted some pretty heavy weights, I had no more juice in the tank…reslut, I had to come back home and crash on the sofa, with no energy left whatsoever.

Today, even though I feel a tiny bit better, I know for sure that if I go to the gym, I might pay the price the rest of the week, so less can actually be more, like coach says, it’s all about finances of training, by sttaying away from the weights today, I’ll be able to have 4-5-6 good workouts the rest of the week, making this day ‘‘off’’ very productive!

I know it’s bound to happend to anyone of you, just don’t make the mistake I so often did by trying to ‘‘fight’’ through being sick, because in the end, it’s not worth it! Take care guys, Happy X-Mas season!!!

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[quote]Alex Raymond wrote:
Monday December 20th

Hey guys! One quick note, to talk to you about a tough reality, but one you need not to ignore, in order to make the best gains possible…knowing when to slow down and rest. Easy concept, but so tough to aply to most of us die hard lifters, because we’re not use to it. Since I got back from Colorado, 2 weeks ago, my life as been ecthic, to say the least…friends, family, girlfriend, going out, dinner here, dinner there, meeting with coach Thibaudeau’s 2h30 hrs away from my house, settling back to my old schedule, getting use to the colder weather, all of this while training twice a day, eating when I can, sleeping as much as I could, sometimes 8, but often times 5-6 hrs with different bed time.

Finally things caught up to me and I got sick this week with a cold, fever, shivers, the works…even then, I was still trying to train twice a day, and was able to do it pretty much everyday so far, but yesterday, I hit the wall…midway through a tough chest and back workout, even though I lifted some pretty heavy weights, I had no more juice in the tank…reslut, I had to come back home and crash on the sofa, with no energy left whatsoever.

Today, even though I feel a tiny bit better, I know for sure that if I go to the gym, I might pay the price the rest of the week, so less can actually be more, like coach says, it’s all about finances of training, by sttaying away from the weights today, I’ll be able to have 4-5-6 good workouts the rest of the week, making this day ‘‘off’’ very productive!

I know it’s bound to happend to anyone of you, just don’t make the mistake I so often did by trying to ‘‘fight’’ through being sick, because in the end, it’s not worth it! Take care guys, Happy X-Mas season!!!

[/quote]
Eat man Eat! :slight_smile: Sounds like you could use One of these!

EPIC MEALTIME!

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@darkane: Lol!!! Ok man I admit, Im a bit disgusted right now!!!

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I came across the meet Alex Raymond thread and in it CT said he had you and Darryl do a shoulder spec, i know its asking alot but do you remember what you guys did for it? Just asking because im trying to set up my own spec for shoulders using the 3-4 day blitz set up and am having a little trouble with it.

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@kjmont: Hey man! First of all thanks for your interest and I wish you and your family a merry x-mas and an happy new year!

As for our shoulder spec, me, Daryl and Kevin did a lot of shoulder presses from pins, then some shoulder front presses, lateral raises from dead start position, rear delt with blast straps and a lot of front raises with the sled.

We also did a lot of trap work and activation, as shown in our videos.

I hope it helps you set up your workouts!!!

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Monday December 27th

Hey guys!!! Just quick note to wish you a merry x-mas and an happy new year! Wish you all the best for 2011!!!

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[quote]Alex Raymond wrote:
Monday December 27th

Hey guys!!! Just quick note to wish you a merry x-mas and an happy new year! Wish you all the best for 2011!!![/quote]

Thanks–same to you man!!!

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@Eric Buratty: Thanks buddy!!!

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Alex, for 2011 i wish You to make it real BIG, live every day like a Champion, be Your BEST ever, chest up and show the world what are You made of.
Wishes from Warsaw, Poland

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merry christmas and happy new years to you too.

and thanks for the help man! ill let you know how it works it out for me in a couple of days, you caught me at the beginning of the second week of it (just in time to help me up some great feeling workouts, that was perfect timing lol)

Would you recommend pushing for a 3rd week if I feel I can or just back off? (I really killed it volume wise this week)

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@Tomasz Sosnowski: Thanks man!!! Your words are very inspiring! Indeed 2011 is gonna be my year, expect some major improvements, hope you guys are ready because it’s gonna be one hell of a ride!!! See you back in couple days, in 2011…

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@kjmont: If you feel like you’re still improving, meaning you’re adding weight and are still able to accelerate the speed of your reps, then yes, go ahead and push for a 3rd week. If not, switch it up and specialize another muscle group. And don’t forget, if you feel sluggish, just add couple activation sets with neural charge movements, and maybe finish it up with a circuit of max reps with 80% of the weights used prior.

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im just not sure how to play it, my bodyweight dropped, but my upper body strength went up. but thanks for the advice, now ill go and stop hijacking your thread :wink: Good luck with your 2011 goals!

Edit: Also my traps still do feel tight and slightly sore, but added on 40 lbs to my floor press (only real upper body pressing movement i did since the shoulder workouts). So like i said I dont know how to play it

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kjmont: Your bodyweight dropped? Is your diet up to par with your workouts? Getting enough nutrients transported to your muscles while training? As for your traps beeing tight, maybe you want to push so hard on shoulder pressing movements that you end up overextending the traps at the end of your movement, which is not a bad thing in itself, since you’re alsao improving your trap size. I would recommand either keeping your range of motion limited to the ‘‘shoulder’’ part of the movement, taking out the ‘‘trap’’ pressing portion at the end, or just spoil yourself with deep tissue massages once a week…believe me, it works wonders!!!

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yea my bodyweight dropped a solid 3 - 5 lbs depending on the day, and I figure I am getting enough nutrients. I’ve been eating around 4000-4500 calories a day, 350-450 carbs (120-180 around workouts), 1.5 g protein not including periworkout, 2 scoops of anaconda + 2 scoops mag10 + finibars or workout fuel, than having 2 postworkout meals (1 of them a Metabolic Drive shake),and I am eating 60-80 gram fat per day, and started out with 6 caps of Flameout and FA3 and have been bumping it up by 3 caps each every other day. However my strength has gone up alot, so i dont get what gives. And your right on the pushing too hard thing, I was pushing as hard as possible all the way to lockout.

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@kjmont: Well it’s simple math bud, if your weight is going down, either your water intake as gone down and you’re dehydrated, or you’re spending more calories than what you require. Looking at your specs real fast tels me that the first option is more likely, unless you have a super fast metabolism or you have a very physically demanding job, or you’re just 6’7’’ and weigh 300lbs!!! The good news is that your strenght as gone up, so I doubt that you lost muscle mass…keep me posted dude Im curious!!!

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ok will do. And I doubt i have a fast metabolism (Former fat guy), and my job isn’t demanding (standard waiter), but I do train 2-3 times a day. I don’t know if it’d increase my energy expenditure that much to the point that id be under eating, but i might as well list it, I train 1.5 hours for the main workout, and 30-45 minutes for the 2nd session and or 3rd session. I did stick to mainly 1-2 sessions for the non-spec. muscles over 2 days. So I guess bring on the water?