RBlue's Training Log

Training
21

Hi Jim & dejavued! Thanks for stopping in!

Nice to “meet” a fellow Canadian on here Jim! I personally am a BIG fan of Family Day, as this time of year I’m lucky to get a day off from work, and the months between New Years & Easter are loooong. But the name of the holiday sure makes me laugh, I certainly didn’t spend any time with my family… if they ever instated a “fruit & veggie day” I’d for sure spend the day mowing down pizza and chocolate, washed down with some red wine. :stuck_out_tongue:

Today has been a super-long day, but I managed to still get a pretty great workout in!

Woke up at 5:20 am (ugh), at work just before 7 am, finished work at 1 pm, then home to have something quick to eat & get changed. At the bride-to-be’s house by just after 2 pm, on the road for the following 3 1/2 hours dropping in to bridal shops & trying on dresses. Found a great one for a fairly reasonable price, so at least the trip was successful! Home at 6:30 pm, Gym just after 7 pm.

Training:

(1) BB OHP 3 x 5,3,1: 55 lbs x 5 reps, 60 lbs x 3 reps, 70 lbs x 8 reps

(1.5) Chin-ups: 3 solid, no-cheat reps - gotta start somewhere!
(2a) Jumping Pullups 4 x AMRAP: 12/11/10/10 reps
superset with
(2b) DB Push Press (neutral grip) 4 x 6: 40 lbs/40/35 lbs/35
* My heart was RACING through this superset, and stayed that way through the rest of the workout (even the lateral raises). It’s still sitting at about 110 bpm!*

(3) Incline DB Press 3 x 10: 30 lbs (last set, 7 reps)

(4) Cable Row (narrow, neutral grip) 3 x 15: plate marked “85” plus the small add-on plate.

(5) Alternating DB lateral raise 3 x 10: 25 lbs
* My shoulders were super pumped by the end of this!*

I was originally planning on doing some Tabata following the workout, but given that it was late, I could feel the edge of a headache coming on, and my heart was pounding in my ears the whole workout, I decided to skip the metabolic work for today!

I am now thoroughly beat, and am going to shower and EAT (not necessarily in that order!)

22

Wow that super setting you did sounds intense! Is that a press rep PR for you? If so, great job. Also, woo with the 3 chin ups! Stick with them(I know you will). They’re a bitch, but if there’s anything to make you feel like a badass, chin-ups do the trick.

23

hi Rblue- you mentioned wine so i thought i’d say hi.

sounds like a great workout. 25 DB lateral raises…wow…my shoulder is crying for you at the moment! nice work.
welcome to PW, killer bench and i want to join the pull-up club too.

24

Hi Owlie: Yes, that was a press rep PR! I was very happy with it! And yeah, I’m definitely gonna stick with the chin-ups. Prior to my figure comp I was able to do 10 unassisted (with 20 lbs lower BW), so that’s my short-term goal.

Hi Talenaah: Nothing like a good bottle of vino! Thanks for the welcome. Yeah, the lateral raises were brutal in a good way, although my form wasn’t strict… there was definitely a tiny bit of body english, but worth it to move a bigger weight (I think at least)!

25

I wanted to do some metabolic work today, but wanted to keep the intensity fairly low since I’m trying out Valeria tomorrow & would like to be fresh for it. Also, I really didn’t feel like getting changed into proper clothes and going to the gym, so I stayed home & tried out Nick Tumminello’s bodyweight Tabata complex from this article: Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION

The plan was to do 2 or 3 rounds of it, but apparently my conditioning currently sucks! 1 round was plenty. Next time I’m aiming for 2 though. :slight_smile:

Tomorrow I do Valeria. I’m going to try out the “Good” weights for women to start. I don’t anticipate the bench or deadlift being much of a problem, but the pull-ups are definitely the limiting factor for me. The curls should be interesting, because I haven’t done any in about a year (I’m lame & have this fear of my biceps getting too big).

Now it’s off to work in a couple of hours!

26

RBlue - make sure you read the discussion thread about the Valeria… there were a LOT of clarifications made in that thread… for example… you only have to do 5 pullups when doing the “good” workout… also… you are supposed to bench, then do pullups, then do deadlift and THEN curl I believe… not bench, dead, pullup, curl like it was outlined in the article… either way… read a couple pages of it so it’s more clear about exactly what to do. You might even decide to try the “very good” workout instead =D

And actually, I don’t really curl either… I don’t want my arms ANY bigger muscularly. They are not even that big… but for my taste… I want them to stay the same size that they are right now. =D

27

[quote]mmgalb727 wrote:
And actually, I don’t really curl either… I don’t want my arms ANY bigger muscularly. They are not even that big… but for my taste… I want them to stay the same size that they are right now. =D[/quote]

theyre actually snowman-like twigs.

28

Thanks mmgalb, I’ve actually read the discussion thread, so I’m all good when it comes to that! I think I’m gonna stick with the “good” for now, because I’m not sure I can even do one true pull-up (they’re supposed to be a wider grip than chins, right?). But if it goes well I’ll for sure try the very good whenever I do it next!

And I hear you about arm size, I tend to store quite a bit of fat there anyways, so unless I get uber-lean they are pretty big - I have trouble fitting into some jackets actually! :slight_smile:

CBear, thanks for dropping in with your CBear wit!

29

RBlue - honestly, I just used neutral grip pullups as wide grip are VERY hard on your shoulders (especially for females who have a hard time with pull-ups)… I know my coach will make sure a female can do a MINIMUM of 6-10 unassisted chin-ups OR neutral grip pull-ups before he even allows them to do any unassisted wide grip pullups… This will (most likely) ensure that you have the strength and stability in your shoulders to do wide grip pullups without problems… =D

I think I said in the discussion thread that I used neutral grip pull-ups and I don’t think Henriques said anything about it…

And pull-ups are OFTEN wider than shoulder width, but to my knowledge they don’t have to be… it just means that you are using a pronated (overhand) grip and opposed to a neutral grip OR a supinated (underhand) grip.

30

Ah Shoot, why did you have to go and bring up this Valeria thing? Now I want to get in on this.

RBlue, so much to catch up on! You’re training is awesome and I love your enthusiasm. Really great stuff!!

31

i must go see what this valeria is. 'cept the pull-ups are already scaring me. nice video of DLs- it must not have been up when i posted.

you think your arms store fat? i can see the cut in that video. :slight_smile:

RBlue- meet T’s arms…little fat storage appendages that i absolutely want to shrink, more than any other body part. i joke about getting lypo on them. for now i’m on a mission to lean out-so we’ll see what i can do with them. :confused:

32

Mmgalb: Thanks for the suggestion, I think I’ll definitely do them neutral grip if that’s the case! I certainly don’t want to do my shoulders any damage. I work with a few people who’ve had shoulder surgery several years ago, and they still don’t have full range of motion or strength back. Scary!

Mascherano: Thanks! You and Talenaah should definitely give Valeria a try too and we can compare notes. :slight_smile:

Talenaah: That’s funny, I make the same joke, except I include my little fat pocket under my ass too! But honestly, I think we’re our own worst critics, and I bet you look great! You’re doing the AD right? I did a similar diet leading up to my comp, and it worked great! Only I didn’t do a weekly re-feed (in hindsight I really should have), which made my cravings pretty bad at times.

Gym in a half hour for Valeria!!

33

[quote]RBlue wrote:
and they still don’t have full range of motion or strength back. Scary!

[/quote]

I’ve heard and seen much of this as well, from scopes to total replacements. I asked one of the PT’s about it, and whether it was tissue damage/scarring, or in the case of total replacements, the manner in which the surgeon reattached the tendons/connective tissue.

the PT said yes to both. Makes me love medicine that much more. Doesn’t work? cut it open. take it out, rinse it off or put in a fake one.

34

On the pullup discussion, here is a female climber doing overhand pullups with a very close grip. More biceps but takes a lot of pressure off the shoulders if that’s a concern.

35

ah see I can do neutral but not wide; never tried it like the girl in the video.

36

[quote]CBear84 wrote:

[quote]RBlue wrote:
and they still don’t have full range of motion or strength back. Scary!

[/quote]

I’ve heard and seen much of this as well, from scopes to total replacements. I asked one of the PT’s about it, and whether it was tissue damage/scarring, or in the case of total replacements, the manner in which the surgeon reattached the tendons/connective tissue.

the PT said yes to both. Makes me love medicine that much more. Doesn’t work? cut it open. take it out, rinse it off or put in a fake one. [/quote]

Yeah, cause the human body is just another machine, right? Isn’t it?

I took a medical anthropology class when I was in uni, which was very interesting. This was one of the things we discussed, although from my class I got the impression that the medical establishment is finally beginning to view the human body in a more holistic way. However, it’s likely going to take a long while before this kind of thinking makes its way into mainstream medical practices.

I myself have had an ACL replacement, and overall I’m glad I did it, as I’m able to do a lot more than prior to the surgery. But I still have issues with pain now and then, I still favour my right leg if I don’t make a conscious effort not too, and for some reason my left calf muscle is now all screwed up as a result. And knee surgeries tend to be way more successful than many others.

37

Hi rcfromdb! Thanks for the clip, I’ll have to give them a try like that my next workout.

Training: Valeria, women’s “good” level

Start time: 2:00 pm

Bench Press 75 lbs x 21 reps

sets: 2 15/6 reps finished at 2:02 pm

Pull-ups (neutral grip, shoulder width) BW x 5 reps

sets: 3 2/2/1 reps finished at 2:06 pm

Deadlift 135 lbs x 21 reps

sets: 2 12/9 reps finished at 2:09 pm

Curls (straight bar, pre-loaded) 45 lbs x 21 reps

sets: 4 8/6/6/1 reps finished at 2:15 pm

Total time: 15 mins

I really enjoyed doing this. The BP & Deadlifts were pretty easy, and the pull-ups were way easier than I expected. The curls were brutal though! That’s what I get for not training curls in a year! I think I’m going to definitely try the “very good” weights next time I do this.

Finished up with Tabata DB swings: 30 lbs
Had to lie down after these, until I felt my glutes seizing up.

All in all, felt good today!

38

I love it when body parts seize up after a workout… ok, not permanently, but for a few sec at a time is ok.

39

Yeah, I’m with you CBear! Makes me feel like I worked them GOOD! (I worked my ass damn good!)

40

HAHAH! Oh, ok, Valeria is cleary a ridic hard workout. Well done on that!

Great training all around!

Sorry to hear about the ACL - that is my biggest fear knock on wood, esp as a soccer player. Seen so many of them from team mates, scary stuff. How did you tear it?