Al–1961’s BodyBlog

Diet this weekend was terrible.  For the past couple weeks in fact.  Workouts are going great, so this period is looking to be an unintentional bulking phase, rather than cutting BF.  Time to tighten up on the diet.  Getting a little extra bulk is OK, but I’m not looking to morph into a puffy pudgeball.  Lean & mean is the order of the day.  OK, maybe not mean……….

WORKOUT THIS MORNING  —  DELTOIDS & TRICEPS.  (5-8 reps per set)  DELTS:  Military press, lateral dumbbell raises, Arnold dumbbell overhead presses & front dumbbell raises.  Did 1 set per exercise, then the next exercise, then next, etc.  Did this rotation for 5 sets, with the last set of each exercise getting 2 drop sets.  TRICEPS:  Close grip bench press, tricep extensions with curl bar, reverse grip cable tricep extensions & behind the head extensions with a dumbbell.  Did 1 set each exercise with similar rotation as the delts, for 4 sets.  The last set for each getting 2 drop sets.   CARDIO:  25 min’s HIIT on the elliptical with varying intervals.  Heartrate 160-170.  

JUST GETTING TO THE GYM IS A SUCCESSFUL WORKOUT.     

WEEKEND WARRIOR.  I managed to slip in to the gym for a workout this morning before coming to work.  Been working lots of extra hours this month (including last weekend & today), playing catch-up from 2 weeks off in December.  Those vacations can be a mixed blessing.  But I’ve still been plugging away at the gym at 5am, M-F.  Which leads me to give a plug for eurasiansurgeon’s latest blog, about making no excuses for not exercising.  Take a look at her typical day……and she still fits in workouts for health & fitness. 

WORKOUT THIS MORNING  —  CHEST (5-8 reps per set):  Continuing with 1 set rotations as follows.  Did 1 set each for flat bench press, decline bench press, flyes, incline bench, decline flyes, incline bench dumbbell press.  Then I repeated this rotation for 5 sets, with the last set of each exercise getting 2 or 3 drop sets.  Did one extra set of flat bench press, drop setting until my very last set was just the 45 lb bar!   CARDIO:  25 min’s HIIT on elliptical, heartrate 160-170. 

As eurasiansurgeon says in her blog, NO EXCUSES!   Have a great weekend.     

JUST GETTING TO THE GYM IS A SUCCESSFUL WORKOUT.     

Well I woke up ~3am, got up at 4am, hit the gym at 5am.  Despite getting < 4 hrs sleep, I had a good workout.  TGIF…….I’ve been working late every night (and last weekend) trying to catch up from 2 weeks off in December, while still managing 5am workouts.  Whew!     

WORKOUT THIS MORNING  —  BICEPS:  Continuing heavy cycle (5-8 reps/set), and the single set per exercise rotation I started yesterday.  Exercises were curl bar curls, dumbbell curls, close grip curl bar curls, reverse dumbbell curls, wide grip curl bar curls.  I did one set of each exercise, then moved to the next, and so on.  Did 5 sets going through this rotation, with 2 drop sets added to each exercise on the last set.   CARDIO:  5 min’s interval run warmup on the treadmill.  Then 30 min’s of interval runs, heartrate 150-165.  Finished with 4 quick sets of dumbbell curls (30 sec’s rest) and 2 drop sets on the last 2 sets. 

TGIF   TGIF   TGIF   TGIF   TGIF   TGIF      

JUST GETTING TO THE GYM IS A SUCCESSFUL WORKOUT.    

A bit sluggish on the workout this morning, so I decided to increase cardio time a bit, and push doing biceps til tomorrow.  That got the energy level cranked up.  I’m also changing up the weights for the next week by rotating exercises every set, rather than doing multiple sets per excercise before moving to the next.  Still going heavier. 

WORKOUT THIS MORNING  —  LATS (5-8 reps per set):  Close grip cable pulls, close grip cable pulldowns, bent over barbell rows, wide grip cable pulls & wide grip cable pulldowns.  I rotated through these exercises for 5 sets, doing 1 set each then moving to the next exercise.  Added 2 drop sets on the last set of each.  CARDIO:  35 min’s of intervals on the elliptical.  Heartrate 150-175.  Followed up with 6 quick sets (30 sec’s rest), rotating 3 sets each of close grip cable pulls & close grip cable pulldowns.  Again, last set of each was finished off with 2 drop sets.  ABS:  3 quick sets of crunches with 10 lb weight. 

Repeat of a favorite quote from Calvin Coolidge:  "Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

JUST GETTING TO THE GYM IS A SUCCESSFUL WORKOUT.     

BANGIN’ WORKOUT THIS MORNING.  What a great start to the day.  Can you say "superset me"?  And 2 straight nights of sleep.     

WORKOUT THIS MORNING — Deltoids & triceps (5-8 reps per set).  DELTS:  Military press, with last 2 sets supersetted with front dumbbell raises & lateral raises.  Next, overhead dumbbell presses, with last 2 sets supersetted again with front dumbbell raises & lateral raises.  TRICEPS:  Tricep extensions, with last 2 sets supersetted with close grip bench press & behind the head tricep extensions with a dumbbell.  Next, reverse cable tricep extensions, last 2 sets supersetted with regular cable tricep extensions & tricep dips on a bench.  CARDIO:  22 min’s HIIT with varying intervals on elliptical.  Heartrate approx 170.  Finished off with 6 quick sets of alternating front dumbbell raises & lateral raises, last 2 sets supersetted with military press.  Then, reverse dumbbell tricep extensions, with last 2 sets supersetted with behind the head dumbbell tricep extensions. 

JUST GETTING TO THE GYM IS A SUCCESSFUL WORKOUT.     

Stress eating — the evil trifecta.  I get hit with a triple whammy from munching due to stress:  1)  Eating junk & sweets, not healthy choices,  2) OVEReating,  &  3) Doing it at night when trying to relax (ie. before bedtime).  I won’t belabor what’s causing stress for yours truly.  Just a mea culpa that last night was another episode.  A lifetime pattern sure doesn’t simply go away overnight!  Fortunately, I have made great strides in the last 6 mths & I eat healthy most of the time. 

WORKOUT THIS MORNING — LEG DAY:   (6-10 reps per set)  Warmed up with a few sets of squats on a Cybex machine.  Started with squats on the Smith Machine.  My lower back was bothering me, so I didn’t go all out.  Last 2 sets were superset with hack squats.  Next was leg extensions, last 2 sets with drop sets.  Then leg curls, last 2 sets with drop sets.  Worked the calves next on sitting calf bench.  Then another 5 sets of leg extensions, followed by 5 sets of dead lifts.  ABS:  Crunches with 10lb weight, leg pullups to the chest & leg raises. 

QUOTE FOR THE DAY:  "Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street."  A good one for me today…..not to get discouraged with diet challenges.  Keep fighting the good fight.     

JUST GETTING TO THE GYM IS A SUCCESSFUL WORKOUT.     

Going heavy & supersetting.  Great workout this morning & start to the week.

WORKOUT —- CHEST:  Decline bench, 5-8 reps per set.  Last 2 sets supersetted with flat bench flyes & incline bench dumbbell presses.  Next, incline bench, 5-8 reps per set.  Last 2 sets supersetted with decline bench flyes & flat bench dumbbell presses.  CARDIO:  30 min’s HIIT on elliptical with varying intervals.  Heartrate 160-170.  Finished with 5 rapid sets of incline bench flyes supersetted with decline pushups (feet up on bench).  30 sec’s rest between sets. 

Quote for the day:  "Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude."  (Zig Ziglar)

JUST GETTING TO THE GYM IS A SUCCESSFUL WORKOUT.     

I munched out again last night.  I think it was because I was extremely tired after 2 hrs max of sleep Thursday night.  No excuses, just analyzing why.  Fortunately, this morning I had an awesome workout.     

WORKOUT THIS MORNING — WEIGHTS:  Lats & abs, doing 5-8 reps per set & supersetting last 2 or 3 sets per exercise.  For lats, did cable pulls close grip, then cable pulldowns close grip.  Then supersetted each with cable pulldowns wide grip, followed by bentover dumbbell rows.  For biceps, did curls with curl bar, then curls with straight bar.  Then supersetted each with dumbbell curls while rotating the wrist, followed by another set of dumbbell curls with different angle.  CARDIO:  20 min’s HIIT on the elliptical with varying intervals, heartrate 170-175.  Followed this with 4 more rapid sets each for lats & biceps (30 sec’s rest), each with supersets on last 2 sets.  ABS:  3 sets of crunches with 25lb weight, followed by 2 sets of situps.  Great workout…..I’m going to be sore tomorrow.      

JUST GETTING TO THE GYM IS A SUCCESSFUL WORKOUT.      

Well the progress pics below show the results of major munching during the Gators vs Sooners game last night……..(see workout below the pics): 

Yep, during the 2nd & 3rd quarters of last night’s game I was doing some major stress munching!  And though I didn’t get much sleep, I made up for it this morning with a killer adrenaline rush workout. 

WORKOUT THIS MORNING:  Heavy lifting on shoulders & triceps.  5-8 reps per set, and supersets on last 2 sets per exercise.  DELTS:  Military press & overhead dumbbell presses.  Supersets for each were with front dumbbell raises AND then lateral raises.  TRICEPS:  Close-grip bench press & triceps extensions.  Supersets for each were with seated dumbbell tricep raises behind the head.  CARDIO:  30 min’s HIIT with varying intervals, heartrate 165-170.  Finished with 5 quick sets of military press (30 sec’s rest), with last 2 sets superset with front dumbbell raises.  Then 5 quick sets of reverse cable tricep extensions (30 sec’s rest), with last 2 sets superset with regular cable tricep extensions.  GREAT WORKOUT! 

Have a blessed weekend, and encourage someone today…….

JUST GETTING TO THE GYM IS A SUCCESSFUL WORKOUT.     

1st things 1st:  GO GATORS!  Beat Oklahoma!  There, now I feel better.    

Yesterday was a clean diet day.  Tonight is the next diet challenge…….to stay away from the munchies during the Florida-Oklahoma football game.  I’m a Gator alum, and so is my wife (we met in college).  This morning I’m nice & sore from yesterday’s chest workout.  I’m liking the heavy cycle with the weights right now. 

WORKOUT THIS MORNING:  Leg day.  It was a mediocre workout, but at least I made it to the gym.  Started with machine squats.  I stay away from free bar squats due to my scoliosis (have to be careful not to tweak the lower back).  Sometimes I do Smith Machine squats, but didn’t feel up to it this morning.  Followed with leg extensions, leg curls, more leg extensions, deadlifts, calves, then a few extra sets of machine squats.  6-10 reps per set since I’m going heavier.  Finished legs with a couple sets of walking lunges, holding 25lb weight in each hand.  Wrapped things up with a couple quick sets of situps. 

So far the 2009 workouts & diet are going pretty well.  Have a great day.  

JUST GETTING TO THE GYM IS A SUCCESSFUL WORKOUT.