Animal76’s BodyBlog

Well, it’s been awhile since I posted on here, so I just figured I’d update my status. I’m now less than 9 weeks out from my first show of the season, WNBF Mid-America. I’m pretty damn excited, having been away from the stage for 2 yrs. Took some progress pics this past Saturday at the 9 week mark, after my shoulder workout:

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x…dner/HHMM2.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x…tlatspread.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x…obulebicep.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x…eidner/RDB.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x…/sidechest.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x…sidetricep.jpg

this last pic is a beter RDB taken at 10 weeks out
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x…lebicep2-2.jpg

i’m weighing around 206 lbs right now

My legs still have a ways to go and i’m still holding fat in my lower abdomen, lower back and lower glutes.
I think my legs are pretty flushed out here, since I had already hit them twice last week.

Well, I only have around 1 month of off-season left before I start cutting down for the long anticipated 2008 contest season. I’ve been regularly weighing in around 224-225 lbs. Workouts lately have been extremely productive. I have a new workout partner as of about a month ago. I began working out with WNBF Pro Vaughan Twigger, aka "The Brit". Vaughan is a good friend of mine and is a very genetically gifted individual. It’s extra motivating for both of us to train with someone we’re going to compete with (different weight classes) and we’ve have consistently pushed each other out of our comfort zones. Looking back at my extended off-season (I didn’t compete in 2007) I feel that my time was well-spent. I stayed focused on my goals the entire time and trained each day like my show was only a few weeks away. Soon enough as I start getting rid of the layers of subcutaneous fat I will see how much my hard work has rewarded me.

I hit a new PR on Deadlifts today.

675 lbs for 2 reps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRqmGpUIyWA

this was done after a set of 585 lbs for 8 reps (unfortunately the video for that one got messed up)

There’s something to be said for working out with someone who is a lot bigger. Yesterday I worked out with a guy who is around 6′5" and 280 lbs. We hit Trap bar Deadlifts to start off our back workout and I set 2 new PRs.

585 lbs x 8 reps

500 lbs x 14 reps

I have been logging regularly in my workout journal in the forum.

I apologize for not writing anything in either my journal or blog for quite some time. I have been extremely busy with work: 50+ personal training appointments a week in addition to my 2 hr workouts. I’m basically at the gym all day everyday, so when I come home I can;t really spend to much time in front of the computer. I did want to keep this going though.  Workouts have been great. I feel this has been my most productive off-season ever and I am anxiously awaiting the start of the 2008 contest season. My plans are set, I will be competing in the WNBF Mid-America on August 2nd in Evansville, Indiana and the WNBF International in Kansas City on September 6th. I plan to start my contest diet on March 16th, which gives me about 3 more months of offseason.

I have been consistently weighing in over 220 lbs. I’ll have to get some progress pics up here soon. I feel I have consistently blasted weak point training, so we’ll see how much improvement has been made when I cut down and get rid of the fat.

On a sidenote: Congrats to Brian Whitacre for becoming the newest member of Team Scivation. Brian is an incredible bodybuilder and a truly remarkable individual, he is a huge addition to our already awesome team! For those who aren’t familiar with Brian, he recently won the lightweight class at the WNBF Pro World Championships.

I haven’t written anything in here for a while, because I haven’t had time. I have been extremely busy with work and I am also promoting a bodybuilding figure competition, which is coming up soon:

The INBF Battle of Blacksburg will take place on October 20th on the Virginia Tech Campus in Blacksburg, VA

Despite being very busy, I have continued to get excellent workouts. I updated my journal this evening with all the workouts from the past week.

My back is finally 100% and I have begun to incorporate Barbell Squats back into my routine. Strength is coming back although I still have a ways to go to get back to where I was, but i’m confident i’ll get there, because I am persistent.

I have been weighing in around 220 lbs and am happy with my condition at that weight. I will work on getting some progress pics posted on here in the upcoming weeks.

I went to do chest & triceps yesterday and after doing 3 warm-up sets of incline press on the smith machine I went to do my first working set with 2 plates on each side…the weight felt light, but as I cranked out the 17th rep I suddenly felt a severe tightness in my outer right pec. I racked it immediately even though I could have probably gotten over 20 reps. I stretched it out and attempted a few more sets with different exercises, but it  was a no go. I wasn’t worth it to risk tearing a pec just to get a chest workout. So I improvised and did some triceps, biceps, abs and threw in some rear delts. I wasn’t happy that I didn’t get to hit chest this week, but staying injury-free is most important. I actually got a good workout anyway. I did a circuit style workout with lighter weight and got a great pump. Today and tomorrow will be recovery days and then Sunday i’ll hit shoulders.

Started the week off with 2 great workouts. I had a friend in town this weekend and took an extra day off Sunday (which was needed after last week’s workouts), so yesterday I consolidated shoulders, biceps, calves and abs into one giant workout. It was an intense 105 minute workout of giant supersets. I worked continuously in circles going from a shoulder exercise to a bicep exercise to an abdominal exercise to a calf exercise.

Today I hit back. Friday is typically my back day, but I have 12 personal training appointments scheduled for friday (i’ll be working from 6am until 8pm) so I figued it’d be hard to squeeze a workout in there and it probably wouldn’t be a good one anyway. So I hit back tonight and had a great workout. 26 total working sets. I started the week off on the right track. Tomorrow is leg day and I plan to crush them just like last week.

Well, today is going to be a very busy, so I decided to get my workout in early. I don’t typically workout in the morning, but I got up at 4:15am and was at the gym to start my back workout by 5am. This workout time is not ideal for me, but when you’re focused and determined to get a good workout, because it means more to you than anything else, than you do what you have to do and GET IT DONE!!! I had another solid workout this morning. 28 total sets for back. My week is complete and I can rest until Sunday morning. This was a great week from start to finish. I am very happy with the continual progress.

I had a solid chest/tricep workout today. Set a new PR on incline dumbell flys: I did 19 reps with the 100 lb dumbells. I had a great pump throughout the entire workout. My chest and triceps felt like they had been inflated with air.

One last workout this week to finish it off with a bang. Tomorrow is back day.