Armada’s BodyBlog

I finally had a gruesome leg workout.  Now I see why people split leg workouts into 2 days.  I had already hit my legs on Tuesday, but not like today.

Here is part of the Tuesday workout.
Hack Squat-6×160lb, 6×170lb, 8×180lb, 8×205lb.

Leg Extension-10×120lb, 9×130lb, 10×140lb, 9×140lb

Stiff Legged Deadlift-10×135lb, 10×185lb, 8×185lb, 8×185lb

Standing Calf Raise-8×295lb, 8×295lb, 16×295lb
Leg Press Calf Raise-12×405lb, 11×405lb, 16×405lb
Now today is Saturday, and here’s today’s workout.  It took about 1 1/2 hours.

Leg Extension-50×90lb, 40×80lb, 30×80lb, 20×90lb, 25×90lb, 25×80lb, 25×65lb.  My legs were wobbly after this.

Next:Barbell Squats-8×95lb, 10×65lb, 15×65lb, 10×95lb, 7×95lb, 6×95lb.

I hadn’t done a barbell squat since 1996.  I started with light weight to ensure I used correct form. Had to go to youtube to see it done correctly.  After each set, I was drenched in sweat, kneeling on the ground.  It was hot, and I was tired.
Barbell Lunges-7×65lb, 13xbar, 13xbar, 10xbar…I was really struggling with these.
Lying Leg Curls-34×45lb, 40×35lb, 30×45lb, 20×55lb

Stiff Legged Deadlift-15×135lb, 12×135lb, 10×135lb, 8×135lb

Finished with barbell wipers.  3×5 using 25lb plate.

This was my hardest leg workout.  I know this may seem like light weight to most people, but to me it was alot.  Because of my knee problems, it took awhile to strengthen my legs enough so I could do squats with no pain.  So now I’m actually excited about working my legs more.  I take Natural Balance’s Super Flex Joint Formula for my knees.  So far it’s helping.

The next time I work my legs, I’m going to spread it out over Saturday and Sunday.  I don’t really like working out more than 45 minutes at home.  Gotta spend time with my wife and little one.

I told my wife that I needed some motivation to step up my workout.  I told her we should have another contest in 6 weeks to see who reach their goals.  Hers is to drop another 10 - 15 pounds, and mine is to build a better physique.  Whether that means me dropping weight, and cutting up, or gaining a little weight to bulk and cut up.  As long as it looks good.

The last contest we had ended in April.  She reached her weight loss goals, and was motivated to keep going.   I lost another 10, which brought me down to 175lb.  Now I have to listen to her calling me skinny.  I let her know, I’m still strong as heck.

I’m finally seeing my quads develop some.  I modified my leg workout, and it seems to be working.  Hopefully in 6 weeks, I’ll have made some progress with my legs, and can post some pics.

I’m still recovering from my surgery and taking it easy like the doc said.  I started working out on Monday.  Nothing much, just 20 minutes on the stair climber, and some light dumbbell curls.  I ended up doing 3 sets of 15 using 25 pound dumbbells.  I curled up and down for 3 seconds each, concentrating on the muscle.  I didn’t know that know that 25 pounds could be that heavy, after a month on not doing anything.

25 pounds was the heaviest I could go, without incorporating my ab muscles.  I did 3 sets of hammer curls, using the same weights.  I also did 3 sets of 15 dumbbell overhead tricep extension, using a 30 pound dumbbell. I finished with 3 sets of 22 rope tricep pushdown using 40 pound weights.  I must say that today, my arms are sore.

Today, I did a 15 minute shoulder workout.  Jumped on the stair climber for 10 minutes.  It went like this:
Standing Cable Reverse Flye- 15 reps- 30 lb,8 reps- 40 lb, 10 reps-30 lb, 12 reps-30 lb

Standing Behind the Back Cable Raise-15 reps-10lb, 8 reps- 10lb, 10 reps - 10 lb, 12 reps - 10 lb

Standing Rope Cable Raise - 15 reps-20 lb, 8 reps -20 lb, 10 reps -20 lb, 12 reps- 20 lb

I didn’t gain or lose any weight.  I was conscious of what I ate.  I just started following my diet plan again.  Since I can’t take any supplements, I have to add more foods that contain protein to my diet.  More boiled eggs, stuff like that.   I don’t really like eating more food.  I got used to eating the smalls, supplemented with a protein shake.

My stomach is still healing, so I can’t do any ab workouts, or anything that puts a strain on the abs.  So most of my workouts will consist of low weights, and more time to complete, as I will be moving the weight at 3 sec paces.  Overall, I’m almost back to my old self.  Even the scarring is slowly going away.

Before Monday, I was just going to wait the full 2 months to recover.  It wasn’t until I had to climb 2 flights of stairs at work, and I was pretty winded when I got to my floor.  I was in the middle of trying to talk to a coworker, and was having trouble catching my breath.  I was like "hell naw!"  I have to get back in the gym.  So every day, I’m getting on the stair climber, or bicycle for at least 10 - 20 minutes.  I can’t wait until I’m able to run again.

Well that’s it.

Just had surgery on Friday.  Donated one of my kidneys to a friend.  It’s going to be awhile before I’m back in the gym. Just trying to take it easy right now.  I won’t be able to take any protein shakes, or other supplements.

Breakfast

2 turkey sausage patties

3 scrambled eggs

Snack

8 oz protein shake

8 oz cup cooked oatmeal

Lunch

4 oz Baked Chicken Breast

1cup broccoli
4 oz  mac & cheese

Snack

8 oz whey protein

Dinner

4 oz chicken breast

1 cup broccoli
8 oz syntha-6 strawberry protein shake
And of course I try to drink a gallon of water everyday, starting when I wake up in the morning.

I changed my diet and workout again.  I was tired of waiting for the results to magically appear.  I told my wife I was going to go back to eating cleaner meals. She’s been liking my results so far.  That was about a week ago when I decided that. Since then I’ve dropped about 5 -6 pounds more of useless weight.  I say useless because it was not all muscle.

My abs are coming out more, and my waist is tightning.  The luv handles are slowly going away. As for as the diet, I just went back to more meat and vegetables.  I only take 2 shakes a day now, because I get most of my protein in my meals.  As bland as they taste, I eat a lot of vegetables.  When I have a craving for sweets at night, I just eat a protein bar.  Sure they’re loaded with calories, but it’s way better than the small bag of cookies I was probably going to down.

I don’t really drink anything but water, because I’m always thirsty, so I rarely drink sodas, or juice.  I only drink sodas, when I drink liquor.  I cut back on that also.  I usually have a couple of shots on the weekend, but decided I’d lay off, to see if I can get better results.  It worked.

Someone on bodyspace.com asked me how did my quads looked, and they don’t look presentable.  So now I’m incorporating legs into each of my workout.  Not anything dramatic, just a leg extension, or leg press with each workout to stimulate growth.

I’m tracking everything using the workout tracker, and that’s what’s been keeping me on track, and motivated.  I look at my progress from last week, to see what I need to work on for the next workout.  I get to compete against myself.  Can I out do what I did last week, is what goes on in my mind.

Well, that’s enough of the chatter.

Incline Press 4×8-135lb

Flat Press 4×10-135lb

Decline Press 4×10-135lb

Peck Deck-4×8-70lb

Cable Crossover 3×12-40lb

Kneeling Cable Tricep Ext. 4×10-100lb

1 Arm Tri Pushdown 4×10-50lb

2 Arm Trii Pushdown 5×8-70lb

Dumbbell Kickbacks 4×10-15lb

Hack Squat 4×10-110lb
Leg Press 4×10-300lb
Hamstring Curl 4×10-115lb, 125,125,6×135lb
Leg Ext-4×10
Calf Raises on leg press machine 5×20-300lb

Lying Cable Crunch 4×25-45lb
Cable Woodchop 4×25-70lb

Hack Squats 3×15-90lb, 100lb, 100lb

1×12-110lb

Leg Press 2×12-255lb, 1×10-265lb, 1×5-285lb, 1×10-285lb

Standing Hamstring Curl 2×12 -115lb, 2×8-120lb, 1×6-115lb, 1×12-115lb

Leg Extension 4×12

Calf Raises 5×20-275lb

2 mile run

Standing Straight Bar Curl 3×12-50lb

Reverse Ez-bar Preacher Curl 3×12-30lb

Dumbbell Preacher curl 3×10-45lb

Hammer Curl 4×12-45lb drop set

Wide Front Pull-downs 4×10-120lb

Barbell Bent-over row 4×12-145lb

Dumbbell Row 3×10-80lb