Totally Addicted for Life

Man… I hate being sick.  You feel like you are shrinking by the second.   I had just enough energy to do a few heavy sets.  Didn’t want to push myself to hard but figured if I just did some heavy sets that would remind my muscles what they are there for

So since it is tricep day I started with the close grip bench press on the smith machine:

135×30, 225×15, 275×12, 315×6 (4+2 assist), 315×6 (4+2 assist).   Took more time then usual between sets to allow myself recover.  Felt strong enough, just out of breath when I finished each set.

Then went to the dip machine.

15×180, 10×230, 10×270, 10×270 facing the backrest.  This worked high up on the tricep.  Man that thing hurts my hands.  

10×230, 10×230, 10×230 facing forwrd.  Arms are angled way out so the outer tri down to the elbow is stressed.  

Now the cable machine and wiht the ez curl bar, using it "upside down" so the angle of the bar forces the outer tricep to do the work

10×110, 10×50, 10×180, 10×180.  Again I allowed myslef plenty of rest but still feeling really nauseous when I finished the last set.  figured thats it for today.

Drank some water and rested a few minutes, then went to the Sauna.  The hot, dry air at least dried up my nose.  I dont know if it did any good but it felt good to sweat.

So far today I feel about as weak as yesterday.  Going to take a nap and hopefully feel better this evening.

Stress…  the body killer.

Between work and home, it has been tough.  I feel like Atlas with the world on my shoulders right now.  Who knows why, but my immune system just caved in and my head cold really kicked in Wednesday.  Had a low energy workout and was weak and light headed all day.  No fever though.  Just that stuffy achy feeling that saps your energy.

Worked until 8:45pm and was in bed by 9:30pm.  Slept unitl 4:30am this morning.  I feel blah, but still going to go through the motions this morning.  Somthimes those workouts end up becoming great workouts, if not, then I will do what makes sense.  Plan to hit the sauna to and just have a good sweat.

Still managed to eat very good though.  Just the right amount of calories and food balance.

As long as I dont have a fever I will always try to hit the gym and do something!

I woke up this morning and I noticed I could see the veins in my lower abs.   Based on the Omron readings I was still around 16-17%.  But what I was seeing in the mirror didnt seem that high.  Decided that when I got to the gym I would corral one the trainers and get them to do a caliper test.

Well, what do you know.  He used a digital caliper and we did it twice. Came out to 9.5% BF.  WTF..  I grabbed the Omron off the counter it it read 18.5%.  did it again.. 18.5%.   what a piece of crap that thing is.  I was getting down cause I thought I should be doing better then I was but all the time the damn thing was not working for me.

So now I am PUMPED, I mean PUMPED.

I hit the gym like a madman.  And guess what.. it is chest day!  I was feeling better anyway, and with the BF reading I was ready to do some serious weight (again, for me)

I started off with the incline benches set at 45 degree. Started with 35lb db for warmup and stretch.. probably did 30 reps.  do them until I feel nice and warm and streched out.
From there: 45×15, 65×15, 85×15, 100×12, 110×10, 115×10, 95×12   owwwiiieeee.  Last set at 115 was with 2 assited reps.
Then went to 80 degree incline to hit the upper chest area that stretches across to the shoulders.  45×10, 65×10, 85×8, 85×7.

OK, now the flats DB benches.  Cant do these heavy because my shoulder just feels weak and painfull when I get to a certain weight.   I use multiple hand postions to get a good pump and a well rounded look.
45×15, 55×15, 65×12, 75×10, 85×8, 65×10.  Not much weight but thats all I can handle for now.

Next went to do moderate 15 degree incline flys.   Love these.  I dont go down very far, the weight does not go below my chest, and I do them slow and strict.  45×12, 55×12, 65×10, 55×10.  These felt good and my chest is now fully inflated…lol.  I do love having the upper chest to be be thickened out like it is.  In my 20’s I could never get that because I spent to much time on the BB flat bench press.  Big lower chest and minimal upper chest.. now it is the reverse…. sheesh.

Finished with the fly machine.  15×145, 15×185, 15×210, 10×240.  Then reversed and did some sets on my mid and upper back to stretch out the chest in a different way and counter the rolled shoulder look you get with to much benching.

I left the gym still jazzed and it lasted all day.  Ate good all day but decided to go to a good Oyster bar that I had been told about as a as a treat.  Ate a full bucket of oysters, though only about a dozen crackers, and drank 2 mich ultra’s.  That will set me back a couple of days but it was worth it!

Had a great workout this morning even with the head cold.

I started with some Lat Pull downs to warm up.  Once I warmed up good I moved to the pull up bar.  Did 3 sets of 10, 10, and 8 reps.  Still weaker then I like here but improving.  Then did the lat pull downs using the bar with the side grips.  I love that bar, the way it pulls on your lats.  I did 10×185, 10×210, then 10×225.  Felt real strong.

Next was the close grip pulll downs.  8×165, 8×185, 6×210

Next did seated rows wide 8×165, 8×195, 6×220, then close grip with same weights.

Bent over rows were next, used narrow grip today since I want to thicken my lower lats.  10×90, 10×135, 10×180, 6×205.  I was really feeling them after these sets.

Next were the bent over DB rows. 10×85, 10×95, 10×105, 8×115

Finally did lat pulls overs with DB’s.  10×65, 10×85, 10×95.

All in all a good workout.  I dont think I worked hard enough to stimulate growth, no sign of soreness, but at least I moved some heavy weight (for me anyway) today.

  The single body part per day is working and giving me time to recover bu I still need to be carefull and not overtrain.  I have made a lot of gains so far this year and hate to lose them from injury.

I ate decent today.  At least I ate more often.  Bad part is I ended up working late and didnt eat dinner until almost 8pm.  Had a skinless chicken breast and some wild rice.  Ate to much rice, probably around 60 carbs.   Not good that late at night but thats what happens when you wait unitl you are starving before you eat.  At least I didnt stop for the Chruches fried chicken like I was tempted to.

I usually rest on Sunday but since I was in the beignning stages of a head cold I decided to rest Saturday.  I weighed myself in and was down 5 pounds in two weeks.  I think that is too fast.  Probably lost some muscle.  Need to add more calories into my diet this week and slow down the weight loss.  I dont have anyone to take my BF so dont know where it is.  

I can see the fat loss from around my lower back but my muscles look, I dont know, kinda flaccid..not pumped feeling.  I am gonna have to hook up with a real BB nutritionist at some point.

Started my workout at 8:30am.   Still didnt eat and I knew that was a mistake even before I started, just was not hungry.  My leg workout went fine considering I still feel the effects of the head cold.  My leg workout is pathetic anyway so it is not really worth documenting.  I have been making progress though, and it wont be too long before I can start training them for growth.  My achilles feels strong and thats what I need to keep an eye on.

Also worked my traps and did some ab work.  Spent about 90 minutes including warm up and cool down periods.  I was lightheaded when I finished but recovered quick with a strawberry, blueberry, and peanut butter protein shake.  

I took a nap in the sun since it was in the mid 70’s today.  That felt terrific.  I will take some nyquill around 9m so I get a goods night sleep.  Tomorrow is back day and I want to hit it hard!

I hit the gym this morning mentally ready but I am in the beginning stages of a cold and it impacted me somewhat.  I didnt overdo it and will rest tomorrow, work legs on Sunday instead.  This should give me time to see if the cold will pass or take hold.  With all the stress from work and other things I am not surprised I am cathcing one.

Like I said, the workout was not all that hot.  Very mechanical.  Went through the motions and even did most of my normal weights, just couldnt push as hard as I would like to.  

I did eat clean today.  Protein shake, soup and salad, beef jerky, steak and brochali.  I think my appetite was also impacted by the oncoming cold.  Guess I better get to bed instead of whining.

I got to bed at 9:30 last night and slept straight through to 4:30am.  I knew I was going to have a good day at the gym the moment I woke up.
Not only that, but it is triceps day and feeling good and healthy I knew I could push it today.
When I want to go heavy I use the smith machine to do some tricep benches.  I don’t like the more traditional close grip because my wrists were getting damaged.  I keep my arms perpendicular to the ground and run straight up and down along my side when I press.    Sets were: 20×135, 15 x 225, 10×285, 6×315, 15×225.
Moved on to skull crushers.  I like using the EZ Curl bar and do inside and outside sets.  Warmed up with 75# doing 8 inside and 8 outside in a continuous set.   Went right to 125lb and did 10×125 inside, 10×125 outside, 8×125 inside, 8×125 outside, 8×125 inside, 7×125 outside.  Got a great pump!
Next was the weighted dip machine.  First set at 10×180, next set at 10×230, then 8×270, and 8×270.  
Next was tricep extensions using the cable machine and rope.  First sets just focusing on weight and pulling down with little spread of the rope.  10×100, 10×140, 8×160, 8×180.   Then started at 180 and did as many reps as possible, then dropped 20lbs and without resting did another set to failure and repeated this until I get to 100lbs.  The burn was intense and rewarding.
I am on my second day of clean eating.  No alcohol.  Had a protein bar and jerky this morning.  A chicken Caesar Salad for lunch.  I usually have Muscle Milk shake after my workout but had run out.  I had more cicken and salad for dinner tonight.  Actually ate the leftovers from last night, lol.

Tomorrow is shoulder day.  

So it better happen before Spring gets here cause I love a cold beer on a hot day.

I Went to see the Orlando Magic play Charlotte last night and had a blast and watching Dwight Howard score 48 points.  He is just a phenomenal athlete and moves amazingly fast for a big man.  When Shaq was in Orlando I saw several of his games and he was also fun but was more a power guy.  Dwight has the power but also the athleticism .  

OF course I drank too much.  Started off at the Pub, went to the game, then finished at the pub.  All in all about 9 Mich Ultra’s.  I need to just stop drinking beer period.  I am starting to get out of control.  Didn’t get to bed until 12:30am and got up at 4:30.  Just not conducive to good training.

I love doing biceps.  My upper bi’s have gotten so far ahead of my mid and lower so I decided to not do an isolation set on uppers today.  Really focused on lower biceps and form.

After warm-up did standing db curls at 15×35, 10×45, 10×55, 10×55.  
Then did some preacher curls isolating the lower bi’s.   Used 75lbs ez curl bar.  Did 10×75, 8×75, 7×75. And 6×75 in a fairly rapid pace.  I went from the arms almost fully extended to just before halfway up at a rapid pace.  Man did those suckers BURN.

Next exercise was something I do just cause I like it.  Don’t know how well it actually works.  I use the rope attached to the pulley machine to do hammer curls.  Did 8×40lb, 8×40lb, 7×40.  A good burn as well.

Last Bi exercise was the concentration curls.  Used 30lb db and did 3 sets to 15 reps, having to assist on the last couple of reps.  
When I finished I was really pumped but not as much when I lift heavier.  But after doing the heavy DB’s on the preacher Monday for the photos I didn’t want to push it.

Didn’t sleep well l last night.  Got about 3.5 hours sleep.  Thank goodness for energy drinks.

After looking at the pics on Monday I know I need to hit my upper chest mid chest more.

Therefore I started off with 45 degree incline DB presses.  I like to do about 12 reps on the majority of sets. I do 4 reps with hands in parallel with body, the 4 at 45 degree position, and then 4 at traditional position.  Did 5 sets like this building up in weight to about 85lbs.   At 95lbs did one set for 10 reps in about 55 degree hand position.  Final two sets were 8 reps at 105Lbs unassisted and two assisted reps.  Then did a cool down of 12×85lbs.

Put the bench position up to about 85 degrees, slid my butt out just a bit, and hit the very upper part of my chest.  Started at 45lb and worked up to 75 lbs.  Reps were 12, 12, 10.

Had an excellent pump by then.

Then went to the flat bench and did some hybrid sets of flys where it is almost a press after clearing my chest.  I don’t like to go heavy on this because my shoulder just does not tolerate heavy flat presses, even with db’s.    I started with 15×45, 15×55, 12×65, 12×75.

Next did some super sets of decline pushups using the swivel grip and flat pushups on a heavy ball.  This really targets the inner chest and based on hand position hits upper, mid, or lower chest.

Finished off chest with some wide flys using the fly machine.  Did 15×110 15×145 15×185 15×220.  The machine is pretty light feeling so have no idea what the “real” weight would be.

I always do a set of reverse flys for upper and mid back on the same machine to “straighten” out my posture of all the chest work.  This was suggested to me by a trainer two years ago and it worked wonderfully to remove the forward leaning slouch you get from too much benching.

Finally did my favorite ab routine.  I was soaked with sweat and felt great when finished.  I am so grateful I have my training to give me a sense of accomplishment and well being.