Ludlum3k’s BodyBlog

Today I had a great arm workout, even in a short time. The pump I had at the end was CRAZY, especially in the forearms, since they’re last. I used the EZ bar instead of the straight bar, to change things up and see how I’ll respond. I found it actually feels better to use, as it doesn’t put that strain on the wrists. I was able to blast a few extra reps out on overhead DB extensions, seems my triceps had more energy today. I went back to good old incline DB curls, which normally I HATE because they’re so hard, but today was different. Today, I actually enjoyed the inclines, dunno why. I basically utilised drop sets so that my total reps per set was at least 12, usually that’s what I did, but I never really focused on doing that, before I just did as much as I thought I could handle. Skull crushers were hard, because I was a little shorter on time today, so I was taking less rest in total. I still managed to get in all the reps i needed, but it felt a lot harder today, because of the rest time. I’m trying to get used to taking shorter rests, because I’ll be starting to cut soon, which means I’ll need shorter rest periods, in order to burn more calories and fat. Other than all that, the rest of the workout went the same. It’s been only a couple of weeks now that I’ve been doing forearms exclusively, and since they’re at the end of the workout, they get a pump that can’t be explained. It hurts! Then it’s hard for me to open my locker :p Anyways, this is what I did.

EZ Bar Curls
15×55
2×10x75
2×10x65
Overhead DB extension
10×86
9×85
15×70
12×70
Incline DB Curls
12×30s
7×30s
-> 5×20s
6×30s
-> 4×20s
-> 4×15s
8×20s
-> 4×15s
Superset
    Skull Crushers
    2×10x70
    2×12x60
    Close Grip Bench press
    2×10x70
    2×12x60
Superset
    High Cable curls
    3×15x30s
    Rope Pulldown
    15×85
    2×15x70
Superset
    BB Wrist Curls
    2×12x75
    15×55
    Rubber bar reverse wrist curls
    35
    25
    20

Today was the first chest day with my new stack, so I’ve now gone through 1 weeks cycle with Shock Therapy and Storm. I think it worked nicely, as I felt I had more stamina. Therefore, this new stack has passed the full test, and I plan on continuing with this stack for a while (until something newer and better comes :p)
Today I continued with my heavier bench presses, and still am having trouble with 245 lbs. Luckily I had a good spotter who helped me on the positive, while I slowly did the negatives. I then moved up to 80 lbs for Incline DB press, and was able to do decently high reps, but when I dropped to 75s for the second two sets, I was too fatigued and did less reps. I then did decline bench for a change, which I felt nicely. Cable crossover was the same and I threw in light machine presses (short reps, fast + high reps) as a burnout.

Bench
15×135
8×225
5×245
4×245
Incline DB press
8×80s
7×80s
2×5x75s
Decline bench
12×135
8×155
10×135
Cable crossover
10×50s
2×15x40s
Decline crunches
3×15
Chest press machine
20×100
15×115
10×130
15×100
DB crunches
3 x (10 w/ 20 lbs
       -> 10 x BW)

Friday was the day I had been looking forward to for a while now, and I was dissappointed. I was attempting a new 1RM deadlift, going for 425 lbs, and thought everything was going great. Finally, when I made the attempt, it was no good. I waited a couple minutes and tried again, but still unsuccessful. I tried dropping the weight to my old 1RM of 405 lbs, but by then I had wasted so much energy that I couldn’t even complete that, I was able to get the bar past my knees, but couldn’t lock it out. I was pretty pissed off and embarrassed for a while, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised what had gone wrong. I realised there were a couple factors that lead to this: 1) I have been doing front squats for the last month or so, which takes stress off the lower back muscles causing them to get lazy. 2) Before I started front squats, I had been going lighter weight on my squats, as I was trying to perfect my form, and do more reps. 3) Not doing other lower back exercises such as good mornings or hyperextensions, and skipping doing stiff-legged deadlifts on te last few leg days. 4) The last two nights leading up to this day, I had no sleep at all, due to a insomniac attack, and having too much on my mind (school, girlfriend, etc.) After thinking about these things, I was able to calm down as I knew what I have to do to fiz these problems. Therefore, hopefully, it won’t be long till I make another attempt.
Anyways, I went along with the rest of the workout, and decided to do some hyperextensions, which felt really good, as I began my road to my next attempt. Other than the hyperextensions, the rest of the workout was pretty much the same, except I had to skip the straight arm pulldowns, because I had to leave. Here it is

Deadlifts
10×135
5×225
1×315
1×365
failed x425
failed x405
Wide-grip pulldown
12×120
10×130
8×140
10×120
Hyperextensions
8 w/ 45 lb
-> 6 w/ 25 lb
-> 4 x BW
10 w/ 25 lb
-> 6 x BW
15 x BW
BB Shrugs
2×10x315 (F -> R)
2×15x225 (F -> R)

Recently I’ve begun to enjoy working out my shoulders, I guess because I’ve been doing it properly and been seeing decent results. Today was certainly no exception. Being the third day of using Shock Therapy, I had a lot more stamina and was therfore able to do more work and feel a greater pump. I tried taking my Shock a little closer to gym time to see how it would feel, although, today I didn’t feel it as hard as I have the last couple days… Nothing much to say about the workout itself, so this is how it went

BB Shoulder press
10×95
10×135
8×135
7×135
6×135
Arnold press
10×45s
9×45s
8×40s
->6×30s
Incline Rear Laterals
8×25s
->8×20s
->8×15s
6×25s
->6×20s
->6×15s
10×15s
DB Front Raise
6×25s
->6×20s
->6×15s
4×25s
->4×20s
->6×15s
12×15s
Upright Row
2×15x65
20×45
Cable Laterals
10×25
2×12x20
BIKE light 15 minutes

The day has finally come, my next workout I will attempt a new 1RM deadlift (going for 425 lbs), assuming I feel alright in the morning. I’m worried I may wake up with my hamstrings still a little stiff, as they still are right now, but I’ve been stretching them and taking hot baths to relax them. I will also take maybe 1.5 scoops of Shock to get a little more of a pump, hope it all goes well….

Today was day two of my new supplement stack, and I kind of had mixed feelings about it. On the plus side, I had a lot more stamina, and was able to complete my whole leg routine the way I wanted to. But the thing that I was dissappointed with was due to the fact that I took Shock Therapy a little early, I found the effects wore off too soon. I don’t mean totally, I mean the mental effect that makes me feel like a monster was gone too soon. When I was on the bus and when I was walking to the gym, I was hyped and felt like I couldn’t move fast enough.
But I’m not angry, I know that all I have to do is take Shock Therapy a little closer to gym time. Instead of 30 minutes pre-workout, I’ll take it 20 or 15 minutes. No sense in wasting my buzz on the bus lol.
On the training side, I took some extra time today to cool down in hopes that I won’t still be sore on friday (1RM deadlift attempt). Right after my last set of leg extensions, I hopped on a treadmill and walked for 15 minutes. After that I went to the locker room and took my Storm, then went back to the gym to do some stretching. I know that I should do this more often, and I probably will, because I’m so glad that I was actually able to was to the bus without feeling like I was gonna collapse. Problem is once I’ve finished my leg workout, all I want to do is leave. I was able to do stiff-legged deadlifts today, and tried putting 25 lb plates under my feet to achieve a better stretch, and I’ll probably do that all the time now. All my other lifts were basically the same, except I was able to do them all with a little less rest, thanks to the supps. Here’s the rundown

Front squats
8×135
6×155
2×4x185
Leg press
15×450
12×450
2×10x450
Standing calves
10×300
-> 8×240
-> 6×200
-> 10×100
8×300
-> 6×240
-> 5×200
-> 8×100
8×200
-> 4×140
Stiff legged deadlifts
3×10x135
Leg Extension
2×15x130
15×100

TREADMILL
15 minute walk

Tomorrow I’ll try taking the Shock Therapy a little closer to gym time to see how it goes

Today was arm day and it was taken to a new level thanks to Shock Therapy and Storm (See my previous BodyBlog for my review on those ) Anyways, I covered most of the rant on my workout in that blog, but in terms of training, the numbers went up quite a bit from last time and I threw in a couple different exercises as usual to change things up. Here it is

BB curls
15×50
10×85
7×85
2×10x65
Overhead DB extension
10×85
8×85
12×70
10×70
1-arm Preacher
6×40
->5×30
6×40
->5×30
8×30
->6×20
Superset
Skill Crushers
2×10x70
2×12x60
Close-grip Bench
2×10x70
2×12x60
Superset
High cable curls
3×15x30s
Rope Pressdown
3×15x70
Superset
BB Wrist curls
2×12x75
1×13x55
Rubber Bar Reverse Wrist curls
35
25
20

TOMORROW LEGS…. GONNA HURT

WOW I just had the craziest workout ever today. I finally got to try my new Shock Therapy + Storm stack and it was the craziest feeling ever. Before I got hyped from NO-Xplode, but the feeling I got from Shock Therapy doesn’t even compare. At first I felt happy to feel that old feeling I got from other pre-workout supps, but then I realised, this was something different, something better! I felt like King Kong when he faught the T-rex’s and thought my arms felt just as big. Now I understand those PUniversal ads in Muscle & Fitness magazines. I couldn’t stand still, I was sweating before I even started working out, I could see veins on me that I never saw before, and my mind was on a new level to workout. I think that these are now my fovorite supplements, plus they’re cheaper!
In terms of taste, Shock Therapy does taste a little like cough medicine, but Storm is nice, very sweet. Didn’t cause any degestive side effects, or anything else I could think of. It’s an all around good thing.
But the ultimate tests are to come… Leg day tomorrow, which is the deadliest so this will put these supps to the test. Plus, I’m finally gonna go for a new 1RM deadlift on friday, if everything goes according to plan CAN’T WAIT!!!!!

IT FINALLY ARRIVED!!! After three weeks of waiting my order from BB.com arrived, but after I arrived, so I didnt get to try it out. As for the workout, I found I lost some strength on the bench press I think it’s because I’ve focussed more on my upper chest development, which is improving greatly. My incline DB press went up, where 3 of my 4 sets had an extra rep. I used the chest press machine for a change to see how it would work, and I liked it. Went back to cable cross overs, felt nice. Anyways, here’s the stats.

Bench
15×135
8×225
4×245
2×245
Incline DB Press
10×75s
9×75s
7×75s
5×75s
Chest Press Machine
3×10x145
Cable Crossover
10×50
2×15x40
Decline Crunches
3×15
DB Crunches
10×20
->10xBW
10×20
->10xBW
10×20
->10xBW
Push ups
2×15

Can’t wait to try my new supps!!!!!! Hope they workout well for me. I’m a little worried about White Blood as NO products tend to be harder to find a working product

Once again I was dissappointed to find that my order from BB.com has not yet arrived now I have to wait until monday to see IF it will come. That was one factor that kept me from attempting a new 1RM deadlift, but the main reason I didn’t is because my legs are still not at 100%. Anyways, everything was basically the same, still felt good, so here it is:

Deadlifts
10 x 135
5 x 225
2 x 4 x 315
Wide-grip Pulldown
12 x 120
10 x 130
8 x 140
10 x 120
1-arm DB row
6 x 100
6 x 95
10 x 70
12 x 60
BB Shrugs
2 x 10 x 315 (Front -> Rear)
2 x 15 x 225 (Front -> Rear)
Straight-arm pulldown
3 x 10 x 50

Hopefully, I’ll try a new 1RM next week, but if my order doesn’t come in I might be too pissed off to do it. HURRY UP CANADA POST!!!!!!!!!!!

I just finished  shoulder workout about 20 minutes ago, and my shoulders still feel pumped nicely. If I needed one saying to describe today’s workout, it would have to be DROP SETS. I find drop sets work best for shoulders, and today I put them to the test. Nothing other than the rep scheme is new so these are the numbers:

BB Shoulder Press

9 x 135

8 x 135

7 x 135

6 x 135

Arnold Press

10 x 45s

8 x 45s

8 x 40s

 -> 6 x 30s

Incline Rear Lateral Raises

10 x 25s

8 x 25s

 -> 6 x 20s

    -> 8 x 15s

6 x 25s

 -> 6 x 20s

    -> 6 x 15s

DB Front Raises

6 x 25s

 -> 4 x 20s

    -> 6 x 15s

4 x 25s

 -> 4 x 20s

    -> 4 x 15s

10 x 15s

Cable Upright Row

2 x 15 x 85

12 x 85

Cable Lateral Raise

6 x 30

 -> 4 x 25

6 x 30

 -> 4 x 25

* PLEASE EXCUSE FOR THE SPACING, THESE SCHOOL COMPUTERS DO THAT FOR SOME REASON*