NoWhereToRun’s BodyBlog

This is in response to the previous post, and just represents the values of the exercises that I’ve chosen to focus on:

Chest

Flat Bench BB Press: 225lbs x 20 reps

"  " DB Press: 100s x 20 reps
Incline Bench BB Press: 185lbs x 20 reps

Back

Pull-ups (unweighted): 30 reps

Deadlift: 275lbs x 20 reps

BB rows: 185lbs x 20 reps

Shoulders

Push Press: 135lbs x 20 reps

Lat Raise: 35lbs x 20 reps

Biceps

BB Curl: 100lbs x 20 reps

DB Curl: 50lbs x 20 reps

Triceps

Pushdowns: Rack x 20 reps

Single Overhead Ext.: 35lbs x 20 reps

Quads

Squat: 250lbs x 20 reps

Leg Press: 450lbs x 20 reps

So the baseball season is in full swing for me, and this always makes training a little more challenging.  Throughout the season it becomes increasingly difficult to lift heavy, especially in pressing movements and heavy pulling movements–WHICH IS INVOLVED IN A GREAT DEAL OF EXERCISES!  That means I have to plan and work around this dilemma.

What happens is that I get pain/fatigue in my throwing arm, the elbow in particular, and lose a great deal of strength and endurance for that side of the body.  So since its harder to continually lift heavier throughout the season I came up with an idea.

I’m going to try and increase strength through volume.  Theoretically the more times I can lift a specific weight, I can increase the number of reps done with a heavier weight.  For example, say I can only do 3 reps with 250lbs on the bench press and 7-8reps with 225lbs.  Now due to the extreme relative load of the 250lbs I can lift, I opt to increase the number of reps that I can do with 225lbs, say to 12-15, then down the line in the offseason I should experience an increase in the number of reps that I can do with 250lbs, which also means that I can go beyond that number as well.

That’s my goal/experiment while the season is in session.

Its been a really long time since my last entry, and I still have the remaining workouts to fill in from my winter program.

Overall I’d say the winter program was a huge success even though I got lost in the sauce towards the final days of it.  My anxiety about schooling starting again practically inhibited all motivation.  But on a positive note I gained nearly 10lbs, putting my weight up to 196lbs, the heaviest that I’ve ever been.

However, school has started up again, which means more struggles with my weight, even though I seem to be holding it a lot better these days.  With school comes the baseball season, which also plays an important factor in my training (and was also the original reason I began bodybuilding).  During the season, my throwing arm is put under a lot of stress and after games, I usually need a day or two to recover; mostly in the elbow region-making it hard to do pressing movements.  This is also a problem because I need to perform a certain amount of push-ups for my fitness tests with the Navy.  So with time contraints and the former it becomes increasingly difficult to train.  Right now I’ve lost 3lbs, which isn’t bad, and I’m actually trying to cut weight to lean out a little bit, especially to help make my six pack really pop.

When I find time, I’m going to finish my entries from the winter program.