Training log and why i’ve quit being neurotic about body fat
Hello everyone!
Well, its been a while since i’ve posted a specific training blog so here is the latest update.
Well, lets start by talking about my hardcore session with my friend. Now I have mentioned in previous blogs, we were scheduled to do some arm training together. This was meant to happen last weekend. Unfortunately though, if there is one thing me and my friend (lets call him G) do as well as training hard, its partying hard! We partied WAY too hard on the saturday night and come sunday both of us were too wrecked to really go all out in the gym. Dont get me wrong, we still both trained, but we decided to leave the hard stuff for the next weekend where hopefully we were a bit more sensible 
So Sunday here we are at the gym training arms. Now in my previous blog i laughed and said it was going to be a wannabe version of the time dorian yates trainined with mike metzner, but truth be told we did do some very, very productive training. It wasn’t on that level of all out intenisty (hell, who COULD match that??) but it was very intense none the less.
Me and X match up well together physically, nearly the same height, same build. He is a little bigger then me at the moment because he had been bulking and i have been cutting until recently but i will catch him again soon enough In regards to arms, i have the bigger and stronger triceps, but he has the bigger and stronger biceps. We have kinda different gym goals too, he is required to stay leaner year round because he is an underwear model whereas my first focus is and always has been physical strength
So we started off with some preacher curls, and it was a killer! Lately, i have been getting into some static holding type stuff: That is, you work till failure, drop the weight to about half of what you were lifting, and hold it statically about halfway up until you hit failure again, its nasty stuff! We pushed each other to total failure and at the end my arms were so pumped and fatigued i thought they were going to fall off. We supersetted that with some super heavy narrow grip bench presses. Now G, sadist that he is (lol), pushed me to doing another 5 or 6 negative reps after failure…………………god damn! My arms are still aching as we speak from that, but, that is the name of the game after all!
Plus, i got him back: I smoked his triceps by getting him do a brutal, all out drop set of skull crushers after his last set of preacher curls. He couldn’t even move his arms! But the vascularity after that, insane……………..I will have to incorporate a set like that next arm workout because the pump was unbelievable.
The other exercises we did were lateral overhead extensions, seated bicep isolates, cable curls, overhead cable curls and finished off with some heavy, weighted dips to failure, it was some good work!
The other thing i introduced G to was the standing cable crunch for the abs. Now, i got onto this exercise via louie simmons (powerlifting guru) and his book Westside barbell book of methods. Its funny, because louie actually says in his book "u dont know just how weak your abs are till you do a standing cable crunch". He was right! I am only able to do half the weight i use for a kneeling cable crunch and my abs hurt more the next day after the exercise. G loved it straight away: because he makes a living off his body he is always in search of a new exercise to carve out his abs even more. To quote him "I thought i was stronger through the core then that!" Ah the joys of learning and reading
The other thing that i have done recently is stop measuring body fat. I was getting just too neurotic about it so thus, i have stopped it. I did this for a couple of reasons
i) I am still keeping very lean, just not crazy competition shredded
ii) Life to me is just too short to worry about things like that 24/7
iii) I am having fun again (I wasn’t in the pre contest phase!!)
iv) Suprisingly, people are telling me i am looking much better, particularly in the face. At the end of my pre contest phase, i got so drawn in the face people were coming into my office and asking if i had a terminal illness!! True story! As is stands now, dare i say it, i look, well healthier! I also feel much better too I may have to post a photo to illustrate just how bad i was actually looking!
Dont get me wrong, i am still eating super clean 95% of the time, but i am partying on weekends. Hell, a boy has to have fun too! Personally, i dont really know why anyone would want to try to keep ripped 24/7, i could think of nothing worse. I tried for about a month after my last comp but to be honest, life was no fun at all. Now, i am just eating lots of good food, training hard and heavy and not worrying about things. In fact, i most likely will not worry about things again unless i do another comp (The guys at my gym are trying to talk me into doing a big one in april next year………………………….time shall tell ). I’m getting bigger too but i can always get big, for me, its ripping up that is the problem.
Truly, unless you REALLY want to keep ripped year round, or you make a living off your physique, why bother? Personally, i’d rather eat well and have fun and save the really tough stuff for peak periods
Anyways guys, gotta go eat. I am always hungry! Got a quieter week at work this week so should be blogging almost daily. Remember, train heavy, train hard. Will talk to you all again very shortly
The good doctor
October 5, 2008 at 6:58 pm
great post man thanks!