Brian Westgate’s Journey

After looking at my pictures I thought I needed to improve my arms a bit more, so I have split them out into thier own workout.  here is what I did:

Seated dumbell curls - 60lbs for 10, 9, 8

Inclined dumbell curls - 40lbs for 3 sets of 10

Drag curls on the smith machine - 145lbs for 3 sets of 10

Cable curls preacher style over the head - 30lbs for 15 35lbs for 12, 10

Skull crushers superset with narrow grip presses - 110lbs for 3 sets of 12 each

behind the neck dumbell extensions - 90lbs for 3 sets of 10

Superset - pressdowns (80lbs for 12, 10, 10) superset with dips (3 sets of 20)

Great workout.  My arms will be sore for my swim tomorrow.

Chest is getting very sore after yesterday’s workout.  probably from the 105lb dumbell inclines  presses and 60lb inclined flyes.  ouch.

Just sitting back having a coffee before my workout, here is why… 

Caffeine helps athletes to run longer or faster by releasing calcium, researchers in Hamilton have found.

Recreational runners and racers have known for years that downing a cup of java before heading out for a run can give them an extra jolt.

Most assumed that the performance-enhancing drug boosted their running the same way it helps people stay awake.

In Friday’s online issue of the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, however, Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky of McMaster University Medical Centre found caffeine tricks an athlete’s brain into delaying the perception of pain and fatigue.

More importantly, it also prompts muscles into releasing more of the calcium needed to contract and relax.

"The caffeine is allowing a little bit more calcium to be released into that muscle," said Tarnopolsky. "It would make that muscle contraction a little bit stronger, so you can actually either run at the same pace with less input, or run at a faster pace for the same input."

Research from the University of Guelph showed caffeine in high concentrations can actually have the opposite effect, which is one of the reasons it is no longer banned at the Olympics.

"Understanding that very small doses of caffeine enhance performance somewhat, larger doses tend to erode performance," said Dr. Andrew Pipe of Montreal, an adviser to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports.

"And caffeine is a part of the lifestyle and the food ingestion of people around the world," which would also make it difficult to ban.

Regardless of how it works, Canadian running legend Rick Rayman said he plans to keep fuelling his runs with coffee. Rayman has completed 204 marathons and a daily run every day since 1978.

"Definitely, psychologically, to the point that I won’t start a marathon or training run even without it."

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada funded the research and published the findings of the study, called Effect of Caffeine on the Neuromuscular System — Potential as an Ergogenic Aid.

Day one of the next phase in my workout.  My workout:

Inclined dumbell press - 90lbs @ 12, 100lbs@10, 105lbs@6 (new personal best), 100lbs @ 6

Flat smith machine presses - 225lbs @10, 235lbs@10. 245lbs@8, 255lbs @6

Dumbell incined flyes - 60lbs 10, 10, 10, 8

Smith machine military press - 145lbs for 12, 155lbs for 10, 165lbs for 6, 5

Seated side dumbell laterals - 30lbs for 4 sets of 10

bent over rear dumbell laterals - 30lbs for 12, 35lbs for 12, 12, 12

I am focusing on upper chest.  Also I stay away from front deltoid work because they are already big enough.  good workout.

It’s been awhile since I last posted.  For the last month I have been doing a 3 day split of chest/tris/shoulders, back/bis and legs.  This included trisets at the end of each workout.  I have decided to go from a 3 day split to a 4 day split now.  This will mean I will be training each body part once a week (maybe a bit more if I do 5 days a week).  I plan on upping my weights, volume and intensity for each body part in a hopes to really get my muscles more dense.  I also want to make sure I train calves and abs twice a week.  My diet won’t change other than to lower the amount of cheating I have been doing lately and stick to all healthy food 6 times a day. My split will be:

Day 1 - chest and shoulders

Day 2 - biceps and triceps

Day 3 - cardio, abs and calves

Day 4 - Legs

Day 5 - Back and traps

Day 6 - Off

Davy 7 - repeat

I will still do one cheat evening a week.  This still seems to be working for me.  I will also be doing 1.5 hours of ninjutsu twice a week to keep up my flexibility, speed and agility.

Take care.

I get a lot of questions about how you gain muscle or how you loose fat.  It is very simple.  Hard work and clean eating.  Hit the gym hard, I mean really hard with a lot of intensity.  When you are out of the gym, eat clean.  If someone tells you that sucking back a low carb beer is healthier then eating an apple, kick them in the nards!  If someone tells you to stop doing barbell curls and start doing one armed dumbell curls while standing on one leg on a bosu ball, that’s right, kick them in the nards.  If you want to build muscle and loose fat, stick to the basics.  Sitkc to basic movements in the gym and stick to basic foods outside of the gym.  Simple right?  So why doesn’t everyone look like they are in peak shape.  Easy they are looking for the magic excercise or magic pill.  It is right in front of them it is called hard work and eating clean. 

Cheers!

Still so sore from mych chest and tris workout.  My inner bicep is feeling a bit strained while doing my shoulder routine.  I am right on the edge of growing and injury.  I’ll have to be careful. 

Smith machine military shoulder presses - 185lbs for 8, 8, 6 drop to 135lbs for another 6

Upright rows - 110lbs for 3 sets of 10

Side dumbell laterals (seated) - 35lbs for 12, 12, 12 (very hard)

Bent over Rear lateral dumbell raises - 40lbs for 3 sets of 15

Smith machine shrugs (to the front) - 325lbs for 4 sets of 8

Dumbell shrugs - 3 sets of 15 with 100lbs

WOH!  Am I ever sore today!  yesterday’s chest workout killed me.  COOL!  Lots of heavy basic compound moves, works every time.  Here is what I did:

Bench Press - 255lbs for 8, 8, 6

Inclined dumbell press - 90lbs for 10, 10, 10 (barely)

Inclined dumbell flyes - 55lbs for 3 sets of 12

Cable Crossovers - 80lbs for 10 then drop to 70lbs for 5 for 3 sets

Dips with 90lbs (2 plates) hanging between my legs - 10, 8, 7.  Killed me!

Dumbell tricep extensions - 100lbs for 10, 10, 9

Pressdowns - 80lbs for 12, 10, 10

Another great workout.  Eating has been good to.

Today was a focus on strength, middle back thickness and lower lats for back and hypertrophy and outerhead for biceps.  Tough workout and I found that doing the reverse grip pulldowns was akward and created some paiinn in my left shoulder.  I’ll have to watch my form or not do these anymore.  Here is what I did:

Bent over barbell rows (smith machine) - 235lbs for 8, 245lbs for 3 sets of 8 - felt good, felt powerful.

Lat pulldowns (haven’t done these for awhile as I find pullups work better) - 3 sets of 10 at 200lbs.  Found these very difficult to get the weight down and in position.  Once I did though it felt great and powerful.

One armed dumbell rows - 100lbs for 3 sets of 10 - focused on bringing the weight down slowly

Reverse grip pulldowns - 140lbs for 10, 150lbs for 2 sets of 10 - as I said this aggrevated my shoulder.

Inclined dumbell curls (35lbs) superset with EZbar curls (70lbs) - for 3 sets of 12 - these gave me a killer pump.  Doing basically 24 reps in a row even though the weights were light, right after a big back workout was killer!

Cable concentration curls (drop sets) - 45lbs for 8 drop to 30 lbs for 7 for 3 sets.

Arms can barely bend now.  Time to get a protien shake - one banana, 1 large scoop of protien (30g), frozen strawberries and bluberries and some skim milk.  Yum yum.

Oh man today was tough to get down to my basement for a workout.  it is very hot and it has drained me of energy.  Non-the-less I hitched up my dog and did an 8 minute run (was supposed to be 10 but it was to damn hot).  I then went down into my basement which was blessedly cool.  Today was shoulders and traps and I hit them hard:

Superset - one arm side cable laterals superset with one armed rear cable laterals - I used 20lbs for 3 sets of 10 for both.  This doesn’t sound like a lot but on my machine it is.  It took everything I had to keep my form good while doing the 10 reps.  Sweating good after these.

Dumbell shoulder presses - 60lbs for 12, 65lbs for 10, 10, 8.

Bent over Rear lateral dumbell raises - 40lbs for 3 sets of 15

Smith machine shrugs (to the front) - 315lbs for 4 sets of 8

Dumbell shrugs - 3 sets of 15 with 100lbs (wish my dumbells went higher)

Great workout but I am exhausted.  Time for the weekend.  Enjoy everyone!

I managed to go up in all of my excercises this week from last week.  Always a good feeling when you see strength progress.  I need to push legs harder but was happy with the increases. 

barbell free weight squats - 245lbs for 3 sets of 10 (increased by 10lbs)

Leg press - 630lbs for 3 sets of 10 (increased by 40lbs)

Lunges - 195lbs for 3 sets of 12 (increased by 10lbs)

Leg extensions - 180lbs for 15, 15, 15 (got 15 instead of 12 on the last set)

Stiff legged deadlifts - 100lbs dumbells for 3 sets of 10 (20lbs more total)

Leg curls - 110lbs for 15, 15, 15 (got 15 instead of 12 on the last set)

Standing calf raises - 240lbs for 3 sets of 12 (15lbs more)

Seated calf raises - 170lbs for 3 sets of 15 (10lbs more)