Brian Westgate’s Journey

Today was back and bis and I had the motivation to really rip it up.  I seem to always think the high rep routine will be easier but then I get into the gym and am reminded of how hard it is.  My muscles are having to adjust to the extra reps and forcing them to think endurance.

I started off back with pull ups rather than pull downs.  My goal was to do 3 sets of 15 pullups.  My first 15 were easy.  My second 15 were very hard and I barely got the last one.  My leat set I hit 10 then struggled with 11 and 12 then dropped.  I waited 3 seconds then jumped back up and did my last three in the set.  Whew I was tired by this time and it was only my first excercise.

Next was T-bar rows  3 sets of 15 at 125 lbs

Cable rows I started at 195lbs and did 15 but was so dead that I had to drop down to 180 lbs for my last 2 sets of 15

My last back excercise was straight arm pressdowns, 3 sets of 15 at 165 lbs

On to bis.  Man I was exhausted by this point and so were my arms.  Oh well suck it up and jump in and push hard.

I went down to 80 lbs and did 3 sets of 15 barbell curls

Then I went to the preacher machine and did 3 sets of 15 (had to do a few drop sets to finish)

Lastly I did concentration curls.  By this time I had no gas left in the tank.  I picked up 30 lb dumbells and did 10 a side then 5 a side just to reach 15.  I did this twice and that was it I was done.

So good workout.  Varying up my workout is really wokring.  Here is what I ate today:

1) egg whites and raisin bran

2) chicken breast whole wheat wrap, with spinich and low fat cheese

3) cottage cheese yogurt and pear

4) chicken breast whole wheat wrap, with spinich and low fat cheese

5) Chilli

6) protien and water

Take care folks and hit the gym hard, it’s the only way you’ll grow.

Well low rep week is over and it is time to hit my body with some high rep workouts for the week.  I started this off as usual with chest, tris and abs.  Here it is:

Inclined bench press - 1 set with the bar for 15, 1 set with 135 lbs for 15, 3 sets of 15 with 145 lbs, 155 lbs and 165 lbs  (the 165 lbs I made it to 13 then stripped off 10 lbs and finished the set

Bench Press (this really sucked because I was already drained fromt he inclines) - 1 set of 10 with 225 lbs, 1 set of 13 with 205 lbs, 1 set of 10 with 205 lbs then dropped to 185 lbs and did 3 more

incline flyes - 3 sets of 15 with 40 lbs

narow grip presses 1 set of 15 with 120 lbs, 1 set of 12 with 130 lbs then dropped to 120 lbs and finshed set, 1 set of 10 with 120 lbs then dropped to 110 lbs and did 4 more.

Ugg this is turning into drop central.  Not used to doing such high reps and want to go heavy and keep failing.  Oh well still intense.

Dips 3 sets with 45 lb plate, 15, 13, 11 (dropped and finished the sets with no weight)

tricep rope press downs 3 sets of 15 with 65 lbs

hanging leg raises 3 sets of 15

weighted cable crunches 3 sets of 15 at 90 lbs

Nutrition:

1) egg whites and raisin bran

2) chicken breast wrap with spinich and low fat cheese on a whole wheat wrap, and half a carrot

3) low fat cottage cheese mixed with no fat yogurt and grapes

4) chicken breast wrap with spinich and low fat cheese on a whole wheat wrap, and half a carrot

5) 4 hard boiled eggs, 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with peanut butter

6) protien and water

Have a healthy nutritious day, take care!

Last day of my heavy workout.  It has been fun but it is definately hard on the body.  Next week is high rep lower weight workouts.  I am looking forward to the burn.  Here is what I did for my heavy shoulders day:

Smith machine shoulder presses, 1 set of 10 with the bar, 1 set of 10 at 135 lbs (these were warm ups), 3 sets of 5, 4, 4 at 185 lbs.

wide grip upright rows, 1 sest of 10 at 150 lbs, 2 sets of 8 at 160 lbs

side lateral dumbell raises 1 set of 10 at 50 lbs, 2 sets of 6 at 60 lbs

rear dumbell lateral raises 3 sets of 6 at 60 lbs

Shrugs 1 set of 10 at 255lbs, 2 sets of 8 at 305 lbs

3 sets of 10 dumbell shrugs with 100 lb dumbells

I had to run out at this point but when I got back I finished off with abs

3 sets of 15 declined reverse crunches

3 sets of 20 ball crunches

Eating has been good today

1) egg whites and raisin bran

2) protien shake

3) steak wrap and 3 strawberries

4) steak wrap and a carrot

Meal 5 and 6 will be:

5) chicken breast, brown rice and broccollii

6) protien and water

I tok a bite of my daughters frozen yogurt today but I was pretty active so not a big deal

Take care all!

Actually it was more like a cheat night.  I had my typical egg white and raisin bran breakfast, then a protien shake, then a steak wrap and grapes, then another protien shake.  Then the cheating started.  My wife and I had a rotten day so we decided to do the cheat thing tonight.  I ate kraft dinner and hambourger, had a few rye and cokes and then some chips and cheese.  Before bed I finished it off with a peanutbutter and jam sandwich.  Man can I eat when I want to.  Anyway tomorrow I’m back at it with a heavy shoulder, trap and ab day then I begin my higher rep lower weight week.  Stay strong!

Well I didn’t make it to the ski kill today.  Instead I hit the gym.  It was leg day and I always tend to avoid leg day.  So today I decided I needed to hit my legs hard as they are starting to lag behind.  So today was heavy leg day.

I started the day with squats in the smith machine.  I started off with a set with one plate on each side.  Then I added another to do antoher 10 to finish off my warm up.  I added the third plate on each side and cranked out 10.  Easy.  So I added another 10 on each side and cranked out another 10.  Still Easy.  So for my last set I added yet another 10 lbs on each side and did 7.

Then I went onto the leg press.  I slapped on 8 plates on each side and pushed out 10 with my feet low and close together on the plate.  Then I added a 10 lb plate on each side and did another 10.  On my last set I added another 10 lb plate on each side taking it up to 760 lbs.  I pushed out 7 and was happy with a new personal best.

Leg extensions were next and I did 255 lbs for 10 then 270 lbs for 8 and 7.

Leg curls were next and I did 185 lbs for 9.  I put the entire stack on for my last 2 sets (200 lbs) and did 2 sets of 5.

Calves were next.  I started off with calf raises on the leg press machine with 5 plates a side and did sets of 10 then sets of partials for 10.

I then went over to the straight legged calf raise machine and did 3 sets of 12 at 230 lbs

Lastly I did seated calf raises 3 sets of 15 with 3 plates.

Eating went well today:

1) egg whites and rasin bran

2) taco wrap with spinich and low fat cheese

3) salmon, rice and broccollii

4) extra lean ground beef hambouger and a carrot

5) steak, baked potatoe and salad

6) protien and water

Have a good one, lift heavy and eat clean!

Well I didn’t make it into the gym today because work got in the way.  I was up in a helicopter flying around my district so I missed my lunch workout.  Tomorrow is $5.00 ski nights at the hill.  So I may miss the leg workout to get up to the hill.  But don’t worry!  I will be back at it on the weekend and I will still get in 4 days for weightlifting this week.  So I loose nothing.

Take care all!  Stay fit and eat clean!

Hello all.  I decided to take the day off today as I have weightlifted 4 days in a row.  So instead of weightlifting it was a sunny day out and I went for a run in the sun to get my vitamin D.

Things are comming together for me.  My wife commetned that I looked like Marky Mark last night with my abs starting to show through.  Cool.  Keep training hard.  It does pay off in the long term.

Day two of heavy week, and man am I sore.  My body has been thrashed it feels like I have gone through a meat grinder.  Back and bis - heavy- was a lot of fun today.  Tomorrow I may take the day off to recuperate.

T-Bar rows - 3 sets of 6 with 4 plates

Pull ups 8, 7, 7 with 45 pound plate hanging between legs

Cable rows 3 sets of 6 at 255 lbs

cable pressdowns 3 sets of 6 at 210 lbs

Biceps

barbell curls 3 sets of 5 at 130 lbs

machine preacher curls 3 sets of 5 at ??? sory cannot remember

concentration curls 3 sets of 5 at 50 lb dumbells

reverse curls 3 sets of 5 at 100 lbs

Another great workout and I think I am packing on a little muscle lately!

Eating today consisted of"

1) eggs and cereal

2) fajita

3) cottage cheese, yogurt and grapes

4) fajita

5) salmon, brown rice and broccollii

6) protien and water

Well I am through the isolation first wokrout now this week I am doing a heavy low rep week.  I started the week off as usualy with chest and tris and abs.  Heavy workouts are much easier when you have a partner by the way.  I don’t.

Chest

Bench press 2 sets of 5 at 275 lbs, 1 set of 4 at 275 lbs.

Inclined machine presses 3 sets of 5 at 115 lbs per side.

Declined bench press 3 sets of 6 at 245 lbs.

Inclined dumbell flyes 3 sets of 6 at 55 lb dumbells

Triceps:

Narrow grip presses 3 sets of 4 at 180 lbs

tricep dips 3 sets of 5with 2 45 lb plates hanging between my legs

Pressdowns 3 sets of 6 at 105 lbs

Abs:

declined reverse crunches superset with crunches 3 sets of 15 and 20 respectively.

Tonight my body feels well beaten up from the workout.  After my heavy weak will come a lighter higher rep week.  Stay tuned.

Last day of isolation work first.  I really enjoyed this workout and will go back to it in the future.  Today was shoulders, traps and abs and I did this in the comfort of my basement.  Another good workout.

10 minute warm up

dumbell lateral raises 3 sets of 10 at 40 lbs

front plate raises 3 sets of 10 with 45 lb plate

wide grip upright rows 3 sets of 10 with 130 lbs

barbell shoulder press in smith machine 3 sets of 10 @ 150 lbs

barbell shrugs 3 sets of 10 @ 255 lbs

dumbell shrugs 2 sets of 10 @ 100 lb dumbells

declined leg raises 3 sets of 15

cable crunches 3 sets of 10 @ 80 lbs

That’s it.  Say goodbye to isolation work first.  Next week is HEAVY week.  Got to get pumped for this  one.  Take care.