My BodyBlog

I decided to delay my leg workout from yesterday until today….seems I caught a stomach bug from my sister-in-law and nephew who had it really bad for a couple of days last week.  Thankfully, it didn’t hit me too badly.  I ate normally, and just felt a little fatigued.  The only problem was with…how shall I say it…the ‘waste disposal’ aspect of my digestive system!  I had to go often and without warning.  I thought it wise not to do any squats until I got over that!

I started my workout with a 15 minute treadmill warmup and 15 minutes of ab work.  I then started my squats, I wanted to end the year on a high by doing a new personal best lift, and I did it!  My sets were 135×10; 225×6; 315×2; 359 x2; 370×2!  All reps were nice and deep up to and including the 315’s.  My first rep at 359 wasn’t very deep so I did another, again not as deep as I would like.  My first rep at 370 was the same so I wasn’t satisfied so I went down again with 370 and made sure to go as deep as I could, and I almost got to parallel with it.  Considering I did a lot of heavy lifting, I’m very happy with that last rep.

I’ve noticed that I have trouble going deep when I try the heavier lifts, even when I am very focused on doing it.  I squat using a rack and have the safety pins set up, so I can bail out if I can’t get back out of the hole….but this has never happened to me and maybe that’s a problem.  Could I have some kind of a mental block against going deep with heavy weight for fear that I won’t get back up?  Maybe what I need to do is intentionally bail out on a lift so I can get used to how the movement works…that might make it easy for me to forget about failing and just go for it….I’ll give it a try!

After squatting I did several sets for quads…the leg press at 270 feels really heavy after squats!  I also did 2 sets of walking lunges holding 25 pound dumbbells…on the last set my legs got rubbery and I didn’t know if I’d make it back across the gym!  I did leg extensions too, finishing up the workout with a drop set of 100×15 and 30×35…my quads started to burn like crazy and I just closed my eyes and kept going, putting everything I had into it and pushing myself to the limit….great feeling!  That’s all I had in the tank for legs, I’ll do calves next week.  A couple of hours after my workout my wife and I went for a brisk 45 minute walk.  I’m starting to feel the effect of the heavy squats with a little soreness in my lower back, and I predict I’ll have serious leg DOMS over the next couple of days….what a great way to end the year! 

My journey towards fitness, muscle mass and leanness has been accomplished so far with small steps.  I had to break a lot of bad habits and introduce a lot of good ones, and I the only way I could make permanent changes was to to do it one step at a time.  My latest step has been to start eating cottage cheese!  This is one food I detested.  The only time I ever ate it was when it was cooked up as part of a lasagna, and you couldn’t really see it or taste it.  I buy the groceries in our household, and since I’ve been eating clean I fill the cart with healthy foods but always bypass the cottage cheese, never giving it a second thought.

On bodyspace many members eat cottage cheese, a great low-fat and high protein food.  I’d been reading about it for a year, but I had lots of alternatives in my diet so I didn’t think I had to go there.  However, if I’m going to achieve my 2009 abs goal, I have to further sharpen my diet.  I need to reduce carbs even more, especially later in the day, and I have to replace it with more lean protein…cottage cheese was one of the obvious choices.  So I went out and bought a tub of fat-free cottage cheese and said to myself ‘I’ll at least eat this much and see if I can stand it’.  It’s not appealing to the eye, but I can get past that if it helps me achieve my goals…but could I handle the taste?  My first time I had a spoonful, eaten in small portions and washed down with water.  Not as bad as I had expected!   The second time I ate a spoonful with no water.  It just tasted like cheese to me…the third time I put two big spoonfulls in a bowl and ate it while watching a video…it was gone before I knew it and I didn’t mind it at all!  So I’ve proven to myself that I can eat cottage cheese and I can even enjoy it, so it’ll be a part of my food from now on!

A small step for most, a large step for me.  I had to overcome an attitude that was ingrained in me since childhood.  So many of the steps on my journey have involved overcoming a mental barrier, not a physical one…the way we think can hold us back from our goals but it can also be a powerful asset in helping us reach our bodybuilding goals…so if something like cottage cheese is lurking in your life, think about it again…you may just find a new tool to help you on your journey like I did!

Tonight’s workout started with determining my one rep max bench press for step one of the Muscle Media Bench Press Program.  I did the program for the first time in July-August and increased my max by 15 pounds, as well as really learning how to bench properly.  I benched 240 tonight although I don’t consider it a clean lift since the spotter kept his hands on the bar during all parts of the lift, even though he said he didn’t help me there must have been some impact.  So I’m going to start with 235 as my max lift and go from there.  If I’m really stronger then I’ll get to increase a little after the first failure test, so all’s good.  I’m looking forward to doing the program again, if I can do all lifts as required I’ll lift 260 by the end of it!  That would be unbelievable, although I’d be happy with any strength increase at all.  I’m going to change the timing of the workouts a little to allow for more recovery time.  I’ll bench press twice every 8 or 9 days instead of every week, the extra day or two rest will help me be at my best for every bench workout.  I’ll post my lifts and progress as I go along!

I also did a full chest workout, incline, decline and cable crossovers.  Last one until I finish the bench program.  I also did traps and got in some cardio between sets by jumping rope.  I did 650 reps, I’m getting much better at it.  My last workout for the year will be legs, where I’m going to try a new max lift on squats!

Planned to start my workout with deadlifts today, but my shoulders and back felt a little tight (no doubt from the overhead presses I did Xmas eve!) so instead I started with some back exercises to loosen things up and get the blood flowing.  I set up for some bent-over barbell rows and only planned to do a couple of sets with low weight, but they felt really good today so I started adding weight and before I knew it I was over 200 pounds and I ended up doing 231×2, which I knew was a personal best!  When I got home and looked up my stats, I saw that my previous best several months ago was 210, and my max lift about a year ago was 201!  Another record shattered!  Must be the turkey….

So, what about deadlifts?  My past experience is that if I leave them until the end of the workout, I am usually too tired to complete the heavier lifts.  But what the heck, I could still do some quality lifts as part of my back workout.  I did 135×10 warmup, felt light.  Next set 225×6, felt great!  No fatigue at all so far.  Next set, 315×2…still felt great.  A few blogs ago I said I was going to ease back into heavy lifting as I tried to match my personal best 405 lifted in September…well so much for that plan as I put on two more 45 plates and decided to go for broke and try to match 405.  I felt confident and strong, and when those two things come together for me I have no choice but to push myself….and I did the lift! Had to push hard to get past the sticking point to get myself standing straight, but I did it and it felt fantastic!  For the second time since I started deadlifting I saw myself in the mirror holding that barbell with 8 plates and the feeling was awesome (ego boost, ego boost)!  I also did it with chalk only, no straps…my grip is getting stronger too.  I stopped deadlifting there, wanting to end on a high note.  I finished my workout with a few sets of abs, going to failure on the last set and really getting a great burn.

I started deadlifting with only the bar and thirteen months later I’m pulling 405 off the floor.  I feel really great about that accomplishment!  But what are my limits?  How much heavier can I go?  I guess there’s only one way to find out…set a new goal and keep working towards it!  So my deadlifting goal is to lift 500 pounds by the end of 2009!  Maybe it’s realistic, maybe not, either way I come out a winner because I will get stronger, bigger, healthier and have fun no matter what!

Wasn’t expecting to have time to get in a workout today, but happily I finished up everything I had to do for Christmas preparations and I found myself with a couple of hours free!  I started with 10 minutes treadmill warmup, then worked abs for about 15 minutes.  Then I felt like doing some standing overhead barbell press, hadn’t done them in several weeks.  My chest was still a little sore from the previous workout, so I wasn’t sure how much I could press, so I started off light.  After a couple of sets that felt really good I knew I was going to go heavy!  My previous 1RM on this exercise was 135, I would be really happy to lift 140 today.  Here are all my sets:

• 55 x 10
• 95 x 3
• 105 x 2
• 115 x 2
• 125 x 2
• 130 x 1
• 135 x 1  !!
• 145 x 1  !!!!
• 155 x 1  !!!!!!

I only did two reps on the early sets to save energy.  When I got to 130 I did one rep, I still felt strong. The 135 rep was a lot easier than when I did it for my PB a couple of months ago.  I decided to really push the envelope and added 10 more pounds.  To my amazement I pressed 145 with no struggle!  What was going on?  I then added 10 more, total 155, and although I worked hard I did a good press and held it for a couple of seconds, hardly believing what I was doing!  To be honest I probably could have added another 5 pounds, I felt so strong. But I decided to play it safe, I didn’t want to risk hitting the wall and maybe injuring myself.  A 155 press, 20 pounds more than my record, how did I do that today? Looking at my lifting stats, my max lift for this exercise one year ago was 111, so I’ve improved by 44 pounds….I’ll take it!

Feeling great I continued my workout by pounding away on biceps and triceps with a variety of exercises, doing both heavy weight/low rep and light weight/high rep sets.  I also did some super sets and drop sets.  My goal was to get the blood flowing through the muscles and get the best pump I possibly could…I think I succeeded and I already feel sore so I can expect some great DOMS tomorrow!

All in all, one of those workouts that leaves me feeling great about myself and all the progress I’ve made, and makes me hungry for more!  Next workout will be boxing day, I’m going to go heavy on deadlifts, can’t wait!

To anyone who did me the honour of reading this, I thank you and wish you a safe and happy holiday season!

I wasn’t able to achieve my bench press goal last night…5×5 @205 lbs…I felt weak compared to other recent bench pressing workouts.  I’m not surprised since I was tired after a long and stressful day, getting to the gym an hour later than usual.  Yesterday was so crazy I didn’t even know for sure I was going to make it to the gym until the last minute!  Plus I started my workout 4 hours after my last meal….no carbs in the system for that much needed energy.  It’s amazing how critical the timing and content of the pre-workout meal is.  Most times when I don’t feel strong or energetic for a workout I can trace the cause back to when and what I last ate. 

Not so long ago I would have been very frustrated by my lack of strength and that would have affected my state of mind for the entire workout.  Thankfully I have learned to just shrug off minor disappointments and refocus on getting the most out of the workout.  I can do it because I know that every workout contributes to my muscle growth and fat loss, and especially to my better health.  Every opportunity I have to feel the weight of the iron, feel the contraction of my muscles, and strain to do that last rep, is a gift that I cherish more and more all the time.  Profound?  Corny?  Whatever it is, that’s my attitude now and I know it’s serving me well.

I stayed with the bench press and did 8 sets in total, plus I did incline dumbell presses, dumbbell pullovers, cable crossovers, push-ups, and rotator cuff exercises.  If you can’t blast the muscles with weight, shock ‘em with reps and variety!  A good chest exercise, I’m starting to feel it today.

Soon after I started benching a couple of teens arrived, I’d seen them before but don’t really know them.  One of them obviously wanted to bench, and after asking how many more sets I had left I offered to let him work in with me.  He did a warm-up with low weight, but I saw some flaws in his form.  I did my next set, and I noticed him watching me intently.  Then, as I was taking off the plates he started to pepper me with all kinds of questions, such as where to hold the bar, how far down his chest the bar should be lowered to, how many sets I usually do.  I answered him the best I could.  When I was finished benching he kept at it, getting his friend to spot.  He kept adding more weight and was doing sets of 6 to 10, and I have to give him credit he was working his butt off, repping to failure every time!  I noticed he was taking deep breaths and exhaling on the eccentric portion of the lift instead of the concentric.  I suggested he change his breathing, and on the next set he did it well and said he could see the difference.  I also suggested he practice his form and breathing with some low weight and higher reps, and after a few workouts he would feel a lot more comfortable and get better results gradually increasing back to heavier weights.

I’m happy I could give a little help to someone so eager to learn and improve.  Not so long ago I had the same questions and flaws in my form as him.  Patience, commitment and determination have been instrumental to my progress on the bench press, hope that kid can find those qualities too! 

I’m home from visiting my step-mother, but I’m tired after the highway driving and a restless night’s sleep so I decided to take an additional rest day.  That will give me six days of chest/tricep rest, so I’ll hit the gym and blast bench press tomorrow!  The visit was pleasant, and also predictable from the aspect of the food offered to me!  I wasn’t in the door five minutes when I was offered short-bread cookies and chocolate cake.  But the ‘new me’ was able to resist all temptation for sweets and junk food.  I snacked on the almonds that I brought with me.

I have tried to explain my commitment to healthy eating before and have stuck to my guns on every visit for over a year, but it doesn’t seem to matter.  Maybe it’s in the genes of mothers and mother-figures to provide comfort food to their loved ones…I won’t be expecting her to change!  As expected, I was also told ‘you’ve got to treat yourself once in awhile’, and ‘it won’t hurt you to have cake every now and then’.  Politely, I declined.  The food won’t go to waste, there are other family and guests around to devour it.

Many bodybuilders probably chose to take a break and indulge a little, especially at this time of the year.  I can’t.  I am still too close to the days when one cookie led to eating the whole pack and one potatoe chip led to eating the whole bag.  I am not going to risk the self-control I have achieved, nor risk putting myself off track from my goals, just for a couple of minutes of eating pleasure.  I have worked too long and hard at this new lifestyle to risk a binging setback, so thanks for the offer but no thanks.  Can’t wait for Christmas day though….I’m cooking a turkey breast along with the turkey so I’ll have plenty of lean white meat for a several meals!  

…..Went pretty much as planned.  Warmed up 10 minutes walking on the treadmill.  Did abs for about 20 minutes, 13 sets in all with little rest in between.  Did power cleans, 5×5 @115 lbs.  Challenging, but got through them fine.  Finally, did leg press, total of 5 sets, last set I had plates totalling 878 plus someone told me the sled is 80, so in all I pressed 958 pounds for 2 decent reps!  In between power clean and leg press sets I jumped rope.  In all for the workout I did 515 jumps, a record for me, broken up into 9 sets, average of 57.2 per set - not bad considering I could barely do 10 at once a couple of months ago!

Only one other guy in the gym when I was doing the heavier leg presses, and we struck up a conversation.  Talking about the different exercises we do, he said he doesn’t deadlift.  No particular reason he said, he and his usual training partner just have never incorporated them into any of their workouts.  After I told him how beneficial I find them, and since he was doing back anyway, he said he would try a few.  He set up with 135 pounds and I did one rep to show him, and then he banged out 12 very good reps, I couldn’t believe he hadn’t deadlifted before.  He has a strong back and legs so I guess he is starting with an advantage.  He put on two more plates and then did 8 good reps at 225, although he was red-faced and breathing heavy at the end.  He can definately lift a lot more weight and I told him so, hope I got him interested enough to add deadlifting to his workouts.

Overall a good workout…going out of town visiting relatives overnight tomorrow…I will be presented with all kinds of foods that are not consistent with my goals…I will do my best to resist, got to keep my mind focused on abs!  I’ll let you know how it goes.

My workout tonight will start with doing some power cleans, probably 5×5 using 115 pounds.  That’s 5 pounds heavier than the last time I did them, early November.  I’m doing abs too, will hit them hard.  That’s all I’ll do for upper body though, I want to make sure I’m well rested for benching on Sunday.  When I do power cleans I will have achieved a ‘mini-goal’ for December.  I’ll have completed a good workout on every muscle group at least once, and I’ll have performed five compound exercises at least once (some twice).  I felt like I needed to do this to get back on track after the inconsistent workouts I had in November.  A minor accomplishment, but important for my motivation.  I’ll also do some leg press…maybe I can push 20 plates, 2 more than last time?  I’ll finish the workout with some HIIT cardio.

Sunday bench pressing I am anxious to complete a goal of lifting 5×5 using 205 lbs.  This is where I have plateaued, and overall this will be my fifth attempt at completing all 25 reps cleanly.  Last time, about 2 weeks ago, the 25th rep was so close!  I could only get the bar to the lower holders on the rack, I didn’t get the full extension to consider it a full clean rep…only a few inches more!  I am getting stronger, so fully rested I am confident I CAN DO THIS!

After Sunday I’ll get in one more workout before Christmas eve, I want to have a good deadlifting session.  Back to the gym boxing day where I might treat myself to an intense arm workout.  Before New Year’s I’m going to determine my 1 rep max on bench press before I start the Muscle Media Bench Press Routine…I expect it’ll be 235 or 240.  This will be my second time on the program, I did it from July to early September, increased my bench press by 15 pounds but more importantly I used the experience to really learn proper bench press technique, which I’ve been practising ever since.  Hopefully I’ll get more strength increase from the program second time around.  While on the program, my non-bench days will be focused around deadlift and squat.  Apart from doing abs twice a week I’ll keep other lifting to a minimum…whatever it takes to ensure I can fully recover and get the most out of every bench press workout.  Sharper focus is what I need to achieve my goals faster and more effectively….

"When life gives you lemons make lemonade."  Or something like that is how the expression goes.  Corny I know, but that’s really how I feel about last night’s workout.  My plan was to start out with 5×5 deadlifts, but the gym was very busy last night and the bars/plates and deadlifts area were in use so I did a few other things while waiting.  I tried some new rotator cuff exercises I found, then I did some light shoulder and back sets.  After about forty five minutes I was able to set up for deadlifting.

I did a couple of warm-up sets and I felt terrible!  I felt totally bloated, it was very uncomfortable bending over or squatting down at all.  Maybe it was something I ate during the day, or maybe I drank too much water leading up to that point.  Whatever it was, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do much with it.  I did a couple of more single lifts just to feel like I did something constructive, I stopped with a 315 lift.  So, that was that.  Thankfully I’ve learned to shrug off those infrequent bad workouts and focus on having a good workout the next time.  In fact, the workout following a bad one is usually great.

I was about to leave the deadlift area when I had a thought…if the problem is being uncomfortable in the lower part of the lift, getting the bar off the floor, why not eliminate that part of it by doing rack deadlifts?  I’d been reading about them, however I’d only tried them once and realized after I didn’t have the bar placed at the right height.  So, I decided to give them another try, nothing ventured nothing gained, right?  After setup I warmed up with 135×6, felt light.  Then I did 225×2, felt great.  Put on two more 45’s, and I did a 315 lift and was amazed at how relatively easy it was.  When I start to feel good like that, in ‘the zone’ so to speak, I often push myself to try a new personal best.  It all comes down to confidence I guess, so I put on two more 45’s, for a total of 405.  This is my personal best on traditional deadlifts, and I had no clue if I could do it on rack deads or not.  I know many lifters can go somewhat heavier on rack deads than on traditional deads since energy is not expended on the lower part of the lift.  I proceeded to do the 405 rack deadlift and although a challenge, I felt like it didn’t take everything I had in me to do it.  I put on 20 more pounds, but couldn’t budge it.  I’d been at the gym for 90 minutes and I guess I’d reached the end of my energy for the night.

But hey, what a great feeling!  I’ll be doing rack deads regularly from now on, should help make my back even stronger and help my traditional deadlifts too.