My BodyBlog

I hustled off to the gym for my usual Friday nighter…the bitter cold isn’t going to stop me from my date with the iron!  After a busy week at work with travel every day, and having had three days with little exercise, I needed a good workout not only for my body but for my mind and soul too.

Warmed up on the treadmill for 15 minutes and the bike for 10 minutes.  Then I hit the power rack, doing 3 warm-up sets in preparation for tackling 5×5 squats.  The most I’ve lifted is 265, I tried 275 back in November but couldn’t even do one set.  The first set was hard, but I knew then I was going to push through and do the 5×5.  The second and third sets were not as hard as the first.  The fourth set, fatigue started to set in and I needed to pause before doing the last rep.  The last set I paused before each of the last two reps and then before I knew it…mission accomplished!  I thought I would struggle with this more than I did, I’m even happy with my form, I went to parallel or almost to parallel on evey rep.  Based on last night’s results, I know I can do more next time and I know I’m getting stronger which is where I want to be headed, towards my goal of a 450 squat this year.

Did some quad work after squatting, thigh ab/aduction machine, and also leg extensions.  To end my quad workout I did a drop set on leg extension, 120×12, 80×12, 40×20, 20×15.  I love the burn I get on this!  At the end of the drop set, the 40’s and 20’s were harder than lifting 120!  I even saw, for the first time, a vein popping out in my leg….it was on the front, just above my ankle….does this count?  Between quad sets I did sets of 50 jump rope….harder than usual to do these during a leg workout!  But I managed to get in 308 reps.  Finished the workout with some ab work…felt a burn right from the first set…I’ve been hitting abs hard lately plus I know they are used in squatting…did 8 sets, most of them to failure and it feels great because I’m making real progress here…more on that in another blog.

This workout renewed my energy and spirit after a hard week…one of the best things I get from bodybuilding.  

A large chunk of North America is in a big deep freeze thanks to a blast of cold arctic air coming down.  Where I live it’s a little better than most of Canada, but still -15 celcius or 5 farenheit, before the windchill.  In the nothern part of my province it’s -39 celcius (-38.2 farenhiet) this morning, so cold the schools are closed because it’s dangerous to be outside and anyway they can’t start the school buses!  So why am I giving this weather report?  I was just wondering how many new year’s resolutioners, or others of us on this bodybuilding journey, used the cold as an excuse not to get out of the house and go to the gym today.  When you put this cold weather on top of the demands and stresses of everyday life, it’s much easier just to give the gym a pass on a day like today than to brave the elements and go.  But who said that transforming your body and living a healthy lifestyle was going to be easy?  If it were easy, everyone would be a lean, muscular and fit!

If this was a scheduled rest day I’m happy for you! 

If this was a gym day and you went in spite of the cold, you have my respect and congratulations!

If you have a home gym, you’re lucky today!  Wish I had one too!

If you found some other way to work out and could avoid the cold, I take my hat off to you!

If this was a gym day and you used the cold as an excuse not to do get to the gym and you didn’t do anything to help your fitness goals at home or work either….you may not have the motivation necessary to really stick with a healthy lifestyle for the long haul…I urge you to do something about it right now…get a workout in as soon as you can and do whatever it takes to keep it up no matter what life throws at you….there is always a way to work on your fitness goals!

I will now put on my hat, gloves, scarf, coat and boots and head out to the gym! 

Working at a client’s office today.  I have my laptop and can access their wireless network.  I just returned from lunch.  I went to a nearby mall’s food court, plenty of non-healthy choices there but I can always find something decent.  Looking at the posted menus I was taken back by prices!  Did everyone increase their prices on Jan 1st?  I headed to my old stand-by, Tim Horton’s coffee.  I often get the chili with whole wheat bun and tea.  Filling and fairly healthy.  They have a chili ‘meal deal’ that includes the above plus a donut.  I don’t order the deal cause I don’t want the donut….but today I noticed that the deal is a little cheaper than ordering the chili and tea by themselves!  What’s up with that?  For a couple of seconds my cheap side considered getting the deal…thought briefly about eating a donut, some part of my mind said to me that it’s been a long time, I’ve been really good, so what’s one donut going to hurt?  Then the part of my mind that is motivated to lose more body fat and get abs took over, stopping those thoughts in their tracks.  I remembered that I got to where I am by making a lot of small changes in my lifestyle over a long period.  Each small change combined to give me big results in muscle growth and fat loss.  Continuing to make the small choices every day will continue me on the path to having the body I want.  So, rejecting the donut was a one small lifestyle decision, but it was a big victory over temptation and another step towards my goals.  And lunch?  I skipped the chili today and went for soup, sandwich and tea instead.  It cost me a couple of bucks more than the chili, but it made me feel a whole lot better LOL! 

Crowded at the gym last night.  Lots of young guys there who formed a couple of ‘packs’ and worked out together, but mostly talked.  The bench press was in use by a young guy, still in high school, who comes to the gym often and works hard, no doubt he’ll get a lot better results than the social lifters!  He was soon done and I got down to business.  Doing my warm-up sets I felt good.  I then completed working sets 185×4, 210×3, 210×3, 220×2, 220×2, 245xNeg.  All I can say is ‘WOW’.  I have never felt stronger on bench press.  I did all sets with confidence and good form.  On the 220 sets I only had to use ‘average effort’ and not ‘maximum effort’, as is often the case on the heaviest sets…I felt like I could keep going all night!  But I did what the program required and that’s where I had to stop.  I hope this is a sign of things to come, but I know that the lifts get a lot more challenging later on…improving my strength is the goal, and I know I’ll have some decent results by the end.  Also did some light sets for back, some ab work and cardio.  Great workout!   

Last night’s workout was the third in four days….plus I’d been helping someone move house, so I was feeling a little fatigued and knew I had to adjust my workout accordingly.  Deadlifting was scheduled, so instead of doing any heavy lifts I stayed light, not going over 135 pounds.  I did sets of 10 of traditional deadlifts, sumo, bulgarian, and straight-leg.  Total of 8 sets and 80 reps, wanted to do more but I ran out of gas.  Also did 3 sets of hamstring curls, so I suppose it was a good hamstring workout in spite of being tired.  I also managed 4 sets of pull-ups, 10 minutes of ab work, 300 reps with the jump rope, and 23 minutes on the treadmill, including 13 minutes of HIIT.

Next time I deadlift I’ll see if my new training method is working, I’ll go for a new PR! 

Recently I found myself at the gym with two guys I have seen going there ever since I started going almost five years ago.  They share a similar story…although they are different heights and body types, by working out they have achieved some good progress in different areas…the thing is though, that progress was already achieved 5 years ago and I’ve seen very little progress since then!  I’ve talked to them from time to time and watched what they do at the gym, so I think my observations are valid.

I know I still have a lot to learn about bodybuilding…but I have learned enough to keep advancing and my body today is vastly different from where it was five years ago.  Instead of telling you what I do, I’ll tell you what these two guys don’t do and you will see why they make no progress.

1. Do not work out year round…take breaks for different reasons, but could keep working out if really wanted to.
2. No plan or method of working out…do the same exercises using the same weights and reps week after week.
3. Do not work out all muscle groups…upper body is preferred, legs usually ignored.
4. No specific short-term goals…just want to ‘get bigger’ or ‘get stronger’.
5. No focus or intensity in their workouts…easily sidetracked by extended chatting with friends.
6. Want to lose bodyfat but rarely do any cardio.
7. Have not realized the critical importance of nutrition to muscle buiding and fat loss.

On that last point, they are typical of 99% of people I know…junk food and fast food remain as a regular part of their diets even though they say they know they shouldn’t be eating it…when I hear guys at the gym talking about the things they eat I just want to shout at them and point out how much they are taking away from their health and slowing down their progress…but of course I don’t.  I just talk about how I eat if I’m asked or if I can fit it in as part of a food-related conversation.

None of these 7 reasons for lack of progress apply to me, and I believe that my constant work to avoid these drawbacks are a large part of my success to date.  I’m glad these guys still go to the gym, and I’m sure they are a lot healthier and stronger for it…it just makes me a little sad that they don’t get as much out of it as they potentially could…too bad they haven’t learned how to make the most of the time they are putting into it.

With quads getting sorer by the hour thanks to trying 20 rep squats Thursday, I headed off to the gym for my usual Friday night workout…started with bench press program, working sets 185×5, 200×5, 200×5, 210×4 and 210×4.  All reps were completed smoothly with good form, until the last set where I had to give maximum effort to get up the last two reps, but I did it!

After benching I did some rotator cuff exercises, then some sets for triceps and biceps.  I won’t go hard on triceps while on the bench program since they’re working hard there, I’ll just do some high rep/low weight training.  Biceps on the other hand were hit hard, I did several sets of barbell 21’s, concentration curls, and seated incline inner bicep dumbbell curls.  I am able to get an extreme pump now every time I work biceps and its one of the greatest feelings ever!

My cardio was a 10 minute bike warmup, then 15 minutes of incline treadmill walking after the weights.  I wanted to do HIIT on the treadmill but my legs just weren’t up to it.

…I’ve been busy so I didn’t write this post until 24 hours after the workout.  My legs are still very sore, the fact I was on my feet all day helping someone move house hasn’t given them much time to recover….damn those 20 rep squats! (LOL)  I’ll be sure to do them again soon.

My diet has been really good all week, I’ve cut out carbs after my evening meal (usually 6 pm)…dare I say that I’m already seeing a difference on my mid-section?….I think I’ll wait another week and see how it goes before writing about it! 

Yup, I tried this today.  Motivated to finally give it a shot by jm1369.  First set 89×20, a warm-up set but I was a little winded at the end.  Next set 135×20, around 15 I started to really feel it but I kept going with no rest and finished the 20th rep breathing heavily.  Next set 155×20 I had to start rest/pause at the 12th rep, but I dug deep and finished the last 3 reps with no rest…totally winded now!  That’s all I could take for the first time doing them, but it’s a good start and I’ll try 20 rep squat sets again soon.  I did a set of 225×6 and finished up with 315×2.  I then went back to 225 and did 2 reps, and on the third I bailed out on purpose.  I wanted to see how it felt to let the bar come down on the safety pins and how I’d get out from under without hurting myself.  I’m trying to get more confident on my heavier squats so I can go deep and not worry about failing on the rep, just give it my all and so what if I can’t get back up?  No problem with the bail out, we’ll see if it helps my confidence when I do heavy squat sets soon.

Also did calves and abs today, did the whole workout at a fast pace and the back of my shirt was soaking wet at the end, even without doing cardio! 

I really blasted my entire back doing regular deadlifts and rack deadlifts Sunday night…I don’t think I’ve ever had this kind of DOMS after any other kind of back workout…deadlifts rule!  ‘But will back soreness prevent me from completing all required reps on the Bench Program tonight?’ I wondered Tuesday afternoon….

Turns out I didn’t have anything to worry about.  Bench Press went really well, my working sets were 200×3, 200×3, 220×2, 220×2 and 240xNeg.  The negative set was the best negative I’ve done, I lowered the bar very slowly under complete control.  After benching I did a few light sets for traps and shoulders, and 4 sets of pull-ups.

Cardio was a 15 minute treadmill walk warm-up, 500 reps of jump rope between shoulder and trap sets, and 14 minutes of treadmill sprints after lifting.  First time I’d done sprints in awhile, they left me exhausted and dripping with sweat but that’s what I want to burn body fat!  All in all a great workout! 

On regular deadlifts last night I used moderate weight and did more reps instead of going for a max lift.  I then switched to rack deads and worked up to do a lift of 410, which is 5 pounds more than my previous best.  Overall this was the most deadlifting I had ever done at one time and I totally exhausted my lower back…but other than a little soreness this morning I feel great!  I also did abs and cardio after deadlifting.

I have started my rotation for Jan and Feb of Bench/Deadlift/Bench/Squat and I’ll work out 3 times a week unless something unforseen occurs.  I’ll be lifting heavy frequently so the 4 rest days a week will be necessary to allow for adequate recovery so I can be at my best for every workout.  Once I’ve completed the main compound exercise for the workout I’ll do some light work on one or two other muscle groups, plus I’ll do cardio.

My diet…I want to do more than eat clean, I want to eat to optimize my results, the optimal result being to show my abs.  It is a constant challenge that I have to work at every day.  With the latest adjustments I’ve made, I do it better now than I’ve ever done at any point, so we’ll see how much better my progress turns out over the next couple of months!