My BodyBlog

That summer headcold was really frustrating.  I carried on with most of my daily activities but with little energy and having to stop frequently to sneeze and deal with my runny nose.  I am about 90% back to normal today and feel well enough to get back to the gym tonight.  It was hard to stay away but I know it was for the best.  It’s been my first break longer than 3 days in almost a year.  All muscles are recovered and rested, I may ease back into it though by using moderate weights.  I’ll see how I feel when the time comes.  I’ll finish this post after the workout….

…Decided to do an upper body workout to get back into the swing of things.  I did 3 exercises x 3 sets for each of chest, shoulders, back, triceps and biceps - 45 sets in all.  I kept the weight moderate and did mostly 12 rep sets.  My cough bothered me a little but that’s small potatoes.  A great ‘home-coming’ workout!  Next time I’ll get back to my 12 week program with lower body including heavy deadlifts.

It started Wednesday with an achy feeling and fatigue.  Thursday it was a sore throat and started to sneeze.  Friday was a sneezing frenzy with a runny nose and watery eyes.  Today started better, my energy level felt just about normal and the sneezing was gone.  Went for a walk which sapped my energy.  Did a couple of hours of work in the garage and that did me in.  I’ve been getting a cough all day and now it’s a real nuisance, I have a headache too.  What other symptoms do I have to get through before this goes away?

Haven’t been to the gym since Tuesday, I just don’t feel well enough.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to get some light work in at least.  This sickness throws my 12 week cycle out of of kilter, oh well, that’s life.  The important thing is that I’ll get back at it as soon as I feel able. 

I did this workout one day earlier than planned, when times are busy I have to seize the opportunities when they present themselves!  And I’m typing this almost 48 hours after it’s over - better late than never I guess!  This one was upper body, here’s what I did:

Incline Barbell Bench Press - 145×12, 157×8, 167×6, 178×2 + 2 Assisted.  Very happy with these lifts, my best yet on my weakest bench variation.  There are a lot of odd-weight plates at my gym (44’s, 33’s, 22’s, 11’s, 5.5’s, hence the odd weight totals! Sometimes you just don’t feel like searching out the other ones).

Pullups - 9,5,7.  On the first set I had a pain in my forearm, stopped at 9.  Second set it worsened, stopped at 5.  Third set it seemed to be gone but I only did 7 just in case.  I haven’t been feeling any pain doing any other exercise.  I’ll have to watch this.

Decline Barbell Bench Press - Even after the incline and pullups I did my best ever sets of these - 177×12, 205×8, 215×6, 225×4.  They were tough but I have so much confidence and stength on the decline up to this point, that I can bear down and finish those sets!  I’ll keep pushin’ it!

Rest of workout was some flyes for chest, a few rotator cuff exercises, a little ab work, and 20 minutes on treadmill (incline walking tonight, sore calves and legs made me take a pass on sprinting).

That workout was Tueday night.  Woke up Wedesday morning with general back and chest soreness.  As the day went on it got worse, and it was more than the normal DOMS I love so much.  It was a deep achy feeling -uh oh.  Thursday morning the chest DOMS were there in full force, along with general body fatigue, achiness, a sore throat and then I started sneezing!  A head cold was taking hold.  After finishing a little important work, I rested for the remainder of the day, I’m feeling a little better.  I hope I can shake this quickly, I want to feel good for deadlifting tomorrow night!

Since I’ve been working out I’ve been getting sick less frequently.  Since I started eating better almost 20 months ago this is the first time I’ve been hit with any kind of cold or flu, whereas many of the people around me seem like they catch every little bug that’s on the go.  I guess I can’t expect never to catch anything again, but there’s not doub in my mind that living a bodybuilding lifestyle has improved my immune system and overall health by leaps and bounds!

I’m going to get a snack and a nice hot cup of green tea, then off the bed early with a good book, with any luck I’ll feel better in the morning!

Got back from my business trip Friday afternoon a couple of hours early.  With my wife away until dinner time, and with nothing pressing on my desk, the gym beckoned to me!  Since chest and shoulders were worked hard the day before, and I wanted to leave lower body until Sunday as planned, I decided to do a high volume arm workout.  I did bi/tri supersets and jumped rope in between the weights.  I decided to do 1000 jump rope reps before leaving the gym.  I started doing sets of 50.  I’d do 2 sets of these, resting 15-20 seconds in between, after each tri/bi superset.  That worked until I got to set #17, when I could only do 1 set at a time.  I was getting very tired by then but I was so close to my goal that it kept me going.  What a great feeling to get it done and what great cardio!  The arm workout was intense too, I did 30 sets all together.  Felt it in my biceps Saturday which is not the norm for me.

Saturday I was again called upon the help with a move, this time a lot of boxes from one house, in a vehicle, then out of the vehicle and into another house, plus many trips up and down stairs.  I lost count of how many trips up and down I made.  It was a hot day too, I was sweating and I know it was just as good a cardio workout as I could have done at the gym.  Saturday evening I found myself exhausted.  Workout (with sprinting HIIT) Thursday, workout (with jump rope) Friday, then the moving (especially the stairs) on Saturday.  I went to bed early and had a great 9 hours sleep!  Waking up Sunday I felt refreshed, although legs were a little sore.  Today’s workout is all about squats starting out, so I’ll just have to see how it goes!  I’ll save this post as a draft and pick it up again later….

On my way to the gym I was called upon to help move the last item of furniture for my sister-in-law - a heavy old wooden desk.   This was a b***h to move, it was just me and her so we mostly slid/pushed the thing along the floor, except for when it had to be lifted into the van.  Anyway, after about half an hour we got it done.  Arriving at the gym, I realized that I DID NOT want to squat.  Legs were already tired from all the cardio and the moving activity over the last 4 days - and now I’m supposed to squat heavy?  Starting out on the program two weeks ago I promised myself that I would stick to my plan for the whole 12 weeks unless physically unable - here was the first real test of my conviction.  Even if I didn’t do all my planned sets, reps and weights, I had to do some squatting or else feel like I don’t have what it takes to push through when the going gets tough, which is the true quality of a successful bodybuilder.

After a short warmup I got down to it.  Working sets were 135×12, 185×10, 205×9, 225×6.  The 225 set was hard, legs started to burn.  I went to 245 and only had 2 reps in me.  Finished off with 1 rep at 255.  All reps were good form and ATG.  Down in the hole at 255, feeling tired and knowing the effort it would take to get up, I felt content and satisfied.  This level of fatigue is what I want to achieve, I know that it will pay big dividends.  That was it for squatting, I’m so glad I did it!  Next was HIIT, but before heading upstairs to the machines, on impulse I did a set of pullups and banged out 12!  New personal best!  I spent 25 minutes on the arc trainer, hill interval setting at level 7.  Worked up a good sweat but I could have worked harder.  I’ll know to set it higher next time.  After the squats and cardio I had new found energy.  I finished my workout with 9 quad sets (thigh abduction, leg extension), final being a triple drop-set on the leg extension machine.  This caused a great burn.  I then did some calf work, 6 sets in a all.  I left the gym a tired but very satisfied.

I have a few long days of work this week, so I’m planning on resting until Wednesday which will be start of week 3 of 12, an upper body workout.  Lower body should be well rested when Friday rolls around, when I’m planning to go big on deadlifts!  Hope everyone has a great week!

A morning person I’m not - I’ve tried to work out in the morning but I could never get the same level of intensity and feel as strong as I do later in the day.  Because of an overnight trip for work, I had no choice but to get my workout in this morning, the alternative was to have to wait an extra two days - not going to happen.  So I decided to approach this morning’s workout with a positive attitude and give it my all.  In my program it was upper body 3×6 day, the hardest upper body workout.  I had back DOMS from Tuesday night deadlifting, didn’t know how that would affect me, but I was determined to push through it no matter what.  After warming up chest, here’s what I did:

Flat Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets of 195×6, CLEAN!

Incline Barbell Bench Press: 162×3, 157×4, 146×3.  This is always my weakest.  Couldn’t do as much as planned on this today.

Decline Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets of 205×6, CLEAN!  Always my best lift, same today, was very hard but I dug deep and did it.

Pullups: Set of 11, 9, and 8.  Not expecting to do so well on these today considering back DOMS and did them after chest work!  Very happy with this!

Standing Overhead Barbell Press: 3 sets of 115×6, CLEAN!  Being at the end, these sets were hard but I gave it all I had and did them.  I was getting a major upper body pump going by this time, felt great!

After this I did 6 light sets of different cable, dumbbell and machine exercise to stretch out the chest and really get the blood flowing.

I was having such a good time with this workout, I pushed my HIIT from the middle to the end.  After my first treadmill sprint I had some tightness in my right calf, so I just walked it off, trying to stretch it out with every stride.  Seemed to work, so I went back to sprinting, but walked between sprints instead of jogging just in case.  In 20 minutes I did 6 30-second sprints at speed 9, with varying walking times in between.  Exhausted but very satisfied!  Maybe I’m more of a morning person that I thought?

Got home lunch time and enjoyed some steamed salmon and brown rice.  It’ll soon be time to get ready for a 2 hour drive to my meeting, an overnight stay, then work at a client’s office tomorrow.  Knowing I got this great workout in before I left puts me in a great frame of mind for the trip!  I’ll be taking three days off from the gym before tackling squats and lower body on Sunday.  I hope everyone has a safe, active and healthy weekend! 

All soreness and fatigue seemed to be gone (except those darn calves) as I started the workout.  After 5 minutes on the bike and a little jump rope I did a couple of light sets to warm up hamstrings and lower back.  Then I was ready for some deadlifting.  I set up the bar at 135 and did 2 sets of stiff-leg, 2 sets of romanian, 1 set of regular and 1 set of sumo, all for 10 reps.  Between these sets I was chatting with a guy I’d seen often but hadn’t spoken to before, he’s usually there with friends but was by himself last night.  When you get him going he’s certainly not shy!  We talked about how we train, eat, do cardio, and supplements we’ve tried.  He started asking me about deadlifting (he’s never tried those) and training legs (which he rarely does but knows he should).  His upper body development is great, lower body, not so great.  I encouraged him to try deadlifting and give lower body equal attention to upper body.

I increased the weight to 225 and started a set of 10.  It was then I heard the Rrrriiip!  Another pair of gym shorts bites the dust, third time this has happened to me.  The tear was not large and not noticeable, lucky for me since I had no back-up (I finished the set, nothing was going to stop me!)  I then did a set 225×6 sumo style, followed by a single sumo lift, 315×1.  Heaviest I’ve lifted sumo style.  At that point I had planned to break for HIIT cardio but the machine I wanted was in use and I don’t think my sore calves would allow me to sprint.  So instead I did a couple more sets of jump rope x 100.  I was feeing good, time to set up the power rack for some heavy rack deadlifts!

Since I was well warmed up I went right to 315, did a set of 5.  Then I went to 405, did a single lift with no problem at all.  Confident, I loaded up to 500.  Only 7 pounds more than I’d lifted before on a partial but hey, it’s 500 pounds - a big difference psychologically.  As I set up I noticed it was going to be one of those ‘everyone pause and watch what he’s doing’ moments.  The 3 guys left in the gym were doing just that.  I prepared myself and did that 500 rack pull!  It was very hard, but dare I say I still had a little bit of effort left to give?  I’ll keep pushing and add a little more next time!

Time for me to wind down, I did a couple of sets of back extensions and a couple sets of lying leg extensions to finish up.  I did another set of jump rope before heading upstairs to see if I could get the machine I wanted.  Then I felt it….a cramp was starting in my left hamstring.  I get these occassionally after working hamstrings so considering all the work I’d just done it was no surprise.  When they hit they are extrememly painful, but luckily I was able to head this one off by stetching it out for a few minutes.  I decided not to press my luck so I ended it there without doing more cardio.  An interesting workout, a great new personal best!  Upper body next time. 

I woke up this morning feeling generally achy and sore.  When I look back on the last 7 days, I can see why considering all the extra physical activity I’ve been doing along with my planned workouts.  After being on the go all day I feel a lot better, although calves are still sore.  I start the second week of my 12 week program tonight, it’s lower body with emphasis on deadlift variations, including rack deadlifts, my favorite.  I want to go heavy on these but will I have the energy? I’ll know in about 5 hours!

Last night I was listening to a science question and answer show on the radio.  The first question was ‘why do you feel pain about 48 hours after exercising and not right after?’  I didn’t understand the physiology of it before so it was great to hear the doctor talk about it.  He referred to it as DOMS, which we all know it as, and it is caused by the release of chemicals the body uses to help repair the damage.  It is an indication of inflammation of the tendons and connective tissues surrounding the muscles that have been broken down during exercise.  They said that getting DOMS was a sign that the muscles were being forced to work beyond their normal capacity, causing them to break down.  They talked about it like it was a BAD thing to feel!  Au contraire, the experienced bodybuilder (or at least me) yearns for this feeling, it is a sign of an intense workout and proof that my muscles are growing!  I hope the discussion I heard didn’t discourage anyone from hitting it heavy and hard at the gym!

I’ll post late tonight or in the morning and report on the workout.

When you spend all day Saturday moving boxes and furniture in and out of vans and up staircases, the inevitable happens - a somewhat sore and tired back.  That’s what I had to deal with for my Sunday night workout after helping my sister-in-law move on Saturday.  I dealt with it by keeping all weight to around 80-90% of my maxes, and I’m very happy that I got through all planned sets and reps.

One of the obvious fringe benefits of working out is being able to do some physical work when necessary and not end up suffering too much during it!  The hardest part about the move was getting a good grip on some of the furniture and then maneouvering it in tight spaces, especially up a steep, narrow staircase.  The work was awkward at times but not once did I find anything too heavy or get beat out.  On the other hand, my ‘lifting partner’, a guy my age, was panting with the effort and at one point my wife said he was blood red in the face and she was worried he was going to have a heart attack!  Come to think of it, I ended up taking the most difficult positions when moving the bedroom furniture upstairs - I had to walk backwards, lift and pull whereas he could walk normally, and just push and balance the stuff going upstairs.  But all’s good, the job is done and it was in itself a good workout!

Sunday night I did flat bench 155×12, 165×8, 177×6, 187×4.  Pullups 8,7,7 (far better than previous occassions with a tired back).  Standing overhead press 75×12, 97×8, 103×6, 108×4.  After some good advice I decided to do these instead of machine flyes over the 12 weeks.  I intend to press a lot more weight on these when I tackle them feeling rested!  Next I did 20 minutes HIIT sprints, I was able to up the intensity a little from last time.  I’m feeling more enthusiastic about cardio than ever before, I think not leaving it until the very end of my workout is a really positive thing for me.  After the sprints I went back to the weights and did 10 sets of biceps and some good ab work, plus 300 jump rope reps to finish off the cardio.

That finishes week 1 of my 12 week program, I accomplished everything I intended to do at the gym.  It continues Tuesday with a lower body workout, high volume deadlift variations and hamstring work.  Have a great day folks!   

Squats were the primary exercise of this workout, after a leg stretching and bike warm-up I did squat warm-up barx15, 135×12.  I then did 3 sets of 195×10, ATG, 90 seconds rest in between.  Had rest/pause to get though last set, but it was great.  I then did my HIIT on the arc-trainer, interval setting at level 7, hard enough to work up a good sweat but not so hard that I didn’t have to push to get through it.  I’ll ratchet that up another level next time.  Back to the power rack to load up the plates and do a couple of heavy partial squats.  I get a few stares when I do this, at first people think I’m actually squatting with all those plates - I wish!  I love those partials, feels great to push up and hold that much weight, hope it’s helping to strengthen my back.  I did one at 405 and one at 465.  Finished off the workout with 7 sets for calves (including a burn-out set on the leg press to finish, 270×100!) and six sets of leg extensions.  Oh yeah, I jumped rope a little at the end too - managed a set of 100 then I was done for.  A great leg workout!  

When 12 weeks is in front of you it seems like a long time!  Can I stick to what I have planned for myself for so long?  We shall see….

Upper body work tonight and after warm-up I decided to do the pull-ups first.  I want to establish what I can do with this when I’m fresh, before any chest work.  That will give me something to judge my progress against as I go along.  I did sets of 10, 8, 9…felt great.  Next time I’ll see how many I can do after the chest work.

The gym wasn’t particularly crowded, but the incline bench station and the decline bench were popular tonight.  I passed some time by doing a some pushups and jump rope sets.  After 10 minutes and no chance yet of starting my bench work, I decided to do my HIIT.  Upstairs I went to the cardio area and my favorite treadmill for sprinting was waiting for me.  I am shooting for 30 minutes HIIT, but I guess it’ll take a little while to build up to this…it kicked my butt tonight!  I jogged/sprinted for 20 minutes, sweating like crazy by the end.  I know I’ll get more endurance, I can already do longer intervals at higher speeds than I could even do 6 months ago when I wasn’t doing it regularly.

HIIT in the books, I was able to get to my benching.  Incline was still in use so started with decline.  First set was 140×12 - felt very easy.  Then I realized I looked at the wrong column on my note and I did my incline weight by mistake!  Decline was supposed to have been 170×12!  So after a short rest I started again, doing the 170×12.  Remainder of sets, completed cleanly, were 200×8, 210×6, 220×4.  Felt really great on these decline sets, I have more to bring to this exercise yet!  Incline, however, is a different story.  I try to do these first during a chest workout since they are the most challenging.  That didn’t work out tonight of course, so it was extra challenging.  First set was a tough 140×12.  Second set 155×8, had to give it my all to get through it.  Third set at 165 I ran out of gas, I could only do 3 reps out of 6.  Last set I went to 185 and told the spotter to help me force out 4 reps.  And force them out I did, spotter had to help on every rep, it was tough but I’m glad I did it.  Hopefully I can do the inclines first next time out when I’m fresh.  I finished off the workout with some light dumbell and cable flyes.  Had a burn going by this time in the chest, that’s a great sign!

So the first workout in my 12 week program is over - a success!  Lower body workout next time.