My BodyBlog

This is the bench press/shoulder press workout I wasn’t feeling up to doing on Sunday.  What a difference 4 days makes!  I knocked off work early and went to the gym late afternoon - this is getting to be my favorite time to go since I’ve had some killer workouts at this time lately, and today was no exception.

After an upper body warmup I did a set of 12 and 7/8 pullups - the 13th rep I didn’t quite make it all the way up.  The 12 is a new PR and it would have been easy to stop there, but I was inspired by Al’s blog posts to push it as hard as possible.  That’s it for pullups, I wanted to save strength for my primary exercises.

Just got set up for bench pressing when a 17 year old regular arrived and he was about to start a chest workout.  I asked if he wanted to work in with me and he did.  We ended up working together for the entire time so I had a spotter when I needed one and someone to talk lifting with, which I love.  On flat bench I upped all weights for today’s workout.  I did 170×12 and 185×8 cleanly.  Needed a little push on the end to finish 195×6 and 205×4.  But I can really notice a strength increase from a couple of months ago which is great.  My partner wanted to try his max lift of 225, so after he did his lift I decided to do one and it was tough but I got it up.  My plan is to finish the 12 week routine I’m on, take a week off, then come back and determine my 1RM on flat bench.  I’m aiming for an improvement over my current 250 set a few months back.

Next exercise was standing overhead barbell press.  I completed all sets cleanly with more iron than last time, 100×12, 110×8, 120×6, 125×4.  Still felt strong after the last set.  Rest of the workout we did decline dumbbell press, dumbbell pullovers, and cable flyes.  By the end my chest was swole up and felt tight, I guess I had the blood flowing pretty good!  Thanks to my partner, he really helped me to have a great chest workout today.

Next workout is squats, my calf feels good but I’ll have to be careful to see if squatting is going to place too much strain on it.  Hopefully not, but if I have any trouble I’ll do quads and hamstrings another way.  We all have physical limitations, from birth, accident or injury.  Determination to overcome these limitations and find a way to improve our bodies is what makes all the difference.  Focus on what you CAN do, not what you can’t! 

Calf feels fine today, just a little sore when I stretch it out.  A far cry from the state of it Sunday evening.  I hope that’s a good sign.  I’ll be careful with it, not rush on the stairs for one thing like I did Sunday!  Tonight’s workout calls for deadlifts, and heavy ones too.  Thinking about the involvement of the calf muscle in that exercise, and I can’t see how I can do it any damage deadlifting.  Your feet are firmly planted and you keep your weight over your heels.  You get the power from hamstrings and then the back takes the weight.  No direct calf involvement there, but since my knowledge of anatomy is very basic and everything is connected, I won’t assume I can’t injure the calf.  I’ll do plenty of stretching and warm-up lifts, if I feel anything out of the ordinary at any time I’ll stop.  I’ll report on the workout when it’s done…

Calf didn’t hinder deadlifting at all, I didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary and I was so focused on the lifting I forgot about it all together.  My deadlifting strength is back, or coming back anyway.  Last 3 times I was unsuccessful at lifting over 400 pounds, but last night, in spite of the high humidity, I felt really good.  I did 135×10, 225×6, 315×2, and then a very solid 405×1.  I put on 25 more pounds and nailed one at 430. Put on 10 more pounds but couldn’t finish the 440 attempt, I had run out of gas.  But I was still very happy with this workout, I’m back on the road to my 500 deadlift goal.  I changed something last night with deadlifting.  I stood with my back to the mirror, and I think this helped improve my concentration and focus on proper form.  I felt very comfortable and I’ll stick with this.  Powerlifters in competition don’t look at themselves in a mirror, so why should I?

I was chatting with an older guy (ie my age, not the typical 20 something guy who are the majority at my gym) about deadlifting.  He used to do it many years ago but stopped after a back injury.  He says he knows now he had poor form and the deadlifting, although not directly related to his back trouble, didn’t help.  He then asked me if I deadlift competitavely!  I said no, just for fun and to get stronger.  He said he’s watched a lot of deadlifting since he has friends that he worked with in another town who deadlift in local competitions.  He said that my form looks really good.  I told him I’d only been deadlifting for a little over a year and a half and he said that I have the right type of body for it.   That chat was a much appreciated ego boost!   

I didn’t turn on my computer all weekend and sometimes that’s a good thing…I spent a lot of time outdoors, I relaxed with some DVD’s and of course I worked out.  I started the weekend early with a late Friday afternoon workout.  It was lower body time on my split, but since hams and calves were sore from other activites I just did some quad isolation work - leg press and leg extensions primarily.  That didn’t take too long, so I decided to do biceps and some light triceps and forearms work.  Friday evening went for a bike ride with my nephew.

Saturday did some garden work in the morning and went for a long drive with my wife in the afternoon.  Saturday evening was a walk and a DVD.  Nice relaxing day.  Raining on Sunday morning so just relaxed and watched TV.  Cleared off early afternoon so we decided to go for a long walk.  I was going down the stairs (in a bit of a rush) and I somehow landed awkwardly and caused a shooting bolt of pain up my calf, the same one I had tweaked a little while back.  It was almost like a shock, nothing I’ve ever felt before.  After the initial pain it wasn’t too bad, just felt a little tight and sore.  I went for the walk and it didn’t hurt to walk on it, except just a little when going up a hill.  After the walk I went for my Sunday workout, no one to spot me and to be frank I just didn’t feel like pushing myself too much so I skipped the planned bench pressing and instead did chest/back supersets using various dumbbell and cable exercises.  Still got a good workout in as my calf became sorer and I hobbled around the gym.  Also did 9 sets for abs.  Watched a long DVD Sunday night and when it was over my calf was stiffer and sorer than ever.  Limped off to bed.

Expecting bad things Monday morning but to my great surprise there was little soreness or stiffness.  The only time I notice something a little off is when I’m on the stairs.  I will have to be very careful with the calf over the next couple of weeks.  I’m smart enough to stop what I’m doing when I start to feel pain, so I pray I don’t reinjure it - could be worse next time.  Next workout is deadlift night, how will the calf effect that?  I’ll just have to wait and see. 

My wife started a little gardening before supper while I was in my home office.  She came in and said there were a ‘few’ rocks she’d like me to move after supper.  I checked it out and the ‘few’ turned out to be about 30 bowling ball sized oval rocks that were bordering a flower bed that she decided to take out of the front lawn!  Two hours of work and I had the rocks moved to storage behind the garage and I had a lot of other work accomplished too.  As I was doing the work I focused on how I was using my body, turns out I did more squatting and ‘deadlifting’ than I would do in a typical workout, although with a lot less weight of course.  And the walking with the wheelbarrow full of rocks and then buckets full of soil worked legs well, I can feel it in my hamstrings this morning.  My sore calf began to feel a little tight as well by the end, but it held up well overall.

Instead of being frustrated by not making it to the gym, or worse yet, trying to workout after all the garden work, I’ve learned to appreciate the incredible benefits of the physical garden work and I really don’t mind doing some heavy work now and then…the fresh air doesn’t hurt either.  I was contemplating going for a swim afterwards but I was just too tired.

Will definately hit the gym today, it’s supposed to be a lower body workout but I don’t know how feasible that will be.  Whatever I end up doing, it’s all good.

I may be in store for a major life change.  I know changing jobs is not a big deal for a lot of people, but for me it is.  I have been self-employed for the last 15 years, and was employed by others for 6 years before that, basically doing the same kind of work.  I have been feeling for the last couple of years that it is really time for some kind of change.  I have reached the point where I get very little satisfaction from what I’m doing, it’s hard to get up in the morning knowing I have to face the same kind of work again.  Many would say I am crazy to throw away the security and comfort of my clientele that I have built up over the last 15 years, but I just know in my heart that I can’t do this kind of work any longer.  I want to feel motivated and be dedicated to my work and feel like I’m doing something really worthwhile….I guess I want to feel the same way about my career as I do about bodybuilding!

I’m conservative by nature so I’m not making this decision lightly.  A new position would have to be the RIGHT position, and it would have to improve my quality of life, and not only from a financial perspective.  The position I am interested in is newly created, as a result of growth, employee retirement and restructuring.  It is very close to home and would have very little if any travel involved.  It’s in local municipal government, a field that I have served for many years and have accumulated much practical knowledge.  I would be able to apply my knowledge and managerial skills to the position and I believe I would be the ideal candidate, meeting and exceeding all the qualities they are looking for.  I have lined up great references and have my resume and cover letter ready to submit tomorrow.  The competition doesn’t close until the end of the month so I’ll have to be patient to see how it turns out.  Right now it just feels really good to be taking some action, please keep your fingers crossed for me and I’ll update when I find out something.

I have a few more hours of work to do then I’m taking off for a late afternoon workout!  It’s upper body, incline and decline barbell bench as the primary exerices.  I’m hitting the gym early today because I’m taking my 6 year old nephew to the swimming pool tonight.  It’ll be my first time in the pool since it opened for the season.  I won’t be able to do laps tonight but it’ll be some cardio at any rate (and no stress on the calf either).  It’s the hottest day of the summer here so getting in the pool tonight will be wonderful!  I’ll report on the workout and swimming later…. 

It’s the next afternoon and I’m already sore in the pecs and triceps…what a great incline/decline bench workout I had yesterday!  Started with my favourite and strongest, decline.  My goal was to add at least five pounds to all sets.  After a chest/RC warmup I did decline sets of 185×12, 210×8, 220×6, 230×4.  Last two sets were tough and I really have to thank the spotter, he was great with encouragement and letting me work through the reps, not grabbing the bar too soon like a lot of spotters tend to do.  Next moved on to incline, my weakest bench variation.  I often struggle on this when doing it after decline, and it was tough today but again, with the added confidence of having a good spotter watching me, I pushed through and did all sets cleanly.  Sets were 145×12, 155×8, 160×6, 165×4.

Remainder of workout was some light chest work, light shoulder work with dumbbells, and some work on traps.  I really had the blood flowing, had a great pump and felt big.  Mentally, this was a fantastic workout too.  Strength gains are there, I look bigger outside the gym, I know I will continue to improve if I stay dedicated to the process.

Swimming was fun even though I had to stay in the shallow end with my nephew and dozens of screaming and splashing kids!  He is really coming along with his swimming, I can see that he is more confident in the pool and that leads to trying more things and learning faster.  Confidence in the pool or at the gym means the same thing…progress! 

Last night was workout #18, Week 6 of my 12 week cycle….half way there!  It’s not been smooth sailing, I’ve had to make adjustments due to the flu and being tired and sore from activity outside the gym.  In spite of this, I’ve stuck with my upper body/lower body split and I’ve lifted heavy almost every workout (or as heavy as I felt I could manage!).  I’m averaging 3 workouts a week which is my goal and is really the max I can handle and still be recovered to lift heavy the next time.

Deadlift and lower body night, I opted for rack deads and some lower back, hamstring and calf work to go along with the deadlifts.  When I started doing the rack deads I was surprised at how good I felt.  I did a set of 135×12 and 225×10, felt like I was just warming up.  Next I did 315×8 and then 405×4.  I could have done a few more at 405 but wanted to save energy.  Next loaded up to 495 and did one solid rep, no problem.  Comparing that lift to the 500 lift I did on June 16, last night was noticeably easier.  Feeling confident I put on 50 more pounds.  Didn’t know if I could lift 545 but I was in the mindset to give it my all.  Attracted an audience for this attempt, if you could call the only other guy in the gym an audience!  I know him so he wasn’t shy about coming right over and standing next to me to watch.  I did that lift and the best part was I still had a little strength in reserve!  Could I possible have handled 585 (12 plates plus the bar).  I will find out next time I do these, I’m going to try it.

Very gratifying to see the strength gain, I haven’t been feeling it for the last month or so.  I hope I can translate this to some heavy regular deadlifting, I’ll find out when that workout rolls around in about 10 days.  At some point last night I tweaked my right calf.  I think it may have happened unloading the plates after deadlifting, or maybe it was just too much use since I was jumping rope and doing some calf sets too last night.  It wasn’t a jolt of pain or anything like that, just a feeling of tightness that got progressively worse.  It feels a little tight and sore this morning, I can still use it normally though so I’m hoping that it’s just a little strain that will take care of itself after a few days extra rest.

Another note about last night…I tightened my weight belt another notch for deadlifts…proof I’m continuing to get leaner!  A great way to start the week, I hope everyone feels as good as I do today!

After a stressful week at work topped off by a Friday where little went right, I am craving my Friday night workout for the stress relief factor more than anything else.  It’s upper body, the program call for pullups, incline and decline barbell bench press, and I’ll throw in some tricep and bicep work too.  One of my favourite workouts!  I’ll pick up this post when I’m done….

…YIKES!  My wife wanted to do some gardening last night since it was a cool evening, so I ended up spending 1.5 hours taking soil and rock from a flower bed that we are removing.  By the time I got to the gym my back was tired and stiff.  I did extra warm-ups but it didn’t help a lot.  I started with pullups, did sets of 10,9, and 7.  I felt that pain in my left forearm again, not as bad as before and the first time in about a week.  I will have to be very careful with pullups.  I started my first chest exercise, and I knew during my first set of incline bench press that I was too tired to do all the heavy sets my program called for.  Just as well, there was no one at the gym on a Friday night to spot me anyway.  So I deferred that workout for a few days.  Instead I kept the weight moderate and did sets in the 12-15 rep range using dumbbells and cables.  I did 14 sets for chest, 8 for triceps, 6 for lats, and 10 for biceps.

No cardio last night either, my calves and hamstrings were sore and they are more sore this morning.  I guess it’s the bike ride I had Thursday night, my first one of the summer.  Plus walking and going up and down some steps carrying heavy buckets of soil and rocks (like the farmer’s walk exercise) no doubt plays a part in it.  On the one hand it sucks that these outdoor activities take away from optimal performance at the gym.  On the other hand, I’m grateful I have the energy, strength and stamina to do things like that without putting a lot of stress on my body like it would for so many men my age.  I have to keep reminding myself that the important thing is I’m using my muscles, getting fitter and leaner by the day, moving towards having defined abs and the overall look that I’ve always wanted.

It’s raining today so it’ll be mostly a rest day.  May get out for a walk with my wife later if it clears a little.  Program calls for rack deadlifts and hamstring work tomorrow, hopefully I’ll have recovered enough by then to blast it!

Last night was lower body, squats to be precise.  Didn’t feel like doing them but I’m sticking with my plan.  Once I got that first set done I was fine.  My squat goal for last night was to see just how heavy I can go now that I’m comfortable with full squats.  Warmup sets, barx10, 135×10, then I did singles only to conserve energy.  Singles of 225, 247, 269, 291 and 300 all completed with good form, as deep as I could go - which is ass to the ground deep!   The 300 is 25 pounds more than I did a couple of weeks ago.  It is very satisfying to be full-squatting that weight, and I know it will help me grow so much better than the mid-300 ‘almost to parallel’ squats that were the norm for me last year.  I’m so glad I ’started over’ on squats and learned to do them consistently DEEP.

I did my cardio next, 20 minutes on the arc-trainer at a ’Cardio’ setting of 8.  I like this machine, it’s easier on the joints than treadmill sprinting but there are so many settings I’m still experimenting with them to determine what gives me the best workout.  I’m not going to stop sprinting though, only on squat day!  After the cardio I did 7 sets of leg extensions and some ab work to finish off the workout.  I got to the gym late so this was a shorter workout than the norm, but the quality was there and that’s more important than quantity any day!  

Feeling great starting my 3×6 upper body workout.  After warm-up, the first exercise was standing barbell press.  Did the 3×6 with 120 pounds.  Next was incline barbell bench press.  I muscled through three tough sets but did them cleanly at 160 pounds.  It appears I had run out of gas at this point since I was very weak on flat barbell bench press, not coming close to finishing either set at the planned weight of 200.  Final exercise, decline barbell bench press, I’m happy to report I finished strong, doing the 3×6 at 210 pounds cleanly, although being at the end of the workout it was very challenging.  No cardio at the gym today, my hamstrings and calves were sore from deadlifting/jump rope on Friday night.  I had a nice long walk in the evening though, better than nothing.  Almost half way through my 12 week program now - will soldier on!