My BodyBlog

Workout #13 was ‘The Workout That Wasn’t’ -see last post.  I pray to God I don’t have to deal with feeling like that again very soon!  Things are looking up though - I’ve gotten some quality rest and all the yardwork is done, so I can save all my energy for the gym.  I am keeping to my planned workout schedule in spite of the bumps in the road, so tonight is deadlift.  I may go for that 455 lift again before doing rack deads or deadlift variations as planned.  Either way, there’ll be a lot of deadlifting going on at my gym tonight!  I’ll continue this post after the workout…

….I’m getting back to this post almost 38 hours after the workout!  I had two attempts at the 455 deadlift, no cigar.  Moved it both times but couldn’t get it up.  My form has to be perfect and I have to be feeling 100% to pull that much weight.  I will keep working until I do the lift or die trying!  I did however do several sets of deadlifts and hamstring curls, along with some ab work and jump rope for cardio.  A great workout on a hot Friday evening alone at the gym!

The next morning up early for the drive to do a boat tour.  My wife and I have done the tour before and its a highlight of our summer.  We went with family, a party of five, and lucked into a perfect weather day on the unpredictable North Atlantic.  Not a cloud in the sky, calm waters, and just enought of a cool ocean breeze to make the heat bearable.  It wasn’t long after leaving port we saw the school of dolphins.  They were feeding on caplin (similar to a sardine but a little bigger) and ignored the boat as they zoomed in circles, diving and jumping.  The captain estimated there were about a hundred in the school.  I’ve seen dolphins before, but never like that!  Next we spotted humpback whales…I’ve seen whales many times but it never gets old.  They too have little fear of the tour boats and go about their business, sometimes even putting on a little show of rolling and slapping the water with their massive pectoral fins.  A spectacular sight!  Next we steamed to the islands which are part of a national ecological reserve.  Soon we were floating metres next to the sheer cliffs and steep grassy hills where over 1 million sea birds were nesting.  The air was filled with the calls of the colourful puffins and many others including murs and kittiwakes.  These sights and sounds never fail to enthrall me.  The out of province tourists are amazed and excited by the whole thing, as they should be.  I am lucky to live in a place where the wonders of nature are so close.  The only thing missing on this trip were the icebergs!

A great weekend so far, and it only gets better as I’m going to the gym this afternoon for my upper-body 3×6 workout.  I’m feeling great and am ready to push some serious iron!

Yes, I did do a workout last night, but it wasn’t what I had planned to do at all.  I just wasn’t feeling ‘right’ all day yesterday.  A little headachy, lightheaded, queasy, and it got worse after I mowed the lawn before supper.  Could it be I had a little heat exhaustion from the golfing on Tuesday?  There was something going on for sure.

Went to visit my nephew last night, he has a new kitten and was very excited.  He lives just down the road from the gym, so my wife and I took separate vehicles so I could go to the gym afterwards.  After the visit and then a short walk around the block with my wife, I found that the symptoms I had all day were still there plus my cough seemed a little worse.  Also, I lost track of the time and it was much later than I thought when it was time to go into the gym.  How easy it would have been just to drive on by and go home to bed!  But I couldn’t do that.  My muscles were crying out for some work, no matter what my brain was saying.

I knew I couldn’t do the heavy chest and shoulder compound exercises that I had planned.  Energy was low and the focus just wasn’t there.  Instead I decided to do a few moderate weight sets for upper body.  I put myself on ‘autopilot’, trying to forget how crappy I felt and just focused on doing the sets.  I started with six sets of various rotator cuff exercixes as a warm-up.  Next I did:

Flat bench dumbbell press:  25×15, 45×12, 65×8, 85×6.

Bar push-down: 80×15, 100×12, 120×8, 140×6

Wide-grip Lat pull-down: 80×15, 100×12, 120×8, 140×6

Shoulders: 1 set of 4 different dumbbell exercises using light weight - seated press, standing front raise, standing side lateral, and bent-over side lateral.

Biceps: 2 sets of ez bar curls and 2 sets of dumbbell curls using light weight.

This workout was shorter and less intense than what I usually do but it still left me exhausted.   I felt really good though about getting that work done in spite of not feeling well.  The good news is that after a good night’s sleep I feel refreshed and back to normal today!  I’m returning to the gym tomorrow when it’s time to hit some heavy deadlifts.

Got a chance to do a little golfing yesterday.  I’m on the Board of Directors of a Business Development Association.  We decided to have our monthly meeting at a golf course.  We had our meeting at 10 and an early lunch, then we hit the links at 1:00.  It was my first time golfing this year, second in two years, and before that it was ten years!  Needless to say I’m not very good at it.  One summer when I was a teen I golfed several times a week, since then it’s been rare.  I just didn’t get hooked on it, unlike many people for whom it’s one of life’s passions.  For me, that’s pumping the iron!  I used a different kind of iron today as I whacked my way around 9 holes.  It’s about form and patience, not unlike bodybuilding.  I tried to focus on hitting the ball right with a good follow through, not worrying about how hard I was hitting it.  I didn’t really start having some decent shots until the 7th hole.  It sure feels good though when you really connect with the ball and it goes straight down the fairway!  We had a cart to travel the course, but I walked as much as possible without holding up the group.  I had a little leg DOMS left from Sunday, made the walking a little more challenging.  All in all an enjoyable day!

I’m stopping work early today to get the lawn mowed before supper.  I’ll be hitting the gym hard tonight, my program calls for upper body 3×6 using heavy weight.  It’ll be a challenge and I can’t wait! 

I’m back on track with my 12 week summer workout program.  An annoying summer flu bug threw a monkey wrench into my workouts for awhile, but I dealt with it and here I am, back at it.  Dealing with sickness is something every bodybuilder has to face sooner or later, same goes for injuries.  The key is to not let it get you down.  Stay focused on what you need to do to get over it, and keep doing what you can to keep moving towards your goals.  Although I stayed away from the gym for six days, I didn’t stop with daily walks and I kept eating clean.  Small but important steps on my journey to more mass, more definition and abs!

Friday night’s upper body workout:

Flat Barbell Bench Press: 165×12, 176×8, 185×6, 195×4 - all unassisted, clean sets!

Standing Barbell Overhead Press: 95×12, 105×8, 115×6, 120×4 - clean!

Pullups: Skipped these.  I’ve been having some soreness in my right forarm, I want to avoid putting any extra stress on it for awhile to let it heal.

Also did some chest isolation work, biceps and abs.  A good workout, started with low energy but it improved as I went along.  Did not do cardio, cough is still very bothersome.

Sunday Afternoon’s Lower Body Workout:

Squats: 135×10, 205×10, 205×10, 205×10.  Again, started workout feeling lethargic.  I knew squats would take all my focus and energy today, and I was right.  The last set was brutal but I got through it maintaining good form and going deep.  Cough is improving and I am anxious to put this irritating flu behind me once and for all.

Cardio: 20 minutes interval training on arc-trainer, set at 8.  Glad to get back to cardio.  I have to keep at this consistently!

After the cardio I did calf/quad supersets, different machines and exercises.  I also did some more ab work since I didn’t get sore from what I did Friday night!

Next workout, start of Week #5.  Have a great week everyone!

Happy to report my head cold is cleared up, with the exception of an annoying cough.  As soon as I started deadlifting I knew I still wasn’t back to 100% energy and stamina, but I pressed on with it.  I did 135×10, 225×2, 315×1, 405×1 working up to a new PB attempt.  The warm-ups felt just average.  My best lift so far is a 445, but I decided to go for 455 instead of 450 mostly due to laziness….the plate combo for 455 is a lot easier to get set up!

First attempt at 455 went nowhere.  I didn’t start out right, didn’t use legs to get that powerful push off the floor.  I took a rest and went at it again.  Better result this time, I got the weight off the floor a few inches but just didn’t have the energy to commit to the lift - I just wasn’t feeling ‘it’, wasn’t ‘in the zone’ - you get my point.  I’m still happy with the attempt though - moving 455 feeling the way I did is encouraging.  I’m going to keep working with 455 and one day soon when I’m feeling 100% healthy I’m going to nail that lift!

Completed the workout with some hamstring and lower back isolation exercises, and some smith barbell shrugs since I hadn’t done any trap work in almost a month.  Upper body on Friday!