My BodyBlog

Started the workout with standing barbell overhead press.  Goal was to up the weight 5 pounds and keep reps same as last time (sets of 125×5 last time).  Warming up I felt good, but I had no idea that I was going to be as strong as I turned out to be!  I did my best overhead pressing ever, here are the sets: 130×6, 135×6, 140×4, 130×4.  Pushing that 4th rep at 140 I almost couldn’t believe it - when you are able to exceed expectations like that it is the most awesome feeling in the world!

Doing shoulders with arms was Plan B since upper body felt too sore to do them earlier in the week.  Worked out well other than I was exhausted at the end of it - that was a lot of sets!  Legs will be done tomorrow, I want to go heavier on squats.

I was alone at the gym most of the night (guess there were a lot of Halloween parties on the go) until two guys arrived just as I was finishing.  I got to chatting with one of them and he soon started talking about the pro-hormones he had tried and said he got them on the ‘black market’.  To make a long story short he implied that he had access to a lot of stuff and said he could hook me up with some if I was interested.  I said no thanks, I was happy with my progress just taking some basic supplements and I wouldn’t want to take any chances of screwing up my body, especially at my age.  He asked how old I was, I told him 44, he said that he would have said I was in my mid-thirties.  Flattery will still not get me to use any of the stuff he was offering!

Time to go and get ready for the trick-or-treaters.  I hope everyone has a safe and fun halloween! 

My brother started going to the gym a few months ago, I just recently found out about it.  He lives in another part of the country so I don’t see him often - we keep in touch by email.  He’s 51 and was athletic in his youth, but as is typical with many men, his fitness level dropped off when life became hectic with career and family.  I would describe him now as the ’skinny-fat’ type.  He knew I worked out but I’ve never really told him much about it (ie he doesn’t realize how ‘into’ it I really am!).  I started asking him a few questions to find out what he is doing and what his goals are.  I started to give him a few tidbits of unsolicited advice.  One thing I told him was about ab work, the fact that you can do all the crunches you want but it will not give you 6 pack abs unless you lose the body fat that covers the abs through cardio and diet.  He was skeptical and asked a trainer at his gym who confirmed what I said.  I’m glad I debunked that common misconception for him.

Right now the only goal he expresses is to reduce his weight to 170.  He wants to be the same weight he was in college at one time.  He is doing a little lifting and a lot of cardio, but not jogging because of what he calls a ‘wonky knee’.  The other day he burned 700 calories walking on the treadmill and then went home and as a ‘reward’ had a lite beer with 100 calories!  I can see I have a lot of work to do….LOL.

I really want him to succeed in adopting a more fit lifestyle.  I know first hand how great it can make you feel and improve overall quality of life.  I also know that although we can get some help from others, to a certain extent we all have to find our own way on this journey.  There are lessons to be learned that only come with experience, and we all have to find what works best for us.  I am encouraging him to continue, but don’t want to lay too much info on him for fear of becoming preachy or making him overwhelmed.  The main thing I want him to do now is enjoy what he is doing and to just use me as a sounding board or to ask questions when they occur to him.  I did however try to get across two important points in my last email. 

First of all, walking on the treadmill is great if you enjoy it but there are lots of other cardio activities you can do.  Don’t feel like you have to use the treadmill, if it becomes a drag then switch to something else.  The other point was about his weight goal of 170.  I commented that it is a goal more for his mind than his body.  I cautioned him not to be too focused on it, it may not be possible and he risks getting frustrated and losing motivation if he is too focused on this number.  I pointed out that changing his body composition and improving his fitness level and health are more important goals.  I suggested if he wanted a short-term goal to use measurements or pants size.

I hope he catches the fitness ‘bug’ like I have…only time will tell. 

A very solid workout last night.  I can feel the back DOMS starting as chest DOMS finally start to ease.  Doing the sets last night the mind-muscle connection was the strongest I have ever felt it.  I’m glad I deferred shoulders and focused solely on back.  Arriving at the gym, my workout partner for legs last week was there.  He was just starting a leg workout again with a couple of friends, they asked if I wanted to join in.  I was tempted but said no, I needed to do my back.  A little later I asked him how he found his legs after the workout we did last week.  He said he was really sore but it felt good.  He said it was the best leg workout he’s ever done

After a warm-up, here’s what I did:

Deadlift: 135×10, 225×6, 315×6, 335×4, 315×5.  First time I’d done heavier weight for reps in a long time, and I felt it.  I will improve on this as time goes on.

Pullups:  A set of 6 followed by a set of 7.  Started standing on the floor instead of a box and it was so much better, in spite of fewer reps.

Barbell Bent-Over Row: 111×12, 111×12.  Kept weight lower since I wanted to ensure great form on this exercise.  I will increase as time goes on.

Middle Back Shrugs: 22×12, 32×12.  A new exercise for me, kept weight low to make sure I had the form down.  I could still feel its effect though.

Seated Cable Row: 160×12, 160×12.  Getting into some unchartered territory on this one.  Hard sets but felt great!

3 Super Sets Straight-Arm Lat Pulldown/Reverse Cable Crossover

Double Drop-Set Seated Cable Row: 130×12, 80×12, 40×20

Also during workout did 4 sets of barbell shrugs and 500 jump rope reps.  I have a couple of rest days then I’ll do shoulders and arms Friday.  Thanks for reading!

Change of plans - my pecs and tris are so sore from Sunday’s chest workout that I don’t see how it’s possible for me to include shoulders with tonight’s workout and do them justice.  Just doing the motion of an overhead press sends fresh ‘waves’ of soreness through my front delts and arms - I’ll delay shoulders and try them with my arms workout later this week.  So tonight will be a back workout, I’ll include traps work and get some cardio in too.  The DOMS I experienced after Sunday’s chest workout were different than what I usually get - they started faster, they seem like they are more wide-spread and they are - how can I describe it - somehow ‘deeper’ or more intense.  A feeling unlike anything I’ve had before.  A very satisfying feeling.

What was the difference?  A few things I can think of.  I did decline press using the Smith Machine, which I found much harder to push the weight than with a free barbell.  I did flat bench press with a good spotter who pushed me to give maximum effort on couple of heavy sets even though chest was fatigued by the Smith decline sets.  I did two sets of 10 dips, the most reps I’ve ever done with good form to hit pecs.  Dips are a recent addition to my arsenal, and if this is how they make me feel I’ll be sticking with them!  I also did a couple of tri-sets with dumbbells, chest was very tired by this point and it was a tremendous effort to get in the 12-15 rep range.  That chest workout was the highest quality and greatest impact chest workout I’ve ever done.  How I feel today is my proof.  The 3-S approach has made me a believer - quality of sets beats quantity of sets every time.

Today I did my third 3-S Chest workout and it was by far the best.  I held nothing back, went as heavy or heavier than I ever have before for the required rep ranges.  Strength exercises were Smith machine decline press and flat barbell bench press.  Size exercises were dips and dumbbell pullovers.  Shock exercises were 2 tri-sets of incline dumbbell press/flat dumbbell press/flat dumbbell flyes.  This was a brutal tri-set and I gave it all I had.  After this I did a double drop-set of cable crossovers and finally a burn-out set of plate pushes.  Did some ab work after chest.  No cardio today but the quick pace of the workout left me sweating and breathing hard.

Next workout is back/shoulders.  Not sure how putting these two together for a 3-S workout will go, I’ll find out in a couple of days.  Talking to a couple of guys today doing back.  They did an exercise they called a ‘Middle Back Shrug’ using dumbbells, a new one on me.  They showed me the form, you hold two dumbbells and lean forward slightly, keeping shoulders still.  Then you do a shrugging movement that doesn’t move shoulders or traps.  I tried it (with no dumbbells) and after a little while got the hang of it.  I could feel the middle back area working, so on back day I guess I’ll give this exercise a try.

I hope everyone has a great week of workouts!  I won’t be on-line much due to work commitments, but I’ll be thinking about you.  

Recently at the gym a guy asked me what I did for a living.  When I said I was an accountant, he replied "I never would have guessed you were an accountant"  He said I have a ‘blocky’ build and look like I do some kind of trade or labour work.  Assuming I can replace ‘blocky’ with ‘muscular’, I take that comment as a great compliment!

I can see why he’d think that - I don’t know many people around here who’s work involves sitting all day that look like I do - they either have far too much body fat or are the ’skinny fat’ type.  I decided NOT to fall into one of those categories by doing something positive for my body and health.  I’ve been making the trek to the gym, with very few breaks, at least three times a week for the last 67 months.  I progressed slowly at first, having a lot to learn about weight lifting form and technique.  My progress accelerated around month 43 when I found bodybuilding.com and started to soak up knowledge about exercise and nutrition.  Soon I made the commitment to healthy eating, which was the biggest barrier in my way to making a significant body transformation.  Changing my eating habits has taken time and I am still not perfect, but I’m a long way from where I was before.  The nutrition improvement has enabled me to make significant progress, also I’m having more intense and productive workouts and loving the burn and pump I’ve learned to create.  Two examples of what I achieved are 1) I can wear a size 34 pant now, I used to wear 42-44.  2) I started deadlifting with the bar only about 24 months ago and now I can deadlift 445 pounds.  I could go on and on.

That comment got me thinking about how far I’ve come on my journey and how lucky I am that I found the commitment and desire to give myself this great gift.  So for all you desk jockeys out there who want to improve how you look and feel but think that it’s too hard or an impossible dream, think again.  I’m 44.  I decided to do it.  I’m doing it.  YOU CAN TOO!

As leg day comes up again in my split I am getting more and more of an appreciation for all those posts I read from people who dread/love leg day all at the same time.  Done right, leg workouts are very difficult but the feeling of knowing you pushed yourself to get through it is amazing.  Having done two 3-S leg workouts, I realize now my leg workouts in the past have not been as intense and thorough as the ones I am doing using the 3-S method.  I often did squats, quad and ham isolation exercises on different days, resulting in a complete leg workout about every two weeks.  I’m happy with the strength and mass gains I have achieved so far, but how much more can I achieve working legs intensely every 10 days?  My last leg workout left me unable to walk away from the leg extension machine…I had to stretch and flex to bring life back into my quads.  If I can reach that level of muscle fatigue every leg workout I should get some great results.  I’ll finish this post after the beating is over!

….I’m sitting here at my desk at 4:15 Thursday, filling out boring forms, waiting for 5 o’clock to come when I’m going for a walk with my wife before dinner.  I’ve been waiting for arm DOMS to hit, but other than a little soreness when I flex, nothing.  I’ve noticed that DOMS were less intense after 2nd round of 3-S workouts than first.  I guess the first time through was a bit of a shock for my muscles, and they are quickly adapting.

If I stay on my current schedule I still have a over a FULL DAY to wait until my leg workout…I don’t know if I can stand that!  My body is screaming at me that I’ve had enough rest, it wants to lift some iron!  I have nothing pressing planned for tonight, so Body…you may get your wish!

…It’s Friday and I did make it to the gym last night, although not quite the workout I’d planned, for a couple of reasons.  The place was crowded, so instead of waiting around for equipment I changed up the order of the exercises I had planned.  I did get in all the sets I wanted to (and more) before the end.  The second unexpected thing, and this was a mixed blessing, was that I had a workout partner for legs last night.  It was one of the guys I’d been doing calf drop sets with the week before.  He was there with his usual friends, but he wanted to do legs while they didn’t.  He asked me if I’d mind if we did legs together, and I didn’t mind at all.  He’s been working out for about 5 months and I admire his dedication and interest in learning as much as possible.  He asked me a lot of questions about how and why I do things.  He is still learning good form on squats and learning how to challenge himself and do a more intense workout.  I really enjoyed sharing what I know with someone who is so interested in learning.  Not only that, I can see the tremendous effort he is putting into it.  On his last set of squats I told him if he wanted to go to failure that I would be there to help haul him back up, and to my surprise that’s exactly what he did!  Not many lifters I’ve seen, especially someone relatively new, would have the confidence to take squats to that level.

On the down side, I sacrificed a little intensity in my own workout.  On squats I stayed with the lower weight that he was using rather than having to keep adding and removing plates from the bar.  Also since I’m shorter than him we had to keep adjusting the leg curl and leg extension machines so we were both comfortable.  I hope the fact I did a few more sets than I had planned makes up for it a little.  Overall I was more focused on watching him workout than I was on what I was doing….I guess really what I did last night was a kind of personal training session!  I really enjoyed the experience, if I get the opportunity to work with him again though I’ll take the time to change plates and make sure I have the intensity I want. 

I just barely made it through the shock portion of the workout, that’s how thoroughly I had thrashed my bis and tris.  I used same strength exercises as last week and was able to up all weights while keeping mostly same reps - nice!  Here’s the workout:

Close Grip Bench Press:  190×5, 190×6, 190×6 (having spotter help with lift off I was able to get the 6th rep on 2nd and 3rd sets)

Barbell Curl: 105×6, 105×6, 105×6

Bar Push Down: 150×12, 150×12, 150×9

Preacher Curl: 55×10, 55×10, 55×10

Two Arm Dumbbell Extension: 42×12, 56×12 (could have used higher weight)

Alternating Dumbbell Curl: 37×12, 37×12

2 Super Sets: Rope Push Down 90×15, 100×13/Rope Extension 60×15, 70×13

2 Super Sets: Alt Hammer Curls 24×15, 24×15/Inner Bicep Dummbbell Curls 18×15, 18×15

Result of Workout:  Veins popping, arms numb and hard to lift overhead, hard to hold onto water bottle and clothes as I got changed.  This feeling soon wears off but it’s great while it lasts because I know I have worked my arms hard and they have no choice but to grow!  I’ll expect some soreness over the next couple of days. 

A couple of days of travel last week left me feeling a little more tired than usual as I arrived at the gym for my Friday night workout.  It was chest day and I decided to experiment by also doing shoulders at the same time.  I wasn’t as strong as I would have liked on flat bench, but I still got in all the sets and reps I needed on the strength portion.  On a very positive note, I added dips to this workout as one of my chest exercises.  I have avoided this exercise since injuring myself trying it a few years ago.  Now that my upper body is much stronger I had no trouble doing a couple sets of 6  reps, and with pretty good form too.  I’ll keep working on improving these because I know how great they are for chest development.  Doing shoulders with chest worked out pretty good overall, and I even had time left for some ab work.  That was about 40 hours ago and I do have some pec and delt soreness, the kind that feels good and comes from some solid work.

It’s early Sunday afternoon and I have a couple of hours of work to do before I go skating with my nephew.  Than later I’ll hit the gym for my 3-S back workout.  I’ll continue this post later….

It’s now Monday morning and I hit the gym Sunday evening for my back workout with pec and delt DOMS still with me.  Felt good all the same, that wasn’t going to slow me down.  My first strength exercise was deadlift, felt really good warming up so I decided to work up to a heavy single instead of doing sets of 4-6.  I haven’t been able to repeat my previous best lift of 445 done in May, so I decided to try that weight again.  I did a single 315×1 than went right to 445.  I did a powerful liftoff (thank you hamstrings) then when back and upper body took over that’s when things got dicey. I had to give it my all but I slowly kept the bar rising and finally (after what seemed like forever but it was only 3-4 seconds) I stood straight in the finishing position.

Great to know I’m at least at the same level I was in May in spite of not focusing on much deadlift work since then.  I’m counting on the strength and mass gains I get from the 3-S to keep me on the road to improving my deadlift.  After the deadlifting my energy and spirits were high, the rest of the workout was great, my lats were worked hard.  That’s the end of my second cycle of 3-S, the split I used this time was better.  Where I’ll do shoulders is still up in the air, did them with chest this time, will try it with back next time.  Arms are coming up for Tuesday’s workout, I plan on hitting them as hard as possible. 

Last week I had one of the best leg workouts ever - is it possible to have a better leg workout this time around?  Of course - if I put the effort into it.

What does it mean when you do a drop set on the leg extension machine, stand up, then find that your quads get so tight you can’t move?  All I could do was stand there, flexing and stretching, then slowly start to move my leg until the tight feeling started to go away.  Then I hobbled around and after a few seconds the tightness was gone.  This was my very last set of the workout, I’ve never had that feeling before.  It wasn’t a pain or cramp, just tightness.  Don’t know it this was good or bad, but I do know I blasted my legs last night, workout seemed even better than last week.  After warm-up and stretch I did:

Leg Press: 230×15, 410×10, 590×10, 680×6, 680×6, 680×6

Stiff-leg Deadlift: 135×10, 157×10, 157×10, 157×10

Squat: 185×8, 185×8, 185×8 (these were hard coming after first two exercises - also a cardio workout)

3 Supersets, Lying Leg Curl 70×12/Leg Extension 100×12

Dropset (2 drops) Lying Leg Curl

Dropset for Calves (5 drops) of standing smith machine raises

Dropset (2 drops) Leg Extension

A little jump rope, 250 reps, throughout the workout

I added some calf work to this workout, I wanted a complete leg workout even if it killed me.  There were several guys there I know well who were doing some leg work.  I asked if they wanted to do work on calves with me, some drop sets, and they were game.  I had tried this on the Smith machine before, alone, but since I had to stop to unload the plates myself it wasn’t as good.  I went first, had enough plates on that I could do six sets.  You do as many reps as you can each set.  After first set, a partner on each side removes one plate while I rest for about 10 seconds then go again.  By the last drop, calves are totally exhausted, hard to do the reps even with only light weight on the bar.  There were 4 of us, we all had a turn and I got rave reviews about the brutalness of this calf workout.  An effective and fun way to work calves!

It’s 15 hours after the workout and so far no DOMS, but I expect they will be with me tomorrow!