funkyb5150’s BodyBlog

Well… I am back after a great 4 day weekend. I was off last friday. So let me pick up with last week… Thursday I trained back and biceps. It was a long and intense workout. I did all kinds of supersets, dropsets, etc to really fry my arms. I also hit my back with every exercise I could think of (except deadlifts… as my legs were too sore). Overall - it was a great workout. Friday I was able to sleep in a bit. I woke up and started cooking all of my meals. Now here’s a funny story for ya…. When I cook my meals, I grill a week’s worth of chicken and steak at one time. My grill is outside on my deck. My deck is about 14 feet off the ground and completely enclosed - no staircase to the ground. While my chicken was grilling… I was also cooking a huge pot of green beans on the stove inside. It was now a little after 8:00 am and really starting to rain. I slipped on my sandels and stepped outside to flip everything on the grill. I closed the sliding glass door behind me. My puppy (who had been calmly resting on the couch) jumped up to see where I was going. She ran to the door and bumped into 3 foot wooden rod (that fits in the floor track of the sliding door - for security). The wooden rod fell over and laned perfectly in the track. The door cannot slide open with the rod in place. I did not even realize what had happended. After I closed the grill and turned to head back inside - I actually tried opening the door. Then I saw the wooden rod. Oh no…. There I was… Trapped on my deck. My cell phone was inside laying on the counter. My large pot on the stove was starting to boil over. It was barely 40 degrees outside and I was standing there in a T-shirt. I was screwed. My deck has a 4 foot rail on all sides. I actually started to panic a bit. I started weighing my options… I could try jumping off the deck in my sandels and risk breaking my leg. I could try breaking the glass on the slider door… but that was the expensive option. I eventually convinced myself to try climbing off the deck. If I could somehow lower myself so that I was hanging from the very bottom platform - it would reduce the distance I had to fall - and reduce my risk of injury. I stretched my legs up and over the wall… balancing with my toes between the slats. I used all of my strength to lower myself - I actually walked my hands down the railing (6 inched at a time). Once I was hanging from the lowest portion of the deck…. I let go and dropped to the ground. I am sure that someone saw me doing this - and that they were laughing their asses off. I can only imagine watching a 220 pound bodybuilder - trapped on his deck (and pulling a ’spider-man’ to get down). Aside from a few bruises… the only real problem was that I was stuck outside in the rain for almost an hour. I caught a pretty bad cold as a result - and it wiped me out all weekend.

 Anyway, Christmas was great. Lots of great gifts and good times with the whole extended family. Since yesterday was christmas… I obviously missed my normal shoulers/tricep workout. I thought about hitting them today and pushing all of my workouts back a day. But tuesday is always leg day ad I don’t think I can change that. It is burned into my brain. So I will probably just make-up shoulders and triceps tomorrow. This cold has kind of kicked my butt - so I am not expecting a record-setting workout. But I will push it to the limit no matter what. See you at the gym…

I know I have probably said this before…. But I think this is the sorest my legs have ever been. I could barely walk up the stairs this morning. My quads are espcially killing me. Bobby and I hit up the giant set workout on tuesday - and now I am paying the price. The 20 full, slow reps of leg presses (with 630 pounds) alone would have been enough…. but we superset that with three other exercises. All done without rest. The last movement is 20 forward barbell lunges with 135 pounds. On my third giant set - I could barely finish the lunges. I literally fell to the ground when I was finished. I know it is mostly mental… but I swear that this leg workout added a 1/4 inch to both of my thighs! My pants are barely fitting over my quads. I tried stretching my legs really good last night - and I think that helped. But this is some serious pain. My whole body was so physically exhausted from this workout - that I did not train at all yesterday. I did not even go to the gym. I could hardly stay awake at work. So… instead of working out… I went home yesterday afternoon and took about a 2 hour nap. It was great and I really needed it. But I probably slept too long - because I felt even more tired afetr I woke up. I finally started my christmas shopping last night. I think I am done with my brother, cousin, sister, and sister-in-law. I am not working at all on friday - so my plan is to finish it all then.

So that means that today is back and biceps. I will probably train them with bobby - if it works out. I am sure I will not be doing any deadlifts today - as my legs are fried. I will probably focus on my biceps more than back. But you never know… I do love training back. Also, I have to cook all of my meals tonight. So - it may be a late night for me. At least I am not working tomorrow - and I can sleep in. Today is friday for me!!! See you at the gym!

Man… We hit triceps and shoulders hard yesterday. I got to the gym a few minutes late and was a little stressed out. But we got things moving and cranked it out. Once again - I started out with some rope-pulldowns to warm up my elbows. Then it was time for close-grip bench presses. I increased the weight on every set. After that - we did weighted dips and superset them with cambered bar pushdowns. Next up was skull-crushers. I did a warm-up set of 50 pounds (for 20 reps). We then did a set of 10 reps at 80 lbs, and 6 reps at 90 lbs. Time for some shoulders. I started with seated shoulder press (80 pounds for 10 reps) and superset it with standing barbell presses (135 for six reps). We did 3 sets and it was beyond intense. I thought my heart was going to explode. I also did a few sets of arnold presses with the 65’s. I moved onto dumbell shrugs using the 140’s. I followed up my 3 sets with 3 more sets of shrugs on the smith machine. Time for lateral raises using dumbells. As usual.. I superset them with bent-over rear-delt raises. I also did lateral raises and rear delts on the cables. I then superset the galileo seated tricep press with 1-arm cable extensions. My triceps were completely spent. And so was I…

I had an appointment last night… So I did not get a chance to do cardio or abs. But I ate pretty good. My weight has been staying around 220 to 221. I have been amazed at how good my elbow has felt the past few days. Icing and stretching it is helping. Today is the painful giant set leg workout. Prepare to puke. This is the hardest workout I have ever known. I am mentally preparing myself for it now… and will be all day.

Dean -

To answer your question…A workout can last anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. It just depends on the person and the intensity. For example… my leg workout today will only take me about 45 minutes. But it is so intense… I could not do any other work - even if I wanted to. However, I have really been focusing on bringing up my shoulders… So my shoulder/tricep workout takes the full 1.5 hours. I believe that drug-free bodybuilders need more rest. So I train only four to five days a week. I try to get as much sleep as possible - so that my body can heal and rebuild. Hope that answers your question!

So today is ‘holiday food day’ at the office. Every floor has as an area with multiple tables. Each table is covered with junk food. Chips, dips, cookies, fudge - anything you could think of. And I can smell it all from my desk. However…. I have resisted all of it. I have stuck to my meals. I know its my off-season… but I eat enough crap at home. I don’t need to get any extra calories in at work. Wouldn’t be nice if it was all bodybuilding food? Chicken breasts, sweet potatoes, protein bars and drinks! It would be just like the Arnold expo!!!

Anyway - I’ve got 3 good meals in me and it’s not even 1:00 pm. I am getting ready for my workout. See you at the gym…

Yesterday was back and biceps. I trained them with Bobby. We kicked some ass. And we did a ton of exercises. Here’s what we hit (in order):

- 1 arm dumbell rows

- Standing, alternating, dumbell curls

- Incline curls

- Bent over barbell rows

- Lat pull downs

- Bent over rope pulls (lats)

- Deadlifts

- Hyperextensions

- EZ bar curls

- T-Bar rows

We were both extremely exhausted by the end. My biceps are sore already! I am on my last meal today - so I have to cook tonight. Today has been a low-carb day and I am starving. My last meal (at 8:30 am) was a pretty large steak and a cup of green beans. But it did not help. My schedule is kind of screwed up this week. I think we are going to train chest at lunch today (instead of tomorrow). We have a long lunch meeting for work tomorrow. I will still get a workout in - probably hamstrings, abs, and traps. Tomorrow will be kind of a make-up day. I really need to get some cardio done as well. I have not done any since monday night! So today I am going to crank out some heavy dumbell presses. I will be ready… See you at the gym…

Well - I finally did it…. I broke through my plateau. Yesterday I squated 495 to below parallel. It felt great. It also felt extremely heavy. I even did this outside of the rack. I also hit a new PR at 405… I was able to get 6 reps below parallel. So, yesterday was a good day. Most of my time was spent squating - but it was worth it. Unfortunately - I did not have time to do any heavy lunges…. So I will have to make those up. My legs were completely spent by the end of the workout. We also did some heavy leg presses - that were extremely deep.

Anyway… monday and tuesday’s workouts have left me quite sore. Today I am going to hit back and biceps with Bobby. It should be a good workout… See you at the gym..

Monday’s workout went pretty well. I was completely exhausted by the end. I got to the gym a few minutes late - but that did not distract me. I started with some rope-pulldowns to warm up the triceps and elbows. Then it was time for close grip bench press. I really focused on squeezing my triceps (and not using my chest and shoulders). My first set of 20 reps at 155 absolutely fried my tri’s. It felt great. I worked my way up to 285 for 4 perfect reps. Then it was time for weighted dips. I supersetted dips with cambered bar push-downs on the cable machine. My triceps felt like they were going to explode. After three sets, we moved onto skull crushers. I decided last week that I can’t just jump into heavy weight on these. So lately… I have been doing a set of 20 reps at 50 pounds to get my elbows nice and warm. What a difference it has made. I was able to get 12 slow reps at 80 poundss - and another 7 slow reps at 90 pounds. Time for shoulders! We supersetted seated dumbell presses with standing barbell presses. I grabbed the 80’s for my first set and cranked out 10 good reps. I then ran over to the barbell (which had 115 on it) and quickly did 6 more reps. This combination was very intense. My shoulders were burning. I upped the weight on the dumbells to 90’s for my last two sets. I finished my workout with four sets of lateral raises, four sets of rear delt raises, and finally… seated dips superset with 1-arm cable extensions. Unfortunately… I did not have time to hit traps or abs… But I did get 20 minutes of cardio in with my partner.

My eating has been good so far this week. I have not missed any meals… but it is only tuesday. My weight is up slightly… I have been hanging around 218. I am seeing noticable improvements in my shoulders - especially width. I am trying my best to keep the body fat in check - especially with the amount of calories I am eating. Anyway - I am quite happy with my progress. I would love to finish this bulk diet at about 220.

Last night I finally decorated the christmas tree. It turned out alright - I do need a lot more lights. My puppy is loving it… She constantly tries to pull needles off and chew them. It is getting quite annoying…

Today is leg day!!! Heavy ass squats! I cannot wait. I am going to completely destroy my quads. I am hoping to get out of here on time today. I need to take my time and warm-up before going deep on those heavy squats. See you at the gym…

Friday’s workout went pretty well. There were four of us hitting chest - so we kept things moving and paired off whenever possible. There was also lots of trash talking - which is always fun. We started with decline dumbell presses. I went right for the 130’s and got a solid 7 reps. Not my personal best (8)… but better than last week (6). I think we did four sets total on the decline. Then we hit dumbell flys… I was able to get 6 reps with the 110’s…. So I bumped up my last two sets to the 120’s. I did not realize how much that extra 10 pounds (per hand) would make. By the time I got to incline - I was pretty much shot. On my second set, I wanted to get 225 for 10 reps - and I barely got 6. I was feeling pretty weak. We then moved on to train calves. We did seated and standing calf raises. When it was all said and done… My chest and calves were completely spent.

Friday night was my cheat meal. We went out for dinner around 7:00 pm. I had a huge burger and a few beers. Saturday, I worked my ass off reorganizing my storage room. It is unfinished right now - just framed in with 2×4’s… But I want to start finishing my basement after the holidays. So - everything in that room has to go. I threw out a lot of garbage I had collected over the years. I also gave some stuff to my brother. Saturday night we went and picked out a christmas tree. It was a freshly cut tree that had been tied up for awhile - so the branches are still facing upwards. I put the tree in the stand and I am waiting for the branches to ‘relax’ before decorating it - probably tonight.

Yesterday was the annual christmas cookie bake-off. My whole extended family gets together and makes / decorates hundreds of christmas cookies. It was a good time as always.

Today I am once again training triceps and shoulders. My elbow has felt great all weekend. I started doing some more stretching - and I think it really helps. I ate a lot of crap this past weekend (mostly cookies!). So I need to do some cardio and abs today!!! See you at the gym…

My weekend starts in about 30 minutes…. I cannot wait. I am so pumped and ready for this workout. I am visualizing each rep right now. I am focused. I am in the zone. I am cranked up on my NO-Xplode!!! Seriously though…. It has been a crazy week and I am glad that it is over. 2 days is not long enough… but it will be a nice break. I am going to rest up and eat big. See you at the gym….

Well - Yesterday did not go at all how I planned. Work went fine - actually it was a pretty good day. But my workout completely sucked. I had to cut it short and run an important errand that took a lot longer than I expected. Bobby and I ran to this scary junk yard to pick up some wheels. We got a crazy deal on them - so we could not pass it up. Anyway, we walked into this old shack of a building. It was so smokey - you could not see accross the room. It was a combination of whatever the workers were smoking and a huge wood-burning stove. My hair and clothes stunk for the rest of the day - just from standing there for 20 minutes. So - no cardio. But I did snag an extra set of perfectly good wheels for $40. I mounted some brand new winter tires on them - and now I have an extra set I can easily swap in the spring. Here’s what I was able to accomplish…

I wanted to hit my hamstrings and abs… So I started with some stiff-leg deadlifts. I did a warm-up set with 135 for 20 reps. Then 225 for 15 and 315 for 10. Next up was lying leg curls… 110 for 20, 110 for 15, and 130 for about 8. I then moved on to abs. I did one big superset of hanging leg raises and finished with 2 sets resistance cable crunches. (each set was really 60 reps).

So today is chest and calves… I am about to ice the elbow. I hope I feel strong today. I added some more carbs into my meals today - so I would have more energy. (Sweet potato’s… I love them now!) I was so pissed that the office was not on last night - what a bunch of crap. No big plans tonight… But tomorrow will be busy. I have to get the christmas tree and get it all set up… Should be fun…. See you at the gym….