When they say children are the ultimate sacrifice, well in some ways they’re both right and wrong. If by sacrifice , you mean a bundle of joy, who looks at you like you are all knowing, who depends on you for even the most basic daily functions (however smelly  those functions are), and who can make your eyes tear up with just one look…Well then I guess they’re right….If by sacrifice you mean something that inconveniences, or forces you to re-arrange plans or even say, your whole life, well they’re wrong…..These are daily occurrences with a small child tearing your house apart, but they’re no inconvenience, or "sacrifice" at all. Those with children are smiling right along with me right now, those without, well you’ll see…..What’s my point?Well…..

After months of sleeping through the night, my son has suddenly decided he, and therefore I, no longer require eight solid or straight hours of slumber anymore. No 4:30 is now an acceptable hour to rise and shout "Okka! Okka!" (for Oscar, our  2 yr old black lab, and James’ bestest friend ). Now he doesn’t do this everyday, no , just on days where I’m supposed to train. My curerent schedule allows me only 3 days a week to lift, and on every single one of those days this week my "pride and joy" is up waaaaay before the sun. Is that a sacrifice? Not really.

As much as I live for those 3 hours of gym time a week, I would gladly give it all up, in a heartbeat, if I had to for James.

And so that was the long way of explaining why I’m posting 2 workouts back to back this morning. And possibly why , this week at least, my gains have slowed down.  Time (and meals and energy and rest…) have been sparse this week, but again, as any parent would attest  , it is a "sacrifice" completely worth making.

Here we go

weighted chins

25 2×5

1×12 (not weighted)

Deadlifts

300 1×8

340 1×5 1×4

seated cable rows (another "vintage" machine at my gym, plates not marked in pounds ,rather in numbers 1 through 20
"15" 2×6
reverse grip pulldowns

225 1×4

barbell military presses

135 3×6

lateral raises

40 2×7

bent laterals

70 1×8

Yet again this morning ,as if by plan, James was up before the rooster. Unfortunately, no amount of re-arranging will allow me to hit the gym for my regular Saturday morning session, so foregoing all known bodybuilding "schools of thought" or  "advice", I’m going to have to put it off till tomorrow . I hope. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if his highness feels like sleeping in ………

Well another leg day has come and gone, and yes ,even with the threat of falling arches looming, I still havn’t lightened up leg day. The progress is slowing down, but still there. I always laugh at people who automatically switch to light training cycles because some magazine told them they should do it every 4 weeks or 6 weeks or whatever. If you’re still progressing with heavy weights, why stop? Have you ever heard someone say "I’m making too much money, I’m gonna make less money for the next 4 weeks"? Or" I’m having too much good sex , I better ease back "? See I told you to bear with me.

As long as I’m  making progress , and feeling good, I’m not stopping anything.

So here we  go

squats

275 3×6

leg presses

770 2×8

walking dumbbell lunges

100 1×7 1×6

hamstring curls

100 3×6

Calf presses

700 2×12

calf raises

530 2×10

rope crunches

120 2×12

weighted legs up crunches

60 2×12

So although not too many increses in reps or weight (only 2 exercises went up) I am ready to add more weight next workout . …..Too much good sex….As if!

A few blogs back I wrote how I was eyeing those 100lbs db’s , but no one was around for a spot. Erring on the side of caution, I decided to wait for some assistance. Well today , same thing, no spot. But today was different. I warmed up ,picked those suckers up ,and the first set hoisted the bad boys for 5 reps. The second set was four.

Time and time again in the course of lifting, I am my own worst enemy. I psyched myself out ,and therefore my doubt held me back for too long.We’re capable of more than we think. A valuable lesson to be carried over in to everyday life I guess.

Well this new high carried over in to the rest of my workout. Here we go….

Flat Dumbbell press

90  1×8

100 1×5

1×4

Incline smith machine press

185 2×5
Weighted dips

90 2×4

Barbell curls

110 2×6

130 1×1

E-z bar skull crusher

110 1×6

1×5

Preacher dumbbell curls

45 2×6

Cable pushdowns

150 2×6

Barbell wrist curls

110 2×8

It didn’t matter if Ronnie Coleman was working out next to me, hucking huge lbs, I was super excited at the end of the session. Knowing I was improving, and that’s why we all do it I guess……

Usually I split

Legs

Chest Delt Tri’s

Back Bi’s Forearms

I’ve decide to pair back and shoulders ,and chest and arms. While I’ve made improvements using the old split, my shoulders seem to be stuck in the same place for too long. It’s time to focus on shoulders, instead of sandwiching them between  two other bodyparts..Also,I’ve decided to add exercises I havn’t done in ages. For example ,before Wednesdays leg workout , I hadn’t done walking dumbbell lunges in about 2 years. Same for shoulders before yesterday’sworkout, I hadn’t done dumbbell presses for roughly 2 years either. So I’m hoping these suttle changes will lead to HUGE (meaning slightly visible) gains. Last night was a trial of the new Back and delt split……Here we go.

Chins (warmup0

2×10

1×9

Reverse grip barbell rows

295 2×5

Dumbbell rows

125  2×6

Reverse grip pulldowns

225 1×4

Dumbbell shoulder presses

65  2×8

70 1×6

Lateral raises

40 1×6 1×8

Bent laterals

70 1×8

Barbell shrugs

385 1×9

So that’s it. Beat my previous maxes for both bar and dumbbell rows,bent laterals and shrugs, if only by 1 rep . But 1 rep after another adds up. Next workout will be the new and improved chest and arms split , we’ll se if I can rustle up a spot for those 100 pounders I’ve been eying.

Squats 275    3×6 (squat weight has actually gone down in the last 4 months due to foot pain)

Leg press 770  2×8

Leg ext. 200      1×8

Dumbbell lunges 100  2×6

Ham curls    100        1×6

Calf raises    520       2x 10

Superset

weighted decline crunch  45  2×10

rope crunches                ????see below   3×15
We have the old cable machines where you actually load it with plates for barbells., there was a whole bunch of different weighted plates in no particular order, so I didn’t bother to count….Hey, I was tired) .

Well , my feet ,as expected , hurt today so I must come up with a high intensety routine for legs that will not cause pain but will give max gains, as I would love to be able to play with my young son one day…

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

Here we go

Smith barbell presses (for this exercise I subtract the weight of the bar ie: if it were a real bench, I would add 45 lbs)
215     2x 5

225     1x 2

Incline dumbbell presses

90       2×8

Weighted dips

90        2×4

Machine shoulder presses (the plates on this vintage machine are labeled from a to z, not with numbers)

S          2×6

T           1×4

Dumbbell laterals

40          2×6

Cable pushdowns

140        2×8

Dumbbell extensions

40         2×6

Pretty good workout for me  . I beat my previous maxes for flat bench , dips and shoulder presses. Next time it’s legs, I havn’t figured if I’m going for high reps or low, I guess we’ll see .

So, I finfd a message on Sept 8th , that jimif sent on Aug 28th ,telling me his 12 week challenge starts Sept  1 . So I start a little late. The first of my official workout of the challenge falls on back and bi’s.So here we go

Warmup Chins (not weighted)           2x 10

1×9

deadlift                                  315     1×6

340    2×4

Dumbell rows                         125      2×5

Reverse grip pulldown              225      1×4

Now my grip is shot. My hands are killing . That’s a HEAVY workout ….For me. So on to Bi’s , which ,having sore hands , I should have known wasn’t going to be the best.

Easy bar curls                         110      2×4

Dumbbell curls                        50        2×6

Barbell wrist curl                      110      1×8

That’s it . As I alluded to earlier, my hands were REALLY sore, so I had a hard time  gripping the weights for bi’s. Hopefully   next time  ,that won’t be a problem. I can tell you this , my back was fried, and I anticipate being a little "tender" in the lats for a while…
Stay tuned, next blog we’ll see what happens when I try hoisting the 100 pounders for the first time on chest day! Goood luck to me, I’ll need it.