CPT Jeff’s BodyBlog

Wow, made it to week #8.  I had to push the regular days back a couple because my gym partner was on a fishing trip until yesterday and I didn’t want to cheat him out of the last chest and back exercise (plus I wanted a spotter).  So, today was bench and bent over rows.  I was doing good on the bench up until the 9th set.  I was only able to get 8 reps, but I was able to get all ten on the last set, so 98 reps in total at 225lbs.  Seems like a good number to end this routine on.

After the bench, we moved over to barbell rows.  Here I was able to complete ten reps for all ten sets, but by about set six I started feeling light headed after each set.  It was a good workout.  Now I’m very tired.

This is the last week that we’ll be doing the GVT routine.  I don’t know if I actually gained 10lbs of muscle over the last eight weeks, but I know I increased my stamina and the weight  that I am able to do over a large number of repetitions.  Next week we’ll be checking to see what our 1RP max is for various exercises.  The goal here is to reset and to determine what numbers we need to plug into the 5×5 spreadsheet that I got from another Jeff (Jacked in MI).

In case anyone is wondering, I did do the routine last week (week 7), but didn’t get a chance to really post anything.  I’ve been back to work now for a month (in two days), and the workload continues to grow at an exponential rate.  Fortunately, whatever I don’t complete today will certainly be there for me tomorrow.

Aside from that, I’m still taking the NaNO Vapor.  I did a scoop and a half this morning, and I’m starting to think that the flush feeling that I get is really what this stuff is supposed to do.  Only I’m feeling in it the car on the way to the gym, instead of in the gym.  I think I may need to drink it on the way to the gym as I start feeling its effects within 15 minutes of drinking it.  I may try this on Friday when I do legs and abs.

Here I sit in my hotel room on a business trip, knowing that I should already be in bed since tomorrow is a gym day, which means dragging my ass out of bed at 0500.  Tomorrow is legs and abs day, and I already know that the hotel gym, while it is better than most I’ve seen, just doesn’t compare to my home gym.  However, I’ve got to make due with what I’ve got.  I was lucky in that I was able to do chest and back day in my home gym before having to leave for this trip.

I started out week six feeling incredibly unmotivated.  I really just wasn’t into it.  I had plenty of sleep the night before, I had my usual dose of NaNO Vapor, I had Slipknot cranked on the iPod, but I just wasn’t feeling….  and it was bench day — damn it…  I loaded up the bar with 225lbs and was going pretty strong up until the seventh set where I could only get eight reps.  That was followed by 9, 8, and finally 7 reps to finish out the bench.  Looks like I’ll be trying that weight again for week seven.  After bench, I move on to the bent over barbell row.  I increased the weight from last week to 195lbs.  Unlike the bench, I was able to get ten reps for all ten sets, but even here I really didn’t feel it (meaning the motivation, I felt every ounce of the weight…  I’m still sore).

So, I’ll have to figure out how to do something similar to squats and calf raises in the hotel gym in the morning…  That should prove interesting.  Fortunately, I think that they have everything I need to get a good workout in on Friday.  Just not to sure about tomorrow.  Oh well, this should reset me with my gym partner who was out on a business trip the week before last.

Time for bed…

Yesterday morning I kicked off week number five of this German Volume Training routine.  It’s still kicking my ass…  Yesterday was chest and back day, which means that I got to hit the bench again (one of my favorites).  I increased the weight on the bench from 205lbs last week to 215lbs this week.  That first set felt very heavy, but I was able to push through it and complete all ten sets.  That means that I’ll be trying for 225lbs next week.  As expected, I’m really feeling it today.

After finishing with the bench, I moved on to barbell rows.  Like with the bench, I was able to go up in weight this week.  And like last week, I was able to complete all ten sets, but this time at 185lbs.  By the end of the workout I was wasted, but in a good way.

Tomorrow it’s back to legs and abs (feels like I just did them), and I’m going up in weight again.  I’ll be increasing the weight to 205lbs.  All I can say on that front is I’m glad my gym partner is back this week.

As I worked my way into week four last week, I also started back to work last Wednesday (legs and abs day).  As I had mentioned in my last post, I felt great last Monday.  However, as good as I felt on Monday is about how bad I felt on Wednesday.  On top of that, my gym partner was out on a business trip for the net of the week, which doesn’t make it any better.  So, quick recap, Wednesday I did squats, got all ten sets at 195lbs.  Then did calves at 210lbs for three sets, then finished with one set of sit-ups with a 45lbs disk (at which point I felt like shit).

Friday I started with dumbbell shoulder press, and got all ten sets at 60lbs (better than the week before), then moved on to standing ez-bar curls, followed by overhead dumbbell tricep extensions.  I was able to complete everything here.

Just for kicks and because I had a little more time on my hands, I decided to add in two more arm exercises.  I read a post last week by "thenaturalone" on building arms and decided to give part of it a try.  I would have done more, but quite frankly I didn’t write it down and only remembered part of it by the time I hit the gym.  It really was a spur of the moment kind of thing.  So, after finishing the regular arm stuff, I set up a preacher bench with two 35lbs dumbbells and a 65lbs straight bar.  Following the suggestions from the post, I did eight full reps with the dumbbells followed by three half reps.  Then I dropped the dumbbells on the floor, and without any break, grabbed the straight bar and did eight more full reps followed by three half reps.

I don’t know how effective it will be if I continue on with it, but wow did I feel it.  My biceps were pumped…  I only wish that I could have remembered the rest so that I could have done triceps as well.  I guess I’ll have to include that for this Friday’s workout…  I can’t wait…