Today, I went to workout in the morning with my buddy, Justin, just like I always do.  The problem was, I feel like I have about a pound and a half of mucus sitting in my stomach or something.  It’s making me feel really awful to be honest with you.  I hit out 245 on bench for 2 sets of 6 before having to drop to 225.  I did 90s, 95s, 100s on incline DB bench for sets of 8, 8, and 6.  That was pretty good.

After those two lifts, though, my workout really went downhill.  I felt like I was going to throw up the entire time, but I didn’t want to give in to the sickness.  I finished it out strong, using most of my usual weights, but I just didn’t get the pump I usually do.  Hopefully the situation is somewhat better tomorrow, but we’ll see.

1. Barbell Bench Press - 225, 235, 245 x 6
2. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press - 80, 90 x 8, 100 x 6
3. Flat Dumbbell Bench Press - 75, 75, 75 x 10
4. Squat - 225, 225, 225 x 6
5. Leg Pres - 400, 450, 590 x 10
6. Push Press - 135, 155, 185 x 6
7. Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press - 50, 55, 60 x 10
8. Close Grip Bench Press - 135, 135, 185 x 8
9. Dips - Bodyweight, Bodyweight, Bodyweight x 10

I was so pumped after the workout that I was barely tired.  I could feel the blood coursing through my veins and the extreme pleasure you get just after an awesome lift or run.  I love Mondays.

So I’m standing in front of the mirror doing hammer curls, and my biceps were just huge.  They were so pumped that I could hardly believe it.  I had on a pretty loose-fitting shirt (the BSN "The League" one you can get if you order from ********** a certain amount of BSN products) and I noticed something awesome.  When I curled the weight up, I could actually see the veins in my upper arms pressing through the t-shirt.

I’d say that this phenomenon was one of the most awesome things I’ve ever seen in myself in the gym.  I was super pumped and I just wanted to keep lifting because of it.  I need to take some progress pics soon, but I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to.

• NO-Xplode: Blue Raspberry - I take 2-3 scoops each time I take it, depending on how jacked up I need to be for the workout.
• Nitrix - This makes me appear more vascular.  I like it, and I think it’s cool.  That’s why I take it.
• Cell-mass - Post-workout nutrition from BSN, it’s tasty and I use it instead of creatine.  When I run out, I suppose I’ll probably just buy some generic creatine instead and see if the effects are the same.
• Protein - Various brands, all whey protein.  Makes me big and I get good calories all day.
• Fish oil - Does good stuff for the body
• Multi-vitamin - Everyone should take this, no matter who they are.

So that’s that.  The moment I started taking NO-Xplode again, my pumps were huge.  I was excited to workout when I got to the gym and I just wanted to go lights out.  That stuff is pretty much like crack for bodybuilders.

• Bench pressed 315 pounds
• Reduced bodyfat to 8-9%
• Increased cardiovascular fitness by bicycling

There were some things that I wasn’t pleased with, though.  Towards the end of the summer, I became lax in my diet and exercise because I was so busy.  Unfortunately, this led to me losing probably 15-20% of my strength in my core lifts and gaining a little bit of body fat.  I’m obviously not happy with these things, but expect them to be rectified within a month.

Today, I restarted an exercise plan that seemed to work well for me the first half of the summer.  It’s the modified Push, Pull, Angle workout from Muscle & Fitness magazine a few months ago (I believe it was the Arnold 60th birthday special).  If you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it.

I’ve also scrapped and remade my entire eating plan.  There’s a lot of protein, lots of eggs, and very few carbs, so I think I’ll be able to lean down pretty quickly.  The cafeteria schedule here makes eating 6-7 small meals quite easy.  I’m still adjusting things to where I’m happy with them, but that should be done pretty soon.  Right now, it looks like I’ll be having 3 protein shakes a day, with my other two meals consisting of 4 whole eggs, 4 egg whites, and a turkey sandwich.  I may lose a bit of size with this reduced caloric approach, but I’m not worried about that because my muscles got so much bigger over the summer.

All in all, I’m happy to return to Bodyspace after an extended absence.  I’ll be posting up my first pictures next Monday, and every Monday thereafter.

Anyways, so I decided I wanted to try to max out on bench today.  My goal for this summer was to get up to 305 on bench by the end of July.  Today, I was going to hit up 285.  It was going to be awesome.  So I get down and do a couple of warmup sets.  135 x 6 and 225 x 3.  I jump up to 265 to see how I’m feeling, and I hit that no problem.  Piece of cake in fact.

So, I decided to go right to 285.  I prepped myself mentally, and bam, I got it.  It was so easy.  I though to myself, I can do more no problem.  So I went to add 5 pounds on either side, and I thought to myself… this is stupid.  Why do 295 when I can hit 300 right now?  I searched the gym for the 2.5 pound weights, but couldn’t find them, so I just ended up adding 10 pounds on either side.

Here I am, ready to do 305 when my previous max from 3 weeks ago was 275.  I was so excited.  Could I do it?  I got down on the bench, clenched my ass, and pulled my shoulder together.  I breathed slowly 3 times, counted 1, 2, 3, and got my lift off from my brother.  Down the weight came to my chest.  I tapped and pushed up.  It went up without any difficulty.  Absolutely crazy, I thought to myself.  There’s no way I just did that.  I checked the weight again.  Sure enough, I hit 305 with ease.  I still had an entire circuit workout to do, so I stopped at that point, but man… it was awesome.

In addition to all this, I had the best workout I’ve ever had today.  My brother and I pushed super hard, and by the time I left the gym, I was exhausted.  I felt so good though.  It was absolutely amazing.

Woo for me hitting 300 ahead of schedule, Now, I’ve just got to push higher.

Boy was I pissed.  I thought to myself, "Nick, you can’t give up yet.  You can get this."  So, I dropped the weight back down to 445 and did 3 reps.  I bumped it up to 455 and I got 2 reps.  My legs were on fire at this point.  I knew I could get the 465 though.  So I loaded it up.

I reached down and grabbed the bar… took 3 deep breaths and counted to 3.  On 3, I squatted down and pulled up with everything I had.  Pulling through the balls of my feet, I knew if I could just exert a little more force, it would leave the ground and I’d be golden.  I let out a primal grunt (luckily no one else was in the gym) and pulled up more.  The weight came off the ground.  I got the rest of the rep by breathing out as hard as I could.

I watched myself in the mirror on that rep.  I could see every muscle in my body straining against the weight.  My face, neck, and chest turned red.  All my veins popped out of my skin.  But I got it.  I got 465.  Now, I’m only 35 pounds away from my goal that I need to hit by the end of July.  Wish me luck.

Today was shoulders, traps, and biceps day.  I started out with seated dumbbell military press.  I did 10×65, 8 x 75, 6 x 85, and 3 x 90.  It was great.  Then, I moved onto front dumbbell raise with 10 x 40s, 8 x 45s, 8 x 50s, 6 x 55s.  Then, it was moving on to lateral dumbbell raise.  I tried out a new technique I read about in Muscle & Fitness where you take the lateral raises above horizontal to about 135 degrees.  I had to decrease the weight from what I usually use, but I think I really worked my traps with that exercise today.  I finished up shoulders with bent-over lateral raises.

Moving on to traps, I started out with upright row where I did 8 x 95, 4 times.  I supersetted that with Dumbbell Shrugs using the hundreds.  Again, 8 x 100s, 4 times.  Moving on to biceps I did barbell curl, hammer curl, preacher curl, and high tower cable curls.  I finished up with a set of 21s.  7 - 7 - 7 of upper half, lower half, and full rep of exercise.

Like I said, I felt awesome today.  I just wish my gym allowed you to wear sleeveless shirts.  I’m looking forward to legs day tomorrow, I’m going to go for the 1/4 ton deadlift first thing.  I hope I get it!

Over the summer, when I’m away from campus and the nasty cafeteria food, I’m going to be trying to drop 3-4% bodyfat.  I’ve decided that I have what it takes to be a fitness model, and only a few changes in my diet are necessary for me to attain the level of fitness that can put me in position to take on that task.  So, I’m setting a goal now, that by the end of the summer I will sitting at 11-12% bodyfat while still maintaining my current musculature.

My goal is this.  When I graduate I would like to be one of the few quality software developers/fitness models in the US today.  How awesome would that be?

This week is kind of a transition period for me.  I wasn’t happy with the way my last workout routine was going and I was a little more than halfway through it.  So, I’ve decided to switch things up a bit.  I’m just not sure exactly how they’ll be switched up.

So, I went to the gym today thinking I would just wing a leg and back workout and make sure my body was thoroughly tired at the end.  I think it worked. I ended up doing 3 x 20 squat, 3 x 20 leg press, 3 x 20 standing calf raise, 3 x 10 barbell row, and 3 x 10 one-arm dumbbell row.  My back and legs are both very sore as I type this, but this workout is not something I would do again.  I just didn’t get that pump that I like, and that’s quite unfortunate.

Tomorrow will be a shoulder and trap day I think.  I’m trying to reformulate my workout plan so if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Body Parts Worked

• Legs
• Back

Exercises Performed

• Squat
• Leg Press
• Standing Calf Raise
• Barbell Row
• One-Arm Dumbbell Row