The Journey of a Cyclist

Hey;

I am still alive. I am now midterms and after reading week am looking forward to hitting the gym hard again. I have been doing some reading on X-Reps and I think that is what I have decided to do. I have come up with a version of a work out that I would like to try with X-Reps.

Bench Press

1 Light Set
1 Medium Set
1 Heavy Set
X-Rep Partials
Drop Set (possible, not likely)
Rows/Pull Downs   

1 Light Set
1 Medium Set
1 Heavy Set
X-Rep Partials
Drop Set (possible, not likely)
Dumbbell Press   

1 Medium Set
1 Heavy Set
X-Rep Partials
Curl (any kind)

1 Medium
1 Heavy
X-Rep Partials
Skull Crushers   

1 Medium
1 Heavy
Close Grip B.P
X-Rep Partials
I think that it looks good on paper at least. I know it will take some tampering with but I think this is what I am going to start with. I am hoping to do it with my ‘cheerleader partner’ and really blasting my upper body. In the next 2 months I would like to put on 25lbs to my bench press, and 1/2" to my arms. I am hoping that X-Reps will blast my arms out of the rut they have been in for the last 4 months. I have been trying everything, and not much has been working. I have been between 14 1/3-1/2" for over a month now. On the other hand my chest development has been good.

I will post some before picture, and end of the term I will post some after pictures. If anyone has any feedback or advice, feel free to comment, or send me a message.

Sean

I have been swamped with home work and mid-terms. However I have still been going to the gym, although not as much as I would like to.

Over the past few weeks I have been doing chest and back with a cheerleader. It has been intense to say the least. Drop Sets are usually the name of the game for us. I have been able to increase my bench press from 180-190lbs, and it won’t be long until I am at 200lbs. I have also had some good gains in my chest. I need to continue to focus on my shoulders though.

Our work out have been brutal. We start with a 4 sets of bench press. The 4th set is always close to our 1 rep max, I am usually able to do 2 reps, then one assisted rep. I then drop set it, and go till failure. We then do 2 sets of dumbbell flies. The second set is also drop setted. We then do 3 sets of rows or pull downs, and the 3rd set is usually a triple drop set.  We then do a dumbbell shoulder press, and finally 3 sets of biceps and triceps, the third set is also a drop set.

I personally love drop sets because they allow you to lift a heavy weight, and get the higher reps in. I have been seeing some good results. It has been so nice to have a partner with some intensity, and especially one who is able to spot properly.

I have also been doing some heavy machine work. The idea behind this is to switch things up a little, and to increase the strength of the main muscles. It seems to be working, because I have been having some great gains on the free weight bench press. Next week I hope to go for 200lbs on the bench press.

Sean

I just tried taking Tribulus for the last week or so. I have been skeptical about taking it, since being a teen I already have highish testosterone levels. But thus far I have had no side-effects. The only side effect I have had is a much faster recovery time. It usually takes me several days to get over a chest work out. With the Tribulus it takes me a day or so. The day after a work out I have only been a little sore, and the next day I feel great!

I will be able to put it to the test when I am finally bale to hit the free weights again, but so far I would give it an 8/10. If it can help me recover from free weight work outs, like it has been helping with machine work outs it will get a 9/10, and if it really helps with muscle growth it will get a 10 for sure.

I will keep you updated, and I will be sure to tell you how it continues to work for me, and if I get any adverse side-effects.

Sean

Just the other day I was reading the article "Hardgainer Terminator" and I was intrigued about how familiar that sounded to me. Could I have my training all wrong too? So I have decided to start a high rep routine, I haven’t completed designing it yet, since I am quite unfamiliar with higher reps, haven’t done them for over a year. The only thing I know is that from here on in, I am not going to do sets of under 10. If I can’t make 10 reps w. a weight I am going to do a drop set (which have always worked for me) and make sure I get 10 reps in, preferably 12 if possible.
Yesterday I did my first  high rep routine. I was at the machine, not free weight gym on campus, which sucks, but c’est la vie. I would give the work out a 8.5/10. It was a good work out, but I had some difficulty judging the weights I should be using. The work out went like this.

Bench Press: 150×20, 200×11, 210×8

Dumbbell Press: 50×8, super w/ Pec Deck: 210×9

Pull Downs: 120×18

Rows: 225×25

Military Press: 130×14

Hammer Curls: 30×23

2 Hand Tri. Extensions: 50×23

Rope Curls: 100×20

Tri. Rope Pull Downs: 100×15

Leg Lift Crunches: 30

Leg Lifts: 25

Crunches w/ 40lb dumbbell: 20

Oblique Crunches: 40

My gains have really stagnated, especially in my arms. My chest development has been good though. So I will try this for awhile, and tell you how it goes for me. I’ll keep you posted.

Sean

Well after close to a month I finally got my bodybuilding.com order. Apparently it was actually stoped at customs. I don’t know what they were expecting to find, but it all made it. I love my new gym bag, amazing for a free gift!

I decided to get CEE powder instead of pills, since it is quite a bit cheaper. I tried just a smal sample of it, to see how bad it did taste, and the Test Results are in… It tastes like a*s! The people who said it tastes like battery acid are right. It will be fine, I just have to remember to take one of my other nasty tasting powders afterwards.

I was planing on going to the gym with my room mate, but he went home today. I will just work out with my girlfriend at the machine gym again, then again on Tuesday. I should start working out with one of the cheerleaders around here. Have you guys ever seen the size of those guys! I saw one of them pick a girl up, in each hand, straight over their head! That is a pretty impressive lift!

Well thats all for today!

Sean

After my last work out I was left lacking something. That something I was lacking was intensity, one of the keys to any work out. I intended on doing arms and legs yesterday, but half way into a warm up set on the leg press, my left knee cap had one really back movement, and sent the knee into pain. So to prevent a serious flare up I decided legs was a no-go for the day.

I went to the machine gym, and despite the fact that at that gym I usually have low intensity work outs, I was able to have a great work out.

I decided to use super sets to hit my arms hard. The work out went as follows.

9.0/10.0

Triceps Push Downs: 140lbsx20

Supersetted w/ 2 Hand Triceps Extensions: 50×10

Cable Curls: 130lbsx11

Supersetted with Hammer Curls: 35×8

I did this 2x more

Triceps: 150×15 supersetted w/ 50×11

Biceps: 140×9 supersetted w/ 35×10

Triceps: 160×11 supersetted w/ 50×12

Biceps: 150×7 supersetted w/ 40×8
As you can see I picked the work out up from a slow start in the first round, and was really able to pick it up for the last two, especially the 3rd set. I will go heavier on the tri-push downs next time, and on the hammer curls. I would go a lot heavier on the tri-extensions but the gym only has dumbbells up to 50lbs, the only think I could really do is use the machine for tri-extensions (ICK!) or try to find another cable work out to do there.

It was a good work out overall, and I felt that I got a lot of the intensity back that I was missing in my last work out.

Today I had my anatomy cadaver lab. It was really great! I was thankful that I have been busting my balls at the gym though, because the guys had to take their shirts off for the surface anatomy portion of the lab. Boy does it feel good to take your shirt off, and show off the body that you have been sculpting.

A final useless tid-bit of information: The founder of sociology (Auguste Comte) never conducted sociological research. This makes me wonder why I am studying it.

Sean

We all know the big chest movements like the bench press, dumbbell bench press, flies, and even pull overs, but has anyone ever considered the other movements or muscles in the chest. The pectoralis is composed of 2 muscles, the pectoralis major and minor. The pectoralis major is the superficial muscle that these previously mentioned exercises work. The minor is a smaller muscle that runs underneath the major.

Pictures are from www.rad.washington.edu.
As you can see the minor starts at the ribs, and attaches to the scapula. It is responsible for pulling the shoulder downward and forward. So I am just proposing that to hit the pectoralis minor in the gym you could do one of two exercises. You could do €˜reverse shrugs’ this is where you hold your arms straight up, at a pull down station, and instead of doing a chin-up like motion, just lower your shoulders, doing the reverse motion of a shrug.
Another exercise that would hit the pectoralis minor is one I just thought of, I think I will try this in the gym sometime. You start with one arm in the air, at the cable machine. Make sure your shoulder is extended upwards. The motion brings your hand downward, forward, and towards the centre line of your body. It makes an arc like motion, and the key to it is making sure you lower your shoulder while doing it.

Again this is untested, and I would suggest doing it at the end of your chest routine, when your pectoralis major is already exhausted. Adding some size to your minor would presumably add the appearance of more bulk to your chest, since it would push the major out, and since the pec. minor helps in the bench press, it could also help break plateaus.

As you can see the pectoralis major originates on the sternum, and ribs, and inserts into the humerus. I never realized how far down the arm it really did come. So all the previously mentioned exercises do completely target the major, but I have come up with another easy to do exercise that is much like a pull over. The pull over is a great exercise, but can be a hassle to do, and is often scary to lift the weight that close you your head. So instead of doing a pull over, how about a €˜pull across’ For this use a cable machine, grab a grip with one hand, with your arms completely lowered. Extend your arm backwards at the shoulder. Only go to a comfortable stretch, and from here pull the cable forward  to just in front of you, by your side.

I have never tried any of these work outs, I am just coming up with exercises that do target the muscles differently that normal exercises. I personally will try these exercises myself, and tell you how they worked. If any one has any feed back, positive or negative, I would appreciate. Stay tuned to find out if I have had a stroke of genius, or if it was just a dumb useless, or even worse, dangerous exercise.

Sean

Sorry, I know I said I would write a post about alternative chest exercises, but unfortunately I have way more home work than expected, so that comes first, and the post will be tomorrow.

Sean

Well as I said yesterday I went to gym last night. I was super excited about finally being able to go, it has been about 3 weeks since I have lifted free weights. I will admit I didn’t have a specific plan of attack for my work out, but I wanted to do a couple different chest exercises, and back. I also was quite tight for time.

I started with 5min of the elliptical machine. I personally forgot how enjoyable that actually was. The competitive cyclist in me always prevents me from going easy on the warm up, so I ended up doing the 3rd minute on complete incline, and the highest resistance. That really made me break a sweat. I then did the usual stretching, then I got started, and this is how it went.

Bench Press: 135lbsx10, 155×7, 165×5

Dumbbell Press: 35lbersx12, 45×8, 50×8

Pec Deck: 7 plates x12, 9×5

Cable Rows: 13 plates x12, 16×7

Pull Downs: 140lbsx9, 160×3

Military Press: 95lbsx7, 105×4

I really didn’t feel great, I just didn’t have any "umph" and I felt like I was kind of dragging my heels a little. My bench press was really off, I need to try to get back up to the 180lbs I was doing before the break, which shouldn’t be too hard for me. My dumbbell press was really good for me though, I need to go for 55-60lb dumbbells next time. I have never lifted 50lbers before, so I guess my last routine really did increase my chest strength. My rows felt pretty good, but my pull downs were s**t!

It was the first time I ever have done free weight military press. I really like it, it hit my shoulders much better than machines, or smith machines. I lifted light so I can get the form down. Over the next couple of weeks I will start to increase the weight on that exercise.

I really need to pick the intensity up for my next work out, because I was lifting like a little school girl last night.

In anatomy class we studies the pectoral region today. That got me thinking about alternative exercises that can be done to target the chest. I plan on writing a blog entry about them this evening. So check back this evening, and tell me what you think about the exercises I have proposed.

Sean

Well I have just completed a lab on flexibility, and part of the lab included reading a couple articles on stretching, so I thought I would share a couple tidbits of information that is relevant to it.

There are 3 kinds of stretching, static, ballistic, and proprioceptive. Static stretching is when you stretch a muscle, and hold the stretch. Ballistic involves a rhythmic bouncing motion, this causes it to be highly dangerous, and often leads to injury. Proprioceptive stretching is where you stretch, just like static stretching, then contract the muscle, while still holding the stretch, then stretch the muscle again.
I am a fan of static stretching, it is generally recommended that you hold the stretch between 15-30 seconds. When stretching you should be able to feel the stretch, but it shouldn’t hurt. If it does hurt, don’t stretch to far! It is also best to stretch after doing a couple minutes of cardio, or another exercise for warm up, this will also help prevent injuries. I believe in stretching both before and after exercising, however after exercising I only hold my stretches for the minimum 15 seconds.

Stretching is known to help reduce the risk of exercise induced injuries, as well as day-to-day injuries. You should stretch atleast 3x a week, preferably every day.

Well I am going to thee gym tonight after class, finally, so I will post my work out results tomorrow.

Sean