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

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

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

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

Sorry about not posting for awhile, I’m starting to get back into the groove of things with school. Unfortunately I have only been able to get to the gym once this week. I am hoping for 3x next week.

Today I went skating with my girlfriend for an hour. It was brutal! I haven’t been skating for over two years. When I first stepped on the ice my initial thought was “What possesses people to tie two pieces of thin metal to their feet, and slide around on ice? It was really fun though, it was the first time in awhile I have had trouble walking home. I guess I must not use those muscles that often.

Wednesday I went to the other gym on campus. This gym is almost all machines, with one set of dumbbells that go from 2-50lbs. I’m not personally sure what the 2lb dumbbell is for, since there are no weights allowed on the cardio equipment, but I’m sure dumbbellina would love them. I do machines once a week, just to lift some heavy weights, and to switch it up a little.

The Work Out:

It wasn’t a good work out for me, probably 7.0/10. I didn’t feel to motivated, I almost never do when going to that gym. It was also incredibly busy.

Bench Press: 175lbsx12, 200lbsx8, 225lbsx3
Row: 155lbsx12, 175×7
Pull Downs: 170lbsx4 (should have done a lighter set first, and the bar was horrible to grip, it was completely smooth!)
Military Press: 150lbsx10 (should have done a heavier first set)
Hammer Curls: 45lbsx6
Arnold Presses: 45lbsx6
2 Hand Triceps Extensions: 50lbsx15 (no heavier weight)
Rope Curls: 150lbsx6
Triceps Push Downs: 150lbsx10
Leg Press: 300lbsx12, 320lbsx10
Leg Extensions: 150lbsx15
Hamstring Curls: 130lbsx15

For abs I had a competition with my girlfriend to see who could do the most, so I actually did really high reps with my abs, instead of my usual, harder, ab routine.

Leg Lifts: 41
Sit-Ups: 60
Oblique Twist Sit-Ups: 72
Even though I had a poor work out, my girlfriend had an amazing work out, she has more determination than any other person I have seen out there, including myself. I don’t know how, but she is always about to pump out rep after rep, and she just keeps going. Small but mighty I guess, I just wish I could have so much €˜grunt’ in the gym.

Well I think I will be posting more often now, especially since I am now one of the featured blogs on bodybuilding.com’s home page.

Sean

Sorry about not posting for the last couple days, they have been hectic, which New Years, and moving back to school. But here is today’s post, enjoy it!

Christmas time, a time that every athlete fears, but I have a new idea about Christmas to propose. I would call it THE MOST ANABOLIC TIME OF THE YEAR. Anabolism is simply the process of building up larger molecules from smaller ones. In the body building world anabolism is usually referred to as protein anabolism. Building protein molecules from small amino acids, but building fat cells is also anabolic.

What other time of year can you add several pounds of mass with out lifting anything heavier than a drumstick. Personally it normally takes me a couple weeks of hard lifting and drinking protein shakes to add a couple pounds of mass. During Christmas time I am able to add the same weight while not working out, and eating delicious food.

Unfortunately during Christmas time, which is the most anabolic time of the year, it is lipids undergoing anabolism, not amino acids. So I guess that there will now be a sudden flash flood of people on the ellipticals, treadmills, stair masters, rowers, and hitting the roads running. There will also be a flood new members joining the gym. I personally hate this, I respect them from making these very noble goals, but unfortunately after a month or two most of these new members just end up making a non-charitable donation to their gym. I also hate the number of people who you find that are using bad form, have no idea what they are doing, and don’t seem to have any real motivation.

To anyone who is joining a gym to meet their new years resolution I have the following advice. If you don’t know what you are doing, and have the money, hire a personal trainer to get you started. Make sure you do your home work before going to the gym. You should have a game plan for your time at the gym, and make sure you know how to do all the exercises, and why you are doing them. Also make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. Don’t just go to the gym because it seems to be the €˜cool’ thing to do, do it for yourself, do it because you want to mould and sculpt your body into something better. But most importantly don’t get discouraged, please keep with it, going to the gym is a great experience, and one of the best things you can do for yourself.

Also be aware that when you are just starting out, especially if its your first time lifting weights, for the first couple months your results will be amazing, but they will eventually slow down. I call this the beginners curve. When starting out everything is a shock to your body, and to protect its self from the damage that you are doing to your muscles your body makes them bigger and stronger. But eventually this shock will become less, in most cases this takes a couple months, even up to a year. Your body begins adapting, to counter this adaptation you need to change your routine, but even doing this won’t be able to get your original results back. While beginning almost any exercise will cause huge muscle growth, enjoy and take advantage of this time, but don’t get discouraged when things slow down. Keep up the hard work, and intensity, you won’t regret it

Good luck to every one in the New Year, especially to those of you who are just starting out. I respect you immensely, keep it up.

Sean

In November 2005 I finally got a membership to a gym. I had been planning on getting a membership for a couple of months, and I’m so glad I made the decisions I did. The gym I started to go to was a small gym, usually under 5 other people working out at the same time as me. It was also mainly machines, and had very little in free weights. They had a set of dumbbells and barbells, but only like 1 bench. This was fine for me, since I had no previous experience, and very little strength. I was originally bench pressing 70lbs on the machine for 15-20reps.

From November until March I worked out there, I did a simple circuit training routine. I worked out my entire body in one day, and I did this about 3x a week. I would do bench press, then pull downs, Arnold presses leg press, then bicep, tricep, rows, machine flies, then leg extensions, leg curls, and I would repeat it all again. It was a simple routine, but it got me good results, especially since I was just starting out. I had good results in my arms, but I had minimal chest and shoulder growth, due to lack of free weights. By the time I left I had good increases, I got my bench press to 150lbs.
In March I started working out at a new gym, with a semi-regular training partner. For the first time in my life I started to do free weight bench press, and I did a two day split. I worked chest, shoulders, and back one day, and arms, legs, and abs the other. When I started bench pressing I was lifting 90lbs. Unfortuently my training partner almost never made it to the gym, so I ended up doing Hammer Machine bench press. Instead of doing only 1-2 exercises per body part I was doing 3-6. It was here that I started doing huge work outs, I never thought of the idea of doing a work out like 5×5. I continued to have good arm growth, and my chest and shoulder development really improved. I also had great gains in my back, my only problem here was I was doing Hammer Machines for back as well. I haven’t made it to free weight rows yet, but I am now doing cables.

My biggest regret during this time was doing so little free weights. When I went to school in September I started going to a gym with virtually no machines. This forced me to start lifting free weights. My max bench press when starting was about 150lbs, since then I have lifted 180lbs. With the free weights I have seen amazing results. I also decided to do a 5×5 routine, but before that I started doing super huge work outs. I would do atleast 12 sets per body part. This was way too much, and I didn’t see any results in my arms, and only acceptable results in my chest. After that I went to a 5×5 routine. For the first 3 weeks I did a separate routine for my chest, and arms. I saw good results in my chest, but no change in my arms. For the last week of my 5×5, and for 1 week of 3×3 I combined the routines, did chest, back, and did 2 quick sets of arms after. I had much better results in these 2 weeks. I had between .25-.5 gains in my arms over just a couple work outs.

The moral of the story: Use Free Weights! The only time that machines are good is if you want to supplement free weights, machines let you lift much heavier than normal, I would suggest using machines no more than 1x a week.

I have also played around with a lot of supplements. I have used micronized creatine, Kre-Alkalyn, and Creatine Ethyl Ester. With regular creatine I did notice some differences, the biggest one was it made me piss like crazy. I had good results with both Kre-Alkalyn, and Creatine Ethyl Ester, but I prefer CEE. I have had really good work outs with CEE, and I can continue much longer than work outs when I don’t take it. I can usually get an extra 2-3 reps out when I am using CEE. I also can go longer with CEE, it even cycling improves. I have also used Arginine, and AAKG. Arginine didn’t do much for me. My pump was only slightly improved, and every thing else felt much the same. AAKG has been much more effective, I can measure a much better pump, and I feel more energized.

Currently before working out I take 3 grams of CEE, and about 3 grams of AAKG, 3g of glutamine, 1.5g BCAA, and 800 IU of vitamine E (antioxidant) I find this combination works really well, the only supplement that I have received better results with is NO-Explode, but only a fraction of the price. During work outs I take Gatorade mixed with 1.5g CEE, 1g AAKG, 4g Glutamine. This keeps  my energy levels high, and I have had great work outs using this. Post work out I take 10g Glutamine, 3g BCAA, 50mg Taurine, 2g CEE, and an ON 100% Whey protein.

NO-Explode works incredibly well, I could easily see my veins start to bulge, and my muscles would get pumped even before lifting. I had incredible pumps while on NO-Explode, and my energy levels were through the roof. I also had great gains on it, .5 on one bottle, which is really good since my training wasn’t the best during this time. It was while at my second gym that I tried it. I would love to get it again, but it cost about 4-5x more than my current regiment, and its not worth it to me, being a university student.

For sleep aids Melatonin works the best. I use it when I have slept in, and need to go to bed early. I am a night hawk, so if I need to fall asleep early I need some help. Melatonin is already found in the body, it has been non addictive, and it really works. About 30min after taking it I am exhausted, and ready for bed. The only problem with it is that I haven’t found it to be long lasting. There have been some days that I have ended up staying up for about 90min after taking it, and the effects have worn off. If you have problems sleeping through the entire night, this isn’t the product for you, but if you just need to fall asleep, this will work amazingly. GABA is also good for causing deeper sleep, and it does cause more dreams, I can personally testify to this. I can’t confirm or deny the effects on HGH levels, but it is worth it for the sleep benefits. When I use GABA 7hrs of sleep feels like 8hrs+, and if I do get 8hrs my energy levels are great. I wake up feeling refreshed, and ready to face the new day, not groggy like normal.

As an athlete staying healthy is also of top concern. I personally take a multi vitamin, 500mg Vitamin C, and Echinacea. I take this in the morning, as soon as a wake up, and before bed. I haven’t been sick for the last two years.

Every morning I take 1g of CEE, 1g AAKG, vit. C, multi vitamin, echinacea, and Siberian Ginseng. Every night, 1hr before going to bed I take 5g GABA, 30min before bed, 2g CEE, 1.5g AAKG, multi vitamin, Vit. C, Echinasea, 5g glutamine, and right before bed I drink a protein shake. The reason for breaking it down is to allow decent up take of all supplements, esp. GABA, and to make sure I have a good supply of everything my body needs for muscle building. I personally believe that night time is one of the most anabolic times.

I get all of my supplements from Higher Power, I find there prices are top notch, and they are just as good as other brands. The only thing I don’t get from them is my protein, I get that from Optimum Nutrition, I have found the 100% Whey to be the best protein. It has a good amino acid profile, and it mixes well, and tastes great!

I hope you enjoyed my series on my transformations, and I hope you continue to check my blog. If you have any questions feel free to ask me.

Sean