OVER 40 MUSCLE

(I have made the following correction to this entry: I accidentally pitched the wrong mag. Both have Arnold on the cover but MuscleMag International was the one that had the article I mentioned.)

I picked up the latest issue of MUSCLEMAG INTERNATIONAL the other day and saw that it was almost entirely about Arnold. I thought it would be another boring write-up but boy was I wrong. I just want to say that this is my favorite issue of any bodybuilding magazine to date. Here is why.

I am a very visual person. If I can see something … I can do it. I can read about how to do an exercise but seeing it done works better for me. Well, there is an article (written by Arnold) that details his workouts from start to finish. He gives the reader a mental picture of how to do the exercises, things to look for while doing the exercise and why he did them in the first place. It is one of the best written, most descriptive bodybuilding articles I have ever read. Arnold covers each major muscle group and the steps he took to develop those muscles to their fullest. This is something a beginner like me can really get into.

If you get a chance, go out and get this one.

Things at work have been a little hectic lately (plus they IT guy made it impossible for me to update my blog from my workstation) so I had to wait for an off day to roll around to get this done. So, now I have to make up for 3 days. Here goes:

MONDAY … CHEST/TRICEPS/DELTS/
*Flat Bench Press … 4 sets of 10
Incline DB Press … 3 sets, 8/6/6
Hammer Press … 4 sets of 10
Pec Dec … 3 sets, 10/8/6
Seated DB Press … 3 sets of 8
*Superset DB raises (front and side) … 3 sets of 10
Lateral Pull Downs … 3 sets, 10/8/6
DB Extensions … 3 sets of 10
Dips … 2 sets to failure
*Shrugs … 3 sets, 15/12/10

It was a good workout. I was able to stay focused and keep on track. Usually Mondays are difficult on the mind but today was good. The exercises marked with an * are ones that I increased weight on over last week.

TUESDAY … TREDMILL MANIA/ABS
Time: 39:00
Distance: 2.66 miles (which happens to be the distance around Talladega Superspeedway, only 10 minutes from my home)
Calories Burned: 239.4
2 sets to failure of decline crunches and reverse crunches.

The hip was better today. One thing I have learned is to listen to my body. It was good to get back on the TM without pain. I will probably be able to up the speed a little in the next week or so. I noticed that I was not laboring as much and my heart rate was a little lower than it has been at the high interval sections. I will probably do another week at this speed. Then, based on that, will probably go up a half or even a whole mile per hour.

WEDNESDAY … QUADS/CALVES
Felt good this morning when I hit the gym. I think doing cardio on the day before and the day after working legs is actually doing some good. I was afraid that one might hurt the other but so far that has not been the case. I increased weight on all my exercises today and even added a twist to the calf routine.
I had not done squats in a couple of weeks so I threw them in the mix today. For some reason, I did not do presses, but I think the squats made up for it. Next week should be back to normal.

Squats … 4 sets 10/8/6/6/
Leg Extensions … 3 sets 12/10/8
Hamstring Curls … 3 sets 10/8/6
Standing Calf Raises … 3 sets 12/10/8

The twist to the calf routine was this: on the last rep of each set I held the weight at the top of the motion (squeezing the calf muscles) till the burn was intense. This was the first time I had ever done this but it felt pretty good. Does anyone else do something similar to this?

Tomorrow is cardio and abs.

Man the gym was crowded today. Only one elliptical available when I got there so I stretched real quick and jumped up there. I went through the pre-programmed interval workout on the machine. Set the time for 30 minutes and settled in. I normally listen to music while doing cardio but I was in the mood for something else today. I listened to a Bill Grant interview from Dan Gastelu’s Awesome Muscles! Podcast series. This podcast was about abs and nutrition. Grant knows his stuff. I wish Gastelu would actually “interview’ his guests more than debate with them. He spent most of the time trying to “briefly summarize what Grant said. When he wasn’t doing that he was trying to get Grant to agree with his philosophy of training. I thought the main purpose of the interview was to find out what he guest thinks. If you can get past the host on this one it is a pretty good interview.

At the end of the workout I was ready to copy down my progress and save it in my workout journal. I must have hit the wrong button because it erased all the info. I think these numbers are close to accurate but they are not exact. I will be more careful next time.

Time: 30 minutes
Strides: 4600
Calories Burned: 340

I also worked abs today. I did 2 sets each (to failure) of crunches and leg raises.
Have a great weekend.

First of all, I want to wish my mom and dad a happy 55th Anniversary. I love those guys and they really keep me motivated to take care of myself. They are funny too. Mom has said that in all of their 55 years of marriage she has never let the thought of divorce cross her mind. Homicide yes, divorce no.

As I wrote earlier, I was having some hip pain and was a little leery of doing any type of workout on the treadmill or elliptical today, so I opted to swap my Friday for today. I had a good bicep/back workout today. I took some of you guys’ advice and spent a little more time on the back today that I usually do. I added a set to pull downs (total of 4) and t-bar rows (4) and actually did them with more weight that last week. Yeah, me! I also did 3 sets of wide-grip chins. Like an idiot I waited till later in the workout to do those. I think I will keep starting off with those. I need to get them done while I am fresh.

I have been seeing progress on my biceps lately so I have not changed that routine too much. I have fine-tuned it more or less. Still doing barbell curls (I will alternated between EZ and straight bar each week), incline dumbbell curls and then hammer curls to wake up the brachialis muscle. I know that sucker is in there somewhere. I did 3 sets each of these with 8-10 reps each.

The hip feels much better today so I will hit the elliptical tomorrow for some sweaty cardio. Later ya’ll!

I could have sworn it was Monday all over again. What a day I had. I packed my bag last night to be ready this morning. I got an early start and was looking forward to a good leg workout. I got to the locker room and opened my bag … only to realize that I did not pack my clothes. Just shoes, shower stuff and the like. NO FRIGGIN GYM CLOTHES! Well, I had 2 hours before work so I decided to go back home, get my clothes and do the best I could. I must say I thought several times while driving back to the house of just calling the whole day off. But I didn’t.

So, knowing I had lost some precious time, I hit the weights hard and fast. I was having some pain in one of my hips so I deferred on the squats and press. Don’t want to flare up the old injury and have to be out for a while and then start all over. I did 4 sets of extensions and hamstring curls with heavier weight that usual … one positive aspect of the workout. Then I hit the calves for 4 sets at new weight also. Shower and then off to work.

Nutrition today was pretty good. Newly added to the line-up was chicken breast strips and veggies and steak wraps (complements of bwestgat). For lunch I took one of the steak wraps and some brown rice and made the whole kitchen smell good. I am starting to get some questions from co-workers about my “plan and progress. Feels pretty good.

My hip is still bothering me so I will probably swap tomorrow’s cardio for Friday’s back and bicep. I will also throw in an ab workout (since I was supposed to do it anyway). It will probably be a good idea to give the hip another day. I am off this weekend so I will have plenty of time to get in the extra day of cardio.

I had a busy day today so I had to hit the gym hard and fast this morning. Today was another installment of Treadmill Tuesday - Maniac Style. I put in 39 minutes of intervals and really worked up a good pump in my legs and a much needed sweat. I also worked abs today. I did two sets (to failure) of leg raises and decline situps. After about an hour it was time to hit the shower and then get to my "honey do" list.

I have been talking with a guy at the gym about some supplements. He gets his from a company called Nutra Planet. He was really giving them the props so when I got home I checked them out on the web. Their prices were not too bad so I ordered a couple of things that I was about to run out of. About 10 minutes later I got an email saying that my items had already shipped and was given a FedEx tracking number. I checked the number and the package had indeed already been picked up and is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. I’m starting to like this place. I’ll let you know how things end up.

Tomorrow is leg day then I have to go back to work. Oh well, I work two days and then this is my weekend off. Not all bad I guess

I had to watch a 19-year-old dude push the weights around like they were Lincoln Logs this morning. He is going to try to “walk on at UAB this fall for football. He is not that big but he is an animal. He is a great kid and I wish him all the best … he just does not need to be in the gym while I am there.

Today was chest, triceps and delts. The only thing I changed from last week was I swapped out the Pec Dec for DB flyes. I plan on alternating these exercises each week. I was able to increase the weight on just about all my exercises today, which made me feel good.

Tomorrow is Treadmill Tuesday and I will be doing the Maniac program. I had decided to incorporate abs into the cardio days. I will do my ab work prior to getting on the treadmill.

Here is what I have written in my training journal for this  past week.

Highlight of the Week: Not having a cardiac incident during cardio.

Cardio Notes:
· Had 2 good sessions this week. Think of increasing some next week.
· I need to come up with different routines for the treadmill, elliptical and the recumbent bike. I need routines that cover cardio endurance as well as weight-loss.
· I will incorporate ABS into Tuesday and Thursday cardio workouts.

Strength Notes:
· Keep increasing weight in all areas.
· Work on fine tuning exercise within program. Find out what is working and stick with it. If it is not, replace it.
· Concentrate on building upper body muscle.
· Pay attention to form.

Nutrition Notes:
· Nutrition plan is almost in place. I have been eating pretty healthy without it but I feel better having a roadmap to go by.

This week was a good start but it is nowhere near acceptable. The easy part is over. It is time to put up or shut up.

Happy Friday. Today I finished up the first week on my new program and what a week it has been. The center of attention today was biceps, back and calves.

Back
Cybex Chins 3 sets of 8
T-Bar Rows 3 sets of 8/6/6
Back Extensions 3 sets of 20

Biceps
Incline Curls 3 x 10/8/6
Standing EZ curls 2 x 10/8
DB Hammer curls 3 x 10/10/6
Reverse EZ curls for forearms 3 sets of 8

Calves
Standing Raises 3 sets of 15

I then topped off my arms with drop sets on the preacher curl machine. Ended up with a pretty good pump at the end of the workout. However, I did notice that I was getting a bigger pump on my left bicep than my right. I noticed it about halfway through the workout and began concentrating on my form thinking it might have something to do with it. I thought I might be using stricter form on my weak side to compensate for the weakness. Not sure if I was right but, in any case, the left bicep won the war of the pump today.

I have to work this weekend so I am done at the gym for the week. I am also putting the finishing touches on my nutrition plan. This has been the hardest thing for me to nail down but it is coming along. I will try to post some information about it next week.

Sticking with my new routine, I did cardio today. I think I am going to stay with the treadmill on Tuesdays and swap between the bike and elliptical on Thursdays. However, in reading bwestgat’s blog last night I decided to give his treadmill interval workout a shot. Hey Brian, I know what you mean about level 5. BOOM! I did not get to the 6.7 mph he was at but I did hit 5.0 mph. At the end I felt a little jolt of energy so I ran the last two minutes at a pretty steady pace. At the end of that sprint, I was finished with the treadmill.

I just had to go to the weight room. No, I did not lift anything but I did do my ab work in there - 3 sets of 20 crunches and 2 sets of crunches on the machine.

Diet wise I did a little better today. I cooked up a bunch of healthy stuff late last night and will eat a lot of them today and this weekend at work. I have picked up several good recipes from this place (mainly from bwestgat … keep putting’ those things on your blog).

Tomorrow, I will be hitting biceps, back and calves.