OVER 40 MUSCLE

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).

If you would like to check out bwestgat’s cardio programs, go to http://blog.bodybuilding.com/bwestgat/2007/01/06/jan-6-cardio-and-abs/

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

I was off work today so I hit the gym a couple of hours later than usual. Man, was the place empty today. We are having our first real snap of cold weather and I guess it kept everyone else in.

Here is my leg/ab routine for today:

Leg Press - (2 warm-up sets of 20/15) 3 sets of 12/10/8
Leg Extensions -  (1 warm-up set of 15) 3 sets of 12/10/8
Leg Curls - 3 sets of 12/10/8
Crunches … 3 x 20
Side crunches … 3 x 20 (each side)

I had a lousy day on my diet today. I did not feel too good this morning so I just had a bowl of Wheaties for breakfast. I had my post workout shake but was not able to eat a meal for another couple of hours. That does not go well with my system right now. This threw the day completely off. My wife had class tonight, which meant I had the boys. They wanted to eat out so we ended up at CiCi’s Pizza. The bad part is I had already had my cheat day for the week. I will have to work extra hard the next couple of days to make it up. The hardest part for me is nutrition. I have a general idea of what to eat (and when to eat it) I just cannot get it together. Maybe I will soon.

Tomorrow is another cardio day then I have an afternoon practice with my band. Tomorrow will be better, I guarantee it!

For the next few weeks I will be referring to Tuesday as “Treadmill Mania Tuesday. I started my new cardio program on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I think it is going to be what I need to get rid of that last bit of belly fat. I had gotten so busy lifting weights that I had slowly cut back more and more on the cardio. It finally got to the point I was hardly doing any at all.

The treadmill program is simple. It is all based on my maximum sustained controllable speed. Right now, for me, that is 4.0 mph. Here is how it breaks down.

Warm-up
3 minutes at (90%) 3.0
4 minutes at (95%) 3.3
Workout
4 minutes at (100%) 3.5
3 minutes at (110%) 3.9
1 minute at (90%) 3.2
3 minutes at (120%) 4.2
1 minute at (90%) 3.2
3 minutes at (125%) 4.4
1 minute at (90%) 3.2
3 minutes at (115%) 4.1
1 minute at (90%) 3.2
3 minutes at (100%) 3.5
3 minutes at (105%) 3.7
Cooldown
3 minutes at (90%) 3.2
3 minutes at (50-90%) 1.8-3.2

All this totals up to 39-minutes of sweat generating, thigh pumping, and calf screaming fun. The first one went pretty good. I look forward to doing this one over the next few weeks.

Started the new weekly routine today. This is a 3-day split put together by John Hansen, www.naturalolympia.com. It was published in Iron Man Magazine, Feb 2007.

I will be doing weights three days and cardio two days and then taking the weekend off. Here is what the following 8 Mondays will look like.

CHEST

Bench Press - 4 x 10
Incline DB Press - 3 x 8/6/6
Pec Deck - 3 x 10/8/6 *I will be swapping this out with DB flyes every other week.

DELTS

Military Press - 3 x 10/8/6
Lateral Raises - 3 x 10/8/6
Barbell Rows - 2 x 8-10

TRICEPS

Cable Pulldowns - 3 x 10/8/6
DB Extentions - 2 x 8/6
Cybex Dips - 2 x 6-8

This was quite a workout. I like the simplicity of it. Even though it is simple, it still gave me a good pump and left me feeling like I had actually accomplished something today. My former program, in my opinion was too much. I was doing 5 days of weights with little or no cardio. It was starting to show. I look forward to what this one will do.

I finally found a workout log that I like. I had been printing all my stuff out on the computer and taking it to the gym in a big notebook (can you say Geek?). Anyway, I was at the bookstore yesterday looking for something else and stumbled across this one.

I also found a book on the discount table that interested me. It was marked down to almost nothing so I scarfed it up too. Can’t have too many nutrition resources.

Have a great weekend. I will start a new 8 week workout routine Monday. More on that next week.

I have fallen behind again. Internet restrictions at the office and a busy lifestyle have kept me from updating this page. Here are the rest of the week’s workouts.

Tuesday … Back
Barbell Rows … 3 sets of 8
Chins (on the Cybex) … 30 total
T-bar Rows … 4 sets of 8
1-arm Dumbell Rows … 3 sets of 12

Wednesday … Legs
Leg Press … 2 sets of 12
Squats … 1 set of 15, 2 sets of 12
Leg Extensions … 4 sets of 20
Hamstring Curls … 2 sets of 20

Thursday … Shoulders
Lat Pulldowns … 3 sets of 12
Seated Dumbell Press … 3 sets (12/10/8)
Incline Reverse DB Raises … 3 sets of 12
Seated DB Front Raises … 2 sets of 10
Seated DB Lateral Raises … 2 sets of 10
Dumbell Shrugs … 2 sets of 15
Shoulder Press … 3 sets (12/10/8)

Friday … Arms
Cable Tricep Pulldowns … 4 sets (12/10/10/8)
Standing barbell curls … 4 sets (12/10/10/8)
Overhead Cable Extensions … 3 sets of 15
Preacher Curls … 4 sets (12/10/10/8)
Dips (Cybex) … 30 total

Today is Monday … which means it is chest day. I took the boys to school and was in thy gym by 0800. Started out with about 5 mins on the bike to get the blood flowing. Then I hit the iron. Here is the workout.

Flat Bench Press … 4 sets of 10
Incline Dumbell Press … 3 sets of 15
Hammer Press … 3 sets of 10
Dumbell Pullovers … 3 sets of 10-12
Decline Dumbell Press … 3 sets of 10

I did reach one of my goals on the bench press today so I was excited about that. and, between sets on the decline DB press I worked in 15-20 incline sit-ups. After the lifting I headed off to do some cardio. I put in a good 30-minute interval ride on the bike and was sweating like a dog at the end of the morning. It was a good two-hour workout.

I have been slacking off on the cardio of late and it is showing. I try to hit the abs at least twice, hopefully three, times per week. My upper abs are coming along nicely. You can actually see the beginning of a six-pack. The lower abs are not far behind. However, across the middle is another story. I have got to find something to do about that. Maybe more oblique work will ignite the muscles. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them.

Tomorrow is back day and more cardio. Because of the holidays I have not been able to get to do chest and back in the same week for a while. Tomorrow should be interesting.

Although I have taken a few weeks off from the blogging world, I have still been in the gym pumping away. I am still going 5 days a week. I have tweaked my routines over the past few weeks but am sticking mainly with the compound mass moves for the most part. Being on the 5 day split has taken me away from my cardio and I have started to see, and feel, the difference. My weight loss has come to a complete halt. With eating more protein and carbs I have noticed the waistline expanding a little. Can’t have that. I had already planned on changing things up every 8 weeks or so just to keep fresh. So, in February, I plan on going to a 3 day split and picking up cardio on the non-lifting days.

I am still struggling with nutrition. I am eating 5-6 times a day but I have to get my protein-carbohydrate-fat ratio under control. I know all the formulas, heck you can’t read a mag or book without seeing them these days, but it is still not where I want it to be. I have started using www.fitday.com to track my intake.

My inspiring story so far … the other day I had to go buy some pants for work (change in dress code caught me without anything to wear). Anyway, when I bought my last pair of pants in August, they were 40 in the waist. Since I had dropped about 30 pounds since then I knew I would wear a smaller size. I found a style of pants that I liked and grabbed a 38. When I tried them on they were too big. I tried on several pairs of 38’s and they were all too big. I ended up getting 36’s and was all smiles as I left the store. Man, that felt good. I have a goal of getting into 34 jeans by this summer. Looks like I am well on my way.

See ya soon.