OVER 40 MUSCLE

Short and sweet on this one. I got back into the swing of things yesterday after my “lazy” week. I am no longer calling it a rest week because I did not rest. I was just lazy. I could tell after I got going that I had taken some time off. But before too long I was in the groove and going like before.

BACK
Barbell Rows – 2 sets of 8 @ 90 and 1 set of 8 @ 100
T-Bar Rows – 3 sets of 8 w/ 3 plates
Wide-grip Pulldowns – 10 @ 100, 3 sets of 10 @ 110
Narrow-grip Pulldowns – 3 sets of 10 @ 100
DB Rows – 10 @ 55, 10 @ 60, 10 @ 60

CARDIO
23 minutes of speed intervals on treadmill

Tomorrow I hit the pecs and more cardio.

Well, my supposed “rest week” has come and gone. I managed to get in 4 cardio sessions this week and 3 weight sessions. To me, that is resting. I have been going non-stop since October and have only missed about 3 scheduled workouts during that time so my body was begging for some rest. I have gotten to the point I cannot totally quit lifting for and entire week. What is a guy to do when he is hooked?

I had even planned to have a cheat meal a day for the entire week. Well, I did not do that as planned either. I just could not bring myself to do it. I did manage to have one “official” cheat meal on Thursday. I was jonesing for some good bbq so I went to a local bbq restaurant and got a brisket sandwich (with sauce of course) and some fries. It was good but I could not help but feel a little guilty. It was one of those things that I was glad I did it but was equally was glad it was over and done with.

I did a light superset arm workout Friday then topped it off with some cardio. All sets were done with a 1:3 work ratio and a 75 second rest between sets and 2 minutes between supersets.

Superset #1
EZ-bar Curls – 8 @ 50, 7 @ 70, 6 @ 60
Single arm tricep extension – 8 @ 20,  7 @ 20, 6 @ 20

Superset #2
Cable Curls – 10 @ 80, 9 @ 90, 8 @ 100
Tricep Pushdowns – 10 @ 80, 9 @ 90, 8 @ 100

Superset #3
Hammer Curls – 10 @ 25, 9 @ 25, 8 @ 30
Bench Dips – 60 total

CARDIO – A 20-minute fat loss interval session on the elliptical, 2843 strides, 224.5 calories burned.

I have to work this weekend so that will be it for the week. If I feel froggy I’ll get on the bike at home and do some cardio after work before bed.

Well, this week was supposed to be an off week, just cardio and no weights. I made it two days and had to lift something today. Monday I just did cardio (treadmill for 30 minutes, incline intervals 1.0-6.0 @ 4.5mph). I slept in Tuesday. It felt good but I was sluggish all day.

Today I decided I was going to do a few chest exercises but nothing heavy, just wanted to keep the muscle memory thing going. About halfway through my first exercise it happened. I had just finished doing DB presses with 65’s and put them back in the rack and was going for the 70’s. All of a sudden, the rack just fell over. Luckily, it fell away from me. If I had been on the other side getting the 70’s it would have done some serious damage to my legs (or more). Man did it make a noise!!

The boss came in to check on things and said, “I knew that thing was going to collapse some day. We’ll just leave it there for now and no one will get hurt.”

I finished up and hit some cardio. There is never a dull moment in my world.

DB Press – 2 sets of 6 @ 65, 2 sets of 5 @ 70
Machine Flyes – 3 sets of 10 @ 90

Cardio – elliptical for 30 minutes of intervals, 5175 strides, 383.7 calories burned.

Yesterday was jam packed with things to do. I managed to squeeze an hour out of the morning and work arms. Since time was of the essence, I hit some supersets.

SUPERSET #1
Barbell Curls – 8-50/7-60/6-70
Rope Pushdowns – 12-90/12-100/12-110

SUPERSET #2
DB Preacher Curls – 12-35/10-40/8/45
DB Kickbacks – 3 sets of 12 @ 30

SUPERSET #3
DB Concentration Curls – 12-30/10-35/8-40
Bench Dips – 3 sets of 20

After I lifted I had to rush to practice with my band. Then it was time for a quick lunch and then off to get the boys to see Spiderman 3. I confess, I ate 3 slices of pizza last night. This time last year I would have eaten a large pizza with everything and drank a 2-liter of Diet Coke.

I have finished this 8-week cycle. I have seen some gains in most areas but, as always, I am not totally satisfied. Therefore I must march on. Next week I am going to take a break from the weights and knock out a ton of cardio. The weights will come back after that.

Well, I woke up on time this morning unlike yesterday. Delts were on the menu today. Last night I watched the first “Getting Cut With Glass” that featured a delt workout I really like. I made copious (there’s a $2 word) notes in my journal and when I hit the weights this morning I was more than psyched. It did not take long for me to realize that form is everything. I am still working on the muscle-mind thing. Glass’ videos really help me make that connection. The weights were down (way down) today but I could feel it more in the delts than ever. It was a good kind of hurt.

DELTS
Side Lateral Raises – 3 sets of 10
Front Raises – 3 sets of 12
Smith Press – 3 sets of 10
Power Press – 3 sets of 6/5/3
Upright Rows – 3 sets of 10/8/6
DB Shrugs – 3 sets of 15/12/10

No cardio today because of work.

My life revolves around my schedule. I wake up at the same time every day, eat at the same time, train at the same time…you get the picture. Well, this morning when the alarm went off I pulled a no-no. I rolled over. I woke up an hour and forty minutes later in a panic. Usually by this time I am almost through with my workout and getting ready for cardio. This morning I was just raking the crust out of my eyes.

When I got to the gym I had a choice. I could do a real quick leg workout, just hitting the basic and trying to blow them apart or I could hit some cardio. Cardio lost this one. I only got in 3 exercised this morning but I made the most of it. I started out with a pre-exhaust move that set the tone for the next 30 minutes. Believe me, it is about 11 hours later and I still feel the effects of the punishment on my quads. Here is how it went down.

Leg Extensions – 3 sets of 10 @ 50. These reps were done with a 3-3-3 count (3 seconds up, 3 seconds of hold, 3 seconds down). OMG!

Leg Press – 4 plates in one extended set of 15/12/10/8/6/5/4/3/2/1.

Standing Leg Curls – 3 sets of 10 @ 75 using the 3-3-3 method again.

If I can walk tomorrow, I’ll hit the delts hard and heavy.

Today was chest day. When I started back in the gym a few months ago chest day was dreadful. I hated it. Now, I look forward to hitting the iron. My numbers are coming up and I hope to reach my goal of pressing my body weight for 6 reps by June 1st.

I found out some exciting news yesterday but I am not allowed to talk about it yet. Let’s just say that in 90 days I will be in the best shape of my life. When everything gets rolling I’ll spill the beans. I am stoked about this one.

You will notice that I added a little twist to the pec routine today. I finished with a superset consisting of bench push-ups and short bar presses. I got this from Michael Ferencsik over at Ripped Natural Bodybuilding. Follow this link to a short video showing the superset. He has a pretty cool site with lots of articles and videos. Check out his site. This guy is the bomb.

CHEST
Barbell Press – 2 warm-up sets of 15 with bar and 10 with 135, 3 working sets of 6 @ 155, 6 @ 166 and 4 @ 185
Incline DB Flyes – 1 warm-up set of 10 @ 20, 3 working sets of 8 @ 30, 8 @ 35, 8 @ 40.
DB Press – 3 working sets of 10 @ 55, 8 @ 65, 6 @ 70
Machine Fly – 3 working sets of 10 @ 80
Cable Crossover – 3 working sets of 15 @ 40
Finishing Superset
Bench Push Ups – 3 sets of 15
Short bar bench press – 3 sets of 10 @ 40

TRICEPS
Bench Dips – 60

CARDIO
40 minutes of light cardio on the bike

Tomorrow is leg day. The knee is feeling like new so we’ll see if I can work back to the weight I was pushing a few weeks ago.