rootb33r’s BodyBlog

Saturday was leg day, Sunday was Chest/Back.

Sat:
Box squats: 225×8; 275×6; 315×5; 315×4; 275×6

Bulgarian split squats: 40×8 each leg; 50×6; 60×6

Weighted box jumps: 50lbs dropset to 0lbs, 6 reps each; 3 sets.

Calf raises on smith machine: 270×12; 320×10; 340×8

Clean & Press: 135×4; 145×2; 155×2; 160×2

Sunday, Chest/Back:

DB Flat Bench: 65×12; 75×10; 80×8; 85×6; 90×5

BB Incline: 135×10; 155×8; 175×6; 185×4

Cable flyes Superset DB Pullovers: 40×12 SS 80×10; 50×8 SS 80×10; 52.5×6 SS 80×8

Deadlift: 135×10; 225×8; 315×4; 335×2; 345×2; 355×1

Wide-grip pull-ups Superset BB reverse-grip rows: 8 SS 110×10; 7 SS 110×8; 6 SS 110×8

Close-grip pull-downs Superset One-arm DB Rows: 160×8 SS 90×6; 165×8 SS 90×4; 170×6 SS 90×4

Close-grip incline-row (PowerTech Machine) Superset behind-the-head wide-grip-pulldowns: 180×8 SS 100×6; 230×8 SS 100×6; 230×8 SS 100×6

Had a good workout last night.  Shoulder night.  Really targeted the medial deltoid, which is where I need work.  Also hit the traps harder than I have in months.  I used to think my traps were too big and I didn’t want to end up looking like The Hulk, so I would just kind of "maintain" them with a few shrugs.  Last night I did about 10 sets of trap exercises.

This morning I did 30 minutes of abs, and 30 minutes of elliptical.  Now I’m at work.  My job has a very cyclical tendency- most weeks I’ll work my 40-50 hours and go  home, while some weeks I’m here for 60-70 hours.  The past couple of weeks have been in the trough of the cycle… but a big project is coming down the pipeline.

So I am really sick and tired of election talk.  I turn on CNN and all I hear is election news- slanted left.  I turn on Talk Radio and listen to Sean Hannity and I want to puke because he’s so biased to the right that it’s borderline ‘corrupt.’  He’s molding the issues; twisting and plying them like they’re some sort of malleable material.  He’s adding such a bias to his message that it makes me want to find him and ‘beat him to within an inch of his life.’

Don’t get me wrong- I’m a registered conservative.  I did that when I was 19 and Bush was running for re-election against Kerry.  I wanted to kill Kerry.  He was such a tool, and so was Edwards.  I’m still conservative in many of my views, but I’ll be Damned if McCain isn’t the most out-of-touch skeleton on this planet.  And don’t get me started on Palin- that imbecile should stay quarantined up in Alaska so her children can’t procreate in the main 48.

Yes, I’m a Republican.  Yes, I’m voting for Obama.  No, I don’t support him in all of his issues, but he’s heads above McCain (and especially Palin- GOD that pisses me off).

Workouts are going great.  Had a nice ab/cardio session this morning.  I think I’m really hitting a turning point in my training.  I’m starting to become leaner and getting stronger.  It’s a fine line within the dietary spectrum, but I’m walking it…

As for Halloween, I get to play vball on Friday night and it’s at a bar, and everyone is going to be dressed up… so I need something that’s functionally sound to play volleyball in.  I think I’m going to dress as Tom Brady.  I’ll wear one of my old white Underarmour shirts and write "Tom Brady for President" in a black sharpie. I’ll get some arm sweatbands and some black under-eye make-up, and maybe a cheap pair of football pants.  I think it’ll work.  I’ve got to find some way to represent the knee issue though… maybe blood stains around the knee?  but torn ACL’s don’t result in blood.  Oh well.

I’ve been loading creatine for 4 days now, so hopefully it’s fully in my system now.  I definitely felt it today for sure.

Started off with 5 minutes on the stairs, went to:

DB Bench: 65×10; 75×8; 80×6; 85×5 (First time ever doing 85’s)
BB Incline: 135×10; 155×8; 165×6

Bent-over BB Rows: 135×10; 155×8; 185×4

Deadlift: 135×8; 225×6; 275×4; 315×3 (last set supersetted with Bent-over BB rows, 135×8)

Wide-grip pull-ups SS with Cable Flys: 8 SS 40×12; 6 SS 50×8; 5 SS 50×6

Close-grip lat pulldowns SS weighted ab circuit: 165×8; 170×6; 175×5 all followed by weighted ab circuit

Elliptical cardio for 15 min

PWO Shake: 35g protein, 60g maltodextrin, 7g creatine, 10g glutamine

Then the hardest exercise of all: the lying-down football stretch.  How to do it: lie on the couch, watch football, take a nap.

So it’s gloomy and rainy here in Rochester.  Woke up after a mediocre night’s sleep; I’m getting over a cold, and the residual "stuffy nose" is still there, and it wakes me up at least a couple times a night.  First thing I did was try to go back to sleep on the couch.  That didn’t work (never does), because once I’m up- I’m up.  So I went ahead and started making the coffee, and started with my favorite part of the weekend for me: multigrain pancakes!  I look forward to them every weekend.

So with some fresh coffee and some pancakes (no syrup, no butter, just a little splenda in the batter) in my stomach, I started getting ready for the gym.  About 30 minutes later, I got my BCAA’s ready, took my glutamine and creatine, 5g Xtend (BCAA’s), and put another 10g Xtend into my water bottle.

I got to the gym and warmed up on the stairs.  Did 6 sets of box squats pyramiding up to 315×4.  Then I did an two-exercise continuous circuit of clean & presses followed by weighted squat jumps.  Then I did some one-arm kettlebell clean & presses, a few other plyometric exercises, and headed over to the stairs again for 20 min.  Then an ab circuit.

Really good workout… and I’ve been watching college football for a couple of hours.  I’m about to bake a healthy Pumpkin Pie, and then lie down and watch Dirty Sexy Money (great show)

You know you’re addicted when you’re sitting at work and are daydreaming about tomorrow’s workout.

I love my Saturday workout because it’s my leg day, but I don’t do traditional leg workouts.  I concentrate heavily on strength and plyometrics.  I do box squats, split jumps, weighted jump squats, and plyos.

I’ve attached a scanned copy of my mealplan.  I kept track of it for 2 weeks to make sure I was on-target, but now I am kind of on auto-pilot.  I basically follow a cycle like this:

Monday: Low-cal

Tuesday: Low-cal

Wednesday: High-cal

Thursday: Low-cal

Friday: Low-cal

Saturday: High-cal, High-carb from breakfast to Dinner
Sunday: High-cal, Med-carb from breakfast to PWO meal (2pm)

My last real visit was in May, start of Summer, lots going on.  Work was pretty insane as were my extra-curricular activities.  I have a fairly consistent and settled schedule now, and it’s almost November, so I’m changing it up.

I am still trying to get to a point where I want to bulk; need to cut more first.  I just started my creatine loading phase yesterday.  I am hoping that will get me over my strength plateaus in the gym.

Currently, my scheduel is this (but VERY flexible):

Sunday - Chest/cardio (sometimes Monday after work, before practice)

Monday - Cardio AM, volleyball practice PM
Tuesday - Cardio AM, Back/bis PM
Wednesday -  Cardio/Abs AM, Shoulders PM (Mostly clean&presses; working on vertical jump)

Thursday - Cardio AM, recreational vball PM (about an hour… pretty much a rest evening)

Friday - Cardio/Abs AM, fairly-high intensity (indoor) beach volleyball PM (7-10PM)

Saturday - Legs (strength/power; jump squats, box squats, split squats)

Also on Sunday I cook 10 meals for the week (4oz chicken, 2c steamed broccoli).  Two a day at work - 10:30AM and 3PM, with a small salad at lunch from the cafeteria around 12:30PM.

So last weekend I played a beach vball tournament from 9-5 and then stood at a charity event until midnight.  I the result was Sacroiliitus, inflammation of the tendons in/around my sacrum, specifically my left side.  It’s basically a hip injury, but low, low back (above butt).

As such, my doc has put me on Prednisone for 4 days and forbid me to do anything active.  I’ve been reading and watching movies, but I want to do some cardio! My cut has been going so well!

Anyway, it just sucks… wanted to write it somewhere.  I will re-weigh on Monday.  Sitting around the apartment is not conducive to staying on a diet! I am so bored I am constantly hungry, haha.

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