runningman72’s Blog

Sorry for not updating the blog the last few days, but I have been on the road with work in Charlotte and Hotlanta. I’m actually sitting in the Charlotte airport as I type this, so I do promise that I’ll post this weekend.

I used the last two days of travel for some much needed muscle rest. I did some cardio, but did not lift for the last two days. I know that when I hit the gym in the morning to do GVT shoulders, traps, and quads I’m going to be locked, cocked, and ready to rock.

My next blog will detail that workout. Anyone have any good Halloween stories from the weekend??

I hope everyone gets more treats than tricks this year! I will be posting my normal blog in the training section later, as I do have a lot to write about. If anyone has any cool Halloween stories, please comment to this post!

Matt

Has anyone ever had one of those workouts where you just didn’t feel that strong? Well, I did tonight. I did all of my planned routine, but really struggled on the compound movements. It’s not that the weight felt heavy per say, it was that I felt weak.

Well at any rate, I’m going to sit down down and right my training program for next week, so I will post more later.

Ciao,

Matt

I just thought I would post my upcoming bis and tris workout that I’m going to do tonight. I normally don’t do these two muscles on the same night, but at the moment I’m out of options do to severe leg soreness from my last two workouts. I used the German Volume Training on hams, quads, and calves broken up with some back, shoulders, and chest. Woooo Hoooo killer!

So tonight, I will of course warm up on the spinner cycle for 15 minutes and then commence on triceps first:

Compound GVT exercise - Close Grip Barbell Press - 110 lbs - 10 Sets - 10 reps - 60 seconds of rest between sets

Isolation GVT exercise - Reverse Grip Pressdown - 60 lbs - 5 Sets - 15 reps - 45 seconds of rest between sets

After Triceps, I will do some ab work, usually consisting of weighted crunches, leg lifts, and weighted side extensions

Now it’s time to move to biceps:

Compound GVT exercise - Standing long barbell curls (NO CHEATING, STRICT FORM) - 60 lbs - 10 sets - 10 reps - 60 seconds rest between sets

Isolation GVT exercise - Standing 2-arm high cable curls - 30 lbs per side - 5 sets - 15 reps - 45 seconds rest between sets

Afterwards, will stretch for 15 minutes and go home to eat a big meal! I’ll post again later and let you know how it went.

Take care and move some serious weight baby!!!!

So today’s workout was awesome indeed, did some GVT on the chest and the back…. Woah! 10 sets of 10 flat bench followed by 5 sets of 15 cable fly. Abs in between, then hit the quads with 10 sets of 10 rack squats, followed by 5 sets of 15 leg extension. I’m burning…

So I’m not going to blog about the workout tonight, what I really wanted to write about is all the awesome people on BB.com. That’s right, "this blog’s for you".

I browse through the pics and bodyspace pages, and I have to tell you, I can’t even believe that I had the balls to post my pictures. I see both guys and gals with some of the most awesome bodies out there. That is what the bodybuilding/fitness lifestyle is all about. The point for me is, that I constantly try to improve what God and my parents have given me while still enjoying the things that Matt likes. Am I the most strict on my diet all the time? No. Do I give everything I have to my workouts 6 days a week? You better believe it! What I am going to try and do over the next 6 months, is continue to learn and be inspired by all of you out there who do the diet and workouts EVERYDAY. That is how you all have achieved your level of greatness. I am going to really practice my self discipline and make that lean, shredded body come out.

Chicken Tuna says it the best on her website www.bunklers.com, it ain’t rocket science baby, eat like sh*t and look like sh*t! I couldn’t have said it better myself. So look all of you who sacrifice the party food, drinks, and late night snacks, I admire and respect your dedication and self discipline to the max. I am going to bust my ass over the next six months to bring out the best in me, so I hope you’ll all be there to check it out.

Best wishes to all of you, and as Pedro says, "may all of your wildest dreams come true".

Matt

Well, I’m currently watching my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers play the Dever Broncos on Sunday night football, but I am also making my weekly plan of attack for the bod.

This will be the beginning of my 4th week of German Volume Training, and I am really digging it so far. I first read about GVT while on BB.com right after the 2007 Olympia contest. It interested me because I felt like I needed exactly what the author said GVT could do for your body; shock the muscles, add some conditioning, and build mass. I am planning on doing an 8 week cycle of GVT and then charting my results. I have already posted some results on my BodySpace page, but full results will be available beginning of December.

I have chosen 2 muscle groups to focus my GVT cycle on, back (in particular the lats) and calves. If you have ever looked at my pics, you will definitely see that my lats are one of my weak areas. I have had some success in the past developing the mid and upper back, but my lats have struggled greatly in width and thickness. I am hoping that this shock of GVT will help stimulate some growth. When I do my GVT back workout, I pick one compound exercise and one isolation exercise. The compound movement I will do 10 sets of 10 reps with 45 second rest intervals, and the isolation movement consists of 5 sets of 15 reps with 30 second rest intervals. I am using about 65% of my one rep max and feel like the part is close to exhaustion by the end. For compound movements I like bent over barbell rows, both palms down and up, and wide grip pull ups. For isolation, I do straight arm pullovers, cable rows, etc. By utilizing a lot of the suggestions in the BB.com forums for building lats, I have to say that they have never been as sore as they have been the last several weeks. Some of the biggest themes I picked up in the forums are to stay as vertical as possible to hit the lats, do wide grip pull ups over lat pulldown machine, and get a full stretch on the eccentric phase, while squeezing for a second on the concentric phase.

As for my calve routine, I like doing standing calve raises with smith or barbell for compound, and donkey raises or machine raises for isolation. I follow the same set and rest intervals as my back. I actually have noticed a pretty decent increase in overall size of my calves since starting, and it keeps me very motivated to say the least.

I do GVT for all my other muscle groups as well, but am not going to detail those in this post.

I hope everyone has a great week and I’ll talk to you soon.

Matt

Hello. My name is Matt and I’ve been a member of bb.com since February 2007. I am now comitted to the bodybuilding lifestyle, but I have to confess I am a former marathon runner; hence the name RunningMan72. As far as bodybuilding and fitness are concered,  I couldn’t live without them. This blog is will not only cover my lifting goals, but also my various thoughts, rants, and day to day bullshit. So to kick this off, I have to say that at the present I really don’t have a lot to write about my fitness life. I do, however, have a good amount to say about bullshit that is going on in the general culture.

First topic to cover on what I have to say, Ellen Degenerate. Ok, first, compared to Rosie, I have to say that I really didn’t find Ellen all that bad to see on TV. That was until this past week with all the crying and justification about her dealings with man’s (in her case woman’s) best friend. That’s right, I’m talking about Ellen’s crying escapade on her show this week because she totally screwed up a pet adoption. You might be thinking right now, "hmmmmm why would Matt even care about this type of dealio", well I am going to tell you why.

First of all, I have listened to snippets of Ellen not only her show, but on awards shows talking about how the country is putting our troops in danger for nothing. She has gone on extensively about her views on the war in the Middle East, of which nearly ninty percent has been negative towards the government. Is that ok? You better beleive it. I have also heard her defending the rights of gay/lesbian Americans to her audience as well. Is that ok? You better belive it. This past week I heard her cry over a pet adoption, her mistakes in that adoption, and the plight of a dog who might now be left heart broken to die alone without ever knowing love. Is that ok? Hell No! Why? Great question. Let me tell you why.

I have never, ever, in my life heard snippets from her talk show, or any awards shows that she has done in the last four years, bring up the subject of American Patriots and all of their sacrifice, let alone shedding a tear for them. That’s right, Ellen sits there in front of millions of Americans crying and sobbing over the fate of her estranged dog, yet all she ever has to say about the war in the Middle East is negativity towards the government. Ellen has never featured a fallen Patriot’s profile on her show, never interviewed one of their families, and never thought for a moment about how thier sacrifice ensures all of her rights to be the way she is. All Ellen can muster up in her life that is tear worthy, is the thought of a dog, her negligence, and her ratings.

Let’s back away from my thoughts about Ellen and the military, to think about her culpability in the welfare and safety of the animal shelter employees. Ever since Ellen’s broadcast, the pet adoption agency has not only received threatening voicemail and email, but death threats. Do you honestly expect me to believe that she had no idea what the effect of going on the air with her story would be? I don’t believe it for a second. I’m sure that the was pissed off and hurt, with tons of guilt and vengeance added on. When she got the call from the family she gave the dog to telling her that mean pet adoption agency took the dog away, you know she was thinking, "I’m going to bury those bastards for taking the soul away from that dog"! For such a moral person as Ellen, was that the right thing to do?

My whole point behind this blog entry is simple; if you are going to go on national TV to cry, petition, and justify your actions, do it for the ones that help provide and protect those freedoms, not to prostitute yourself behind them.

Thanks for reading!

Matt