snagency's BodyBlog

USPlabs demo at Joliet, IL GNC December 6-7

snagency — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:17:13 +0000

I know it’s short notice, but if anyone is in the Joliet, IL area and can get to the Mall Road GNC either this Saturday or Sunday from 12-6p, I’d love to meet you! I’ll be in there talking about the USP line of supps; touch on the new Jacked! product; have some product samples to pass around; and just share some insights & strategies, so swing on by and we’ll chat!

Off Season..

snagency — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:11:19 +0000

It’s been a strange off-season so far. Made some size progress with a calculated bulk; got up to 207 for a minute, currently @ 198, fairly lean, but for the last few weeks strength has been in the tank, and couple of nagging aches & pains have beaten me down..

I feel this to be a CNS issue, as I have some other indicators: no motivation during training, everything is a struggle. I’m not looking forward to the weight room as I used to, it’s become a job..

Sooo.. taking a 7-10 day break, which coincides with some travel I have to do anyway. Rest is a good thing. Gonna recharge, come back swinging strong!

ouch

snagency — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:30:12 +0000

Friday August 1, I was able to do some very light shoulder work, felt pretty darn good.. and then I went out & played tennis with the wife.. and tore my right calf muscle. At first I thought I nailed myself with the racket on the follow-thru or something, that’s what it felt like. Ridiculous sh!t. So me & the wife’s anniversary weekend celebration took a huge hit, as I was couch-bound for the duration. (We had the kids shipped off to the grandparents, all kinds of plans.. so much for that. We improvised & had all kinds of sex all w/e, so at least there was a silver lining! )
Anyway, got into my chiro on Monday, he said I’ve got a Grade 2 tear, 4-6 weeks recovery as best case scenario. Unfreakinbelievable. I’m becoming quite brittle it seems..
Whoulda thought tennis would be so rough? Other than the occasional sore back from overexertion I’ve never had any injuries from it. Depressing too - cuz I’ve been playing the best tennis of my life this summer.
All competition plans on hold for now; rest assured tho, I’ll be back.

Today: shoulder is on the mend, really feeling pretty good. Calf is in healing stage as well - I can walk semi-normal now! Will take rehab slow & gradual, but things are on the upswing..

sidelined for awhile..

snagency — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:22:14 +0000

Damn, age must be catching up with me, ahaa..
Saw my chiro yesterday, and an MRI showed I have a small tear in my labrum. He must’ve missed this last time, because it’s in the early stages of healing. Bursitis is still present too.
So now I’m out for 4-6 weeks. This pretty much kills my shot at the Natty Indiana. Turning my focus now to the Natural Northern in October, which I’m not too enthused about, but it does give me a chance to avenge my showing there from April.
Aside from being bummed about that, I’m also bummed cuz I went out & bought some kettleballs (first I’ve owned) and was going to start implementing KB clean presses (which I discovered this movement doesn’t stress my shoulder), as well I did some BB floor presses, noting that the limited ROM doesn’t stress my shoulder either. All of this was in preparation to move to a modified version of the "300 Spartan Workout" for awhile, but now I can’t do that either. Need total rest for upper body. Muscle tears scare me..

disabled list.. temporarily

snagency — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:16:55 +0000

Last Thursday went to see my chiropractor, he diagnosed me with bursitis in the shoulder. Knew something wasn’t right. I guess it’s mild, and may be able to be treated quickly, but I can’t do any upper body work for 2-4 weeks, then I’m re-evaluated. Took a few days off, figured out a way to keep my training going (lot’s of lower body & cardio) and hopefully I’ll be able to maintain my mass thru this. Not counting myself out of competition at this point. Have to see how quick I heal.
Hit a hard leg workout yesterday morning, did some things I hadn’t done in awhile. DB split-squats, DB stiff-leg deads, leg extension, leg curl, 15 minutes mountain biking.

continued progress..

snagency — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:36:30 +0000

First day of summer..
and 12 weeks out from my bb’ing show..

and only 5 days left of Core ZAP..

Awesome workout today, even tho it was just bi/tri/calves day. One last time of fasted training to complete this cycle; I really do like this protocol, but I do miss eating right when I wake up. I think the main reason I enjoyed today’s workout so much (other than the great feeling the ZAP incurs) is that I’m in the “recomp” zone right now, body changes daily. Diggin it..
Training was a mix of standing db curls, incline db curls, skullcrushers, reverse cable curls, reverse-grip tri pushdowns, and standing calf raises with toes pointed in/out/straight; as with the whole weeks’ protocol, rest was kept to a minimum.
After w/o and breakfast, went down with the wife & kids and played some tennis. Courts were full, so we ended up playing on the crappiest one with grass growing thru the cracks, but it was still good times, GREAT sweat..
I’m feeling photogenic today, so here’s some pics from the tennis court. The last pic is me & my boy - we took on my wife & daughter (we won of course, ahahaa).

update..

snagency — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:00:48 +0000

All right, mission accomplished. My run of fasted-training has tightened me up, brought bodyweight down to 191.0 as of this morning; time to get back to some normalcy.
Dropping back to 6 meals per day. Here are my macros:
Mon/Thur: 240/330/52 @2750 cals
all other days: 265/235/55 @2495 cals
About 13.5 weeks out.. FOCUSED!

Switched things up to reverse-pyramid protocol for the week, hella pump today, major sweat, energy & focus THRU THE ROOF! I’m still all revved up as I type this..

CHEST:
Flat BB Bench 5×6-15
Incline BB Bench 5×6-15
Flat DB Flyes 6×6-20
Explosion Push-ups 1xreps

A little pic after the workout..

testing out CORE’s new ZAP preworkout stim..

snagency — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:47:10 +0000

Here’s a link to my tester log for Core Nutritional’s new ZAP product..

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=108291661

Early feedback is 2 thumbs up!

change of training..

snagency — Sat, 24 May 2008 03:08:58 +0000

Awesome back & hammy day yesterday; finished up the week strong with my last bi/tri/ab day in current format this morning, going back to the 4 days/week, upper/lower body split rotation that I utilized prior to running this scheme (just a few minor tweaks). I plan on running this out for the next 4 weeks, taking me to the 12-week out mark at which time I’ll incorporate the routine I originally started this log with, a 3-on/1-off format. I’ll detail as I go..
Time to break for the holiday w/e - no cheats for me, I’m in the zone right now! The 12-week out mark is the first day of summer (June 21); I’ll post a progress pic then & I’m telling ya’ll right now, be prepared to see some drastic changes!!
IT’S ON!!

Starting Monday:

DAY 1 Heavy Upper Body
Barbell Bench 6×3
Bent Rows 6×3
Standing Shoulder Press 5×5
Pull-Ups (weighted) 5×5
Skullcrusher 3×5
Barbell Curl 3×5

DAY 2 Light Lower Body & Abs
Front Squats 1×25/1×20/1×15
Dumbbell Stiff-Leg Deadlift 3×12-15
Barbell Walking Lunge 2×30 (15 steps each leg)
Seated Calf Raise 3×20
Crunch 3xfailure

DAY 3 Rest

DAY 4 Light Upper Body
Decline Dumbbell Bench 1×15/1×12/1×20
Dumbbell Row 1×15/1×12/1×20
Dumbbell Lateral Raise 3×15
Pulldown (to front) 3×15
Preacher Curl 3×15
Overhead Unilateral D-Bell Extension 3×15

DAY 5 Heavy Lower Body & Abs
Squats 6×4
Deadlifts 1×8/1×6/1×4/1×2
Lying Leg Curl 3×6
Standing Calf Raise 5×5
Hanging Leg Raise 3×8

DAY 6 & 7 Rest

This is a program geared to increase size & strength; I especially like it because, aside from producing awesome results, you never get burned out. I’ve slightly adapted this to fit my equipment, but the original program was written by Dr. Clay Hyght, a competitve bodybuilder himself.
Although I will change back to the 3-on/1-off training at the 12-week out mark (due to show prep), I think one could use this routine almost indefinitely if they wanted too, maybe switching things up for a week every 6-8 weeks or so, then getting right back into the groove..

Let’s get to cutting again..

snagency — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:45:56 +0000

Felt like moving some heavy weights today, so ran with it, concentrating on quick & powerfull lifts with slow & controlled drops. Strength continues to rock; set a PR on my incline press leading off, set the tone for a good session..
Time to get serious - shaved off all my hair, ready to get lean & mean!! LET’S DO THIS!

Chest
Incline Bar Press 5×6
Flat D-Bell Flye/Press Combos 4×6
Dips 3xbw (to failure)
Explosion Push-Ups 1xfailure
Ab work 6 sets

I’ve been selected as a tester for the new Core Nutritionals Zap product, a preworkout energy enhancement matrix. Looking forward to stacking this with Recreate for some PHENOMENAL results! I’ll be running a tester log here on bb.com, so look for it!