Jettisoned Ponderings

Finally got back in the gym last night after having not done so for five days. To catch up a little, both chest (heavy) and arms (light) were done last night. This all worked out pretty well, I never felt sick, had a good pump since I’d used my NO Overdrive being it was partially a light day, and I felt everything only where I wanted to, so I know I wasn’t letting myself cheat. For the numbers, after warming up:

Cross Cable X Press:  80×7, 100×5
Hammer Chest Press: 230×6, 230×5
Decline BEnch Press: 225×7, 235×5 (spotted through 5th)
Low Incline DB Pullovers: 85×6, 85×5

Pecs were dang tired by the end. I really liked doing the pullovers on a slight incline. It helps to pull more from the upper pecs and keep the lats out. It’s nice to get a good stretch letting my arms just hang back for a moment before trying to explosively pull the dumbell back over. Plus I’m not on a low flat bench where the weight keeps hitting the floor at the bottom of each rep. On to arms… 2-1-2 tempo:

Incline DB Curls: 15×15, 2×15@17.5
Parallel Dips: 15x-50, 15x-60, 15x-80
Rev Barbell Wrist Curls: 40×15, 40×13, 30×15
Cross Body DB Hammers: 15×15, 17.5×15, 20×15
1 Arm Rev Tri Pushdown: 35×15, 2×15@30
Barbell Wrist Curls: 3×15@40

I’m still feeling my arms a bit today. The squeeze on each rep really got a good burn and filled the muscle. I haven’t had an arm pump kick in that quickly for quite a while. Sundays are back day, and tonight was supposed to be an off/cardio day instead. Due to not getting all of back last week, that’ll be the goal for tonight. After that, if my shoulders feel up to it I might hit them a bit and maybe a little time on cardio. Just gonna have to wing it, but for sure back will be hit.

New progress pics and stats are soon in due order with the new month. I’ll have to get on those…

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s posted about this, but may as well put in my two cents…

First off, it was a great show. Court and I watched the webcast last night and after having watched the pre-judging earlier yesterday, so seeing the improvements in competitors’ physiques and conditioning was great. As for the placement, obviously the word is out that Jay is still the champ. I’ll be honest, that bothers me a little and I don’t agree with it this time. I agree with the top 10 and definitely the top 6. The difference between those really came down to conditioning. Everyone looked great, but there were some little things that maybe are my personal preference in aesthetics.

Myself, this is how I would’ve ranked last night:
1st: Victor Martinez
2nd: Jay Cutler
3rd: Dennis Wolf (Myself and audience were not pleased about his 5th place!)
4th: Dexter Jackson
5th: Ronnie Coleman
6th: Melvin Anthony

Melvin’s conditioning was great, but something about him on stage just didn’t make him seem big enough against the remaining 5. Ronnie came in huge as always, but he’s got a big waist and his back just wasn’t where it needed to be last night due to the size difference in his lats. I put Dexter before Ronnie since he didn’t "bulge" anywhere. He looked awesome and I felt any weak points Ronnie had from behind, Dexter was where he needed to be. I put Dennis 3rd because I believe he really dominated the upper body in the group and his quads were great and cut. I very much like the V taper of Dennis’ physique and any bodybuilder who can pull it off (Side note, I’m very curious to see how Trey Brewer is going to look when he starts competing again next year). I felt Dennis’ symmetry was also a huge strong point that beat out Ronnie and Dennis just appears to have more, but not too much, size than Dexter, in my opinion. The one area Dennis needs to keep working on are his calves. They’ve come along a lot this past year, but still one area he needs a little more size and definition. Dennis will definitely going to give Jay a run next year if he keeps up like he is…

Jay, I felt didn’t deserve 1st place. Yes, he’s wide in the back, he’s thick, but I felt he wasn’t quite as conditioned as he needed to be. He looked a bit soft Friday night, but tightened things up a bit for Saturday. I didn’t feel it was good enough and that Victor was dead on both nights. Again, I’m a fan of the V taper and I felt Victor’s upper body was a bit larger than Jay’s and gave him this. In particular, Jay’s biceps get dwarfed by the rest of his arms in his front double bicep pose, where I think Victor beat him out and still had.

Jay really doesn’t seem to like the front double bicep post much. Maybe one at a time, but I think he knows it’s not his strongest. His biceps just don’t pop out like they need to. Front lat spreads, again I thought Victor was a little bit more ahead. I also thought Victor had better definition and separation in his quads than Jay.

Overall, like I said, I didn’t think Jay’s conditioning was where it needed to be and that he was not hit hard enough for these shortcomings when the other competitors hit them dead on. But hey, I’m not an IFBB judge. Guess we’ll just have to see what happens next year.

This week has been a horrible one. At least we got to the gym early on, but haven’t the last few days. This has mostly been due to my fault. By the time I’m getting off work I’m so run down that I have to take a nap, but often it’s hard to fall asleep. Once I do it seems I have to rest for way longer than a couple hours and if I try to get up and force myself to go lift or do whatever I get a headache or am just so lethargic it’s not even worth it. Yesterday I couldn’t get to sleep until about 6 and wanted to try to get up around 7 when Court got off work. Despite my phone being on its loudest volume I missed 4 text messages, slept through the alarm, but was half conscious when she called. We ended up not going to lift and I just woke up this morning at my usual morning alarm again. So 11 hours, more or less. I never sleep that much! I still feel groggy too, hardly refreshed. I know there’s been some mono going around work, and so help me if that’s my problem. I dunno if I’m just run down, sick, horribly off cycle or what, but it’s getting annoying. This weekend is going to be a busy one, but hopefully we can still get the usual gym time in and try to get my body back on track and in the routine I need it to be. I feel bad because I know that Court loves the time we spend in the gym, of course I do, too, and we haven’t gotten that this week. Something needs to change or just get itself back in working order…

Wow, I just stumbled on this link… Some are quite, um… You know I don’t think there are words. Just have a read: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/weik4.htm

I knew I forgot something with my takeout order… Forgot to ask for brown rice instead of white. Bah.

Court had a lot of homework and studying to do yesterday, so working out wasn’t the first thing on her mind. Understandable when dealing with statistics and o-chem. It’s been about 6 years since I took stats, and I got a C+ in chem in high school (though I got an A+ in Physics! Much more my type of science) so I wasn’t much use aside from making dinner and such so she could study. Our workout got cut a bit short, so we may finish it up tonight after she gets out of class. All we got through last night was:

Parallel Grip Front Lat Pulldowns: 10×160, 170, 170

Chin-Ups: 10xBodyweight for 1 set

Lemme tell ya, those chin ups really suck the last few reps when you’re letting yourself down on a 5 count… Anyhow, new day, new week. For the most part today is recovery/off, which is good and quite needed.

We ended up going to a different gym location last night and they didn’t have the exact machines I wanted to use, but they had others I wish my usual location did have. The Hammer Shoulder press has more of an anteriour angle than the older one at my gym, so it hits more of the front delts and less of the medial. Still, it got the job done. My traps are a bit tender from the prone shrugs, but then again there hasn’t been a day that some part of me that wasn’t too sore before has been quite mad at me the next day. I like that! So last night’s numbers:

Hammer Shoulder Press: 15×35, 45, 45

DB Prone Incline Shrugs: 15×70x70×65

Front Barbell Raises: 15×40, 40, 40 (little cheating on form the last set)

Low Cable 45 Degree Lat Raises: 13-15×20, 20, 20

After the main workout I did a little biceps to re-stimulate them from yesterday, but nothing too much. This gym also had an MTS Crunch machine, which is a personal favorite! It’d been a while since I’d used it and earlier this year it was hard to do sets of 15 with 30lbs on it. Last night I was able to get 25reps with 50lbs. Sweet! I may need to venture to different gyms now for abs/cardio so that I can utilize it. It really does a good job hitting the mid/lower abs more than crunches/sit-ups or leg raises. Today, cripe I have no idea what/how I’m lifting… I’ll find out later when it’s actually time to go to the gym…

Court got tied up doing some OT at work, so I ended up going by myself to workout tonight. Going Heavy typically is no good by myself, but fortunately tonight was mostly using machines aside from one exercise, so I got through it ok. I have to say that I have not had an arm pump like this for quite a while, and I don’t use any NO products on heavy days now. After warming up with a few sets on barbell curls I got down to business:

X Cable High Pulley Curls: 85 (both sides)x7, 95×6

Overhead EZ Bar Tri Extensions: 85×7, 95×7

Cable Rope Hammer Curls: 150×7, 150×7 (full stack)

Cable Tricep Pushdown: 90×7, 110/100×4/1 (Lat Pulldown Machine)

Cable Reverse Curls: 140×5, 120×6

Exercises that I had to use the cross cables on of course give a bit of a mechanical advantage from the pulleys, but I’m kinda out of options in terms of this gym’s equipment when I do the full stack on it. I’ve still got a ways to go, but it’s an issue I’ve encountered a couple times in my last few workout programs. Not really a problem on light/med days so I’m not worried about it yet. After my last set I grabbed the 35lb barbell and did one last light set for 25 reps just for pump which really swole up my arms. Flexed they were up to 15.6" by the end of the workout! I know it’s only temporary, but it’s a reminder for where my goals is for size without having a pump. It’ll be a very happy day when that comes around.

On a different note, I picked up some ZMA today (buy one get one half, yay!) so hopefully that’ll help me sleep even better since lately it seems that quality of sleep has been more of a concern than quantity since I have to take a nap most days and only sleep about 5-6 hours at night instead of the ideal 7 for me. Up early tomorrow to work OT… Have a great weekend, all!

I always try to weigh in first thing in the morning since the body loses so much water weight and burns up fuel recovering overnight, especially after a late workout like last night. Made me really happy this morning to see 177. I rested very well last night, I think the my body is now more acceptant of the gHP and is really starting to benefit from it. I think I’m going to add some ZMA back into my stack for the evenings after workouts to try and help promote better sleep all the more. Either way, I’m really glad to see my stats going in the direction I want them to. Just have to remember to keep up the good carbs and water!

Negative Legs. Or really, just longer eccentric tension times (5-6 count), not the true overloading with heavier weight than I can handle. Tonight’s workout was really good, despite being really tired before hand. I was able to get a nap in for a few hours since my lovely fiance permitted me to do so by low intensity attempts to wake me up (Thankies Darlin’! ^_^) so the fact that we went really late didn’t really affect things. One thing I do always like about later workouts is that it’s quieter and less crowded. Really took my time tonight and made sure to get enough rest time between sets to maintain good form.

Squats: 10×95, 135, 145

Wide Leg Press: 10×270, 360, 410

Romanian Deadlifts: 10×225, 225, 135

Really helped a lot to have a new pair of wrist straps. I didn’t have them before and was only able to do half my usual weight since my grip would give out by the end of the first set or two. I didn’t hit calves tonight since I was getting worn out and running out of energy after the deads. Still though, good workout, and I know I’ll feel it in the morning. The longer tension times really take it out of ya, but it sure works to make ‘em grow!