FireMike

all right this is just an all out bitch session to make myself feel better. I can not stand the posers that come into the gyms I train at and make a mess of things. I always clear my bb when im done, i always re rack weights and place them in their appropriate spot… is it too much to ask that everyone do this? SERIOUSLY… thanx to some ******* today I started off a huge superset w a set bb that was 20lbs heavier than I planned on it. I didn’t realize this until the very end, and it set me up for failure. See I thought I was having a off day, that I had lost something in my biceps bc after the first move, BB, I wasn’t moving the reps I was shooting for elsewhere in the routine I call "The Crucible" in actuality I was stronger but still, I was in a negative mindset throughout my routine….Thanx *******

Its now 4am on Oct 9, im 9 hours into my 12 hour shift… I’ve been up since 1pm today, I trained at 4pm. Whats on my mind? TRAINING! When im at home, at work, or at play with my children, somewhere in my mind im always thinking about training. What am I doing right, what am I doing wrong? Am I achieving to my maximum potential? Am I close to being tapt out or am I just starting to tap in? All I wanna do is train, its a obsession. I sit quietly at work until someone asks anything involving the gym, then I just rant. I love what I do… not what I do for a living but what I do, TRAIN.

Today was just one of those days when you realize that the pieces are falling into place just the way you planned. It was one of those days you walk out of the gym so jacked that you know where ever you go after the gym, people are going to notice you. Its an awesome feeling, knowing that you just went and completely depleated your body of everything, broke your muscles down so intensely they now throb and hurt in that fantastic way we strive for. Not everybody can do what you or I do, as once said by "Animal" we are the 1% the rest of the world are the 99%…

My purpose and drive for my training is clear cut, I have a vision of what I want to look like physically. THe vision has been there since I was a kid, I just became side tracked for a few years when I was having my own children and going to school, but still that vision was in my head. However, there are times when despite your vision, you just fell tapped out. These are those days when you’d rather just relax instead of going to the gym, and its easy to fall into this mode of failure. I like to find addt’l motivation daily, and for me its mostly thru music. Not the heavy metal I use to train, but genuine meaningful music which I relate to those tragedies of my life when I was in pain or anguish. I remember those times, and place my mind back in those moments and become angry sometimes so enraged that my training partners don’t wanna be around me. This is how I avoid failure and today was one of those days when I had a quick turn around from my time off work to going back to work. I had to sleep "fast" as I say so I could get my training in. When I got up and didn’t wanna go lift, I turned my "failure" playlist on and within 5 minutes I was ready for war. The bottom line is this, DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO… That is my life I do what I have to do to survive, I do what I have to do to achieve, and somedays I have to do just to get my ass in the gym. STRENGTH & HONOR

Alright so because of my work schedule and my schedule with getting my kids and training a close friend of mine, I haven’t been able to go to sleep today. Yesterday was my off day. I woke up yesterday at noon and haven’t been to sleep yet and wont be able to until after 8pm tonight… SO ****ING WHAT! I just wrapped up a great tricep / shoulder workout. To me being sleep deprived and tired is like a natural shot of Nubain in my entire body, i feel the pump but it doesnt hurt and im able to keep working it at my level… which is INTENSE. Being tired also makes me a lil hostile, which for me is a benefit because if im hostile, I can get demented, and that means STAY AWAY FROM ME WHEN IM IN THE ARENA. The only thing im gonna highlight from my workout is this sick ass GYNORMOUS SET. Skull crushers s/s Reverse Grip Str Pushdowns s/s Machine Ext s/s One Arm Concetrated Pushdowns…. 4 sets at 15, 12, 10, 8 reps and hell yes I increased the poundage everytime thru. When I was done, I PUKED MY ASS OFF, it was GREAT and I cant wait to do it again.

Today was back day which means it was time to dead. See I plan to compete in a power comp in december and I wanna pull 600 which is about 100lbs more than my personal best, well my comp best atleast. I was feeling it today as soon as I stepped in the gym I was ready for war, so I got right to it. DEADS. after 3 warm up sets it began. 405 x5 wrapless. 465 x 3 wrapless but it was a struggle after first wrap to keep my grip. 495 x 1 wrapless then wrapped and knocked out 2 more reps. I’ve never done a ascending set this high before so I know my power is back plus some. I made this my only power movement for the day no bb rows or t bars today. Next I did 3 sets of seated close rows up to 210 x 8 good reps no cheating. Lat Pulls up to 200 x 8 no cheating. Low one arm pulley rows up to 150 x 9. Back extensions just focused on high reps (35) to loosen up and start pulling my lower back area tighter.

I had a chance this weekend to get accurate measurements and im fairly happy with my upper body. I’ve allowed my waist to get a little bigger than I would like at this point in time but I can fix that by adding a day of cardio in. My lower body especially my quads are smaller than before but harder tho, so in all Im happy with my progression and my strength seems to be right there even tho I don’t think the estimated max bb is accurate, despite what the charts say I don’t feel like im at 400 strength just yet, think 390 is a more accurate assumption but im gonna max out in about 2 weeks on everything then there won’t be anymore estimating.