On the Seventh Day...

Finally....Rest Day...has arrived. (in my best Rock voice)

I should be used to this but this week was tough. Sore from day one aand it never went away. I powered through every training session including the dreaded cardio.

Tuesday and Wednesday were rough. The soreness made doing the Tabata intervals very interesting. Tuesday I opted to go easy with my Leverage Hammer from Ironmind and my 12lb med ball. I do swings with the hammer and ab work with the med ball. Wednesday was all Kettlebell!

Thursday I woke up with some sore abs, a realtively new experience for me. Chest and back were on the agenda.

HS Chest Press 200lbs 10x10 30 seconds rest, incline flye 60lbs 3x10, key press 50lbs 3x10.
Low wide grip row 130lbs 10x10 30 seconds rest, chest supported dumbbell row 60lbs 3x10, HS pulldowns 180lbs 3x10
Deadlifts 200lbs 10x10 60 seconds rest. This is why I do no cardio on Thursdays. This is a gasser with 30% of my max.

Friday was an easy day of forearm and grip work with a little cardio. Started with wrist curls then moved onto Twist Yo Wrist, another Ironmind product. This is a great take on the wrist roller. It looks like a giant yoyo. I finished with the grip machine and then moved to the Elliptical for 25 minutes. Went HIIT on level 10.

Today is rest day. Although I will be working most of it I plan to relax as much as possible before I go back on Sunday for more. Stay Strong and Work hard!

How I made myself walk funny

Yesterday was arms and quads. I was not prepared for the beating I provided those body parts. It was one of those workouts where I was sore before I left the gym and setup like concrete by the time I went to bed.

So lets get to the gory details...

hammer/dumbbell/barbell curls 10x10, 30 seconds rest, 40/20/40lbs. Was tough to make it through all 10 sets but I did it.

On to triceps!
rope extension/rope pushdown/rolling extension 10x10, 30 seconds rest, 60/60/30. This had my tris on fire. Finally found the feeling in the lower tricep that I have been searching for. Anyone curiopusabout rolling extensions let me know. I will geta video posted.

Then the real butt kicker, quads...
squat machine/ lunges on smith machine 10x10, 30 seconds rest, 320/160. I about died on this superset. Brutal is a mild term for this, but I loved it. almost a puker too.

Then I finished with Elliptical for 25 minutes, HIIT. Was going to up the level but I did not. Barely had the gasd in my legs to finish this.

After that I sat out by the pool and did a few laps. Food was spot on and I was not starving. Finished my day watching Rocky 4 and my Blackhawks lose horribly.

Time to rumble!

So it begins. I got in the gym early to avoid the Sunday crowd, yes my gym is busy on Sundays. The plan was for shoulders and hams. Executed the plan...

Hammer Strength Shoulder Press 140 10x10 30 seconds rest. This was brutal. The last 5 sets I had to rest pause the reps.

Side, Front, Rear Laterals 30 3x10 1 minute rest. Felt really good and failed perfectly on the last set of each exercise.

Upright Rows on smith machine w/ wide grip 135 3x10 30 seconds rest. Nice way to finish shoulders. Did reps slow up and down.
SLDL and Standing curl 160/80 10x10 30 seconds rest. This was a gasser. Thank all the deities I had straps.

Elliptical 25 Minutes HIIT Level 5. This was too easy. Bumping the level to 7 tomorrow.
Was surprised after 2 weeks off my weight stayed at 224 at 12% bodyfat. I still question that reading but at least it is a number to go by. Wonder waht I will weigh tomorrow after I get rid of the pizza I ate...

Got home and then headed to Wally World to stock up on food. Chicken and fish by the bag is a great deal. Also managed to find some dark chocolate PB for my cheats.  Also I added the final piece to my Rocky collection. Founf Rocky Balboa in the 5 buck movie bin!

New Challenge Accepted

So I decided to give the Strong to the Cor challenge on Bodybuilding.com a go. Something inside is liking the changes my body has been going through. I figured why continue and see what another six weeks can do.

I did take the last two weeks off from the gym to rest, heal, and catch up on stuff. I also laid out my plan for training and eating. Going to be very similar to what I have done before. Theone major change is a gym cardio/ab/grip day. Also since the weather is nice I am going to hit the pool for recovery.

Training...
Sunday Shoulders/Hams/Elliptical
Monday Arms/Quads/Elliptical
Tuesday & Wednesday Tabata intervals with kettlebell, medicine ball, and hammer
Thursday Chest/Back/Deads
Friday Cardio/Abs/Grip
Saturday OFF!

Gym days will be a variation of HIIT 100s. Startingat 30 seconds and dropping 10 seconds rest every week and then going back up. Deadlifts will be 10x10 with 60 seconds rest. This is brutal andwhy I am doing no cardio that day.

Eating is very easy. Followingthe Warrior Diet. I keep calories low during the day and keep away from most carbs until training. After training I gorge, but I keep it clean. Trying to keep calories between 1500 and 2000. The food I eat is mainly chicken, eggs and turkey. I throw in greens, rice and oatmeal to balance out my eating.

Supplements I keep pretty simple: fish oil, aminos, D, C, E, and melatonin. I plan on ading in a couple shakes per day for the extra calories.

Really excited to get going again. Amazing what dedication and desire can do for you...

Good luck to everyone in the challenge!