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!

Just answer the question...

I have been neglecting this blog. Have not had much to say recently. But this struck me as something that really needed to be out there.  I have thought about this a lot recently..what are my dreams and goals. What ideas have I put aside?

I have gone ahead and set my goals. Brought back some of my old dreams and ideas, even found some new ones. I refuse to live a life of "What if?"

Pizza fueled insanity

Saturday I was craving pizza, my weakness, I had a free one coming from Papa John's so I ordered 2. In about 2 hours I devoured one and saved one for the Sunday. The scale hated me in the morning I was bloated and feeling like crap. Then I went to train...

Shoulder and deads were planned. The carbs certainly helped here. I had the energy and looked full. 10 sets of 10 on presses and deads were quite easy. 205 for the deads felt light even with a minute rest between sets. I did have to use straps the alst three sets, the grip was taxed like Wesley Snipes. Surprisingly I was not craving pizza so I spaced out the servings throughout the rest of my day.

Those carbs helped me through a grueling arm and quad session today. I superstted tris and bis 4 different exercises in 2 supersets. Super painful by the end but gotta have arms... Squats were just downright nasty. 10 sets of 10 with 30% of my max. 205 was just flying up and I was  happy to be hitting these ATG through all the sets and reps. Same as thedeads I was resting 1 minute.

Cleaning up the diet is my plan, 10 more weeks left... Checking the diet crystal ball I see a lot of chicken breasts and broccoli in my future.

Let's start this again

I decided to enter the Summer Shred at Bodybuilding.com. Was planning to enter a bb'ing or physique contest but the money just isn't there for me. Didn't realize just how expensive it is...Strongman is defintely cheaper. So the Summer Shred is perfect for me. I can challenge myself and actually have a reason to train and diet in a totally different way than ever.

The big difference for me is that I have to increase volume, decrease rest, and not try to lift heavy. I can definitley say my conditioning is questionable, but I know it will improve.

So here is my training:

Sunday: Shoulders and hams
Monday: Arms and Quads
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday: Kettlebells, Abs, and Grip
Thursday: Chest and Back
I will do low intensity cardio on gym days, just the treadmill for 45 minutes. Will alos be throwing in a 70 minute bike ride at least once a week in place of the Kettlebells.

Here is what today was like...

Side and rear raises 30x10, 3 sets, 1 minute rest
Seated dumbbell press 45x10, 10 sets, 30 second rest
Cable upright row 150x10, 3 sets, 30 second rest
Deadlifts 315x3, 10 sets, 1 minute rest
Pull thrus 120x10, 10 sets, 30 second rest
Treadmill 45 minutes, 3mph, 7 incline

That's all folks!