Giving the joints a vacation

Today I went in and did 4 x 275 DL. The right elbow-tricep tendon was complaining and afterwards the right knee. I had planned on going for a new PR today in the DL, but due to the joint pain decided to go play table tennis with Gyan and Rajiv.

I think I will give lifting an entire week off. Hopefully my joints will appreciate this gesture and come back the next week with some new enthusiasm. So until next year..... Happy Holidays!

Upper Back

Midrack Pulls: 8 x 135, 8 x 225, 6 x 405, 6 x 480
Pullups: 3 x 4 x bw
DB Shrugs: 3 x 8 x 65
DB Overhead Press: 3 x 8 x 65
Close Grip Pulldowns: 3 x 8 x 170
DB Lateral Raises: 3 x 10 x 35

Today's workout was good. I could feel that sensitive tricep tendons going into my elbow during the DB Overhead Press a little.

Biceps

Seated Preacher Curls: 12 x 75 slow! 4 x 10 x 75 w/chains, 4 x 75 w/chains + 15# DB hanging on each side
Standing Armblaster Curls: 8 x 75, 8 x 85, 8 x 95, 8 x 105, 8 x 115
Alternating DB Curls: 2 x 65, 4 x 60, 6 x 55, 8 x 50, 10 x 45, 12 x 40, 14 x 35
Cable Curls: 10 x 40, 10 x 50, 8 x 60, 8 x 70, 6 x 80 (fail)

It felt good today to start out with light weight. My joints lately, especially my tricep/elbow joints have been hurting lately. It felt good to isolate the biceps today instead of share tricep work with them. I'm going to give triceps a break for a couple weeks. Today's workout was good and I didn't slack.

Heavy Chest workout

I read today in this article that its probably best to do your hardest/heaviest lifts first so you aren't tired by the time you get to them so I started today with Incline Press.

Incline Bench: 3 x 4 x 225
Flat Bench: 5 x 4 x 295
DB Flys: 6 x 50, 3 x 4 x 55
Pushups: 50

For the first time in my life lifting alone, the weight came back down on me when I didn't have a spotter. I was on my first set of Incline Press. I finished my fourth rep and got one side back on the rack, but couldn't get my left one up on the rack. The rack was too high beyond my lockout and I couldn't arch my back enough to get it up and over the edge. I started to panic just a little and unracked the other side so I could bring it back down. I knew that because it was incline I could weasle it down my front and muscle it off my lap. I was at about 45 degree angle. I was so glad it wasn't more than 225. Scared me though cause I've never had a situation like that before.
I fixed the situation by using the small posts for the weight and then the long posts for a backup system which was just an inch below my chest so I could use that if I ever have that problem again.

I set up the rack similarly for the flat bench too since I've never worked with 295 as the main weight before. The 295 sets felt very heavy and several times the little wimpy voice in my head said to give up as the first rep was coming down, but I didn't heed. In fact I ended up doing the optional 5th set that I wrote down instead of the mandatory 4. I also made pushups optional which I did. 50 pushups isn't too bad after a heavy workout. The only thing is my gut hits the floor instead of my chest and I seem to not go as far down as a result. I haven't gained a whole lot of weight lately, but I remember when I was all gung ho over pushups when I was working security and didn't have half the gut that I do now.

After Cathi has the baby we have some serious goals to lose weight together. At that point I'm going to have to do some cardio and stick with it.

Late Afternoon Back Work

Good Mornings: 4 x 6 x 115
SLDL: 3 x 4 x 295
Crunches: 4 x 25 slow and deliberate

The Good Mornings were too easy and the SLDL were pushing it especially on the last set. Didn't take much of a lunch break today and I really wanted to lift since I took the vacation off (due to being sick). Ankle is not improving much. Still at about 85-90%.

Table Tennis Tournament Results

http://www.gordongridley.us/2006/12/results-of-my-table-tennis-tournament.html

New Raw DL PR

DL: 2 x 245, 1 x 315, 1 x 355 (PR), 4 x 275
100 crunches (Slow and deliberate)
Cable Good Mornings: 4 x 10 x 200

Felt some pretty strange twitches going on in my mid back on the 275's so I stopped at 4 and stopped the other set I had planned. Didn't want to risk an injury. I didn't vid the 355, but I know it wasn't the smoothest DL I've ever done. Wouldn't mind hooking up with Dave Edgell for some DL pointers. Will have to do that after I get back from Vegas. I'm heading down there tomorrow morning and will be there participating in the National Table Tennis Tournament. I'm taking Austin and we are going to have a blast.

Hoping that the Stratosphere has a decent weight room since I don't think I'll be playing table tennis a whole lot. Just when competing. My ankle is at about 90% when walking, but jumping off/onto is alot worse. I hope I'm not completely disappointed with my performance as a result of it. Austin though is at the top of his game so far and I have high hopes for that boy.

Repeat of PR

This morning I slept in and man did that feel great! I was half heartedly planning on lifting with Brandon and Wayne at 5:15, and planned on doing another 405.

So at lunchtime I was able to snag Duane Ralphs to spot me for 395 and a 405 bench. I was able to get both. The 405 started to shift a little to the left near the top of the press, but corrected it and got it straight up.

Next time I'll start at 405 and go for 415 since this is the second time I've gotton 405 and probably the 4th time for 395.

Here is what I did:

Bench: 1 x 225, 1 x 315
Shirted Bench: 1 x 365, 1 x 395, 1 x 405

Given that I lifted chest on Friday and also have a tournament later this week I decided not to push it and do more than this so I went to have lunch. Tomorrow I'd like to get a new PR on Deadlift. My ankle is doing great. I would say I'm at 80% now, hoping to get more improvement by Friday.

Second Bench workout for the week

4 Block Flat Bench: 8 x 275, 8 x 315, 3 x 365
No Block Flat Bench: 3 x 315, 10 x 225
LowerHalf Only Flat Bench: 6 x 10 x 225 w/chains
Speed Bench: 5 x 225, 5 x 135

Felt good about the amount of effort put into these. Ankle feeling better. Played TT last night with Austin. Should be ready for the National Tournament next week. I ordered new Mark V rubber for two Mark V blades and replaced them and reglued my WonderBlade. Awesome.

Back

SLDL: 4 x 4 x 275
Upright Rows: 4 x 4 x 145
Bent Over Rows: 4 x 135, 4 x 160, 2 x 4 x 185
Cable Crossovers: 4 x 4 x 30
Crunches (Slow and hold at top): 4 x 25

The ankle is still very tender, but it did not give me any problems with these lifts so that's good.

Arms

Dips: 12 x bw, 2 x 8 x bw + 45
Preacher Curls: 3 x 12 x 95
French Press: 3 x 8 x 95
One Handed Cable Curls: 12 x 20, 10 x 30, 8 x 40
Tate Press: 3 x 8 x 40

I think I need to take two Glucosamine tabs per night rather than one. The tendon that connects my Triceps to the back of my elbow gets really tender when doing heavy Tricep work. Need to strengthen that joint. Felt OK about this workout. Still taking my time with the sore ankle.

I skipped my Dr. Appointment today as I'm 100% sure it isn't broken. I can put weight on it without support and can walk on it with a limp. I put on three sock on the right side today to give extra support until I get my ankle brace which I got a couple days ago per Ryan Gubler's recommendation. I'm feeling very confident that I should be close to 100% (especially with the ankle brace) by this time next week. I'm getting better everyday.

Shoulders

Seated Military Press: 4 x 8 x 95 (Alternating between in-front and behind head)
Seated CG Cable Rows: 2 x 8 x stack (@200), 2 x 8 x stack + 2 sets of chains (@230)
DB Lateral Raises: 4 x 8 x 40
Widegrip Pulldowns: 2 x 6 x stack (@200), 2 x 6 x 190

Was hoping to do 135 on the Military press, but those were way too heavy. I've done that much weight before standing, but seated I guess forces better form and I must have cheated pretty bad when I did that much before. 95 was plenty easy, probably too easy. Should have gone for 105.

Took my time on this workout. It took about an hour to do, but with the slow moving leg it takes more time to load up and I generally feel disabled having to move slow and stuff. Felt OK about the effort and weight involved, not psyched though.

Today I went without the aircast as I felt like I was part robot. Ever see those machines in Alien 2 at the end that Sygourney climbs into to fight the Alien, or the Machine those guys in Matrix 3 use to fight with that have Gatling Guns for hands? With that air cast my leg was huge and bulky and made a huge thump when I walked. So I went without it today as I could walk on it very carefully. I'm reluctantly going to keep my appointment with the Orthopedic doctor tomorrow, but I would be floored if he said it needed a hard cast due to a break.

Floor Presses

Floor Press: 8 x 225, 6 x 275, 4 x 295, 2 x 315, 1 x 335
Static Press: 405 x 15 sec, 455 x 10 sec, 480 x 5 sec (New PR - All the weight Tomax has)
DB Floor Flys: 4 x 8 x 50
Crunches: 10 x 50

On the static holds the hardest part was AFTER the weight came down and rested. My joints in my wrists and elbows were like "What the heck was that!". My grip was also starting to slide outwards just a tad. Need to use chalk when I do that much weight again.

Felt good to work out even though I'm basically a cripple. Hobbling around like an old fart. Gotta keep the upper body up while the ankle heals.

Slip up

No point in duplicating this post. But I did have a slip up this weekend which will affect my deadlifting for the next little bit. Here are the details.

Biceps

I had to run an errand during lunch so I didn't get to do much lifting, but I did get a little:

Alternating DB Curls: 4 x 8 x 50
Synchronous DB Armblaster Curls: 4 x 8 x 50

Don't usually do 50's for curls for that number of reps. Guess I'm getting a little stronger. My upper back muscles are a little sore, not bad sore, just a little and it should affect my game tonight at the TT club.

New PR on Raw Deadlift

The last couple days I had a muscle in my neck that was really troubling me. I took yesterday off so I could rest it completely. Its totally fine now and no hint of problems anymore thank goodness.

Today I was way past due in doing some Deadlift work.

Deadlifts: 8 x 245, 6 x 275, 4 x 295, 2 x 315, 2 x 335
SLDL: 4 x 8 x 245
100 crunches slow and steady

New raw 1 rep PR for deadlifts and I did two! Should set me up nicely for doing a 1 rep next week of 345. I did one and paused at the top for about 5 seconds and on the way down figured I could go back up so I went for it, and made it up fairly easy as well. Very happy with that! The only problem is that I take so much rest between sets that I don't get to do as much lifting as I would like. Its nice to have weights in the basement at work, but 1 hour just isn't as much time as I'd like. Wish I could take 2 hours.

From now on I won't be doing SLDL on the same day as deadlifts. I'll seperate them by a few days in the week. I can't expect to have much stamina for SLDL when I max on the Deadlifts.

High Rep Chest

Flat Bench: 18 x 215, 16 x 215, 10 x 215, 4 x 15 x 155
Incline Smith Press: 4 x 15 x 135
DB Flys: 4 x 15 x 40

Good burns today. Early morning workout (5:15 am), still bad commute (over 45 minutes from Syracuse to Salt Lake). Expected to be worse coming home and tomorrow morning due to bad snow storm.

Two workouts today

With this week being Thanksgiving, I figured I really should push it the first part of the week as I won't be lifting Thursday - Sunday. So at lunch I did the following:

Deadlifts: 8 x 235, 6 x 265, 4 x 285, 2 x 305, 1 x 325 (New raw PR)
Cable Good Mornings: 4 x 8 x stack (@ 200 + @15 pounds of chains)
Seated Close Grip Cable Pulls: 4 x 8 x stack (@ 200 + @15 pounds of chains)
SLDL: 4 x 8 x 235
100 crunches (Slow and deliberate)

I almost gave up after the first set of SLDL. The second set and fourth set were great. Third one I had to regrip after the sixth rep. I did the SLDLs with a double overhand grip as well as the Deadlifts, until I got to 305, then switched to alternating grip.

Tough workout. Hoping each week I can increase 10 pounds on the deadlifts. Anxious to get a new PR on the deadlift. The 360 PR I currently have is with wrist wraps and knee wraps. I'm not going to use those again, just a belt and chalk. Hoping to beat the 360 PR at the virtual meet without wraps.

Chest

Flat Bench:
12 x 245
8 x 275
6 x 295
6 x 295
6 x 275
7 x 245 (Hold 2 sec on bottom, then press)
8 x 185 (Hold 2 sec on bottom, then press)

Incline Press:
12 x 185
2 x 8 x 205
8 x 135 (hold at bottom and speed press up)

DB Flys: 4 x 20 x 40

Decline DB Press: 20 x 40, 2 x 25 x 40, 30 x 40

Fairly good workout. 295 felt heavy and didn't feel very strong with it so I went back down and focused on form. Wayne's form was very good and I thought I should do better myself.

Custom Shoulder Lifts

Today I did:

Stump Presses (Add 50 pounds from two x 25 lb dumbells hanging with 10 pound chains): 8 x 95 (@145), 85(@135), 75(@125), 10 x 65(@115), 12 x 55(@105)
Jason Paris' One Arm Presses: 4 x 8 x 45
Gords' lateral DB Rows: 4 x 8 x 40
Arnold Presses :4 x 8 x 40
Upright Rows (Ok this isn't custom, just frosting for the workout): 10 x 95, 8 x 115, 8 x 125, 8 x 135

Felt good about this workout. Was really hungry for a good workout. Did this right after getting a flu shot.

Upper Back

I didn't prescribe a workout today so I played it by ear which is usually a bad idea as I don't usually push myself as much but I ended up doing fairly well I think:

DB Incline Rows: 10 x 50, 2 x 8 x 55
Lat Pulldowns: 10 x 150, 2 x 8 x 170
Midrack Pulls: 8 x 135, 225, 315, 6 x 405, 4 x 480 (All the weight we have)

Next time I need to make sure to set the rack at 18 instead of 17 on the midrack pulls. Had a pretty good knot in my upper back to begin the workout right underneath my right shoulder blade. The workout seemed to help it just a little, but not much. It's still there and I wish I had the time and money to get Kristyn to work it out.

5-10-20 Arms

Today I wanted to really mix things up so I decided to do three sets of exercises, with the first set 5 reps, second set 10 reps and third set being 20. This would require varying levels of strength. Stamina being most important for the last set.

Here is what I did:

Preacher Curls: 5 x 135, 10 x 115, 20 x 75
Dips: 5 x bw + 90, 10 x bw + 45, 20 x bw
Concentration Curls: 5 x 45, 10 x 35, 20 x 25
Skull Crushers: 5 x 115, 10 x 95, 20 x 75
Incline DB Curls (21s style): 15 x 45 (5 lower half, 5 upper half, 5 full), 30 x 30, 60 x 20

I had to take three small breaks (20 - 30 seconds) on the last set of Incline DB Curls to let the intense burn subside for a bit. I still held on to the weight, just put it in a static position. Stayed with the prescribed workout this time as well. Felt great. Hoping to have rubber arms for a couple days.

Mid-day Bench

Slept in again. Getting full night's sleep becoming more of a priority lately.

Prescribed the following:

Floor Presses: 8 x 225, 6 x 27, 4 x 295, 2 x 315, 1 x 335
DB Floor Flys: 4 x 8 x 50
Incline Press: 4 x 8 x 185
Pushups: 30, 20, 10 (clap), 20, 35

Almost talked myself out of doing the last two sets of pushups before I even started them. Ended up doing them (+5 extra on the last set as punishment for considering it)

Felt really good about this workout. The last set on Floor Press (335) I started to cramp up in my right hamstring. My legs kicked out and went flat on the floor and was able to muscle the weight up. Close one without a spotter.

Need to mention Alex before I forget his name again

Back in Fall of 1990 when I was attending Ricks College, there was a guy lived in Ensign Hall who influenced me to get into the gym and got me addicted to working out was a guy named Alex Olsen. He was from Boston Massachusetts. He was a nice guy and at times fanatical about his diet. I remember he convinced me that wheat bread was full of estrogen and to avoid it.

It took me half a day to remember his first name, and I tried Googling him, but couldn't find him. So Alex Olsen, if you ever google yourself and come across this let me know. I'd love to find out what you have been up to.

Deadlifts

Deadlifts: 8 x 225, 6 x 255, 4 x 275, 2 x 295, 1 x 315
Cable Good Mornings: 4 x 8 x stack (@ 200)
Seated Close Grip Cable Pulls: 4 x 8 x stack
SLDL: 4 x 8 x 225
100 crunches (Slow and deliberate)

Wanted to give up half way through the SLDL's but pushed through them. Kept to the prescribed routine and felt good. My right wrist was really sore this morning and I was extremely tired at 5 am so I slept past the alarm (skipping Brandon's chest workout) and slept in an extra hour planning on lifting today at lunch. I need to make deadlift the priority for Monday's that way I am guaranteed to get them every week. Will move Chest to Tuesday or Wednesday and do another Deadlift routine on Thursday or Friday.

The weekend's Table Tennis Tournament was a little disappointing. Didn't do as well as I had hoped. One thing I like better about powerlifting is I feel that my only opponent is myself, whereas with table tennis its all about beating the other guy.

Shoulders

Seated Behind the Neck Military Smith Press: 15 x 105, 10 x 125, 2 x 8 x 155
DB Front Raises: 4 x 6 x 40
Shrugs: 3 x 10 x 185, 10 x 65
DB Lateral Raises: 4 x 10 x 40
DB Standing Military Presses: 4 x 12 x 40

Pushed it pretty good on this work out. The front raises were brutal. Taking the next couple days off to make sure I'm not sore for the Table Tennis Tournament. My new paddle came in and hit with it yesterday a couple times. It was worth it.

Arms

21s: 2 x 21, 18, 21 (Seated on Incline Bench, Curl bottom half for 7, top half for 7 then full curls)
Skullcrushers: 12 x 95, 3 x 8 x 125
Preacher Curls: 2 x 95, 2 x 115
Standing Cable Tricep Extensions: 12 x 85, 8 x 115, 2 x 8 x 135
Standing EZ bar Curls: 4 x 15 x 75

Got quite a good burn in the biceps. Very happy with today's effort, especially the 21's. I was going for 18 and got 21. Starting earlier to miss traffic a little. (5:15 am) Still had a little traffic to deal with, but not too bad. Took Cathi in to the car dealership to pick up the van. We were there before it opened so we had breakfast together which was nice.

Benching on Monday

DB Flys: 4 x 14 x 40
Decline Smith Press: 12 x 225, 2 x 275 x 10, 5 x 275
Flat Bench: 5 x 8 x 225, 8 x 215, 8 x 205

Did this at Brandon's. The Flat bench at the end sure makes it tougher to get the weight you want, but that's OK. I wanted to lift at lunch, but because of car swapping with Cathi and having to leave early for Anger Management Session I didn't have enough time to get my eight hours of work in so I scrapped lunch today. Need to make up a couple hours over the next few days.

Some back

Pull Ups: 2 x 4 x bw, 5 x bw, 4 x bw + 2 with help
Deadlifts: 12 x 135, 8 x 225, 4 x 275, 1 x 315
DB Rows: 4 x 12 x 40
Lat Pulldowns: 12 x 85, 8 x 140, 2 x 8 x 155

The form on the last deadlift was terrible. I'm just glad I didn't hurt anything.
Last time I'll do deads in Brandon's basement. Deads for me really bring out the gas, I also don't feel like I can be rough with the weight. The floor pads don't cover the whole room and don't want to mess up his carpet or the cement beneath it.

There is a table tennis tournament tonight, but for the age divisions which I didn't sign up for. I brought Austin with me to work today and he will be in the 17 and under division. We will be practicing at lunch time. I bought a new Nittaku paddle yesterday with some quality rubber which hopefully will take my game to a new level. The open division starts next Friday so I won't be lifting after this coming Wednesday to make sure I'm not sore for the tournament. Last Friday was awful as I was still sore from the deadlifts last week.

Heavy and Light Arms

EZ Bar Curls: (Cheat) 3 x 4 x 150, (Light) 3 x 20 x 75
Dips: 2 x 6 x bw + 45, 2 x 3 x bw + 90, 2 x 12 x bw
Alternating DB Curls: 2 x 4 x 55, 2 x 8 x 45, 2 x 12 x 35, 2 x 16 x 25
Cable Tricep Extensions: 2 x 6 x 100, 2 x 10 x 60
50 crunches between exercises (200 total)

This workout took just over an hour to do and it was good. I was able to follow this predefined workout to the T without any alterations and that is a good thing (unless it is to exceed it). Hoping to be sore tomorrow. My chest still is from Monday.

Moderate Benching

Flat Bench: 15 x 225, 4 x 8 x 275, 2 x 8 x 225
Incline Bench: 2 x 6 x 215, 6 x 195, 15 x 125
DB Flys: 4 x 13 x 40

Here is the Halloween Outfit I wore to work:

Yo! Duba Geez in da howss

Lower Back

Captain's Chair: 4 x 15
Deadlifts: 10 x 185, 8 x 225, 4 x 275, 2 x 315
Seated Cable Good Mornings: 4 x 10 x whole stack (@200)
SLDL: 5,6,7,8 x 225
Bicycle crunches: 4 x 10
Hypers: 8 x 45 (I planned three more, but I forgot how terribly improvised I have this one set up. My upper body is longer than the distance of the bench to the floor so I don't get the full range of motion that I would like, so I skipped the rest of these.

When I entered the room I saw Brett and two other guys in there lifting. I don't think there have been more than three people at one time in that room. Just a little crowded if everyone is doing their own thing. Wouldn't be that bad if we all worked together. After a couple of sets of deadlifts, they took off so it wasn't bad. Started to get a deep headache half way into the deadlifts, but I didn't give it much attention and it wore itself off.

Arms before going to Hawaii

No, I'm not going to Hawaii, but Brandon is. Here is what we did:

21s: 40 pounds, 4 sets of 18 (6 lower portion of incline seated curls, 6 upper portion, 6 full motion) Supposed to do 7 of each, but I had 40's and 4 sets of 18 was as much as I could do.
Nosebreakers: 4 x 6 x 125
Preacher Curls: 2 x 8 x 95, 2 x 6 x 115
Dips: 4 x 10 x bw (We rigged his machine up, and it was too close together to do dips comfortably)
Standing EZ Bar curls: 2 x 8 x 95, 2 x 6 x 115

Felt pretty good about this workout. Went home to get ready for work, and just before leaving, found my dog Sadie, had passed away. Very sad day. Here is her eulogy.

405 Bench - Finally!

I had it in my mind to do 405 today!

Here is what I did today (at Brandon Mattson's Basement):
Flat Bench: 1 x 245, 1 x 345, 1 x 395, 1 x 405, 8 x 275, 10 x 255
Incline Smith Press: 2 x 8 x 175, 6 x 225, 5 x 225
DB Flys: 4 x 12 x 40
After lunch did
Flat DB Presses: 4 x 15 x 65 (fast)

I was happy with both the 395 and 405 lift. The setup on both I felt happy with, except for a little on my left foot. I felt a sticking point halfway up on the 405, but pushed through it without much pause. I exagerrated my pause at the bottom on both, just to make sure I wasn't bouncing. Please let me know if you see something I should work on to make it cleaner. I've definitely seen cleaner, but this is a one rep max so its gonna be tough.

The weights on the 405 were setup "ugly", that's cause the guys in front of me were doing 185. The weights included were 45 - 25 - 45 - 35 - 25 - 5. There were also a couple of 45's and 25's that were from a "heavy" brand, so it was actually slightly heavier, but I'll just average it out to 405.

Again, click the image below for the movie of the 395 and 405 lifts. Thanks to Cathi for her encouragement and support. This is just one milestone I've been aiming for the past year. Need to keep going, this isn't the end, but just a milestone. 

Warning: Turn down your audio volume, when I made this video I didn't realize how loud the volume was!

Lats

Pullups: 5 (no help), 2 x 8 (3 with help), 7 (3 with help)
Bent over rows: 4 x 8 x 155
Lat Cable Pulldowns: 12 x 85, 8 x 140, 2 x 8 x 155

My hands sure took a beating today. I cut off a callous this week, and should have left it. This morning sure was tiring getting up early to lift. Have a scout camp this weekend which to be honest I'm not looking forward to. It isn't even with the scouts, it with leaders and it's to get some outdoor skills training which I don't think I'm lacking in anyways. I'm just glad I only have to do it this once.

Need to do some core work this weekend, haven't hit that at all in the last couple weeks.

Early morning shoulders

Smith Military press: 12 x 120, 10 x 145, 8 x 165, 6 x 195
Smith Shrugs: 4 x 12 x 145
Alternating DB Front Raises: 4 x 6 x 40
DB Military Press: 2 x 15 x 40, 2 x 18 x 40
DB Lateral Raises: 4 x 8 x 40

Today I was a few minutes late getting there, but Wayne wasn't there yet so I didn't miss anything. The front raises were tough as well as the lateral raises, but it was either 40 pound DB or 15 pounds. So I went heavy. Felt pretty good about these. Biceps were sore yesterday in lower section. I haven't had sore Biceps in ages! Playing Table Tennis at lunch lately, so it's either Brandon's or skip out on Ping Pong. With the tournament coming up in December I want to be well practiced, but at the same time I need to maintain a 4 workouts per week minimum.

Arms

21s: 2 x 15 (5 low, 5 high, 5 full), 2 x 18 (6 low, 6 high, 6 full)
Nosebreakers: 2 x 12 x 95, 2 x 8 x 115
Seated Preacher Curls: 4 x 8 x 95
French Presses: 2 x 12 x 115, 2 x 8 x 135
Standing Curls w/EZ bar: 4 x 15 x 75

Those curls at the end, althought the weight was light, was generating a real good burn. Got up too early. I was at Brandon's at 5:18 and realized they don't start till 5:30. Glad I went. Felt guilty for not lifting yesterday. Plus went to chuck a rama for dinner with the Low family for Bill's Birthday. The pictures from the cruise put me in a bad mood. To be honest I'm OK with a small belly, but the double chin look is really bringing me down. Need to get focused back on losing a little.

Saturday - last lift on Carnival Pride

Chest
Machine Fly: 12 x 165, 3 x 8 x 225, 8 x 255
Machine Press: 12 x 210, 2 x 8 x 255, 2 x 10 x 255

Cathi was finished with her workout so I quit early so we could go do stuff.

Cabo San Lucas

Triceps

Dips: 5 x 8 x bs (240)
Tricep Extension Machine: 12 x 70, 3 x 8 x 100, 6 x 120
DB Tricep Extensions: 3 x (8 x 100 ( 2 x 50s), 8 x 60)
Nosebreakers: 5 x 12 x 70
Cross-face DB Extensions: 2 x 8 x 30, 3 x 6 x 35, 6 x 40
Standing Cable Tricep Extensions: 12 x 80, 4 x 8 x 95

Mazatlan

Felt way too sore to do anything this morning.
Went shopping with Cathi – no excursions today. Just shopping and relaxing.

Puerto Vallarta

Shoulders
Military Machine: 12 x 130, 3 x 8 x 160, 4 x 200
Seated Row Machine: 12 x 135, 3 x 8 x 180, 6 x 195
Rear Delt Machine: 12 x 135, 8 x 135, 2 x 8 x 120, 6 x 135
Upright Rows: 5 x 12 x 70
Lat Rows: 10 x 165, 3 x 8 x 180, 6 x 180
Seated DB Military Press: 5 x 8 x 55
Many hours later….
Incline Bench DB Rows: 5 x 8 x 50
Lateral Raises: 8 x 35, 4 x 8 x 40
DB Upright Rows: 5 x 8 x 50
Walked eight times around the deck briskly with Cathi. (Probably just over 2 miles)

Today Cathi and I spent about 45 minutes in a pool with dolphins. We pet them, rode them, fed them and swam with them. It was a blast.

2nd Day at Sea

Biceps
Machine Preacher Curls: 12 x 90, 8 x110, 2 x 8 x 100, 8 x 90 Quality was compromised so went down in weight
Alternating DB Curls: 5 x 8 x 40
Standing Barbell Curls: 5 x 12 x 70 (All they had for Barbells)
Concentration Curls: 5 x 8 x 35
Wrist Curls: 5 x 8 x 35 Superset with
Reverse Grip Forearm Curls: 5 x 8 x 30
21s (Incline seated): 5 x 21 x 30
Played Ping Pong with Tim for 10 games, He won 3. He did better this time.

First Day at Sea

Chest
DB Flat Bench – 3 x 12 x 50, 2 x 10 x 60, superset with
DB Flys: 5 x 10 x 50
DB Incline Bench: 12 x 50, 4 x 12 x 60
Bench Machine: 12 x 205, 4 x 10 x 255
Nose Breakers: 5 x 15 x 70
Push Ups: 5 x 25
6 minutes on bike
Met a guy from Park City who brought his own paddle as well. He was very good compared to others I played during the day. His name is Tim. He did very good considering he seemed a bit tipsy from his drink.(He won 3 games out of about 15).

Shoulders

50 Crunches
DB Lateral Raises: 4 x 12 x 35
50 Crunches
Military Press: 8 x 135
50 Crunches
Upright Rows: 8 x 115, 3 x 8 x 145
50 Crunches

Didn't have a whole lot of motivation for today. I went down hoping that someone would be playing ping pong, but nobody was.

Later this afternoon Doug told me about cruise ships. They don't have very good gyms and they are crowded in the morning. He asked me about my bench max and if I hit 405 yet. He said I would probably lose some strength after the cruise. Man I don't want that to happen! I realize its vacation, and the food is free, but I have the following goals:

1) Eat in moderation. Don't eat until I'm full every single meal. I plan on eating a heavy breakfast 2-3 servings (after working out (see goal #2), a moderate lunch (1.5 servings), and a light dinner (1 serving (with many veggies)). No deserts at all, which should be easy considering I'm not much for sweets anyway. It's meats that are tempting for me.
2) Workout for 2 hours a day. Preferably 1.5 hours in gym, .5 in aerobics of some kind.

If I meet those goals, then I won't feel I've slacked on the cruise.

Bench

Flat Bench: 15 x 225 (2 blocks), 6 x 315 (2 blocks), 4 x 325 (2 blocks), 2 x 3 x 335 (2 blocks), 6 x 275 (no blocks), 16 x 225 (no blocks)
Incline Smith Press: 8 x 185, 3 x 8 x 195
DB Flys: 4 x 12 x 40

Started at 5:30 am. Didn't leave for work until 8:00. Ouch. Need to start leaving earlier to avoid traffic.

Biceps before Ping Pong

Took lunch early to lift before any table tennis:

Armblaster EZ bar curls: 8 x 95, 8 x 105, 8 x 115, 8 x 125
Concentration Curls: 8 x 30, 8 x 35, 8 x 40, 6 x 45
One arm reverse grip cable curls: 4 x 8 x 20
supersetted with Reverse Grip Pull Ups: 4 x 3 x bw
Alternating DB Curls: 4 x 6 x 45

Brought in a mirror from home that wasn't being used. That made a huge difference in the workout. There wasn't a mirror at all in the Tomax gym and now it does. I'm not saying that I'm considering bodybuilding, but it sure is a boost to watch my lifts and critique my form in real time. Today's lift was great and I'm excited for future workouts using the mirror to help judge how things are going.

Ping Pong with Bala was OK. I was on the losing side of things (4 out of 10 games), but they were pretty even for the most part.

Wimpy Friday morning workout

Brandon agreed to work lats today instead of shoulders since that is what I did yesterday. Here's what we did:

Pull Ups: 5 x bw, 4 x bw (+4 with help), 3 x bw (+4 with help), 2 x bw (+4 with help)
Bent over rows: 12 x 95, 8 x 145, 2 x 8 x 165
Upright Rows: 8 x 95, 8 x 125, 6 x 125, 8 x 115

Considering I'm going to the club tonight, I wasn't going to argue with Brandon about only doing three exercises. The last couple days workouts have been fantastic. I've been sore.

I've been able to patch things up with Mrs. G which is a great. One week left before I go on an awesome vacation.

Shoulders

Brandon conveyed his cancellation of this morning's early workout, so I did this at lunch:

Standing Stump Presses - 4 x 6 x (bar + 2 x 45 DB hanging from chains) = total @165#
DB Lateral Raises: 12 x 35, 10 x 40, 8 x 45, 6 x 50
Upright Rows: 8 x 115, 2 x 6 x 135, 3 x 155 (Crappy form), 5 x 145 (better)
DB Shrugs: 4 x 8 x 65
DB Front Raises (To overhead): 4 x 8 x 30 supersetted with
Machine Military Press: 8 x 3 stack, 8 x 4 stack, 8 x 5 stack, 8 x 6 stack

Did 50 crunches between exercises (200 total)

Today had a fair bit of rage built up. Last night was not a good one for me. I wasn't behaving well and earned quite a bit of negative vibes from Cathi. She spilled her side of the story to her Mom and a couple of friends so I'm not very popular in the neighborhood I'm sure. I admit I was a jerk and have a problem controlling my anger at times. Here is more information on the problem.

Feeling pretty depressed about the whole thing, but turned that emotion into energy for the workout today, so it worked to my advantage. Now to slow down and be thoughtful tonight. Need to mend things at home for a while. Cathi - if you read this post - "pardon me", I'll do better.

Triceps

Cable Tricep Presses: 10 x 70, 8 x 80, 8 x 90, 8 x 100
Dips: 12 x bw (240), 12 x bw + 25, 12 x bw + 35, 12 x bw + 45
Nosebreakers: 3 x 8 x 95, 10 x 95
Tate Presses: 10 x 30, 10 x 35, 2 x 8 x 40
French Presses: 4 x 8 x 115
Crunches: 4 x 50

Came in early to work and did this at work. I didn't lift with Brandon as he is doing legs. Since I did this early in the morning I can still take my lunch break to play Table Tennis.

Back

Deadlifts: 8 x 225, 5 x 275, 4 x 285, 3 x 295, 2 x 305, 1 x 315
Crunches between deadlift sets: 5 x 50
Pull Ups: 4 x 4 x bw (240)
Bent Over CG Rows: 10 x 90, 3 x 8 x 135

Used chalk and belt on last three sets. Forgot my camera so I couldn't video, but I'm sure my form isn't all that great. I think my legs push up too fast forcing my lower back to do more work than it's supposed to. Took an hour to do this, so it involved alot of rest. Lifting at Brandon's tomorrow.

Light and fast Chest

5:45 @ Brandon's:

Flat Bench: 25 x 185, 5 x 215, 6 x 205, 8 x 195, 8 x 185, 8 x 165, 8 x 155
Incline Flys: 4 x 12 x 40
Decline Flys: 4 x 12 x 40

I went light weight, and went with speed pushing, but the number of reps was probably more than is suggested for DE work. I noticed a muscle in my upper back on the far right side twitching several times today. It feels weird.

For lunch I wanted to lift more to supplement the lack of working hard, but was convinced by Bala to play table tennis. I was 3 and 1 the first four games, but over the span of probably a dozen games it was pretty even. It was fun and I learned some techniques to use and not use(at least on him anyway). Tomorrow I'm not lifting at Brandon's so I'm going to have to demonstrate some real will power to not play table tennis at lunch and lift instead.

Lifting tired

This morning I got up and started lifting at 5:30 AM at Brandon's. We did Shoulders:

Military Press: 12 x 95, 12 x 125, 10 x 155, 6 x 175
DB Front Raises: 4 x 12 x 25
Shrugs: 8 x 135, 3 x 8 x 185
DB Lateral Raises: 4 x 8 x 40
DB Military Presses: 4 x 12 x 40

Probably went too easy today. Not really pushing it much, but did work up a sweat. Played ping pong for an hour today and it was a good day, like Monday. Yesterday, Bala had his way with me. Today though I was the king. Sent in my Tournament entry form for me and Austin to the National Tournament in Las Vegas on December 14 and 15th. It's going to be fun and I'm hoping to improve my skills between now and then.

Arms

Standing EZ Bar Curls: 10 x 95, 10 x 105, 10 x 115, 6 x 125
Preacher Curls: 8 x 95, 8 x 105, 8 x 115, 10 x 75
Lying EZ Bar Tricep Extensions: 10 x 95, 10 x 105, 10 x 115, 8 x 125
Lying DB Tricep Extnesions: 2 x 10 x 40
Tate Presses: 2 x 8 x 40
Alternating DB Curls: 4 x 10 x 40

Felt good about this morning's workout. Sweat a bunch and at the end of several sets was pushing it to get the last rep. Not difficult to get up this morning. Hoping that my body gets used to this amount of sleep. Traffic coming in was ugly again. Starting at 5:30 from now on. Hopefully leaving at 6:45 instead of 7:00 for work makes a difference.

Heavy Bench

Flat Bench with shirt: 3 x 225, 2 x 365, 5 x 1 x 375
Incline Bench: 12 x 175, 10 x 195, 8 x 215, 6 x 215
DB Flys: 10 x 40, 10 x 40 (with 10 bench reps), 12 x 40 (w 12 bench reps), 14 x 40
Pushups: 25, 20, 15, 10

These felt great. The 375's felt really good. One of them got help on just cause Brandon and Wayne were nervous for me, but I had it. Shirt arms are really tight.

I didn't go to lift with Stump cause of the stupid scout meeting that was all day Saturday. At least I'm official now and don't have to get nagged about getting trained anymore. I'll tell ya, If I'm ever in a position to tell people to spend an entire day in training, I'm not going to give them crap for not doing it. I didn't feel that it was all that productive.

Very busy week ahead of me. Hope to get everything accomplished. Will lift at Brandon's this week in order to keep my lunch short and get going on my other stuff.

Speed Shoulders

I read this morning in an old book I had on Fitness about speed work. I didn't learn anything new but it reemphasized the importance of working those fast twitch muscles. So I did the following exercises at a really light weight:

Cable Lateral Raises: 4 x 4 x 10

Close Grip Pulldowns: 4 x 4 x 100
supersetted with
PullUps: 4 x 2

Shrugs: 4 x 4 x 135
supersetted with
DB Lateral Raises: 4 x 5 x 30

Close Grip Upright Rows: 4 x 5 x 95
supersetted with
Seated Wide Grip Cable Rows: 4 x 5 x 100

Not much rest between sets and these were really easy. Seems counterintuitive to do such light weight so few times. Kept in mind that it was speed work and am hoping that it does something.

Triceps

Had a crappy morning at work. Didn't feel very motivated heading into the gym, but after the third exercise I started to get into it.

Close Grip Bench: 12 x 135, 2 x 10 x 185, 10 x 205
Dips: 12 x bw, 3 x 8 x bw (235) + 45
Standing Cable Tricep Extensions: 4 x 8 x 80
One Hand Standing Cable Tricep Extensions: 8 x 40, 3 x 10 x 30
Reverse Grip One Hand Standing Cable Tricep Extensions: 6 x 30, 3 x 8 x 20
Lying DB Behind Head Tricep Extensions: 4 x 8 x 65

Felt good about this workout. Movements were clean and deliberate. Yesterday worked through lunch and didn't lift. Back feeling much better, not ailing in any way.

Back and attempted DL PR

This morning I slept in, the alarm wasn't set to go off and I had a late night last night. My neck and upper back were really bad. I was considering getting an appointment for a massage today, but decided to work lower back and hope that might even things out a little.

Deadlift: 6 x 255, 4 x 275, 2 x 315, 0 x 365 (tried three times) ended up taking the quarters off and doing one more @ 315. I think my legs are longer than the average person of my same height. I got the 365 off the ground on the three attempts but my legs were way too bent I think. Next time, I'll post video for some pointers.

DB Chest Supported Rows: 3 x 10 x 45, 10 x 55
Midrack Pulls (notch 17): 8 x 135, 6 x 225, 4 x 315, 2 x 405, 1 x 485
Pull Ups: 2 x 4 @ bw

I also did 50 crunches between exercises (200 total).

Disappointed with the 365 attempt. That would have been a PR. I did 365 once before, but that was with wrist straps and knee wraps. I only had a belt this time (and some chalk). Will post vid next time. I need to research whether sumo style is for me.

Chest

Warm Up: 20 x 185

High Rep Flat Bench: 3 sets of 10 lower half fast, 10 upper half fast, 5 full fast (25 total) at 185 pounds, 2 more sets minus the 5 full reps at the end (20 total), last set 8 lower, 8 upper, 1 full rep.

Incline Press: 2 x 8 x 205, 2 x 8 x 175

Military Press: 15 x 95, 10 x 115, 2 x 8 x 125

Felt like I pulled something in my upper back on the left side that starts at the base of my neck on the left and extends to the top of my left shoulder blade. A tightness rather than a real pain. Same general area that was affected by last weeks intensive incline work.

150 reps of 950? Is this guy for real?

I was emailed an article by Critical Bench:

HIGH REP PARTIAL TRAINING
By Nick Nilsson

Gain strength and muscle mass! This training technique is one of the best kept secrets for sending strength and muscle mass through the roof quick! Learn why it works and exactly how to do it for best results.

The partial rep is one of the most effective training techniques for building strength quickly but how can you adapt partials for boosting muscle mass at the same time? The answer is simple: high rep partial training.

Partial training, in a nutshell, involves only moving the weight in a shortened range of motion. This can be anywhere in the range of motion of an exercise but for our purposes, we're going to use the strongest range of motion, e.g. the top few inches of the bench press. For a more detailed description of partial training,
please refer to the following article:

Partial Training For Full-Powered Results
http://hop.clickbank.net/? westy04 /betteru&l=1070

The reason conventional low-rep partial training is so effective for strength building is that you are using extremely heavy weight for low reps. This builds up excellent connective tissue and muscle strength.

Unfortunately for muscle gaining purposes, this type of training also results in a very short time under tension. Time under tension refers to the length of time a muscle is placed under continuous tension during an exercise. In order to stimulate muscle growth, your muscles need to be under tension for approximately 30 to 60 seconds (this is a rough estimate - it works out to about 6 to 12 reps in a
conventional, full-range set).

A typical partial rep may take only one or two seconds to complete. If you do 5 reps, your muscles have only been under tension for 5 or 10 seconds. This is not nearly enough time to stimulate muscle growth. Now imagine doing 30 reps instead. This puts you right in the middle of that optimal range. Not only will you be using extremely heavy weight (which is great for building muscle and strength), but you'll
be placing your muscles under tension for a long enough time to stimulate muscle growth. This is an extremely effective combination!

High rep partials can be used on their own or in combination with low-rep partials or even conventional full-range sets. I often use them after doing a few sets of extremely heavy low-rep partials. For example, I will do top range bench press partials with 600 or 700 pounds for low reps then remove a few plates and do a set of 50 or 60 reps with 315 pounds on the bar. I have also done sets of extremely high rep partial squats with extremely heavy weights (150 reps of 950 pounds). I've
found both of these techniques to be very effective for building both strength and muscle mass quickly.

Give high rep partial training a try in your next workout and don't be afraid to push yourself. You may be surprised at how many reps you can do with a weight you may not have even considered using before!

About the Author:

Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best
Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at :
(http://hop.clickbank.net/? westy04 /betteru).
He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

The theory sounds reasonable, but the claim that he can do 150 reps of 950 pounds has me now questioning the authors credability.

Man my lats are sore!

Surprisingly my chest isn't sore in the slightest, but my lats are very sore and a little in my upper back. Great work yesterday. Today I did th elliptical trainer for 25 minutes and then did some biceps work:

Preacher Curls: 8 x 115, 6 x 135, 2 x 135, 4 x 8 x 115
DB Alternating Curls: 12 x 30

Already spent too much time off work today so I went back to it. Going out to a team lunch tomorrow, so tomorrow is off. Very slack this week. Hopefully when Brandon gets back I can get back into it again. Spent alot of time looking for new pants today. Does anyone else have problems getting pants? (If you as big or bigger than me)

Incline work

This morning I noticed that I could use some more strength in the upper pecs so I focused on Incline today:

Incline Bench (45 degrees): 8 x 135, 3 x 8 x 185, 7 x 195, 6 x 205, 5 x 215, 4 x 225
Incline DB Press: 4 x 12 x 65 (Need heavier DBs at Tomax)

I had to rush through this. Only had 45 minutes. Brandon isn't able to lift this week so I'm on my own. The long weekend was fun and yesterday worked through lunch, so I have some pretty hefty guilt I need to work off.

Short arms workout

This morning it was just Brandon and me. We had to cut it short as it's really a Friday with the long weekend and taking tomorrow off too.

Here is what I did:

Standing Preacher Curls: 12 x 75, 10 x 85, 8 x 95, 6 x 105
Nosebreakers: 12 x 95, 10 x 105, 8 x 115, 8 x 125
Preacher Curls: 12 x 95, 10 x 105, 8 x 115, 3 x 125
Lying DB Tricep Extensions: 4 x 8 x 80

Today the President of the United States came into town and traffic was again a nightmare. It took me an hour and a half to get into work today. That is more than double the normal time it takes. Can't wait for him to leave.

Light and fast - Chest

Flat Bench: 12 x 135, 6 x 6 x 225 (All focusing on elbows in, tight chest and explosive movement from lower portion with distinctive pause)
Incline Bench: 10 x 135, 3 x 6 x 185
Flat Bench DB Flys: 4 x 8 x 40 (pause at bottom then explode up)
Pushups: 40, 20, 10, 5

Met at 5:45 am at Brandon's so that Wayne and I can not get stuck at the worst part of traffic. Still took me an hour to get into work today. Arms tomorrow.

Back and Lats

Pullups: 6, 6, 5, (1 assisted) 6 (2 assisted help)
Bent Over Rows: 4 x 8 x 155
Lat Pulldowns: 12 x 85, 10 x 125, 6 x 185, 6 x 175

My left hand has a pretty decent callous just below my ring finger. I think my ring makes it worse. I've cut it off before, but it comes back and it appears to be more painful. Definitely not happy with the quantity of the morning's workout, so I'll be lifting at lunchtime.

Lunchtime lift:

Midrack pulls: 12 x 135, 12 x 225, 5 x 315, 5 x 405, 3 x 485
Upright rows: 8 x 95, 8 x 105, 8 x 115, 8 x 125
Seated Shoulder Wide Cable Rows: 12 x 180, 3 x 8 x 200
Good Mornings: 2 x 8 x 95
150 crunches

Dug out the wrist straps which really came in handy for the last couple sets. Felt much better about the day's lifting by including the lunchtime lift.

Shoulders

Seated Military Press: 12 x 135, 8 x 155, 6 x 175, 4 x 175
Shrugs: 4 x 10 x 175
DB Front Raises: 2 x 6 x 40 (alternating), 2 x 12 x 20 (synchronous)
Standing DB military Press: 4 x 12 x 40
Lateral Raises: 4 x 8 x 40

Brandon mentioned that his shoulder wasn't hurting. When I got home I noticed a little tenderness in the top of my left shoulder, but didn't last more than just a few minutes. By the time I left for work, it was fine.

Something's missing. Although I wasn't slacking, I didn't feel that great about the quality or quantity of today's workout. Doubtful that I'll be sore. Lats and back tomorrow, yeah!

New PR - 1 rep dip

Today I was curious what I could do for a 1 rep dip. I put two x 45's on a chain and wrapped it around my weight belt and did a few of them, then put one more 45 on the chain (135 pounds total) and did one rep nice and slow going down and strong back up. So that means that including my bodyweight (235) I can dip 370 pounds. Not an exercise you usually do a 1 rep max on, but there you go.

I then did a small workout:

French Presses: 4 x 8 x 115
Tate Presses: 4 x 8 x 40
Captains Chairs (legs straight): 5 x 8

I was getting ready to do cable tricep presses when Cameron came in and asked to play table tennis. I caved in since yesterday I used my old paddle and he beat me pretty bad. The paddle I'm used to isn't a whole lot better. He is just getting better. I used to slaughter him. Now they're pretty close games. Today's record was 3 wins 1 loss, which I was disappointed with.

Heavy Bench

Flat Bench:
20 x 135
6 x 315 (4 block)
6 x 365 (6 block)
6 x 365 (6 block)
6 x 315 (4 block)
6 x 245 no block
4 x 275 no block
7 x 225 no block

Focused on setup and keeping elbows in on the downward movement. Felt quite a strain on my lower triceps as the groove was much lower than I'm used to. Stopped early due to the strain. I'll do triceps tomorrow.

Going to Cabin & Bear lake this Weekend with my brothers and sisters and parents. Should be fun.

Scaping Shoulders out of the bottom

Not much motivation today either. I got in there and scraped together a workout from the bottom of my barrel.

Military Press: 2 x 8 x 135, 2 x 6 x 155
DB Shoulder Rotating Shrugs: 4 x 8 x 65
Upright Rows: 8 x 115, 8 x 125, 6 x 135, 3 x 165 (cheated and ugly), 8 x 115
DB Lateral Raises: 4 x 8 x 40
Wide Grip Cable Pulldowns: 8 x 150, x 6 x 170, 5 x 190, 4 x 200

The fourth upright row was way too heavy. I got one close to my chin, but it was ugly and the other two weren't even close, so I did one more set with lighter weight and went with form and quality.

Went over to Brandon's again to find a darkened house, so I went to work early. Work this morning sucked (couldn't get answers from people, and discovered code that isn't very well organized) so I believe that affected my attitude at lunchtime. I'll email Brandon right now to make sure I get a good chest workout tomorrow morning at his house.

Lost the drive after a couple exercises

This morning went to Brandon's where a note was left on the door saying that he stayed up all night with a sick child. I took advantage of the opportunity to go to work early.

At lunchtime I did:

SLDL: 8 x 225, 5 x 275, 3 x 285
Ham Curls: 2 x 12 x 45, 8 x 70

On SLDL: Had to do an alternating grip on the last one as my grip on the second started to wane and was lucky to get five without hurting myself. The last one was tough (mostly on the first one), but able to get all three.
Lost motivation when doing the ham curls. Very hungry and didn't have much emotional energy for lifting so I left to go have lunch and get back to work.

On Sunday I was asked to consider shaving my beard to maintain the respectable "missionary image" which goes along with a small influential position in my ward. For the longest time I had murmured when my dad told me about his workplace not allowing beards at his work and told him that I would rebel if asked to do so. The rebel in me is disappointed that I just turned over like a wet little dog. But at the same time glad that I didn't let my pride get in the way of obedience. That's all it really affected this time. It could have been worse.

No more hiding the double chin behind some facial hair. Now I have to lose more weight.

Early morning exercise

This morning Cathi's running partners backed out so she and I went on a nice 8 mile bike ride this morning along the new trail. It was a little cool (59 degrees) and was quite refreshing. I won't be lifting today at lunch.

Today is another evening of heated dueling at the table tennis club.

Heavy Back workout

Deadlift: 3 x 275, 2 x 295, 1 x 315
Pullups: 3 x 4 (Last set included 10 pound weight)
Rack Pulls: 3 x 225, 3 x 315, 0 x 405, 1 x 385
Good Mornings: 5 x 95, 3 x 115, 3 x 125
Seated Close Grip Cable Rows: 8 x 180, 2 x 3 x 200 (Whole stack) + 30pounds of chains

I left my wrist straps in the back of my car which would have been nice for the last set of rack pulls. I couldn't get the 405 because of the grip (All sets were double overhand grip), so I opted for alternating grip and went down to 385 which was much easier. The Good Mornings were also surprisingly enjoyable. Good workout.

2nd half of today's lift

Chest

DB Flys: 2 x 10 x 45 immediately followed by DB Presses (2 x 10 x 45)

Floor Press: 3 x 225, 3 x 3 x 275

Decline Press: 3 x 275, 3 x 285, 3 x 295, 3 x 305

Pushups (feet on bench): 4 x 25

Core: 4 x 50 crunches

Those decline presses were putting a strain on my shoulders. Not too bad, but I'm sure glad I didn't go heavier, or more sets/reps. It was perfect. The pushups also put a nice strain on my lower triceps. Will take two glucosamine/chondroitin tabs tonight rather than my normal one tablet.

Felt good about today's workouts.

Chest - first half of today's lift

Flat Bench with 2 boards: 12 x 225, 6 x 3 x 315, 3 x 335
Incline Bench: 8 x 215, 2 x 6 x 225, 5 x 235
DB Flys with DB Press: 2 x 10 x 40

Brandon's shoulder was really hurting so we quit there. We must have transitioned slow because it was already an hour into it and had two more sets of Flys and pushups to do. I'm going to lift at lunch today to compensate and to work the chest even more than a normal day. Happy with the 315's. I've never done a workout higher than 300 for the entire flat bench session (except warm up) before, so I was happy there.

Concentrating on the squeezed shoulders, elbows in, big breath, feet pushed into the mat all at the same time was difficult. I guess I'm a simpleton, but there were a few sets there were at least two of the reps were with all of the above techniques used at the same time. Still need to focus and keep all of those things in mind through the entire set.

Deadlift and Back

Deadlift: 8 x 3 x 225
Seated Cable Good Mornings: 4 x 3 x 150
Close Grip Cable Pulldowns: 4 x 3 x 150
Bent Over Rows: 4 x 3 x 135
Core: 8 x 10 situps followed immediately with 25 crunches. 80 Situps and 200 crunches total.

All exercises were done with weight at about 50-60% or so but with explosive movements. Weight felt really good and the movements were strong. Felt like a slacker actually with the low number of reps and low weight, Hopefully this speed training stuff does something.

Shoulders

Military Press: 15 x 95, 10 x 115, 8 x 145, 7 x 165
Lateral Raises: 4 x 8 x 40
Smith Shrugs: 4 x 8 x 185
Arnold Presses: 4 x 8 x 40
DB Military Press: 4 x 8 x 40

I pulled something on those shrugs. It was tougher doing it in a smith machine, than I've done before at Tomax. Trying to rotate the shoulders while in a smith was putting a strain on my neck which I didn't really discover until after the sets were over. Its getting worse throughout the day. I'll have to put some heat on it tonight.

Tomorrow I'm going to skip working out with Brandon in the morning and do some deadlifts and back work.

Kris is putting together an International Bloggers’ RAW and Natural Open Virtual Powerlifting Meet. This will be a meet which anyone, anywhere can participate in given that the events are done raw and natural and the lifts must be completely visible using a digital camera. Stinn will either be participating or be the judge. I think this is a grand idea and am excited to see if we can get a bunch more people to participate.

Benching at 7800 S. Redwood

This morning I talked Cathi into letting me go to meet with Steve at the Gold's Gym at 7800 S. Redwood at 8 am. I met Kyle (Moosie) and Mike Cordova, and Manny(sp?) who was the veteran of the group.

All very nice guys and gave lots of tips and encouragement. The few biggest things I took away from the session was all about setup:

1) Shoulders tight! - When I lay down my arms used to be outstretched with my shoulders blades relaxed. Instead I learned to squeeze my shoulder blades together before I take the lift off.

2) Once I get the lift off and I'm at the top I need twist my elbows inwards towards my body, get a massive breatch of air and come down with my arms down instead of flared out to my side.

3) When I hit the bottom and do the pause, I EXPLODE!!!!!! popping the weight up (and down towards my feet). Since my form before has been so bad, I need to change my groove lower. It is higher than it should be because of the lack of getting my arms in. With my shoulders tight and my arms in (along with keeping my feet solid on the ground) it should force my back to get the arch that I keep hearing about and have never been able to get.

The equipment is also better. The bench at Tomax is too high and not wide enough. Brandon's bench is much better so I will for sure be doing my ME days at Brandon's and my DE days at Tomax.

Stump also traded me bench shirts. He had a 50 Fury (called the grape because of the purple back) which was much tighter and felt better than my 52 Fury. I gave him my 54 as a trade which I was glad to do as 54 is like a seatshirt anymore.

I was most impressed with Kyle's workout. He was putting up 580 (4 boards). Here is what I did:

Bench (4 boards with shirt): 8 x 315, 3 x 365, 3 x 385, 3 x 385, 1 x 405, 1 x 425, 1 x 425

On a couple of these my body was so far up to the pins and I'd sometime brush against them on the way up, or get stuck underneath them and had to get my spotter to push me out away from them so I could get them up. Some of that was that I was setup too high, and some because I did get my elbows in enough and my groove was higher. Kyle said to make sure that when I push, to push the bar towards my feet instead of up above my head. I'm really hoping that over the next few weeks that I get all these techniques down and go down for another session early September.

Mike is going to the Elko WABDL meet and I know David Edgell is going. I'd like to ask about a mock meet that David Edmundson could judge to get some good feedback before I go to a real thing. My goal is to really push my bench and deadlift so that next year when they have a meet that I'm fully prepared with enough confidence to get what I'm capable of with the amount of experience that I have (Which is still relatively small).

What an enjoyable morning! I noticed that I was thinking about the shoulder blades and the tightness involved that I was driving home with my back against the seat with my shoulder's and upper back all tight as if I was getting ready for a big lift. What an awesome experience it was today. I'm looking forward to next time.

Arms

Standing Curls: 4 x 12 x 95
Preacher Curls: 12 x 75, 4 x 10 x 95
Tricep Extensions: 4 x 10 x 80
Tricep Cable Extensions: 4 x 8 x 85

Fighting the traffic in the morning isn't fun and Brandon had to take off a little early and since he's the glue to the morning routine, we cleaned up and took off.

Going to focus on DL tomorrow.

More Chest work

Flat Bench: 15 x 185, 12 x 215, 10 x 225, 10 x 235, 8 x 245, 8 x 255, 8 x 265
Decline Bench: 10 x 215, 10 x 225, 10 x 235, 8 x 245
Flat DB Flys: 4 x 10 x 40 with 4 x 10 x 40 Speed Presses
Smith Squats: 2 x 8 x 185

Went to failure on the last set of Decline benches. Wayne had to help me on the last rep quite a bit, but its the first time I've gone to that point of failure in a long time. I think I need more of that. The other guys are going to failure just about every time, and many times I've got alot more fuel in my tank.

Isaac was sick last night so I was only getting short periods of sleep between comforting him. I also get off early today to go help Josh move, so I'll be wasted by the time I get home and ready to hit the sack.

Going for new Bench PR

This morning I was late to Brandon's. I had to haul all my gear over there including two x 45's (which I weighed this morning and they are actually 47 pounds).

Bench: 3 x 315, 1 x 345, 1 x 375, 1 x 385, 0 x 400. Here is video
Pullups: 2 x 8 (4 with help)
superset with Military DB Press: 2 x 15 x 40
Military Press: 15 x 115, 12 x 135, 10 x 145, 10 x 155

I wasn't as mentally focused on this attempt. I'm surprised I got 385 with the mental condition I was in. Wayne talked me into just putting on 2.5 pounds more on each side and go for 400, but it didn't go up. My breathing was off, I didn't focus on getting my shoulderblades squeezed together, and the weight was wobbly coming down (which also contributed to my legs not staying steady). Next time I'll attempt 385, 395 instead of messing with 375. This is my fourth time doing 385.

Arms with Austin

Today Austin spent the afternoon with me at Tomax. He and I play ping pong every Friday at the Wasatch Front Table Tennis Club. Before going to the club I did arms with Austin:

Preacher Curls: 3 x 8 x 115
Dips: 3 x 8 x (bw (240) + 45)
Alternating DB Curls: 3 x 8 x 45
Tricep Cable Extensions: 3 x 8 x 80

Austin lifted with me real light (he's 10 years old). It was fun teaching him a little. I'd love to lift seriously with my boys when they get older.

Table Tannis went well again. I was 3 and 1 again this week.

Last time for legs at the Bubble

During the kids swim lesson I did:

10 min bike
SLDL: 8 x 225, 6 x 245, 4 x 245
Leg Press: 12 x 14 plates, 8 x 15 plates, 8 x 16 plates
Calf Raises: 12 x 100, 8 x 200, 6 x 300, 4 x 400

Didn't have much time or enthusiasm for a killer workout, but better than skipping today.

Backed off doing Max - did DE Bench

Flat Bench (Legs Up) - 25 x 135, 12 x 185, 12 x 205, 12 x 225, 12 x 205 (Oops didn't get the right weight, no wonder it was easy), 12 x 225, 12 x 225
Incline Smith Press: 12 x 135, 3 x 8 x 185
DB Flys 21s: 3 x 40, 30
Pushups: 4 x 15 (Diamond, fist, fingertips, clap)

I didn't do a max, cause my shoulders and upper back are even more sore than yesterday. Brandon and Wayne tried a max, but they didn't get what they wanted. I told them Monday is the best day for attempting a max cause you automatically get 2 days off (if you take weekends off). So we are going to try maxing on Monday.

Sore from yesterday - getting ready for tomorrow

Tomorrow I am going to attempt to build up to 395 on the bench. I'll video it.

1st attempt: 365
2nd attempt: 385
3rd attempt: 395

Today I only did 10 minutes on the elliptical trainer. Lazy sucker.

Killing the Shoulders at the soon to die Bubble

Today I worked straight through lunch and got off work at 3pm. I went to the Bubble on the way home. I have 3 more visits which I need to use before August 12th when they close the facility. Today I did shoulders:

10 minute Bike
Military Smith Press: 12 x 135, 3 x 6 x 185
Standing Reverse Cable Flys: 12 x 40, 10 x 60, 2 x 6 x 70
Standing Rows: 12 x 95, 8 x 115, 8 x 135, 6 x 135
Smith Shurgs: 8 x 185, 8 x 225, 2 x 6 x 275
Seated Close Grip Cable Rows: 10 x 190, 8 x 200, 2 x 8 x 210 (The whole stack)
DB Laterals: 4 x 8 x 40
Standing DB Military Press: 12 x 50, 6 x 60, 8 x 65, 6 x 70

Excellent workout. Took 1:30 to complete. Empty gym most of the time. Rocked out to Rammstein on my MP3 player. Plus I got to beat all the crappy traffic which was already to the south of me.

Arms at Brandon's

Preacher Curls: 12 x 95, 3 x 8 x 115
Lying Tricep Extensions: 4 x 10 x 115
supersetted with
Alternating DB Curls: 4 x 10 x 40
Standing Tricep Cable Extensions: 12 x 65, 10 x 75, 2 x 8 x 85
supersetted with
Standing Barbell Curls: 15 x 75, 3 x 12 x 75

Great workout, sweated a ton though and that room has no air flow so I'm sure the other guys were holding their breath. Brandon's birthday isn't until August, but I don't think I can wait that long to get him a decent fan for that room.

Chest

Flat Bench: 20 x 155, 8 x 275, 8 x 275, 7 x 275, 6 x 275, 15 x 225
Decline Smith Press: 3 x 8 x 255, 7 x 255
DB Flys, Supersetted with Tate Press/Flat Press: 10 x 40, 6 Tate/15 Flat
Pushups: 25, 25, 20, 13

Today I had good effort and I was wishing we could do more but pushed it hard enough to make it satisfactory today. This week I'll be at home all day with the kids. So I'll be lifting at Brandon's in the morning.

Heavy Triceps

CGBP: 3 x 5 x 225 (8" between hands)
Dips: 2 x 5 x (bw (240) + 45, 5 x bw + 55, 4 x bw + 90)
JM Presses: 5 x 95, 2 x 5 x 115
DB Tate Press: 5 x 45, 5 x 40, 5 x 45
Rope Pulldowns: 5 x 7 plates, 5 x 8 plates, 5 x 9 plates
Triangle Pushups: 15 high, 15 normal, 15 low
Crunches: 3 x 50

On the CGBP I felt some slight shoulder pain on the first set (should have warmed up with something), but each set progressively got better with less strain on my joints.

On the Dips I was psyched that I could do two x 45's 4 times. I was hoping to do it once, but stopped at 4. Next time I'm going for 3 plates for a one rep max.

Today was the first time I have ever done Tate Presses. The first time I was nervous with 45 since I wasn't sure I could handle it and didn't want to squish my face in. The form wasn't that great and it was difficult to keep my elbows flared out, so I went down to 40's and then the form was strict. After that I went back up to 45 as I felt more confident with the form and the weight and did just fine.


Triangle Pushups are just where you bring your hands closer together and form a triangle with your thumb and index fingers of each hand. I then placed the triangle at neck height for high, chest range for mid, and then stomach for low range. This works the triceps in different areas.

I was very pleased with today's workout. I felt strong and exceeded the plan.

Legs for the 2nd time this week

I went to Brandon's again early in the morning. I was not happy when I found out he was doing Legs, but I stuck around and did them anyway, (sort of)

Smith Squats: 4 x 8 x 185
Lunges: 2 x 95 (I skipped the rest of them as my left knee was having trouble)
Quad Extensions: 12 x 75, 3 x 8 x 100
Ham Curls: 4 x 8 x 40

I'm feeling tight in my calves today. Hopefully my Table Tennis play tonight won't be affected too much.

Duplicating the Roy workout from last week at Tomax

Today was Shoulders/Back:

DB Lateral Rows: 3 x 8 x 45
Military Press: 8 x 135, 8 x 140, 8 x 145, 8 x 150
Lat Pulldowns: 10 x 140, 8 x 170, 8 x 190, 8 x 200
Seated CG Cable Rows: 4 x 8 x 200
Mid Rack Pulls: 6 x 135, 6 x 225, 5 x 315, 4 x 405, 3 x 480 (All the weight in the entire Tomax Weightroom)

Crunches: 4 x 50 throughout the workout.

I was happy with this workout and the first time I've ever loaded all the weight in the room on a bar. I know it isn't much compared to what many guys can do, but it is a milestone nevertheless for me. Wouldn't it be awesome to have that much on a bar and bench it! One day.

Bench at Brandon's Basement

Flat Bench: 20 x 135
4 blocks: 2 x 8 x 300
2 blocks: 2 x 8 x 275
no blocks: 6 x 275, 8 x 265

Incline Smith: 2 x 10 x 185, 6 x 205, 8 x 185

DB Flat Bench Flys:
4 x 10 x 40 + 4 x 10 x 40 DB Presses fast.

Pushups: 25, 20, 15, 15

Could barely soap my pits this morning, I pushed it this morning although I wish I had another few exercises. I'll do more at lunchtime.

All out on Legs

Squats: 12 x 135, 8 x 185, 6 x 225
SLDL: 8 x 225, 6 x 250, 4 x 275
Leg Press: 3 x 10 x whole stack (@ 300)
Ham Curls: 12 x 45, 8 x 55, 6 x 70
Quad Extensions: 12 x 90, 8 x 135, 6 x 180

I felt a little pain just under my left knee cap during the squats, leg press, and quad extensions. It wasn't so bad that it prevented me from completing my prescribed sets/goal weights. Today's workout went much better than planned. Hoping to be sore tomorrow. My legs need alot of work.

Fully recovered from Roy... resume with Arms

After last Thursday's workout I was pretty sore for a few days throughout my entire upper body. So today was the first day back from that killer workout. I did arms:

Preacher Curls: 8 x 95 (inside grip), 8 x 105 (outside grip), 8 x 115 (inside grip), 5 x 125 (outside grip)
Standing French Presses: 8 x 115, 8 x 125, 5 x 135, 5 x 135
Alternating DB Curls: 2 x 8 x 50, 2 x 5 x 55
Dips: 12 x bw (235), 10 x bw + 25, 8 x bw + 35, 8 x bw + 45
DB Wrist Curls: 8 x 35, 3 x 6 x 45
Reverse One Arm Cable Curls: 10 x 1 plate, 3 x 10 x 2 plates

200 crunches total (4 x 50 between exercises)

This workout took 1:15 and I was moving pretty well through it. Felt really good today and I was pleased with the effort.

Lifting at the Roy Gold's Gym - Meeting David Edgell

This evening after scouts I rushed off to the Gold's Gym in Roy. I got there at 7:00 and didn't notice anybody huge or any group of people lifting together, so I figured I got there on their off day and started to do some benching:

Bench: 15 x 225, 8 x 275

I then noticed a couple huge guys gathering and figured I didn't miss them afterall. I went to the front desk and asked them if they knew David Edgell and they told me who it was and I went and introduced myself. David is one of the powerlifters in the state and he introduced me to Bill, another huge and strong guy who happens to live in Syracuse where I live. I also met Bryan, a marine who probably weighs close to what I do, but is nothing but muscle, so much stronger. Then there was Mickey who I think I overheard was 16 years old and the sone of another powerlifter in the area. So five of us in the group today.

David said today was back day so I joined in on the fun:

15 minute bike ride

Machine Lateral Raises:
12 x 160, 3 x 10 x 180

Rear Deltoid Machine:
12 x 100, 3 x 8 x 160

Pulldowns:
10 x 180
3 x 6 x 200

Seated Cable Rows: 4 x 8 x 200

Mid-rack pulls (Explode up, slow down, then hold weight at top for about 3-5 seconds at the top on the last rep):
5 x 135, 225, 315, 405
4 x 495
3 x 585

Curls (While Bill and David did some serious weight mid-rack pulls):
10 x 95, 6 x 115, 6 x 95, 8 x 95

Those Mid-rack pulls were fun! I've never heard of those before nor ever seen them done before. David provided spot and support for the last two sets. He told me to stop at 585 as it starts to get real heavy. David and Bill continued on to over 1000 pounds on their last couple sets (12 plates each side). These guys are huge!

The thing that suprised me with today's workout is that there was only one free weight exercise. I also was surprised at the use of wrist straps. I ended up using them definitely on the mid-rack pulls, and on the pulldowns. I was also impressed with the support the group had for each other. There were many key words used such as "Up", "Big" and "Strong". David told me that they discourage negative words and that the last word of a sentence or comment before a big lift should be positive.

David asked me if I had any medication for pain. I think he expects me to be seriously sore after this workout. I too expect to be sore, but not overly so.

I came home extremely happy with this experience and Cathi also was very supportive and said that as long as the other evenings that I'm in a good mood and helpful she wouldn't mind me going once a week. I was grateful for her thoughtfulness, but I'll try for once every other week for now. Gold's Gym isn't cheap, and I'm not sacrificing Friday's Table Tennis, so I can't expect Cathi to let me gone 2 nights a week every week. That's too much. So the next lift for me in Roy is Wednesday, July 26th where the guys will next do Bench.

Another Massage by Kristyn and the Tomax Summer Barbeque

Last Thursday may knot points flared up (two knots one just inside and below my shoulder blades on each side) so I called for an appointment with Kristyn. I was disappointed that I had to wait until Tuesday, and by that time the knots weren't bad. However I kept the appointment and man was I glad I did. At first it was painful, but after just a few passes, the knots were nearly completely gone.

This massage was much better than the last one in that I wasn't sore afterwards, but relaxed. Next time I get knots I'm calling in right away.

Today Tomax threw a barbeque from 11:30 - 1:30pm (with a softball game) for the employees. There were about 30 players among 2 teams so I only hit twice (double and single). No long bombs. Conservative hitting. There were a few who tried hitting it over the fence (none did though) and ended up getting caught well short. Remember I work with geeks and the average weight is probably 160 pounds with arms that are 10 inches in diameter. I had alot of fun and there were many guys from India who were trying to not play cricket. Great time overall.

Because of the barbeque I wasn't able to lift today. I called David Edgell and left a message to have him call me about when the next Bench day is at the Roy Gold's Gym. I sure hope its tomorrow, cause I've been saving my chest for working out with David and his posse. I'm sure he's going to make me suffer.

Shoulders and Tris fashioned after Stump's last blog

I've been following another Utahn lately: Steve Fredine (Stump)

Today's workout was fashioned after his latest Shoulders/Tricep workout

Standing Military Press:
1 x 5 x 135
1 x 5 x 145
1 x 5 x 155
1 x 5 x 165
1 x 10 x 135

Cheat Lateral Raises:
2 x 5 x 45
2 x 5 x 50

Dips: 5 x 12 x bw (235)

JM Presses:
1 x 10 x bar
1 x 5 x 95
1 x 5 x 100
1 x 5 x 105
1 x 5 x 110

Overhead High Pulley Rope Extensions:
2 x 5 x 8 plates

Overhead High Pulley Short Bar Tricep Extensions:
2 x 5 x 8 plates

The JM Presses were the first time for me. I tried to do them with a high level of control and strict movement. Felt good. The toughest was the 165 on military press. I ended up cheating on the last rep by dipping my knees to get a little momentum. The Rope Pulls were hard too, but the moving to the tricep bar made it much easier. Good workout today. Had it scheduled down to the very minute and kept within schedule. Workout done in 55 minutes.
Thanks Stump!

Helping Eric Move

Today I was planning on legs. I loaded up 185 and did 5 squats and it didn't feel great. I did 50 crunches and then did 8 reps of SLDL at 185 and they felt OK, but the motivation just wasn't there today. I remembered that I had to help Eric move today, so I figured it would be dumb to get all sore from lifting before doing something that would probably be just as good (especially all those little stabilizer muscles that I never use even when lifting).

So I bagged it after those two sets and played ping pong (which isn' a strain on anything) for the rest of my lunch break. Ping pong by the way on Friday at the WFTTC was awesome. I was 2 and 1. Not my best performance at the club, (3 and 0 is my best) but not too shabby either. I finally learned the name of the guy with one of the best forehands at the club. Besi usually comes with Tim and his son Jason. Besi has an awesome forehand shot, and I got a couple games on him, but he came through with the 4 games to win.

Today's lunch matches I played Bala and Gyan 3 times each. Beat Gyan 3 times, but Bala only once. Bala is a little more cautious in his shots than he used to, more chop than I remember.

Chest - before going to Lagoon

This morning I met at Brandon's to do another Chest workout:

Bench: 15 x 135, 12 x 250, 5 x 8 x 280
Incline Smith Press: 12 x 145, 2 x 8 x 195, 5 x 205
DB Flys: 4 x 12 x 40 (all we got)
Push ups: 25, 15, 15, 10 Less than 1 minute rest

This workout was pushing it for me. I haven't lifted in 5 days with the vacation. I did some ultimate frisbee with the family and man did that make me realize what a fat slug I am. I ate just about anything placed in front of me, but it sure was a fun time being with the family and doing cool activities. Lagoon was long and hot, but the kids had a total blast. This was the first family reunion week that hasn't made me crazy. I was actually sad to see it end.

Looking forward to getting serious with the lifting now.

Neck

Today I almost didn't lift. I was still sore all over from earlier this week. The only part that I could conceivably lift without hitting already sore areas was neck. So here is what I did (and I had to rush it as I had a 1:00 meeting):

Standing Preacher Bar Front Rows: 8 x 115, 3 x 6 x 135

Barbell Shrugs: 8 x 225, 3 x 6 x 245

Seated Close Grip Cable Rows: 8 x 170, 2 x 8 x 190, 8 x 200

Core work: In between sets I did 10 Captains Chairs(100 total)

Felt good about this workout even though I wish I had another 30 minutes for more.

Chest - focusing on feet placement and drive

Man my legs are probably the sorest they have ever been. Monday's workout was bare bones, but did it ever kick my butt! The good thing is, it won't take very much to improve in the legs and hopefully it will skyrocket. Hoping to be unsore enough on Friday to do another session.

Today's bench was to focus on feet placement and driving my heels into the mat.

Flat Bench: 10 x 225 warm up
4 x 4 x 225 - with bar pausing on my chest for seven seconds, then driving the weight up as powerfully as I can with my mind focusing on keeping my feet under my butt and driven into the ground.
2 x 8 x 275 with 4 blocks. These are touch and go, no pause.

Incline DB Press: 3 x 10 x 65 (The heaviest DB's we have. Wish I could afford heavier ones, but these will have to do.)

I did 50 crunches between exercises: 500 total.

I put a post up on the Utahpowerlifting forum and got several people offering to have me lift with them or get some tips. Very cool group of people. I called David Edgell and talked with him for a bit. Looks like he and a group of guys workout up at the Roy Gold's Gym at 7:00 a few days a week. I told him that I would call him in a couple weeks once I get back from vacation to find out what day the week of July 10th his group will be doing bench.

From the conversation, I get the feeling that I will definitely be thrown into the fire by working with these guys, but I think that would be good for me. I wish I had unlimited resources and time and then I would definitely join in full blast. I'll have to be satisfied with probably twice a month going up to the Roy Gold's gym. Hopefully I can take much of the methods learned there to the Tomax Gym and even get somebody at Tomax to really get excited about lifting too. There is a WABDL competition in Elko which David is interested in getting me to train for. I'd love another chance at 405 (with the proper technique and training this time) soon rather than waiting another six months. After I get back from the vacation I'll have to have a serious talk with Cathi to see if she is OK with me putting a little more priority on lifting.

First time doing legs in a long time

Squats: 12 x 135, 8 x 155, 6 x 175 - My legs were cramping up pretty good at this point. Reminding me to stretch before I do squats next time.
SLDL: 3 x 8 x 225 - These were tough to complete especially the 2nd and 3rd sets, but I did get them!
I figured I would be plenty sore tomorrow so I stopped here. My goal is to do legs twice a week which is a huge improvement over once every two weeks which was about what I was doing before.

Getting back to work

This morning I met Wayne and Brendon for some biceps:

Pullups (Rotating between lat/bicep grips): 4 x 7 x bw (240)
Standing Preacher Curls: 12 x 90, 12 x 85, 15 x 80, 15 x 75
Preacher Curls: 12 x 75, 3 x 10 x 95
21s: 3 sets

I got a good burn. My lower biceps are cramping up a little today so it was a great workout. We need a fan in that workout room badly! Dude I stink!

2006 Utah Summer Games - Bench Only Competition

Short Story –

1st attempt – 385 (success)
2nd attempt – 395 (fail)
3rd attempt – 395 (fail) My goal was 405 for 3rd if I got the 395 on the 2nd.

I was disappointed with my results in this meet, I had some surprises which threw me off, but next time I’ll be more prepared, not to mention stronger!

Here is a video of the lifts.

I did end up getting the gold medal in the open 235 and up weight category for the bench-only competition. So that was cool, but like I said when I started, it was the PR I wanted most, so getting the gold was bitter sweet.

Long Story -

Weigh in was at 8:00 am. I weighed in at 239. I was supposed to weigh under 235, so I was pushed into the heaviest category, 235 and up. I didn’t care too much as the only concern I had was with getting a new personal record, not what anyone else was doing.

At 9:00 they started squats. There were several guys squatting over 400 and a few at 500. I was in awe. They started with the youngest category moving to the open division and heavy categories. They didn’t start bench until around 11:00 or so. Then there were so many people doing bench only that it wasn’t until 1:30 that I did my lift. I was there drinking Gatorade and trying to get pumped for 4 hours and by the time I did my lift I was exhausted mentally.

About 15 minutes before my lift I did 275 twice with no shirt on, I was surprised at how heavy the weight felt. I knew though that the shirt and the pressure would give me that extra 100+ pounds.

As it turned out I was the last lifter for the day as I had the biggest opening lift (385 pounds). It was strange for me to see these really big guys lift and sometimes fail at weights that I have done. The heaviest weight benched to that point was 405 with the second best being 390! I had confidence that I could get the 385 and 395 since they were weights I had done before. At this point the gym had more people in it than the whole day. Here was the last bench of the day – talk about huge pressure and this was my first time doing a big lift outside of the Tomax basement!

My first lift did go up with some struggle, but it did go up. 385 down, 395 and 405 to go!

I had about 3 minutes until I had to lift 395. I was so anxious, it was hard for me to relax that whole time. I was angry earlier in the day that the lifters would take so much time (making me wait) so I felt self pressure to hurry up a little. What was most distressing was that it seemed as everyone was watching me. I hated that!

When I went for the 395 I couldn’t get it more than 3-4 inches off my chest before it stopped and started coming down. The spotters quickly grabbed it out of my grasp. What a bummer!!! My chance at 405 is gone! There is no way I’m going up in weight on my 3rd attempt if my 2nd wasn’t even close! So I had to at least tie my PR (395) on my third.

On the third I went further, but got stuck and couldn’t lock it out. I was upset that I didn’t meet my goals! However I was at least grateful I got 385. If I were to bomb out completely that would be the worst (and there were a few that did earlier in the day).

I was angry at myself because I have been struggling with my feet ever since I’ve started benching over 300. I have never had leg drive and my legs don’t give me any help at all. I talked with John, the master powerlifter who was the ref. He said I did need to work on my leg drive. He said to put 225 on the bar and let the bar sit on my chest for about 5-10 seconds (still pushing though so the weight isn’t resting on me) and then concentrate on my legs pushing my body up the bench so that they stay on the ground and help me get that weight up until the power transitions to my traps.

Lessons learned:
· focus on legs, not only for bench, but to get my squats and deadlifts to a respectable level.
· Next time I will not drink Gatorade all morning
· I will start major mental prep no more than 15 minutes before.
· Stay outside the gym until 10-15 minutes before my lift. Its too intense watching the others right before me.
· Make my opener smaller
· RELAX!!! Until its time to perform, and when it’s time do so with some RAGE! This meet I was unable to get some real rage as I was mentally exhausted by the time it was my turn.

Some things I thought were handled very well at the meet:
1. The organizers were good at judging. There were several people bouncing the weight off the chest, and they didn’t let that slide.
2. They were good at getting the crowd to cheer. When monumental lifts were being made they announced something that would cause the crowd to wake up a little and cheer.
3. They accommodated people who had music preferences and played their music during their lift.
4. John (the main judge) would give those who failed their lifts good direction on how to overcome their flaws and motivation to get the next attempts. But the fact is that without practice it’s hard to really adopt big changes unless those techniques are already mastered.
5. The gym was well cooled. It was probably 100 degrees outside (the doors were wide open too), but the gym stayed comfortable.

Some problems I had with the meet:
1. Two folding chairs. There was a lot of gym equipment, for spectators to sit on, but only two folding chairs! I was surprised at that! I had to sit in uncomfortable places for over 5 hours before my lift!
2. The water fountain was very wimpy and only had about a 1 inch arch. I was so sick of Gatorade by noon that I started drinking from the drinking fountain and I wasn’t impressed.
3. When I asked where the closest bathroom was, I was directed to a porta-potty about 50 yards away. I didn’t really think about this until I used it, but let’s say I take a dump in a portapotty with no facilities for cleaning up, and then go lift, my dirty hands are going on a bar that someone else is going to touch in the same place. I located a real bathroom where I could wash my hands but I don’t know if a porta-potty should be made available when a bathroom is twice as far, but people can wash their hands.

Thanks to everyone (Especially Cathi!) for supporting me in one of my passions in life!

Massage by Kristyn

Yesterday evening I got an hour long massage just on my upper body. It was awesome. There was a knot in my back just below each shoulder blade. It was quite painful to get them worked out, but they sure feel better than before. She did a fantastic job and was very professional. I'm definitely going back.

If you are interested in getting a good massage and live in North Davis County, Utah, give her a call at 644-5724. She's located at the Lifestyle Fitness Center in Layton at 1014 W. Gentile.

Taking it easy

I heard that I need to really rest up before the meet and I have been doing that except for today I did just a few sets:

Speed bench: 3 x 275, 3 x 275, 3 x 225

I experimented with finding my ideal grip on the bench. I believe it is with pinkys just inside the ring rather than middle finger on the ring.

It's been painful to stay completely out of the gym. In fact, I'm getting a one hour massage tonight, thanks to my in-laws for the Fathers Day gift!

I compiled a little list of things that I must not forget to pack for the trip:

Leather Belt
Wrist straps
Bench Shirts
Chalk
NB Shoes
Camera
MP3 Player

I am getting really excited. I ordered #9 How Not To Bomb Out of a Meet DVD last week. I hope it gets here soon and that it contains something I can use for this Saturday.

I've remained on my decision to do 385/395/405. I'm doing the bench only. I really want that 405 bad!!! I've done 385/395 in the gym, so I'm hoping that the extra enthusiasm in the competition gives me that extra push to get the new PR. After this weekend I'm going to start working the legs real hard.

Biceps early in the morning

This morning I went of to Brandon Mattson's again, this time for biceps:

Pullups: 4 x 8 (5-8 with help)
Standing Curls: 12 x 95, 3 x 12 x 75
Preacher Curls: 2 x 12 x 75, 24 x 65, 20 x 65
Alternating DB Curls: 4 x 10 x 40

The car door locked on me with the keys in so that added an extra 10 minutes to my day. The weights today were much better and I was getting a good burn. Never felt like I was overexerting myself with too much weight. Lifting extremely light for the rest of this week until next Saturday.

That chest workout I was supposed to do light!

I was supposed to take it easy this morning, but oh boy did I overdo it. My pecs have cramped up several times throughout the day. I imagine I'm going to be pretty sore tomorrow. Its hard to really cut back! Make me feel really slack to go 5 reps of 65% That would mean I would do five sets of 255 and thats it! I'll have to do that next week for sure.

Lifting Chest in Brandon Mattson's basement

Yesterday evening Cathi suggested we go see Mattson's new terrier puppy. Cathi told me a couple weeks ago that Brandon lifts every morning with a friend of his. I called him last week about lifting with him but he had to go on a business trip. Well yesterday evening he showed me his gym and offered to let me work in with him and his partner, Wayne.

I got to bed late (11:30pm) and got up at 5:45 to go lift. Here is what I did:

Flat Bench: 15 x 225, 6 x 6 x 275
Incline Smith Press: 4 x 8 x 185
Military Smith Press: 12 x 115, 2 x 8 x 125, 5 x 145
DB Flys: 4 x 40
supersetted with
Tricep Cable Extensions: 10 x 65, 3 x 8 x 75

There was basically no rest between sets with the three of us constantly moving in/out and changing weights around. I was sweating like a pig, and I was completely fatigued by the time it was over. Next time I will definitely need to contain my enthusiasm and keep the weight much lower so I don't overexert myself as the meet gets closer. Excellent workout! I'll call him tonight to see if he still wants me to come on MWF or T and TH to avoid it getting too crouded.

Shoulders and back

SLDL: 3 x 5 x 225
Shrugs: 3 x 5 x 225
In between exercises did 50 crunches

Alternating DB curls: 3 x 5 x 45
DB Military Press: 3 x 5 x 45

In between exercises did 15 situps

Back Cable Extensions: 3 x 5 x 200
Preacher Curls: 3 x 3 x 145

In between exercises did 10 captains chairs

I wasn't planning on lifting today, but Brendon was interested so I wasn't going to flake on him. Finally getting some benefits out of having a partner! Also my neighbors wants me to join him tomorrow morning during his morning workout.

I'm anxious to have another good evening of Table Tennis at the club tonight. Have a good weekend.

Last heavy bench day til the games

Today I got Brendon and Luke to spot on some heavy bench work:

1 x 315 (slow with no shirt)
Put the shirt on....
1 x 385 (slight pause again at the half way point, but pushed past it)
1 x 395 (Stuck at half way point, struggled and weight came down (Thanks spotters))
1 x 405 (This one coming down was nice until I got to the half way point then it came down too fast. Stopped on the chest and I couldn't get it even 1/4 way up, so the spotters helped me get it up the whole way nice and slow)

DB Press: 20 x 65, 2 x 12 x 65 speed press
Decline DB Flys: 12 x 40, 2 x 12 x 45

I knew that the 405 I would need help on, but I was disappointed that I couldn't get the 395 up. I'm thinking that I'll start at 385 at the meet, and on the third attempt hopefully get 405.

This is my last time doing big weights before the meet (June 24th). I'll be doing some speed presses at 65% the next couple weeks.

Back

Seated Cable Rows: 6 x 200, 2 x 6 x 200 (with Chains)
15 Situps
Chest Supported DB Rows: 12 x 35, 8 x 45, 8 x 50
15 Hyperextensions with 45 BB
Close Grip Cable Pulldowns: 12 x 150, 2 x 6 x 180
15 Situps
Military Press: 8 x 135, 2 x 6 x 165
15 Good Mornings with 75 pounds

Today I worked out with Brendon and it was nice to have a partner to move things along. We did this workout in less than 35 minutes. It was hot in the weight room too! No Air conditioning and no fan.

Biceps with Brendon

Today I convinced Brendon to join me. He choose Arms so we did:

Preacher Curls: 3 x 10 x 95
Tricep Cable Pulldowns: 12 x 80, 2 x 6 x 100
Alternating DB Curls: 3 x 8 x 40
Close Grip BenchPress: 12 x 185, 2 x 6 x 225

I didn't want to hit anything too much today as I'm going to the Table Tennis Club tonight. I got enough Birthday money to get a new Mark V GPS paddle which I hit with after this workout against the robot, and boy did it hit differently. It gives a much more hollow sound versus my old Mark V Paddle, but it is much faster and "crisper" than the old paddle. I'm excited about hitting there tonight.

Earlier in the day I read a post from "ironjohn" regarding how I should best be preparing for the June 24th meet. I'll go for one more big lift next week (385,395,405) and then go with sets of 3 at 335 for the next two weeks.

DE Bench

Well - my neighbor cancelled, so I had to do my DE at work. I got Luke to help spot me so I did the following:

Bench:
8 x 225
Put the shirt on....
1 x 365 (easy)
1 x 375 easy
1 x 385 paused at the sticking point but did get it up after yelling it out.

I rewarded myself with 30 minutes of hitting ping pong balls against my robot. Next week I'll have two spotters, so I'll definitely start at 375, 385, 395.

Pleased with today's numbers.

Shoulders with back and abs between sets

DB Lateral Raises: 3 x 4 x 50

10 Hyperextensions between sets

Bradford Press: 3 x 4 x 135, 145, 155

50 crunches between sets

DB Rotating Shrugs: 3 x 4 x 60

10 Good Mornings (45 pound bar only) between sets

Upright Rows: 4 x 115, 2 x 4 x 165

10 Captains chairs between sets

Front DB Raises: 3 x 4 x 40

10 Side bends between sets

This felt like a good workout. The good mornings were surprisingly easy and felt good. The lower back felt tight, but not as if something was wrong or overexerted. Thanks to Jason Paris for the encouragement to hit some lower back along with the abs.

Benching at the Bubble v2

Smith Press: 3 x 6 x 315
Incline Press: 8 x 135, 8 x 165, 8 x 185
Machine Flys: 3 x 12 x 220
Decline DB Press (Fast reps): 3 x 10 x 75
Bent Over Cable Flys: 10 x 60, 10 x 70, 8 x 90
Dips (240 bw): 12, 15, 19

I was so excited about today's new PR that I got off a little early to go to the bubble. I have 8 visits left on my pass, which I need to use before August 12th or I lose them.

I'm also thinking about joining a neighbor once a week in his basement to lift. With the meet next month, I probably should do a few negative sets to get used to the real heavy weight. Good day today.

395 bench - new PR

I was building up mentally all day for this lift. I planned on going down at fifteen minutes till noon to warm up. Man it takes a long time to get ready. It really did take 15 minutes to prepare. When Christian and Luke showed up I had the weights all ready.

The camera was acting up on me, so I didn't get it filmed as I felt pressured to hurry it up as Luke and Christian were waiting for me.

I put the leather belt on the third notch in to keep the shirt down low. I felt the weight coming down real slow, but on the way up, I went out of my groove and the weight shifted left at which point I called for help. The weight felt so light coming down, I knew it was going back up. That was very reassuring, so I made a 2nd attempt a few minutes later.

Christian also suggested that I move the bench a little lower and allow him and Luke to give me a liftoff. I agreed, and I think that helped.

On the second attempt I took the weight down slow too. When I stopped at the bottom I pushed it up hard and fast. At the same sticking point (about 1/3 way up) I screamed it out literally past that transition point and it went up strong! I felt great with it. I'm just bummed I couldn't video it so I can critique it afterwards. They both said it was strict and looked good. At any rate, I was very pleased with the 2nd attempt.

I did four more one rep sets of 315 without a shirt focusing on squeezing my shoulder blades together and that felt good. I didn't do anymore after that, because I plan on getting off at 3:15 to reward myself with a trip to the Bubble for a full chest workout with some good equipment.