Friday, April 28, 2006

Finishing the week with Legs

Squats: 4 x 8 x 155
SLDL: 4 x 6 x 255

Looking forward to draining myself completely of all energy at tonights TT club.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Good Arms workout

Armblaster Curls: 15 x 75, 3 x 10 x 95
Standing Cable Curls: 10 x 70, 3 x 8 x 80
Standing Tricep Cable Pulls: 12 x 80, 3 x 8 x 100
Weighted Dips: 12 (bw (240) + 10), 10 (bw + 25), 10 (bw + 35), 10 (bw + 45)
Alternating DB Curls: 8 x 45, 10 x 40, 12 x 35, 15 x 30

In between sets did 40 crunches (16 total = 640 Crunches)

This took a little over an hour to do and it felt great! I skimmed through a couple of arnold video's yesterday and it was Lou Ferrigno's lifting that inspired me. Not that I believe I could ever get that big or strong, but it was just inspiring.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Excellent Back and Shoulders workout today

Today my chest is still sore from Monday's lunchtime and evening lifts, so that's good. Today I decided to do Shoulders and upper Back. I felt strong, but not a whole lot of motivation so I'm very pleased that I stuck with it and did the following:

Barbell Shrugs: 4 x 8 x 225
BradFord Press: 8 x 135, 8 x 145, 2 x 8 x 155
DB Laterals (Opposite of Flys): 4 x 8 x 20
Standing Cable Crossover Laterals: 4 x 8 x 20
DB Presses: 8 x 55, 3 x 8 x 60
Rotating DB Shrugs/Rows: 4 x 10 x 40

Monday, April 24, 2006

Wading through a mentally troubling time

Things at work are getting more intense and my love for table tennis is on the rise again, it is hard to stay focused on my lifting endeavors. However I don't want to lose what I have so today I did a small chest workout:

Bench:

15 x 225 slow, 10 x 225 (with chains) pausing on the chest, 8 x 225 (wc) slow coming down, pause on chest and explode up without bounce, 6 x 245 (wc) slow and controlled, 8 x 245(wc) slow and controlled with pause at bottom.

DB Flat bench flys: 2 x 8 x 50

At this point my headache was getting heavier and my desire to play TT increased, however nobody was in the TT room which would present a challenge so I just took a five minute shower, had lunch and went back to work on the many small issues that face me. Yuk!

I also did 250 Crunches total today between sets.

Later in the evening during each commercial during the 7 - 9 pm hour of my two favorite shows (Wife Swap and The Apprentice) I would do one set of 8 x 225 feet up bench. That resulted in probably 10 sets (I missed a couple).

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Small Biceps Workout

Last week I didn't do Biceps at all so it was about time I got them put in:

Alternating DB Curls: 2 x 10 x 45, 2 x 8 x 45, 6 x 40
Preacher Curls: 5 x 10 x 100

I then played probably 12 games of Ping Pong with Kyle which he beat me probably 8, so I was frustrated. I think lifting arms and ping pong just doesn't mix very well. From now on its one or the other, I'm not going to do both during lunch, cause I then suck at both.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Good back workout

I took Friday off since my entire upper body was still sore. So today I decided to do back:

DL: 4 x 5 x 255
Chest Supported DB Rows: 4 x 5 x 55
Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns: 4 x 5 x 180
HyperExtensions: 2 x 5 x 35, 2 x 5 x 45
Close Grip Seated Cable Rows: 12 x 160, 8 x 180, 2 x 5 x 200

60 Crunches/10 Captains Chairs between exercises (240/40 total)

Squeezed this workout into an hour. Wish I could have taken more time and done one more exercise, but I had a meeting scheduled. Friday's TT club was awesome, I actually won two matches out of five.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Fleshy arms and Chest

This morning I read in the Book of Mormon a verse which lept out at me:

2 Nephi 4:34 - "...I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm."

Humility is something that typically doesn't accompany tough guys right, or is that just my own perception? That's a lesson for me to ponder and those who try to get strong should consider. How do we treat others? How big is your head? Enough of the sermon...

Today I did Chest workout patterned after Jason Paris' recent workout

Bench: 3 x 315, 4 x 295, 5 x 295, 4 x 295
Decline Bench: 20 x 225, 3 x 10 x 225
Incline Bench: 5 x 185, 6 x 175, 10 x 165, 12 x 155
Dips (bw): 15, 12, 10, 8

On the Incline Bench I originally intended to start at 225, but the first rep caused a cramp in my back and it took too much effort on the first one just to get up. I also was surprised that I lost so much steam after my first set of declines. This was indeed a tough workout and I respect Jason for the amount of weight and reps he did in his routine. That definitely was a good workout. I also did 50 crunches and 10 captains chairs between exercises (150 total crunches, 30 CC).

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Old Fashioned Lifting

In the modern world we live in weightlifting has to be done in order to prevent the degeneration of the human species. 4 or 5 generations ago we didn't have massive tractors to work on the farm, and the women had 3-4 times the number of kids with part of the reason probably being to help out on the farm.

Well today I am bypassing my lifting because I'm renting a tiller and for more than two hours will be tilling and shoveling which I am sure will make me more sore than most workouts I've done. So I'll let you know which is harder, lifting weights, or working in the garden. Not that I'm really rouging it as my 3rd Greatgrandfather had to use a mule rather than a powertiller.

During lunch I played TT with Bala. Today wasn't so good. He beat me 9 games and I beat him 6 games. I've found that I get lazy and play defense, but he knows how to play really good offense against defense and it backfires. I need to play more offensive style.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Legs and Ping Pong

Squats: 3 x 12 x 155
45 minutes of ping pong with Bala (He beat me 5 out of 8)
SLDL: 3 x 8 x 225

The squats felt good and weren't too painful. Bala came in as I was finished my 2nd set asking to play table tennis. I did one more set and played. We used the table that is in tight quarters so it wasn't my typical style to play that close to the table, so it was good practice in staying close to the table. Made it hard to play defense against kills.

SLDL's also felt good and I was happy with the movement and amount of effort. The back of my neck is sore from yesterday's neck extensions.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Good Shoulders workout

Bradford Press: 3 x 8 x 135
DB Shrugs: 3 x 8 x 65
Lateral Raises: 3 x 8 x 40
Neck Extensions/Lateral DB Rows Superset: 3 x 8 x 20/3 x 8 x 40
Arnold Presses: 3 x 8 x 40

Neck Extensions involve a headstrap that attaches to the bottom cable pulley and starting with my chin on my chest and lifting the weight back and away so that I am looking up at the ceiling. Not alot of weight, but last time I did this my neck was shocked and it was sore.

I also did 50 crunches between every set (500 total), and 10 captains chairs between every set on the last 3 exercies (60 total).

I was happy with today's quantity and quality, but not the amount of weight. I didn't truly struggle as much as I would usually like. Definitely nothing even close to failure. The toughest in this regards was probably the Bradford Presses.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Lower half Bench movement

With the use of blocks and chains I've noticed that my off the chest position has weakened. So today I did the following to strengthen the bottom portion of bench press:

Bench (stop half way up and go back down, pause on chest):

8 sets of 8 x 225

These were pretty tough. My work has been taking alot of my thoughts and while I don't mean to neglect my lifting passion, I'm finding that I'm becoming more invested in my work. When I notice others become passionate about their work I perceive that as a weakness, especially when they totally neglect their bodies to become workaholics.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Legs

Squats: 3 x 12 x 155
Leg Press: 3 x 10 x @330 (Whole stack)
SLDL: 8 x 185, 2 x 8 x 205
Quad Extenseions: 3 x 8 x 115

In between sets I did 50 crunches (400 total)

Its a pity that my attitude towards legs is that it must be done and I'm looking forward to get them finished and done with for the week. Hoping that one day I look forward to legs like others.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Triceps after a long weekend

Friday - Monday I played host to friends from Australia. Yesterday I had to leave at lunch to take Cathi to the Emergency Room for a terrible case of mastitis (which she has almost completely recovered from as of this moment), so today I was very much craving the weightroom. I did some much needed Tricep work:

Dips: 12 (bw(240) + 25), 10 (bw + 35), 8 (bw + 45)
Close Grip BP: 8 x 185, 8 x 205, 8 x 225
Nosebreakers: 8 x 95, 8 x 105, 8 x 95
DB Kickbacks: 6 x 30, 8 x 25, 10 x 20
French Press: 3 x 8 x 115

The DB Kickbacks were tough and I found most of the work in the upper triceps. While thats good, I'm looking for something that really works the lower triceps especially just above the elbow. I think all the other exercises hit the lower tris pretty good. In between exercises I also did 50 crunches and 10 side bends (each side) totalling 200 crunches and 40 sb each.

I didn't feel psyched about this workout, but content. Hopefully I'll get some great work the rest of this week.