Today I have some pretty sore muscles from something I pulled in my back. I went ahead with my bicep workout. The sore muscles actually made me focus more on my biceps. My workout consisted of:
One arm preacher curls inner and outer 3 sets of 10 warm up. Then 3 working sets supersetted with standing dumbbell bicep curls.
3 working sets of inside hammer curls supersetted with reverse curls.
I am working with very low rest between sets and really working on the squeeze of the muscle.
Another late night workout, with the holidays I am expecting more of these. Tonight I trained my shoulders, I started out with a warmup of stretching, and shoulder circles. Just to get the blood flowing to the area.
Front DB Raises – 4sets of 12 at 30lbs
Upright Row – 4sets of 12 at 105lbs
Bentover Row – 4sets of 12 at 105lbs
Side DB Raises – 4sets of 12 at 30lbs
Rear Delt Rotation – 4sets of 12 at 20lbs
Dips – Bodyweight of 4sets of 15 – I feel like this really hits my rear delt. I have several variations of dips to hit different parts of my upper body.
On all of the above excercises I felt like I could have gone 5-10lbs heavier. By the end of the workout my shoulders were pumped and were exhausted.
Today was my first time in a late night workout in a long time. I auctually really enjoyed it, Jay Cutler 4x Mr. Olympia said that he likes to workout at night since he has consumed most of his meals so he feels fuller. I felt the same way today, the pump I achieved after my workout was amazing.
One a strange note, while on my cutting diet I have gained 2 pounds… Which I know is muscle since I can see myself leaning out. My abs are fully visible and I can see the seperation between the left and right side of my abs.
Today I started with incline bench press – 4sets of 10 at 145l bs (I tend to go lighter since sometimes this puts strain on my shoulder)
Cable Flys – 4sets of 10reps at 188lbs – This was amazing to me it felt light!!
Flat Bench – 4sets of 10reps at 205lbs
Overhead Cable Pulls – 4sets of 10reps at 105lbs
Today I worked both biceps and triceps. The reason is did this, is I see that allot of the pros do this and I wanted to give it a try. I first fully exhausted my biceps and then did my tricep workout. This was awesome, it gave me an incredible pump, but it also made me focus on my triceps.
Biceps –
Concentraion Curls – 4sets of 10 at 30lbs Dumbbell
Hammer Curls – 4sets of 10 at 20lbs
Seated Dumbbell Curls – 4sets of 10 at 20lbs
Cable Preacher Curl – 4sets of 10 at 80lbs
One Arm Preacher Curl – 4sets of 10 at 36lbs
Triceps –
Rope Pulldown – 4sets of 10 at 60lbs
Overhead Dumbbell Extension – 4sets of 10 at 20lbs
Reverse Grip Pulldown – 4sets of 12 at 36lbs
There will be a day 2 of triceps later in the week, I am trying to bring out the heads of my triceps a little more. So I feel by splitting the workout I can hit them harder.
My vascularity is way up, I can see veins all the way around my forearms, and around my biceps, triceps, and elbow.
Cardio – 1 session today, my left ankle is hurting really bad, I also had some cramping in my legs during my run.
Today was a great shoulder workout, last year I had a shoulder injury from throwing a ball. I am still extremly careful when I workout my shoulders, if I feel something start to pull or stretch I back off. This means when I workout my shoulders I really make sure I am contracting the muscles during the movement.
Front Cable Raise – 4sets of 10reps at 60lbs
Standing Lateral Dumbbell Raises – 4sets of 12reps at 30lbs
Upright Row – 4sets of 12reps at 105lbs
Rear Delt Rotation – 4sets of 12reps at 20lbs
Shoulder Press – 4sets of 12reps at 105lbs
I also wanted to give a big thank you to all of my friends on Facebook that are reading this blog. It means allot to me that you guys take the time to look at this.
Bodybuilders are frequently asked which bodypart is there favorite to workout, for me its all of them. I don’t think I have a least favorite. In the last couple of months I have noticed my upper chest was lagging so I made sure to give the upper chest a harder workout to bring them up, progress has been made almost to the point where I am happy with it.
Chest – 1warm up set flat bench – 150lbs at 15reps
Flat Bench – 4sets of 10reps at 205lbs
Dumbbell Flies – 4sets of 10reps at 40lbs
Cable Flies – 4sets of 10reps at 145lbs
Decline Bench – 4sets of 10reps at 175lbs
Overhead Cable Pulls (upper chest) 4sets of 10reps at 160lbs
I really felt good after this workout, I can begin to really see the definition starting to come through. I was hoping to see some striations in my chest, I am seeing a little bit but not as much as I would like. I am still early in the cutting game. So time will tell
One way you can tell if you had a good workout is when you can’t move that bodypart. My biceps are killing me, I included a couple of single arm workouts to really get the pump going. My focus here is to stay injury free, by lowering weights and flexing the muscle at each rep you get an amazing workout without the risk of tearing something.
Biceps – Warm up- Cable Ez Bar Curl – 1set at 15reps at 40lbs
Preacher Curl – 4sets of 10reps at 60lbs
Concentration Curl – 4sets of 10reps at 30lbs
Hammer Curl – 4sets of 10reps at 30lbs
Reverse Curl – 4sets of 10reps at 36lbs
Single Arm Preacher Curl – 4sets of 12reos at 36lbs
Abs – Cruches 4 sets to failure also worked obliques.
Leg Raises – 4sets to failure
The weeks are flying by, earlier in the year my attitude was pretty lax about competing. If I missed a workout I was upset but it was ok I still had time. Now I feel like if I miss a workout or a cardio session I won’t be ready. Its funny how the date seems to suddenly be right around the corner. Well today was back day, I also threw in some legs. I try to break my leg days up through out the week so I can hit each portion of the leg with full stregnth.
Back –
Pulldowns to front – 4sets of 10reps at 200lbs
Bentover Row – 4sets of 10reps at 105lbs
Reverse Grip Pull down – 4sets of 10reps at 185lbs
One Arm row – 4sets of 10reps at 50lbs
Lat Pulldowns – 4sets of 10reps at 165lbs
All of the above could have been heavier weights, but as I stated before concentrating on form and flexing the muscle at each rep give you more of a workout.
Quads – Leg Press – 4sets of 15reps at 205lbs
Hamstrings – Press – 4sets of 10reps at 105lbs (single leg)
My workouts have felt stronger than ever. I can feel my body reacting to the diet changes, which is a good thing. I am still working on posing and trying to find music to pose to for the finals. I tried a few new workouts today to switch things up a bit. I am watching the weight I am lifting and not going heavy just working on perfect form.
Triceps –
Cable Pulldowns – 1 warm up set and- 4sets of 12reps at 60lbs
Reverse Grip Cable Pullowns – 4sets of 10 at 36lbs
Cable Rope Overhead Tricep Extension – 4sets of 12reps at 36lbs (this is a new favoriate)
Single Arm Reverse Grip Pulldown – 4sets of 10reps at 24lbs
Dumbbell One-Arm Tricep Extension – 4sets of 10reps at 20lbs
Forearms – Wrist Curls 4 sets of each at 36lbs – Palms up and Palms down
Cardio – So far I have complete one session today. I will complete the other session before dinner tonight.
Today was a test of dedication – during the past 2 years I did not do any cardio at all, this was a mistake. After the contest is over I will drop my cardio to 1-2 sessions a week. So today was the ultimate test not only is it the weekend (so I dont workout) but it was raining. I got up went out and did my run! It felt like the best one so far.
Some diet changes-
1. Dropping the bowl of cereal and replacing it with a shake
2. Dropping white rice and replacing it with brown rice
3. Including red bell peppers in 3 of my meals
4. Tried tilapia it was ok, I think I over cooked it by allot so it was like leather. I will be adding that it with more of my meals, I didn’t realize that when I eat 12 oz of turkey it contains 32 grams of fat. That is not what I need right now.
5. Replacing ground turkey with chicken breast and tilapia
Like I said this is a learning experience for me, changing things as I go is expected at this stage.
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