11/14/2011 – Triceps/ Forearms

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.

 

 

11/13/11 – Sunday

Today I took a complete day of rest. Went to Church and spent time with family. Kept the diet in check except I had a single mini cupcake, but boy was it good.

11/12/2011 – Saturday – Cardio Only

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.

11/11/2011 Friday

Here is todays diet, I find my self hungry all of the time. I will start tracking weight next week. You will notice a change today, I am trying tilapia today!! wish me luck. Some diet changes coming up will be: dropping the cheerios for a protein shake, atleast the 4:30 meal will be tilapia (maybe more), will be adding in veggies for 3 of the meals.

7 Am – Bowl of Cheerios with skim milk (this will be changed to oatmeal soon)

9:30 – half hour cardio

10:15 – 1 Cup oatmeal, 4 egg whites, 1 whole egg, 3 strips turkey bacon

1:30 – 1-1.5 cups white rice, 8-12oz ground turkey

3:00 – Workout

4:30 – 1-1.5 cups white rice, 4oz tilapia

5:30 – half hour cardio

6:30 – 1-1.5 cups white rice, 8-12oz ground turkey

9:30 – Either a shake or another meal depending on hunger

11/11/2011 – Back and Forearms

Today will mark the end of week one of contest preperation. I cannot wait to shed off this bodyfat and water to see whats underneath. I can already start to see the striations in my legs and the seperation in the calf muscles. Today was the start of something new for me working out my forearms, as I type this they throb and cramp up, guess that means they needed it.

Forearms – Seated forearm curl – 4sets of 20 at 40lbs (this is a fast twitch muscle so you have to pump them to get them to grow)

Back –

Cable Pulldowns to back – 4sets of 10reps at 296lbs

Cable Pulldown to front – 4sets of 10reps at 250lbs

Shoulder Shrugs (traps) – 4sets of 15reps at 180lbs

Bent Over Butterfly – 4sets of 12reps at 40lbs each dumbbell

Cardio – Completed my first session this morning

11/10/2011 – Shoulders/ Calves

Another workout done! A day closer to my contest, time seems to be flying by. I see now why so few people auctually pursue bodybuilding contests, it takes a high level of dedication. There are lots of people that I talk to on the internet and in person that are in great shape, but they would never enter a contest. I always wondered why, you have to be able to control yourself. When you see someone else eating tacos, and you look down at your boring plate of ground turkey and rice. You just have to bear down at eat the meals you laid out.

Besides the workouts, diets, supplements, there is all of the diet research that I am doing. It took me 2 months to decide how I wanted to put my contest diet together. I tracked other peoples progress and took notes, it was nice because I got to see what worked for them and what didn’t. So enough with my mindless ramblings.

Shoulders – I have created allot of my own excercises that I feel target my shoulders. I won’t list those since I don’t have names for them.

Front Dumbbell Raise – 4sets of 10reps at 30lbs

Upright Row – 4sets of 10reps at 80lbs

Seated Row – 4sets of 10reps at 80lbs

Dumbbell Rotations? – 4sets of 10reps at 10lbs (you have to go light here, injury is easy)

Lateral Raises – 4sets of 10reps at 20lbs

Calves – Bodyweight Calf Raises- 4sets of 20reps

Cardio – Completed one session so far today

11/9/2011 – Wednesday

7 Am – Bowl of Cheerios with skim milk (this will be changed to oatmeal soon)

9:30 – half hour cardio

10:15 – 1 Cup oatmeal, 4 egg whites, 1 whole egg, 3 strips turkey bacon

1:30 – 1-1.5 cups white rice, 8-12oz ground turkey

3:00 – Workout

4:30 – 1-1.5 cups white rice, 8-12oz ground turkey (will change to tilapia soon)

5:30 – half hour cardio

6:30 – 1-1.5 cups white rice, 8-12oz ground turkey

9:30 – Either a shake or another meal depending on hunger

11/09/2011 – Biceps/ Quads Day 1

I am in the 2nd day of contest prep, so far so good. I have stuck to my diet perfectly, cardio has begun with two- half hour sessions each day. As the contest gets closer if I don’t feel I am where I should be I will step up the cardio. Soon I will begin tanning and practice posing. The hardest part for me is going to be coming up with a posing routine to music. I have to create a 60 second posing routine to music. I have been listing to different songs everyday trying to get an idea as to what will fit my style and personality.

Today was biceps and part of my quads.

Cable Curl – 1 warm up set, 4 sets of 8 reps at 82lbs

Single Arm Cable Curl (I hit this from as many different angles as I can) 4 sets of 8 reps at 36lbs

Hammer Curl – 4 sets of 10 reps at 40lbs

Reverse Curl – 4 sets of 15 reps at 48lbs

Pump Sets – 2 sets of cable curl flexing bicep through entire movement to failure

Quads – Leg Press 4 sets of 20 reps at 108lbs  – Not so much going to size here as I am definition

Stomach – Bodyweight Cruches 4 sets to failure

Cardio – So far today one- half hour session before breakfast. Will do one more session before bed.

 

11/08/2011 – Chest

I seem to always forget to update this site, I keep a constant log of where I am at in my diet, and progress. I just seem to forget to come on here and update it. So today was chest day and also the first day of cardio. I haven’t done any real cardio for 2 years. So with the January contest being just around the corner its time to get it started.

Benchpress – 1warmup and 4 working sets of 10 at 200lbs

Incline Press – 4 working sets of 8 at  185lbs

Butterfly Press – 4 working sets of 10 at 96lbs this is a cable butterfly

Reverse Grip Bench Press – 4 working sets of 10 at 85lbs (this is a hard press to do, you cant use much weight due to strain on shoulders)

Decline Press – 4 working sets of 10 at 105 – I was pretty worn out at this point

At the end I performed 2 sets of butterfly press to failure to work some extra blood into the muscles.

Hamstrings – Reverse leg curls (I don’t know what to call it) 4 sets of 20 at 65lbs

Cardio- 30 mineute run before breakfast, will do a second session before bed tonight

I will also be updating pictures weekly to track the cutting progress.

9/16/11 – Back

Just finished watching the Mr. Olympia pre-judging, all I can say is that I am speechless. Phil Heath brought his “A” game this year, but Jay Cutler looked awesome. Tomorrow will tell who will take the title, I am also interested to know if Jay will continue to compete next year or if he is going to retire. There has been some talk about his retirement.

Today was back day, my weight is at 187 pounds, 13 more pounds left to gain and only a few weeks left before I start my contest preperations. I really hit my back hard today and I am trying to increase width and thickness of my back.

Close Grip Pulldowns – 5sets x 10reps at 196lbs to front

Wide Grip Pulldowns – 5sets x 10reps at 200lbs to back

One Arm Rows – 5sets x 10reps at 50lbs (my dumbells only go to 50lbs time to look for heavier ones)

Shoulder Shrugs – 5sets x 10reps at 175lbs – should have gone heavier here, but I wasn’t paying attention to the weight until after

Calf Raises – 3sets x 15reps at 175lbs

I heard today that one of the Olympians on the stage started out as a bantemweight, I would love to end up on that stage. I may be a little old already I am 31 and I think Phil Heath is 31 and he is already on the stage.  Leave me some comments would love to hear from you.