Wed., 4/30/14, The Backwards Leg Workout

I have a very basic, straight-forward approach to leg training: squat (that's the most important exercise, the one I put the emphasis and effort in), some sort of press, during contest prep a lunge and one or two leg curls for the hamstrings; then usually I'll finish with ham/glute raise or back extensions. I would say that 95% or more of my leg workouts follow this order, as it is the most effective way I have found (and I have tried many...many ways.) But, there is that occasional: I think I'll do something different day.... and I managed to do it without hurting anything, which is fairly unusual. So here is the backwards leg workout:

seated leg curl: 2 sets of 20 and 1 set of 12 reps, increasing the weight each set
lying leg curl: 1 set of 15
ham/glute raise: 10, 6, 5 using a bar to assist, trying to assist as little as possible
lying leg curl: 1 set of 9
leg extension: 40, 20, and 10 increasing weight each set (but just heating them up good)
leg press: 40, 20 and 10 increasing weight each set (good burn, but no failure)
squat: 3 sets of 10 reps increasing the weight each set (again, no failure, but they were working)
calf press: 3 sets of 20 reps

This was a great pump and something that my legs are not accustomed to. The idea was to give the joints and nervous system a rest.

Tue., 4/29/14, Muscle Grow Diet

I have a base diet that changes here and there, but the staples stay the same. This is what I ate yesterday (yes there is a "cheat," and no, there is not one every day):
meal 1: 8oz egg white; 1cup oatmeal; apple
meal 2: 5oz chicken; 1/2c oatmeal
meal 3: 5oz chicken
post workout: 45g P4P Iso-Whey
meal 4: 5oz chicken; 10oz sweet potato; 1/2 slice carrot cake-   :O
meal 5: 5oz chicken; 8oz sweet potato; 2tbs peanut butter
meal 6: 8oz ground beef; 3 potatoes; ketchup and (gasp) mayo
meal 7: 35g whey protein

Mon., 4/28/14, Chest and Back

I decided to change my routine around a little, so today was a transition day: chest and back. It was not the most intense, but I was definitely working, my heart was going and I was sweating pretty good. Here's how it went:

incline barbell press: 45-20; 95-15; 115-12; 165-12; 215-8; 185-10
super-set with row:   45-20; 95-12; 135-10; 185-6;   225-6; 275-6

flat dumbbell press: 75s-15,12,12
s/s wide pulldown: 180-12,10,10

cable fly: 80-12,8; 60-8
s/s rope pulldown: 120-12,10,?

Boom! Just 3 exercises each; a great pump and a little heart workout too.

Fri, 4/25/14, Calves and Shoulders

This was the first time I've done shrugs since the World Championships last year. I've been struggling with neck issues on and off since the Mr. Universe in 2012. But, thanks to my chiropractors Dr. Gene Flynn and Dr. Jason Jones (I've been visiting regularly for the last 3 weeks), my neck feels good. Obviously, since I have done any, I started light.
I am slowly getting stronger, I can tell the P4P muscle's whey isolate is helping that. Here's how it went:

calf press: 90-50; 180-40; 270-30; 360-20; 450-20; 1-calf: 180-15,15,15
laterals: 5s-20; 15s-15; 25s-12; 35s-12
front raise: 40-15; 60-12,12
incline rear lateral: 35s-15,15,15
seated dumbbell press: 50s-15; 65s-12; 80s-8
seated dumbbell press: 60s-15,15

Thur., 4/24/14, Legs

I got an excellent leg workout today. It was fairly low-volume. The intensity was not crazy. It was just very focused and intentional. Here's how it looked:

squat: 45-20; 95-15; 135-15; 225-15; 275-12; 325-10; 365-6 (I'm still playing with the position of the bar on my neck, so these were not crazy sets.)
barbell hack squat: 45-6; 95-8; 145-8; 185-6
leg curl: 60-4,75-4,90-4,105-4 (no rest at all on these)
ham/glute raise: 6,8,10 (assisted)
leg curl: 120-6
hyper extension: 15

Wed., 4/23/14, Arms

Today was a very thorough, basic arm workout. It was good, though I did not break any poundage records, that was not the focus. The focus today was pump. I kept the sets close together (as I usually do for arms) and used a very controlled, focused form on everything. Here's how it looked:

cambered bar curl: 15-20; 35-15; 65-12; 85-10; 105-8,6
super-set with pushdown: 60-30; 90-20; 120-15; 150-15; 180-15; 210-8

1-arm dumbbell preacher curl: 30-12,8,6 (no rest)
1-arm lying extension: 35-15,12,8 (no rest)
1-arm concentration curl: 35-12,6,8,6 (no rest)
1-arm seated extension: 35-12,8,6 (no rest)

Tue., 4/22/14, Back

I got in a great back workout this morning. It was all very basic stuff. The pump was awesome! Here it is:
row: 45-20; 95-15; 135-10; 185-6; 235-6; 275-8+ 3 drop sets
wide pulldown: 180-12; 195-12; 210-8
machine row: 225-12,12,12
V-grip pulldown: 180-7,6

Mon., 4/21/14, Calves and Chest

I got in a great workout this morning. The focus was on pumping tons of blood into the muscle without stressing the joints too much. I did several different exercises though some of them only 2 sets. Here it is:

calf press: 90-30; 180-30; 270-20; 360-20; 450-25,15,15 (short rest periods, slow controlled reps with pause at the top)
seated calf: 100-25; 150-15; 200-10 + 3 drop sets

incline Hammer Strength press: 50-20; 90-15; 180-12; 230-12; 280-8 + 180-12
incline dumbbell press: 100s-10,6
bent over cable fly (for upper chest): 60-15; 80-12; 100-6
flat dumbbell press: 75s-15; 100s-10
rope cable fly (lower chest): 60-10,10

4/18/14, Deltoids

I got in a pretty good, intense workout this morning. It was very similar to what I did last week, with a few tweaks. The pump was awesome. Here's how it looked:

cable lateral raise: 20-15; 30-12; 40-10; 50-5
1-arm cable lateral: 50-8, 40-10,30-15,15
machine lateral: 150(the stack)-13 + 4 drop-sets
incline face-down barbell front raise: 30-15; 40-15; 50-15
incline rear lateral: 50s-12,10
seated dumbbell press: 50s-12; 65s-12; 80s-8

Thur., 4/17/14, Legs

Today I was putting into practice some advice from my chiropractor and long time friend Gene Flynn. He helped me out with positioning the bar on my traps differently than I have been, and also gave me a new hamstring exercise, the ham/glute raise, which I think is going to help my hamstring development tremendously. So this was not the most intense workout, because I was feeling out new stuff, but it was an excellent pump:

squat: 45-6; 95-6; 135-6; 185-6; 225-6; 275-10; 325-8; 365-4
leg press: 180-30; 360-20; 540-15; 680-10 (the only rest here was to get up, add weight and get down again)
leg curl: 60-15; 75-15; 90-15
ham/glute raise: 8,8,8 (I'm using a stick to help myself with these until I get strong enough not to.)

Wed., 4/16/14, Arms

I had an excellent workout this morning- just biceps and triceps, very focused. Here it is:

barbell curl: 45-15; 65-15; 85-15; 105-6,6,6+2
super-set with rope pushdown: 60-30,20; 80-15; 100-12; 120-12; 140-8; 160-6

preacher curl: 80-12,7,6
s/s lying triceps extension: 80-12,12,8

hammer curl: 50s-6, 40s-6, 30s-10
s/s seated 1-arm extension: 50-6, 40-6, 30-10

spider curl: 60-12,7,6+2
s/s seated rope extension: 120-12,12,8

Tue., 4/15/14, Back

I got an incredible back workout this morning. They were pumped, tight, full, hard as a rock. It was all basic, focused stuff. The intensity was up for sure, with not a whole lot of rest between sets and just the right exercises to fill it completely with blood from every angle. Here's how it went:

row:45-20; 95-15; 135-12; 185-6; 225-6; 275-6 + 225-6 + 135-12
wide pulldown: 200-12; 240-5; 180-12
rope pulldown: 140-12,8,8
seated row: 200-6,5+3

Mon., 4/14/14, Chest and Calves

I got in a killer pump this morning. I was feeling strong. The workout was all basic stuff for me. Here's how it went:

Smith machine calf raise: 90-30; 180-40; 270-20; 360-15
seated calf raise: 90-20; 140-20
incline dumbbell press: 20s-15; 35s-10; 50s-10; 65s-6; 80s-6; 100s-20
bent over cable fly (focusing on upper chest): 80-12,8,6
flat dumbbell press: 60s-12; 70s-10, 10
cable fly (for lower chest): 80-8; 60-10,15

Fri., 4/11/14, Shoulders and Calves

I got in a great workout this morning- incredible pump in both delts and calves. Here's how it looked:

machine calf raise: 90-20; 135-20; 180-20; 225-20; 270-20; 330-15
calf press: 360-35,20,20 (20 second rest between sets)
Swiss ball crunch: 40,40,20
cable lateral: 20-15; 3015; 40-10
1 arm cable lateral: 40-10; 30-15,12 (no rest)
machine lateral: 100-15,12,12 (30second rest)
face down incline front raise: 20s-12,12,12

Hammer Strength shoulder press: 180-10,8,9
super-set with machine rear lateral: 160-20,15,12 (no rest)

They were tight!

Thur., 04/10/14, Legs

Well, I once again found myself erring on the side of caution this morning, not going to true, absolute failure on the squats. And, again, finishing a less than sensational set on the squat, I found myself angry- turn green, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry. Which often results in the most brutal, focused annihilation of the quads for the remainder of the workout. I only had 30 minutes to do this workout. It ended in me having to excuse myself from my next client to go stick my head in a trash can for a few minutes. Here's how it went:

squat: 45-20; 95-6; 135-6; 225-6; 315-5; 365-17

leg press: 640-12,10,10
super-set with lying leg curl: 60-20; 75-15; 90-10 (no rest at all)

standing 1-leg curl: 60-15,10 (no rest at all) + 1 finishing set of leg press: 360-35

...No it's not that much. And most of first 15 minutes was stretching and warm-ups on squats. But once it started, it was on..... They were tight.

wed., 4/9/14, arms

I got a crazy arm pump this morning. With only 25 minutes to hit my arms, I decided to just do an unorganized circuit. Basically, I just went from one exercise to another without any rest at all for 25 minutes. I started light, just pumping the blood into the muscle, and progressively got heavier and heavier. It was yet another, "can't tough my shoulder," arm workout. They were tight. Here's a list of the exercises that I did:

cambered bar curl
rope pushdown
concentration curl
1-arm rope pushdown
cable curl
straight bar pushdown
seated hammer curl
seated overhead triceps extension
preacher curl
seated rope extension

Now how many sets at what weight, I cannot tell you. Some exercises were 2 sets, some 3 sets and some 4 sets. That's a pump!

Tue., 4/08/14, Back

I got in a great back workout this afternoon. I was able to put a good bit of intensity into it, though I still didn't break any weight records. Here's how it went:
Free Motion pulldown: 70-20; 100-15; 130-15; 160-12; 200-10, 8+2
V-grip-pulldown: 195-10; 225-8,8
barbell row: 135-12; 185-12; 235-8
seated row: 180-10,8,8

4/07/14, Chest and Calves

I got in a good chest and calf workout this morning. It was not the most intense workout I've done, but it was very focused and controlled and I got a great pump. Once again I was trying not to tweak the neck (though it is feeling much better- just want it to heal up totally), so my exercises were limited to the most basic:

incline dumbbell press: 20s-20; 35s-15; 50s-10; 65s-6; 80s-10; 100s-15,10
flat dumbbell press: 60s-12; 70s-12; 80s-7
rope cable fly: 50-12; 60-8
cable fly: 80-8
pullover: 60-12,12
1-calf press: 90-20,20; 180-20,20; 270-20; 360-13; 270-20; 180-20

Fri., 4/04/14, Legs

I got in a great leg workout this morning. It started a little shaky, but finished great. I intended to squat 405 for some reps, but when I got under it the neck and back were just feeling a little too much pressure, so after 4 reps I just racked it and moved on. The thing with me, is that when something like that happens it makes me mad. I do not except "marginal" or "ok" workouts. I always fully stimulate the muscle that I set out to work. So I used a technique on leg presses that really pumps the muscle without stressing the joint. I rest only 30 seconds between sets and prop my legs up on the sled when resting to make the body over-compensate forcing blood into the muscle. Here it is:

squat: 45-20; 95-6; 135-6; 225-6; 315-6; 405-4
leg press: 450-20,20,20,20,20 (5 sets with 30 second rest period with the feet propped up on the sled. They were pumped!)

leg curl: 60-20; 75-20,15,6
super-set with leg extension: 90-20,15,12

standing 1-leg curl: 60-15,15 

Thur., 4/03/14, Deltoids

I got in an incredible shoulder pump this morning. I didn't use my normal dumbbell routine. Actually I didn't do anything but warm up with dumbbells. Here's how it went:

cable lateral raise: 20-20; 30-12; 40-12; 30-?
1-arm cable lateral raise: 30-12,12,12,12,12,10 (no rest, back and forth)

Hammer Strength shoulder press: 90-15; 180-12,8,6
super-set with machine rear lateral: 140-20,15; cable rear lateral: 50-15; 70-12

1-arm cable lateral: 30-12

They were tight!

Wed., 4/02/14, Arms

I got in a good arm pump this morning. I decided to incorporate some cables and machine today- the focus was low stress on joint, high stress on muscle. Rather than doing my normal high intensity low volume approach, I did more volume with less intensity. Here's what it looked like:

1 arm dumbbell concentration curl: 15-15; 25-12; 35-10; 45-6; 55-6; 65-6; 40-10
super-set with rope pushdown: 60-20,20; 70-20; 80-15; 100-12,12; 110-10; 120-8; 90-15

machine curl: 65-15,12,?
s/s machine extension: 95-15,15,12

cable curl: 130-12,10,10
s/s 1-arm rope pushdown: 70-8; 50-15,12

hammer curl: 20s-15,15,15
s/s 1-arm seated extension: 20-25,20,15

Tue., 4/01/14, Back

I got in a great back workout today. Again the focus was on stimulating the muscle as thoroughly as possible without stressing the neck. So the weight was not incredible, but it was a great pump. I thought my lats were going to pop out of my T-shirt. Here's how it went:

Nautilus uni-lateral pulldown: 50-20; 90-15; 180-12; 230-12; 280-12; 330-8; 230-10
machine row: 225-12,10
underhand pulldown: 180-10,10
rope row: 200-12,11

This workout took about 25 minutes from start to finish. The set were close together, just stretching the muscle, catching my breath and going right back to work.