Thur., 7/31/14, Quads

I got in an awesome quad workout this morning. My knee is still being a little wacky, so I didn't do my normal thing, but it was good to do something a little different. Again, my focus was on not stressing the joint and really pumping the muscle. At the end I was registering a solid 8.5 on the pukeometer (a 10 is in the trash can.) Here's how it went:

squat: 45-15; 135-20; 225-20; 275-15; 325-6; 225-20
1-leg reverse lunge: 95-10; 145-6
leg press: 360-41,18

Wed., 7/30/14, Arms

I got in a good arm workout this morning. It was not the heaviest, and I did mostly cables for triceps, but I put the intensity and got an awesome pump. My theory is to keep moving and pump as much blood in the muscle as possible. The last exercise I never even put the weights down, it was back and forth til my forearms felt like they were going to explode. Here's how it went:

curl: 30-20; 70-6; 90-6,6; 110-7+3
   s/s rope pushdown: 50-30; 70-20; 90-12; 110-10; 130-10; 150-10

spider curl: 70-10,8,8
  s/s 1-arm rope pushdown: 70-15,12,10

preacher curl: 70-10,6,8
  s/s seated 1-arm rope extension: 70-12; 50-12,8

seated hammer curl: 30s-12,?,?
  s/s lying dumbbell extension: 30s-10,6,6

Week #4, Mon., 7/28/14, Chest

I got in a good workout this afternoon. I was a little weak, but that just made me mad. It was my normal stuff, I just changed it around a little when I got mad- shorter rest periods, a couple extra sets, a little less weight with more reps... and the pump came! Here's the order:
7 sets of incline dumbbell presses
3 sets of flat dumbbell presses
3 sets of machine flys
2 sets of cable flys
and 2 sets of cross-bench pullovers

Fri., 7/25/14, Shoulders

After yesterday's pity-party of a leg workout, I was ready to kill it today. I got in a great shoulder pump. It was all my basic stuff, though I do use one exercise that is a little unconventional. For rear delts, I sit at a seated row station with individual handles and do rear laterals with it. It is a great pump, though a slight misuse of equipment. Here's how it went:

lateral: 10s-15; 20s-15; 30s-15; 40s-12; 20s- super slow with a squeeze ?
seated cable rear: 60-15,15,15,11
Hammer Strength press facing pad: 90-15; 180-12,14 + front raise: 40-20
shrug (angled back to hit the back of the trap more): 135-12; 225-12,12

Thur., 7/24/14, Quads

Yes, I am human. No, I am not the most genetically gifted human on earth. I get a lot of comments about how I am a genetic freak. I started working out 5 days a week, with insane intensity and strong desire to not be the smaller than my sister, on my 13th birthday. And have not missed many days since. I was 121lb. at 5'4''. My mom was worried about me because I was so skinny. I have a brother 2 yrs. yonger than I am and when I was 15 (having worked out 5 days a week for 2 yrs.) people thought he was older. Probably the most accurate compliment I've ever gotten was from a judge at the 2012, Mr. Universe where I placed 2nd. He was an old man who had been a bodybuilder since he was young. He shook my hand and said it was amazing how much muscle I've managed to pack on this tiny frame. Ha! I fought hard with blood, sweat and tears for years to get where I am.  So, with that being said, don't be shocked at what I'm about to say:
My knee hurts. (And while I'm on the subject: my back hurts, my neck hurts and my shoulder hurts too.)
Today I had to back out of squats. Today was a sad day in the life of Levi. So what did I do? Front squats and lunges. That was pretty much my whole quad workout. They were pumped and tight. It got the job done.... BUT NOT LIKE THE SQUAT.... The squat shall indeed return to my arsenal of quad exercises to reign supreme. Until then... Squat low to get high.

Wed., 7/23/14, Arms

I destroyed the arms this morning. It was similar stuff to what I've been doing, I just added weight. I also did more on the overhead dumbbell extension- 150 for 7. Here's what it looked like:

curl: 45-15; 65-6; 95-6; 115-6; 135-3+1 + 2 drop-sets
  s/s rope pushdown: 60-30; 80-15; 100-10; 120-10; 140-11,5+ dropset

seated dumbbell extension: 130-8; 150-7
  s/s hammer curl: 50s-6; 40s-10

lying extension: 110-10,5
   s/s concentration curl: 55-6; 30-12

seated dumbbell curl: 35s-8,6; 25s-15
  s/s lying dumbbell extension: " " "

Tue., 7/22/14, Back

I got it done this afternoon. It was a little mix-matched, but it was a good, intense workout:
5 sets wide pulldowns
1 set wide pull-ups
3 sets Hammer Strength pulldown
2 sets seated cable rows
1 set barbell row
1 drop-set T-bar row
And they were pumped

Mon., 7/21/14, Chest

I got in a killer chest pump this afternoon. It was short and sweet as always. I was a little weaker last weak than I have been, but seem to be crawling back up this week. I also threw in a little extra delt work, trying to build these things up a little. Here's what I did:

incline dumbbell press: 20s-10; 40s-6; 80s-6; 100s-6; 130s-6; 120s-6
flat dumbbell press: 120s-6; 100s-10; 75s-16
cable fly: 100-8+2; 80-?; bent over for upper chest-60-16
pullover: 75-12
lateral raise: 25s-12; 30s-12; 35s-?; 40s-8; 35s-?; 30s-?

Sat., 7/19/14, Ham/Calf, Week #3, Shreds

I got in a great hamstring and calf workout this morning. I like to super-set, so that's most of what I did. It was similar to last weeks workout, just a little less conventional and orderly:
6 super-sets of hack press calf raises with lying 1-leg curls. The calf raise was the regular increase each set. The leg curl was not. I went heavy and then back down and did some rest-pause reps, doing three reps on each leg, going back and forth.
3 s/s smith machine calf raise and seated leg curl (only 2 sets of seated curls.)
1 set of ham/glute raises.
1 set of standing 1-leg curls.
3 sets of 1-leg calf presses.
The rep range for calves went from 20 down to 8, and for hams it went from 20 all the way to 3.

Fri., 7/18/14, Shoulders

I got in a great, very fast, shoulder workout this morning. It was similar to last weeks- just a few modifications:
7 sets of laterals with a drop-set at the end
4 sets of revers Hammer presses
2 sets of seated cable rear laterals with a rest-pause at the end
2 sets of dumbbell shrugs, the 2nd with the 130s for 12
It only took about 25 minutes. The rest periods were short and the sets were focused.

Thur., 7/17/14, Quads

As I sit here- having finished training my Quads a little over an hour and a half ago, and having already eaten almost 3 cups of oatmeal (dry measure), 3 chicken breasts and a whey isolate shake- eating 5 eggs (yes whole) and 10.5oz. white potato, you might not think that I'm in a caloric deficit... And you would be wrong. Yes, I am consuming 2800-3200 calories a day at this point (with around 300g protein, 300g carb and 70g fat), and am losing weight.
Today was a good leg workout. I wouldn't consider it the most intense for sure. But it was an awesome pump. Here it is:

squat: 135-20; 225-20; 315-20
Linear Hack Press: 90-10; 180-10; 270-10
reverse lunge: 135-10

Wed., 7/16/14, Arms

I got a killer pump this morning! I love to super-set biceps and triceps. When you're dripping with sweat and can't catch your breath on arm day, you know you're working. My basic plan for arms is to get in a few good, heavy sets and then just keep moving from set to set, biceps to triceps, to pump as much blood in the muscle as possible. I actually used a bigger dumbbell than I ever have for seated over-head extensions: a 130. I just got a new can of P4P Muscle Iso-Whey and am excited to feed and grow some muscle, as I'm burning the fat off.
Here's today's workout:
7 super-sets of barbell curl and lying triceps extension
3 s/s of hammer curl and seated over-head extension
2 s/s of spider curl and rope pushdown
2 s/s of cable curl and reverse grip pushdown

Tue., 7/15/14, Back

I got in a great back workout this afternoon. My goal was to really hit the lats without stressing the lower back. Here's how it went:

Hammer Strength pulldown: 90-15; 180-12; 270-6; 360-6 + rest-pause + 3 drop-sets
medium-grip-pull-down: 180-12,10
V-grip-pulldown: 195-10,10
machine row: 225-12,7
seated row: 160-? + rest-pause

Mon., 7/14/14, Chest

I got in a good workout this morning. Though I was definitely weaker today than I was last week(...Next week is coming.) But, often it just makes me mad and I get a better workout in anyway. So Here's today's work:

incline dumbbell: 20s-20; 40s-6; 65s-5; 80s-6; 100s-6; 130s-5 + 120s-3, 100s-4, 75s-6
incline Hammer Strength: 140-12; 230-12; 270-6
bent over cable fly (for upper chest): 70-12,12,12
dip: 10,8,12
pullover: 75-6
machine fly: 205-5 + 2 drop-sets

Sat., 7/12/14, Hams and Calves

Well, today starts week # 2 of this prep for the world championships. I've revised my slit a little, we'll see how long this one lasts. I think it will work well. It is designed to prioritize my weaknesses. Here it is:
Mon: chest
Tue: back
Wed: arms
Thu: quads
 Fri: shoulders
Sat: hams and calves
Abs are 4-5 days a weeks with about 5 sets. Cardio is 20 minutes 6 days a week.
Here's what today's ham and calf work was:

5 super-sets machine calf raise and 1-leg curl
3 super-sets smith calf raise and ham/glute raise
3 sets 1-leg standing curl
3 sets 1-calf raise
bosu crunch: 30/ reverse crunch: 30/ sit-up: 15/ twist-crunch: 30,20,20

Wed., 7/09/14, Arms

Man it was work to get it done this morning, I've been running a little low on sleep here the last several days, due to life. But it happened and I got a great pump. That's key. Even when I don't feel like it, it still goes on. It was all basic stuff:
5 super-sets of barbell curls and V-bar pushdowns;
4 sets of concentration curls;
4 sets of 1-arm rope pushdowns;
2 super-sets of spider curls and lying triceps extensions;
3 super-sets of hammer curls and seated 1-arm extensions;
3 sets of bosu ball crunches;
1 set of sit-ups
and every day I do 20 minutes of cardio, usually incline treadmill.

Tue., 7/08/14, Back

I got in a great back workout today. It was short an sweet. Here's what it looked like:

row: 45-10; 95-10; 135-6; 185-6; 225-6; 275-10 + 2 drop-sets
Hammer Strength pulldown: 180-12; 270-8
seated row: 220-5; 170-12
Circuit: pulldown, rope pulldown, rope row, machine row, v-pulldown, hammer pulldown

Mon., 7/07/14, Here we go again...

My contest diet started on Saturday. I'm 16 weeks out from the Yorton Cup and 19 weeks from the WNBF World Champ. The start weight is 190lb. with a 32 1/4" waist. I'll end up around 168lb. with a 29" waist. I'm starting the diet ranging from 3000 calories up to 3400 calories. It will drop from there, but that's the start. The workouts will be pretty much the same, just 6 days a week. I'll do 20 minutes cardio a day and I'm easing into the posing. I'll be up to 20 minutes posing a day before long, but not the first couple weeks. Yippee kaya....

Thur., 7/03/14, Legs

I destroyed the legs today. The volume was pretty low- only 2 exercises for quads and 3 for hams, with only 1 or 2 working sets each. Here's how it went:

squat: 45-10; 95-5; 135-5; 225-5; 315-5; 365-20
leg press: 450-10; 630-10; 840-6 + 8 drop sets (This was painful. I had a guy on each side and when I failed they would each take a plate off.)
1-leg incline curl: 40-12,10
standing 1-leg curl: 60-12,9
ham/glute raise: 6,8

Wed., 07/02/14, Arms

I killed the arms the morning. I've been doing several sets of barbell curls to start the last 2 arm workouts. I feel like the focused intensity is really hitting the fibers and pumping tons of blood into the arms. Basically my whole focus on arm day is to pump as much blood as possible into the muscle to stretch to fibers and stimulate growth. Here's how it went:

curl:                                     45-15;   65-12;   95-10; 115-6+2,6; 95-10
  super-set with pushdown: 80-30; 100-20; 150-15; 200-10; 240-6,6; 200-9

hammer curl:             40s-12,8,8
  s/s lying extension: 110-10,6,6

seated overhead extension (with one big dumbbell): 120-10,6
  s/s concentration curl:                                                  50-6; 40-7

cable curl:                             120-10,8
  s/s reverse grip pushdown: 120-10,8

Tue., 7/01/14, Back and Traps

I got in a great back workout today. I've been trying to take it easy on the S-I joint, so I didn't go very heavy on the rows.... just did more reps. One of the new pieces we got in the gym was a Hammer Strength pull down or high row. This is an awesome tool for lat development. Here's how it went:

row: 45-15; 95-15; 185-12; 225-12,8
Hammer Strength pull down: 180-10; 270-8; 320-6 + 2 drop-sets
pull down: 200lb wide-8; little closer-6; medium-6
seated row: 240-5; 170-13
shrug: 135-15; 225-10,10,10