Thur., 10/30/14, Legs

verse of the day: Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve; and to give His life as a ransom for many."

I got in a great leg workout today. It was hard, but that's the name of the game. I was dancing around this knee again today, so each set was by feel- how much weight, how many reps. It was the same basic stuff that I've been doing, with a few little changes here and there:

squat: 45-25; 95-25; 135-25; 225-29; 275-15; 325-10
leg press: 360-15; 540-12; 720-12
reverse lunge: 95-12,12,20 (each leg)
seated leg curl: 140-25
standing leg curl: 70-8; 55-10; 40-15
lying leg curl: 155-6; 125-10
calf press: 480-20; 550-15; 620-13; 480-21
seated calf: 140-20; 190-?
smith machine calf raise: 290-? (one set- they were done!)

I have a thorough stretching routine that I do before each workout. It is designed to correct some alignment issues. Among these stretches and exercises is the bridge, holding for 5seconds each rep. I finished this workout with a bunch of bridges to really nail the glutes... they will come;)

Wed., 10/29/14, Back

verse of the day: Mark 9:23 -And Jesus said to him, " 'If you can!' All things are possible to him who believes."

So far this new split seems to work well. I was a little concerned that with arms day before the back workout, the bi's would be sore, but I had no problems with that today. I got in a great back pump. The rep range was 5-12, with some heavy sets and some lighter sets. My goal is always to stimulate muscle growth (even 2 weeks before the contest), because I believe that what built the muscle will keep the muscle and add more detail. Here's what today looked like:

row: 45-25; 95-15; 135-12; 185-10; 225-8; 275-5; 225-10
wide pulldown: 165-12; 195-10; 225-8; 255-6
seated row: 200-12,6
machine low row: 205-6; 160-8
V-grip pulldown: 180-12,9

...So a total of 17 sets, with a variety of angles to bring out the lines- and they're coming!

Tue., 10/28/14, Arms

verse of the day: Ps. 25:3, "Indeed, none of the those who wait for Thee will be ashamed; those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed."

Today's workout was a struggle... Just being real here. I've just been tired and worn out the last few days. It is taking a toll. But, alas, the show must go on! So I nailed my arms pretty good today. I never give myself any slack: feel good- great; feel bad- suck it up. Here's how it looked today:

6 super-sets of seated dumbbell curls and rope pushdowns
3 super-sets of cambered bar curls and lying triceps extensions
3 sets of 1-arm preacher curls (no rest between sets)
4 sets of 1-arm rope pushdowns (no rest between sets)
3 sets of concentration curls
3 sets of seated dumbbell extensions

Mon., 10/27/14, Chest and Shoulders

verse of the day: Ps. 25:2, "O my God, in Thee I trust, do not let me be ashamed; do not let my enemies exult over me."

Well, with the new split, this is a big workout today- it's a lot of volume. My focus with this new split is to hit the shoulders and traps hard, and then allow them to rest. My neck has been tweaking out a lot recently because of all the continuous strain on the trapezius. Here's the split: day1- legs; day2- chest, shoulders; day3- arms; day4- back. This should allow ample recovery for the neck. Here is what todays workout looked like:

incline dumbbell press: 25s-25; 40s-10; 60s-10; 80s-6; 100s-6; 120s-4; 100s-10
flat dumbbell press: 110s-10; 95s-8; 80s-11
dip: 15,15,12,9 (30 second rest)
pullover:                                        60-12,10
    super-set with cable crossover: 60-12,10
lateral raise: 20s-15; 30s-12; 40s-12; 30s-12
hammer strength shoulder press: 90-15; 180-15; 230-5+fail; 180-7+fail
bent over lateral raise: 40s-12; 50s-12,10
dumbbell shrug:                 75s-15; 110s-10
   s/s dumbbell front raise: 20s-15; 25s-12
....This took about an hour from start to finish.

Sat., 10/25/14, Legs, 3 Weeks Out

verse of the day: Ps 25:1, "To Thee, O LORD, I lift my soul."

Today I have completed 16 weeks of contest prep, and I am 3 weeks 'til the date of the World Championships. I am on point to be my best. My waist is at 29 1/8", and it will be at 29 on contest day. The glutes are always the last stubborn thing to dial in, and they are getting close.
Today I changed my split up a little to make sure that everything is on schedule to train legs on Saturday a week from the show.
 So, today was legs. They were still sore from Tuesday, so it was not the most intense ever, but it was pretty intense. Here's how it looked:

squat: 45-25; 95-25; 135-25; 225-25; 315-15
leg press: 540-25 (constant tension) + 5 (with a pause)
lying leg curl:                        125-22; 170-7
  alternate with walking lunge: 90-15,15
standing leg curl: 75-10, 50-10 (no rest)
smith machine calf raise: 180-25; 270-15; 360-10
seated leg curl: 140-12
calf press: 460-25,20
seated calf raise: 140-15,12+3

Fri., 10/24/14, Arms

verse of the day: Ps. 54:4, "Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my soul."

I got a killer arm workout in this morning. It was very focused and deliberate, with every set visualized before hand. At this point in the game that's how it has to be. Every workout, every set, every rep is for a purpose. Here's how it looked:

seated dumbbell curl: 10s-25; 20s-12; 30s-10; 40s-10; 50s-6; 40s-10
  s/s rope pushdown:    60-25;  80-15; 100-12; 120-12; 140-10; 160-6
concentration curl: 60-5, 50-7, 40-8, 30-10 (no rest)
1-arm rope seated extension: 70-10,6,4, 50-8, 40-8 (no rest)
cable curl:                                    140-12,6,6
  s/s under-hand grip pushdown: 140-15,8,8
lying triceps extension: 110-6; 80-10
  s/s hammer curls:             30s-12,10

....Boom, 15 sets for bi's and 16 for tri's- good to go!

Thur., 10/23/14, Back

verse of the day: Mark 4:24b, "By your standard of measure it shall be measured to you; and more shall be given you besides."  (....maybe that's why my legs hurt so bad today;)

My neck is a little tweaked out this morning. The heavy presses yesterday got me. But, the show must go on. Though I did make a few adjustments to avoid stressing the neck. I used some different pieces of equipment, and kept the weight a bit lighter with a few more reps. Here's how it looked:

Free-Motion wide pulldown (this is a great low stress motion): 90-15; 120-15; 150-12; 180-12; 200-7
Hammer Strength uni-lateral pulldown: 180-12; 230-12,10
double-D-grip-pulldown: 180-12,12
machine low row: 145-12; 160-10
barbell row: 135-10; 185-10; 235-8

Wed., 10/22/14, Chest

verse of the day: Ps 73:1 "Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart."

I got in an incredible chest pump today. Again, I'm not at my strongest (weighing about 170 right now), but I actually surprised myself on the flat dumbbell press this morning. Check it out:

incline dumbbell press: 25s-25; 40s-15; 60s-10; 80s-6; 100s-6; 120s-4; 100s-9
flat dumbbell press: 110s-9; 90s-12; 75s-15
dip: 15,15,15 (35 second rest)
cable crossover: 80-10; 60-15
pullover: 70-12,10

Tue., 10/21/14, LEGS

verse of the day: Ps 101:3, "I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not fasten its grip on me."

I destroyed the legs today. It was a good balance of volume and intensity. I did several high-rep sets of squats, but just 2 sets to failure on the leg press; 1 high rep set on the curl and 1 failure heavy set + a few sets on the standing curl to pump some blood in there. I also did the Bulgarian squat instead of lunges- these killed the glutes. Here's how it went:

squat: 45-25; 135-25; 225-20; 275-20; 325-10
leg press: 540-25 (I think); 720-10
Bulgarian squat: body-weight-15; 20s-15; 40s-8 (just about to fall over)
lying leg curl: 95-25; 170-6
standing leg curl: 55-12,10,8; 40-14
calf press: 450-25,15,15,15
seated calf raise: 90-25; 160-12
smith machine calf raise: 250-15,12

....wow.

Mon., 10/20/14, Shoulders

verse of the day: Ps. 55:22, "Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall."

I got an excellent shoulder workout in this morning. My energy levels are very low. I've been cycling my calories, and having some very low days. It's been 2700, 2500 and 2300. Yesterday was 2230. That's low for me. So, I've been dragging today. But, my theory has always been that it does not matter what I feel like- the job is done. Here's how it went this morning:

laterals: 10s-25; 20s-15; 30s-12; 40s-12,8; 30s-12; 20s-15
hammer strength shoulder press: 90-15; 180-12; 230-10; 280-5; 180-12
incline rear lateral raise: 40s-12,12,12
seated cable rears: 60-15
dumbbell front raise: 20s-15; 25s-15; 30s-10
dumbbell shrug: 75s-15; 90s-15; 110s-12

Fri., 10/17/14, Back

verse of the day: Ps. 101:1, "I will sing of lovingkindness and justice, to Thee, O Lord, I will sing praises."

Today's back workout was pretty basic, just focusing on the weaker areas and telling my body to hold onto the muscle and shred off the fat. I really visualize every rep putting new lines in the muscle. Every pull down I think about the rear double biceps shot, and row I think about squeezing my lats before the rear lat spread. Hears how it looked today:

row: 45-25; 95-15; 135-12; 185-10; 225-8; 275-6; 225-7
wide pull down: 210-12,8
fixed handle wide pull down facing away from machine: 155-9; 130-12
machine row: 160-7 + 2 drop sets; 145-12
V-grip pull down: 180-10,10,10

Thur., 10/16/14, Chest

verse of the day: Ps. 100:5, "For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting, and His faithfulness to all generations."

I got an excellent chest workout in this morning. I am definitely not the strongest that I've ever been, but feeling good and on point. Each set was pretty much instinctual- changing the weights and reps up or down depending on what I felt would be the best stimulation. Here's what today looked like:

incline dumbbell press: 25s-25; 40s-15; 60s-12; 80s-10; 100s-8; 120s-4; 90s-11
flat dumbbell press: 85s-12; 110s-6; 95s-8
dip: 15,15,15 (these are very focused and controlled, not really to failure)
bent over cable fly (for upper chest): 70-15; 90-8
cable crossover (for lower chest): 70-12,9
cross-bench-pullover: 50-15; 60-12 (again, these weren't really failure, just pumping the muscle up)

Wed., 10/15/14, Legs

verse of the day: Ps 100:4 "Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name."

Well, this was another 2-workout leg-day. I did quads early and hams and calves in the afternoon. My knee was feeling a little iffy, so I kept the weight even lighter than I have been and just pumped out the reps. It was an awesome pump. Here's how it went:
AM
squat: 45-25; 135-20; 225-25,25,25
leg press: 540-23
walking lunge: 100lb- 16 each, 15 each
PM
standing leg curl: 25-20; 40-15; 55-12; 70-9; 55-8,6
lying leg curl: 110-15; 140-8+3
calf press: 270-25; 450-25; 620-18,16
smith machine calf: 180-25; 270-20; 360-12
seated calf: 120-20,16

Tue., 10/14/14, Shoulders

verse of the day: Ps. 100:3, "Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture."

I got in a great shoulder workout this morning. It was similar to how I've been doing it: very focused, with just the basic exercises, rep range 10-15. Here's how it went:

lateral: 10s-25; 20s-15; 30s-12; 40s-10,8; 30s-12; 20s-15
bent-over-laterals: 30s-15; 40s-12; 50s-12
cable rears: 60-15
hammer strength shoulder press: 180-12; 230-10; 280-5; 180-12
dumbbell front raise: 25s-15,15
seated dumbbell shrug: 75s-15; 110s-12

5 WEEKS OUT

verse of the day: Mat 21: 22, "And all things you ask for in prayer, believing, you shall receive."

Well, here we are with 5 weeks to go. I'm amped. The waist measurement this morning was 29 1/2", which is 1/2'' inch from the ultimate goal. The weight is somewhere around 173, which is 5-8 lb from the end result. So, I'm stoked and ready to rock this thing out. everything is on point.

Thur., 10/09/14, Legs

verse of the day: Mat 18:19, "Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Just in case you ever decide to scramble 2 eggs, 7oz of whites and a bag of frozen mixed vegetables- it's probably not as good as it sounds... anyway...
I got in a great leg workout today. It was very focused- one thing at a time. My knee's been feeling good, so I wanted to put some weight on it. I started with some sets of 10 on the squat:

squat: 45-25; 135-25; 225-10; 275-10; 315-10; 365-11
leg press: 540-28 (using constant tension) + 2 (pause), 13 (constant tension) + 2 (pause)
reverse lunge: 95-10; 145-10
lying leg curl: 110-15; 140-12; 170-5+2
standing leg curl: 55-12,6,6; 40-12
smith machine calf raise: 180-25; 250-15; 320-12
seated calf: 90-25; 140-15
calf press: 460-25,20,16

Wed., 10/08/14, Shoulders

verse of the day: Mat. 16:24b- "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."

I got in a great shoulder workout this afternoon. It was very fast and very focused. It took about 25 minutes. Here's how it went:

laterals: 10s-25; 20s-15; 30s-12; 40s-10; 50s-? + 2 drop-sets
bent over rear lateral: 30s-10; 40s-10; 50s-10,10
hammer strength shoulder press: 180-12; 230-10,10
military press: 145-8+95-12
seated dumbbell shrug: 110s-12,9

Tue., 10/07/14, Arms

verse of the day: Ps 127:1a "Unless the Lord builds the house, those that build it labor in vain."

I got in a killer arm pump this morning. It was very focused and intense. There was not much rest- one exercise after another. The volume was medium-high: 16 sets for biceps and 18 for triceps. You'll notice I throw in an extra couple of sets for triceps. Maybe I'll do a super-set and start and finish with tri's, or doing 1-arm exercises just toss in an extra. The reason I do this is not that my triceps are weaker than my biceps (it's really the opposite), but because the triceps are 2/3 of the arm so they should have a little more work, or you may get an imbalance and develop elbow problems. And my elbows have actually felt better since I've done this.
Here's today's awesome pump:

7 super-sets of rope pushdowns and seated dumbbell curls (+ 1 set rope pushdown)
3 super-sets of preacher curls and lying triceps extensions
3 sets 1-arm concentration curls
4 sets 1-arm seated rope extensions
2 super-sets of seated hammer curls and lying dumbbell extensions

Mon., 10/06/14, The Food

verse of the day: Ps. 103:8, "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness."

As I get closer to the contest, the diet is pretty much the same. The real difference is that I'm only having one shake a day. I notice that my body responds best to whole foods. My calories are averaging slightly less, but I'm still between 2500 and 2900 a day. Here's what I ate the day before yesterday:

meal 1: 2 eggs, 6oz whites; 1c oatmeal; 1/4c blueberries; 1oz grapes; 1.6oz banana (yes it is weighed)
meal 2: 3oz cooked chicken breast; 3 1/2oz sweet potato
post workout: 40g P4P Iso-Whey; 9oz sweet potato
meal 3: 3 1/2oz cooked chicken breast; 7oz sweet potato, 1tbs peanut butter, 2g honey
meal 4: 3 1/2oz cooked chick brst; 3/4c oatmeal raw; 1/2c peas
meal 5: 3 eggs, 4oz white; 7oz sweet potato
meal 6: 3oz cook chk brst; 1/2c peas

(Yes, I know I needed more veg.)

Fri., 10/03/14, LEGS

verse of the day: Mat. 5:12, "Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

I had one of the best quad workouts that I've gotten in a while. I felt strong- not shaky. I did this workout at 6:15am, after having trained only one other person- which is not the norm at this point. Also, for dinner last night I ate some extra sweet potato and at breakfast this morning I ate the normal chicken breast and oatmeal plus 1/2 a peach (maybe peaches are the answer to all of our bodybuilding problems;)  I had a 45 minute window early and another 6 hours later, so I split it up into 2 different workouts:

AM (quads):
squat: 45-25; 135-25; 225-20; 275-20; 325-11
leg press: 540-23 (using constant tension) + 6 (pausing)
reverse lunge: 95-10; 145-10

PM (hams and calves):
standing leg curl: 40-25; 55-15; 70-10; 85-12; 55-12
lying leg curl: 170-6 + rest-pause + drop; 140-? (just pump)
smith calf raise: 180-25; 270-20; 360-15
seated calf: 140-18,13
calf press: 450-25,18,20
seated leg curl: 150-12

Thur., 10/02/14, Shoulders

verse of the day: Mat. 5:11 "Blessed are you when men cast insults on you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me."

I got in a great shoulder workout in about 30 minutes, this afternoon. My shoulders are feeling healthier than they have in years. I am really just focusing on the basics: laterals, bent-over laterals, presses (I use a plate loaded Hammer Strength machine for the press) and dumbbell shrugs. Here's how it went:

5 sets of laterals
3 sets of machine presses
4 sets of rear laterals
1 set of military presses
2 sets of dumbbell shrugs

Wed., 10/01/14, Arms

verse of the day: Mat. 5:10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

I got in a killer arm pump this afternoon! I did a mix of super-sets and 1-arm exercises. There was very little rest. It was back and forth, from bi's to tri's and one side to the other:

6 super-sets of dumbbell curls and pushdowns
4 sets of 1 arm concentration curls
4 super-sets of hammer curls and "lying 45 degree" triceps extensions
6 sets of 1 arm rope pushdowns
1 super-set of preacher curls and seated triceps extension