Recovery Phase, Wed., 11/26/14, Legs

verse of the day: Ps 107:1, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever."

I got in a great leg pump this morning. They were crazy tight. Again, nothing is to failure, but I'm pumping the muscle full of blood. Here's how it went today: (Most of the sets were 20-25 reps)
4 sets squats
2 sets presses
1 set lying leg curls
1 set walking lunges
2 sets standing leg curls
2 sets leg extensions
2 sets seated calf raises
2 sets calf presses

Tomorrow being Thanksgiving Day, I'm not going to the gym. I will pump the upper body at home, and spend time with the family... and eat a ton of food;) HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Recovery Phase, Tue., 11/25/14, Upper Body

verse of the day: Ec. 3:1, "To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven."

Today was the whole upper body. This is a pretty big workout- 41 sets total- but again nothing is to total failure. I'm definitely working, but not to failure. My goal is basically to pump as much blood into the muscle as possible without over doing it. I rest very little. There's a lot of super-sets and no rest techniques. Here's how it looked:

6 super-sets of incline dumbbell press with hammer strength pulldowns
1 set flat dumbbell press
1 set seated row
1 set dip
1 set V-grip pulldown
1 set pullover
7 sets lateral raise (ascending and descending in weight without rest)
2 sets machine rear laterals with seated dumbbell press
1 set upright row
3 super-sets seated dumbbell curl with rope pushdown
1 set rope pulldown
1 set each (no rest): decline crunch, swiss ball crunch, bench crunch, kneeling rope crunch

Recovery Phase, Mon., 11/24/14, Legs

verse of the day: Mat. 11:28, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest."

I got in a great leg workout today. Again nothing is to failure right now, I'm just pumping blood into the muscles. My reps are high. The weight is pretty light. The rest periods are very short. Today's workout was 30 minutes long ( I did do 25 minutes on the stepmill later on.) Here's how it looked:

squat: 45-25; 95-25; 135-25; 225-25
leg curl: 95-25; 125-12; 155-6
leg press: 280-20; 370-20; 460-20
   super-set with calf presses: "  "  "
leg curl: 125-15
leg extension: 105-20

Recovery Phase, Fri., 11/21/14, Upper

verse of the day: Ps 91:9, "For you have made the Lord, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place."

I got in a great pump this morning. It was totally by instinct. Some exercises I did just 1 or 2 sets- totally by feel. I did a total 37 sets: 10 for back, 11 for chest, 8 for shoulders, 4 for bi's, 4 for tri's and 3 for abs, plus 20 minutes cardio. There were lots of super-sets, tri-sets- it was moving. It took about 35 minutes for the weights.

Recovery Phase- Thur., 11/20/14, Legs

verse of the day: Ps. 91:7, "A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not approach you."

I got in a great pump this morning. Again, nothing is anywhere near failure, particularly on the big stuff- avoiding the pressure on the joints. It's all about pumping blood into the muscle to encourage recovery (and possibly not go insane after having trained hardcore 6 days a week for the last 19 weeks.) Here's how it went today:

4 sets of 25 on the squat the heaviest being 225lb
2 sets of walking lunges -16 and 12, heavier each set-
   super-set with 3 sets standing 1 leg curl -15,12,12
2 sets 1-leg press -20 and 12 heavier each set
2 sets 1-calf press -20,15
1 set seated calf raise 20 reps
1 set of 30 each: floor crunch, decline crunch, bench crunch, twisting crunch
20 minute treadmill

Recovery Workout, 11/19/14, Upper

verse of the day: Ps. 37:4, "Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

At this point I'm not taking anything to failure. I'll probably start that next week. It was fairly low volume for each muscle, but still involved a total of 28 sets because I was hitting the whole upper body this morning. I rested very little during this workout, with a lot of super-sets. Here's how it looked:

5 super-sets each of incline hammer strength press and wide pull down
2 super-sets of flat dumbbell press and hammer strength pull down
1 set pullover
2 sets hammer strength shoulder press
1 super-set of laterals and bent over laterals
3 super-sets each of dumbbell curls and rope pushdowns
1 set each: decline crunch, bosu crunch and swiss ball crunch

The 2014 WNBF World Championships

Verse of the day: Phil. 2:2 Message, "Put yourself aside and help others get ahead."

After 19 weeks of hard diet and contest prep, it is all finished. I stood on stage in close to, if not, the best shape I've attained thus far. I put a ton of effort into weighing as light as possible, in order to make the light weight class. I weighed in at an even 165 lb. Unfortunately, they set the class at 163 lb. up to 183 lb! I was the little fish. But, I still managed to pull off a 3rd place finish to last year's overall winner, Shevon Cunningham in 2nd and an awesome and crazy dried out Cleveland Thomas, who took the overall and won the Yorton Cup a few years back. I can't really complain with that. It was some stiff competition.
I'm now in the great recovery phase post-contest. The workouts this week will be pretty chill, and I'll slowly increase over the next few weeks. In the mean time, I am putting together a game plan for the next contest, so stay tuned....

Here's what today's chill leg workout looked like:

squat:                                 45-15; 95-15; 135-15; 225-15
  super-set with leg press: 90-25; 180-25; 270-25; 360-25

reverse lunge: 95-12

leg curl:                                95-15; 125-12; 155-10
  super-set with calf press: 180-20; 360-20; 450-20

crunches + 20 minutes cardio

Wed., 11/12/14, The Last Workout

verse of the day: Ps. 91:1, He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

Well, it is a completed work. Every workout is finished. Every posing session is finished. Every cardio session is finished. All that's left is eating. Tomorrow I will drive to the World Championships.
Today's workout was chest, back and shoulders. I think about calling all the carb into the muscle. I did incline dumbbell press, rows, hammer strength press, pulldowns, flat dumbbell press, close pulldown, dips, seated rows, pull-overs, laterals, rear laterals and shoulder press. It was 33 sets total. ...Boom! I'll let you know how it turns out.

Tue., 11/11/14, Depletion

verse of the day:  Phil. 2:3, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself;"

Day 3 of the great deplete. I have one more posing session and 2 more meals and I will have survived yet again. My depletion consists of: Sun, Mon, Tue cut the carb in 1/2 and make up the calories with protein and fat. I do high volume workouts and extra cardio and posing to totally deplete the glycogen stores. Then, Wed, Thu, and Fri I increase carb to fill the stores up. This seems to work well for me, but it is a challenge the 1st part of the week. Here's what today's workouts looked like:

6:15am Biceps
dumbbell curl: choo-choo train (sets of 5 reps with each set of dumbbells til I can't get 5, then back down without rest) 10s thru 40s and back down
3 sets cambered bar curl
3 sets concentration curl
2 sets 1-arm preacher curl
2 sets hammer curl
2 sets cable curl
3 sets kneeling rope crunch, 1 set hanging knee-up,2 set machine crunch, 1 set bench crunch, 10 min pose

1:30pm Triceps
pushdown: choo-choo train
3 set lying triceps extension
3 set seated triceps extension
3 set reverse grip pushdown
3 set 1-arm rope pushdown
2 set swiss ball crunch, 1 set bosu ball crunch, 1 set decline crunch, 10 min pose

Sat., 11/08/14, The Last Leg Day

Well, here we are- one week out! I'm stoked! After I completed the workout this morning I checked out last year's final leg workout. It paled in comparison to today's rendition! I nailed them. Light-headed, nauseated- the whole nine yards. Obviously, I didn't take many sets to total failure, but it was a great workout. Here's how it went:

squat: 45-25; 135-20; 225-20; 275-15; 325-10; 225-20
walking lunge: 110-15 (steps each leg) + 20 bridges
leg press: 450-20; 630-15; 450-15 + 20 bridges
reverse lunge: 95-12 + 20 bridges
lying leg curl: 125-15; 155-8,6 + 20 bridges
standing leg curl: 45-15,10,6,6 (no rest) + 20 bridges
calf press: 270-30; 360-25; 450-20; 540-15; 630-13; 450-20
seated calf: 90-25; 140-15,15 + 30 bridges

...and if that doesn't do the job, not much is going to.

Fri., 11/07/14, Back

verse of the day: Ps. 127:2, "It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep."

I got in a great back workout this morning. It was medium volume, with a few sets that were really pushing the intensity. I really visualize the lats flexing and bringing out new lines with every rep. The reps were in the 8-12 range with a couple exceptions. Here's how it looked:

6 sets of rows
3 sets of V-grip pull downs
2 sets of wide pull downs
2 sets of behind the neck pull downs
2 sets of seated rows

Thur., 11/6/14, arms

Verse of the day: Proverbs 16:3- Commit to The Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

I did my arms in 2 workouts- biceps at 4:45 am and triceps at 9:15 am. Both were great pumps and got the job done. Here it is:

Bi's
6 sets of barbell curls
3 sets of hammer curls
3 sets of concentration curls
3 sets of preacher curls

Tri's
6 sets lying extension
3 set seated extension
3 set 1- arm rope push down
4 set 1- arm reverse grip pushdown

Tue., 11/04/14, LEG DAY

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

To avoid completely destroying myself and improve the quality of the workout for each muscle, I broke the leg workout up into 2 separate workouts. The last few leg workouts have been brutal and left me shaky, pale and light headed at the end. So, I felt it probably ought to change a little until the show in 10 days. Another plus is the extra metabolism boost from a second workout. Today I was able to increase the intensity for my hams and calves, and add an extra set to my quad work:

6:15 AM-
lying leg curl: 65-25; 95-10; 140-6; 170-6; 200-4 + 4 drop-sets
standing leg curl: 85-6; 55-10,6,8
1-leg lying curl: 30-12; 50-6
calf press: 360-20; 450-20; 540-15; 660-12; 540-?
smith machine calf raise: 180-20; 250-15; 320-15; 390-10
seated calf raise: 140-20; 190-12

12 Noon-
squat: 45-25; 135-20; 225-20; 275-20; 325-9
leg press: 450-12; 720-14
walking lunge: 70-16ea; 90-16ea; 110-15ea
bridges: 5- 10 second holds + 20 reps; 25 reps

Mon., 11/03/14, Back

verse of the day: Mark 13:31, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away."

I got in a good workout today. It was fairly short, because my split will shorten up a bit here in the next couple of days to increase frequency. It was just the basics:

5 sets of wide grip pull downs
3 sets of bent over rows
2 sets of seated rows
2 sets of V-grip pull downs

Short and sweet and it stimulated the muscle.

Sat., 11/01/14, 2 WEEKS OUT

verse of the day: Proverbs 2:7-8, "He hold victory in store for the upright, He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for He guards the course of the just and protects the way of His faithful ones."

I got in an awesome arm workout this morning. I had to hit it early, because the I did a posing demonstration at the gym this morning. So everybody got a little glimpse of what I'll be looking like on stage in 2 weeks. It was a fun time. The manager explained what they look for and how runs. I hit the mandatories and did my routine for them.
So, here at 2 weeks out, I'm feeling good. I'll definitely sharpen up a bit, but my waist hit 29" this morning. That tells me I'm ready for stage!