This week has been good, strength is slowly climbing back. This next week I’ll probably back down from hitting low reps on the compound movements and switch to near 80% 1RM for set of 5. Anyone who has hit the weights long enough knows you can’t go all out week in week out, so having an undulating scheme seems to help progress.

Shoulders & Arms

Push Press 5-4-4-5 (190lbs)
Dumbbell Front Raises 4 x 10
Reverse machine fly 4 x 10
Superset 4 x 10
-Dumbbell Lateral raises
-Dumbbell Shrugs
Superset: 5 x 5-8
-Close Grip Bench Press
-Barbell Curl
Superset: 5 x 6-10
-Incline Dumbbell Curl
-V-Bar Push Down
Superset: 5 x 8-10
-Rope Push Down
-Reverse Curl

30 minutes cardio in the evening

Back

Wide Grip Pull Down 10-10-6-5-5-10
Barbell Rows 10-10-10-5-6-10 (285lbs)
One-Arm Dumbbell Rows 10-6-5-5-8-10
Superset 3 x 10
-Supinated grip cloe grip Pull down
-One-arm bent over reverse cable fly
Superset 3 x 10
-Close Grip Cable row
-reverse dumbbell fly

Chest

Incline Press 10-10-5-5-2 (280lbs)
Incline Dumbbell Press 6-7-7-7-6
Dumbbell Bench Press 5-5-5-10
Superset: 4 x 10
Incline Dumbbell Fly
Weighted Dips

January 20th Wednesday

Cardio 30 minutes
Abs – 3 x 20
-Decline sit up
-Ab roller

Legs were a bit sore after this work out for a few days. I’m still keeping squats and deads on the same day because I found my lower back recovers much better this way than splitting it up during the week.

Legs

Squats 10-10-10-5-1-5 (best set 385lbs)
Dead-lift 5-5-5-4 (set set 495lbs)
Leg Press 10-10-10-8 (900lbs)
Walking Dumbbell Lunges 10-10-9-6-6-8 (80lb dumbbells)
Superset: 3 x 10
-Leg extension
-Leg Curl
Standing Calve raises 4 x 12-20

Shoulders & Arms (5:30 a.m.)

Push-Press 5-5-5-3 (best 185lbs 4 reps)

Dumbbell Standing Shoulder press 4 x 9-12

Reverse machine Fly 5 x 8-10

Superset: 5 x 10

-Dumbbell Lateral raises

-Dumbbell Shrug

Superset: 5 x 5-8

-Close Grip Bench Press

-Seated Dumbbell Curl

Superset 5 x 8-10

-One-Arm Preacher Curl

-Straight bar Push Down

Superset 5 x 8-10

-Rope Push Down

-Dumbbell Hammer Curl

Cardio (5:00p.m.)

-Stairmaster 30 minutes

-Abs Decline Sit up & Ab Wheel 3 x 20

Back

Wide Grip Pull-down 5 x 5-15

Barbell Row 5 x 5-10 (275 best of 5reps)

Close Grip T-Bar Row 5 x 8-12

Superset: 4 x 8-10

-Reverse D/B Fly

-Pullovers

Reverse Grip Close Grip Pull Down 4 x 8-12

Calves 5 x 10-20

Cardio

-Stairmaster 30 min

-Abs- All together  3 x 20

-Sit ups

-Crunches

-Leg raises

-Mountain Climbers (45 sec)

Chest

-Incline Barbell Press 10-5-5-2 ( best set 275 2 reps)

Incline Dumbbell Press 10-9-4-12

Hammer Strength Bench Press 10-6-4-5-7

Superset 4 x 9-10

-Weighted dips (45lbs)

-One Arm D/B Laterals (40 lb )

Superset 3 x 10

-Cable Fly

-Standing D/B laterals (45lb)

Calves 4 x 10-20

It’s been awhile since the last posting, but by no means has there been any time away from my “home away from home” – the gym! Over the past year or so I’ve taken a detour away from a bodybuilding approach of training, to more of a power lifting standpoint. As the new modality of training began to encompass they way I approached each training session, the poundage in each of the 3 lifts in powerlifting (squat, bench press, deadlift) began to climb. Achieved a PR in Squat of 575lb, 450lb bench, and 585lb Dead-lift all were in the gym but was something I had never thought would come to fruition.

There were just a few key factors that helped to make this increase. Fewer and more rest between training sessions, Increase in caloric intake, and getting the proper nutrition your body needs to recover. The latter, in my opinion are very and just as important as the training you are doing. In powerlifting, it seemed the thought was to just eat as many calories as you can which would help you squat, bench, or dead-lift more weight. The increase in calories could come from whatever food in the alphabet (i.e. pizza, cheeseburgers, fries, milkshakes, and so on). Well, knowing what happens when these foods hit your system I didn’t like the idea no matter how much belief was in the fact that it would help you lift more.  Don’t get me wrong, I gave it a shot to see for myself. What happened, yes I did lift a little more weight… but at what consequence? Basically I felt bloated (which, when you are using gear like a squat suit you want that “blot” to make the suit fit tight. This helps to support more weight and ties into increasing the total weight you can lift), and was sluggish outside the gym. Basically, I didn’t feel so healthy during the day. Thus, I came back to the basics (Whole eggs, Egg whites, Chicken, Fish, Steak, Oats, Rice, Potatoes, & veggies) and found that I was able to make just as much progress and felt great during the day.

It was fun watching the numbers climb in each lift but I soon began to realize that it was making a huge impact on my joints. I’m just 5’7 and was getting up to 198-200 lbs and hanging around  8-9% body fat at the end of this past May of 2009. I was very pleased with the gains in strength and size but cardiovascular wise I was in pretty poor condition. As a natural guy I have learned that my body doesn’t want to support unnecessary weight when I do cardio more than 2x’s times per week at 30 minutes each session. I know that sounds like nothing but realizing that I use to weight 150-55lbs 8-9 years ago with a very similar body fat % is something to take into account. More so, the past few bodybuilding show’s I have prepped for I began at around 185-6lbs (~7%bf) and have dropped to 161-165lbs (2-3% bf ) by the end.

The few points I am getting at is 1) For some people, your body was never meant to support excessive body weight 2) Although, muscles and tendons can be strengthened to accommodate more weight. Your joints and ligaments bear the ultimate load of which damage occurrence compounds over time. 3)  The reiteration of the goal at hand.

It’s the last point that I’m trying to tie everything here together over the past year or so. I first began the powerlifting approach to increase my size, density, and strength. All of which were achieved but soon realized the extra 10-15lbs on my frame, on top of the already 25-30lbs (beginning from 150-55lbs) made a huge impact on my joints and cardiovascular system. Simple fact of the matter is I love to train and strengthen the body in functional way. Not for appearance or to look good for a certain event or time. Simply because it is something I enjoy and hope to continue for the rest of my life. Therein lies the plan, using the best of both powerlifting and bodybuilding to attain a functionally strong body.

After a two week layoff, This is my first week getting back to the basics kicking it off with some squats and dead-lifts as follows.

Legs

-Squats 10-10-5-5-5 Best set 365 5 reps

-Deadlift 5-5-5-3 Best set 455 3 reps hard

-Leg press 10-10-10 (best set 950lbs)

-Superset: 4 x 10

-leg extension

-leg curl

-Abs: Hanging Knee raises & Dumbbell crunch 3 x 20

Dental school has been keeping me very busy this semester. Training has been going well. I did another powerlifting meet a a few weeks ago (April 25th) in Austin, Tx and won my class. I’ll try and update this blog soon. Here are a few pics from the meet (565 lb dead-lift and 560 lb squat at 181lbs).