Usually on the week of a competition I will train my whole body over the course of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  But, since my larger goal is to be in my best condition for the NPC Masters Nationals (July 18th and 19th) I am treating this week like a regular training week.  Tuesday evening and yesterday morning Diana and I did the Shredder Walk in sweltering heat.  Yesterday afternoon it was so hot that I opted to do an extra leg training session rather than go walking again out in the heat.  My leg session was done using the occlusion method described by Layne Norton in the April 2008 issue of Ironman Magazine.

Quickie leg workout:

Superset Super-deep Hack Squats with Leg Presses  4 supersets 12-15 reps on the Hacks and 40-50 reps on the leg presses

Superset Leg Extensions with single-leg leg presses 4 supersets  15 reps on extensions, 12-15 reps on leg presses.

Leg Extension 3 sets 8-10 reps

Holy Crap it felt good to get those wraps off my thighs and let the lactic acid clear!!!

Today I met my gorgeous new training partner, Tricia, for a back workout.  My lower back has been extremely tight and sore, so we did the deadlifts at the end of the workout to avoid having to use as much weight.  I got a tremendous pump in my lats today!  Then we did triceps so that I’ll have less to do tomorrow.  Also, Tricia feels that triceps are one of her problem areas and since we won’t be able to train together tomorrow, I wanted to make sure that she got a good tricep workout.  Here’s a photo of Tricia that I pulled off of her myspace page

Here’s today’s back workout:

Lat Pulldowns 5 sets 8-12 reps

Seated Cable Row  4 sets 8-12 reps

High Pulley Row 4 sets 10-12 reps

One-arm DB Row  3 sets 10-12 reps

Deadlifts  4 sets 15, 12, 10, 5  Heaviest set was 385X5

Tricep Workout:

Seated Tricep Ext  5 sets 15-20 reps

Pressdowns 4 sets 12-15 reps

By the time we got done with pressdowns I was totally out of gas!  I finished off my post-workout protein drink, stopped by Max Muscle to pick up a couple items for this weekend (Micheal and Travis at Max Muscle are awesome!), then headed back to Hyde Park Gym for a posing session.  Tomorrow morning I head to Houston.  Weigh-in is at 2:30.  I plan to find a gym and train shoulders and biceps after the weigh-in.  Rest assured I’ll get some cardio in, as well.

This weekend I’m competing in the NPC John Sherman.  I’m not where I was for the Team U last year, but I really wasn’t expecting to be in that kind of shape for this show.  I do expect to be in that kind of shape for the Masters Nationals, July 18th and 19th.

Saturday we did the Shredder Walk at 9am.  After about a 30 minute rest I pumped up and posed with David Nall and his friend, Hank.  David is preparing for a WNBF Pro show in August.  Hank is getting a jump start in his preparation for the INBF Alamo Showdown in October.  Here are a few of my pics from Saturday.

On Saturday evening I worked Shoulders, Triceps and Biceps;and walked another 30 minutes at night after dinner.  I didn’t have my training journal with me, so that workout didn’t get recorded.

On Monday  I was unable to reach Rita because her cell phone completely died on her.  But, I was fortunate to pick up a new gorgeous training partner, Tricia Rolman.  Tricia was not used to some of the exercises that I’ve been doing, so we kept her weights light.  But, I was impressed that she completed my whole leg workout like a champ!

Leg Extensions  4 sets 12-15 reps

Squats 4 sets 8-15 reps

Leg Press 4 sets of 30 reps, final set 810lbs.  17 reps

Lying leg curls 4 sets 12 reps

Seated Leg curls 3 sets 12 reps

Donkey Calf Raise 5 sets 12-15 reps  (I’m getting significantly stronger on these)

Leg Extensions 6 sets 10 reps  ( I feel like my quads are lagging, so I’m blasting them)

Today I was the envy of every man who was training at Golds Gym from 11 to 12:15.  I worked out with both Tricia and Rita.  We had a great chest workout and threw in the bonus biceps work at the end.

Bench Press 8 sets 8- 15 reps

Incline Press 5 sets 6-10 reps

Pec Fly Machine 4 sets 12 reps

Standing DB Curls 4 sets 12, ,10, 8, 6

Hammer Curls 3 sets 10-15 reps

On Wednesday I met my daughters, Blythe and Molly, down at Barton Springs to get a little sun and pool time in with the girls. I like going to Barton Springs because the water is 69 degrees all the time and getting in it is like having a full body ice pack. After a couple sessions of soaking neck-deep (so that my sore shoulders could get the full effect) I was pushing myself up out of the pool and strained something in my right shoulder. Actually it’s more in my upper back, just below the deltoid, but it’s really making my shoulder hurt.

Anyway, on Thursday, instead of my usual back workout, I did a second leg workout so that my shoulder could get an extra day of rest. Rita was game for a second leg workout. We did hack squats instead of barbell squats so that there was less strain on my shoulder. The leg workout went extremely well and my legs are still sore from it.

Thursday leg workout:

Hack squats (I was hitting rock bottom. The sled was hitting bottom!) 6 sets 12-15 reps

Leg Press 7 sets 20 reps ….my last set with 810 lbs was an absolute 20RM set. I couldn’t have done another rep if my life depended on it!

Seated leg curls 5 sets 12-15 reps

Leg extensions 4 sets 10-15 reps

Donkey calf raise 6 sets 15 reps

On Friday (yesterday) Rita and I met for a back workout. My shoulder was still very sore and I didn’t know if I would be able to deadlift at all. I decided to save the deadlifts for the end of the workout and just play it by ear. The lat pulldowns actually hurt more than anything else. I had very little to no pain in my shoulder on any of the other exercises. I was exhausted when I got to the gym. I could have laid down and gone right to sleep on the concrete….that’s how tired I was. But, somehow I was able to conjure up enough adrenaline on each set to get an amazing workout! We even deadlifted off the floor at the very end of it! I have to credit Rita. Her energy and enthusiasm for weight training is just contagious!

Friday Back workout:

Lat pulldowns 5 sets 12 reps

Seated cable row 4 sets 10-12 reps

High Pulley Row 4 sets 12 reps

One arm DB row 4 sets 12 reps

Deadlifts 5 sets 10, 10, 8, 6, 3

I’ve really been bustin’ trying to get into contest shape. I’m getting pretty close, but I’m usually closer than this two weeks out. Plus, my legs don’t look too good to me, so I’ve been killing them!

Here are some pics from posing practice this past weekend.

Rita had a tire problem and didn’t get to workout with me on Monday. Training with her has been a great motivation to me, especially when working legs, because she’s so freakin’ strong that if I don’t push myself to the max she’s going to make me look bad. So, without her presence I decided to do some pre-exhaust exercises for my quads and add volume to make sure that my thighs were sufficiently fatigued by the time I finished. Boy, were they fatigued!!! When I did my evening cardio (2 mile walk) I felt like I was walking through knee-deep mud!

Leg Extensions 6 sets 12-15 reps

Hack Squats 8 sets 12-15 reps

Deep Squats 6 sets 5-10 reps

Leg Press 8 total sets …..exact poundages 270X20, 450X20, 540X20, 630X15, 720X12X12X13, 540X23

Supersets using occlusion Leg Extensions/Seated Leg Curls 5 supersets 10-15 reps

Lying Leg Curls 3 sets 8-10 reps

Donkey Calf Raises 7 sets 10-12 reps

Yesterday I met Rita at Pure Austin Gym to train chest. It was my first time to workout in that gym and it was a very impressive facility. Once again my shoulders and elbows were pretty sore at the beginning, but they warmed up after several sets and I had a great chest workout. Oddly enough my strength on Incline Presses has significantly increased in the past month.

Bench Press 7 sets 8-10 reps

Incline Press 6 total sets 135X10, 165X10, 185X10, 205X8, 215X5, 175X12 (215 lbs in the most I’ve inclined pressed in a very long time)

Pec Machine Fly 4 sets 12-15 reps

DB Curls 3 sets 10-15 reps with a drop-set on the final set

Hammer Curls 3 sets 10-12 reps

I’m very pleased with my strength at this point. My bodyweight (nude and first thing in the morning) has been 174-175. My bodyfat is at 3.3% this morning (by Skindex calipers).

I started the day off by doing the Shredder Walk with Cecil and Diana.  We doubled up on the stairs again today and although I was sweating like crazy, I felt good when we finished.

Diana and I made our travel arrangements for the NPC Masters Nationals in Pittsburgh (July 18th & 19th).  Man it’s getting expensive to compete!!!  Then I was off to meet Rita for a back workout.  My lower back was really tight from all of the cardio that I’ve been doing so we worked upper back first, then finished off with partial deadlifts.  It was a great workout, but I felt I slighted myself a little bit by not doing any heavy deadlifts off the floor.  But, the way my lower back was feeling I thought it was smarter to leave them out this week.  I’ll definitely pick up a big weight next week!

I’m finally starting to look like I’m getting close to contest shape.  I weighed 174 lbs.  first thing this morning and came out 3.4% bodyfat on my skindex calipers.  With the NPC John Sherman just 2.5 weeks away I need to get my bodyfat below 3.o%.  I want to be in the mid- 2’s by the Masters Nationals.

Lat pulldowns (light warmup) 2 sets 12-15 reps

Pullups 3 sets 12, 10, 8

Lat Pulldowns 3 sets 8-10 reps

Seated Cable Row 4 sets 10-12 reps

High Pulley Row 4 sets 8-10 reps

One arm DB Row  4 sets 10-12 reps

Partial Deadlifts 4 sets 8-15 reps

I’m planning to take some photos when I practice posing on Saturday.  I’ll get those posted.

So far this week my contest prep been going great! I’ve been dieting now for 11.5 weeks. During the first four weeks I was preparing things for the Texas Shredder Classic and didn’t have time to do cardio. So, although I dropped a few pounds, I couldn’t really see a significant difference in my appearance. As soon as the show was over (April 26th) I got on the cardio and things are finally starting to look more like they’re supposed to look! I’ve dropped a total of 9 lbs and I feel like I still need to drop about 4-5 more in the next month in order to be totally shredded for the Masters Nationals.

Rita Ross worked out with me on Monday. Every time we do legs she amazes me! On Monday she amazed some of the other guys in the gym as she cranked out 20 reps on her last set of leg presses with 630 lbs of plates on the sled. That was after working up to 165 lbs for 10 reps on deep squats. On top of that I’m super-sore from the leg workout and she’s not sore at all. I don’t get it!!!

Leg Extensions 9 sets 12-15 reps (I was waiting on Rita and thought I would pre-exhaust my quads a bit)

Squats 5 sets 6-10 reps, one finishing set of 15 reps

Leg press 6 sets 20 reps

Leg Extensions (yes, again) 4 sets 12-15 reps

Seated Leg Curls 4 sets 12-15 reps

Donkey Calf raise 5 sets 15 reps

Lying Leg Curls 4 sets 12 reps (Rita wanted to do them, I couldn’t look like a wimp)

Yesterday I was solo for my chest workout. As I started warming up I found that my right shoulder was extremely sore again. I did some extra light warmup sets and also did a set of 12 reps with a relatively light weight (110 lbs) on the high pulley row after each set of bench press and each set of incline presses. The light rows made my shoulder feel much better and I was able to handle some fairly heavy weights (for me) on the bench and the inclines. As usual, I threw in some bonus bicep work after chest.

Bench Press 3 light warmup sets 12 reps, 4 medium-hvy sets 6-10 reps, 3 sets of heavy doubles, 1 set of 10 reps w/ 225 lbs to finish off bench press

Incline Press 6 sets 7-10 reps, 1 finishing set of 15 reps

Pec Fly Machine 3 sets 10-15 reps Holding the last rep of each set at full contraction for as long as possible

Barbell Curls 4 sets 10 reps

Hammer Curls 3 sets 10-12 reps

Today is just a cardio day. I did a 20 minute walk at 8:30am (about 1.5 miles). Then at 10:30 I was joined by Diana Wilkins and Cecil Ballard to do the Shredder Walk. Today we did the full walk (4 miles, 8 stories of stairs, 11 stories of ramps) and also added another 8 stories of stairs on the way back. Cecil needs to lose another 15 lbs. in the next 7 weeks in order to win a bet with NPC Texas State Chairman, Lee Thompson (and several of the other NPC Texas judges). Diana is on a mission to be in her very best shape for her birthday, July 5th, when we travel to Houston for the NPC John Sherman Classic.

Me with Lee and Cecil at the Texas Shredder Classic