Yesterday and today I had the opportunity to workout with my good friend/protege, Briesen Cooper.  When she trains on her lunch hour Briesen can only workout for 30-35 minutes so that she can get back to work on time, so we have to hit it fast and furious.  Yesterday she came to Hyde Park Gym and we trained back.

High Pulley Row  4 sets 1012 reps with about 45 sec rests between

Lat pulldowns  4 sets 8-12 reps 45 sec rests

One Arm DB Rows  4 sets 10 reps 30 sec rests (Steve Holman 4X training style)

After Briesen left to get back to work, I finished with Partial Deadlifts  135X10, 185X10, 225X10, 275X8

At 8pm yesterday I trained again with my client Dr. D’Lorm

Partial Deadlifts 4X10

Close grip pulldowns 3X10

Seated Cable Row 3X10

DB Curls 3X10

Today I met Briesen at the Burnet Gold’s Gym where she led the leg workout:

Leg Press  4X15 with 45 sec rests

Superset:  Step back lunges with Icarian Leg Ext  15 reps per set, 30 sec rests between supersets

Super set:  Tubing band kick backs supersetted with hack squats

3 supersets 20 reps per leg on the kickbacks and 15 reps on the hack squats, 30 sec rests between supersets

DB squats 4 sets 15 reps.  Holding DBs at the sides and squatting deep enough to touch DBs to the floor

At this point in the week, EVERYTHING is sore!!!

Today was chest day, with a little medial delts, biceps and abs thrown in.  And, I don’t care how many people at the Fit Expo told me that I “look great as usual”.  Right now I’m the fattest I’ve ever been.   At 190 I’m at 13.1% bodyfat.  This means I need to lose about 20 pounds of fat to get back down to contest shape.  Fortunately, I’m on a mission and I have roughly 20 weeks to get it done.

Here’s today’s workout:

Bench Press (90-120 sec rests)  95X15, 115X12, 135X10, 165X8, 185X6, 205X5, 215X3, 225X5 (this was pretty good considering I haven’t benched over 185 since Oct)

Incline Press (90-120 sec rests) 135X8, 155X8, 175X8, 185X6, 155X10 (excellent considering I haven’t Inclined over 155 since Oct.)

Pec Fly Machine (30 sec rests) 60 lbs for 4 sets of 10

Lateral Raise Machine  (30 sec rests)  30 lbs for 4 sets 12, 10, 8, 7

EZ Bar Curls  (30 sec rests) 40 lbs for 4 sets 12, 10, 8, 8 (I know….lame!)

Hanging leg/knee raise  (60 sec rests)  5/5, 4/6, 1/9  (I haven’t done any ab training since about Oct)

I’m sure I’m going to be feeling this workout tomorrow.  The weights and reps seem pretty wimpy, but (again) I’ve spent the last 3 months doing easy training to try to let some injuries heal.  Still I was feeling some pain in the spot where I had the small tear in my right pec last March.  The good news is that my shoulders and elbows felt pretty darn good today!  My wrist crunches and hurts on the Pec Fly Machine.  I know that is not gonna go away until I have surgery to fix it….if that’s possible.  I had to give up DB Lateral Raises about 6 weeks ago because the crunching and pain in my wrist was way too much on that exercise.  Good thing we have a good Lateral Raise machine at Hyde Park Gym.  I took some video during my workout today.  As soon as I figure out how to get it uploaded I will post some vids.  Yes….I’m a computer-moron!

After an awesome weekend in LA working with the awesome staff of Ironman at the Fit Expo, I’m back to the real world. Diana and I got home at midnight and I was up at 5:45 this morning to get to my clients at Hyde Park Gym. After a busy morning I got to do my own workout. Today it was legs. I always return from the Fit Expo inspired to train like a beast. But, I’m still having pain in the adductor that I tore last year, so I had to throttle it back a bit. Rather than lift heavier and risk tearing it again, I used Steve Holman’s 4X training method with some modifications. Here’s today’s workout:

Bike 10 mins
Leg press 90×25, 180×20, 230×20, 270×20
320 for 4 sets of 20 w/ 30 sec rests

Squats
95 for 4 sets of 10 w/ 30 sec rests (my first time to do bk squats since Oct)

Leg curls 30×10, 35×10 x8x8. W/ 30 sec rests

Leg ext 70x12x10x10x10x10. W/ 30 sec rests

Hack calf raise 100 for 4 sets of 12 w/ 30 sec rests

Today I met my good friend, Briesen Cooper for a leg workout at Gold’s Gym. Briesen is making the transition from Bikini competitor to Figure competitor. She has tremendous potential and will be making a splash in Figure this year!
Anyway, she wanted to workout on her lunch hour and actually has only 30-35 minutes to train at lunch time….which made me very nervous when she told me that she already had the workout planned!
Here’s what we did:
Horizontal squat machine 4 sets 15 reps 30-45 second rests
Super-set DB squats and 45 degree angled lunges 4 sets 15 reps per set with only 20-30 second rests between super-sets
Leg Ext/Seated Leg Curl supersets 4 sets 15 reps 30 second rests between super-sets

My glutes are screaming and my quads and hams are shakey just 7 hours later. I can’t imagine how sore my glutes are going to be tomorrw when I get on the plane to travel to LA for the Fit Expo this weekend. Come visit me in the Ironman Magazine booth and don’t be surprised if I look like I’m in pain!

Well, it’s not exactly the beginning of the year, but it is the beginning of my quest to get back into contest shape.  Diana is finally done with chemo-therapy.  All of the poison will be out of her system soon and hopefully so will the nausea.  One of the few things that she has been able to eat through the whole ordeal is Italian food.  Being the supportive boyfriend that I am, I’ve eaten more Italian food since the beginning of September than I’ve eaten (probably) in the last 10 years combined.  Combine that with the fact that I’ve been trying to let some injuries heal up for the last three months so I haven’t been working out hard.  The sum total is that I’m the fattest I’ve ever been in my life.  I still look good compared to the average guy, but I’ve never been the average guy.  The Texas Shredder has turned into the Texas Cream Puff!  But, since easy training hasn’t helped heal up any of my injuries, as of yesterday, I’m training hard again!  I’m sending in my IFBB membership today and targeting some June contests to compete in Men’s Physique.  Diana and I still have to decide on exactly which shows to do, as we’ve been scheduled to judge a bunch of NPC Texas contests this year.  Coordinating the yearly schedule isn’t as easy as it used to be!

Yesterday I did a hard back workout at Hyde Park Gym.  It felt really good to workout hard again!!!  Easy workouts are just no fun for me.  And, they don’t maintain my muscle very well either.  But, since working out easy didn’t make anything feel better, I’m back on hard workouts.  If I’m going to hurt anyway, I might as well look good and have fun lifting!!!

In other good news, Diana gave me an Ipad 2 for Christmas (although I just got it last Thurs).  Now I have no excuse for not blogging regularly!

Here’s yesterday’s workout:

Lat Pulldowns for warmup:  100X12, 120X10, 140X8

Close grip chin-ups 5, 5, 3 Holding 10 seconds on the last rep of each set (I’m weighing 190…so not only am I weak, but I’m chinning considerably more weight than usual)

Wide Grip Pulldowns 4X style (30 second rests) 120X10X8X7X8

High Pulley Row 130×8, 140X8, 150X6

T-bar Rows 4X style (30 second rests) 75X10X10X8X6

EZ Bar Curls  4X stlyle  40X10X10X8X6

Rear Delt Machine Fly 4X style 60X10X10X10X8

I wasn’t moving much weight, but it sure felt great to get a good burn and a great pump again.  This morning my lats are already sore, but it feels good!!!

Back on track!!!

Going into the IFBB Pro ranks I knew exactly what I would be up against.  Although I’ve competed in (and won) non drug-tested shows for 16 of the 29 years that I’ve been a competitive bodybuilder, up until the time I stepped up to the IFBB Pro division I usually wasn’t competing against the very best bodybuilders in the world.  In the 202 and under weight class I’m giving up 20-30 lbs to many of the competitors…most of whom are shorter than me, and are among the very best bodybuilders in the world (otherwise they wouldn’t be IFBB Pros).  When I heard the news that the IFBB was changing the weight class to 212 lbs and under, I realized that my chances to be competitive would be further diminished.  Fortunately, starting in 2012 the IFBB is adding Pro Men’s Physique to the contest schedule.

So, I am officially announcing that in 2012 I will be competing as an IFBB Pro in the Men’s Physique Division.  My move to Men’s Physique has been approved by the IFBB Pro League office.

I feel that on the Pro stage my body is much better suited to the look that is winning in Men’s Physique.  Although I love bodybuilding and I love doing posing routines, I also like to have a chance to win….or at least be competitive.  I believe that I will be very competitive in the Pro Men’s Physique Division!  This is the look I plan to bring to the stage in 2012:

Men's Physique look...minus the water and the dude in the background

In other news, we have a great turnout for the NPC Texas State Natural Championships which will be held this Saturday.  We have nearly 150 athletes registered and we’re looking forward to a fantastic show.  Contest details can be found at www.TexasStateNaturals.com   Entries will be accepted up through the weigh-in on Friday evening.  We have online ticket sales and online registration on our website.