The Week Before...
I started working out again when
I started my new job in Hollywood. When I get the itch to get dedicated again,
for about the first 2 weeks I'll do whatever I feel like when I walk into the
gym. I don't have any rhyme or reason to why I do what I do, I just do. So Here
is what I did my first "warm up" week:
Monday - Legs
Legs Press - 5 sets of 12 / 1 pl, 2 pl, 3 pl, 4 pl, 5 pl - pl = plates
Machine Squats - 3 sets of 10 / 150lbs, 180lbs, 210lbs
Leg Extensions - 5 sets of 10 / 80 lbs, 90 lbs, 100 lbs, 110 lbs, 120 lbs
Calf Raises - 3 sets of 10 / 130 lbs, 130 lbs, 130 lbs
Tuesday - Chest
Smith Machine Bench Press - 5 sets of 10 / 225x5
Dumbbell Bench Press - 5 sets of 10 / 65x5
Incline Hammer Strength Machine - 3 sets of 12 / 120lbs
Cable Cross Overs - 6 sets of 10 (2 low | 2 mid | 2 high)
Wednesday - Upper Chest & Arms
Smith Machine Incline Bench Press - 5 sets of 10 / 225x5
Dumbbell Curls - 5x10 40's db's(3 reg & 2 hammers)
Overhead Tricep Machine - 5x10 / 3 sets at 110lbs & 2 sets at 130lbs
High Single Arm Cable Curls - 1 set of 20lbs
I wasn't able to get to
the gym that Thursday and Friday...
MONDAY OCT 24, 2011 - DAY 1
LEGS
I decided I'd do Legs first. I
hate legs cause over the years my legs have gotten so small and weak because of
a bad right knee I have. I've torn my ACL twice, MCL once and meniscus once.
I've had 2 orthoscopic surgeries and 1 total reconstructive surgery. The bad
thing about the surgeries is that I've re-damaged my knee since my last
surgeries and it has given me trouble ever since. I'm not exactly sure what
condition my knee is in technically, but I know it hurts like a mother %*$!#$!
Here is my first Lunch Time
Workout:
I only have about 35 minutes to
workout so I don't take very long between sets, maybe 30 seconds at most. I may
go get a drink of water or just kinda stand there and pace around until I'm
ready for my next set.
I walked in the gym, changed
clothes and got busy. I went directly to the stationary bike and did 3 miles at
about 20 mph. It took me 10 mins & 10 seconds to finish that. It was a
pretty good warm up cause I was sweatin' pretty good. The thing is that it
doesn’t take much at all for me to start sweatin'!
Leg Extensions - 6 sets with 6
different weights and multiple reps:
100 lbs x 15 reps
110 lbs x 15 reps
120 lbs x 12 reps
130 lbs x 10 reps
140 lbs x 10 reps
150 lbs x 8 reps
Leg Press - 5 Sets with 5
different weights at 10 reps each
2 plates x 10 reps
4 plates x 10 reps
6 plates x 10 reps
8 plates x 10 reps
8 plates x 10 reps
Weighted Hamstring Stretch - 4
sets with 25 lbs
Legs a little more than shoulder
width apart:
Go straight down in the middle of
my legs and stretch my hamstrings as much as possible while holding a 25 lbs
plate in both hands.
25 lbs x 10-15 seconds
25 lbs x 10-15 seconds
25 lbs x 10-15 seconds
25 lbs x 10-15 seconds
Riding the bike at the beginning
of my workout really limited the number of exercises I could do in the time
that I have. I decided that I'll hit the weights at lunch and then do cardio at
night when I get home. There are so many different things I can do at home so I
think that will help me be more time efficient. (we'll see!)
TUESDAY OCTOBER 25, 2011 - DAY 2 CHEST
Today I couldn’t wait to hit the
gym! I was pretty hyped to get back and hit my chest. Last night I was reading
a flex magazine and read a few articles that were talking about bodybuilders
what hurt themselves doing regular flat bench with a barbell. Honestly, that
kinda surprised me...I'd thought that dumbbells were a little more dangerous
because you can get such a deeper stretch and can easily pull or tear your
pec(s). Anyway, I know that these articles are great and are coming from people
who've been there and done that, oh, and by the way these guys are HUGE! I like
to start my chest workouts with regular flat bench, so I was like, "I'll
try something different and see if it works"!
My plan was to warm up my chest
and then spend the majority of my time doing flat bench dumbbell press...and I
did! I started off by doing 3 sets of un-weighted dips for 12 reps each.
After that I went directly to the dumbbells. I started off with 80's for 12
reps. I started a little heavy cause I felt real loose from the dips and I was
hyped up to get started. Next I went to 90's for 10 reps. I knocked my first 2
sets out pretty easily and was feeling good. Jumped up to 100's for 8 and then
went up to 110's for 6 reps. I felt good but started to struggle on my 5
& 6th rep with the 110's. At this point, I felt like while I was
pushing the weight nicely, I wasn’t feeling my chest working nearly as much as
I did when I was doing the 80's and 90's. So after those 4 sets, I jumped back
down to 80's for 12 reps again and then kinda went down the rack. 70's for 12
reps, 60's for 12 reps, 50's for 15 reps and finished it up with 40's for 15
reps! Damn, my chest was burnin'. As I dropped the weight, the work I was doing
felt like it was digging into my chest so much more!
From dumbbell bench, I was gonna
do incline flat bench but some other guy came over right when I was about to
start and wanted to work in. Usually I would work in with no problem but
because I only have a short period of time to hit em' during lunch, I told him
he could have it and I'd go somewhere else...no problem!
I went and got a drink and
started looking for the next place to go and ended up at the cable cross over
machine. I LOVE CABLES. Its where I'm able to really cut my chest up and create
those striations in my chest. Basically, I kinda picked up where I left off
doing dumbbell bench and brought the cables close together and put them at
mid-chest height. I did 3 sets of 12 with 35 lbs. I usually don’t do those but
like I said, because I wanted to keep doing a press type exercise, I changed it
up. After those 3 sets I lowered the cables and did 3 sets of decline
cross-overs with 20 lbs for 12 reps each. I brought it up to the top, increased
the weight to 40 and did 3 more sets.
Unfortunately, that was all I had
time for and had to get ready to go back to work! Rush Rush Rush to take a
shower, get dressed and walk back to the job.
Dips - 3 sets x 12 reps each
not weighted - 12 reps
not weighted - 12 reps
not weighted - 12 reps
Flat Dumbbell Bench Press - 9
sets at various weights and various reps
80 lbs - 12 reps
90 lbs - 10 reps
100 lbs - 8 reps
110 lbs - 6 reps
80 lbs - 12 reps
70 lbs - 12 reps
60 lbs - 12 reps
50 lbs - 15 reps
40 lbs - 15 reps
Cable-Cross Overs - 9 sets (3
low, 3 mid, 3 high)
(chest height - mid)
35 lbs x 12 reps
35 lbs x 12 reps
35 lbs x 12 reps
(chest height - low)
20 lbs x 12 reps
20 lbs x 12 reps
20 lbs x 12 reps
(chest height - high)
40 lbs x 12 reps
40 lbs x 12 reps
40 lbs x 12 reps
I started off doing machine
deltoid (shoulder) flies. Basically sitting face forward in the machine and
lifting my arms until they are about parallel with my shoulders. This burns the
hell out of your shoulders if you do the correct amount of weight. If you do
too much weight, I use too much momentum and then my shoulders aren’t getting
the work they should. I did 5 sets of at least 12 and a couple sets I did about
22 or 23 reps. I kept the weight nice and light /medium so I could really burn
the shoulders.
Next I went to the smith machine
for good old fashioned shoulder press, but I also grabbed some 20 lbs dumbbells
so I could do superset them with the shoulder presses. I kept the weight
relatively light for shoulder press at 135 lbs. Also, the 20lb dumbbells are
medium for shoulder raises, especially after a set of presses. I did 5
supersets in total and the reps varied. I tried to rep out until it burned, not
necessarily a number. This has probably been my least intense workout so far. I
didn’t feel real good walking into the gym and it kinda showed in my workout.
To be real, I think I had a good workout considering I felt like shit when I
walked in. (half glass full J)
From the smith machine, I went
over to another shoulder press machine that had a different angle than the
smith machine. I did 5 quick sets of 12. Medium weight - high reps, my
shoulders were burnin’ pretty good…and it was a wrap! Got ready to go back to
work.
Shoulder Fly’s – 5 sets 40lbs
with various reps
40lbs – 12 reps
40lbs – 15 reps
40lbs – 23 reps
40lbs – 20 reps
40lbs – 17 reps
Smith Machine Shoulder Press
Supersets w/ Front and Side Shoulder Raises
135lbs – 12 reps superset w/
Side Raises 20lbs – 10 reps
135lbs – 12 reps superset w/
Side Raises 20lbs – 10 reps
135lbs – 12 reps superset w/
Front Raises 20lbs – 10 reps
135lbs – 12 reps superset w/
Front Raises 20lbs – 10 reps
135lbs – 12 reps superset w/
Side Raises 20lbs – 10 reps
Machine Shoulder Press (different
angle than smith machine) 5 sets at 70lbs for 12 reps each
70lbs – 12 reps
70lbs – 12 reps
70lbs – 12 reps
70lbs – 12 reps
70lbs – 12 reps
Thursday October 27, 2011 – DAY 4
ARMS
Today I did arms. I started off
by going to the smith machine and putting on 1 plate on each side and dropping
the bar as low as the machine will go. I hold the bar with a reverse grip and
don't start off doing reverse curls, but I bring the bar up to my lower chest
using my biceps rather than my back. I feel like this works my bicep, my
forearm and a little bit of my front shoulder. I'm not trying to be super
strict with this exercise, but am trying to really get the blood pumping to my
biceps...I did 20 reps.
From the smith machine, I went to
the dumbbells and grabbed some 25's just to continue my warm-up just a bit
more. I think I did 15 reps of standing dumbbell curls. After that, I started
working. I grabbed some 40's and did 4 sets 12-15 reps of standing dumbbell
curls. When I do my right arm, I lean over to the right side so that I'm able
to kinda isolate that arm rather than being able to use my entire body for
leverage. Then I did 3 sets standing hammer curls with 40's for 15 reps each
also. I've always liked the way that hammer curls affect my arms. I think it
makes my bicep fuller and gives it overall size.
After those 7 sets of dumbbell
curls, I went over to the hammer strength concentration curl machine that uses
free weights. I threw a 45 on there and put the seat as low as possible so that
I really isolated my bicep. I did 3 sets of 10 but supersetted it with 10 of
the same exercise just half reps though done very quickly. On my way out of the
gym, I did single arm cable curls at medium and high height. I did these as burnouts.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to hit backarms, but I will next week
though!
Warm-Up
Smith Machine Reverse Bicep Curls
Variation
135 lbs - 20 reps
Standing Dumbbell Curls
25lbs - 15 reps
40lbs - 12-15 reps
40lbs - 12-15 reps
40lbs - 12-15 reps
40lbs - 12-15 reps
Standing Hammer Curls
40lbs - 12-15 reps
40lbs - 12-15 reps
40lbs - 12-15 reps
Hammer Strength Concentration
Curls
45lbs - 10 reps / 45lbs - 10 reps
short|quick ones (super set)
45lbs - 10 reps / 45lbs - 10 reps
short|quick ones (super set)
45lbs - 10 reps / 45lbs - 10 reps
short|quick ones (super set)
Single Arm Cable Curls - Medium
& High
20lbs - burnouts (each arm)
Medium
20lbs - burnouts (each arm)
Medium
20lbs - burnouts (each arm) High
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2011
Today was back day. I wasn't
feeling it as much as I'd like to, but I was ready though. My knee was giving
me a hard time so I think that's what my problem was to be honest. When my knee
is acting up, it easily falls out of place, it literally stops me in my tracks,
it hurts like shit and then I have to kinda realign it by bending it so it goes
back into place. Anyways...
I started off on the hammer
strength machine of lat pull downs, did 5 sets of 12 of that. I started off
with one plate and pyramided up to 3 plates and back down to 1 plate.
From there I jumped onto bent
over dumbbell rows. I went a little heavy with these being that this was the
first time I've done these in a while. I went a little heavy for me today. I usually
don't cause it’s hard for me to hold the dumbbells. My forearms get tight and
it becomes hard for me to hold them. Anyway, I went up to 80's which is kinda
heavy for me. I only did 3 sets with each arm for this exercise.
For my last exercise, I did
machine rows. This is one of the easier machines to work because all you have
to do is grab the handles and pull them toward you. I did 5 sets of 12 with
various weights.
Hammer Strength Machine of Lat
Pull Downs - 5 sets of 12
1 plate x 12 reps
2 plates x 12 reps
3 plates x 12 reps
2 plates x 12 reps
1 plate x 12 reps
Bent Over Dumbbell Rows - 3 sets
of various reps (each side)
60's x 15 reps (each side)
70's x 12 reps (each side)
80's x 9 reps (each side)
Machine Row's - 5 sets of 12
(except 1 set of 9 reps)
70lbs x 12 reps
85lbs x 12 reps
100lbs x 12 reps
115 x 9 reps
80lbs 12 reps
So, I went to the gym at lunch
during work every day last week! That's a great start for me. I only did cardio
for 10 minutes on one day, but at least I had a great start. I have to do
cardio when I get home from work, that's just the fact. As much as I want to do
it at lunch, I just can't.
The good thing about the type of
workout I'm doing is that I don't rest for more than 1 minute between sets. So
by the time I'm done with my first 3 sets of the first exercise, I'm sweatin'
and my heart rate is up. I try to keep my heart rate as high as I can by just
lifting, so I'm pretty happy about that. I lost 4 pounds since I started and am
now at 219. I have to do cardio on its own in order to keep the weight off and
be able to continue to lose weight. This will be tough for me cause my knee has
been trippin'. Doesn't matter though cause regardless of if my knee is in good
shape or bad, I have to get this done!
I bought creatine and protein
powder today (Saturday). I'm a believer in creatine as it has worked for me in
the past. Protein shakes are awesome cause they pretty much just feeds your
muscles! The bad thing about protein shakes is that it makes my stomach feel
kinda bloated and it makes me fart a lot...BOOOOOOOOOO! Whatever, lol.
Next week I have to make time
when I get home from work to get this cardio in!
Overall, I feel good and I feel
strong for just kinda getting back into it. If I know me, I'll start to see
changes next week and mentally, I'll like what I see and it will increase the
intensity of my workouts! I usually get pretty intense when working out and
that's one of the things I have going for me. I love the fight between me and
the weight. I've lost my share of fights with the weights and I've won my
share. But, I love it cause I know that if I don't go hard in the weight room,
I'll embarrass myself.
Good week, now let’s get to week
2!
MONDAY OCTOBER 31, 2011 - DAY 6
CHEST
I started off with chest this
week. I had been looking forward to getting back on em' and I can always get a
great chest workout!
After walking the room to see
what I was feeling, I ended up at the incline bench. I did a good warm up sets
of 20 reps. I didn't get tired at all during this sets, which told me that I
was gonna be strong while doing my working sets.
I jumped right into 225lbs and
went for it. I wanted to do 5 sets of 10 but didn’t think that I’d be able to
get all the reps. So I wanted to go heavy with the 225lbs, but also wanted to
get good work in too, so I did 5 sets of 185lbs after the 225 sets. Here’s how
it broke down:
Incline Bench Press - 1 warm up
set and 10 working sets
135lbs x 20 reps (warm up)
225lbs x 5 reps
225lbs x 5 reps
225lbs x 5 reps
225lbs x 5 reps
225lbs x 5 reps
185lbs x 5 reps
185lbs x 5 reps
185lbs x 5 reps
185lbs x 5 reps
185lbs x 5 reps
I finished off on a machine and
not free weight cause my chest was feeling pretty taxed and I didn't
want to worry about dropping the weight. I went to the Hammer Strength Machine
and knocked out 3 sets of 15 with 2 plates and called it a day!
Hammer Strength Wide Chest
Machine - 3 sets, 2 plates, 15 reps each
2 plates x 15 reps
2 plates x 15 reps
2 plates x 15 reps
That was all I could fit in today.
I did a lot of work with on the incline bench so I feel really good!
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 1, 2011 - DAY 7
ARMS
Today I wanted to focus on my
triceps! Lately when I do arms, I've been focused mainly on my biceps.
So, I started off by doing 3 sets
of 15 of dips. I went straight to the cable machine and started doing v bar
tricep push downs. I did super-sets these with light weight. To be honest, I
lost count of how many reps and sets I did…I know it was a lot though!
I did 5 sets of v bar push downs,
5 sets of straight bar push downs and 5 sets of single arm push downs holding
the ball on the cable.
After these I went to the
overhead tricep extension machine. It’s one of my favorite machines in the gym!
I used to do these at Earls gym when he used to work at Rockwell/Rockeydyne
back in the day. Anyway, I did 5 sets of 10-15 reps with various weights to
close out the day.
I was also able to knock out a
few sets of reverse curls with the cambered curl bar. I used an 85lb bar. I
didn’t do a reverse curl like the usual curls, I kinda let the bar hang down as
far as it would go. Then I just bring my hands up to my mid chest but don’t
have the bar curl up “out” away from my body. The bar comes up directly next to
my stomach and chest. I feel like doing reverse curls like this really pulls my
bicep out! It’s not an exercise that’s gonna cut my bicep out from my arm, this
one just puts on size! I did 5 sets of 10.
V Bar Push downs, Straight Bar
Push Downs, One Arm push downs holding the ball
V Bar Push Downs w/ Super Sets
120lbs x 10 reps / 80lbs x 15
reps
120lbs x 10 reps / 80lbs x 15
reps
120lbs x 10 reps / 80lbs x 15
reps
120lbs x 10 reps / 80lbs x 15
reps
120lbs x 10 reps / 80lbs x 15
reps
Straight Bar Push Downs
140lbs x 10 reps / 90lbs x 15
reps
140lbs x 10 reps / 90lbs x 15
reps
140lbs x 10 reps / 90lbs x 15
reps
140lbs x 10 reps / 90lbs x 15
reps
140lbs x 1 reps / 90lbs x 15 reps
One Arm push downs holding the
ball
20lbs x 12 reps
20lbs x 12 reps
20lbs x 12 reps
20lbs x 12 reps
20lbs x 12 reps
Overhead tricep extension machine
120lbs x 15 reps
140lbs x 12 reps
150lbs x 12 reps
160lbs x 10 reps
150lbs x 12 reps
Reverse Curls using 85lb bar
85lbs x 10 reps
85lbs x 10 reps
85lbs x 10 reps
85lbs x 10 reps
85lbs x 10 reps
WEDNESDAY
NOVEMBER 2, 2011 - DAY 8 DELTS
I started off my
shoulder workout with seated dumbbell shoulder press. I was feeling especially
strong today for some reason. Even when I would grab the dumbbell from the rack
it was easier and I could really handle the weight.
I started off with a
good warm up set of 35lbs and did 25 reps. By the time I was done with the
warm-up set, I was sweating already. I did some of the reps fast and others I
did slow, just so I could feel my shoulder muscles burning.
My first set was with
50’s and I just went up the rack until I couldn’t control the weight. I ended
up doing 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s & 85’s. Then I came back down the tree.
70’s, 60’s, 50’s, 40’s. With each set of dumbbell shoulder press, I did a small
“giant set” of side shoulder raises with 20lbs and then another set of side
shoulder raises with 10lbs for a total of 3 sets per set! My shoulders were
toast after these. This was one of the best sets of shoulders I've ever done!
After those small
“giant sets”, I went to “trap flies” but only 3 sets though, it was time to go!
I did 3 sets of 12 with 25lbs dumbbells.
Seated Shoulder Press
with small Giant Set of Side Raises with 2 different weights
50lbs x 10 reps / 20
lbs x 10 reps / 10lbs x 10 reps
60lbs x 10 reps / 20
lbs x 10 reps / 10lbs x 10 reps
70lbs x 10 reps / 20
lbs x 10 reps / 10lbs x 10 reps
80lbs x 10 reps / 20
lbs x 10 reps / 10lbs x 10 reps
85lbs x 10 reps / 20
lbs x 10 reps / 10lbs x 10 reps
70lbs x 10 reps / 20
lbs x 10 reps / 10lbs x 10 reps
60lbs x 10 reps / 20
lbs x 10 reps / 10lbs x 10 reps
50lbs x 10 reps / 20
lbs x 10 reps / 10lbs x 10 reps
40lbs x 10 reps / 20
lbs x 10 reps / 10lbs x 10 reps
“Traps Flies”
25lbs x 12 reps
25lbs x 12 reps
25lbs x 12 reps
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 3, 2011 - DAY 9
BACK
I started off with T bar rows. I
went light using only 1 plate. I don’t like this exercise because I have to
push my chest up against the pad and I can’t breathe really well. So I stay
light and back my chest off the pad and try to keep the strain on my lats. I
did 5 sets of 10 for this kinda as a warm up.
I went to the cables and did one
arm cable rows and did 4 sets of 12 on each side. After that I did machine rows
on a machine that I haven’t used before.
This was probably my most
uninspired workout I’ve had. Thank God it’s done!
T Bar Rows
45lbs x 10 reps
45lbs x 10 reps
45lbs x 10 reps
45lbs x 10 reps
45lbs x 10 reps
One Arm Cable Rows – Lower and
Middle
55lbs x 12 reps
55lbs x 12 reps
55lbs x 12 reps
55lbs x 12 reps
Machine Rows
100lbs x 10 reps
100lbs x 10 reps
100lbs x 10 reps
100lbs x 10 reps
I wanted to focus on my bi's
today being that I really didn't hit them very hard on Tuesday. I went real
basic and just wanted to get the blood rushing to my bi's.
I started off using the smith
machine and did 5 sets of reverse curls. I went to incline dumbbell curls after
that and did 4 sets on each side. I finished it off with cable curls and did
burnouts at various weights and various reps.
Smith Machine Reverse Curls – 5
sets of 10
135lbs x 10 reps
135lbs x 10 reps
135lbs x 10 reps
135lbs x 10 reps
135lbs x 10 reps
Incline Dumbbell Curls – 4 sets
of 10 each side
30lbs x 12 reps
30lbs x 12 reps
30lbs x 12 reps
30lbs x 12 reps
Cable Curls – 5 sets of various
reps
100lbs x 24 reps
130lbs x 18 reps
150lbs x 14 reps
100lbs x 20 reps
100lbs x 15 reps
