It Begins

It Begins… I have gone back to B.F.L. well sort of. I’m creating a hybrid BFL program. I’ve come to the conclusion that BFL is the best program out there. I knew this was true, but tried many other programs to learn. I did learn. The pyramid rep system is, in my opinion the best there is. My official start date is 09/27/06. Today was day three. I’m going to post my progress to show you my hybrid program is superior to T-Nations workouts. (Ego inserted here) The amazing Suz has inspired me to become a vicious challenger. Unbeknownst to the Trackers, I usually focus on one or two people and use them as my inspiration.

• Day 1


• Dumbbell Bench Press (chest) 12,10,8,6,12 / Weighted Dip 12


• Close Grip Bench Press (Triceps) 12,10,8,6,12 / Overhead Cable 12


• Overhead Press Dumbbell (Shoulders) 12,10,8,6,12 / Upright Row 12


• Back Extension (Back) 12,10,8,6,12 / Deadlift 12


• Barbell Curl (Biceps) 12,10,8,6,12 / Close Grip Pull Up / 12


• 10 minutes bike @ 169 heart rate


• Day 2


• 20 minutes level 8 precor # 6 glut Elliptical / 1000 meters rowing level 10


• Day 3


• Full Back Squat (Quads) 12,10,8,6,12 / Single Leg Extension 2 second hold at peak 12


• Romanian Deadlift (Hamstrings) 12,10,8,6,12 / Bulgarian Split Squat 12


• Standing Calf Raise (Calves) 12,10,8,6,12 / Seated Calf Raise


• Hanging Leg Raises (abs) 12,10,8,6,12 / Reverse Crunches 12


• Day 4


• Same as day 2

    

A few more

My Daughter and me. We just woke up.

My Daughter is giving Mom the evil eye.

My Son and Nieces

Beach 4 The Weekend

This pic was taken outside the backdoor of our beachhouse. I thought this pic of my son was funny. He wanted to go cow-tipping, but I told him this wasn't the movie..Cars. I'll post more pics later.

Sunday-Leg Day

Sunday- today was a pretty good leg workout. The leg-extensions burned my legs like fire.

• A1. Front squat: Sets 3Reps: 6 to 8Tempo: Control the eccentric or lowering portion (2-4 seconds), lift explosivelyRest: None


• A2. Leg extension: Sets 3Reps: 15 to 20Tempo: Include a 1-2 second hold at the peak contractionRest: 2 minutes


• B1. Sumo Deadlift:  Sets 3Reps: 6 to 8Tempo: Control the eccentric (2-4 seconds), lift explosivelyRest: None


• B2. Leg curl: Sets 3Reps: 15 to 20Tempo: Include a 1-2 second hold at the peak contractionRest: 2 minutes


• C1. Standing calf raise: Sets 3Reps: 6 to 8Tempo: Control the eccentric (2-4 seconds), lift explosivelyRest: None


• C2. Seated calf raise: Sets 3Reps: 15 to 20Tempo: Include 2 second hold in the stretched and peak contraction positionsRest: 2 minutes

My new workout hurts

straight up. These workouts change so much, they never get boring. I learn something new each day I workout. I am so sore it isn't funny. (go ahead laugh you sadistic maniac) I think it is a really effective workout. It has to be.

Next weekend, I'm going to the coast for the weekend. I can't wait. I think I'll try some of that beach jogging like they did in that movie.. uh uh I forget the name of it. Well, I know I have nothing important to say. SORRY!! Later folks.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Alright so my wife goes to American Idol last night and basically makes out with Taylor hicks. Maybe not that close but she gets a couple of autographs from him. I just wanted Kelly pickles..er whatever's bra. That was a no-go. My mother-n-law watches the kids and I get a couple hours of free time. I don't really know what to do. I hate going to the movies by myself unless it's raining and I'm sneaking off of work.

Anyway I go to Max Muscle and do my own window shopping. I start talking to the guy about all the latest new supplements and we start talking about energy pills. Y'know the kind that get you through very strenuous workouts. I talk about Hot Rox Extreme and Spike blaa blaa. I like Biotest's products and whore them out as much as possible. He brings up Venom by A.L.R.I. He says a couple of bodybuilders and M.M.A. fighters come in and eat this crap up. The guy at the counter says that they say it kicks ephedrine to the curb. I'm thinkin' yea right. They didn't have any on stock but had it ordered. He gives me a two pill sample. He says"do not take both of them. I'm warning ya, just start off with one." So (you know where this is going don't ya?) this morning at around 9:00 am I take two. Then I start getting this Oh crap what have I done thing in my head. Like a guy that finally take LSD and realizes the mistake he's made. Well nothing was happening around 11:00, well I could feel some adrenaline pumping but that was about it. About noon I was off my freakin rocker. It is 4:00 pm and I'm still off my rocker. DO NOT TAKE TWO!!! It is also a food deterrent. I have'nt eaten since 9:00 o clock this morning and I'm not hungry. Unfortunately this doesn't work for me cause I had an amazing workout. I mean amazing. Well it was until I missed a power clean and nearly decapitated little Greg.

I also actually talked to someone in the gym. There is an older woman in my gym and she works out about 6 days a week. She used to be pretty heavy and now looks great. I didn't know how to approach her but just you look great and you are really getting into shape. I didn't want to say "Wow you aren't fat anymore" She said I hope so this 6 days a week stuff is paying off. Than she said thank you and its great to have someone acknowledge my progress.

Then a young man around 19 or so approaches me and says God you do a lot of pull-ups. I said well I'm only doing a curcuit of 6 of 20 pull-ups..4 at a time. So I talk to him for awhile and help him give him some advice. (Funny I'm giving advice)

Anyway the moral of this story is JUST TAKE TWO of these

New Workout

I’ve put together a new workout. This will be a combination of leg and arm development.  I’m calling the Brotherhood of Iron workout.  It should be pretty tough. I still have to fit in back and shoulders. Where? I have no idea.

A long overdue Update.

I'm really not sure what week this is. I'm one week away from finishing The Waterbury Summer Project. After this I'm going hard core. Apparently this next workout is hard enough to make you puke or go tunnel vision. Sounds like fun and I can't wait! I'm sorry for the poor quality. It's a 1000 dollar camera and I can't take a decent pic for beans. I really need to show my legs. I've made the greatest gains there I think.

"18th Floor Balcony"

I close my eyes and I smile
Knowing that everything is all right
To the core
Close that door
Is this happening?
My breathe is on your hair
I'm unaware
That you opened the blinds and let the city in
God, you held my hand
As we stand
Taking in everything.

And I knew it from the start
So my arms are open wide
Your head is on my stomach
And we're trying so hard not to fall asleep

But Here we are
On this 18th floor balcony...
We're both flying away.

We talked about moms and dads
About family's pasts
Getting to know where we came from
Our hearts were on display
For all to see
I can't believe this is happening.
I raised my hand as if to show you I was yours
That I was so yours for the taking
I'm still so your for the taking
That’s when I felt the wind pick up
I grabbed the rail while choking up
These words to say and then you kissed me...
I knew from the start
So my arms are open wide
And your head is on my stomach
And we're trying so hard not to fall asleep

But here we are
On this 18th floor balcony...

I knew from the start
So my arms are open wide
Your head is on my stomach
And we're trying so hard not to fall asleep

Here we are
On this 18th floor balcony...
We're both flying away.

And I'll try to sleep
To keep you in my dreams
So I can bring you home with me
And I'll try to sleep
And when I do I'll keep you in my...dreams

I knew it from the start
My arms are open wide
Your head is on my stomach
We're not going to sleep
But here we are
On this 18th floor balcony...we're both..
Flying away

18th Floor Balcony by Blue October

Black Wednesday

Yesterday was by far the hardest workout I've done since I started working out. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately because of work; I’m on the board of a national art show. This means I do secretarial duties. I have to take artist’s submissions from all over the country and organize them in Excel. Final submissions were to be received by Wednesday and judging starts Saturday. Go figure. I wasn’t really ready for what laid ahead of me on Wednesday’s workout but I should have been. This is what it was.

Remember: all reps are to go to failure. This means the weight is as high as you can stand it and the final rep is near undoable.

Circuits: 4 (This means all these exercises, in their entirety are to be done 4 times)

Good Mornings                              1 X 10: 10 second rest

Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift        1 X 10: 10 second rest

Reverse Lunges (repeated 3x)        1 X 10: 90 second rest

Incline Barbell Bench Press            1 X 10: 10 second rest

Standing Military Press                   1 X 10: 10 second rest

Dumbbell side raises (repeated 3x) 1 X 10: 90 second rest

Chin-Ups                                         1 X 10: 10 second rest

Bent over Barbell rows (palms up) 1 X 10: 10 second rest

Barbell Upright Rows (repeat 3x) (I used a 45# plate)
                                                        1 X 10: 10 second rest

After: 10 minutes of jumping jacks




        

My little girl is five months

She is my world. I am blessed

Side By Side

It's funny when you look back and THANK GOD you made the right choices.

26:35

Chantal I’m dedicating this 5K to you. Everyone’s talking about this 5K run, so I figured I’d give it a try. I never run on the treadmill. I always beat myself up on the elliptical machine. Anyhow, Tuesday, I decided to try it. I put it on the 5K loop on the treadmill. I set it up like this. Speed 7.0 and incline at 1.0.  At the 2-mile point I was dying. I quit and walked about another lap or so and waddled to the locker room in disgust. At noon today I figured I would try it again. All I was shooting for was to get a little bit further than I did Tuesday. My calves are killing me from Monday’s standing calf raises. I know quit whining and get back to the story.  When I hit the 2-mile point, I really wanted to quit again. I just kept thinking keep going and quit looking at the controls. It started getting easier after that. My legs were starting to get numb and boosted the speed to 7.5 for the last quarter lap. I finished at 26:35. I almost did that Tarzan yell, but I figured the older lady in front of me would think I was a dork. I’m pretty proud of myself, and my calves really hurt now. My next goal is 26:00. I think I’ll attempt that next Tuesday. Ciao

Getting dressed; a workout?

The side effects of building muscle hit me this morning while I was getting ready for work. For the last few weeks, I’ve been wearing shorts to work. (You know those tan dressy shorts) Short guys like me look pretty ridiculous in shorts but its way to hot not to. Anyhow, my weight loss has me wearing size 29-30 waist shorts. Well this morning, I was having a hard time getting my shorts pass my thighs. It was a pretty funny sight I imagine.

On another note, this Waterbury workout is a killer. Today, which was day two, week 3, made me feel like I ran a marathon.  The weighted burpees are nuts. It’s where you hold two dumbbells in each hand and do a burpee.  I did three sets; 15 reps of those.  If you get a chance look at what day 3-week 3 looks like. I’m going to die on that day I believe. If I live through it I’ll let you know. Ciao

I'm Here To Make It Easy

People have been asking me about my workouts. I designed workout sheets for the Waterbury Summer Project.  I only have week 1-4 done at this time. I will finish the remaining 4 very soon. These are in .pdf format so you can print them out as they are.
You will notice where the rest periods lay. The way this workout runs is; you do A1 and A2 then rest. You go to B1 to B2 then rest. It makes sense when you look at it. If the rep says 6 and the load is 8, that means the weight is 2 shy of your max rep. The exercises that have a / between them means or. The first exercise on week one is different. You do a hang clean then go into a squat. Please ask me if you have any questions.
WEEK ONE
WEEK TWO
WEEK THREE
WEEK FOUR

Back At It!!

I couldn’t wait any longer so I worked out yesterday. My chest was still a little sore but manageable. The workout was a circuit. The set consisted of 2:00 minute intervals at 25% of you R.M. I had to complete a circuit of 3.  I’m not sure what my R.M. is so; I make an uneducated guess and put on a comfortable weight. I didn’t want to overdo it by any means. The set were 2:00 minutes of dead lifts, push-ups, squats, and lat-pulls. When I got to the squats I couldn't do it. I could really feel the pain of stretching my arms over the bar. It was pulling my ribs to far apart. So I substituted decline leg press instead. Good call on my part. That was a tough and really fun workout. The push-ups did a little damage but it was manageable.  It felt awesome to be back in the gym.

My Diagnosis

The Diagnosis is costochondritis.  My doctor is Asian and doesn’t speak English very well; so watching him try to say this word for me was just funny. He seemed very interested in my involvement with pools. He couldn’t wait to drop my problem and get on with his. Apparently, his wife and him argue about the solar panels and their life span and he wanted me to give him an answer that justified his side. I won’ be lifting weights for a while and that is a major bummer. I went and did 35 minutes on the elliptical today and sat in the gym locker grimacing in pain. That 450 calories I burned really hurt a lot!

There is a guy in my gym that is a real big inspiration I remember when I was pretty over-weight, I thought I could never obtain the kind of body this guy has. He is one of those guys that every guy would like to be. The guy is built like Tarzan and has the nicest and most genuine attitude that is a rare thing these days.  I haven’t seen him in a long time and today he was there. I guess he’s had some problems and now he’s back to cause havoc with the weights again.

I want to give Eileen a big shout out for visiting my blog. I haven’t thanked her yet and she deserves my deepest gratitude. Thank you Eileen!

AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Monday I was on my last workout and I blew it. I’ve been feeling so good that I miscalculated my limit. I was doing weighted dips. I usually put 70# on the belt and this day I put 80#. I finished my 4 sets of six, but felt something go a little haywire in my chest. I finished my workout and didn’t heed my body’s warning.  I think Friday was the day I sunk the last nail in my coffin. I did something like 180 push-ups and I believe that was when the worm turned. I was taking a shower afterward and my chest hurt so bad I could barely breathe. All I could think of was “Hurry with the shower cause I don’t want to die naked in the gym’s shower.” It was pretty scary.  I decided to go ahead and try to workout today. I got about 1/3 through and just couldn’t continue. I haven’t quit on a workout yet until today.   This is pretty upsetting. I set up a Doctor’s Appt. for tomorrow and I’ll find out what the deal is. I would have to say the moral of the story is…don’t be stupid.

Team Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

I think were gonna win, win, win! I'm just talking tracker trash.

Anyway back to me. ha I just finished week 1 of the Waterbury project. I think I damaged something in my chest because it hurts to breathe. (a little) It's probably because I did about 180 push-ups yesterday. If you can see the form on the earlier post you'll see what I mean. I took a vic*din last night so I could sleep. I'm much better now. I went pretty hard on the elliptical this morning and that felt great! You guys and gals have a wonderful week and stay focused. (unlike me :)

Friday was a Tuffy

Wow, yesterday was a brutal gym experience. I had set out a plan to follow and, as always, I change it. Sometimes on Fridays, I make the workouts a little harder because I know I have two days to recover. Instead of doing my set routine I took all sets to failure. I bumped all the weight loads up to an uncomfortable and sometime scary amount. For instance, I put two 35 lb plates on the preacher bar and did preacher curls. I did 10x10x6. I usually don’t curl this much-let alone preacher curl it. I could hear pops and tendons creaking with each pull. Maybe someone can tell me what the gym preacher bar weighs by itself, than I’ll know what my total load was.  I’m starting Waterbury’s summer program Monday. As usual I went all out and made up new forms for it. I think I do this to help motivate me, plus I like to be organized in the gym. I’m sure some of the other lifters think I’m pretty anal about all this logging in my journal, but oh well. If any of you want this new form I can send it to you in .pdf format.

If you’re into really hard-core lifting you may want to check out this site. They have tons of videos to watch. These guys, gals, and kids even, lift some very impressive weight.