DO-OVERS...

Hope everyone has had a good weekend. As usual, mine went way too fast. I've had a sick wife to take care of, had to work, and tried to find time to workout in between that. I did make it to the gym on Saturday, but I myself felt kind of bad, and decided to just leave before I got too into the workout because my strength was sapped.

Today, however, I had a GREAT workout!! I started taking Gaspari Nutrition Sizeon, and I'm fairly certain some size will be packing on. I actually had to make myself stop working out I had so much energy. Sizeon is a Creatine product. And as in my previous blogs, I've explained that Creatine is one of the most important supplements out there if you want to build muscle. The only disadvantage of the SizeOn is possible weight gain. So I have to be sure to watch calories very closely. I weighed 272 today, so I haven't lost any more weight this week. But that's okay. Weight fluctuates. It happens!

Anyway, here's todays workout, and I'll discuss the Tabata training from Thursday after this one!! Going to start posting things a bit differently. I'm starting to enter my workouts on bodybuilding.com to track progress, so I'm just taking a screen shot of the workout to post. Click the picture to see the workout in a larger size. Here you go!!


(note: where it says 0 on reps, it means go to failure)

Now, about the Tabata training. I think it's something I may start doing for a few months, but Thursday my wife and I did a run-thru. Basically, it's a weight training/cardio routine all wrapped up in one.

The premise is, there are 3-4 exercises per workout per muscle group. You do 8 sets per exercise. You do as many reps at 50-70% of your maximum weight you can handle for 20 seconds. That's one set. You rest 10 seconds, then repeat for a total of eight sets. If you've chosen the right weight (which I already can tell is trial and error), both your muscles and your heart will be begging for mercy by the end of the workout. We did arms and triceps on Thursday. And all I can say is, it's the real deal. I'm not going to post a picture for this one because it would be very large. So here is how it played out:

TABATA ARMS AND TRICEPS ROUTINE

Warm Up
5 minutes of light eliptical cardio. Good stretch of the arms!

Lying Triceps Press (Skullcrushers)
8 Sets: 30 pounds

Triceps Pushdown
8 Sets: 35 pounds

Cable Overhead Tricep Extension
4 Sets: 30 pounds
4 Sets: 25 pounds

Standing Barbell Curl
8 Sets: 30 pounds

Incline Dumbbell Curl
8 Sets: 12.5 pounds

Cable Hammer Curl (Rope Attachment)
8 Sets: 30 pounds

Barbell Wrist Curl
8 Sets: 20 pounds

Reverse Grip Barbell Curl
8 Sets: 30 pounds

I wasn't completely wiped out by the end of this workout. I think it had something to do with experimentation of the proper weight. I think next time it will be very intense. I don't know if beginners should try this, as it is very muscle and heart intensive. But if you want to find out what you're made of, I'd highly recomment this!!

Taking tomorrow off, but I'll be hitting the weights Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I'll be sure to update you on the progress, and have some great new music and maybe a couple product reviews for you to check out. Have a great night!!

NEGATIVE CAN BE POSITIVE

It was nice to have my wife with me as my workout partner last night. It's nice to have someone there to motivate you and help you through your sets when you need a little extra push. It also gave me an opportunity last night to do some negative rep sets. The science behind it is basically that you load up more weight on the bar than you can usually do. Since your body is stronger lowering the bar than it is lifting it back up, you bring the bar down in a slow controlled manner, then rely on your partner to help bring it back up. It sounds silly, but it really splits those muscle fibers and can tremendously help boost your strength and muscle growth. Read a little more about negative reps HERE.

Anyway, I promised earlier today to show you my chest workout from last night. I've got videos on how to do these exercises in my previous chest workout post, so click on a label on your right to go back and check them out. Here you go!!


CHEST/ABS WORKOUT

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
Set 1: 30 pounds, 20 reps (warmup)
Sets 2-4: 45 pounds, 8 reps

Flat Bench Press
Sets 1-3: 115 pounds, 8 reps
Set 4 (Negative Set): 125 pounds, 8 reps

Decline Bench Press
Set 1: 120 pounds, 8 reps
Set 2: 125 pounds, 8 reps
Set 3: 130 pounds, 8 reps
Set 4 (Negative Set): 150 pounds, 8 reps

Incline Dumbbell Flyes
Sets 1-3: 25 pounds, 12 reps

Cable Crossover
Set 1: 45 pounds, 12 reps
Set 2: 50 pounds, 12 reps
Set 3: 60 pounds, 12 reps

Low Pulley Cable Crossover
Sets 1-3: 35 pounds, 12 reps

ABS

Hanging Leg Raises
3 Sets: To failure

Crunches
3 Sets: To failure

Cardio
20 minutes on eliptical. 2 minutes low resistance, 2 minutes high, repeated 10 times.

So that's that. Keep on reading, I'm posting my leg and shoulder workout from tonight in just a minute!!

BEING SORE IS A GOOD THING!!

And I'm happy that's true, because I am SORE today! Last night I did my 1st of 2 chest workouts for the week. I'm trying to grow all my muscles obviously, but my weakest point is my chest. Being fat and losing weight caused me to have fairly pronounced "man boobs." I'm very self conscious about it, so I hit my chest very hard a few times a week in order to help me fill out and theoretically burn fat in that area. The fat burning thing might not actually work, but it makes me feel better. Either way, everyone has at least one thing they want to look better than the everything else.

So far, I've managed to create some noticeable gains in my chest area, and my bench press has improved from barely being able to handle the bar to around 120 pounds in less than a year. My chest area has something that is starting to resemble pecs, and I'm very happy for that. Here is a picture of me this morning:

I know I'm not going to be hitting the bodybuilding pro stage anytime soon, but this is the best physique I've ever had and it's continuing to improve, just like yours can with dedication!

I am also happy to report that I weighed 274.1 when I hit the scales after I woke up this morning. Maybe the 4 pounds a week calorie intake thing might work. I was 276 a few short days ago. It goes to show you that watching what you eat and being active can work wonders quickly!

Back to my workout, though. I did most of my sets last night pyramid style. I don't normally do them that way, but it's a good way to shock the muscles sometimes. I usually follow a straight sets routine (same amount of weight, same # of reps the whole workout). Here's how my workout played out last night, including all supplements I took before and after:

SUPPLEMENTS BEFORE
GNC Leucine-XT (6 pills equalling 3 grams): 60 minutes before
BSN N.O.-Xplode (2 scoops w/10oz. of water): 30 minutes before
GNC L-Glutamine Powder (5 grams mixed with N.O.-XPlode)

WORKOUT
5 minute warm-up on eliptical at moderate resistance (just to get the blood flowing, nothing else)

Dumbbell Bench Press
Warm-up set (2 of them): 25 pounds, 15 reps
Set 1: 35 pounds, 12 reps
Set 2: 40 pounds, 10 reps
Set 3: 50 pounds, 8 reps
Set 4: 40 pounds, 10 reps
Set 5: 35 pounds, 12 reps

Incline Dumbbell Press
Set 1: 45 pounds, 10 reps
Set 2: 45 pounds, 8 reps
Set 3: 50 pounds, 6 reps
Set 4: 45 pounds, 8 reps

Barbell Bench Press
Set 1: 95 pounds, 12 reps
Set 2: 105 pounds, 10 reps
Set 3: 115 pounds, 8 reps
Set 4: 105 pounds, 10 reps

Decline Barbell Press
Set 1: 100 pounds, 12 reps
Set 2: 105 pounds, 10 reps
Set 3: 115 pounds, 8 reps
Set 4: 105 pounds, 10 reps

Incline Dumbbell Flye
Sets 1-3: 25 pounds, 10 reps

Flat Dumbbell Flye
Sets 1-3: 25 pounds, 10 reps

Cable Crossover
Sets 1-3: 50 pounds (each side), 10 reps

Low-Pulley Cable Crossover
Sets 1-3: 40 pounds (each side) 10 reps

Crunches
Sets 1-3: To failure

Cardio
20 minutes on eliptical: 2 minutes steady rate, 2 minutes high rate, repeated 5 times

POST WORKOUT SUPPLEMENTS
Protein Shake (8 oz. 1% milk, 1.5 scoops of Wheybolic Extreme, One scoop (5g) L-Glutamine Powder

This is a pretty advanced chest workout that takes a lot of stamina to complete. I wouldn't recommend it to beginners necessarily, but I do recommend doing at least 4-5 separate exercises when doing a full chest workout. Remember, listen to your body. If you feel like you can't go any further, that's your body telling you quit. Don't injure yourself. And don't forget my main rule. USE PROPER FORM!! I might not post anything tomorrow since I have to work at the bank and DJ, but I'll be back on Saturday to post any progress, and post the details of my leg workout. Thanks for reading, and stay motivated!! Here's some music to help!!

Alizee: Fifty Sixty (Rolf Honey Remix)
Britney Spears: Circus (Diplo Remix)
Both tracks hosted by The Docking Station