My Bodybuilding Blog

Keep up to date with my training, nutrition, and anything else related to bodybuilding.

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Sep 5, 2008, Friday's Workout

Here is my workout for Friday September 5, 2008.

Today I had alot more energy then I did on Monday. I had a great workout today and improved on all lifts.

I am going to be doing the same thing for rack deads as I am for squats.

Today I moved the pins on my power rack up 2 spots from the bottom. Normally I do them on the lowest hole. I going to use this height until I hit my goal weight for the year of 535 lbs x 5 sets of 3 reps. I plan on adding 10 lbs a week. Once I hit that number, I will move the pins down a hole and do them from there until I can do the goal weight. And then I will move them again down to the lowest level and work back up to the desired reps.

I am hoping this will get me to my goal weight for the year as I am lagging behind. There is only a little under 4 months to go in the year and I plan on getting to where I want to be.

Sep 5, 2008, Training Journal September 2008

This is my training journal for September 2008.

Sep 4, 2008, Wednesday's Workout

Here is my workout for Wednesday September 3, 2008.

Sep 2, 2008, Monday's Workout

Here is my workout for Monday September 1, 2008.

I can sum up yesterday's workout into just one word, weak.

I ended up missing my rep count on everything but crunches.

Dumbbell shoulder presses felt very heavy. Even the first set with 75's was a struggle. I managed 75 x 3, 70 x 3, and 65 x 2. My shoulders are a little sore today so I guessed I push them hard even though I missed the final set.

Dips also fell short by 1 rep. I did increase the weight by 2 lb instead of the normal 1/2 lb so that probably played into it.

Squats were very weak. I increased the weight by 1 lb and hit only 16 reps. I failed mentally more than anything, just din't have it. The next workout I plan on going in and getting it, at least 25 reps.

Sep 1, 2008, Friday's Workout

Here is my workout for Friday August 29, 2008.

Friday's workout started off slow but ended up very strong.

I had to do my workout earlier than normal. I ended up doing it around 9:00 a.m.. Normally I do it at 1:00 p.m.

I didn't have any energy going in and had convinced myself that it would be less than good. To my surprise I managed to increase the weight on all lifts, just like I had planned.

My deadlift was especially strong. I hit 355 lbs x 15 solid reps. I am still off from last year but making good gains.

My bench press was also up. I did 230 lbs x 3 sets x 3 reps. I only hit 230 lbs x 5 reps at the end of last year. I am feeling good about hitting my goal for this year on the bench press.

Sep 1, 2008, Training Journal August 2008

This is my training journal for August 2008.

Aug 28, 2008, Wednesday's Workout

Here is my workout for Wednesday August 27, 2008.

Aug 25, 2008, Monday's Workout

Here is my workout for Monday August 25, 2008.

Today I fianlly hit 400 lbs on the half squat. It felt as good as it has since I started doing them. Very strong and smooth. I have one more workout before I start moving the pins down, working toward parallel.

After finishing the 5 sets of 3 reps, I moved the pins down one hole to see what it felt like. I managed two very good reps. I am confident that when I start moving the pins down farther, my legs will be ready.

So far this strategy has worked well in bringing up my squat poundage and increasing my leg strength.

I am going to incorporate this into my rack deadlift workouts to try and hit my goal for the year.

Aug 22, 2008, Friday's Workout

Here is my workout for Friday August 22, 2008.

Today I decided to move the pins up on my squat rack for my rack deads. I had missed my goal of 3 reps on my 3rd set the last couple of times I did rack deads so I thought this would help.

I move the pins up one hole which allowed me to hit the 3 reps. Moving it up like that seemed to hit my lower back harder, I guess taking my legs out of the movement even more. I am going to stick to this height going forward and keep moving the weight up 5 lbs a workout.

My incline bench and reverse pullups also increased in weight.

Aug 21, 2008, Wednesday's Workout

Here is my workout for Wednesday August 20, 2008.

My workout today was pretty uneventful. Everything went as planned.

My legs are still very sore from Monday's workout. Hitting the high reps on the squat is really working my legs to the extreme. This did make my cardio a little harder, it hurt to walk.

Aug 19, 2008, This is my bodybuilding routine I will be using from 6/23/2008 - 12/31/2008

Take a look at my bodybuilding routine for 2008.

Aug 19, 2008, Monday's Workout

Here is my workout for Monday August 18, 2008.

I am still working on getting 3 sets of 3 reps with my 75 lb dumbbells. Today I did 75 x 3, 70 x 3, and 65 x 3. Better than last week but not where I want to be.

I also did high rep squats today. I got 269 lbs x 23 reps. I felt done after about 12 but I stuck with it and got 1 more than last time. I am still 6 lbs and 27 reps away from my goal for the year. I will hit the 275 lbs but 50 reps is going to be a huge challenge.

Aug 15, 2008, Friday's Workout

Here is my workout for Friday August 15, 2008.

Today I honestly felt like my workout was going to be poor. I had no energy and really didn't want to workout. It has been over 100 degrees where I live and my garage is extremely hot. I wasn't looking forward to it.

But to my surprise, once I got going, it turned out to be a very good workout.

I increased both my pullups and bench press while hitting the reps I wanted.

I also increased my deadlift by 5 lbs to 350 lbs and hit 15 reps. I have been trying to do as many continous reps as possible before I start doing rest-pause reps. Today I hit 10 in a row. I am aiming to get to 15 straight without any rest.

And today was one of the first deadlift workouts that I did not feel much pain in my lower back. I think it is getting better and I should be able to keep increasing the weights for the rest of the year. I just need to keep perfect form and take it slow.

Aug 14, 2008, Wednesday's Workout

Here is my workout for Wednesday August 13, 2008.

Yesterday was biceps and calves with some abs included. I increased 1/2 lb on the EZ curls, hitting 3 sets of 3. I used the same weight on calves and got a few more reps.

I am liking the one leg calve raises. I can concentrate on each calve much better. And I don't have to use such heavy weight which was hurting my legs.

The incline on my treadmill is not working so my cardio has been limited to no incline walking. I am trying to up the tempo on the walking to keep the heatbeat up.

Aug 11, 2008, Monday's Workout

Here is my workout for Monday August 11, 2008.

Today was my half squat day. I hit 395 lbs for 5 sets of 3. I am closing in on 405 lbs. I have never done 405 lbs for reps so I am anxious to get to that mark then start moving the pins down in my rack. I am at the 12th hole right now and will start moving the pins down one hole at a time till I hit parallel.

I am still having some pains in my lower back so I have to be very careful doing my reps. This does help with my form though which has been near perfect.

My other lifts also increased this week. Both close grip bench and push press went up in weight.

Aug 8, 2008, Friday's Workout

Here is my workout for Friday August 8, 2008.

I am still struggling to get my rack deads back to where they were at the end of last year. I only managed to get 470 lbs x 2 sets of 3 and 1 set of 2 today. This is way off from my high of 505 lbs for 5 sets of 3 reps at the end of last year. I will continue to try and add 5 lbs each workout and keep the reps the same. If the reps drop I will start reducing what I add, maybe 1-2 lbs at a time.

My incline press and reverse pullups both increased in weight while still hitting the same reps. I will continue with the same increases to both of them.

I only got 5 months before the year is over and I still have a ways to go to hit my goals. Gotta keep hitting it hard.

Aug 7, 2008, Updated Stats

Here are my updated stats, taken Wednesday August 6, 2008.

I am still getting used to taking these. I had never done this before until recently when I purchased a bodyfat caliper. Getting the measurements down exactly the same way every time will take a little practice. They may not be exact but it is what I came up with this time.

Everthing has increased, as can be expected. I have gained some bodyfat back after finishing my cut diet a few months ago. I have gotten a little loose with diet and am working on getting it back in check. I don't want to bulk up to much before I cut again.

Aug 7, 2008, Best Bodybuilding Routine Blog Archives

Have I been progressing? View my blog archives to find out.

Aug 7, 2008, July Blog Archives

View my July blog archives.

Aug 7, 2008, April Blog Archives

View my April blog archives.

Aug 7, 2008, March Blog Archives

View my March blog archives.

Aug 7, 2008, Wednesday's Workout

Here is my workout for Wednesday August 6, 2008.

Today was supposed to be EZ curls for biceps but I ended up doing incline curls again. I totally forgot the EZ curls, I guess I enjoyed the incline curls last week to much. I will be sure to hit the EZ curls next week.

Besides that, the rest of the workout and cardio went great.

Aug 4, 2008, Monday's Workout

Here is my workout for Monday August 4, 2008.

Today's workout was split into 2 sessions.

I had a satelite repair person coming out today between 12:00 and 4:00. My normal workout is around 1:00 p.m. I tried to get my workout in before he showed figuring he would be there more toward the later time. No such luck.

I was halfway done when he showed. I have kids in the house so I had to stay around while he worked. It was a short visit though so it was only about a 30 minute break.

I ended up finishing it afterwards.

I am still getting used to the 75 lb dumbbells. I am only hitting 1 set x 3 reps right now and then having to drop down in weight.

All in all it was a good workout.

Aug 1, 2008, Today's Workout

Here is my workout for Friday August 1, 2008.

For today's workout, I switched things up a little.

I started with pullups instead of bench press. This gave my back some rest before doing my deads. I felt that my back wasn't rested enough when I did pullups and deadlifts back to back. It seemed to help. My back felt better going into my set of deads.

I increased weight on each lift and made the reps I was aiming for. I am going to reduce what I am adding to deadlifts each workout. I had been adding 10 lbs but I am going to drop that to 5 lbs. I am slowly getting back to where I was at the end of last year. Hopefully I can get there plus add a little weight.

Also hit 1 minute 10 seconds on my lat stretch with 115 lbs strapped on. I am aiming for 2 minutes and then I will start increasing the weight.

Aug 1, 2008, Training Journal July 2008

This is my training journal for July 2008.

Jul 30, 2008, Wednesday's Workout

Here is my workout for Wednesday July 30, 2008.

Today's workout went great. I had alot of energy throughout the entire workout.

I had a few changes in my routine today. I switched out the dumbbell preacher curls and added incline dumbbell curls. I also started doing one leg seated calve raises instead of two legs.

My biceps and calves were good and pumped by the end.

On top of this I did 35 minutes of cardio following the weights.

Jul 29, 2008, Half Squats

Here is my workout for Monday July 28, 2008.

Yesterday was half squat day. Here is a video of me doing 390 lbs x 5 sets x 3 reps.

Once I hit 405 lbs, which should be in about 6 weeks, I will start moving the pins down on my power rack. Each hole will move the range of motion down about 2 inches. I am at hole 12 and will hit parallel at about hole 6.

I have never repped 405 lbs through a full range of motion before so I am pumped to started moving the pins down. Hopefully by the end of the year I will be to where I want to be.

Jul 29, 2008, My Squat Videos

Follow my progress on my squats. See my squat videos.

Jul 28, 2008, Friday's Workout

Here is my workout for Friday July 25, 2008.

I had a pretty good workout Friday. I managed to bump up my incline bench press by 2 lbs and still hit 14 reps. I barely missed the 15th.

When I do rest pause type training, I only count the reps for the first 3 sets. I might do a 4th set to get all 15 reps but I don't count it in my log book. That is how it was with the inclines. I did 14 reps in 3 sets and did one more on the 4th set to make my 15. My chest was pretty sore the next couple of days.

I also missed the last rep on my rack deads. I have been increasing it by 10 lbs every time I do them. I am going to reduce that to 5 lb increases the next time. And I am going to switch the order of the exercises around to see if it helps me with the rack deads. I have never done them right after doing pullups and I feel it is hurting my progress with the rack deads.

I am going to start my workout with pullups, then inclines, then do the rack deads. Hopefully the break in between the back exercises will help.

Jul 24, 2008, Wednesday's Workout

Here is my workout for Wednesday July 23, 2008.

Yesterday was only a few weight exercises followed by some moderate intensity cardio.

Increased the weight in both the EZ curls and calve raises. Got to use my new 75 lb dumbbells for the raises. Calves are a little sore today.

Jul 24, 2008, My Workout Videos

Follow my progress on my lifts. See my workout videos.

Jul 24, 2008, My Bench Press Videos

Follow my progress on my bench press. See my bench press videos

Jul 23, 2008, My Deadlift Videos

Follow my progress on the deadlift. See my deadlift videos.

Jul 1, 2008, Training Journal June 2008

This is my training journal for June 2008.

Jun 24, 2008, Training Journal May 2008

This is my training journal for May 2008.

May 24, 2008, Training Journal April 2008

This is my training journal for April 2008.

Apr 1, 2008, Training Journal March 2008

This is my training journal for March 2008.

Mar 25, 2008, My 8 Week Cut Diet

This is the Cut Diet that I will be using to drop some body fat for the first 8 weeks of 2008.

Mar 3, 2008, January Blog Archives

View my January blog archives.

Mar 2, 2008, February Blog Archives

View my February blog archives.

Feb 29, 2008, Training Journal February 2008

This is my training journal for February 2008.