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Post by fit on Mar 9, 2011 6:42:30 GMT -5
Nice report, bro.
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Post by rantorcha on Mar 9, 2011 10:00:41 GMT -5
sounds you have a great time in the arnold We sure did have a great time!  |
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Post by rantorcha on Mar 9, 2011 10:01:19 GMT -5
Thanks, fit! Hell, I didn't even mention the fun we had Saturday night! I think I'll save that story for today's entry. lol |
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Post by rantorcha on Mar 9, 2011 14:19:24 GMT -5
ANOTHER STORY FROM THER A.C. WEEKEND
Hey, I almost forgot about one of the other highlights of the A.C. weekend. Saturday night! Kyle, Jon and I started out the night having dinner with Eric and Robyn, which was fun as always. After, we hit up a bar where we were just kind of hangin' out in that "in-between hour" of dinner and going out-out (bar/club). At said bar, Kyle was still hungry and had what I would call a small snack. Kyle then got a call from a friend, so we headed over to Sushi Rock (where Kyle ate - yet again!) and we had a couple of drinks with two of the coolest girls you'll ever meet. I won't say their names to protect their privacy, just trust me...really class A women.
After sushi, we decided to check out a couple of different bars for some fun, but I only had on a long-sleeve shirt and the wind was HOWLING!! I said this that night...I can count on one hand the number of times I had ever been that cold. We finally settled on one last bar where we pretty much stayed until closing time - a disappointing 2am! (NOTHING like South Beach, I can assure you...lol)
The capper of the evening, was us walking back to the hotel - several blocks away - IN THE SNOW! That sincerely was the highlight of fun on this trip.
BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM...
So, I've been back for 3 days and still haven't mentioned anything regarding training. Trust me...I am killing it still. I was tired as hell Mon and Tues, but sitll managed to push myself past my limits of pain.
Today was my bi-weekly Quad session. I always tell myself that I'd take it easy on quads and jsut go for higher reps with a good pump, but that NEVER happens. I somehow seem to flip the switch and go balls-out. I won't bother typing out my workout, but suffice it to say, that I couldn't walk striaght after this workout. I did Quads and Calves and even tried to hop on the Stairmill for a little bit, but my legs were shaking so bad, that I could only take 3 minutes!
So much for taking it easy...thanks a lot K-OTIC!
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Post by rantorcha on Mar 10, 2011 16:23:44 GMT -5
I am not sure if it is the extremely hard training, the travel, or what, but I have been unbelievably tired this week...not to mention sore as all get out! lol
I wasn't even going to train today, but I decided to give it the old college try. I went in with a decent mindset and I did maximize each and every set, but I just wasn't firing on all cylinders today. I didn't have that extra gear all day long.
I did star tout with 30 minutes of pretty brutal cardio - and by brutal, I mean I was sore as hell when I got up.
As for training...
HAMS
Lying Leg Curl
125/11, 125/10, 125/8..95/6..6/7
SL Deads - went for high reps today
225/20, 225/20, 225/18
"Hoist" Seated Leg Curl
P*10/21, P*10/16, P*10/12...P*8/6
mini-BACK
WG Pulldowns - higher reps
165/17, 165/14, 150/15
Stiff-arm Pulldowns - EZ bar
130/13, 130/11, 130/11..110/6..90/7
Underhand Wider-Grip Pulldown
195/10...165/5
I was supposed to hit Triceps after Back, but I was spent to the hills, so I decided to go home and rest. And hopefully, I'll be rested enought ot hit Triceps tomorrow.
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Post by rantorcha on Mar 11, 2011 9:02:50 GMT -5
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Post by rantorcha on Mar 11, 2011 15:43:11 GMT -5
A long training week has come to an end...well, almost. I may be training with Eric tomorrow.  Aside from that, I must say it was a very effective but rough week as far as training goes. I took my body to its limits. Quite frankly, I almost felt as tired and sore as I did in the last month of my contest prep. I also had to do triceps today because I just didn't have enough gas in the tank yesterday. I think my body is telling me to rest. I've got the girls all next week for Spring Break. I may just use it as a week off from training and recover! Anyway, here was today's fun... CHESTIncline Hammer Press 2+25each side/11+1 2+25each side/9 2+25each side/8 2+25each side/7..drop..2plts each/5 Flat machine press 225/8, 210/10, 210/9 DB Incline Press - sqz pecs @ top 80/6, 70/11, 70/9 DB Pullover ss/ Dip 90/9..bw/7 90/9..bw/6 TRICEPSIncl EZ Bar Ext 90/11..neg, 90/8..neg, 90/7+2neg EZ bar pushdown 160/11, 160/11, 160/8..130/4 Bench dips...w/ plts on legs 2plts/11..1plt/8..no plts/4 2/12..1/7..0/4 BICEPS1-arm Hammer Preacher Machine 45/10, 45/8 DB Hammer Curl 45/10, 45/9 Lying top cbl curl 100/15!! I did some more abs too. Didn't feel like yesterday's was enough. lol That's it for now! |
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Post by rantorcha on Mar 21, 2011 17:24:41 GMT -5
I took the week off last week for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, my girls were on Spring Break and it was my year to spend the week with them, which I was more than happy to do! We did anything and everything we wanted...we went to the pool a couple of times, we went to Chuck E. Cheese, watched a couple of movies - one at home and one at the theatre, and much more! I think they had a good time. But that good time certainly didn't do anything for my diet! I decided to not care too much about how I ate and focus on spending good, fun, quality time with the girls.
It also gave me an opportunity not to stess so much about eating. And I had to added bonus of giving my physique some much needed rest. I had been going extremely hard and heavy lately, and I've noticed I was starting to get too overtired & not recovering as quickly. That's the tell-tale sign for me!
This week, I've turned the page and I've got some goals I'd like to acheive in the next couple of months. Today was the start of that. I woke up and did 20 minutes on my treadmill. Then, I trained pretty hard this afternoon. I tried to hold back at least a little bit since this is my first week back, but I find that it's extemely hard for me to do that.
I did Back, Traps & mini-Hams...
BACK
Pullups - 4 sets for warm up
Corner T-bar Row - 3 sets
Rev Grip Bent Row - 3 sets
Rev Grip Pulldown - 3 sets
Behind-back Upright Row/Shrug - 3 sets
Hyperextensions - 4 sets
mini-HAMS
Standing Leg Curl (using Leg Ext machine) - 3 sets
DB SL Deads - 2 sets
Diag. one-leg Leg Press (ham/glute emphasis) - 2 sets
I also did 15 minutes on the Stairmill at the end
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Post by fit on Mar 21, 2011 18:23:43 GMT -5
1) Love your journal. 2) The video- damn bro, nice traps!
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Post by littlebear on Mar 22, 2011 3:16:13 GMT -5
indeed those traps damn
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Post by rantorcha on Mar 22, 2011 13:51:13 GMT -5
1) Love your journal. 2) The video- damn bro, nice traps! First, thanks for the compliment on my journal. It's nice to know someone gets something out of it. As for my traps, I never thought my traps looked like anything at all. Matter of fact, I had to go back to the video to see what the heck you guys were talking about! lol It must be the shirt and an illusion! haha |
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Post by rantorcha on Mar 22, 2011 13:52:42 GMT -5
I have to say, I woke up this morning a bit tired. I got a good 8 hours of quality sleep last night, but I think being pretty sore had something to do with it. I managed to roll out of bed and start my day with 25 minutes of cardio on my treadmill. But, as I started to work this morning, I felt increasingly tired.
By the time training time rolled around, I was wondering if I'd even be up for training today. I threw back some K-Otic and hoped for the best. Being that it is still my first week back from a week-long rest and I am certainly not breaking any personal bests, K-Otic gave me just enough of a boost to make it a quality workout. With that boost, I really was able to make things happen in this workout.
One of the things I am really trying to emphasize is feeling the muscle work constantly. In an effort to make this happen as often as possible, sometimes I like to lower the weight a tad and make sure I am feeling the muscle work throughout the set. For Delts, I try to feel only the shoulders doing the work throughout the entire set; and same with Chest. Those are two major bodyparts I have been trying to improve the last couple of years. I've made pretty good progress, but there is still a lot of work to do.
DELTS
Smith Delt Press - 3 sets
Side Laterals - 3 sets
Rev Top Cable Cross - 3 sets
Underhand BB Front Raises - 2 sets
Upright Row - 2 sets
mini-CHEST
Incl Hammer Press - 3 sets
Incl Flye (hold @ bottom for 1-sec; squeeze @ top) - 3 sets
Cable Crossover (top, middle, bottom settings) - 1 giant set for 10-15 reps each
I also added in 3 quick sets of some Pullups to stretch out my back from yesterday.
And I finished the day off with 10 minutes on the Stairmill.
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Post by rantorcha on Mar 23, 2011 14:16:02 GMT -5
To give my body a little more rest, I decided to push back my morning cardio session until after my training session. That was a bit of a blessing because I was dog-ass-tired.
Even with the extra 20 minutes sleep, I was still pretty bushed. But, as was the case yesterday, K-Otic was my friend again today for my bi-weekly quads workout.
I started things off with some warm up stuff...3 sets of adduction and 2 sets of high rep leg extensions. After this, I was ready to go.
I am trying something new and doing exercises that target either my sweep, or more importantly, the upper half of my quads. I think this is one area that I need improvement on - especially on contest day!
Also, I took everything from as high as 15 reps to as low as 12 reps...still getting a quality pump and reaching close to failure.
QUADS
Hammer Squat (facing pad) - 3 sets
Hack Squats - 2 sets
One-leg Lunges (using Hammer Squat Machine) - 2 sets
Sissy Squats - 2sets
CALVES - took it rather easy for this week (relatively speaking), but still good, quality sets
Leg Press Calf - 2 sets
Seated Calf - 2 sets
CARDIO - 20 minutes on the Stairmill
I alternated (2min @ 65; 1min @ 85)
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Post by rantorcha on Mar 24, 2011 14:37:26 GMT -5
Getting back into the swing of things can be tough...lol. I am pretty sore this week, and that's after "trying" to take it easy this week. On the one hand, I am concentrating on feeling the muscle work. On the other hand, I am trying not to hit failure this week so I am not crazy sore my first week back. Next week will be ALL OUT!
So, here was today's fun...
No cardio today! (thank goodness). I am cutting back to 4x a week for 20 minutes for a while
HAMS-Glutes
1-Leg Lying Leg Curl - 3 sets
SL Deads - 2 sets w/ drop on last
Abduction - 2 sets
mini-LATS - still pretty sore from Monday, so I took it easier than normal
Pullups - 2 sets
D-bar Pulldowns - 2 sets
One-arm Row - 1 set
TRICEPS
Smith CG Press - 2 sets
Face-away Overhead Rope Ext - 2 sets
Dip Machine - 2 sets
One-arm Rev Pushdown - 2 sets
Time to go home, eat and rest...in that order!
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Post by rantorcha on Mar 25, 2011 15:31:02 GMT -5
So, today concludes my first week back from a nice, well-deserved week away from the weights. I've absolutely gotten my focus back and am ready to go all-in for the coming weeks. I've really cleaned things up related to the diet, so I feel much better heading into this next round of training.
I woke up this morning, threw on SportCenter, some shorts and a t-shirt and hopped on the treadmill for a spirited 20 minute cardio session.
And earlier this afternoon, I hit up the gym for this lovely bit of fun...
CHEST
Incl Hammer Press - some knucklehead had the Smith (the only one in the gym) for every exercise known to man, so I had to imporvise! lol - 3 sets
Flat DB Press - 4 sets
Incl DB Press - 3 sets
Dips - 3 sets
mini-DELTS
Seated Side Laterals - 3 sets of 20
Hammer Dlet Press - 3 sets
BICEPS
DB Curl - 2 sets
Incl Curl - 2 sets
Lying Top Cable Curl - 2 sets
ABS
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Aside from that, I must say it was a very effective but rough week as far as training goes. I took my body to its limits. Quite frankly, I almost felt as tired and sore as I did in the last month of my contest prep. 