half human/half machine - downloading training data...

[Android]

Wide Shoulders workout

Had a workout on my own after a hard days work. Tenants moving out so spent Auckland Anniversary day cleaning and tidying up the place for the next ones.

I weighed in at 104.5kg which I've been sitting on for a few weeks now give or take a kg. I didn't drink as much as I normally do, by 10:30am this morning I had drunk a 1.5l bottle of water, and it's 12:30 and I'm almost through the 2nd 1.5l bottle.

Am training Legs tonight in a different gym so the scales will read differently but I'd gues I'm back to 105 at least all hydrated up again.

Oh...Shoulders, right back on topic!

I went straight for a HammerStrength machine, "Iso-Lateral Shoulder Press" it said on the machine. Just like a shoulder press but slightly forward.

I remember doing 20kg each side for 20 reps before Christmas.

This time I worked up from 10kg, 20, 30, 40 to 50kg each side but could only do 4 reps at that weight so backed off to 40kg for another 6 reps.

My Shoulders reddened up from these heavy presses and I didn't feel any problem I encountered in the Back workout the day before, sweet.

Moved to the side lateral raise machine and did the stack one arm at a time (it's cabled up so that it's half the stack weight on each arm btw, I'm not superman!).

My Shoulders were pumping up and out now so I moved over to dumbbell side lat raises and did strict raises with 10kg. I did 4 sets of 15 reps each, last 2 sets dropped to 9kg for a few more reps.

Next exercise was on the Pec Deck for rear delts. I picked a good heavy weight and squeezed out 12-15 reps each set. Last few reps of each set hurt like hell when squeezing so I concentrated on going past the pain. If pain comes before muscle exhaustion I always try and push through the pain because it's just a possible limiting factor, whereas exhaustion is 100% limiting.

You can't lift more when the muscle is exhausted (ok forced reps you can) but with pain (as long as it's lactic acid or muscle pain not a strain or tendon pain) I believe you can saefly work through it.

I pay attention to the pain, for instance if pain during bicep curls is at the lower tendon I don't push past this (I come close) as it's tendons and I never want to rip a muscle away or hurt a tendon.

But deep muscle pain and lactic acid pain...are my friends :-) I play head games and tell myself "this is where other people give up" as I feeel the pain growing, then at the peak of the pain, enough to make you drop your weights I say to myself "this is where my competitior gives up" and so I have to go further than that. I want to do more reps in the pain zone than the people on stage with me.

Next up I did 4 sets of front lateral raises with a 25kg plate for 15 reps each.

Finally did seated bent-over lateral raises with a light 6kg, squeezing the hell out of them before heading to car for a post-workout shake.

Got home and downed a can of baked beans and tin of tuna before dinner time (beef and rice). Finally befreo bedtime I had more beef.

I started eating for recovery and for this evening's Leg workout last night.

Today at work is 1kg of beef (split in to 3 meals), 1 tin of tuna, rice, and oats.

[Android]

Legs yesterday was 10 out of 10.

I staggered out exhausted from a high intensity session. Wasn't high volume but good heavy work sets with little rest between sets and exercises.

We only did 4 exercises and you might say the frsit exercise was a warm-up.

We started with Leg Extensions while the squat rack was in use. Warmed up with 30+ reps and progressed down the stack to the bottom, last set was 8 good reps.

Squats went well adding a 20kg plate each side and staying on 3 plates, 140kg, for 2 sets of 12 reps, both had last 2 reps forced but very little help, more yelling and mental help than physical.

Without any rest we went over to the Leg Press and started on 4 plates each side, repping to our max. Loaded up to 250kg (6 plates each side + 10kg center) for 3 working sets.

These we did until exhausted, around the 10-12 rep mark was the limit, the last 2 reps were blind I had no idea what was going on I was out of breath and the leg muscles were exhausted.

Our last exercise was lying ham curls, was hoping for a rest but we forced each other to keep repping out curls with each heavier set.

Last set was a drop-set.

I walked out of there a happy man, I couldn't have given anymore than I gave today. It was hot in the gym and we kept the intensity going to the very end.

I want to concentrate on Legs over the next month. Today is REST day which I will force myself to take, and tomorrow I'll do calves and traps at lunch time. This should leave me with Arms on Friday night, then REST on Saturday.

Taking a REST day is hard for me but I am forcing myself to follow the pattern of: Gym, Gym, Gym, REST, Gym, Gym, REST ... repeat.

3 days on and 1 off, then 2 days on and 1 off.

I have stuck to this and grown alot, years ago when I was growing from 68kg - 88kg I did 5 days on 2 days off (weekends off) and that worked fine as well. But as the muscle piles on REST gets more important and I get a chance to catch up on calories and carbs on the REST day which actually makes the next wave of workouts better. 5 days on and 2 days off is hard come Day 4 and Day 5 to have excess calories and the workouts were never as intense as Mondays and Tuesdays.

Also with 3 days on, 1 off, 2 days on, 1 off you can re-arrange the workouts such that you never do Back and Arms on subsequent days, and you can also ensure you can really split up Legs and Back. A REST day between these 2 helps alot especially if your Hammys get worked over doing deadlifts.

[biggurl27]

Looks like a cunning plan, what are you thoughts on gym, rest, gym, rest, gym, rest?

[Android]

Looks like a cunning plan, what are you thoughts on gym, rest, gym, rest, gym, rest?

I think that's too much REST. If you were doing more than 1 bodypart per workout then maybe it's ok I've heard of people splitting their workouts up like hitting upper body one workout, then lower body the next, for that it would be ok. Just if you did 1 bodypart per workout then there would be 10 day break before working the same part again.

I couldn't do anything but Back within 50 mins I've seen some do Back and Biceps but they're in the gym for over an hour to do that, or they skimp on Back exercises. The Back is so complex u need alot of different exercises.

So that's a bit too much REST :twisted:

[biggurl27]

I do a 4 day split, shoulders/legs/chest&tris/back&bi's which would fit in a week. I have to fit my w/o's into 45mins in my lunch breaks alternate weeks. Don't always do day on/day off but sometimes I need it. Just good to get other peoples opinions.

[Android]

For sure :-)

Are you still on target for a comp at the end of the year? It will be good to see you compete Biggurl after following your progress through the year (yes I read your Journal too LOL), and this goes for others too it will be good to see NZBB'ers compete, kind of feels like going on the journey with them when you read what they are doing daily doesn't it.

Bit warm and fuzzy I know :shock:

[biggurl27]

Well I can't really not compete, too much pressure from everyone :pfft:

[biggurl27]

Well I can't really not compete, too much pressure from everyone :pfft:

[GreekAdonis]

Well I can't really not compete, too much pressure from everyone :pfft:

Thats right! You better compete or else! :pfft:

[jesses]

hey dude sorry to jump in on ya blog like this but iv been looking at trying some bsn volumaize and i seem to remember reading that you used it a while back. How did you find it (ie experiences) and where did you get it from?

btw love reading your blogs its great to see someone so focused but helpful at the same time

[Android]

hey dude sorry to jump in on ya blog like this but iv been looking at trying some bsn volumaize and i seem to remember reading that you used it a while back. How did you find it (ie experiences) and where did you get it from?

btw love reading your blogs its great to see someone so focused but helpful at the same time

Everyone else jumps in :-) no worries at all, just glad it's a good read and helpful, cheers!

Volumaize is ok I got a few containers sent to me from BSN prior to last years Olympia when it finally went public in the U.S.

On a scale of 1 to 10 for pre-workout I'd give it a 7, on a scale of 1 to 10 for N.O I'd give it a 7 as well.

There's a few worse than Volumaize, like Kaizen NO Xtreme or IDS Muscle Volumizer. And there's a few better like the old NO-Xplode and iSatori H+Blocker.

[soundsgood]

. And there's a few better like the old NO-Xplode

Have you still got some of the old NO Xplode sitting around collecting dust? :wink:

[Android]

No but I'll bring back a couple with me in March and let you know if I have any spare Soundsgood. Cost price of course (I think they are AUD$85 or something close to that).

[jesses]

hope i dont sound silly but i thort Volumaize was an intra-workout drink that you took additionally to a preworkout NO booster? oh NO-Xplode any chance of putting an order in with ya? been amping to try some just a tad difficult to get it

[Android]

hope i dont sound silly but i thort Volumaize was an intra-workout drink that you took additionally to a preworkout NO booster? oh NO-Xplode any chance of putting an order in with ya? been amping to try some just a tad difficult to get it

N-workout is pretty new I class it as pre-workout but yes its for during workout and it's a 7/10 imo.

Sorry I'm not taking orders for NO-Xplode they're not for sale in NZ, if I get one in I think Soundsgood has it

[Android]

My Legs hurt something bad.

So I'm as happy in a pig in s**t right now.

I suppose if I had a more physical job they would recover faster with blood pumping through them more than sitting at an office desk all day.

But I'm happy!

Yesterday and the day before were REST days, yesterday was beer and food to celebrate a project milestone but I left early and ate clean all day and night otherwise.

I think I am gaining weight from having more REST days, seriously I think I am will check the scales at Les Mills tonight as these are what I always use. This morning at home I was 105 and that's wake up weight, whereas I have always weighed myself at the gym in the evening...weight doesn't mean much I know bodybuilding isn't judged on your weight but it's still a gauge for growth and can be motivating when you gain.

This afternoon is Arms! I've got PlasmaJet to help me along and my arms are as rested as they have ever been, I feel an huge workout coming up today!

[samoan_muscle]

hey dude sorry to jump in on ya blog like this but iv been looking at trying some bsn volumaize and i seem to remember reading that you used it a while back. How did you find it (ie experiences) and where did you get it from?

btw love reading your blogs its great to see someone so focused but helpful at the same time

Everyone else jumps in :-) no worries at all, just glad it's a good read and helpful, cheers!

Volumaize is ok I got a few containers sent to me from BSN prior to last years Olympia when it finally went public in the U.S.

On a scale of 1 to 10 for pre-workout I'd give it a 7, on a scale of 1 to 10 for N.O I'd give it a 7 as well.

There's a few worse than Volumaize, like Kaizen NO Xtreme or IDS Muscle Volumizer. And there's a few better like the old NO-Xplode and iSatori H+Blocker.

So what pre-workout booster do you rate 10?

I'm interested in trying out one of these things rather than just chewing on a dbol tablet on my way in to the gym lol...

[Android]

I imagine your d-bol would be the 10.

I found the old NO-Xplode was a 9 out of 10 so now I take Syntrax's Cerebro but it's not for sale in NZ.

It is capsules containing just Vinpocetine (the thing NO-Xplode got banned for here, it focuses your mind on one thing...tunnel vision).

If I take one of these and any NO drink I'm focused for a whole hour on the workout, these are 8 out of 10 for me.

One of my best supplement experiments was loading up on carbs, water, creatine mono, and arginine (just Arginine not a NO drink, Arginine on it's own is cheap).

By the 4th day into creatine loading and eating like a horse I was as tight as a drum and felt like my body was stretching out of it's skin.

The next weeks workouts were the strongest, water was retained and the muscles were solid. Even at night I would wake up and feel like squeezing my biceps cause they were still hard as.

[jesses]

sweet cheers for the info. All good dude maybe ill have to take a trip to aussie sometime . surf, sun and NO Xplode, could it be better?

[Android]

You;re welcomes Jesses I wish I could bring loads in for everyone but reality is I can't.

Friday was Arms, did the alternating Bicep/ Tricep routine and hit it off with lying incline dumbbell curls, supinating almost every set. Last time I did these we pumped up hard and good on 12.5kg dumbbells. This time I really pushed myself and ended up doing 3 working sets of 20kg each. By the last 2 sets there was little supinating going on and last set it was so hard to squeeze at the very top I only got 8 reps was going for 12.

Next up was tricep pushdowns with rope, got a good warm-up set done for 35+ reps and switched to the bent bar for 3 sets of the stack.

Did a couple of preacher curls before heading over to the Ez-curl bar for bicep curls. Went up in weight to really heavy, last 3 sets I did myself so the rest between them was minimal. Like an extended rest-pause really and last set struggled to get out 6 reps before I was swinging the bar up. Biceps were poked already!

Somewhere in the workout I did the tricep pushdown machine stack for 3 good sets, I can't remember when in the workout but I did them ok :-)

Final exercise was a superset of one-arm cable pushdowns for triceps and one-armed cable bicep curls. Did 3 good sets of these squeezing as much as I could for both exercises.

I walked out of the gym feeling like I had huge arms LOL! Got home and an hour later they were just shy of 19" so they're getting there. It's a lot to gain an inch so not sure I can make 20" for the Nationals but I'll be trying to make them stand out amongst the crowd of competitors. My best bet is to keep hitting the peak and the underlying brachia....s which pushes the peak upward. Best improvement I can make is the peak for the front and rear double-bicep shot and side chest pose. Tricep pose is sweet as the muscle belly is well developed and reaches my inner elbow quite pronounced.

Phototime soon to back up my story ay :-)

My Legs have recovered from Tuesdays onslaught so next time I'm in the gym I'll be hitting Hamstrings and calves, and traps if I have time and energy.

I did traps twice last week once after Back workout and once after Shoulder workout so they're looking good and appreciated the extra attention I see.

[GHOSTN]

awsome work mate!!

another jump in lol how do you rate

vasocharge

purple wrath

superpump250

out of 10?

thanks heaps sorry to hijack

[Android]

awsome work mate!!

another jump in lol how do you rate

vasocharge

purple wrath

superpump250

out of 10?

thanks heaps sorry to hijack

Hey GHOSTN,

No worries I'll try and give you my take on those products for you.

Purple Wraath was my favourite for a long time. It won't give you any pump but you will notice you have the same muscle energy at the end of the workout as you did at the start. If you exhaust your muscles in your workout then this is when you'll notice this effect more, if you cruise in your workout you'll not notice anything except the trademark 'beta-alanine tingle'. The thing I like about this product over some others is they supply alot of BCAAs as well. I know you won't feel a single thing from taking in BCAAs during your prior and during your workout, but they are above all other supplements the ones that actually add to the muscle size. From BCAAs your body can make alot of things like Glutamine etc so they are #1 supplement.

Purple Wraath has 45 servings, taken on training days this lasts for up to 9 weeks. If you take every day it'll last for 7 weeks. If you double the dosage (I can't for the first 3 weeks the tingle is too much!) it will last for less obviously.

This one gets 8/10 for quality (BCAAs and other Aminos, 7gms worth of them!), # of servings, and effectiveness (it's for muscle endurance and anti-catabolic).

Superpump250 is really popular here, it will give you everything you need for a pump plus recovery.

It's similar to Vasocharge, but you'll need a double-serve if you're over 80kg so work that out when you are comparing for value.

I still take PlasmaJet with it as I don't get a freakish pump just from taking SuperPump250, but it's cheap and it works well.

I would rate this product a 7/10.

Vasocharge is one I've used many times and is probably the most comprehensive pre-workout drink on the market.

I'm a SciVation fan they only build serious supplements and it's hard to fault everything they produce. (Try and find a whey protein with only 36mg sodium per serve when you're close to a show!, or Showtime their diuretic which pulls water out of everywhere, and then you'll really appreciate their products).

Vasocharge has everything: Nitric Oxide (vaso-pump), Beta-Alanine (endurance), Creatine (strength), Carnitine (mental focus), Caffeine (energy) etc

I give Vasocharge an 8/10 for effectiveness and value for money. Like Superpump250 the pump isn't extreme.

I've just started experimenting with L-Arginine on it's own and tried and AAKG powder yesterday with Hammy and calve workout (haven't yet blogged it).

So far AAKG on it's own before a workout is giving me a good hard pump I can actually feel. It's like I can contract the squeeze harder than before if that makes sense. The muscle goes rock hard.

It doesn't contain all the other ingredients the popular (all in one) drinks do of course but I'm playing with the idea and will try it with glucose(better absorption) and Vitamin C(enhances the effect of NO) and BCAAs(anti-catabolic).

Just some extra info about what I'm doing :-)

[GHOSTN]

hi

thanks alot,good information there

i think i was meant to put in white flood cause we were talkin about n.o sups

i just started using scivation xtend watermelon, i think it tastes quite fowl dont know why i got watermelon now that i think of it, and it dosent mix very well at all (real chalky) but i just try chug it down, i can handle this if its doin me well i dont care.

how do you rate xtend against purple wrath?

i think ive made the big mistake of only just starting to take bcaa's should have done it along time ago..

cheers

[Android]

Hi GHOSTN,

Put the XTend in a pump bottle of water and shake the s**t out of it for 5 seconds. It needs that and once it's diluted you won't have any chalky powder at all just a straight watered down juice flavoured drink.

XTend won't help with performance in the gym, whereas Purple Wraath should.

They're different and can't be compared. When I take XTend I don't need to buy BCAAs or Glutamine at all. I can take it as a drink during the day or at night and get my BCAA/ Glutamine fix like that. But you can't do that with Purple Wraath it's for workouts. Although it has BCAAs in it sipping on Beta-Alanine several times a day isn't my recommendation.

I've never tried White Flood it won't be allowed into the country as it contains Vinpocetine, a prescription ingredient here in NZ. The same ingredient NO-Xplode was banned for. (Vinpocetine and Vincamine)

[Android]

Saturday was a Hammys and calves workout.

I was set on hitting calves which I neglect to train quite a bit. They're in good shape, they touch each other when I stand with my legs together but I can and should make them unbeatable.

Lying Hammy curls were up first, I was set on doing 100 reps no matter how many sets I did. The weight stayed static and the sets went something like: 25, 20, 16, 14, 10, 15

Then I did an exercise I have never tried before, it's an adductor machine where you swing one leg back and forth, but instead of standing sideways you swing front to back. HArd to explain but if I squeeze on the backward motion it's like a standing hammy curl, kind of.

I'm sure I was doing it wrong as I stacked it and was doing 12-15 reps but i got a squeeze and felt the hammys working so happy with the new exercise.

Next up was standing alternate (of course...ever seen someone do this with both legs at the same time?) leg curls. I chose a light weight and short rest periods to keep the hammys tight and tired but still allowing me to squeeze them at the top.

I hope that works :-)

Calves were next and started on the standing calve raise machine I just pumped out reps of 20+, the rest in between got shorter so the last few sets were just 15 reps. I stretch the calves between sets they really ache as i take them to exhaustion on every set except the first couple.

I did 5 working sets of these then went over to the seated calf raise machine.

This one i always spend time on when I do calves, I love it! It's so restrictive there's no way the legs can bounce you up or swing. But I decided to hit the outer calf this time.

I never do it, coming from a skinny 68kg 6' frame my focus was always on the part of the muscle that gave the biggest results.

So for skinny guys building up inner calves is more important, the large head of the tricep over the other heads (imo) this large head adds inches to your biceps as it hangs down, the other don't add as much bang for your buck.

Anyway, so I turned my toes inward and kept the feet closer than normal and I felt the aching of the outside leg almost unbearable. These muscles looks great when built up, lines and ridges running up the outside lower leg on guys liek Mike Quinn are impressive.

I worked through the pain, it felt more like weakness than anything else. I had 40kg on the machine and was gunning for 20 reps but often could just do 15 depending on the rest.

The further I ignore the pain the worse and longer it hurts when I stop. This is true for all muscles with lactic acid pain for me. I did 6 sets and nearly cried on the last 2.

Today, 2 days later and my Hammys are tight but not sore, my calves might make me walk funny by this afternoon I'm guessing so really happy with that.

I ate meat all weekend as usual without fail, and carbs of course. I didn't train on Sunday so I am a bit behind but am up on my REST at least.

Tonight is Back, I want to break a deadlift PB if I can so am eating hardout right now. I hope my Hammys are good for it.

Tomorrow Chest and Tris, Wednesday Legs, then REST.

That should see me right for a big Shoulder workout on Friday...all planned out :-)

Weight hasn't budged for 2 weeks I'm not quite over the loss in gains I was making. It seemed at one point I was just going up each week. I'll bank what I have and work hard to maintain it for a few months then shovel in more food in a few months for one more gain before Nationals.

If, if, I can make 110kg I'll be a happy fat guy and could step on stage at 95kg ripped, that would be 4kg up on last year which is the biggest gain I can hope for in one year to be honest.