Jesse's Journal (or JJ if you like)

[jesses]

wats the difference and where do you get it (dextrose)? I heard they were similar and could only find glucose at the supermarket

[Luigi]

wats the difference and where do you get it (dextrose)? I heard they were similar and could only find glucose at the supermarket

pak n save sells it in a blue green box in the sugar isle or find it at a brewing store. maltodextrin, its cheap stuff

[jesses]

Eating stayed the same today, very boring diet.

It was very hot here today, got up this morning and could not be arsed doing any cardio. Forced myself to make up for it with 20mins interval cross training, 10mins treadmill hill training, 10mins rowing after my workout.

started off with deads today, lifted a couple sets with 60kg (12 reps) then decided to be silly and see if I could get 100kg off the floor. Got it once, up to my knees the second time. So at least I know my 1RM. Then did another set with 80kg with 6 reps. Moved onto the assisted pull ups did them very clean down to arms straight, up to chest on the bar cept for the last couple reps which was eyes to the bar. 2x15x30kg assist, 10x25 assist, 6x15 assist.

Felt real good doing those, really worked the lats, I could really feel them working. Moved onto seated row 2x10x60kg then 7x72kg. Next T-bar row 3sets of 10 30,40,45kg think ill start off at 40 next time.

Tried doing a bicep workout after this man it felt good and got an amazing pump. Superset cable curls with hammer cable curls, 3 sets with 30kg on the curls and 18kg on the hammer. After that did concentration curls with 12kg 3sets 15reps. All up took 60mins then followed by my cardio.

Sweated like a pig today, mite have had something to do with it being 30+ degrees

[jesses]

quick post before I hit the sack. didnt get my cardio in this morning as I had an early start at work so did it after my workout. Did shoulders and abs today, just playing around with stuff for my bulk starting next month.

Arnold Press 10x17, 10x19.5, 6x22, 5x22

Lat Raise 12x9.5, 12x12, 12x14.5

Upright Row 10x40, 10x40, 10x40

Knee Raise 20x7, 20x7, 20x7

Oblique twist 20x24, 20x30, 20x30

Weighted cable crunch 25x12, 30x12, 30x12

did about standard crunches after this to see how long it took me to get fatigued without a weight. got board at 60, started doing frogs (or whatever you call them. Put your hands above your head keep your feet off the ground then do a crunch and reverse crunch at the same time so your elbows and ankles touch. Got board with these as well so did some hanging knees to elbows. Got to 10 with these. Think ill stick to weighted crunches from now on.

Thats about it, ate real clean today, 220ish protein, 120ish carbs (slightly higher coz of my post workout meal), 40ish fats. about a 1000kcal deficit.

[two_phat]

with your 'frogs' chuck a medicine ball in between your legs and you'll find it gets a bit harder - usually works for me.

nice weights with the arnolds dude. keep it up.

[jesses]

Cheers TP I didn't actually realized it but looking back in my training diary my shoulder presses are almost as much as my inclines. Im stoked. Altho I must say i love the look of big traps and the arnold press and lat raise were almost the first exercises I mastered, apart from the bicep curl of course.

Which brings me nicely to fridays workout, sorry i didnt post yesterday, it was a long day. Anyways trained in the morning coz had work in the arvo. Started off with some warm-up sets on the EZ bar then moved to heavier stuff. got 7x20 (pretty easy), 7x30, 7x30, 7x25. Then onto incline curls bench at 45degrees. 7x14.5, 7x14.5, 5x17 drop to 14.5 and do 2 more reps, 7x14.5. Onto hammer curl 7x14.5, 7x17, 7x17, 7x19.5.

Then went and did some tricep work, cable pressdown 10x60, 10x60, 8x66 then onto dips just with my body weight, failed at 18, 14, 10 (reps with 60second rest) Then went to the preacher curl to finish off 7x10, 5x20, 7x17.5, 7x17.5.

After that did a bunch of cardio just treadmill and cycling today.

As you can see my weights are all over the place, at the moment I'm adjusting my routine, different exercises, lower reps, getting set for bulking after my holiday next month. Should be all set to get straight into it starting 20/1/09, hoping for some fairly rapid improvements in the first few weeks as I start eating more and energy levels improve

[Pseudonym]

wats the difference and where do you get it (dextrose)? I heard they were similar and could only find glucose at the supermarket

You're absolutely right. Glucose has two possible chemical structures - a left form and a right form. Dextrose stands for dextrorotatory glucose, or D-glucose (dextro = right). So it's not incorrect to call dextrose glucose, but apparently only dextrose can be metabolised in the way you want post-workout. Having said that, I suspect that the glucose you've bought is probably dextrose anyway - they just haven't specified it.

But brewing sugar packs often contain a mix of dextrose and maltodextrin (which is just a lot of dextrose molecules joined together in a handy funpack) and this is a lot cheaper than "official" dextrose.

Hope that helps.

[Johnboy007]

Hope you don't mind me making a little comment here.

You certainly have the motivation to move forward here and at your age that is admirable, the only suggestion on my part is to be patient. Take the information provided and plan you next move, you seem to be changing it up almost daily and you are doing yourself, your body and your training an injustice.

Planning is the key, set yourself a rountine and diet for the next few months and more or less stick too it - nothing happens over night. You are lean enough so concentrate on low volume (6-8 reps max, except for warmups on compound movements), I would also change the split to something like:

Chest

Biceps Hamstrings, Calves

Shoulders, Traps

Triceps, Quads, Calves

Back

Eat what you can when you can, the foods in your diet are good but volume is a little light. Don't waste your money on supplements, stick to protein powder, glutamine and fish oil unless you really hit a pleateu later on. In regards to the results do measurements every month and don't focus too much on what the scales say, they can be detremental - the mirror is best.

Best of luck with the training, with the platform you have already and the advise of these fine people you will do well.

[jesses]

cheers johnboy. yep i agree its a bit sporadic at the moment, I'm trying out different splits for workouts to see how long they take mostly. I think I've got it fairly well nailed now, done a lot of research and asking round and I think what I've come up with will work well for me. training proper starts after my holiday, 20/1/09 is D=1

[jesses]

had a cracker of a workout this morning, hit early coz i got christmas shopping, fitness classes and work functions to attend today.

Warmed up on DB incline presses built up to my first working set over 3sets of a few reps each. First lift was 10x20kg which felt a bit light so 10x22kg for the second. then went heavy with 6x27kg and finished off with 5x29.5kg. oh yeah that happens to be a PB for me so I'm STOKED!!! on a calorific deficit diet, only supps are protein powder, glute, BCAA's, creatine and i rock this bad boy out. I'm gonna be bouncing all day.

so then I went onto incline flys 10x9.5, 10x14.5, 10x14.5 (also a PB) which i was very happy with. Someone else was hogging the smith machine so I moved onto some ab work. Started off with reverse crunches did 20x19.5kg, 20x24kg, 20x24kg then onto oblique crunches on the roman chair. got 15(reps), 16, 15 each side then the smith machine was free.

Did a bit of a warm up with 12x30kg, not to failure, then started my working sets with 10x40kg. then 5x60kg and 5x70kg. Unfortunately none of these were to failure as I'm a little paranoid bout getting stuck under the bar. All the weights for the bench are just the weight of the plates coz I dont know how heavy the bar is or if it even really matters.

So finished up with some high cable crunches, 3x20x75kg with about 90 seconds rest.

All up fairly happy with my performance and got a sweat session with the BodyCombat ppl tonight. Gonna try and drag my brother along to it he things hes pretty fit

[two_phat]

Smith machine bars, to the best of my knowledge, only weigh around 5-8kgs because of the pulley system and weights attached to the other end. Somebody with a bit more knowledge might be able to give a more specific number.

How come you use the smith machine? I wouldn't worry about getting stuck under the smith machine, you can hook the bar back on if you can't get the bar back up.

[jesses]

use the smith coz i got no spotter. May just switch to DBs

[two_phat]

yeah just switch to DBs - I don't have a spotter and thats what I use. Also uses more muscles using DBs.

[jesses]

Ahh today was redonculous. work was incredibly hard out so preworkout i had a serving of thermos and a triple espresso coffee. Thats alot of caffiene. Started to do deads but just felt lyk everything was working against me for them so im ashamed to say I gave up.

moved onto assisted pullups. got 15x30kg assit, 15x30kg, 10x20kg, 10x20kg the last set was finished using a rest pause.

Onto seated row, last week felt a bit light so i upped the weight, 3x10x66kg felt good only used biceps on the last couple reps. Onto the t-bar row 3x10x40kg almost killed myself, lay down on the floor for 10mins afterwards.

After that went onto biceps, fool that I am forgot to take panadol so this really hurt. Close grip cable curl and cable hammer curl supersetted 3x25x30kg in the first 3x25x18kg on the second. Then moved onto the concentration curls 3x15x12kg each arm and I was done. Gonna sleep very well tonight i can tell.

[Luigi]

Ahh today was redonculous. Onto the t-bar row 3x10x40kg almost killed myself, lay down on the floor for 10mins afterwards.

After that went onto biceps, fool that I am forgot to take panadol so this really hurt.

lol HARDEN UP!

[two_phat]

thats a lot of caffeine to take - do you notice any side effects?

I get the shakes if I take too much thats all.

[jesses]

yeah i crash real hard a few hours after taking it but that was ok coz all i wanted was to get the workout done. Generally dont take that much yesterday was just an exceptionally busy day.

Harden up you say luigi? finished the workout didnt I?

[jesses]

time to stop bring slack and start writing in my journal again. Christmas was great ate a ton of lean meat and kept up my exercise so I was happy.

Did a brief shoulder workout on thurday, warmed up with shoulder press then supersetted lat raise with bent over raise. Took about 20mins and my traps were pumped. Have I mentioned I lyk traps?

Saturday did an arms day, went slightly lighter with my weights and really focused on slow and controlled, really squeezing at the top. My arms were sore for 2 days after so I think it worked alright.

Today was a normal workout for me. Well as normal as they get while I still play around with my exercises in preparation for my first bulk.

Started off with Incline Press, couple warmup sets then into my working ones. 10x22kg, 10x24.5kg, 2x4x27kg. Played around with the angles a bit, thing i had the bench slightly too upright as it felt more like a shoulder press and front delts took a beating. Good to know if i want to work them a bit more but gonna go with the angle I had last week. All good learning.

Onto flys 3x10x12 very strict, very slow, very deep. Then onto bench press, used DBs this week cheers T_P. 12x24.5kg, 8x29.5kg, 5x32kg tried for 6 but not quite. Was stoked as this huge guy was using the 32s and then i was lyk yeah bro ill use them after you. altho he may have been doing twice as many reps and supersetting with pec decs :roll: .

That was it for chest, did some ab work next, not to self do not do heavy ab work after chest. mite be different when I'm eating for bulk but did not have the energy today. did weighted knee raises with 7kg, 3 sets of 20. If you've noticed my weights never go up with these its coz they havnt. I started off doing them as just knee raises and am slowly getting my legs straighter and straighter until eventually ill be doing leg raises. I personally think these use more deep muscles and give better results overall. Then did high cable crunch 3x20x75kg, i also find this great for grip strength. Then onto oblique crunches, got 2 sets done but my body told me this is enough for today. all up 65mins and downing a double shake as i walked out the door

[Luigi]

na but i mean you shouldnt need to take panadol whats that for ?

[jesses]

just find i get really sore where the biceps connect to the forearm. its a tip i got from android and seems to work really well can work right up to fatigue were as before sometimes the pain barrier was too great to continue

[jesses]

here we are first post of the new year. havnt been at the gym much due to them being shut (silly sods) and a work schedule that went work/sleep/work/sleep/work. But thats all good coz im going on holiday. 14days of fun in the sun at the beach. perfection methinks.

Anyway as this is a workout journal and not just a story of my life here it is. Yesterday gyms were open so along i toddled. Not having got any other workouts in for days i did a bit of a combo. Started off with shoulder shrugs warmed up with 27kgs then moved onto 32kg. tried integrating rest pauses today so 8reps-pause-7reps did that for 3 sets or so, was great. Then into lat raises. Have found that its easier to do them standing up than sitting down, i suspect this may be to do with pumping my legs for momentum altho i try to do them real strict. So started off doing seated raises about 15reps with 9 kg, real strict and smooth, same speed up and down. Once i got to failure i stood up and continued the set to failure again. was great. can feel my shoulders nice and tight now especially the traps. then did some ab work, oblique crunches on the roman chair 15 to each side 3 sets. Then lower abs, 20kg weighted hip thrusters and dragon flags superset. Then onto high cable crunch 3x20x65kg for this as me abs were starting to feel a bit poked. after that just did 20 ham-glute sit ups at random times through the workout. Moved onto to lunges. Did all types weighted, pulses, lighter weight with higher reps, stationary, walking, box and one thats not a strict lunge but rather a lunge integrated into a sequence of movements, work great for my muay thai. Then to finish of supersetted incline curls with ez bar curls. Have found the perfect way to do inclines now, slow and steady with a hard squeeze at the top, supinating nicely on the way up, controlled reverse movement on the way down. arms were a bit poked for the ez bar just chucked a bunch of weight on used momentum to swing it up then did some nice negative reps.

Golly this post is a monster.

just in case anyone is worried about my fitness while in away iv decided that everyday im going to do 50pull ups, 50pushups, 50sit ups, 50leg raises, 50oblique crunches, 50lunge type movements and a bunch of stretching. altho 50 push ups shouldnt be too hard i managed 37 in 30 seconds the other day. Dunno see how it goes mite fiddle a bit to get the right intensity, ill post if i get near a comp

[jesses]

here we are im back from holiday with a slightly delayed entry in my journal. training was ok while i was away, started off the first couple days doing what i planned then it just became 4hours+ of surfing, boogie boarding, swimming each day. Didnt loose any muscle size, infact i put on a bit.

Now for my current training. Muay Thai starts up again next month so really looking forward to that. Furthering my Martial Arts is pretty much my main goal now as well as adding muscle. As im keeping really fit i doubt it will be as quick as most bulk ups but my eating is around 2800-3000cal per day.

Yesterday was arms workout. Trying to add some size to my biceps so training heavy with lots of rest, approx 2mins between sets. Started off 4sets EZ-bar curl, slow up slow down no use of momentum. started off with 30kg, finished last set on 25. Then moved to incline curls giving a real squeeze at the top. 2 sets with 12.5kg 2 sets with 15kg. Onto hammer curls, somebody was using the 15s so i went with 12.5. Fast up 4-5secs down really works the grip as well.

Then onto close grip tricep press. 30kg on the bar 5 sets with 30secs rest. 15,14,14,13,12 reps with rest pauses the last couple sets.

Then onto my ab circuit. Iv started training these every day. Pick 3 exercises then do 15-20 reps of each for 10mins non-stop. Yesterday did roman chair sits, roman chair oblique crunch, inline leg raises going right up to right angles with the floor.

After that did 30mins hiit then done

[Luigi]

can you post up your diet, like to see what your 3000cal a day consists of

[jesses]

Cool well today was

Meal 1: Protein shake, 100g weet-bix fruity, 5 eggs, apple

Pre-Workout M2: Protein shake, Banana

Post-Workout M3: Double protein shake, 185g Tuna, 2 buns

M4:250g Chicken, 1 cup brown rice

M5:Tin of tuna

M6:Tuna and pasta bake 300g, salad

M7:Gonna have protein shake before bed.

Dont know the exact figure in cals i usually just gestimate and use the mirror to gauge progress. Can work it out on thursday for ya.

Training was chest/shoulders today. Rest time between all sets is 30secs with about 2mins stretching between exercises

First up Incline DB Press/Military Press superset. 12x17.5kg, 12x15kg, 10x15kg, 12x15kg, 12x15kg for inclines, 12x12.5kg, 12x7.5kg, 12x7.5kg, 10x7.5kg, 11x7.5kg.

Next Incline Fly/Lat Raise Superset. Have started going really strict on lat raises, no pumping with legs, arms straight, hands up to ear height and hold.

15x10kg, 16x10kg, 16x10kg, 15x10kg, 13x10kg/17x10lb, 16x10lb, 16x10lb, 16x10lb, 12x10lb did this set seated.

Onto dips do these to failure with 40kg assist, 16reps, 15, 15, 15, 13.

Then incline DB rows pulling really high to involve traps as much as possible. 20x7.5kg, 20reps, 17, 17, 16.

Then onto ab circuit and 20mins of HIIT, 10mins jogging

[Luigi]

sweet as diet looks like its improved, yea dont think youd be hitting 3000 cals but your getting there

swap the weet bix in the morning for a bowl or oats

and have your double protein shake post workout then swap that meal with the 4th one, you want to have a big feed after the workout, add some carbs to your 5th meal, rice or pasta and youll be sweet!