Temporary vacation

Hey guys, I'm still here, just some things came up in life that has put the gym from three days to twice a week for now. My vehicle broke down so while I work on getting that taken care off I'll only be able to work when I'm at school. but on a good note my pack is about 150lbs with all my books and stuff, I'll be doing a lot of bodyweight+ exercises while not in the gym. SCORE! for education!

BAMF! Finally dialed in.

Thursday's workout was horrible, I wasn't putting anything up for any length of time. It was one of those workouts that are so bad you just have to walk away and start over the following week. I decided to take friday sat and sun off from the gym do to some reflecting with myself. Every once in a while you just have to go inside yourself and motivate yourself to soldier on. I had come to the decision not emphasize on throwing up numbers, and reminded myself that this is about getting back to my foundation and rebuilding it.

Here's the numbers.

Leg Press 508x12 / 508 x 12
Chest press 105x12/ 105x12
shoulder press 60x12/ 62.5x6
lat pulldown 140x12 140x12
Bicep Curl 25x12 25x12
Skullcrusher 35x12 35x12
35 mins cardio after the weights.

I felt dialed in for sure with these numbers, The bench pres is lighter because I'm using free weights, and my stabilizers are a little weaker than they should be and I don't have a spotter right now, in time this number will grow. I'm ready to Rock & Roll now, this is officially day1:week1

BAMF! Time to start earning those new digs!

Yesterday was the first workout of the new routine, I ran it like a circuit little to no rest between sets, boom, boom, boom, get it done.

Leg Press 12 reps Set#1. 480x12 Set#2 528 x12
I'm pushing through the balls of my feet, and my toes, haven't figured out why though yet. I definitely feel these in my groin today, it sucks to put my legs together, but it hurts so good!

Chest press 12 reps Set#1. 130x12 Set#2 130x8
Disappointed that I gave up on the 8th rep, I probably could've pushed 1mrp out. However I did some light chest work the day before that so I definitely felt this anyways.

Lat pull down 12 reps Set#1. 140x12 Set#2. 140x12
These felt about right, I think I could've gone heavier though. next time for sure.

Shoulder Press 12 reps Set#1. 45x12 Set#2. 55x12
These were good, I'm really hoping to get some good definition here. We'll see in 6-12 weeks.

DB curl 12 reps Set#1. 25x12 Set #2. 25x12
Still not getting that nice pump and impact to my biceps like I want. I wind up using too light of weight, or too heavy, and one day my right is stronger than my left or vice versa. The bicep still remains a mystery that I must unlock. Sadness.

Skullcrusher 12 reps Set#1. 30x12 Set #2. 35x12
Eh... *shrug* these were alright, not my favorite move to do, I feel that I never get enough impact with these either. I have nice development on the outer lateral head, but my long head is still not as defined or strong as I want it to be.

30 Minutes of cardio: elliptical

I'm stiff today, so I need to incorporate some yoga into my mornings and before bed. I really don't like not being able to bend over at work, but all in all a decent workout, and now I have a few things to research and focus on: Biceps, Triceps, and Legs. I must admit though that I am a little bit disappointed in the effort this workout took, I didn't hit it as hard as I wanted, but at the same time it took a bit of effort. I'm kicking myself for taking a whole week off. I will fix this situation and hit it harder.

On the agenda tonight is a date with core work, and half an hour on the summit trainer... The beast of all cardio machines.


Just back from Core day... Summit Trainer, you win this round!

The Mountain Dog diet, Or getting back to our roots.

I've always lived by Jack Lalanne's motto " If a man's made it, don't eat it", but it wasn't until recently that I started looking into this new age craze called holistic foods. Being your average southern raised red blooded American boy my first thought was "Holistic, sounds like some kind of religious food. No thanks", I never looked into what it was anymore than that. However, I did start researching into less processed foods, and more organic food sources, because it just appealed to me more and I kept hearing this little voice in my head telling me to get back to the source. Needless to say, I found out that holistic just means whole foods basically, minimum processing, no hormones, chemical fertilizers, or antibiotics at all, nothing went into the growing of this food source other than what was intended by nature. I also found out that organic meats, and eggs aren't all that more nutritious than commercialized meats. Even with organic food sources you have to be careful, and make sure the animals were fed their natural diet, and not a grain and corn based diet.

For example Grassfed Beef is naturally leaner in fat, higher in omega 3's and CLA (which is almost non-existent in commercial beef now) doesn't need to growth hormones, or antibiotics, and it just all around so much more nutritious for you. Now a lot of people will say that grassfed beef is ridiculously priced, but that's just dependent on where you buy it from and how you buy it, http://www.grasslandbeef.com has everything you could think of, and is pretty decently priced. Anyways, I'm getting sidetracked, back to the topic at hand...

In my educational journey I stumbled upon something called the Mountain Dog Diet, and a man named John Meadows, after spending a few days researching and reading over his website http://www.mountaindogdiet.com it started making sense to me, I started thinking what have we been doing to our bodies with this current American diet. I mean when a 9 year hits puberty, and is catching the attention of teenagers there is something very wrong here. What these commercial farmers are injecting this cattle with is being ingested by us, and our youth, not only that but it's wiping out all nutritional content from our foods in general. That's not just meats, dairy, and eggs, its in our fruits, vegetables, and grains as well. I myself have had enough, it might be a little more expensive but what goes in my body should be at the top of the list of priorities, not the bottom.

I'm gonna give this diet a try within the next month of so, and I'm going to run it for 6 months. I'll be recording my results with it, and after the 6 month period I'll go from there. If you're interested, then research it don't just take my word for it find out for yourself.

Remember: Question everything, believe nothing. Otherwise their lies will be your truths

So I thought I'd share this on here, it's a routine I designed for an old client. I would usually subscribe them to a general 5x5 routine for functional strength. However, he wanted something more "extreme" and "custom" so I threw this together. Instead of making it step by step I wanted him to start learning how to set up his own routines, mainly because he wasn't paying me and I felt like he was trying to take advantage of the situation, I also gave him an alternate workout after the third week, I'll post that later. Tell me what you think, love it, hate it, laugh about it.

The overall goal is to build functional strength, while maintaining a fat burn. You’ll slowly start to become more defined over the course of the next few weeks. This is a 6-12 week routine, continue it until you are no longer seeing results, then switch to another routine for 3-4 weeks, then come back to continue the results.

 

The basic setup of this routine is going to be focused on strength building, with a minor increase in size. You’re going to be using 80% of your 1rm (REP MAX), or your 5RM. The sets will be 4-6 reps, focus on your breathing while you’re doing the exercise, and your form. If you form starts to slip then that’s the end of the set, you want to maintain perfect form through the movement for best results, and to keep your Range of Motion (ROM).

Shoulders & Deltoids will be on day one, followed by Chest & Triceps, with your Back&Biceps&Legs being your third day. I’m incorporating back days with the leg days and putting them after chest, because this will give you extra recovery time for your shoulders. 90% of your back exercises use your shoulders as well, so you want to maintain maximum rest.

I’m going to be giving you a list of exercises to chose from, alternate the exercises every week to keep your muscles from adapting to the routine.

 

Shoulder&Delts
TRAPS:
Close-Grip Front Lat Pulldown
Cross cable Lat pulldowns.
V-Bar pull downs
Underhand cable pulldowns
DELTS:
Arnold Dumbbell Press

Back flyes

Rocky Press (these are awesome for developing strength)
Bent Over Dumbbell Raises- bend over holding dumbbells in a skiing position, then raise them to the side of your head. They’re also called chicken wings, because they looking like your flapping your arms. These are great also, can’t recommend these enough.
Upright Rows
Military Press

Chest & Triceps
CHEST:
Classic Bench Press
Floor Press- This will help to develop your stabilizers better.
Cable Cross Overs
Incline Press
Alternate of the the press moves with dumbbells one week and bar work the next.
TIRCEP:

Dips (alternate with weighted bench dips)

Rope pulldowns
Bar pulldowns
Skull crushers
Decline Tricep extension

Back&Biceps&Legs
BACK:

Bent Over Rows
T-bar row
Machine Rows
BICEPS:

Barbell Curl
Preacher Curl
Hammer curls
Arnold Curls- bend over with weight and curl from hanging position to the opposite shoulder, you should feel it completely in your bicep.
LEGS:

Squat
Deadlift
Dumbbell Lunge
GoodMornings
Farmers walk

WARNING! :  Stay away from the smith machines for squats, it will cause injury. I cannot stress this enough, the smith machine is great for many other exercises, but not squats!!!

Ok the set up will be 3 exercises per session, 2 sets of 4-5 reps. Make sure to alternate exercises as much as possible, and do a light warm of set of about 15 reps with 20% of your 1RM for that muscle group and exercise. Don’t forget to do a dynamic warm up before you lift, and then stretch as part of your cooldown. Also make sure to do cardio at the end of your lifting, 30 minutes of sustained cardio. I recommend the fat burning mode, because this will help you to cut up better.

 

On your non lifting days, you will be doing cardio but you need to alternate the forms. HIIT for 20 minutes, if the gym has a summit training use it, those things are gold.

When your invincibility wanes.

In the last 7-8 months I've come to realize just like most of us have/will that I'm not invincible, and regardless of how I felt before I never was. I've been very luck with some of the crazy stuff I've done, but now it's time to really start taking better care of this temple. I don't know that I want to continue anymore nights of dark German lager chugging, just to keep from paying the tab. It's definitely time to take up more wholesome hobbies, like skydiving.

I've taken this week off from the gym, not because I wanted to, but I knew I needed to. The new job kicked my ass this week, which is no surprise coming from 6 months of not working. But it wasn't just the new job, I've been in school every semester including summer so I was a little burnt out. Next weeks starts the new "old school basics" routine, I'm excited to get in there and tear it up. I've felt like a dog at the end of his chain trying to get after a cat, it sucks!