Still bitter

There are 3 letters that basically summed up this weekend....RDU. This weekend marked George Hall's annual "All About the Benjamins" 4 and 5 man tournament. It was the biggest cash prize to date with $6 G's up for grabs, $1000 for 5 man and $5000 for 4 man. As you can imagine, this kind of cash, to play a game we all love to play, draws a lot of teams thinking they have what it takes to bring home the cash. To make a LONG story short, let's just say that the ONLY team we lost to this weekend was RDU and the ONLY team RDU lost to was us. We played them a total of 6 times throughout the weekend and we came up short when it mattered. They balled out and was the better team this weekend. They are rolling high this year capturing the 2010 National Championship Title in 5 man in Orlando this past January and they banked 6 grand this weekend by winning both tournaments. I'm a little bitter, getting to the finals for both tourneys only to come up empty handed.

The bitterness did provide some extra energy for today's workout as much frustration needed to be released. I killed my arms with the heaviest weight I could handle maintaining a mid rep range. Sorry for the lack of footage. The weather is breaking which means golf usually starts to take precedence this time of year. I'll give a better effort in getting footage.

Nutrition is slipping a little with the wifey being on bed rest it's hard to not eat poorly given the circumstances. No excuses though. Eating poorly and continuing to use my wife's pregnancy as an excuse is a crutch and displays weakness and apathy. You are what you eat, so if you eat crap, you'll look like CRAP! 'Nough said!

P.S. It's Master's week! Go Tiger!

Getting there

I decided to go ahead and make it a 1RM week with the exception of squats. I maxed out on bench today. I made the decision to try for my 1RM after I had done heavy incline dumbbell presses capping out at 100lbs for 5 on my 5th set. Not ideal for me to waste that energy prior to establishing my 1RM but I still pressed 330lbs. Not bad. 405 deadlift (still had more), 330 bench press (should have more). If I can now get this knee back together then I'll be straight. I did some Free Motion squats yesterday but that DOES NOT translate to a free back squat. I'll try next week.

Tomorrow and Sunday are the two biggest cash tournaments to start the year. $6 g's up for grabs this weekend. We have to be in the top three favorites to win it all. Daddy needs a new pair of shoes!!!

Beastin' it!!!

It's been two weeks since I last deadlifted and if you recall, my PR at that time was 385. I knew I had more so I got after it today. I finished up with a new PR of 405! HOLLA!! The first couple sets didn't feel so good as my knees felt achy from all the football this weekend but that achy feeling quickly went away as my lower back was feeling the effects of pulling all the heavy weight. This may not be a huge accomplishment in the grand scheme of things, but for me it was a monumental moment. I'm really proud of myself as cheesy as that sounds. The bar never stopped moving during the pull so I am confident that I have more IF my lower back can handle. I was going to use a belt today but it was too big. I'd rather not rely on the belt so lower back strengthening will be a focus. All in all, my strength in EVERY category is going up! SOLID!

Deadlifts 225x2, 275x2, 315x1, 345x1, 365x1, 385x1, 400x1, 405x1

Rev. grip pulldowns 165x6, 180x6, 195x6, 210x6, 225x6
Hang leg raises-modified 4 sets of 15

T bar row 90x8, 115x6, 115x8, 125x6
Side cable crunches 90x15, 100x15, 110x15

I'm Baccckkkkk!!!!

My apologies for the absence! Lots going on and preoccupation with the acquisition of my new toy for the summer! I bought a 2000 Jeep Wrangler and I just got the tags today to get it on the road!! I'm a little behind still, so I'll post for yesterday and today to get caught up.

Yesterday is ordinarily shoulders but I skipped last Friday, for reasons that I can't recall at the moment, so I had to do bis and tris. I did some calf training as well since I had the extra time. I had a busy weekend but felt refreshed not having lifted since Thursday. I'm taking all my supplements religiously, my EFA's, multis, jack3d, BCAA's, and my protein. Food intake has been good so far this week as we enter the final two months before Memorial Day. This workout got my arms SWOLE!







Tuesday, March 23

My motivation levels remained high today and smashed shoulders today. I superset HSPU's and hi pulls, push / pull, and it felt great. I did the HSPU's off a stack of 3 - 25lb plates which gave me a 5" lift. I was able to get full range of motion for all 8 thru 4. I was stoked seeing how I superset with hi pulls. I definitely thought I would struggle once I got to sets 5 and 4, but I was good for all 30 reps on the HSPU's and the hi pulls. The push presses with only 115 lbs for 3 sets of 5 was a killer. I pretty much shot my load on the first two exercises that I had to will my way through the push presses. I finished this workout up with side lying laterals and tripod laterals. Gotta get that core work in.

He's Baaaaaack!

I am choosing not to report on my workout today in lieu of something far more important than my 35 minute back workout. Tiger Woods is BACK!!!

April 8th marks the day ladies and gentlemen! Yes, Tiger Woods' announcement to return to play Augusta has made headlines everywhere and rightfully so. Should you disagree, let's let the ratings for April 8-11th tell the story of how Tiger Woods single handedly has changed the game. I hope he wins. NO, I don't want him to just win, I hope he comes back and destroys the field! We shall soon find out who will have the last laugh. Go on, be a Tiger!!

Race to 54!!!!

The challenge has been issued and it's a gonna be a war. My boy, Alex Usategui, the king of box jumps in my mind, and I are racing to see who can box jump 54" from a static position. I'm not sure how close he is to accomplishing this, but I am one step away.....literally! I stacked the boxes today and worked myself up to only needing a one step drop in. I was really shocked I was able to hit this even with the three step drop in that I stared with but never did it with a one step. Next up will be a static jump but that's gonna be MUCH harder! I'm anticipating a few falls and banged up shins. I'll be sure to post all the outtakes for your viewing pleasure.

As for the rest of WOD, shoulders and abs. I was really amped up after hitting the box jumps. I spent a good 15 minutes on the box jumps so I had very little time to work with which is why I didn't get all the footage. I got some stuff, here's the rundown, with no rest between shoulder and ab supersets.

L sits 3 sets of 30 second holds
Free Motion laterals 20x17, 25x10, 30x10

Toes to bar 4 sets of 8
Smith military presses 185x6, 195x6, 195x6, 205x6

Cable crunches 3 sets of 72.5x12
Ankel cuff rev flyes 32.5x6, 37.5x6, 37.5x7

ABS-olutely!

I had two hours to get his workout in, obviously much more than what I needed to complete the task at hand. It was a good one, but I have to admit that I'm getting a little bored. It's either boredom or my new work schedule. Having to work out in the late afternoon/early evening is not really my style, but what choice do I have, I gotta stack that paper.

The bis and tris routine was good, but the ab workout was better. My first ab exercise was to hold L-sits for 3 sets of 30 seconds. The first two sets were solid, holding for 33 seconds with the last set being 29 seconds. I wish I had a clock to look at because I would have fought for that last second. L-sits are legit and they definitely tax the abs-try it, it's much harder than it looks. I made improvement here so I was pleased.

My second core exercise was a modified alligator walk on the treadmill while using a Bosu. Again, I was shooting for time here, in an attempt to increase time under tension. I did 4 sets of 30 seconds at 1.3mph. I used the Bosu to make the exercise harder and it lived up to the billing. Trying to keep the Bosu level while walking on your hands is the key here, as you can see on my last set, I struggled to do this! Fun exercise though. After 3 sets of L-sits and 4 sets of the alligator walks, I was only able to finish with 2 sets of 8 and 6 reps of toes to bar. My abs were absolutely fried.

Stress kills!

I took a much needed rest day yesterday. I was scheduled to do legs but my stress levels are out the roof so if there was going to be any day that I could skip, it was yesterday. Primarily for the fact that, I'm still "resting" my meniscus sprain so it's not like I'm getting a whole lot out of my leg routine anyways.

Today is the first day this week where I have been able to come home and relax without feeling the pressure of a million things that needed to be done. I did get my workout in a bit earlier today and it was well received. I busted out chest and felt good. It took me a LONG time to warm up on flat bench. I did two warm up sets with 135, max rep set at 225 for 16 and then started making my climb. I did 1 rep sets up to 315 and then capped off flat bench with two sets of 225, max reps. I was pretty disappointed with only 16 reps. I was hoping for at least 20! That was a big kick in the nuts. Interestingly, my last two sets of 225 felt smooth. I got 12 reps at 225 for my last set. I didn't expect it to go up as smooth as it did given all the energy I expended previous to this last set. I have 20 reps in me, I just need a proper warm up. Next week, consider it done!

I was pretty tired moving into incline bench after a total of 61 presses on flat. I did 5 sets here starting at 225 and moving down to 185. I followed incline presses with 3 sets of 50 lbs on incline dummbell flyes.

Lastly, I did 2 sets of 8 Bosu smashes to really smoke 'em out! Job well done! I'm tired now. One more day and the weekend comes, along with the rain. I hope to catch up on some much needed rest.

DEADLIFTS!

I'm still in my strength mode and unlike last week's back day, I started with deads rather than finishing with them. I wanted to see what my threshold would be and after my warm up sets, I did 5 x 1 (275, 315, 345, 365, and 385). 385 went up pretty smooth. I wanted to go more but I didn't have a belt, which I never use, but then again, I have never deadlifted like this before. In other words, I got scared. I guess 385 is my new PR for now, but I could have done a little more. I'll man up next time.

I did 1 arm rows with rope pulls next. Heavy on the 1 arm rows with 110 lbs and 120 lbs for 10 on the rope pulls. This coupling felt really good. I got a nice pump off the 1 arm rows.

I finished up with strict wide grip chins at a slow tempo and reverse push ups. I was pretty smoked at this point and all I tried to accomplish here was for the hard squeeze. The slower tempo left me dying out at 8, 6, 6 reps on the wide grip chins and 3 sets of 12 on the reverse push ups.

My back used to be a lagging bodypart, but I feel like I've made leaps and bounds with my back development. My traps need work and I need to give more attention there but overall, I'm pleased with the way the footage looks on my wide grip chins.

In honor of Grevis Vasquez!

So I've been donning the mini mohawk in honor of my Terps and Vasquez. I took to shoulders and abs on Monday. It had to be a late workout due to the my new schedule. I'm not a big fan of the early evening workouts. It really messes me up nutrition wise because the workout suppresses my appetite so much that dinner is hard to eat. But we must push through and work past the obstacles in front of us.

All in all, the workout was great. My shoulders felt a little tight with the behind the neck push presses but I managed. Strength levels were so-so. The ab part was painful for some reason. I willed my way through those 3 sets.

I got lazy

I missed the last two days for a couple reasons: 1) Wed was a boring ass workout since it was legs and wasn't even worth the time to report on, 2) I've been consumed with trying to find a jeep, and 3) stressed out about work.

Yesterday's chest workout consisted of 3 different exercises--flat, incline, and Hammer Strength incline.

Here's the W.O.D. from yesterday.

Flat bench 225x15, 275x2, 295x2, 225x8

Incline bench 185x5, 225x4, 225x4, 225x4

Hammer Strength Incline 180x12, 180x10, 180x8




Today was a little better. Stress can really put a damper on your workouts! It's like putting sand in your gas tank! Now that all the drama at work is over with, for the time being, I can hopefully crank it out again.

Here's today's W.O.D.

Overhd. ext 70x10, 80x8, 90x8, 100x8
Alternating DB curls 30x8, 35x7, 40x6, 40x6

Alt. grip D handle pushdowns 50x10, 60x8, 60x8
Hi cable curls 50x10, 50x10, 50x8

Skullcrushers 95x5, 105x5, 105x5
Barbell curls 3 sets of 95x4

Bungee pushbacks 25
Bungee curls 25

Got back?!?!

Today was a tumultuous day in terms of up and downs in the mental department. The work day started off great, then bad, then good, then bad. "The mind is a terrible thing to waste," is what a wise man once said. I needed to do a better job of getting my focus for the late workout. It wasn't a bad workout but not the best. It was certainly better than yesterday's performance.

It was cold in the garage but I warmed up quick with the Arnold 50 pull up routine. The first set of 15 pulls were smooth and without a hitch. By the time the last set of 7 to get my 50 reps, the "smoothness" had gone bye-bye. I was S-T-R-U-G-G-L-I-N-G!!! That's the point of the Arnold 50 though, take as many sets as you need until you get 50 reps.

I moved onto the bent over rows. The plan was to go heavy for 4 sets of 5 reps, starting at 185lbs and finishing at 205lbs. I tried to get 3 sets of 5 at 205lbs but only got 4 reps on the last set.

Lastly, I was losing motivation so I finished with what I should have started my routine with, DEADLIFTS. I actually got some adrenaline after the first couple sets. I finished up at 315 for 2, which went up much easier than expected. However, for every optimistic point of view, there's a pessimistic point of view. For this situation it will have to be watching video of Kevin Nee deadlift 925lbs!! He's a crazy man. That's basically 3 times what I did tonight. Pretty deflating.......not really. He's on a different level and I'm ok with that, not that I have a choice.


Here's Kevin smiling while pulling a shitload of weight. I want to get stronger so this 5 rep scheme will be in effect for a little while. Watch out Kevin, I'm creepin' on a come up!

Frostbitten?!?!

Sunday, February 28

Sorry, for the no post yesterday. I was thawing out from the 12 football games, in the 6 inches of snow, that still remained from the blizzard weeks ago! It was pretty ridiculous, for lack of a better word. My feet were absolutely frozen! So bad that the tips of my toes still have a tingling / numb sensation. Wiki says it may be a mild case of frostbite, haha! Not really funny but what the hell else are you gonna do but laugh. Laughing at one self is a natural response when one feels embarrassed, especially when one allows stupidity to interfere from making common sense decisions. Lesson learned...............the cold way!

Monday, March 1
WOD

Dumbbell military presses 27.5x 12, 60x5, 70x5, 80x3
Hanging leg raises-cross body 4 sets of 15

Behind the neck smith presses 135x12, 185x5, 185x5, 185x5
Decline touchdowns 3 sets of 10x15

Life Fitness machine laterals 3 sets of 100x8 drop set to 70x8
Free Motion modified woodchops 3 sets of 60x15

Reverse pec dec 3 sets of 80x12

Today marks the 3 month stretch til Memorial Day and today's workout was anything but stellar. I thought I was feeling strong so I attempted 80 lb presses and it did not go over well. It felt heavy just trying to get them up into position from my knees so I should have known better, but I tried anyways. Reps one and two were as expected, extremely difficult, but on the third one I felt something pinch in my neck. 8 hours later, I still can't turn my head from side to side without pain radiating up and down the right side of my neck and trap. As you could imagine, the rest of the workout suffered tremendously. I tried to work through the pain but the intensity of the workout was completely lost. The mojo was gone and even writing about it almost sucks as bad as the workout itself. On that note, I'm out!

Full disclosure--holding myself accountable!!

I went to visit my niece and nephew and got caught up in a sticky situation, literally. Cici's all you can eat buffet for JUST $3.99!!! Not sure if any of you have been there but it represents everything good and evil in this world. This car wash business model had people coming and going like no other place I've been witness to. The 40 ft. buffet bar started with salad, followed by any type of pizza you can imagine, and then ending with brownies, some apple crisp concoction and then CINNAMON BUNS!! I had 3 of these terrible but dreamy desserts. This is where we all need to have more restraint and be able to make the best of a bad situation OR we can succumb to our weaknesses and take the path of least resistance (which is exactly what I did). This is why nutrition is, in my opinion, the number 1 pillar to one's success in their path to establishing a healthier lifestyle. It's 80% nutrition and 20% training. I've always said that training is the easy part, nutrition is the HARD part.

My body pretty much hates me after the consumption of food within the past 12 hours. Last night was overkill on protein and today was an overkill in saturated fat and carbs. An hour and a half after leaving Cici's, I made my way over to the gym and spent 4o minutes on the treadmill. I felt like I had an entire loaf of bread wrapped in cheese sitting in my stomach while I ran. I did 2 cycles of a 15 minute followed by a 5 minute run. I covered 3.75 miles and then cooled down for the last quarter mile. I was miserable during the 10 minutes of actual running, but felt a sense of gratification afterward.

I have to survive one more birthday celebration tonight at Rio Grande, a Mexican joint. Nothing good comes from Mexican food, but I can assure you that I will not make the same mistake I made at Cici's. Remember, mistakes are a part of life, but "the only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing!" Nuff said.

MAN vs. FOOD

Fogo De Chao for dinner last night for my buddy Antonio's 30th birthday. I can't make it to his big birthday bash next weekend due to a wedding so we decided to splurge and meet for dinner. It was a bash alright, a protein bash blowout!I consumed so much meat I felt ill. I was in limbo feeling like John Candy in the movie, The Great Outdoors, and Adam Richman from Man vs. Food-Baltimore, where he challenges himself to eat 4 different cuts of meat (filet, N.Y. strip, delmonico, and a flat iron from the chuck) totaling 5 1/2 lbs of beef! Even though I had the card flipped over to "No Thanks" it was hard to resist temptation having been sat right by where all the food was coming out. One word........DISASTER!

The results are in.

No tear means no surgery! Just a grade 2 sprain in the medial and lateral meniscus. What a relief. Doc said to stay away from heavy lifting and that resuming football this weekend is ok provided I wear a brace. Quite frankly, this advice sounds a little off to me, which leads me to my next thought. Do doctors ALWAYS know what they're talking about?? I'm at peace with, what sounds to be, good news but is the advice "sound?" I would have to disagree here. I was expecting no other advice than to rest it and then when I'm done resting it, rest it some more. I'd love to partake in the 2 pre-season tourneys on Sunday but I'm having major reservations in doing so in fear of the consequences and repercussions of playing a minimum of 10 games. To play or not to play?

ARMS, calves and abs!!!!

Today's workload for arms was not nice, but NIIICCCE! I had 90 minutes to work with but had lots to cover. I started this workout with the 21 gun salute warm up. Light weights for 2 sets and 21 reps. I have to admit that I'm guilty of not actually performing a proper warm up prior to my sessions but for some reason today, I skipped rope and did 2 warm up sets. As a result, my workouts seemed great! I don't know why I did it but I'm glad I did. My mental focus was on point and the pumps were not nice, but NICE! I did heavy pushdowns with cable preacher curls, 4 sets, alternating hand position from close to wide to shift emphasis. Next up, rope pushdowns and inlcine "W" curls. Last on the agenda was cable kickbacks and lying cable curls (elbows down). These were the burners, just forcing blood into the muscles. It was NICE!

I shifted gears to calves and abs here. Seeing how I need the most work on my calves, I gave them most of my attention as time was running out. I tried to go heavy on the Free Motion calf and super slow on the seated calf raises (20 seconds of time under tension per rep). Not fun, but completely necessary. My ab workout was crap. I ran out of time b/c getting the footage is such a time suck. Oh well, I'll visit them tomorrow when I go for my run.

T

It's crunch time people!

You can always tell when Spring Break fever is upon us. All the folks with hopes and dreams of actually conquering their New Year's Resolutions quickly dissipate and become dormant for another year. But alas, their with disappearance emerges the college hotties flocking to the gym to get their swerve on the cardio machines, in hopes to be "that" girl on Spring Break, rockin' that string bikini that would make every father want to grab for his double barrel shotgun. It's great to see these young chickies gettin' after it. It brings back great memories of College Park. Frat boys setting up camp by the heavy dumbbells that they can't even lift and the 3rd floor cardio and indoor track area, packed with sorority chicks galore. Ahhhh, the good ole days.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand! I had a very fun / productive chest workout today and achieved unbelievable pumps. The plan for today was to do heavy presses and explosive plyometric push up movements. The heavy pressing movements felt refreshing. I grabbed and made it up to 100lbs on the incline and flat presses without hesitation. The behind the back clap push ups were hard, but fun. Ross Enamait does a triple clap push up that is just sick, sick, SICK! I'm nowhere near that guys level, he's a straight up monster. You'll see I got a double clap a couple times. Props to me, ha! The other plyometric moves were challenging and is what gave me that super pump. I thoroughly enjoyed this workout. If I had more time, I would have added a few more sets on my pressing movements as I got carried away with the "fun" part of the workout. Here's the rundown.

Incline dumbbell presses 55x8, 65x5, 80x5, 90x5, 100x5, 100x5

Behind the back-clap push ups 8, 8, 6

Flat dumbbell presses 100x5, 100x5, 100x5

Medicine ball power-over push ups 20, 20

Cable crossovers-low to high 30x15, 40x10, 40x8

Traveling explosive push ups

Back at it!

Literally. I had a good night's sleep, on the couch, and felt like a million bucks this morning. Not sure what the deal was with yesterday but I'm glad it's gone. I was fortunate enough to have another cancellation in my schedule which allowed for a lot of time for my workout. I take full advantage of these kind of days for they don't come often.

The goal was to combine back, which I missed yesterday, with legs, which I shouldn't really be doing per the doctor's orders. It hasn't been feeling too bad lately so I tried a few things. Nothing crazy until the split burpees to pull ups. To my surprise there wasn't any swelling despite the fact that it did "catch" twice during my 4 rounds of the split burpees. They say "Pain is just weakness leaving the body," so I kept rolling on through all 48 reps.

I love days like today. Lots of energy and free time equals productivity! I went for a run again-2 miles, low intensity and a 10 mph Tabata treadmill. I'd say I'm really pushing the envelope with how good this knee felt post workout today, but the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward and the biggest risk, is the risk not taken! Justified??????? Maybe.

Hanging on...

Today had to be one of THE longest days in recent memory! I was dragging ass all day and the day was creeping. I came home, ate, took a nap, then woke up late for a home client at 4. Yesterday's workout was awesome but today I feel like crap so I took the day off. No reason to push the envelope. I'll get a good night's sleep and train back and legs tomorrow. Ordinarily, I would never do this combo together but legs will be light considering I have my MRI Thursday.

I have a feeling the main contributing factor to my pounding headache might be nutrition i.e. lack of carbs. I am trying to stay committed to the no carbs after the 6 but it is grueling. I've said it time in and time out, my body handles carbs exceptionally well so I can't justify why I am doing this no carb after 6 thing. My body does feel much leaner and tighter since doing this on Sunday and Monday night but it may not be worth it in the end. Well, I'm going to stick with it for tonight. I'll hit the sack early since 4:45 comes pretty fast. I'll be back up and running tomorrow with good footage from the workout.

Paik, OUT!

85 minutes...

is how long it took me to get through today's workout. No time constraints, so I took my jolly sweet a@@ time to do shoulders, abs, and calves. I had fun with this workout despite it's difficulty level. I almost forgot how great of a workout is to be had given ample time.

Nothing really proved to be too difficult but the toes to bar was a first for me. The HSPU's were tougher than expected in the 10,8,6,4,2. I'm wondering how/if these HSPU's have effected my dumbbell shoulder presses. I feel like I haven't done then in forever. Next Monday, I'll give them a shot to see if my strength has gone up at all.

The rest of the workout was solid. I just have to keep up with my nutrition and I'll be set. No carbs tonight so dinner will be egg whites, ham, and some fat free cheese with chipotle hot sauce. Muscle Milk right before bed.

Only 98 days left til Memorial Day! YES, I'm still counting. Maybe only just over a month til Spring Break if I can just pull the trigger on somewhere to go before my baby boy is delivered. It'll be a while before I go on vacation once he arrives, so I mine as well go somewhere.

Doc says, "Lay off the legs!"

Sorry for the late update. I contemplated not blogging yesterday's workout for I had no footage and was taking care of some work. I finally went to get my knee checked out as it has progressively gotten worse. X rays came back negative and my MRI is scheduled for next Thursday at 4. I'm certain, nothing but bad news will come from this, but we'll see.

I did do arms and calves yesterday. My tris are sore and for good reason. I did a total of 16 sets of various exercises from overhead rope extensions and pressdowns, close grip bench presses, dips, and cable kickbacks. I would like more lateral head development in the tris but the long and the medial take the brunt of the load. I thought today's focus would definitely do the trick but it did not.

I alternated my triceps work with biceps. I did a total of 14 sets. I know, it sounds like a lot for biceps but you gotta work the two-headed monster! The exercises included Free Motion curls, top half chin up partials, preacher curls, and reverse curls.

Lastly, I did 80 reps on calves on the Free Motion calf machine. This was nothing like Monday's calf workout but I ran out of time. I know that sounds like the common thread with a lot of my workouts but it is the truth. My workouts are structured around when I have a rare cancellation. That leaves me with about 50 minutes to get it in and be ready for the next client. I move to a brand new schedule come March 1 so I'll make adjustments accordingly.

Today is usually cardio. I don't have football seeing how the mounds of snow will be with us til summer. The doc says to lay low, in the event that I may due more damage to my knee, but that isn't really an option. The plan was to hit up the gym and run, 35-40 minutes today and tomorrow at 65% of my target heart rate. I know, I really hate getting on the gerbil wheel but I can't sit on the couch all day. I did 4 miles at a slow jog. It was easy and surprisingly fun.

Another new wrinkle, from here on out til summer, will be no or very little carbs for dinner. This will be as extreme as it gets for me. I am NOT a big fan of low carb diets, despite they're effectiveness. As mentioned before, my body handles carbs very well and no carbs at dinner will be really difficult for me. Who's with me??

My thoughts on Tiger Woods!

Can't understand WHY everyone feels like they need an apology from Tiger. He's known for his ability to play GOLF! The fact that he's the most recognizable athlete is what got him his endorsements. He did NOT get endorsements for being a "family man." There's plenty of golfers who are "family men" and don't cheat on their wives, so why don't they have the endorsements?!?! It's b/c they can't play golf like Tiger and no one gives a S who you are if you're not WINNING! Who the F cares who he slept with and why he did it. It's an unfortunate situation for Elin and his kids, no doubt, but let's be honest, golf is not and will not be the same if he doesn't come back! All you haters can say what you want, but ratings will skyrocket when he decides to come back and DOMINATE the golf game. It is what it is, you don't have to like him and if you don't like what you're seeing, then change the channel. Oh wait, you can't b/c it's on EVERY broadcast! Interesting, for so many people who hate him now, why the hell are you watching and commenting? Better get used to Tiger, love him or hate him, he's everywhere you want or don't want him to be!

Plyos for upper too!

Rise and shine, this week's early morning workout is chest and abs. I attempted to leave earlier this morning but still managed to get to the gym with only 45 minutes to work with. I made the best of it though. Incline presses with rope crunches, decline cable presses with hanging leg raises with a 4lb med ball, and then plyo push ups with double crunches. This was fun as I have never gone back and forth between two different box heights (12" and 18" boxes). If you try this, be sure that you're not too far away from the box. You don't want to eat the floor.

Incline bench 135x10, 185x8, 205x6, 225x5, 225x5
Rope crunches 4 sets of 130x15

LF decline cable press 47.5x10, 52.5x8, 57.5x6
Hanging leg raises (4lb med ball) 3 sets of 15

Plyo push ups 12, 12, 12
Double crunches 3 sets of 4x12

Bounce!

It's been almost three weeks since I played any football on this bum knee and although it has gotten better, it's still not great. I found out the hard way post workout that this might be more than just a "little" meniscus tear.

I performed a pistol the other day for a client of mine and why I used my bad knee is a damn good question. As I got down to the very bottom of the squat, I knew coming back up was going to hurt a bit. To my estimation, the pain I felt on the concentric part of the movement was devastating, just like I anticipated it to be. Terrible idea and I am paying for it today. Surprisingly, for the amount of pain I was in, didn't carry over to today. Correction, the amount of soreness/swelling didn't carry over but I still felt it. Let's just say that it felt good enough for me that I thought I'd continue on with the plyos I did yesterday. I've been discouraged as of late that my injuries are taking so long to heal. Granted, it's only been 3 weeks but it seems like an eternity. I decided to do very little weight work, a few leg curls, extensions, leg presses, and RDL's before I got to the fun stuff.

I LOVE doing plyos! I decided that I would attempt multiple box jumps rather than a single box jump for height like yesterday. Today was all about bounce, spend as little time on the ground as possible. This routine brings back a lot of good memories from workouts when multiple trainers would join me in this workout in an attempt to catch the person in front of you. It helps keep the pace up, unlike how I was walking back to the start after my jumps. You'll see in the video clip how bad my conditioning is not having been able to run or get on the C2. Getting old sucks!

Feeling goooood!

I must say, I think this weekend's binge is doing wonders for me. Perhaps, I need weekends like that. I'll eat super strict mid week and then have 2 cheat meals, one for each day of the weekend. My nutrition has been pretty weak during the day. Just too much going on and no time to get a good meal in. I have to be better with planning.

I had no time restrictions today for my workout so it was a good one. I started with 1 to 1 burpee to chin ups. The plan was to do 50 chin ups regardless of however many sets it took me. It didn't take long and this was very impromptu, so next time I do this, I'll rip through these in no time. I should have put a clock on it.

The next superset was T bar rows with box jumps. My buddy, Alex (King of the box jump), busted my balls for having to take a step in on my 4 ft. box jump. Well, I'm back to that 4 ft. box jump without the step in. I was a little scared and almost punted the idea of trying this with my knee but lateral movement is where the concern lies. In my opinion, box jumps are more mental than anything else. You have to commit and go for it. Once you leave the ground, there's no turning back! He or she who hesitates, LOSES!

Next was Free Motion lat pulls and low rows with a supinated grip. I decided to superset a vertical pull with a horizontal pull here to finish up. It wasn't easy but damn if it didn't feel good. I only used 140 lbs at a pretty controlled tempo (202 tempo).

Before leaving the gym, I felt compelled to do 3 sets of bent over reverse dumbbell flyes. It's never enough!!! My shoulders, traps and rhomboids were incredibly sore from yesterday, which was shocking. I worked hard but wasn't expecting the aches today the way I did.

Here's the shortened version, one set of everything but the bent over reverse flyes.

Fat and happy!

So this weekend, the wheels fell off! Hell, the whole damn transmission dropped out!! I went hard with my diet for all of last week until Friday night through Sunday. I indulged a bit Friday night, then basically ate 3 servings worth of chicken with broccoli on Saturday night, and then ate a FULL BLOWN buffet at The Comus Inn for Valentine's Day brunch. Now, I will hold myself accountable for Friday and Saturday's debacle, but I was ambushed on Sunday. I had no idea I was going to buffet for brunch. Instead, the brunch was FULL BLOWN and when I say FULL BLOWN, I mean FULL BLOWN! There was Chesapeake eggs benedict, chocolate chip pancakes and waffles, bacon, sausage, mac and cheese, omelettes, fish, AND a dessert table. We're talking chocolate eclairs, full slices of cheesecake, 3 different types of mini cheesecakes, donut holes, and cookies! I suppose they had to go over the top to justify the $35 cost for brunch. I walked out of there disgusted and with every intention to come home and hit the gym. HOWEVER, upon my arriving home, food coma set in. I became one with the couch for about 2 hours, never making it to the gym. On a positive note, I did only eat once more on Sunday. Ugh, never again.

As for today, I got back to the grind. Regular breakfast at 5AM and then only 5 clients today. I had a small break and was only able to complete half the workout so I had to go back later in the afternoon to get the rest in, not ideal but it is what it is. I had a lot of energy from the crap load of food from yesterday. I didn't push too heavy today, but I worked pretty fast. I've really been liking the 10-5 program so I've been incorporating frequently as of late.

Behind the neck push presses 95lbs 10 thru 5
Gravitron pushdowns 4 sets 110x15

High pulls 4 sets 115x8
Barbell rotations 3 sets 10x10

Cable X's 25x12, 25x10, 25x10
Hanging windshield wipers 16, 16, 16

Lying lateral raises 10x10, 10x10

Free Motion calf-1 leg at a time 4 sets 200x15 (40 seconds of time under tension)

Seated calf raises 45x10 (30 secs), 55x10 (40 secs),
55x15 (35 secs), 55x15 (35 secs)

The worst part of this workout was the hanging windshield wipers. I never did like this exercise and I still hold the exercise in contempt for it ALWAYS kicks my ass. Last time I did this, I got 3 sets of 10. I willed my way to get 8 today. I think the idea is to get better right? Riggghhhttt. The calf work burned like hell. I went slower than normal to increase time under tension but damn, it hurts! My fellow compatriot, Matt Henry, says "I need to work on my girlish calves." He's so hurtful! I'll do my best, but that workout you gave me is just pure insanity.

Valentine's Day

Despite all the days off work from all the snow, I'm so relieved that today was Friday. One thing is for sure, it didn't feel like Friday. After putting in a full day's work from 6-2:30, without breaks, I must say that the most troublesome part with today was not having the ability to eat. I've grown accustomed to eating every 2 1/2 to 3 hours while sitting at home for the past couple days and I feel leaner and my muscles feel much fuller with the high protein consumption.

With the lack of calorie consumption throughout today, I felt compelled to make today my cheat day. I knew I would find myself in this situation so I planned Valentine's Day dinner tonight as well. I had the urge to venture off my diet for a meal so coupling it with the "holiday" allowed me to kill two birds with one stone. That way, I can keep on track and not have to face the consequences and repercussions of having two cheat days in three days. After what I consumed at Ruth Chris, I could afford to not eat all day tomorrow. There was enough butter on my ribeye to butter a whole loaf of bread. Blehhh!

I did manage to rock out a pretty decent arm and abs workout. I got very short clips from the WOD depicted one set of each of the supersets.

Access denied!

I'm FREEEE!!!! The plow finally came and I tried to hit up the gym for a change of scenery from my home but the gym was CLOSED! So what's a man to do in that situation? EAT! Linds and I stopped at Crisp and Juicy and indulged in some rotisserie chicken, plaintains, and black beans and rice. It was delish. I came home and got my lift on in my cold ass garage. It was a pretty half ass workout to be honest. I felt pretty sluggish and that's probably due to the fact that I was a slug for the past couple days. It was such a bizarre week that I'm not worried that today's workout was sub-par. No worries here. The snow is gone and we're back to normalcy soon. Then the countdown begins to the babymoon and then Memorial Day. Stoked!

Oh, more thing. I'm no longer go to calculate all totals for my diet. That crap takes a lot of time, and that's something that I just can't afford to be burning up on crunching numbers.

9AM Meal 1
----------
2 Pancakes (100g total)
Scrabbled edggs (5 egg whites, 1 whole)

12:45PM Meal 3
--------------
PBJ on 1 slice on 100% whole wheat

1:30AM Meal 2
--------------
Rotisserie chicken
Plaintains
Black beans and rice
Small side salad w/2tbsp of italian

5:30PM Meal 3 Postworkout
----------------------
Syntha 6 shake-2 scoops
Xtend
Small serving of black beans and rice

8:45PM Meal 5
-------------
Turkey burger
Rice

PM Meal 6
----------
Muscle Milk

Workout
-------
Flat DB bench 55x10, 65x10, 75x8, 100x6, 90x6
Leg extensions 45x20, 45x20, 45x20, 45x20

Incline DB press 75x8, 85x6, 85x6, 85x6
DB RDL's 4 sets of 65x10

Dips 20, 20
Lunges 8, 12

Feeling it

After finishing up yesterday's workout, I had worries that I didn't work hard enough. Boy was I wrong! I woke up this morning to feel incredible soreness throughout my body, particularly my rhomboids and legs. My lower back is sore as well but I knew that was forthcoming given the deadlifts and all the damn shoveling. In any event, today is legs and despite being a little sore in the lower extremities, I promised myself that the show must go on. Well, I broke that promise. I decided to shovel and it took much longer than anticipated. After doing the driveway and then the front stoop and sidewalk, I was SPENT!

8:30AM Meal 1
-------------
Egg whites (8oz)
1/4 cup grits 28 pro, 29 carb, .5 fat, 255 cal

11AM Meal 2
-----------
Sweet bun 1.5 pro, 14 carb, 1.5 fat, 125 cal

12:30PM Meal 3
-----------
Chipotle seasoned chicken breast(6oz)
7.4oz of rice 41 pro, 69 carb, 3 fat, 571 cal

3PM Meal 4
-------------
Turkey burger
7.4oz of rice
Cinnamon-splenda pecans 44 pro, 74 carb, 26 fat, 690 cal

6PM Meal 5
-------------
Ham, egg white, and cheese sandwich
on 100% whole wheat 28 pro, 26 carb, 9 fat, 310 cal

Syntha 6 shake-1 scoop 22 pro, 15 carb, 6 fat, 200 cal

9:30PM Meal 6 Post Shoveling (No leg workout)
---------------------------------------------
Optimum Whey 1.5 scoops
Xtend 36 pro, 6 carb, 2.25 fat, 285 cal

10PM Meal 7
-----------
Lean Cuisine 3 meat pizza
Muscle Milk 42 pro, 65 carb, 13.5 fat, 550 cal

Projected totals 267 pro, 306 carb, 85 fat, 3060 cal
My totals 242.5 pro, 298 carb, 61.75 fat, 2986 cal

REALLY?!?!

Come on mannnnn!More snow probably means another day at home tomorrow. I'll make the best of it though! At least it's not over the weekend for a change. Today was a more typical day in the life of Adam, in that I didn't have the luxury of being at home and having no agenda. All my meals were spaced out perfectly, whereas, on a regular work day, I am usually 8-9 hours without a break.

6AM Meal 1
----------
3 oz of pulled pork
Slider bun
BBQ sauce 32.5 pro, 36.25 carb, 13.75 fat, 402.75 cal

8AM Snack
---------
1/4 cup of cinnamon-splenda pecans 3 pro, 4 carb, 20 fat, 200 cal

9AM Meal 2
----------
Myoplex Deluxe MRP 53 pro, 28 carb, 4.5 fat, 330 cal

1:30PM Meal 3
-------------
6 oz of ground beef (93/7)
2 oz of Barilla angel hair pasta 44.5 pro, 38 carb, 14 fat, 445 cal

3PM Meal 4 Pre and Post workout
----------------------------------
Xtend
Syntha 6 44 pro, 30 carb, 12 fat, 490 cal


5:30PM Meal 6
-------------
Boboli 100% wheat pizza bread 3/6 15 pro, 66 carb, 7.5 fat, 360 cal
Chicken
Green peppers and onions
Tomato sauce

8:30PM Meal 7--Fontinas for dinner
----------
Filet Mignon
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Asparagus
1 Bud Light
1 Kamikaze shot

12:30AM Meal 8
-----------
Muscle Milk 20 pro, 10 carb, 4.5 fat, 160 cal

Projected Totals 267 pro, 306 carbs, 85 fat, 3060 cal
My Totals No idea given the substitutions I made! See
what happens when things are not in the norm,
DAMN IT!

I started today's back workout with 10 to 5 again with 225lb deadlifts and pull ups with a 1 minute break between sets. I followed it up with 55lb DB bent over rows with chin ups. I struggled with the chin ups in a major way and I'm realizing quickly that I need to improve here. Perhaps it's not a fair assessment when I always start with pull ups when I'm fresh rather than chin ups. Either way, the chin ups were kicking my ass! I finished up with rope pulls again. I love the squeeze I get with this movement. I don't really care too much about how much weight I'm pulling as I'm more focused on the mind muscle connection to get that squeeze.

225lb Deadlifts 10,9,8,7,6,5
Pull ups 10,9,8,7,6,5

55lb DB bent over rows 10,9,8,7,6,5
Chin ups 10,9,8,7,6,5

Rope pulls 90x15, 100x12, 100x10

10 to 5 = 45!

I was JACKED up to get my swole on today! The thought of having to drive to Fitness First to get my workout in is a real drag, but I ALWAYS rock out once I get there. Perhaps it's the unfamiliar environment. I don't know anyone there and I keep to myself. That gym has a lot of posers sitting around chatting it up between sets. I think the extra motivation comes from the other trainers there that are always sizing me up when I walk in. Unfamiliar face on their turf sends the radar off I guess. Anyhow, I set up shop and got busy. I didn't get any footage on this b/c I'm sure that would have been really weird with those guys. I mean, they were already watching my every move as if I stole something so I chose not to record. As Crossfitters would say, here's the WOD (workout of the day).

If you're deciding to try this workout, remember, you're trying not to rest or as little as possible. Do 10 HSPU's and then immediately do 10 GHD sit ups then 9 HSPU's and then 9 sit ups and so forth.

HSPU's on 1.5 inch elevation 10,9,8,7,6,5
GHD sit ups with alt. hand touchdowns 10,9,8,7,6,5

Push presses with 95lbs 10,9,8,7,6,5
Hang leg raises 10,9,8,7,6,5

Hi pulls with 115lbs 10,9,8,7,6,5
Decline trunk twists with 25lb plate 10,9,8,7,6,5

Free Motion rev. flyes 40x15, 40x12, 40x12
L sits (seconds) 30, 25, 18

And we're off!

The roads suck and most people are home from work including me! I feel an overwhelming feeling of guilt for not having made it into the city to train the few die hard clients I have that were willing to meet. No work = no $$, which in turn does not make Adam happy. I guess there's no reason to piss and moan, but rather move on with my day. I crunched some numbers and here's what I came up with. I'm going to base my diet around a calorie consumption of 3,060 calories with 35% from protein, 40% from carbs, and 25% from fats. These percentages will yield 267g of protein, 306g of carbs, and 85g of fat. I think I might struggle to meet the protein requirement as it is 1.5g to 1lb of bodyweight. Nutrition is and will ALWAYS be the hardest part of any program. The correlation is there and you will look like what you eat. So if I'm eating all this protein, I'm hoping I will turn into all muscle!!

Here's my intake for today!


7:30AM Meal 1
----------------
4 ounces of pulled pork
1 tbsp of BBQ sauce
Slider sized bun-toasted
38 pro, 36.5 carb, 18 fat, 497 cal

10AM Mid Morning Meal 2
-----------------------
7.4 ounces of white rice
Turkey burger
1/2 ounce of polynesian sauce
41 pro, 76.5 carb, 9 fat, 545 cal

1 PM Meal 3
------------
Barilla Plus Angel Hair Pasta
6 oz of ground breef w/ marinara sauce
54.5 pro, 76 carb, 16 fat, 655 cal

4:30PM Pre and Post workout Meal
--------------------------------
Xtend-2 scoops
Syntha 6-2 scoops
44 pro, 30 carb, 12 fat, 490 cal

7PM Meal 5
----------
5 oz of flank steak
3.7 oz of rice
41 pro, 33 carb, 25 fat, 512 cal

9:30PM Meal 6
-------------
Muscle Milk Light
Optimum Whey - 1 scoop
44 pro, 14 carb, 6 fat, 290 cal

Projected totals 267 pro, 306 carb, 85 fat, 3060 cal
My totals 262.5 pro, 266 carb, 86 fat, 2989 cal

I was pretty much spot on with the protein, fats, and calorie intake, but a little light on the carbs. That's ok, if I'm going to be light anywhere, I would like to be on the short side there. I know, I didn't have much in terms of veggies. I've always been bad there. The only time I like veggies is in my chinese food! My workout today kicked ass, I'll post that here soon.

After much request....

here is the nutrition part of this blog. I'm going on, what pregnant women call a "babymoon" some time at the end of March. Probably to Puerto Rico or Riviera Maya. I'll be the first to tell you that the "Babymoon" is a bunch of crap but who am I to turn away an opportunity to go someplace in the Caribbean, away from all the damn snow we've gotten here lately. With that said, I will post my diet plan on here since there have been requests for it. I'll be honest, the following program will not be how I currently eat but not that far off from it. I can't tell you guys everything that I eat on a daily basis because I'm sure it would aggravate a lot of you so let's start with tomorrow going forward, haha. I'm going to supplement with Syntha 6, Optimum Nutrition whey, Muscle Milk for my casein, Extend for my aminos, and possilby some leftover Myoplex Deluxe meal replacement shakes when I'm working straight through without time to eat. My workouts will change slightly. As you know, the last time I stepped on the scale I was at 180.5lbs. I'm messing around with the percentages to figure out where I need to be, but it's not working out the way I was hoping. My RMR is about 2310 and my daily total caloric expenditure is in the ball park of 3200. I'll crunch the numbers and let you know what I come up with tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm gonna indulge in some Super Bowl junk food before I buckle down tomorrow. Saints are bringing this home!

Exhausted!

My first workout in Paik's Pain Factory was pretty anticlimactic. I hate having interruptions in my workouts, it F's my groove up. I pretty much ran through a very quick chest, arms, and ab routine with no real structure. I had this twinge in the outer part of my pec going into my shoulder that didn't allow for a full range of motion on my pressing movements. I knew I had a lot of snow to shovel so I bailed on my workout early and went to work with my shovel. I have a driveway big enough to fit 4 small cars so I had my work cut out for me. I finished up my workout around 2:45, took my post workout shake and aminos and got my game face on. I spent 3 hours in that mess. Glad that's over. My biceps got a lot of work so I took time to do tricep push ups periodically to give my tris some work. My neighbor caught me doing push ups and told me I was crazy. Can't work one and not work the other. I'll sleep good tonight.

This is NO joke!

This snowpocalypse or snowmaggedon is a HUGE pain in the ass. I hope it'll be cleared up for work on Monday. No work, means no $$. I ventured out for dinner last night with friends with plans of coming back early to get a late night lift. Oh yea, that did NOT happen. 4 beers and 3 shots later, I was ready for bed! I ran home and then began shoveling at midnight. Word to the wise, do not perform any strenuous activity (i.e. shoveling) while intoxicated as it will make you feel sick with a quickness. I felt like puking, but I was trying to shovel as fast as possible so that could have been the reason. Seeing how I am not going anywhere for the next couple days, there's no reason why I won't get back on track. I'll post pics of my new gym here soon. In the meantime, tune into Danish Crossfit Open, through 4 rounds, Blair is kicking ass and taking names.

Round 2

The second considerable snow storm of the year has arrived as predicted/expected! I worked a half of a half day and came home to a garage full of steel. This picture shows what I was dealing with before I went in and assembled all of my newly acquired equipment. The flooring is taking forever due to my obsession of wanting to put a giant "P" in the flooring for Paik Performance! I have a feeling that you won't even be able to see my creative artwork since space is limited and I have a lot of equipment to find places for. I'll find out soon enough.

As for the workout, no, I still have not had a chance to catch up from missing yesterday's workout. I may venture out to our local Italian restaurant for dinner so this workout is going to happen really late tonight. I can't fall behind ANOTHER day. I'm pretty annoyed right now.

Rest day..........unplanned

I took a rest day today that wasn't planned. The past two nights, I've been sitting in traffic trying to acquire all the equipment for my new home gym. I picked up the last load tonight and the garage doesn't look like much now, but this weekend will be spent setting everything up! I need to hit up chest, arms, abs, and cardio within the next two days so I don't get thrown off track. Stay tuned, for a lot of good things are to come. Gone!

Rehab

Another Wednesday gone! I spent today's workout slowly trying to rehab my knee. Sometimes I think I'm just delaying the inevitable but why go the route of surgery if I don't need it?!?! I suppose time will tell. This weekend is calling for LOTS of snow so I'm hoping my games will be canceled for both days, which will give me another week of rest for the knee. I think time will heal my injury, but it's killing me mentally. I'll just keep plugging away.

I'm picking up some new equipment for my gym tonight. After this acquisition, I'll need a few more things to be complete. I'll post pictures once it's all set up.

Battling the elements

I knew, with my luck and the weather forecast calling for snow this evening, it would start snowing during my workout. It was the inevitable so it was make excuses or get it in. I thought it was going to unbearably cold to be working outside given the snow we got over the weekend and with the low temps today but I was totally fine from the moment I stepped outside. It was a quick jog over to the playground. This is the second week in a row, on Back day, that I have opted to make use of my outdoor surroundings. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the concept of not using ANY weights or machines. Don't get me wrong, bodyweight movements are great, but I'm so used to using dumbbells, barbells, machines, and cables. During the workout, I'm smoked out, but shortly thereafter, I feel like I need to go back and do more. Hence my added pull ups and chin ups in the garage after I got back from the mile run. Here's the rundown:

Warm up jog

Traveling hammer grip pull ups 10, 10
Box jumps 20, 20

Traveling chin ups 10, 10
Box jumps 20, 20

Kipping pull ups 10, 10

Decline bodyweight rows 12, 10, 10, 10
Plyo bodyweight rows 15, 12, 15, 15

Mile run

Square bar pull ups-wide grip 12, 8
Square bar chin ups 10, 8


I enjoyed the traveling hammer grip pull ups. The box jumps were a breeze even with the gimpy knee. No problems there but I'll be sure to throw some ice on it post workout. I was burning out pretty fast and wasn't getting full range on my chin ups. My hands were cold and the lats were fading with a quickness. The 20 box jumps weren't enough. I should have done 30 or 40 to give me more recovery for my chins and pull ups. Now I know! The second set of kipping pull ups felt sloppy and I got confirmation that they most certainly were after viewing the footage. Two thumbs down there, I was dog tired at this point. I did 4 sets on the bodyweight rows to counter all the vertical pulls I just did. In total, we're looking at 98 vertical pulls (chins and pull ups) and 109 horizontal pulls (incline and decline rows). If I don't feel this tomorrow, I surely be in a gym for my next back workout. I did feel it last Tuesday so we'll see.

L sits are BRUTAL!

Shoulders and abs today AGAIN at 6:45 in the F-ing morning! I've been feeling as if my body has been battling on the onset of a cold / flu. I feel fine today but yesterday, not so much. The workout was nice and smooth. Getting footage was a real pain and a lot of the stuff I did get, I can't use b/c there's some employee walking in the background. What a waste of time setting the camera up. I could've gotten more in had I not had to worry about getting the camera set up. I'll tell you one thing, my abs are sore already from the L sits and extended planks. The L sits were so intense that my abs almost cramped up during each of the sets. I've messed around with these before but never held them til failure. Try these, they are NO JOKE! Everything else was good. I'm in the midst of making some changes in my schedule soon. I have to work smarter not longer. With that said, I should be able to devote more time to my training. I long for the days back in college where I could get my lift on without time constraints. Nowadays, every workout is a race against the clock.

Push presses 95x5, 115x6, 135x5, 155x4, 175x3
L sits til failure

Cable laterals with the cuff 32.5x10, 37.5x10, 37.5x8
Hanging leg raises 15, 15, 15

Incline F.A.R.'s 55x8, 55x8
Extended planks til failure

Bent over laterals 20x10, 20x8
Laterals 20x8, 20x8

Rockburn Branch Park Field

Nothing really special to report today or tomorrow. It's snowing again in the DMV and of course this area shuts down with the first fall of a single snowflake. Saturday and Sunday are my days for football and fortunately, our games were not canceled. We played before the snowfall, but found ourselves covered in snow when the final whistle was blown. The drive home was 90 minutes of road rage. Nothing like covering 25 miles in 90 minutes!

T-shirt reads "Major Leauge Muscle"

Still experiencing difficulties so I'm going to keep this short and sweet. Here's the workout for today. I crushed it! My arms were so pumped up that I had a hard time getting my hands up to wash my face. That's always a great feeling! This video will show you all of my workout except for the first two movements. My first superset was overhead rope extensions and incline DB curls. I did 4 sets here, going heavy as possible.

Oh and that goal of getting over the hump that was 180lbs....you can go ahead and take that off the list! 180.5 today!!! Actually, let me get my bodyfat checked before I go around patting myself on the back. I gotta make sure I'm in the single digit bodyfat levels, can't be tipping the scales with sloppy weight! If all goes well, "Major League Muscle?" Yes, please!!

So, I had some difficulties with posting my blog yesterday. I kept getting error reports for whatever reason so this will be a day behind and you'll have 2 posts today, rather than 1.

Yesterday called for chest and abs. I had to pull another 6:30AM workout and I'm starting to see a reoccurring theme here. One should not be working out before the sun comes up, but rather resting and recovering from the stress placed upon one's body from the day before! Unfortunately for me, this was going to be the only time to get it in so we must do, what we have to do. I planned on breaking the workout into a morning and evening split today so that I could do some GHD situps. That meant only one thing, GO HEAVY! I had an hour to work chest and chest only. I don't usually train this way anymore and it was a little weird just sitting around waiting for the next set. I pumped out some good weight on the Hammer Strength incline and flat bench. I definitely could have and SHOULD have gone heavier on the incline presses. After the first three sets, my should finally warmed up and 290 felt light. As for bench, I didn't expect to get the 315 for 1. I was looking for a spot but there wasn't anyone worth asking. I would have much rather buried myself under the bar than to ask some of the weirdos "working" out at that hour. Being the only Asian trainer there, I knew I would get it up for my reputation was on the line. I would have had to quit the gym if I wound up being "that guy" trying to do use more weight than he could actually handle. Needless to say, it went up rather smoothly. This could only be indicative of one thing, someone is getting stronger!!! The workout went a little something like this:

Hammer Strength incline press 90x10,180x8,230x5,250x5,270x5,290x5

1 arm DB presses 70x8 , 75x5 ,80x5

Bench 225x3, 275x1, 295x1, 315x1
Dips 25, 20

Free Motion Incline flyes 3 sets of 80x8
Flat DB flyes with leg raises 3 sets of 25x10

Frustrated...

....because my right knee is still swollen, in need of draining, and most likely meniscus repair. I never thought I'd utter the words, "I just want to squat heavy" but not being able to is driving me crazy. I'm not going to waste much time during this post unless you want to here me complain about my knee when I have no one to blame but myself. Time waits for no man and ever since I entered my 30's, recovery just hasn't been the same. I really did hope to be "forever young!" Tomorrow's workout is chest and maybe some abs. I may break this workout into two parts, chest at SCLA and abs at home so I can use the GHD that I just bought tonight. I'm hoping for a lot of great things to come with this new purchase. "Paik's Pain Factory" is in transition. One piece is in place, hopefully a 600 or 700 lb tractor tire will be acquired in the very near future. 4 months and counting til Memorial Day and so I pose the question again, will your fitness goals come to fruition?!?! Don't talk about it, BE ABOUT IT!

One last thing, my back is jacked up from yesterday's workout!

WAYYY too close!!

Today was a long 7 hours of client training with only time for breakfast, grilled chicken breast and rice at 5:45AM, and then a Myoplex Deluxe MRP at 12:30. I finished up today at 2 and then came home to have some shrimp, chicken, beef with mixed vegetables and rice for my third meal before getting my back workout in.

I decided to try something different today and got worked! I took to the playground by my house to use the bars for pull ups and reverse push ups for the first part of the workout. Here's how that went:

Part 1--Playground

I did 3 rounds of all 5 exercises with as little rest as possible.

Jump rope 150, 125, 100
Reverse push ups 25, 20, 15
Burpees 15, 12, 10
Strict pull ups 10, 8, 6
Kipping pull ups 10, 8, 6

This shit SMOKED me! I was pretty close to losing my lunch seeing how it was only an hour ago from when I ate last. I didn't keep time but I didn't rest but to re-adjust the camera. I don't like to puke and was teetering on the edge. The first two exercises were pretty easy which was set up on purpose to help me recover from the burpees, pull ups and then kipping pull ups. Given the ease of the bodyweight rows, I decided to come home and hit up a few more rowing movements. I sprinted home and immediately set the bar up.

Part 2--Garage

Bent over rows-pronated grip 155x8, 155x8
Bent over rows-supinate grip 155x8, 155x8

Face pulls 120x12, 130x12, 140x10

This wasn't heavy, but damn if it didn't feel like a thousand lbs! Oh well, I got through, felt like crap 10 minutes afterward but didn't puke, thank god. Here's the footage.

Shoulders make the man!

Ok, so I caught some grief from my buddy for not having posted anything over the weekend. That's what I'm talking about, I did this blog for that reason alone, to be held accountable! My reason for not posting over the weekend was because I didn't have much to report since all I did was participate in an hour of football on Saturday and Sunday. Nothing special, so I left it out. However, today I was back at it with shoulders and abs. I was pretty bummed that I took on a few extra clients today, extending my day by two hours that I wasn't expecting. That meant that my workout was going to be done at home and not the gym and seeing how I sold pretty much everything over the weekend, I was gonna have to make due with what was left. I was pretty happy with what I did and I felt good throughout. I tried split jerks for the first time. I think it went well but I'm certain someone with more experience there could offer me a few cues on technique. The HSPU's went well and I felt strong with the high pulls too. I definitely could have ramped up the weight and I say this because afterward, I felt like my shoulders were asking for more. I experimented with a few exercises that I'm normally accustomed to so I didn't want to sacrifice form for weight which explains the feeling of wanting more. Next time!

Split jerks 115x6, 135x6, 135x5

HSPUs 10, 8, 8, 6
Reach over sit ups 12x8, 12x8, 12x8, 12x6

DB push press 55x6, 60x5, 60x5
Reverse crunches 20, 15, 15

Hi pulls 135x6, 145x5, 155x4
Lateral raises 20x10, 20x12, 20x10

Bent over laterals 3 sets of 20x15
Decline trunk rotations/touchdowns 25x20, 25x20/10, 25x20/10

All about the squeeze!

Today was one of the best arm workouts I've had as of late. I went heavy and hard, squeezing every rep as hard as I could. It was very rewarding, given the fact that I wasn't expecting much with the time constraints.

Smith machine close grip bench 185x12, 225x10, 225x9, 225x6
Alternating dumbbell curls 40x10, 40x8, 40x7, 35x8

Gravitron reverse dips 110x10, 110x10, 120x8
Preacher curls 3 sets of 80x8

Reverse grip pulldowns 150x10, 150x10, 150x8
Dumbbell hammer curls 3 sets of 32.5x8