I'm out!

This is my last week of training, come Sunday, we are off to Italy and Spain and I can’t wait!

Monday it was Alex and I banging out chest and biceps. I really wanted to do the Smith machine again and Alex didn't mind one bit. Alex hasn't used the Smith for awhile, so it worked out nicely. We started with inclines, then flats. My wrist is almost 100% better, so after the Smith we went to dumbbells for flat and incline flies and then ended chest with dumbbell pullovers, which felt awesome! It has been 3 workouts not being able to do them because of my wrist. Pullovers give me such a nice upper body pump. I like them a lot and they should be a staple in your routine

The rest of the week I needed to train Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and it was Donnie and I to finish out the week.

Wednesday’s back started with shrugs, then into cable low rows, which we never do first for back. Let me tell you, if you have never tried them first, you should, the contraction you get is awesome and it really changes how the rest of the moments feel, like wide grip machine bent over rows, wide grip cable pull downs and close grip cable pull downs, every movement I could tell my lower lats were already smoked and it made that movement that much harder

Thursday's shoulders and triceps started with Smith machine front and reverse grip presses, onto seated side laterals, bent over rear laterals with head on the end of bench and that was it for shoulders. Triceps we started with cables push downs with a straight bar, then a rope and we ended with close grip benching.

Friday came early at 10:30am and Donnie and I just did a nice easy workout. Last thing I wanted to do was hurt myself days out from going on vacation where I will be walking a lot. Calves, leg extensions, leg curls, leg presses and lying down squat machine, did the trick. No GoPro today, just a nice pump!

Back in two week!

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It's all in the wrist

Monday
I pulled something in my wrist doing upright rows this past Friday, causing me to lose my grip strength. So I stayed away from the dumbbells for chest and use a strap for dumbbells curls, the straight bar or crooked bar hurt more. It was Donnie and I again and we started with Inclines, then flat bench, then machines, the video came out pretty cool too!

GoPro issue #15

Wednesday
No dead lifts tonight, we started with traps, doing shrugs with the bar behind you. For back we used that t-bar type machine and did 5 sets palms facing down and 5 sets facing in and ended doing cables pulldowns in front with a straight bar and close grips palms in 

GoPro Issue #16

Friday
Wrist feels better, but not 100% so Alex and Donnie saved uprights to the end and I bailed out and waited for triceps, we started with behind the head seated french curls, and ending with 3 cable movements, rope, straight bar and reverse grip straight bar.

GoPro Issue #17

Today... LEGS... I love legs day!

Squats, old school hacks with a few twists and extensions, curls and calves

GoPro Issue #18

Blogger not liking uploads from YouTube day. I hope you enjoyed the videos!

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Some comic relief

Monday night Alex came up with a great idea, to use pieces of paper with numbers on them counting to 4, evens one team, odds the other. Before this, we would sometimes buck up a half dozen to a dozen times before we created teams; it would become very comical.

Donnie and I this time around, we started with flat bench. He’s one strong mother, working his way up to 365. I went to 275. From there came incline dumbbells. I think he ended with 125’s. Incline dumbbell flies, machine flies (changing the grip around each set) and ending chest with dumbbell pullovers. Biceps went: crooked bar standing curls, seated preacher curls (same bar) and bent over one arms (Arnold's style). Straight bar off the end of the bench for wrist curls and reverse wrist curls ends forearms.

We ditched the little pieces of paper to pick teams and went back to bucking up. We could use a little comic relief. This time it only took two attempts and it was Donnie and I again.

Back and Traps: I'm a stronger puller than a pushers, so I was able to hold my own with the big weights Donnie throws around.

Dead lifts were on the menu this week for back and I broke my only personal record once again: 5 plates for 5 reps! This has been my goal ever since the first time I got 5 plates for 2 reps, which was about a year ago. I think dead lifting every other week made the difference and gave me the strength to reach my goal. Also the fact that I'm learning how to relax more and slow down while doing the set, instead of getting excited and trying to rush through it which seems to exhaust me more.

From there, seated dumbbell shrugs, wide grip pull downs, barbell bent over rows, close grip rows on the free weight machine and ending with close grip pull downs. Great back workout! Really got a lot of blood pumping throughout my whole back!

Shoulders: there were three of us. We used the preacher curl bench to do dumbbell shoulder presses. Then onto some uprights and machine side and rear laterals for a nice quick pump!

I wanted to give my elbow a rest and suggested sticking to cable work. We did four exercises, going back and forth between two for 4 sets. Behind the neck (french curl) with a rope and straight bar reverse grip push downs, then push downs with a rope and bent forward over the head push-outs.

Saturday 10am comes early when you just trained your ass off the night before. We all stay together on legs. We started with seated calves and then donkeys, lying down leg curls, seated leg curls, leg extensions, leg presses where we went 4/6/8/10 plates for 3 sets. We made a “bragging rights challenge” to see who could do the most reps combining all 3 sets of 10 plates. The deal was not to count, but give it all you got for all 3 sets and not to set a number in your head. We let the video tape do the counting. Alex won 76 total reps. After that my legs were pumped jack!  From there old school hacks, (had to do them again) then we ended on stiff legs

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Endless angles

I picked up the suction cup mount for my GoPro, It mounts real tight to smooth surfaces like your car or motorcycle for some high speed fun or in this case weightlifting machinery and mirrors

Monday’s chest, dumbbells, inclines and flats, straight bar inclines, flies, incline, flats and dumbbell pullovers

Wednesdays we did dead lifts, 5 sets, up to 5 plates. Somehow I stopped the recording when I thought I was starting it. I know this, because I caught about 5 seconds of Jon dead lifting 225. Today was the first day having the suction cup and I like it! 

Friday, shoulders and triceps and the new suction cup, where angles become endless

For some reason I can not get this video to attach to the blog... here is the link to the video GoPro 5-3-13 Shoulders and Triceps

please feel free to follow "tapboxer" on YouTube for more great GoPro workout videos

Saturday legs. I was pressed for time, so we did a quick but effective workout. Started with seated calves, donkeys, lying down leg curls, stiff legs, extensions and ending everything on the press machine... 4 plates, 6 plates, 8 plates, 10 plates (that all she holds) for 3 sets, last set for 25 reps and Alex tops me with 31 reps... until next time!

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Oil change and lube

Training is going really well, despite my shoulders that hurt all day long, which caused me to back off a little in terms of intensity and weight on certain exercises. This last week, my shoulders are feeling better, I wonder if it's just growing pains for the most part. I know I hurt my shoulder 6 weeks ago doing shoulder presses, followed by single rep dead lifts two days later that left me feeling like my shoulder blades just pulled right off me. What a feeling that was, YIKES!

That was pretty much when the shoulder pain started all day long especially while sleeping. I guess some injuries do take longer to heal as we get older. I'm not out of the woods yet, but I do feel much better. I'll know more after tomorrow's chest and shoulders work out.

If you haven't seen the documentary Bigger Stronger Faster, you should. It is about steroid usage in America and it can be a real eye opener for some in many aspects. It doesn't "weigh you in" in either direction, as to approve of steroids or not.

In this documentary there is a professor named Doctor Skip Pope whom they interview to get his opinion on the subject of steroids in America

Doctor Pope was recently granted money to perform a study on Steroids and the Heart. (this is what he does, research studies) Do steroids cause heart attacks?

Skip needs 150 men between the ages of 35 to 55, who lift weights and have used steroids, have never used steroids or have tried them and no longer use them.

I went to his office for a consultation that lasted an hour and a half. He asked me a series of questions about my life, my training, my drugs, prescription, recreational, enhancements.  (I guess this is the good time to mention, this is 100% confidential, you're a number in the study, not a name.)

At the end, I got a check for $125 and found out I weighed 228 pounds and had 8.5% body fat with a Fat Free index of 30 and this qualified me for the next testing, which would  happen on a Thursday morning at Mass General Hospital and which I would be given a physical, a heart ultra sound (that was cool) while lying in the bed pedaling, under a stress test. a CAT scan, where they check my arteries with contrast, a dye that they push through your arteries, after they give you nitrogen under the tongue to dilate them.

Sounds like fun right?  I gave up about 9 big vials of blood and 4 small ones. This was $9000 worth of testing and I was pretty excited to get this done. I haven't had the chance to speak to Doctor Pope yet about the results, as it was just this Thursday, he said by the end of next week the results will be in

To think I got paid for this! Normally, I would never had these test done to me unless I had a problem, which in some cases might be too late, and on top of all this, got paid $400

Funny thing about my shoulder pain is that it definitely changed after Thursday, maybe with all that blood drawing and having my artery flushed with saline a few times to make sure the IV was good, it was like having an oil change and lube, maybe that was all I needed... they do feel better!

If anyone would like to get involved with this study and get $9000 worth of testing done on you and get paid  $525 to do it, please feel free to call Doctor Skip Pope at (617) 855-2911. Skip's a real nice guy and has a great staff working with him Give him a call and tell him Rob Costarelli sent you.

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