Moving Blog

Hi guys, for those of you that subscribe to my blogger account, I want to let you know, I pretty much decided this weekend to start using Word Press, instead of Blogger.

It's still Always A Bodybuilder, but now it's Always A Bodybuilder at Word Press

Here is the first post; Ten weeks out!

Thank you all for following my blog, see you on the other side!


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Eleven weeks out

It feels good training with higher carbs this week. I started eating more carbs on Saturday to be ready for Mondays workout. Tons of energy this whole week. Body weight is pretty much staying the same, but my composition has change quite a lot, much leaner and harder looking. I can't wait to see where this takes me, I might have to eat more



Chest and Triceps is what I caught on the GoPro this week. It was a pretty straight forward workout.

Flat bench
Incline Smith
Flat flies
Incline flies
Pullovers
Over head extensions
Skulls
Push downs
Calves and Abs

sB!

Twelve weeks out

March 1: I weigh 216.4.

Since the middle of January I've kept my carbs real low and have eaten more fats to maintain calories. I wanted to see if I would burn fat while eating higher then normal fat (for me), I have to add "for me", because it's so relative. 100 grams of fat a day might be a lot for me, but may not be a lot for someone else. 

Well it turns out it's not a lot for me. When I started at 234, I was around 10% body fat; now I'm closer to 6%. So you can burn fat this way too! Normally I would have my fats at 15-20 grams for the day, so I’m pretty intrigued with this new information

This month I'm going to increase my carbs and lower my fats to maintain the same calorie intake. What should happen is that my body with fill out to about 228-230 maybe even 234 again, and I'll be even leaner than I am now (because it's a month later and because I am leaner period) but I'll also be bigger and much fuller throughout the month.

Not sure about April, should I do another higher fat and lower carbs month? (I have 3 weeks in May to fill out again), should I eat more calories by adding fats too or should I just stay where I'm at?

It all depends on the rate of my return, (return being fat burning) Remember more carbs, bigger workouts, bigger pumps, more energy for intensity, all increases fat burning. So I just don't know, but I will find out...

Friday night it was Alex, Jon and I; Donnie was late so he trained solo

Check out the Video

GoProOrGoHome - Road to the 2014 Master Nationals - Chest Mount - Series #2 Shoulders

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Thirteen weeks out

First stop Jay Cutler!

Monday being a holiday, I was able to train early, so I went solo, training chest and triceps:

Flats

Incline Smith

Incline flys

Flat flys

Pull Overs

Push downs

Skulls

Dumbbell french curls

Standing calves

Abs

Wednesday, Rolando hooked up with me and we banged out back and traps:

Barbell shrugs

Wide grip pull downs

Wide grip machine free weight bent overs

Dumbbell rows

Close grip pull downs

Reverse grip wrist curls

Wrist curls

Friday it was Jon, Donnie and I doing shoulders and biceps. We trained biceps first.  Sometimes I like having blood filled biceps when I shoulder press. I like that cushion to rest on coming down:

Crooked bar curls, switching between close and wide grip with each set. Same for preacher curls.

Crooked bar reverse grip curls. Then a couple of bent over one arm Arnold's, while we waited for a bench to free up.

Seated dumbbell press

Upright rows

Dumbbell sides

Machine Rears

Abs

Saturday, legs day, with Alex and Jon!

Vertical leg press

Leg press

One leg hacks

Extensions

Dumbbell stiff legs

Lying down leg curls

Standing leg curls

Donkey's

This is the first of a weekly video called GoProOrGoHome - Road to the 2014 Master Nationals - Chest Mount Series. Each week I'll recap my workouts and add a video of one of them with my GoPro strapped to my chest. This should make for some interesting footage. Follow me as I become shredded to the bone with each passing week!

You can also follow these videos on YouTube just click here on my name Robert Costarelli and it will take you there and if you are not a FaceBook fan yet, you can do that too https://www.facebook.com/pages/Always-A-Bodybuilder/175512159971

I hope you will enjoy watching them as much as I enjoy making them!

GoProOrGoHome - Road to the 2014 Master Nationals - Chest Mount Series #1 Legs!

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Following that vertical leg press

Natick Gold's used to have one and that was one reason I left Arlington Gold's. Then they moved to a bigger and better location in the same area, but they didn't take it with them... boohoo!

Found out Marlboro Gold's has one and for the last few months this is where you will find us on a Saturday morning training legs. It is really nice to be using a vertical legs press again, the movement for me is like no other. I can really get my whole leg involved.

I trained legs solo today, and I'm lucky to say, I don't say that too often. Our schedules are all off this week. But this gave me a chance to try something different, that would not normally work out well with 3 or more people. I trained everything unilaterally!

One thing that inspired me to train unilaterally today was the fact I recently had the opportunity to help Rolando Amorim. Rolando and I met a few years back when I started to train in Natick. 

He has an office right there in Gold's. Rolando works with men and women of all ages, to get them in shape to compete in body competitions, if they want too. He shows them everything from training to posing, how to eat, even how to tan. He takes them right to the show. There is so much support with all of his clients for each other, it is really nice to see.  I can personal say, I have seem some nice talent come out of his work.

Here he is on Facebook, become a fan!

 Rolando Amorim MuscleSculpture.com. 

Rolando and I recently hooked up for some workouts. Throwing ideas around, teaching him new 

techniques and above all, having some kick ass workouts. There is always an elevated level of intensity when you are training with someone new for the first time, some nice added fuel for some awesome workouts! 

One of the challenges Rolando is facing right now is that he is recovering from a torn quad. You can imagine how hard it must be to get an even pump in both legs. We trained legs together a couple of weeks back and I suggested we do everything unilaterally. By doing everything unilaterally and mixing it up, starting and stopping with the good leg and ending with both, he was able to achieve, not just a pump, but an even pump in both legs for the first time!

Today's workout!

Vertical leg press (left,right) x4 (these never felt better!)

Leg press (left,right,left,right) x4 (fire was kicking in)

Hack machine (left,right) x4 (video on FB of a guy doing these, had to try, will do again for sure!)

Extensions (left,right,left right) x4 (last 2 sets ended with singles back and forth)

lying curls (left,right) x4

standing curls (left,right) x4

Ass machine (left,right) x4

Stiff legs x4 (not unilateral!)

Donkeys x4 (not unilateral, but should have...)

For me doing everything unilaterally today took all and any hip stress out of all the press movements, especially the vertical leg press, where if my hips are tired, I'll feel it there. It was like my hips were able to breath and not be restricted by one another. 

The pressure was all quads, hams and ass, giving my hips a nice rest!

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Here we go again.

Traveling to Europe for two weeks with my family was an incredible experience, both Italy and Spain were beautiful! Spending time alone with the whole family was beautiful. We bonded more (can never have enough of that) and made memories to last a life time. I can't wait to do it again!

Taking last year off from competing wasn't just for our vacation. When we got back (after having pondered on this for a couple of years), I finally had my elbow fixed and it was the best decision I could have made! 

12 years of being involved in boxing: fighting, punching, coaching, training, holding pads, the constant pounding, my right elbow developed arthritis. I had three loose fragments and bone spurs on both sides, limiting my ability to get a full range of motion without pain in both directions. Bringing my hands to my face to wash or throw water on it was painful, to say the least, and forget about the pain I got if I were to jump up and reach for something, never mind lifting weights and posing! Since coming back to the sport of bodybuilding in 2009, I'm now finally able to throw a front and rear double bicep shot without pain!

It feels so good to have a full range of motion back for the simple tasks we do on a daily bases, but it feels even better now that I can rip up skull crushers, over head extensions and even push downs and really destroy my triceps with no pain. Now that my elbow is fixed, I'm hoping to take my arms to the next level!

I was able to get as big as 246 this time around, the heaviest thus far and still manage to keep my body fat right around 10%. I started dieting January 6th to prepare for the NPC Jay Cutler Classic on May 24th this year. I need to re-qualify for the Master Nationals in July and this is the show for that. 

The Jay also has a sentimental meaning to me. 2009 was the first show I competed in since returning to the weights in 2007 from 1995 and my last show was 1993. You can see, it's been a long time. The first show holds some sentimental valve for me, plus it's the hardest show around this area and if you are planning on causing some damage, then you want everyone to be there!

I have been waking up for the past week and a half weighing 220 and getting leaner by the day. I'm pretty lean right now! This tells me that calories wise, I'm taking in enough, because I'm maintaining the same body weight. (I do everything the same way everyday) and I'm burning fat and building muscle and this is where you want to be.  I have about 5 pounds of fat left. I'm running real low on my carbs, forcing my body to burn fat and eating 3000 calories. By the time I get to 215, I should be shredded

The plan is to completely shred myself first, then slowing carb back up over the course of a month; then there will be no surprises and I have plenty of time to do this. That swing from flat to full, can be as much as 10 to 15 pounds. I should be right at 225 on stage and shredded to the bone!

The leaner you get, the bigger you will look in the end!

Stay tuned...

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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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