Weekly wrap up with...

So now it's Wednesday night, time to train Back and Traps, we start with wide grip lat pull downs, the bent over rows, ending Back with close grip cable low rows. Barbell shrugs did the trick for Traps

5sets/Standing Calf raises
5sets/Lat pull downs
5sets/Bent over rows
5sets/Low Rows
5sets/Shrugs
5sets/Wrist curls
Abs

Thursday night the Animal was loose, so it was just Hawk and I banging out Shoulders and Biceps on our own.
We were on fire that night and banged out our workout in just over an hour.

Shoulder we sat at the press machine backwards facing the pad and did as many presses as we could, then dropping the weight 2 plates grabbing a reverse grip and banged out as many as we could again, doing a super set.

For side and rear laterals, we laid chest down on a incline bench doing sides, then rears, then sides, then rears with dumbbells, hitting both heads at the same time

5sets/Seated Calf raises
5sets/Shoulder presses
5sets/Sides and Rear Laterals
5sets/Preacher curls
5sets/Machine bicep curls
5sets/Hammer curls
5sets/Wrist curls
5sets Reverse Wrist curls
Abs

Now it's Saturday morning and we are all here and it's my favorite day of them all, LEGS! And what a leg workout we had... my legs are so trashed today! Not only did my quads lock out on me last night, they did it 3 times. The first time I was praying for help, I could not, for the life of me, bend my legs (both) my quads were locked. This lasted for about 10 minutes, I thought I was going to faint at one point because of all the pain... God I love training legs!

5sets/legs extensions
5sets/Squats (this did me in)
5sets/leg Press
5sets/Stiff legs (3 for me, my hips where screaming at me to stop)
5sets/Seated leg curls
5sets/Donkey calf raises
Abs

Awesome workouts this week as always... resting today to start it all over again tomorrow!

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Felt like a Friday

But it's not, it was Monday and it was dead as a door nail at the gym... Some things never change... New Year resolution lasted for 3 weeks, if that and now the gym is empty again. I want to take what they take, that gives them the ability to get in shape in only 3 weeks.

Normally I don't see anyone at the gym other than the two guys I work out with, unless of course someone come over the us and says hi. (if you know what I mean) but last night there was no one at the dumbbells, which is very unusually for a Monday night...

We started with incline barbell bench, then Smith machine flat bench, ending with flat dumbbell flies.
For Triceps, we took cable push downs, over head rope extension and bent over cable extensions and went in a circle 5 times, totalling 15 sets in 15 minutes, then onto the end of a bench for 5 sets of wrist curls.

Something like this...

5sets/Calf machine presses
5sets/Incline Bench
5sets/Smith Flat Bench
5sets/Flat Dumbbell Flies
5sets/Triceps push downs
5sets/Triceps overhead extension
5sets/Triceps bent over extension
5sets/Wrist curls
Abs

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Give me one more day

Was how I was feeling as I entered the gym Saturday morning. We trained last Sunday due to the weather and although my legs pretty much recuperated, they still felt like one more day rest would be perfect. When I bent over to tie my sneakers, I could still feel my Hamstrings not completely healed, but it's all good, 6 days rest is plenty of time

We were all here for this one and we started with walking lunges. Talk about waking up your legs, after the first set of 50 lunges (25 down, 25 back) the blood just rushes in and says "HELLO" here I am! We did 4 more of those, 5 sets total! Hack Squats followed, then leg extensions, Stiff legged dead lifts, Leg Curls, ending on the Donkey calf machine

Breakdown

5sets/Walking lunges (started with the bar, climbing up to 45 plates)
5sets/Hack Squats (ending at 5 plates aside)
5sets/Leg Extentions
5sets/Stiff Legs
5sets/Leg Curls
5sets/Donkey Calf rasies
3sets/Wrist curls
3sets/Reverse Wrist curls

Awesome workout!

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One benefit of two

Just a block away from the gym last night, when I get a text from the Animal saying he's not going to make it. I knew this was coming, we talked about it the night before. What I didn't know was right after that text, I get one from Hawk saying... are you training tonight? I didnt' think Alex was able to train and I thought I was running solo for Shoulder and Biceps, it's nice having 2 training partners!

We started with behind the neck shoulder presses on the Smith Machine, then to machine side laterals and rear laterals, it's was all about the machines tonight. For Biceps we started with standing crooked barbell curls, then machine preachers, ending biceps and starting forearms with dumbbell hammer curls and forearms were wrist curls off an end of a bench

And it went something like this...

5sets/Seated Calf raises
5sets/Behind the neck Shoulder presses
5sets/Side Laterals
5sets/Rear Laterals
5sets/Standing crooked bar curls
5sets/Machine Preacher curls
5sets/ Dumbbell Hammers
5sets/Wrist curls
5sets/Reverse Wrist curls
Abs

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Nice and Simple

Alex "the Hawk" flew the coop for this one... it was just Big John "the Animal" and I...

Hams are still trashed from leg day, so no dead lifts this time


5sets/Standing Calf rasies
5sets/Wide grip Pull Downs
5sets/Bent Over rows
5sets/T-bar row
5sets/Barbell Shrugs
5sets/Waist curls
Abs


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MLK = Morning workout

As we recognize MLK day, this gave us the opportunity to train early.
You have to love noon time workouts. It's not too early that you're not completely awake and you're able to get a few meals under your belt, which helps push you through the intense workout you get from having all this morning energy

The Animal is back feeding... welcome back

We decided to do Smith Machine work, we did both the flat and incline bench on it. The smith machines are nice at the Gold's in Arlington, they are smooth and have no drag at all. From there we moved onto wide flat dumbbell flies, these feel really good, I think I'm hooked with this new way of doing them. We ended Chest with dumbbell pullovers, these really open up your rib cage and finish off the chest nicely and also warm up your Triceps

Triceps started with skull crushers with your head hanging off the bench, then to push downs, ending with over head cable rope extensions.

5/Machine Calf presses
5/Smith Flat bench
5/Smith Incline bench
5/Wide Flies
3/Pull-Overs
5/Skull Crushers
5/Push Downs
5/Overhead rope extension
5/Barbell Wrist curls

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I pick things up, I put them down

Is how I felt today as I walked in the new Natick Gold's gym with my half frozen gallon of Crystel Light flavored water (sorry that's all it is) as people looked at my water, all I wanted to say was that... if fact, i did quote it a bunch of times, just for fun throughout the workout, ask Alex

About this gallon of water, for me it was something I did during dieting season, while preparing for a competition. When all day long you eat boiled chicken and potatoes, the last thing you want to drink is plain water.. trust me..
Now it's a just habit. I like having the frozen gallon of crystal light (fruit punch) with me when I'm training, it really hits the spot!

It was legs day this morning and my favorite most satisfying time of all. After you finish a big leg workout your euphoria is through the roof, along with your testosterone and your growth hormone, it's really such a total body grower. You get that feeling of, I just finishing an intense leg's workout and now the rest of the week is a cake walk

Animal is still a little under the weather, so it's just Hawk and I

We started with leg extensions on this new equipment called the Hoist, each machine acts like a rocker, it puts your whole body in motion.

It's okay, not a big fan of the leg extensions as I thought I was the first time using it last week. I can't get enough of a stretch, but the seated leg curls machine rocks! no pun intended...

After the extension we did squats, climbing our way up to 315, then walking lunges, stiff legs, that seated leg curl machine, Donkey calf raises, ending on a Hoist machine for abs, where you can twist as you pull your knees up to your chest... it was okay, I'll do it again, I guess...

No forearms today, they are still wrecked from the last time with Back (Thursday)... beside we are training Chest and Triceps tomorrow and we can hit them then.

5/Extensions
5/Squats
3/Walking Lunges (legs are on fire right now)
5/Stiff legs
5/Seated leg curls
5/Donkeys
5/Abs

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Make it a double

Because of mother nature and the fact I was running on only one 1200 calorie drink for over 4 hours of snow removal, I opted out of training Back and Trap on Wednesday and I got Hawk to bail with me, but it was too late for the Animal, he made it to the gym before we could reach him.

Thursday Alex and I figured we'd get to the gym a little earlier and bang out Back and Traps before the Big John got there

Moving right through an intense Back workout, resting only 30-45 seconds and increasing the weight each set. We did 4 exercises doing 5,5,5,3 sets.
Animal walked in so, we only did 3 sets for the last one. We move to traps  ans did 4 quick sets of dumbbell shrugs with 80's, I go, he go, I go, he go... I think it took us about 4.5 minutes to do 4 sets each, around 10 reps


We started with Calves as we do every time now, 5 seated was the damage this time. For shoulder we went with a press machine, facing the seat, then to those new side lateral we do with the rear laterals on a incline bench (real cool). This time we did it alternating, going from first rep side raise, second rep rear raise, so on and so forth for about 8 to 10 each angle, totaling 16-20 reps. We ended shoulders taking a 45 plate doing as many front raises with a twist as you can, then handing if off, we tossed that around 5 times, shoulders are done.

Biceps started with dumbbell curls on an incline bench, these give you a nice stretch, then we did standing dumbbell concentration curls, we each grabbed a dumbbell and went left to right two times in a row, rested, then repeated. Ending Biceps and starting Forearms was reverse grip curls with a crooked bar, then ending forearms was wrist curls off a bench


We banged out the whole workout, Back,Traps,Calves,Shoulder,Biceps,Forearms and Abs, in 2 hours and 15 minutes

Great Workout, nice pace!

Breakdown

Lat pull downs/5sets
Weighted machine Lat pulls/5sets
Low Rows/5sets
Reverse Pull downs/3sets
Shrugs/4sets

The Animal has come to feed

Seated front shoulder presses/5sets
Side and rear incline dumbbell Laterals/5sets
Front raises with a 45 plate/5sets
Incline Dumbbell curls/5sets
Standing concentration curls/4sets
Reverse grip curls/5sets
Wrist curls/5sets
Reverse wrist curls/5sets
Abs/5sets

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Arnold does 5

I just finish the book, Education of a bodybuilder by Arnold, it's a book about Arnold growing up and being different, because of his love for bodybuilding and I can relate to that.

Bodybuilding or even weight training wasn't that popular when I was younger. I remember in high school, a lot times, I was the only one in the gym during break time. I trained at Mike's gym in Cambridge (the first Mike's, in the back, by the tracks, off of mass ave, which is no longer there) I was 15, the youngest one there. I would ride my bike from Cambridge Port (Pearl st) to North Cambridge, just about everyday until I got my permit at 15 an a half. Even when I was competing in my early 20's, I would be at a restaurant and if I asked for no butter or sauce, I was looked at like I had 4 heads

What I got from this book was, remembering the way I use to train when I was younger, like doing 5 sets on everything, a couple of warm up's, then 3 good working sets and how I did certain movement, like dropping your head off a bench when doing triceps extensions, little things like that, or bringing the barbell just over your nipples when you bench. You kind of forget these little things and they make such a big difference


The Hawk has landed, so it was back to three of us. We started with 5 sets of seated calf presses (we are going start with calves every workout now for a while), then flat bench, then incline bench, then flat dumbbell flies where we dropped the dumbbells really low on the stretching, so that your rear delts wrap around the bench as you stretch, then coming up 10" apart at the top.

Skull crusher with our head hanging off the end of the bench, still bringing the bar to the forehead and when contracting, not pressing the weight above your chest, but keeping it behind the head

French curls leaning against a preacher bench. These are so nice, because after doing skull crusher all you feel like doing is stretching your triceps, because they are so pump, this does that for you and adds another level to the pump. Standing Triceps push downs completes everything giving you that hard full contraction, just what the doctor ordered

We ended doing 5 sets of wrist curls and some abs, we are going to end every workout with this for now... I need forearms as much as I need calves!

The break down

Seated calf press/5sets
Flat Bench/5sets
Inclines Bench/5sets
Flat flies/5sets
Skull crushers/5sets
French curls/5sets
Pushdowns5/set
Wrist curls/5sets
Abs

Time for a protein drink!

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Vertical leg press hasn't moved

Natick Gold's just opened in their new location yesterday and what perfect timing for legs day!

Alex hasn't flown north yet, so it's me and the Animal

We met in the parking lot to go in together (We are not members of this gym, but alliances) Of course I go right for the vertical leg press machine, but it hadn't been moved from the old location as of yet, (sad face) what a bummer, I really like this machine and you never see this machine at gyms

That's okay they have this other cool press machine that instead of the moving apparatus being on a sled, it's on a pivot joint and I can get this angle to really rip apart my quads. We did 6 sets/12reps, starting with 3-45lbs plates aside and increasing by 2 plates aside, ending at 13 plates, feel the burn!

The gym has a long piece of AstroTurf for various exercise, or so should i say walking lunges. Up and back twice was about a 150 lunges, with a 55lbs barbell on the back, now my legs are on FIRE!

Over to the seated legs curl machine, then to the ass buster machine for couple, ending on the donkey calf machine.

I realized after i got home, we forgot to do stiff leg dead lifts, which are a staple and should be done every workout. But I can tell you today, i don't even notice it, my legs are so trashed, i love this feeling!

Break it down

Leg extensions - 4sets
Legs press - 6sets/12reps/13plates max
Walk lunges - 2 times up and back/150 lunges/55lbs
(Stiff leg dead lifts would have been here) 5sets
Seated legs curls - 5sets
Butt Blaster - 2sets
Donkey Calf - 5sets/15reps

Time for a protein drink

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Thursdays workout

Shoulder and Biceps

Alex the Hawk, glided his way to NY for the weekend with his brother, so it was just me and Big John the Animal.

Just the night before we banged out Back and Traps, so it was nice for the first time, in a long time, not to do Shrugs after training Shoulders.. Everyone knows when Traps follow a Shoulder workout, they tend to sometime be an after thought, they just don't get the energy as they would if they were trained first or close to first, instead of last

We started with shoulder presses, that we did sitting down this time, then to side laterals on a incline bench, if you have never tried this, you should, you will be amazed on how much your sides get hit. Then on the same bench we did rears laterals, in fact, we went back and forth doing sides, then rears, then sides, until we did 4 sets each.

Then we took a 45 plate and did front raises, passing it back and forth to each other with no rest other then the other guy doing his set.

Biceps started with standing barbell curls, then standing bent over Bicep concentration curls. I have to say, this is the best exercise to build a peak in your Biceps, when done correctly, they will grow like crazy.

We then took the rope from the bottom pulley and did Hammer curls which sucked and we won't do that again... there just wasnt' enough resistance to really get a pump... dumbbell hammers or standing reverse curls work so much better

We then went to the end of a bench and did heavy wrist curl to really drive some blood into the forearms, then reverse wrist curls top it off nicely and we ending with Abs

The breakdown

Seated barbell press/4sets
Incline side/rear lateral raises/4sets each
Front raises with a 45 plate/4sets no rest
Standing barbell curls/4sets
Bend over concentration dumbbell curls/4sets
Standing rope hammers/4sets... won't do these again
Seated wrist curls 4/sets
Seated reverse wrist curls/4sets
Abs

1 hour and 30 minutes later we were a size BIGGER

Time for a protein drink

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Don’t try this at home

Not sure what Alex was thinking when he suggested we do Dead Lifts and Bent Over Rows in the same workout, he must be thinking we are immortal or something

Last nights workout was Back and Traps and we started with 4 sets of standing calf raises into 4 sets of lying down legs curls, then 4 sets of dead lifts (Nothing like trashing your calves and hamstrings before you dead lift), then 4 sets of barbell shrugs.  At this time I could no longer feel the center of my back and next … you guess it, Bent Over Rows for 4 sets

Now picking the barbell off the rack having 135lbs on it felt easy, seeing we just had 315lbs on the bar for shrugs, but when you bend over to start your rows, the center of your back/hamstrings/quad/calves are so exhausted, that start screaming out, ARE YOU CRAZY. 

After we grunted through bent over’s, it was already 7:50pm and we still had 12 more sets to do for Back,(Dead lifts ate up a lot of time) so we took the last 3 exercises (lat pull downs/Low rows/reverse grip pull downs) and did them all together, going from one to the other, resting one person in between sets.

Here is the breakdown

Standing calf raises - 4sets/15+ reps

Lying down leg curls - 4sets/15+ reps

Dead lifts - 135/5reps-225/5reps-315/5reps-315/10reps-315/10reps

Barbell shrugs – 225/315/315/315

Bent over Row – 135/185/205/205

Lat Pull Downs/Low Rows/Reverse Grip Pull Downs/ 4sets each

Feeling pretty thick today

Mental note; do a machine row the next time you do Dead Lifts with Back

Time for a protein drink

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Plus 3

This week we switch to a 4 day split...
Monday/Chest and Triceps
Wednesday/Back and Traps
Thursday/Shoulders and Biceps
Saturday/Legs

Chest and Triceps started with Dumbbell inclines 4 sets, the first set being a feeler and the last three were to failure plus three more reps. This is how the rest of the chest exercises went, 1set feeler and 3sets to failure plus three past failure and it went something like this...

Dumbbell incline bench 4sets
Smith Machine flat bench 4sets
Dumbbell flat flies 4sets
Crooked bar decline Triceps extensions 4sets
Crooked bar over head french curls 4sets
Straight bar triceps push downs 4 sets

Great workout, injuries are starting to go away, cutting back on the amount of weight I have been using and doing more volume work is starting to pay off, in terms of my injuries healing

Chest and Triceps are nice and sore today

Time for a protein drink

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Start without me

This Saturday we pushed forward the workout time to 1:30 to catch a couple hours extra sleep to make up for staying up late on new years eve and a happy New Year to all!

At 1:30 John and I get a text from Alex saying, where our we working out, Arlington or Natick? Alex was at the Natick Golds, where we talked about training next Saturday not this. Start without me, was his next text, so we did...

We did Shoulders first and Alex hooked up with us on Back

Standing Barbell presses 4 sets
Machine side laterals 5 sets
Incline bench rear laterals 4 sets
Incline bench side laterals 4 sets
Barbell Shrugs 5 sets
Wide grip lat pull downs 4 sets
Free weight machine wide grip rows 4 sets
Cable reverse grip low rows 4 sets
Palm facing grip cable high rows 4 sets

Shoulders before Back is a killer, but it's all good and although your not as strong on Back as you could be if done first, we had a great workout!

Time for a protein drink

and my new years resolution is... size BIGGER!