31 Tuesday Oct 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
31 Tuesday Oct 2017
Posted in Workout Routine
Tags
7-day split, Back, Calves, Compound Sets, Giant Sets, Tri-sets
Happy Tuesday!
Today’s workout covered the Back and Calves. I wanted to hit lower back, middle back, and upper back, along with thickening exercises and widening exercises. To thicken the back I do rowing type exercises. To widen the back I do pulldown exercises. Today’s workout involved individual sets initially, followed by two different compound sets (1 or more sets of the same body part). One step above a compound set is a tri-set. 4 exercises together without rest are considered a Giant set. Anything above this I would call a circuit.
Here’s today’s workout!
Back extensions 4 sets 130×20; 150×15; 170×12; 190×6
Seated Row Close Grip 4 sets 100×12; 110×12; 120×12; 130×12
Seated Row Wide Grip 4 sets 85×12; 100×12; 100×12; 100×12
Compound Set
Wide Grip Pulldowns 4 sets 85×12; 100×12; 100×12; 100×12;
Close Grip Underhand Pulldowns 4 sets 85×12; 100×12; 100×12; 100×12
Compound Set
Straight Arm Pulldowns 4 sets 55×12; 55×12; 55×12; 55×12
Standing Pulldowns 4 sets 55×12; 85×12; 85×12; 85×12
Calve Press Machine 6 sets 90×20; 95×20; 100×20; 105×20; 110×20; 115×20
Cardio Hill Level 5 20 minutes
This was a great workout and one that I designed myself. I try to target between 25 and 30 sets per workout since I am only going to hit this muscle group once a week. Here is the 7-day split I use:
Monday Chest and Abs
Tuesday Back and Calves
Wednesday Shoulders and Abs
Thursday Quads and Calves
Friday Hamstrings and Abs
Saturday Triceps and Calves
Sunday Biceps
Obviously, when I’m working the smaller muscle groups like Triceps and Biceps 25 sets is about the peak if that. The goal is to truly exhaust the muscle group so you need a good week to recover. The exercise routines I use to do that are partial reps, drop sets, and making the last set I do for each exercise to failure. You can also tire a muscle group out pretty quickly with compound sets, tri-sets, or giant sets.
That’s it for today folks!
See you tomorrow!
Dave
31 Tuesday Oct 2017
Posted in Quotes
Today’s quote!
“Things won are done, joy’s soul lies in the doing.” – William Shakespeare
I find that when I’m in the state of “doing” I feel a satisfaction of moving forward. It doesn’t matter if it’s perfect, what matters is the progress. Even if I make a mistake I learn and change direction.
When we do, we learn, we progress. We get one more step closer to where we want to be. There’s nothing to be afraid of. You can’t lose by taking action. You can’t lose if you don’t quit.
Whatever your goal, take one step each day. Those steps will compound and before you know it you’ve achieved a win. Do this enough and you’ll be addicted to doing, achieving, and winning and starting on the next goal.
Happy Halloween!!
Until next time…
Dave
30 Monday Oct 2017
Posted in Workout Routine
Tags
Hello, Readers!
Happy Monday!
Today’s workout was a makeup of some exercises I couldn’t get in yesterday’s workout due to a pre-planned visit by some friends. Interestingly, I forgot my iPhone at home today and worked out without my “jams”. Needless to say, the workout was terrific.
Today’s Workout:
Chest:
Warmup:
Chest Press Machine: 90×12; 110×12; 130×12
Dumbbell Press: 55×12; 60×12; 65×12; 70×12; 75×12
Dumbbell Fly: 30×12; 35×12; 40×12; 45×12; 50×12; 45×8
Bench Press: 110×6; 160×6; 180×6
Reverse Bench Press: 110×12; 110×12; 110×12
Biceps:
EZ-Bar Curls: 20×12; 30×12; 40×12; 50×12; 60×12; 50×12; 40×12; 30×12; 20×20
Abs:
Superset
Leg Raises (Bench) x12; x12; x12
Leg Extension and Crunch x12; x12; x12
Cardio:
20 minutes Treadmill, Hill Program, Level 5
See you tomorrow for Back Day!
Dave
30 Monday Oct 2017
Posted in Quotes
Today’s quote:
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank
This quote says a lot of things. The first is that each of us has the ability to improve the world. Sounds pretty overwhelming, doesn’t it? Think about how you could improve the world. You improve the world by doing small things. Smiling at a stranger, petting a dog, watering a plant, helping someone who reaches out to you for help, and many others. You see we don’t have to improve the whole world, we just have to improve our little piece of it to improve the world.
If you take a few moments and analyze your life, you’ll see that you are already doing what this quote inspires us to do. There’s someone you’re helping. There is something you are improving about yourself. There are little things you do around your living space that makes it a little more organized or welcoming.
This truly is a wonderful life. We have technology that allows us to communicate with one another, exchange ideas, read our writings. We have access to information we didn’t have access to before. We can watch movies, TV shows, and all the rest at the click of a button or a touch on our mobile phones.
Take some time to reflect on what you do daily to improve your little piece of the world. I’d like to hear about them.
Until next time…
Dave
30 Monday Oct 2017
Posted in Quotes
Today’s quote:
“Eighty percent of success is showing up.” – Woody Allen
You ever see someone show up to a sports practice knowing they wouldn’t be playing? Why do they show up? Why do they keep coming to practice when they know the odds are against them ever playing in a real game?
It’s about personal character. The above story is about me on the high school basketball team. I liked basketball, but I sucked. Plain and simple. But I joined the team. I made the cut. I didn’t play much (about 1-2 minutes per game when we knew we would win), but that didn’t matter. I went to practice and worked just as hard as the first-stringers.
The same applies to my workouts. I may not ever be a professional bodybuilder, but I want to be healthy and I want to be the best person I can be. So I show up. I go to the gym. Today, if you’ve read my workout log, you’ll see I had to chop my workout short.
I chopped it short because we had a pre-arranged meeting with friends at our home today. Because I have started an intermittent fasting regimen I can’t eat or drink anything with calories in it until 12 pm. So, I drank my pre-workout at 12 pm and headed to the gym. I worked as hard as I could but knew my workout would be cut short to be back home by 2 pm when our friends were scheduled to arrive.
I could have said, “You know you aren’t going to have enough time to get your workout done today, so why go? Let’s just take today off and just make it up tomorrow.” I didn’t. I am committed to achieving my goals physically.
The moral of this story is to “show up” and do the best you can with what you have. If you do your best, that’s all that matters. Do this with whatever goals you have set for yourself. Show up. Knock that one thing out that you committed to, even if it isn’t perfect or exactly the way you wanted it to be. Do it, even if you aren’t going to get anything back from anyone. You know deep down that all that matters is the person you look at in the mirror.
After I graduated high school I looked back at my time on the basketball team and other sports. They were great times. Yeah, I worked my tail off and didn’t get a whole lot in return, in most people’s eyes, but I got back more than what I put in. I developed the character trait that no matter what the result I would always do my best. I would always “show up” regardless of the accolades or rewards I might receive.
Commit to the things you want. Stick to those personal commitments. Do the best you can with what you have. If you do these things you’ll start building an inner strength that will help you achieve what most only dream about.
I hope all of you had a great weekend.
Until next time…
Dave
29 Sunday Oct 2017
Posted in Workout Routine
Happy “Late” Sunday!
The family had friends over for a scheduled event, followed by a meal at our favorite Chinese Buffet. In light of my new fasting schedule, my workout happened but was cut short. This is one of those times where “life” happens and you have to adapt to your circumstances, much like someone may have to alter their workout time to accommodate being called into work.
That being said, here’s today’s workout.
Triceps
Compound set:
Tricep extension machine 60×12; 75×12; 90×12; 105×12;
Dip machine: 130×12; 150×12; 170×12; 190×12
Because I was in a hurry to get back home to avoid missing our friend’s visit at 2 pm, I only took a 1-minute rest between sets.
Ok, folks. Tomorrow’s a new day.
See you then!
Dave
28 Saturday Oct 2017
Posted in Workout Routine
Happy Saturday!
Today was leg day and it was a good one. I hit the leg press machine, the seated leg curl, leg extension, and calves press machine. I also increased a level on the Hill program on the treadmill from 4 to 5. Good workout today!
Here is what I did:
Leg press:
Warm up: 150×12; 170×12; 190×12
Working: 210×12; 230×12; 250×12; 270×12; 290×12; 310×12
Leg extensions: 110×12; 130×12; 150×12; 170×12; 190×12; 210×12
Seated leg curls: 70×12; 90×12; 110×12; 130×12; 135×10; 135×8
Calves Press: 90×20; 95×20; 100×20; 105×20; 110×20; 115×15
Cardio treadmill hill level 5 – 20 minutes
Today was my first day of intermittent fasting. So far so good. I had my pre-workout at 12:00 pm, hit the gym, drank my post workout protein shake before cardio, did cardio, and then came home. The meal for lunch was cajun sausages (2); 10 olives, Green Salad (kale, spinach, and baby swiss chard with 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil, and a tbsp of parmesan cheese, and three cheddar cheese sticks. This worked out to (estimated) 1387 calories, 20g Carbs, 92g fat, 89g or protein.
I’m trying to stay below 20g of carbs today so I will be over that by end of day. I will minimize it by only eating a salad and some cheese sticks and one more protein shake today before my cutoff at 8 pm (Fasting begins).
My weight today was 235lbs (down from 245).
Tomorrow I’ll do some measurements to post here so you can keep me honest!
That’s it for today folks.
See you tomorrow!
Dave
28 Saturday Oct 2017
Posted in Goal Setting, Productivity, Quotes
Happy Saturday!
Today’s quote:
“The most effective way to do it, is to do it.” – Amelia Earhart
This is a great quote about getting to whatever it is we want to do. I find that the most simple aspects of life are difficult because of the price these simple things require of us. Saving money means we spend less than we earn. Losing weight is nothing more than lowering our intake of food. If you really think about it, any of us have the ability to accomplish whatever we want. Yet, so many fail over and over and over.
Doing something is better than doing nothing when it comes to pursuing our goals. Today I don’t really feel like going to the gym. It doesn’t matter how I feel. I’m going to the gym. That’s it. I am willing to pay the price to improve my health.
Intermittent fasting is also challenging because it requires that we not eat during a 16-hour window. I started my fast last night at 8 pm and will not be able to eat for another 30 minutes. I want to lose weight, so I am pursuing the strategies that I believe will work.
The key to paying the price for anything we want in life is about knowing your “why”. If your “why” is compelling to you, you will have no problem paying the price for what you want. If your “why” is not compelling to you, you will not be willing to pay the price to achieve whatever your goal is.
How do you find your “why”? My “why” has always been about being my best self. I want to lose weight, I want to continue to learn, I want to create content that people will enjoy reading. I want to be fulfilled. These are mine.
If you are having difficulty pursuing a goal, take a step back and think about why you are pursuing a goal. Is your “why” compelling enough to pay the price your goal requires of you? If it isn’t, maybe you should put that goal on hold. In my experience, you’ll just waste your time pursuing something that really isn’t what you want.
Have a great Saturday everyone!
I’m heading to the gym in about 20 minutes to knock out my leg day workout.
Until next time…
Dave
28 Saturday Oct 2017
Posted in Ted Talk
All,
Here’s an interesting Ted Talk about the future of work and how computers could potentially do the same thing to humans as the tractor did to horses. I have no opinion on this one either way but thought it was worth a watch.
Dave
