Workout Diary

Tags

Deltoids, healthy living, Shoulders, Traps

I’ve been using a new routine since getting back to the gym in February. I work one body part per day. So far, so good. Today was a shoulder workout.

• Cable Front Rows
• Cable Face Pulls
• Cable Reverse Delt Flys
• Dumbbell Lateral Raises
• Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises
• Machine Shoulder Presses

For each of the above, I do 8-12 reps and 4 sets. I’ll increase the intensity as I go forward, but not bad for week 4 back in the gym. For those of you who didn’t see my reasons, I avoid the gym between January and February. I’m not a big fan of the New Year’s Resolution crowds that pack the gym in these months. Now that they have moved on, the gym is at tolerable population levels.

I’ll continue this routine for another month to get back into gym shape, then adjust. I hit the gym 7 days a week, with one day being a straight cardio day.

That’s it for today folks!

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Workout Log – Upper Body

Tags

Back, Biceps, Bodybuilding, chest, healthy living, Shoulders, triceps

Today’s workout tackled the upper body. I took a day off from Cardio and Legs since I’ve hit Cardio 5 days in a row and just finished 2 leg days. Today’s workout is below:

Back

Lower Back Extensions: 210×10; 230×10; 250×10

Seated Rows: 100×10; 120×10; 140×10

Wide Grip Pulldowns: 100×10; 120×10; 140×10

Chest

Flat Bench: Warmup: 70×20; 90×15; 110×12; Work: 130×10; 160×10; 160×10

Incline Bench: 110×10; 130×10; 150×10

Shoulders

Military Press Machine: 110×10; 110×10; 110×10

Biceps

Behind back cable Curls: 10×10; 20×10; 25×10

Curl machine: 45×10; 60×10; 75×10

Triceps

Triceps machine: 50×10; 70×10; 90×10; 90×10; 70×10; 50×10; 50×10

That’s it for today folks!

Tomorrow I’m taking a day off to recover from the week and will be back at it on Monday!

See you then!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Workout – Shoulders and Abs

Tags

Bodybuilding, Deltoids, Drop sets, healthy living, High-reps, Shoulders, Trapezoids

Happy Post Halloween!

I hope everyone had a great time passing out goodies to all the costumed little people last night–we sure did. There were some great costumes.

Ok, so here we go. Today’s workout involved targeting the back. The current workout I’m using was designed by me. It targets the three heads of the deltoids (front, lateral, and rear) and the trapezoids. As you can see in this workout I really enjoy moving up the weight with each set. What I did to mix things up today was to use drop sets and high reps at the end of the exercise to really burn the muscle. It was terrific! My shoulders were screaming afterward.

Today’s workout:

Shoulders:

Military press: 70×6; 90×6; 110×6; 110×6; 120×6;  130×6

Deltoids:

Dumbbell front raises: 15×6; 20×6; 25×6; 15×30

Lateral raises: 15×6; 20×6; 25×6; Drop Sets: 15×20; 10×10

Rear delt machine flys: 50×10; 70×10; 90×10; 110×10; Drop sets: 90×10; 70×15;

Shrugs: 55×10; 60×10; 65×10; 70×10; 75×10; Drop sets: 55×15; 50×10; 45×5

Abdominals:

Ab crunch: 40×12; 50×12; 65×12; 80×12; 95×12; 40×50;

Cardio:

Cardio 20 minutes – Hill Program – Level 5

Have a great day folks!

See you tomorrow!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Workout Log – Shoulders

Tags

Bent Over Rear Delt Raises, Facepulls, Lateral Raises, Military Press, Shoulders, Shrugs

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone is having a great end of the work week.

Today my workout hit the shoulders. I added some exercises to last week’s exercises. Initially, hit the Military Press, then Lateral raises, and bent over rear delt raises. I added Dumbbell Shrugs and Face pulls. I used two strategies today—drop sets and no rest sets. It was a great workout.

I wrote an article a while back on what is called the instinctive principle. This principle allows us to alter our work out to take advantage of peaks and valleys in energy. Some days you’re going to be on fire and you’ll want to take advantage of this by adding sets, adding weight, doing whatever you need to, to achieve a good workout. On the low days, you may lighten weights, you may reduce the number of sets and all the rest. Get it?

I enjoy this because it keeps my workout fresh and it allows me some freedom to push myself beyond what I would normally do on good days in the gym. The whole key to progression in the gym is to increase reps, lower rest times, increase weights, or any combination of the above. You can also increase intensity by doing supersets, compound sets, giant sets, drop sets, or rest-pause sets. I also enjoy using pyramids, when I really want to blast a muscle group. These really kick your tail if you do them right.

Anyway, that’s it for today. My workout today is below:

 Military press

Warm up: 70×12; 90×12; 110×12

Working sets: 130×6; 150×6; 160×5

Side lateral: 30×6; 35×6; 40×5

Bent over rear delt raise: 30×6; 35×6; 40×6

Dumbbell Shrugs: 65×10; 70×10; 75×7 (no rest between sets)

Face pulls: 50×10; 57.5×10; 65×10; 72.5×10; Drop-sets (no rest between sets) 65×10; 57.5×10; 50×10; 42.5×10

Ab circuit:

Ab-x: x12; x12; x12

Crunch machine: 110×12; 130×12; 150×12

Ab Coaster: 3 sets to failure (60; 50; 49)

Cardio

Cardio Hill Level 4 20 minutes

Tomorrow is Leg Day!

See you then.

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Workout Log – Shoulders and Abs

Tags

Abs, Circuits, motivation, Progression, Shoulders, Your "why"

Today’s workout focused on Shoulders and Abs. As I’ve mentioned in previous postings, this new workout routine focuses on consistency and progressively heavier weights–this being the main focus. The premise is that with added strength comes more muscle, even though it may not be evident in the mirror.

Let’s talk about motivation. Motivation to work out has to come from within. You need to have a “why”. Why are you going to the gym? Are you looking to improve your body’s looks? Are you doing it for improved health? Find your true “why” and you will never miss a workout.

Obviously, this is easier said than done. Think about the various gyms out there. They make most of their profits from people who sign up and then never go. Interestingly, you will always see an upswing in attendance at the gym during the months of January – March. This is the time everyone’s New Year’s resolutions kick in. By March, these motivated lifters fizzle out and the gym’s population returns to normal. Why? Because the “why” they have internally is not strong enough to keep them going.

My “why” is simple. I want to have a good quality of life, for the rest of my life. I’m not concerned about aesthetics. I just want to feel good. This is my “why”. What is yours? If you are comfortable, reply to this posting with your “why”. I’d be interested in hearing it.

Today’s Workout:

Military Press

Warmup: 50×20; 70×15; 90×10

110×6; 130×6; 150×6

Side Lateral 25×6; 30×6; 35×6

Bent-over Rear Delt Raise 25×6; 30×6; 35×6

Circuit x3

Crunch Machine: 130×12; 140×12; 150

Hanging leg raise x15; x15; x15

AB crunch bench x15; x15; x15

As you can see, I elevated weights in all areas, except the side lateral. That will increase next workout. I also changed my ab routine. I like variety with the abs because the same exercises get boring. I’m sticking to the format, however. One weight exercise followed by two non-weighted exercises. The circuit involves doing exercises 1-3 without rest, then taking a 1-2 minute rest between circuits. By the third round, I’m pretty well wiped.

That’s it for today folks. Tomorrow is Leg Day!

See you then…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Workout Log

Tags

Abs, Andy Morgan, Bodybuilding links, Jim Stoppani, Kris Gethin, Mike Matthews, Shoulders

Hello!

Today I’m going to provide a few websites that may be helpful to you as you learn more about bodybuilding and fitness. Here they are:

www.bodybuilding.com

www.jimstoppani.com

www.rippedbody.com

www.muscleforlife.com

www.kagedmuscle.com

Bodybuilding.com is an extensive library of articles, workout routines, a supplement store, and provides the ability to build a personal profile with pictures, supplements used, etc. to track all of your information in one easy-to-use spot. You can also download the Bodyspace app from iTunes or the Google Play store for free.

Jimstoppani.com is running and owned by Dr. Jim Stoppani. He is the creator of the JYM product line and the JYM Army (Facebook page). To use this site and get access to all of his articles you need to pay a 14.00/month fee. The main benefit of this site is the scientific information you gain access to, along with more than enough workouts to keep you busy for years. I currently use Jim’s PreJYM as a pre-workout drink.

Rippedbody.com was created by Andy Morgan. This website follows the theory of using lean body mass for the basis of your macro ratios. He also has a lot of articles that debunk most of the supplements that are offered on the market and are just hype. Access to most of his content is free. For one of his books, it was 37.00, but this is a one-time fee. There are no monthly memberships.

Muscleforlife.com is a website run by Mike Matthews, who has written a large number of books on nutrition and weightlifting, using a very simple strength building program. He simplifies the process of calculating your base macros to begin either a cutting, bulk, or maintenance diet. I just read one of his books, Bigger, Leaner, Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate male Body. He also has a book specifically for the female physique. I just started using his routine today and will run with this for about 8 weeks to gauge its effectiveness for me.

Kagedmuscle.com is running and owned by Kris Gethin, another professional trainer who I followed for a while. Although I believe this program is effective for some, I found it to be too sporadic workout to workout and gave it up after a few weeks. He has some good pre-, intra-, and post workouts called PreKaged, InKaged, and ReKaged. All of these were good tasting and worked, but I recently digressed back to Jim Stoppani’s pre-workout called PreJym. I’ve found this to be tasty, easy on my stomach, and effective for my early morning workouts.

I recommend visiting all of these sites to see which person’s philosophy aligns with your personal weightlifting philosophy. Bodybuilding.com is definitely worth your while because it does not promote anyone individually. There are a lot of really smart people on this site and the information is really helpful, particularly if you are a neophyte to lifting and are looking for some information on starting a nutrition, supplementation, and workout routine. Their app is pretty decent for tracking your workouts and will provide you a good history of your work in the gym.

Well, I hope this is helpful for you. Below was my first day using Mike Matthew’s workout routine.

Shoulders and Abs

Military Press 90×6; 100×6; 110×6

Side Lateral 25×6; 30×6; 35×5

Bent-over Rear Delt Raise 20×6; 25×6; 30×6

Circuit x3

Crunch Machine 100×12; 110×12; 120×12

Lying Leg Raise x12; x12; x12

Decline Crunch x12; x12; x12

 

As you can see, this workout is not complicated or drawn out. I was in and out of the gym in under an hour. He recommends lifting heavy and staying within a 4-6 rep range with 3-4 minutes of rest between sets. Even though this program may seem a little light, it will get a lot more difficult as I ramp up the weights. The Circuit at the bottom is literally a compound set, working from one ab exercise to another. Mike recommends one weighted movement (Crunch Machine) followed by two non-weight workouts (hence x12). The non-weighted are to failure. I started at 12 reps but will continue to elevate weight and reps as I progress through the routine. There is no rest between these sets. Once your circuit is done, rest for 2 minutes and start again, running through the circuit three times.

This workout will run for 8 weeks. At the end of the routine, Mike Suggests a deload week where you either lift light or just take the week off to recover. Then you adjust the exercises and start another 8 weeks.

Another interesting aspect of this routine is the gauge by which you determine what program you use. In my case, I’m at 26% body fat. Way too high. Subsequently, he recommends cutting until you are in the 15% body fat range. Once you’ve hit this, he recommends either continued cutting or moving into a bulking routine. I’ll keep you posted on my body fat as I progress through the routine.

Matthew’s workout split is five days. Monday Chest & Abs, Tuesday Back & Calves, Wednesday Shoulders & Abs, Thursday Legs, and Friday Upper Body and Abs. Matthew also recommends 4 days of cardio. Since Saturday and Sunday are off days I’ve chosen to work cardio on these days. The other two days are on Back and Abs Days (Tuesday) and Leg Days (Thursday). Cardio during workout days will be in the afternoon on my home elliptical. Saturday and Sunday will be on a treadmill at the gym.

Well, that’s it for today folks. I hope you learned something and visit these websites. There is some really great information on these sites and a place you can go to begin learning what this is all about.

See you tomorrow!

Dave

Daily Rambling – Today’s workout – Partial Reps

Tags

Cardio, Drop sets, Partial Reps, Shoulders

Today was a shoulder workout, combined with 2 sessions of cardio x 20 minutes. What makes today’s workout unique is the use of partial reps. Let me explain.

Partial reps are just that–doing a repetition, without accomplishing a full range of motion (ROM). The beauty of partial reps is the ability they provide to allow heavier weights to be used. The drop set was also used in this routine. Partial reps are accomplished by doing a normal set with a weight you can achieve a certain number of repetitions with good form and a full range of motion. Immediately following this we move the weight up and do as many partial reps we can to failure.

Twisters 20×150

Lateral raises warm up 15×10; 20×10

20×10; 25×20 (partial reps)

25×10; 30×10 (partial reps)

25×10; 35×7 (partial reps)

Dumbbell Shoulder Press warm up 35×10

35×10; 30×10; 25×10; 20×10 (drop sets with no rest in between)

Lying Dumbbell Rear Delt Lateral Raises

15×10; 20×20 (partial reps)

Cardio x 20 minutes

Workout 2

Twisters 20×150

Cardio x 20 minutes

 

Hope everyone is having a terrific Wednesday! I’ve already documented my cardio workout #2, but have not done it yet. That’s later today at 5 pm.

See you tomorrow!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Workout Log

Tags

Abs, Calves, Lean Body Mass, Macro App, Macro Calculator, Shoulders, tracking progress

Happy Friday!!!

Today’s workout took a whack at Shoulders, Calves, and Abs. Why I’m here let’s talk a bit about documentation. As you know, every time I post here, I post my workout routine. This is so important because it will allow you to track your progress. I track what I do every day and I also track what I eat and drink. I would highly recommend researching bodybuilding diets on Bodybuilding.com. If you are interested, you can look at the macro breakdown for using your Lean Body Mass. Click here to calculate your macros using your lean body mass vs. your total body weight.

Here’s what you should track:

• Your weight daily (weigh in each morning before you get dressed or eat)
• Your food intake
• Your water intake
• Your workout routine (weight x reps)
• Your measurements and body fat % (estimated–none of the methods are highly accurate but will get you in the ballpark).

What do I use to track my stuff?

I use an iPhone app called Macros (costs 10.00) and I use MS One Note to track my workouts. Obviously, you can use other apps or applications, but these work well for me.

Well, that’s it for today folks!

Today’s workout:

150 twisters 10lbs

Superset below (underlined)

Lateral raises 20×12; 25×12; 30×12

Dumbbell front raises 15×12; 20×12; 25×7; 20×5

Shoulder press machine 50×10; 70×12; 90×12; 110×12

Seated bent over lateral raises 10×12; 10×12; 10×12; 15×12; 15×12; 15×12; 15×12;

Standing calf raises 245×20 x 5

Sit ups 90×100; 110×40; 130×28

150 twisters 20lbs

Cardio 20 minutes Treadmill

 

See you tomorrow for Leg Day!!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Workout Log

Tags

Bodybuilding, Cardio, healthy living, Shoulders, Superset

Today’s workout!

Shoulders

25 minutes cardio

Military press 70×10; 110×10; 120×8; 130×10; 160×7

Machine shoulder press 50×10; 70×10; 90×10; 110×8; 90×8; 70×8; 50×7

Superset:

• Lateral raise 15×10; 15×12; 15×12; 15×12
• Lateral raise (behind back) 15×10; 15×12; 15×12; 15×10

Dumbbell shrug 65×10; 65×12; 65×12; 65×12

Rear delt fly 70×10; 90×12; 90×12; 90×12; 90×12; 90×12; 85×12; 80×12

25 minutes cardio

Great day in the gym! My current workout was designed by Kris Gethin, called the 12-week transformation. It is really nice to have so much variety from workout to workout. As mentioned in previous postings, the variety is what continuously shocks the body and muscles you are working and forces them to adapt to the exercise you are exposing them to.

See you tomorrow…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Workout Log

Tags

Abs, Bodybuilding, Calves, healthy living, Shoulders

Today’s Workout:

Shoulders, Abs, and Calves

Today’s workout was terrific! I learned that cardio should be separate from the weight routines. Subsequently, I’ll be doing 20 minutes at 3 pm and another 20 minutes at 9 pm daily.

See you tomorrow! Tomorrow is a cardio only day, so only two cardio workouts at 3 pm and 9 pm.

Dave

Military Press	70×12	90×12	110×12	110×12
Lateral Raise	20×12	25×12	30×12	35×12 (rest pause)
Upright row	40×12 wide	40×12 med	40×12 close
Rear Delt Raises	55×12	70×12	85×12	100×12
	115×12	115×12 (rest pause)	100×12
Weighted Sit up	100×20	110×20	120×20
Seated Calf Presses	3 x 60×20
Standing Calf raises	3 x 245×20
Cardio	2×20 minutes	separate workouts