Thread: Road to First Comp (Oct 2011)

legs today
i'm pretty happy with my squats for today even though my groin is still a bit sore, i wasn't able to do the leg press because of my groin, so i may limit myself to just leg ext and leg curls next week.

squats
8x135; 8x225; 8x315; 4x365; 6x345; 6x315; 8x225; 8x135 (last two were drop sets)

standing leg curls
8x80; 8x90; 8x90

leg extensions
8x250; 8x250; 8x250

seated calf raises
10x180; 8x205; 8x215; 6x225

donkey calf raises
7 sets of 10 or more with max weight on machine (10 45lb plates)

cardio
elliptical
50 min

good workout, i'm happy with it, burned alot of calories on the elliptical, and legs are pretty sore after the squats. getting back into it after the injury

shoulders and traps

for some reason my left forearm is really sore, so coudn't lift the damn dumbells. had to modify my workout a little bit

dumbell shoulder press
8x60; 7x70
hurt forearm too much

shoulder shrugs
8x360; 8x450; 8x500; 8x450; 8x360; 10x270; 10x180

machine shoulder press
8x180; 7x270; 6x270; 4x270

smith machine shoulder shrugs
8x225; 8x315; 8x365; 8x315; 8x225

cardio
elliptical
40 min; 538 calories

not happy with this workout, i hope that next week will be better

it seems that since i decided to compete, every week i hurt something else. what the hell. at least i have been able to lose weight in the mean time and drop in fat. so i guess thats a plus.

cardio today
elliptical
35 min; 480 cal
treadmill
11 min; 80 cal
elliptical
27 min; 350 cal

did some abb work as well

purchased Perfect Posing from Bodybuilding.com to teach me how to pose, and will probably invest in a trainer as i get closer to the comp. but prob not till july time frame.

cardio today
treadmill
20 min; 170 calories
elliptical
65 min; 888 calories
bike
10 min; 80 calories

good cardio, very happy with the calories that i'm burning. the waist is slimming down

awesome workout today, its been a while since i've felt this good

chest and tris
dumbell press
10x80; 9x100; 5x110; 8x100

incline dumbell press
8x80; 8x85; 8x90; 6x95

chest press supersetted with close grip bench press
close grip bench press
8x155; 8x165; 8x135

chest press
8x180; 5x200; 6x180

tricep pushdown supersetted with incline chest press
tricep pushdown
8x90; 8x100; 8x90

incline chest press
8x180; 4x230; 6x200

cable crossovers
upper pecks
8x50; 8x50
lower pecks
8x40; 8x40

single arm extensions
9x40; 8x50; 7x50; 6x40

cardio
elliptical
35 min; 482 calories

don't know what was in me, but this was an awesome workout. felt really good on this one, first time in a while since my shoulder has felt outstanding. putting up those 110 pound dumbells was a first in a while in my training. i've decided to change up my chest routine and this was the first day of it, and i think its a good one so far. replacing the bench press for a while with the dumbells.

back and bi's
deadlifts
8x135; 8x225; 7x315; 5x335; 1x345

one arm plate row
8x180; 7x205; 5x215; 6x205

front plate pulldown
8x290; 8x310; 8x320

lying t-bar row
7x180; 5x205; 2x225
5 plates!!!!! whoooooo!!!!

dumbell curls
8x50; 6x55; 5x60; 6x55; 7x45; 8x40

standing cable bicep curls
11x40; 8x50; 8x50

cardio
elliptical
5 min; 60 calories
didn't feel like cardio, just wasn't in the mood

good back workout, i'm happy with the progress that i'm making and even when i'm on a cutting diet. my lifts are getting heavier and i think i'm gaining some mass as i lose the excess fat. can't complain, can i. lol

legs today
squats
8x135; 8x225; 8x315; 5x365; 3x385; 1x405; 8x315; 8x225; 8x135 (last three sets were drop sets)

stiff leg deadlifts
8x135; 8x225; 8x275

leg extensions
8x250; 8x250; 8x250

lying leg curls
8x110; 7x110; 5x110

standing calf raises
12x250; 8x270; 8x270

seated calf raises
10x90; 8x135; 8x180

donkey calf raises
5 sets of 10 with max weight (450 lbs)

cardio
elliptical
10 min; 130 calories

legs felt good today, happy with my squats, although my groin is still a little sore, still can't do leg presses. hopefully another few weeks i will be able to, and wasn't too much in the mood for cardio. going to have to hit it hard tomorrow and friday.

shoulders and traps
dumbell press
8x60; 8x70; 7x80; 5x80

shouder shrugs
10x360; 8x450; 6x540; 5x540; 8x450; 8x360

machine military press
8x180; 7x270; 4x290

smith machine shoulder shrugs
8x225; 8x315; 7x365; 8x315; 8x225

reverse delts
10x90; 8x110; 8x110

side lateral raises
8x30; 8x32.5; 6x35

cardio
elliptical
25 min; 333 calories
treadmill
15 min; 96 calories

shoulders feel good, but my damn left forearm is still a bit sore. going to do two days of cardio before i hit chest again, give my arm a bit to rest and recuperate. i'm happy with the workout though

cardio for the last few days

friday 22
elliptical
62 min; 840 calories

saturday 23
elliptical
45 min; 616 calories
treadmill
20 min; 156 calories

sunday 24
elliptical
65 min; 905 calories

left forearm is still a bit sore, and probaly wont do chest tomorrow if it still feels bad, will have to stick to the cardio for the time being. not that it hurts to lose some excess weight. but kind of pissed off that i can't lift the weights like i want to.

more cardio for the past two days because of my forearm being sore. did some research on the injury and it could be another week till i hit the weights again, probably injured it doing back, or deadlifts, don't really know. however, i'm going to do legs tomorrow since that wont hurt it, besides putting the plates up on the bar.

cardio
monday 25
elliptical
65 min; 890 calories
treadmill (incline of 6 to 8%, walking)
20 min; 157 calories

tuesday 26
treadmill
20 min; 197 calories (ran for most of it, i would say 15 min worth)
elliptical
50 min; 698 calories

starting to notice the fat loss around my waist, plus i'm around 180 to 184 in weight

update on my eating schedule

breakfast
8 egg whites, 2 eggs, yams

snack
protein shake with water

lunch
8 ounce chicken with rice and veggies

snack
protein shake with water

dinner
8 ounce piece of chicken, turkey, or fish, with rice and veggies or a large salad

pre bed
protein shake with water

aiming for at least 200 grams of protein with as little fat as possible, rice is whole wheat, or brown rice, and veggies are anything green, such as peppers, onions, cucumbers, salads, and what not.

the protein shakes have 50 grams of protein per serving and 2 grams of fat per serving, so keeping the fat very low.

legs today
squats
8x135; 8x225; 8x315; 6x335; 4x355; 6x315

leg ext
8x250; 8x250; 8x250

lying leg curls
10x110; 8x110; 8x110

standing calf raise
10x270; 8x270; 8x270

seated calf raise
8x135; 8x180; 8x205; 5x225

cardio
elliptical
50 min; 666 calories

groin is still bothering me, can't do as much on the squats, but legs felt good. my forearm still is painful when i lift things with it, so no upperbody for a while. i'm pissed off, can't even touch weights right now. i can't even lift my own son with my left arm. doing the cardio though, hopefully it pays off with all the cardio and no weights, but i'm afraid of losing some muscle in the mean time. i know that i can't lose much, but it just pains me to go into the gym and not even go in the weight section. probably going to do cardio for another week or so before the forearm is ready to go.

i'm close to the 180 pound mark, and probably have another 5 pounds of fat on my stomach, so for the comp i'm aiming for between 170 and 175.

cardio for the last two days in april
29
elliptical
65 min; 874 calories
bike
28 min; 210 calories

30
elliptical
65 min; 890 calories
treadmill
25 min; 215 calories

new month, may, groin is almost better and the same goes for my forearm

hopefully within the next week i can hit the weights again, it sucks to be out for so long, but the cardio is paying off

2
elliptical
58 min; 798 caloires
bike
11 min; 85 calories

3
treadmill
22 min; 239 calories; 1.5 miles run in that time, trying to get it down to 15 min
elliptical
49 min; 635 calories
bike
4 min; 30 calories

DAMN first day that i could do leg press yippeee

legs today
squats
8x135; 8x225; 8x315; 5x365; 1x405 (had to try it, felt good, probably could have done one more); 6x315; 7x225

leg press
8x90; 8x270; 8x450; 8x630; 2x720
not as much as i'm used to doing, but at least i was able to do this exercise with my groin. still a bit sore, but felt pretty good

standing leg curl
6x90; 6x90; 4x100

seated leg ext
6x250; 7x250; 6x250

seated calf raise
8x135; 8x180; 8x205; 8x205; 8x180

suppersetted with
donkey raises
5 sets of 8 to 10 reps of max weight (450)

cardio
none for today, not enough time for the gym, had my son with me. i'll make it up tomorrow and the next day and the next and the next, lol. since my arm is still sore, going to be at least another week till i'm ready to hit the weights again. oh well.

mostly cardio, seemed to hurt my groin a bit after the last workout, here is the cardio that i have done since the 3rd of may

5
t 28 min; 310 cal
e 46 min; 616 cal

6
t 10 min; 61 cal
e 65 min; 862 cal
b 20 min; 160 cal

7
t 25 min; 244 cal
e 50 min; 672 cal
t 20 min; 160 cal

8
t 44 min; 350 cal

14
t 10 min; 52 cal
sm 11 min; 200 cal
e 53 min; 713 cal

16
e 60 min; 807 cal

17
t 21 min; 195 cal
e 50 min; 663 cal
t 20 min; 161 cal

19
e 50 min; 677 cal
t 35 min; 230 cal

ok, so i went to the doctor on tuesday and had my arm checked out and he gave me the go ahead that its not a pulled tendon. just a muscle strain on either my bicep or the forearm, i think it's more of the forearm.

today was the first day that i returned to the weights, and took it easy, and just wanted to see what i could do. i have lost a little strength, but i don't think much though. my left arm is a bit sore at the elbow joint, but not too bad. going to start regular routine back up on monday, but going to take it a bit lighter for the first few weeks.

here is todays workout, a little bit of everything, except for legs

bench press
8x135; 8x185; 8x205; 8x135

lying t-bar row
8x90; 8x135; 7x145; 7x135

seated millitary press machine
8x180; 8x200; 7x220; 6x180

shoulder shrugs
10x180

tricep pushdowns
10x70; 8x110; 7x120

dumbbell curls
8x40; 8x45; 6x45; 8x40

cardio
elliptical
12 min; 150 cal

doing a 5k tomorrow, so didn't do much cardio today

ok, did cardio for the past few days

arm feels good after that workout, so i'm going to do a full body workout today. i'll post the details later and the workouts that i'm going to do. i think that i'm going to stick to full body workouts for a bit here. read an article in musclemag saying that it can have an effect on increased fat loss by working out the entire body at one time, multiple times during the week. so i'm going to give it a shot.

plus i still want to ease back into the weights since i've been out for almost a month. going to keep it a bit light, but going to test what strength that i have, and flucuate future workouts from heavy to moderate weights.

heres the cardio for the past two days

21
t 15 min; 129 cal
e 65 min; 893 cal

22
e 65 min; 894 cal
t 30 min; 320 cal

will post more later with my ideas

ok, first day of full body workouts

did 10 to 15 minutes of cardio in between every two exercises (suggestion from someone at the gym, to help in fat loss) and i have to say that this workout wore me out today. goal is to get rid of the gut by july 1st!!!!

the only thing that i haven't added in is abs, will do next time, i was so tired out, that i had no motivation to do em. i think i'll work on them between one of the exercises.

bench press
8x135; 8x185; 8x205; 2x225 (just had to try it, hadn't done 225 in a month or so)

front pulldowns
8x140; 8x150; 6x150; 6x150 (this bothered my arm a bit)

treadmill
15 min; 147 cal

shoulder military press
8x180; 8x200; 8x220; 6x240

shoulder shrugs
8x360 for 4 sets

stair master
10 min; 98 cal

leg extenstions
8x250; 8x250; 6x270; 9x230

standing calf raises
8x270; 8x270; 8x290; 8x290 (did these slow, and varied my foot position)

elliptical
15 min; 205 cal

tricep pushdowns
8x90; 8x100; 8x90

dumbell curls
8x40; 7x45; 6x50

treadmill
10 min; 45 cal (cooldown)

here is my idea for my full body workouts,

after every two exercises, i put in 10 to 15 min of cardio, such as after the front pulldowns i'll do 15 min of cardio before i go on to the military press. the number next to em is the amount of sets done. after testing this out i may change the workout around or the number of sets around as well.

day 1
bench press 4
front pulldowns 4
military press 4
shoulder shrugs 4
leg extensions 4
standing calf raises 4
tricep pushdown 3
dumbell curls 3
abs 3
cardio

day 2
cardio only

day 3
incline bench press 4
lying t-bar row 4
dumbell shoulder press 4
smith machine shoulder shrugs 4
lying leg curls 4
seated calf raise 4
reverse grip tricep extenstions 3
preacher curls 3
abs 3
cardio

day 4
cardio only

day 5
hammer chest press 4
seated plate row 4
arnold shoulder press 4
dumbell shoulder shrugs 4
squats 4
donkey raises 4
close grip bench press 3
standing double bicep curls 3
abs 3
cardio

day 6
cardio only

day 7
repeat, rest, or cardio only