Thread: Road to First Comp (Oct 2011)

Since I started this journal halfway through my routine, here is what i did for the previous two days.

Friday
Chest and Tri's
Bench Press
8x135; 8x225; 6x235; 4x245; 3x250

Decline Press
8x185; 8x205; 8x225; 7x235

Incline Press Machine
6x250; 5x260; 3x270; 6x250

Skullcrushers
8x100 (4 sets) with pushups inbetween sets

Seated Fly Machine
7x230; 6x230; 5x230

Tricep Pushdown
8x100; 7x110; 6x110




Saturday
Back and Bi's
Seated one arm rows
8x135; 6x180; 4x205; 6x180

Lat Pulldown
8x270; 6x320; 4x340; 6x270

Lying T-bar Row
8x180; 7x195; 6x200; 3x205

Pulldown rows
8x270; 7x320; 6x320

Preacher Curls
5x125; 4x130; 4x125

Dumbbell Curls
8x50; 6x55; 4x60

Standing Bicep Curls
8x50; 8x60; 8x60

Today's workout:

Legs

Squats
8x135; 8x225; 8x315; 6x365; 3x385; 1x395

Leg Press
8x720; 8x810; 6x860; 3x910

Hack Squats
8x180; 6x270; 6x270

Leg Extensions
(did em, mind is drawing a blank on reps and weight, lol)

Standing Leg Curls
8x100; 6x100

Seated Calf Raises
15x135; 12x180; 10x180; 15x135

Nice squats, you doing Olympic style or parallel?

Originally Posted by ihateschoolmt

Nice squats, you doing Olympic style or parallel?

parallel. i try to go as low as possible. ass to floor

Shoulders and Traps today

dumbbell press
8x70; 8x80; 8x85; 8x85; 4x90 (had a spotter on last one, helped me with two of the reps, first time attempting this weight)

shoulder shrugs machine
10x360; 6x450; 5x450; 8x360

shoulder press machine
8x270; 6x290; 4x300; 6x270

front raises
8x50; 7x50

side raises
8x35; 8x35

smith machine shoulder shrugs
10x275; 10x315; 8x365; 10x315

cardio
25 min of cardio (350 calories)

Originally Posted by mohorter

parallel. i try to go as low as possible. ass to floor

ATF is Olympic style, parallel is getting your femur parallel to the floor.

sorry didn't really know the difference between the two, i try to go as low as i can.

chest today

bench press
8x135; 8x225; 6x235; 4x245; 2x260; 7x225

decline press
8x185; 8x225; 7x245; 8x225

incline press machine
8x250; 6x270; 4x280

dips
15 (bodyweight); 12 (with 25 weight); 10 (with 45 weight); 10 (45 weight)

chest flys machine
8x210; 8x210; 8x210

skullcrushers
8x100; 7x100; 7x100

cardio
elliptical machine: 30 min, 377 calories

going shopping tomorrow for food stuffs, will start posting what i eat day to day.

back today

machine plate row
8x270; 8x360; 5x410; 2x430

front pulldown plate
8x270; 6x320; 4x340; 3x340

lying t-bar row
8x180; 6x205; 4x215

preacher curls
6x125; 6x125; 5x125

deadlifts
10x135; 8x225; 5x315; 1x365; 3x315

dumbbell curls
7x55; 5x60; 3x65; 5x60

concentration curls
8x40; 7x45; 6x45

standing cable bicep curl
10x40; 8x50; 8x50

cardio
elliptical 20 min, 250 calories

How come you don't do deadlifts first? And also that's a lot of curls.

it's been a while since i've done deadlifts, wanted to see what i could do. next time i go back, i'm going to do them first. think that i should limit curls to one or two exercises?

today just cardio
elliptical 65 min 800 calories
treadmill 15 min mix of walking and running 100 calories

Yea man drop the curls down to maybe one exercise and add in some underhand bent over rows and pull ups. Compound movements are what get you big isolation exercises are really just preference.

cool, thanks for the info, i've been thinking of adding weighted pullups to my workout

Originally Posted by mohorter

Hello all, i'm a new member here, name is Adam, and going to start a journal on my road to a October Competition that i'm preparing for. This will be my first one. I appologize, this first post is a little long.

Just a little about myself, i've been bb'ing for the past few years as a hobby to get rid of the excess fat on my body and fell in love with it, and am now comitted to the gym. A day that I miss is now a day lost in my mind. Created a good habbit I beleive. Over the past year or so, I have dropped 40 pounds of fat and gained hopefully some in muscle, lol. I know i have, body has changed very nicely. Mental attitude has changed as well.

Age is 35
Height is 5'6"
Weight is 195
Fat % - not sure (will get this later, mostly around my waist)
Pictures (will eventually post)

As of right now i'm starting a cutting routine and want to get some advice from anyone that I can. I have been lifting heavy for a long time, and I feel that I need to get rid of the fat as fast as possible so that i'm not behind for the comp in October. I figure i have 7 months to prepare for this. I hope that it's enough time.


Cardio - Trying to do some after workouts as well as days off.
Abs - Try to do some each day, need to be better at this though

As far as supplements, i'm taking Plasmajet, Creatik Creatine, and Dark Matter post recovery

Diet and Nutrition, will post this as I go. I know that for a cut, i need to watch the fat, and pretty sure the carbs as well, correct me if i'm wrong. Always looking for some good advice.

Aloha Adam !! you're training schedule looks good. You're interested in losing bodyfat, you need to make sure your nutrition is correct and that you're doing cardio to help burn the fat

what kind of show is there and where ?

Originally Posted by ParadiseCup

what kind of show is there and where ?

The show is in Buffalo, NY, amateur obviously for my first one, one of the guys that works at the gym i go to (Gold's Gym is looking more into it, but it's going to be during October this year. Sorry I don't have much more information on it, i'll have to get it from him as soon as i can. All I know is october and its at a local high school south of Buffalo. Should be a decent one for being my first one, and a good learning experience.

As far as getting rid of the fat, i've been incorporating alot of cardio in my workouts, and yeah, I have changed up my diet.

Eating lots of chicken, turkey, pork, fish, tuna (tried my first bite of tuna fish yesterday, lol, not bad), some red meats (not much, maybe once a week), brown and wheat rice, eggs and egg whites, vegies (i'm very very picky in this area, not much things that i like, but i'm trying new stuff) and salad, lots of water, oats and special k cereal (love this stuff, don't know if i should be eating it, but it is very low in fat, and contains the only cup of milk that i drink throughout the day.)

Let me know if theres anything that i'm missing or should cut out of my diet. did lots of research on this, and think that i have a good start. i'm avoiding breads and pasta, sugars, and anything really high in fat. also read that peanut butter is a good source of fat, so i have a very little amount each day. usually before workout.

legs today

squats
10x135; 8x225; 8x315; 6x365; 4x385; 2x405; (supperset 315, then 225 x 8 reps each) its so cool to see 4 plates on either side now, lol, legs are starting to develop nicely.

leg press
8x720; 7x810; 4x900; 6x860

hack squats
8x180; 8x270; 6x320; 4x340

leg extension
8x250; 7x250; 6x250

standing leg curls
8x90; 7x100; 7x100

seated calf raises
12x135; 10x180; 10x190; 8x200

donkey raises
10x450; 8x450; 8x450; 8x450

cardio
about 10 min on the treadmill to cool down and stretch out my legs. no major cardio today. legs are pretty dead now. good workout, i'm happy with my squats, must have been the new weight belt that i bought. lol

Yea 4 plates is pretty fucking heavy, especially full depth, congrats on that.

shoulders and traps today

dumbbell press
8x70; 8x85; 7x85; 6x85; 4x85

machine shoulder shrugs
10x360; 7x450; 5x450; 8x360; 10x270

machine shoulder press
8x270; 7x290; 4x310; 4x300

standing laterals (machine)
8x70; 8x70; 7x70

front raises
8x45; 8x50; 6x55

smith machine shoulder shrugs
10x225; 8x275; 4x325; 7x275; 10x225

cardio
elliptical 35 min 443 calories

shoulders felt good today, think i'm goign to change it up a bit though, next week instead of doing the shoulder press machine, i'm going to do military presses, and switch out the dumbbell presses for some arnold presses to increase the strength in my shoulders. i'm happy with the weight taht i'm putting up, now to increase the size of my shoulders, think those two exercises would help out greatly. tomorrow is just cardio.

Originally Posted by ihateschoolmt

Yea 4 plates is pretty fucking heavy, especially full depth, congrats on that.

didn't quite get them at full depth, a little farther than parallel, but i'm happy with it, next goal is to get it to full depth though. i think that squating is one of my favorite exercises.

just cardio today

elliptical 65 min; 840 calories

chest and tris today

bench press
8x135; 8x185; 8x225; 5x245; 2x255; 2x265 (spotter on last one)

decline press
7x225; 6x235; 6x225

incline bench press
8x135; 8x165; 7x185

dips
(with 45 weight) 10; 10; 8; 8

seated machine flys
8x210; 8x210; 7x210

skullcrushers
8x90; 8x90; 7x100

cardio
elliptical 25 min 330 calories

shoulder is starting to bother me again, nagging shoulder injury. if its still bad tomorrow i may have to skip the weights and just do cardio. dammit and i was doing so good.

ok, today was supposed to be back and bi's, but my shoulder is giving me problems, so i'm taking a few days off from upperbody. so today i just did cardio

elliptical 65 min; 855 calories

hopefully my shoulder will be better in a few days, so i can do upperbody again, tomorrow will just be cardio again, and i think on friday morning i may do legs. don't want to skip them this week either.

just cardio today

elliptical 65 min; 818 calories
treadmill 10 min; 100 calories

i'm still mad about my shoulder, hoping that a few more days off from upperbody will help.

today i did legs

squats
8x135; 8x225; 8x315; 4x365; 7x335; 6x315
not happy today with squats, i think that all of the cardio made my legs tired, or i was just too tired in the morning. first time going to the gym at 8am

leg press
8x720; 8x770; 7x820; 4x860

hack squats
8x180; 7x270; 5x320

leg extensions
8x250; 8x250

standing leg curls
8x90; 8x90

seated calf raises
10x180; 10x205; 8x215; 8x180; 10x135

donkey raises
10x450; 10x450; 10x450; 8x450 (maxed this machine out)


i was a bit tired when i started this workout, and honestly a little frustrated with my shoulder still being sore. but at least i was able to do legs today

the next few days will be just cardio, and hopefully my shoulder will heal. if not, cardio it is for the next week as well. at least i can focus on losing the excess fat that i have, and have started a abb workout as well.

hello mohorter, good luck on your adventure, you are a better man than me, i have no desire to get up on stage.
good looking workouts. lots of iron being pushed around.
i have never had a problem from them, but alot of people feel the dips are bad for the shoulders, i see that you did weighted ones the day you got shoulder pain, was the first time in a while doing those? any ways hope it gets better soon, nothing worse than set backs once you start getting into a good grove.

Originally Posted by the other half

hello mohorter, good luck on your adventure, you are a better man than me, i have no desire to get up on stage.
good looking workouts. lots of iron being pushed around.
i have never had a problem from them, but alot of people feel the dips are bad for the shoulders, i see that you did weighted ones the day you got shoulder pain, was the first time in a while doing those? any ways hope it gets better soon, nothing worse than set backs once you start getting into a good grove.

thanks man,

yeah i'm trying to put two and two together and figure out what happened, could be the dips, could be the decline bench press, seeing how i have to pull the weight up and over to my chest, or just did too much on shoulder day, i personally think its the decline, i'm just a bit too short to reach the bar effectively. if i do do this again, i'll have to get a spotter

as for the comp, thanks, i'm a bit intimidated as well, but i'm going to go for it, trying to keep the motivation level high as possible even with the shoulder injury, but as of today, its starting to feel better. still a bit sore, but not to entirely bad. i think a few more days off from upperbody will help.

today was just cardio, my favorite elliptical machine

65 min for 810 calories

also did some stretching of my right shoulder.