Chest

Well, my last workout was... I guess good. I say that with a little ambiguity because, as I stated on my post Wednesday, I was thinking of changing things around. I do pec deck followed immediately by incline press.

I decided to stay with this 1 more week and see how much I could press on incline. I haven't moved the weight on that because I hit the pec deck so hard. I made great gains on the pec deck, lifting 150lbs 5Xs, but again, no progress on the incline press. I added 20lbs but I could only move the stack halfway. Perhaps it is my ego, but not progressing more on the incline press hurts me a little. I want to push more!

So, I will definitely switch it around next week and do incline press, followed by pec deck. With that said, my chest is looking good so I am happy with my progress.

My workout was good; it just stuck with me a little that I couldn't lift the added weight on the incline. I tried to concentrate and did go through the whole workout feeling good, but damn it... Oh, well.

Today, shoulders and arms.

1980 Mr. Olympia DVD

I ordered the 1980 Mr. Olympia DVD from MikeMentzer.com. I've read that this was one of the biggest fixes in the Mr. O contest history, and this is why Mike Mentzer decided to retire. Mike was obviously very outspoken and thrashed the muscle magazines and supplement makers. He stated that they misled bodybuilders by advocating training methods that where not very effective and would make bodybuilders 'need' supplements just to recover. Was this why Mike was cheated? Was he cheated?

I'll write more once I see the DVD. I can't wait to receive it.

Get the DVD here:
http://www.mikementzer.com/checkout/catalognew.asp

From the site:

The journalistic reports - in every magazine - which followed the contest, indicated that it was fixed. Each stated that Arnold was far from his best shape - while Mike Mentzer had reached a pinnacle! It seemed that the entire world of bodybuilding was in agreement - except the judges! Many concluded that other competitors at the '80 "O" were better than Arnold, too.

Progress - Weight

Progress is coming along nicely. I went from doing leg presses on a machine that yo lie down on to a machine that you're seated in. I was able to do 1 set of 24 repetitions with 355 lbs. I did so many reps because I wasn't sure how much weight I could use. Now that I know, I'll adjust and use more weight. I used 105 lbs for leg extensions and 90 for leg curls; and that was also too light.

As far as my weight, I'm not loosing pounds, but I'm gaining muscle. I weigh the same amount but can see a difference in the way my clothes fit. I'm not following any special diet yet. I should, as I'm sure this would accelerate my weight loss.

I missed a couple of posts, but I'm not going to write something for every single workout. I'll just update as I go along and feel that I've hit a new milestone or have something more interesting to add.

Until then, HIT it hard!

Changing Things Around

Well, I've kept up with my workouts but am changing things around a bit. I can't do Nautilus pullovers correctly because my arms are too short and I end up using my triceps a lot. Last workout, I had really sore triceps and abs, but my lats where not that sore.

I'm still using pec decks followed by incline bench press for chest, but I'm also considering changing that a bit. I'm now using 135lbs for pec decks, but my bench isn't really progressing as much. I know that this may be more for my ego because my chest is killing me! I've really learned to go for it on the pec deck and I'm really hurting by the time I get to the Incline press, so that hinders how much weight I can handle. But I want to see my progress on incline so I'll use that first next week, so that I can handle as much weight as possible, and then follow it up by pec decks. If my progress is substantial, then I'll know that this is really working and I'll go back to pec decks followed by incline. I'll change up every now and then just for variety.

Arms Heavy

Tuesday and my biceps are still sore. I can feel my shoulders and triceps, but not as much as biceps. My arms are really getting filled out now and I have a new peak that feels great. I still need to drop a few lbs, but progress is becoming more apparent now.

I feel good and need to ratchet up the running a bit. Knee pain slowed me down for the last 2-weeks, but I need to start kicking it back in gear. I'll try to run 2 miles today, but since I haven't gone out in 2-weeks, I'm not sure how I'll respond. Slow and steady!

Shoulders & Arms

Good workout today. I felt strong and used a variation of Mentzer's infitronic training, where you do a full max rep, rest for 10 seconds, and repeat for 4 - 5 reps. I did this for lateral raises with 120lbs and 100lbs for preacher curls.

I did 3 reps with 100lbs for preacher curls, so I probably could have used 110lbs. However, since I didn't have a training partner, I did not properly gauge my max weight properly and just went with what I started with. After 3 reps (I did attempt a 4th but hit failure), I then paused for 10 seconds, stripped the weight to 90 pounds, and did it again. I did this for 5 reps, barely moving the weight towards the end and really squeezing my biceps and slowly lowering the weight on my last rep. My biceps where BURNING!

Triceps and shoulders also felt good. Again, good workout.

Total time = under 20 minutes.

Getting Weaker?

I lost 50lbs on my incline bench and 35lbs on my rope pull downs in 1-week. Could this be possible?

I expected a drop of weight in my incline due to me putting this exercise second after pec decks. But that still seemed like a lot of weight for me to drop in a week. I have to attribute the additional loss of power to different machines. I pressed 250 easily on the Hammer Strength, but I only did 200 on another machine that had cables. So the weight on these machines isn't quite accurate. Also, I did feel a difference in the angle, so I'm sure that also had a lot to do with my power outage.

I then did rope pull downs 1-week with 135lbs for 8 reps, then could only manage 100lbs the next week on another machine. Again, I could not believe that I lost that much strength so I went back to the first machine and could easily lift 135lbs for a few reps.

So, machines make a difference, both in weight and in angles. However, I would have never imagined this big of a difference and am a bit disappointed. I mainly use machines because for the most part, I don't have a training partner so I cannot safely hit failure. I guess, for the sake of tracking, I need to use the same machine every time I workout. Otherwise, the weight discrepancy will not allow me to properly track my progress.

I don't care about how much weight I use, I just want to be able to track my progress. The difference in each machine just makes this task more difficult, so I'll have to wait if someone is using the machine that I'm tracking my progress on.