I’m in the final 4 weeks of my latest workout routine. It actually scares me a bit, because I look over the worksheets and I see how much volume needs to be done. This month the routine jumps from 3 sets to 4 as the weight gets heavier on certain days. I will be doing [...]
May 102011
During any workout regimen, sometimes injuries occur. I have been doing various Beachbody routines for over 2 years now and have been very lucky to not have gotten injured. On my last few posts, I have been talking about the new routine I have been doing which mixes heavy lifting days with light days. The program is 6 days straight of weight lifting and you work each body part twice a week. Well, I guess I was due because I injured my shoulder during one of the workouts. I always speak about the importance of progressive overload and making sure you push yourself every workout. All Beachbody programs incorporate push up variations for chest. The program I was doing incorporated bench pressing. I think I went too heavy too fast and injured my shoulder in the process. I went to the doctor to check it out and luckily it’s only inflammation. He said to lay off the bench pressing and any kind of overhead pressing like shoulder press. I did lay off the bench press, but thought to myself, I can still do push ups. STUPID thing to do, because I still feel a slight pain in the shoulder during push ups. I have noticed that it really has not gotten better so finally I am not doing any push ups or pressing movements. This doesn’t mean I am not working out, I am just not doing any moves that hurt my shoulder. People call me a little crazy and that might be true, but exercising has become part of my daily routine and I cannot imagine not doing something. For the next 10 days, I am working my legs twice a week with Plyo X which I did today (oldie but goodie) and squats later in the week. I can also do isolated triceps work & bicep as well. Point I am trying to make is to be smart about injuries ( I wasn’t). I tried to push past the pain, not realizing that if I really continued and injured my shoulder further, I could be out for months if I required surgery. So, if you have a nagging injury on your upper body, do lower body exercises. If you have an injury on your lower body, work your upper body. Remember to adjust your diet as well so that you can maintain what you have gained. I had been making great gains on this new program and gained some mass. It’s likely that I will lose some now, but it has to be done. Be smart, adjust your diet and when your pain free, start again slowly.
Apr 272011
This is just a cruel workout! Tri-sets and giant sets are incorporated with 30 seconds rest. I barely had the time to wipe the sweat off my face before starting each set. Tri-sets are 3 moves back to back, whereas giant sets are 4 moves back to back. You do 1 entire round, rest 30 seconds and repeat for the prescribed number of reps. The workout is relatively short, right about 45-50 minutes, but man the burn was intense. Here it is:
Back-straight arm lat pull-downs into wide grip pull-downs into bent over rows. 4 sets 30 reps each. (You do 1 entire set, rest 30 seconds and repeat 4 times.) Be smart about the weight you pick. Since I have never done this sequence with high reps, I started off light and adjusted myself on the other sets. It really bruises your ego when your doing wide lat pull-downs with just 60lbs.
Triceps-Rope push-downs into overhead rope extensions into bar push-downs. 3 sets 30 reps. Same format as the back exercises. I’ll be honest, I was only pushing 20lbs on both the rope exercises. That is pathetic! I really wanted to focus on form and contracting the muscle and today my triceps are super sore! Remember, it’s 30 reps, I didn’t want to take a lot of breaks with heavier weight.
Abs- hanging leg raises into twisting crunches into plank holds on stability ball into reverse crunches. This is the giant set. All moves were done back to back with no rest for 3 sets to failure. The only exception was the plank holds which were for 1 minute. After this was done, I just laid on the floor and relaxed. Burned just over 900 calories and took my post-workout shake immediately after.
If you want to give this a try, trust me, it will not disappoint. If you push yourself, there is no way your body won’t be sore. Yes, that’s a good thing! It tells you that your muscles are fatigued and primed for repair & growth. Next up: Heavy: Shoulders, traps, legs & calves. What a combination. Can’t wait!
 HEAVY:LEGS, CALVES & ABSHere we go again! My legs are still sore from Wednesday’s workout and I now have to squat heavier weight. Key is to get the right mindset. It’s only pain. My wife actually complimented me on my legs the other day. I guess it’s working. Squat- 3 sets 6 reps with 2 rest/pause on last [...] |
 LIGHT:TRAPS, TRICEPS, BICEPS & FOREARMSSupersets! Yeahhhhhh! What a burn. Incline Dumbbell shrugs superset with dumbbell shrugs- 3 sets 15 reps Incline dumbbell curls superset with incline tricep extension-3 sets 15 reps Ez-bar curls superset with cable pressdowns- 3 sets 20 reps Reverse forearm curls superset with wrist curls-3 sets 20 reps. I don’t know if I mentioned that the [...] |
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 HEAVY:CHEST, BACK & SHOULDERSThis is one of my favorites because I feel my chest is the weakest of all my body parts. I continue to up my weight every week in hopes of achieving great pecs. It has come a long way but still needs a ton of work. My cousin told me the other day, it only [...] |
 LIGHT: LEGS, CALVES & ABSI really hate Leg day! It’s so painful. However, I have mentioned before that it’s vital for a proportioned physique and it helps build your upper body as well. I sweat more during this workout than any other. Did I mention that I hate leg day? Leg extension superset with Leg curls 4 sets 20 [...] |
 HEAVY:TRAPS, TRICEPS, BICEPS & FOREARMSI apologize for missing in action for a while. Between work & vacation I fell behind on posting the month 2 workouts. Some of you must be thinking if I skipped workouts while on vacation, the answer is absolutely not! I brought my trx & a resistance band and did all my workouts in the [...] |
 HAULIN HOOKSIf you have been doing any kind of workout program and lift heavy, it’s very common to develop calluses on your hands. Whether your doing pull ups, lat pull downs or curls, your hands can take a beating. Having painful calluses can actually decrease your performance because your forced to stop before failure or your targeted number of [...] |
 MONTH 2-LIGHT: CHEST,BACK & SHOULDERSThe current program I am doing is broken up into 3 months. I just finished month 1, which I posted 2 weeks ago. I will now give you a breakdown of month 2. Month 2 is completely different. The rep ranges are higher on light days and lower on heavy days and different body parts [...] |
