I’m in Vegas, baby! Had a fantastic, super-hard, long, complete workout in the Trump Towers’ gym. Badass gym they have! Have you seen those “Technogym” machines? I read about them a while back and this is the second time I got to use them. They are really cool treadmills, bikes, and eliptical machines that have a computer touch-screen monitor on them. You can watch full tv and control everything from there. They do all kinds of other things like remember your stats, programs, etc. but I just used the eliptical for 10 minutes of HIIT.
Before the the cardio, I did a badass circuit of:
Seated bench press
Dumbbell curls drop-sets of 3 + hammers and reverse curls (palms down to work the forearms)
Low dip pushups with feet up on bosu ball
Tricep pushdowns narrow v-bar
Tricep overhead extensions singular dumbbell
Dumbell raises to arm pits trifecta with arm curls and lighter hammers
Tricep straight bar pushdowns with 1 second hold at bottom
pushups. flat on floor
Seated bent over dumbbell lateral raises (strengthens rear delts to counter the heavy chest workout)
Cable rotator cuff extensions – sides (again, must reinforce the rear delts when working out chest)
Cable rotator cuff extensions – top
This was followed by the eliptical workout: 10 minutes on the interval setting
I immediately drank a 25g protein Muscle Milk. Chocolate, thank you very much. Plus a complimentary green apple for the simple carbs and vitamin C hit. Felt like a million bucks by the time I finished my shake and got half way through my apple.
Lunch was freaking great as well. Angus cheeseburger with fries (I’m on vacation!) from the Neiman Marcus cafe in the mall. I walked around a hell of a lot so I’m pretty sure I burned more calories than I consumed here in Vegas. Especially since my only other meal was dinner at 11:30 pm. Yes, I ate terribly as far as multiple meals go. At least, my late night supper consisted of a New York steak and 2 eggs.
http://10in30.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/cropped-10in30-Logo150h_trans-1.png00admin - BUMhttp://10in30.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/cropped-10in30-Logo150h_trans-1.pngadmin - BUM2010-11-14 10:17:132010-12-31 00:38:27Sat, Nov 13, Great workout in Vegas!
Another circuit today. Mixed it up with Legs, Chest, and Back. Push/pull baby!
Deadlifts 3x
Pullups – Added assisted pullups after maxing out on regular ones 4x
Incline Bench on Hammer Machine 4x
Pushups 3x
Narrow Rows 3x, Wide rows 2x
Cable Xovers 3x
No cardio. Ran out of time and was way too hungry. Had a Grilled chicken caesar from Mc Donalds after my protein shake (25g protein) and an apple. 2.5 hours later, had edmame (cooked soy beans).
http://10in30.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/cropped-10in30-Logo150h_trans-1.png00admin - BUMhttp://10in30.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/cropped-10in30-Logo150h_trans-1.pngadmin - BUM2010-11-14 03:58:342010-12-31 00:39:36Thurs, Nov 11: Another Circuit- Legs, Chest, and Back
She’s raising her feet to make her deep push ups even harder and more effective. Joy.
I’ve been doing a quick, fantastic circuit of different bodypart exercises including the fantastic deep push ups along with some explosive cardio. No rest until you finish #4, then rest for one minute. Use a countdown timer.
3 sets of:
Barbell Squats – As I’ve preached before, if you don’t have a squat rack use a small enough weight that you can easily press over your head when you’re done with squats.
Deep Chair Push ups – 2 child chairs around 16″ off the ground + a 16″ step for my feets. Let your body go WAY down past your hands. These super deep push ups build your pecs like a MOFO!
Pullups – ’til failure
Long Jumps – Stand with both feet together, squat down slightly, swing the arms forward and jump as long as you can, not necessarily as high as you can. As soon as you land with both feet, squat way down to absorb the impact, then spring up like a crazed monkey swinging your hands, and long-jump again. 12 jumps, baby!
TIP: as you land, lean forward a lot since your momentum is taking you forward anyway. If you don’t, you might feel like you’re going to fall backward when your feet hit the ground. Leaning forward on the landing will allow you to continue jumping many times in a row. These absolutely killed me.
LONG JUMPS!
Be sure to squat all the way down before you spring back up and swing those arms so you get distance AND height, ok?
DEEP PUSH UPS!
^ These are fantastic! But you don’t have to raise yourself that high though; just as long as your chest goes really deep without making contact with the floor.
They’re also called “Atlas Pushups”, named after Mr. Charles Atlas. I actually learned these from his program too. He taught to do these morning and night. I don’t remember how many sets, but you’ll definitely see major pec improvement with these! They round-out your pecs and especially build up the sides and middle giving your chest that split in the middle. Plus, if you position the chairs so that your hands are farther out in front of you, it’ll give you the angled lines going from your shoulders up toward your center chest. That’s because you’d be doing the incline equivalent which builds up your upper pecs. They also widen up your chest by building up the outer sides of your pecs.
And she’s raising her feet higher than her hands which is GREAT. By raising her feet, she’s ensuring that she’s doing the equivalent of straight bench press instead of keeping her feet and hands at the same height, which would resemble floor pushups. The angle of the arms to the body when doing floor pushups actually give you DECLINE pushups which mostly work out your bottom pecs.
That is why you should raise your feet so that your body is parallel to the floor, and perpindicular to your arms. This way, you’ll mostly work out your MID PECS, which in my opinion, is better than working out your lower pecs. If this is hard to understand or you think I’m full of shit, picture her feet being raised even more and pay attention to the angle of her arms in relation to her body. See how her arms are rotating at the shoulders and the elbows are moving closer to her head.
Now, mentally turn her upside down. See how it resembles an INCLINE press?
Incline Bench Press
INCLINE BENCH PRESS!
Either way, it’s the deepness of the pushup that really makes this a damn good exercise. I’d even go so far as to say…
deep push ups are better than bench press!
Me after many sets of deep push ups!
Oh my goodness. Now I’ve done it! I’ve disrespected the beloved “KING OF CHEST EXERCISES”.
WHY such a crazy idea??
Because with bench press, you’ll avoid maxing out for fear of dropping that shit on your neck! So, you’ll stop early, leaving a few reps in the tank. With deep pushups, or even regular pushups, you’ll go ’til you can’t do any more, ’til failure and then still do a couple more half way pushups just to be sure you maxed out.
Do 3 sets of deep push ups—always ’til failure—and look in the mirror when you’re done, preferably with overhead or side lighting. Pleasantly surprised? Slight chuckle? You’re welcome.
If you are new to working out regularly, there is something you should be aware of. These workouts are pretty tough. They are long. And with only 6-8 reps, you’re lifting a lot of weight.
Because of the heavy workouts, I don’t want you to burn out in the first week or two. That’s a problem many bodybuilders fall into. They start off very enthusiastically and do way too much exercise. You know the type, they keep mentioning how they’re “so soar” and they can barely lift their arms. This is what happens when you haven’t worked out in a long time, then go really hard. If you’re working out regularly, you won’t be as soar on a regular basis. Of course, the non-soarness can also be a sign that you’re plateauing and it’s time to change things up.
You might want to go a little easier on the first week of 10 in 30. Try 10-12 reps instead of 6-8. Hopefully you know that it should always be ’til failure, so the lower the reps means the higher the weight. Also try only 2 sets instead of 3. On week 2, you can go with 3 sets, but still 10 – 12 reps each. Then on week 3, you can go with the program as is.
I know you might not want to do this, but this is a long term endeavor you’ve got yourself into. You’re not going to work out for only the 30 days, and then stop because you “got too busy”. Bullshit! It only takes one hour max per 24 hour day. You can fit it in. This is important too. In fact, it can be argued that this is more important. Sure, you have a career, kids, household duties and whatnot. But if you really want to change your physique and your health, I’m sure you can fit in one measly hour. There will always be chores. The one hour workout is not going to mess up hours of work, hours of chores, and ruin your life. In fact, it’s going to enhance it and you know that.
You’ll feel like a million bucks after your workout, and the results you see in the mirror will motivate you as a nice reward for your hard work. Not to mention the compliments from the girls you’ll receive. (I’m assuming most readers of this site are men) People will notice. There’s no way they will not. I’m telling you, I’ve gotten so many compliments after I met my goal that a week couldn’t go by without at least one person saying I “look bigger” or “your arms. wow” or like I mentioned earlier, the department boss embarrassing me in one of the meetings, haha. And I haven’t reached my “ultimate goal” yet. I still consider myself a bit skinny and will gain another 10 pounds after my fat-cutting program.
I’ve been consistent since around February with different plans. I had done a few other methods of working out before switching to the 10 in 30 in August. Don’t make it hard for yourself. Make sure it’s easy to go to the gym, or if you’re using your home gym, even better. Make sure there are no distractions and nothing will get in your way. Leave the hard work for the actual lifting, not getting to the gym.
The bottom line: A half-ass workout done 3-4 days a week, consistently for 6 months is WAY better than 4 kick-ass workouts done in a month, and maybe two more next month, none on month 3, etc.
Yesterday, I was feeling a little tired during my mid-day workout. But at night, around 7pm, I felt great, so I went with an additional workout! It was a circuit combo of arms and chest. Since I did 5 sets of bench press during the day, this time, all I did was deep chair pushups with elevated feet for chest.
Using Bicep Blaster:
70# EZ
Tricep bar hammer curls
Supinated Dumbbells
Tricep pushdowns V-bar
Overhead tricep ext with tricep bar: only 1x (i think i forgot these after the first set)
Deep Chair Pushups – 3x
I had virtually no rest until I was done. I even did a few burpies and high jumps, but I was too dead, so it wasn’t enough to count. You know what’s cool? My daughter saw me last night as I was preparing for my workout with no shirt on, and she says, “Wow, dad, you’re looking ripped.” <– JOY. ha, the simple things that encourage us, eh?
I’m in my fat cutting mode now. You youngsters don’t know how good you have it. I’m 39 and although I am pleased with my progress, I still need to get rid of body fat. That’s one area that folks over 30 will have a harder time with. At this point, P-90 X would work well as would any other circuit-training type workout. I’d rather do my own. Today, being the day after a weekend, I had a light workout. Not feeling very energetic today.
Warmed up with 5 minutes of the Stepmill on level 5, Fatburner setting. Love this machine. If you haven’t tried one, or seen it and think it’s only for the women, you’re missing out on the BEST CARDIO, FAT BURNING machine in the gym. What constitutes THE BEST?
This machine is the best because it burns more calories per hour than any other and kicks your ass harder. This is because not only are you getting a cardio workout, but your leg muscles are getting worked out too. So when you get off of this glorious machine, you’ll most likely be walking rather wobbly. The proof is in the pudding. Sweat pudding. Yum.
Really, everyone that does this is usually pouring in sweat within 5 minutes. But only if you push yourself hard, don’t just drop repeatedly. Concentrate on your calves pushing you up mostly by themselves, then go slow and make sure each leg is lifting you all by itself, and then skip a step to really work the butt and hamstrings. Concentrate on the butt muscles, the quads, and the calf muscles, all working hard to lift you. The presets Fatburner or Fatburner Plus are the best, imo.
Then I did my workout:
Bench Press: 5 sets with Pullups in between, wide and narrow. For the later sets of pullups, I maxed out at around 4, and then supplemented with assisted pullups for another 4-6. Still maxed out twice per set on those.
Then I did 2 sets of Step-Ups on the cable Step-up machine. Not a lot of weight, but I was sweating like mad! So, I did Chest with supers of Back, and then went all the way down south to my legs with the Step-ups. Working different parts of your body, especially upper + lower makes your heart have to work hard to send blood all over your body where it’s being used, and THIS, my sweaty friends is the key to fat burning! (one of the keys)
That’s it for weights, and since I happen to live in the land of the most unbelievably beautiful weather, southern California, I went outside and ran for around 20 minutes. It’s November, and today was 84°. Tomorrow will be 92 and Wednesday will be 94.
Sing it with me: DON‘T CHA WISH YOUR WEATHER WAS WARM LIKE MINE—DON’T CHA!
I received my Arm Blaster today. Perfect, because I’m planning on doing Curls around 3 times a week (as well as triceps). If you haven’t tried one, it’s worth getting because it isolates the biceps when doing standing curls. You can actually feel the biceps doing all of the work and you can see it as well. It’s not a bad idea to work out in front of a mirror so you can check your form. And, the instant pump you’re getting in your upper arms will encourage you too! Just remember to exhale on the way up, and inhale as the weight comes down. Don’t hold your breath!
I did them like this dude in the pic by using the EZ bar, except I used the close grip instead of the wider like he’s doing. (Arnold rules) A good way to really see your arms expanding is to do Super Sets using the EZ barbell curls with heavy weight (6-8 reps), then immediately grab smaller dumbbells and do another 6-8 while still wearing the Arm Blaster but this time either switch to hammer curls or straight-up curls slightly out to the sides, then finish your super set with seated concentration curls (no blaster for this one). You’d then immediately follow this with a 3-exercise super set of triceps, like rope pushdowns, barbell over head extensions, and face crushers. Remember to use lower weight for each subsequent exercise so you still do 6+ reps. 10-12 is ok too with the 2nd or 3rd sets, but you should keep the first one real heavy.
And, the Blaster is fantastic for Reverse and Forearm curls. Again, the isolation factor plays a big role. You can combine these two exercises in one, btw, just make sure you don’t use too much weight because the forearm muscles are really easy to strain. Mine is actually strained right now. I was doing Forearm curls using THIS Awesome Forearm Curling Device and went too heavy so now I get slight pain every time I use my right forearm for lifting heavier stuff. It’s been two weeks. Must remember to use Tiger Balm ’til the pain goes away.
To develop your forearms, this works really well (it’s what I use):
Aim for being able to roll it all the way up, then back down in a slow, controlled manner. Your forearms should burn by the time you’re almost done rolling it back down and it should be difficult to finish, especially in the 2nd, or 3rd set. Do 3 sets often. I do them while watching tv on random days.
While driving, I use THESE HAND GRIPS because I tried almost all of them, returned a few, and actually purchased these a second time after the first ones finally broke.
I found that these offer the most resistance for regular consumer grips and are ergonomically designed so that you don’t quit because of the pressure or pain in your palm. There are other specialty grips that offer a ton of resistance, but they’re 3X more expensive, which is why I’m going with these.
I do NOT recommend these grips:
I’ve tried them all and prefer the Harbinger grips. I used to use the basic ones at the end but they don’t offer enough resistance and the hard plastic will make your hand give out due to pain, before your grip strength does. The first three are adjustable, but pretty-much suck. I tried the first ones at the store, and they are probably great for girls or young kids. Much too weak. Same for the third, Altus grips. The second, seemed promising, so I bought it and realized that the first two resistance bands are useless, as they are too weak. So, I only used the heaviest band which is pretty good, BUT, the design sucks badly. It’s completely NOT ergonomic. The hard plastic of the grip is too pointy and feels like it’s being pressed into your palm making it even more painful than the original basic ones. I returned this one.
Peace out, eat like a horse, and sleep like a baby!
Today, is the two week mark of doing regular cardio. For the last two months, I hardly did any cardio while I was on the 10 in 30 plan as prescribed. I had done cardio once a week. Now, in the last two weeks, I have done cardio 11 times in 14 days. I mostly did HIIT in different forms:
Constant speed jog, around 20 minutes
Constant speed jog, around 20 minutes
HIIT on Spinning bike, adjusting the intensity and/or speed every minute for ten minutes
Two sets of the high jumps and heavy-bag kick boxing, around 10 minutes
Step Mill on Fat Burner Plus setting for 12 minutes
Outdoor running including 3 all out ‘run-like-a-zombie-is-chasing-you’ sprints followed by a few ‘so-you-can-actually-breath-again-and-not-drop-dead’ walks
A run followed by a sprint followed by step ups during my ‘park workout’
Spinning bike HIIT 15 min.
HIIT run: treadmill incline up to 18% for 15 minutes (that’s a pretty steep incline on the super incline machines)
Spinning bike HIIT 15 min.
15 min HIIT run incline up to 18%
I will do cardio at least 3 days a week ’til I drop my fat to 9% and watch my carbohydrate intake. I’ll mostly eat carbs for breakfast only, and after my workout. Of course, I’m not perfect, so I’ll occasionally have that late night bowl of cereal or the afternoon peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
