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.

Here’s my entire 2nd workout:

70# military press: 3x, 10 reps

Pullups: 3x: wide pronated grip, narrow supinated grip, narrow parallel grip

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?

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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!

Sorry. Won’t happen again.

: |

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arnold-bicep-curl-arm-blaster1

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):

Gain muscle fast on forearms

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.
Build massive forearms fast!

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:
Build massive forearms fast! Build massive forearms fast! Build massive forearms fast! Build massive forearms fast!
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!

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2 weeks of cardio

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.

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Don’t lean back like her!

Once again, I saw the “bigger” guys doing Seated Rows today, using their entire upper body weight to pull the weight. And guess what, they might be big, but their muscles are not really showing.

Perhaps they’re working out their lower back as well by leaning back. But if you really want to develop your upper back muscles, you’re going to have to ISOLATE.

Sit straight up with your back straight, and concentrate on “crunching” your upper back muscles at the peak of the row and hold for a second. And don’t let your arms get pulled forward too much at the shoulders. This can lead to straining the fragile rotator cuff muscles by them getting pulled or stretched, giving you pain in the rear delts.

Back straight, elbows go past your ribs, crunch the back muscles like her.

Same goes for Incline Bench Press. You know the weight is too heavy when you find yourself lifting your butt or your upper body off the seat. This will make your body less inclined, and near parallel to the floor. You’ll turn your Incline Bench Press into a Flat Bench Press which works your mid level pecs. If you really want to work on your upper pecs, KEEP YOUR BODY PRESSED TO THE BENCH!

Today was Chest Day.

4X incline bench press
3x incline Hammer
3X crossovers-super with bicep curls

3x Quadruple Supersets=
• barbell curls
• seated dumbbell hammer curls
• Tricep pushdowns
• Standing tricep bar extensions

Spin bike= 15 minutes HIIT

That Quadruple Superset was bomb! I had a huge pump going in my upper arms. My biceps looked like they’d explode! And I was sweating like crazy. I had virtually no rest in between the the 3 sets of four exercises. I say “virtually” because I did have to catch my breath for like 5 seconds near the end. If you’re going to do this, use a heavy weight for the first exercise and a lighter weight for the second. Same for the Tricep exercises; heavy + lighter. I was using 70# barbell + 20# dumbbells and 60# Tricep pushdown followed by 50# extensions.

PEACE!

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Leg day. Warmed up on the treadmill for 5 minutes concentrating on working the calves when walking.

Squats 3X
Standing Calf Raises in between sets of squats. Drop sets. (feel the burn) 3X
Lunges 3x
Seated Calf Raises 3X
High-Incline Treadmill HIIT mixing it up with speed/incline 15 minutes

Sweat like a pig in a blanket. Felt really good.

Not enough calories today.
Breakfast: Greek yogurt, 2 eggs, peanut butter/jelly muffin, 2 pks oatmeal

Lunch: tuna sandwich

Snack: canned chicken barley soup

Dinner: turkey meatloaf + broccoli + beer

Today, Monday, I had a great workout. I am not doing the 10in30 workout exactly as is because I already gained 15 lbs since I started doing it around two months ago. So, it’s time to switch things up. Switching every month is good practice. You can extend the 10in30 plan to around two months, but no more than that. Not because it’s dangerous or anything; but you should switch workouts (tempo, reps, rest, exercises) because you’ll hit a plateau and stop seeing gains.

I did Back today. Here’s what I did:

•3X wide pullups. (2 were Supersets with assisted pullups with 60 lb help) 2 min rest
•3X narrow pullups. 3 min rest
•4X wide grip rows heavy wt, Superset w/high rows lighter weight
•3X Unilateral Rows 65
•2X box crunches in between 1st pullups
•Spinning bike HIIT around 15 min.

‘X’=sets

Had my BCAA’S/Creatine before and after. Plus sushi salad with an apple juice right after. Then, around 2.5 hrs later, I had 2 chicken breasts (frozen) + 1.5 cups mixed veggies. 2 hrs after that, I had a protein shake with milk. Then in about 1.5 hrs I had dinner; steak and vegetables with a trio of cherry potatoes. My breakfast was a medium nonfat latte and a “reduced fat turkey bacon sandwich” from Starbucks, plus 2 packets of oatmeal around an hour after that. Late night snack consisted of mixed unsalted nuts, a handful of dried chile mango, a few bites of pita chips, and a Firestone beer.

Today, I had a Grand Slam from Denny’s for breakfast. It’s the one where you get to choose your items. I chose the two eggs, ham, hash browns, and wheat pancakes. Don’t give me crap about the hash browns, bitches! I don’t do this all the time! Anyway, two point five hours later I had a cup of microwaveable Minute Rice brown rice with a Starkist Lunch To Go Kit. (simplicity and convenience is the key to success!)

Tuna Kit:
Calories: 240
Protein: 18g
Sodium: 27% (dv for 2k diet)

Minute Rice Cup:
Calories: 230
Protein: 5g
Sodium: 6%

Totals:
Calories: 470
Protein: 23g
Sodium: 33%

Ok, I slacked a little on the protein. No worries. 2 hours after that I had sushi. 6 pieces of salmon sushi and 6 pieces of salmon roll with avocado (the good fat), and Japanese Green Tea. This brand is crazy-good and authentic. Has that oaky taste that good Japanese green teas have.

My workout today was Back. Did fantastic, adding weight to my pulldowns and rows. I even did 3 extra sets of rows with a slightly wider jet-fighter-pilot grip attachment. First sets were with a narrow-grip. Went with a Super Set for the final biceps/triceps sets. Did a set of tricep rope extensions, immediately followed by barbell curls, then 1 minute rest and start the fuck again!

I was actually pouring in sweat from that super set. Who sweats from bicep curls and tricep extensions?? ME, BIATCHES! And anyone who works freaking hard with super sets! I made sure to max out within ‘the range’.

Then I finished my workout with a 10 minute interval training session on the spinning bike. One minute fast, one minute slow, next minute heavy resistance slow, next: light resistance slow, then heavy resistance- fast! (as fast as you can which won’t be very fast), then back to light resistance but fast, etc. Kick ass.

BTW, I’m now using the Optimum Nutrition Instantized BCAA’s + Creatine. I got unflavored so I can mix it with the protein. That works out fine. You especially don’t taste it when you do 1.5 scoops of protein. IT DOES NOT WORK very well when you mix it with water by itself. It tastes terrible. Maybe it’s the Creatine in it, because that Vitasport unflavored brand I mentioned didn’t have a nasty taste at all and you could mix it with only water with no problem whatsoever. Today, I mixed it with Gatorade and it was fine.

So, if you’re not going to mix it with your protein shake, then get a flavored version. I still recommend this one since it has the Creatine built-in. I’ll probably get a flavored one next and go back to mixing two drinks. It wasn’t that bad. One in the locker room before I shower, then another in the car as soon as I leave the gym. Then lunch. Perfect.