A collection of posts in the journal section

[Behemoth]

The time has come for my new journal!

The last year I've done a lot of maturing in and out of the gym. I've relearned to stay open minded with bodybuilding. There are dozens of ways to achieve each and every goal, and following someone elses advice, even if it's the right advice may still be the wrong advice because it isn't applicable to yourself. I've learned how if you want to be the best that you can be at a given aspiration (and in my case bodybuilding) that every angle must be covered. Meaning to truly excel in bodybuilding, I have to grow and progress in aspects of life one would on the surgace seemingly think completely unrelated to the goal at hand. When you devote every ounce of energy into one goal, into the glory of potentially one day I've learned you're setting yourself up for diasater. When the first thing doesn't go according to your believed to be perfect plan there is no backup solace in life.
Theres more to life than hitting that PR, gaining that LBM, dropping that BF.

For the last 8 and half years all I have known is 7 1/2 months of intense bulking, followed by 4 1/2 of intense cutting. My cuts have been made more difficult than they need be by bulking that hasn't been focused enough. And my bulks have been less than optimally focused by cuts that have driven me to mental and hormonal insanity.

Goals I'm leaving these vague, and short purposely. I'm still very undecided on the exact route of my next year. But as general goals go:

- Get healthy and stay healthy. Right now I have a very worn out body. I have aches and tight muscles and pains all over. I need to train smarter and push myself only to my physical limits, not past them hampering recovery or potentially compromising joints etc. Additionally my endocrine system is taxed. It's is still offbalanced and skews my thinking and rationalizing. Leveling this out before making serious pushes I believe is very important.
- Maintain a leaner offseason weight
- Become more well versed in training. My training has changed very little in the 8 years I've done so seriously (other than increase in volume). I want to stay open minded and possibilty even work with specific programs
- Become more powerful, flexible and overall healthy individual. My 8 years of training has very little carry over into real world applicability. I may look better than the guy next to me, but in reality there's practically nothing outside of the gym that I've excelled myself in through bodybuilding. I love the idea of strongman and or GPP type training. Whether or not I have the time or energy/recovery to incorporate some of this realworld style training in I don't know. I would like to attempt to though.
- Be a better a friend, brother, son, coworker. I need to stay real with myself be there for others. So much of my life is devoted to bodybuilding that in the past when my family has asked a favor of me that could potentially interefere with my bodybuilding I get irritable and upset about it. I need to remember what is most important in life and that is far from any bodybuilding aspiration. Additionally I need to maintain a healthy enough year round balance that my cutting season makes an actual worthwhile employee. My productivity at work in the last two months of cutting this year was literally 1/3 at best my potential. And that is just not right. To basically cheat my employer because of my selfish ambitions to be shredded.
- Finally to just be human. To live life for once. To not be bouncing from extremes. To hang out with friends year round. To be a person who is constantly challenging himself in ALL aspects of life. Not just the gym!

That is really only a brief summary of my ambitions. I'm sure more will be iterated in time as this journal carries on.

Now for some lifting details. Right now I'm around 190lbs, 13%. Yes, that high. Am I bother by it? Minimally. I know when my hormones are whacked. I've essentially crash dieted for 8 years and never really came off it healthily. At times it's taken months to feel normal again. In the past month I've definetly improved. I have some libido, I don't think about food 95% of time. More like 30-40%. I have energy at work again. My setpoint without lifting is well over 20% bodyfat. I know this because two times in my 8 years I've gone for long stints of not lifting. Once in the fall of 2006 I stopped for 6 weeks and crept to 20ish%. And last february when I cracked my ribs my bodyfat crept up to 20-22%. In 2006 when I came back to lifting after my layoff even with 0 diet modifications my bodyfat dropped back down to 15-16%. I've also evaluated that in bulking times in the past when my volume and intensity was prepetually at it's peak I can comfortably maintain 12-13% without any real diet modifications. Once I feel more hormonally leveled out I my plan is to keep my lifting split an extensive one that keeps me in the gym often, with a few minor diet changes that allow me to 1. still live a normal life, and 2. possibly stay in the 10-12% range. I've been experimenting with an IF style of eatting as of lately. I'm not sure I will follow this to a T in the offseason but I know from the past that my body does in fact partition calories extremely well post workout. Almost mesomorphic. I think simply a shift of even some my calories to later in the day around my workouts will merit me lower offseason bodyfat alone. Whether a shift in the majority of the calories IF style will be necessary and/or net me less BF is something I am anxious to experiment with.

Lifting split If you followed my previous journal you'll know I trained extremely instinctually. I didnt have a monday "x bodypart" day or a thursday "train this" day. I simply kept the same rotation of workouts and trained the upcoming one when I felt I could. For now I'm reverting back to a standard weekly split. that will look like this

Upper back
Chest, abs
Quads, hamstrings
Biceps, calves
Shoulders, triceps

The biggest change in this split is it merges my leg training back together whereas over the last year I've trained quads and hamstrings seperately. While I think that had some advantages I also know it took a toll on my joints, especially when I was cutting. A big thing was that in order to isolate either quads or hams I was using leg X and leg curl heavily. Both of which I think took a toll on my knees and tendons. Combine that with high impact HIIT running I was doing and they're still beat up. The leg workout I have planned for the current time is power dominant. I don't think there is any question that to get my legs where I really want them to be that some serious progressive overload is going to be key. I can squat respectibly in a bodybuilding style but when opened up to a powerlifting style it's quite pathetic. I'm unbalanced in the quads vs posterior chain. The leg day I developed is simple, yet I feel appropriate. Consisting of box squats, SLDLs, then walking lunges.

I also plan to get into some foam rolling and stretching both now for rehab, but also keeping up with it for prehab.

There you have it. I have no doubt this upcoming year will be my best yet! Stay tuned!

[Behemoth]

Here we go........!
Shoulders, Triceps

Cable Internal rotations/Cable external rotations
20x12 / 20x12
25x12 / 25x12
30x12 / 25x10

DB Seated OH Press
45x12
65x6
80x4
90x8!
90x6.5
90x7
90x6
85x6.5
80x7

CG Bench Grip is in the smooth
135x12
185x8
235x6!
235x6
235x6
225x6 + 4 lockout reps

Standing DB Lateral Raises
40x10
50x8!
50x7
45x10
40x10
40x10

Angle Bar Cable Pushdowns
105x12! [stack +10]
105x10
105x8
95x8
95x8

Post Delts on the Pec-Deck
190x12!
205x9!
205x6.5
190x11.5
190x8.6
190x8

Commentary
Progression/PR's on every exercise. Last weeks best DB OH set was 85x6, blasted past that this week. Delts are exploding... bye-bye shirt wardrobe!

[Behemoth]

Picked up a foam roller at dicks today and they asked if I wanted to purchase the protection plan. True story.

[Behemoth]

100% made from scratch. Made the dough from 100% whole wheat flour. Let it rise, stretched it out. Spead a light layer of olive oil, garlic, oregano and parmesean. Then fresh tomatos and dusting of lowfat mozerella, bake for 5 minutes at 425, resprinkle it with LF mozerella and bake another 10-15 minutes. Well worth it! I made another one the other day with soy pepperoni, 95% lean ham and LF cheese. Equally as tastey.

[chevelle2291]

First.

Glad to see you starting this up.

[chevelle2291]

Picked up a foam roller at dicks today and they asked if I wanted to purchase the protection plan. True story.

On your back?

I'd take that.

[chevelle2291]

Nice to see you're trying to balance everything out. I'd like to see you maintain around 10-12 for a while and maybe add mass slowly like Tim?

Your lifts are sick, especially that CGBP. Jealous.

I figured I'd give you what I do for my pre-workout stretching and foam rolling. It's pretty short (20-ish minutes) and very effective.

Take your foam roller and do:

20 rolls on your quads
20 rolls on your hamstrings
20 rolls on IT bands
8-10 rolls on your calves
10-20 rolls on glutes
10-15 rolls on lower back (but be careful)
10-20 rolls on mid-upper back.

Static stretching
Lay down on the floor and static stretch your hams for 1 min each leg
Put your feet together indian style and stretch out your groin by bringing your legs up (in butterfly position) and then back down.
Try to push your knees into the ground while in the butterfly position by actively flexing your groin for 1 min
Lunge-style groin stretch for 1 min each leg
Standing ham/lower back stretch for 1 min (assuming a stiff dead position)

Shoulder mobility:
20 arm circles both ways
10-20 Shoulder dislocations with a long dowel rod or similar.

Do some calf extension pikes. Assume a pike-like position with your hands on the floor. Put one foot on top of the other and do calf extensions. 20-30 each leg.

I also like to do some leg swings and side to side leg swings also. Only about 10-15 each leg.

Hope that helps.

I've also found taking fish oil and glucosamine to really help with any joint pain.

[Coke]

Awesome, rivals something from out of Flynn's journal, lol.

[tnathletics2b]

Dang, that pizza looks good.

[Behemoth]

First.

Glad to see you starting this up.

Glad to be back!

On your back?

I'd take that.

Sore neck so far, that's about it!

Nice to see you're trying to balance everything out. I'd like to see you maintain around 10-12 for a while and maybe add mass slowly like Tim?

Your lifts are sick, especially that CGBP. Jealous.

I figured I'd give you what I do for my pre-workout stretching and foam rolling. It's pretty short (20-ish minutes) and very effective.

Take your foam roller and do:

20 rolls on your quads
20 rolls on your hamstrings
20 rolls on IT bands
8-10 rolls on your calves
10-20 rolls on glutes
10-15 rolls on lower back (but be careful)
10-20 rolls on mid-upper back.

Static stretching
Lay down on the floor and static stretch your hams for 1 min each leg
Put your feet together indian style and stretch out your groin by bringing your legs up (in butterfly position) and then back down.
Try to push your knees into the ground while in the butterfly position by actively flexing your groin for 1 min
Lunge-style groin stretch for 1 min each leg
Standing ham/lower back stretch for 1 min (assuming a stiff dead position)

Shoulder mobility:
20 arm circles both ways
10-20 Shoulder dislocations with a long dowel rod or similar.

Do some calf extension pikes. Assume a pike-like position with your hands on the floor. Put one foot on top of the other and do calf extensions. 20-30 each leg.

I also like to do some leg swings and side to side leg swings also. Only about 10-15 each leg.

Hope that helps.

I've also found taking fish oil and glucosamine to really help with any joint pain.

Gain mass for sure! Fish oil and G/C are staples! Thanks for the warmup info, I'm digging my roller already!

Awesome, rivals something from out of Flynn's journal, lol.

I'll have to check in over there... Wait 'til you see what I'm working on this very minute!

Dang, that pizza looks good.

It was DELICIOUS... yes WAS Working as a pizza cook when I was 15/16 paid off!

[Behemoth]

Upper Back

BB Rows
135x15
135x12
185x8
225x4
275x4
295x4
315x4
295x7
275x8
275x8
275x6
225x20
225x12

Wide Pulldowns to the chest
160x10
200x8
180x9.5
180x7
160x8
160x8
160x8

Seated Rows
190x10
200x10
210x7.5
210x7
190x9
170x12
170x10

DB Shrugs
100x12
100x12
100x12
100x9
100x12

Commentary Testing the waters of my row strength with some low rep sets there in the beginning. Back feels great lately, very healthy. Never put the belt on today, usually row with it!

[Behemoth]

Due to much complaining from that bastage Tim in my last journal, I've rotated this video at the expense of some quality, size, and you get an annoying watermark in the middle. No complaining!

Video

[Behemoth]

280g WW flour + 1tbsp oilve oil, yeast, salt, 3 tbsp splenda. Let rise 2 hours


24.5oz boiled and shredded chicken


394 grams of kraft light BBQ added to it


Stretch the dough


Topped with chicken mix + 139g sargento reduced fat 2% mozzerella and baked @ 425 19 minutes


(+ factored in a generous .5 tbsp olive oil for the quick spray on the pan)


The Macros! Unfortunately after I topped the pizza with the chicken and bbq I realized I made too much. I didn't have the whole batch in the bowl weighed and it seemed like too much work to pull it all off the pizza and then top it again calculating how much I used. And yes, I know I could weigh the bowl I used empty, weigh my remainder, add my 24.5oz chicken + 394grams bbq and subtract the remaining chicken/bbq from that total. But that's not happening right now. I used pretty much exactly 2/3 what I mixed up so these are the macros going off of that! And not too shabby if you ask me!

Total - 64.19f/240.3c/211.95p
I cut it into 1/8ths so
8f/30c/26.5p per slice

And yes I definetly had a slice already... AMAZING. Will use just a touch more bbq next time but otherwise awesome!

[chevelle2291]

Wow your pulling volume is insane!

Have you ever thought of going back to a more stricter style of rowing? I'm not hating on the form, but we both know it's hardly parallel to the floor. Obviously it works for you. Do you tend to keep strict form for the ramping sets and then loosen up a bit on your top set?

Do you ever use pullups/chinups?

[Coke]

Big day for the back!! - Obviously taking things to new heights and with a more balanced approach.

[Time+Patience]

About time this thing got underway! I'm happy you've got a better perspective on things-- everything in life has it's equal portion and need. I've had times where I was moody because I hadn't seen my mother in months. Yes, I am a grown man whom still misses his mum at times!

Having a family for the past 5 years has really helped balance everything in my life.

The beginning of 2010 through the current has been the best and most focused lifting ever for me, and I attribute a lot of that to the fact that I'm settled in everything that I am doing with my life-- family, lifting, school, friends, goals, etc.

[ELmx479]

Damn, you are pretty strong for being 190lbs!!! Looking forward to your training. Where in western PA are you?

[Behemoth]

Wow your pulling volume is insane!

Have you ever thought of going back to a more stricter style of rowing? I'm not hating on the form, but we both know it's hardly parallel to the floor. Obviously it works for you. Do you tend to keep strict form for the ramping sets and then loosen up a bit on your top set?

Do you ever use pullups/chinups?

Where did you come up with parallel to the floor was how BB rows are supposed to be done? I do pendleys sometimes and with those I'm much closer to parallel. To be honest the first 10 reps of that set are damn near perfect, I get sloppier and straight up towards the end but that was an overall very well executed set of BB rows. I would imagine if you look around youtube you'll find very, very few people able to do sets any more bent over than I am with signifigant weight without having to set it back to the ground between reps. I'm not saying it's not possible, I could probably do it with 135 maaaaybe 145lbs but that would absolutely pointless for upper back recruitment. Progressive overload is still the king of hypertrophy so why would I want to train an [primarily] upper back exercise at about 50% my capability.

It's been a very long time since I've done chins but I was working with weighted pullups last fall. I've been happier with pulldowns since then because I always hated trying to carefully step off the bench so the weight wouldn't swing (and it inevitably still would anways) and if you were cranking out some reps that started to get sloppy (which can still be useful) the swing in such situation really makes it difficult to do so. If I worked out with a partner that could keep it from laterally moving I'd probably go back to them though.

Big day for the back!! - Obviously taking things to new heights and with a more balanced approach.

Thanks Terry. It's going to be a learning process but I'll progress with it I have no doubt!

About time this thing got underway! I'm happy you've got a better perspective on things-- everything in life has it's equal portion and need. I've had times where I was moody because I hadn't seen my mother in months. Yes, I am a grown man whom still misses his mum at times!

Having a family for the past 5 years has really helped balance everything in my life.

The beginning of 2010 through the current has been the best and most focused lifting ever for me, and I attribute a lot of that to the fact that I'm settled in everything that I am doing with my life-- family, lifting, school, friends, goals, etc.

Scott, thanks for stopping in brother. That's gotta be tough with so much going on. I can't imagine how you prepped for your show while taking care of a family and going to school. All the while staying sane! Hopefully I can pick your brain and pick up some life lessons from you as you wind down this road towards your second show!

[chevelle2291]

Ah I guess you're right. I didn't mean parallel, just more of an angle I guess.

[Behemoth]

Chest, Abdominals

Cable Internal rotations/Cable external rotations
30x12 / 30x12
40x12 / 40x12
50x12 / 50x10
70x12 / 60x8

Incline Dumbell Press
55x12
75x6
100x6
120x7
115x6.5
100x11.5
100x8
100x8

Cable Crossover Pinned at about 3' off the ground
60x6
60x4
55x7
50x8
50x6

Hammerstrength Isolateral Incline Press
250x7.5
250x6.5
230x7.5

Cable Crunches stack is 95
120x20
155x12!
155x8!
140x12
140x12
140x9

Commentary This was garbage. Weak from the getgo to the end. Only 6.5 hours of sleep last night whereas my bodys pretty much been acustomed to 9+. The bigger reason was the heat index of 102 and 8 straight hours of trench digging. The amazing part is I would take this day each and every single day over a low intensity work day (painting, trimwork, electrical etc) while late into a diet. Those days felt like hell whereas today days like today I'm the little engine that could assuming I'm not malnourished! I was definetly pushed too hard in my final weeks of dieting given the crazy workload I had a work those days. Doing it again my style of being allowed even the slightest bit of extra nutrition for crazy work days would have panned out better. I was convinced I was a failure and taking steps backwards if I deviated from my allotted macros more than say 2g, even if at work I burnt an extra 1k calories that day.

but the past is the past. As far as the future goes... those dusty 130s on the dumbell rack are going to make their appearance here when I get things rolling good! Stay tuned!

[chevelle2291]

Chest, Abdominals

Incline Dumbell Press
55x12
75x6
100x6
120x7
115x6.5
100x11.5
100x8
100x8
!

I can't wait to IC DB Press 100# dbs. That'll be the day.

Rory, how long does a normal workout take you?

[Behemoth]

Ah I guess you're right. I didn't mean parallel, just more of an angle I guess.

I would definetly round (at least towards the end) if I tried to bend over anymore than that with that weight. Would a stronger lower back help me? Yeah, but I don't see low weight BB rows bringing it up. And I still believe even if my lower was ahead of my upper, my lower would still not be able to hold the weight my upper back would need to train with the majority of the time. And this is all going off the assumption that more angle would even be more beneficial for upper back hyptrophy.

[Behemoth]

I can't wait to IC DB Press 100# dbs. That'll be the day.

Rory, how long does a normal workout take you?

1 1/2 - 1 3/4 on average. 2 hours isn't uncommon. This was probably more like 1 15 minutes, it was probably 7-8 total sets less than an average chest day.

[chevelle2291]

1 1/2 - 1 3/4 on average. 2 hours isn't uncommon. This was probably more like 1 15 minutes, it was probably 7-8 total sets less than an average chest day.

I see. How long are your rest intervals?

[Unholy]

What happened to prep brah?