Women's Physique Music

Monday morning, labor Day and I have the day off. I went to bed early and woke up early, Roy was taking the day off so I would train on my own in the morning, it was hammies. 

Although my left hamstring is still healing, I can train it but I go light, I have to keep moving it to make sure adhesions don't set in and I retain range of motion. Oh it's not that bad, really. It's just been a very long time and I am feeling much better about it all!

I took my time and felt great. I warmed up and then did my hip thrusts, I am supposed to be doing single leg but it pulls too much on the hip flexors, so I am doing both legs at once.

Then onto the back extension with weight.

I wander over to the standing leg curl and decide to give it a go, I wonder if I will feel any pain or tightness?

15 pounds and I felt silly, but I didn't want to push it. 20....25...30...Nothing! No pain, no tightness, I am on my way to recovery!

I wanted to hop on the Glute Ham Raise so badly, but no, I will wait, wait until I am finished with physical therapy at least..

I feel so good, so absolutely alive, I want to go home, finish the holiday just so I can go to sleep and come back to the gym again. 

I have found my music, the music I have bee practicing my routine to. I have been watching Women's Physique routines and almost all of them are slow. I am wondering if they know something I don't, or they just don't have the same drive and desire I have to dance on stage? My music is actually slower than what I first started out with, but it has a great beat, a wonderful, earthy beat that makes it all come together for me.

Here is my music, on my morning drive to the gym. It's early, 4:45 a.m. and dark out, the music is loud, the top is down, it's a great way to start the day.

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Head Games and Hamstrings

Sunday I was exhausted, I literally felt like every ounce of energy had been sucked from my body. This is isn't like me, not at all. I hadn't stayed up late Saturday, it didn't make sense. I even attempted to take a nap in the afternoon, that's how fatigued I felt.


I was a little worried, I didn't feel sick, just like I couldn't move, it all required way too much energy. We stopped by Mark and Virginia's, I stuck to water and they had sparkling wine. Virginia though maybe it was due to the fact that I over indulged in the food area on Saturday.


That's nice she thinks that, but this temple has been violated many times before, it wasn't the food. We didn't stay long, I had dinner then I ended up going to bed at 7:15 p.m. it was still light out for hours.


I fell right asleep then tossed and turned, Cooper got home from work at about 8:45 and quietly opened my door to say hello. "Hi mummy! I'm home!" He may be 18 but he will always be my little boy. David made him dinner, I fell back asleep.


I woke at 4:50 a.m. and Gold's didn't open until 6:00 a.m. so I didn't get up yet. I was a little worried about my head, I mean if I am not sick why am I feeling this way? I was worried I may be over training, I feel like am just beating myself into the ground.


I got up at 5:10 a.m and resolved to go hard at the gym, Sunday had to have been a fluke.


It was hamstring day and Roy was taking the day off, normally I would train with him at night but I was on my own and would see him on Tuesday for shoulders instead.


I was to do deadlifts at 200 pounds, on Friday he reminded me to warm up with several sets. I need lots of warm up sets whenever I lift heavy.

I set two 45 pound plates as a platform and warmed up with 95 pounds, then 115 pounds, then 185 pounds and set up at 200.


I started in, I would do 4 or 5 sets of 5 reps. I felt good, I felt strong. I guess I just needed some rest. I see the guy next to me staring. I look over and he is about 6' 3", a fairly big guy.  I quickly add up the weights he is using for his RDL's, he has 175 pounds. He looks at me a bit shocked and I take my earbuds out. "You have more weight than I do!" he exclaims. "Yea, 200 pounds" I reply. "I guess it's good for your back" he says and I pat my hamstrings "I'm trying to get my legs bigger". He just sorta shakes his head and strips his bar and walks away. He had only done three sets of about 4 or 5, not very good but maybe he has some back issues. He shouldn't be doing RDL's if he does though.


I finish all of my sets, I am feeling my old self again. I strip the bar and then sit a while, I need to rest.


Over to the Glute Ham Raise, I have 5 sets to do on this, slow raises with a 5 pound plate held to my chest. It takes a long time.


I look at the clock, it has been almost one hour and I did only two exercises, just the way Roy and I would have done it!


I wander up to the locker room and stop at the stairmill. I want to walk. I know I shouldn't, the educated part of me knows that working out longer than an hour really is more detrimental than beneficial, but I haven't done any cardio in so long, I need to, for my head. I do honestly think that most cardio addicts do it for their head- they have stuff they are battling there and the cardio helps them. At least they think it does, it mostly makes them look emaciated and tired though. My head needs it now because I am bigger than ever, I know I need to add weight to add size but's it's still hard to deal with. It's a daily struggle for me.


I climb on and climb for 20 minutes, I zone out.


I leave the gym feeling more like myself, I will need to get a bit more rest, David is always telling me I never relax, I never rest enough, I don't get enough sleep, it's true.


Home for my shake and coffee, I have a party to attend. I will sit in the sun, I will eat the meat and my salad, no starches, no alcohol, It feels too good when I feel good.


I plan to keep it that way.

Missing You and Hamstrings

I missed you all!

I woke up on Thursday, made my shake and got my supplements and sat down at my MAC in the living room and nothing…. Zip.

It was my first day where I didn’t have a blog post that uploaded, it was weird,  it didn’t feel good.

I usually sit down and check the stats and then read the responses. My readers send personal emails, respond on the blog posts and private message in Facebook or reply to the Facebook posts.  I enjoy talking with you all, I like the interactions.

I felt sort of, alone. I also felt like I let you down.

When I posted that I wouldn’t be writing every day I was surprised at how many responses I got- people completely understood my reasoning, but at the same time said how much they would miss the daily posts. I didn’t realize how many people were motivated by my stories and information!


I also didn’t realize how much I enjoy writing and sharing my life, its become a huge part of me.

It's like the child who decides to run away from home. They pack their little bag and walk to the end of their street. They turn around and look at their home, it doesn't look so bad now, and the wide open road in front looks a little daunting. Then they turn around and practically skip back home.

Today I have a story only, about my last couple days of training.  


Goals are everything to me, in fact, that’s really how I started competing.  It was several years ago when I was training with SC, and maybe, maybe someday I will even reveal his real name!

I told him I worked hard, real hard every day. I lifted, I improved, I pushed the sled, I swung the sledgehammer, I would diet and do every new exercise or program he gave me. And I had nothing to show for it, I mean other than a great physique. I needed something tangible, something that I could measure and assess my progress. I needed a goal.

So competing was how I would measure my successes.  That was back in 2008 when I made that decision, and I have thrived creating new goals for myself over and over again.


So now that I have made a firm decision to move into Women's Physique, I feel a new sense of excitement with my lifting.


Wednesday night when I met with Roy he said "German Volume Training, a new adventure!" I think he is excited too. GVT meant 10 sets of 10 squats (yes add it up- that's 100 squats) with 90 seconds rest in between. I think the weight is at 110 pounds, I should have paid more attention especially since I need to squat again on Saturday on my own. I quickly remember to shut up and stop talking during the rest periods, I haven't even caught my breath yet when it's time to go again.  And these are ass to ground, low squats...all....the....way....down...


Sweat is trickling down my back, and in between my butt cheeks...it's hot in there. My eyes are stinging as the sweat and make up drip in them, thank goodness I don't have a mirror in front of me. 


Then it's time to push the sled, 4 sets of three runs...I think, I think the weight added is 115 pounds...does that sound right? And the sled must weigh 45. 


I feel exhilarated afterward and I stay to chat with Roy, Isaac and his client about the best steak in town. I drink my post training shake as I think about steak.


Thursday I wake up and am ready to hit the hamstrings, I know they must be trained with heavy weight and low reps because of the type of muscle fiber they are.  Here is an explanation of the why:

If the load is still too heavy the Type 2B or fast-twitch muscle fibers get recruited and start to fire. These fibers are thicker and more powerful than the Type 2A’s. 2B’s fire only when the Type 1, and Type 2A’s are firing at their highest rate. Therefore when the Type 2B’s fire all of the types of muscle fibers are firing. These muscles fatigue the fastest but when they fire they create the most amounts of force. They fire under a load that is equivalent to a 90% of a maximal load or around a weight that you could lift for 1-6 reps. Some examples of muscles that tend to be more fast twitch are your Triceps, Hamstrings and the Gastrocnemius of the calf.

So, hammies must have heavy weight, low reps to develop. I know this and plan my workout accordingly. I watch a guy at the standing leg curl machine (one of my favorites!), using weight less than what I just did, and he is doing more than 15 reps, I just stopped counting. I want to tell him that his legs are skinny because of this, but I bite my tongue.


I always end on the Glute Ham Raise, the master of all equipment and I have my first  "girly" moment. I cannot loosen the knob that allows me to move the foot pad up, so I cannot use it. I ask the first guy closest if he can help, and he is wearing gloves! Ha Ha. I NEVER wear gloves, I used to but SC practically grabbed my chubby little cheeks with his huge hand once and looked me in the eye and said "Lift like a man! No gloves in my weight room!"


So this guy tries to loosen the knob, and cannot do it. So another guy comes over and they discuss it. I can see he is turning the wrong direction, but I am a bit hesitant to say anything, after all, I did ask him for help. Then a third guy comes over and tells them to get a 10 pound plate a whack it. The first guy does and I have to chime in. "I think that will work, but I think you may need to whack the other side....I think you might be tightening it...you know "righty tighty, lefty loosey". They all stop and look at me like I am from Mars and start laughing, then he whacks in the other direction and Bingo!, knob loosened.


Thank goodness as everyone was starting to stare, we were making quite a ruckus.


I finished my training, and walked out feeling high as a kite. My quads were sore from Wednesday and I knew my hams would be sore soon too, everything is going according to plan.


I am looking forward to my new goal. The eating will be modified....more calories, but not too much, it will take some experimentation. I have time, and all of the enthusiasm anyone could wish for!


So I am back, but reserve the right to miss a day here and again! Keep emailing and sharing your accomplishments and struggles with me, I love to listen, and thanks for understanding!

Nap for my Back

There was a time in my life when I thought sleeping was a huge waste of time. I had so much to do, so much to fit in, and sleeping just ate into that. 


I have since learned (a long time ago) that sleep and rest are just as important to building muscle as the actual lifting, in fact, without proper sleep, your efforts in the gym may actually be more detrimental.


In a world of "bigger is better, more is better" this is often forgotten- people go to the gym and train and train and neglect the other half that is necessary- the rest and rebuilding.


I needed to change my training split, I have to add a second Back day in since I have a competition coming up. I have found adding a second Back day gives me the wide back, impressive shoulders, and well developed rear delts and biceps that all help me place well.


I was discussing it with Roy and told him the only thing I think I can do is eliminate my second hamstring morning on Thursday and add in the Back. I hated to do it as we have been working on legs and really making progress, but I have to get that second day in.  


Then I had an idea and I sent him a private message on Facebook. "What if I trained back on Wednesday morning instead of doing my conditioning? I would still see you in the evening for my quad training. It's not unheard of in the Bodybuilding world to lift twice in one day - it's done all the time." 


He messaged back: "Yes, but in the Bodybuilding world Jay Cutler goes home and naps for a few hours before training again at night, I don't think you can do that."


I thought about it and decided I could easily do that. I cannot sleep a few hours, but I can get a good 30 minutes in. We decided to try it and see how I did.


Wednesday morning I trained back and biceps, my usual session. It felt good to add a second day in. Off I went to work and plotted my day.


I have my own office, complete with a door.  At 11:15 I shut the door, closed the blinds and everyone knows that means "stay away" (I change in my office to run stairs at lunch, so the closed blinds is nothing new).

I have a big, long body pillow that I laid out under my window, and although laying in the sunny window would feel great, sort of like a cat, I decided I needed to close the blind and make it dark.

I slipped the pillow under my desk, it would make it a bit darker and cozier; I had my light wool blanket too.

I set the alarm on my phone for 30 minutes, that is all I would really need, and all I could fit in. Much to my surprise, I fell asleep almost immediately (I did notice the wall clock is very loud though). 


I awoke suddenly- I had forgotten one key thing- turn my office phone off! Damn, someone called and needed to talk to me. Luckily my alarm would sound in only 5 minutes, so I didn't lose too much rest time.

I folded my pillow in half, tucked it under my desk out of sight and got back to work. I left at 5:00 and headed off to meet Roy. I told him I napped and felt great- I was ready for a brutal quad day. He seemed intrigued.

I killed it. I felt rested, I felt strong, and excited. I love new things, and this would allow me to fit all my training in and develop the legs and back simultaneously.

The only question now is how many days a week do I nap? I could really get used to this!

Sledgehammers

Yes you read it right. Sledgehammers.


Monday after we finished our hamstring training Roy wanted to do more. Time was up but that was OK with him, he knew I missed the boxing and the ropes last week so he suggested this to make up for it.


He looked at me and asked if I ever swung a sledgehammer.


"Yes, I did! I used to swing a sledgehammer, against a big tire, in the sand pit, in the hot sun, with the football team when I trained with SC."


I saw a look of disappointment come over his face, and I instantly knew I shouldn't have said it with quite so much excitement. I think he wanted to have me do something new, but it wasn't new to me, although I hadn't done it in about 2 years. 


He quickly recovered and started to roll the huge truck tire out into the parking lot. It was about 6:45 p.m. and it was warm out, I took off my shirt, I needed to be in shorts and a bra top for this. 

He said to go for 15 to 20 swings on each side. It sounded like a lot and I said so, he was starting to train another woman so he walked away and left me to my tire and hammer.


After the first couple swings I got it all back. I remember back when I did this with SC, some of the guys on the football team would be there with me, coaching me along. SC would just stand in the shade shouting out orders once in a while. I would be in the hot sun, sweat dripping in my eyes, wondering what the hell I was doing here as I would sometimes miss and sand would go flying up into my face.


The guys were great-- they were all young, anywhere between 18 and 22 and quite strapping young athletes I may add. They looked only better as their backs became wet with sweat along side me. 


They taught me how to start with my hands wide, one at the top of the shaft, one at the bottom, then let the top slide down to meet the bottom as I swung to hit the tire.  I started to develop a rhythm, I liked it. I liked it a lot.


I like things like this, it makes me feel alive. The sheer effort, the sweat, the feeling of the muscles in my entire body working and rippling.


Roy would come check on me every so often, and gave me encouragement, I would just keep swinging my sledge. 


Roy showed me how to hit the tire with the side if the sledge, to reduce the bounce back, it was effective. If you don't hit it with a good solid strike, the reverberation running up the shaft can start to wear on your arms.


20 on each side, four sets. All I needed was some loud music and a couple guys along side!


It's a great workout, it hits your entire body. I can feel it everywhere the next day, and its one of those great things that hits the abs, the obliques, the back, legs, glutes, arms and traps. 


Although my other gym doesn't have a tire and sledgehammers, Roy's does, and I am there three times a week! Now I can add this to the ropes, sled and boxing, all much better than any cardio machine man ever made!

Quads

Saturday is quads again, I have been "over training" for several weeks, hitting hamstrings twice a week and quads twice a week. Soon, I will change that and go back to one quad day, one hamstring day and then a combo leg day (both quads and hams).


This over training has resulted in my legs being sore in one place or another constantly, and I mean all the time. Seems I get a moment when they start to feel OK, then I hit them all over again.


Saturday I arrived at 6:00 a.m. opening and warmed up on the treadmill, then stretched. I walked down towards my favorite power rack and as I got there Alan stuck his face in mine and says "Are ya deaf!!?" He had been following me trying to get my attention, but my music was way too loud. He was going to San Francisco and wanted to know the name of a restaurant we had talked about.


I then started in on my squats. I noticed that both of my quads were bruised, odd. They both had bruises in just about the same location. I couldn't figure out why.


I warmed up quite a bit, 45 pounds, 65 pounds, 85, 95, 115 and finally started in with 135 pounds, 10 reps. I am concentrating on maintaining the same strength in each leg as I rise up from the squat, I have been "shimmying" as one leg is stronger than the other, and I get partially up then veer to the left and then up, an odd movement and not desirable.


I actually think I may have conquered it today! But we won't find out till Roy watches me from behind on Wednesday.


I finished 3 sets and moved to the Leg Press. Again, several warm ups and then 4 sets of 10 reps at 450 pounds (plus the weight of the machine).  I know I should be able to do more on this, but it is only the second week I have used it, and haven't used it in ages since before this. 


Then up to the Leg Extension. Again, not something I typically use, and I may start using it before squats, I haven't decided yet. Warm up then 5 sets of 10 reps at 110 pounds. I am actually seeing more muscle and definition in my quads, I am super excited!


I have a busy day with my brother planned, so need to get some cardio or conditioning done now, I will not be able to do anything later. Saturdays the entire Basketball Court is taken over by men playing.....basketball! Can you imagine? So I really cannot go use the facility, I decide to hit the stairstepper for 20 minutes.  I forgot how boring it can be, at least on the stairmill my feet move! But they were all full so this is all I could do.


8:05 and I am done! Home for coffee and breakfast of 1 cup egg whites scrambled, 1 whole fried egg on top and a small serving of steel cut oats with peanut butter....


In the shower I figure out why I have bruised quads, it's the Donkey Calf Raises. The 3 plates hanging down between my legs. The chains from the dip belt hit right where the bruises are. I have got to change my calf training on Monday.

Carpe Diem

It's all coming together, my legs are getting bigger. You can see it in my shorts here, I can see it, everyone can see it. And the glutes? Huge in all their glory! 

Roy and I have been hammering and hammering on my legs, and now with this extra leg day added in, I am really getting excited!

Also, with the three days a week of calf exercises, my legs will soon catch up to my massive shoulders!

This is the kind of change that gets me so pumped up to seize the day "Carpe Diem"

What is so significant about this is I have been working on my legs for a couple years and really haven't seen a great deal of progress. I have great shoulders, they get wide and round; I have a wicked back, it gets wide and muscular; my glutes, get big and round; but the legs, they have always plagued me.

I am feeling so good about it all, I wake up in the middle of the night and think about training. I think about the food I will eat that will fuel me, and it encourages me to make better choices, what I eat immediately following training will make all the difference.

Wednesday night we met and it was quad day. We started with front squats, with the weight I left off with last week. These are down low, below parallel. Roy wanted to go heavier- "should I put on some more or just go for the big plates?" he asked. No need to ask again..."Big plates!!!" I said, so he stripped the bar and loaded on two 45 pound plates. I would try 10 reps of front squat with 135 pounds.

Roy said he wanted to video it but he was sure he should spot me instead. I banged out 10 without trouble, still maintaining a slow, steady tempo. I re-racked and told him I could have done 11. "Yeah I could tell!" he said.

We moved to lunges. Long, low and slow. You really haven't done lunges till you do them Roy's way. He wanted 4 sets of 15 on each leg. So that's a total of 120 lunges, 60 on each leg. The second set he says he wants to increase the dumbbells to 30 pounds, I say sure.

He sets down the dumbbells but they are 25 pounds with micro-weights, so they weigh 127.5 each. "What, you chickened out?" I ask. "That's all I need!" he says. "You want 30's? You got it!" He takes the others back and gives me two 30 pound dumbbells.

I do the next two sets and I do them well. I feel exhausted but elated at the same time. I am feeling powerful and triumphant.

Roy was excited too, I am not sure which one of us had more fun, me hammering the legs or him watching me progress and get bigger and stronger before his eyes.

My legs and glutes feel massive, we joke how soon I may need a cart behind me to carry the added weight, or a separate zip code just for my glutes.


I arrive home and Cooper and Adam are working on Adam's car in the garage, right where MyRedRocket (my car) lives. I park in the drive and give them the keys to move it when they are done.


At about 9:15 I am heading off to bed, I go to say goodnight and they are not there, I look down the drive and I see them with Adam's car, out in the street. I talk them out of their late night project and help push the car back up the long drive. It is difficult, the drive is slightly uphill, my legs are shot. So I guess this is my sled workout! 


We push it back into the garage and I tell them to leave it there, let MyRedRocket sleep outside tonight, she will be OK.


We need to push the car a bit more...all I can think of is how tired my legs are.

Soon, I may have to buy bigger shorts!

Hamstrings

As I explained last week, I am training hamstrings twice a week and quads twice a week. Volume is my friend and this seems to be the only way I can add size to these legs. Don't get me wrong, they look tremendously better than they used to, but still not where I want them. In fact, I have noticed that my legs have gotten much bigger! Yahoo!


But...not big enough. So I keep on keepin' on!

It's funny how so many women say they like my legs. I think what they actually like is the fact that I don't have saddle bags or cellulite, so that's all they notice, they neglect to notice that they are too thin for my shoulders, they are not in proportion. 

Above is the kneeling leg curl. This is one of the machines I am using on my own hamstring day, when I am not training with Roy. When I train hams with him on Mondays, right now we are doing Glute Ham Raise (lots and lots) and then single leg deadlifts. That's it, it has ensured I am sore all week long.

So on the hamstring day on my own I am using all the machines. I am using the lying leg curl, the seated leg curl and the kneeling leg curl (above). This should target the areas of the hamstring that Roy and I are not targeting on Mondays.

I see a lot of people using all of these machines incorrectly. They use momentum to swing the weights up. You should never use momentum as it defeats the purpose of the exercise. Everything should be controlled and smooth. 

On the lying leg curl I am using a 2/1 method- both legs to lift the weight (concentric movement) and one leg to lower the weight (eccentric movement). Making sure I keep the foot and calf relaxed so the effort comes from the hamstring. It is important to keep the weight low enough so the hips don't shoot up, thus using the glutes to pull up the weight.

The seated leg curl, I am going heavy. So heavy I really can only do 8 reps, I can tell I am too noisy, all the folks lined up on the stairmills turn to look in my direction, it's the grunting I know. 

The kneeling leg curl (above): I have struggled with this, my left hamstring is significantly weaker than the right, so the same weight on the right leg is easy while on the left is quite difficult. I do an extra set on the left to help build it up. Again, it is important to concentrate on the hamstring area, it is quite easy to get sloppy and use the glute and calf to pull up the weight. I go heavy with low reps as in all the hamstring exercises.

Last, I end with my friend the Glute Ham Raise (below), the most wonderful machine on earth. In this picture, it is not set up for me. I lower the front rollers all the way as low as they go (here they are as high as they go), and the back is pushed forward more for my height.

I do as many sets of 10 as I can, but after the curls I did before, it is hard, really hard. I can usually get 4 sets in on a good day.

The hams are responding and so are the quads, but I am a very, very demanding person.

The back is second fiddle now

I have always been able to develop a nice wide back, and a good V-taper. I usually train back twice a week, and now I am changing it to once a week. I may lose a little detail, but I can dial that back in when I feel I need or want to.

Why?

Change is good!

Especially for a training. The human body is a master at adaptation. Look at the various populations of the world, they all adapt to their climate and terrain. Look at the people at the gym who do the same thing over and over, day in and day out, they look the same right? Their bodies have adapted to their workouts, their bodies are expecting the same old thing everyday. 


So while I have a very well defined and muscular upper body, I still need to increase the development of my legs, they need some size!


It seems to be more effective to split the hamstrings and the quads into two different days. The hamstrings are primarily fast twitch and get exhausted quickly, and the quads are primarily slow twitch, they can go on forever. 


I have been training hams one night with Roy, and then quads another night, and combining them together one day on my own (hitting the hams first of course). 


I am changing it up to increase the volume, and that means I need to take something out, one of my workouts needs to go, and that will be one of my two back days.


Here is what my training split will be:

Monday - Hamstrings

Tuesday - Shoulders

Wednesday - Quads

Thursday - Hamstrings

Friday - Shoulders

Saturday - Quads

Sunday - Back/Arms

It is going to be tough, my legs have actually been sore every single day for the last two weeks anyway, and I am a little hesitant to add yet another day in, and a day devoted only to Quads (or hamstrings) as it means a much more intense workout on that bodypart.

But I love change, I love a challenge, I love a new experience. And when you see my back, if it's starts lagging- shoot me an email and let me know!

Mondays Hamstrings

Monday is hamstrings and it was time to change the training. There are several exercises that can be done, but there are a few that prove over and over to be the most effective, so we do those. Just changing the reps, sets, rest periods and/or weights can be enough to prevent adaptation.

I think we have learned that my body responds best to volume, so lots and lots of reps seem to be what I need to do. Now that doesn't mean that I am doing light weight, on the contrary, I am doing at much as I can, but realistically, when performing 10 to 20 reps the weight won't be as heavy as if I were doing only 4 to 8 reps.

We start with the Glute Ham Raise and Roy has it elevated in the back, high up on a bench. This puts the emphasis on a different area of the hamstring and its quite a bit more difficult to do. We tried it like this several weeks ago and I could only perform 3 reps, I failed miserably.

Monday I not only did 10 reps, but I did three sets with body weight and another two sets holding a weight plate. I think it was only 5 pounds, but it made a difference, believe me. My hamstrings have gotten stronger! We will celebrate by doing the Tootsee Roll! (Email readers will need to navigate directly to the blog to view this video, turn up the speakers!)





Yes, I do have this on my iPod...ha ha I love it!


So the GHR took quite some time, then we moved onto the second exercise, Single Leg Deadlift with a barbell.

I have never done this with a barbell, I have always used dumbbells, so I was excited, I love trying new things.

I warmed up and after the second set of 10 I think we were up to 75 pounds. All the way down until a good stretch is felt in the hamstring, maintain a slight curve in the back, keep looking up, then pull up with the hamstring and the glutes, not the back!

Its easy to round the back and start pulling up that way, and its wrong. It is less effective as you won't hit the hamstrings and its also a good way to cause back pain or tweaks.  I cannot emphasize how important it is to "lift with your head". You must put your mind into the task at hand and concentrate. It's serious business.

Many people think that weight lifters are a daft bunch, and I agree that there are plenty out there, but no more than in any other sport. A successful lifter is serious and quite knowledgeable. Find someone in your gym who looks really good, and watch them. See how they train. Do they chit chat while lifting? Do they read in between sets? I doubt it.


Are they concentrating and almost oblivious to those around them? Perhaps they time their sets and rest periods? I bet they do.

You can learn a lot just by observing. Heck, you can probably even do the "Tootsee Roll" after watching the video a couple times!

Back to the hams. Since they are so connected to the glutes, they will obviously get a good workout too. When we started this one Roy looked at me and said "Sorry, but I think this is going to make your glutes bigger" (or something like that). I laughed and said "Great! I love a good set of glutes!"

Wednesday when we met for Quads, my glutes were still sore. Today, Thursday when I write this? Still feeling it! Maybe I need to stretch them out a bit by cranking up the music in the gymnasium tomorrow and dancing. 

to left. to the left. to the right. to the right.

Saturdays Training

I am back! I am really, honestly not a whiner, but I am sick so infrequently that it just blows me away to wake up feeling...well, sick! I usually bound out of bed like an obnoxious energizer bunny, and it was a week of no bounding, but believe me, I still got up and tried my best. 

There was no hop in this bunny's step.

Saturday I finally felt like my ol' self again. I hadn't missed any training, but the intensity just wasn't there before. I was at the gym at opening as usual.

Warm up by walking a few minutes then lots of stretching, I had all the time in the world and it was leg day, so I needed to warm up a lot. My adductors were still quite sore from Wednesdays quad workout with Roy. 

I hit the hams first, low reps, heavy weight. They need to be trained with as much weight as possible, which means that I cannot possibly do many reps each set. Charles Poliquin once said something like "Show me someone who has huge hams and their training consists of light weight with high reps and I will show you someone who is on steroids".

Hamstrings don't respond with lots of high reps, they need heavy weights.

Seated leg curls

Kneeling leg curls ( I do more reps and sets on the left)

Romanian Deadlifts

I get very excited near the end of the kneeling leg curls, my left is incredibly weaker than the right. So much that it is almost laughable. But I do 8 reps on the left and 6 on the right to help catch it up. The 4th set my left all of a sudden has strength! It is not a struggle! Could it have all of a sudden wised up? I cannot wait until Monday to test it with Roy.

Then the Quads, high reps, lighter weight. (Quads, on the other hand, require high reps).

Back squats (lots of them, I mean like 60)

Front foot elevated split squats

Tom walks in and says "I see you are killin' it as usual!", yes I am back in the game! We chat a bit and he is telling me about a Saturday Night Live repeat episode he and his wife saw the night before, I need to Google it. Something about "a box" (I did, and it was hilarious). I told Cooper, David and Lauren about it at lunch and Cooper almost spit his food out, he had already seen it. 


If you want to see it, feel free to take a look at this link. It's potty humor, I must warn you, but pretty darn funny! How did we get there talking by the squat rack? I have no idea....


I finished with 3 sets of 10 on the Glute Ham Raise. I have to do this at the end, it is just too brutal to do any other time. But I LOVE it!

20 minutes on the stairmill

Boxing in the gym. I walk in and there are many men playing basketball, and several sitting on the bleachers. I count, there are 21 men. 6 have no shirt on, and I can periodically see the bodies of those with shirts on too. Oh I am off topic.

I will go 5 rounds of boxing, 2 minutes on and 1 off. I am practicing more with my left as this is my weaker side, I need to develop the strength. I am sweating, and although I have a headband on to keep my hair out of my face, it's useless, I am a mess. I am wailing on that bag like my life depended on it.

One of the guys stops by as he walks to the water fountain "Good workout huh?" "Yes" I respond, "It's a great workout!"

5 is enough, that is a total of 10 minutes, I will go one more round on Sunday, soon I will be able to go a half hour. 

Hams from Hell

We are now working on my hamstrings once a week, Monday evenings is the selected day of torture.

I enjoy training hamstrings, but then there are some things that once I start, I decide they are really, really difficult.

SC always told me I was built to deadlift. I guess that's better than being told I am strong like a Russian tractor, he meant it as a compliment I am sure. 

Monday we did deadlifts, Romanian Dedalifts (RDL's). We started with my ending weight from last week- 155 and Roy just kept piling on the weight. He said as long as I could do 10 reps, I could do more weight.

He added more, then the chains. We were up to 195 I think, and I had done four sets. He wanted more. He added more weight, it couldn't have been much, maybe we were up to 200 or 205, and I did 5 reps and on the 5th, just let it drop it on the ground, I couldn't pull it up any longer. 

I was breathing hard, sweating, the kind of training I like, you see, my feet barely moved! ha ha

Then it was on to unilateral work on the extension bench, with a weight. This one is done very slowly, it hits the top of the glutes and my lower back begins to feel it.

We went longer than usual. Roy wanted to hit the calves too. I got home, had a ground beef patty, brown rice, mushrooms and zucchini. I thought I would be sore the following day.

I woke at 4:00 am, ate egg whites and off to the gym for shoulders, nothing was sore, nothing hurt, odd. I made sure I rolled and stretched my legs a little but concentrated on the shoulders more.

I emailed Roy and told him "nothing! no soreness!"

At lunch I changed and grabbed my jump rope, it was off to run the steps and jump. Jogging to the event center was fine, but as I took the first stairs (two at a time), I could feel the slowness in my legs, the muscles were still fatigued.

I managed to run my steps and jump rope, but it was slow going. I slowly jogged back to the office when I was done. By the time I got home from work at 5:30, my calves were killing me, my hamstrings were staring to feel tight, and I knew I was in for a long night of tossing and turning. I would have hamstrings from hell in the morning.

And Wednesday night Roy and I train Quads. Quads means squats. No way to rest the hams when doing squats.


Give me strength, I am going to need it Wednesday night!

4 Weeks Out

Four weeks left, I am getting antsy; however, I am not where I need to be yet!


I am looking good, but I always start thinking "what if I don't lose that last bit of fat in time?"


I do worry, and losing the fat and being ready too early is just as bad as not being ready on time. I lose it all too quickly and I risk looking thin and stringy, old and tired, haggard, not healthy.


So I do fret and tonight David reminded me I have 4 weeks still! That's a whole month, and I only need to lose a pound or maybe two of fat at most. Easy!


Let's get on with the weekly critique shall we?


Shoulders look great, arms fabulous. The quads are even looking good.

The delts look nice and round, I think my rear delts get so big because I train back twice a week, and the low row, bent over row and pull ups all hit those delts too.

Ah, the back. Lumpy and bumpy, in a good way! This is the first picture I see my size starting to come down, meaning my overall size, I am getting smaller now, at least I feel smaller.


The 'smiley' under the glutes is just about gone (and it's not a frown thank goodness!) the glute ham tie in is looking tighter and pulled together.  The waist really looks small from this view.

I am happy, ready to move along and start the next journey soon.  What am I planning? I am not sure what the specific training will be. I told Roy I would be in to train the Wednesday after my competition, I am not one to take a week off as so many people do. I will be too anxious to get back and into the gym after a couple days away.

Friday's Training with Roy

Roy and I are training shoulders on Fridays right now, and I am loving it!


There is always a point in my training where I think I know so much, only to find that there is a whole world that I don't know about, and it is so fun to discover it! 


We are working on my anterior and lateral deltoids to show more roundness. The posterior are looking good, and that usually lags on so many people.


We went for volume, I seem to respond well to that.


Incline barbell press (using fatgripz)
Incline dumbbell press with a neutral (some call hammer) grip
   superset with
Lateral raise
Incline front raise (on a bench, face down, neutral grip)
   superset with
laying rear delt raise


I took longer than an hour, and it felt great!  We chatted for a while about the world of competing, dieting and the shady side of the bodybuilding world in general.


A guy wanders over from the pull down across the drive, we are in an industrial area, who knows what goes on behind the closed doors! He said we both look like "fit people" and wanted to know if we wanted to buy some Sea Bass.


Roy and I looked at each other, I couldn't tell if he was about to crack up and was holding it in, or not. I know it was rather odd. It is 80 degrees outside, we are standing in font of his gym and some guy wants to show us his fish in a crowded and cluttered garage...


I say "sure we will come see" and we walk over, they have huge ice chests with not much in them, they buy from the fish wholesalers...hmmm. I see fishing poles but I don't think they are for sea bass. They give us a crab cocktail and we thank them and walk back to the gym, we decide not to buy anything.


We huddle together in the gym wondering what kind of business they are running and laugh as we both tell the other they can have the crab salad. We talk about Arnold and wonder if he will be able to make a comeback, or are we stuck with the vision of his belly in the speedo forever? He was stunning in his younger days, and although he did use steroids, he was and still must be genetically gifted.

I say goodbye, we will train legs on Wednesday evening. I drive off to have a pedicure. I realize it sounds like I have some odd foot fetish, I have a pedicure or a foot massage almost every week, but it is so relaxing and an inexpensive treat to myself. 


I picked wild orange today, one of my last hurrahs to summer.

I fell asleep, It seems that I am always falling asleep when I have a pedicure or a foot massage! That's a good thing right?


Actually a waive of sheer relaxation came over me, making my eyes heavy. I wouldn't say I was tired or exhausted, it was like every inch of my body felt spent and completely at peace. It happens sometimes when I train for a long period of time, and I believe it is endorphines surging through my body and then a let down, like there is nothing left in me. It is this high that keeps me doing what I do all the time.


I closed my eyes, just sitting waiting for my orange creamsicle polish to dry then home I went, floating on a cloud, not quite sure what is in control of my body. 


Time for a great muscle building meal. I had planned on having fillet Mignon, but we had another teenager over for dinner and I gave up my fillet for the good of the cause. Instead I had a fabulous beefalo patty from Pampero Ranch.  Stacy introduced me to this farm, Jim sells at the Mountain View farmers market. The beefalo is very tasty, 4.8% fat, grass fed and a great source of protein. He sells some wonderful eggs where the chickens eat only melon rinds and flax seeds too.


I had beefalo, a whole egg, broccolini, mushrooms and peppers. A spoon of mustard and a big glass of water. 

I am ready to hit the Quads on Saturday morning. Roy and I trained hamstrings Wednesday, they are still tight from the workout, of course sprints and stairs afterward certainly helped to pump them up. 

I wonder, do you ever get this feeling after training? I would love to hear!