Commanding My Body

[Commander]

Saturday

Crazy 8's - a John Meadows arm workout

5 rounds of this, 8 reps each:
Barbel Curl 60
DB Hammer Curl 22
Band Curl
Tricep Pushdown 60
OH Tricep Extension suspended
Band Tricep Extension

My arms were inflated like balloons, it felt great.

I attempted occluded squats for the first time....wow, talk about pain, my ROM became smaller and smaller because my legs were so tight from the occlusion.

Occluded Squats - ha, ha, yes, 70 pounds
70x30, 15, 9, 7

Occluded Leg Extensions
65x15, 15, 15

super set with

Occluded Suspended Bridge Leg Curl
BWx10, 10, 10

-----

208 days to gain 22.5 pounds!

Monday

AM

Chinup
BW+18.5 x 10, 10, 8, 8, 6, 7

1 Arm Pullover
33x10, 9, 9

and

Band Stiff Arm Lat Pulldown

superset with

Pullups
BW+5 x 5, 5 sets

T-Bar - focused on holding peak contraction first 5 reps or so, then last half of set was more continuous
170x10, 5 sets

DB Row
63x10, 4 sets

superset with

Suspended Pushups
BWx10, 3 sets

Lunch

Flat Bench Press
180x10, 5 sets

superset with Crunches, BWx20

DB Press
63x10, 4 sets

Suspended Pushup
BWx10, 3 sets

Front Raise
14x15, 3 sets

Floor Press
130x15, 2 sets

DB Floor Press
63x10

Pulldown
110x20, 15, 15

------

Diet Update

Bodyweight average last week: 186.6
Bodyweight average this week: 187.5

Gains came right on target this week, I am right where I want to be. A fellow who I always felt was a good size came up to me at the pool and said I looked huge. My ego grew three sizes that moment.

Macros will remain the same.

[HardCory]

Glad to see you got some squats in, did you feel any discomfort? Good stuff with the weight as well, I'm right around there as well. Did you have a target weight for this bulk?

[Commander]

Originally Posted by HardCory

Glad to see you got some squats in, did you feel any discomfort? Good stuff with the weight as well, I'm right around there as well. Did you have a target weight for this bulk?

I purposefully went high on the squats to avoid straining the hip flexor, it is when I am right near parallel that the it gets stretched and hurts, so I was doing a little more than a half squat....which became 1/3 and then 1/4 squat as my legs ballooned up from the occlusion.

Target weight is 210. Then I envisioned cutting down to 187 (what I weight right now). So in the next 10.5 months, I want to gain 23 pounds and cut 23 pounds, if I gain mostly muscle and cut mostly fat, it should make a pretty big impact on how my physique looks.

[Commander]

Tuesday

207 days - dang, I can't believe it's going to be in the one hundreds soon, time flies when you are having fun bulking

Morning

Summer vacation has started for my kids, thus my schedule won't be quite as locked in. Today, my oldest was at soccer camp and my youngest was home with my wife, so I thought I would have a chance to play with him at lunch, so decided to try a quad-dominant workout in the morning.

I first attempted partial squats because of my hip flexor pain, these sucked, just couldn't get motivated to do them. Plus, I thought better of it, because I don't want to ingrain a motor pattern of partial squats. Then I tried barbell hack squats, they hit the quads fairly well, but are just an awkward movement.

I finished with a tri-set of leg extensions, suspended bridge leg curl and elevated split squats. I went too deep on split squats and I could feel the hip pain. This sucks big time.

However, with all of my recent experimentation, I think I have it narrowed down to two main exercises; walking lunges and snatch grip deadlift. Workout Machine recommended walking lunges to me awhile back, I should have just went with them when he first told me (You are the man Mike, I am an idiot!). With walking lunges, I don't have to worry about hurting my hip because my knee touches the ground before I get to the deep ROM that hurts. And snatch grip deadlift forces you to get your hips lower, which helps bring in more quad.

So, I will try to make Tuesday my deadlift day and then Thursday will be my more quad-dominant day with snatch grip deadlift and walking lunges.

Occluded Walk

After getting back from my occluded walk, I did 1 set of 10 reps, walking lunges while still occluded....I liked it...a lot! I might have to combine weighted walking lunges and occlusion!

Lunch

My son was playing with a neighbor friend, so I got to workout at lunch, I was glad because my morning workout sucked big time (experimenting, didn't really break a sweat)

Deadlift
356, 366, 376, 386, 396, 406x3
416x3, 2 sets
361x6, 2 sets

Leg Extension
125x10, 3 sets

superset with

Snatch Grip Deadlift - practice for Thursday
206x10, 2 sets

[Commander]

A guy comes up to me (and he's about the 5th or 6th person since the weather got nice) while I am dragging my tire to comment on it. He said that, "people think you're crazy, but I tell 'em, that's a great way to stay in shape." I thanked him for his kind words and he very nicely offered some weights that he didn't use. I took him up on his offer, it wasn't much, but he said he had some dumbbells and a barbell. I figured even if I couldn't make use of it, I could find someone who could.

Wednesday

206 days to keep hearing from people who drive by about how crazy I am

Morning

Flat Bench
192.5x5, 7 sets
177.5x8, 2 sets

superset with

Chinup
BW+45 x 5, 6 sets
BW+11 x 8

Tire Work - Press, Row, Forward and Backward Drags, Front Raise

Lunch

DB Bench
72x8, 4 sets
64.5x12, 2 sets

superset with

Chinup
BW+11 x 8, 3 sets
BWx12

Tire Work - Press, Row, Forward and Backward Drags

DB Floor Press
64.5x12, 2 sets

-----

The day after deadlift is the toughest day to train for me. I kill the deadlifts and as a result, am quite sore all over the next day. I like to tire drag anytime, but it is really awesome when you are feeling beat up from a previous training session, tire dragging is a great recovery tool. This morning, I actually feel better after my workout, almost refreshed. So on days when I am beat up, lots of tire dragging is in order.

[Commander]

Thursday

205 days

Morning

Occluded Walk - super intense, I wrapped pretty tight

Afternoon

Leg Extension
100x10, 8 sets

superset with

Snatch Grip Deadlift with Duckfeet
270x5, 6 sets
220x10, 2 sets

Snatch Grip DL forces you to get your hips lower, thus quads are more involved. Then I brought the quads in more by using a duckfeet position (turning the toes out). The leg extensions done immediately before my set helped me feel my quads more as well. It felt good, I was breathing really heavy with this superset.

Walking Lunge
BWx12, 4 sets

Leg Extension - drop set
100x13, 75x5, 50x5

------

I noticed a decent vain (actually 2) popping on my legs, but it is much better on my left leg. I have been hitting squats and deadlifts hard this bulk, but I also think the occlusion training I have been doing has contributed to the hypertrophy and increased vascularization that I am seeing. It is exciting to be bulking, where you would expect to see less vascularization as it gets covered in a layer of water/fat, and getting more vascular. Additionally, one of my pants that I haven't worn in 4-5 months did not fit well in the thighs, but still fit well in the waist when I put them on last night. Bulk is definitely a success thus far.

[Commander]

204 days to bring it

Friday

Skipped morning workout...and was actually able to sleep in. I was just exhausted from a long week of not getting enough sleep. And last night I knew I would be up late watching the Mavs/Heat game. So I decided to give myself the morning off. I was so tired I was actually falling asleep during the 4th quarter...I am lame.

Lunch - since I gave myself the morning off, I tried to superset and make up for the volume of the typical morning workout...I almost got all of it in, it was intense

Flat Bench
207.5x3, 7 sets
182.5x6, 4 sets
167.5x10, 2 sets

superset with

Chin ups
BW+57.5 x 3, 6 sets
BW+25 x 6, 3 sets
BW+5 x 10

T-Bar
192.5x3, 2 sets
162.5x6, 4 sets
147.5x10

Suspended Pushups
BWx10, 2 sets

[Commander]

203 days to make my arms bigger

Friday evening

Tire Drags

Saturday

Morning

Occluded Walk

Afternoon

Crazy 8's - a John Meadows' arm workout

5 rounds of this circuit, 8 reps each:
Barbel Curl 62.5
DB Hammer Curl 22
Band Curl
Tricep Pushdown 60
OH Tricep Extension suspended
Band Tricep Extension
Crunches, BWx20

Occluded Leg Extensions
100x20, 10
85x10
75x10

First time going that heavy on occluded leg extensions, it was wonderful and awful at the same time.

Occluded Suspended Bridge Leg Curl
BWx20, 10, 10, 10

I think I hyper-extended my knee a bit on the leg curls, my baker's cyst is acting up a little and it hurts.

[HardCory]

Was the baker's cyst caused by previous injury, inflammation, or are you just one of the unfortunate ones that produces too much synovial fluid?

[Commander]

Originally Posted by HardCory

Was the baker's cyst caused by previous injury, inflammation, or are you just one of the unfortunate ones that produces too much synovial fluid?

That's a good question, I think it may have been irritated from extending my knee too much on deadlifts a long time ago. I have had it for awhile now, but that is just speculation on my part. There was never a definitive moment when I got it.

It usually doesn't bother me (and, in fact, the pain went away fairly quickly), but sometimes it acts up.