Commanding My Body

[Commander]

Pull Day

Deadlift
328.5x5, 4 sets

superset with

Front Lever x 6

Overhand Scrape Rack Rows
145x6, 4 sets
125x6, 2 sets

Pullups
BW+3.5 x 6, 4 sets

Lat Pulldown
119x8, 3 sets

triset with

Ab Wheel Rollout and Crunches

* Tricep Pump work in between back sets

[Commander]

Last Night

Tire Dragging - upperbody

Thursday - Push Day

* Chest work supersetted with bicep pump work

Chest Pre-pump work - partial pushups

Bench Chains
182.5x3 (+5 every 2 sets) 192.5x3, 2 sets
197.5x3
197.5x5

Bench
186x6, 4 sets

Maltese Cross Work, 5 sets

Bench Partials
141, 2 sets

Speed Bench Chains
141x3, 5 sets

Overhead Press - rest pause for a total of 90 seconds
113 x 9 + 6 + 5 + 4 = 24

[Commander]

Thursday August 2

Hit a 20 rep set of deadlifts at 311 lbs for some fun prior to going on vacation, this was not a PR and I had some left in the tank, but I didn't feel like messing up my lower back before sitting on a plane for hours.

Vacation August 3 to August 10 in Florida (Ft Lauderdale, Everglades, Kay Largo)

Averaged 150 pushups per day, plus lots of swimming, some hiking and kayaking as well.

Saturday

Leg Extension
50x40, 20

Deadlift
306x5, 8 sets ss w/ Arm Pump work

Deadlift
306x3, 4 sets ss w/ Leg Extension 50x15

Glute Ham
BWx8, 3 sets ss w/ Leg Extension 50x12

Later on Saturday

Tire Dragging Upperbody

Sunday

Tire Dragging Upperbody

Today - Push Day

* Chest work supersetted with bicep pump work

Bench Chains
185x3 (+5 every 2 sets) 195x3, 2 sets
200x3
200x4

Bench
187.5x6, 4 sets

Maltese Cross Work, 4 sets

Overhead Press - rest pause for a total of 90 seconds
115 x 10 + 6 + 5 + 4 = 25

Speed Bench Chains
142.5x3, 5 sets

Overhead Press - rest pause for a total of 90 seconds
115 x 9 + 6 + 4 + 4 = 23

[Commander]

Motivation/Confidence:

Nearly 4 months post contest, weighed in after vacation...179.

One week before the contest and I was 174. Here is a video from one week out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQh5aa9jclI

I ask myself, if I dropped 5 pounds? Would I look like that?

I am not sure. To the untrained eye, I probably don't look much different. But I don't feel that I could look that dry and lean if I dropped 5 pounds.

So what does that mean? I am not sure to be honest. I've still trained hard, so it isn't likely I lost muscle. The weight I've gained (I was up to around 183) was slow, so it probably isn't much fat. Am I just depleted from losing 3-4 pounds over vacation week (not as many carbs plus tons of activity and not enough water)? Will I fill out after a week of eating more, drinking more and training hard? If I fill out, will my confidence return as I look more crisp and bigger? Only time will tell.

I will say that with another bodybuilding competition possibly years away, my motivation is low. Now, I am normally very internally motivated and for years I didn't need external cues to motivate me. However, my life may be taking an interesting twist soon which is impacting my motivation. More details on that in the near future.

To win an overall title I need to gain at least 15 pounds of muscle does help me stay motivated to some extent. 15 QUALITY pounds will take a LONG time to put on, I need to plug away consistently to put that on my frame.

Other issue...nagging knees:

Leading up to the contest and even a couple months after, was probably some of the best squatting I have done in terms of frequency, consistency in form, depth, explosiveness, etc.

However, then I decided to add in a bunch of partials as an intensity technique. The partials ended up killing my knees. I think with full ROM I can stay in the proper groove very well, but when I started doing the partials, my knee joints just weren't tracking properly. After one month of partials, my quads looked great, but my knees were banged up to the point where bodyweight squats hurt.

I rested a little bit, but eventually I decided to experiment and found I could do front box squats nearly pain free. Well, I did too much of a good thing. Doing tons of front box squats hurt my knees in a different way. I think my tendon got used to not being stretched under load at the bottom ROM due to the point in a box squat where you relax onto the box. Additionally, I think the start of a box squats can be a bit tough on the knees. So after a few weeks of front box squats, it again hurt to do full ROM of squats with just bodyweight. The top of the ROM was OK, but trying to go to parrallel or deeper it just felt as if my knees were super tight, it was a deep ache feeling. Additionally, my wrists were starting to hurt from holding the bar in the front squat position.

Lessons? I do best with regular ROM back squats.

My plan to get back to back squats pain free:

1. Avoid painful activities
2. Thoroughly warmup my knees
3. More deadlift volume until I can squat again
4. Isolate (leg extensions) until I can do compound pain free
5. Higher reps for now as this helps the tendons
6. Stretching the quad
7. Maybe when I have a few dollars to spare - knee sleeves

Deadlift Day - Leg Extensions to hit quads

Leg Extension
50x40, 20

Deadlift
308.5x5, 8 sets ss w/ Leg Extension - began with 60x8, working up to 75x8

Circuit: 4 times through
a) Box Jump x 1
b) Deadlift 328.5x3
c) Box Jump x 2
d) Tricep Pump Work

Glute Ham
BWx10, 3 sets ss w/ Quadricep Stretching

[Commander]

Wednesday

Push Day - Overhead emphasis

* Power clean the weight up for the first reps, after set of 3, I did 2 additional power clean reps

* Bicep pump work done in between sets

OH Press - 3s
110, 130x3
150, 155x3
160x3, 2 sets

OH Press - 6s
130x6
135x6, 3 sets

Bench Press Chains - ss w/ Upright Cable Row
155x6, 4 sets

OH Press - 9s
110x9, 4 sets

Bench Press Chains - speed work
142.5x3, 4 sets

ss w/

Power Clean
130x3, 4 sets

Bench Press Chains - rest pause
142.5 x 6 + 4 + 3 +2

[Commander]

Deadlift Day - 3s

Leg Extension
50x40, 25

Deadlift
326x3 (+10 each set) 386x3
306x10

ss w/ Leg Extension - began with 60x8, working up to 77.5x8

Circuit: 4 times through
a) Box Jump x 1
b) Deadlift 328.5x3
c) Box Jump x 2
d) Tricep Pump Work

Glute Ham
BWx10, 3 sets ss w/ Quadricep Stretching

[Commander]

Friday - Push Day

Pushup partials

Bench
220x3 (+5 every 2 sets) 230x3, 2 sets
235x3
235x5

Bench Chains (+50)
155x6, 4 sets

Ring Dips
BW+21x6, 3 sets
BWx6 - just too fatigued and pumped to hit the 4th set with 21 extra pounds

Bench Partials
142.5, 1 sets

Speed Bench Chains
142.5x3, 6 sets (5 before the overhead press, 1 set afterward to finish the workout)

Overhead Press - rest pause for 90 seconds, I cheated and this took 93 seconds
116 x 10 + 6 + 5 + 4 = 25

[arian11]

Another thing with full ROM squats is if you do it correctly your hips bare the weight. Whereas squatting high makes your knees bare all the weight. Also, if you don't wear knee sleeves you should try them out since alot of people say it helps. I also found this site to be helpful for tendonitis:

http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2009/08/on-tendonitis/

It helped me figure out why sometimes the part between my right knee and quad hurts sometimes. Turns out from overuse and tightening of the quad causing my quadriceps tendon to stretch and cause pain. So I've been trying to do some foam rolling of the quads and stretching to get the pain to go away.

[Commander]

Hey Arian,
Thanks for checking in. It really ticks me off how much me knees ache right now. I never had knee issues before. I used to hurt my lower back when my form sucked and I have gotten tight IT bands and hip flexors sometimes from tons of squatting, but never any joint issue. The month of hard core (read: idiotic) partials followed by weeks of box squatting really did a number on my knees. Most people, get dinged up DURING contest prep, not me, I get the aches and pains after. Time to train smart and get healthy.

Thanks for the link. I definitely think my quad got tight and that is causing some pain in the tendons around the knee. Stretching has seemed to help. And foam rolling has always helped my legs to feel great regardless of what was/is ailing them, time to get back at it. No excuse, I can always find 10 minutes to roll out my legs.

[Commander]

Saturday - Deadlift and Back

a1) Deadlift, 311x5, 6 sets
a2) Leg Extension, 70x8
a3) Front Lever

b1) Power Clean, 130x3, 3 sets, 140x3, 140x5, 3 sets
b2) Tricep Pump work (and quad stretching)

c1) Pullup, BW+5 x 6, 4 sets
c2) OH Tricep Pump work

Sunday - Off Day

My son had his 8th birthday. We had a party at his gymnastics warehouse. It was the best birthday party I ever went to. Everyone, kids and adults alike, got to play on the equipment (and NO waivers signed, it was like a flashback to simpler times). I messed around on rings, pummel horse, high bar and floor. I also got to climb a 30 foot rope attached to the ceiling two times. Then we played kickball on the floor. I got a nice workout for an off day!

Monday - Push Day - Overhead emphasis

* Power clean the weight up for the first reps, after set of 3, I did 2 additional power clean reps

* Bicep pump work done in between sets

OH Press - 3s
110, 130x3
152.5x3, 157.5x3
162.5x3, 2 sets

OH Press - 6s
136x6, 4 sets

Bench Press - ss w/ Upright Cable Row
188.5x6, 4 sets

OH Press - 9s
111x9, 4 sets

Bench Press Chains - speed work
143.5x3, 5 sets

ss w/

Power Clean
135x3, 5 sets
135x6

Bench Press Chains - rest pause
143.5 x 6 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1