Week One: Training

Thankfully, the first week of my twelve-week pre-contest diet and training regimen has come to an end. With an official start date of May 17, my starting weight for my eighty-one-day prep was 162.6 pounds.  One week later, my weight was down to 154.2, a drop of 8.4 pounds (bear in mind this was not a loss of eight pounds of pure fat, but eight pounds of fat, water, undigested food, and overall bloat; the first week is always marked by a very large drop). Already the vascularity in my arms has improved dramatically, my thighs are noticeably more defined, and my abs are beginning to protrude out of their shell a tad. More importantly, I feel much better physically than I did before, as my body seems anxious to rush back to 140-145 pounds, the weight range it seems the most comfortable with. With almost eleven weeks to go until my next contest, I have little doubt I'll be able to show up leaner and harder than I did at my last show on March 14 in Vermont.

As promised, I plan to use this blog as an online training and diet "journal", both to hold myself to a high degree of accountability while also shedding some light on what it is that I do as part of my preparation. I currently have a large number of unanswered messages in my Facebook inbox from friends wondering what I do to achieve my on-stage condition, and I figure this will be easier than trying to respond to them each individually. Most of all, though, training and dieting is just plain fun to write about! With all that said (or written, as the case is), let's get to my first week of training, shall we? We'll cover my diet in my next installment.

(Note: If any of the natural bodybuilders/trainers that I know happen to be reading and would like to offer tips, suggestions, or constructive criticism about any part of my regimen, please don't hesitate to do so! I'm hungry to learn. If, however, syringes are a big part of your "supplementation program", or the only time you believe in squatting is when you're on the toilet, well, let's just say I'm not as anxious to hear from you.)

Monday, May 17: Quads and Abs (A)
1) Squats (descending depth), 2 warm-ups, 5 sets of 5 reps
2) Hack Squats (with barbell), 5 sets of 5 reps
3) Hanging Leg Raises, 3 sets of 5 reps
4) Decline Leg Raises, 3 sets of 10 reps

• As mentioned in my last entry, my A-workouts are of the lowest intensity, using a 5 x 5 set/rep scheme for my primary muscle group (in this case, quadriceps), going as heavy as I can for five reps, and using ample rest time (approximately three minutes between sets).  
• When using "descending depth" squats, the first set after the warm-up and stretch is my heaviest set, and my thighs just barely reach parallel depth (I squat back until my butt lightly touches a stack of seven aerobic step risers that assure the proper height).  For my next set I remove ten pounds from the bar as well as one riser.  So, although the weight is lighter, the squat is deeper, and more difficult.  By the time I'm on my fifth set, I'm squatting all the way down to a stack of just three risers (see video below).  
• I do my hack squats the old fashioned way, just as ol' Georg Hackenschmidt intended: holding a heavy barbell behind my thighs.
• My sets of abdominal exercises were performed in a "staggered" manner, meaning I squeezed them in between sets of hack squats in an effort to save time.
• Even though this was an extremely tough workout which left me sore for days, because I included no Bulgarian squats or other unilateral movements, it almost felt like a day off!

Tuesday, May 18: Chest and Shoulders (B)
1) Incline Barbell Presses, 1 warm-up, 3 sets of 4-6 reps
2) Flat Bench Presses, 3 sets of 10-12 reps
3) Flat Cable Flyes, 3 sets of 20 reps
4) Reverse Pec Deck, 3 sets of 20 reps
5) Standing Lateral Raises, 3 sets of 12-15 reps

• B-workouts are the more standard, "bread-and-butter" workouts in which the primary muscle group (chest, in this example) is trained with 3-4 sets of 3-4 exercises, covering a range of low, moderate, and high rep ranges.
• I perform reverse pec deck flyes in one of the old-fashioned pec deck machines by facing the weight stack and jamming my elbows behind the arm pads.  Though I have to go light and the range of motion is tiny, this movement kicks the proverbial crap out of my rear delts.  I get a pump and muscle cramp after just a few tiny repetitions.
• I usually don't perform a lot of heavy overhead pressing exercises for my shoulders (i.e. military presses, dumbbell presses, etc.), and this workout was no exception.  I feel such exercises carry a pretty high risk-to-benefit ratio, and all presses I do for my chest hammer the front delts and tris pretty heavily, anyway.  For this reason, when it comes time to train my shoulders directly, I stick to the rear and side heads of the deltoids.

Thursday, May 20: Back and Hamstrings (C)
     (1 & 2 performed as a superset, with no rest between each)
1) Lying Leg Curls, 4 sets of 20 reps (using a 2-3 second peak contraction on each rep)
2) Standard Back Extensions, 4 sets of 10-12 reps
3) Rope Pulldowns, 3 sets of 20 reps
4) T-Bar Rows (with regular barbell), 4 sets of 10-12 reps
5) Wide-Grip Pulldowns, 3 sets of 10-12 reps

• C-workouts are of the highest intensity, marked by much shorter rest periods, as well as high-intensity techniques like supersets, drop-sets, giant sets, etc.  In regards my back and hams workout specifically, the C-workouts also require me to train my hamstrings before back.
• Rope pulldowns are a unique exercise performed with a cable and rope attachment.  In terms of pure lat involvement, they might be the single most intense upper back exercise I know.  I've been using them for almost a year, now, and they've made the entirety of my lats sore each and every time I've performed them.  The burn and pump during the set is almost immediate, too!
• The T-bar rows were performed by simply jamming the barbell into a corner of the gym.
• Although this workout left me quite sort in the target areas for the next two days, I wasn't overly thrilled with my execution of it.

Friday, May 21: Biceps and Triceps (C)
     (1-3 performed as a giant set, with no rest between each)
1) Lying Barbell Tricep Extensions (a.k.a. Headbangers), 1 warm-up, 4 sets of 10-12 reps
2) J.M. Presses, 1 warm-up, 4 sets of 4-5 reps
3) Close-Grip Bench Presses, 1 warm-up, 4 sets of 4-5 reps
     (4-6 performed as a giant set, with no rest between each)
4) Incline Hammer Curls, 1 warm-up, 3 sets of 4-5 reps
5) 90-Degree Preacher Curls, 3 sets of 10-12 reps
6) Machine Curls, 3 sets of 20 reps
     (7 & 8 performed as a superset, with no rest between each)
7) Cable Preacher Curl, 3 sets of 10-12 reps
8) Overhead Triceps Extensions, 3 sets of 20 reps

Overhead tricep extensions; photo courtesy Elysa Woodhead.

• I didn't have to switch barbells or adjust poundages (or even change my grip!) during the first giant set; I used a constant weight each time through.  In fact, the barbell never left my hands from one exercise to another.
• The 90-degree preacher curls are performed with the use of the back extension machine (see picture below).

 Using the back extension for 90-degree preachers; photo courtesy Elysa Woodhead.

That folks, was it for my first week of training.  No cardio, no craziness, and each workout took no more than an hour to perform.  Just smart, intense training with a lot of focus.  My workouts during week two will be entirely different, of course, so be sure to check back in for those!

In my next installment: "Stage One" of my pre-contest diet.