Frank's Return to the Gym

[fcalise]

Decided to start a workout journal here on bb.com as I just hit the gym for the first time since the end of June today. Here is a quick little summary of my training experience:

- Began when started playing rugby senior year of high school in March 2004
- Liked working out, continued over summer and freshman year at Virginia Tech (weighed 147 going into school)
- Throughout college was on and off, only senior year did I really try to eat clean, all my life I have eaten whatever I wanted (my mom always cooks though, alot of Italian but I never really ate junk at all anyway)
- Worked out a bit after graduation but began working full-time June 2nd and the gym I usually go to is packed when I get home.

So today I went and found a new gym as I miss working out and being in shape. Yesterday would have been my arms day the way I am trying to plan things, today was chest.

DB flat bench press
One-arm flat bench flyes
Chest press machine
Decline barbell press
Cable crossovers
DB incline bench press
Incline press machine

Did 4x12 most of the time if I could, trying to find out what weight levels I am at. The most I've ever done on DB flat bench is 90 or 95 I can't remember so breaking that personal record of mine is something I'm interested in doing in the near future (once I get back into shape etc). Something I paid a bit more attention to is the amount of rest in between sets. Usually this was just a random amount of time, trying to keep it consistent and between 45s-1m to keep the blood pumping and muscles growing.

Did some abs today, which I plan to do most days..

Rope crunches
Oblique twists
Decline situps
(possibly do leg lifts or something else here next time)

And did some fat burning cardio on the treadmill for a little

It felt great to be back lifting again. What I am going after is to lose some body fat and really expose the muscle I have (or had and am willing to rebuild on) because I used be in much better shape. However, I also plan on really paying attention to diet to go the extra step, get the abs working, etc. It will be a good challenge and I am definitely down for a change. I plan on working five days a week and resting on the weekend (but probably doing some activity somewhere).

I'll be posting progress pictures each week or maybe every other, as well as only weighing myself each week at the very earliest. Hopefully I'll have a little more format to this journal as time goes on, right now I'm trying to get to sleep since I have work in the morning.

Thanks for stopping by. Any tips, comments, suggestions, criticism is welcome.. and questions too!

[fcalise]

Second day throwing up the iron again and it feels great. Was sore at work today which was a nice feeling. Made sure I up'd my water intake while working as I have not been drinking as much as I should.

Did back today, looked something like this:

DB rows
Lat pulldown
Pull-ups
Back extensions
Barbell row
Cable row
Deadlift

Then I hit up some abs and a little cardio afterwards

Oblique twists
Cable crunches
Decline crunches

Not sure what I'm going to workout tomorrow, either shoulders are legs still deciding. Might end up being legs and I'll do shoulders on Friday to give my upper body a little bit of a break.

This weekend (or maybe Friday since I have every other Friday off at my job) I'll look to hit up the grocery store and shop for some clean foods I have in mind. I really want to focus on becoming a bit leaner and really get the definition to show.

[fcalise]

Worked out legs today to give my upper body a rest as I am still adjusting from not working out in a couple of months. Did the following exercises:

Squats
Extensions
Hamstring curls
Seated calf-raises
Leg press
supersets with calf-raises on press machine
DB lunges

Drank alot of water today while at work and felt much better during my workout. Also mixed up the playlist from what it has been for quite some time now so that kept me a little more focused. Along with destroying my legs threw in some abs:

Rope crunches
Decline crunches
Machine crunches

Did a little cardio afterwards but not too much as I was pretty beat plus might be playing indoor soccer tomorrow night. Looking forward to doing shoulders tomorrow. I'll also be going food shopping to pick up a whole bunch of clean items to start eating much better than I am now. I'll list what I pick up here and what I'm doing as far as my meals during the day etc.

[Eric-B]

what up fellow new yorker! Just droppin in seeing what's going on in here. Your physique is already pretty impressive even if the training has been inconsistent. Hopefully you can find a way to really stay with it this time and make some serious gains.

And don't be scared to post the numbers in your workout haha.

[fcalise]

Originally Posted by Eric-B

what up fellow new yorker! Just droppin in seeing what's going on in here. Your physique is already pretty impressive even if the training has been inconsistent. Hopefully you can find a way to really stay with it this time and make some serious gains.

And don't be scared to post the numbers in your workout haha.

Thanks man. Yeah I'm gonna go back and put some numbers in. Have been real busy with work this week but I have off tomorrow so was going to fix up the format in here.

[fcalise]

Had the day off from work today (9 day, 80 hour schedule is a beautiful thing for getting every other Friday off.. however it does leave me getting home later from the gym and basically I have no other time to myself during the day - but I'm cool with that for now) and worked out shoulders around 10:45 this morning. Here are the exercises I did today:

Upright rows 1x20 (40lbs warmup) 4x12 (60/80/90/100)
Arnold press 4x12 (25/35/45/45)
Front DB raise 4x12 (20/25/25/25)
Cable lateral raise 4x12 (25/25/30/30)
Seated lateral raise 4x12 (20/20/20/20)
Barbell shrugs 4x12 (135/135/155/155)
DB one arm shoulder raise 4x12 (25/30/30/30)

and abs:

Rope crunches 4x40 (35/42.5/42.5/42.5) - weird weight numbers I'm aware
Decline crunches 4x30
Crunch machine 4x20 (10/10/10/10)
Swiss ball V-ups 4x8

Then I did a little cooldown on the treadmill for about 10 minutes. Didn't do too much since I have an indoor soccer game tonight and I'll be doing some running / sprinting for 40-45 minutes.

Saturday and Sunday will be off days from lifting.. I'm wondering if I should do cardio as I want to drop my body fat? Hopefully I can get that answered here or ask around. I know my body also needs a rest but I am feeling good right now as I'm getting enough sleep, etc.

I'll weight myself Monday morning when I wake up (weighed in at 170 on my scale at home on Tuesday) and try to weigh at the same time each week to keep the readings somewhat consistent.

Tomorrow I plan to hit up the grocery store so I can really start eating very clean. Have not ate poorly today but I just simply need other items we don't have in the house at the moment.

[fcalise]

Yesterday was chest and triceps (and a little ab work)

Chest
----------
Standing cable crossover
Flat bench DB dlys
Decline barbell bench
Incline smith bar (wider grip than I normally do)

Triceps
----------
Seated EZ bar press
One-arm cable reverse pulldown
Weighted dips
Behind-the-back dips (with plates on top)

[fcalise]

Today's workout was legs and shoulders and a couple ab exercises, went something like this..

Legs were given 12-16 reps if I could, where shoulder exercises were more between 8-12

Legs
-------
Hack squats
Leg press (16x360, 16x450, 14x540, 12x630)
Straight-leg deadlifts

Shoulders
----------
Behind-the-neck smith machine press
Seated lat raise (strict)
One-arm DB lat raise
Seated bent DB lat raise

Calves
----------
Seated calf raise (toes straight, pointed in, out - same for next exercise)
Standing calf raise
Reverse calf raises (bodyweight on a block, raise and lower toes while on heels 3x20,15,15)


Really trying to improve my side and rear delts as this is one of my weak spots I think. If anyone catches any other weak spots I'm all ears. I need to keep working hard and fixing these!


Also experimented with a new post workout shake since I have been reading Alan Aragon's pre&post workout nutrition thread. If you haven't read any of it, check it out here -> http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=272067

What I made today was something like this (pro/carb/fat)
whey 1 scoop 23/2/1
oats 1 cup 10/54/5
2%milk 1/2 cup 4/6/2.5
3/4 cup water
blend together

and some gummy bears for carbs but I want to get rid of this because I bet this is too much surcose. What I'm planning to do in the near future is something like this...

whey 1.5 scoop 34.5/ 3 / 1.5
oats 1 cup 10 / 54 / 5
skim milk 1 cup 4 / 12 / 0
dextrose 5 Tbsp 0 / 16 / 0
(16g)
water 1/2 cup
-------------------------------
total 48.5 / 85 / 6.5


This will achieve the .25 x TBW (which I'm using 180lbs as my target) for protein intake after workout so ~45g and .50 x TBW for carb intake is ~90 which would be near the 2:1 carbrotein ratio I've been reading about.

I have to hit the store for some skim milk and for dextrose if I can find it or I will put in an order to bb.com.

After drinking the shake I had today though with the blended oats, chocolate whey powder, etc it was very tasty.

Keep training hard everyone