JRG training journal

[ZyklonB]

That's one hellva change in a year. I love MD because of the members and consistent valuable input on training.

Congrats on keeping your diet and training good to go, its awesome to look back and see the change in just a years time.

I started training in September 09 and have made big gains, started out at 24% BF and now down to around 18%. If it wasn't for MD, I would have no clue on training or diet for that matter.

I LOVE MD!

Now its time for you to take a break

[jrg_715]

That's one hellva change in a year. I love MD because of the members and consistent valuable input on training.

Congrats on keeping your diet and training good to go, its awesome to look back and see the change in just a years time.

I started training in September 09 and have made big gains, started out at 24% BF and now down to around 18%. If it wasn't for MD, I would have no clue on training or diet for that matter.

I LOVE MD!

Now its time for you to take a break

Well done...24%-18% is no joke!

I should clarify--that it hasnt been 52 weeks of nonstop weight training...i take a break from weights every 10-12 weeks to rest. BUT....I have not taken weeks or months off like I did all through college. It's all about consistency...build a good base and don't look back!

[ZyklonB]

Thx, losing body fat is a freaking pain in the ass!

After I typed that I figured you had taken some breaks, and I agree with you 100%, build a good base and then you always have it to call on, even if you take time off or get injured or whatever.

Keep up the good work, seeing stuff like what you posted is very motivating...

[BBOY87]

Awesome job man! 52 weeks is dedication...keep up the great work and give this next year hell!

[jrg_715]

THE STORY....its long, I apologize

What really sparked this was talking to a co-worker. I had always been interested in weight lifting--thanks in part to my dad bringing my brother and i to a local gym when i was young and to my brother who also shared this interest.

This co-worker heard me talking about lifting one day and started to chat. He asked if i had ever read any muscle magazines...I hadn't--and the next day he brought me an MD magazine. After that we talked everyday about training and nutritional shit. I thought I knew stuff until I talked to him. He really knew his shit--about everything...training, nutrition...he could even read and interpret everything on an ingredient label of any supplement.

I should preface this by saying that this co-worker is 40 years old and at the time i had met him, a solid 240 lbs. He is a big dude. I later found out that this guy, just before I started to get to know him and talk to him about BBing, had taken 6 weeks off from work. Apparently he voluntarily checked himself into a psychiatric treatment facility for depression. In his words, he said he self-medicated himself with alcohol and was in an "apathetic hell." he is married with 2 kids, and after being pulled over for suspected drunk driving and an instance where his young daughter found a garbage bag full of empty beer cans(he was a great father and husband who hid it well, up until that point...), his supportive wife told him he NEEDED to change. and I guess he had a wake up call and decided to get his shit together. But how?

This guy was very intelligent...he was invited to become a MENSA society member(look it up), was one of our states leading financial planners for 10 years, a gifted writer, and thinker. he worked the nutrition/bodybuilding trade show circuit for 5 years with a company, where he aided in developing it's success. He was a once aspiring bodybuilder at a thick and in-shape 260 lbs. He was just one of those guys where everything he did, he succeeded at....until he hit rock bottom with the depression and alcohol. he said he was never addicted to alcohol--just used it to calm down. Addiction experts may say different, but who knows? He also said, as a result of a seperate medication he was taking he was reading upwards of 1,000 pages/day...his mind like a pinball in a pinball machine.

After the 6 weeks in treatment, he came out with a Bipolar disorder diagnosis (though, i never noticed--he hid it well) a different person with a new outlook....he also lost 60 lbs....going from a once thick 260 lbs...to a measly 180 lbs. That's when I met him...not knowing what he had just been through. He handed me the MD one day, and like I said we talked bodybuiling after that non-stop. At that point, I was a lousy 180 lbs, with no motivation and just getting over a drinking related charge myself. I looked and felt like shit. I felt like i had little to offer my new fiance, both emotionally and physically.

He was a skinny 180 lbs--with a new outlook--one that i needed to find too.

Little did i know that our daily talks refuled his passion for bodybuilding--and sparked mine. here we had a 40 year old recovering "teacher" and a 24 year old "student". he started working out again...and i started all over. We would share our lifting and increased bodyweight success daily. I asked him questions and began reading MD and joined the supportive online MD forums, and it went from there.

Like I said above, I have gained close to 25 lean pounds in a year, and my co-worker is back to 240 by doing nothing more than eating good and training hard. One year later, this guy is healthy, and strong again--mentally and physicaly. he no longer needs alcohol to calm himself down and says that bodybuilding and our chats everyday saved him from God knows what. What an effect working out and eating right can have on the mind!

Last week at the Arnold he used his intelligence and met and began talking to the owner and marketing director of a successful supplement company. he apparently impressed them with his uncanny knowledge of supplement and body chemistry and they have sinced asked him to formulate a product and write an online blog. Crazy change from 18 months ago!

I must confess that I underestimated the positive mental changes that bodybuilding and getting healthy in general can have on someone.

The old bull helping the young calf--and vice versa. Bodybuilding bringing two different people from a low point in life to a high...

[jrg_715]

Thx, losing body fat is a freaking pain in the ass!

After I typed that I figured you had taken some breaks, and I agree with you 100%, build a good base and then you always have it to call on, even if you take time off or get injured or whatever.

Keep up the good work, seeing stuff like what you posted is very motivating...

thanks, glad to hear it! Keep going...

Awesome job man! 52 weeks is dedication...keep up the great work and give this next year hell!

will do..thanks for your daily input!

[jrg_715]

3/12/10
SHOULDERS/BACK/HAMS
--everything below are just the work sets, I warmup prior to everything


SHOULDERS:
**did a bunch of incline chest work yesterday--so i din't go crazy with shoulders today

STANDING BB MIL PRESS

115 lbs x 12
115 lbs x 10
105 lbs x 8


SEATED SMITH MACHINE BEHIND THE NECK PRESSES

20 lbs/side x 12
20 lbs/side x 10


SMITH UPRIGHT ROWS (wide grip)

35 lbs/side x 12
35 lbs/side x 10


BACK:

OVERHAND PULL-UPS (warmup)

Bw x 10
Bw x 5 (slooow reps)


MACHINE ROW ( neutral, low grip)-- REST PAUSE

140 x 12, 140 x 7, 140 x 4


VBAR LOW CABLE ROWS--REST PAUSE

130 x 10, x 6, x 4


WIDE-HANDLED NEUT GRIP PULLDOWNS

140 X 10
140 X 8


BENT OVER BB ROWS

185 x 10
175 x 10

NOTE: I am staying away from straps at the moment to increase grip strength, only used straps today on deads.


HAMS/LOW BACK:

RACK DEADS

315 x 15
365 x 12


SEATED LEG CURL (double drop set)

110 x 12, 90 x 6, 70 x 6

[ZyklonB]

Great back workout, I see you tearing up those bb rows & rack deads, two of my favorite back moves.

Keep it up!

[jrg_715]

Great back workout, I see you tearing up those bb rows & rack deads, two of my favorite back moves.

Keep it up!

thanks! i love back day

[jrg_715]

haven't really taken a week "off" since january. So this week will be all cardio and light, high rep weights. nothin crazy.

...sounds like an exhilerating week

[David Lees]

THE STORY....its long, I apologize

What really sparked this was talking to a co-worker. I had always been interested in weight lifting--thanks in part to my dad bringing my brother and i to a local gym when i was young and to my brother who also shared this interest.

This co-worker heard me talking about lifting one day and started to chat. He asked if i had ever read any muscle magazines...I hadn't--and the next day he brought me an MD magazine. After that we talked everyday about training and nutritional shit. I thought I knew stuff until I talked to him. He really knew his shit--about everything...training, nutrition...he could even read and interpret everything on an ingredient label of any supplement.

I should preface this by saying that this co-worker is 40 years old and at the time i had met him, a solid 240 lbs. He is a big dude. I later found out that this guy, just before I started to get to know him and talk to him about BBing, had taken 6 weeks off from work. Apparently he voluntarily checked himself into a psychiatric treatment facility for depression. In his words, he said he self-medicated himself with alcohol and was in an "apathetic hell." he is married with 2 kids, and after being pulled over for suspected drunk driving and an instance where his young daughter found a garbage bag full of empty beer cans(he was a great father and husband who hid it well, up until that point...), his supportive wife told him he NEEDED to change. and I guess he had a wake up call and decided to get his shit together. But how?

This guy was very intelligent...he was invited to become a MENSA society member(look it up), was one of our states leading financial planners for 10 years, a gifted writer, and thinker. he worked the nutrition/bodybuilding trade show circuit for 5 years with a company, where he aided in developing it's success. He was a once aspiring bodybuilder at a thick and in-shape 260 lbs. He was just one of those guys where everything he did, he succeeded at....until he hit rock bottom with the depression and alcohol. he said he was never addicted to alcohol--just used it to calm down. Addiction experts may say different, but who knows? He also said, as a result of a seperate medication he was taking he was reading upwards of 1,000 pages/day...his mind like a pinball in a pinball machine.

After the 6 weeks in treatment, he came out with a Bipolar disorder diagnosis (though, i never noticed--he hid it well) a different person with a new outlook....he also lost 60 lbs....going from a once thick 260 lbs...to a measly 180 lbs. That's when I met him...not knowing what he had just been through. He handed me the MD one day, and like I said we talked bodybuiling after that non-stop. At that point, I was a lousy 180 lbs, with no motivation and just getting over a drinking related charge myself. I looked and felt like shit. I felt like i had little to offer my new fiance, both emotionally and physically.

He was a skinny 180 lbs--with a new outlook--one that i needed to find too.

Little did i know that our daily talks refuled his passion for bodybuilding--and sparked mine. here we had a 40 year old recovering "teacher" and a 24 year old "student". he started working out again...and i started all over. We would share our lifting and increased bodyweight success daily. I asked him questions and began reading MD and joined the supportive online MD forums, and it went from there.

Like I said above, I have gained close to 25 lean pounds in a year, and my co-worker is back to 240 by doing nothing more than eating good and training hard. One year later, this guy is healthy, and strong again--mentally and physicaly. he no longer needs alcohol to calm himself down and says that bodybuilding and our chats everyday saved him from God knows what. What an effect working out and eating right can have on the mind!

Last week at the Arnold he used his intelligence and met and began talking to the owner and marketing director of a successful supplement company. he apparently impressed them with his uncanny knowledge of supplement and body chemistry and they have sinced asked him to formulate a product and write an online blog. Crazy change from 18 months ago!

I must confess that I underestimated the positive mental changes that bodybuilding and getting healthy in general can have on someone.

The old bull helping the young calf--and vice versa. Bodybuilding bringing two different people from a low point in life to a high...

GREAT STORY!! And congrats on all of your hard work paying off with 25lbs of lean muscle gain!

[BBOY87]

Awesome shoulder workout! This week of cardio and light weight/high reps sounds like a nice break. I may do something like that next week during break. It's been a long time since I've taken a break.

[jrg_715]

GREAT STORY!! And congrats on all of your hard work paying off with 25lbs of lean muscle gain!

thanks man!

Awesome shoulder workout! This week of cardio and light weight/high reps sounds like a nice break. I may do something like that next week during break. It's been a long time since I've taken a break.

thanks. ya, it will be a nice change to go easy and actually put in consistent cardio for a week.

[jrg_715]

3/16/10

cardio/chest/tris

STEPMILL (INTERVAL)
15 mins
Levels 14-15
Cals: 238


Light weight today for chest and tris. Again, this week is supposed to be a "break" week for the joints and everything else. just going through the motions and doing light weight and cardio. Not really sure what I even used weight-wise today. Did everything with 10-15 reps, and slow rep speed. nothing was to failure. I did Incline Smith press, decline DB press, and flat bench flyes for chest. And then Dip machine, extension machine, and 1 set of overhead extensions for triceps. Followed up by...

TREADMILL
15.5 mins
Speed: 7.0-8.5
Distance: 2.01 miles
Cals: 259

[BBOY87]

Awesome work man. I'm about to go hit up some legs at the RPAC...these finals hours are really messing me up!