Total Physique Online

Partial Deadlifts With Volvo: Traps, Calves, Forearms

• Calf Raise Volvo: 5 x 6-8 (strength gain in terms of reps and sets. Endurance so much better); sweated like crazy in the sun. It was great.
• Partial Deads From Near Lockout: 4 x 3-4 fail (needed chalk as my grip was slipping, but pulled hard as hell)
• Thick Bar Forearms Vulcan: 5c x 13, 9, 7, 6 5secSH (more gain)
• Regular Handle Forearms Vulcan: 5c x 5, 5, 6
• Rear Neck: 25lbs x 25, 22, 12 5secSH

Awesome session. I had a protein drink just before training! I also had good sleep. Imagine me, training in the morning. I have not done that for…well, a long time. This was just incredible. I may consider this part A). I might want to do another session tonight. We will see.

Lower Body: hams, lowback, glutes

• Thick Bar Stiff Deads Vulcan: 9c x 20, 18, 11 (strength gain from 1 week ago) increase 1cable next session
• Thick Bar Shruggs Vulcan: 9c x 20, 20, 20 (5 up from week ago) increase 1cable next session
• Thick Bar Forearms: 5c x 11, 5, 5, 6 5secSH (5 up from week ago) increase 1cable next session

Ok, not bad. I did not sleep last night. I was too discouraged about coughing. I had a tough night, so for me to come in here and hit a heavy low body like this (I could shruggs as part of that) I am pretty impressed. I am also spent. My lungs, however, felt grand!

Soreness. I love it. There are some who will tell you that being sore means you over trained. The will tell you that getting sore from a workout means you did too much and that your workout was counterproductive. I suppose these same people would try to tell you that if you merely sweat during a workout you are working too much. Hog wash!

I am far from being enough of an expert to argue with these people, but I can tell you that I enjoy being sore. Being sore let’s me know I have been in a fight. In much the same way that sweating lets me know I have been working hard. I like soreness.

I am sore as hell today. I hurt all over. Something about harnessing myself to my Volvo and lifting it got to my hamstrings and they are on fire today. So are my calves. In fact, calves are feeling awesome. And it only took three sets to do them in.

Chest? Screaming. Serratus and ribs? I feel like a quarterback who was just blindsided 20 times by Lawrence Taylor. Back and shoulders? Are you kidding me? Biceps? Yup. Go figure. Take a look at the workout on 11/20. A whopping 4 exercises, done to failure for 2-4 sets (accept for pushups, of course). Who needs weights! Heheh.

Gimme cables, cars and heavy objects to move around. No wonder IronWorkers are so tough! And they rarely touch a barbell.

Upper Body

How do you do donkey calf raises if you do not have a training partner or a donkey calf machine?

Well, if you have a Volvo, you do donkey calf raises with THAT instead. Yup. That’s right. I used my Hip Belt from Ironmind Enterprises, hooked myself to the rear tow hook at the rear of my Volvo, placed the balls of my feet on a 2×4, straightened my legs til nearly 400 or so pounds was suspended by the belt on my hips and I began to do calf raises. Amazing. Who needs a donkey calf machine!

• Donkey Calf Raise: Back of Volvo - 3 x 6-8 (massive, crippling burn)
• Forearms: Thick Bar - 3 x 10, 8, 5 (tears in eyes pain; awesome pump; slow controlled reps - wow)
• Pushups: chest to board - 40, 10, 15, 10, 10, 10 10 (105 total)
• Parallel Chins: weighted 24lbs x 5, 3 5SHsec, 3 5SHsec (wow, can’t tell if I was stonger here or not)

The fact is that in the last 4 weeks I have gotten in maybe 4 solid workouts. In and of itself this would not be such a bad thing if I had had the proper diet. But, reduced calories, protein and fats, coupled with poor sleep, stress and more…well, friend, what you have right there is a recipe for atrophied muscles, loss of strength and endurance, not to mention depression. So, the fact that I trained today is a borderling miracle.

Diet: Packed in about 800 calories by 4 pm. Not much. Will do a protein drink in an hour. About 1/3 of what I need. Main thing is to drink lots of water. Update: Add a protein shake (600 calories) at 430 pm. It is dark outside again, or getting there fast. I just cannot stand this time of year. I am so sleepy. It’s hard to train when I feel this way. Thank God for the coffee bean.

My web sites have kept me up nearly a full week again, but thankfully they are pretty much up and running accept for cfCure, which is on the back burner. Level of focus not bad, but is usually better when my nutritional needs are more than adequately met.

Is there anything more boring than an entry on sleep! Would it help you to know I am typing this in the nude. No? Oh well. You can please some of the folks….yadda, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah…

Well, at least for now diet is good. MONEY IS TIGHT. My caloric intake for today is almost 3500 though. Not bad, but I need more protein. Lot’s more. Also, a lot of my calories are coming from milk, which is not good, but it is cheap. It costs me in congestion though, which for someone with CF is like Kryptonite for Superman.

This week, the past two weeks really, have been bad for sleep. I have been working very hard to transition my three sites over to GoDaddy. So, today I slept. Several naps, in fact. I needed it.

By the way, I am very sore. My traps, glutes and hams are on fire from yesterdays session. I will be back to barbells eventually, but for now these workouts are killer, and I love the change of pace. I look forward to tomorrows session.

Low Back, Glutes, Forearms

• Thick Bar Vulcan Partial Deads 9c x 20, 15, 15, (inhaler) 15, (interesting. Cables tighten throughout the pull. Feels like about 185 lbs-215 lbs at the top. The angle pulls you slightly forward, which increases the intensity at the top.)
• Vulcan Shrugs 9c x 15 (challenging to say the least), 15, 15 (see how traps and back core feel tomorrow)
• Thick Bar Forearms 5c x 10, (wow, brutal, the thick bar approach is so unique), 6, 4 (easily 90 lbs here)

Diet: Packed in about 1500 calories by 4 pm. About half of what I need. But we will do the best we can.

I’m thankful I had that! Will consume some protein in an hour. Update: Add a protein shake (600 calories) and a Sandwich and 2 cups milk to the days diet. It is dark outside and I was sleepy when I began to train (web sites have kept me up nearly a full week). Level of focus not bad, but is usually better during the day. Still, this was not bad for an evening session

Full Body (brutal)

• Back Neck 24lbs x 20; cables 5cx10×3-5SHsec
• Standing Reverse Neck - cables 5cx10×3-5SHsec x 10 x 2
• Forearms 24lbs x 20; cables 5cx10×3-5SHsec
• Pushups 50, 15, 10, 10, 10, 10 , 10 (1min rest between)
• Par. Chins - 24lbs x 5, 3-5SHsec, 2-5SHsec
• Vulcan Squats - 13c x 20, 15
• Bench Step-ups - 5c x 5-8
• Stiffs - 5c x 10
• Chest Expand - 3c x 20
• Side Chest Press - 3c x 10-20
• Lateral Raises - 1c x 15
• Upright Rows - 3c x 20
• Archer - 2cd x 20
• Curls - 2c x 20, 20
• Pushdowns - 3c x 10, 10

At the moment, I am totally clean. That is, I am not on any supplements at the moment. I am more or less fasting a little. I want to clean my system before add new stuff to it.

Interview for Academy of Achievement

I love iron. I love to train with it. I love the way it feels when I lift it. Hell, I even love how it feels when I can’t lift it. However, and I am going to be frank here, what difference does it make if you can bench press 600 lbs but you cannot even do 20 pushups? Herschel Walker of NFL fame was reputed to have never touched a weight until college. Doing some research, I found a 1991 interview that more or less alludes to this. Here is a snippet from the article.
Read the rest of this entry »

Full Body, Light Introductory (note: at the moment, only supplement I am taking is Goji Juice. Hardly what you would call hardcore. May need some coffee)

• Neck 24lbs x 20; cables 5cx10×3-5SHsec (better)
• Standing Reverse Neck 24lbs x 10×2(interesting)
• Pushups 40, 15, 10, 10, 10, 10 , 10 (good pump, but not as good as when I had some protein and NO2)
• Par. Chins - 24lbs x 5, 3-5SHsec, 2-5SHsec

Nice return workout. I had ample recovery…almost 2 weeks. But without sports specific supplementation, my stamina is not the same. I dont know whether the difference is based on a psychological dependency or whether the chemical change in the mucle/body environment is accounting for it.

In any case, I am back on track. This will do it for today. I don’t wish to run the risk of doing too much because I do not have the nutritional components in place to handle the stress to my body. Tomorrow is another workout.

By Dave Tate for T-Nation

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The Band Man

A couple months ago, I was paid a visit by a friend of mine known as “The Band Man.”

Dick Hartzell is the master when it comes to band training. Most coaches, lifters, and trainers view the bands as a means of adding resistance to barbells, and much has been written in regards to the application of band in dynamic and max effort strength development……..see link below

Click Testosterone Nation - The Band Man for full article.