Update on the upcoming competition – March 27

I’ve been asked by several of you to post my current workout as part of my preparation for my contest.  First, my goal is to come in weighing right at 164 lbs.  I started dieting down January 1st at 179 lbs, and as of this morning I’m at 169lbs.  As far as the diet, I’ve significantly reduce the number of grams of carbs I normally eat as well as increased the protein.  I have also increased the number of meals from 6 to 8 meals a day and it includes a lot of fish, chicken and steak.

My workout has altered somewhat from my book, but not significantly. Specifically, I do not workout on weights any more frequently than I wrote in the book, but I have added a few exercises specifically for defining muscles.  I am doing my full body workouts on Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Every workout is still full body (no split routines like when I competed before), but each workout will slightly differ in how I attack each muscle group.  All exercises still follow HIT (High Intensity Training) principles I talk about in the book. Specifically, I do only one set to failure and get between 8 to 12 reps. Less than 8 reps, I reduce weight and more than 12 I increase weight. Each repetition is performed with a 3 to 4 count on both the way up and way down with a 2 count at flex point (where applicable) to help pull out the definition in the muscle. No resting at the bottom…continued motion throughout the entire set. Finally, no more than 60 seconds between exercises.

Now, with that said, here is my workout from this morning. I will post Wednesday’s workout so you can see the contrast between days:

Total Gym Time: 50 minutes

1. 5 Minute Warm up on stationary bike (I’m sweating already)

2. Lunges performed on a Smith Machine

3. Standing Calf Raises on a machine

4. One-Legged Leg Extension (emphasizing the flex position for 3 seconds)

5. Crossover Cable Deltoid Lateral Raises – here you lower the cable to the lowest level, then grab right side cable handle with left hand, left side with right hand so that your arms cross in front of your body at lower position.

6. Same as number 5 but leaning over so that you emphasize the rear deltoids rather than middle deltoids (note: this is a deviation from book, but required to pull out definition in shoulders)

7. Lat Pull Downs (front)

8. Incline Dumbell Presses

9. Decline Bench Dumbell Traps – this allows me to use a heavier weight without risk to my back. Here, you raise an incline bench to a high level.  Grab the dumbells and then sit face against the back of the seat and keep your chest and torso flat against the bench back.

10. Hanging Leg ups

11. Ab Crunches

Stretch, stretch, stretch

Again, I was in and out of the gym in 50 minutes.

Thanks for reading!

Richard

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 1:08 PM and is filed under Weight Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.