With Mrs. Floyd taking the grandkids to ballet class today and with no Post-It note left for me to tackle, I had plenty of time to do what I pleased. So I posted several albums on my boring thread and got ready for the gym.
Today was my strength session, which is a pseudonym for “retaining strength whilst keeping the body toned via heavier weights”, in non-bodybuilding terms.
(In bodybuilding terms it would sound something like “Getting jacked, hunched and massed” lol). On with the show then…
Saturday, 12 May 18: Strength (low weights with slow, controlled lifts):
(All weights in kgs; some high rep sets)
Tricep overhead forward pulls, flat bench:
10x28
*Ha! Not a particularly good start. Someone had left a tricep bar near a bench and I attempted to do some lying ‘behind head’ raises. I remembered as I was doing them that the reason I don’t anymore is because it pulls on my lower back when it gets arched. Did one set then ditched it lol.
DB press:
8x26, 8x28, 5x28
Incline chest press:
8x60, 5x70, 5x80, 3x85
Smith flat bench press:
8x60, 5x60, 5x60
Lat pulldown, hammer bar:
8x50, 8x60, 5x70, 5x80
Barbell curl, standing:
8x35, 8x35, 5x40, 5x40
Barbell forearm reverse curl, standing:
8x15, 8x20, 5x25
*I noticed my forearms becoming bigger over the past few weeks, so I attempted to curl a little more. In the event I ended up reaching 25kg with this exercise with ease.
Machine arm curls, both arms:
8x40, 8x40, 8x45, 5x50
30x20 high reps
Single DB press (lying flat bench, above raise):
30x50, 30x50, 25x50, 15x50 = 100 reps.
25x36 high reps (inclined bench)
Tricep extensions:
12x50, 12x60, 8x70
50x25 high reps
E-Z preacher curl:
8x38, 8x43, 5x48, 4x53, 3x58, 3x60.5
25x23 high reps, close grip
25x23 high reps, wide grip
*Never before have I managed to lift 60kgs by just using the biceps curled with a bar. In my bodybuilding days I didn’t actually do a lot of “supplementary work” such as these exercises; i.e. It was more a case of doing deadlifts, overhead lists, squats and bench pressing, which is typical strongman stuff. The physique side of it came later which is more diet-based and lifting continuously middle-range weights to highlight the muscles with definition and “getting ripped” etc.
So to lift post-60kg today felt amazing, and three reps at that. It does show that I’ve worked harder these past few weeks in this area to focus more on muscle definition again whilst going to failure on many sets…this in turn builds bigger, harder muscles without the mass of water retention associated with extreme bodybuilding.
Tricep pumps:
60x20 high reps
Bicep pumps:
40x12.5 high reps
Ab crunch:
50x35, 50x30
*Looking at the clock I had done 1hr. 45mins so far but I was still feeling good and wanted to reach a couple of hours today, so I carried on:
Seated concentration curl, alt.:
6x18, 6x18
Machine arm curls, alt.:
25x15 high reps
Tricep pumps:
50x15
Bicep pumps:
40x10
*As it was the second time on these above exercises today, my arms were pretty well fried and pumped up too much to attempt too many reps, so I lowered the weight a little.
2hrs. 05mins.
A thoroughly good workout. I’m getting stronger again but without the bulk that I used to when I was bodybuilding. The strength is built now making my muscles harder and with more defined shape instead and because I’m not putting on weight I’m feeling really fit as well at the moment. I’ll keep this training up as long as I’m able, but it’s going very well and there’s no reason I can’t carry on with this until I get to the stage where my body will be naturally losing muscle…and that will be hard to take!
Thanks for reading, hope your weekend is going well.
.
. Reports on that later.
Dunno, haven’t seen her this morning yet! 