Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Back and Tricep day. First off, I got my Versa Gripps in the mail, so I tried them on to do all of my pull Back exercises, and loved them! On the deadlifts, I was just pointing all of my fingers down and just letting the Versa Gripps hang onto the bar (though not much weight, but it was cool none the less). The middle of my back was hurting at times, so I used alot of core muscles to keep it line so it didn't hurt as I did the execution of the exercise. I was also pleasantly surprised that I could deadlift and my lower back didn't hurt, nor did I use my middle back - so it also did not hurt.
New Back routine - wanted to focus on the width of the back, so we started off with lat pulldowns, and went for the peak contractions on every rep with this low weight/high rep routine.

Neutral-Grip Widebar Lat Pulldowns: 90/25 - 4 sets of 25 reps

Machine Back Row (the lower horizontal hold): 90/25 - 4 sets of 25 reps

Double Pulley/Cable Standing Lat Pulldowns (I do not cross the cables: I grab each pulley's handle and just bring my elbow straight down to my side with a slight arch back, and slowly let it go back up to the highest up position there is while standing): 60/25 - 4 sets of 25

Deadlifts on MaxRack (my deadlifts are more like good mornings, I do not bend my knees - they stay locked in place, and I bend at the hips till the MaxRack's barbell with weights almost touches the floor, and then back up - arms are straight and are just holding onto the weight - do not bend my elbows or use my forearms to pull up the weight): started with a wimpy 15 on each side/30lbs total and went up to 30 on each side/60 total - 4 sets of 25

Machine Back Row (the high upper horizontal hold - peak contraction is in the space between the shoulder blades/scapulas): 30/25, 40/25, 60/25, and another 60/25

Felt alittle fatigued at this point. Took a 10 minute rest before proceeding to the Tricep routine.

Tricep (not much variation this time)

Rope Pressdown: 70/25 - 4 sets of 25 reps

Rope Tricep Extension/behind the head/cable at position #10 - waist height): 50/25

Dips: so tired. didn't want to do 4 sets of 25 reps. did just Bodyweight for 8/7/7/6 reps. Perfect form too. Legs straight down as I went down, no curling in my lower back, and no using my chest to push back up. Just like a nice iron cross in gymnastics: except bent elbows.

Out of protein powder today: the vitamin internet place messed up my order and sent me spirulina instead. Was not a happy camper with this. But they fixed it and are sending me out another one right away, but I think I will have to take a trip to Whole Foods tomorrow and buy some packets to tide me over till the tub arrives.

Rest day. My back is still pestering me here and there with some movements, but nothing that will interfere with Leg day tomorrow. Thinking about going back to my old gym that relocated just down the road about 15 minutes away from my house (my gym now is only 6 minutes away), because they have three awesome hack squats and three awesome leg presses (as compared to the one leg press and no hack squat now) just for Leg day. There seems to be a gym war going on for the holidays. And I might just use it to my advantage, as the old gym has a deal of 30 days for $10! If I do 6 leg workouts for the month of December, it would be only $1.66 for the workout. But then again, $$ for gas to go there - but still that isn't so bad. Plus I could check out the competition early and see what it is locally me and my partner are up against.

It is going to be hard just to go up against my partner! Even though I can lift more than her, she is looking awesome! Her lat spread has increased so much in just the 2 months (going on 3 now) we have been working out together. I do believe that I am getting jealous of her! I told her that the last time we worked out. Before she could say anything, I said that it was good. My competitive nature is making me work harder (hopefully smarter) and making me do things that I would otherwise not want to do (like the last shake of the night that I do not want to take, which I need to get my grams of protein for the day in my body - but the carb loading chocolate cake looks better! and so I end up eating and drinking both. . . sigh . . maybe next time I will put the protein powder in the frosting/actually chocolate vegan mousse that I made for the topping. I mean there is bulking, but then there is BULKING ).

We ended up going to my old gym. My partner finally just said to me, "Who is it that you don't know at this gym?". I laugh inside because I have been away from this gym for 3 years (though I was going to that gym for 5 years or more) and everybody pretty much looks the same (just like me!). My partner enjoyed the bodybuilding atmosphere in that gym, as she commented on just about everybody's "body" there (the girl loves muscles! she wanted this guy's arms (he is a baseball player) that women's tan, and another guy's vascularity - as his veins were popping out as he did a concentration curl on the bench). We also noticed that they had the iron plates, and that they clank alot louder as you load them onto the machines than the other black ones we have at the other gym (which is more geared towards fitness as oppose to this one is for weightlifters - Anytime Fitness vs. Powerhouse Gyms). My favorite leg machines were still there of course and we utilized them.

Leg Day - 4 sets of 25 reps (on some of them I added extra reps on the last set till failure)

Cybex Leg Press: 4 45lbs plates on each side, 8P/25 X 4

Icarian Lying Leg Curl: 100/25 X 4

Hack Squat: 45/25 X 4

Leg Ext (I had the LifeFitness machine, and my partner across had the Icarian one - we had dueling leg extensions going on!) 90/25 X 4

Seated Calf Raises 45/25 X 2 and then upped it to 45/50 X 2 (the last ten were done very fast and very short range of motion )

We then headed to the locker room, where my partner displayed the tape measurer for us to use! So for the end of November, my measurements were the following

Chest: 41"
Hips: 40"
Thigh: 26"
Calf: 16"
Bicep: 14"
Forearm: 11"

and my weight is now at 165. And yes I feel very big. But hopefully I will feel even bigger at the end of December, and the end of January, and finally the end of February. Three more months of bulking. My partner decided that she was going to clean up her diet after the holidays. Mine is already clean, and actually I need to eat more! Recovery is going well, even though I had a near scare last week. Today, I feel like my muscles have just been repaired/recovered, and then I hit the weights again, and the body part is once again sore. Which is good. I do get to a plateau state, where I don't feel sore, and it doesn't feel like I am getting any more muscle mass.

Today was a nice sunny day, but for some reason I was just tired and wanting to take a nap all day. I decided that I would have to have my kombucha green tea to help me get motivated for my workout. And on top of me feeling tired, my partner was sore from yesterday's workout and hurt her neck shoveling snow from the sidewalk today so she wasn't all gong ho for working out either. It took us 3 hours to get thru today's Chest and Bicep workout. At times, I was getting pretty impatient with the 4 sets of 25 reps (I just wanted to do a heavy set of 6-8 reps and be done with it!).
Our routine was based on the first routine we did in October - and it was hard to readjust our muscles to these previous exercises we already had done, so we started with the weight we first did 25 reps with (no going heavier it seemed - as we couldn't do 25 reps with a higher starting weight than last time - plus it was hard to get just to 25 reps with that last time's starting weight - seems weird to have to start over at the beginning of an exercise we just did 2 months ago - I would think that our muscles would have grown big enough to tackle a heavier load - but today was an off day for us - will have to see how we progress thru the weights as the month unfolds with the workouts).

Chest

HammerStrength Iso Chest Press (#1 machine): 70/25 X 4

Machine Flyes: 70/25 X 4

Incline (just 1 notch up) Smith Chest Barbell Press: 40/25, 50/25, 55/25 X 2

Machine Chest press with vertical grip: 60/25 X 2, 70/25 X 2

(took us 2 hours just to do this! so slow. . .)

Biceps

EZ Barbell Curl: 40/25 X 4

Hammer Dumbbell Curls: 15/25, 17.5/25, 20/25, 22.5/25 (4 sets total - kept going up because they were kind of easy at certain points close to the 25 rep part, and finally at the 22.5 dumbbells, it was hard at the 22 rep mark, and rocked the last 3 reps cheatingly)

Double Cable Curls with elbows straight at the waist, and the cables are a 45 degree angle from the midline: 20/25, 30/25 X 3 (very hard at the 30 - too lazy to find the little rectangle 5lbs to add to the 20 plate to make it an easier 25/25 - gym was now very busy and I was starting to feel light headed and hungry - too long of a workout)

And that was the end of that workout. Ordered thai food from the place next to the gym, came home and ate the whole thing up, and now I am so sleepy. . . . . but I can tell in a little while I will be hungry again. . . Mmmmmm.....bulking. What shall I have next? Besides the mandatory protein shake.

Yesterday's rest day was a day spent on a heating pad. I think I have isolated the last muscle group of my back that needs to be repaired: quadratus lumborum muscle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadratus_lumborum_muscle). It was a little noticeable during today's workout of Deltoids/Shoulders, but I kept my spine pretty straight, and used the core muscles to keep it such.

Delts

StarTrac Machine Military Press (horizontal grip - I choose to do this one first because the positon of the grip is right in the same plane as the middle delt): 55/25 warmup, 75/25 (next time's new warmup?), 85/15, 100/15, 115/10+3 (stopped here as partner was done with these. I decided, "Me, too").

tried to do cable with this exercise, but we still couldn't do a decent pull with the lowest weight of 20lbs! so on to the Resistance Bands Side Lateral Raises: Yellow RB/25 (easy warmup), Blue colored RB/15, and then the ultimate Green RB/6, and another set of 6

Rear Delt Flyes on Incline Bench (had to watch my back on getting into this position and out of it. Put the dumbbells on the ground to grab): 10/15, 12.5/15, 15/15, 17.5/12, and finally in the 6-8 rep range - 20/8

StarTrac Machine Military Press (with the other grip that is in the sagittal plane of my body): 115/15, 130/10+3 (told my partner she was helping too much) +1 (then I told her she was not helping me out enough - and then we just started laughing at that comment, and then it was all over for me to lift anymore), and I went on to try a new PB of 145/8+2 (she helped me out just enough to get 2 more out)

Descending Dumbbell Press Set: While sitting on a chair/bench in the upright position, I set up a little table (one of the stands the personal trainer uses to make people jump way up on - the 3 ft one!) with a 17.5/15/12 set of dumbbells to do 15 reps of each in descending order of weight. I utilized the table's height, so I did not have to bend over and pick up the dumbbells off the floor during the descending set. We did dueling 2 sets, took a little water break, and then whined our way thru the last 2 sets.

That was the end of our delt routine, but my partner loves the MaxRack front barbell raises, so we did a couple of those for fun (kept it in the 15-25 rep range with low weights - but our delts were pretty well trashed at this point, so it was pitiful at our attempts to lift the barbell up high after 10 reps. Plus I had to not rock the barbell at all - hard to do on the freeform MaxRack - due to my back).

It will be an interesting Back and Tricep day tomorrow. A nice all over weightlifting belt would probably come in handy for me tomorrow to keep my core stabilized. But alas, the one I had is gone. . it will be very interesting tomorrow.

I also found a new role model to inspire me on: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=X ... 9,r:5,s:47

Weird Back and Tricep day. I felt very not into it. I did like using my Versa Gripps though.

Back

Neutral-Grip Wide-bar Pulldown: 90/25 warmup, 135/15 (+3 more reps than last time), 150/8 (+2 more reps than last time, solid ones that is)

Machine Back Row: 90/25 warmup, 180/15, 210/10 (not as good as last time I did these back in the last week of October - my back started acting up with the heavy weights - now I know that my middle back is utilized in these heavy loads)

Single Handle Cable Pulldowns: 60/25 warmup, 70/15 (not enough of a break since the last set), 80/25 (nice long break), 90/15, 100/12+3

Deadlift: didn't do these. my back said no with just the barbell. i stood off to the side as my partner did hers, and just tried to touch my toes! stretching doesn't seem to help it. just seems to aggravate it.

Machine Back Row/Upper handles: 75/25, 90/15, 120/15, 150/9+1 (partner stood in front of me and helped push the bar back up towards me and I slowly let it go back down into starting position).

went right on to Triceps

Rope Pressdown: 70/25 warmup, 90/15, 100/15 (+5 more than last time in October), 110/8 - a new PB

Rope Tricep Extension behind the head: 50/25, 70/25, 90/12 (a new weight than last time in October), 100/8 - a new PB

Dips: Bodyweight 8/7/5/5 (not as good as last time. my back was limiting me - pain from the back that is).

It looks like I gained in some areas, and others I was limited by the pain in my middle back.
Also at the end I went back to the HammerStrength Back Pulldown and with underhand rows did a couple of 25lbs plates on each side and pulldown 15-20 reps for 3 sets. I was squeezing at the peak contraction with my elbows straight back and feeling it in my tiny little lats by the underarms. I am feeling the effects of that the next day - it hurts right there when I do a back lat spread spontaneously. Grow my little lats!

Today was a rest day. I pretty much babied my back today. Any chance I got, I laid down on my heating pad and warmed up my middle back. It felt good when it was all heated up, but now that it is night time, and I can still feel it twinge as I sit in this chair and type my post. Now I hope it doesn't interfere with any of my heavy duty weights for Leg day tomorrow. The only problem I can foresee is the lying leg curl, in which I seem to go into a cobra pose when doing that exercise - which could annoy my middle back unfortunately. Leg press, hack squat, and leg ext, all have back support. I should be able to hold myself upright for the seated calf raise too, so no problem there. Well, we shall see tomorrow!

Went to Powerhouse for my Leg Day. Let see how much trouble I can do to myself today!

Leg

Cybex Leg Press: 4P (4 45lbs plates on each side - total of 8P -360lbs in plates)/25, 6P/25, 7P/25, 8P/15, 9P/15, 10P/10 - a new PB on this particular smooth leg press

Lying Leg Curl: 100/25, 120/18, 150/12~2, 160/8 (I remember doing the whole stack before, and plus a plate - around 230lbs - so a ways to go yet)

Hack Squat (old machine. noticed there was no safety stop on it. after my mishap from the Sumo squats on the Smith Machine, I grabbed a bench and put it so where the post that holds the plates of 45lbs would come down and touch the bench - which just happens to be at the 90 degree squat range for us - it just goes 'pouf' when the post touches the bench - tells me to go back up!): 2P/25, 3P/20, 40P/12 -edit this one, should be - 4P/12 (stopped here - legs were starting to really protect themselves and I was not allowing my body to go down the full range of 90 degrees even)

Leg Ext 120/15, 135/15, 150/10 (even though I can do more on the other gym's leg ext machine, the cable on this one was alot harder to extend the legs out fully at the top - sticky cable perhaps? whatever, it was hard for me to get to the top, so a nice peak contraction in the quads at the top)

Seated Calf Raise: 2P/25, then 2P/between 40-50 reps - went till failure/burned like fire.

We then saw the Adductor and Abductor machines on a our way to the locker room, and did dueling 4 sets of 25 reps. My weights were 80 for the adductor and 120 for the abductor (stronger inner thighs than outer thighs - which makes sense since the outside muscles are smaller).

Today was also the first day of trying MacaSure. I seem to have a more sustained energy throughout the 2 hour workout. My partner and I shared a Maca Dark Chocolate candy bar after the Hack Squat (our break) and I seemed to have gotten a stomach ache for about 15 minutes during my exercises afterwards, but it went away after that.

Maca is a great superfood!! Here's some info on it, Im running low on it and need to order a bulk order!!
As an adaptogen, maca works broadly to contribute to overall well being. It nourishes and calms the nerves with calcium, phosphorus, vitamins B1 and B12 , and fatty acids, all of which work beneficially on the nervous system.
It stimulates the appetite and aids in digestion with calcium, vitamins B1 and B2, B12, and fatty acids. Its phosphorus is a primary building block in the cell fuels Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) and glucose-6-phosphate (G6P).
At the same time it supports the adrenal glands so they don't have to rely on damaging corticol to fuel the body. Its sterols, calcium, and vitamin C help build muscle mass and its starches aid in physical endurance. Its alkaloids help the body assimiliate all these nutrients just where they are required.
Increases energy and endurance
Increases stamina
Improves sexual function in men and women
Enhances fertility in people and animals
Reduces hormonal dysfunction during menopause & andropause
Can regulate hormonal imbalances
Has a beneficial action on the circulatory system; Speeds wound healing and reduces anemia
Enhances memory, learning, and mental ability
Has a beneficial action on the circulatory system; gives skin a more youthful appearance
Good for healthy teeth and bones
Acts as a fungistatic and bacteriostatic
Acts as an anticarcinogen and antioxidant
Is an alternative to anabolic steroids, helps to build muscle
Is non addictive

_________________
Sarah

My #1 reason for trying it. Anybody have any other choices for me to use as an alternative to the "juice"?
I've got chlorella also to help cellular repair. Trying to get enough protein into me, and efficiently processed for use, to supply the aminos to build the muscle tissue. And the maca for sustained energy to do all that. Just trying to push the genetic envelope a little bit more in the next 2 months of building/bulking.
And trying to be smart and not hurt myself (though I have already lost that battle - well, just a minor setback in pushing alot of weight - seems the back can be the secondary stablilizer muscles for some of the heavy "push" exercises).
Tomorrow's off day will be spent being yelled at by my massage therapist, as she helps me to de-knot all my other muscle tissue, and see if she can determine how I can heal my back faster.

Today was a quirky day. First off, my partner did the first exercise and her left neck/trapezius/rhomboid muscle (or possibly a nerve) started to hurt and at first she was complaining about how it hurt, and by the end of the exercise, she was cursing and getting very mad about it. I managed to massage this huge knot she had in her trap muscle next to her left scapula. She wanted to continue the workout, so I made her take an Ibprofen to take the edge off, and I made sure she utilized the chest and bicep exercises to use that trap as minimally as possible (hopefully I can persuade her to go with me to my massage therapist and get that looked at and worked on).
Second, I pretty much went right to the heaviest possible that I did with most of these exercises way back in October, and I got the reps that I wanted, but not the pump that I usually get when doing chest and biceps. So I played around by going back down in weight, and doing 15 reps or more, just to get the pumped feeling (addicted to the pumped up feeling? possibly).

Chest

HammerStrength Chest Press (#1 machine): 70/25 warmup as usual, 90/20, 140/5+3, 110/12, 120/8+2

Machine Flyes: 90/20, 120/12, 135/8 (same as last time for all)

Incline Smith Press: 70/25 (did a warmup to see if my clavicle would hurt - nope), 90/15, 110/8+1, and then again 110/8+2

Machine Chest Press with the vertical grip: 75/25, 90/20, 120/12~1 (utilized the foot bar to help get one more rep out), 125/9~1

Biceps

EZ barbell Curl: 40/25 warmup (kind of heavy!), 50/15, 60/15, 70/8~2
then went to the Max Rack and did a barbell curl with its straight bar 40/25 reps X 2 sets just for fun

Hammer Curls: 25/15, 27.5/13~2, 30/12~3, 35/6~3

Double Cable Curls with strap handles at a 45 degree angle to the StarTrac cable station: 40/15, 50/8, 45/10, 45/12

And that was it. Not an inspiring workout. I kept feeling sorry for my partner as she was suffering. Mental note for me not to put too much whining into my workouts when I am hurting. It seems to put a damper on our workouts for each other. Though she was kicking butt on the bicep workout as it did not cause her any pain, and she channeled all her frustration of not being able to do Chest heavy (like she wanted) into heavier weights for herself with biceps.

Rest day was getting a massage day. I let my workout partner take my first 30 minutes to get her neck/shoulder worked on, and then I took the last 1 and 1/2 hour to myself. She said that it was my QL, quatrus lumbordum - which I knew from googleing back anatomy and matching up where it hurt still on my back - but that my left side was all contracted (still had swelling/inflammation) and the right was all loose/stretched out of shape. So I am definitely imbalanced. She also was amazed that I did not pop a disc, and warned me of such possibility. All I know is that she worked on it, and yes it is now throbbing. I also laughed when she commented that my biceps and chest were so pumped up, and then I told her that is what I did yesterday in the gym! So I am working it hard I guess for the muscles to still be pumped the next day! Maybe that is why it is on the 2nd or 3rd day that I have DOMS, because it is still so full of blood/pumped up.

Oh my Delt day. Partner was boasting about how great she felt now that the pain in her neck was gone. She was a little shy about getting to the heavy weights though, thinking that she was going to hurt herself again (didn't want to jinx herself she said). So we did alot more sets that increased in the weights slowly at times. I also helped her out by being right there to spot her and make it easier for her to get 2 more reps out. She did the same for me! We had an awesome workout.

Delts

Machine Military Press (StarTrac model): 55/25 (same), 70/25 (same), 85/15 (same and easy, saving it up for the heavier weights), 100/15 (same, still saving it up), 115/15 (+3 more reps, and solidly done), 130/8 - new PB!

Resistance Band Side Lateral Raise: Did 15 solid on the medium strength Blue RB. from here, I just wanted to see if I had worked up to the StarTrac Cable Station. I can! So with a black strappy handle, I did 20/10, rested then did 20/15 (getting more confident to do these), so I got the cute little black rectangle extra weight of 2 1/2lbs and did 22.5/10 YEAH!!!!

Rear Delt Flyes with Dumbbells: first did it on the incline bench for warmups 15/15, 17.5/15, and then I talked to my partner and she said she did them sitting on the end of a bench with her arms in a wide outstretched V out in front as the weights came up, so I tried it. Didn't like sitting on the bench (stomach all bunched up), but I could feel it in my rear delts more with the forward V shape. We comprimised and just did bent-over rear delt flyes with dumbbells: 20/15, 25/10

took a nice long talk break. I got a Vega performance bar out and ate that up while talking.

Machine Dumbbell Grip Military Press (same machine as in the first exercise, just a different grip): 115/15, 130/15 (all solid this time - no help), 145/10+5 (+2 solid, and +3 with partner's help), and went on to the 160/6+2 - new PB
(I looked and noticed that there was only 2 more plates of weight to go and I will have the whole machine stack! new goal? I also noticed that I can lift alot more with this grip than on the first one. this grip has a slight forward push to the upward movement - possibly upper chest/pec tie-in muscle may be helping the delts lift more weight).

The dreaded Descending Dumbbell Delt Press: I chose this time to work with 17.5, 15, and 10 lbs dumbbells this time (I also had the table in front of me all set up with the weights so I wouldn't have to grab the weights off the floor by bending down and hurting my back - same as last time). Did 4 sets of 15 reps for each descending dumbbell right in a row. (Yes, I was whining and whimpering on the 10 lbs dumbbells).

All done with working out. Back is doing OK. I may have aggravated it on the heavy 160lbs Military Press at the end, but I did so well on the 145 that I pressed my luck and went on. Tomorrow is Back and Tricep day. Wonder how I shall get thru that without aggravating it. . . I may have to back off the heavy weight and do a light weight/high rep day tomorrow.

I'm totally jealous that your DB's increment by 2.5 lbs. I'd probably be injury-free if that was the case for me!!

_________________
Darth Vader from Sandlot once said, "Heroes get remembered, but legends never die." Then he later died.
https://www.facebook.com/BigMeeeeech

Yesterday's back workout was a cautious one. I pretty much did what I did last time (and what I didn't do last time) and I was happy with it!

Back

Neutral-Grip Wide-bar Pulldown: 90/25, 135/15, 150/8 (my partner had her hands on my biceps shadowing me thru it all. she said she didn't really use any pressure to help me, except the last one).

Machine Back Row (lower grip): 90/25, did not want to go right to 180, so I did a cautious 135/15, 150/15, and then the 180/15, and with my core tight and chest forward I did the 210/10 (same as last time)

Double Cable Single handle Pulldown: 90/15, 100/12+3 (my partner put her hands on my hands and helped bring the handle down to my waist and then let go, so it was all up to me to hold it there for an isometric contraction, and then a slow eccentric contraction back up). I liked the feel so much that I went back down to 90 and did only 5 more reps that way - without my partners help - the isometric hold and slowly letting go back up. My inner lats by my armpit were pumped! It was sweet!

Stiff-Legged Deadlift (didn't do these last time because of my back hurting, but I cautiously tried it out and was OK - if I kept strict form with chest out, and a little curve in the lower back - and I couldn't pull the weight straight up from the starting position of being on the ground - bent my knees to pick it up to standing): 30/25, 50/25, 70/20, 90/15

Machine Back Row (upper grip): 120/15, 150/15, 180/8+4 (my partner stood in front of the machine and helped me pull it back, and then let go and I slowly let it go back forward to the starting position).

Break - I now look forward to my break because I get to eat a Vega chocolate Performance Protein Bar! I love the crispies in it the most. And it takes about 15 minutes for my body to get a boost of energy to finish my workout.

onto Triceps!

Rope Pressdown: 70/25, 90/15, 100/15, 110/15 (did this on a different cable station. it felt alot harder to do than last time. but that is OK because I was getting alot of PB's last time)

Rope Tricep Extension (overhead, with the fulcrum at waist level): 70/25, 90/15 (+3 more than last time), 100/8+4 (unknown to me, my partner had grabbed the cable at the handle area and was helping me! So I got to kick out 4 more than last time).

tried to do standing dips (Bodyweight/8 and tried another set but only got to 4), but it hurt my clavicle and shoulder for some reason today, so I went to the benches instead - that usually never hurts my clavicle or shoulders (even on the last set, where I went down to where my butt touched the floor, it did not hurt my shoulder or clavicle - now my back was a different story - had a slight tweak there).

Two-bench dips (feet up on one bench): Bodyweight/25 for 3 sets

and that is all we did for that session. Oh yeah, I weighed myself this morning and it was 170.8. I cringed on delt day, because we decided to wear tank tops on delt day to see how well our upper body is coming along, and while doing the bent-over rear delts, I noticed that I looked huge. My partner pointed it out and she was simply delighted (the girl loves muscles! on anybody). I just have to be nonjudgmental about my body right now with all the bodyfat on it. I've done this before, and I know how to strip the bodyfat off. I know how much muscle I need under it to stay big looking. Still, it is hard looking like a big beast right now.