Steve's training blog

Leg day. Started with a 2.5 mile run at about an 8:30 pace. Walked the last half mile because of sciatica issues.

I started off with clean and squats. I like these because they are different. I do a clean then squat and start again. I did three sets with 95 pounds. I really was not paying attention to reps.

Leg press was my only other exercise today.

10X1 plate (each side)

20X2 plates

30X3 plates

40X4 plates

50X5 plates

40X4 plates

30X3 plates

20X2 plates

10X1 plate

The idea tonight was low to no rest. I wanted intensity. This is not a normal workout for me, but you really do need to mix it up every now and then.

Chest day. I started with warming up my elbows. I did this workout without my neoprene sleeves, so I was pretty happy.

Weigh in 181.

Supersets, dumb bell bench and flies.

15@ 90 and 12@60

9@90 and 11@60

14@80 drop 60 for 9 reps and 15@40 on flies

There was almost no rest between these sets

Decline dumb bell presses

Long rest period here

20@50#

25@50

21@50

isolateral press and isolateral decline super sets in the 15-25 range.

I finished with some abs and posing.

My goal right now is low rest to keep my heart rate up and to burn some bodyfat. I do not always do high reps, but I have been ever since I read some articles suggesting that rep range variation may be the most important thing for hypertrophy. So a few months of high reps.

Happy Birthday dude!

Hope it was a great one!

Oral surgery followed up with back and bi's. I love training in pain. I was hurting so bad today I had to stay home. That said, thanks for the well wishes. I am home next month 9-16 so let me know if you are around.

I am hitting it with protein supps for the first time in a long long time. I am lifting hard. Let's see where I wind up.

Leg day today. The sciatica was not too bad. I hit about 20 sets today. Just enough rest to get a drink between sets and breathe a little. Anyone who follows me knows I am not a big cardio believer, but I need to run for my job. So I am running again three times per week. Thursday I hit three 8 miles in 23:50. Today was sprints. I managed some fast halves to start, about 3:45 each with a quarter mile job in between, then three quarter miles at six seconds each with a quarter mile walk between.

I went to an OCB show yesterday to cheer on a friend who was competing. I have to say it was the strangest thing I have ever seen. They had men's sportswear as a competition. When the dude in the shiny gold Bruno inspired hip hugger swim suit came out I may have blurted out something that was...well not exactly polite. I had thought the NPC jumped the shark with bikini contests. Now I see that other federations have lost touch with the sport too.

I am thirteen weeks out, and I am in the best shape I have ever been in this far out. My hope is to put on five more pounds of muscle from where I was in Bend.

Yesterday I hit shoulders hard. The elbows were about 80% after massage and chiropractor treatments. This week I think they are going to be even better.

Just got back from a seminar in England. It was a great time. I ramped my training up prior to leaving putting myself on the verge of over training. I find that is a good way to manage my travel when I know I am going to be off for a few days.

Hope to see you in Oregon this week!

Get in touch anytime!

I am back on stage in seven weeks. This has been a good year. Racked up some trophies, and had some fun. This time Nicole will be competing with me in her first competition. Since she started training with me her waist has shrunk three inches, and her arms have grown one and a half inches. Her shoulders are three inches bigger making for a dramatic taper that looks great when combined with her arms. On her last physical assessment she hit 20 more pushups than the previous time. Pretty good since the last time she reached a maximum score for her push ups.

My focus for this show is better traps, more detail, and to come in a little leaner.

Four weeks out from competition. Hitting it hard. Doing a little cardio here, not a lot, but 30 minutes three or four times a week. I like to keep my weight workouts so intense that I am in the fat burning zone the whole time. My cardio is walking on a treadmill and keeping my pace at 4.0-4.5. This keeps my heart rate at 115-130. I also do some wind sprinting. Jog a quarter, then sprint a quarter or hit a hard half.

I am hitting posing almost daily to keep my muscles hard, and intense posing burns fat.

Nicole is hitting it hard too. She is putting up some respectable numbers, and she is getting cut for the NYC show.

Yesterday was shoulders and arms followed by posing. We did not have time to hit tanning or cardio, so today will be tanning and cardio after lifting.

Results are good. I need to weigh in since my last weigh in was over a month ago. My bet is I am roughly 184. Nicole has moved a total of seven pounds since she started dieting at 12 weeks out. With a three inch increase in shoulder width and a four inch drop in waist, I am jealous as hell.