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Five Months to First Bodybuilding Competition!


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Thanks Barb!

 

This past weekend was Derek's bodybuilding competition so everything got kind of thrown off...

 

5/28 Legs Day 2

 

Reverse Lunge with Pulse

Donkey Kicks

Switches

 

All sets of 20

 

These body weight exercises performed with strict form actually have been making my legs a little sore and I think I see some improvement (size reduction) so I'm going to stick with this routine for a few more weeks before returning to plyometrics.

 

5/29 Cardio (forgot it was supposed to be upper body, now I'm a day off!)

 

30 minute trail run

20 minute stairclimber

 

5/30 Upper Body

 

Morning: 20 minutes elliptical

 

It was so packed and insane at Gold's today I couldn't do anything I'd planned on so I just improvised and got the hell out!

 

Cable Chest Press (wanted to do barbell, but the free motion cable was still quite hard with high resistance), 3 x 10

Close Grip Cable Row, 40 x 12, 45 x 12, 50 x 12

Decline Pullovers, 3 x 25 x 10

Arnold Press, 20 x 12, 25 x 10, 30 x 8

Seated Bicep Curl, 3 x 20 x 8

Seated Machine Dip, 3 x 10 (never do these, but everything was taken...very awkward - I'm 5'2" so on a lot of the machines my feet dangle above the floor when I raise the seat to the correct height...)

Edited by marcella
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5/31 Legs Day 1

 

Body Weight Squats, 3 x 40

Bench Step-Ups w/ 10 Lb DBs, 3 x 20/leg

 

Skipped glute pulses b/c I planned on doing belly dance later in the day and I found that doing the bench step ups while holding the weights at my side put some strain on my glutes. The dance drills I do involve alternately flexing your glutes to move your hips at a fast pace for an extended period (sounds weird but that's how it's done!) so I prefer not to do too many glute exercises as I don't need an even bigger butt!

 

Abs:

Sideways Extensions w/ 7.5 lbs, 3 x 10

SS w/ Roman Chair, 3 x 12

 

Just when I was getting back into the groove of doing a lot of cardio I had to stupidly step on a rusty nail in my backyard...

 

Did 20 minutes of elliptical anyway and tried to dance but today I'm kind of hobbling around so probably not a good call.

 

6/1 Shoulders

 

Smith Machine Behind-the-Neck Press, 50 x 10, 55 x 10, 60 x 8

Easy-Curl Bar Upright Row, 35 x 10, 40 x 10, 45 x 8

DB Front Raise (stabilized on a wall to isolate), 10 x 10, 12 x 10, 12 x 10

Seated Lateral Raise, 10 x 10, 12 x 8, 12 x 8

Rear Delt Machine, 35 x 10, 35 x 10, 35 x 12

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  • 2 weeks later...

Welp, I've fallen way behind recording my workouts...I've been focused on diet and nutrition the past couple of weeks, both making mine over and writing meal plans for clients: must be a summer thing!

 

On the nutrition front, I've eliminated protein bars, most refined grains, nut butters, tofu, and all oil in an effort to lose fat. It's been gradual over three weeks and so far I've lost about 2 pounds without losing any muscle in the upper body (which is the first thing to go if I'm not eating enough calories). So far so good - and I have to admit that I feel way better and my skin looks more glow-ey without the processed food.

On the workout front, I'm on the same routine. Only notes I can think of are:

 

On my upper body non-circuit day I've gotten my 4th set of flat bench back up to 8 x 80 lbs consistently.

 

On my first day of the week I now do 3 sets of 50 body weight squats and sometimes weights on the step-ups with curl. Doing the body weight stuff still makes my legs sore b/c I adjust my position to make the exercises harder as I progress

 

I hadn't been doing the sprints that are the third legs day of my routine b/c it was 100 degrees outside all last week. Running fast on a treadmill just is not the same - I can't possibly go balls to the wall. I finally went to my university's soccer field this past Sunday and did 3 sets of (sprint 25 yds, walk back, sprint 50 yds, walk back, sprint, 75 yds, walk back, sprint 100 yds, walk back). It was 91 degrees still, so by set 3 I felt like vomiting and stopped - on a cooler day I might be able to get 5? We'll see this Sunday!

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  • 6 months later...

So, clearly, it's been a while since I've posted! I'm now over 6 months pregnant, so the title ought to be changed to "3 Months Until Labor!" or something more appropriate, but that's ok.

 

Still working out as often as ever, and nearly as hard as ever, and my routines are not all that different really. Some exercises need to be avoided during pregnancy, but there's too many alternatives to choose from for it to be an obstacle. Here's the routine I've been doing for a few months:

 

Legs Day

 

20 minutes incline treadmill or elliptical

 

Deep Body-weight squats, 3-4 sets x 20 reps

Leg Extension 3-4 x 12-15 SUPERSET WITH (45 lbs)

Seated Leg Curl 3-4 x 12-15 (45)

Glute Push-down (using assisted pull-up machine) 3 x 12

 

Chest/Back Day

 

No exercises that involve lying flat are allowed. On compound exercises like incline bench, I stick with my old warm-up weight and do higher reps rather than risk straining too hard.

 

20 minutes incline treadmill or elliptical

 

Incline Bench Press 4 x 12-15 (50) SUPERSET WITH

One-Arm DB Row 4 x 12-15 (25)

Seated Cable Chest Press 3 x 15 (50) SUPERSET WITH

Assisted Pull-Ups 3 x 10-12

Cable Chest Fly 3-4 x 12-15 (15) SUPERSET WITH

Free Motion Cable Row 3-4 x 12-15 (25)

 

Cardio Day: 20 minutes incline treadmill or elliptical

 

Shoulders Day

 

Overhead presses are out because they can injure your lower back in the later stage of pregnancy. Very sad – those are what got my shoulders bigger! Oh well, I’ll get them back.

 

20 minutes incline treadmill or elliptical

 

Dumbbell or Cable Upright Row 3-4 x 12-15 (15-20)

Seated or Standing Front Delt Raise 3-4 x 10-12 (10)

Side-Lying Lateral Raises 3 x 12 (8) SUPERSET WITH

Rear Delt Raises 3 x 12

Seated Cable Press 3-4 x 15 (20) The free-motion cable machine doesn’t strain my lower back – I wait until the end of the workout so I keep it light, and lean back in the seat

 

Arms Day

 

This is one area in which I haven’t really dropped the weight I’m using much. I now do close-grip bench and skullcrushers (for triceps) at an incline instead of flat.

 

20 minutes incline treadmill or elliptical

 

DB Bicep Curl 3-4 x 10-12 (15-20) SUPERSET WITH

Seated Tricep Extension 3-4 x 10-12 (25)

Cable Bicep 21′s 3-4 x 21 (40) SUPERSET WITH

Close Bench Push-Ups 3-4 x 6-8

Sometimes I’ll add a third superset of something if I’m up to it

 

Cardio Day: 20 minutes incline treadmill or elliptical

 

Rest

 

My focus is obviously not on building muscle right now, but on maintaining as much as possible and building endurance for labor. My diet was previously really strict with around 10-15% calories from fat but I'm eating plenty of nuts and avocado and so on these days and am looking smoother and rounder (being in my third trimester it's not unexpected!) but have only gained about 15 pounds thus far. The recommended weight gain during pregnancy for a fit woman is 25-35 lbs, so I feel pretty good! Actually, it's pregnancy weight gain that accounts for the majority of the female portion of the obesity epidemic...it's important to consider that being overweight or obese while pregnant leads to all kinds of problems for you and the baby. A lot of women, unfortunately, think that exercise at such a time is risky when the truth is quite the opposite!

 

Progress pics, looking softer but you can see there's still muscle under there!

 

http://www.veganmuscleandfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Still-2.jpeg

http://www.veganmuscleandfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Still-3.jpeg

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