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are you going to do the 2 shows in your area in july and sept? if so it will be cool to follow your progress. Injuries are a huge bummer but it looks like your being smart about the wrist thing and easing it back in, hopefully it comes back just as stong or stronger for you! I have this stupid achilles thing bothering me for several months now that I can't seem to get rid of. ughh very annoying

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4/11/12

 

Frayedendz, I'm not sure. If I can put on enough muscle and stay injury-free, and have the time available and in town, not traveling, and have the finances, etc. I'll likely get on stage in one or both shows. I really want to compete in bodybuilding again, just for the fun of it, and having those competitions (and other ones) in my home town, helps.

 

So we'll see how it goes. Lots of factors at the moment, but I'll keep training as if I plan to be in my posing trunks on stage in July.

 

Today's workout:

 

Warm-up: 20 minute run in the sun

 

Forward arm circles

50

50

40

 

Backward arm circles

50

50

50

 

Workout:

 

Wide grip pull-ups

14

15

16

17

 

Narrow grip pull-ups

22

14

17

20

 

Standing alternating dumbbell hammer curls

25s x 12

30s x 10

35s x 10

40s x 8

 

Seated 2 arm dumbbell hammer curls

30s x 12

35s x 10

40s x 8

45s x 6

 

Dumbbell concentration curls

30 x 8

30 x 8

35 x 8

40 x 8

 

That was the workout.

 

I started my first day of the T. Colin Campbell Plant-Based Nutrition Course through eCornell. I finished my primary assignment earlier today but I'm back to continue working on the next projects.

 

Peace out!

 

RC

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4/12/12

 

Yeah, I'll be in NYC on the Upper West Side from the 19th-24th. I'll be working at the Green Festival all weekend but should have free time in the evenings and on Monday and possibly on Tuesday before I fly out. Get in touch while I'm there. Sometimes things get busier than planned, or I'm more exhausted than anticipated, or I have school projects to finish up, but check in and we'll see where we're at.

 

Today was a rest day. I thought about training abs, but looking over my journal, I've trained quite a bit recently and I've been staying up super late each night, so I felt like a rest day would be just fine.

 

I also slept in way later than usual/planned which tells me I need a little extra recovery time.

 

Today I also spent hours working on my school program and that kept me focused on academic stuff rather than training.

 

I did some shopping today and I continue to make all my means at home at the moment. I have lots of greens that need to be consumed! I'm primarily having rice, potatoes, or rice pasta as my dinner which usually comes with greens, avocado or something else with it, perhaps curry sauce, etc.

 

Well, back to work and then to sleep!

 

Back in the gym tomorrow and on Saturday and likely throughout the weekend.

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4/13/12

 

Today I played basketball for about 40 minutes and then I had a 40 minute abs workout.

 

It went like this:

 

Front crunches

30

40

40

 

Right side crunches

30

40

40

 

Left side crunches

30

40

40

 

Bicycle crunches

100

100

100

 

Hanging Knee Raises

40

40

40

 

Lying Leg Raises

30

30

30

 

Plank

100 seconds

100 seconds

100 seconds

 

Had a protein drink before bed as I'm trying to get back into bodybuilding mode, but since I have a small bladder I had to wake up 5 times during the night to use the restroom. Therefore, I'm a bit sleepy right now.

 

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

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4/14/12

 

Today I trained with a couple of guys I met at Texas VegFest 2 weeks ago.

 

The workout was just about 1 hour and 15 minutes total and looked like this:

 

Warm-up:

 

10 minutes on the spin bike

 

Push-ups

20

20

20

 

Lateral Raises

12.5s x 10

12.5s x 12

 

Front Raises

12.5s x 10

12.5s x 12

 

Rear Delt Raises

12.5s x 10

12.5s x 12

 

Dumbbell Overhead Press

12.5s x 10

12.5s x 12

 

Workout:

 

Dumbbell Overhead Press

40s x 12

50s x 10

60s x 7

 

Standing Dumbbell Hammer Curls

35s x 10

40s x 8

 

Seated Alternating Dumbbell Hammer Curls

35s x 8

35s x 8

 

Wide Grip Pull-ups

14

10

 

Narrow Grip Pull-ups

12

14

 

Hanging Leg Raises

30

20

 

It was an upper body workout with lots of variety.

 

Tomorrow I'm off to Bone Breaker Gym about an hour from here with bartronx7.

 

It's going to be tough. I better rest up to prepare for it!

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4/15/12

 

Today was the most fun I have had in the gym in a very long time!

 

Bartronx7 and I met up with perhaps the world's largest vegan. Our friend, Big Bald Mike weighs over 500 pounds, though he's working to drop weight and was only 501 today so he'll likely be under 500 pounds when he wakes up tomorrow. He was doing one-arm bicep curls with a 95 pound dumbbell as a warm-up, for example, and deadlifts over 900 pounds. He's a big dude.

 

We trained in Mike's garage gym nicknamed Bone Breaker Gym. It it was totally epic. Today we trained back for a solid 2.5 hours and I had record lifts in every exercise I did (records since 2003 when I hurt my back doing deadlifts and never surpassed those weights, though I got close today). Bart also also broke all his personal best lifts.

 

Today's workout was all about intensity. We had metal music playing, had chalk for our hands and engaged in a whole lot of screaming as we used exclusively barbells for nearly 3 hours of hardcore lifting.

 

I can't wait to go back there! Mike lives about 45 minutes away from me and about an hour from Bart's house, but we plan to make a trip out there every weekend we're in town for our super hardcore workout of the week on a Saturday or Sunday, a few times a month.

 

My workout looked like this:

 

Warm-up

 

6 minute jog around the neighborhood to warm up. Lots of stretching and then we jumped right into it!

 

Workout:

 

Deadlifts

133lbs x 20

183lbs x 11

219lbs x 5

268.5lbs x 2

278.5lbs x 1

289.5lbs x 1 (heaviest I've deadlifted since 2003. I know it isn't real heavy, but for me it is and it felt great to move it. I would later break that mark, surpassing 300lbs)

 

Bent-over Rows

133lbs x 10

177lbs x 7

187lbs x 5

197lbs x 5

219lbs x 3 (heaviest I have rowed in years)

187lbs x 5

 

Barbell Shurgs - picking the bar off the floor in a deadlift movement to a standing position to shrug

185lbs x 12

207lbs x 10

251lbs x 12

303lbs x 12

313lbs x 12 (since I did a deadlift to pick it up, this is my new recent Deadlift PR. My all-time personal best is 337lbs for 3 reps).

 

I was really pleased with today's workout. I hit personal best lifts in every exercise I did (at least recent personal bests since 2003 when I injured my back and stopped doing deadlifts).

 

I'll be in NYC next weekend so I won't be able to catch a weekend workout with Big Mike and then in Chicago two weekends later, but that one weekend I am home over the next three weekends, I'll be at Bone Breaker Gym looking to set new personal best lifts.

 

Since I'm doing doing free weight exercises and almost exclusively compound movements (except for some bicep curls and maybe one other isolated movement for arms or shoulders) I might stick to back workouts at Mike's. I could do a shoulder or leg workout too, which would be cool, but for now I want to bring the deadlift and row numbers up. I could always toss in overhead press in place of shrugs or in addition to them if I cut back to 3-4 sets per exercise vs. 5-6 like today.

 

After the epic workout we ate like champs and then I headed to a vegan restaurant pre-opening party and ate like a champ again

 

Gotta rest now. My voice is a little horse from screaming during my sets. I'm not real big or strong these days so those weights were really heavy for me. This kind of training should get be back in pretty good shape soon!

 

Yeah Buddy!

 

-RC

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4/16/12

 

Yesterday's workout was hard to follow! Today I slept in, likely because of how exhausting and demanding and long the workout was yesterday.

 

I sat in the hot tub mid-day to get some heat on my sore back muscles and then I worked all day. The next thing I knew it was evening and I was still working on school projects and trying to find ways to sell more Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness clothing to help pay bills.

 

But, alas, I made it to the gym around 9:30PM. I trained for nearly an hour and then sat in the sauna after that to sweat and think. I do a lot of my brainstorming there.

 

Today I focused on triceps in a minimal way (it was training triceps that hurt my wrist 4 weeks ago and I still wear a brace when I train.) Since I still don't train chest, due to my continued soreness from last year's injury there, I did lot of sets of push-ups. And I want to strengthen my core to help all my exercises get better so I hit abs for the 3rd time over the past week.

 

Today's workout:

 

Warm-up: 10 minutes on the spin bike

 

Push-ups

20

20

20

20

 

Crunches

40

50

60

70

 

Forward arm circles

50

50

50

50

 

Backward arm circles

50

50

50

50

 

Hanging Knee Raises

40

40

40

40

 

Push-ups again

20

20

20

20

 

That was it. A full workout of just abs, push-ups, and arm circles to stay loose between sets.

 

It is already after midnight and I'm just getting settled with some food. Bummer, seems like I'll be up late like usual.

 

I'll likely sleep well again tonight. Time to get back to brainstorming about business ideas.

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4/17/12

 

Today I played basketball for about an hour. I just shoot around and run up and down the court by myself. I'm not actually playing a game of competitive basketball, just playing around. I wear my wrist brace and so far it seems to be OK.

 

I enjoy the opportunity to have a lot of fun shooting baskets out in the sun, getting good exercise, jumping a lot as I dunk on the 9' hoop or touch the rim as I do a lay up on the 10' hoop.

 

It really is a lot of fun!

 

Then I sat in the hot tub again to rest some sore muscles and mostly just worked the entire rest of the day.

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4/18/12

 

Took a rest day today. Didn't plan on it but I'm flying to NYC in the morning and today was filled with shipping out clothing, prizes, and various items to Veg Festivals as well as general work and errands before my week-long trip.

 

I feel bad about missing the gym today but I did get a lot of work done and I am better prepared for a long week ahead in NYC. Though I missed the gym I had 4 Vega Protein Bars and had a huge Thai food dinner.

 

I have to wake up in less than 4 hours to get to the airport, so I better head to bed to nap for a bit.

 

Have an awesome weekend!

 

-RC

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4/19/12

 

Took another rest day today as I traveled all day from Texas to Michigan to New York. I was only on 3 hours of sleep. Met up with Lean and Green and C.O. from the forum today in NYC so that was awesome!

 

Hello New York City! Great to see you again!

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4/20/12

 

Today I ran 40 blocks through the streets and sidewalks of downtown New York City. That was pretty insane! Almost got hit by a cyclist and almost ran into pedestrians. I walked back and enjoyed the views of the city.

 

Then I hit up the gym tonight and it went like this:

 

Warm-up

 

10 minutes on the Spin Bike (my new favorite warm-up equipment)

 

Forward arm circles

50

50

50

 

Backward arm circles

50

50

50

 

Push-ups

20

30

30

 

Workout

 

Wide Grip Pull-ups

15

12

15

 

Narrow Grip Pull-ups

16

16

16

 

Hanging knee raises

20

20

20

 

Dumbbell Overhead Press

40s x 12

50s x 7

55s x 6

60s x 5

 

Dumbbell Hammer Curls

35s x 10

37.5s x 10

40s x 10

45s x 8

 

That was it.

 

Got some homework done and now time to get to bed. Getting about 5 hours of sleep tonight, maybe less, and have a 13-14 hour work day tomorrow at the Green Festival in NYC.

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4/23/12

 

I got back in the gym today. I wasn't at 100% energy from the exhausting week/weekend but I went through an ab/shoulder workout and near the end, I felt quite good.

 

Here is how it went.

 

Front Crunches

40

50

60

 

Right Side Crunches

40

50

60

 

Left Side Crunches

40

50

60

 

Bicycle Crunches

100

100

120

 

Giant Set for Shoulders. A set of lateral, front, rear delt and overhead all in one cycle.

 

Lateral Raises

10s x 15

12.5s x 10

15s x 10

20s x 10

 

Front Raises

10s x 15

12.5s x 10

15s x 10

20s x 10

 

Rear Delt Raises

10s x 15

12.5s x 10

15s x 10

20s x 10

 

Overhead press

10s x 15

12.5s x 10

15s x 10

20s x 10

 

Barbell Shrugs

185lbs x 12

205lbs x 12

225lbs x 10

245lbs x 10

265lbs x 6

225lbs x 12

 

Push-ups

20

20

20

 

That does it for today.

 

I fly out from NYC tomorrow. I plan to get up early and hit a workout in the morning before my flight.

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4/24/12

 

After another late night in New York City, I set my alarm and got up early for a workout before checking out of the hotel and heading to the airport. It was nice to get the workout in early. I need to do that more often. I'm back home in Texas as I type this up.

 

Today's workout went like this:

 

Warm-up

 

Spin bike for 10 minutes

 

Forward arm circles

50

50

50

 

Backward arm circles

50

50

50

 

Two arm seated hammer curls

20s x 12

25s x 12

30s x 10

35s x 8

 

Bodyweight squats

30

30

30

 

Bent-over rows

135lbs x 6

135lbs x 8

135lbs x 10

135lbs x 10

 

Barbell Shrugs

135lbs x 12

135lbs x 12

225lbs x 8

245lbs x 6

225lbs x 6

225lbs x 6

 

That was it and then I headed to Whole Foods Market for some food, then to the airport, then back home.

 

I spent a couple of hours editing my new book during the flight home and then I passed out. Eating a big burrito now and then heading to bed.

 

Go Suns! Let's make the playoffs tonight! #NBA

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4/25/12

 

Today I hit a late night workout of just legs. I only did 2 exercises but it took me a full 90 minutes to get through it!

 

Today's workout went like this:

 

Warm-up

 

Spin bike for 15 minutes

 

Bodyweight squats

30

30

30

 

Workout:

 

Squats

45lbs x 20

135lbs x 10

135lbs x 10

145lbs x 10

155lbs x 8

155lbs x 10

135lbs x 10

 

Dumbbell Walking Lunges

50s in each hand x 20 steps

50s in each hand x 20 steps

55s in each hand x 16 steps

55s in each hand x 18 steps

60s in each hand x 16 steps

60s in each hand x 16 steps

 

That was it.

 

I know my squatting numbers are tiny compared to some other lifts and just tiny in general, but that is all I trust my lower back with at the moment and it really is challenging for me. It's not like it is just real easy, I'm simply not very strong in certain lifts.

 

It is now about 1AM and I better start preparing for bed soon. I'd like to start training in the mornings but I tend to stay up quite late. Hoping to change that up soon.

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4/26/12

 

After last night's late workout, I hit a workout today in the mid-afternoon. It was quite nice. Got in there around 330PM.

 

It went like this:

 

Warm-up

 

Spin Bike for 15 minutes

 

Forward arm circles

50

50

50

50

 

Backward arm circles

50

50

50

50

 

Workout:

 

Lateral Raises

12.5s x 12

15s x 10

20s x 8

25s x 6

 

Front Raises

12.5s x 12

15s x 10

20s x 8

25s x 6

 

Rear Delt Raises

12.5s x 12

15s x 10

20s x 8

25s x 6

 

Dumbbell Overhead Press

45s x 10

55s x 9

60s x 6

65s x 5

70s x failed on two attempts

65s x 3

50s x 7

 

Barbell Shrugs

135 x 20

225 x 10

245 x 10

265 x 5

275 x 5

225 x 10

135 x 20

 

More Lateral Raises going heavier

30s x 10

35s x 6

30s x 8

 

Done.

 

Back to work now. Gotta do some book writing and some homework.

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4/27/12

 

Today I had another awesome and epic training session with bartronx7 at Bone Breaker Barbell here in the Austin, TX area. Such an awesome environment for lifting!

 

Though I just did barbell shrugs at up to 275lbs yesterday and did squats and lunges the day before and was a bit stiff today, I muscled up and went for a big day of lifting with two power movements.

 

Here is how the workout went. I had quite a long warm-up to get the shoulders and lower back totally ready to go before I started the session of barbell deadlifts and barbell shrugs, pulling from the floor.

 

Warm-up

 

8 minute run in the sun

 

Forward arm circles

50

50

50

 

Backward arm circles

50

50

50

 

Push-ups

20

20

20

 

Lateral raises

10s x 12

10s x 12

 

Front raises

10s x 12

10s x 12

 

Rear delt raises

10s x 12

10s x 12

 

Workout

 

Deadlifts

133lbs x 12

177lbs x 12

243lbs x 5

294lbs x Failed twice

263lbs x 4

274lbs x 3

299lbs x 1

308lbs x 1

 

Shrugs - pulling bar off the floor like a deadlift to start

251lbs x 15

291lbs x 12

321lbs x Failed twice

301lbs x 12

317lbs x 10

321lbs x 16

 

These are old school dumbbell plates of 44lbs, 33lbs, 22lbs, 5.5lbs, etc. which is why the numbers seem a little unconventional.

 

I'm really proud of the fact that I failed multiple times at a certain weight and the regrouped and later in the workout accomplished the lift at the same weight or heavier than I had initially failed at.

 

It was such a fun workout, great company with awesome friends, loud metal music playing, lots of screaming and yelling like Ronnie Coleman, chalk everywhere, old school garage gym with epic equipment.

 

The gym is about 45 min from my house so I just go there with my buddy about once a week. The other times I lift at my local gym I can walk to.

 

Solid day of training.

 

My all-time heaviest deadlift is only 337lbs, something I will likely surpass next time I walk into Bone Breaker Barbell, considering today I lifted 321lbs in my 10th set. Imagine if I'm fresh. That is what I'm focusing on. I want to get in a couple of sets at 225 or so to get warmed up and then go up to over 300 and just start pulling some heavy weights while still fresh. I'll rest a day or two before the workout too, unlike today in which I hammered out two tough workouts the past couple of days and haven't had a day off in almost a week.

 

I'll be back stronger next time!

 

Now time to rest, and take a rest day tomorrow to recover.

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4/28/12

 

I took a rest day today. I sat in the sun and hot tub to recover from 5 straight days of free weights, including my night of record lifts last night.

 

I went to the store and bought a bunch of fruit, greens, beans, and a few other things like rice pasta, salsa, little stuff like that.

 

Right now I should probably head to bed. Had a great day of writing/editing and school.

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4/29/12

 

Trained good ol abs today.

 

Warm-up

 

15 minutes on the Spin Bike

 

Hanging Knee Raises

40

50

40

50

50

40

 

Lying Leg Raises

25

25

25

 

Bicycle Crunches

100

100

100

 

Plank

60 seconds

60 seconds

80 seconds

90 seconds

75 seconds

75 seconds

 

The workout actually took about an hour to complete. I did some stretching between sets.

 

Got my potatoes in front of me, greens coming up next. Already had brown rice and entire can of refried beans.

 

Gotta get that mass back on. Lots of fruit throughout the day and a protein drink, a couple of bowls of cereal and some water throughout.

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4/30/12

 

Today's workout was a bit of a toss up. I wasn't sure what I was going to do when I got there. Either legs to give them a few days rest before doing some deadlifts later this week, or biceps.

 

I opted for a long session on the bike and the 10 sets of squats. I admittedly wimped out on the dumbbell walking lunges. I always pair them with squats but just wasn't feeling it today. Felt pretty bloated when I was at the gym (likely from 2 huge salads before the workout and greens take a while to digest) but I just flat wimped out and went with squats only.

 

I figured if I was only going to do squats, I may as well go a bit heavier than usual and do more sets to make up for the lack of lunges.

 

It went like this:

 

Warm-up

 

20 minutes on the Spin Bike

 

15 minutes on the stationary bike

 

Squats

45lbs x 20

45lbs x 20

135lbs x 10

135lbs x 10

135lbs x 10

155lbs x 10

175lbs x 10

195lbs x 5

165lbs x 10

135lbs x 10

 

My lower back is still so-so, and I don't feel comfortable going real heavy. I usually don't go above 155lbs. And believe it or not, that weight feels heavy for me. Not only do I not trust my lower back, I'm just not that strong with squats.

 

I want to get my numbers up to help my deadlifts. I think I need stronger legs to help me in that lift.

 

I'll be starting regular massage therapy for my back and other muscle groups within about 2 weeks and I look forward to that helping my lifting in general.

 

Well, I better eat a bit more and get to bed.

 

-Robert

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Thanks man.

 

I just don't trust my lower back to put heavy weight on it, so I just do what I can and go deep and try to get some sort of result from it

 

Once I do some massage therapy for my back on a regular basis, I'll likely change it up. I am doing a lot of low rep stuff for deadlifts. Based on the angle and stress on my back, I can still do them pretty well.

 

This was from a few workouts ago:

 

Deadlifts

133lbs x 12

177lbs x 12

243lbs x 5

294lbs x Failed twice

263lbs x 4

274lbs x 3

299lbs x 1

308lbs x 1

 

Volume is still high, but I got the low reps in there. I do the same for overhead press and bent-over rows, etc.

 

I'm really enjoying lifting some heavier weights and I'll likely drop rep ranges on a few other lifts too.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I really do appreciate it.

 

It was Derek who re-inspired me to start focusing on compound lifts and I have touched a machine or cable this entire year! Now, I'm just trying to manage injuries and areas of limitations to get those reps closer to 5, and get that weight up!

 

Took a day of rest to work on school work the entire day.

 

Time to eat now. Not going to grow unless I make this happen!

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5/1/12

 

Took a rest day from the gym.

 

I did play basketball for almost an hour. With my wrist brace on my shooting hand I shot free throws as a warm-up. I made 4 in a row and thought I was doing pretty well so I decided to see how many I'd make out of ten. I made 4 of 10. haha! I missed the next 6.

 

So, I went for it again.

 

My free throw shooting wasn't all that impressive today:

 

Makes/Total shots

4/10

4/10

5/10

6/10

 

I used to be an 80% shooter

 

I like the reality check. So often we think we're doing something we're not really doing. I could have easily made my first 4 shots and not paid attention to how many I missed and then gone on about how many I made in a row. I realize people do this all the time, in all areas of life.

 

So I allowed myself this honest reality check

 

My 3-point shooting was likely only 20% or so....at most.

 

I spent a lot of time on school work today, including now, but I'll be back in the gym again tomorrow.

 

Go Nuggets!

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