Rich's New Beginning: WNBF Pro Stage in 2009!

[rich55]

SLAMMING SHOULDERS & TRIS

The group dynamic was in full force today. James has set his sights on the INBF Naturalmania Nationals to finally earn his WNBF pro card, and so our journey to the pain zone begins for the next 19 weeks. James, Terrell and Shaun were all in attendance today. Terrell took a very respectable 4th at the Buckeye out of 12 in the Novice lightweight and Shaun hopes to rock the Novice heavy class next year. Some straight up Beyond Limits stuff here:

Close-Grip Bench
45 x 10
135 x 8
175 x 6
215 x 6
245 x 5 or 6 ----> so pumped to beat last week's 3. PR at this weight.

Close-Grip 21's
7 normal, 7 with 2-board and 7 with 3-board. Brutal!
155 x 21
165 x 19
165 x 16

Weighted Dips
Felt real good actually after the previous volume.
BW x 8
45 x 8
70 x 8
90 x 7

Clean and Double Press
Clean, overhead press, behind neck, press and that's one rep.
75 x 8
95 x 8
115 x 5

Seated DB Shrug to Rotator Cuff Roll
12 x 10
15 x 10
20 x 10
- SUPERSET -
Seated Lateral Raises
12 x 10
15 x 10
20 x 10 ---> REAL tough

Short Straight Bar Skullcrushers
60 x 10
80 x 8
90 x 5 ----> gotta work this a bit more this exhausted. No excuses.
- SUPERSET -
Alternating Seated DB Shrug to Lateral Push
35 x 10 each way
40 x 10 each way
45 x 7 each way finishing with some shrugs

Rope Overhead Extensions
3 sets of 12 or till done

[rich55]

QUICK UPDATE:

Crushed legs yesterday with 4 basic, yet brutal movements. Squats, sumo deadlifts, walking DB lunges and high stance leg press. The reps increased as the workout went along. I'm now down in Georgia and am heading over to Grandma's house to hang with some family I haven't seen in a while. Breaking my workout stuff with me tonight just in case, but will definitely hit a workout tomorrow.

[rich55]

SLAMMING SHOULDERS & TRIS

The group dynamic was in full force today. James has set his sights on the INBF Naturalmania Nationals to finally earn his WNBF pro card, and so our journey to the pain zone begins for the next 19 weeks. James, Terrell and Shaun were all in attendance today. Terrell took a very respectable 4th at the Buckeye out of 12 in the Novice lightweight and Shaun hopes to rock the Novice heavy class next year. Some straight up Beyond Limits stuff here:

Close-Grip Bench
45 x 10
135 x 8
175 x 6
215 x 6
245 x 5 or 6 ----> so pumped to beat last week's 3. PR at this weight.

Close-Grip 21's
7 normal, 7 with 2-board and 7 with 3-board. Brutal!
155 x 21
165 x 19
165 x 16

Weighted Dips
Felt real good actually after the previous volume.
BW x 8
45 x 8
70 x 8
90 x 7

Clean and Double Press
Clean, overhead press, behind neck, press and that's one rep.
75 x 8
95 x 8
115 x 5

And a little vid of the clean fun:



More vids to come! Some good things are starting to brew at Beyond Limits. Hit chest, bis and a little tris this weekend down in Georgia. Back to work this week!

[rich55]

BACK & SOME SHOULDERS:

Hit this one quick in about 50 minutes, but it was a good one. James and his buddy were in on this one. Went a little light on the shoulders to push chest hard in two days.

Weighted Wide-Grip Pullups
Very good control on these. Stoked to being pulling heavy with good control.
BW x 10
25 x 8
35 x 6
45 x 4
BW x 12

Wide-Grip Bent-Over Rows
Mid-back was still a little tender from Thursday's squatting and deadlifting, so this was the extent of my bent-over training. Full stretch and squeeze.
95 x 10
125 x 10
145 x 10
165 x 8 + 2 after a few breaths
- SUPERSET -
Standing DB Shrugs
75 x 15
85 x 12
90 x 11
110 x 10

Clean, Press, Behind Neck Press
75 x 8
105 x 8
125 x 6

High Pulley Rows
Long handles stretching forward
72.5 x 10
77.5 x 10
82.5 x 10
- SUPERSET -
Low Pulley Rope Rows
Focusing solely on mid back with rope
62.5 x 10
67.5 x 10
72.5 x 8 + 2

SUPPLEMENTS:
Orange Triad
Omega3
Purple Wraath & Purple Intrain
Green Magnitude
White Flood
Golden Gains
Vitamin C

[farmerson12]

Man you have some wicked strength on pullups. Awesome!

[rich55]

Man you have some wicked strength on pullups. Awesome!

Thanks man, I will try to get a vid of these next week. I forgot my camera at home.

-------------------------

BEATING UP BIS

Wanted to blast arms, calves and some ab work...but we are hitting chest tomorrow so no triceps. Right now, I'm just rotating through training instinctively getting in as much in as possible. It was kinda nice to just do bis, calves & abs. We BEAT up bis with some volume.

Barbell Fat Grip Curls
50 x 10
70 x 10
90 x 10
95 x 7 ----> PR with fat gripz at that weight

Incline DB Curls
Simultaneous and strict.
30 x 10
35 x 8 + 1 + 1 ----> little rest pause between the last few
35 x 5 + 1 + 1 ------> alternating between the last few

Alternating Hammer Curls, Alternating Across Chest Curls
35 x 8 each way
40 x 8 each way
45 x 5 each way ---> PR weight on this one

Close-Grip Cable Curls
22.5 per side on my DAP x 13, rest 20 seconds, another 8 reps, rest 20 seconds, another 5 reps

Also, did some behind back wrist curls, seated calf raises, leg press calf raises and exercise ball crunches. Chest tomorrow!

[rich55]

BIG CHEST DAY:

Just some chest today, so why not do some heavy pressing and throw in a ton of volume based on feel? James, Terrell and I hammered this one out:

Flat DB Press
Tied a PR on this one based on my 110's being comparable to Metro's 115's. And mine are huge. You gotta man up just to get them up.



60 x 10
80 x 8
95 x 8
110 x 6 and some help on 7

Then, turned them semi-supinated for reps. Mega burn!
60 x 20
70 x 20 ----> got hard around 13

Incline Smith Press
Went smith after all those reps for balance and feel sake.
135 x 10
185 x 8
205 x 6
225 x 5
135 x 33ish non-lockout & another 9ish after a 20-sec rest pause

DB Pullovers
70 x 10
80 x 10
90 x 9
- SUPERSET -
Pop Pushups
10 against bench
10 on one step w/ one set of risers
6 till failure and then breathed it out till I got all 10

Incline Cable Flies
27.5/side on DAP x 15 x 8 x 4 with 20 second rest pauses between


MY THOUGHTS:
Feeling REAL strong on the verge of surpassing previous highs last fall after the Mid-America. Real psyched and thankful! Ready to beat up legs like last week. Put two guys on the ground today one of whom had the dry heaves in the bathroom. Typical leg day. I'm ready to do battle myself! WAR ON LEGS!!!

[rich55]

GETTING BIG WITH LEG DAY

Today was an excellent leg strength day. Nearing PR's and with rock solid form. Last year at this time I felt like I was just starting some killer gains and then I started dieting. Now, I have an additional year from this point to pack on size. Now sitting at 185 lbs.

Squats
45 x 10
135 x 10
225 x 8
295 x 8
355 x 8 ---> got it, next up 365!!
- SUPERSET -
Standing Calf Smith Raises
Did calves two days ago, but mostly with seated focus a little light. Been slacking on the calves, so why not hit them again.
135 x 10
165 x 10
215 x 10
235 x 8

Sumo Deadlifts
I usually don't squat and deadlift heavy, but I liked how sore I was in a good way last week when I did this. Felt good with set 1, so kept on rolling.
135 x 10
225 x 8
315 x 6
405 x 8 ---> really surprised here. Only 2nd week here and big jump from last week's 365 post-squat.

Walking DB Lunges
BW x 21 steps/leg
50's x 21 steps/leg
80's x 21 steps/leg -----> PR for down AND back version

Standing 1-Arm Cable Leg Curls
First time doing these on my DAP. AWESOME!! Nice and controlled.
22.5 x 15
27.5 x 10
22.5 x 10

Leg Extensions
100 x 15
130 x 15
160 x 15
190 x 14

[rich55]

SHOULDERS & TRIS:

James and I blasted a killer one on Saturday. I'm starting to really see some good improvements, and watching big James I would have to say the same for him. Our journey over the next several months is going to be a good one. We have many people prepping for the Cardinal Classic and Natural Northern competitions, James is doing the Naturalmania, and we are happy to have landed another trainer at Beyond Limits in Terrell Campbell who will be training with us. All good things kicking that intensity level to an even greater level!

Close-Grip Bench
45 x 10
135 x 10
175 x 8
215 x 6
245 x 6

Close-Grip Board 21's
7 regular, 7 with 2-board and 7 with 3-board. No clue what I repped out to finish.
165 x 21
175 x ??
175 x ??

Weighted Dips
BW x 8
55 x 8
90 x 7
BW x 16

Seated DB Shoulder Presses
Significantly more difficult after all that ^^
45 x 10
60 x 10
65 x 8
70 x 7

Incline Straight Bar Cable Skullcrushers
4 sets of 12

DB Kickbacks
20 x 15/arm
25 x 15/arm
30 x 12/arm

THE Rope
Undulating our new 50 lb, 50 foot rope for 3 sets sheer exhaustion ending some terrible winding lung burn, shoulder fatigue and extreme forearm burn. The rope is 2' thick. Will post up a vid of this tomorrow.


MY THOUGHTS:
Excited for another great week of training. Back & bis tomorrow, chest tuesday, legs wednesday, etc. Fitting of Sunday, I heard a good word today:

The only part of the Bible that works for you is the part you believe. It all starts with faith!

[rich55]

My schedule today got a little jacked up, so I basically had a 30 minutes for back and another 30 minutes for biceps. No worries though, because I attacked what I did have time to do and then will blast it about 4 times as hard this Saturday.

Weighted Wide-Grip Pullups 6 sets
Bent-Over Wide-Grip Rows 4 sets
DB Shrugs 3 sets

Fat Grip Barbell Curls 5 sets
Incline Curls 2 sets
Alternating Hammer Curls Double Set 2 sets

Oh, yeah and THE rope. Man, we should have shot our 3rd set. Big chest day tomorrow!

[farmerson12]

Awesome workout with the rope! And great saying on sunday. Very true

[rich55]

Awesome workout with the rope! And great saying on sunday. Very true

Thanks man! It was pretty rough, especially after 2 more sets. My forearms were lit up! Gotta have faith, and certainly faith with works.


-----------------------

CHEST, LEGS...DONE!

Our chest workout on Tuesday was rock solid. Feeling some serious DOMS today and leg training today was decent. Pleased with strength on both days, but felt leg day today was more of an acclimation day to new weight. The highlights:

Flat DB Press: 110 x 6, semi-supinated 70 x 20
Total Sets for Chest: 22
Squats: 365 x 5
Deads: 425 x 3 ---> getting 5 next week no prob

I've been kinda tired much of the week, but it hasn't hindered my training. Looking forward to rest day tomorrow before shoulders/tris Friday and back/bis again on Saturday. Beating my tris into the ground on Friday and then focusing on back thickness. I'm going to make next week a double chest AND double leg week staggering volume and intensity.

[rich55]

those 110's will go up 10 times next time!

10 would be nice, but I want to get 8 clean first. Maybe for you big guy!


WEEKEND UPDATE:

This past week was a good, solid week of training. This next week I am planning on hitting chest and legs twice. Then, I am thinking about actually devising an organized training split with fall shows approaching. We have quite a few competitors jumping in right now and Terrell has been making most of our workouts. He is planning on doing the Cardinal and James the Naturalmania. Next week, Terrell will officially be a new trainer at Beyond Limits and we are excited to have him on board. He took 4th in his first show at the Buckeye Classic and has a good following of female clients:



We hit shoulders and triceps together on Friday. James and I blasted back and biceps on Saturday, but feel the bis need more love next week. But, my back is DESTROYED. This little tool of torture conquers rack chins any day. Let's call it hanging rows:



My goal in the next few weeks is to get some heavy chains at Beyond Limits for the hanging rows, dips and pushups. It will properly distribute the tension to the right places and also be terrific for some strength training. I wish everyone a great Memorial Day Weekend! Oh, and a baby picture. Little Ava getting some Golden Gains haha:

[farmerson12]

Ava has great taste!

[bull.dogz]

Haha...I see she's making great Gains! Adorable.