Rich's Mission: Natural Pro Card 2008

[rich55]

DOUBLE-DUTY CARDIO 8/5:

Once per week I have been doing a cardio 2-a-day to boost my metabolism. I have been sticking to an every other day cardio plan, which has been working well. The fat loss has been continual and I'm dropping a pound a week.

Upon waking I did 33 minutes split between walking on an incline and elliptical with nothing but Purple Wraath and MaxGlutamine in me. I then put back my usual breakfast add a few strawberries and then go low carb the rest of the day.

At 9:30 pm I did 24 minutes split again between walking on an incline and elliptical. Downed some Golden FinisH after and will have some High5 protein powder and natural peanut butter before bed.

Legs tomorrow!!

[rich55]

LEGS 8/6:

Oh, this was a good one! I am already feeling it and I haven't even gone to sleep yet.

Squats 295 x 12, 305 x 9 x 7
A1- Leg Extensions 180 x 12, 190 x 11 x 11
A2- Seated Leg Curls 100 x 13, 105 x 11 x 10
Walking DB Lunges 40 down & back, 45 down & back barely
SL DB DL 105 x 13 x 11
Standing Calf Raises 180 x 13 x 11 x 10, drop to 100 x 10ish, drop to ground raises

The wrist is still hurting something awful, even after legs. As long as it keeps my hand attached to my forearm the next 6 weeks, I am cool.

[bull.dogz]

Bummer! Guess no one ever told you to switch hands?

[rich55]

Bummer! Guess no one ever told you to switch hands?

Haha, very funny! Old injury that comes back, but usually not this bad.

CHEST 8/7:

Chest was difficult to do today with my wrist at its worst. Battled through it with creativity despite the frustration.

Peck Deck Machine 90 x 13 x 9 x 8
Hammer Wide Chest 135 x 12, 145 x 10 x 9
A1- Incline DB Flys 50 x 15, 55 x 13 x 12
A2- Flat DB Press 50 x 10, 55 x 8 x 7 ---> palms facing sides
Incline Machine 130 x 10 x 8, 100 x 17
Fly Machine 110 x 13 x 11, drop to 70 x 14

Posed 2 rounds of mandatories after for maybe 10 minutes. 22 minutes of cardio after that split between stepper and elliptical. My legs are TRASHED!

Hitting morning cardio tomorrow then arms later. I will be posing on Saturday and taking some progress pictures this weekend some time.


DIET AT 6 WKS OUT

I am rolling on 6 weeks out and am pulling my calories down 200 to 2600 by mostly reducing my fat intake. This is the most gradual I have reduced my calories ever before, but I continue to shed body fat consistently and feel great!

MEAL 1:
1/2 c oats
1 T green phyto foods
1 scoop Max Gourmet
1 scoop Max High5
2 super epa caps
3 Orange Triad
Add: handful of strawberries following morning cardio.

MEAL 2:
8 oz 96/4 lean ground beef
4 mass aminos
8 almonds
1 c green beans or broccoli
2 MaxCLA

PRE & DURING WORKOUT:
30 g waxy maize, maltodextrin blend
2 scoop Purple Wraath
10 g MaxGlutamine

POSTWORKOUT:
3 scoops Golden FinisH
2 rice *****, 2 scoops Max IsoXtreme & 5 g MaxGlutamine 30 minutes later
3 Orange Triad

MEAL 4 (1.5 hours PWO):
6 oz sweet potato
8 oz chicken
4 mass aminos
1 c broccoli or green beans
2 super epa

MEAL 5:
5 egg whites & 1 whole egg
1 c 4% cottage cheese washed
1 c red pepper, spinach, mushroom & onion
2 MaxCLA

MEAL 6:
1.5 scoop Max High5
1 T natural PB

4 Ultra 40 per meal

[rich55]

I had a great weekend!! Training went well and my wrist is getting better. 6 weeks out is crunch time!

ARMS 8/8:

I added White Flood to my afternoon workouts stacked with Drive. Awesome arm workout! Pump was insane!!

A1- Lying DB Extensions 37.5 x 12, 40 x 8, 40 x 7
A2- Hammer DB Curls 42.5 x 13, 45 x 9 x 8
B1- Rope Pushdowns 80 x 13, 85 x 11, 90 x 9
B2- 1-Arm Cable Curls 50 x 10, 40 x 10, 30 x 13
C1- DB Kickbacks 30 x 15ish -> drop to 20 x 15ish
C2- Preacher Machine 65 x 11 x 8
D1- 1-Arm Overhead Ext 25 x 17 x 16
D2- Across Chest Hammers 20 x 20 x 18

I also did 30 minutes of AM cardio earlier. I weighed in at 173 lbs with my waist just a touch over 29 inches. I have consistently lost a pound a week now for several weeks.


POSING & BACK 8/9:

Posing was brutal with many rounds of poses. I felt flat due to lack of carbs. Legs look nasty, but I gotta keep blasting my upper body. We hit back at the North Metro Fitness after and didn't track weights. Had nothing left after posing, but I dug deep.

Wide-Grip Pulldowns
A1- Cable Lat Squeezes
A2- T-Bar Style DB Rows
1-Arm DB Rows
Seated Machine Rows (different for heavy rhomboid blasting)


SHOULDERS 8/10:

Time was short, but I blasted it hard focusing on CRUSHING my delts! Wrist is feeling SO much better. Thank God!!

A1- Lateral Raise Machine 90 x 13 x 10 x 9
A2- Front Glass DB Raises 20 x 15 x 13 x 11
Seated DB Press 65 x 13, 70 x 10 x 9
B1- Standing DB Shrugs 130 x 15 x 11 x 9
B2- Upright DB Rows 40 x 10, 35 x 14 x 12
Bent-Over DB Laterals 30, 20, 12 for drop set for 15ish reps

20 minutes walking on an incline after.

[bull.dogz]

Yeah for the wrist!!

[rich55]

Yeah for the wrist!!

Yeah, I am still babying it though so it stays that way. I do need to have a good upper chest blasting on Wednesday, but will most likely just have to be creative.

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

I took some pix last yesterday, but only have the quarter turns to post. Side poses need adjusting. Again, 6 weeks out and 173 lbs. My goal is to get down at least to 168 lbs and make weight at 165 lbs.

My body fat levels are looking good from the front, but I have quite a bit to lose from the back. I will be very aggressive going forward to nail my peak.






Today, I took my first day off since last Saturday. We are getting things going again tomorrow with legs in the evening with James back after his week off. I am doing 40 minutes of cardio first thing in the morning. Popping some REDuction, Drive & Purple Wraath to get me going!

[Quelly]

looking right on track for 6 weeks out bud, and yeah you're right, only about 5left to lose, you're kicking ass

[rich55]

looking right on track for 6 weeks out bud, and yeah you're right, only about 5left to lose, you're kicking ass

Thanks Eric!! Appreciate it man!

[bull.dogz]

Holy Moly! You are wide, very nice v-taper.

[rich55]

Holy Moly! You are wide, very nice v-taper.

Thank you, thank you. Just gotta dial it in and kick some butt Sep. 20!

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

LEGS 8/12:

War on legs was KILLER! I trained with James and his girlfriend, who is interesting in figure. She is a little fireball!!

Squats 305 x 9 x 8 x 7 ---> nice and controlled very low
A1- Leg Extensions 190 x 12, 200 x 11 x 11
A2- Seated Leg Curls 100 x 18, 105 x 11 x 10
Walking DB Lunges 45 down & back for 2 sets ----> BRUTAL!
SL DB DL 105 x 18, drop to 70 x 15

Closed down the gym at 10 PM and could barely drive home. Smashed my Golden FinisH with 2 rice ***** and had to focus hard on keeping it down due to extreme nausea. My partners in pain felt the same way, haha.

Chest & arms tomorrow! Super psyched!!

CONDITIONING UPDATE: Feeling deeper separation in my abs & more detail in my upper quads (rectus femoris) since this weekend. Vascularity is starting to peak through the quads and waistline.

[rich55]

CHEST & ARM BEATDOWN 8/13:

Wrist continues to get better, which made for a much better workout. I am still holding back and doing some different things to save it. BUT, man this workout was brutal! I am doing this chest workout again for sure. Threw in arms and still finished in under an hour with a crazy pace since I was solo.


A1- Incline DB Flys 60 x 15, 65 x 12 x 11 ---> pre-exhausting to save wrist
A2- Hammer DB Curls 45 x 10 x 8, alternating last set x 7
B1- Incline DB Press 65 x 15, 70 x 12, 75 x 9
B2- 1-Arm Cable Curls 35 x 13 x 12 including 2 forced reps self-spotting
C1- Hammer Wide Chest 145 x 9, 150 x 7 x 7
C2- Preacher Machine 65 x 13 x 10
D1- Machine Chest Squeezes 110 x 15 x 13 x 11
D2- Decline Pushups on fists BW x 12 x 10 x 8
D3- High Crossovers on Upper Chest 30 x 13 x 10 x 9
Across Chest Hammer Curls 25 x 15 x 13 ---> squeezing for a 2-count at the top
Rope Pulldowns 85 x 15, 90 x 11 x 9
Lying DB Extensions 35 x 6, 30 x 11 x 9
Cable Kickbacks 30, 20, 10 drop set

Tomorrow, I am hitting double-duty cardio, posing, abs and calves.

[rich55]

DOUBLE-DUTY CARDIO + POSING 8/14:

Today was a GREAT day! Got to sleep in till 10am, which was nice then headed to the gym to do some morning cardio with nothing but Purple Wraath in the tank!

- 20 minutes walking on incline up to 10.5 at 3.6 mph
- 20 minutes elliptical at 10 resistance with 6-7 pace

Headed back home, cooked, worked on a few things then headed back to train. At 5pm more cardio:

- 14 minutes walking on incline
- 13 minutes elliptical

Trained a few more peeps, then headed home to work on some business and catch up with the woman.

- Posed for 15 minutes for 3 rounds

I had nothing left and treated myself to a few strawberries afterwards with my last meal. REDuction PM for me and then a good snooze!

[rich55]

BACK 8/15:

Blasted back with girls today, FigureH1 (Holly Powell - 4th at Juniors) and Steph (James' girl). I was dripping sweat mid-way through and felt swole.

Wide-Grip Pullups BW x 12, 10 x 8, 10 x 6
A1- Close-Grip Pulldowns 150 x 12, 160 x 10 x 8
A2- Bent-Over T-Bar Style DB Rows 80 x 15, 85 x 13 x 12
B1- Straight-Arm Pulldowns 110 x 15, 130 x 10, 120 x 11
B2- 1-Arm DB Rows 85 x 10 x 10 x 10
Wide Machine Rows 110 x 15, 120 x 11, drop to 80 x 12 pumping em out

PROGRESS REPORT:

I'm feeling much leaner through the midsection today and weighed in at 171 lbs (down 2 lbs from last week). Waist is a little under 29" now. 5 weeks out!!!

Diet is staying the same since I just made changes 8 days ago (~2600 cals). Nothing new on the supplement front (REDuction, Drive & White Flood rock!). Cardio is ramping up though. NO room for complacency!


Last week- 129 total minutes
This week- 177 total minutes
Next week goal- 200 total minutes (4 x 30 in PM, 2 x 40 in AM)

[rich55]

This past weekend was great as I spent it with my girl at a buddy's wedding and family reunion. Yet another busy weekend of travel during precontest prep, but not a single slip from plan!

SHOULDERS, POSING & CARDIO TRI-FECTA 8/16:

Before the wedding and leaving town, I managed to train shoulders, go to posing class and hit some cardio at our Worthington location. Didn't track weights due to different gym.

A1- Seated DB Laterals 3 x 10-15
A2- Front DB Glass Raises 3 x 10-15
Seated DB Press 3 x 8-12
B1- Standing DB Shrugs 3 x 8-15 (did give the 140's a whirl!)
B2- Upright DB Rows 3 x 10-15

Took a small break while the female posing class wrapped up, while sipping on some Purple Wraath, MaxGlutamine & Max ACM carbs.

We then posed REALLY hard for maybe 20 minutes. I then put down some more Purple Wraath and glutamine, then walked on an incline for 25 minutes. What a long training session, but my energy stayed high!

MY REWARD = LAST CHEAT:

I then declared my family reunion in Portsmouth, Ohio my last cheat meal at the 5-week out mark. 3 pieces of lasagna, tons of bread, large piece of pecan pie and 2 banana cup***** were put down!!! I lost 2 lbs this past week, so it was much deserved. Waist in now measuring 28.75".

AM CARDIO 8/17 & LOW CARBS:

This morning I got up at 8am and slammed some White Flood & Green Magnitude, threw on the iPod and then jammed out 30 minutes of elliptical and walking on an incline.

After the binge and cardio only day, I figured why not just have carbs postworkout? So, I put back 40 g for breakfast and probably 30 g the rest of the day total via veggies and natural peanut butter. I am now flat as a pancake, but that was my lowest day yet with carbs.

Tomorrow is a new day filled with AM arm training, PM leg training and carbs around 240 g! My arms need work and leg days demand more.