Rich's Mission: Natural Pro Card 2008

[rich55]

Good ole James showed up to train chest, delts and tris. My strength felt good despite hitting different weights and movements down in Covington my previous day. My last two triceps exercises has very little rest between sets as I was running late for a client. Again, can't wait to have more time. My tris are definitely feeling it today. OUCH!

Incline Bench 205 x 8 x 8, 185 x 12, 205 x 11
Flat DB Press 85 x 8 x 8, 70 x 12, 85 x 10
Fly Machine 110 x 10 x 10, 140 x 9
Hammer Military Press 75 x 8 x 8, 85 x 11
Leaning DB Laterals 20 x 10 x 10, 26.25 x 13
Skullcrushers 75 x 8 x 8, 95 x 10
Overhead Rope Ext 85 x 10 x 10, 90 x 12
1-Arm Pushdowns 50 x 9, 45 x 9

Today is an off day. Tomorrow Greg, James, Sue and I will be blasting legs. I am gonna get some pix and maybe some video of this group bashing!

I will be doing a few training sessions with Mike Davies very soon and am leaning towards next week. I value his opinion as a contest prep trainer and everyone needs assistance from a knowledgeable professional periodically.

Just finished smashing that giant honey BBQ burrito with extra chicken from this kickass organic place. This gym buddy of mine mentioned burrito and I immediately dragged him there to throw down cuz I was hungry. My chest, shoulders and arms are feeling sore and swole so I figured I should smash!

[rich55]

LEG DAY:

I pulled out all the stops today. James and Greg looked at me in fear before we started as I said we were doing all sets to failure including some walking lunges.

Squats 315 x 12, 325 x 8 x 7
A2G Hack Squat Drop Set 270/180/90 - No idea how many just pumped them out
Walking DB Lunges 50 for 2 sets across our gym down & back
SLDL 275 x 16, 285 x 11
Seated Leg Curl Drop Set 95 x 13, 45 x lots of painful reps

Greg nearly refused to do the second set of lunges and James kept saying he had to puke. Both survived. Sue smashed her legs with us, but did tons of different stuff. She is looking all ripped up!!!

What a great day!!!

I will do some rear delts, traps and calves tomorrow to make up some stuff I have missed. Next Monday and Tuesday I will most likely be training with Davies.

[LiGymRatt]

missed???? Whats that??? !!! There is no Missing of Workouts around Here!!! I HOPE NEVER TO HEAR THOUGHS WORDS AGAIN!!! Lol

nice squats though! BRING THEM OUT!

[rich55]

missed???? Whats that??? !!! There is no Missing of Workouts around Here!!! I HOPE NEVER TO HEAR THOUGHS WORDS AGAIN!!! Lol

nice squats though! BRING THEM OUT!

Yup missed. I am ashamed. This is one of the reasons I am looking forward to pushing my workouts to early afternoon when I'll have plenty of time. I will push a client workout a few minutes back, but no more. Busy, busy, busy.

---------------
Some pix from last night's leg bashing. My camera ran out of batteries otherwise I would have gotten more shots.

Greg doing his hacks nice and low:



Sue leg pressing while James squats:



James and me hitting the hacks:

[rich55]

Make up day for rear delts, traps and calves. Why not throw in some bis too since mine suck and it has been 4 days since I last hit them. No more holding back. All working sets balls to the wall beyond failure!!!



Barbell Curls 100 x 11, 105 x 8, 75 x 12ish
Across Chest Hammers 35 x 8, 30 x 8 - very little rest between sets
Incline DB Curls 32.5 x 11 x 9
^----> immediately followed by Alt. DB Curls with 20's squeezing as hard as humanly possible
Standing DB Shrugs 120 x 15, 125 x 12 x 10
Bent-Over Laterals 35 x 11 x 10, drop to 25 x 10ish
Shoeless Standing Calves 140 x 13, 150 x 11 x 10
Donkey Calf Drop Set 270/180/90 = mega calf pain

James is on sabbatical till next Thursday as he is due for a break and next weekend begins his contest prep. Greg was working. So, it was just me and my new training parter....Mr. iPod. He kicks ass!!! My workout was trancelike. For those who dig rock music, here is the start to my hardcore SFW playlist. Tool was nowhere to be found on iMusic and there was no new Slipknot, WTF!!!

Adema Giving In
Alice in Chains Would
Alice in Chains Man in the Box
Atreyu Becoming the Bull
Audioslave Cochise
Avenged Sevenfold Almost Easy
Buckcherry Crazy Bitch
Chevelle Vitamin R
Chevelle Send the Pain Below
Deftones Hole in the Earth
Disturbed Down with the Sickness
Disturbed Stricken
Drowning Pool Tear Away
Evanescence Bring Me to Life
Flyleaf I'm So Sick
Flyleaf All Around Me
Foo Fighters All My Life
Godsmack Awake
Godsmack Keep Away
Incubus Circles
Incubus A Certain Shade of Green
Killswitch Engage My Curse
Korn Coming Undone
Korn Thoughtless
Limp Bizkit Counterfeit
Linkin Park Don't Stay
Linkin Park Lying From You
Marilyn Manson Beautiful People
Metallica One
Metallica Enter Sandman
Mudvayne World So Cold
Mushroomhead Sun Doesn't Rise
NIN Closer
NIN Burn
Pantera 5 Minutes Alone
Perfect Circle Judith
Powerman 5000 Free
Puddle of Mudd Psycho
Rage Bombtrack
Rage Killing in the Name
Red Hot Chili Peppers Warped
Saliva Your Disease
Seether Gasoline
Sevendust Denial
Shinedown Heroes
Soundgarden Outshined
STP Sex Type Thing
3 Days Grace Never Too Late
3 Days Grace I Hate Everything About You
Velvet Revolver Slither
White Zombie Electrichead Pt. 2
10 Years Wasteland

[rich55]

Today, was an off day. Walking hurts, stairs are brutal. My calves are in a world of hurt and my traps are killing too. Soreness is spread all around nicely.

Grabbed some drinks out last night for the first time in a while. James had his last hurrah as he begins his prep next weekend for the INBF Hercules pro qualifier in June.

I am looking forward with training with Mike Davies on Monday and Tuesday. I respect his work and no-nonsense approach. Additional feedback from knowledgeable resources is always needed

[rich55]

Chest day training with Mike was different and fun doing a few doing new stuff with a different group of guys. There were 4 of us training together and I knew one of the guys from NPC Ohio show and posing class. We pounded out quite a bit for chest in 45 minutes with a minute tops between sets. The workout went something like this...

DB Pullovers 55 x 15, 65 x 10 x 10
Flat DB Press 75 x 10 x 9 x 8 x 6
A1- Chest Squeezes 3 sets of ???
A2- Pushups on medicine balls 9 x 7 x 7
DB Press Squeezes 40 x 15, 45 x 10 x 10
Incline Smith Benchpress 185 x 10, 205 x 7, 225 x 5, 235 x 3

Holy chest beatdown! Looking back, no wonder I'm feeling real tight right now. Pullovers are gonna be a mainstay. The two squeezing exercises were quite different and I don't have enough energy to explain them.

THIS WEEK:
Tues - Back with Mike
Wed - Delts and Tris w/ James and Greg
Thurs - Legs w/ James and Greg
Friday - Off - rolling up to Cleveland for the NPC Natural Ohio
Saturday - Chest & Bis between the prejudging and finals in Cleveland

[LiGymRatt]

YO BIG MAN!! QUESTION!
that week in June when you come to watch your boy... what day you coming down? i will be throwing a jam on the 21st, the weekend before the show.. you should consider coming down!

[rich55]

YO BIG MAN!! QUESTION!
that week in June when you come to watch your boy... what day you coming down? i will be throwing a jam on the 21st, the weekend before the show.. you should consider coming down!

I will be coming in on Thursday most likely. You will probably be out of town by then. The weekend before I have a bachelor party too. Back to back weekends of travel and I will be dieting. Lots of cooler lugging!

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

BACK DAY BEATDOWN:

This one is gonna hurt the next few days. In fact, I am already sore. Good stuff!!! Again, lots of volume, supersets and little rest. Made me nauseous, but no matter as killed it.

A1- Straight Arm Cable Pulldowns 100 x 15, 110 x 15, 120 x 11
A2- 1-Arm DB Rows Freestyle 80 x 6, 100 x 6, 110 x 6
B1- Seated Cable Lat Squeezes 100 x 12, 110 x 10 x 10
B2- Wide Grip Pulldowns 3 sets of 6-10 with ???
C1- 1-Arm Alternating DB Deadlifts 80 x 10 each arm, 95 x 10, 110 x 10 x 8
C2- Bent-Over Rows with one DB same weight
D1- Seated Cable Rows 3 sets of 10-12 with ???
D2- Reverse Hypers BW x 12 x 12 x 11

So, I start back with the fellas tomorrow with maybe shoulders if I can move them. The past two days have certainly been fun doing new stuff and I will certainly be heading back periodically.

[rich55]

Well, since everything but my shoulders on my upper body is sore as hell I figured I would put them through the ringer as well.

My tris were toast, so I tried to pre-exhaust my delts before pressing. It worked.

Lateral Raise Machine 100 x 11, 105 x 10 x 9 x 8
A1- Upright Bar Rows 70 x 15, 75 x 15, 80 x 13
A2- Arnold DB Press 55 x 10, 60 x 10, 65 x 8
B1- Barbell High Front Raises 50 x 15, 52.5 x 15, 55 x 13
B2- Seated Smith Military Presses 135 x 10, 145 x 8, 155 x 6
Standing DB Shrugs 125 x 15, 130 x 12 x 10

I know I am going to feel that tomorrow. And then everything from the waist up will be trashed. Good thing I have jacked up my cals a bit!!

Tomorrow is a little lunchtime leg workout. Cannot wait. My legs are just starting to feel recovered from last week, haha.

[rich55]

LUNCHTIME LEGS:

We finished off this brutal week of training with some good ole legs. James, Greg and I smashed em over lunch. My core was feeling trashed from the single leg DB deadlifts 2 days ago, so pre-exhausting was necessary.

Leg Extensions 140 x 10, 150 x 10, 160 x 10, 170 x 10, 180 x 9
Squats 135 x 10, 185 x 10, 225 x 10, 275 x 9
Walking DB Lunges 40 lbs twice down & back, AND an immediate BW set down at end
Seated Leg Curls 90 x 10, 95 x 10, 100 x 8, 105 x 6
1-Leg Machine Curls Drop Set for 10's 55/40/30
Shoeless Standing Calves 150 x 13, 160 x 10 x 9
Donkey Calves Drop Set for 8's 270/180/90 -> to ground raises after

My entire legs are already really sore. OH YEAH!!

[pu12en12g]

Awesome !

[rich55]

Client Wins NPC Natural Ohio Figure Overall Title!!

Oh yeah! Sue Knott won the figure C class against some very stiff competition and then took the overall title becoming the NPC Ms. Natural Ohio figure champ. She is well on her way and will be heading to a bigger stage very soon!

She in the middle in these shots:


She is the one with the ridiculous back in the dark blue suit here.


A Few Great Workouts:

CHEST & TRIS 4/5:
Headed to the Sheffield Village World Gym between prejudging and finals to smash some weights.

Pullovers 50 x 15, 60 x 15, 65 x 15, 75 x 13
Flat DB Press 65 x 8, 70 x 8, 75 x 8, 80 x 7 x 5
A1- Machine Chest Squeezes 50 x 15, 65 x 15, 80 x 15, 90 x 13
A2- Medicine Ball Pushups BW x 10 x 10 x 9 x 7
DB Press Squeezes 40 x 12, 50 x 12 x 12
Incline Smith Presses 185 x 8, 205 x 7, 225 x 5, 235 x 3
Pushdowns 120 x 15, 130 x 15, 140 x 11, 150 x 9, 160 x 6
B1- 1-Arm Overhead DB Extensions 30 x 8 x 8, 20 x 10
B2- DB Kickbacks 20 x 10 x 9
Reverse Grip Bench 95 x 12, 115 x 11, 125 x 9

BIS & BACK 4/6:
Killer biceps and back day yesterday. I was kinda beat after the long weekend, but James was beginning his prep so I had to show him what type of training we are going be doing. We left nothing behind.

Barbell Curls 105 x 9 x 7, 75 x ???
Alternating Hammer DB Curls up and down the rack no rest 25 x 10, 30 x 10, 35 x 7, 30 x ??, 25 x ??
Preacher Machine 55 x 13, 60 x 11
A1- Straight Arm Pulldowns 100 x 15, 110 x 15, 120 x 15, 130 x 11
A2- Freestyle 1-Arm DB Rows 80 x 6, 100 x 6, 110 x 6, 120 x 5
B1- Seated Cable Lat Squeezes 95 x 12, 100 x 10 x 10
B2- Wide Grip Pulldowns 140 x 6 x 5, 120 x 5
C1- 1-Arm Alternating DB Deadlifts 80 x 10 each arm, 105 x 10, 120 x 11
C2- Bent-Over Rows with one DB same weight x 10 x 10 x 13
Seated Cable Rows 160 x 11, drop to ??? x 8

[jiritt0]

did you score any digits from them chicks?! feel free to PM me them.

[LiGymRatt]

I will be coming in on Thursday most likely. You will probably be out of town by then. The weekend before I have a bachelor party too. Back to back weekends of travel and I will be dieting. Lots of cooler lugging!

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

BACK DAY BEATDOWN:

This one is gonna hurt the next few days. In fact, I am already sore. Good stuff!!! Again, lots of volume, supersets and little rest. Made me nauseous, but no matter as killed it.

A1- Straight Arm Cable Pulldowns 100 x 15, 110 x 15, 120 x 11
A2- 1-Arm DB Rows Freestyle 80 x 6, 100 x 6, 110 x 6
B1- Seated Cable Lat Squeezes 100 x 12, 110 x 10 x 10
B2- Wide Grip Pulldowns 3 sets of 6-10 with ???
C1- 1-Arm Alternating DB Deadlifts 80 x 10 each arm, 95 x 10, 110 x 10 x 8
C2- Bent-Over Rows with one DB same weight
D1- Seated Cable Rows 3 sets of 10-12 with ???
D2- Reverse Hypers BW x 12 x 12 x 11

So, I start back with the fellas tomorrow with maybe shoulders if I can move them. The past two days have certainly been fun doing new stuff and I will certainly be heading back periodically.

good luck with that one brother!! Damn !