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

[Illilian]

dude! Congrats on 3rd!!! Huge Accomplishment!!

[rich55]

Congrats!!! I'll check out the pics!

Thanks!!! Putting some up in here too

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


Trained as follows this week with focused on 10-5 rep range with light volume and no forced reps:

Tue- Push
Wed- Pull
Thu- Off
Fri- Legs
Sat- Chest
Tomorrow- Off

I will push harder next week and stay in the 10-5 rep range and hit some workouts with some clients. I will also hit some Strongman work next Saturday. I won't be posting as much here, but may be starting a new journal REAL soon.

Pix from this past weekend:









Posing Routine:

[bull.dogz]

Congrats!!! I'll check out the pics!

[rich55]

WNBF SOUTHERN NATURAL WRAP UP

Yes, I finished 3rd place in a lineup behind Miles Stovall (1) and Charles Fuller (2). Miles went onto to beat Chad Havunen in the overall. I was honored to be compared next to those guys. It was a humbling experience that has me so thankful for everything as it has been a TOUGH road. There was 2 classes with 7 in each with tough battles across the board. Thank God for the strength this prep with all that has been going on this prep.

I was first in the prejudging lineup and stayed next to Miles which made me feel good. They flipped me in next to Charles on the other side and back out to the end by Miles. Right there, my mission was accomplished. Nearly 2 years ago I took 7th out of 9 and remained on the ends. Here I was compared to the best in class. 8.5 pounds up from 2 years ago I knew I was bringing my best. I was a little flat 2 years ago with a personal best conditioning and this time the focus was on fullness with conditioning. I could have been a little tighter (1-2 lbs), but this strategy paid off with the "Lightweight" class cutting at 183 lbs. I looked big and full at my size of 165.6 next to Miles at 183 and Charles in the mid-170's.

I'm ecstatic and super psyched. What's next? Another 2 years off. I'm going to do another WNBF show in 2013 and then perhaps the Worlds if all goes well. First, I must focus on family, business and growing! I've got tons of pix up on my facebook page. I'll try to post some up here soon.

[rich55]

4 DAYS OUT PEAKING & BACK!

4 days!!!!! Wow, does time fly! Tomorrow I am packing up and getting ready for the trip first thing on Thursday. Super psyched! I will try to update here, but will put pictures up on Facebook after prejudging and update faster there. We are borrowing my stepmom's nice camera with a zoom. Hit me up on Facebook if you want to stay up on the WNBF Pro Men's Southern Natural. www.naturalfitnessproductions.com

Today I weighed in first thing at 162 and with some meals at 165. 3 pounds have just fallen off in the last 4 days. Crazy! I'm certainly shedding water and am still shy of being filled out properly. BUT, I don't feel flat as I've felt before in the least. Thickness and fullness is still there 100%, but I'm just getting that shredded look that has been coming since last week day by day and what seems to be intraday a this point.

With all that being said. I'm going to bump from 280 to 310 on carbs tomorrow with a shoulder & arm day tomorrow. I'll hold steady on Thursday with just some harder posing. I took off from posing today to recover and focused on stretching and foam roller this evening. Next up is another application of sunless tanning lotion.

PUMPING BACK WELL BALANCED

Exercises for my last back workout that I went about 80% in terms of intensity. Weight was much lighter than usual but really just much slower. This made my chest pretty sore today and will probably do the same to my back. Thought I did a fair amount of volume, but held back quite a bit focusing heavily on form.

Lat Pulldowns
Bent-Over Bar Rows
T-Bar Rows
Straight Arm Pulldowns
Close Grip Pulldowns
Plate Loaded Rows
Farmer Pull to Shrug
Incline Rear Delt Raises
DB Shrugs

^^^ Yeah, couldn't help it haha. 4 days to recover with some more food coming too!

[rich55]

Oh wow! Good luck with your next adventure!

Haha, it will be interesting to see how things shake out! Thanks!!

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

ONE WEEK TILL SHOW TIME!

That's right! Peak week has begun. I'm picking a few gallons of water tomorrow after church to get this thing going! Drinking just a little more water than normal to start the week. How I wrapped up last week in short:

Thursday: CRUSHED shoulders with Justin and went for a 2.3 mile jog outside in the heat
Friday: Smashed arms with Seth & Justin
Today: Light legs, abs & some light farmer walk/shrugs

Tonight we did a ton of walking as we picked up 120 pounds of iron for my wife at home, some clothes for Texas and a baker's dozen from Cheryl's cookies to add to the freezer haha. Light legs went a little something like this with a bunch of supersets:

Squats - 4 sets of squats up to 315
& Decline Situps 3 x 12

Leg Press Calf Raises - 3 sets of 10-15
& High Stance Leg Press - up to 6 pps

Leg Extensions - 3 sets up to 190
& Leg Curls - 3 sets up to 140

Walking Lunges - 40 steps no weight
& Close-Grip Leaning Pulldowns - 3 sets light
& Reverse Crunches - 3 sets of 10-15

20 farmer shrugs, farmer walk 25 yards, 20 farmer shrugs, farm walk back 25 yards - 123/hand

Carbs & Peaking Oh My!
Each day I'm tightening up in the little areas that are the last to come in for me. I had a little less carbs on Thursday & Friday morning and then carbed up Friday and Saturday morning. Felt REAL full & dry at 169 Friday evening (up 1 pound actually). Weighed in a 165 this morning as usual.

Today after breakfast and the above workout, I went LOW carb. Enjoyed maybe 120 g of carbs for breakfast and have had probably 40-50 g since. Tomorrow will top out at 180 maybe with them in the first 3 meals. I'm certainly flatter then yesterday, but tightening up. I may eat just a little more on Monday and bump it back up a bit on Tuesday and steadily throughout the week. I'll be back on my normal diet by Thursday when I'm in Texas and then refeed Friday similar to yesterday.

I'm psyched! Got my routine together. Putting a little tan on tomorrow then playing with the Dream Tan. It's my first time Have many clients to train on Monday & Tuesday, then it's time to get ready for TEXAS!!!!

Bodyweight is weigh up over 2 years ago with much more fullness than 3 years ago and the conditioning of 2 years ago. Reading from this morning:

"Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts..." and THEN David slew Goliath! 1 Samuel 17. Let's do this!

[bull.dogz]

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT AT 10 DAYS FROM TEXAS!

First the announcement:

Dear Clients, Friends and Family of Beyond Limits Training,

Over the past two years I've worked tremendously hard to build a gym,
brand and environment for which all levels of people can achieve
extraordinary fitness goals. However, I must resign as manager and
trainer at Beyond Limits Training, LLC. I have thoroughly enjoyed
working with each of you, but have decided to prioritize the needs of my
family before that of my profession.

To my clients that are working towards goals, I will be happy to
continue consulting with each of you in transition. The past six years
of personal training has been an incredible journey that is not yet
finished.

Sincerely,

Rich Lauro
Owner/Manager/Trainer
Beyond Limits Training, LLC


Now for today's leg workout as I keep pushing towards Texas:

Squats
45 x 10
135 x 10
225 x 8
275 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 4
395 x 1

Glute Ham Raises
BW x 10
18 x 8
26 x 8
26 x 6, drop to BW x 6

High Stance Leg Press
Took these slow and controlled.
360 x 15
540 x 15
630 x 10
720 x 7

Seated Calf Raises
4 sets x 10-20
- SUPERSET -
Alternating Lunges in Place
45 x 10/leg
95 x 10/leg
135 x 10/leg
185 x 10/leg

Posed tonight with the Mrs. coaching for 20 minutes. Will keep working on the posing from here on out!

Oh wow! Good luck with your next adventure!

[rich55]

10 DAYS OUT FIGHTING SLUGGISHNESS:

The last 2 days in the gym have been pretty rough battling lethargy set to set. That doesn't make much sense on 300 g of carbs other than the high volume of training and low body fat levels. Yeah, okay that is the culprit. But, the BATTLE CONTINUES! Currently sitting 165/168 and am WAY up over 2 years ago and my personal best. Way up!

BACK DAY!!

Prone DB Rows 4 sets up to 85
Wide-Grip Pullups 4 sets up to 45
1-Arm DB Rows 4 sets up to 139
Smith Shrugs in Front 3 sets up to 325
Prone Plate Loaded Rows 4 sets up to 150
Smith Shrugs in Back 2 sets of 275
Close Grip Pulldowns Leaning Back 3 sets of 120
Some ab work

Posed hard for 25 minutes later at midnight. Scaled back the carbs just a smidge this evening and may do the some before a refeed Friday/Saturday. Steak and asparagus goes through me like nothing haha! Shoulders tomorrow with a good group.

[rich55]

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT AT 10 DAYS FROM TEXAS!

First the announcement:

Dear Clients, Friends and Family of Beyond Limits Training,

Over the past two years I've worked tremendously hard to build a gym,
brand and environment for which all levels of people can achieve
extraordinary fitness goals. However, I must resign as manager and
trainer at Beyond Limits Training, LLC. I have thoroughly enjoyed
working with each of you, but have decided to prioritize the needs of my
family before that of my profession.

To my clients that are working towards goals, I will be happy to
continue consulting with each of you in transition. The past six years
of personal training has been an incredible journey that is not yet
finished.

Sincerely,

Rich Lauro
Owner/Manager/Trainer
Beyond Limits Training, LLC


Now for today's leg workout as I keep pushing towards Texas:

Squats
45 x 10
135 x 10
225 x 8
275 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 4
395 x 1

Glute Ham Raises
BW x 10
18 x 8
26 x 8
26 x 6, drop to BW x 6

High Stance Leg Press
Took these slow and controlled.
360 x 15
540 x 15
630 x 10
720 x 7

Seated Calf Raises
4 sets x 10-20
- SUPERSET -
Alternating Lunges in Place
45 x 10/leg
95 x 10/leg
135 x 10/leg
185 x 10/leg

Posed tonight with the Mrs. coaching for 20 minutes. Will keep working on the posing from here on out!

[rich55]

Holy crap those parking lot lunges are SICK. I nearly barfed just watching that carnage! haha You've definitely got a gift for pushing yourself beyond the normal limits (no pun intended) when it comes to leg training in particular!

btw, I'll be hitting up CiCi's in your honor after my workout tomorrow! SOOOOOO EXCITED!

Haha, thanks man! Right now I'm just pushing everything to the MAX!!! Hope the Cici's was stupendous!!! I look forward to heading back there soon!

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

12 DAYS OUT!!!

That's right, just 12 days! I'm feeling real good and everything is continuing to tighten up each day. I hit some shots after today's workout and was pleased with how I'm dialing in. The past few days:

FRIDAY: Off
SATURDAY: Strongman, Deads 405 x 13!!!
SUNDAY: 2.7 mile run and 20 minutes of posing
TODAY: 2 hours of chest and arms

Weight is still sitting 166 in the AM and 169 later. I leaned out quite a bit this week. The waist is now down to 27.75. I'm starting to get psyched for Texas!! Today's action with Yo, Adam, Seth & Justin included:

Flat DB Press: 110's x 5 & 90's x 11
Incline Bench: 225 x 1 ---> getting tough
Incline Flys: 70's x 9
Incline Bench again after: 145 x 12
DB Curls: 45's x 8, 50's x 4
Tri-Set of Close-Cable Curls, Pushdowns & Plyo Pushups
Superset of Overhead Rope Extensions and Single Arm Machine Curls

Pushed up legs till tomorrow, so I could do one last light one on Saturday.

[rich55]

100 yards of lunges. Hit 60 steps and 42 without stopping. Very nice!




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

16 DAYS OUT CLEAN UP WORK!

Legs were pretty tight after all that ^^^. Today the focus was a little chest, lots of tris and calves. Pressing felt shaky today, so I just pushed as hard as I felt comfortable with the less padding. We did hit chest heavy on Monday already.

Incline Bench
45 x 10
95 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 8
205 x 5
225 x 2 ---> took a tap on 3
225 x 1 ----> took a tap on 2
185 x 9 ------> took a tap on 10

Flat DB Press
60 x 12
80 x 8
95 x 8 ---> work, ugh
110 x 3
90 x 9

Slight Incline Neutral DB Press
50 x 20
60 x 20
70 x 17
70 x 12

Rope Pushdowns
4 sets of 10-15
- SUPERSET -
Standing Smith Calf Raises
185 x 15
225 x 10
275 x 9
275 x 8
225 x 14

DB Skullcrushers
25 x 15
30 x 15
35 x 8
35 x 7
- TRISET -
Seated Calf Raises
100 x 15
120 x 15
140 x 12
100 x 18
- TRISET -
EZ Reverse Curls
60 x 15
70 x 15
80 x 11

Overhead V-Bar Pushdowns
4 sets of 10-15

Dips
3 sets of 15-25

2.25 mile Jog
Yeah, why not? Beautiful day for a downtown jog. Pushed it a little, but had to watch out for my cramps quads that are just pealing out as the day goes. Found a very cool site www.walkjogrun.net. They have an iphone app too.

[rich55]

EPIC PRECONTEST LEGS AT 17 DAYS OUT!

Mr. Nate Dunning was on hand for the beat down that we both gave to the iron and it gave back to us!

Squats
10 sets and 82 reps.
45 x 10
135 x 10
225 x 8
275 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 5
385 x 1
405 x 1 -----> SLOW on the way up, but got it haha
315 x 12
225 x 25 ------> hit 20 without stopping. In good cardio shape despite absence of "cardio"

Leg Extensions
At this point I felt like I was on a tiny boat on the ocean rocking in the waves haha. Excruciating burn and pump.
115 x 10
160 x 10
205 x 10
250 x 11
- SUPERSET -
Seated Leg Curls
115 x 10
145 x 10
160 x 10
175 x 10

Walking Barbell Lunges
Hit a small set across the gym to warm up
135 x 50 yards
135 x 50 yards

And all this equals leg cramps. Ouch! Fighting them and praying not to get woken up in the middle of the night with one. The battle continues!!

[rich55]

18 DAYS OUT, DIALING IN AND PULL DAY!

Yo Yellock, Seth and I blasted a brutal chest and shoulder workout yesterday. Those are 2 big boys to train with and at this time in my prep is just what I need! Hit 275 on benchpress yesterday and really smoked my shoulders in a good way. Not too shabby for 166/169 in the AM/PM!

That's right it's all dialing in very well. Abs are carving out deeper at the bottom. Back definition is peaking. Legs are coming in more each day. Still have some to take off hip flexor/sartorius area, back of arms and back of legs. I'm feeling right on pace with my pro debut with a whole lot more thickness and some more muscle maturity. I'm up about 10 lbs over two years ago. I certainly flattened out last pro prep. I still have some tightening up to do, but that is typical and I can see changes each day.

With that being said, I'm not changing much aside from my intensity in the gym. I'm leaving absolutely nothing on the field of iron. I still haven't done any traditional "cardio", but my strongman training has kept me burning fat all weekend and I've been throwing more torturous elements to my training. 75-90 minutes in I down another 1/2 scoop of Purple PsyKo and 1/2 scoop of Intensity, then I keep going till I'm done. It's working because my body is responding daily and my strength is maintaining. Win, win! Praise God!!

BACK ATTACK!

Wanted to switch it up a bit and proved to be tough!

Bent-Over Barbell Rows
Long time no do. Nice change from the t-bars.
45 x 10
95 x 10
135 x 8
185 x 8
205 x 6
225 x 5
245 x 4
245 x 4
155 x 16 + 5 after 20 sec break

Wide-Grip Pullups
Kinda tough after all that rowing.
BW x 10
25 x 8
45 x 5 ---> trying to keep pulling through the left lat & fail!
45 x 4

Barbell Curls
Kinda tough after all that pulling haha.
65 x 10
85 x 8
105 x 5
105 x 4

Plate Loaded Rows
90 x 8
115 x 8
135 x 6
150 x 4

Alternating DB Curls
35 x 10/arm
40 x 8/arm
45 x 8/arm ---> fought for these!
50 x 4/arm
- SUPERSET -
Bent-Over DB Laterals
30 x 10
35 x 10
40 x 8

Behind Back Barbell Shrugs
225 x 10
275 x 10
325 x 9
225 x 18 x 12 ---> two drop sets in front

Alternating DB Hammer Curls
30 x 10/arm
35 x 8/arm
40 x 4/arm
- SUPERSET -
Low Pulley Cable Rows
65 x 15
87.5 x 15
95 x 15

Yeah 2 hours is a bit much, but it kept going well so I kept going! Legs tomorrow. EPIC!!!!

[rich55]

CRUSHED FROM YESTERDAY'S LEGS:

I was pretty much dizzy after squats and so I kept it simple after that. Squats feel a little unstable with the drastic change in leverage. Straight Legs felt good, leg extensions beasty with a PR and lunges were tough having not done them in a few weeks.

Squats
45 x 10
135 x 10
225 x 8
275 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 5
385 x 1
405 x 1
315 x 12

Straight Leg Deadlifts
185 x 10
275 x 10
345 x 8

Leg Extensions
115 x 15
160 x 10
205 x 10
250 x 9

Walking DB Lunges
BW x ~15 steps/leg
50's x ~15 steps/leg
50's x ~15 steps/leg
80's x ~15 steps/leg
80's x ~15 steps/leg

PROGRESS REPORT:

Feeling right on track. Weight is tracking 167 lbs in the AM and 170 in the PM. Abs, hams and glutes are tightening up daily. 23 DAYS!!!

[rich55]

Killin' it !!!

YES!!!! I've been sore for a month straight haha

You are such a CiCi's maniac, Rich! hahaha I love it too though man. That's going to be my first planned cheat meal of the offseason once these shows are over!

Yes, I wish I could have pound more cinnamon rolls!! Best wishes this weekend Britt. Looking SICK!!


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

TEMPERAMENTAL PULL DAY = MORE VOLUME!!

My first sets of the day I was feeling some wrist ache and then I popped a blood vessel in my hand making it tough to grip on PULL DAY of all things. Looked for my Versa Gripps, no such luck. I found some old school wraps brushed it off and didn't stop till I was done.

38 sets later work was done! Yes, 27 back and 11 biceps. The list:

T-Bar Rows with Close Grip
Alternating DB Curls -SS- Wide Grip Pulldowns
Alternating Incline Hammer Curls
Low Pulley Machine Rows - SS - Barbell Shrugs in Front
Barbell Shrugs Behind Back
1-Arm DB Spider Curls
Band Pull-Aparts
EZ Reverse Curls
Plated Loaded Row Low Grip

Why not? I didn't feel like doing cardio in favor of posing later and legs tomorrow. Took another 1/2 dose of Intensity and kept smashing the weights.

CURRENT SUPPLEMENTS:

Controlled Labs Orange Triad
Controlled Labs Oximega Fish Oil and Greens
Controlled Labs AM & PM shots
Controlled Labs Blue Gene
Controlled Labs Purple Wraath
Controlled Labs Purple Psyko
John Scott's Glutamine
Active Edge Intensity
Active Edge Pro Edge Protein
CJI Insuload
NP Acetyl L-Carnitine

Yeah, it's contest prep time!