John Hansens Training Diary Week of May 18th 2008

by: John Hansen - May 20th, 2008

John Hansen’s Training Diary – Week of May 18th, 2008

Sunday, May 18th, 2008
My weight was down a couple pounds today to 206.5 pounds and the waist is still holding steady at 34 ¼”. Today was my day off from the gym. I was going to get up and do some cardio but I was so tired after a busy week and getting early almost every day this week that I decided to just sleep in.

I ate really good today, keeping my carbs all the way down to 140 grams and still eating seven meals. Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – 2 eggs, 8 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Egg Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 3 – 1 egg, 7 egg whites, 3 T. salsa, 18 grams natural peanut butter
Meal 4 – 4.13 oz lean ground turkey, 131 grams sweet potato, 3.03 oz broccoli
Meal 5 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein Protein
Meal 6 – 4.76 oz round steak, 26 grams pasta sauce, ½ cup green peas
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet came out to 2558 calories with 279 grams of protein, 140 grams of carbohydrates and 71 grams of fats. Back to the gym tomorrow!

Monday, May 19th, 2008
My weight today was up to 208 pounds and the waist is still at 34 ¼”. I’m really hoping the waist goes down in the next couple of days so I can stay on track and keep my goal of losing a quarter of an inch every week.

I had a very busy day today training clients so Matt and I were training much later than normal. Instead of training at 10:30 am, we went to the gym at 1:00 pm.

We were trying a new routine today. About a year and a half ago, I experimented with a routine developed by fellow IronMan Magazine writer Eric Broser. The name of the training routine is “P/RR/S” which stands for “Power/Rep Range/Shock” routine.

Basically, the routine works by varying the resistance used depending on the training mode you are using. The first week is the Power workout where you use very heavy weights, limiting the reps to 5-6 reps for each set. The second phase is the Rep Range where the reps vary from 7-20 reps. The last phase is the Shock program where training techniques such as drop sets, super sets, tri-sets, forced reps, etc, are used to completely shock the muscles into responding.

When I used this routine at the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007, I was preparing for a photo shoot with Mike Neveux of IronMan Magazine. I thought the Power phase was very difficult because Eric suggested doing all the sets normally employed in a workout using very heavy weights for 5-6 reps. Because I am a little older now and need to warm up my experienced joints, I would end up doing more sets than usual because I had to first warm up for several sets before starting the heavy sets.

Since my energy and bodyfat are a little low right now, I used a variation of the Power phase last week when we trained using heavy weights but I didn’t do as many sets as Eric recommended in the program. I basically stuck to my original routine and went as heavy as my energy and my body would allow me.

This week, however, I decided to try the Rep Range program using the same workout routine that I did last week. The routine involves using 7-9 reps for the first exercise for the muscle group followed by 10-12 reps for the second exercise and 13-15 reps for the third exercise. If a fourth exercise is utilized, the reps go all the way up to 16-20 reps.

Using the Rep Range program, Matt and I trained chest, triceps and calves today. Here is how it went:

Bench Press 225x9, 245x7, 245x7, 245x7
Incline DB Press 100x10, 95x10, 90x10
Flyes 65x12, 65x12, 65x12
DB Pull-overs 80x16, 80x16
Tricep Pushdowns 100x10, 120x9, 120x8, 120x8
Decline Tricep Ext. 100x12, 100x10, 100x10
Dips BWx12, BWx10, BWx8
Seated Calf Raises 100x20, 150x15, 200x8, 200x8
Standing Calf Raises 340x15, 460x12, 540x8

For the first exercise for chest, I was supposed to do between 7-9 reps. I stuck with 245 for all three sets and I was able to get 7 reps each set. On the Incline DB Press, I started with the 100’s and failed at 10 reps. The higher reps were wiping me out after going moderately heavy on the Bench Press. I had to drop the weight each set in order to get 10 reps each set. This was much different than our normal way of training – going heavier each set with less reps.

For Flyes, I had to do between 13-15 reps. I started with the 65 pound dumbbells and just stuck with them even though I only got 12 reps each set for all three sets. On the DB Pull-overs, I had to go up to 16-20 reps so I used an 80 pound dumbbell and got 16 reps for both sets.

On triceps, I started with Pushdowns and went up to my normal weight of 120 pounds and got 8-9 reps for three sets. On the Decline Ext., I stuck with the same weight of 100 pounds because I had to get between 10-12 reps each set. On the Dips, I didn’t use any extra weight but my triceps were so damn pumped, I couldn’t get the required 13-15 reps so I got as many as I could which was 8-12 reps.

For calves, Matt and I just did our normal routine. I went up to 200 pounds on the Seated Calf Raises and 540 pounds on the Standing Calf Raises. I was running late when we finished the workout so I didn’t have time to do any cardio.

My diet today was a little bit higher in both calories and carbohydrates. This was partly due to my busy schedule today, which had me consuming an extra protein drink instead of my normal three. Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Whey Gold
Meal 2 – 2 eggs, 8 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 3 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Egg Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 4 – (Pre-Workout) – 1 serving Whey Gold, 1 serving creatine, 1 serving Threshold
Meal 5 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Vassive EA8, 1 serving Vassive NO
Meal 6 – (Post Workout) – 2 scoops 2:1:1 Recovery, 1 serving creatine
Meal 7 – 4 oz lean ground turkey, 121 grams sweet potato, 3.25 oz broccoli
Meal 8 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein Protein
Meal 9 – 6 oz marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans
Meal 10 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet came out to 3049 calories with 357 grams of protein, 217 grams of carbohydrates and 77 grams of fats. The break down for today’s diet is 47% protein, 28% carbs and 23% fats.

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
My weight today was down to 207 pounds and the waist went down today to 34”. It seems like my waist is going down every Tuesday so I’m hoping that trend continues. I have four weeks until my photo shoot with Optimum Nutrition so I should be in great shape by then with the waist down to 33”.

Today was legs day and because we had to use a higher rep range, I knew it was going to be tough. The program called for 7-9 reps on the first exercise (leg extensions), 10-12 reps on the second exercise (pause squats) and 13-15 reps on the third exercise (hack squats). Here is how it went:

Hanging Knee Raises BWx40, BWx30
Kneeling Cable Crunches 150x25, 170x15
Leg Extensions (Flex) 150x20, 180x15, 210x9, 240x9, 255x9
Pause Squats 225x10, 245x10, 255x10, 265x10
Hack Squats – 1 ½ reps 225x14, 225x13, 225x13
DB Leg Curls 65x10, 75x8, 75x7
Stiff-leg Deadlifts 185x12, 225x10, 225x10

I started out with abs and I increased the reps on the Hanging Knee Raises and increased the resistance on the Kneeling Cable Crunches. For our first leg exercise, the rep range was supposed to be between 7-9 reps. I did two warm-up sets and then did three heavy sets. Since I didn’t quite know how heavy to go, I kept increasing the weight each set and I was getting 9 reps each heavy set. Next time, I’ll know which weight to start at for the heavy sets.

On Pause Squats, I started with 225 pounds and held each rep on the bottom position for two seconds and I got an easy 10 reps. Again, I didn’t know how heavy to go to get 10-12 reps so I kept going up a little bit each set for the next three sets. I finished with 265 pounds for 10 reps and that was pretty tough.

The next exercise was absolutely brutal! Matt and I did 1 ½ reps with two plates on each side of the machine for 13-14 reps. I got 14 reps on the first set and only 13 reps on the next two sets. I was dying after this exercise! My heart was pounding out of my chest and the lactic acid build-up in my quads and inner thighs was incredible.

For hamstrings, we started the rep cycle over again since it was a different bodypart. We did Dumbbell Leg Curls for 7-9 reps for three sets and then did Stiff-leg Deadlifts for 10-12 reps for three sets. Believe me, after those Pause Squats and Hack Squats, Matt and I were both completely wiped out! Great Leg Workout today!!

As for the diet, I kept the calories around 2800 and the carbs at 215 grams. This amount of calories and carbs on my training days seems to be doing the trick for me in losing bodyfat. Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Whey Gold
Meal 2 – 2 eggs, 8 egg whites, 3 T. salsa, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 3 – (Pre-Workout) – 1 scoop Whey Gold, 1 serving creatine, 1 serving Threshold
Meal 4 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Vassive EA8, 1 serving Vassive NO
Meal 5 – (Post Workout) – 2 scoops 2:1:1 Recovery, 1 serving creatine
Meal 6 – 4.34 oz lean ground turkey, 100 grams sweet potato, 3.07 oz broccoli
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 8 – 3.74 oz round steak, 26 grams pasta sauce, ½ cup green peas
Meal 9 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet came out to 2858 calories with 306 grams of protein, 215 grams of carbohydrates and 71 grams of fats. This breaks down to 43% protein, 30% carbs and 22% fats. Good day today!!

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
My weight this morning was at 207.5 pounds and the waist is still down to 34”. Today was my day off from the gym. Sometimes I will do cardio in the morning on my off day but I was so busy training clients this morning that I didn’t have time to do it.

My diet was right on target for a non-training day. I kept the carbs under 150 grams and the protein was still over 300 grams. Here is exactly what I ate today:

Meal 1 – 2 eggs, 8 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Egg Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 3 – 1 egg, 7 egg whites, 3 T. salsa, 21 grams natural peanut butter
Meal 4 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein Protein
Meal 5 – 4.3 oz lean ground turkey, 133 grams sweet potato
Meal 6 – 6 oz marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans
Meal 7 – 1 serving Whey Gold, 1 serving creatine
Meal 8 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet came out to 2636 calories with 305 grams of protein, 144 grams of carbs and 86 grams of fats. This breaks down to 46% protein, 22% carbohydrates and 29% fats. Back to the gym tomorrow!

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
My bodyweight in the morning today was at 207 pounds and the waist was at 34”. I can definitely notice my abs looking tighter this week so I am on the right track. In four more weeks, the waist and abs should look really hard and cut.

I was training delts, traps and calves today. Matt and I followed the same Rep Range program that we have used all week. This had us doing 7-9 reps on the Seated Military Press, 10-12 reps on Side Laterals, 13-15 reps on Bent-Over Laterals and 16-20 reps on Seated Barbell Shrugs. Here is how it went:

Seated Military Press 135x10, 185x9, 185x8, 185x7
Side Lateral Raises 40x12, 45x10, 45x10, 45x10
Bent-Over Lateral Raises 30x15, 30x15, 30x15
Seated Barbell Shrugs 225x20, 275x16, 275x16, 275x16
Neck (Front and Sides) 25x15, 25x15
Neck (Rear) 35x15, 35x12
Donkey Calf Raises 190 plus 45 lbs x 25, 190 plus 135 lbs x 25x2 sets
Face Down Calf Raises 260x12, 260x12, 260x10

Cardio – Treadmill for 20 minutes – 3.3 mph @ 9.0 incline

My diet today was again right on track. I ate 300 grams of protein exactly and kept the carbs to 215 grams. Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Whey Gold
Meal 2 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 3 – (Pre-Workout) – 1 serving Whey Gold, 1 serving creatine
Meal 4 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Vassive EA8, 1 serving Vassive NO
Meal 5 – (Post Workout) – 2 scoops 2:1:1 Recovery, 1 serving creatine
Meal 6 – 4.13 oz lean ground turkey, 115 grams sweet potato, 3 oz broccoli
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 8 – 3.28 oz round steak, 36 grams pasta sauce, ½ cup green peas
Meal 9 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet came out to 2769.5 calories with 300 grams of protein, 215 grams of carbohydrates and 70 grams of fats. The breakdown for today’s diet is 43% protein, 31% carbs and 23% fats.

Friday, May 23rd, 2008
My weight today was up a little to 208 pounds and the waist is still at 34”. Today was the last day of training for the week using the Rep Range technique. Matt and I trained back and biceps in the early afternoon because I had a few clients in the morning.

Close-Grip Pulldowns 130x15, 180x10
Wide-Grip Chins 25x9, 25x8, 25x7
One-Arm DB Rows 100x12, 115x11, 120x10
T-Bar Rows 3 plates plus 25 lbs x 15, 3 plates plus 35 lbs x 14, 4 plates x 13
Hyper-Extensions BWx20, BWx20, BWx20
Alternate DB Curls 45x9, 55x8, 65x7
Preacher Curls 80x10, 90x8, 80x10
Reverse Curls 70x13, 70x13, 70x13
Wrist Curls 95x20, 95x16, 95x14

I used the Rep Range training program with both back and biceps today. I did 7-9 reps on the first exercise. I used the Close-Grip Pulldowns as a warm-up and started the first exercise with Wide-Grip Chins. Since I wanted to limit the reps to 7-9 reps, I strapped on an extra 25 pounds to make the exercise harder.

On the second exercise, I did 10-12 reps. I did three sets of DB Rows and only used 100 – 120 pound dumbbells to get all the reps. On the third exercise, I had to do 13-15 reps so I went lighter on T-Bar Rows in order to get the required number of repetitions. For the last exercise, Hyper-Extensions, I had to 16-20 reps so I didn’t use any additional weight like I normally do and I got 20 reps each set.

For my biceps, I started the cycle over again. I did 7-9 reps on the first exercise, going up to the 65 pound dumbbells for the last set. On the second exercise, Seated Preacher Curls, I kept the weight moderate so I could get 10-12 reps each set. I finished with Reverse Curls and got 13 reps each set using only 70 pounds. For Wrist Curls, I stayed with 95 pounds and tried to get 16-20 reps each set.

For my diet today, I kept the carbs at 215 grams again and the protein was over 300. Here is exactly what I ate today:

Meal 1 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Whey Gold, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 2 – 2 eggs, 8 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 3 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Egg Protein
Meal 4 – (Pre-Workout) – 1 scoop Whey Gold, 1 serving creatine, 1 serving Threshold
Meal 5 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Vassive EA8, 1 serving Vassive NO
Meal 6 – (Post Workout) – 2 scoops 2:1:1 Recovery, 1 serving creatine
Meal 7 – 4.16 oz lean ground turkey, 106 grams sweet potato, 3.07 oz broccoli
Meal 8 – 6 oz marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans
Meal 9 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet added up to 2867.5 calories with 313 grams of protein, 215 grams of carbohydrates and 75 grams of fats. This breaks down to 44% protein, 30% carbs and 24% fats.

Saturday, May 24th, 2008
My weight today was down two pounds to 206 and the waist is still at 34”. Today was my day off but I went into the gym in the afternoon to do some abs and a light leg workout along with cardio. However, my legs were still pretty sore from the intense workout we had on Tuesday so I couldn’t really train them. I did do abs and a little bit of calves. I skipped cardio too but I plan on coming in tomorrow morning and doing it. Here is the short workout I did at the gym today:

Incline Sit-ups BWx45, BWx30
Incline Knee Raises BWx30, BWx20
Alternate Crunches BWx25, BWx25
Seated Knee Raises BWx25, BWx25
Donkey Calf Raises (Machine) 400x15, 400x15, 400x15

I had to switch a few meals around today because I was working the NPC Illinois State contest in the evening so I had to eat the meals that would be difficult to bring with me (egg whites, steak) earlier at home and then eat the other meals later at night at the contest. This is how I structured my diet today:

Meal 1 – 2 eggs, 8 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – (Pre-Workout) – 1 serving Whey Gold, 1 serving creatine, 1 serving Threshold
Meal 3 – (Post Workout) – 1 serving Whey Gold, 1 serving creatine
Meal 4 – 3.6 oz round steak, 24 grams pasta sauce, ½ cup green peas, 117 grams sweet potato
Meal 5 – 1 egg, 7 egg whites, 3 T. salsa, 18 grams natural peanut butter
Meal 6 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 serving Pro Complex, 1 serving Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 7 – 4.06 oz lean ground turkey, 3.07 oz broccoli
Meal 8 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Today’s diet came out to 2528 calories with 275 grams of protein, 148 grams of carbohydrates and 83 grams of fats. This week completed my 18th week of dieting. There were a couple weeks where I had some setbacks but I have been watching my calories pretty much since I got back from my vacation on January 19th. Here is the progress chart since then:

Jan. 19th – Weight 229 – Waist 37”
Jan. 26th – Weight 218 – Waist 36 ½”
Feb. 2nd – Weight 216.5 – Waist 36 ¼”
Feb. 9th – Weight 217 – Waist 36”
Feb. 16th – Weight 217 – Waist 35 ¾”
Feb 23rd – Weight 215 – Waist 35 ½”
Mar. 1st – Arnold Classic
Mar. 8th – Weight 211 – Waist 35 ¼” (Sick this week)
Mar. 15th – Weight 213.5 – Waist 35 ½” (Sick this week)
Mar. 22nd – Weight 210 – Waist 35 ¼”
Mar. 29th – Weight 212 – Waist 35”
Apr. 5th – Weight 211.5 – Waist 35”
Apr. 12th – Weight 209.5 – Waist 34 ¾”
Apr. 19th – Weight 208.5 – Waist 34 ½”
Apr. 26th – Weight 211 – Waist 34 ½”
May 3rd – Weight 208.5 – Waist 34 ¼” (Guest Posing this weekend)
May 10th – Weight 209 – Waist 34 ½”
May 17th – Weight 208.5 – Waist 34 ¼”
May 24th – Weight 206 – Waist 34”

As you can see, it has been a very slow fat loss process. There were some delays when I got sick with the flu for two weeks after the Arnold Classic. There were also a couple weeks when my waist stayed the same for two weeks (Mar 29th-Apr 5th and Apr 19th – Apr 26th). I noticed that my carbohydrate average for those weeks was over 200 grams (weekly average) so I made some changes to my diet to bring down the average carbohydrate intake for the week. Since my guest posing on May 3rd, the fat loss has been much more consistent and I have been losing a quarter of an inch every week. With one more month to go until my photo shoot with Optimum Nutrition, I am looking forward to getting my waist down to 33” in the next four weeks.

The information contained in this article is not intended to be used for, or replace, the advice, medical diagnosis, or treatment of your doctor. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other licensed healthcare provider before starting any new supplement, diet, or exercise routine or when you have questions regarding any medical condition. Use of this article indicates that you expressly acknowledge and agree that Optimum Nutrition, Inc., its suppliers, licensees, and sub-licensees are not responsible for the results of your decision resulting from the use of this information including, but not limited to, your choosing to seek or not seek professional medical care based on the information contained in this article.