John Hansens Training Diary Week of Nov 18th 2007
by: John Hansen - November 20th, 2007
John Hansen’s Diary – Week of November 18th, 2007 Sunday, Nov. 18th, 2007
Today was the end of my second week back in the gym after being sick. I took it easy the first week, going lighter and not really pushing myself. In the second week, I pushed it a little more and went a little heavier.
I was judging the OCB Midwest Bodybuilding contest in DeKalb, Illinois all day yesterday so I didn’t have a chance to get my workout in so I had to do legs today. I didn’t get much sleep last night so I decided to wait until 8pm to train legs with Matt. He had to work all day today so we met up at the gym later at night for a leg workout.
I started with abs today and then began the leg workout with hamstrings. I did leg curls on the machine for hams along with dumbbell stiff-leg deadlifts. For quads, we started with leg extensions and then did Leg Presses followed by Front Squats. To finish off, we did Walking Lunges, which I haven’t done in YEARS!
I went sort of easy today and just focused on doing all the exercises in good form. I haven’t done either Front Squats or Walking Lunges in a long time so I just wanted to go slow and do both of them in excellent form. Here is what I did today:
Hanging Knee Raises BWx40, BWx30 (supersetted with)
Crunches – Bench BWx30, BWx25
Leg Curls 100x12, 120x10, 130x8
DB Stiff-leg Deadlifts 100x12, 120x8, 120x8
Leg Extensions (Body Masters) 130x20, 160x15, 190x10
Leg Press 450x15, 630x12, 770x10, 810x8
Front Squats 135x12, 165x10, 165x8
Walking Lunges 95x10, 95x10
This was a really tough workout today for this stage of the game! I did the Leg Presses with my feet high and wide so I don’t put too much stress on the patella tendon on my right knee. I had very bad tendonitis on that knee for a long time over the last couple months so I don’t want to have the tendonitis come back. I went up to 810 pounds (9 plates on each side) for my last set and it felt good with no pain in the knee.
I did Front Squats next and I did these real light, going all the way down to the bottom. I felt it in my hips because I was going so deep. I will probably go up to 185 next time and just gradually increase the poundage as long as I can keep my form perfect.
The Walking Lunges really finished me off! We only did two sets with just 95 pounds for 10 reps each leg but they are a totally new exercise for me and I will definitely be feeling the effects of this exercise for the next few days! I have to get my glutes harder and more developed near the glute/hamstring tie-in and this is the exercise to do it.
Monday, Nov. 19th, 2007
Today is the beginning of my third week back in the gym. The plan for the next 12 months is to divide my training into cycles of 8-10 weeks each, gradually increasing the intensity over each cycle while staying lean throughout the year. I want to increase my muscle mass and strength over each cycle without bulking up like I used to do when I was younger. If I try eating that many calories now, I will put on more fat than muscle because of my slower metabolism. Plus, if I plan on getting onstage again, I need to be super ripped and hard and bulking up and putting on fat would just defeat my purpose.
I started back training two weeks ago on November 5th, 2007 after missing a week of training because of being sick. I had a really bad cold and the first two weeks back were just going to the gym and taking it slow. I want to get used to training again and increase my endurance and strength without overstressing my system too much. I’m feeling better now so I can start to push it even a little more.
I will train until January 12, 2008 when I am planning on going on vacation to Costa Rica for a week. That will give me 10 consecutive weeks of training to build up my strength and muscle mass while staying lean. I’m going to take measurements and bodyfat tests every week to make sure that I am on track and making progress.
I took measurements on Saturday, November 17th and I’ve got a long way to go to get back in top shape again. My bodyweight was at 208 pounds with a 35” waist. My bodyfat percentage is currently at 9.7%, which is pretty good. My chest is at 47 ½” and my arms are down to 18 ¼”. The arms definitely need to come up again. I have not been able to train as heavy as I would have liked because of the tendonitis in my left elbow over the last few months and this has definitely affected the size of my arms (triceps) and chest because all the pushing movements were compromised from the elbow problem.
My legs need the most improvement though. My right knee had really bad tendonitis for months so my leg workouts were inconsistent and not intense enough. My thighs are down to only 25 ¼” and my calves are at 16 ½”. My neck is also at 16 ½” and my forearms are at 14 ¼”.
Today my weight was at 210.5 pounds and my waist was up just a little to 35 1/4". My diet was off a little on Saturday and Sunday but I'm back on track today and I'll stay on track all week except, of course, for Thanksgiving.
Today I trained chest, triceps and calves. I was able to do the Bench Press with a barbell for the first time in literally months. Because of the elbow tendonitis, I have been forced to stick with dumbbells for both flat and incline bench presses but today I was able to go back to the barbell.
The elbow is definitely feeling better because I was also able to train triceps today with no pain. Hopefully, the worse is over and I can start training heavier now and making some real improvements as far as size and strength goes. Here is what I did for my workout today:
Bench Press 225x10, 245x7, 255x6
Incline DB Press 100x10, 110x7, 110x6
Flyes 75x10, 80x8, 80x8
DB Pull-overs 100x10, 100x10
Tricep Pushdowns 100x12, 120x7, 120x7
Decline Tricep Ext. 100x10, 120x7, 120x7
Dips BWx10, BWx8
Seated Calf Raises 100x20, 150x13, 180x10, 180x8
Standing Calf Raises 420x12, 500x10
My diet today was almost up to 3000 calories with high protein and moderate carbs for a training day. I’m not dieting really strictly but I’m staying lean while adding muscle. I am going to try and get my waist down to 34” before I go on vacation because I want to eat and relax when I am in Costa Rica and not worry about getting too fat. I’ll just try and eat sensibly over the holidays and not go crazy with the sweets. Here is what I ate today:
Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil.
Meal 3 – (Pre-workout) – 1 serving Whey Gold Standard, 1 serving creatine
Meal 4 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Vassive EA8, 1 serving Vassive-NO
Meal 5 – (Post Workout) – 2 scoops of 2:1:1 Recover with 1 serving creatine
Meal 6 – 4.24 oz lean turkey, 149 grams sweet potato, 3 oz. broccoli
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Egg Protein
Meal 8 – 3.95 oz sirloin steak, ½ cup green peas
Meal 9 – 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Today’s diet came out to 2806 calories with 307 grams of protein, 227 grams of carbs and 68 grams of fat. This breaks down to 44% protein, 32% carbohydrates and 22% fats. My legs and glutes were getting really sore today, especially the glutes! They should be in major pain by tomorrow.
Tuesday, Nov. 20th, 2007
I was supposed to train back and biceps today in the morning but I am so damn sore from those Walking Lunges on Sunday that I decided to take the day off. I’ll go in tomorrow and train back and biceps and then do shoulders and calves on Thursday. I was planning on going four days in a row in order to have the holiday off but it didn’t turn out that way. I don’t want to risk straining or pulling my back by doing a workout when I should be resting.
My chest and triceps are also pretty sore from yesterday’s workout. I know my chest is sore from doing Barbell Bench Presses because I haven’t done this exercise in the last couple months. My triceps are also sore because my elbow wasn’t hurting yesterday so I could feel the muscles working more when I was doing the exercises. Even my calves are sore from going heavy on the Seated Calf Raises. Good workout yesterday! It’s always a good feeling when you are sore from a workout.
I ate good today, keeping the carbs low since I was not working out today. Here is what I ate today:
Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop of Whey Gold Standard, 1 scoop of Pro Complex and 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 3 – 4.62 oz lean turkey, 161 grams sweet potato, 3 oz. broccoli
Meal 4 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop of Pro Complex and 1 scoop of Casein Protein.
Meal 5 – 6 oz marinated salmon, 1 cup of green beans
Meal 6 – 10 egg whites, Mini Bag of Popcorn (110 calories)
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Casein Protein with 1 T. flaxseed oil
Today’s diet came out to 2518 calories with 298 grams of protein, 164 grams of carbohydrates and 66 grams of fat. This breaks down to 47% protein, 26% carbs and 24% fat. Back to the gym tomorrow!
Wednesday, Nov. 21st, 2007
I went back to the gym today after a day off yesterday. My weight was at 210 this morning with the waist at 35 ¼” so that’s pretty steady. My glutes and legs were still pretty sore today so I made sure I did my yoga again before I went to the gym so I didn’t risk pulling my lower back because of the tightness in my glutes and hams.
I tried to go a little heaver than my last back and biceps workout but this was tough because I was so sore. I used more weight on the Dumbbell Rows and for biceps but I kept the weight the same on T-Bar Rows. Here is how it went today at the gym:
Close-Grip Pulldowns 130x15, 180x12
Wide-Grip Chins BWx9, BWx9, BWx8
One-Arm DB Rows 110x12, 130x8, 130x8
T-Bar Rows 4 plates x 12, 5 plates x 8, 5 plates x 8
Hyper-Extensions BWx20, 45x15 followed by BWx8, 45x15
Alternate DB Curls 45x12, 55x8, 55x8
Preacher Curls 90x7, 100x7
Wrist Curls 95x15, 115x12, 115x10
My diet was pretty good today although I did have a cheat meal at night. It was the night before Thanksgiving and Matt wanted to go out so we went to a local Bar Louie’s in Naperville (a suburb close to where I live). We got a table and ordered some food so the diet wasn’t 100% today. Here is what I ate today:
Meal 1 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Whey Gold Standard
Meal 2 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 3 – (Pre-workout Drink) – 1 scoop of 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 Recover, 1 serving creatine
Meal 6 – 4.44 oz lean ground turkey, 149 grams sweet potato, 2.86 oz broccoli
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Egg Protein
Meal 8 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 serving Pro Complex, 1 serving Casein protein
Meal 9 – Cheat Meal consisting of Chicken Nachos for an appetizer, Blackened Chicken Breast with Black Beans and White Rice for the entrée and 4 Long Island Ice Teas.
Meal 10 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Casein Protein with 1 T. flaxseed oil.
Thursday, Nov. 22nd, 2007
Today is Thanksgiving but I had to go to the gym before celebrating the holiday with my relatives. My weight was up a little from yesterday to 211.5 pounds and my waist was somewhere between 35 ¼” and 35 ½”. Hopefully, this is just sodium from the food and alcohol at the restaurant last night.
I had breakfast and then went to the gym to train delts and traps. I was supposed to train calves also but I had a client to train today so I had to leave the gym early. I went a little heavier today than I did two weeks ago when I did this same workout. The Military Press was about the same but I went up on Side Laterals, Bent-Over Lateral and Seated Shrugs. This is how it went:
Seated Military Press (1 ½ reps) 135x10, 165x7, 185x5
Side Lateral Raises 45x12, 50x8, 50x8, 55x6
Bent-Over Lateral Raises 40x10, 40x9, 45x7
Seated Barbell Shrugs 225x12, 315x10, 365x10, 385x8
Pretty easy workout today, especially considering I didn’t do my calves like I should have. My legs and glutes were feeling much better today so I should be able to train legs again tomorrow and stay on schedule. My chest and triceps are still sore from the workout on Monday so that was really a good workout.
My diet was obviously off today. I enjoyed Thanksgiving for a change as I am not on a diet for a contest or photo shoot. I can’t tell you how many Thanksgiving dinners I had to sacrifice over the years because I was dieting for something. Today, I enjoyed myself by eating and going back for seconds along with some apple pie (and whip cream) for dessert.
I’ll see what effect the Thanksgiving dinner has on my waistline tomorrow when I take measurements again. I’m pretty psyched up about making some progress so I’ll get back on the diet and stay on it for another week with no problem. I really don’t have any cravings or desires to go out and eat so that’s a good sign. I’m more interested in building a good physique than in eating some forbidden food.
Friday, Nov. 23rd, 2007
I was back in the gym today for another leg workout. My legs were finally feeling better after being sore all week so I thought I would try to do legs again today. I’ll take tomorrow off and then start training again on Sunday. I’m going out of town next weekend from Friday to Sunday so I want to train next week on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
I was going to do squats and hack squats today instead of leg press and front squats. I want to build up the poundage on my squats since I hardly did them at all over the last two months because of the tendonitis in my knee.
I started with abs and I felt a pull in my right glute where it ties in with the hamstring. I didn’t feel it before the workout but it was really bothering me on the Hanging Knee Raises. Every time I brought my legs up to do a rep, it was pulling. I decided to just do one set of abs and then start legs.
For legs, I started with Leg Extensions on the Flex Machine. I did the same weights I used for the last leg workout but I increased the reps. Squats were next. I started with 225 instead of warming up with 135. I went to 275 next for 8 reps and finished off with 295 for two sets of 6 reps. My lower back was starting to feel the strain on the last two sets. I have to be really careful with my lower back because of the compressed discs in my lower back.
I tried to do Hack Squats next but the glute pull was really hurting on this exercise. It was weird that I could do Squats with no pull on the glutes but the Hacks were no go. I stopped quads and went on to do Dumbbell Leg Curls for the hamstrings. I also couldn’t do Stiff-leg Deadlifts because of the glute.
This really sucked because I was looking forward to having another great leg workout after the productive training session I had on Sunday. I must have really overstressed the glutes from those Walking Lunges in my last leg workout. I didn’t feel the pull all week because my glutes were so sore but I felt it today when I tried to do legs.
Matt and I also did calves today because I skipped them yesterday. We did Donkey Calf Raises and these were a little bit harder because Matt is finally starting to gain some weight. He was in the 180 range for the longest time but he’s eating more now and he’s up to 187. I strapped a 45 pound plate on the weight belt in addition to Matt’s bodyweight for the first set and three 45 pound plates for the next two sets. Here is how the workout went:
Hanging Knee Raises BWx40
Kneeling Cable Crunches 150x25
Leg Extensions (Flex Mach.) 150x20, 180x15, 210x12
Squats 225x12, 275x8, 295x6x2 sets
Hack Squats Glute was pulled
DB Leg Curls 55x12, 65x8, 65x8
Stiff-leg Deadlifts Glute was pulled
Donkey Calf Raises 187 plus 45 lbs x 25, 187 plus 135 lbs x 20 x 2 sets
Leg Press Calf Raises 540x12, 630x10, 630x10
My weight and waist today was identical to yesterday so I didn’t gain any weight from the Thanksgiving dinner. My weight was at 211.5 pounds and the waist was still at 35 ½”. I stayed on the diet today although I did go to Potbelly’s restaurant for a late lunch. I always have the tuna salad on a wheat bun with only lettuce and tomato on the sandwich. Today, however, I also added a chocolate shake and an oatmeal/chocolate chip cookie to the meal.
Saturday, Nov. 24th, 2007
Today was an off day from the gym. I’m going to train tomorrow because I’ll be out of town next weekend and I won’t be able to train on Friday so I want to start the training week one day early.
I was ticked off my legs were not sore today. I just didn’t do enough in the workout to get them sore. If I was able to do Hack Squats, I think they would have been sore and I would have had a productive workout. My calves were a little sore from the Donkey Calf Raises though.
Today’s diet was all screwed up because I went to Brite Smile to have my teeth whitened. They were running a Holiday Special so I thought I would take advantage of it. I obviously don’t smoke and I never drink coffee but I think all these years of eating blueberries for breakfast may have made my teeth not as white as I would like. I tried those whitening strips before but they never seemed to make much a difference.
I had breakfast in the morning and went to my appointment at Brite Smile at 11:30 in the morning. By the time I signed the paperwork and got going, it took quite a while to get out of there. They did three 20 minute treatments on my teeth and then they asked me if I could sit for one more treatment. I had the time to do it but I was debating whether I wanted to sit another 20 minutes with that contraption in my mouth that pulled my lips back so my teeth could be whitened. After you wear that thing for about 20 minutes, you’re ready to take it out. Other than the contraption that pulled your lips back, the whole process wasn’t too bad. When they showed me my before and after photos of my teeth, I was really impressed with the difference. Just call me Johnny Hollywood from now on! LOL
When I finished my treatments, the doctor informed me that I shouldn’t eat foods that could discolor my teeth for the next 24 hours. She recommended that I eat only “white foods” such as turkey, chicken, fish, white rice, oatmeal, white potatoes, etc. Because I had decided to sit for the extra treatment, it had already been about 4 ½ hours since I last ate by the time I got out of there. Since I didn’t have any white rice or white potatoes at home, I met Matt out at a local family restaurant for lunch. I ordered chicken breast and white rice for lunch and I also had some rice pudding for dessert (hey, it’s white, isn’t it?)
For the rest of the day, I just had a few protein drinks (made with Optimum Nutrition’s Pro Complex Banana flavor) and for dinner, I had turkey with some more oatmeal. Today’s diet was completely off the normal routine and I probably didn’t eat as many calories as I needed to but I can get back on track tomorrow.
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