My Road to the Olympia Week Eight
by: John Hansen - August 24th, 2007
My Road to the Olympia Working Around the Injuries
Monday, August 20th
Today my bodyweight was at 207 pounds and the waist is still holding at 35”. There are only six weeks left until the Olympia in Vegas so I’m hoping to get my waist down another inch and a half before I get on the plane to Vegas.
When I went to the gym in the morning, I weighed myself on that scale because I still think my digital scale from Target is too light. Wearing gym shoes, shorts and a t-shirt, I weighed 215.4 pounds, which was probably 6 pounds heavier than my scale (taking the clothes and shoes into account).
I met Matt at the gym today at 11am to train chest, triceps and calves. I was feeling pretty good at first but then my left elbow started hurting on the first exercise, Dumbbell Bench Presses. It was ok on the lighter sets but, as I started to go heavier, the pain was getting worse.
I warmed-up with the 45’s and the 75’s and then did my first set with the 100’s for 10 reps. For my next set, I went to the 120’s for 7 reps. I tried the 130’s for my last set because I used them the last time I did this workout but I was only able to get them for 4 reps again like last time.
We went to Incline Presses next and I warmed up with 225 pounds for 10 reps. My elbow started hurting a little more on this exercise so I only went up to 255 pounds on the second set and barely got 8 reps because of the elbow. I tried to do 275 pounds on the last set but the pain in my elbow was too much so I stopped.
I finished chest with Incline Flyes. I started with the 80’s for an easy 10 reps for the first set. For the next two sets, I went up to the 85’s for 8 reps each set. Not a great chest workout today because of the elbow pain.
For triceps, I tried to start with Close-Grip Bench Presses on a decline bench. I did my first set with 185 pounds and got a good 10 reps. For my second set, I went up to 225 pounds but the elbow started really hurting with the increased resistance. I decided to forego the last set because of the elbow pain.
I was supposed to do Lying Tricep Extensions for my next exercise but I wasn’t even about to try this exercise. Instead, I went to Bench Dips, which was less stress on the elbow joint. I didn’t use any additional weight on this exercise, just using my bodyweight for 12-15 reps for three sets.
Matt and I finished the workout with calves. We started with Standing Calf Raises using 320 pounds for the first set for 15 reps. I went up to 420 pounds on the second set for 12 reps and finished with 520 pounds on the last set for 10 reps. I think I’ll go up in weight on this exercise next time because the 520 pounds isn’t that challenging anymore.
We went to Seated Calf Raises next. I started light with 100 pounds and got an easy 15 reps. For the next set, I went up to 150 pounds for 12 reps and finished with 200 pounds for 8 reps.
Not a great day today because of the elbow injury. I was about the same strength as last week but it’s difficult to say how well I might have done if the elbow wasn’t hurting.
For my diet, I continued to experiment with the Waxy Maize both during and after my workouts. This is adding a lot more carbs to my workout day so I’m still not sure if it’s good or not. I guess I’ll have to wait and see if I lose any more inches this week. This is what I ate today:
Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – (Pre-workout) – Whey Force Shake, 1 serving CGT (Creatine, Glutamine, Taurine)
Meal 3 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Waxy Maize, 1 serving Vassive-NO, 7 scoops ICE (branched chain aminos)
Meal 4 – (Post workout) – 2 scoops Waxy Maize, 1 serving CGT
Meal 5 – Protein Drink containing 2 scoops of Whey Gold Standard protein
Meal 6 – 4.34 oz ground turkey, 137 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 – 3.63 oz. round steak, ½ cup green peas
Meal 9 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil.
Today’s diet added up to 2967.5 calories, 303 grams of protein, 280 grams of carbs and 56 grams of fat.
Tuesday, August 21st
I woke up today and my weight was down to 205.5 pounds with the waist still at 35”. I don’t know exactly why the weight was down 1 ½ pounds but that’s the way the body works sometimes. When I went to the gym, my bodyweight was at 215.6 pounds.
Matt and I were training back and biceps today. My lower back wasn’t feeling that strong today so I was very careful on barbell rows and deadlifts. The barbell rows went really good but I backed off on the deadlifts because I felt the strain in my lower back on the set with 315. I didn’t want to risk injuring the lower back and spending the next week in pain so I skipped my last heavy set.
I did get more reps on the Barbell Rows with the same weight I used last time. I also went heavier this week on Seated Cable Rows, Incline Curls, Barbell Curls and Hammer Curls so, except for missing the last heavy set on Deadlifts, it was a good workout. Here is how it went today:
Close-Grip Pulldowns 130x15, 180x10
Barbell Rows 185x12, 225x10, 275x6, 275x6
Seated Cable Rows 250x10, 275x7, 275x7
Deadlifts 225x12, 315x10
Incline Curls 45x12, 55x8, 55x7
Barbell Curls 105x10, 125x8
Hammer Curls 45x10, 55x6
Wrist Curls 115x12, 125x10
My diet today was very similar to yesterday. I ate almost 3000 calories and my carbs and protein were very close in the numbers. This is exactly what I ate today:
Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – (Pre-workout) – Whey Force Shake, 1 serving CGT (Creatine, Glutamine, Taurine)
Meal 3 – (During Workout) – 1 serving BCAA and Creatine, 1 serving Vassive-NO, 1 serving Waxy Maize
Meal 4 – (Post Workout) – 2 serving Waxy Maize, 1 serving CGT
Meal 5 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Whey Gold Standard
Meal 6 – 3.63 oz. lean turkey, 133 grams sweet potato, 3.25 oz. broccoli
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 8 – 6 oz marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans
Meal 9 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil.
Meal 10 – Whey Force Shake
This came out to 2986 calories, 292 grams of protein, 288 grams of carbohydrates and 64 grams of fat. Hopefully, the waist will go down by tomorrow.
Wednesday, August 22nd
My weight went down slightly today to 205 pounds but, unfortunately, the waist was holding steady at 35”. I measured my bodyfat again today using my new Skyndex Calipers and my bodyfat did go down slightly to 8.3%. At the gym, my bodyweight was also down a little to 214.9 pounds. I’m not sure about this higher carb intake. If the waist doesn’t go down by Friday, I might go back to my normal diet.
I usually take Wednesdays off but Matt wanted to train shoulders so I met him at the gym at 11:30am. It was an OK workout but not great thanks to my bad left elbow. Even though I iced it for about a half hour yesterday, it was still tender to the touch and I didn’t think I would be able to do any pressing exercises today.
I started with Seated Machine Presses on one of the many machines located at the front of the gym. I can’t remember what brand it was but when I faced the machine instead of sitting on it the normal way, I could really feel the movement in my front delts. I started with 120 pounds for 15 reps for the first set, 180 pound for 12 reps on the second set and 220 pounds for 10 reps for the last two sets.
Matt and I moved over to the Seated Dumbbell Press next but, as I feared, my elbow was not up to using the heavy weight. The first set with the 45’s was ok but when I tried to use the 75’s, my elbow was screaming in pain.
I spotted Matt for the rest of his sets and then started Seated Side Lateral Raises. I was able to go heavier this time because I wasn’t supersetting them with Seated DB Presses. I started with the 40’s for 15 easy reps on the first set. For the second set, I went up to the 45’s for 10 reps and then finished off with the 50’s for the last two sets for 8 reps each set.
Next up was Upright Rows and I went heavier on these also because this was also done in straight sets and not supersetting with the Seated Laterals. I started with 115 lbs for 12 reps then went up to 135 lbs for 10 reps and finished with 155 pound for 8 reps.
Matt and I finished delts with Lying Side Lateral Raises. I started with a 30 pound dumbbell for two sets of 12 reps laying on a decline bench. For the last set, I went up to the 35 pound dumbbell for 10 reps.
I finished with Dumbbell Shrugs for the traps. I started with the 100 pound dumbbells for an easy 12 reps. This exercise was a lot harder to do with the rubber dumbbells. The dumbbells don’t slide up the side of the legs like the iron plates did. Yes, we have now graduated from Pumping Iron to Pumping Rubber in today’s corporate fitness world. Ahhh, don’t get me started on this subject; I’ll be here all day. I finished traps with the 120’s for 10 reps and the 130’s for 8 reps on the last two sets.
Matt and I moved onto calves next. For the first set of Donkey Calf Raises, I used the weight of Matt (180 pounds) plus one 45 pound plate attached to the weight belt. I got 25 easy reps on this set to warm up the calves. For the next two sets, I added two more 45 pound plates to the weight belt for a total of 135 pounds plus Matt. I got another 25 reps for the next two sets with this heavier weight.
We finished calves with the Incline Calf Raise laying face down on the machine. I started with 240 pounds for 12 reps and then did two more sets with 260 pounds for 10 reps each set.
The diet today was pretty much the same thing as what I have been eating on a training day. Here is how it went today:
Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – (Pre-workout) – Whey Force Shake, 1 serving CGT (Creatine, Glutamine, Taurine)
Meal 3 – (During Workout) – 7 scoops ICE (Branched Chain Aminos), 1 serving Vassive-NO, 1 serving Waxy Maize
Meal 4 – (Post Workout) – 2 scoops Waxy Maize, 1 serving CGT
Meal 5 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Whey Gold Standard
Meal 6 – 4.34 oz. ground turkey, 125 grams sweet potato, 3.21 oz. broccoli
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 8 – 3.95 oz. round steak, ½ cup green peas
Meal 9 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Today’s diet came out to 2975 calories, 305 grams of protein, 277 grams of carbs and 56.5 grams of fat. This breaks down to 41% protein, 37% carbohydrates and 17% fat.
Thursday, August 23rd
Today was a day off from the gym which I was looking forward to. After three days in a row of heavy training, I’m ready for a day off. Plus, when I am dieting, I like having the off days to balance out the higher calorie and carb intake from the training days.
My bodyweight was up a little to 207 pounds and the waist was still at 35”. If the waist doesn’t go down in the next two days, I’m going to lower my carb intake to about 260-270 grams of my training days. Right now, I’m consuming almost 300 grams of carbs a day because of the Waxy Maize.
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 Pro Complex, 1 scoop of Egg Protein and 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 3 – 4.41 oz lean ground turkey, 139 grams of sweet potato, 3 oz. broccoli
Meal 4 – Whey Force Shake
Meal 5 – 6 oz. marinated salmon, 1 t. peanut butter
Meal 6 – Whey Force Shake, 9 egg whites
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
This off day diet came out to 2389 calories, 282 grams of protein, 138 grams of carbs and 71 grams of fat. This breaks down to 47% protein, 23% carbs and 27% fat. Should be interesting to see where the waist is at tomorrow!
Friday, August 24th
I was really disappointed today to see my waist still at 35”. It should have been down to 34 ¾” this week and it’s still stuck at 35”. I’m going to go back to my old diet which has me eating around 200 grams of carbs on my training days and then down to about 150-160 grams of carbs on my off days. I have been taking in almost 300 grams of carbs since experimenting with the Waxy Maize and it seems to have really slowed down my fat loss. My weight today was at 207.5 pounds.
I was going to work legs today but I had a really busy day so I put the workout off until tomorrow. I stayed on my diet according to plan but I did go out to dinner at night. However, I was really good and I only ordered barbequed salmon with vegetables. I also had some chicken flat bread for an appetizer but that wasn’t too bad. I drank bottled water all night at the restaurant so I don’t think it threw me off too much.
Saturday, August 25th
I was surprised this morning to see that my waist actually went up a ¼” to 35 ¼”. I’m hoping this is just from the sodium from the restaurant food. I’ll tell ya, when you get in your 40’s, you don’t get much room to cheat on the diet. If I go off even a little, the fat loss either stops or I put on another ¼ - ½” on my waist.
My workout today was somewhat of a wash because of my bad knee. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be able to do anything for the quads so I started out with abs and hamstrings and then finished with quads. If I couldn’t do anything for the quads, at least I would still get in my abs and hams. Here is what I did:
Hanging Knee Raises 2 sets 40, 30 reps
Crunches – Bench 2 sets 35, 30 reps
Leg Curls 4 sets 100x12, 120x10, 130x8, 140x6
DB Stiff-leg Deadlifts 3 sets 100x12, 120x8, 120x7
Leg Extensions (BodyMaster) 3 sets 120x20, 150x15, 180x12
Unfortunately, this was all I could do for legs today. I tried to do squats but my knee was killing me even with only 135 pounds. I was going to push it but I knew that the pain was only going to get worse. I’m planning on having the MRI done next week to see what is wrong with my knee.
We were celebrating my Dad’s 70th birthday today at my parent’s house. We had a big surprise party for him in July but today was the real celebration because his birthday is next week on the 29th. All of my immediate family was over at my parent’s house for the party.
Of course, there were desserts and goodies deluxe on the table after dinner. I stayed away though and just drank my iced water. I also was good at dinner, only having 2 chicken breasts and some vegetables. I can’t afford to have the waist go up any more with five weeks left until Vegas.
Sunday, August 26th
My waist was still holding at 35 ¼” today which was good. The food at my parent’s house didn’t do anything to make my waist bigger. I’m going out of town to Texas next weekend and I would love to have my waist down to 34 ¾” before I leave.
All of these injuries I am experiencing is not helping the fat loss process. It makes a difference when it comes to getting ripped when you can train very hard and heavy at least four days a week. That heavy training depletes the glycogen from the muscles and that depletion from the intense training, combined with the lower carbohydrate days on the off days, is what helps to get the metabolism going and get the body to lose the fat.
Because of my knee problem, I have not been able to have a good leg workout in almost a month. The upper body workouts have been ok except for the tendonitis in my left elbow bothering me once in a while but I’ve really only been able to train hard for three days a week instead of four.
Matt and I went to the gym today because I am going away next weekend on Friday so we will workout on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. I was hoping the elbow would be ok so I could have a good chest and triceps workout today. Unfortunately, it started hurting on the first exercise, the barbell bench press. It seems the barbell exercises are a lot harder on my elbow than the dumbbell exercises.
I was able to do 225 for 10 easy reps on the first set but I barely got 6 reps with 275 on the second set. I knew the pain wasn’t going to get better if I went heavier so I didn’t do any more sets on the bench press.
The Incline DB Press was a little bit better. I started with the 100’s for 10 easy reps on the first set and the elbow wasn’t too bad. I went to the 120’s for the second set and it was really hard on my elbow. I got 6 reps and then stopped. This weight was pretty stressful to the elbow. For my last set, I dropped down to the 100’s again and I got 12 reps this time. The dumbbells felt super light after using the 120’s.
The rest of my chest workout went much better. I was real strong on DB Flyes and this didn’t hurt my elbow at all. I used the 80’s for the first set for 10 easy reps and then used the 85’s for the next two sets for 8 reps each set.
I finished chest with DB Pull-overs. I was a little hesitant about doing these because they usually pump up my triceps so I thought it would strain my tricep tendon. However, to my surprise, they didn’t hurt at all. I stayed with the 100 pound dumbbell and did 12 reps for two sets.
For triceps, I started with Tricep Pushdowns but I went a little lighter than last time. I started with only 90 pounds for 12 easy reps. It seemed the tendon was only hurting at the bottom, lock-out portion of the movement so I was doing more ¾ reps than full reps. I went up to 100 pounds for 12 reps on the second set and 110 pounds for 10 reps on the third set.
I was also surprised that I could do Lying Triceps Extensions on a decline bench. I also stayed a little lighter here to protect the elbow. I started with 100 pounds for 12 reps then went to 120 pounds for two sets of 8 reps. I didn’t go super deep on this exercise either, only about ¾ of the way down before going back up.
We finished with Dips using just my bodyweight. I did 12 reps on the first set and the two more sets of 10 reps. These were not too challenging without any extra weight attached but I was just doing what I could do to work around the tendon injury.
Matt and I finished off the workout with calves. I started with Seated Calf Raises with 100 pounds for 20 reps. For the second set, I went up to 150 pounds for 15 reps and finished with two heavy sets of 10 reps using 200 pounds.
I finished calves off with Standing Calf Raises. I only did three sets here for 8-12 reps. I started with 320 pounds for 12 reps then went up to 420 pounds for 10 reps and finished with 520 pounds for 8 reps.
I thought I would start doing some cardio today since the diet seems to be at a standstill and I am getting close to the Las Vegas event. It’s probably been a good 3-4 months since I’ve done any cardio so I started slow. I only did 15 minutes on the treadmill at about 3.2 mph and with the incline set at 8.
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