My Road to the Olympia Week Eleven

by: John Hansen - September 24th, 2007

My Road to the Olympia

Plagued with Injuries


Monday, September 10th
Today my bodyweight was at 206 and the waist was back down to 35”. I met Matt at the gym in the morning so we could train chest, triceps and calves. I started out with the Barbell Bench Press for the chest but the elbow was hurting more than ever today. I couldn’t even do reps with 225 pounds because of the elbow pain.

Frustrated, I moved onto DB Bench Presses, warming up with the 70’s for 15 reps and then doing my sets with the 100 pound dumbbells for three sets of 12, 10 and 10 reps, respectively. I did Incline DB Press next, staying with the 100 pound dumbbells for all three sets here also. I did three easy sets of 10 reps on the Inclines. The 100’s aren’t even challenging for me on Flat or Incline DB Presses but I didn’t want to risk really injuring the elbow by going heavier.

I finished chest with three sets of Flyes with the 80’s for 10, 9 and 9 reps. DB Pull-overs completed the chest workout. I used the 100 pound dumbbell for two sets of 12 reps.

Triceps were next and I didn’t think I would be able to do anything with this bodypart because of the elbow but I gave it a shot anyway. I started with Tricep Pushdowns with only 70 pounds for 15 reps then went to 90 pounds for 12 reps and finished with two sets of 10 reps with 100 pounds. I used to warm up on my first set with 100 pounds but I just have to do what I can with this messed up elbow.

I tried Lying Tricep Extensions next and, to my amazement, I was able to do ¾ reps with a moderate weight. I started with 80 pounds for 15 reps and finished with 100 pounds for two sets of 12 reps. To finish off triceps, Matt and I did Dips. I usually strap on extra weight for this exercise but I stayed with just my bodyweight because I didn’t want to strain the elbow more. I did three sets with just my bodyweight for 12, 10 and 10 reps, respectively.

We finished the workout off with calves and this is the one bodypart where I wasn’t held back by injuries. I started with Seated Calf Raises for four sets. I used 100 pounds for 15 reps then 150 pounds for 12 reps. For my last two heavy sets, I used 200 pounds for 10 reps and then 8 reps on the last set.

Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – (Pre-workout Drink) – 1 serving Whey Gold Standard, 1 serving Vassive-CE
Meal 3 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Waxy Maize
Meal 4 – (Post Workout) – 3 scoops After Max
Meal 5 – 3.84 oz lean turkey, 113 grams sweet potato, 2.89 oz broccoli
Meal 6 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 serving Pro Complex, 1 serving Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 7 – 3.95 oz round steak, ½ cup green peas
Meal 8 – Whey Force Shake
Meal 9 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet came out to 2729 calories with 282 grams of protein, 236 grams of carbs and 58 grams of fat.

I went to the chiropractor again today for my knee. He had my knee hooked up to the electrical stim machine again and he showed me how to do leg presses the next time I work legs. He wants me to place my feet very high and wide on the foot pad so my knee does not go over my foot during the exercise. It feels like it will hit my hamstring more than my quads but it’s just something to do to keep the atrophy down while my knee is rehabbing.

Tuesday, September 11th
My bodyweight today was at 205.5 pounds and my waist is still at 35” this morning. I met Matt at the gym today to work back and biceps, which is really the only workout I can do now without one of my many injuries interfering with the normal workout.

We started off with Close-Grip Pulldowns to warm-up the lats. I started with 130 pounds for 15 reps and then did another set with 180 pounds for 10 reps.

Wide-Grip Chins for the wide lats was next. I just used my bodyweight and I did three total sets. I got 11 reps on my first set, 10 reps on the second set and 8 reps on my last set.

We moved onto One-Arm DB Rows next for lat thickness. I started with the 110 pound dumbbell which felt really light. I got an easy 12 reps with this weight then went to the 130 pound dumbbell for 10 reps on the second set. I finished with the 135 pound dumbbell for a strong 8 reps on the third set.

Next up was T-Bar Rows. As I was loading the plates onto the end of the barbell, my lower back went into a spasm and the whole thing went out! I was in so much pain, I could hardly stand up. At first, I didn’t think it was that bad but each moment that passed brought more pain. I reluctantly walked out of the gym since it was obvious I couldn’t’ do anything else. I was so pissed!

As for my diet, it was a little lower in carbs because I skipped my post workout drink since I really didn’t even do a full workout. I was just starting to get going when I hurt my back. Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Pro Complex
Meal 2 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal and ½ cup blueberries
Meal 3 – (Pre-Workout Drink) – Whey Force Shake with 1 serving Waxy Maize
Meal 4 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Waxy Maize
Meal 5 – 4.09 oz lean turkey, 144 grams sweet potato, 3.03 oz broccoli
Meal 6 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 7 – 6 oz. marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans
Meal 8 – 2 servings Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet came out to 2754 calories with 284 grams of protein, 218 grams of carbs and 73 grams of fat.

Wednesday, September 12th
My weight today was at 204 pounds but the waist was still at 35”. I am supposed to travel to Atlantic City this weekend to see the last pro show on the IFBB schedule before the Mr. Olympia takes place in Las Vegas on September 29th. I hope my back gets better before then because I don’t want to be in excruciating pain.

I was able to get into see the chiropractor today at 9:30 in the morning and get my back treated with the electrical stim and deep tissue massage. It didn’t really make it feel much better but it was worth it to get the blood flowing in the area.

After going to the chiropractor, I had to travel about 45 minutes to train a client in their home and then go get my haircut. When I got out of the chair after getting my haircut, my back was in so much pain, I could hardly move.

I iced my back when I got back home and then I had another client at night followed by the chiropractor again (this time it was for my knee) at 7:10 at night. My back was actually worse today than yesterday. It usually takes 6-7 days before my back is better when I throw it out like this.

Thursday, September 13th
I had to get up early today to train a client at 6am. My back was really in a lot of pain when I got up this morning. It’s always worse in the morning when I get up and then it starts to feel better the more I move around.

I didn’t know if I should try and go to the gym or not today because I didn’t think I would be able to do anything without making my back worse. It hurt to even walk, that’s how bad the strain was.

I decided to go anyway and try and do some shoulders with Matt. Any kind of dumbbell press was completely out, even when I used very light weights. I thought I would try and just do some machine exercises and see how that went. I was able to do some light seated machine presses and I supersetted them with lateral raises on a machine. I did about 4 supersets with these two exercises and I got a decent pump.

I went over to the cable cross-over machine next and supersetted cable upright rows with bent-over cable lateral raises. The upright rows were hard even though they were really light because the lower back was strained from pulling the weight up from the floor. I only did 2 sets of this exercise but I did 3 sets of the cable bent-over lateral raises.

I was able to do calves with Matt. We did 4 sets of Donkey Calf Raises followed by 3 sets of Seated Calf Raises. I didn’t want to do Standing or Face Down Calf Raises on the machine because of the compression on the lower back. Obviously, not a good workout but I did what I could. The lower back actually felt much better after the workout because I was moving around and it loosened up a little. I even did 15 minutes on the treadmill after calves and that really helped to make my back a little looser.

My bodyweight was down to 204 pounds today and the waist was at 35”. Here is exactly 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) – Whey Force Shake with 1 serving of BCAA and Creatine
Meal 4 – (Post workout) – 3 scoops After Max, 1 serving BCAA + Creatine
Meal 5 – 4 oz. lean turkey, 148 grams sweet potato, 3.25 oz broccoli
Meal 6 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 7 – 6 oz. marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans
Meal 8 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet came out to 2762 calorie with 313 grams of protein, 206.4 grams of carbs and 68.5 grams of fat.

Friday, September 14th
My back was still killing me today so I decided to skip my leg workout. I didn’t think I would be able to the leg press because I would feel the strain in my lower back when I lowered the weight.

I went to the chiropractor in the morning to have my back treated again. Since I didn’t train today, I went pretty low on the calories and carbs just like a typical off-day. My bodyweight was still at 204 pounds and the waist was still at 35”. The fat loss is very slow now because I can’t train hard and I’m not burning enough calories or glycogen.
Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – Whey Force Shake, 1 serving BCAA + Creatine
Meal 3 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 serving Whey Gold Standard and 1 serving of BCAA + Creatine
Meal 4 – 4.13 oz lean turkey, 152 grams sweet potato
Meal 5 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 6 – 4 oz. round steak, ½ cup green peas, 1 t. peanut butter
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil.

This came out to 2233 calories with 246 grams of protein, 141 grams of carbs and 63 grams of fat.

At night, I went to my other chiropractor to get my knee treated. When he asked me how my leg workout went this week, I told him I had to skip it because my back was so strained. So, instead of treating my knee, he decided to treat my lower back with the electrical stim and heat. This was my second treatment in the same day. Hopefully, it will help for the weekend when I travel to Atlantic City.

Saturday, September 15th
I got up really early today to leave for the airport. Thankfully, my lower back was much better. It was still strained but not super painful like it had been for the last 4 days. I was able to walk around much better compared to earlier in the week.

My flight left at 7:55 am for Philadelphia. All the direct flights to Atlantic City were sold out so I had to fly to Philly and then drive out to Atlantic City. This was my first time in either city and the drive was very nice. New Jersey was very nice with trees lining the highway on my way to Atlantic City. I guess that’s why they call it the Garden State.

I checked into my hotel at the Sheraton and went out to get some dinner at the Hard Rock Café in the Taj Mahal casino before going to the show. I got some press passes from Bodybuilding.com to cover the show for them.

The contest looked like it was going to have a very small crowd until it got started and then it filled up nearly all the seats. The Atlantic City Pro was an extremely long contest!
In addition to the Men’s Professional Show, it also featured a Figure Pro Show, a Fitness Pro Show, a Pro Women’s Bodybuilding Show, a National Wheelchair Division and an Amateur Figure Division. The whole show took over 4 hours! If you would like to read my report on the show, go to http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/johnh8.htm

Sunday, September 16th
I caught an early flight out of Philadelphia after driving back to the airport from Atlantic City. Atlantic City was nice but it’s no Vegas. I’m looking forward to going to the Big Show in a couple weeks. My training and diet have been way off track these last few months due to injuries and not sticking 100% to the game plan. However, I am not going to slow down. I will keep going forward and turn things around. The injuries come and go in this game, especially when you have been training as long and as hard as I have.

One thing I have learned with all my experience is that everything goes in cycles. When you are training hard and feeling good, it doesn’t last forever (unfortunately). Sooner or later, you will hit a slump or experience injuries or something. Conversely, when you are going through a bad time, like the last two months that I’ve experienced with three injuries at one time, it eventually gets better. The injuries heal up and the body starts to respond again. I think I’m headed for that good growth spurt again!

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