My Road to the Olympia Week Nine
by: John Hansen - August 30th, 2007
My Road to the Olympia Time to Add the Cardio
Monday, August 27th
I am starting the week in a bad position. I succumbed to temptation last night and had a few chocolate chip cookies that were laying around the house. As a result, my waist was back up to 35 ½” this morning (dammit!) and my weight was up to 209.5 pounds. When I weighed myself at the gym, my weight with my clothes on was an astounding 219.3 pounds! Wow, like I said last week, there is no room for any cheating at my age.
I met Matt at the gym today for back and biceps. This is really the only workout I can do without pain because it doesn’t affect my elbows or my knees. As a result, I gave it everything I had today. Here is what I did at the gym:
Close-Grip Pulldowns 130x15, 180x10
Wide-Grip Chins BWx12, BWx11, BWx9
One-Arm DB Rows 110x12, 130x10, 140x6
T-Bar Rows 3 45 pound plates plus a 25 x 10, 4 plates plus a 25x8,
5 plates plus a 25x6
Hyper-Extensions BWx20, 45 lb plate held to chest x 15 reps followed by
12 reps with my bodyweight for 2 sets
Alternate DB Curls 45x11, 55x9, 65x6
Preacher Curls 90x10, 110x8
Reverse Barbell Curls 100x10, 110x8
Wrist Curls 115x12, 135x8, 135x7
I also did 20 minutes of cardio today after the workout. I did the treadmill at 3.3 mph with the incline set at 8. This was a good workout today. I was stronger on One-Arm DB Rows and I did more reps on Alternate DB Curls and Preacher Curls so the workout was a little bit better than the last workout.
I was obviously back on the diet today. I tried to keep the carbs around 200 grams and the protein close to 300 grams. Here is what I ate today:
Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – (Pre-Workout) – 1 serving Whey Gold Standard, 1 serving CGT (Creatine, Glutamine, Taurine)
Meal 3 – (Post Workout) – 3 scoops After Max, 1 serving CGT
Meal 4 – 3.7 oz. lean turkey, 109 grams sweet potato, 3.17 oz broccoli
Meal 5 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 serving Pro Complex, 1 serving Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 6 – 6 oz. marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans
Meal 7 – Whey Force Shake, 1 t. peanut butter.
Meal 8 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Casein Protein and 1 T. flaxseed oil.
This came out to 2754 calories with 291 grams of protein, 213 grams of carbs and 75 grams of fat. The breakdown for today’s diet is 42% protein, 31% carbs and 25% fats.
Tuesday, August 28th
OK, back on track today! My weight was up for some reason to 210 pounds but the waist did go down slightly to 35 ¼”. It would be great if I could get my waist back down to 34 ¾” by the end of the week.
I took the day off today from the gym so I kept the carbs and calories lower. I ate less than 150 grams of carbohydrates which is the strategy for my off days. 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 – 3.7 oz. lean turkey, 150 grams sweet potato, 3 oz broccoli
Meal 4 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 serving Pro Complex, 1 serving Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil.
Meal 5 – 3.6 oz. round steak, ½ cup green peas
Meal 6 – 9 egg whites, 1 t. peanut butter
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Today’s diet came out to 2371 calories with 279 grams of protein, 141.5 grams of carbs and 63 grams of fat. The breakdown for today’s diet was 48% protein, 25% carbs and 25% fats.
Wednesday, August 29th
My weight was down to 207.5 pounds this morning and the waist was still at 35 ¼”. I was supposed to train delts and calves today but my morning turned out to be busier than I expected so Matt and I trained at different times.
I told Matt I was going to do my partial leg workout today and then we could train delts and calves tomorrow when we train together. I decided to go to the gym later in the afternoon or evening.
I was able to get in to see John Spalla, my chiropractor, today so he could examine my knee to determine if I need a MRI. He did all kinds of strength tests on the knee and nothing hurt when he was examining it. The knee doesn’t’ hurt at all during the day when I am doing everyday activities but it kills me when I am training legs.
Dr. John said the pain is coming from the patella tendon and he thinks it might be arthritis or just inflammation of the tendon. John did ultrasound on the knee today along with electrical stim. John recommended that I do not train legs today, not even hamstrings, to let the knee rest and give it a chance to heal. He did tell me to ice it though so, instead of going to the gym tonight to train legs, I went home and iced my knee for a good 30 minutes.
Since it was another day off from the gym, I kept the carbs and calories low again. Here is what I ate today:
Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup of blueberries
Meal 2 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop of Pro Complex, 1 scoop of Egg Protein and 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 3 – 4.02 oz lean turkey, 125 grams of sweet potato, 3.63 oz broccoli
Meal 4 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop of Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein Protein
Meal 5 – 6 oz marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans
Meal 6 – 9 egg whites, 1 t. peanut butter
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Today’s diet came out to only 2422 calories with 290 grams of protein, 135 grams of carbs and 72 grams of fats. This breaks down to 48% protein, 22% carbs and 27% fats. I can’t wait to get back to the gym tomorrow to train delts and calves. The higher carb intake should help stimulate my metabolism and I’m sure the waist will be smaller by the end of the week.
Thursday, August 30th
Today was my last workout of the week because I am going out of town this weekend for the holiday. I am visiting my good friend Jay out in Texas and I’m looking forward to getting away for a few days. I’ve actually never been to Texas before so it should be fun.
I met Matt at the gym in the morning to train delts, traps and calves. Matt actually did shoulders yesterday and he was doing legs today when I was training delts and calves. I started out with Seated Military Presses doing 1 ½ reps. I bought some elbow wraps yesterday in the hope that it would help out with the tendonitis in my tricep tendon. Unfortunately, the wrap wasn’t much help and I just endured the pain during the Presses.
Because I was doing the 1 ½ reps, I wasn’t using too heavy of a weight. I started with a warm-up set using 95 lbs for 12 reps. For my first set using the 1 ½ reps, I started with 135 pounds for 10 reps then went up to 165 lbs for 8 reps and I finished with 185 pounds for 5 reps. This is the heaviest I’ve gone on Seated Military’s using the 1 ½ reps.
I took the elbow wrap off and moved onto Standing Side Laterals. I started with the 45’s for 12 easy reps and then moved onto the 50’s for my second set of 10 reps. For my last two sets, I went up to the 55’s for 8 reps each set. On the fourth and final set, I did a drop set with the 40’s for another 6 reps.
Bent-over Lateral Raises were next and I started with the 40’s for 12 good reps. I went up to the 45’s next for 8 reps and then finished off with the 50’s on my last set for 6 reps. That was it for delts and I started traps next with Seated Barbell Shrugs.
For the Barbell Shrugs, I started with 225 for 12 reps for the first set. For the next set, I went up to 315 pounds for an easy 10 reps. For the third set, I went up to 365 lbs for 8 easy reps and I finished with 385 lbs for another 8 reps.
I finished the workout with calves, starting off with the Donkey Calf Raises. I used Matt on my back (182 lbs) plus another 45 pound plate strapped to the weight belt for my first set of 25 reps. For the next two sets, I used Matt plus 3 45 lbs plates (135 lbs) for 25 reps each set.
I was going to finish off with Leg Press Calf Raises but someone was using it and he looked like he was going to be on it all day so I did the Standing Calf Raises facing down on an angle. I started with 260 lbs for 10 reps for the first set and finished with 280 lbs for 10 reps on the second set.
After the workout, I did cardio for 20 minutes on the treadmill. I set the treadmill at 3.2 mph with the incline set at 8. This was a good pace and my heart was going pretty good at this level. I haven’t done cardio in so long, 20 minutes is pretty tough for me now.
My bodyweight today was at 207 pounds at home in the morning and the waist was still at 35”. I ate my typical workout day diet today, increasing the calories to 3017 calories with 301 grams of protein, 262 grams of carbs and 75 grams of fat. This breaks down to 40% protein, 35% carbs and 22% fats.
Friday, August 31st
Woke up at 4:30 am today to catch my plane to Texas for the weekend. I was happy to see the waist went down today to 34 ¾” with my weight at 206.5 pounds when I got up. I ate my normal breakfast today and then took off for O’Hare Airport in Chicago.
When I got to the airport, I bought a Tuna Fish sandwich on whole wheat since we are not allowed to carry any liquids on the plane anymore. I remember I used to always bring a protein drink or two with me whenever I flew but those days are long gone.
My friend Jay (short for Jacinda) picked me up at the Dallas – Fort Worth airport at 10:00 am and we started our holiday weekend. Our first stop was the Stockyards in Fort Worth. This is where they actually bring out the horses and cattle (Long Horns) and you can watch them corral the animals while you eat.
My diet was obviously a little bit off this weekend as we ate at restaurants for most of our meals. I sampled a few margaritas before we went back to Jay’s house. I was scheduled to interview WWE superstar and ABB spokesperson John Cena today for an article in IronMan Magazine. Of course, we were originally supposed to do the interview over 2 weeks ago but due to John’s extremely busy schedule, our interview kept getting pushed back. I didn’t want to work when I was technically on vacation but I knew with his crazy schedule, if we didn’t do it now, it would never get done.
After the interview with John Cena was finished, Jay and I went for a swim in the hot Texas weather and enjoyed the rest of the day. At least I got a little bit of workout in the pool.
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