My Road to the Olympia Week Ten

by: John Hansen - September 9th, 2007

My Road to the Olympia

Back from the Holiday

Monday, September 3rd
I got back from my vacation last night and was back on track today. I was surprised to see my weight go all the way up to 214 pounds this morning compared to the 206.5 pounds I was when I left on Friday. A lot of this is undoubtedly water from the restaurant food I consumed over the weekend and I’m sure I will be much lighter tomorrow.

Unfortunately, the waist was also up from my little vacation weekend. I was finally down to 34 ¾” on Friday morning before I left and it was way up to 35 ½” today. Hopefully, it will come down at least a half inch this week so I’m in the 34’s when I get to Vegas.

I went back to the gym this morning to train chest, triceps and calves. This damn tendonitis in my left elbow keeps getting worse and it really messed up today’s workout. I started out with DB Bench Press and it kept getting more painful the heavier I went. The 100’s were tough but the 120’s were impossible. I decided to just stay with the 100’s, which were pretty easy for 10-12 reps.

I tried to do Incline Barbell Presses next but no way, no how. I haven’t been able to do the barbell presses with this bad elbow for the past few weeks. I went back to the dumbbells for Incline DB Presses and just stayed with a few sets with the 100’s. The 100 pound dumbbells are not even challenging for me but I knew it would kill my elbow to go heavier.

I finished chest with Incline Flyes with the 80’s and 85’s for 3 sets. I was pretty frustrated at this point in the workout because of all my injuries. Between my bad left elbow and my bad right knee, the only workout I can do pain free now is my back and biceps workout.

Triceps were pretty much out of the question. I couldn’t do Close-Grip Bench Presses, even with a light weight. I started out with Pushdowns but I went really light and this was still hurting my elbow. I also did some Lying Tricep Extensions, also with a pretty light weight. Not much of a triceps workout.

I finished with calves and I was at least able to train this bodypart without any unwanted pain. I started out with Standing Calf Raises and did three sets. I did my first set with 340 pounds for 15 easy reps then went up to 440 pounds for 12 reps and finished with 540 for 10 good reps. The calves have been getting stronger over the last month.

Matt and I finished our workout with Seated Calf Raises. I started with 100 pounds for 15 reps then went up to 150 pounds for the second set for 12 reps. I finished the workout with 200 pounds for 10 reps.

As for the diet, I ate a total of 3077 calories with 316 grams of protein, 264 grams of carbs and 76 grams of fat. More tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 4th
What a difference a day makes! My weight was down to 206.5 pounds today and the waist went down to 34 ¼”. It would have been nice if the waist would have went down a ½” instead of only a ¼” but I’ll take what I can get. The 7.5 pound difference in my bodyweight was due to the sodium from the restaurant food I was eating over the weekend.

I met Matt at the gym this morning to train back and biceps. I was excited because this is really the only workout that I can do without any pain or injuries. Plus, I love training back and biceps. It’s always been my favorite workout, which is probably why those two bodyparts have always been my strongest bodyparts.

I weighed 217.3 pounds on the gym scale with my gym shoes and shorts on. Matt and I started with Close-Grip Pulldowns for two sets to warm-up. I did my first set with 130 pounds for 15 reps and my second set with 180 pounds for 12 reps.

Barbell Rows were next, the bread and butter exercise for developing thickness in the middle part (the belly of the muscle) of the lats. If you want thick lats like Dorian Yates, Lee Haney, Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler, you need to work really hard on doing some heavy rowing exercises. In my opinion, the hardest and best rowing exercise is the Bent-Over Barbell Row.

I started out with 185 pounds for 12 reps for the first set and then moved to 225 pounds for 10 reps for the second set. For the “work sets”, I started with 275 pounds for 7 reps and then went to 285 pounds for 6 reps on the last set. This exercise is one of the few that keeps going up each time I do it. I should be back up to 295 pounds in no time.

Matt and I were supposed to do Seated Cable Rows next but I only got through one set. I was still feeling a little run down from my weekend out of town and it really hit me hard after my first set of Seated Cable Rows. I felt like my glands in my throat were starting to get a little swollen yesterday and now, I felt like I had completely run out of gas and was just SPENT.

I wisely stopped the workout after the second set of Seated Cable Rows and just stuck around the gym to be there for Matt if he needed me to spot him or just motivate him when he did heavy Deadlfts. The strong bastard got 365 pounds for 3 solid reps on the Deadlft today! Pretty damn good for a guy who only weighs 180 pounds and has only been lifting seriously for the last couple years.

With my diet today, I was a little lower in protein than normal because I ran out of creatine so I didn’t have my normal pre-workout drink and I substituted a Speed Shot instead. Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – (Pre-workout) – Speed Shot
Meal 3 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Vassive-NO, 1 serving Waxy Maize
Meal 4 – (Post workout) – 3 scoops of After Max
Meal 5 – 4.41 oz. ground turkey, 129 grams sweet potato, 3 oz. broccoli
Meal 6 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop of Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 7 – Whey Force Shake
Meal 8 – 3.49 oz. round steak, ½ cup green peas
Meal 9 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops of Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil and 1 t. peanut butter.

My total calories for today came out to 2733.5 with 263 grams of protein, 240 grams of carbs and 66 grams of fat.

Wednesday, September 5th
Today was my day off from the gym. I took a 90 minute nap after my workout yesterday and that was the smartest thing I could have done because I felt much better all day yesterday after that nap. I was off today and I should be ok for the rest of the week.

I also made an appointment to see a chiropractor on Friday about my knee and elbow. This particular chiropractor is one of the best in the area and he helped me overcome a strain in my rotator cuff the last time I competed in 2004. I’m pretty confident he can help me to get over these injuries so I can train heavy and hard again.

My bodyweight in the morning was at 207.5 pounds and the waist was still holding at 35 ¼”. I’m confident the waist will get down to 35 inches by the weekend and I should go to Vegas at around 34 ½”. Not the measurement I was hoping for but things didn’t exactly go according to plan this time. That’s what happens sometimes, the injuries pop up and you just have to overcome them and do the best you can.

Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop of Pro Complex and 1 scoop of Whey Gold Standard
Meal 2 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal and ½ cup of blueberries
Meal 3 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop of Pro Complex, 1 scoop of Casein protein and 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 4 – 3.67 oz ground turkey, 150 grams sweet potato, 3.21 oz broccoli
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 and 1 T. flaxseed oil.

Today’s diet came out to 2449 calories with 290 grams of protein, 141 grams of carbs and 72 grams of fat. This breaks down to 47% protein, 23% carbs and 26% fat.

Thursday, September 6th
My bodyweight this morning was at 207 pounds with my waist still holding at 35 ¼”. I also measured my bodyfat using my new Skyndex Calipers and it was up a little to 9.2%, about a percentage point above where it was a few weeks ago. Time to get that number down. When I get it to 5%, I should be really lean and ripped. I want to get it to that number before the end of the year and before the holidays so I start out 2008 in good physical condition.

Matt and I went to the gym at 11am today to train shoulders and calves. My bodyweight at the gym was 215.5 pounds so that was down a little from a few days ago. I was hoping to get through this workout without too much pain. I knew the Dumbbell Presses was going to be hard on my elbow but, if I could get past that, I would be ok for the rest of the workout. Here is how the workout went:

Seated DB Press 45x15, 70x12
90x10, 90x10 supersetted with
Seated Lateral Raises 35x12, 40x10
45x10, 50x8
Upright Rows 135x10, 155x8
Lying Side Lateral Raises 30x12, 35x10, 35x10
DB Shrugs 110x12, 130x8
Donkey Calf Raises 180 plus 45x25, 180 plus 135 x 25x2
Face Down Calf Raises 260x12, 280x10x2

The Seated DB Presses were pretty painful with the 90’s but I got through it and did 10 reps each set pretty easily. I supersetted the heavy sets with Seated Side Laterals to make it a little harder. I finished with two heavier sets of the Seated Side Laterals.

By the time I got to calves, I was feeling wiped out again. I guess I’m not totally over whatever it was I had at the beginning of the week. I didn’t do any cardio this week because I was feeling a little wiped out. I’m just glad I didn’t get sick which would have really put me back.

Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal and ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – (Pre-workout) – Speed Shot
Meal 3 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Vassive-NO, 1 serving Waxy Maize
Meal 4 – (Post Workout) – 3 scoops After Max
Meal 5 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Whey Gold, 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 6 – 3.88 oz ground turkey, 130 grams sweet potato, 3.63 oz broccoli
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein protein
Meal 8 – 3.77 oz round steak, ½ cup green peas
Meal 9 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

This came out to 2762 calories with 289 grams of protein, 224 grams of carbs and 59 grams of fat.

Friday, September 7th
My bodyweight was at 206.5 pounds with a 35 ¼” waist this morning. I was scheduled to train legs today and my leg workouts for the last month or so have been pretty much non-existent because of my knee problem. However, the other day, I was checking out Dave Goodin’s blog on the IronMan Magazine website and I was really impressed with his dedication to training. Dave recently competed in this year’s Team Universe contest where he placed an impressive second place in the welterweight class.

In a freak accident the day after the contest, Dave tore his hamstring when he tripped on the corner of his bed in his hotel room. As a result, Dave had to have surgery to repair the torn tendon. Despite being on crutches, Dave did a guest posing exhibition shortly after his surgery and he has been in the gym on leg days training is one good leg.

After reading about Dave and his dedication to training, I decided that I was no longer going to sit on the sidelines on leg day. I would go in and do what I could do which is typically one basic exercise before my knee goes into pain overload. After that, I would continue my workout by training on my one good leg and then finishing with hamstrings.

That is what I did today when I met Matt at the gym at 10:30am for our workout. I started with abs, which I missed last week when I missed my leg workout. I supersetted hanging knee raises with kneeling cable crunches. I did 35 reps on the first set of hanging knee raises and 25 reps on the second set. For the kneeling cable crunches, I used 150 pounds for 25 reps on the first set and 170 pounds for 15 reps on the second set.

For legs, I started with Leg Extensions on the Flex machine. I started with 150 pounds for 20 reps, 180 pounds for 15 reps on the second set and 225 pounds for 10 reps on the last set. Then, it was time for Squats.

It’s been a couple weeks since I did squats so I started slow with just 135 pounds for 12 reps. I went up to 225 pounds for another 12 reps on the second set and everything was feeling good. For the third set, I went up to 275 pounds for 10 reps and finished with a set with 315 pounds for 8 reps. I did start to feel my knee hurting a little on the last set so I knew I should stop there but it felt GREAT to squat again.

I went on to Leg Presses next. I used my left leg only and used 2 plates on each side of the machine for 12 reps. I could feel my upper thigh and glute on the left side of my body working hard on the set. I went up to 3 plates on each side for another 12 reps on the second set and finished with 4 plates on each side of the machine for 10 reps on the last set.

I started hamstrings with Leg Curls. My first set was with 110 pounds for 12 reps, 130 pounds for 10 reps on the second set and finished with 140 pounds for 8 reps on the last set. We moved to Stiff-leg Deadlifts to finish the workout. I used 185 pounds for the first set for 12 reps on the first set and 225 pounds on the second set for 10 reps.

After the workout, I went to visit the chiropractor for my knee and elbow problems. He focused more on my knee on this visit. He said it was inflammation of my patella tendon and he knew EXACTLY where the pain was. I tell you, this guy is good.

He hooked my knee up the electrical stim machine and he had the pads on just the right spot. As I was reading the latest Newsweek article about how the U.S. let Osama bin Laden slip out of their hands and started the war in Iraq to engage in a war we could win, my knee was throbbing in all the right places every 2 seconds as the current went into my patella tendon. Hopefully, I’ll be as good as new in a few weeks. Until then, I’ll be back in the office on Monday.

I stayed in tonight so I did very well on my diet today. I ate more calories but, hey, I actually did my leg workout today so I deserved it! Here is what I ate today:

Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – (Pre-Workout) – Speed Shot
Meal 3 – (During Workout) – 1 serving Vassive-CE, 1 serving Waxy Maize
Meal 4 – (Post Workout) – 3 scoops After Max, 1 serving Vassive-CE
Meal 5 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Whey Gold, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Meal 6 – 4.06 oz ground turkey, 152 grams sweet potato, 3.39 oz broccoli
Meal 7 – 6 oz marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans
Meal 8 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein protein, 1 t. peanut butter
Meal 9 – Whey Force Shake
Meal 10 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein Protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

Today’s diet came out to 3100 calories with 321 grams of protein, 259 grams of carbs and 77 grams of fats.

Saturday, September 8th
Today my weight was down to 205.5 pounds and the waist finally was back down to 35”. Took a whole week to get there but it finally came down. Today was a day off from the gym.

Sunday, September 9th
I did go out last night for a while with some friends. I stuck with the bottled water and didn’t have any restaurant food until the end of the night. I was hungry at the end of the night so I went out with a friend for breakfast. However, I only ate 6 egg whites and one slice of whole wheat toast with iced tea. No turkey sandwiches dipped in gravy this time.

This slight cheat meal did push the weight back up to 207 pounds this morning and the waist was up to 35 ¼” again. However, I’m hoping it is only a little sodium this time and I will be back to 35” tomorrow and 34 ¾” by the end of the week.

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 – 3.7 oz ground turkey, 121 grams sweet potato, 3.03 oz broccoli
Meal 4 – 6 oz marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans
Meal 5 – Protein Drink consisting of 1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Egg Protein
Meal 6 – Whey Force Shake, 1 t. peanut butter
Meal 7 – Protein Drink consisting of 2 scoops Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil

This came out to 2365 calories with 276 grams protein, 138 grams carbohydrates and 71 grams of fats. This was really low calories and carbs so it will be great to get back to the gym tomorrow.

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