My Road to the Olympia Week Three

by: John Hansen - July 17th, 2007

My Road to the Olympia

Week 3 – Time to get Serious!


Monday, July 16th
Wow what a difference a weekend makes! I have been cheating way too much on the diet lately and now it’s time to get serious. Saturday was my Dad’s 70th Birthday and we had a surprise party for him at my brother’s house. I knew I was going to be off my diet that day but I didn’t think it would make that much of a difference. I had my fair share of sweets but I didn’t go crazy so I didn’t think it would make that much of an impact. WRONG!

I didn’t measure my waist on Sunday but it was back up to 35 ½” on Saturday before the party. Yesterday, I was off the diet again but not from eating any cheat meals. It was just an off day from not eating my normal schedule of meals and only eating about 4 meals instead of my typical 7 meals.

Today, I was shocked to see my waist expanded way up to 35 ¾” with my weight at 212.5 pounds. I can feel the extra inches on my waist and it’s time to get serious now. NO MORE CHEATING UNTIL VEGAS!!!! That’s my new mantra for the next 11 weeks. If I stay strict until then, I should hit my peak in time for the beautiful pools of Vegas. The only day that will be hard to stick to the diet will be July 28th when I promote my first bodybuilding competition. I am sure I will be running around like crazy that day and I might miss a meal or two but, other than that, this diet is going to be rock solid from now on!

I was also inspired today by the great physiques at the Team Universe over the weekend. I saw the photos on the internet and I was really impressed with a couple of the guys, especially Chris Faildo and Dave Goodin. I’ve known Chris several years and my friend Dennis is very good friends with him. I’ve heard from Dennis over the last few months how hard he was training for this show and how he was preparing to win the overall, no doubt about it! I was really impressed with how great Chris looked for this contest. He looked bigger and thicker than ever and he was also ripped and hard as a rock.

Dave Goodin was also really impressive. Dave is not a big guy, weighing only 165-170 pounds at 5’8” but he looks bigger than he is and he is ripped to shreds. I was reading his blog on IronManMagazine.com and I liked how he used a skin caliper device to measure his progress and to help determine if he was ready for the contest. I couldn’t get down to 170 pounds if I wanted to but I was really impressed with how big Dave looked just from being so ripped and lean. This is all at the young age of 48 years old, by the way!

Today, Matt and I went back to the chest and back superset that we did two weeks ago. Unfortunately, I had a bad headache when I walked into the gym but I decided to workout anyway. Sometimes the headaches go away when you start training and other time, they get worse with every set. Today was one of those days when it kept getting worse with each set but I went through it anyway.

I also had a strained back today for some reason. I strained the left side of my lower back yesterday just getting out of my chair after writing at my computer. It was really bothering me last night and it made it hard to go to sleep because I just couldn’t get comfortable. I was hoping it would be better in time for my chest and back workout but it was still hurting when I went to the gym.

We started out with bench presses supersetted with close-grip pulldowns. I did a warm-up set of benches with 135x15 and supersetted them with close-grip pulldowns using 130 pounds for 15 reps. My next set had me doing 225 for 12 reps with close-grip pulldowns using 180 pounds for 12 reps.

For the next three sets of bench presses, I supersetted them with wide-grip chins. I used 275 for 6 reps and then 295 for only two sets of 4 reps. For the chins, I increased the reps from last time doing 10, 10 and 9 reps, respectively.

Our next superset consisted of incline dumbbell presses and one-arm dumbbell rows. I used the same weights as I did for out last workout. I used the 100 pound dumbbells for 11 reps and supersetted them with one-arm dumbbell rows with the 110 pound dumbbell for 10 reps. For the next two sets, I used the 120 pound dumbbells for 7 and 5 reps on incline dumbbell presses and the 130 pound dumbbell for 8 and 6 reps on the one-arm dumbbell rows. My head was really pounding on this superset because it was worse whenever I bent over and the blood went to my head.

Next up was flat dumbbell flyes supersetted with t-bar rows. I used the 80 pound dumbbells for the first set of flyes for 10 reps and I tried to superset them with t-bar rows but my strained lower back wouldn’t allow it. I got about 8 reps on the t-bar rows before I had to stop because of my lower back. I decided not to do the t-bar rows today and risk hurting the back anymore so I just did two more sets of dumbbell flyes using the 85 pound dumbbells for 8 reps each set.

To finish off, Matt and I did two sets of dumbbell pull-overs using the 100 pound dumbbell for 10-12 reps for each set and then we did hyper-extensions for the lower back. We did three sets of hyper-extensions. I used my bodyweight for the first set for 20 reps and then used a 45 pound plate for 15 reps followed by an additional 12 reps without the extra weight for two more sets.

As for the diet today, I was back on track finally. I ate 3100 calories today with 336 grams of protein, 279 grams of carbs and 57 grams of fat. I will need to bring the carbs down a little more as the diet progresses so I can keep losing the fat consistently.

Tuesday, July 17
I woke up today and my waist was back down to 35 ½” just from getting back on track yesterday. Unfortunately, my lower back was pretty strained for some reason. I don’t remember hurting it too much during the chest and back superset the day before but it was definitely strained.

I have compressed discs in my lower back so I always have to be super careful when I train. The possibility of injuring my lower back is high because it can’t take much strain or pressure due to the compressed discs. I strained the left side of my back on Sunday from basically doing nothing and the strain moved to my whole lower back yesterday during the rowing movements of my back workout. Today, the strain was MUCH more pronounced on the right side of my lower back, which is where it usually hurts.

I didn’t think my back strain would affect my workout since I was only doing arms today. Matt and I were scheduled to superset our biceps and triceps today. This is usually a good workout as long as I can warm-up my joints. I normally train triceps after my chest workout and my elbows are warmed up at that point. Doing triceps first requires a lot of warming up to get my old elbows oiled up.

I got to the gym a little before Matt did so I did a few very light sets of one-arm pushdowns using a regular and reverse grip. My poor elbows felt like they were going break off at first but after about 50-100 reps later, I was able to slowly start the workout.

For the first exercise, Matt and I just did 4 sets of tricep pushdowns to get a good pump in my triceps which are weaker than my biceps. I started out with 50 pounds for 30 reps and then used 70 pounds for 20 reps before starting the real sets. For my first “real” set, I used 100 pounds for 12 reps, then 110 pounds for 10 reps and finally 120 pounds for 10 reps.

For our first superset, Matt and I supersetted tricep extensions on a decline bench with standing alternating dumbbell curls. For the first set, I used 80 pounds on the tricep ext. for 15 reps and 35 pound dumbbells for the alternate dumbbell curls for 12 reps. The second set had me doing 100 pounds for 12 reps on the tricep extensions and 45 pound dumbbells curls for 10 reps. For the third set, I used 120 pounds for 10 reps on the tricep extensions and 55 pound dumbbells for 9 reps on the dumbbell curls. On my last set, I used 140 pounds on the decline tricep extensions for 9 reps and the 65 pound dumbbells for 7 reps on the bicep curls.

My arms were super pumped when Matt and I moved to the next superset – parallel bar dips for the triceps and barbell preacher curls for the biceps. For the first set, I used only my bodyweight for 10 easy reps on the dips and then used 90 pounds for the preacher curls for 10 reps. For the second superset, I strapped on a 45 pound plate to the lifting belt and did 9 reps on dips and followed that up with 100 pounds on the preacher curls for 8 reps. For my last superset, I again used a 45 pound plate along with my bodyweight for resistance for 8 reps on the dips and increased the weight on the preacher curls to 110 pounds for 8 reps.

My arms were toast by now but we finished off with two sets each of reverse barbell curls for the forearms and bicep brachialis muscle and dumbbell kickbacks for the triceps. I used 100 pounds for 10 reps on the first set of reverse curls and a 30 pound dumbbell for kickbacks for the triceps. For my second and final set, I used 110 pounds for reverse curls for 8 reps and a 35 pound dumbbell for 10 reps on the dumbbell kickbacks.

Matt and I finished off with barbell wrist curls for the forearms. I used 115 pounds for 12 reps for the first set and then finished off with 135 pounds for 2 sets of 8 reps for the last two sets.

My diet today was pretty similar to yesterday. I ate 3012 calories with 326 grams of protein, 253 grams of carbs and 70.5 grams of fat. I’m going to have to bring the carbs down closer to 200 on a training day to really start losing the fat.

Wednesday, July 18th

Today was my off day from training. My back was absolutely killing me today! I don’t know what the hell I did to it yesterday because I really didn’t do any exercises directly involving the lower back. However, it was severely strained today, especially on the right side.

It was hurting so bad that I had to go to my old personal training studio and grab my inversion boots. I just recently moved my base of operations (read personal training business) to a new gym called Elite Gym and Fitness in Western Springs, IL. Before that, I was sharing a training studio with my friend Greg out in Hinsdale, IL. Since Greg now lives in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and doesn’t want to continue the studio in Hinsdale because of the obviously long commute, I have decided to move all my clients to the new gym in Western Springs.

I bought a pair of inversion boots, you know the kind where you strap them to your ankles and literally hang upside down from a chinning bar to achieve traction on the spine and decompress the vertebra, about a month ago and they really help to make my back feel better when it’s hurting. I haven’t used them in about a month because I left them in the old studio. My back was hurting so bad today, I went to the studio to retrieve them and went to my gym in the afternoon when I had some time to hang upside down. After four minutes of traction, my back did feel some relief but the strain did not go away and I spent the rest of the day very uncomfortable to say the least.

I’m not sure what kind of workouts I will be able to get in the next two days because of the back strain. I was hoping to do squats on Friday when I do legs but that is almost certainly out now. Tomorrow is delts and calves so I’ll have to come up with something creative to train the delts. Maybe I can do a tri-set of some type to use lighter weights but still get a good pump and burn.

I spent most of my day attending to details about my upcoming contest that I am promoting. For those of you who don’t know, I am promoting my first bodybuilding, fitness and figure contest next weekend on July 28th. I was a little worried about getting enough competitors to compete at first but the response has been overwhelming the last few weeks and we are now up to 45 competitors. Since I don’t have a partner that I am promoting the show with, it is up to me to handle all the details when it comes to writing down all the entries, figuring out who paid and who needs to pay, the trophies, the tickets to the show, the sponsors, the drug testing appointments, etc, etc. The work involved is really extensive but I am honestly having a great time putting it all together and it should be a really fun event. For more info on the contest, check out my website at www.naturalolympia.com. If you are in the Chicago area, I hope you can make it out to see the show.

Thursday, July 19th
I wasn’t expecting too much from today’s workout because my back was in so much pain all week. I didn’t know what I could do for my shoulders today because of the back. By the time I got to the gym, however, it was about 6:30pm and my back wasn’t feeling as strained as it was the last two days. We were supposed to start out with seated military presses so I thought I would give it a shot and see how it worked.

I did the 1 ½ reps today for military presses so I wouldn’t have to go as heavy. I warmed up with only 95 pounds and my back didn’t feel that bad. This exercise actually forces my lower back to tighten up and flex so, to my surprise, it was not making my back worse and it actually started to feel better. For the next three sets, I used 135 pounds for 10 reps, 155 pounds for 8 reps and 175 pounds for 6 reps using the 1 ½ reps method.

My delts were really pumped now so we moved to standing side laterals next. I started off 5 pounds heavier than last time, grabbing the 45 pound dumbbells for 12 reps for the first set. Then, I used the 50’s for 10 reps and stuck with the 55’s for the last two sets. I did 8 reps on my first set with the 55’s and then 7 reps for the last set followed by a drop set with the 40’s for 6 reps.

We did bent-over lateral raises next for the rear delts. I started with the 40’s for 10 reps then finished with the 45 pound dumbbells for the last two sets for 8 reps on the last two sets.

For the traps, we did Seated Barbell Shrugs sitting at the end of a bench. I started with 225 pounds for 12 reps then did 315 pounds for 10 reps for the second set. I used 365 pounds for 10 reps on the third set and then finished off 20 pounds heavier than the last workout for the last set, 385 pounds for 8 reps.

After finishing up delts and traps, Matt, Paul and I started donkey calf raises for the calves. Since Paul was much heavier than Matt, I had him sit on my back after my first warm-up set. I strapped on another 135 pounds on the weight belt and had Paul sit on my back. Paul weighs 240 pounds so with the extra weight, I was pushing up 375 pounds with my calves. There was so much weight on the first set, my heels hit rock bottom when Paul sat on my back. I did two sets with this substantial weight for 20 and 15 reps, respectively.

We finished with calf raises on the leg press machine for 3 sets of 12 reps. I used 6 plates on each side for the first set, 7 plates on the second set and 8 plates on the third set. Very good workout today!

Friday, July 20th
Wow, this is so embarrassing! I really have to stop the partying on Thursday nights. I went out again last night with my friend Matt and my other good friend Dennis. We went to a local restaurant called Redstone in Oak Brook, Illinois. Redstone is a great restaurant with a beautiful outdoor patio overlooking a small pond. The atmosphere is awesome and, on a warm summer night, the place is packed. Thursday night is one of their busiest nights so we have been going up there the last few weeks.

I started out drinking Red Bull and vodka and soon graduated to chocolate martini’s. By the end of the night, I was pretty buzzed and I suggested we go out and get something to eat. When I drink and get buzzed, my appetite goes through the roof and I have to get something to eat. We found a 24 hour restaurant in the area and I was soon devouring a hot turkey sandwich covered in gravy. Mmmmm, that really hit the spot.

Unfortunately, my body didn’t like the late night drinking and eating episode. I woke up this morning weighing 214.5 pounds with a 36” waist! Holy Fatness, Batman!! I’m going backwards instead of forwards. Now I only have 10 weeks left until the Olympia in Vegas and I’m running out of time.

I know you must be thinking “How the hell did this guy ever win the Natural Mr. Universe and Natural Mr. Olympia if he goes out drinking and eating at restaurants every week?”. Well, the answer, of course, is that cheating is not allowed when I prepare for a competition. My rule is never to eat or drink anything that will prevent me from getting ripped. I just have to stay more focused and adopt the same attitude now. It’s harder to get motivated when you are just trying to get in shape for yourself instead of getting onstage. But, I have to get serious and do it. Otherwise, I’m going to have inches of fat hanging over my swimming trunks when I hit the pools in Vegas on Olympia weekend.

My diet was right on target today and I met Matt at the gym at 5:30 p.m. for a leg workout. Even though my back was feeling better, I didn’t know how heavy I should go because my lower back was so strained all week and it was just starting to feel better. I was scheduled to do heavy pause squats today but I thought maybe it would be better to do leg presses supersetted with squats so I wouldn’t have to go so heavy.

Matt and I started out with abs before we did legs. I supersetted hanging knee raises with kneeling cable crunches. I did 40 reps on the first set of hanging knee raises and 30 reps on the second set. On the cable crunches, I used 150 pounds and did 35 reps on the first set and 25 reps on the second set.

We started legs with leg extensions on the Flex leg extension machine. I used 150 pounds for 20 reps on the first set, 180 pounds for 15 reps for the second set and 225 pounds for 11 reps on the last set.

For our leg press-squat superset, I started with 4 plates on each side of the leg press machine for 15 reps and used only 135 pounds on the bar for squats for 12 reps. My knees were killing me on the first set and I thought they just needed to warm up. I think I have some calcium deposits on the top of my left knee (or it could be the quadriceps tendon). However, my right knee has really been bothering me the last few weeks during my leg workouts. It’s a sharp shooting pain at the lock-out part of the movement. I’m trying to work through it but it doesn’t seem to be getting better or even warm up during the exercise.

For the second set, I used 6 plates on each side of the leg press machine for 12 reps and 225 pounds on the squat for 10 reps. By the time I got to the third set, my knee was really hurting during the exercise. I gritted my teeth through 12 reps using 8 plates on each side of the leg press for my third set and I put on 275 pounds on the bar for squats. Unfortunately, I only got about 3 reps before the pain in my knee made me stop.

I tried to do hack squats next but my knee was really hurting at this stage of the workout. I had to stop training quadriceps and just moved onto hamstrings. I started with leg curls on the leg curl machine. I began with 110 pounds for 12 reps then went to 130 pounds for 10 reps on the second set and 140 pounds for 8 reps on the third set.

We finished with stiff leg deadlifts for the hamstrings. I went pretty light on these in order to save the lower back from further strain. I used 185 pounds for 12 reps on the first set and 225 pounds on the second set for 10 reps.

That evening, I stayed in and stayed on the diet. No chocolate martini’s and hot turkey sandwiches tonight! I ate 2596 calories today with 270 grams of protein, 217 grams of carbohydrates and 60 grams of fat. Hopefully, I can get the waist down a little over the weekend.

Saturday, July 21st
I woke up this morning in severe pain! My rib on the left side was killing me all night. Actually, it was kind of hurting on Thursday night when I went to bed but I didn’t think much of it because it went away during the day on Friday. However, last night when I went to sleep, the pain just got more intense all night long.

I went to bed at 1:00 a.m. and only got about 4 hours of restless sleep because of the rib. I just couldn’t get comfortable no matter what position I tried to sleep in. It hurt when I layed on my left side, my right side, my back or my stomach.

I finally had to get up at 5:00 a.m. because the pain was too great. I thought my floating rib was out of place and that was the problem. I just couldn’t get comfortable no matter what I did. I called a chiropractor friend of mine from the gym to see if I could get in to see him. I knew I wouldn’t make it through the weekend if the pain was like this.

After an hour or two of getting up, my rib was much better and the pain was beginning to subside. Since I didn’t hear from my friend John, I decided to call Dr. Tim Radcliffe in Lockport, my former chiropractor. They were able to fit me in right away so I left the house in search of some relief.

Dr. Tim looked over my rib and he said I didn’t do anything to the rib because there was no pain in that area when he examined it. I told him how my back was strained earlier in the week but it was ok by the time I trained delts and calves on Thursday. Dr. Tim concluded that the muscle on the left side of my lower back was tight and it was pulling on my rib causing me the pain. He hooked up my back to the electrical stim machine along with a heating pad and that really helped to relieve the pain.

On my way back home, I got a call from Dr. John from my gym. I decided to stop by his office and get his opinion also. Dr. John said it was not the rib and he thought it was probably the lower back muscle too. He had one of his assistants massage the area and then he adjusted my back and neck.

The rest of the day, the pain was about 90% gone so I made the right move going to the two chiropractors. I was planning on just laying low all day and get back on my diet after my night out on Thursday. However, my friend Amet suggested that we take a drive out to Antioch and check out Blarney Island, which is an actual island out on the lake. You have to take a ferry to get out to the island unless, of course, you own your own boat that you can just drive up to the island.

Blarney Island is a pretty wild place. They have rock bands that play all day and everyone is just drinking and partying all day long. We got to the island around 4:30 p.m. and the longer we stayed around, the more wild and crazy it got. I saw a lot of scantily clad men and women (these were not fitness models and bodybuilders, by the way) who were absolutely wasted and hanging all over each other on the dance floor. It was almost like watching a traffic accident, a horrific sight but you can’t take your eyes off it. LOL

Anyway, I tried to stay on the diet and didn’t go overboard with the drinking. I had a few but I was in good shape compared to the rest of the crowd. This experience actually became a motivating experience to get in shape again after seeing all the exposed skin and flab on display.

I think I ate a little less than normal because I was gone all day and was not able to eat consistently. I had a couple chicken sandwiches while I was out at the Island but I didn’t go crazy.

My rib was feeling pretty good all day so I was happy about that. I ended up getting home a little after 1:00 a.m. and was ready to get back on track again.

Sunday, July 22nd
Today was really a low key day. I stayed busy getting things ready for my big contest this weekend in Romeoville, Illinois. It’s my first contest promotion and I’m pretty excited about it. I currently have 45 competitors signed up to compete so it should be a really good first show. Check out my website at www.naturalolympia.com for more info on the contest.

This is what I ate all day today:

Meal 1 – 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries
Meal 2 – Protein Drink (1 scoop Pro Complex, 1 scoop Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil)
Meal 3 – 4.09 oz. ground turkey, 128 grams of sweet potato, 3 oz. broccoli
Meal 4 – 6 oz marinated salmon, 1 cup green beans, 1 bag of popcorn
Meal 5 – 2 scoops Casein protein, 1 T. flaxseed oil.

This came out to only 2042 calories with 207 grams of protein, 149 grams of carbs and 65 grams of fat. This breaks down to 41% protein, 29% carbohydrates and 29% fats. My calories were much lower today because I got up late and I only got in 5 meals. I had to catch up on my sleep after only getting 4 hours of sleep the night before.

My rib was not bothering me at all today so hopefully it will be ok this next week when I go back to the gym on Monday.

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