My Road to the Olympia Week Two

by: John Hansen - July 15th, 2007

My Road to the Olympia

Week 2 – New Supplements and a New Challenge

Monday, July 9th
My second week in my Road to the Olympia started out with my bodyweight at 212 pounds with a 35 ¼” waist. I couldn’t get to sleep last night so I ended up only getting about 4 hours of sleep. I had to get up early to train a client at 6am.

For my workout today, instead of doing the chest and back superset like we did last week, Matt and I did a heavy chest and triceps workout using straight sets. I used different exercises than I did last week to keep the muscles off balance.

DB Bench Press 75x15, 100x10, 120x7, 120x7
Incline Press 225x10, 255x7, 265x5
Incline Flyes 80x10, 85x8, 85x8
Close-Grip Bench 185x10, 225x8, 245x7
Lying Ext. 80x10x2 sets
Bench Dips BWx15, 80x12, 80x12
Standing Calf Raises 300x15, 400x12, 500x10
Seated Calf Raises 100x15, 150x12, 150x12

My left elbow was really hurting today from all the pounding I gave it last week. I didn’t even know if I would be able to do any heavy pressing movements on chest but, surprisingly, I was able to get through most of the workout. The only thing I couldn’t do was the skull crushers after doing close grip bench presses.

Tuesday, July 10th
Today my weight and waist were about the same as yesterday – 211.5 pounds and a 35 ¼” waist. I was finished up a little early at work today so Matt and I trained our back and biceps at about 5:30pm.

My lower back was really strained from doing squats last week and it was hurting all weekend. It was getting a little better each day so I was hoping it would be better today and I would be able to get a good back workout in without making it worse.

I was shocked that I was able to do barbell rows without straining it any more and the seated cable rows were ok too. However, the strain was too much on deadlifts so I just decided to skip this exercise after the first set. Biceps were good also, I was a lot stronger today on them than the last time I trained them.

Close-Grip Pulldowns 130x15, 180x10
Barbell Rows 185x12, 225x10, 265x6x2 sets
Seated Cable Rows 250x10, 250x0, 250x8
Deadlifts 225x10, Back hurt
Incline Curls 40x12, 50x8, 50x8
Barbell Curls 95x10, 115x8
Hammer Curls 45x10, 50x8
Wrist Curls 115x12, 135x8x2 sets

Wednesday, July 11th
Today was my day off from the gym. I usually take a day off after 2 days of heavy workouts. My chest was pretty sore today from Monday and my lats were getting more sore by the hour as the day progressed today.

I picked up some new supplements from Optimum Nutrition today and I was anxious to start taking them. The first was the BCAA and Creatine powder combo. I was planning on taking this pre and post workout to supply my muscles with the branched chain amino acids they need for the workout. I also got another case of the Whey Force Shake from American Bodybuilding along with a case of Steel Bars. The Steel Bars can be my nemesis when I am on a diet because they are so good, I usually can’t stop at one and I end up eating too many but I’ll try and be good this time. LOL

Thursday, July 12th
Back to the gym today after a day off. My weight this morning was at 211 and my waist was holding steady at 35 ¼” Matt and I trained shoulders, traps and calves today. Since we did a standard heavy, straight sets workout for the first two workouts of the week, the plan is to do supersets for the last two workouts of the week. Here is what we did for shoulders:

Seated DB Press (warm-up) 45x15, 75x12
Seated DB Press 95x10, 95x9 Super setted with
Seated Side Laterals 35x12, 40x10
Seated Sider Laterals 45x10, 50x8 Supersetted with
Upright Rows 115x10, 135x8
Lying Side Lateral Raises 30x12, 35x10, 35x10
DB Shrugs 110x12, 130x10, 130x8
Donkey Calf Raises 180 + 45lbs x 25, 180 + 135lbs x 25, 25, 20 reps
Face Down Calf Raises 240x12, 260x9

I warmed up with 2 sets of Seated DB Presses using 45 lb dumbbells and 75 lb dumbbells. For the next two heavy sets of Seated DB Presses, I supersetted them with Seated Side Lateral Raises. I used the 95 lb dumbbells for the last two sets of the DB Presses and the 35 and 40 lb dumbbells for the first two sets of the Side Laterals. After this superset, my delts were super pumped!

For the next superset, I did my last two heavy sets of Side Laterals and supersetted them with Upright Rows. I used the 45 and 50 pound dumbbells for the Side Laterals and supersetted them with Upright Rows using 115 pounds and 135 pounds.

For my next exercise, I did Lying Side Lateral Raises for the rear delts. Since this exercise is done one arm at a time, I didn’t superset with anything. I used the 30 pound dumbbell for 12 reps for the first set and the 35 pound dumbbell for the last 2 sets.

For the traps, I did Dumbbell Shrugs. I used the 110 pound dumbbells for 12 reps for the first set and then used the 130 pound dumbbells for the next two sets.

For the calves, I had Matt sit on my back and I strapped one 45 pound plate to the weight belt for the first set. I pumped out 25 reps for the first set to get the calves pumped. For the next three sets, I put 3 45 pound plates on the weight belt for an additional 135 pounds plus the weight of Matt (180 pounds). I did 25, 25 and 20 reps, respectively, for the last three sets.

We finished off calves using the calf raise machine where you lay face down on an angle. I used 240 pounds for the first set for 12 reps and 260 pounds for the second set for 9 reps. This was a very fast but very intense workout!

Friday, July 13th
Friday the 13th, what a day to do legs! Not only was today leg day but we were supposed to superset today’s workout also. I didn’t know how my knees and lower back would handle what I had planned for them today but I thought I would give it a shot.

Matt and I started off with abs. We supersetted hanging knee raises with crunches on a bench. I like to hang my head and shoulders off the bench when I do crunches so I get a good stretch in the upper abs before coming back up for a full contraction. We did two sets of each exercise for abs. I got 40 reps and 35 reps on the hanging knee raises and 35 and 30 reps on the crunches.

For legs, we did hamstrings first since we did quads first last week when we trained legs. We started with dumbbell leg curls on a decline bench. I used the 40 pound dumbbell for 12 reps for the first set, the 50 pound dumbbell for 10 reps for the second set, and the 60 pound dumbbell for the third and fourth sets for 8 and 6 reps, respectively.

Next up for hamstrings was dumbbell stiff-leg deadlifts. My lower back was ok on this exercise so I went a little heavier than last time. I used the 100 pound dumbbells for 12 reps, the 120 pound dumbbell for 10 reps and the 130 pound dumbbell for 7 reps on the last set.

For quadriceps, we warmed up with leg extensions using the BodyMaster machine. I used 120 pounds for the first set for 25 reps, 150 pounds for 20 reps on the second set and 180 pounds for 15 reps on the last set. My quads were really pumped after this.

For the superset part of the workout, I supersetted leg presses with hack squats. This was pretty brutal, especially since we were increasing the weight each set on both exercises. I started off with 5 plates on each side of the leg press for 15 reps using a close foot stance and I supersetted this with hack squats using one plate on each side of the machine for 12 reps with a wide foot stance.

For the second set, I did 12 reps on the leg press using 7 plates on each side and supersetted it with 10 reps on the hack squat with 2 plates on each side. For the third set, I did 12 reps with 8 plates on the leg press and 8 reps wih 3 plates on the hack squat. For the fourth and final set, I did 10 reps on the leg press with 9 plates on each side and 6 reps on the hack squat with 3 plates and a 25 pound plate on each side. Our legs were shot after these four supersets!

I tried to do some moderate squats after this superset but my knees were killing me. I was happy I at least got through the supersets without my knees hurting too bad. The right knee was in a lot of pain on the leg presses but I was able to grit my way through it. After the supersets were finished though, that was it! Maybe I can try some lunges next time.

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