Focused on the NPC Masters Nationals

After my overall win at the NPC John Sherman Classic I had dinner with Cecil, Samantha and Diana.  We celebrated my victory with a couple of glasses of wine.  I ate a chicken breast and some pasta….no dessert!  The Masters Nationals was only two weeks away!  On Sunday we attended a barbeque hosted by my friends Chris Heitman (2008 TX Shredder Classic Champion) and Laura Miller.

Chris grilled up some great chicken breasts and Laura made an incredible giant salad and a beautiful fruit tray for lunch.

When Diana and I returned to Austin we did our 2 mile walk before dining on….what else…chicken and salad!  Monday morning it was back to business as usual with my total focus on the NPC Masters Nationals.

I met Rita and Tricia at Gold’s Gym for a vicious leg workout!  Although I was sore from posing at the show, and my lower back was hurting from too much sitting in the car, I had an awesome leg workout!  I haven’t lost any strength, and I’ve even gotten stronger on some exercises (leg extensions, leg curls and calf raises). Tricia did better this week, and Rita was absolutely amazing!  I couldn’t keep up with her on the extensions and curls!  Even though my legs were seriously fatigued I still did my 2 mile evening walk.

Monday Leg Workout:

Hack squats (going to rock bottom) 5 sets 12-15 reps

Squats (deep) 4 sets 8-10 reps, final set 315X3 going below parrallel (I was surprised I could go that heavy after the hack squats)

Leg Press  4 sets 20 reps, final set 810X15….hit absolute failure.

Leg extensions 5 sets 12-15 reps

Seated Leg curls 4 sets 12 reps

Lying leg curls 3 sets 12 reps

Donkey Calf Raise 5 sets 12-15 reps

Check this guy out.  Daryl Garder is 6’8″.  He weighed in a little over 300 lbs and won the novice heavyweight division at the Sherman.

Yesterday Rita and Tricia met me at Hyde Park Gym for our chest workout.  As usual my shoulders and elbows were very tender at first, but they warmed up and I had an outstanding workout.

Chest workout:

Bench Press 6 sets  15, 12, 10, 10, 8, 4

Incline Press 4 sets 7-10 reps, final set of 165X18 reps

Pec Fly Machine 4 sets 12-15 reps (I’ve gotten significantly stronger on this exercise)

Bonus Bicep work:

Standing DB Curls 3 sets 8-12 reps with a triple drop set on the final set

Hammer Curls 3 sets 10-12 reps

I had a tremendous pump and was ready to head home to eat lunch after the workout.  But, Rita needled me into doing the Shredder Walk with her.  It was so freakin’ hot but we amazingly finished the walk in 1hr and 14 minutes!!!   We got back totally soaked with sweat and had to sit in front of the big shop fan for a while.  I was just about to head home for lunch again when Cecil called to tell me that he had some people coming over for posing practice.  I stayed, of course, and got in 4 good rounds of mandatory poses.  We both felt that I looked much better than last week.  I truly think that I looked better than I did at the show on Saturday.

This morning I was an even 170 in my boxers, first thing in the morning.  My bodyfat came out to 2.7% on the skindex.  I did 24 minutes on my Lifecycle at home first thing this morning, then did the Shredder Walk with Rita at 11am.