This week so far

So far this week my contest prep been going great! I’ve been dieting now for 11.5 weeks. During the first four weeks I was preparing things for the Texas Shredder Classic and didn’t have time to do cardio. So, although I dropped a few pounds, I couldn’t really see a significant difference in my appearance. As soon as the show was over (April 26th) I got on the cardio and things are finally starting to look more like they’re supposed to look! I’ve dropped a total of 9 lbs and I feel like I still need to drop about 4-5 more in the next month in order to be totally shredded for the Masters Nationals.

Rita Ross worked out with me on Monday. Every time we do legs she amazes me! On Monday she amazed some of the other guys in the gym as she cranked out 20 reps on her last set of leg presses with 630 lbs of plates on the sled. That was after working up to 165 lbs for 10 reps on deep squats. On top of that I’m super-sore from the leg workout and she’s not sore at all. I don’t get it!!!

Leg Extensions 9 sets 12-15 reps (I was waiting on Rita and thought I would pre-exhaust my quads a bit)

Squats 5 sets 6-10 reps, one finishing set of 15 reps

Leg press 6 sets 20 reps

Leg Extensions (yes, again) 4 sets 12-15 reps

Seated Leg Curls 4 sets 12-15 reps

Donkey Calf raise 5 sets 15 reps

Lying Leg Curls 4 sets 12 reps (Rita wanted to do them, I couldn’t look like a wimp)

Yesterday I was solo for my chest workout. As I started warming up I found that my right shoulder was extremely sore again. I did some extra light warmup sets and also did a set of 12 reps with a relatively light weight (110 lbs) on the high pulley row after each set of bench press and each set of incline presses. The light rows made my shoulder feel much better and I was able to handle some fairly heavy weights (for me) on the bench and the inclines. As usual, I threw in some bonus bicep work after chest.

Bench Press 3 light warmup sets 12 reps, 4 medium-hvy sets 6-10 reps, 3 sets of heavy doubles, 1 set of 10 reps w/ 225 lbs to finish off bench press

Incline Press 6 sets 7-10 reps, 1 finishing set of 15 reps

Pec Fly Machine 3 sets 10-15 reps Holding the last rep of each set at full contraction for as long as possible

Barbell Curls 4 sets 10 reps

Hammer Curls 3 sets 10-12 reps

Today is just a cardio day. I did a 20 minute walk at 8:30am (about 1.5 miles). Then at 10:30 I was joined by Diana Wilkins and Cecil Ballard to do the Shredder Walk. Today we did the full walk (4 miles, 8 stories of stairs, 11 stories of ramps) and also added another 8 stories of stairs on the way back. Cecil needs to lose another 15 lbs. in the next 7 weeks in order to win a bet with NPC Texas State Chairman, Lee Thompson (and several of the other NPC Texas judges). Diana is on a mission to be in her very best shape for her birthday, July 5th, when we travel to Houston for the NPC John Sherman Classic.

Me with Lee and Cecil at the Texas Shredder Classic