Hulkmuscle's Training Log

[hulkmuscle]

Didn't you see "My Big Fat Greek Wedding?"

OPA!!! *kicks up heels*

[brent]

but we like the over grown weed your chest! Keep it up!

[hulkmuscle]

We were doing legs the other day; there's a big tall guy doing squats while we're on the leg press. About 6'2-4, maybe 250-260, good sized, we say hi as we come and go. So he's doing 365 on his squats, and his form is good, squatting to parallel. Sometimes seeing someone doing a great job like that can be inspiring; other days it just makes you angry at yourself. But I guess it was a good day that day: I got 900 on the leg press for 10, and 950 for 8 with 4 partials. I did 1 set of 275 on the squat for 10, and I was set to do 295 on the next set, but I decided to throw caution to the winds and add a pair of 25's instead of a pair of 10's. I told Mitch to spot me good just in case I bomb out at the bottom. I figured maybe I'd get 4 or so. Ended up with 8 and while it was hard, it wasn't impossible and I kept my form intact.

Now I'm not gonna get cocky and just throw another 25 on next time and go for 350; I'll work my way up slowly so as to make sure this day wasn't an aberration. But every once in a while it can be healthy to take a little leap of faith. Hopefully, this can inspire someone else out there in a good way.

[loopyrhino2001]

Hi all! I had a quick online chat with Greg today. He's on vacation on a Caribbean cruise this week (through next Tuesday), and since he has limited online time, he asked me to say "hi" to you all for him. He also reports that he is now very tan, that he's eating every two hours and that he's probably the biggest guy on board (well duh!)... Also, one night they went to a magic show and the magician singled him out, saying "you look pretty strong there big guy!"

[hulkmuscle]

Just got back yesterday. Gonna take me a couple days to catch up, but had a great time. Met a bunch of wonderful people (this was by far the friendliest cruise we've ever done), conquered my fear of heights by ziplining over a rainforest, swam with giant turtles and rays, entered the karaoke contest (Mitch won the overall competition), had some great workouts even with limited equipment, ate my ass off (the best food so far on this cruise too), got a killer tan (yes, tans really do help bring out muscularity ), and got some very nice compliments too.

I should have some photos up soon. Thanks Loopy for keeping me in the loop as it were.

[hulkmuscle]

Some of you had asked to see photos from the cruise, so since I'm feeling lazy, rather than post each one individually, here's a link to my yahoo album.

Greg's cruise photos

[xythan_shadow]

God that hot tub looks so relaxing.

[beachmuscle]

HULK ,,,

seems to me that you are now "DA man " around here ,,nice progress and congrats .....lets watch as you grow bigger and bigger and the attention here all shifts as a result

[loopyrhino2001]

Originally Posted by hulkmuscle

I should have some photos up soon. Thanks Loopy for keeping me in the loop as it were.

'twas my pleasure. Thanks for sharing your pics and stories. Glad you had a great time at sea!

[hulkmuscle]

It's been a couple months, so I figured it's time for an update. I bulked up successfully to 235, and was initially able to stave off the gut that I'd gotten last time I was 220. However, after a couple weeks, I found that my body didn't want to budge past 235, and eventually, my gut did start to thicken, even though I wasn't trying to accomplish that. My bodybuilder friend Joe who's been working with me told me that it's not a good idea to bulk for months on end; your body will reach a natural plateau after a certain point. So, on his advice, I've been mildly trimming the past month or so, and I'll resume bulking mildly until it gets too hot to eat heavily.

Right now, I'm sitting at 215, I've lost a good 2-3 inches on my waist, but without much if any loss in size elsewhere. I've resumed working chest hard again just because I missed doing it, but I'll try to keep it in check cause it's still overwhelming the rest of my physique, although my arms, delts and traps have made some significant process.

I've found that my delts respond best not to presses but to wide grip upright rows, and my triceps respond to any press done on a decline or steep incline.

If anyone needs advice on their routines, let me know soon, cause with summer coming, I know I'll get deluged again.

Looking forward to Night of the Champions, or whatever they call it now, in May!
I

[brent]

Wow! 235!! That's hot! Too bad you had to scale back, but you'll be back bigger than ever soon. I was really sick from an awful cold the whole month of March, and lost about 12 pounds. Now I'm getting back into it, and feel bigger each day. Maybe there is something to periods off of bulking?

[hulkmuscle]

Originally Posted by brent

Maybe there is something to periods off of bulking?

Not only periods off of bulking (cycling bulking with cutting), but also short periods off from the iron. Ian King, a sensible strength/bodybuilding coach, believes in taking a week off every few months, especially when lifting to failure, as I try to do as much as possible.

Likewise, he even believes lifting to failure should be cycled so as not to overtax your recovery ability. Again, I must stress everyone is different, but it makes sense to me that if you've plateaued or hit a wall, take some time off, even if it's just a couple days, re-assess, and re-align. Figure out your personally-needed ratio of exercise to rest to diet to sleep. Find the balance that works for you. Unfortunately, there is no one single formula that will do it for everyone, or we'd all be hulked-out and huge.

The guys winning contests and on the pages of the muscle mags are the exceptions to the rule. Most of us here I'd classify as "bodybuilding geeks." We need to fiddle and experiment and speculate on what it will take to hulk us out. With work and perseverance, it can happen.

*gets down off soapbox*

Have a great Easter weekend everybody.

[hulkmuscle]

Worked out with one of my pro bb friends this week, and we came to the realization that once again, my right side is significantly stronger than my left, particularly the delt, bi, and tri. We're talking a good 3-4 reps.

So emergency plan A goes into play tomorrow: one-armed exercises for the next 3-4 weeks. I'll conscientiously undertrain my right side, possibly even doing an extra set just for the left. A couple years ago, the same thing had happened, and I was able to correct it fairly quickly.

I've also got a line on a good chiropractor who should check out my left shoulder/arm, just to see if there's a reason why the lag is so noticeable.

Otherwise, 220 and heading back up...

[CanadianGordon]

you're gonna be the hulk in no time.

[brent]

What do you mean by, "gonna"?

[hulkmuscle]

Originally Posted by brent

What do you mean by, "gonna"?

You always know how to cheer me up, Brent. Thanks.

I've had a blast the past couple days. I did chest and back the other night. I made it up on the spot, looking for ways I could keep my arms acting independently.

For chest, I did Incline Hammer Presses, 3 sets, 2 sets on both arms, a couple extra reps on the left side, and then 1 set left alone with partials. I followed that with the Wide Hammer Bench, same idea. Incline dumbbell flies, with 1-1/4 reps on the left side, regular reps on the right, with an added drop on the left. Cable flies with extra reps and drop on the left.

I usually treat lats and midback as two seperate workouts, but today I decided to combine them so I could leave one day just for delts and arms, my problem areas.

I started with Low-Angle Hammer Rows, again, extra reps and partials on the left. I did the same on High-Angle Hammer Rows, Hammer Pulldowns, and Narrow Pulldowns.

For isolation work, I did 1-arm rear delt cable crossovers, then a move I call W-cable pulldowns, where you kneel between two high cables and bring your elbows into your sides and just a little to the rear, a very nice lat contraction exercise that I haven't done in years.

One of the competitive guys does a 1-arm lat pulldown that I decided to try. Kneel next to a cable, your non-working arm facing the stack. Position your body so that your working hand not only crosses your face, but also goes slightly backward, as in a pullover. Doing it this way gives you a terrific stretch on the lat as your arm has to reach across your opposite shoulder on the negative.

Since it was "try-anything" day, I finished up with reverse cable lateral raises, whereby you stand between high cables, and keeping your arms stiff, bring your arms down to your sides, another decent lat contraction move. On all these moves, I added a combo of drops, partials, and some added reps on the left.

I threw in some 1-armed shrugs just for the heck of it at the end. Since the day was largely composed of new exercises, I was extremely sore the next couple days. I've been doing some light rotator work to augment this as well.

Tonight is delts and arms. I have some ideas, but I think I'll wing it again and see how it goes.

[CelticMuscle]

Greg proves that his appointment to President Bush's cabinet office as Secretary of State for Global Affairs was a shrewd move

(Humbly begs forgiveness)

[johnwatson149]

Workout routines to help you improve your fitness level. Grab a free workout routine and use it for a couple weeks.



When you get bored with your workout routines make sure you come back and get a new free workout routine. I'll be adding more workout routines as my time allows.




Workout Routines

[CanadianGordon]

Meant no disrespect. You are just like the hulk, except not green.