Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Shoulders this morning. Off tomorrow, love that extra hour of sleep in the morning. :tu Spin Saturday and Sunday :wo

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Slickdeals.net has a deal on some whey protein and creatine monohydrate. $9.99 for either or and shipping is flat $4.99. Just thought I'd share for anyone who is interested.
http://slickdeals.net/giveaway/873

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Graston works really well, but leaves a serious black and blue mark. My chiropractor is one of the first in Boston area to be certified in it. Highly recommended treatment for soft tissue damage and scarring.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Missed spin Saturday, had to drive to the airport instead. yay. Went on Sunday. Monday back, Tuesday chest, Wednesday off, today legs/abs, tomorrow shoulders, then spin again both days this weekend. :tu

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Back Shoulders and Biceps today. Been out of posting in this thread a bit. Gonna get back to contributing...Hope everyone is keeping up..

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Man, calves are so hard to grow. I'm gonna be getting a bit more serious about them and hit them almost every time I'm at the gym.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Why are you worried about your calves? If you have longer legs, they will look smaller. I have the same thing happen with my arms. I have shorter legs, so they look bigger, but a longer torso/arms, so they don't grow as fast as big. To me, it's all a matter of strength. If I am hitting my lifts, then I don't worry what they look like.

If you want to really work them, well just remember that appearance follows function, so what do your calves do, primarily? They flex your feet down, so IMO, the best way to work your calves hard is not to lift with them but to jump with them. Whether that means you are doing hang cleans, power cleans, or just jumping from the floor onto a box or bench, any of those will work, and give more overall power/strength to your calves.

Or you can always go the Johnny Drama route and get calf implants :noon

Anyway, heavy back today, so deads, lat pulldowns and finished up by rowing.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

I never participated in this thread before, because since I've been on CA I haven't been to the gym once...until a few weeks ago! After a two year hiatus (because I'm lazy!) I decided to get back on track working out and eating better. My roommate (Matt) and I have worked out off and on together since college, but in the last couple years he's gotten pretty serious about it. This is lucky for me because the gym to him is what cigars are to me, so he does all the research and I can just ask him what a good workout routine for me would be.

Anyway, started back to the gym at the beginning of Feb, doing a Sun/Tue/Thurs routine. At the moment I'm doing a full body, 4 exercise, 5x5 routine that consists of Front Squats, Bench Press w/ bar, Pull ups, and then finish it off with Push Press.

First thing about this routine is, I hated squats. I've had knee problems since high school (read: ~10 years), and squats and leg press exercises always aggravated it. Since I quit working out however, Matt had learned how to properly do squats, and showed me the proper form. Within three trips to the gym my knee pain was completely gone and hasn't bothered me since.

Second, I love this routine because I don't have to spend too long doing these four exercises, but I still feel I've gotten a really solid full body workout. In two weeks he's changing up his routine he's currently doing and I think I'll probably go with that so we can actually lift together, but until then I'm enjoying this routine by myself.


Anyway, long post, but yeah, just wanted to give my background. Look forward to bantering with you guys about working out!

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Picked up some C4 to try. Almost out of Jack3d. Full review to come.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Be careful. If you push the calves too hard, they can knot easily. Spend the time to strentch them in both directions after. Stretch the inside and outside of your foot too.

I remember in the early 90's, my friends doing spot injections into the calves thinking that would make them grow. :r

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Heavy chest this morning. Was distracted and didn't get in the work I wanted to as one of my contacts was bothering me. Got home and took it out to see a rip down the middle of it. Damn thing ruined my workout... :sl

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

I hate that, Pete. Had one screwing with me during an otherwise enjoyable round of golf over the weekend. I think I'm going to start packing an extra set at all times.

Shoulders for me today. Lots of shrugs and lateral raises...

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

I'm back. :ze

Missed y'all, looking forward to getting and giving some motivation again.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

taurine and drinking lots of fluid will keep that away...

bailed on monday from squatting, I love squatting but i think I have a hernia or two. might head in to bench tonight not sure, if I do it will be light. doctors on friday.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Haven't posted up in here in, well, forever. Figured I'd give a brief update. After my 4month exodus a while back (due to injury) I got back to lifting and have returned to form.

Got passed some pretty major obstacles on the way back to where I was pre-injury. In fact, in virtually all lifts I have surpassed my previous 1RM weight.

Bench is now 290 (pretty good for me)
Deadlift is now 481
Pullup is now 314
Squat is now 399 ~ only 6 more lbs to equal my previous.

Not too shabby... Training hard and with purpose. My goals are:
Squat - over 405
Dead - over 500
Bench - 315+
Pullup - 350

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Not if you're Asian :D

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Gerry! :D

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

back and shoulders
bookended with cardio

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

A friend of mine is one of the most successful personal trainers around Boston and we are working out this weekend. Not as client/trainer, but ends up being kinda like that either way. Saves me the $100+ per session. I'll have to provide the booze and cigars for after....

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

My kinda post-workout, Moses! :tu

Back on tap today.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Need some diversity. Been doing push-ups every day since September of last year. 90 - 10 breaths, then 20 slow and full is the routine for the past few months.

Tried jumping jacks for a while but popped a hammie and stopped to get ready to go skiing in January.

Need some cardio advice - seems like I'm only motivated to do things right out of bed so needs to be available right then.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Have any cardio equipment at home, Dave?

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Not sure on space limitations but a jump rope could work

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Nordic Ski is king followed by Concept II for home, but former does not come easy.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Have an old schwinn Airdyne in the basement. It's a beast and what I used a decade ago to drop 40 lbs in 40 days. (Along with diet)

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Maybe trying a couple devices at a club (or even a hotel's fitness room) might give you an idea of what feels comfortable and what you like. A one day pass to a club and try out the eliptical, stair-master, etc. :)

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

I'm a big fan of the Extreme C4. Not as big of an initial hit as the Jack3d. Identical workout energy boost in my opinion with a great pump. Tastes great, like a very sugary koolaid. No crash a couple hours later like Jack3d was giving me.

:tu

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

I got Gerainamo from trueprotein.com Taste is ok, not the worst tasting stuff ever but it is definitely the best preworkout I've taken. I get a better focus from this than from jack3d. I'm not sure if they posted the ratio of ingredients on their sight yet but I definitely think theres a better ratio of creatine/beta alanine/stimulants in this than in jack3d.

Bad part is shipping sucks. The supplement cost $18 and some change- discount through rep code+shipping=$27 to my door.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Yeah, checked out the site, $9 for regular UPS Ground is :bs

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

The nice thing about cardio is that you can do it without any equipment at all. Aerobic workouts, plyometrics--it's all about jumping around, moving your body weight to get your heart rate into a range where you start burning calories. I'd check into a couple different DVDs, things like step aerobics, Jillian Michaels and Billy Blanks (tae bo) have some reputable videos out there--those might work for starters, and are good to ease into.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Buy 2 tubs of Jack3d get $20 off. Use coupon TWENTYVE
With shipping I paid $38 and change. Thought I would share :)

White Raspberry Jack3d

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Set a goal like a 5k race. It's a good starting point for people who want to do cardio and have a goal.

3.1 miler sounds like a lot but it's not the time you finish but just finishing one.

Even better to get one other friend or family member to run it with you since you are more likely to complete the 5k on a buddy system.:tu

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Hmm, dropped to the third page. Not posted in a while myself, and I see everyone else has been busy too.

Anyway, went heavy this week, chest/arms tuesday, legs wednesday and shoulders and back today. Going climbing tomorrow, so didn't hit back too hard this morning. Hope you all are still hitting it hard.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

I'm on a 2 day on 1 day off split
Chest
Back
Off
Arms
Legs/shoulders
Off

Its been a pretty good routine for me so far. I usually do 4 sets for each exercise, raising the weight and lowering the reps for each set.

example: on chest day i start off with flat bench. 155lbsx12 reps, 205x10, 225x8 and 250x6.

after about a month of that i usually go to 3 sets of 15 reps with everything for about 2 weeks then go back to my normal sets. when i started this workout back in December, my flat bench max 225lbs for 1 rep. now i'm doing 225 8 times on my 3rd set. I think I'll stick with this routine for awhile. seems to be working pretty good. I'm also taking a great pre-workout from complete nutrition called lean revolution. this stuff is great, it gets me going in the morning when i dont feel like going to the gym. only thing wrong with it is if you take it too soon before you start working out then you start to itch all over, but once you start working out it usually goes away.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

chest and arms monday
back and shoulders tuesday
cardio yesterday
chest and arms all sets to failure today, one of my favorite workouts, but dont get to do it very often b/c of need for a partner

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Made some good gains recently with chest strength (incline db press). Our dumbbells at the gym only go to 75s so I've been counting total reps. Got 14-12-12 last night. 2 months ago was probably 10-8-8. Gonna petition for some 85s. Still a long ways from my previous 'strong' phase 10 years ago. Feeling old these days and I'm not sure if I can get back to slamming around the 120s.

Still loving the C4 Extreme, feels like a better version of Jack3d...

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Time for a new gym, Patrick. :tu

I'm on a fierce cutting phase as my last one didn't last. 2 weeks and I'm down 15 pounds. Thinking about adding a fat burner but I don't really think I need it. Strength has remained without pushing myself which is a great sign.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

How about some pics, Christos? Haven't seen you in a while.

Pecs and tri's are wicked sore. I need a massage! Haha.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

MMM....pics of Christos in a man-thong, and a nice massage. Zemekone would be so proud. ;) :r

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

A thong would be great! That way I could compare to the last pics he sent me.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Pics? No problem :tu I only get the man thong out for you guys ;)

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

mountain run this morning, just three miles but the hills made a big difference

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

20 minutes with the Shake Weight today.:r

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

"shake weight..."

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Time for back n biceps. Time to up my deadlift weight a bit and I am tired. C4 to the rescue!

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Still havn't missed a day of push-ups since september. Have worked up to the current - 100 push-ups, rest for 10 deep breaths, then 25 more.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Looking forward to seeing the pecs, Dave, maybe you should post a pic like Christos. :)

Waist has gotten smaller and the rest has gotten bigger since getting back into the gym this month, so I can't complain.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3
 

Hopefully the start of going back to the gym for me. 5am gym kinda sucks. Strength and stamina are definitely not what it used to be after being off for almost 3 months.

Flat dumbbells
incline bench
Machine decline
cable fly's upper/lower chest
Peckdeck (SP)
crunches
leg lifts

rounded off with 15min on the treadmill