trucelt: up against it

[trucelt]

After such a lengthy lay-off i didnt feel right coming back to my old journal. Kinda like that girl in HS/college that was always good to you but you never stuck with. Youd come back to her when you needed a pick-me-up but you knew it was wrong. Hence a fresh start journal-wise. Besides metaphorically that journal was all wrong, that was created pretty much as a precontest record for a competitive bodybuilder. This one is something else....

Lots changed in the last year, had a baby-girl (she'll be 1 on the 9th) got a major promotion at work and took about 3-4 months off from the gym (and exercising)....guys always say they "took off a month!! when really they just down-shifted for a few weeks. Unfortunately not the case here....as a result I lost a sh** ton of muscle and got weak as a kitten.

Got back in the gym 2 weeks ago and have started my program this past monday. So what does my program look like?

monday:
Legs-squat/goodmornings
chest-BB Press (decline, flat, incline-pick one)
back-Chins
shoulders-standing or seated military (BB's or DB's)

tuesday:
stretching
calves
abs
cardio

wednesday
deadlifts
rack pulls or shrugs
biceps-
triceps
forearms

thursday:
(same as tuesday)

friday:
(same as monday)

sat/sun: OFF

if this looks suspiciously like the IronMan Size Surge Program!! its because it is with addition of calf/ab/cardio on tue and thu..the tue/thu workouts are essential for me to stay healthy. No point in even trying to be strong if i dont have a bullet-proof core.

[trucelt]

I have no plans to compete in anything (other than my against myself), and i have for the time being lost interest in many aspects of competitve bodybuilding.

What i am interested in is getting big and strong again (with an emphasis on strong) in lifts that count (to me!)

right now im hitting one exercise per bodypart with 3-4 work sets @ constant weight. My exercises are all guidleines but i have no problem subbing out if its not available or i have any inkling that something isnt right.

diet is just trying to be consistent with regular meal times and not worryin in the least about macros. During my lay-off I had plenty days with 2-3 meals/day

[JohnCaesar]

Subbed

May I also say "First Reply"

[Adam2433]

Good to see you back man at it man! I'm sure it will all come back fast for you. Besides better to take those lay offs than try and go through it and burn out long term.

Congrats again on the baby girl. And if you don't mind me asking... How do you feel being a father for the first time at an older than normal age? My friends are starting to have kids and I'm just not there yet and don't see myself being there for a while. Plus law school is the priority for my girlfriend. Just curious your thoughts and if you planned it this way or it just worked out like this.

[trucelt]

thanks John!

Adam-no problem, i didnt plan it this way. However, this is my second marriage and im SOOOO glad i didnt have a child with my first wife. Made the divorce so much easier. As for being an older dad, its awesome. Im at a point in my life where i dont feel like my daughter is making me miss anything (bars, late nites, other pursuits) the downside is my energy level isnt what it was when i was 25 so if shes up all night im pretty beat the next day (in my 20's that sh** didnt even faze me)

when your ready bro youll be ready....dont force anything because you think its "the time"

[schmoove]

Trucelt,

Glad to see a new journal from you. I like the emphasis on strength.

As far as not competing - you could compete against me in a "who can lift the most after not sleeping all week because your kid is up all night contest"

[jwtiger69]

Sounds good! I will be following along. I have been struggling lately with consistency and it shows. Some of it being that we are expecting our first kid. Sympathy weight is no joke! I think for a while I was just trying to make things to complicated in the gym and just some interest. Now like you I am just going to make it simple and do a full body type of routine. This is what I plan on doing:

The Reg Park Beginner Routine

Workout A

Back Squats 5x5
Chin-Ups or Pull-Ups 5x5
Dips or Bench Press 5x5
Wrist Work 2x10
Calves 2x15-20

Workout B

Front Squats 5x5
Rows 5x5
Standing Press 5x5
Deadlifts 3x5 (2 warm-up sets and 1 "stabilizer set")
Wrist Work 2x10
Calves 2x15-20

Week 1: A, B, A
Week 2: B, A, B
Week 3: A, B, etc

Didn't really mean to hijack your journal! Like I said I will be following along...

[CuBanotTe_314]

I guess there should be a club for tired/beat up lifters who just recently had kids and still need to muster up the energy to hit the gym hard. I just had a boy, he is a month old so I feel your pain... I'll try to follow along as well and learn some things from you man.

[slide]

I have always enjoyed and appreciated your perspective, T. Good luck here in getting back into the swing of things, my friend. I will be following along, for sure...and little girls are certainly special. My daughter just turned two in March...definitely provides the balance in my life I was missing.

Great to see you back around as well...

-slide

[trucelt]

James- saw some new pics on FB, how tall are you??

JW-funny Reg Park is one of my current inspirations for training templates

Cuban-one month huh? you must still feel like a sleep-deprived zombie. It gets better.

Slide-thanks man, i appreciate the kind words.

Had a great workout this morning:

1) BB Squats
3x8:185
still getting back in the groove with training/squatting, but felt solid all reps were just below parallel

2) Good Mornings
65x10, 2x10:75
playing with stances, went a lil heavier monday but decided to go lighter since i bumped up my weights on squats today

3) Decline Bench Press
3x5:175
felt light, right shoulder is still a little unstable. Will be doing alot of declines initially. ITs always been an "easy" exercise to move weight on and is much less technique oriented than BB flat....

4) Chins
(no weight)x5/6/4
yup pretty sad, but it will go up every week. Also i ditched straps on these....

5) Reg Park Press
25/30/35/40/45x5, 45x8
saw Schmoove doing these and thought they looked awesome and they were. Very cool exrercise. BTW they are a standing DB press with a neutral grip and the elbows more forward than out to your sides.

been reading alot of the stuff over at Chaos and Pain. Lewis might be crazy but he is MASSIVELY entertaining and makes very good arguments.

[DCBliever]

Glad to see you back T, you guys will never catch up on sleep, haha! Mine is going to be 3 in October already and they get more fun as time goes on. I like youre set up. I am going to go volume for a while after the meet to heal up then alternate low-high volume, I'm realizing my body cannot handle smashing heavy weight week after week. I'm really starting to see why Westside is so effective. You need anything you know how and where to find me.

Adam- T is right, I had mine at 28, but plenty of my friends had them when they were older. I'm not sure you are ever "ready" for kids, but there comes a point in life where everything is stable and you can be the best parent you can without worrying about finances and etc. It is making my divorce hard in that I don't like to share, but Lincoln has a great Mom and a great Dad if nothing else. I still have that picture you sent me of your little girl T.

[trucelt]

Was wondering when youd wander in Robb.....and YES you have been smashing heavy weights for a long time now in addition to pretty busy schedule outside of the gym. After the meet youd prob benefit from some hypertrophy-style training with higher volume/higher reps and more multi-angular approach.

Actually i plan on doing just that...but for me it wont be until at least january that i'll do a more bb-style approach.

Tommorrow is my daughters first birthday party and you if your not from Hawaii, you prob dont understnad the significance of that. They do it up BIG here...Ive been to first birthday/luau's with 300-400 people. Its a big deal and kinda done as a thank you for family friends for all thier support that first year. Were done ina Waikele Country Club and are having roughly a 100 or so guests. Should be fun and we've been singing "happy birthdat" to Leah all week to get her in the mood....and if your wondering the theme is Hello Kitty.

After the party im meeting my pal at the gym for a workout. Hes actually doing the Paradise Cup in November so we'll mostly be trading spots rather than actually training together.

[breck]

Happy birthday to your little one. Glad to see you keeping a journal again, always like reading your thoughts/training ideas. I am sure you will bounce back pretty quick.

[steel1970]

Truce, what caused you to lose interest in competing? Is it all your life changes, or did something leave a bad taste?

[trucelt]

thanks Rich!

Steel-really a combo of things BUT not a bad taste or anything like that. Okay here it is at least in part:

1) i consider myself a relatively smart guy but the older i get the tougher it is for me to justify (to myself) the time required to compete, Ie-training 2x day, dieting, posing practice etc. Especially when i think of where else i could be spending my time extra time w/my daughter, extra time at work,teach another class @ the university etc.
2) even if i could do it in a less time-intensive way i really only know one way to prep: 100% balls out.
3) I love the rigor of dieting and spartan mindest during prep. Yes you heard right: ilove dieting. However i dont love theday of the show as much as i used to. I love seein my old rivals and gym buddies. But the "underwear-dancing/beauty pageant" aspect to BB isnt the coolest thing in the universe.
4) Im at an age where i want to set a foundation of strength to carry me into the next phase of my life.
5) i miss being strong. Theres a few exercise i never got good at that i want to (standing military press) and a few i was good at that i want to be good at again (dips, chins, squats, deads)
6) I have been readign about the guys frm the 40's and 50's who saw no distinction between looking good and being strong. It was all one inter-related sport to them. Guys like Reg Park, Marvin Eder, John Grimek etc....these were guys were strong as sh** and looked awesome.
7) Finally, i grew up as an athlete (soccer, track, football, volleyball) and when i go watch PL or SM i tottally feel like im at sporting event. Theres a level of "coolness/manly-ness" that i dont get from BB.

dotn get me wrong i still love BB but for the foreseeable future its on the back-burner...