In times like these we as men must Press on.

Yea 'tis me again...

Once more with Big k.I.g. under my wings.

'Tis shoulder day once more...

Remember last week:


*Editor transports audience back to the previous week.. where Big K lies on his back.. oblivious to the world around him. Editor pokes him to make sure he still lives*


Back to this week:

Scene: Big K's Neighbourhood Gym

Strike Plan: Shoulders and Tris in an hour flat


*Editor's note: Big K' took one full week off from all activity after last week's session. Gym staff reported him M.I.A. so he seems unusually full of vigour today. His mum in the background waits to carry him home over her shoulder...nods head and groans "poor boy" in anticipation*



Exercise one:

Lateral raises



We don't go heavy here this week. The goal here is to fry him.. um.. i mean.. fry my shoulders before pressing.



We perform these seated.. using 20-pound dumbells.. and very short rest periods..As soon as i compete a set, K jumps in.. and this goes back and forth til i say stop *insert evil grin*



*STOP*

4 sets later



Onto Bent Laterals:



4 sets pyramiding up:



1st Set: 20-pound dumbells rep till 20-30 reps

2nd Set: 40-pound dumbells 15 reps



K's keeping up.. till we get to:



3rd set: 60-pound dumbells

I get 12 clean reps... K does a couple and dropsets



4th Set: 70-pound dumbells... K steps back mouth agape

8 reps...light weight papa

dropset to 40-pound dumbells.. rep to failure



K concedes to just rep at the 40s for this set.



Next Movement::



We're looking real real good...LOL



Standing Military Press



Set 1: 50 pounds 15 reps

Set 2: 100 pounds 12 reps

Set 3: 150 pounds 6 reps and partials

Set 4: 100 pounds rep to failure.. and partials



Finisher:



Power Clean:

K opts out of this movement



I do three sets here...ending each set when i cannot safely complete another repetition



Set 1: 100 pounds

Set 2: 150 pounds

Set3: attempted 200 pounds... didn't get it past my thigh... reduced weight to 100 pounds and repped out.



*Editor's note*

K's 'physiotherapist' enters gym while we were shoulder pressing.I use the term 'physio' rather loosely..seems to be a guy that just wanted to touch K up while he trained. "Go Big K..it's yuh birthday"



On to triceps:



Seeking redemption, Big K calls the first exercise.. and starting weight



With no warm up.. we move to:



Close-grip Bench-press

1st Set: 150 pounds

2nd Set: 200 pounds

3rd Set: 150 pounds

4th Set: 100 pounds ...rep out



*Editor fails to insert the screams moans begging and kicksy commentary that ensued..for fear of self-embarASSment...I will note however, Big K's 'physio' squeezing his pecs and massaging his traps to 'empower' him ..ROFLMAO*



Triceps Spent..next movement:



Over head tricep Extension (cambered bar)



4 Sets



Barely struggling here we move on to:



Bench dips

4 sets(light.. high reps..50 pound plate in lap)



Big K's physio yanks out his camera phone and big K an di have a posedown.. well.. 1/2 hour worth of posing down.Poor physio, unable to leave because of two egomaniacs refusing to stop posing


~Nark

Back Again

Yesterday's Leg workout was inspired by the dumb comment by a layperson.



Today unfolds:



My mum still has construction going on around the house. A truck arrives with a truckload of cement blocks. Me being the only male in the house.. my role is to bring all of em in..Mind you, it took a truck to bring em. These things are heavy. What follows is a day in the sun grunting and groaning trekking with these things two at a time into the yard.. Needless to say.. i feared there'd be no energy left for my back workout that evening. Here in Barbados, people seem to think manual labour is exercise."o you don't have to go to the gym today.. lift those bricks" they joke.THERE my reason for working out that evening was born.



Remember the guy from the day before who saw me in a knee-length pants and claimed i had no legs?.. The same guy saw me lifting the bricks today and walked up to me and apologised.I was wearing shorts and my legs were kinda hard to miss...getting in the way of the blocks at times.



Tired from my day of lifting, i pop one vivarin pill (200mg caffeine) that big K.I.G. gave me.. and it was off to the gym.



Back:

After a day of bending over lifting ridiculous quantities of stone, no one would anticipate the course of this workout



Exercise one:

Old faithful: Deadlifts

Warm up with Bar

Set one: 100 pounds..rep till failure (thought i wasn't going to stop)

Set two: 200 pounds..rep till failure

Set three: 300 pounds.. only 4 reps



I wanted more tho



Set 4: Borrowed Big Jerry Nicholl's Lifting straps.. 400 pounds deadlift (single).. dropset... 200 pounds..rep out



Exercise two:



Reverse Grip Barbell Rows



Set 1: Started out at 100 pounds for like 20 reps

Set2: My former training partner ..Chris Belle walks in.. accuses me of using gear..LOL.. that realy made me feel jacked... 200 pounds ..rep till failure



Set 3: Chris continues to ask me what i'm using... man knows how to make a guy feel good.. I slap on more weight.. for a drop set: 300 pounds (3reps)..200 pounds (3 more reps).. 100 pounds (rep til failure)



Jerry over in the corner starts up spewing trash talk so i take up the bar... slap on weight and rep.. calling his name on every rep



Set 4: 200 pounds Jerry..Jerry..Jerry..Jerry...til failure.. Dis-satisfied.. i pick up the bar and put in two more reps



Exercise 3:



Lat-Machine pull downs... I yawn tru these..Not my idea of hardcore.. but can't neglect any muscle group and get whupped contest time.. now can i?



Exercise 4:



Behind the back Shrugs.. 4 sets.. varying weight.. rep til failure



~Nark

Tuesday again

*sigh*

*Drag Feet...*

*Pray*



We all know what day it is..Leg day



And above would ordinarily be the pre-session reaction.Not today tho. My mum's doing some construction around the house. I'm outside in a knee-length pants and one of the contractors (obviously with very little brain) looks at bottom-heavy me and reasons "you gotta do something about that..." "what?" i ask. "You look like you're about to topple over"... I went inside and started to dig for my competition pics.. then changed my mind. He wasn't worth convincing. I know my leg's are huge... or are they. I took the paranoia to the gym with me for an all out Leg-crushing session.



Scene: Fitness solutions



Leg-day exercises are simple enough. The key is intensity.



I reverse the order of today's workout.. taking care of Hamstrings first. I figure.. shot hamstrings will make squatting harder.. Harder is what i shoot for from workout to workout.



6 sets of leg-curls are the order of the day:

1st set... the whole rack.. 256 reps

2nd set... the whole rack plus a 5kg plate pinned on 15 reps

3rd set...4 set.. the whole rack plus a 10kg plate pinned on

5 set..a repeat of the second set

6 set.. a repeat of the 1st set



The mix of sets and reps and heavy weights.. pretty much fries my hams...



NOW leg-day can start



Only one exercise needed for quads:



Squats.



I warm up on the leg-press machine.. as i feel this better activates the muscles involved in squatting, moreso than leg-extension..OR even doing warm up squats with the bare bar.



Set one: the knee joint already warm from leg-curls and the one set of leg-press (done for fluidity), there's no need to start squatting at 100 pounds as usual... first set weight is 200 pounds for 15 reps (Not bad.. but my reps ARE down from usual)



Set two: 300 pounds My coach notices a flaw in my movement.. maybe my hip-joint isn't fully warmed



Set three: 300 pounds (repeated for better form)



Set four: 350 pounds drop set



Set five: 200 pounds rep out.



At the end of this i'm lying on my back, looking up at the ceiling. Just searching for the meaning of life...LOL



Are we done yet? My calves twitch angrily like misunderstood teenagers...just aching for attention... so i gues i've got calf-work today.



2 exercises.



4 sets apiece



Exercise 1:

Seated calf-raises



Pretty ho-hum... Only a small crowd of onlookers congregate this time to watch me train... guess they expect this level of intensity now..



Exercise 2:

Smith Machine.. standing calf-raises



My calves are surprisingly pretty smoked from the seated calf raises. Still, i'd like to try the standing calf-raises for the first time in months.I only do these when i really really need a little extra growth-producing stimuli.



4 sets at 300 pounds



*Editor's note.. having not done this movement for some months.. my poundage has dropped by at least half*



~Nark

Chest in time

Under my coach's advise.. my chest workout has been cut down this offseason... This is to facilitate recovery.



Scene:

Home gym:

Fitness Solutions



Task at hand:

Chest and bicep



Time range:

Under One hour



Chest has been cut down to two exercises



Exercise one:



Flat Barbell Bench Press



5 Sets



Exercise two:



Incline Barbell Bench Press



5 Sets



Was a pretty brief (i.e. boring session)



Biceps/forearms... Now that was definately better



Exercise one:



Standing Barbell Curls 4 Sets



Exercise Two:



Seated alternate dumbell curls



Exercise three:



Hammer Curls



Exercise four:



Dumbell Wrist Curls



BORING!!

Rest

Friday..

Saturday...

Sunday....



Rest Days...



And dammit.. i need it.





~Nark

No Shoulder to cry on

Thursday finds me back in Big K.I.G's home gym.



The event?



Shoulder work (with arms tossed in the mix).



Shoulder...Big K's best bodypart..I'm thinking..this'll be a hard session.I'd better try to keep up.



Exercise 1:



Lateral raises.Big K grumbles..expecting that i'd do a pressing movement first.. but i'm no idiot... pre-exhaustion should reduce his poundages some..besides.. i get better development from pressing last anyway.



4 sets later... my shoulders are biitching... ironically.. so is Big K ...LOL!



Exercise 2:



Bent-Lateral raises.



Big K claims he's never done these..so we start light



set 1: 30 pound dumbells ..rep till failure

set 2: 40 pounders.. rep til failure

set 3: Big K stays at set 2's weight... i jump up to the 60's... "You gonna do THAT?" he exclaims



"HELL YEA!!!"



set 4: 60's...40's...20's drop set



"NOW we can press Kev"



He's pretty sapped now.. and wants to do a dumbell press with backsupporting bench.. NAH.. can't work.



I call next movement:



Barbell press infront...on a flat bench... i.e. no back support.



Set 1: 50 pounds rep till failure

set 2: 100 pounds rep till failure

set 3: 150 pounds..drop set

set 4: repeat of set 3



I chose this exercise because although using a bench with back suport allows one to move more weight.. it negates the involvement of supporting muscles (spinal recetors.. etc).. ultimately weakening them.



It was evident that big K uses back support all the time cus he was rocking and swaying under the poundage.



Editor's note:



*Highlight of the training session was Big K's mum handing him weight; a dumbell he couldn't lift..Go mama go! Methinks i should train with her*



Next movement:

I'm pretty spent shoulder-wise .. but Big K is adamant that he wants to do dumbell shoulder presses so 4 sets of that was the order of the day.



Shoulders finished.. we move on to ARMS!!!



Trying to keep things brief... workouts under an hour.. arms'll be simple



Biceps:

Pass off curls

&

Seated dumbell Curls



Triceps:

Over head (EZ-curl bar) tricep extension

&

Close Grip Bench press



(Big K also does a tricep press down)



Pumped.. Big K challenges me to a pose down... and i whup his ASS!!!!







and you can tell him I SAID THAT



~Nark

No going BACK

Tried a new gym.. and new training partner for a couple days this past week.



Methinks that was just the stimuli that my muscles needed.



Back day...

New Partner: Big K.I.G.

Scene: His neighbourhood Iron Dungeon



This was back to grassroots training; Improvised exercises... no Olympic Bars or any of the other work-load-reducing aparatus. Just cast-iron a bench and an overly-eager training partner.I'll fix the last part tho... I'll make sure there's not a hint of eagerness when i'm tru.



Editor's Note: Big K.I.G. was later seen lying on bench unmoving... It was this editor's belief that he was dead.



Execises 1:

Dead lifts... An aptly named exercise.



Set 1 --100 pounds 25 reps

Big K. jumps in and grunts "lite weight papa"



Set 2-- 200 pounds rep to faliure

Big K. complains about lower back pain...cops out



Set 3-- Drops set 300 pounds..to 200 pounds.. rep till failure

K. continues to watch from the sidelines... rub his aching eyeballs..um i mean joints.



Set 4-- Rep-out set 200 pounds

I MISS the feel of cast-iron weight.No bouncing; no assistance as with the olympic bars.



Exercise 2:

Barbell Bent over rows



I go tru 4 relatively easy sets at 150 pounds... by myself. Looking around, Big K's nowhere to be found.Gotta remember to start a thread on AR about this.



Exercise 3:

Close Grip Pulldown's (V-bar)



Big K's back...bring on the pain.Methinks he wishes he'd stayed at home.Look at him grimacing...I LOVE training.



4 sets later.. we're onto the next exercise:



Exercise 4:

Lat-Machine Pull Downs (Behind the Neck)



It's exercise 3 all over again... but with forced reps and negatives.Each set goes to failure..each of my sets that is.Where'd K go again?





Big K.I.G. wants to do One arm Dumbell rows, since he missed out on the deadlifts and bent rows...He seems legitimately hurt so i concur...His spinal erectors don't take the stress of the movement so we switch:



Exercise 5:

45º Reverse-grip Bent Over Row

Refer to Exercise 2



Finisher:

Don't think my traps can ever get too big...so i finish this back workout with 4 sets of Behind the back shrugs...



NICENESS!

Vomit Day :'(

Legs!

*Sigh*

*Grimace*

*Resignation to fact*



This is the order of things...tuesday nites at my gym.Yes... i've a love/hate relationship with Leg-training. I love the fact that my legs are huge.. i love the pain... I moving supra-maximal poundage.. Conversely, i also HATE all those things.Damned slabs of meaty thigh muscle.



People stand/sit and stare when i train 'em. Wondering at the intensity... Wondering of the sanity. Truthfully, I too sometimes wonder about my sanity.

What right-thinking man goes and gets crushed...voluntarily.. AND LIKES IT?



Leg day:

Simple at best;

Quads: Squats

Hamstrings: Leg-Curls, Straight-Leg deadlifts (opt.), Hyper-extensions (opt.)

Calves: Standing/Seated/Angled/Donkey Calf-raises



Simple on paper.



SQUATS:

Two warm up sets with a 45-pound Olympic bar

Not a bad feeling..today mite not be soo bad after all



1st Set: 20 reps at 100 pounds...Easy... Gonna be a great day



2nd Set: Wobbly..15 reps at 200 pounds.. damn... strength/reps are down*shakes head*... Today's gonna suck big time



3rd Set: 300 pounds.. 6 or 8 reps... hard to count with these little black spots floating around my head.I walk away from the rack... hoping to wake up and find that someone finished this workout for me. No such luck



4th Set: Hell! 350 pounds...dropset.. No spotter. 2 or 3 reps at 350 (refer to 3rd set's comments), 2 or 3 reps at 300...stripped to 200 pounds... rep til failure.



I wobble over to the leg-curl station.The intention here was to superset leg-curls with straight leg-deadlifts... no way jose! 6 sets or leg-curls later 'tis time for calves...



Calves, usually my redemption bodypart. Not this evening tho... My body means to tell me tha teverything gonna be hard tonite.



Superset:

Seated calf-raises with Angled seated claf-raises.



It's *sic* like flogging a dead horse...



"Hi my name's dead horse... Flog me!"



4 sets completed (barely), i get up to go home... but wait.. "what's that in the corner?" the suicidal part of me asks? "The leg-press looks so lonely... lets go spend 10 minutes with it"



4 high-rep heavy sets of calf raises follow on the leg-press machine.



The End! (of me)

Day One: Chest,Arms, Traps.

Chest day approaches again...dreadful chest day.My weakest bodypart.... Read an article last nite... "Chest in time"...poor play on words, but worth a try all the same.Goal? To complete chest workout in under 30 minutes... o and inflicting all the pain in the world. The latter part should be no problem...just ask my ex-training partners... if they you can dig 'em out from under their beds (long story)



Exercise 1: Flat dumbell flyes



I started this movement with the 20lb dumbells...yea baby weight.. then again a true iron warrior can make 5 pounds feel heavy.20 reps later... minimal pump.I take 30 seconds rest and then it's the 30 lb dumbells.. my reps are still high.. 30 secs rest.. then the 40 pounders (starting to get tired butt getting a hell offa pump)...Last set 50 pound dumbells...dropset.. to the 40s..30s...20s(barely get the 20s in the air)



Exercise 2: Parallel bar dips



3 sets to failure on each set... Same short rest periods... One word: Pain!



Exercise 3: Flat dumbell Bench-press



No comment



Exercise 4: Throat Prone



Feels like my chest is gonna explode.At this point.. i'm just going tru the motions...Didn't know that short rest periods could make a workout this intense...It's like painful cardio...with a pump



Onto Arms... Here, the pump is the main objective... I'm tired and my energy levels have hit rock bottom.Looking at the clock, i'm making good time.



Exercises:



Superset 1:

Standing Barbell curl & Straight-bar Machine Press-down

4sets



Superset 2:

Seated Alternated Dumbell Curl & Over head Dumbell Tricep Extension

4sets



Ever seen a grown man cry?



At the end of superset 1..My arms are swollen.Looking in the mirror, i'm thinking "when's the baby gonna pop outta you guys?"



I'm done... or not:

Looking at the clock i've still got like 10 mins left (workout being kept at 1hr Maximum... Chest and arms had taken 50 minutes)



What to do... what to do?



Traps are never too big..what about some trap-work?



Damn straight



I load up an Olympic Bar and commence repping. The exercise? Barbell Shrugs...Behind the back. The pump i get, extends from the base of my skull ...down to where the trapezius muscle inserts near the spinal erectors.

4 sets...that's all i can handle... traps..forearms... everything's pumped...

What idiot invented exercise?...I wanna go hooome.





INTENSE!!