The Brotherhood of Iron

[CarlitosWay]

Weights are not bad though, just a tad bit low reps for optimal hypertrophy?

Well I did a triple rest pause set, resting only 10-12 secs after doing 4 reps, than 1, than dropping down to 135 for 5 reps. It was all one continuous set.

Ideally I should have done 180X4-5, 180X2-3, 180X1-2 all considered one set....ending in the 7-10 rep range or something.

It's prob to advanced for me but I couldn't resist doing it after watching Dorian train that guy with em lmao! I'm just going to work on getting that 185 up for 8-10 reps and than keep going up in weight. maybe just 1 rest pause or so. I'm not strong enough to really milk many rest pause sets.



Ah great another Manowar fan on here! There is no other band that pumps me up more before a workout that manowar. I like their style that they don't give a ****. GMU is damn awesome as well, I'll second that motion of yours

Yeah I had textbook form though, it was all chest I felt, slow negative and I exploded like a mofo on the way up, with no kicking/leg drive or flailing around.

 

[ATP]

Yeah I had textbook form though, it was all chest I felt, slow negative and I exploded like a mofo on the way up, with no kicking/leg drive or flailing around.

Ah, seems I have some trouble with my reading comprehension skills I'm guessing you got sore like a mofo after doing these?

 

[CarlitosWay]

Ah, seems I have some trouble with my reading comprehension skills I'm guessing you got sore like a mofo after doing these?

yeah but sabotaged myself...did a brutal leg workout and chest/bis than rested one day...than went out with the boys that rest night. Long story short I don't ever go out and drink, but I got a little "wild" and with less than stellar sleep. I was a bit ****ed up for 3 days, sleep wise, body wise and diet wise.

Well shoulders/tris today. Serious got a big sodium bloat. No more cheat meals and salty food. For a good week or two lolz.

 

[CarlitosWay]

shoulders/tris yesterday Had to get through this work out real fast as I got to the gym 1/2 hour before close time. Weights suffered a little.

seated shoulder dbs
65 lbs X7

smith close grip bench press
2X failure

superset cable laterals/power tri pressdowns
2X failure

Today was back
floor deadlifts 365X2 @170 lb bodyweight (food intake has been sub par last week, down in weight or gym scale could be ****ed? meh) Yet a little over 2Xbw, I'll take it and I don't even **** with floor deadlifts a lot hahahaa......Only time will tell what I can get them up to.

Going to ask some powerlifters for technique help, I think I'm setting up too low and not taking advantage of my long arms. 405 for reps should be eezy peezy after a bit. training on 3 hours of sleep didn't help much either

hammerstrength high rows (done unilaterally)
210X10

yates rows
185Xfailure
155Xfailure

seated cable rows (lat bar attachment and bring bar to towards chest)
80X13
100X11

hanging leg raises
2X failure

ugh upper back was toast...time to load up on food.

 

[CarlitosWay]

Took a hiatus from my thread, which was do to me moving to a new place, having to find a new gym and getting set up for school this summer.

Through all this I continued to hit the gym as consistently as I could. Now getting back on track

SHOULDERS/BACK

SEATED DB PRESS

65X9
50X8
RP
X3

PULL UPS
Warmed back up with bodyweight work

HAMMERSTRENGTH HIGH ROW (SUPINATED YATES STYLE, these felt real ****in' good, good squeeze in lats and solid reps in)
160X7-8 REPS
REST PAUSE
140X4-5 REPS

YATES PRONATED ROWS (super strict form)
175X11-12 REPS
195X5-6 REPS

SHRUGS/HYPEREXTENSION SUPERSET
55 LB DB SHRUGSX15
BW HYPERSX15

85 LB DB SHRUGSX12-13
HYPERS BW+45 LB PLATEX12 REPS

nice quick workout. Shoulder pressing needs to go up like usual. Need more food, a spotter would help next time as I should be able to clear the 70's next time around.

 

[CarlitosWay]

Loving every one of these articles....so confused about the front squat tho. Back barbell squat beating it in terms of quad activation?!! weird as others and me swear front squats>back squats for quads.

anyways here's the article
http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article_issue/issue_623#inside-the-muscles

 

[CarlitosWay]

Chest/tris/bis

LOW INCLINE DB PRESS 80'S
35X10
65X8
80X9

80'S felt sort of heavy, body weight has been going up and down guess makes sense my strength is taking a hit .grrrrrrrr could have been cause my shoulders were a bit sore still too

HS WIDE GRIP FLAT PRESS
2PPSX8
3PPSX8
Great machine, could really load up on the weight and felt no strain on shoulders.....

inhuman close grip smith bench
195X3
185X8
smith machines in my opinion are best used for tricep work. Why? Cause it allows you to push against the machine/towards feet and lets you hit the tris real good.

laying bench barbell tricep extensions
barX12
85X6
REST PAUSE
75X6
REST PAUSE
75X4

DUMBELL CURLS
25X8
50X8 PR

EZ BAR CURLS
80X10

HAMMER CURLS
35?XFAILURE
partialsXFAILURE
25XFAILURE
partialsXFAILURE

god arms were toast from curls and going heavy on forearms with decent form wasn't going to happen. so did some light work


NEXT DAY "LEGS"
CALVES
STANDING CALVE RAISES
nothing special
done in v-squat machine
ramped up to 1 heavy ass set 8-10 reps deep stretch and big contraction at top (2pps+35 or so)
than drop sets all the way down to 1PPS and than into just bodyweight calve raises until it hurt even more.....

than onto
Machine seated calve raises
ramped to 230XFAILURE
DROPSETS UNTIL 80 LBS

**** you calves!!!

OLYMPIC HIGH BAR SQUATS
BARX8
135X8
225X8
275X1
235X4

Hmm weak sauce my form has gotten a lot better at least, went nice and deep (kerpal would shed a tear). Yet **** my narrow hips seriously (I'm pushing 27-28 inch hips if even that), not the best for heavy barbell squatting, yet great from a bodybuilding/aesthetics perspective!!!

V-SQUAT
2PPSX8
3PPS X 8

RACK DEADLIFTS@slighty above mid shin
done with extra emphasis on using hamstrings to pull up weight
135X8
225X6
315X4
375X2
315X4

adduction machine work(yeah machine look you feel gay but it hits inner thighs like no other)
ramped up to 1 set XFAILURE + FORCED REPS

GLUTE BUTT BLASTER MACHINE
ramped up to 1setXFAILURE ALSO
god I'm using all these gay machines eh? People must be wondering wtf is wrong with me hahah...Yet I think extra glute work is very underrated. After all they're a big part of free weight squats and deadlifts. part of a strong posterior chain !!!

 

[CarlitosWay]

MOTIVATION
"The power of motivation, a quality of damn near super hero proportions. You spend countless hours in a gym, for days and days on end. You push your body to limits and beyond, climbing the peak of perfection. DO you have it? Are you motivated enough to squat this 500lbs, and stand back up with it? it hurts, so what. The power of motivation provides the velocity to break through the pain barriers, the limitations placed upon us by our muscle. A velocity that can provide us enough speed to reach the stars. Happy lifting, friends."

Bodybuilding - Power of MOTIVATION http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE5nYyU88is

Great video about the mentality of some of the best bodybuilders in the world. Even if you're NOT genetically gifted, not using steroids, don't have crazy strength, you get NOTHING done with out unrelenting MOTIVATION AND DEDICATION, bottom line. This is why I love bodybuilding, hard work is demonstrated visually and no way cheating past this, naturally or professionally with gear!!!!

Another great video...God Kevin Levrone is still and will always be one of my all time fav pro bodybuilders....BEAST http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjyQX4c8xoY&feature=related

 

[Kerpal]

Hmm weak sauce my form has gotten a lot better at least, went nice and deep (kerpal would shed a tear).

 

[CarlitosWay]

lol ^^^ If I can get that up to 405 In the next year or two I'd be happy. Going to order me some oly shoes soon. As these will help shift more of the work to my quads which are stronger than my hamstrings.

today shoulders/back

smith machine behind the neck shoulder press (down to ear level)
**** these were a lot harder than I thought.
135X4
REST PAUSE
115X4
REST PAUSE
85X6

standing db laterall
3-4 sets
main working set used 30 lb dbs

cable pullover using lat bar
3-4 sets

HAMMERSTRENGTH HIGH ROW (supinated)
3-4 sets
main working set 160lbs
triple rest pause
broke some prs surely....need to start writing my **** down lol

YATES BARBELL ROWS
205X8 PR
175X11

BARBELL SHRUGS
135X8
225X8
315X4
*STRAPS ON*
365X6
385X8

Buddy has a vid of doing 635X8 than again he's 5'7 @ 220 lbs I think. freakin animal.

that's it had the little sister with me doing the same workout except for the shrugs. She's starting to grow some little wings (lats) and her form all exercises is coming along good.

 

[Being_the_Don]

YATES BARBELL ROWS
205X8 PR
175X11



that's it had the little sister with me doing the same workout except for the shrugs. She's starting to grow some little wings (lats) and her form all exercises is coming along good.

Those are good numbers. Rows are intense. I do barbell t-bar rows every so often. I haven't done yates barbell rows much, though.

 

[CarlitosWay]

Those are good numbers. Rows are intense. I do barbell t-bar rows every so often. I haven't done yates barbell rows much, though.

Thanks, bud.
Yeah, I'm wanting to get a iFlip vid camera. Than I can start recording some videos. T-Bar rows are freakin' awesome too.:box:

On another note, I know some check out the journal. Probably wondering what I eat or recipes for stuff. Every morning I'll usually have 6 whole eggs plus some a cup or so of quick cooked oatmeal. Than a piece of fruit or two in the AM with a couple tablespoons of natty peanut butter.!!!

ALWAYS and always I have green tea every morning whether from tea bags or via peach mango crystal light green tea!!! (mmmmm!)

When in a pinch (as I work at 5 am most days) I'll leave something over night in the fridge, 2-3 scoops whey protein + 1 cup of oatmeal + 2 tablespoons of olive oil. These are what I consider my "bulking" shakes. Quick efficient and really pack the calories in after you take a couple in for the day.

Yet I had a weird concoction this morning. I think many of us overlook the biggest link in our bodies when it comes to nutrition and building up your body. YOUR STOMACH!!! I'm a big proponent of having some digestive enzymes everyday, big fan of greek yogurt and kefir (closest thing to raw milk I can get) with the beneficial bacteria/probiotics. Which I think help tons maintain/improve stomach health.

So this morning I had 2 scoops whey protein added to 1 cup quick cooking oats. handful or so of frozen blueberries. Topped off with Kefir non flavored plain milk. To top it off one packet of novella (like splenda but with probiotics).

Walla super breakfast with carbs, protein, fruit+antioxidents and beneficial bacteria!!!

I'm soon going to start adding some mineral support. Also, I always use Redmond's Sea Salt, as it's unprocessed and has more trace minerals than I can count. I highly recommend it as far as sea salt goes.

I welcome any thoughts, things that work for you, or brands you recommend that work for you as far as digestive enzymes/mineral supps and all that. Of course I stay on top of fish oil, which I'll megadose when my joints are feeling a bit more beat up than usual!!

SONG OF THE DAY EMINEM "NOT AFRAID"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0GKO8AsJ6w

Interesting fact where I shop for food at times is the same place Eminem gets all his food from, he lives in a gated community only 30 minutes or so from me. I talk to his little assistants from time to time

 

[Being_the_Don]

Thanks, bud.
Yeah, I'm wanting to get a iFlip vid camera. Than I can start recording some videos. T-Bar rows are freakin' awesome too.:box:

On another note, I know some check out the journal. Probably wondering what I eat or recipes for stuff. Every morning I'll usually have 6 whole eggs plus some a cup or so of quick cooked oatmeal. Than a piece of fruit or two in the AM with a couple tablespoons of natty peanut butter.!!!

ALWAYS and always I have green tea every morning whether from tea bags or via peach mango crystal light green tea!!! (mmmmm!)

When in a pinch (as I work at 5 am most days) I'll leave something over night in the fridge, 2-3 scoops whey protein + 1 cup of oatmeal + 2 tablespoons of olive oil. These are what I consider my "bulking" shakes. Quick efficient and really pack the calories in after you take a couple in for the day.

Yet I had a weird concoction this morning. I think many of us overlook the biggest link in our bodies when it comes to nutrition and building up your body. YOUR STOMACH!!! I'm a big proponent of having some digestive enzymes everyday, big fan of greek yogurt and kefir (closest thing to raw milk I can get) with the beneficial bacteria/probiotics. Which I think help tons maintain/improve stomach health.

So this morning I had 2 scoops whey protein added to 1 cup quick cooking oats. handful or so of frozen blueberries. Topped off with Kefir non flavored plain milk. To top it off one packet of novella (like splenda but with probiotics).

Walla super breakfast with carbs, protein, fruit+antioxidents and beneficial bacteria!!!

I'm soon going to start adding some mineral support. Also, I always use Redmond's Sea Salt, as it's unprocessed and has more trace minerals than I can count. I highly recommend it as far as sea salt goes.

I welcome any thoughts, things that work for you, or brands you recommend that work for you as far as digestive enzymes/mineral supps and all that. Of course I stay on top of fish oil, which I'll megadose when my joints are feeling a bit more beat up than usual!!

SONG OF THE DAY EMINEM "NOT AFRAID"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0GKO8AsJ6w

Interesting fact where I shop for food at times is the same place Eminem gets all his food from, he lives in a gated community only 30 minutes or so from me. I talk to his little assistants from time to time

I have a cup of green tea every morning. I like oatmeal, but I tend to eat mine with milk. This morning I went to the gym did dbbp 4 sets at 225 with 4 sets of flat bench dB flys and 4 sets of neutral grip pull ups mixed in. I had tea, 2 frankfurters w/ 1 ketchup packet, 1 regular slice of wheat bread, a thin spread of grape jelly (for the carbs since I didn't have anything else on hand), and water. When I do morning workouts I prefer to not eat a lot of calories, just enough to get me started.

 

[CarlitosWay]

very pissed my new gym closes @ 7 pm on saturday WTF?!?#@!? @? anyways found this vid of Layne Norton, a natty bodybuilder.

Many come onto this sites health and fitness forum to learn how train/eat to look their very best and from the get go I've said it and I'll say it again training and eating like a natural bodybuilder will get you there THE FASTEST http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIxM2xA3utc

 

[CarlitosWay]

Alright ladies and gents, Carlito is back with some progress pics. Have been training, just been too lazy in typing everything up or writing my training down...few nights here or there, went out for a few drinks and some debauchery...Yet I rarely ever drink, so 2 nice sized cups of beer can do me in very fast LOL

Last sessions I can recall
legs
seated calve raises
lean away thibs leg extensions
ramped up to 3/4 of stack for 8 (like 190 lbs I believe)

V-SQUATS (facing pads, real deep, slow and explosive, hmmm really love these.)
4ppsX6

Highbar squats
225X8 (machine v-squats did my legs in real good , so accordingly I couldn't lift a lot on barbell squats form was solid on squats and felt all my legs doing the work)

glute ham raises
had a hardtime setting these up, have to figure out some better way, tried them in the lat station was just awkward, than I used a barbell with 225lbs plus dbs holding it in place, yet I'll try using 25lb plates next time as I didn't feel real "secure" with how high the bar was sitting.

just did bodyweight work, god these are no joke!!! focused a lot on the negatives and had to do push offs from the bottom, will def focus on getting my hams strong in these as I'm sure they'll bring them up tremendously.

chest/bis/tris yesterday
hammerstrength incline (did barbell work at first wasn't feeling it yesterday, 2 hrs of sleep, real tired+loaded barbell =dangerous)
2pps+50x6
rp

x2

db flat pressing work (again very weak, wasn't expecting anything special yesterday, so focused on perfecting form)
80x7
70xfailure (+ rest pause got like 9-10 reps total)

standing cable low-high flys
30lbsX12
50lbx8
40X15

close grip bench press in smith machine
worked on form, feeling tris real good..nothing special

tricep overhead cable extensions
3 sets

ez bar drag curls(nice slow negative)
ramped by 20 lbs over 3-5 sets
work set 105 lbs X 4
rest pause
+1
rest pause
+2
105x6 not toooo shabby. Not even 2 1/2-3 years ago, I was struggling to squat 85 lbs for a few reps, now I'm ez bar curling 100+ lbs relatively easy.

reverse cable curls
35x15
40x12 (use other arm to help left side as it's a bit smaller/weaker than other side )

that's all she wrote.....

updated pics

wheels
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47968496@N03/4596177263/

back
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47968496@N03/4596177069/in/photostream/

random pose under some good lighting....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47968496@N03/4596206973/

what heavy pinwheels/reversecurls/hammer curls can help build if you have ****ty arms...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47968496@N03/4596177359/

some fav muscle building meals....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47968496@N03/4596793124/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47968496@N03/4596177447/in/photostream/

EDIT: also lately I've been making it a good point to do some real good ab work after doing legs and doing back....consisting of a lot of roman chair ab work(knees to chest failure, than knees to side failure, than other side), decline reverse crunches, hanging leg raises and kneeling cable crunches...I'll do little circuits and hit them hard until I want to cry like a little girl...and want to puke

 

[CarlitosWay]

eating 3 nice big steak kabobs for breakfast wihlst sipping on some crystal light peach mango green tea = money .....

Anyways on to the sessions...

Friday had a light upperbody session, just worked on form nothing real serious as far as weights went

(did standing calve raises inbetween rest periods, making it a goal to hit calves hard as hell every time in the gym so 4-5 times a week...ramping to heavy top sets into drop sets after)

Low incline db press
35 lbs
60 lbs
75 lbs X 10 (good controlled reps)

Wide grip hammerstrength machine
3pps+70X4
rest pause
3pps+50X3
rest pause
3pps+50X1

low incline db flys
25lbs/warmup
40 lbsXfailure

ez bar drag curls/laying dead tri extensions superset
2-3 supersets

Was kind of nice had the whole gym to myself.....no one in my way no bs.

yesterday legs

Thibs lean away leg/sissy extensions
3 warm up sets
top set 170lbsX10 ooowch

hack squats
2-3 warm up sets
top set 3ppsX6

high bar olympic squat
2-3 warm up sets
295 X 1 PR (mind you this was after leg extensions and hack squats!)

deep, form was good, ***** was a grinder as I stopped right at parallel which I think is harder than going deeper and getting that nice little stretch reflex out the bottom.

seated calve raises.....than gym closed was putting plates away, last one in the gym again and they turned the lights off on me while I was still putting plates away LOL

 

[CarlitosWay]

light rear delt work/rotator cuff work/broomstick scapulae stretching

Incline BB Press
barXmany reps
135X5
165X2
185X1
205- fail (hmmm incline was a bit higher than when I hit 205 for 4-5 reps)
195X2

Will use an adjustable bench next time and use a lower incline, just seemed more like I was doing a shoulder pressing movement and not so much emphasis on chest......

LOW WIDE GRIP HS MACHINE PRESS
2ppsX8
3PPS+35x6 pr
REST PAUSE
3PPS+25xREPS TO FAILURE

low high cable flys
50 lbs
70 lbsXfailure continued...
into 50 lbsXfailure

smith machine close grip bench press
2-3 sets

floor dead tri extensions
1 warm up set (40 lbs)
80 lbs X failure
rest pause
80 lbs X failure

barbell curls
2-3 warm up sets
110 X2

ez bar cruls
90 lbs to failure (8-10 or so )
rest pause
90lbs to failure

pin wheel forearm curls (didn't really count just repped them out)
55 lbs to failure
rest pause
55 lbs to failure
than into...
partials to failure....

ok session....need to stay on top of my eating more. Feeling a bit stagnate in some lifts and my bodyweight, time to stop bull****ting around and push it to another level.

 

[cuzza]

Good going mate!

This is prolly my favourite log on here, not stuck with the SS/5x5 dogma that seems so prevalent here and willing to try what works for you. Effort!

 

[Fuglydude]

Nice wheels! Haha, my stomach started to growl as soon as I looked at those pics of your meals!

Ever thought about switching to my world of max effort lifting, cutting the volume and just focusing on strength/power output for a while? Your methods of training combined with your diet are obviously working for you, but sometimes you need to change things up drastically to stay fresh, motivated and keep your body guessing. I bet a 455 lb deadlift, 365 lb squat, a 225 lb powerclean and pull ups/dips w/ 100+ lbs around your waist would make you just as sore as your current regimen, and be just as effective, especially if used in combination. These forms of training are more CNS-intensive, so you have to rest more. I know you said you have a physical job, so that takes care of conditioning/cardio... With max power style training, you'd only be lifting 3 days a wk, maybe 4.

One of my buddies trains a lot like you, higher volume, bodybuilding-ish with slow controlled movements... I'm training with him today... He's 5'11" - 220 (12-14% bf) and on test/tren, and training with me is still gonna whoop his ass. He calls me up when he wants an intense leg or deadlift day.

Your style is obviously working for you, but sometimes you just need a change to keep things fresh! Just my 2 cents. Keep it up though, this is a wicked work out log.

 

[Perfect10]

Dude, you're strong as ****! Good going!