Post Diet - Chest Workout

Having gotten back into Star Wars Galaxies, I've sacrificed my nap time to play that game. With that being said, I am still amazed at the amount of energy I have now. Yesterday was a good example, here are my stats for chest day:

Flat Bench Press: 135x14 • 135x14 • 220x10 • 315x5 • 220x8
Incline Dumbell Press: 85x10 • 85x6 • 85x8
Dumbell Pullovers: 85x10 • 85x10 • 85x10
Decline Bench Press: 220x8 • 185x10 • 220x7
Butterfly: 175x10 • 175x10 • 175x10

Ya I know, it looks weak but it will pop back up - strength isn't my aim right now :)

Diet Stats - 8lbs less, 8 times sexier

Over the last 4 weeks I have buttoned down my diet, apparently I was BSing my workout before by avoiding this.
I've been maintaining a balance of 50/30/20 (50% protein, 30% Carbohydrates, 20% fat) at a rate of less than 2500 calories a day to cut weight fast. So far it is working and I've shaved 8 of 15 goal pounds, which makes me happy. The part I don't like is the constant hunger and low blood sugar attacks I've been dealing with. One morning I woke up weak, feeling like I needed to throw up. In desparation to avoid hurling, I threw back a glass of water and quickly fixed a tuna sandwich, on reflexion I realized that I had cut way too many carbs the day before (stupid me). The upside is I look good, when I flex my chest I can see the ripple run from south to north and the skin on my arms appears thinner, showing a few more veins etc. My waist has always been my biggest obstacle but it is obviously trimming down as I continue this painful diet.

It feels good to eat right, I cannot express this any better than I am here. At first I had the temptations: friends with temptingly fatty foods, co-workers who make it their goal to crack me, a fellow weight lifter who pops pizzas and of course the all powerful sweet tooth. At first I would crack, and give in with the "I will run it off" BS escuse, but now I don't even want it, call it obsession but if the fat grams are higher than either the protein or carbs I think it's disgusting. I actually gave away ice cream the other day ICE frikkin CREAM folks, if you knew me you'd understand. I look at my before pictures and remember how proud I was of my size pffft, I am alot sexier now, and getting sexier still. Diet is king, I bowed to it and it is rewarding me for my sacrifice.

Dropped 8lbs :)

I don't know how it happened or when but I weighed myself last night before destroying my back and it seems like I am down to 242 lbs. I am excited, and will give credit to the all powerful diet that I have been sticking to and yes of course the cardio. Progress is always awesome but to jump on that scale and see it made me happy.

To think, me getting excited over losing weight versus gaining it, wtf has happened to me?! 7lbs till to go, so erm yay.

BTW! Buy my new Big Box Of Grits Shirts! They are awesome: http://www.cafepress.com/dragonmall

Being An A_hole Does Not Make You Great

Alot of us serious weight lifting individuals come from different walks of life. That being said, it sucks that alot of times outsiders lump us all up into the same stigma and I don't appreciate it. In general I can place the gym attitudes into different categories from experience and aside from number one, I hate all the rest.

1) Focused Lifter - Comes in does his routine, may say hi or bye to fellow friends and leaves.
2) Mediocre Poser - Usually pretty strong and knows it so he makes extra noise, drops the weight and expresses how heavy his lifts are all in an attempt to get a few eyes his way.
3) Juiced Up Poser - Sigh, this is my least favorite. You can usually tell because this idiot has to take off his shirt 90% of the time. It is equally disturbing when there are only guys in the gym... who's he impressing?
4) Soft Expert - This guy has been in the gym forever but has not taken the time to learn anything about his body so therefore he doesn't look like he lifts but he is quick to correct you or hang around for 3 hours talking to everyone.

I am not saying I am perfect or innocent by any means but to be lumped into the same classification as the heroes described after 1, just sucks.

/rant off

Chest Day 8/08/05

So I decided to give the old routine of staying up all night working then trying to lift a rest and actually get disciplined. The start of this week I left the PC alone and delved into my book "A Man of Honor" by Joe Bonanno. Not only is it a solid read, it also leads to yours truly falling asleep at a decent time at night. So on this particular bench day I was stronger, alot stronger. Good stuff , if I say so myself.

Flat Bench: 135x10 • 220x10 • 220x10 • 315x8 • 365x6 • 415x6 • 405x2
Inclined Dumbell Press: 100x10 • 100x10 • 100x10
Declined Smith Press: 315x10 • 315x10 • 220x10
Cable Crossovers: Bah it's a friggin Cable Machine (baby weight) who cares?
Dips:10 • 12 • 8 *CRASH* Too much on flat bench.

---

Treadmill 30 minutes • I was a good boy today :)

Squats and Deads 7/28/05

Batista from WWE was in our gym today. Two days ago The Big Show was there working out too. I don't know why my POS gym is so popular with the wrestlers but it's pretty cool either way. Today I decided to go with a real leg workout.

Parallel Squats: 135x10 • 220x10 • 315x10 • 365x8 • 415x6 • 415x6 • 365x6
Hack Squats: 315x10 • 315x10 • 365x8 • 365x8
Single Leg Extensions: 60x14 • 80x14 • 100x12 • 120x10
Standing Calf Raises: 80x10 • 90x10 • 100x10
Deadlifts: 225x6 • 315x6 • 315x6 • 365x2

Biceps & Triceps 7/6/05

Today I decided to reverse the routine. I would do triceps first since they tend to fatigue my arms alot less than bi's. It worked out very well too, I had barely lost any "umph" to do the full bicep workout after tri's. I think I may do this some more in the future. One thing I screwed up on though, was forgetting to peak my curl 100% at the top in order to fix my form. It hit me on my last two exercises which sucks but I just need to remember form is everything on this road.

Cable Pushdowns: 130x10 • 130x10 • 130x10
Cable Pushdowns(Reverse Grip): 110x10 • 110x10 • 110x10
Cable Rope Pushdowns: 100x10 • 100x10 • 100x10
Close-Grip Bench Press: 135x10 • 135x10 • 135x10
Single Arm Cable Kick-Backs (not my idea): 90x10 • 90x12 • 90x12

---

Straight Bar Curls 125x12 • 145x10 • 155x8 • 145x10 • 125x10
Alternating Dumbell Curls: 40x10 • 40x10 • 40x10 • 40x10
Seated Hammer Curls: 40x10 • 40x10 • 40x10 • 40x10
Preacher Curls (21s): 75x21 • 75x21 • 75x21

The Comeback - Chest/Back 7/05/05

Las Vegas was alot of fun and I took part in a little bit of everything, I will definitely be back next year. Here is a Link to some pics if you're curious. Anyway my diet and workout was shocked that entire weekend. Basically I ate like a pig and didn't workout. When I returned, the jet lag and laziness made me take a week off and with the gym closed for July 4th, I returned on tuesday:

Flat Bench Press: 135x14 • 135x12 • 225x8 • 315x4 • 365x2
Incline Dumbell Presses: 90x10 • 90x10 • 90x10
Decline Dumbell Presses: 100x10 • 100x10 • 100x10
Bent-Over Dumbell Rows: 100x10 • 100x10 • 100x10
Dips: 10 • 8 • 8

---

Cable Pulldowns 100x10 • 140x8 • 160x6
Cable Pulldowns(Reverse Grip) 160x8 • 160x8 • 180x4
Seated Cable Rows: 120x10 • 140x10 • 160x10
Machine Single Arm Pulls: 135x10 • 170x10 • 215x8 (whew!)

Not bad.

Pre Vegas Back & Tris Day - 6/21/05

So herein lies the dilemma, I am back in the gym... like a beast. In the next four days I will be gambling and whoring with other sinners in the house that Bugsy built. I will be tempted to cheat on my diet, I will be neglected of the heavy iron, what is a boy to do. What the hell do you think!?! I'm banging this shit hard here and now, getting my muscles destroyed then after four days of fun I will be back to eat the left-overs. Check this out:

Lateral Cable Pulldowns: 110x10 • 140x10 • 180x10
Lateral Cable Pulldowns (Reverse Grip): 180x10 • 200x10 • 225x10
Bent-Over Dumbell Rows: 100x10 • 100x10 • 100x10
Seated Rows: 140x10 • 140x10 • 180x10
Bent-Over T-Bar Close-Grip Rows: 180x10 • 225x10 • 225x10

---

Skull Crushers 80x10 • 100x10 • 100x10
Close-Grip Bench Press: 135x10 • 135x10 • 135x10
Cable Extensions: 140x10 • 140x10 • 140x10
Cable Pushdowns (straight bar): 140x10 • 140x10 • 140x10

---

Deadlifts (Don't ask, I was just feeling it tonight): 315x2 • 365x2 • 315x1
**CRASH**

Vegas Time Pimp! Let's see if push-ups and sit-ups will keep me strong for the return.

Pre Vegas Chest Day - 6/20/05

Bench Press: 135x15 • 225x8 • 315x8 • 365x5 • 315x8
Incline Dumbell Press: 90x10 • 100x10 • 90x8
Seated Machine Bench Press: 315x6 • 315x6 • 315x6
Dumbell Flies: 35x10 • 35x10 • 35x10
Dips: 10 • 8 • 11

No Cardio tonight, last night I was up playing Guild Wars till 4 am so that afforded me three hours of sleep. To top it off I had no breakfast and ate a 6" chicken sub for lunch and some Fritos. That evening I ate a very sugary bowl of Grits with a pinch of sex on the side. When I got to the gym at 10:15 pm, I was unusually energized and attacked the weights like a beast. I ended up falling asleep at 1:00 am. With 6.5 hours of sleep I will see how things go for the next workout.

Shoulders and Biceps 6/07/05

Overhead Dumbell Press: 60x12 • 65x10 • 75x10 • 85x10
Dumbell Shrugs: 115x10 • 125x8 • 115x10
Barbell Lifts: 100x10 • 100x10 • 100x8
Reverse Flies: 125x10 • 125x10 • 125x10

---

Barbell Straight-bar Curls: 75x14 • 95x12 • 115x10 • 95x12
Seated Preacher Curls: 100x10 • 100x10 • 100x10
Concentration Curls: 25x10 • 25x12 • 25x14

I guess it wasn't bad for having come back off a break. I hope to get stronger still but let's take this a day at a time.

The Boy Is BACK! Chest 6/06/05

Bench Press: 135x15 • 225x10 • 315x6 • 365x2
Incline Dumbell Press: 115x10 • 115x8 • 115x8
Decline Bench Press: 315x6 • 225x10 • 225x8
Cable Crossovers: 100x10 • 100x10 • 100x10
Treadmill Light Run: 20 Minutes

Wow, I don't know where the strength came from but I was hungry and destroyed the bench.

Back & Triceps 6/02/05

Lateral Cable Pulldowns: 125x10 • 165x10 • 185x10
Lateral Cable Pulldowns (Reverse Grip): 185x10 • 205x8 • 225x6
Bend-Over Deadlifts: 225x10 • 225x10 • 315x8 • 315x8 • 365x6
Dumbell Rows: 135x10 • 225x10 • 225x10
Tricep Cable Pushdowns: 130x10 • 130x10 • 130x10
Tricep Cable Pushdowns (Reverse Grip): 80x10 • 90x10 • 90x10
Tricep Cable Rope Pushdowns: 100x10 • 100x12 • 100x14

Ahh that stiff painful feeling in my lower-back... I love Dead-lifts, they force me to walk erect and look like a man.

May 24, Monday - Chest

Incline Bench Press: 135x12 • 185x10 • 185x10 • 185x8
Flat Bench Press: 225x12 • 185x12 • 185x10 • 185x5
Decline Bench Press: 225x10 • 225x10 • 225x10
Dumbell Flies On Bench: 40x12 • 40x12 • 40x12
Dips: 12

Well I didn't go too crazy today, I had only slept 2 hours the night prior so basically I didn't feel like pushing the cardio. Ate some Chinese before going to the gym (grrr, it was a date), it never seemed to settle which really cramped my style. Funny thing at the gym, some juice swigging poser was running his mouth to the night guy, it was a pretty nasty confrontation. I left before juice boy got the beat-down, that guy really needs a tan. Lol!

Crazy Saturday 4/21/05

After missing a few days due to Star Wars Episode III and QT with the woman, I felt fat and lazy. To cure this feeling, I went to the gym on Saturday morning and cracked out some chest, bi-ceps and those oh so awful deadlifts:

Flat Bench Press: 135x14 • 135x12 • 225x10 • 225x8 • 225x6
Reverse Dumbell PullOvers: 75x14 • 75x12 • 75x10 • 75x10
Deadlifts: 225x10 • 315x12 • 275x10 • 275x8 • 315x5
Forearm Curls: 40x30 • 40x25 • 40x20
Standing Barbell Curls: 90x14 • 90x12 • 110x10 • 110x10
Standing Dumbell Curls: 45x10 • 45x12 • 45x10 • 45x8
Concentration Curls 30x10 • 30x10 • 30x10
Seated Preacher Curls: 90x10 • 90x10 • 90x10
Treadmill Brisk Walk: 20 minutes
Bike: 10 minutes

Ruined my diet big-time today, next week I have to cardio my ass off.

The Cut - Sculpting Of The Frame

Greg's Stats - December 2004
In 2004 my goal was to become large, I wanted my chest to boom, my arms to pop and basically have that "swole" look. I didn't push the cut complex at all but concentrated steadily on strength, mass and eating... alot of eating.

At the end of the year I was continuously asked if I was juicing and became known as a "big" dude. That goal was blown away with flying colors and I was happy, never having "maxed-out" I did not record my stats but I will list what I worked out with on the most popular ecercises:

Bench Press: 315x5 | Squats: 455x4 | Bicep Curls: 145x8

---

The Plan And Execution
The plan is to keep my strength whilst adding in a strict diet and an increase in cardio. Without losing much of this bulk, my goal is to chisel it all into something solid by year's end. This Journal is an outline of my routines and techniques on the "Road Of Kings".

Kicking Old Habits
One of the hardest thing to kick was my insatiable appetite. I have a reputation for downing 2-3 plates of food easily and putting back drink in the high numbers. On the road I have decided to eliminate alcohol consumption along with a solid eating plan to keep my Protein/Carbs and Fat intake under control. The other thing that was tough is my lack of cardio, I have had to mentally re-work my attitude towards cardio just to keep me at it. High Intensity cardio is always fun but it's the long boring jogs or bikes that I have always had issues with. They are of course necessary and when Winter rolls around, I know it would have all been worth it. Gang!

---

Light Chest Day 5/17/05

Flat Bench Press
135x20 • 135x15 • 185x10 • 185x10 • 185x8

Incline Smith Press
185x12 • 185x10 • 185x8 • 185x8

Decline Dumbell Press
85x12 • 85x10 • 85x10 • 70x14

Cable Crossovers
80x10 • 80x10 • 80x10

Dips
10 • 8 • 6

Synopsis (Follow Up)
Well I have a deep fibery pain going on in my chest today so I guess it was a good workout. The light stuff always hurts it seems but I am actively recovering with push-ups throughout the day, numbs the pain up just right and keeps me feeling good.