I competed in NPC Junior Nationals on June 12-13. I came in with a much bigger and leaner package than years past. Moving into the off season I will be working on my raw strength and putting on size in my upper body. Competition plans are still to be determined with the possibility of some powerlifting in the late fall. I will continue to work with Amit Sapir on my off-season dieting, gradually increasing food and working to put on some good muscle. Scott Paltos will be doing my training, reworking some strength work in with some volume work for the added muscle during the rebound dieting phase.
Last few days of training have looked like this:
Thursday - Back
Friday - Shoulders
Saturday - Squats/Legs
Sunday - off (trampoline park with the kids!)
Monday - Bench/shoulders
Kids have been in school for a couple weeks now. Finally into a routine a bit. While I may have the "luxury" of working from home right now, it certainly doesn't always make life any easier. I get up about 45 minutes before the kids do, get lunches packed and breakfast started. I usually head out the door with the dog for a 30 minute walk... allows me to knock out cardio without having to go to the gym. Then off to school, work all morning, train at lunch time, run a few errands if need be, pick up kids from school and do the mom thing with them.
One thing I get asked is my food and meal prep. Most busy working moms have a hard time getting that sorted. Honestly, I'll cook food at night and on the weekends, and I'll cook extra when I'm making dinner at night. It's not a hassle to put some chicken in the oven while I help the kids with homework. Or to cook some extra rice after they have gone to bed. Tonight I put white potatoes in the pressure cooker (for mashed potatoes), more white potatoes cut into steak fries in the oven, turkey burgers on the stove top and sauteed some peppers and onions. Then after the potatoes were done in the pressure cooker, a huge batch of rice which takes 6 minutes. Lots of food.... done.
"But I just don't feel like it at night."
Well, then I guess that's a decision you have to make for yourself.
Training this weekend was solid. Good back and shoulder work. Saturday's squats felt solid. Reworking foot position, NOT overarching my low back and actually getting my hamstrings to engage when I squat. Felt good and will continue to build.
Diet has been good.... not great, but good. I had ice cream Saturday night as my cheat, but didn't have a whole meal. 🙁 waaahhh. Food has been on point, but hitting all my meals has been difficult. When I'm stressed, I don't have much of an appetite. As much as I love my morning pancakes though, I almost can't finish them, not to mention the berries and banana as well.
Plus, I've been going to bed earlier... like an old woman. No really. Like between 9 and 9:30. Which makes getting in my last meal tough. I may need to shift everything forward and start eating at 6am. That may help.
THURSDAY - Back
A. Lat Pulldowns - 4x12
B. Pullups weighted - 5x5-6 + 15-20# added
C. Low cable rows - 5x10
D. Single arm meadows rows - 4x8 - Last set drop set
E1. Double impact shrugs - 4x12
E2. Straight bar stiff arm Pulldowns - 4x12 with holds every few reps
F. Underhand Hammer pulldown - 4x15 - 5 on left, 5 on right, 5 both
G. Single leg hamstring curls 3x12 (I think Scott has an idea with these random hamstring things 🙂 )
FRIDAY - Shoulders
A. Seated laterals - 4x15
B. Plate loaded hammer Shoulder press - 5x8
C. Piston shoulder press hammer - 3x20ea arm
D. Machine laterals - 4x10
E1. Ez bar skull crushers - 4x10
E2. Right into Ez bar close grip (same weight) - 4xSwole
F. Rope pushdowns - 4x15 -tempo variation within the set
G. Pec Deck Flyes 2x15
SATURDAY - Squats/Legs
A. Squats -
135x12
165x10
185x8
205x6
215x6
225x6
235x4
245x4
(So, we adjusted my foot position. My raw stance obviously isn't nearly as wide as my geared stance, but we moved it in another 1/2 inch. So far so good. Rolling forward on a few reps, but I think I'm going to start wearing some different shoes for squatting. One thing I've noticed is my back tightness. I am carrying the bar a little higher than normal in hopes to keep from overarching, but you can see my elbows pop back a bit. I'm really trying hard not to drive my chest up and crank my elbows too too much. Might need to talk that over and see where to go.)
B. Pulsed Static Lunges w/ wt - 4x10ea
C1. Reverse Lunges w DB - 4x6
C2. Seated Hamstring curls - 4x15
D. Leg extensions - 2x20 then 3rd set drop set
E. Pull throughs wide stance - 3x20
F. Eccentric step ups (down super slow) - 3x3
MONDAY - Bench/ Shoulders
A. Bench press - 6x4 @ 145, 155x4 sets, 165
(Still reworking some technical things... foot position to get more leg drive and better overall position, bar path (as a shirted bencher, have a tendency to push straight), and of course keeping my ass down... which I can see was already a big improvement today) 🙂
B. Seated piston presses DB - 4x15 ea
C. Standing heavy laterals - 4x20-15-15-12
D. Strict seated presses - 3x20
E. Single arm cable laterals - 4x12-15
F. Pec deck rears - 5x10-15 last set drop set
G. Reverse incline rears w holds every few reps - 3x15