By: Alton Hare

A week from Monday (18th of Feb.) on bench I started with 315 and I wanted to get it 3 times because I'd gotten 310x3 the week before. I pressed it once pretty easily but something didn't feel right, my triceps weren't pressing with the power they normally had, and on the second one it seemed like... a weird feeling like a car with a low battery that won't pull right when you push the gas down. They just didn't have the juice they normally did, and the second one took forever, but I got it. I didn't let it get me down, I knew it was a temporary thing, and next week would go better, it did ;). But for now I had to make the most of it, so I dropped down to 275 and did as many as I could, and when I failed I told my partner to spot me on 1...2...3...4 forced reps until my arms were dead to punish myself. That felt good, then I got on the 115 pound dumbbells and only got 5, very weak day, but on the next two sets I had my spotter help me and get forced reps so I could get to 8, man it killed me. On the last set I dropped the 115s and grabbed the 90s and did a drop set. That's not where it got good though.

I thought I was gonna be weaker but my flyes and cable crossovers were right up there, 35s on the flyes and 30 on the crossovers. I took everyone to failure and when I couldn't flyes anymore I let the dumbbells hang out to my sides to stretch my chest. I really wanted to punish myself. Then onto skullcrushers, I got a new PR!!! 100x10. Strange because earlier it felt like my triceps were weak. Probably the adrenalin from all the aggression I had, I turned the negative energy (depression) many guys get when their strength goes down and turned it into positive energy, aggression and competitiveness. Guys lose their focus, YOU CAN NEVER LOSE YOUR FOCUS AND YOUR COMPETITIVE DRIVE. That's the lesson for this week, turn negative energy into positive energy.

The next day, Tuesday 19th of February, was back and biceps, and my bent over rows actually went up, here's how the rest of the week went:

Tuesday, back/biceps, Feb 19th

Bent Over Rows: 215x5 (New PR), 185x10
Dumbbell Rows: 115sx7r 6L, 100sx12r 11L, and 100sx10r
9L
CRGP downs supersetted with seated cable rows: I just
went all out, not keeping up with weight
21's with 55lbs. (pretty east) then another set of
21's with 60 lbs. (barely got it, biceps don't have much left after back)
Then I burned the biceps completely out by going straight to dumbbell curls with the 25s to failure.

	What Are 21's? One of Arnold's favorites. Using the curl as an example, you would do 7 full reps followed by 7 half reps from the starting position to half way up followed by 7 half reps from half way up to the top of the movement. All of this counts as one set.

Click To Enlarge.
21's Using The Curl.

Wednesday, legs, Feb 20th
I didn't sleep the night before very well, my partner couldn't come to spot me, and I felt bad so I didn't go heavy:

315x10, 335x8, 300x12
Leg Press: 14 plates x 8, 8, 12 plates x 10
Then leg curls which I don't keep track of the weight, next week was much better.

Thursday, incline chest/shoulders, Feb. 21st
This was a good workout got 205x6 and then 225x4 on the incline which is a new PR for me since my incline sux so bad (but I'm workin' on it) then 185x10.

Incline db press: 80sx10, 8, 7 (last week I had to drop from the 80s to 70s to stay in the 8-10 range) then superset incline flyes with cable crossovers.

Then I did rear lateral raises, run the rack on standing lateral raises, and dumbbell presses with 50s.

Friday, back (isolation), Feb. 21st
This is a special day, its why I started training 5x a week, to bring my back into balance with my chest. Its reserved solely for isolating and sculpting my back. Lat pull downs, one arm cable rows, chins, and anything else I can do to isolate and build my back I do. Weights aren't important I just pump my lats and traps up as much as possible and isolate them.

Well, this past week went much better, without going into too much repetitive and unnecessary detail, this is what happened:

Monday, chest/tris, Feb. 25th
Bench: 315x3 hahaha and 275xfailure, this is the last week of doing just 2 sets, I'm moving to 10-8-6-4 now DB press: 115sx8, 7, 5 plus a forced

Tuesday, Feb 22nd, back/bis
Bent over row: 225x3, 205x6

Wednesday, Feb 23rd, legs
Derek couldn't make it AGAIN on leg day, but I wanted to do more than last week so I compromised... decided to get a change of pace and do "ass to grass" squats where I go way lower than parallel, as low as I can go (the bar was touching the safety rack):

Deep Squats: 365x5, 315x8
Leg Press: 14 platesx10, 8, 8
Superset Leg extension with leg curl (very intense, barely walking now)...and I'm out.

Thursday, incline chest, Feb. 24th
Incline Bench: 225x4 (same as last week, but my chest was sorer this time so that's an increase I guess), 185x10, 185x8

Incline dumbbells: 75sx12, 10, 8

Shoulders were awesome today, I supersetted rear lat raises with dumbbell presses, good superset, then ran the rack with standing laterals and finished 'em off with another set of db presses.

Friday, iso back, feb 25th
Good session, I hate all this light iso-stuff but I know it's good for me.

That's it for these past two weeks, talk to you guys later!

- Alton

beautifuldisaster420@yahoo.com

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