Man, this one got my hip flexers smokin’. This is going to be a fun month!

Incline Dumbbell Drop Set: 4 Sets, 6*6: 55-35/55-35/55-35/55-35. I was really hoping I could keep up with the 55 pounders. I like when my thought process works out. Throwing a bigger weight on the back end of this will lead to heavier weight on the front.

Dumbbell Press w/ 3* Drop: 4 Sets, 6*6*6: 40/40/40/40. This was great. I felt like I could have added a little more ‘squeeze’ at the top of the rep. I really wanted to finish the sets. Definitely getting stronger.

Cable Fly: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 15/17.5/17.5/17.5. Finally got on the cable fly. Not a lot of people working out on 4th of July weekend. I was hoping at this point I could be up to loading 40lbs. on the machine, but I was ok with the sets.

Close Grip Bench Press: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 95/95/95/95. Boom. I could barely finish the first week with 75lbs. I could have added more weight I think.

Super Set!!!

Skull Crusher + Pull Downs: 4 Sets, 10/12 Reps: 40lb. curl bar & 35lbs. on the machine. I dropped the weight down on the pull downs so I could really go slow and get a good stretch and squeeze on the triceps. I was definitely trembling after this. The first week I had to switch to a 30lb. curl bar on the 3rd and 4th sets & drop the weight to 25lbs. on the pull downs midway through the 2nd set.

I hope everyone is seeing the increase in power, strength, and endurance this workout regimen is providing. Tomorrow is the dreaded 3-a-day, but it will wrap up the first month of this masochistic mania.

If you’ve been reading, thank you. Hit me up on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quests4josh/

 

This is one of the best full body circuits I’ve ever done. I’ll probably end up doing this a few days out of the week after this because it was so fun.

Arm Day:

Pull Up Progression: 5/4/4/3/2. My range or completeness of the pull ups was excellent. I was surprised I got 4 twice.

Dumbbell Rows: 4 Sets, 12 Reps: 65/65/65/65. Strong. Real strong.

Body Row: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: Used a Smith Machine for the straight bar. My wrists got a little janky, but I got a good pull on the back.

Incline Curl: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 35…haha 4 finished the first set with 30’s/30/30/30. My buddy brought in some grip trainers into work today. I wonder if this had anything to do with my weak performance here. I got 30’s easy last week.

Super Set:

Zottman/Cross Body/Pronate Curls: 4 Sets, 8*8*8: 20/20/20/20. I knew I wasn’t going to get the 25’s. The next best thing was the 2o pounders. This was tough. I could barely hold onto the dumbbell. Good Pump though.

2 more days!

I don’t know if it’s from the growing boredom of the first months T25 videos, or these are just that much more fun, but I like the Beta phase so far. This was a good one to start the day. The body is mildly getting used to getting up a getting after it. I don’t know if this is such a good idea long term, but I can keep it going. Actually, I’m pretty sure that doing this first thing in the morning is raising my cortisone levels, but I’ll be alright!

 Played a round with our Assistant Pro, Steve Giermak. I’ve been working with a golf coach over the past year, but I am no where near hitting the ball like they do. My swing speeds and distances are on ‘par’ with the professionals, but they hit the middle of the face pretty much every swing. Steve played his best round ever, and I was 1 shot away from mine (lipped out an eagle on 18 for a 73). First time I’ve witnessed a -3 round. Getting closer to my goal of breaking par. Now on to leg day!

Again, Over Load Progression has me at the final phase of the first round. 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 40%, 50%, 60%, 60% 1RM.

Back Squat: 100/125/150/150. I’ve been listening to the guys at MindPumpMedia.com, and they gave some good advise on squatting. I remembered it before the 3rd set, and it really helped my range of motion (ass to grass).

Front Squat: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 120/120/120/120. This almost broke me. I’ve been hot and running ragged. Mental toughness had to take over.

Single Leg Press: 120/120/120/120 per leg. This was a gritty round. This website got me through it.

Calf Crushers: 45’s! I had to take breaks between the moves, but I got it done.

Leg Raise/TRX Rollout: 3 Sets, 12/10 Reps. Not gonna lie, I felt like quitting here, but the second round was strong. I could definitely tell that my lower abs are stronger.

 

3 more days to get this first month done. If you’ve been following, I really appreciate it.

This one was pretty fun. Even at 4 AM. I got about 11 hours of sleep last night. I felt really good today. At this point, it’s 1050 PM, and I have had a long day. I got this workout done, showered, packed my things for the day, and headed to the golf course. It was a beautiful day to sit on the first tee. I had a fairly productive (at the time) lesson with my coach, and then it was time for the Wednesday Night League. We were scheduled to play the Head and Assistant pro’s, but the Head pro was ducking us (not really). My partner came to play, but I was merely a spectator. We pulled out the win, but it was another light bulb that I have to make the range a priority.

I hit the gym around 9 PM. This week the weight goes down, and the reps go up. 10 Reps on the main reps@ 40%/50%/60%/60% 1RM.

Bench Press: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 75/90/110/110. These weights are not exactly on the numbers (much like the others), but I can’t put 72lbs. on the bar. I made sure to really contract the pecs and move with good form. It felt good.

Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 40/40/40/40. YEAH! I’m pretty pumped that I got up all four sets. This is good progress.

Barbell Shoulder Press: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 75/75/75/75. I got back to moving the bar slowly this week. I wasn’t pressed for time, and I had plenty of energy.

Scare Crows: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 20/20/20/20. I didn’t move the weight up on this guy because I really think the muscle this is supposed to strengthen needs to be worked a lttle differently, but for the sake of the month I finished it out.

Dips/Pull Downs 4 Sets, 10/12 Reps: Leg Raised on the Bench Dips/ 30lbs. I was going to go up to 57.5;bs. on the pull downs, but I really felt like going long and slow. I got a really good pump like this.

Now on to the Super Set!!!

Lateral Raise/Front Raise/Back Fly/Overhead Press: 3 Sets, 8*8*8: 15/15/10. I dropped the last set down to 10lbs. because I felt like it was going to get cheaty. I just made that 10lbs. feel like 20lbs. by going low and slow.

I’m looking forward to this week. I’m jacked about how quickly I’m responding to the training.

Thanks for reading. Let me know if you have any questions.

Get Jacked, Son!

So it was a long day after a long week, but I made it to the gym. My deadlifts were great. I had to use a deadlift bar, but I don’t think that made too much of a difference. When it came to the other lifts, I was very limited to what I could use. There is no squat rack on the 24 hour part of the gym right now. Nor was there an area to do my favorite lift, Landmines, but I got the muscle groups done. I substituted some ‘goblet’ squats for the Zercher, and to be frank, I was pretty much done with friggin’ squatting for this week. Squats and lunges galore.

Deadlift: 4 Sets, 3 Reps: 175/200/225/225. Boom. Had a dude at the gym that wanted to work in, so we just kept throwing weight on there.

Romanian Deadlifts: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 115/115/115/115. A little awkward to get the form correct with the deadlift apparatus.

Goblet Squats: 4 Sets, 12 Reps: 20lbs for each. Tired of bending at the knee.

I used the incline sit up bench with a 10lb medicine ball. After the sit up, I lowered until my spine was nearly touching the pad, and I did side to side rotations. I guess this mimicked the Landmine as best I could.

Sorry for the late post, but I’ve been tired. I’m done until Wednesday. Moving to Beta Phase with Shaun T tomorrow!

So, a couple of my buddies that I don’t get to play golf with all that often anymore are wanting to play a course I can get them on for cheap. Perks of working at a Top 10 in the state course. I’m looking forward to it greatly. We’re playing tomorrow which is my normal 3 a day. In order for me to keep myself honest, I had to do my 3 workouts today. No Biggy!

I got the T25 Cardio in this morning before work. Man is my ass sore. I mean my body is a little sore, but my ass is really sore. Shaun T loves friggin’ squats and lunges. Leg day lifts are legit when combined with Lunge Squat Progression… get the videos and join my pain.

Gym Time!

Chest Day! I really want to pump the pecs. Big shoulders, chest, and arms are what I’m looking for; my legs are already fairly big. Those will get chiseled easily.

Incline Dumbbell Press Drop Set: 4 Sets (6*6): 50/35, 50/35, 50/35, 50/35. I chose to up the ‘drop’ weight which will help me get to heavier weights faster. Nice slow reps. Felt good.

3* Drop: 4 Sets, 6*6*6: 35/35/35/35. I figured I’d get a couple sets in before dropping the weight down, but damn I felt strong today. I think all the failure reps I’ve done are really helping me progress quickly.

Pec Deck: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 100/100/110/110. Again, I don’t feel like taking up 2 positions to get my workouts done. I like this machine because I can really get a constant resistance through the lift. I’m doing a good squeeze at the end to make it more effective.

Close Grip Bench Press (Narrow Bench): 85/85/85/85. This is the first time in a couple weeks there’s been a bench open. I failed to get 85 up all 4 sets last time, but I got these with just a little strain on the last few reps on each set. I think I’ll go up 10lbs. next week.

Triceps: My neck was a little stressed out today. I didn’t want to push it too hard, so I just took a 25lb. dumbbell and slow rep’d myself to failure 3 times. 21/13/9. I thought I could get more, and maybe the ‘behind the head’ position was stupid for my neck, but I got a really good burn in.

This site won’t let me post the video I took, but check it out here https://www.facebook.com/quests4josh/

I got home, and I went after one of the next days T25 workouts. Lower Focus. I saved my favorite for tomorrow morning, Total Body Circuit. I’m really glad this is the last week of the Alpha Phase. I’m getting a little burnt out on these workouts. I guess they know what they’re doing over at Beach Body.

Hit me up on the Facebook, or twitter @quests4josh. I’ve got to start Instagramming I guess. I’ll think about some bare body shots, but I don’t think anyone wants to see that.

Get Strong or crash trying!

Lame title. It’s just my “Wednesday” in terms of workouts.

I’m getting better at this workout. I am working out first thing in the morning, and it’s a little hard to get super jacked up about it, but I can definitely tell a big difference in my stamina going at the moderate pace.

I left work, and I rushed to the gym. Once a month, my golf course puts on the ‘9 and Dine’ 2 man competition. So, I had to get the workout in before that. (Did not play well. My golf training has really taken a backside seat to this whole Para Bellum Corpus). Anyway, I flew through todays workout. I was really impressed. I am not a big ‘ARMS’ guy, but my little Gatling’s held up really well.

Pull Up Progression: 5/3/2/2/1. I think I’m going to have to work on these every other day.

Single Arm Dumbbell Row: 4 Sets, 12 Reps: 60/60/60/60. I moved this bad boy really well. The first set was much harder than the last 3. Good form here helps. No jerking.

TRX Body Weight Row: 4 Sets, 10 Reps. I’d like to do these on a bar, but I’m not an asshole taking up a machine when the gym is packed. Also, no one would agree that I’m not an asshole. Anyway, I try to really rip through this, and really squeeze the back muscles.

Incline Curls: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 30/30/30/30. I started last week’s set with 30’s,  but it got pretty cheaty really quickly. Today though, I grunted these out, and really pumped the guns. Man grit.

Super Set:

Zottman, Cross body, Pronate curls: 4 Sets, 8*8*8: 22.5, 22.5, 22.5, 22.5. Same thing here. Last week I got one set done, and I thought it was really swinging these around. Today, I took very minimum breaks between the lifts (no more than 40 seconds) and busted these things.

Guys and gals, if this thing proves anything, it’s that the body is an amazing machine that will get better, stronger, quicker, more limber if you can consistently aggravate it into submission.

I’m going to make a concerted effort to really get back to the golf training after this first month. I should post my handicap and rounds on here….

Started the day off with a little ab work. This is a fun little workout.

The wife and I decided to go float a river today. Got connected with the Earth. I some vagus nerve stimulation with my head in the water. That may sound a little hippy-dippy to a some people, but I think there is a lot to it.

Hit the gym for some leg work. Luckily, I got there at the right time and a guy was just finishing up on the squat rack.

Main Lift: Back Squat: 4 Sets, 3 Reps. 70%, 80%, 90%, 90%: 175/200/225/225.

I was a little shaky on the range of motion the 3rd set. I guess I was a little scared I wasn’t going to get back up, but I ‘ass-to-grass’d’ it on the last set. It makes you feel powerful when you slap 2 plates aside on that bar and grunt out your reps!

Front Squat: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 115/115/115/115. Phew! I did these quick. I new my heart rate was staying elevated so I wanted to take advantage of the extra cardio pump. I am trying to lose some weight here.

Single Leg Press: (I like using the Bosu Ball, but with the gym being packed, they’ve been used when I needed them): 110/110/110/110 per leg. Felt good.

Calf Killers: used 40’s today. eeesh. I think I’ll have to focus on stretching my calfs more. I always get close to cramping on these. I don’t know if that’s good or not.

Super Set!!

Leg Raises/TRX Roll out: 3 Sets, 12/10 Reps. Now if you guys normally do leg raises, and you AREN’T showing you ass to the gym, you are not getting what you need out of this exercise. You really have to squeeze those lower abs. Lifting your legs waist high is ‘waisting’ your time. Anyway. Killed it.

Starting the week off right. I really like this workout. I can get a lot of sweat going very quickly. It only takes a little motivation. I’m fat. I don’t want to be. #motivation.

This pic sums up today’s workout. My workout ‘Monday’ starts on Wednesday. Normally on Wednesday, I get my ass out of bed around 4 AM. I do my T25. I have to be at Bull Run by 630 AM, and I have a golf league that starts at 530 PM. That normally gets me to the gym around 830 PM. One hour workout later, and I’m home at 945-10. If I have to work at the golf course again, I am really cutting my recovery sleep by a lot. So, today, I booked it from the golf course. Crushed this workout in about 40 minutes. I have been talking about ‘time under tension’ on here, but today, I went explosive. I also think it really helped me kill today’s main lift. Bench Press! The run down…

This is the 3rd week in the overload progression. 4 Sets. 3 Reps. 70% 1RM, 80%, 90%, 90%

Bench Press: 130/150/165/165. I grabbed a dude for a spot on the last set just to make sure I wasn’t going to not get that last rep. Well, I threw that metal bitch up 6 times. Felt good.

Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 35/35/35/35. I thought I’d get a couple sets in with the added 5lbs. but I crushed them out with extreme prejudice.

Barbell Shoulder Press: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 70/70/70/70. Same thing here. At this point, I have been racing through the lifts.  Good form maintained, but a lot less time between reps. I did take a little extra rest before the last set, but I still threw it up.

Scare Crow. 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 20/20/20/20. I really got a good burn in this work out this week. I think I will change this one up next month and use a band with more of a lateral pull to really workout my rotator cuff.

Super Set Time!

Dips/Pull Downs: 3 Sets, 10/12 Reps: Bench Dips with a leg raised/55lbs. on the pull down. Ripped through them.

Lateral/Front/Rear Fly/Overhead Press: 3 Sets (8*8*8). Luckily, Gold’s gym has 12.5lbs. dumbbells. I don’t think I could have gone up 5 pounds on this lift this week. It’s a lot harder than most of you might think. I challenge you to get through this workout and take a heavy weight for this super set. Anyway. The set went like this. boom. Boom. BOOM!!

We won our match in the league. I’m going to bed early!

 

 

Sundays are going to be tough, but I felt very good today. I didn’t get enough sleep according to my Oura Ring, but my deep sleep and REM sleep were up.

Started the day with a little ab rippin’. This is fun, and it can get pretty tough if you do it right.

Deadlift Day:

Deadlift: 4 Sets, 4 Reps: 160/185/215/215

Man I had to grunt that last one out, but I got it with good form. Leonard da Vinci should sculpt this form, bruh.

Romanian Deadlift: 4 Sts, 10 Reps: 110/110/110/110

Felt really good. Back got hot, but I made sure to go slow.

Zercher Squats: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 110/110/110/110. Boom!

Super Set:

Weighted Sit Ups/Landmines: 4 Sets, 10/20 Reps: 15/15, 15/15, 15/15, 15/15

I love this workout finisher. Flinging a heavy bar around gets the heart rate up, and it makes me feel macho.

Got home. Hit the T25 right off the bat. This is a good one to finish the week on. I can get quick, and it has a few little stretches in there that are greatly appreciated.

That’s it for week 2 of Para Bellum Corpus. I’ll be stretching and foam rolling until Wednesday. I’ll keep you posted.