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.

Today is going to be good. Felt really good this morning. My Oura Ring told me I wasn’t quite ready to go, but I think I can. I am having a hard to getting the engine going. These workouts don’t last too long, and it is taking me 5-8 minutes to really get going. I am doing this silly things at 4 in the morning, but I am getting stronger. My stamina has gone way up over the past 3 1/2 weeks.

Chest Day at the Gym

I mentioned in an earlier post that our gym is going through some renovations. Things are pretty cramped in there, but I can work the parts I need to. Had to modify a couple things today. But damn I felt good. Even after a 5 freakin’ hour round of golf. (Father’s Day weekend).

Incline Dumbbell Drop Set: 4 (6*6): 50/30, 50/30, 50/30, 50/30

I moved up the first weight by 5lbs. this week. I thought that I’d get a couple sets in before dropping back down, but I straight crushed this one. I even did some slow ‘time under tension’ reps at the end of the last 6 with the 30’s.

3* Drop: 4 Sets (6*6*6): 30/30/30/30

Again, I went up a little in the weight thinking that I’d have to drop down, but I really moved through this one with power.

The cable fly machine was being used, and I didn’t want to stay at the gym until 11 PM, so I just hit the Pec Deck or Fly machine. I don’t normally use this guy so I didn’t know where to start. I just made sure that I did long, slow movements to get the most time under tension.

Pec Deck: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 85/85/100/100

The only bench was also being used so the ‘Narrow Bench Press’ prescribed for today was not going to happen. By this point I had really toasted my chest so I figured that if I just did some ‘Diamond’ push ups to failure that I’d really get the workout I needed.

Diamond PushUps (to failure each set): 8/6.5/5.5/7 (got a second wind on the last).

I didn’t have a curl bar so I just grabbed a couple 20 pounds dumbbells for over head tricep extensions (OTE) and the Tricep pull downs (PD).

OTE/PD: 40/35, 40/35, 20/35 (my neck didn’t like that strain), 20/35.

And just like that, the day was done.

On a lighter note, I did play an exceptional round of golf…tee to green, but I didn’t putt very well at all. shot an 83, but I missed 4 easy birdies; I had a fuckin’ 4 putt; add a triple bogey to that and you have a really crappy round of golf. Irons were good though.

 

Well, I started my Pull Up Progression today. I’ll snap a pic and throw it on here tomorrow. In order for me to do this day’s workout the way it’s set up, I’ll have to be able to do more pull ups than I can now.

Pull Ups: 4/3/3/2/2. The Oura Ring was a little uncomfortable, but I think it will be fine to lift with.

Single Arm Rows: 4 Sets, 10 Reps, 55/55/55/55. I made sure the last 3 on each set were slow. Ol’ Jeff Cavalier just put out a post on ‘time under tension’ which I always forget about.

TRX Body Weight Rows: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: X/X/X/X

Incline Curls: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 30/25/25/25. I was feeling good so I went a little heavier on the first set. Got a little ‘cheaty’ so I dropped it down.

Super Set:

Zottman/Cross Body/ Pronate Curls: 4 Sets, 8 Reps each: 22.5lbs.(all 3)/ 20/20/20. Again, felt pretty good on the first set. I had to swing the last couple on each set of curls. My grip is what kills me. My hands get pretty tired, but a good pump none the less. I’m going to get some sleep tonight.

Hit me up. I’ve gained a good amount of knowledge over the years. If I don’t know it, I can find the answer for you.

I’m wearing the Oura Ring as we speak. It is probably telling me that I should be asleep, or rather, I should have been asleep 4 hours ago. This morning my little precious tells me that my “readiness” score was a 62, i.e., not fit to get fit. I believe it. I’m going to ignore this thing for the first month. So, I got up, and I kicked the Full Body Circuit.

I part time at Bull Run Golf Club in Haymarket, VA. It is one of my favorite places in this entire state, and they pay me to hang around and set golfers on their way around our beautiful course. It was hot, muggy, and there was no breeze to speak of. I was operating under a mild sweat all day. Heat can wear you down, but I think my diet and supplementation is getting me through this.

The wife and I are in the beginnings of buying a home. I had no idea how time consuming such an endeavor is. I really intended to check out a couple houses and hit the gym. We looked at 4, and we really like 2 of them. This led to a few long debates. Needless to say, I got to the gym late again. But I got there.

LEG DAY!

Same things going on with the main lift: 65%b 1RM, 75%, 85%, 85%.

Back Squat: 4 Sets, 4 Reps: 160/185/210/210 killed it. Full Range

Front Squat: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 110/110/110/110 Boom

Our gym is under going some renovations so the only Bosu Ball I could find was being used by a couple of get-fit chicks. I was already behind schedule, so I just did…you know what. I’m going to rant just a second. I can take a positive note from this, but like I said, the gym is under going some renovations. There were only 2 squat racks in the entire gym. 2 guys were squatting a ridiculous amount of weight in one, and then another dude doing shoulder presses. There was a wide open shoulder press rack not being used. I nicely asked the guy how many sets he had left. “7”. F’n 7 when the entire gym is crammed together and people are doubling up, and this Joker is busting out 95lbs. of behind the neck shoulder presses. He said that he couldn’t use the Press Rack. Any way. Motivation was thrown in. Also, everyone else was scoffing at this douche leaning on the rack scanning his FB or whatever.

Where was I?

Single Leg Press: 4 Sets, 10 Reps each leg: 100/105/105/105

Calf Crunchers: 35 lbs. Good burn.

Super Set

Leg Raise/Ab Roll out: 3 Sets, 12/10 Reps. Boom/Boom/Boom.

I’m tired. I can probably get 5 hours of sleep. I wonder what the Dark Ring is going to tell me in the morning.

Hit me up on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/quests4josh/ or Twitter @Quests4josh

Well, it was late considering what all I had done today. I started at 6 A.M. with the T25 Cardio. Then, among my other chores, I did some foam rolling. Had to get loose for the Wednesday Night Golf League.

It was a hot one too. No breeze. 90 degrees. My buddy Bob and I are leading this thing. We both played like crap last week for our first loss, but we got it together this week. It’s a 2-man best ball. I shot a 38, but Bob made the birdie. I missed 6 birdie putts. I think I know where practice time will go this week. It was just a little before 9 P.M. when I got to the gym. I was a little concerned about the workout. I did get a big meal after the league (Bull Run Golf Club treats us right!), but I was very hot for a very long time. I was worried I’d run out of gas. But I exceeded my expectations!

This week the Overload Progression Starts at 65% 1RM, 75%/85%/85%

Bench Press: 4 Sets, 4 Reps: 120/140/160/160…5REPS! The 3rd set was a little sketchy so I decided to ask a guy for a spot. I guess knowing that the bar isn’t going to crush you helps add a little mustard.

Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 30/30/30/30 (I upped the weight 5lbs. Felt fairly easy. I’ll go up again next week).

Barbell Shoulder Press: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 65/65/65/65 (I threw an eXtra 10lbs. on. Clean & Pressed a few on each set.)

Scare Crow: 4 Sets, 10 Reps: 15/15/15/15. I think I’ll use a band next month with more of a lateral cross body movement. This will help strengthen the rotator cuff.

Super Set:

Bench Dips/Pull Downs: 3 Sets, 10/12 Reps: (I raise one leg & switch every 5 Reps on the dips ‘LR’) LR/52.5/ LR/52.5/ LR/52.5

Super Set (I think I’ll call this ‘Marvel Shoulders’): 4 Sets 8x8x8x8 Reps

Lateral Raise/Front Raise/Rear Fly/Overhead Press: 10/10/10/10.

Got it done in under an hour. I need some water and a nap. I did get my Oura Ring today. I’m very curious on what it is going to tell me. (I’m going to ignore it for the 1st month.)

https://ouraring.com/

 Look of shock that I finished today!

Just a little Cardio to start the week. I felt really good this morning. Normally on Tuesdays, I am awake nearly 24 hours. Yesterday, I hit the sack around 4 P.M. and did not wake until 6 A.M. So I was ready to go! Shaun T had nothin’ on me!