Mashed Up Meathead - Arm day and other notes.

My training History: I trained less than one year before competing in my first powerlifting meet as a teenager back in 1983. Before leaving the sport partially due to injuries in 2005 I achieved my elitefts status in the 198,220,242,275 & 308 weight class. Throughout these years I did have a 3 year run in the bodybuilding world. I have  degenerative joint disease, have had two shoulder surgeries (right shoulder now needs replaced), one full hip replacement, knee surgery, and herniation's in all three regions of my spine, Bone spurs (all joints). I can't even begin to list the number of muscle tears I have had, surgical and non surgical.  I am "The Mashed Up Meathead" and this is my story. 

You can find my training log archives HERE and my most current training log posts HERE. 

My best lifts are behind be but my best training is yet to come. 

* Unless otherwise noted the tempo of the work sets is about 1/2 of what most would consider normal. In most cases, if I did the set with normal temp what I fail at with 8-10 reps in training I could do for 20 reps with a normal tempo. This is to keep the joint stress down while increase the stress on the muscle. I have found this to work best for me provided the conditions listed in my training history above.

Thursday. Arm day.

Pushdowns using the comfort grip tricep ladder super set with face curls using the comfort grip rope.

Six warm up sets of ten to fifteen repetitions. These warm up sets were ... The weight was progressively increased over each set. Repetitions were determined based upon what felt good at the time. The weight jumps were based upon also what felt good at the time.

I was training with one other person, so we were going back to back with this. We were flying through the sets, so while I was doing one, he was doing the other and we just kept going back and forth. There were a lot of warm up sets until we got to the weight that was good to begin doing the work sets where the goal with each work set was to fail between twelve and seventeen reps, essentially hitting fifteen reps and not having anything left after that.

We did five work sets total. The tempo was a moderate tempo with a two second contraction with each repetition.

*After the work sets, we did a loaded stretch for the triceps and a loaded stretch with the face curls for the biceps, each for a forty second count.

*After that, we did the pushdowns doing fifteen repetitions with each grip position. There's three different grip positions, so a total of forty five repetitions.

 What I really like about having the different grip positions on a pushdown is many times when you do a tricep pushdown and you're using a cable attachment or a rope or a towel or whatever you're using, your range of motion for your triceps is usually limited by the implement that you're using and the size of your biceps.

If you get an implement that allows you to pull apart and get a hard contraction of the triceps, usually you're not going to be able to get a good stretch in the triceps at the top because your forearm's going to jam into your bicep if you have any type of muscular bicep at all. Now, when you have the three different grips, what happens is that lower grip allows for you to get that good spread at the bottom to be able to contract the triceps.

When you deal with the top grip or the high grip, you can't really get the bottom position at all, but you get a really good top position where the tricep is stretched really hard. You get down to a mid or a three-quarter position for the end of it. By going and using all three different positions, you're just destroying the tricep, which is why I like to do this as a separate kind of a finishing exercise or an exercise that I dump right in the middle alone.

Reverse grip tricep pushdowns with a zigzag bar. Super setted with lying face curls with a Tsunami bar.

The way we performed the reverse grip pushdown is we bend at the waist to close to a ninety degree angle and then, take the cable from our forehead to a contracted position with straight arms at the bottom. We're staying bent over the entire time. It gives you a little bit more stretch in the triceps.

For the lying face curls, the reason for the tsunami bar is it's a little bit fatter and it's got a little bend to it or it allows you to bend a little bit more, which allows for a better contraction at the bottom. With this, it's just the stretch, the full stretch, at the top and actually flexing your triceps so you can stretch the bicep a little harder. Then, curl it down to your forehead for the top contraction there.

Three warm up sets of ten to fifteen repetitions straight on to four work sets, trying to fail between twelve and seventeen with the goal of being fifteen.

One armed tricep extensions using the kettlebell.

The reason for the kettlebell over a dumbbell is, for me personally, I get more stretch in the tricep just because of the way the weight is distributed with the kettlebell. I can keep the bell in my hand closer to my face.

One arm at a time is how this was performed. One warm up set and then, five sets of twelve to fifteen repetitions, all sets to failure.

One arm preacher curls.

One warm up set and then, four work sets of eight to ten repetitions. The goal really was to try to get in that twelve to seventeen repetition range, but it wasn't going to happen and I ... We were too lazy. I was too lazy to get a lighter dumbbell, so just kind of said screwed it and just worked with what we had.

Hammer curls.

No warm up sets. Four sets, fifteen repetitions.

Other Notes:

I want to note in my training log here a couple secondary notes. My body weight now is right at 262. The plan was when I hit two sixty to go on a more regimented focused diet plan to lean up as I have several times before. We're definitely getting there. If possible, I'm going to have my body fat checked this week.

I'll use a seven side skin fold to be able to determine that and then, I will start with seven meals a day, the basic bodybuilding meal plan like I've used many times before. It's taken several months to be able to go from two ninety nine down to the two sixty two. I knew I should be able to do that without having a really regimented or focused diet just by watching the foods I eat, drinking more water.

For a little bit there, I got stuck and had to add in a couple days of cardio each week and then, I pulled those back out. Dropping that initial thirty pounds or whatever it was is ... It's easy. It's not a big deal. It's when I get to two sixty where I'm going to become more concerned with maintaining the muscle mass that I have and making sure I have the nutritional intake that I need to be able to do that.

I haven't commented on the sleep study and what's going on with that. I failed my sleep study and have now been using a CPAP for the past two days. I can say that I'm still getting used to it, but there is a night and day difference with how I feel when I wake up in the morning. My joints don't feel any better and my body still hurts like it's been run over like a truck. It's been that way for the past ten years.