Workout Journal – 2008 Personal Training Program Day 10

As promised, I’ve started on a new program cycle starting on Day 10 of my PT program. The focus of the following 9 PT session would be building muscle mass and definition by breaking them down and allowing rest days for them to hopefully add bulk in the recovery phase. Being realistic, I don’t expect to end up with bulging pecs that never end or biceps the size of soccer balls by the end of the cycle (that would be a nightmare if that happened) but I do look forward to fill out my T-shirts a little bit better once I get through it.

For this new cycle, the number of reps have been increased from my previous 3 sets to 4 now for each exercise. While some of the exercises will have a fixed number of reps that I need to complete, others I would have to complete until I could not lift the weights anymore for that set. I think that there is a term for it but for now I just call it the “exhaustion limit” for lack of a more imaginative description. The other thing that has changed is the rest periods between reps. I used to be able to take my own time to recover between sets but now I have to stay strictly within the time limits allowed by my PT. I am now only allowed to rest 30 seconds between sets and 1 minute between exercises which my PT strictly enforced with his stop watch!

Since I would be working the muscles close to their breaking points, I also have to take care of what I eat for the duration of this cycle. I would definitely will have to load up on more protein shakes so that the muscles will have components they need to build up bulk-wise. Good thing that I get an additional discount from GNC for purchases made during my birthday month so stocking up on extra tubs of protein shakes this month wouldn’t damage my wallet too much. A cheaper alternative to go on an egg white eating binge but I can only take so many egg whites in one day before I get sick of it so protein shakes are still the best option for me.

If I could only be more discipline about the hours of sleep that I get a day then I’ll be all set for this program cycle.

Program Day 10 (muscle group: Chest, Biceps, Lower Back – duration 1 hrs)

Warm up – Stationary Cycling (10 minutes, interval – 100 kcal target burn)

Chest
Flat Barbell Bench Press (reps - 12/10/10/8, weight – 40/60/70/80 lbs)
Flat Dumbbell Bench Press (reps – 12/12/12/12, weight – 20/20/20/20 lbs)
Incline Barbell Press (reps – 12/6/7/8 – exhaustion limit, weight - 20/20/20/20 lbs)
Vertical Chest Press (reps – 12/10/10/8, weight – 16/23/30/30 lbs)
Pec Fly (reps – 12/10/10/8, weight – 35/40/45/50 lbs)

Biceps
Standing E-Z Bar Bicep Curl
- Full extension from low to chin (reps – 12/10/10/8, weight – 20/30/40/50 lbs)
Preacher Curl (reps – 15/15/20/21 – exhaustion limit, weight – 20/20/20/20 lbs)
Dumbbell Hammer Curl (reps – 12/10/10/8, weight – 10/15/20/20 lbs)
Bicep Curl (reps – 12/10/10/8, weight – 25/30/35/40)

Lower Back
Back Extensions (reps – 12/10/10/08, weight – 65/80/95/110 lbs)

Cool down – Stationary Cycling (20 minutes, flat – 120 kcal target burn)