Pete's Quest for Mass

[Samoan-Z]

Damn it! .. I gotta go a week without Pete....

 

[Samoan-Z]

2 more days... 2 more days.

 

[DriDDeRz]

Pistol BANG BANG BANG! Pete

Damn mate, such disappointment to hear about the injury i hope you can workout still or even workaround it without causing to much trouble for yourself

give us an update when you can bro

 

[PistolPete]

Hey Guys, sorry it's been so long. Not too much has happened in the last two weeks.
All last week I didn't do any upperbody because of my shoulder. I had an awesome leg workout though. This week I went to the physical therapist, he checked everything out. It's getting better everyday, but still obviously not perfect. I did another leg workout on Monday, also friggin awesome. I measured them an hour or so after the workout, and they were at there biggest ever. 25 inches. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but they have never been that big in my life. 24.5 is the biggest they've ever been.

Anyway, I had my first upperbody workout last night (ARMS). It was kinda tough, I could definitely feel my shoulder hurting a bit the entire time. I couldn't work at 100%, especially my overhead tricep push press. I probably did about 75% I usually do.

Long story short, I probably won't be lifting 100% for upperbody for another 2 weeks or so. But I'll still be in the gym lifting. I'm just going to be doing a higher rep range. Maybe I'll get some growth from hitting my muscles with a different volume of reps!

Also, my Physical therapist gave me a bunch of rotator cuff exercises to do everyday with an elastic band. I can already feel my rotator cuff getting stronger. I do my exercises for 15-20 minutes, and then apply ice to my shoulder for an hour. It's been working great. I expect a full recovery soon enough. Until then...I want everyone to lift like 45 pound plates are going out of style for me!!

 

[PistolPete]

my leg workout from Monday is worth posting seeing as I can still go 100% on them!

1. Front Squats: 300: 5,5,5
PR! Man I love this exercise. I can't wait to go after 305!

2. SLDL: 305: 6,6
PR. I'm feeling it every step I take today! haha

3. Lunges: 245: 8,8
PR. My legs were fried from these, but they went really well.

4. Leg Extensions: 190: 8 195: 8,8
PR. Super control on these. My legs were BLOWN up after these. I'm glad I was done!


Some people probably wonder why I don't do leg curls in my routine, and I have an answer for that.

1. There's no lying leg curl machine in my gym (awful i know!) only a seated leg curl which I despise.

2. SLDL, Lunges, and my deep front squats hit my hamstrings a ton. A total of 7 sets worth of hamstring recruitment from these exercises.

3. My hamstrings hands down get the most sore (besides lower back maybe) compared to any other body part I train. If I trained them anymore they might not recover fast enough for the next leg day.

4. I also do standard deadlifts during the week, which involves a lot of hamstring.

 

[PistolPete]

One last thing.

I hit my weight gain goal for February. I was supposed to hit 210 and I hit 210.5!!

Woo!

 

[miamiracing]

heavy shit bro! keep doin your thing man!

 

[Samoan-Z]

Awesome man simply awesome nothing can keep you down like a beast.

But I actually heard the seated leg curl machine is more benefical to the hammys than the lying.

 

[PistolPete]

Last Night I did CHEST/CALVES/ABS

My shoulder is still under rehab, but it's feeling better everyday. I'm guessing it's somewhere near 80% healed now. By the end of next week it should be closer too 90-95. Then the week after that I should be hitting all PRs again. Until then, I'm trying to lift upper body a little lighter and hit higher reps than I normally do. If I can lift decent weight for a controlled 7-12 reps, thats good enough for now.

1. Incline Smith: 255: 5, 3
I did a couple warm up sets, and felt good enough to do one or two all out heavy sets. I could feel my shoulder a bit the whole time, but I was careful.

2. Decline Bench: 185: 9 205: 9 225: 8
I surprised myself here. Even though the weight was low, my form felt absolutely perfect, so that was cool. Next week I'll try to pyramid up to one all out set for a PR.

3. Machine Fly: 242.5: 9,8
PR. I had to have someone push the right handle for me on the first rep because it was just a bit too far for me not to strain my shoulder, but once I started doing reps I was feeling pretty good. I'm going to keep this weight next week too just to make sure I do with my chest only.

4. Calf Raise (toes Forward): 385: 10 390: 10
PR. Awesome. I'm going to keep 390 next week to really feel my muscles contract better. It was a good second set, but I know it can be better.

5. Calf Raises (toes in): 315: 10, 10
Pr. Not bad at all, but I need to concentrate a little more. I couldn't get a consistant feel in my outter calves for the entire set. I would feel it really well for 3-4 reps, then lose it for a rep or so, then get it back again. I want to feel it the entire time.

6. Rope crunches: 220: 10, 9, 7
PR. Good sets. I'd like to be able to get 10 3X, but that was definitely a good session. I'm going higher next week.

7. Leg Raises: 25: 8,8,8
PR. These are really really hard. The DB is just a little too big for my feet to hold. Plus my legs are tired from my leg day. I'm going to be using this weight for a while, I can tell hahaha.


Overall a good workout. I'm happy that I can do a fair amount. I'm still angry that I hurt myself though. It really put my training a step backward. The whole month of February I can't really expect to grow anywhere in my upperbody because of this damn shoulder. My legs are growing though, so that's good. It's going to be a lot harder to hit my goal of 217.5 by MAY now that This month is kind of trashed. If I can put a pound on my legs this month though That will put me to 211 by March instead of 212.5 Which would only be 1.5 pounds off, not too bad.

 

[PrinceVegeta]

PistolPete is back!

Nice sessions man! strong front squats!

Good to hear your shoulder is doing better! keep up the good work!

 

[Samoan-Z]

Great session man, way to make the comeback Championship style.

 

[PistolPete]

I'm doing my best Samoan! Thanks for all the support.

Last Night I did back. I was trying to be wary of my shoulder, because it's still not 100% obviously, but it's getting better. I also couldn't lift 100% because the idiot that I am lost my trusty lifting straps!!! I got to the gym, and they just were not in my bag. Bizzare. I ALWAYS have them in my bad. ALWAYS. So that was a weird Friday the 13th moment. I just ordered a new Valeo pair though, so they should come in this week.

Anyway, last night I did back the best I could, so here goes.

1. Underhand BB rows: 275: 8 280: 5 275: 7
The 275 didn't feel too bad without straps, but man 280 was wayyy to heavy for my grip. That didn't work well. so I went back to 275 and it wasn't too bad. I need my straps!

2. T bar rows: 187.5: 8,8,8
PR. I do a neutral grip (hands facing eachother) so the need for straps isn't too great. I did pretty well actually. I'm going to go to 190 next week.

3. Pulldowns: 230: 8 240: 6,7
I had to knock off 40 pounds from what I usually do. My grip was already tired, and this is a MUST for straps. An overhand pulldown needs straps, enough said. This weight was pretty good though.

4. Rack Chins: 30+BW: 8,8,8
Not bad. Same reps as last week, and this week I didn't have straps. I'm going to try 35 next week!

5: cable Pullovers: 120: 8,8,8,8
Nice pump sets. These were good. No need for straps.

 

[DriDDeRz]

Gotta wear those new lifting straps in bro

Awsome back workout and impressive bent over rows and pulldowns bro, keep training hard mate!

Any plans for bodybuilding shows?

 

[miamiracing]

good work! fuck lifting straps there just rip at heavy ass sets.. i almost busted my back from dem' while repping 405lbs for 21reps at shrugs..

 

[Samoan-Z]

Great back work Pete.

 

[PistolPete]

@Dridderz: I just bought a new pair of VALEO lifting straps with the neoprene cushion on the wrist. Simple, cheap, but totally invaluable. I can't wait to compete again, but unfortunately I don't think I'll be doing a show until Summer 2010. I want to keep on growing, and make huge improvements. I want to bring a much thicker package to the stage next time, and that's just going to take me a long offseason. I grow pretty slow (ectomorph) but I'm doing my best. So far so good!
@ Miami: Bro I need those damn straps!! lol I know you probably have freaky grip strength but I don't
@Samoan: After my shoulder is 100% and I start lifting at my best again, I expect some crazy motivational speeches!! Thanks again for the kind words.

Last Night I did SHOULDERS/TRAPS/DEADLIFTS

I couldn't go too heavy on deadlifts because of my shoulder, and mostly because of my lack of lifting straps!

1. Deadlifts: 225: 6 315: 6 405: 6
Not bad for raw lifts. My grip was giving out way before my back was. I definitely could have got 405 in the double digits if I had straps.

2. Shoulder Press: 225: 5,4,3
PR! This actually felt really good. Some of you are probably wondering how I'm able to shoudler press with a shoulder injury. The reason is I use a smith machine, and unlike a conventional barbell shoulder press that presses directly over your head at the top (something I can't do) I can manipulate the smith machine so that when I press, it presses just forward of my head, which bothers my shoulder only slightly.

3. Machine Lateral Raises: 120: 8 130: 8 140: 8
PR. New exercise for me. It's actually a pretty good machine. I'll probably keep it for a while instead of upright rows. Upright rows are a sort of dangerous exercises if you have pre existing shoulder injuries (aka me!) So I'm going to lay off them for a while.

4. Rear Flys: 135: 8 150: 8
I went pretty light on these, this movement is really not good for my shoulder right now. But I still got good work from it with moderate weight and perfect form.

5. Shrugs: 345: 8,8, 8
PR. These were pretty tough, I'm going to use this weight one more week so I can really master the form with this weight.


Overall good workout. I'm happy with my progress in strength and recovery with my shoulder so far. I went to the shoulder Surgeon today, got some X rays and an evaluation. Looks like with the rehab I should be doing pretty well, I'm not going to get surgery no matter what. I really don't need it. I'm just not going to be playing basketball anymore.

 

[Samoan-Z]

Good to hear man good to hear, You rehab up bulk like crazy get some serious and crazy mass on that body. and when you get to 100% i'll have a real good crazy speech for ya.

 

[PrinceVegeta]

Nice session man! those deads are nice for being raw!

 

[Skeptic]

Those deads are still huge man! great work!

 

[PistolPete]

Thanks everybody! All the support is much appreciated, especially while trying to get back to 100%.

Last night was an ARM session. I felt good enough to go heavy on everything last night, but I wasn't really expecting to hit PR's because the fesability of being my strongest after not lifting maximum weights for a couple weeks in pretty unlikely.

1. Tricep Press: 250: 3,3,3
Man did that feel heavy. I made sure not to sacrifice form for reps though. Every one of those reps were perfect, even though lower than I wanted!

2. Pushdowns: 205: 8,7,8
PR. I took too long of a break after the second set. Some noob wanted to know when he'd see results from lifting upperbody 3 times a week, drinkng on the weekends, running on a cross country team, and he had only eaten a vegetarian sandwich that day... >:0

3. EZ bar curls: 120 (not including bar): 8,6,6
PR. I got one more rep than last week. I'm predicting big things next week!

4. DB Curl: 70's: 7,5
PR. One more rep! talk about slow and steady...haha

5. Rope Hammer Curls: 132.5: 8,8
PR. Felt good.

Not a bad workout overall. My shoulder is getting better, and my strength is coming back so all is well. Tonight is legs, and I plan to murder them