Rich, what does your delt workout look like?

and why do you train rear delts on back day rather than shoulder day?

Currently: Military Presses, Seated DB Lateral Raises & Upright Bar Rows

Rear delts are used in rowing movements. I cannot train back one day, then rear delts the next.

For example, last week I started with the rear delt machine at 105 lbs and then did back. I smashed my back first 2 days ago and could only do 90 lbs on the rear delt machine. My rear delts were already spent from back.

My bodyweight was up to 172 lbs (up 1 lb) from last week. I took a random waist measure and was happy to measure 29.5". Off day today.

Tomorrow, I travel to Cinci to watch the NPC Monster Mash where 3 of my clients will be competing, including my training partner. The last show for the year here locally until next spring. My legs are still sore, so I may just hit bis, calves and forearms down there and smash legs and chest on Sunday.

This weekend turned out to be crazier than expected. My old roommate announced last minute that he would be coming into town one last time on Friday before moving. So, drinks were required. No lifting that day, so I indulged a bit despite trying to fend off peer pressure.

Another Win for my Training Partner
And then....I had to drive first thing that morning 1.5 hours to arrive at the NPC Monster Mash at 10am. I felt a little sub-par, but not too bad. Good thing for Starbucks. My boy, James looked AMAZING!! He won the middleweight class of 15 competitors and was again close in the overall. He carried 157 lbs like 170. Michael made the second callout and placed towards the top of the grouping.

I truly enjoy going to shows to watch and meet lots of different people. I met some very nice people and view these events as opportunity to network my business and make friends. Not to mention that going to shows pumps me up to smash weights!

Awesome Hardcore Gym and Calf Discovery
I hit my biceps, forearms and calves at a killer gym in Middletown, OH. Powerstation Gym was a huge old school gym with tons of equipment, no frills and lots of heavy weights. Truly awesome! I did some drop sets again for bis and had a great pump going. While training there, I stumbled across a new way that I will be training calves when standing. WITHOUT SHOES! My buddy told me I was able to get up an extra half inch and that my calves just popped alot more. And the beauty was that I had trouble walking today b/c they were so sore!! Yeah baby!!

After the show was finished, we went out and celebrated despite being really tired. We smashed some grub and headed to downtown Cinci where Halloween was hopping in full effect. We slammed some drinks and mingled with some interesting characters, haha! All in good fun.

Leg and Chest Supersets
Today was rough as I was REALLY tired, but pushed through an okay workout. Too much partying, but every once in a while is fine. I do not recommend doing legs and chest in the same workout, particularly supersetted. I was crunched for time and had to move my days around b/c of the extreme leg soreness. Legs just takes too much out of you to do a large body part together.

wow even when tired, the Man still lifts the iron.


it seems like your gaining good LBM already while keeping the fat off.

Hell yeah! It was rough, but I got after it even moving up on a few exercises. There is no room for slacking.

Yeah, I am staying pretty lean. That is a goal of mine, so that I don't have to drop tons of fat come precontest time. Plus, you just look better lean.

Few Good Workouts with Sean

James is taking a break for few days, so I have been smashing weights with Sean who will be competing as a light-heavy next Spring. Our workouts have been great and we are killing it!! Back was again brutal similar to last time except that I did more weight on everything and felt like I could fly away cuz my lats were so pumped.:cool: I nixed deads as leg day was simply to close together on both ends. Next week it is on though!

We had a great delt and triceps workout today and my delts have never looked that swole before. Tri blasting was solid and many forced reps were used as usual, high intensity style! My back continues to get ridiculously sore and I'm sure my entire upper body will be feeling it tomorrow.

On Friday I begin training with James again and we will be doing some higher rep training for a little while in the 10-15 range to shock our bodies.

Tough Week for Clean Eating

From Tuesday evening through Saturday I have many social/work obligations that will affect food. Last night a friend flew in from Turkey, so we did dinner, breakfast and lunch. I had a small strip, veggies and 2 glasses of red wine last night and didn't pass on the butter as it was a tapas portion. I figured I could use the extra cals since I trained hard and it was smaller portions.

Breakfast I slammed a scoop of MaxPro and banana then we hit up First Watch where I got a bowl of oatmeal with cranberries, whole wheat toast and a ham and cheese egg white omelet minus the butter. Lunch I did a chicken sandwich on whole wheat with avocado and tomato with broccoli. My bread was lightly buttered by mistake, but I wasn't gonna pitch a fit.

Tomorrow I have a breakfast and lunch for work. Breakfast will be a little dirty as I don't get to choose my food, but the extra cals will be needed after tonight's workout. Lunch will be good. Friday I'm having lunch with a friend and I will probably suggest the organic trendy place. Saturday is the Wisconsin game at home and I'm not sure what is going on there.

The point of all this is I'm super busy with obligations, but still keeping it mostly clean. All it takes is will power...and a little creativity.

Yea, I feel you about the will power. Is First Watch any good? Theres one here in dayton but I have never tried it.

i do real delts on back day as well

Yeah it ROCKS! They have both delicious healthy and unhealthy stuff. The works omelet and banana crunch pancakes are a fav of mine.

Yesterday, I just did calves and cardio. I have switched up my calf raise form after extreme soreness following my out-of-town workout last weekend. I will be doing these much slower with a 2 second contraction and 2 second stretch.

Slow Seated Calf Raises 125 x 13 x 12 x 10
Barefoot Slow Standing Calf Raises 140 x 12 x 12 x 10, ground raises after

I did 20 minutes on the elliptical afterwards.

New training begins today with LEGS and good ole James is back after a little time off following his shows! Time to become some of the biggest, baddest natural bodybuilders around!!!! The biggest change in training will be doing 10-15 reps and many new exercises.

What is your usual rep range? Or do you not have a "usual" range and switch all the time?

6-10 range is my typical rep range, so this will be a good shock to my system.

rich youre one dedicated dude.
i got a question for ya though. say if for some reason you dont get your natty pro card, will you continue to stay natural? what if you had the opportunity of getting a pro card non naturally? would you switch over to the dark side so to speak?
i dont mean to sound disrespectful in anyway, i think you will get your natty pro card. just wondering what you would do if you cant for some reason...
anyways good luck bro keep smashin those weights

Higher Reps = OUCH!

I primarily train in the 6-10 rep range, so to induce some hypertrophy I'm jacking my reps up to 10-15. James was back after his small postcontest break and we kicked off the new workout with some LEGS!!

One thing is for certain, high reps HURT! The burn is excruciating and I love it. My legs were SO pumped and full of blood that walking was difficult. Doing a new workout in itself causes extreme soreness, so not as many sets were needed:

Squats 275 x 13, 285 x 12 x 10
Leg Extensions 140 x 14 x 12
Standing 1-Leg Curls 40 x 15, 45 x 17
High Stance Leg Press 500 x 17, 520 x 12

I did calves yesterday with some light elliptical work for cardio. Slowing down my rep speed and pausing at the top and bottom for 2 seconds has made a big difference on my calves these last 2 weeks. Standing calve raises are being done shoeless for maximum stretch and contraction. I'm lovin it!!

We are getting in the gym at 10 am to tear up chest and biceps before retreating to campus to watch the Buckeyes tear up Wisconsin!! We win out and I may have to make plans for New Orleans!

BODYWEIGHT CHECK: 173 lbs (up 1 lb in a week)

Hey Typerob, no disrespect taken at all. Good questions. Thanks!

I was really close to obtaining a natural pro card last year in that I was just one point away from 2nd place and 1st gets a natural pro card. I gained 4 lbs of lean mass in 3 months last year of offseason alone and I'm confident that with 7-8 month of offseason I can bring a much different and improved package to stage to contend.

If I don't take it home it NYC, then I will do a few more shows the month following to go after it some more. If that is not enough, then it is not my time. I am patient though and enjoy the process. At 27 years old, I have plenty of time. I've been lifting for most of my life now and will be doing this as long as I can.

About the dark side...I have no desire. There are far too many reason why I don't want to go that route. I don't want that look. I prefer aesthetic muscularity and shape over sheer mass. I don't want a look that most people do not find appealing. That just is not desirable to me.

Also, as a trainer what better way to really learn how to build muscle then doing it the hard way yourself. Staying natural sets a good example for aspiring bodybuilders, landed my sponsors, will preserve my health, libido, perspective and positive mental spirit.

I don't have any delusions of grandeur, I just love to lift and strive to better myself and help others.

I agree with all of that, I think there are way to many people that start lifting and want to just blow up instantly. They don't want to do it naturally because it takes a lot longer and is way harder then just shooting yourself up with something or taking some kind of pills.

Depends on your goals.