Phew! Well, between Monday’s workout and today’s, my upper body has really been blasted. And it feels great. I’m already starting to see more definition - noticed it this morning - believe it or not. His theories may or may not hold water, but Rick’s approach does get results.

So. The first order of business was to blast my back. We started on the cage, with brief detours to the FreeMotion machine wall, and the Hammer Strength pod:

Lat pulldowns, wide grip: 3 sets, 80 lbs
Lat pulldowns, narrow grip: 3 sets, 80 lbs
FreeMotion lat pulls: 2 sets, 70 lbs
Rhomboid row: 2 sets, 70 lbs
Hammer Strength low row: 3 sets, 70 lbs
Squat reverse flies: 3 sets, 10 lb dumbells
Single arm cable vertical rows: 2 sets, 35 lbs

Damn! Next, we did some more shoulder work. That’s a real weak spot for me right now, so we did some of the same exercises that we did on Monday. In three weeks or so, we should be able to cut these back.

Medial shoulder raise: 2 sets, 12.5 lb dumbells
FreeMotion shoulder raise: 3 sets, 35 lbs
Hammer Strength shoulder press: 2 sets, 50 lbs

The Hammer Strength press was easier this time than it was on Monday, even coming at the end of the set. I think that that’s a good sign. Next, it’s time to blast those biceps!

Barbell curl: 2 sets, 40 lbs
Dumbell curl: 2 sets, 15 lb dumbells
Dumbell hammer curl: 2 sets, 15 lb dumbells
Hammer Strength curls: 2 sets, 25 lbs

Those numbers are much lower than when I start out doing biceps - my whole upper body really gets a good workout, getting close to exhaustion on every muscle group. I noticed that my skin was getting flushed on my arms, from blood flowing to repair the (microscopic, and valuable) damage I was doing to the muscles, Rick confirmed that this was a good sign.

Finally, we did a little circuit ab work that I should start doing after every workout. Five positions, 20 repetitions each:

1) Standard crunches
2) Right obliques
3) Left obliques
4) Bring the feet in to touch
5) Legs vertical, try to touch your ankles

And that, as they say, was that. I know that I reached failure on my abs and my biceps today - my shoulders and back got a great burn as well, if not quite so much. Rick closed by suggesting that I carb-load even more than I would from running, just to make up the difference since my body will be using both protein and those valuable carbs to rebuild the muscle I tore today.

Days remaining: 4

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