Hey guys,
Kris here. It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything specifically about my progress in the gym and with Vince Delmonte’s Maximize Your Muscle program. So…
First, I just completed month one of the training. I got month two in the mail yesterday and let me tell you, it is a monster program filled with 25 insane workouts over the next 30 days. Difficult is an understatement. But as a quote I heard the other day goes, “The hard we’ll do today, the impossible may take a little longer”. I love that. One thing’s for sure though, while the next 30 days are going to be very hard, they are not impossible and I intend to put myself through every strenuous second to achieve the goals I have set out for myself.
So my progress for month one you ask?
In a word, astounding! I gained 10 pounds of muscle. My arms are not only bigger but incredibly dense and hard, my chest is expanding, my shoulders are becoming monstrous for my frame, my legs are shaping up, my back is growing, and my jeans are starting to fit a lot better in the backside.
Not just that though, my strength has really rocketed. Some lifts I didn’t raise the weight so much as I did just make the lift more solid, others lifts have really shot up. A few highlights…
Bench press-I started out on bench press very strong for my size already. I was pushing my limits every workout but I was starting to get stuck. At my body weight of 150lbs, I was squeezing out 2 or 3 half reps at 255lbs for the most part. I ended with 7 solid reps of 275lbs and just for kicks one time I decreased down to 185lbs and pushed out 31 solid reps straight! I like endurance if you can’t tell.
Squat-I’ve always been a little weak in my legs. I was very guilty of neglecting them for quite some time and I’m not paying for it. Add to that the fact that the one time I really started building my legs and got to 335 in my squats I stepped back wrong and the weight took out my shoulder and put me out of action for 10 months and you have a bad recipe for not doing enough leg work. So I started out with 225lbs but honestly, these reps sucked and I knew it. Because I wasn’t going all the way down, I wasn’t really progressing so on my third to last leg workout I actually lowered the weight to 185lbs. It was an ego hit but by using the training methods in MYM and utilizing what I knew was proper technique, I did move it back up to 225lbs of actual solid squats in those three weeks. I really wish I’d just swallowed my pride a little sooner but hey, we all have lessons to learn.
Leg press-sometimes when I couldn’t get to the squat rack I decided to swap out for leg press. Normally I stay around the 400lbs area for good form, but I was able to increase that to 590lbs with good form.
Lateral raises-this one I always did 15lbs in. I raised this to 20 pounds about 2 weeks before I started this program. On my last workout, it felt pretty good to be using 30 pound dumbbells. Man I was sore though!
Shoulder presses-because of the aforementioned shoulder injury, I’ve always been careful with these. I have long arms so getting them fulling in position has always been a problem. I started the program with 60lb dumbbells and move up to 70s though. My last workout I didn’t have access to a bench though so I used a machine and maxed the machine out at 155lbs per side. Its amazing what you can do when you don’t have to stabilize. Remember, that’s basically me lifting two of me straight over my head, one in each hand, for reps.
Tricep overhead extensions-mind you this is 8 sets of 8. I moved from a 65 to an 85lbs dumbbell.
Weighted dips-I’ve mentioned this but I’d never really done weighted dips before. The first time I used a 45lb plate. By my last workout, I was doing my weight plus a belt with 115lbs strapped to it. Those my friends, are killers. The way I see it, that’s like putting an average weight girl on your back and repping dips! How cool would that be J
Curls-40lbs to 55lbs dumbbells. Finally crossed over that 100lb mark!
Leg extensions-This was done as one set of 20 reps after a grueling leg workout. So this isn’t my max but more just conditioning. I started out doing 120lbs and I got up to 165lbs by the end. I’m quite happy with that.
Hanging leg lifts-I have to admit, I had gotten really lazy about working my core. When I got the workout, the core workout was so much that I couldn’t do it. Started out with 25 hanging leg lifts and then went on straight into even more craziness. The first time I did 15 straight leg and the other 10 bent leg. Then I went to do the next exercise and my abs cramped up so bad I couldn’t stand up. I know, its bad. But, by the end I was doing 35 straight leg and 10 more bent leg for a set and then going on to other stuff so I’m happy with that. I won’t let that slide like that again.
Seated close grip rows-I actually substituted this one in for another one that gave me a lot of trouble. The machine doesn’t tell you the weight. Its one of those that just labels each weight with a consecutive number. I went from 20 (whatever that is) to 30 which is 5 plates down. The stacks stop at 36 so I almost maxed it out for 8 sets of 8. Oh and I normally push the last two sets to 10 reps because I’m never happy.
There’re more but I think this gives you a pretty good idea of my gains in month one of the Maximize Your Muscle program. Like I said, month two is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Its going to be a battle field in that gym J
So, guys and gals, what do you think? Is that good progress for a month or am I slacking? Post your comments down below and we’ll talk again soon.
Until next time,
Kris
Bullshit... you never say what your starting point is, and for someone starting low those performances are impossible to get in 1 month. Why? Because the risk on wrist & co damage is huge and the articulations get used to weight slower than muscle.
Sounds like a commercial...
Posted by: Kint Verbal | 11 June 2012 at 09:38 AM