It's not about beauty and looks

Lest new visitors to this blog be confused by the rather photogenic depiction of Arnold in our MichiganMuscleBoy.com t-shirt ad, these photos should be proof positive that our training partnership is not about beauty and looks.  Nancy competes right down to her very essence.  Today the 1500 calorie wonder and I had a great back, abs, and bi workout, the pull component of our current three day sequence:

1. Push:  Chest, shoulders, triceps
2. Legs:  All aspects
3. Pull: Back, abs, biceps

Of course, Arnold might differ a bit as she diets down to 0% body fat (mild exaggeration) in an attempt to achieve aesthetic bodybuilding perfection, but the aesthetics are incidental.  Her essence is about going the extra mile to win.

Here's what we did today.  I report maxima in lbs.  We did four sets of 8–10 of all exercises except abs with a 60 second rest interval between sets.  Remarkably, I achieved a PR.

• Zottman curls:  20 lbs.  This was what my forearm would allow today.  As Scott Bird reports, they're a nice exercise to warm up, and the limiting factor is the forearm on the way down.
• Underhand cable row with EZ handle:  150 lbs. (PR).  The EZ handle was an experiment.  It allows more natural hand positioning for me but less natural for Nancy.  I think it's my thick torso.
• Kneeling straight arm pushdown with EZ handle:  130 lbs.  This forces the hands wider working the lats at a wider angle.  Again, Arnold hated it while I loved it.
• Nautilus wide lat pull down:  125 lbs.  I've gone 140, but on exercise 3 with 60 seconds rest, one fades.
• Nautilus narrow lat pull down:  135 lbs.  Again, I've gone higher, but this was good.
• BOSU situps with 12 lb. medicine ball held above the head as knee is raised:  15 reps per knee.
• Leg raises touching knees to elbows:  15 reps.
• Standing dumbbell curls:  30 lbs.  I was tapped and did not attempt 35 my previous max.
• Incline dumbbell curls:  30 lbs.  Again, I did not go for my previous max.

Comments

[Scott]

Just trying to remember how chin-ups fare in your routines - is there more of a routine breakdown than the 3-day split outlined above?

[Bud Gibson]

We haven't done pull-up in a couple of weeks. We try to hit different aspects in the workouts, though. These days, we're doing a lot of lats.

[nancy]

So that's how I look under workout duress?? Kind of scary but no one can say we aren't giving it our all!!

[Bud Gibson]

You know, I have the same reaction when I look at me, but I don't think you look so bad. Mara actually thought mine was a good picture. Shows I picked my spouse well.