First I want to say that I have had a great time running all of these products and am having an excellent recovery. Testosterone levels are JACKED! I don't know what my serum levels are but at least my free test levels for sure are up up and away! Libido has been off the chain, aggression has been higher, I have my Alpha Male action going on, just walking aorund feeling like a stud. I have to admit running on my testosterone feels so much better than running on a PH.
The Epiphany
Well as I said I did arms and shoulders and man was it fun for the first time in a long while. The gym had become more technical and less intense over the past several months. Coddling this injury or that injury had me so intent on not reinjuring myself I forgot to enjoy lifting. It was a job instead, in my head a mantra... "I must find a way to keep muscle while avoiding injury!" Unfortunately avoiding injury took the drivers seat instead of allowing a little passion into my lifts. No Longer! Intensity shall return with my new found vigor, and I will use the things I learned over the past several months of researching injury avoidance and apply them using them only as a safety net instead of simply avoiding the tight rope all together. I am healed up and can't let fear of injury govern my every workout. I must feel confident in my form, knowledge, and the fact I have trained for well over 20 years and only had 2 surgeries. Only one of which was weight lifting related and it was an accident with a wrist wrap not releasing, the other from MMA. So why is it I have become to obsessed with safety when I refuse to live an any fear in other areas of my life? Well, because I submerged myself into the "safety" what if's, I allowed every tiny suggestion of things being unsafe get into my head and it was taking my enjoyment from the one activity in my life that I have ALWAYS had a passion for. I never do this any other area of my life but my fear of losing this outlet made me so cautious it was almost no longer and outlet at all. Well the Warrior in me rose up and slayed the dragon of fear. I beheaded that son of a bitch and put it out on a pike in front of the gym as an example to others that fear is no longer allowed here. The intelligent Warrior battles with intensity and resolve without fear of injury. Only taking the necessary precautions required for safety, but would never dream of fighting less intensly or hiding from conflict. I am a Warrior and I will no longer allow the fear of injury to govern my workouts. I will simply put on the armor of good form and experience and wage my war on the weights!
I feel like a Pheonix risen from the ashes, and renewed by the fire!
On to the workout. SO I took my NO Ignite, gave it 45 minutes to really kick in good and went to the gym. I went to my old gym, I love to go there when the wife isn't with me. She is not fond of it but I am and I just wanted a nice change of pace. I did my arms and shoulders work out yesterday instead of the deadlifts since I decided to have an impromptu family day out at the Kemah Boardwalk on Saturday. Much needed quality time with the family trumps a bunch of dead lifts in the garage any day.
Dips - BW x12, BW+45x10, BW+70x10, BW+90x10, BW+100x10, BW+70x15 - OH YEAH BABY!!!! Felt so good I almost got a chub!!! I even growled a time or two during the last two sets. Oh it felt so good to go PRIMAL!!!!
O-Bar Curls - 65x12, 85x10, 95x10, 95x6, 85x8, 75x8 - Nice burn, I was not taking as long of a rest here. I was taking a good 2 minutes on the dips with them being a compound move. I only took about a minute of rest on these, and the drop off on weight and reps showed. My body felt recovered quickly but obviously the biceps needed a little longer. Next time I will make sure to rest a little longer.
Nautilus Overhead Press - 140x12, 170x12, 190x10, 200x10, 215x8, 190x4>170x2 - This machine is very similar to the hammer strength machines with the weight stacks I chose it for the neutral grip option it has. It felt great to push really hard.
Now to more fun stuff. I am pumped to the gills my veins are bulging everywhere. My chest looks like it was transplanted from a much larger man, a few veins going across the tops into my shoulders which were swole up and striated like two pumpkins. My triceps are hanging off the back of my arm like two big slabs of beef and my biceps are nice and round with veins going in every direction, up, over, under and around them. I go into the locker room and am washing my hands when I look in the mirror and am like DAYUM! I stripped the wife beater off to get a better look, wanting to see the abs in gym lighting as much as I want to see this pump in all of its glory. While I am taking it all in, a pretty good size guy walks in and looks over at me. He says... "You compete?" I say I have once not sure if I will again. He says "Man, You remind me a lot of Branch Warren." I say nothing because my jaw was on the floor. So he says... "Yeah I met him a few weeks ago at the Branch Warren Classic, you remind me a lot of him." I of course had to ask some questions and let him know that out of all the pros right now he was by far my favorite, and I couldn't think of a better compliment. I asked how big he was in real life, and he was talking about how he walked and how unreal his size was. He was obviously not comparing me to Branch's size but to even be compared at all was considered a High Compliment! So I will be riding on that one for a very long time. Was pretty cool that it came from someone who actually met him recently and watched him guest pose.