I stepped back into the gym last night after a brief break--called the Arnold Expo--and had an immensely successful workout. I wanted my first one back to be...well...back. There are two areas on the physique that will make it or break it for you in figure, and they are back and shoulders. So I wanted to hit these right away and utilize all the fats and carbs from my cheat meals and protein bars and turn what could seem negative in the diet into something very positive. I succeeded.

I utilized the age-old mental visualization technique to get myself back into the game. I had to place an image of a very well-developed back into my mind and burn it there. Whose back did I choose? Well, the very person who I felt should have won the Arnold Classic, according to the posted pictures: Chris Cormier. This is a bodybuilder that I've admired for years, along with Lee Priest, Dorian Yates, and several others. But Chris's back was phenomenal this year. He really dialed it in, quit screwing around and leaving his preparation for the last minute and coming to the shows unprepared. He did it this time, and unfortunately had to take second place. That doesn't mean his physique was second-rated. With Chris's muscular back in mind, I drove to the gym, ready to attack the weights. I started off with warm up sets of lat pulldowns. I then moved on to a superset of cable lat extensions with a slightly narrower grip (hands even with the outside of my chest rather than outside of my shoulders) and reverse grip pulldowns. I felt my muscles screaming as I neared the end of each set. And I loved every minute of it, especially when Kidd Rock began blaring through the gym's speakers (that's what I really relish in a hardcore, small gym...the thumping speaker system).

I then did platform T-bar rows. Form is very important with these, and I had to give up doing extremely heavy weight in order to focus on keeping my back still and my weight distributed evenly so I didn't lean back too far and end up using my arms rather than my back muscles.

From there, I moved to close grip cable rows from the bottom of the cable. I did 25 reps with 100 pounds and felt so pumped! I couldn't even pose properly afterwards because of all the blood flow into my back muscles. I gave up trying as a result.

I awakened this morning slightly stiff, and the soreness really kicked in when I entered the gym again this evening and began my shoulder routine. I had done sprints earlier today (they felt really good, and I didn't have too much of a problem getting started. I usually like to gripe and complain and whine and moan before doing sprints because I tend to detest them, but I know that I'm just about five weeks out, and it's time to get really serious), so my glutes were a bit sore and my quads were still thick with water retention from the cheat meals, the flying, the standing on my feet all day long for three days straight, and the sprints themselves. I flew through shoulders, blasting each delt with each exercise (front laterals, dumbbell presses, upright rows, rear laterals). By the end of the workout, the veins had appeared and my delts were thick and full. I moved on to calves and supersetted the standing calf machine with the seated one and then hobbled out of the gym and headed to the tanning salon (I hate it...but I hate being green on stage even more, so it must be done; last year at Junior USA's, the ProTan reacted poorly with my extremely pale skin, and I looked like I had just waded in a lagoon and came out for air...not a pretty sight!).

Now, I'm exhausted! And my back and shoulders are so tight, but it feels good! I know I did what I was meant to do, and I plan on keeping this intensity all the way through April.

I'll return to details about the Arnold tomorrow.

Enjoy your hump day (Wednesday...lol!).

Jodi :)