Project Tree Trunks Update Video

I would have to say that in Classic Physique my weakest body part is going to be my legs, it's not that I have small legs but rather the guys competing in Classic Physique simply have kind of big legs, bigger than the guys back in the actual Classic days like Arnold that had decent legs for sure but nothing like the bodybuilders stepping on stage today.

I's not that I don't work my legs just as much or as hard as my upper body, perhaps it may be my age? As guys get older our legs seem to not respond as well to training at least in terms of size, now at 51 I feel m y legs are fairly strong in comparison to my upper body and not even that unbalanced in size but to be comparable to the Classic Physique guys I stand beside I will have to bring them up to be competitive so here we are today...

My plan is to train legs every workout day which for me is 6 days a week, I will incorporate 3 compound movement days that will consist of either a squat, deadlift or Leg press of some sort, between these compound improvement days I will incorporate isolation exercises like leg extensions and curls and modified versions of these exercises.

A few years back I trained shoulders in a similar manner hitting them every time I stepped into the gym, not super hard every workout but atleast hitting them in some way every workout and low and behold they grew!

Right now my upper thighs are 23.75 inches in my left leg and 23.5 inches in my right leg. My plan is to remeasure them every month and see what the tape measure tells us. Hopefully we see monthly improvements.

Lifting Heavy Ass Weight in the Gym at Near 49

Some of last weeks heavy lifts. Do I lift heavy weight because I have big muscles or do I have big muscles because I lift heavy weight? I prefer to think I have big muscles because I lift heavy weight meaning I did the work to get like this.

When people say you have a lot of muscle and that's why you can lift so much weight they may not realize they are suggesting that you have some sort of advantage because you are just muscular in nature when this is often not the case. A lot of very hard work most people are not prepared to undergo is involved to take yourself to the highest levels.

Deadlift PR - 405 Pounds x 15 Reps - 48 Years Old @ 195 Pounds

These days I don't even think about going for 1 rep maxes anymore, especially when it comes to the squat or deadlift. I am simple at too high of a risk for injury and the glory is not even close to being worth the risk. That said when it comes to multiple rep personal bests especially in the higher numbers well I'm game for that even at 48 years old one can strive to improve in all areas even strength!

I'm not 100% sure what my max rep deadlift for 405 pounds was but I am pretty sure I have popped out at least 12-13 reps before on more than one occasion. So today's 15 reps does go down as a personal best and I am even more happy about it since I'm deep into contest prep and rather low in body fat sitting right at 195 pounds close to 6% body fat only 5 weeks out from the CBBF Canadian Nationals where I will be competing in Men's Masters Physique.

Garage Gym Workout: Squats Lunges and Deadlifts with Darren

I have been training lately with Darren, my Crossfit partner from a few years back. Darren has a nice free weight setup in his garage with a rack, bench, bars, lots of plates and some dumbbells. It's a great setup to do the classic compound movements and it's really awesome to have a partner to push me!

Darren and I are pretty close in strength and fairly close in age, I am 48 and Darren is 54. I have been wanting to show some more training session videos and so now it looks like I will be able to again :)

In this first Garage Gym Training Video we hit legs and do a variety of squats, lunges and even some straight leg deadlifts to finish off.

503 Pound Dead Lift Personal Best - 46 Years Old at 198 Pounds

There are three lifts that I have set Personal Best (PR) goals for, they are the Deadlift, the Squat and the Bench Press. I don't generally like to go for single rep maxes as the risk of injury can be high and if I where to rip or tear something it would set me back and could effect my training progress and potentially an upcoming physique competition result.

That said I have set some goals in my mind that I really wanted to achieve and they are: A 5 plate or 500 pound Deadlift, a 4 plate  or 405 pound Squat and a 3 plate or 315 pound Bench Press. Last week I hit two of these goals and today I will share with you my Personal Best for Deadlift of 503 pounds at a body weight of 198 pounds and at 46 years old.

I knew that I had a 500 pound deadlift in me but it was more of a matter of hitting it on the right day since much of it was mental over my physical ability to hit this target.

I know there are tons of guys doing way more weight than this but keep in mind I am not a power lifter, I train for aesthetics but also like to be strong and my goal is not just strength alone. If is having balance between how I look and how strong I am.

I hope you enjoy my YouTube video of this milestone record. I will be uploading my other Personal Best shortly...