Week 12 of My 12 Week-Bulk! /Chest-Shoulder Day

Man, it has been a while since I have posted anything! I laughed a bit when I noticed the last time I blogged was almost exactly a year ago! Crazy to think how much time has passed by. In a year, Ana and I both got a promotion, moved down to South Austin, and to top it all off, we got married! Our wedding was fantastic and our honeymoon was everything that we both needed with all of the stresses of the wedding (Ana deserved every second of the Bahamas). Other big news, my sister had another beautiful baby girl named Halle and she is just the cutest!

Our First Kiss as a married Couple!

So Cute!

This year started off very stressful, with my father Bau in poor health. He had a surgery towards the end of 2014 that did not go according to plan and had to wait almost 2 months before they were able to successfully removed three possible cancerous polyps from my father's intestine. Things are looking up though, with Ana and I just continue to work and go to school. I took a big step this year and decided I needed, not wanted, but needed to get my CPT (Certified Personal Trainers for us slower folks). I chose the National Academy of Sports Medicine for my CPT courses, which I have not regret! I am excited to begin really chasing my dreams and getting my foot into the industry now rather than later.

Today was a chest and shoulder day. This is the last week of my 12 week program, which has been awesome. The program I have been following is inspired by Jim Stoppani's 12 week program called 'shortcut to size'. At the highest point of this bulk, I was at around 201ish-lbs. The last two weeks however, I have added a cardio-based warm up, anywhere from 1.5-2 miles within 20 minutes. I try not to be too cardio intensive because I train with minimum recovery. As much as I hate running, I have really learn to appreciate the therapeutic aspect of running and the discipline behind it.

Today I went for endurance and minimum time recovery:

Chest/Shoulder
4 x 5-8 Bench Press
superset w/ 3 x 8-12 Seated Bend Over Rear Delt Raise
(Final Set Drop-set)

3 x 8-12 Incline Press
superset w/ 3 x 8-12 Standing Dumbbell Overhead Press

3 x 10-15 Machine Rear Delt Flyes
(1 x 12 Machine Shoulder Press (Didn't really like the movement))

3 x 10-12 Machine Side-Lateral Raise
superset w/ 3 x 10-12 Standing Shrugs (No-Weight)

3 x 10 Kneeling Cable Shoulder Press
superset w/ 3 x 10-12 Cable Side-Lateral Raise

I had two warm-up sets with bench press, just to get the motion down. It's one of my favorite lifts but I haven't really trained it hard before starting the program. After 12 weeks however, I am happy at the strength gains made. I am able to bench 225lb comfortably, which is a big feat for me. The first superset really bloated me up. Crazy pumps and just felt right. It created a great tempo for the rest of the workout. I was able to blow through the weight portion within 30-35 minutes.

I spent a good 10 minutes really stretching out my shoulder. I love using a broomstick and doing some rotational stretches with it. I was introduced to it by Austin, which I am thankful for. My socket joint was smooth like butter!

California is in a Month, so my cut begins! wish me luck!