Tom Venuto's BodybuildingSecrets.com - A Day In The Life: Cardio, Eat, Eat, Lift, Eat, Eat, Eat, Eat, Cardio, Sleep, etc.

A Day In The Life: Cardio, Eat, Eat, Lift, Eat, Eat, Eat, Eat, Cardio, Sleep, etc.

Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2005. Got off to a slow start today (got into a fight with the snooze button), but the day turned into a good one. Excellent workout for delts and triceps… even hit cardio twice today - once at the (almost) crack of dawn for 45 min, then another 30 at night. (Yes, I worked out THREE times today)!

DELTOIDS

A1 Seated Dumbbell Press: 3 warm ups sets; 1 set X 70 lbs X 12 reps; 1 set X 75 lbs X 10 reps; 1 set X 80 lbs X 8 reps; 1 set X 60, 50, 40, 30 lbs down the rack drop set X 5-6 reps per weight
B1 Partial heavy lateral raises (1/2 reps): 3 sets X 65 lbs X 10 reps
B2 Lateral raises: 3 sets X 30 lbs X 10-12 reps; no rest between exercises B1 & B2, 60 seconds rest between supersets
C1 wide grip upright rows: 3 sets X 115 lbs X 12, 10, 9 reps, last set switch to narrow grip then continue for 6 more reps
D1 Cable rear delt raises: 3 sets X 50 lbs X 15, 13, 12 reps

TRICEPS

A1 Rope pushdown giant sets: Part a) Rope pushdown, pull hands apart 12 reps; Part b) rope pushdown, elbows back, drag along body 10 reps; Part c) rope pushdown, bent over to forehead, 8-10 reps; Part d) rope pushdown, upright, hands pushed together 8-10 reps; Part e) turn around face away from machine, overhead rope extension 6-8 reps; Ascending weight pattern: 90 lbs, 100 lbs, 110 lbs, 120 lbs, 130 lbs; Repeat (for a total of two giant sets)
B1 Decline Two Dumbbell Tricep extension with rotation (neutral to pronated grip): 3 sets X 30 lbs X 12, 10, 9 reps, strict
C1 narrow grip dips: 3 sets X bodyweight X 15, 13, 12 reps
C2 Reverse Dips On Cybex Assisted Dip Chin Machine: 3 sets X stack X 12 reps, 12 reps, drop set on last set 12, 8, 8 reps, full range, all the way up (full stretch); no rest between exercises C1 & C2, 60 seconds rest between supersets

Workout commentary

Here’s what my day looked today (A typical weekday/training day while in “Cutting Mode”… more or less)

6:00 am: Alarm goes off. I hit snooze

6:09 am: Alarm goes off again. I hit snooze again. DAMN, why am I so tired today?

6:18 am: Alarm goes off third time. I Haul my ass out of bed and make a beeline for the coffee machine (pre-set the night before with a timer), and pour myself a cup.

6:19 - 6:29 am. Drink (chug) coffee to try and pull myself out of my somnambulistic stupor… slowly come back to life

6:30 am: Pop in newly purchased video tape: Mitsuru Okabe’s Battle For The Olympia 2004: (www.mocvideo.com)

6:31 am: Get on stairmaster, begin 45 minute cardio session, watch video for motivation and also so the 45 minutes goes by quicker… (damn Ronnie Coleman is a FREAKAZOID!)

7:16 am. Get off stairmaster.

7:17 am. Start cooking breakfast. Eat meal one 20 minutes late due to “double snooze button accident” (hey, it happens!)… oatmeal, egg whites (scambled with pepper), half a grapefruit.

7:45 am: cook food for rest of day, pack in plastic Tupperware, stow away in fridge

8:15 am: “quiet time” … some call it “meditation” or you could call it mental training… self-hypnosis and or “visualization.” Review workout in my mind, visualize my physique the way I want it to look, mentally review other life goals at this time.

8:45 am: read (other days I run errands; store, bank, post office)

10:00 am: Eat meal two (oatmeal, protein powder, half a grapefruit)

10:30 am: leave for gym… it’s shoulders and triceps day

12:30 pm: Eat meal three… it’s a low carb day, so this is last starchy carb meal… (yam with my chicken and broccoli) I like to sandwich my lifting between two starchy carb meals on low carb days which necessitates lifting in the mid or early morning.

1:00 pm: work (on computer… I’m a writer and computer/website nerd when I’m not doing “muscle head” things)… or … (optional)… NAP!

3:00 pm: Meal four… steak and broccoli… yum, red meat!

3:15 pm: back to work

5:30 pm: Meal five … chicken and broccoli (just for something different… … … … That was a joke, by the way)

5:45 pm: back to work

8:00 pm: meal six (last meal)… chicken and asparagus

9:00 pm: 30 minutes of cardio

9:45 pm: read

11:30 pm lights out…

That’s a typical day! It gets a lot more hectic when I have to add in tanning and posing every day… but that’s not until those final weeks before a competition.

Peace.

P.S.In case you’re wondering… YES… I do have a life… EXCEPT before contests… then no… no life :-)

Posted 02 August, 2005 in Workouts

Comments

Mariela said:

Hey! Do you ever shower?.....hehehe

Posted on Aug 08, 2005 09:26 AM

Tom Venuto said:

Sheesh! You want THAT much detail??? :-)

(actually, LOTS of showers and LOTS of laundry are side effects of pre-contest training...)

Posted on Aug 08, 2005 09:42 AM

John said:

Tom,
Do you have a gym in your home? It seems a stairmaster would take up an enormous amount of space. I like the idea of watching bodybuilding videos during the workout. Great motivation and helps pass the time. Currently, however, I don't have the set up for it.

Posted on Aug 08, 2005 02:11 PM

Kevin said:

Hey Tom, love all the tips and such youve helped me lose about 45 lbs in 3 months. Anyways I have been biking (30 minutes each way) to my gym then doing 45 minute high intensity burning around 600-700 calories per workout on elliptical around on average 5-6 days a week is that to much? seems like you got a pretty down pat lifestyle :P anyways thanks for the tips, also I am 16 so I dont know if I should be doing as much as I have been, what do you think?

Posted on Aug 10, 2005 01:09 AM

Karl said:

That kinda looks like my day.

I love chicken & broccoli.

I also train 3 times per day on Mon,Wednes,Fri & satur-days.

I got one question,Tom :

I always thought that cardio without a meal following caused muscleloss.
But that is not the case obviously
since you do that,
but, does it make any significant difference If I do cardio before my last meal or after it in terms of fatloss ?

Posted on Aug 23, 2005 01:28 PM

jackie said:

hey tom,
that's how i live" eat ,train, and sleep that's if i have time.

Posted on Sep 01, 2005 08:15 PM