I'd take Wobenzym instead. Talk about naturally kicking down inflamation! Whenever I get back pain, that Wobenzym works wonder in a few days. Totally natural and not too expensive.

Worth looking into.

That has bromelain in it, just like the Animal Flex I just started taking. Some believe that's the key. :-)

Wobenzym is a wonderful supplement, but has to be taken on an empty stomach twice a day. If you can plan your day around it, you'll reap benefits for sure.

"In addition, Wobenzym acts as a natural and safe alternative to anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen.

Furthermore, some Olympic teams have used Wobenzym to reduce injuries by as much as 50% and to enhance healing after injury. This is partly due to the bioflavonoids ability to prevent the discoloration and local pain associated with traumatic injuries. For these same reasons, leading surgeons now routinely prescribe Wobenzym to prevent bruising and edema and the associated pain for their post-surgical patients."

Told ya that Flex is no joke. For the price, and conveinence ( the packs ) it can't be beat really.

No lifting yesterday or today, went rock wall climbing last night instead. Never tried it before, and it was a load of fun. It's also a heck of a workout, lifting my 250lb carcass up a 50ft wall, even with regular hand and foot holds. I think I will have to do it again, and soon. Will do wonders for my grip strength, my forearms were tight as I've ever felt them by the time I was done. Also helping with legs and core strength. Great stuff! :-)

Stretching hips, legs, and glut's before getting too involved will help you out a lot with climbing.

Only 4 days in and my joint pain is probably down 50% already....hoping for more improvement over the next few weeks. Thanks again for the tip, Frank. :-)

I started in September at 10. :-)

We are minor leaguers compared to what this thread is focused on but hey... whatever works for you is good. I'm greatful for this ongoing discussion. It has helped stimulate me to get started and most importantly keep with a program that has been good for me.

The addition of the 12 lb hand weights has been a nice dimension. Keep them in the family room and toss off various types of 10 set reps as a nice break to TV watching.

Still resist cardio. One session on the airdyne and none since. Need to add something.. thinking about jumping jacks and maybe squat thrusts.

Come to Chicago for 60 days and I'll put you on the hockey team, Dave. :-)

Not sure how much shipping is from DPS but I find Jack3d between $20-$25 on Amazon.com. I have a free prime account so 2-day shipping is free.

In diet news.. Following my diet to a T. Parents had pizza last night I passed and had my salmon filet, brown rice and spinach salad. A few days, I haven't had enough carbs and went loco on a few people :-) Got that fixed now so all is good. Down 4 pounds in 2 weeks.

Following up with the forecast on the workout.. Shoulders and maybe some triceps today. I've been doing a lot of rest/pause work on rows(single arm and bent over). Basically just making sure the weight touches the ground and comes to a complete stop before I do another rep. On single arm rows I did 3 sets of 105x8 and I'll definitely be going heavier next workout. It gives me a good stretch on the bottom and the split second of rest is enough to give me an extra breath to get out more reps.

Sounds like you are kickin' ass in all directions, Christos! :-)

Bi's and Tri's yesterday

Seated DB Curls
Skullcrushers
Standing DB Hammer Curls
OH Tri Press
Chinups
Tri Dips
Concentration Curls
Single arm DB tri Extensions

4 sets of each on a superset basis............about an hour to hammer through it all. This is slow slow going but I am still seeing results so I keep at it.

Have my sleep study tonight after work....hoping that CPAP is the miracle that a lot of my friends are telling me it is.

They are 1 state away from me, so I usually get my stuff in about 48hours. They UPS ground ship for the same rate anywhere in the CONUS 48. Plus they offer discount by how much you spend. Right now they have a 15% off anything over 150$ which for me ended up being free shipping and a few bucks off. Plus ya get free **** when you order over 100$ too...

Knee is feeling better, guess it was the gout.

Any of you guys have on of those days where it seems you can't throw up the weight that you've been doing.

I started out good on Monday doing incline db's, nothing out of the ordinary, then when it came time to do the flat db's I just couldn't throw up the weight. I started out at 75's on the first set thinking I'll end with the 90's or 95's but when I jumped to the 85's for the second set, nothing :-). I pushed it up 5 times or so then my arms just felt weak, I dropped down to 65's and even those felt heavy.

What gives? Can I just chalk it up to having "one of those days?" REst of the week went fine. I'm going to start adding the Da Klugs routine to my work out soon :-)

Absolutely Greg....if we could all go at "100%" every workout we would all be Hurculean....just doesn't work that way, and a lot of factors (diet, rest, mental state, and a multitide of others) can affect our strength and endurance from day to day.

Your Central Nervous System can also take a beating from training.

Worked some assistance work on Friday and got a new tattoo. Looking to do a meet in the late winter but there isn't anything close to me. I'm thinking of running my own meet, maybe a bench for cash meet so I get a decent turn out. We'll see.

Nothing for me this weekend. Woke up yesterday with a nasty bug that took me down for yesterday and today. Tomorrow is a normal off-day for me, so we'll see how it goes on Tuesday.

Chest and Legs today

You know, no matter how long I do them I absolutely hate doing squats. About the 7th rep in every set I am in pass out mode. I can push anything too the max to the point of failure.............squats............just not my exercise. I keep doing them though............:-)

Same ol same ol over the weekend. The 100 consecutive push-ups is starting to get easier so maybe upping it this week. No cardio yet. :-)