2012 Reload: 1/2 and 1/3

Obviously my blog got a little behind, and for the most part, workouts have been good. But since my knee had been bothering me, my squat and deadlift suffered a bit on the 531, and my joints on the whole started bothering me. Now I feel great, and the diet has been on point the whole time, and my body weight as of today was 172, so I know I'm making progress. Not once did I fall off on the diet, even on New Years Eve (had a backpack of food and zero carb isolate shakes lol). And I've been hitting all my cardio numbers too. Deloading a bit and resetting myself has definitely rejuvenated my training and I feel great in the gym again. I'll admit, my workouts over the past week or so have sucked, and I failed to hit a lot of rep ranges on the 531, but most of my supplementary movements were on point. Weights didn't vary much, but now that I've reset, I'm going to get my butt in gear and keep up on this. Plus, my form for all my lifts will be incredibly strict, with a lot of emphasis on negatives and such, but still going to go as heavy as possible. So I figured, start a new split, reload the blog. Progress has been steady physically, and my look has definitely improved since my prep diet truly started. It's a brand new year, and bringing a brand new package to the stage in April is what I plan to do. Updates will be more frequent since I wont be working full time and my class schedule is a bit lighter this term, and my rep work for iForce will be lessened a bit too. Plus, whenever I'm in pre-contest, I always seem to be very structured and strict with everything I do. Looking forward to bringing my best.

--Already I'm noticing I feel good from the 5 day split, not a lot of stress on my body, but still getting great sessions in. Recovery seems to be a bit better. Anticipating dietary changes though lol

1/2
Quads and Low abs
Squats: 3 warms, 225 x 8, 275 x 5, 315 x 5, x 4 (controlled negative, made sure to go as deep as possible and feel my quads contracting)
Leg Press: 2 warms, 728 x 10, x 10 (3 count negative)
Leg extension: 1 warm, 190 x 12, 210 x 11, 225 x 10 (3 count negative) (Drop set, 2 drops to failure)
DB step up: 40's x 12, 45's x 10, x 10
Leg raises: 1 warm, x 15, 30lb DB x 12, x 10
25 mins cardio

1/3
Back and Calves
Pulldown wide: 3 warms, 180 x 7, 200 x 6, x 5 (drop set, 2 drops to failure) (3 count negative)
Barbell row (no straps): 2 warms, 185 x 8, 225 x 8, x 7 (2 count negative)
1 arm cable row: 1 warm, 50 x 11, x 11, 52.5 x 11 (3 second negative)
Pullover: 1 warms, 65 x 12, x 11, x 11 (drop set, 1 drop to failure)
Seated Calf: 3 warms, 15 x 12, x 11, x 10 (3 second negatives)
1 set of bodyweight calf raises to failure
20 mins cardio