Tony is Awesome?!

Workout Routine

I talked with my cousin, Joey Glenn, who has a degree in Exercise Science and pursuing a chiropractic degree. Joey developed a workout routine for me that is totally different than what I’ve been doing and what I’ve seen recommended often, but he said to try it anyway as it’s really geared to maximize hypertrophy. I have to admit, I had to look up hypertrophy after his email to confirm what he was actually talking about.

Hypertrophy: excessive development of an organ or part; specifically : increase in bulk (as by thickening of muscle fibers) without multiplication of parts

So here’s my workout:

Monday (Push)

• Jump Squats
• Front Squat
• Bench Press
• Dumbbell Press
• Plank
• Russian Twist

Tuesday (Pull)

• Dumbbell Snatch
• Romanian Deadlift
• Bent-Over Rows
• Pull-Up
• Stability Ball Plank
• Plank Row

Thursday (Push)

• Jump Squats
• Lunge
• Incline Bench Press
• Alt. Dumbbell Press
• Plank
• Anti-Rotation Press

Friday (Pull)

• Dumbbell Snatch
• Romanian Deadlift
• Hor. Pull-Up
• Lat Pulldown
• Plank Walkup
• Decline Bench Sit-Ups

Gaining Weight?

I’ve always been a pretty small guy. To illustrate, I wrestled in high school and if you’re not familiar with high school wrestling weight classes, the smallest is 103lbs. My freshman year I wrestled 103lbs, but I would weight in each Thursday night before the meet, fully clothed, with shoes, between 75 and 80 pounds. When I was a senior, I still wrestled 103lbs - although then at a normal wrestler level where I would often weight around 115lbs on Monday and have to shed some pounds by Thursday evening to make weight.

Today, 11 years after graduating high school, I weighed myself at 123lbs. At 5’9”, that puts me slightly underweight. 

I’ve been determined to change that.

In December I started weight lifting on a regular and serious basis. At first I was working out daily over lunch since my building has a hardly-ever-used fitness center which is free for me. I established a routine to alternate upper-body and lower-body days. I eventually changed this to 3 times a week because I noticed if I missed a day, my next workout seemed more effective.

As of today, I’ve noticed some gains in strength for sure. I’ve upped the weight in each exercise several times, and I’ve noticed some muscle tone and slight increases in mass - but my weight hasn’t changed since I started. 

I knew this was likely to happen. My time spent thus far has been focused on establishing a habit of exercising and also eating better foods and increasing my protein where I have been able to.

Starting today, with inspiration from Chris Spooner, I’ve adjusted my weight lifting routine to hopefully maximize gains. Also, I’ve started a food journal so I can establish a daily goal of getting 2700-3000 calories. I think I’ve established the workout can be done, but the goal of getting more calories than I’m used to may be the harder part for me. 

So details for a starting point:

Height: 5’9”

Weight: 123lbs

Goal Weight: 150lbs

Note to self: Take starting photos and measurements for later comparisons.

Update with measurements:

Chest: 35”
Waist: 28”
Hips: 33”
Bicep: 11”
Thigh: 19”
Neck: 14.5”