26 Sep Tucker: An unexpected delay

Well! I’ve been absent for almost a month now. I mentioned feeling my throat swell up and feeling a lot of fatigue a few weeks ago. I thought all I’d need was a day or two of extra rest and it would get better… It didn’t. At this point I’m basically dealing with “recurring mono” which is where the virus comes back periodically. I’ve done some research on it and it sounds like there are people like me that get symptoms frequently, or some that every year will have something pop up for several weeks at a time. It’s pretty scary when it comes around, but so far it seems like my body is getting better at fighting it off, because each time it’s come back it’s been shorter and less aggressive. This time it creeped up for a couple weeks and then put me on my ass for a week and then took another week to get my energy back. I was out of work and out of the gym for two weeks, and just got back to both this week. So far I’ve had a couple workouts and I seem to be feeling a little better each day, so as long as that continues I’m good to go.

As far as prep for nationals… That’s still a big question mark. I talked with Noel and he said if I can get my glutes and hams reasonably hard within 4 weeks, we will continue and hit nationals. That’ll give me 4 more weeks to dial it in for the show. If I’m not in shape by then, I’ll save some money, heal up and go into off season to put some muscle on. At this point mentally I’ve made peace with either option. It stinks to miss doing nationals TWICE now because of the same bug…. But there are worse things that could happen. Dealing with this situation has certainly taught me patience, and evolved my thinking in how I approach training, diet, recovery and the process of bodybuilding and powerlifting…. Now if my body can hurry up and never get this again I can move on and look back with gratitude. But for now… It still sucks being sick!!

Anyways, I went light and tried to isolate these last couple workouts, and put emphasis on the muscle without causing havoc to my CNS that’s still trying to recover.

Both days started with the thoracic mobility, core stability and hamstring/glute activation stuff that Craig has been having me to. What a huge help those have been!

Chest
Decline pec fly machine – 4 sets of 10-15
Flat pec fly machine with hands up in L position – 4 sets of 10-15
Low pulley cable pec flies – 4 sets of 10-15
Hammer strength incline press SS with hammerstrength wide grip press – 4 sets of 10 with no rest back and forth
Standing calf raises – 5 sets of 15 reps

This was a pretty fast workout and a good way to test my body again. I did mostly fly variations to get blood flowing, and then some machine presses to flush blood in and call it a day on chest. I wrapped up with a bunch of sets going light and getting a good stretch on calf raises

Back
Cable pullovers – 3 sets of 21’s (7 from over my head to my chest, 7 from my chest to my waist, 7 full ROM)
Machine low row variation 1 – 4 sets of 10-15
Machine low row variation 2 – 4 sets of 8-12
Wide grip lat pulldown – 4 sets of 8-12
Close grip with V-bar lat pulldown – 4 sets of 8-12, and then I leaned back farther and got some forced reps
Shrugs – 4 sets of 15

I’ve been having fun with starting a workout with pullovers lately. It’s always been an end of the workout thing, but it’s nice to get blood flowing and feel some stimulation before moving to bigger stuff. There are two low row machine next to each other in the gym. One pulls from low to high and I think is more meant for trap/rhomboid/mid back stimulation. I’ve seen some pros standing instead of sitting at the machine and getting a big lat stretch, so I wanted to try it for myself. I don’t think I did it very well cause it wasn’t a very effective exercise for me. I moved onto the normal low row machine I use to get the outer sweep of the lat from low back insertion to arm pit working, and it felt great. Afterwards I hit some pulldowns and then some machine shrugs and I was out.

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Tucker Loken

Tucker Loken is a Bodybuilder turned Powerlifter turned Powerbuilder from Eugene, Oregon. He did his first bodybuilding show when he was still in high school, and has been training male and female competitors for shows since 2011. Several years ago he decided to take a step away from his normal routine and learn how to get strong. He worked with Brian for 9 months, added 200 pounds to his raw total and qualified as an Elite lifter in the 220 pound weight class. He returned back to bodybuilding much stronger and now incorporates the 10/20/Life philosophy into his training to keep himself healthy and making continual progress in the Big 3 as well as adding size and shaping his physique. Now part of Team PRS, he brings his unique expertise of nutritional knowledge and how to balance Bodybuilding with Powerlifting to help athletes achieve their best potential.

Latest posts by Tucker Loken (see all)

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