[RedLefty]

Today's workout -- Workout 1 from Chad Waterbury's Hybrid Hypertrophy

I feel funny putting the whole set/rep scheme here. If you haven't bought Chad's book that includes HH, then you can at least go to the site that paid him to write the program and read it there. He signed my book with a pen he used to slay two rebel Viking villages, so it's the least I can do.

So I'll just include the number of sets. You can assume 100 reps per set. I'm good for it.

DB close-grip bench press -- 4 sets, worked up to 45s
Skull crushers -- 1 set, 45
Deadlift -- 4 sets, worked up to 225
BB hack squat -- 1 set, 115
Chin-up -- 4 sets, bodyweight only
DB pullover -- 1 set, 17.5

Here's some more detail on my recent exercise background. Programs completed over the past 18 months are all from NROL (Strength I, Hypertrophy I and II, Fat Loss I and II) and Muscle Revolution (BBB, ABBH, TTT, SOB). So that's nine programs completed in that time. Not shabby I guess, but there were just too many breaks between programs.

YMCA story #1 -- I just finished deadlifts and was setting up for hack squats in the only place in the gym where it's possible. A small open space by the power rack. An attractive teenage girl comes over and just sorta looks at me for a minute. Finally she asks, "Am I in your way?" I replied no, and said I didn't need to move around to do what I was doing with the loaded bar. Just up and down. She proceeded to come closer to me and start doing lunges. She couldn't have been more than 18 inches away. I bet she could tell you whether I was chewing peppermint or spearmint gum.

Anyway, I couldn't tell if she was giving me a signal, or was just an innocently ignorant gym newbie common to this time of year. Alas, if I had only known she was giving me a signal, I could've let her down gently. But since I didn't know, I didn't say a word and actually moved away a few inches. If that action crushed her self-esteem and doomed her to a decade on the pole, I shall never forgive myself.

Who am I kidding. She was probably blind.

YMCA Story #2 -- I was still in the same area and a college-aged guy starts doing squats. Strongly. He works up to 365 and says he wants to do a final set, and would like me to spot him. "Uh", I say, "You're squatting more than I just deadlifted. How could I possibly help?" He said not to worry and just stand behind him, in case he can't finish the reps. Again, I have no idea what I would do. As if I could catch that much weight or lift it off him if he failed. Thankfully he finished the reps, and I went through the spotting motions behind him to make him feel better.