The Return of THE BEAST-
Derek Charlebois’ 2008 Journal

A new year is upon us. It seems like just yesterday everyone was anxiously waiting the dawn of “Y2K”… and suddenly it is the year 2008!!! The New Year always provides the perfect time to evaluate your goals and set new goals for the upcoming year; a time to become motivated and focused about reaching new heights in your life.

2007 was a great year in my life:

• I bought and moved into a house
• Celebrated my 1-year anniversary with my wife
• Started Team Scivation and trained HUNDREDS of people who got amazing results (www.teamscivation.com)
• Developed and filmed the Tri-Phase Training program, which was nominated as Bodybuilding.com’s Training Program of the Year (though it didn’t win L) (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/beast48.htm)
• My Stubborn Fat Stack article was nominated as Bodybuilding.com’s Article of the Year (though it didn’t win L)
• Wrote the Scivation Phenotype Bulking Series (www.scivationbooks.com)
• Scivation Xtend won Bodybuilding.com’s Glutamine Supplement of the Year award
• I wrote my first article for a magazine (will be published soon)
• Was Bodybuiling.com’s Wall Paper of the Week

Training was a bit rough throughout the year. I had a nagging lower back injury that hindered many exercises. Instead of becoming discouraged and quitting I did what I could and actually made some decent progress. My lower back has been consistently getting better, which gives me extra motivation to start 2008! My old PR’s are:
Bench Press 365 X 3
Squat 585 X 3
Deadlift 600 X 1
I plan to hit those once again this year!!!

My current weight is 212 lbs. I gained some fat over the past couple months (specifically the last 2 weeks) so I will be doing a short cutting program until February and then I will start bulking again.  My goal is to cut down to 205 then bulk up to 230 (which will be the biggest I have ever been). 2007 was a great year, but I have a feeling 2008 will be even better!!!

The Return of The Beast—Week 1 (1/1/2008-1/8/2008)

Week 1 Diet (Cut)

Week 1 Workout

Week 1 Supplements
Pre-Workout = 1 Scoop Primal EAA + 2 Scoops VasoCharge
During Workout = 6 Scoops of Xtend
-Elastamine
-Cissus
- Fish Oil, CLA, GLA
-Pro-Liver
-Lean Green
-Insopro-R (with meal 1 only)

Xtend Mega-dosing = 12 scoops sipped during the day

Monday 12/31/2007
Chest+Delts Workout

Bench Press
315 X 3, 3, 3

Incline DB Press
105 X 8, 6, 4

Decline DB Flies
40 X 10, 10, 10

Cable Crossover
50 X 20, 20

DB Side Lateral
40 X 10, 8, 6

Cable Side Lateral
30 X 12, 12

Post-Workout Cardio = 30 minutes on Elliptical

Diet Notes
Diet was spot on today expect for some New Year’s NACHOS!

Tuesday 1/1/2008

I had my last “hooray” meal today, breakfast at Bob’s Evans: Steak & Egg Breakfast with potatoes, banana bread, and biscuits and gravy! SO GOOD!!!

Gym is closed today, so no training.

Wednesday 1/2/2008

My diet will be spot on from here on out. I will only be cutting for 4 or 5 weeks, so there is no time to get sloppy. I weighed in this morning at 212 (holding some water).

Workout = Back+Traps

Deadlift
495 X 3, 2, 1

Pull-Up
BW X 10, 8, 6

Bent Over Row
225 X 10, 10, 10

Straight Arm Pulldown
120 X 10, 10, 10

Barbell Shrug
315 X 10, 10, 10

DB Shrug
100 X 10, 10, 10

Post Workout Cardio = 30 minutes on Elliptical

Thursday 1/3/2008

Workout = Arms

Barbell Curl
95 X 10, 10, 10

Close Grip Bench
235 X 10, 8, 6

DB Preacher Curl
35 X 6, 6, 6

Skull Crusher
95 X 10, 8, 8

Various Cable Curls and Pressdowns

BB Forearm Curl
155 X 8, 8

Hammer Gripper
150 X 8, 8

Post Workout Cardio = 30 minutes on Elliptical

Friday 1/4/2008

Workout = Legs

Squats
315 X 8, 8, 8
I think I am going to shoot for 3 sets of 10 before upping the weight.

Seated Calf Raise
195 X 8, 8, 8

Stiff Leg Deadlift
195 X 8, 8, 8

Leg Press
630 X 8, 8, 8

Donkey Calf Raise
255 X 8, 8, 8

Leg Extension
50 X 30

Seated Leg Curl
50 X 50

Cybex Calf Press
200 X 50 (MAN THAT BURNS!!!)

Post Workout Cardio = 30 minutes on Treadmill

Things are moving in the right direction. This weekend Scivation will be hosting its for ever seminar at Cape Cod Nutrition Center in Cape Cod, MA! If you are in the Cape Cod area be sure to RSVP and come get some free Xtend slushies. I plan on following my diet all weekend. Because I will be out of town I will not be able to weigh in until next Tuesday.

The Return of THE BEAST- Derek Charlebois’ 2008 Journal

The Return of The Beast—Week 2 (1/9/2008-1/13/2008)

I weighed in on Monday at 209 lbs. So that is down 3 lbs since last week. My diet was 100% spot on while in Cape Cod. Some struggle with their diet while traveling but even if you are eating every meal at a restaurant you can eat clean. I kept my carbs to meal one and then ate meat+veggies+fat (usually a steak and a salad) for the rest of my meals.

Week 2 Diet (Cut)

Week 2 Workout

Week 2 Supplements
Pre-Workout = 1 Scoop Primal EAA + 2 Scoops VasoCharge
During Workout = 6 Scoops of Xtend
-Elastamine
-Cissus
- Fish Oil, CLA, GLA
-Pro-Liver
-Lean Green
-Insopro-R (with meal 1 only)

Xtend Mega-dosing = 12 scoops sipped during the day

Monday 1/9/2008
Marc and I trained chest+delts on Sunday, so I took today off. Here is the workout we did.

Chest+Delts Workout

Bench Press
315 X 3, 3, 3

Incline DB Press
100 X 10
120 X 6
100 X 6

Decline DB Flies
40 X 10, 10, 10

Dips
3 sets of 15

Cable Crossovers
3 sets of 15

Hammer Shoulder Press
3 sets of 15

Lateral Raise
3 sets of 15 with 25lbs

Post-Workout Cardio = NONE! We were tired and hungry so we went at grubbed!

Tuesday 1/10/2008

Workout = Back+Traps

Deadlift
405 X 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Pull-Up
BW X 10, 8, 6

Bent Over Row
225 X 10, 10, 10

Straight Arm Pulldown
120 X 10, 10, 10

Barbell Shrug
315 X 10, 10, 10

DB Shrug
100 X 10, 10, 10

Post Workout Cardio = 30 minutes on Elliptical

My lower back was still a little sore today from the plane ride home from Cape Cod. All is well though and I had a good workout.

Wednesday 1/11/2008

OFF DAY

Thursday 1/12/2008

Workout = Arms

Barbell Curl
95 X 10 (Wide Grip), 10 (Close Grip), 10 (Reverse Grip)

Close Grip Bench
235 X 10, 10, 10

DB Preacher Curl
35 X 10, 8, 6

Skull Crusher
95 X 10 (Close Grip), 10 (Wide Grip), 10 (Close Grip)

Various Cable Curls and Pressdowns

BB Forearm Curl
155 X 10, 10

Hammer Gripper
150 X 10, 10 

Post Workout Cardio = 30 minutes on Elliptical

Friday 1/13/2008

Workout = Legs

Squats
315 X 10, 10, 6

Seated Calf Raise
185 X 10, 10, 10

Stiff Leg Deadlift
185 X 10, 10, 10

Leg Press
630 X 10, 10, 10

Donkey Calf Raise
255 X 8, 8, 8

Post Workout Cardio = 30 minutes on Treadmill

This weekend I will be heading to Boise, Idaho to film Phase 3 of the Tri-Phase program. Saturday and Sunday are going to be rest days, which will be much needed considering I will be doing 4 workouts in 2 days for the video, full body workouts at that! Should be fun though. See you next week!

The Return of THE BEAST- Derek Charlebois’ 2008 Journal

The Return of The Beast—Week 3 (1/14/2008-1/21/2008)

I’m in Boise this week filming Phase 3 of the Tri-Phase program. We will be doing 4 workouts in 2 days, which will be tough, but we will get it done!

Week 3 Diet (Cut)

I will be adhering to this diet as close as possible when out of town but obviously it won’t be exact.

Week 3 Workout

This week my workouts will be a little different due to being out of town:
Monday = Workouts 1 & 2 of Tri-Phase.
Tuesday = Workouts 3 & 4 of Tri-Phase.
Wednesday = Chest + Calves
Thursday = Back
Friday = Arms
Saturday = Legs
Sunday = OFF!!!

Week 3 Supplements
Pre-Workout = 1 Scoop Primal EAA + 2 Scoops VasoCharge
During Workout = 6 Scoops of Xtend
-Elastamine
-Cissus
- Fish Oil, CLA, GLA
-Pro-Liver
-Lean Green
-Insopro-R (with meal 1 only)

Xtend Mega-dosing = 12 scoops sipped during the day

Monday 1/14/2008
Today we will be doing Workouts 1 & 2 of Phase 3 of the Tri-Phase program:
Workout 1 = 2 sets of 4-6 reps for all exercises

Workout 1 = 2 sets of 6-10 reps for all exercises

Tuesday 1/15/2008
Today we will being doing Workouts 3 & 4 (weak point training) of Phase 3 of the Tri-Phase program:
Workout 3 = 2 sets of 10-15 reps for all exercises

Workout 4 = Weak point training for biceps, forearms, and rear delts.
We did 3 sets for each of the following exercises.
Machine Preacher Curl
Rope Hammer Curl
Barbell Forearm Curl
DB Forearm Curl
Reverse Pec Dec for Rear Delts

Wednesday 1/16/2008
Workout = Chest+Calves

Despite beating ourselves up for the last two days, Marc and I hit chest and calves today. We did:
Incline Smith Press
Leverage Chest Press
Decline Hammer Strength Press
Cable Flies super-setted with Cable Presses
Donkey Calf Raises
Cybex Calf Extensions

Thursday 1/17/2008
I’m back at home today.

Workout = Back

Pull-ups BW X 10
Chin-ups BW X 10
Parallel Bar Pull-ups BW X 10

Reverse Grip Bent Over Row 185 X 8, 8, 8
I just haven’t been feeling overhead bent over rows lately. I’m going to switch to using a reverse grip for a while.

Lat-Pulldown super-setted with Seated Cable Row
150 X 10/150 X 10 (Wide Grip)
150 X 10/150 X 10 (Reverse Grip)
150 X 10/150 X 10 (Close Grip)
60 X 10/60 X 10 (1-Arm)

Straight-Arm Pulldown
120 X 10, 10, 10

Post-Workout Cardio = 30 minutes on Elliptical

Friday 1/18/2008

Workout = Arms

Barbell Curl
95 X 10
105 X 10
115 X 6

Close Grip Bench
225 X 10
235 X 10
245 X 6

DB Preacher Curl
35 X 10, 10, 8

Skull Crusher
95 X 10 (Close Grip), 10 (Wide Grip), 10 (Close Grip)

Various Cable Curls and Pressdowns

BB Forearm Curl
155 X 10, 10

Hammer Gripper
150 X 10, 10 

Post Workout Cardio = 30 minutes on Elliptical

Saturday 1/19/2008

Workout = Legs

Squats
315 X 6
335 X 6, 6

Stiff Leg Deadlift
185 X 10, 10, 10

Leg Press
630 X 10, 10, 10

Bunch of Leg Extensions, Leg Curls, and some sets of the Ab/Adductor machines.

Post Workout Cardio = 30 minutes on Treadmill

This week was very demanding. Marc and I killed it in the gym Mon-Wed, then I came home and did my thing at my gym. After this week I decided I am going to start adding some lean mass again. I am as lean as I need to be right now and my main goal is to add muscle. This short little cut let me lose a little fat but it also gave me my appetite back. Eating 4000 clean calories a day for 16 weeks can get hard. Eating 4000 calories from junk food is easy, but eating 4000 calories from chicken, steak, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, etc. is a challenge. I will go into details about my plan next week. See you then.

The Return of THE BEAST- Derek Charlebois’ 2008 Journal

The Return of The Beast—Week 4 (1/21/2008-1/27/2008)

I am back to bulking this week, though right now I am only having carbs post workout. My goal is to get 7 meals of 50 grams of protein and 20 grams of good fats (plus carbs with my post workout meal).

Week 4 Diet (Bulk)
]

Week 4 Workout

Week 4 Supplements
Pre-Workout = 1 Scoop Primal EAA + 2 Scoops VasoCharge
During Workout = 6 Scoops of Xtend
-Elastamine
-Cissus
- Fish Oil, CLA, GLA
-Pro-Liver
-Lean Green
-Insopro-R (with meal 1 only)

Xtend Mega-dosing = 12 scoops sipped during the day

Monday 1/21/2008
I am starting my new workout routine today. The muscle groupings are a little different than before. I feel this setup will allow me to hit each muscle group better, leading to increased gains in size.

Workout = Chest + Calves

Bench Press
315 X 3, 3, 3

Incline BB Press (with 3 second pause at the bottom)
185 X 10, 9, 8

Incline Hammer Press
180 X 10, 10, 10

Cable Flies
50 X 15, 15, 15

Cable Crossovers
50 X 15, 15, 15

Seated Calf Raise
165 X 8, 8, 8

Donkey Calf Raise
250 X 15, 15, 15

Workout Comments
Today’s workout was very productive. Did some incline barbell presses today in place of my normal incline DB press and I think I am going to go back to incline DB presses. I feel that incline DB press offers a different stimulus than barbell presses and like the way it feels more than incline barbell press right now. Just to note, I alternate between sets of cable flies and crossovers with my calf exercises. So I will do a set of cable flies then a set of seated calf raises. This strategy is a great time saver. I’ve been stuck at 315 X 3 on bench press for a couple weeks now. This is always where I reach a sticking point. I usually get up to about 335 for 3 reps then settle back down at 315 for 3 and get stuck there. I am going to try to beat this next week and if I don’t I am going to change up my rep scheme on bench press.

Tuesday 1/22/2008

Workout = Deadlift + Delts + Traps

Dealift
405 X 3
455 X 3
405 X 3
315 X 10, 10, 10

DB Side Lateral
40 X 6
30 X 10, 10

Smith Shrug
315 X 10, 10, 10

Cable Lateral
30 X 12, 12, 10

Low-Middle Trap Smith Shrug
225 X 10, 10, 10
I do these a bit differently than the standard shrug. Instead of shrugging my shoulders up I lift my scapulas and retract my shoulder blades together. I feel this hits more of the lower and middle traps.

Rear Delt Lateral
30 X 10, 10, 10

Workout Comments
I really like this new workout setup. In the past I have always done deadlifts at the beginning of back day, so deadlifts were always followed by some heavy back movements (i.e. bent over rows). Doing deadlifts followed by delts and traps a less demanding and will allow me to hit my back hard on its own day.

Wednesday 1/23/2008

Off Day

Thursday 1/24/2008

Workout = Back

Reverse Grip Bent Over Row
185 X 10
205 X 10
225 X 6

Pull-Ups
BW X 10, 8, 6

Hammer Strength Row alternated with Hammer Strength Pulldown
270 X 10/270 X 10
320 X 6/320 X 6
320 X 6/320 X 6

Seated Cable Row alternated with Lat Pulldown
180 X 10/180 X 10
200 X 10/200 X 10
70 X 10/70 X 10 (1-Arm at a time)

Workout Comment
 I think putting back on its own day with no other muscle groups or deadlifts will lead to some great gains. This workout allowed me to really focus on my back and it is here to stay!

Friday 1/25/2008

Workout = Arms

I decided to do things a little differently today. I have ALWAYS started my arms off with heavy movements like barbell curl and close grip bench. Today I am going to put those at the end of my workout.

DB Preacher Curl
40 X 10, 10, 10

DB Kickback
30 X 10, 10, 10

Hammer Strength Preacher Curl
50 X 6
40 X 1
50 X 6

Machine Extension
50 X 10
60 X 6
50 X 10

Barbell Curl
75 X 10, 10, 10

Close Grip Bench
185 X 10
205 X 10
225 X 6

Various Cable Curls and Pressdowns

BB Forearm Curl
155 X 10, 10

Hammer Gripper
150 X 10, 10 

Workout Comments
Doing isolation exercise before the big heavy compound movements definitely provided a different feel and I liked it. Doing this also made it so I had to go lighter on barbell curls and close grip bench, which my joints are thanking me for. I think I am going to stick with this strategy for a little bit.

Saturday 1/26/2008

Workout = Legs

Squats
365 X 6, 3, 3

Stiff Leg Deadlift
185 X 10, 10, 10

Leg Press
630 X 10, 10, 10

Bunch of Leg Extensions, Leg Curls, and some sets of the Ab/Adductor machines.

Workout Comments
A solid workout day. I tried going a little heavier on squats today. This is the heaviest I have gone since my lower back injury. I think I am going to go back down to 315 and work on increasing my stability and endurance on squats. Right now I can get 315 for 10 reps. I am going to shoot for 315 for 12-15 reps next week.

Weekly Reflection
I tried out some new training strategies this week that seems to work well for me. I am going to use these strategies next week as well. I will be keeping my diet the same next week. After next week I will most likely increase calories. Right now I am aiming to enter the 2009 NPC Michigan Championships. This will be my first competition in 5 years! This is the competition I was going to enter in 2006 but was unable to due to certain factors. I have definitely made some improvements over the past 5 years, but I have had some injuries that have hold me back. First it was my IT band on my left leg. This happened when I was trying to squat 600 lbs. I was stuck at 585 lbs for 3 reps and I think I was just pushing myself too hard to often; this was an overuse injury. Next came my lower back injury which slowed me down from September 2006 to about September 2007. My lower back is still not 100% but it is slowly getting better. Right now my main focus is adding muscle, specifically to my back. I have over a year until the 2009 NPC Michigan Championships, which gives me time to make improvements. It is time to get to work!