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Amsterdammed Training Log

Training Logs
#1

Hey everyone,

I’m new here since two days on T-Nation. I’ve learned a lot in only two days already. I came here because I want to get serious with my training. Around 11 months ago, I was a tiny little wurm of 138lbs. Right now, I am slightly bigger wurm of 182lbs. I gained a lot of weight in a relatively short period of time. I did not use a nutrition program or good training program. But the time to change has come, I wanna get big and strong, for real.

Within the last 11 months, I’ve had an acute surgery, because my appendicitus had to be removed suddenly. There were some complications and therefore, I stayed two weeks in the hospital. I’ve had a tremendous load of problems with my abs and legs afterwards. I’m just starting to train again, so I’m careful with especially those two parts of my body. Therefore the weights I’ll be doing for legs will be extremely weird comparing to my upper body stats. My main goal from this split is to get that back even again, so the total balance of my body will be restored.

Therefore I have made a training program which I’m going use for the next 10-12 weeks, or untill I don’t book any progress anymore. I have chosen for a split. The target is 6-8 reps (functional hypertrophy), 90-120s rest, 3 sets per exercise and will use the straight set structure. So in total I will have 18 sets and do about 108 to 144 reps, in 1 training.

The split is like this:

Day 1: Chest/Back
Day 2: Rest
Day 3: Shoulders/Arms
Day 4: Quads/Hams
Day 5: Rest
Day 6: Chest/Back etc.
Day 7: Rest

See below for the exercises:

Day 1 Chest/Back:
Decline Barbel Benchpress
Chins Wide Grip
Incline Dumbell Press
Seated Cable Rows
Pec Deck Machine
Straight Arm Pulldowns

Day 3:
Military press
Lateral Raise
Face pulls

Incline Alternate Dumbell Curls
Rope Overhead Extensions

Day 4 Quads/Hams:
Deadlift
Front Squat
Lower Back Machine
Leg Press
Leg Curls
Leg extensions
V-ups

Then on Day 6 Chest/Back again etc. etc. etc.

Since I’m doing the antogonistic training, I used to have biceps/triceps and ant delts/rear delts on two different days. But this would be a bodypart frequency of once per week (directly). Since it was better to try to do it 1-2 a week, I’ve combined the biceps/triceps day with the ant delts/rear delts day.

My current stats atm are:
Height: 6ft 2.5 inches
Weight: 182lbs

Strength:
BP: 185lbs
SQ: 100lbs (note: due to surgery I had)
DL: 140lbs (note: due to surgery I had)
MP: 100lbs

I’m going to do this program for 10-12 weeks, or longer if I keep making progress. My goal for this period of time is like this:

  • 182lbs weight --> 195lbs
    Strength stats:
    BP: 185lbs --> 200lbs
    SQ: 100lbs --> 132lbs
    DL: 140lbs --> 176lbs
    MP: 100lbs --> 120lbs

I’m looking forward to GET BIGGER AND STRONGER, and I hope this log will contribute to even more dedication towards reaching my goals!

Grts from Amsterdammed

#2

I started today, woot!

This afternoon, I had some noodles, a couple of eggs and some bananas before I stepped on my bike, and cycling to my gym. It’s pretty hot in Holland right now (30+ degrees Celcius), so my tshirts was pretty wet from the cycling (30 mins, could that be bad for a work out?). Luckily, I had a spare tshirt with me, so I could start.

It was Chest/Back day, so I started with the Decline barbell BP. I warmed up twice with the barbell (2x5 explosive) and then put some weights on it. I warmed up two more sets:
5x 88lbs
5x 110lbs

I didn’t know exactly what to hang on the barbell since I didn’t do this for a long time. I chose for a total of 154lbs including the barbell.

12x154lbs was the result, which went pretty easy. I decided to put on more weight (too much, appeared after it)
3x176lbs --> this was too heavy, since my target is 6-8 reps. I decided to do my last set with 165lbs --> 6x165lbs.

I got a huge pump in my chest from this, and now know that next time I’ll start with 165lbs.

Then I was doing to Chins wide grip. I can’t do these without contra weight yet, see my results below:

warm up:
10x50c(c= for contraweights)
3x30c
3x30c
7x15c
5x15c
4x15c

15 contraweight turned out to be pretty heavy, my back felt really sore afterwards. Next time training I’m going to do it with 15contraweight again and do better then 7,5,4.

Then came the incline dumbell press. My chest was still pumped so I did one small warm up with 5x31lbs.

Then my 3 sets:
9x 40lbs
9x 40lbs
7x 40lbs

Next time I’m going to try 44lbs.

Then the seated cable rows, my back was still warm, so I did not warm up here.
My results:
9x125lbs
8x125lbs
5x125lbs

Damn, this was really heavy and the last reps I could not fully do the exercise anymore, so I cheated a little bit. I find this exercise not really nice, but I gotta do it. So next time I’m doing 125lbs again, and hope to beat these reps.

Then the pec deck machine, I just love this one. I warmed up with 5x55lbs.
Then my 3 sets:
10x110lbs (this was do-able, so I changed it from 110lbs to 121lbs.
7x121lbs
4x121lbs (right here, I was broken, couldn’t do a quarter rep anymore)

Next time I will start with 121lbs, and try to get something near 6,6,6.

The last exercise was the straight arm pulldowns. I had never done this exercise before, and it felt pretty strange. I really felt my rear delts and my abs. Is this normal? I didn’t know what to put on so I started with:
10x39lbs (this went okay, so I raised it for the next two sets)
8x57lbs
5x57lbs

Next time I will start with 57lbs and try to get as many as possible. I was really broken after this one, and glad I was done. BUT, I was satisfied with the training, since I gave it my all.

Short summary of the work out

Day 1 Chest/Back:

Decline Barbel Benchpress
12x154lbs
3x176lbs
6x165lbs

Chins Wide Grip
7x15c
5x15c
4x15c

Incline Dumbell Press
9x 40lbs
9x 40lbs
7x 40lbs

Seated Cable Rows
9x125lbs
8x125lbs
5x125lbs

Pec Deck Machine
10x110lbs
7x121lbs
4x121lbs

Straight Arm Pulldowns
10x39lbs
8x57lbs
5x57lbs

#3

Training for tomorrow:

Day 3:
Military press

I’m going to try ramping here with 2 dropsets on the end, just to try how it feels. Only thing I’m affraid of is that I’ll waste energy with building up with the ramping… But what the heck, I’m trying it.

Lateral Raise

Still having doubts to do them leaning seperately, or do them together, either standing or on a incline bench.

Face pulls

First time I’m going to do this one, I’m ready!

Incline Alternate Dumbell Curls
Rope Overhead Extensions

I’ll post the results tomorrow.

#4

Let’s get this work done, bro!

#5

Okay, I had some nasty news today.

Since I was having some coughs for over a week, I went to the doctor today. Yesterday, I was puking from the coughing, so that was the limit for me. The doctor took some blood and listened to my lungs. He told me it sounded like there were tons of mice beeping in my lungs, which meant one thing: bronchitus…

Okay, so I’m quite used to this shit happening to me. Beginnging of the year, I had a laryngitis twice, then a sudden appendicitus removal surgery, whooping coughs from which I had to take antibiotics, and now bronchitus! Pretty insane, so I’m sent to the lungspecialist right now, to investigate what’s wrong.

Apart from that, I HAD A BLAST ON WEDNESDAY.

I had the shoulders/arms day, and I traind pretty pretty well, even with the coughing.

started with MP ramping and two dropsets:
warming up**
3x60lbs
3x70lbs
3x80lbs
3x90lbs
3x100lbs
11x80lbs
9x70lbs

Pussy weights, but you gotta start somehwere.

I had an insane pump after this one. Then I went on to the lateral raises with 20lbs dumbells:
9x20lbs
8x20lbs
6x20lbs

Went good.

Then the face pulls, a new exercise for me. It was difficult to find balance, and it was much heavier then I thought. I did it with 60lbs:
10x60lbs
8x60lbs
6x60lbs

Then the biceps curls, then went great. Also with 20lbs dumbells.
9x20lbs
8x20lbs
7x20lbs

My biceps burned like hell, and now, 1 day later, I really feel that I’ve trained them right, even that it was only one exercises, it felt really good, so I say LESS=MORE at this.

Then the last one, the overhead rope extensions. Since I moved to a new gym, where they are still doing some construction things, they still don’t have a good rope to use. Therefore I chose to day triceps pushdowns, which felt really good as well. I warmed up with a set of 10dips BW though, since I just couldn’t let that thing alone… After that I did this with the triceps pushdowns:

9x50lbs
8x50lbs
6x50lbs

Okay, so that was it. I biked home and built myself a descent meal with noodles and chicken!

Right now I’m so tired. I’m going to sleep soon, since it’s 2 a night here in Holland. I’m working hard, reading a lot, eating well and I have to idea that I’m already seeing more defenition already. My weight hasn’t increased yet, but I’m seeing more defenition.

I’m 185.5lbs now at night before going to bed. I’ll weigh myself tomorrow to see how much I’m above 182lbs, which was my morning starting weight last Sunday.

I’ll keep posting

Peace

Amsterdammed

#6

Okay, some nasty shit happened, I have bronchitus, since yesterday, and I’m on antibiotics.

Too bad, shit happens, so I went to the gym and started training.

Chest/Back:
Decline Barbel Benchpress
Chins Wide Grip
Incline Dumbell Press
Seated Cable Rows
Pec Deck Machine
Straight Arm Pulldowns

Btw, I’m going to post everything in kg, since I’m sick of calculating everything to lbs hehe.

Decline BP, ramping method:
2x5xbarbell
3x40
3x45
3x50
3x55
3x60
3x65
3x70
3x75
3x80
3x85
12x70
10x65

3x85 was a PR, even on antibiotics, so I was really pleased. Went pretty easy.

Then Chin ups:
7,5,4

Pretty difficult…

Incline DB Press:
Had trouble with this one as well, as from this moment on I was totally wet from sweat and my coughs become worse and worse.

6x20
6x18
6x16

Less then last time, but I’d throwen everything I had into it.

Seated rows:
12x57 (2 reps more than last time)
8x57
5x57

Pretty okay, still I felt fucked up.

Pec deck machine:
12x55 (5 reps more then last time)
8x55 (2reps more then last time)
5x55 (1rep more then last time)

So, I was really pleased with this one, pretty big progress.

Straight arm pulldowns
Did it for the second time now, and I really felt my abs working (too) hard.

Results:
10x26
8x26
6x26

So, I was really happy when it was all done, and I could go home and build myself a descent pasta/chicken meal, which I’m eating right now. And now I hope I’ll feel better soon and get rid of the bronchitus! :slight_smile:

#7

I forgot you had a log lol

Sorry to hear about your health - what a bummer! Anyway, glad shoulders/arms went well.

Just a little reminder that most bodyparts should only take about 2 exercises a session per week (for someone building up their strength foundation). Only reason why back training takes a few more exercises (like 3) is because of the different functions, e.g. spinal erectors/lats/traps/middle back.

So basically, you’ll have your lower back exercise (e.g. squat/deadlift and their variations), a back width exercise (e.g. wide-medium grip pullups/deadlifts), and a back thickness exercise (e.g. closer grip chipups/Row/Deadlifts). As you can see, that leaves not a lot of room for isolation exercises :wink: At least not in the beginning with higher frequency/low volume workouts

Also, as regards the chin ups, it looks like your strength needs to catch up a little to your bodyweight. Since this is the case, what you can do is a pretty cool method of progress as follows:

This is how your original sets went (bodyweight) - 7,5,4

So the total volume for chinups is only about 16 reps which is ok if you’re overcompensating with more exercises for the same bodypart, but it’s not optimal on an exercise basis (not getting the most out of the exercise)…you want it to be around 24 or more:

So for sets you’ll do just a reduced amount of reps…but MORE sets. So don’t go to failure on your first sets (just the last one or two) and this will allow more sets to be done.

Example:

5 reps
5 reps
5 reps
4 reps
4 reps (failure set)

Then, each week, add another rep to each set that you never managed the full 5 reps. Then add another rep to a few sets after that (e.g. 6 rep sets) and so on…So the point (for exercises where you need to build strength quickly) is to increase volume first via sets (accumulative/building up fatigue) rather than going to failure on your first sets.

Hope that big wall of text helps somehow lol

#8

[quote]its_just_me wrote:
I forgot you had a log lol

Sorry to hear about your health - what a bummer! Anyway, glad shoulders/arms went well.

Just a little reminder that most bodyparts should only take about 2 exercises a session per week (for someone building up their strength foundation). Only reason why back training takes a few more exercises (like 3) is because of the different functions, e.g. spinal erectors/lats/traps/middle back.

So basically, you’ll have your lower back exercise (e.g. squat/deadlift and their variations), a back width exercise (e.g. wide-medium grip pullups/deadlifts), and a back thickness exercise (e.g. closer grip chipups/Row/Deadlifts). As you can see, that leaves not a lot of room for isolation exercises :wink: At least not in the beginning with higher frequency/low volume workouts

Also, as regards the chin ups, it looks like your strength needs to catch up a little to your bodyweight. Since this is the case, what you can do is a pretty cool method of progress as follows:

This is how your original sets went (bodyweight) - 7,5,4

So the total volume for chinups is only about 16 reps which is ok if you’re overcompensating with more exercises for the same bodypart, but it’s not optimal on an exercise basis (not getting the most out of the exercise)…you want it to be around 24 or more:

So for sets you’ll do just a reduced amount of reps…but MORE sets. So don’t go to failure on your first sets (just the last one or two) and this will allow more sets to be done.

Example:

5 reps
5 reps
5 reps
4 reps
4 reps (failure set)

Then, each week, add another rep to each set that you never managed the full 5 reps. Then add another rep to a few sets after that (e.g. 6 rep sets) and so on…So the point (for exercises where you need to build strength quickly) is to increase volume first via sets (accumulative/building up fatigue) rather than going to failure on your first sets.

Hope that big wall of text helps somehow lol[/quote]

Thanks for your reply bro.

About the reminder, I know that, and I’m doing this pretty much now. As for my isolations, which you can see in my program, I’m not doing a lot. 1 for biceps, 1 for triceps, 1 for rear delts, 1 for ant delts. So that’s pretty good right?

About the chin ups, I’m going to try this man. I’ll just do it like you said, and try to get 20+ out of it. I’m doing them wide grip now, and I find those pretty heavy. Next to that, my lats are not developed well, so it’s important for me to train them, thanks for the tip. :slight_smile:

I’ll keep you posted.

#9

Oh yeah that’s good that you’re doing that for shoulders :slight_smile:

As regards wide vs narrow grip…don’t do extreme versions (like much farther from shoulder width) because this just stresses the joints more rather than the target muscle.

The main thing for changing grip and hitting slightly different muscles is the direction the hands are in (overhand vs underhand). Over hand grip (e.g. pullup) will be slightly wider than underhand grip, and this hits the wider part of the lats more (the part nearest the armpits). The underhand grip (often referred to as a chinup) targets the lats more overall and gives the biceps more involvement.

#10

Okay, thanks for the tip on the chinning, I didn’t know that and I’m doing it a lot further from shoulder width. Next time I’ll try shoulder width, or change my grip to neutral. I don’t want to do underhand grip since this focuses so much on the biceps. I can take the midway and do neutral sometimes then. I’ll let you know how it goes.

#11

Day 3:
Military press
ramping untill 3x45kg and 2x50kg
then 7x40,4x40

Lateral Raise
8kg --> 9,8,7

Face pulls
24.5,27,31kg --> 12,10,8

Incline Alternate Dumbell Curls
10kg --> 8,8,7 and 8,7,7

Rope Overhead Extensions
26kg --> 7,6,5

Have no time to write much more down, only that the training went okay, but i had really bad coughs from the bronchitus which made it not a very nice training, still I have given 1000%.

#12

Wow, some bad shit happened.

My appendicitus which had been removed couple of months ago, wasn’t properly removed. So I’ve had another surgery about 6 weeks ago…

Lost a lot of weight, and got to start slow with everything again. Hopefully I can hit the gym next week again.

I will post my recovery and results in this topic.

Peace

#13

Damn doctors! Sorry to hear that bro

#14

Yup, I’m at 176lbs now, and it seems I’ve lost a lot of muscle and nearly any fat…

But got to keep my head up, and start again next week.

I’m curious how my strength will be, since I don’t really feel much weaker then before (except for my abs part, which is logical since they have cut my abs open to get to my appendicitus). So gotta watch out for my abs, but I think I’ll be okay.:slight_smile:

#15

So I was at 176lbs 5-6 weeks ago. I’ve made a hell of a comeback!:smiley:

I have all my strength back that I had before the surgery and have set some new PR’s already.

And my weight went from 176 lbs to 188lbs, with a 0.3% raise of my BF from 13.8 to 14.1!

So almost no increase in fat %, but 12 lbs gained.

This scheme works really well for me, especially the ramping.

I’ve added a couple of small changes, but from now on I’m going to keep record of my work outs here and participate on the forum.

Grts from Amsterdammed

#16

Hey there, long time no see :slight_smile:

Good to hear things are back on track. You’re following the Yates split aren’t you?-

Day 1 - Chest + Arms
Day 2 - Legs
Day 3 - Off
Day 4 - Shoulders + Back
Day 5 - Off
Day 6 - Repeat

That’s a very decent one ^, especially if you’re only doing 2 or 3 exercises/bodypart. You may find that at first, you need to do about 2 “hard” sets per exercise…then once you’ve built some decent strength (or worked up to some decent intensity) you can build up to just one max set.

Also, a note about over-training/under-eating: You will get to the point where your lifts start to stall, this is usually a sign to take it easier for a couple of weeks - take 2-3 workouts off, reduce load by about 5-15%, then quickly work back up to previous max’s. If you find that strength gains are extremely sluggish (often up and down), eat more over-all calories, and if protein is less than 1.5g’s per lb in bodyweight, increase protein.

Many follow a set pattern where they deload every 4th week, or for that split above, you would deload/take a couple days off roughly every 6th session (so you’d do 5 sessions of each bodypart, then deload and if needed take a few days off). I like this sort of plan since I’m the type who can never take it easy, I’m always working myself into the ground!

Good luck and keep us updated! 220lbs bodyweight isn’t far off if you get that strength up and eat plenty :slight_smile:

#17

[quote]its_just_me wrote:
Hey there, long time no see :slight_smile:

Good to hear things are back on track. You’re following the Yates split aren’t you?-

Day 1 - Chest + Arms
Day 2 - Legs
Day 3 - Off
Day 4 - Shoulders + Back
Day 5 - Off
Day 6 - Repeat

That’s a very decent one ^, especially if you’re only doing 2 or 3 exercises/bodypart. You may find that at first, you need to do about 2 “hard” sets per exercise…then once you’ve built some decent strength (or worked up to some decent intensity) you can build up to just one max set.

Also, a note about over-training/under-eating: You will get to the point where your lifts start to stall, this is usually a sign to take it easier for a couple of weeks - take 2-3 workouts off, reduce load by about 5-15%, then quickly work back up to previous max’s. If you find that strength gains are extremely sluggish (often up and down), eat more over-all calories, and if protein is less than 1.5g’s per lb in bodyweight, increase protein.

Many follow a set pattern where they deload every 4th week, or for that split above, you would deload/take a couple days off roughly every 6th session (so you’d do 5 sessions of each bodypart, then deload and if needed take a few days off). I like this sort of plan since I’m the type who can never take it easy, I’m always working myself into the ground!

Good luck and keep us updated! 220lbs bodyweight isn’t far off if you get that strength up and eat plenty :)[/quote]

Hey man,

Yeah I’m very happy that my body is back to normal plus that I have had some good results.

I’m not doing to Yates thing, atm I have a 3day split. I just haven’t got more time atm and it works really really well for me!

Tuesday
Chest/Back:
Decline Barbel Benchpress
Chins Wide Grip
Incline Dumbell Press
Bent over dumbell rows
Pec Deck Machine
Smith machine rowing

Thursday
Military press
Lateral Raise
Face pulls

(warming up 1 set of 10 hammer curls)
Incline Alternate Dumbell Curls
(warming up 1 set of 10 dips BW)
Rope Extensions

Saturday
Quads/Hams:
Deadlift
Front Squat
Lower Back Machine
Leg Press
Leg Curls
Leg extensions
V-ups

I train really really hard. I pretty much (almost) puke every work out, but when I feel any small pain in my muscles, I stop. Sometimes I could go even further, but when it doesn’t feel right, I lower the weight since I do not want any injury.

Today it was chest back day. I still lift pussy weights, but I got some PR’s hehe!

Decline Barbell Press --> 3x,3x untill my topset 3x, then 10-15% of, then again 10-15% of
3x192.5lbs (PR)
10x154lbs
18x137.5lbs

I was very happy with the 192.5lbs. It’s more then my bodyweight (188.5lbs atm) and it’s the first time I did this. One step in the right direction!

Then Chin ups:
-25lbs 9x
-30lbs 8x
-40lbs 14x

The - sign means that I have a certain weight added to help me get up. So this is not bodyweight + 25lbs, but bodyweight - 25lbs. I really want to be able to chin my own bodyweight, but can’t do this yet. If anyone has tips on how to improve this, I’d like to hear this!

Incline dumbell curls:
14x44lbs
11x44lbs
8x44lbs

Bent over dumbell rows:
14x35lbs (each dumbell 35lbs)
9x35lbs
7x35lbs

Pec Deck machine:
9x143lbs
15x132lbs

I felt really tired and had some pain in my left shoulder, so I went down untill 88lbs.
After 4-5 reps, I had the feeling I couldn’t do the exercise really well, so I stopped.

Smith rowing:
I did this one with very litte weight (70lbs) since I was exhausted and felt I nearly died hehe. After this I went hom to eat a enormous portion of potatoes with some fish, eggs and milk. Right now, I’m feeling definitely better. My shoulder still feels a little bit sore (not painful though!), so I’m going to take a little bit more protein today, since I feel my body needs it.

So far for today, now let’s study and rest, so the body can grow. xD

#18

[quote]Amsterdammed wrote:
Hey man,

Yeah I’m very happy that my body is back to normal plus that I have had some good results.

I’m not doing to Yates thing, atm I have a 3day split. I just haven’t got more time atm and it works really really well for me!

Tuesday
Chest/Back:
Decline Barbel Benchpress
Chins Wide Grip
Incline Dumbell Press
Bent over dumbell rows
Pec Deck Machine
Smith machine rowing

Thursday
Military press
Lateral Raise
Face pulls

(warming up 1 set of 10 hammer curls)
Incline Alternate Dumbell Curls
(warming up 1 set of 10 dips BW)
Rope Extensions

Saturday
Quads/Hams:
Deadlift
Front Squat
Lower Back Machine
Leg Press
Leg Curls
Leg extensions
V-ups

I train really really hard. I pretty much (almost) puke every work out, but when I feel any small pain in my muscles, I stop. Sometimes I could go even further, but when it doesn’t feel right, I lower the weight since I do not want any injury.

Today it was chest back day. I still lift pussy weights, but I got some PR’s hehe!

Decline Barbell Press --> 3x,3x untill my topset 3x, then 10-15% of, then again 10-15% of
3x192.5lbs (PR)
10x154lbs
18x137.5lbs

I was very happy with the 192.5lbs. It’s more then my bodyweight (188.5lbs atm) and it’s the first time I did this. One step in the right direction!

Then Chin ups:
-25lbs 9x
-30lbs 8x
-40lbs 14x

The - sign means that I have a certain weight added to help me get up. So this is not bodyweight + 25lbs, but bodyweight - 25lbs. I really want to be able to chin my own bodyweight, but can’t do this yet. If anyone has tips on how to improve this, I’d like to hear this!

Incline dumbell curls:
14x44lbs
11x44lbs
8x44lbs

Bent over dumbell rows:
14x35lbs (each dumbell 35lbs)
9x35lbs
7x35lbs

Pec Deck machine:
9x143lbs
15x132lbs

I felt really tired and had some pain in my left shoulder, so I went down untill 88lbs.
After 4-5 reps, I had the feeling I couldn’t do the exercise really well, so I stopped.

Smith rowing:
I did this one with very litte weight (70lbs) since I was exhausted and felt I nearly died hehe. After this I went hom to eat a enormous portion of potatoes with some fish, eggs and milk. Right now, I’m feeling definitely better. My shoulder still feels a little bit sore (not painful though!), so I’m going to take a little bit more protein today, since I feel my body needs it.

So far for today, now let’s study and rest, so the body can grow. xD

[/quote]

Wow, Saturday looks brutal! lol

Hope you don’t mind if I point out a few things? Not that I’m downing your results so far lol…

Have you tried focussing on a more medium rep range? e.g. 6-10 reps? Like you ramp up to say 3 rep max, drop weight by ~10%, then on your second set (only if needed), drop by ~5%? So basically, steer your workouts more towards strength progression rather than volume…

If you focus on just two exercises for most bodyparts (except maybe delts/back/legs), and a medium rep range, (6-8 is always my favourite!), and you do exercises slightly more frequently, then I think you’ll find that not only do you get stronger quicker, but bigger quicker too.

It shouldn’t take long to get much stronger/bigger, don’t be afraid to set the “bar” a little higher :slight_smile:

If you can only do 3 days a week (for now) I’d suggest alternating an AB split on those 3 days (e.g. chest/back/delts alternated with lower body/arms)? This brings the exercise frequency up to about every 5 days which is ideal for most beginner/intermediate lifters…

PS - the chinup exercise is not for everyone (some have a bad muscle-mind connection on this exercise), maybe just try pulldowns? Your lats will get bigger/stronger via better targeting this way. Don’t forget to focus on the negative and peak contraction…

#19

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Wow, Saturday looks brutal! lol

Hope you don’t mind if I point out a few things? Not that I’m downing your results so far lol…

Have you tried focussing on a more medium rep range? e.g. 6-10 reps? Like you ramp up to say 3 rep max, drop weight by ~10%, then on your second set (only if needed), drop by ~5%? So basically, steer your workouts more towards strength progression rather than volume…

If you focus on just two exercises for most bodyparts (except maybe delts/back/legs), and a medium rep range, (6-8 is always my favourite!), and you do exercises slightly more frequently, then I think you’ll find that not only do you get stronger quicker, but bigger quicker too.

It shouldn’t take long to get much stronger/bigger, don’t be afraid to set the “bar” a little higher :slight_smile:

If you can only do 3 days a week (for now) I’d suggest alternating an AB split on those 3 days (e.g. chest/back/delts alternated with lower body/arms)? This brings the exercise frequency up to about every 5 days which is ideal for most beginner/intermediate lifters…

PS - the chinup exercise is not for everyone (some have a bad muscle-mind connection on this exercise), maybe just try pulldowns? Your lats will get bigger/stronger via better targeting this way. Don’t forget to focus on the negative and peak contraction…[/quote]

No, ofcourse I don’t mind.

I have focused on trying more medium rep ranges, but I decided to change it. Everyone develops a preference to train with a certain repetition range, but I think that each repetition range has benefits in terms of muscle growth. So I train a bit holistically, so I spend 1 set 2-6 reps, 1 set 7-12 reps and 1 set 13 reps or more. So I ensure that I’m growing in pretty much every way a muscle can grow, so both myofibrillar (low rep)hypertrophy and sarcoplasmix (high rep) hypertrophy. I changed it and it has really worked for me, so I’m going to stick to it.

I might try an ABA BAB etc weekly program as you suggested, but after the work out scheme I’m currently doing. When I have no progress anymore, I’m going to do another work out program, but right now I’m still getting quite some progress xD.

About the chin ups, I’m doing them now on a machine with -weights, which help me to get up. Maybe I’ll try the lat pully’s, but I have the idea that the chin machine is better. It’s a brand new high tech machine where the normal movement is almost exactly the same in everyway compared to a normal chin up.

But I’ll keep you updated how it go’s and thanks for the tips bro!

#20

Still going very well!

Monday I trained early in the morning, was tough as hell.

I really had 10-15% less strength than normally.

So no more early morning work outs for me.

Tomorrow its shoulder/arms day.

Time to get some PR’s!