In the past I have started up going to the gym many times, but I could never manage to keep myself consistent and would lose my gains, get deterred and stop. I can only blame myself and for this lack of determination.
A short bit about me:
I’m currently 6’3" and weigh 176lbs.
In high school I was not very physically active, didn’t go to the gym and I was skinny as a rail. I weighed around 140 lbs for the longest time. Fast forward a couple years and I find myself studying martial arts full time in China for 1 year, probably the hardest year of my life. It was during this time that the mind-muscle connection was made, balance, stability and agility was acquired and I started to put on some muscle. This was back in '07 and since then it has been an on/off kind of thing at the gym and I am now making a change to this pattern.
I found a local Muay Thai/Jiu Jitsu club that I will start attending come January. I am in pretty good shape cardio wise, but I plan further improve this with kickboxing, jumping rope and other misc. exercises at the Student Rec center before or after some of my workouts.
In the past I’ve been using a half-assed 3 day split, I realize now what I want would be better fitting into a 4 day a week routine.
These are the movements I’m comfortable with, usually I choose 4-5, those depending on where I want to focus for that day, and I try to do sets of 5x 6-8 with the first 2 sets being warm-up sets of lighter weight.
Chest/Triceps:
DB Incline Bench Press
DB Flat Bench Press
Cable Fly’s (soon switching to DB movement)
Push-up variations
Skull Crushers
DB Overhead Triceps Extension using both hands
Cable Bent-over Triceps Extension facing away from the machine
Back/Biceps:
Romanian Deadlift with overhand grip
T-bar Rows
DB Bent-over Rows
Machine Seated Cable Rows
Pull-ups (assisted) wide grip
Incline Bench curls
21’s using Ez-grip bar
Shoulders/abs:
Military Press
Lateral Raise
Front Raise
Arnold Press
Upright Row
Sit-ups with a plate, not sure what else I’ll do yet.
Legs:
Back Squats
Donkey Calf Raise
Calf Raise
(not sure what I’ll do for hamstring development)
Okay now that I got that out of the way I’ll start posting some numbers and get this thing rolling.
These first few days I am listing will not be full sessions, but to get an idea of what kind of weight I should be using.
11/29/09
DB Flat Bench press elbows slightly inward
40x8 40x8 50x6 50x6 50x4
DB Overhead Triceps Extension
30x8 30x8 30x8 30x6 30x6
12/1/09
DB Incline Bench press arms slightly below parallel
40x8 45x8 45x6 45x6 45x5
DB Overhead Triceps Extension
30x6 30x6 30x6 30x6 30x6
Today’s lifts <12/02/09>
Romanian Deadlift
115x8 115x8 135x6 135x6 140x6
Chin-ups
7, 5, 4
Incline Bench DB Curls
25x6 20x8 20x8 20x6 20x6
1-arm Bent-over DB Row
35x8 35x8 35x6
Was out of steam on the later lifts today, didn’t get up early enough to get in some large meals before heading to the gym. Going to work on being awake before 8am and eating breakfast + large lunch before going from now on.
Pre-workout shake is taken about 45 mins prior to lifting:
1 Banana, ice cubes, cup whole milk, 1 1/2 - 2 scoops of ON whey protein
Post-workout shake is taken within 15 mins of completion and consists of:
1 scoop ON Pro Complex Gainer and water, 650 Calories <85g carbs, 60g protein, 8g fat>
12/9/09
Spent 2.5 hours in the Small Gym today working the heavy bag, stretching and skipping rope.
Chest/Tri to follow tomorrow.
12/10/09 not very happy with today’s lifts, but an hour after I can tell my tri’s are dead.
DB Flat Bench Press
45x10 45x10 55x6 55x6 55x6 (pr)
DB Over-head Triceps Extension
30x8 30x6 30x6 30x7 30x6
DB Incline Bench Press
45x5 … … wasn’t feeling it
Over-head Triceps Cable Extension
Setting(5) 8, 6, 6, 5
Captains Chair Straight-Leg Lift
1x15, 1x10 . . . these are brutal
Sit-ups with feet secured
1x40
Today I set a PR for DB flat bench, with 3 sets of 55lbs and it was a huge struggle for me to lift this much.
12/16/09
1 hour of mixed bag work, jumping rope and stretching
70 closed fist press ups