I decided to start a log to track my progress and motivate me in my goal, and I’m also too lazy to keep a journal-like log just for myself, this actually got in my way a couple of times.
May 20, 2010
Warm-Up: 12 reps without resting between exercises or resting the bar, 2 sets with 44 lbs, then 1 set with 66 lbs.
- Cleans
- Military press
- Bent Over rows
Strenght : 5 sets of each exercise
- Military Press 66x8, 77x5, 88x5, 88x5, 99x3
- Hang Clens 66x5, 88x5, 88x5, 99x5, 99x5
- Deadlift 176x5, 176x5, 187x5, 198x5, 220x5 ( still had a lot in me, shit )
- Pullups BWxfailure
- Kroc Rows 66x12
Acessory/Cool down:
3 sets of 8 reps:
-
48lbs DB Swing
-
44lbs DB Snatch
-
3 sets of Farmer’s Walk with two 44lbs DB in each hand until I drop them.
Hi man!
I’m no expert or strength wizard either, but I also train with TBT, so that why I’m interested to see your training and progress.
What are your age, height, weight?
I’d suggest that you place the speed or quick lifts, what ever you want to call them (full or hang cleans and snatches) as your first exercise if you do exercises one by one. Also would suggest you to consider using giant-sets as training method (as for example Alpha uses). Do weighted pull-ups or chin-ups, if you can already do more than few of them and want to build up strength.
Others will surely give you more advice on the strength matter.
Keep up the log.
[quote]guhkes wrote:
Hi man!
I’m no expert or strength wizard either, but I also train with TBT, so that why I’m interested to see your training and progress.
What are your age, height, weight?
I’d suggest that you place the speed or quick lifts, what ever you want to call them (full or hang cleans and snatches) as your first exercise if you do exercises one by one. Also would suggest you to consider using giant-sets as training method (as for example Alpha uses). Do weighted pull-ups or chin-ups, if you can already do more than few of them and want to build up strength.
Others will surely give you more advice on the strength matter.
Keep up the log.[/quote]
Hey man, thanks for the suggestions! I already do some weighted dips ands pulls, I usually do them with heavy press movements, like the Back Squat and Bench Press (my arms take a beating doind snatches and deads). I noticed some similarity’s of mine training with Alpha’s, I’ll look into those giant-sets and I’ll implement them later on, they would be something like a tri-set with no rest, am I correct ?
About the age, weight, height, I just turned 18, I’m 182 pounds and 5Ã?´9. I used to weight 165 a few months ago and I’m trying to hit 198 if possible.
Thanks for the help!
Hey man,
A couple of points:
-
Guhkes made some good suggestions that i would try out.
-
Hitting 198lbs if you are easting enough food will be a joke for you, i would shoot for a higher number if you want mass.
-
this site has sooo much info on it you could read literally for years and not cover it all…If you want strength i would check out Wendler’s 5/3/1. if you want size i would read up stuff from CT. If you are looking for TBT i would read stuff by Dan John and Waterbury.
Really if you just go over to the bodybuilding forum and read the sticky near the top labeled “The best of T-Nation” you will be able to find exactly what you are looking for.
i will keep checking this thing out, but it is hard to comment on your training yet because I just haven’t seen enough of it to form an opinion.
But myself and plenty of others will be in and out of here helping you out, but make sure you are doing your research on this site so you know what we are trying to tell you.
Just my 2 cents.
[quote]Alpha wrote:
Hey man,
A couple of points:
-
Guhkes made some good suggestions that i would try out.
-
Hitting 198lbs if you are easting enough food will be a joke for you, i would shoot for a higher number if you want mass.
-
this site has sooo much info on it you could read literally for years and not cover it all…If you want strength i would check out Wendler’s 5/3/1. if you want size i would read up stuff from CT. If you are looking for TBT i would read stuff by Dan John and Waterbury.
Really if you just go over to the bodybuilding forum and read the sticky near the top labeled “The best of T-Nation” you will be able to find exactly what you are looking for.
i will keep checking this thing out, but it is hard to comment on your training yet because I just haven’t seen enough of it to form an opinion.
But myself and plenty of others will be in and out of here helping you out, but make sure you are doing your research on this site so you know what we are trying to tell you.
Just my 2 cents.[/quote]
Thanks for stopping by man.
I already did some reading on stuff by CT, but size is not my goal anymore. I’d say my goal is to get as strong as possible, both in lifts and in resistance/cardio, size’s never really something I had to fight hard for, so I’d say I have a Strongman-like goal. I’ll post my nutrition/supplementation protocols, which are not as optimal as I would like, but decent enough.
May 21, 2010.
Warm-up: 1 sets of each exercise with no rest. Then repeat everything 4 times.
88lbs Squat x10
44lbs Incline DB Press x10
BW Pull-ups x12
BW Dips x12
Strength Training:
Bench Press: 132x5, 132x5, 143x5, 154x3, 165x1, 170x1(fail)
Back Squat: 154x5, 176x5, 198x5, 220x5, 264x3, 286x3, 308x1
Weighted Pull-Ups: 22x6, 33x6, 44x4, 44x3, 55x1(fail)
Weighted Dips: 33x5, 33x5, 33x5, 44x5, 77x2
Cool-Down:
None
2 mile run with about 33lbs of stuff in a backpack ( chains and books…)
Today wasn’t a very exciting training session. My triceps and shoulders felt like they had taken a beating, so I didn’t Press as well as I intended to, the bar was also slippery as a hell and I couldn’t keep a nice grip, my hands kept sliding sideways no matter how much I squeezed it ( Got to get some liquid chalk from EliteFTS ), all that made a bad bench day. But I managed to beat my previous Squat PR without much effort and I think I could have gone higher, but my lower back was hurting and I didn’t think it wise to force it much. To me the weighted pulls were a complete failure, my arms were tired from this week’s training and I had to go lighter. Can’t complain about the Dips though.
Couldn’t do my Cool Down work today because I had to go home to get ready for a friends party. But to make up for it, I had to ran home with about 30lbs on my backpack, which is almost a 2 mile distance. Felt like puking my brains out.
Today and Tomorrow are my recovery days.
Did a lot of stretching today and did some ice and contrast showers. Blew up a callus on my hand yesterday, the wound is bugging me a bit more than I hoped for. Spent the morning helping my mother on her garden, lifting sacks full of dirt and stones and enormous vases and pots, that made get a slight fell of how doing WSM Atlas Stones would be like.
Here’s how my nutrition looks like:
Breakfast: 2 soft boiled eggs, ham, granola cereal, ice tea and one whey protein blend.
Second breakfast: 1 or 2 ham/turkey and salad sandwiches with whole grain bread.
Lunch: Meat ( Beef, Chicken Breast, Turkey…), a small quantity of carbs ( rice, potatos ) and some salad with a few fruit servings.
Afternoon snack 1: Fruits
Afternoon snack 2 (Pre-Workout): A small whole grain bread sandwich with one whey protein blend with natural orange juice.
Peri-Workout: 2 Whey Scoops with natural orange juice.
Post-Workout: 1 Whey Scoop with 5g of Creatine Monohydrate and natural orange juice.
Post-Workout Meal: Any sort of Lean Meat ( sometimes eggs or tuna ) with a lot of carbs ( rice or potatoes )
Bedtime: 2 or 3 ZMA
I don’t always get all my 8 meals. I wish I could get some Surge Recovery to optimize my Peri-Workout shake, but right now it’s out of question. I’ve been on this diet for some time and I believe it’s not bad. My body fat is low, in the single digit area, somewhere from 9 to 8%, and I’ve put on some lean mass.
Just found out a possible fix to my weak arms problem. High volume training with mind blowing intensity.
I’ll try to implement a separate arms split somewhere in my program, while I’ll do my Total Body split on another days, although I’m gonna have to manage my lifts that require arm muscles a bit.
Plus, the article has a picture of the Pudzian right in the beginning, if there’s one way to get me to do something, all one has to do is to put a picture of Mariusz Pudzianowski in said thing. Been a fan since I started watching WSM.
May 24, 2010: High Volume Arm Training
Arm Workout 1:
Warm-up:
2 sets of BB Curls
2 sets of BW Dips
Training:
a1) Barbell cheat curl, 3 cluster sets of 6 reps
a2) Floor EZ-bar triceps extension, 3 cluster sets of 6 reps
b1) Incline DB Curls, 3 sets of 6 reps
b2) EZ-bar preacher curl , 3 sets of 8 reps
b3) Cable curl, 3 sets of 8 reps
c1) Neutral grip DB triceps extension, 3 sets of 6 reps
c2) Barbell Triceps extension, 3 sets of 6 reps
c3) Straight Bar push-down, 3 sets of 6 reps
Cool Down/Extract:
None.
Felt very pumped. Didn’t went too heavy though, wanna get used to the arm program first. I am supposed to do that for 40 days, two times a week. Didn’t felt too excited doing this workout, but it may be the way to stronger arms.
Tomorrow is Squad and Deadlift day. Looking foward to set a new PR on something. Gonna try the Giant Sets gunhkes suggested.
Meal 1: Two big bowls of granola cereal, a carton of milk and 1 scoop of Optimum Whey.
Meal 2: Two turkey sandwiches.
Meal 3: Beef, Rice and Salad, more milk.
Meal 4 ( pre-workout ): More turkey sandwiches, whole grain bread.
Pre-Workout Shake: One Scoop of Whey with one glass of Natural Grape Juice.
Peri-Workout: Two Scoops of Whey with Natural Grape Juice
Post-Workout Shake: One Scoop of Whey with 5g of creatine monohydrate, and guess what, more juice.
Meal 5: Meat, a boatload of rice, salad and more milk.
Hey!
Just few thoughts about giant-sets (still no expert, you should read Alpha’s both logs for more info). I write this up just to give you something, so that you could get more out of your experiment with giant sets.
This is how I’ve planned my wo’s. I have A and B days which have same muscle groups, but different exercise (changing between horizontal an vertical and so on).
- some explosive exercise (some sort of oly lift, snatches or cleans from ground or hang depending on the leg exercise) with ramping sets
Ramping sets (normally I do 5x5 or 4x8)
2a) leg exercise (either squat or DL, other one is in the next wo)
2b) chest exercise (OHP, weightes dip, incline BP or BP), this is antagonistic to 2c) ie. if BP-> then row, if OHP-> then chin-/pull-up
2c) back exercise (weighted chin-up, weighted pull-up, row), this is antagonistic to 2b)
2d) anything that you want, if you feel up to it
3a) rehab or conditioning
3b) rehab or conditioning
In 2a to c-d) I rest only the time, that is needed to change the plates for heavier load for the next set. On some gyms it’s difficult to go to multiple stations, so when planning wo’s one needs to think what equipment is needed and can it be done.
Alpha promised to write about program planning so I would wait until that, before planning any further.
I hope this helps you out and that others give some input too.
May 25, 2010: Experimenting with Giant sets
A BAD DAY TO TRAIN.
Warm-Up/Insert: Quick Lifts
Hang Cleans 66x5, 66x5, 88x5, 88x5
DB Snatch 35x10, 35x10, 44x10
Strength: Giant Sets ( Note: Doesn’t work in a crowded gym)
A1: Push Press 110x6, 110x5, 110x5, 110x5 132x3 (horrible form)
A2: Sumo Deadlift 176x7, 198x5, 198x5, 209x5, 209x5
A3: Kroc Rows 88x12, 88x12, 88x12, 88x12, 88x12
B1: Squat 176x8, 220x5, 242x5,
B2: Kroc Rows 100x8, 100x8, 100x5, 100x5
B3: Romanian Deads 176x5, 198x5, 209x5
Extract:
None
Today’s training session was my worst nightmare. My gym is always too crowded and has only one squat hack, where I do most of everything, but I didn’t take that into account when designing the program, as I planned not to stop moving. In the Quick Lifts, people kept insisting in coming over behind me and setting their curling bar high behind my heels, almost tripped twice. The first giant set was worse, as people kept stealing plates of my bar, kept trying to steal away my DL plates, or disassembling the weights off my Kroc Row DB and kept giving me hard looks.
The second giant set was a failure. Now, I had taken all my weights and bars together to the squat hack so people would stop trying to take them. As I finished my third round, the manager asked me to leave the squat hack, as people were complaining I was “taking it over”, so fine, I decide to skip to the extract work, but first I’d stick around the Hack to see what would the complainers use it for, and people started curling in there. That was it. So I went home before I threw a loaded barbell at someone.
Going back tomorrow to finish repeat the squat and deadlift. Still wanna beat my PR.
If only I could train at EliteFTS compound. *Sigh.
So back to formula. Giant sets are not good in crowded gyms.
[quote]guhkes wrote:
Hey!
Just few thoughts about giant-sets (still no expert, you should read Alpha’s both logs for more info). I write this up just to give you something, so that you could get more out of your experiment with giant sets.
This is how I’ve planned my wo’s. I have A and B days which have same muscle groups, but different exercise (changing between horizontal an vertical and so on).
- some explosive exercise (some sort of oly lift, snatches or cleans from ground or hang depending on the leg exercise) with ramping sets
Ramping sets (normally I do 5x5 or 4x8)
2a) leg exercise (either squat or DL, other one is in the next wo)
2b) chest exercise (OHP, weightes dip, incline BP or BP), this is antagonistic to 2c) ie. if BP-> then row, if OHP-> then chin-/pull-up
2c) back exercise (weighted chin-up, weighted pull-up, row), this is antagonistic to 2b)
2d) anything that you want, if you feel up to it
3a) rehab or conditioning
3b) rehab or conditioning
In 2a to c-d) I rest only the time, that is needed to change the plates for heavier load for the next set. On some gyms it’s difficult to go to multiple stations, so when planning wo’s one needs to think what equipment is needed and can it be done.
Alpha promised to write about program planning so I would wait until that, before planning any further.
I hope this helps you out and that others give some input too. [/quote]
Hey man, thanks for stopping by again and thanks for the help!
As I posted above, based on today’s experience, I don’t think that doing giant sets will be much good for now, as my gym is too small and too crowded when I can get there. Nothing wrong with the giant sets though, they fell great, give an absolutely awesome pump and got me worn out, I loved them. So I’m back to my original program, but I’ll wait up on Alpha to post about program planing as weel. In my current program I actually go for a similar approach of what you suggested, but I have three workouts, A, B and C, here’s how they look like:
A:
1)Lower Body
2)Upper Body
3)Lower Body
B:
1)Upper Body
2)Lower Body
3)Upper Body
C:
1)Upper Body
2)Upper Body
3)Lower Body
4)Lower Body
Of course I’m not counting Insert and Extract work, in witch I like to do different thing each session. The only staples are Farmer’s Walks and Turkish Get Ups. I can post the full workouts if you wanna, so you can tell me what you think.
I also thing I’ve been looking at too much of what Alpha’s been doing and I tried copying him too much. The Insert/Extract ( Warm-up/Cool Down for me ) is the only thing I didn’t copy from him, as I’ve been doing them since my professional gymnastics career, but I believe I’m taking out the “experiment and discover” part out of it.
Thanks again man! Your help is much appreciated!
May 26, 2010
Warm-Up: 3 rounds with no rest
BW Pull-Ups
BW Squats
Plyo Push Ups
Strength:
Squat 132x6, 176x5, 220x5, 253x5, 264x3, 308x2
Weighted Pull-up 22x6, 22x6, 33x5, 33x5
Deadlift 176x8, 198x5, 220x5, 220x3, 242x2
Bench Press 110x5, 132x5, 132x5, 154x3, 154x3
Hanging leg circles 3 sets of 5 circles in each direction
High to Low Cable Wood choppers 2 sets of 12 reps
Acessory: Supersets
Decline Bench Press 110x12
Standing DB Shrugs 44x20
Extract:
Farmer’s Walk with 110lbs 3 sets as far as I can go before dropping the weights
Dragon Flag Eccentric Hold 3 sets holding to failure
I’ve also noticed I’m extremelly weak on Upper Body Pushing and Pulling movements while I do every Lower Body Move with ease, the Bench and the Pull-Ups are my weak spots, does any one know if that’s normal or I just should give more attention to those lifts ?
I also have a problem with touching the weight on my chest in the bench before lifting it, when I do touch it, I fell discomfort on my shoulders and have problem lifting it again. I don’t have this problem in the decline bench though. Any tips ? Thoughts on what’s going on ?
Thanks everyone.
May 21, 2010
Warm-up:
DB Snatches 39x10, 39x10 then 52x10, 52x10
Strength: Compounds supersets with acessory work
Hang Cleans 154x5, 154x5, 154x5, 154x5
a1.Good Mornings 88x8, 132x8, 132x8, 132x8
a2.Heavy Lying Leg Curls, Extremely Slow Eccentric 4 sets
b1.Push Press 88x5, 100x5, 100x5, 100x5
b2.Seated DB Press 44x12, 44x12, 44x12, 44x12
Romanian Deads 132x5, 154x5, 176x5, 176x5
Cool-down:
Farmer’s Walk with 2 triceps bars loaded with 110lbs, 3 sets as far as I can go before dropping the weights.
Lower back hurted a lot all day long due to an old injury, decided to go low today so I can fight tomorrow. The bar slipped on the hang clean and hit me right above the knee, spent about 5 minutes seated on the floor going “Ahhhhhhh…” ( Peter Griffin moment ), and I believe I cried on the inside.
Meal 1: A Huge serving of fruits, ham and a carton of milk.
Meal 2: Two Chicken sandwiches, whole grain bread.
Meal 3: Beef and Potatoes.
Meal 4: Fruit and Milk
Meal 5: Don’t remember.
Pre-Workout Shake: One Scoop of ON Whey with 2 glasses of Natural Orange Juice
Peri-Workout Shake: Two Scoops of ON Whey with 3 glasses of juice
Post-Work Shake: One Scoop of ON Whey with 2 glasses of juice and 5g of Creatine Monohydrate.
Meal 6: Beef, Potatoes, Salad and more Milk.
Bedtime: 3 ZMA.
Managed to hit 187 pounds this week. Don’t see any noticeable fat gain, still got my abs, so, sweeett. I’m not certain but I believe creatine has been helping me on the weight gain a bit.
In a few weeks I maygonna be placing a HUGE order on some supplements, as soon as I get my pay-pal account, I’m gonna try: Alpha Male and Surge Recovery, as well as some FINiBARs. I’m really tempted to try Alpha GPC, MAG-10 and Metabolic Drive.