Developing a Physique I Can Be Proud Of

Alright I will change it up.
db incline press
machine incline press
low to high cable flies
weighted dips

how does that look? Ill up the volume on the leg raises. Can I do those at the end of every workout?

Better.

Ya. Or you could do leg raises one day, crunches the next.

My abs just cramped up reading that haha!

I used to do 1000 crunches nonstop 3-4x/week as a matter of routine. Went as high as 2000 on occasion. (My online coach prefers that I no longer do this; the 4x20 leg raises/4x20 crunches is his prescription.)

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Back and rear delts:
underhand lat pulldown- 1 set 165x8, 150x8 3 set
wide chest-supported row- 1 set 90x6, 3 set 70x8
close neutral grip cable row- 135x8 3 set
close neutral pull up- 3 sets of 5 bw
high angle face pull- 4 sets 100x10
hanging leg raise- 5 sets of 10

Using more of a bicep heavy grip on my pulling exercises so I can hit the biceps harder.

If you’re feeling Back work in your biceps, you’re doing it wrong. Do you have a decent MMC with your lats? Be honest.

yea the underhand grip lets me contract my lats hard. im not saying i feel it in the biceps. im saying im tryna focus on them by using those grips.

shoulders tris
machine shoulder press- 6 sets 70x8
machine side lateral- 4 sets 75x10
ez bar upright row- 4 sets 40x12
tricep pushdown- 4 sets 90x8
db overhead ext- 4 sets 40x8
machine dip- 2 sets 130x8
hanging leg raise- 4x10
crunch- 4x10

is the machine dip any good for triceps? By the way… that db overhead extension is the toughest exercise ive ever freaking done…

@EyeDentist let me know if there’s something i can improve in the exercise selection.

1 week update without pump

should be able to see noticeable progress in a month i think. Im at about 192-194 depending on the day. No longer have food cravings and my diet has stayed strict with no problem.

First and foremost, you need a rear-delt movement in there–reverse pec deck, bent-over DB laterals, cable work. Rear-delt development is essential to having a full, pleasing shoulder contour, yet the majority of lifters neglect them. Unfortunately, it’s also a very difficult muscle for many people (raises hand) to get a good MMC with, and thus poor/ineffective form is rampant. For example: This is one of the few muscles that should be worked with the scapulae protracted, not retracted. The protracted position feels wrong, but is the way to go. It’s also important not to use scapulae retraction as part of the movement. (Protip: If your scapulae are moving, you’re not working your rear delts.) If all this sounds odd and esoteric, well, like I said–rear delts are hard to work correctly.

Re upright rows–grip width is crucial. Do not do them with a narrow grip–will destroy your rotator cuff and give you chronic impingement. (Raises hand again.) Shoulder-width is the way to go.

It’s an individual thing–some people love 'em, some don’t. If you feel it in your tris, it works for you.

No it makes sense. If you retract the scapula youll use more back muscles than the rear delts.

But remember I did rear delts yesterday after back day. 4 sets of face pulls. should i do more? like 4 more sets of cable rear delt flyes?

Ah. I forgot. No, it’s fine to do them with back if you prefer; no need to do them again.

I kinda want to start training twice a day…

right now, im not doing anything. i wake up early, eat, hit the gym, go home and wait for the next day.

My muscles dont really feel very tired and I feel like I can recover from much more work. thats why I kinda want to try it.

i think ill try it but not for all workouts. ill do it for muscles i want to grow faster. so ill do it for chest and biceps and see what happens.

legs and biceps
ive had 3 separate injuries on my left leg so im really focusing on slowly developing that strength and mobility without getting pain.

single leg press- 80x8 5 sets
pull through- 3 sets 100x10
back extensions- 3 sets 15x8
ez bar curl- 6 sets 50x8
db hammer curl- 3 sets 25x8
machine preacher curl- 3 sets 45x8

chest calves

low to high cable flies- 20x8 3 sets
db incline- 50x8 4 sets
machine incline- 90x8 3 sets
Weighted dips- 35x8, 25x8, 20x8, 20x8 4 total set
machine calf raise- 220x8 4 sets
ab crunch- 2 sets 10 reps

@EyeDentist is it ok for me to do the flies before incline so i can feel my chest working better while pressing?

I started doing the dips in the dip stand where I can spread my arms pretty far apart. Damn… This gives me a huge chest stretch at the bottom. I feel this exercise will really contribute to my chest gains.

Not only is it ok, in fact I would say it’s the better way to do it.

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awesome.

what do u think about using rest-pause? should i implement it on every last set of an exercise, or only for 1 set per bodypart?

I think it’s an excellent ‘intensifier’ technique, along with drop sets, forced reps, and partials.

Either is reasonable. Personally, I use an intensifier for the last set of most exercises.

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At your level I would not add any intensifying techniques. You are a beginner with very little muscle. Do as little volume as possible that will give you results.

Start with around 10 sets per muscle group. You can not force muscle growth so, why do more if it is not necessary? All you will do it adapt to the volume and/or fatigue much faster.

Also, as eyedentist mentioned make sure you are feeling the muscle working. For instance, I highly doubt you are doing face pulls correctly, 100 lbs for sets of 10 at the end of a session is no joke. I use 35 lbs for my higher sets of 12-15