Journey to being jacked | Beginner's Log

Great job man, once it goes from “goal” to “lifestyle”, sticking with it no longer becomes difficult. Real progress takes time, and the longer you do this - the more progress you will have made.

Proud of you for sticking with it.

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Pull
Monday, Jan 17, 2022

Deadlift (Barbell)
Set 1: 60 kg x 5 [Warm-up]
Set 2: 65 kg x 5
Set 3: 65 kg x 5
Set 4: 65 kg x 5
Set 5: 65 kg x 5
Set 6: 70 kg x 4

Iso-Lateral Row (Machine)
Set 1: 50 kg x 12
Set 2: 50 kg x 12
Set 3: 50 kg x 12

Dumbbell Row
Set 1: 15 kg x 12
Set 2: 15 kg x 12
Set 3: 15 kg x 10

Lat Pulldown (Cable)
Set 1: 45 kg x 5
Set 2: 45 kg x 5
Set 3: 45 kg x 5
Set 4: 45 kg x 5
Set 5: 45 kg x 5

Seated Cable Row
Set 1: 42.5 kg x 8
Set 2: 42.5 kg x 8
Set 3: 42.5 kg x 9

Hammer Curl (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 12 kg x 12
Set 2: 12 kg x 12
Set 3: 12 kg x 12

Bicep Curl (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 12 kg x 12
Set 2: 12 kg x 8
Set 3: 12 kg x 10
Set 4: 6 kg x 21

Great workout today. I think I’m ready to do more deadlift sets at 70kg now. What I think I’m gonna do is do my warmup at 60, followed by some sets at 70 until I’m losing good form. Then I’ll drop down to 65kg. Once I’m at 5x5 at 70 I’ll push it up slowly again to around 75kg.

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Push
Tuesday, Jan 18, 2022

Bench Press (Barbell)
Set 1: 20 kg x 12 [Warm-up]
Set 2: 30 kg x 12 [Warm-up]
Set 3: 50 kg x 7 [Warm-up]
Set 4: 55 kg x 5
Set 5: 55 kg x 5
Set 6: 55 kg x 5
Set 7: 55 kg x 5
Set 8: 55 kg x 5

Incline Bench Press (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 26 kg x 12
Set 2: 26 kg x 10
Set 3: 26 kg x 12

Overhead Press (Barbell)
Set 1: 20 kg x 12
Set 2: 20 kg x 10
Set 3: 20 kg x 10

Triceps Extension (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 13 kg x 12
Set 2: 13 kg x 10
Set 3: 13 kg x 10

Lateral Raise (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 6 kg x 17
Set 2: 6 kg x 17
Set 3: 6 kg x 17

Triceps Pushdown
Set 1: 35 kg x 12
Set 2: 35 kg x 8
Set 3: 35 kg x 10

Lateral Raise (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 6 kg x 15
Set 2: 6 kg x 15
Set 3: 6 kg x 15

Triceps Dip
Set 1: 5 reps
Set 2: 5 reps
Set 3: 2 reps

Pretty Happy with this workout. I was expecting to increase bench to 60kg, but realised last week I only did 2x5 at 55 at the end and so 5x5 at 55 is a definited improvement. Hopefully next week I can do a few sets at 60kg!

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Legs
Wednesday, Jan 19, 2022 at 1:35pm

Leg Press (Machine)
Set 1: 80 kg x 12
Set 2: 80 kg x 12
Set 3: 80 kg x 12

Leg Extension (Machine)
Set 1: 40 kg x 10
Set 2: 45 kg x 8
Set 3: 45 kg x 8
Set 4: 45 kg x 8

Squat (Barbell)
Set 1: 20 kg x 12 [Warm-up]
Set 2: 30 kg x 8 [Warm-up]
Set 3: 40 kg x 6 [Warm-up]
Set 4: 45 kg x 5
Set 5: 45 kg x 5
Set 6: 45 kg x 5
Set 7: 45 kg x 5
Set 8: 45 kg x 5

Romanian Deadlift (Barbell)
Set 1: 35 kg x 12
Set 2: 35 kg x 10
Set 3: 35 kg x 10

Seated Leg Curl (Machine)
Set 1: 45 kg x 12
Set 2: 45 kg x 10
Set 3: 45 kg x 8

Standing Calf Raise (Machine)
Set 1: 52.5 kg x 20
Set 2: 52.5 kg x 18
Set 3: 52.5 kg x 16

Pretty happy with today’s workout. I’m hoping to get a few sets of 50kg squats in the next leg day. 5x5 45kg was definitely a bit of a challenge but it felt easier than the last workout. Not sure if I should try to do 5x5 50kg my next leg day and if I can’t reach it drop the weight to 45kg for the remaining sets?

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Do your ramp up as usual and if 45kg feels fine for squats, try 50kg. If 50 isn’t working, there is nothing wrong with going back down to 45kg.

I noticed you’re doing leg press and leg extension before squats - you might want to rethink that. It’s going to burn out your legs before you do the only exercise here you can die under (joking, kind of). If your goal is to increase squat strength, I’d recommend starting with squats. Some people stand by doing Hamstring Curls before Squats (which does have a noted improvement), so feel free to try that - just dont kill your quads before your most important movements.

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Ok perfect, I’ll try that.

Regarding the order - I only started with those other exercises because the squat racks were busy and had to kill a bit of time. Should I instead maybe push harder on leg press and do lighter squats if there’s gonna be a long wait to get to the rack?

IMO no. If your ‘accessory’ lifts stall in weight progression - there is no problem. If your ‘main’ lifts (squats, deads, etc.) stall, you need to change up your programming. What I’m getting at is currently your compound lifts are the most important, so they deserve the most effort and attention.

I usually ask how many sets someone has left and/or if I can work in with them. Rest periods for squats/deads are typically 3-5 mins with less than 30 seconds physically holding the weight… makes sense to be able to share.

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Pull
Friday, Jan 21, 2022 at 1:52pm

Deadlift (Barbell)
Set 1: 60 kg x 5 [Warm-up]
Set 2: 70 kg x 5
Set 3: 70 kg x 5
Set 4: 70 kg x 5
Set 5: 70 kg x 5
Set 6: 70 kg x 5

Iso-Lateral Row (Machine)
Set 1: 60 kg x 8
Set 2: 60 kg x 8
Set 3: 60 kg x 8

Lat Pulldown (Cable)
Set 1: 45 kg x 5
Set 2: 45 kg x 5
Set 3: 45 kg x 5
Set 4: 45 kg x 5
Set 5: 45 kg x 5

Seated Cable Row
Set 1: 42.5 kg x 10
Set 2: 42.5 kg x 9
Set 3: 42.5 kg x 9

Dumbbell Row
Set 1: 15 kg x 12
Set 2: 15 kg x 12
Set 3: 15 kg x 12

Hammer Curl (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 12 kg x 10
Set 2: 12 kg x 12
Set 3: 12 kg x 12

Bicep Curl (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 12 kg x 10
Set 2: 12 kg x 8
*had a meeting I forgot about and so had to leave the 3rd set

Other than my forgotten meeting, it was a good workout!

4 Likes

Push
Saturday, Jan 22, 2022 at 11:55am

Overhead Press (Barbell)
Set 1: 20 kg x 12 [Warm-up]
Set 2: 25 kg x 5
Set 3: 25 kg x 5
Set 4: 25 kg x 5
Set 5: 30 kg x 5
Set 6: 30 kg x 5

Bench Press (Barbell)
Set 1: 20 kg x 12 [Warm-up]
Set 2: 30 kg x 12 [Warm-up]
Set 3: 40 kg x 12
Set 4: 40 kg x 10
Set 5: 40 kg x 12

Incline Bench Press (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 26 kg x 12
Set 2: 26 kg x 12
Set 3: 26 kg x 12

Triceps Extension (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 13 kg x 12
Set 2: 13 kg x 12
Set 3: 13 kg x 12

Lateral Raise (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 6 kg x 17
Set 2: 6 kg x 15
Set 3: 6 kg x 15

Triceps Pushdown
Set 1: 35 kg x 10
Set 2: 35 kg x 10
Set 3: 35 kg x 8

Lateral Raise (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 6 kg x 16
Set 2: 6 kg x 18
Set 3: 6 kg x 17

Pretty solid workout today. I’m not working out tomorrow cause I’m pretty busy, so I’ll probably do legs on Monday.

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A lot of those numbers are sitting on 12 reps, looking like you’re about ready to increase weight man!

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Yes definitely next workout!! Pretty happy with my OHP too - pushed myself to do 2 sets at 30kg. It’s amazing what you can do when you push yourself a bit. Hoping to have a really solid leg day tomorrow as well, especially with squats. Ready to push up leg press as well.

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Legs
Monday, Jan 24, 2022

Squat (Barbell)
Set 1: 20 kg x 12 [Warm-up]
Set 2: 30 kg x 10 [Warm-up]
Set 3: 40 kg x 8 [Warm-up]
Set 4: 50 kg x 4
Set 5: 50 kg x 4
Set 6: 50 kg x 4
Set 7: 45 kg x 5
Set 8: 45 kg x 5

Romanian Deadlift (Barbell)
Set 1: 35 kg x 12
Set 2: 35 kg x 12
Set 3: 35 kg x 10

Leg Press (Machine)
Set 1: 100 kg x 8
Set 2: 100 kg x 8
Set 3: 100 kg x 8

Leg Extension (Machine)
Set 1: 45 kg x 10
Set 2: 45 kg x 10
Set 3: 45 kg x 10

Didn’t get round to leg curl and calf raises cause it was closing time. Really pushed myself with squats though.

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Also, I’m probably also going to have to move to a 4 routine because I’m going back to uni. Does anyone have suggestions about what routine I should consider? Ideally I would have liked to complete 3 months on this 6 day PPL but that does not seem feasible cause I’m in my final year. So I’m looking for a 4 day routine that can really encourage growth.

There’s tons of programs that meet this criteria. Push/Pull or Upper/Lower, Hatfield, or even Push/Pull/Legs + Whole Body. Those are just templates though, a true program would usually involve a whole book along with the program to describe the method to the madness. This being said, there isn’t a “best” program out there because the “best program” is the one that:

  1. meets your goals
  2. fits your lifestyle needs (maintainable)
  3. you want to do

you can always searth T-Nation for “split” or “routine” if you really want to, but if 3-4 days a week is cool with you - you’ll find a lot of programs that meet that criteria. Most don’t actually involve 6x per week.

1 Like

Push
Tuesday, Jan 25, 2022

Bench Press (Barbell)
Set 1: 20 kg x 12 [Warm-up]
Set 2: 35 kg x 12 [Warm-up]
Set 3: 45 kg x 6 [Warm-up]
Set 4: 55 kg x 5
Set 5: 55 kg x 5
Set 6: 55 kg x 5
Set 7: 55 kg x 6
Set 8: 55 kg x 5

Overhead Press (Barbell)
Set 1: 20 kg x 12
Set 2: 20 kg x 12
Set 3: 20 kg x 12

Incline Bench Press (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 30 kg x 8
Set 2: 30 kg x 8
Set 3: 30 kg x 8

Triceps Extension (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 14 kg x 10 [Warm-up]
Set 2: 15 kg x 8
Set 3: 15 kg x 8
Set 4: 15 kg x 8

Lateral Raise (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 6 kg x 16
Set 2: 6 kg x 16
Set 3: 6 kg x 16

Triceps Pushdown
Set 1: 35 kg x 10
Set 2: 35 kg x 10
Set 3: 35 kg x 10

Front Raise (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 6 kg x 17
Set 2: 6 kg x 17
Set 3: 6 kg x 17

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Almost every program with these goals will be 4 days or less, so the question is what kind of training excites you?

Also, I apologise because I forget these things: what’s your big picture goal at the end of this?

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Really loving seeing the excitement coming through here, by the way.

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So I think I’ve enjoyed the PPL because of the intensity plus also it’s got variety.

So my long term goal was to build signifcant muscle and moderate size. Why? I wanna look good and live a healthy lifestyle. At the time I did not want to be too big and defined it as this:

Which is quite funny because this oak is big by most definitions. I kinda chose this cause it was the first photo I saw that slightly approximated my goal.

I think my goal has shifted. I don’t know if I still have an issue with being big as a I did when I started. I still don’t wanna be humungous, but size has become less of a constraint over the past month. Also it seems counter productive to be putting all this effort in to not want to be perceived as big. So, my goal is to be muscular and functionally strong, with little aversion to being big. Also, I don’t really have a picture to describe my goal at this stage although this photo may still be relevant. Perhaps a more accurate goal is something like this:

But I’m not sure what my goal physique looks like. I think these two perhaps show two different possibilities for my end goal. I do know that I wanna be significantly more muscular though (and bigger).

3 Likes

Pull
Wednesday, Jan 26, 2022

Deadlift (Barbell)
Set 1: 60 kg x 5 [Warm-up]
Set 2: 70 kg x 5
Set 3: 70 kg x 5
Set 4: 70 kg x 5
Set 5: 70 kg x 5
Set 6: 75 kg x 5

Dumbbell Row
Set 1: 17 kg x 8
Set 2: 17 kg x 8
Set 3: 17 kg x 8

Lat Pulldown (Cable)
Set 1: 50 kg x 5
Set 2: 40 kg x 7
Set 3: 35 kg x 8
Set 4: 30 kg x 12

Hammer Curl (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 12 kg x 12
Set 2: 12 kg x 12
Set 3: 12 kg x 12

Bicep Curl (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 12 kg x 8
Set 2: 12 kg x 8
Set 3: 12 kg x 8
Set 4: 8 kg x 8

Today’s workout was significantly shorter than normal cause I could only find 45mins to exercise because I had a day filled with meetings. Hence, I pushed a little harder on deads. Other workouts should be back to normal for the next few days. Next week though is a different story.

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Thursday, Jan 27, 2022

Incline Bench Press (Barbell)
Set 1: 20 kg x 12
Set 2: 30 kg x 12
Set 3: 35 kg x 8
Set 4: 35 kg x 8
Set 5: 35 kg x 8

Iso-Lateral Row (Machine)
Set 1: 60 kg x 10
Set 2: 60 kg x 9
Set 3: 60 kg x 8

Bent Over Row (Barbell)
Set 1: 20 kg x 10
Set 2: 20 kg x 12
Set 3: 20 kg x 12

So, today I wasn’t gonna workout cause I wanted to have leg day tomorrow instead of today. I alao wanted to learn a few new lifts such as bent over rows and see where my starting weight for incline barbell bench press would be.Tomorrow I plan on pushing for a real challenging leg day and the same for the other 2 sessions of the week.

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