Getting Yolked for the Rest of 2009


Hey All!

First and foremost, thanks for reading my log.

I am 21 years old at about 190 lbs. My training goals are as follows: by the end of 2009, I want to:

Bench press 300 lbs for 5 reps

Squat 400 lbs for 5 reps

Deadlift 500 lbs for 5 reps

Do 20 consecutive wide grip pull ups.

I’m currently doing a 2 day split: one day upper one day lower with a day of rest in between each day. Both days are primarily a 5x5 workout with the money exercises followed by several finishers. I do HIIT cardio whenever I feel as though my body needs it (usually 5 days a week). Also, I live in Europe so a lot of NEPA occurs daily.

My current goals: to lose the 5-10 lbs of fat I’ve accumulated over the last 5 months.

My diet will be: start with Lyle Mcdonald’s “rapid fat loss” which recommends about 900 cals/day through mostly protein. I will do this until I feel glycogen depleted (probably about 3 days) and move into a more sensible approach (probably JB’s GSD).
I’ve attached a photo, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for reading.

-Jbird

My training for 5/21/09: 11:30 AM-12:50 PM

BB bench (reps followed by sets): 5/5/5/3/6, 70kg/70/75/80/70

WG Pull ups: 4 /5 w. help/ 3/3rg/1/3/20 sec hold

Arnold Press (DB mil press): 5/5/4/5/5 @ 14kg/16/16/16/18

BB Row: 5/5/5/4/4.5 60kg for all

DB lateral raises: 12/12/8 7kg/8/8

Cable Crunches: 12/12/12 150lb/150/150

Bi/tricep superset: 10bi/20 tri @ 110 lbs

Chest Fly: 40 reps at 90 lb

I am pretty sore in my lats/chest. I know soreness doesn’t indicate hypertrophy, but it’s a good sign. I just started this 5x5 protocal, hopefully it leads some results!

Also, if anyone knows of some “secrets” to quick fat loss, please share! Any habits/thoughts you used while cutting would be greatly appreciated.

Is my 2 day split adequate?

I should also add that I went on a drastic cutting plan last year (May-June) where I went from 200-173 lbs. I didn’t do it healthfully, though, and lost more LBM than I should have. Also, I was diagnosed as anemic since my hemoglobin levels fell so much. My avatar pic is current; what do you guys think about my physique? I need some objective opinions.

-Jbird

[quote]jbird643 wrote:
if anyone knows of some “secrets” to quick fat loss, please share! Any habits/thoughts you used while cutting would be greatly appreciated.
[/quote]

Liposuction?! Only Joking dude, but if you diet and training is good, you can’t go wrong with HOT-ROX. They work very well.

On another note, if those pictures are indeed recent, why the hell are you asking about loosing body fat?

You need to put on some muscle! I’m no expert in designing training programs, and you really do need a lot of experience to design a good one. So I just follow one of the many well written programs that you can find in the archives.

You did a good job in starting a log. In my opinion, it’s the first step in the road to success!

LR

HAHA LR thank you for the advice, albeit brutally honest. Being a FFB makes me hypersensitive to fat gain. I know what it’s like to be constantly berated b/c of how “fat” you are, so I never want to be there again! I will look around, but I think the two day split I’m currently doing will provide a good stimululs.

Tomorrow’s the lower body day, I will post my workout/diet afterward.

-Justin

Great idea to start a log. Ill be watching as youve been watching me.

I will second everything that has been said already. You do not need to loose fat… you need to stick on the muscle and the fat will drop off in the process.

On your aspirations for lifts… there VERY lofty in my opinion unless your a complete untrained beginner and what ur doing now is your starting point then maybe…

I was doign similiar weights to your workout that you posted about this time last year and im currently no where near your bench target, no where near your squat target and am probably 8 weeks from your deadlift target. Sorry to be a hard ass, but if you hit those by this time next year you will be doing very well.

To speed up the process i think you need to switch to a “powerlifting” orientated routine. Something like Sheiko, or west side for skinny bastards. Ive got a few Excel templates if you want me to email them…
Train your bench, dead and squat on different days. You could then throw in work on your pull up target on deadlift day… and that will help with benching too. I dont think a upper/lower split will get you to your goals any time soon.

This mightnt be to everyones tastes but id suggest you drop the bi/tri super sets, destroy your tris on bench day with close grip and another isolation exercise, do some bi work on deadlift day along with your pull ups. Drop the lateral raises. And i dont know what cable crunchs are… but for core work i would suggest ab pull downs standing and kneeling, palloff presses, weighted planks and a exercise we call “candle sticks” in our club.

For dropping the 5-10lbs of fat, simply clean up your diet, lower carbs and lift big, hard and often. But if you adopt one of the suggested routines then you will need to up your cals a bit. What do you currently aim for? use fitday.com daily. its an awesome resource.

A couple other pointers that i wished i had known way back when, film a lift from nearly every session. to check form constantly. I squated high for about 3 years and only found out when i posted a vid on here. MY deadlift technique is also suspect and im fixing it but i only found out when i joined the powerlifting club and they filmed a few lifts. I would still be thinking i squated and deaded fine if it wasnt for filming lifts.
As dave tate says, improving your technique can add pounds a lot faster than hammering away at the reps can. and poor form will lead to injuries which suck.

The meat and eggs in aldi and farm foods are CHEAP and great macro breakdowns. I was getting 3k calories a day, less than 40g carbs a day for 35 pounds a week. now its a bit cheaper as im going a bit lower.

Overall, when you get in the gym. Your there to go to work, not to talk to your mates, chat about football, attempt to impress the girls with your gym antics. Your there to lift iron, make yourself bleed, sweat, swear, gasp for air and throw up.

Don’t hate me when you finish reading this. :smiley:

Anything I can help with, ask.
Scott

[quote]jbird643 wrote:
HAHA LR thank you for the advice, albeit brutally honest. Being a FFB makes me hypersensitive to fat gain. I know what it’s like to be constantly berated b/c of how “fat” you are, so I never want to be there again! I will look around, but I think the two day split I’m currently doing will provide a good stimululs.

Tomorrow’s the lower body day, I will post my workout/diet afterward.

-Justin[/quote]

In my honest opinion, if you can shell out, get the HRX. But like I said, you don’t really have to worry about loosing fat. Once you start adding muscle mass, the overall BF% will go down anyway.

You’d probably be better off spending the money on Alpha Male, Carbolin 19, or even something simple like Surge. But if your really stuck on the loosing fat thing, then HRX work really well.

LR

Where about do you live? Are you at UCL?

I live in Hackney, the gym I go to is like 5 mins walk from my house in Dalston. If you want to check it out one day, let me know.

LR

So since I haven’t been able to switch up the routine, I followed the ‘lower body’ split my training partner created. I actually just switched to the upper/lower split, I was previously doing a push/leg/pull routine. Anyway, I’ll follow up this post with some more background for those interested.

WORKOUT 5/23/2009 13:30-15:30

Warm up:
5 mins on bike
Bulgarian Split Squat: 3 x (10@8kg)
Straight legged deads: 3 x (10@20kg)

Back Squat
5 x 90 kg

*really poor form. My training partner (B) just told me this, so on the following sets I reduced the weight and tried to get extremely low.

5 x 60 kg
5 x 60 kg
5 x 70 kg
5 x 75 kg
5 x 80 kg

Next session the weight will definitely increase

DEADS

5 x 100 kg
5 x 110
5 x 115
5 x 120
5 x 120

Raged through these. Definitely my favorite exercise.

My lower back was absolutely toasted after these two exercises.

Finished with some easier stuff:

Calf press:

5 x (15@15kg)
Minute hold with both legs

On these, I alternate legs and don’t rest. They provide a great pump and have previously helped in cutting up my calves.

Hamstring Curls:
12 x 50lbs
12 x 60 lbs
12 x 70 lbs

On these, I went down with both legs and came back up with one, alternating between legs. Next w/o these probably won’t be here.

Barbell Twist:

5 x 40 kg
6 x 40 kg

On these, you get a barbell and load one side with the weight, putting the otherside in a corner. Then you swing the BB from one side to the other, focusing most of the pressure on your obliques. Since I golf, I do these to help increase my distance.

Finished with some stretching.

My thoughts:

It took too long (roughly 2 hrs) considering the number of exercises done. Next session, if the workout template is the same (it probably won’t be due to the feedback of Scott/LR. Thanks for checking it out dudes).

Really happy that I fixed my squat form, and happy with my effort on squats/deads.

I’m going to be VERY sore tmrw.

-J

Some background:

In the fall of 2006, I went off to university. I ‘lifted.’ My workouts were very sporatic, and when I did get to the gym I would only work on the beach muscles. I had no idea the power of squats/deadlifts or any olympic lifts.

Fast forward to the summer of 2007. One of my friends from home gets back from university, and he looks like an entirely new person. He’s built like a brick shit house at this point in time. Since we went off to uni with very similar body structures, I’m obviously curious as to what he did to get so built.

He sends me a routine, and I follow it with great results. It’s a 3 day (on/off/on/off/on/off repeat) program with some type of olympic lift every day. I stayed at 200 lbs, but a lot of my fat was replaced with muscle.

After increasing strength/size until March 2008, I decide I want to get shredded. So, being an ignorant 20 year old, I diet down way too hard, ending up at about 180, and losing all the LBM I gained in the previous 6 months. Lesson learned, time to start from scratch (physique wise).

I should clarify my goals a bit. I’m obviously not going to compete with my current lifts, so I really just want to improve my athleticism and work capacity via training. I really enjoy killing myself in the gym (hence squats/deads on the same day) With that in mind, Scott, do you or anyone else think it’s still a bad idea to squat and deadlift on the same day? If so, why?

Thanks for the objective opinions. I am just going to focus on getting stronger in the gym. LR is right in that once I gain more muscle my BF % will drop. More muscle=faster metabolism, right?

-J

[quote]London Runner wrote:
Where about do you live? Are you at UCL?

LR[/quote]

I’m at LSE. Since it’s a part of UL as is UCL I get to use UCL’s facilities. If I wasn’t heading back home (Boston) in a couple of weeks I would definitely change gyms. The music is shit and there’s only one squat rack (usually occupied by someone curling). That being said, they give students a great deal (26 quid per month) and have free fitness classes (don’t knock em till you try em). Also, I live pretty close to UCL so it makes logistical sense.

-J

So have you finished? Graduated, or just finished for the year?

LR

[quote]

In my honest opinion, if you can shell out, get the HRX. But like I said, you don’t really have to worry about loosing fat. Once you start adding muscle mass, the overall BF% will go down anyway.

You’d probably be better off spending the money on Alpha Male, Carbolin 19, or even something simple like Surge. But if your really stuck on the loosing fat thing, then HRX work really well.

LR[/quote]

I will probably order some of these supps when I get back to the states. In the meantime there’s a GNC in Covent Garden with loads of supplements where I might try to find some knock-offs; have you checked it out?

One other thing:

From January-April of this year I trained for and ran in the Boston marathon (3:40:36, my goal was -4 hours so I was happy). I’m expecting some quick increases in both the lifts and the physique since I only ran while training for the marathon.

[quote]jbird643 wrote:

I will probably order some of these supps when I get back to the states. In the meantime there’s a GNC in Covent Garden with loads of supplements where I might try to find some knock-offs; have you checked it out?
[/quote]

I haven’t checked it out, but if you really want it, just wait till you get home.

LR

J, I can see that you changed your profile picture. At least use a photo of dumbbells from OUR gym and not a random one! Oh wait, I forgot we are not allowed to use cameras in there… :wink: And the gym actually belongs to ULU, not UCL, although I think the building used to belong (or still belongs) to UCL. Or something like that. They tend to make these things quite confusing.

Anyway, let me quickly introduce myself to everyone else, as this is my first post here. I am J’s training partner and I am also the one “guilty” of producing the upper/lower split we are using. While I am quite happy with the upper body part the lower body routine we field tested today was definitely far too long. I think there was an article called “It looked good on paper” that I should read tonight… So, after quickly semi-recovering from the workout earlier today I decided to completely ignore my exam revision and instead revise the lower body part of this training. I’m not done with it yet (should be in a couple of hours, got to do some other stuff first) but I already know that I will split it into two alternating lower body workouts, one concentrating more on squats and the other more on deadlifts. This way I will significantly reduce the number of exercises (by essentially chucking away one unilateral and one bilateral exercise in each workout) while still keeping the whole thing (hopefully) balanced.

Once I’m done with the new lower workouts I’ll send them to J and see what he thinks. Hopefully one of us will post the whole thing here tomorrow so that there is still time for some changes before the next lower body workout (probably on Tuesday). I would appreciate any suggestions (including the one to use the workouts available on this site - it’s something I’m definitely going to do this summer, but being the cheeky bastard I am I enjoy writing my own routines, even if they end up not being optimal).

B.

Oh, and the workout “only” lasted about 1h 40min WITH the warmup :wink:

[quote]London Runner wrote:
So have you finished? Graduated, or just finished for the year?

LR[/quote]

I’m in the midst of exams (1 of 6 completed) as we speak. After I finish the year, I have another year of school until I get my BSc (maths and economics). Did you study in London? I saw on your profile you’re an out of work banker; are you thinking about getting an additional degree in your time off?

B, thanks for stopping in and correcting my mistakes (both in my post about training and on my form). Today, B redefined ‘squatting’ for me.

Nah, I just kept shouting LOWER! LOWER! into your ear. You’re making it seem as if MY squats were perfect, which they are far from. Definitely had fun today, though (both while shouting and lifting), although I had problems walking up to 6th floor after dinner…

B.