ModerateStrengths Log 24Y/O Tryna Do It Right Finally

Hello T-Nation!

I’ve been lurking around the forums for about a Month now, and finally decided to create an account and take my Work-outs to a new level. I’ve decided to start this log in order to hold myself to a higher standard and hopefully get as much feedback and Constructive criticism as possible. As far as little background info on myself I’m a traveling CWI and NDT Ultrasonic technician; I’ve been in and out of the gym for approximately 3 years but I know now that I’ve been going about it the wrong way. Over the last year or so I tried to adapt a PPL routine but always ended up skipping the L… ( I know, I know…) I usually just went to the gym and did ridiculous amounts of volume on any and every workout I felt like doing that fell under the push or pull category. Over the past 2 weeks I’ve came up with a routine that I’m Prepared to stand by and am welcome to any all suggestions regarding this routine. I know a lot of people come on here and want to adapt their own routines that are completely asinine and hell I may be one of them. I do feel like this program will help meet my goals, and have grown to love/hate it (in a good way) every single day. I do plan on becoming more serious on the compound movements such as squat and deadlift in the near future and am open to ideas on how to do so but for now I’m going to implement squats in the best way I can and not so sure on how to work in DL’s.

Stats:
Age: 24
BW: 204-207 (depending on the time of the week tends to be the latter after the weekend)
Height: 5’11”
BF Estimate %: early to mid 20s I’d say

Bench 1RM: 255
Squat  1RM: ??
DL       1RM: ??

Goals: I’d Like to get down to the Mid-teens BF% wise were my abs are peaking pretty decently as far as BW for me I’d assume that’s somewhere around 185?? I’d like to continue focusing all my bro muscles but also having a great overall composition and I think this plan is perfect for that. If I could best explain it I would say something like a slightly bigger physique kinda guy.

My Nutrition typically ranges in the 2300cal range at a 35p 35c 30f ratio at least that’s what I shoot for throughout the week and I steadily lose maybe 2lbs per week. The Weekends have always been my weakness but thats pretty much under control now.

My workout Plan:

Monday- Chest+Arms

-Incline BB Bench 4x5-6 @ 80%
-Flat Db Bench 3x10-12
-Crossovers 3x12-15
-BB Curls 3x6-8
-Seated Hammer Curls 3x10-12
-Weighted Dips 3x6-8
-Rope Pushdowns 3x10-12

-Core&LISS

Tuesday- Legs+Abs

-Squats 4x5-6 @ 80%
-Leg Press 3x8-10
-Leg Ext 3x10-12
-Calves raises 3x10
-Core&HIIT

Wednesday- Shoulders&Back
-Standing Neutral grip press 3x12
-Seated ALT Raises 3x10-12
-Reverse Pec Deck 3x12-15
-Seated Cable Row 3x10
-Pull ups 4xmax

-Core&HIIT

Thursday-Chest&Tris
-Flat BB Bench 4x5-6 @ 80%
-Incline DB Press 3x10-12
-Cable crossovers 3x12
-Weighted Dips 3x6-8
-Reverse Rope Push ups 4x12

-Core&LISS

Friday-Legs&Bis
-Squats 4x5-6 (form focused light weight)
-Deadlifts 4x6 @ 80%
-unilateral Leg Press 3x8-10
-Ham Curls 3x10-12
-BB Curls 3x6-8
-Seated Alt DB Curls 4x12

-Core&HIIT

Saturday-Shoulders&Back
-Seated BB Press 4x5-6 @ 80%
-Pulldowns 3x10
-Bent Over Lat Raises 3x10-12
-Seated Cable row 4x10
-Crossbody Delt pulls 3x10

-Core

Sunday- HIIT 20 Mins or some sot of activity dependent on the weekend

Tuesday January 17th:

Goblet Squats- 3x10 35lb kb
Smith Squats- 3x5 @ 135,155,155
Leg Press- 3x10 @ 250,160,160
Leg Ext- 3x10 @ 100

Hanging leg raises @ 5x12

Legs are my obvious weak point and couldnt go nowhere near as hard as I wanted but its a work in progress… The main reason I want it implemented twice per week.

Nutrition for the day:

Meal 1: Nature Valley Protein Oats 3/4 cup and 1 Scoop Whey Protein
Meal 2: 1 scoop whey protein handful of almonds and 2 tbsp of peanut butter
Meal 3: 8 oz 93% lean beef, 1/4 can black beans and 1 cup rice with taco seasoning and rotel tomatoes
Meal 4: Same as meal 3
Meal 5: Egg Salad Sandwich

Last Meal consumed at 1:30 A.M usually asleep by 5 A.M (I work Second shift atm)

That is a lot of Volume. You may survive it due to being young, but time off resting is when you grow.

I’m in young man.

As the Lost Hog says, that is a hell of a lot of volume.

I would suggest back up a bit, maybe try to find a program of some of the authours here on T-nation.
But if you enjoy it and can recover go ahead :slight_smile:

Looking forward for your progress.
Lift strong

I was a little concerned with the volume but I’ve grown so accustom to long days in the gym… this is actually my edited version that i dialed in this week. I was running maybe 5 exercises per body part. Would you suggest maybe dropping a set off each exercise?

I actually found a template for this program off T-Nation it just wasn’t very specific on exercise rep scheme. Besides my Legs I’ve grown so accustom to large amounts of volume and just don’t feel right when I leave the gym with anything less… I definetely need to work on that and will be… I asked Lost Hog if maybe I should drop a set off each exercise and am curious as to your opinion as well… Thanks for following along :smiley:

@flipcollar Here it is bro, hope you can check it out and weigh in.

I would ask you what are your goals…what is the top 1 or two things you want to do in this training period…

Just at a glimpse: you have the desire and passion but lack a focused effort.

What is it you are trying to do for yourself in the gym?

Those are my Overall goals I’d say but to elaborate more on the specifics as far as the near future goals. Over the next 5 months i’d like to come in around 185lb scale weight then go on a clean bulk afterwards. I’d also like to have a better overall use of my muscle groups rather than the chest/arms I’ve been focusing on over the last year. I’m not quite sure by what you mean by lack of focused effort if anything I feel as if thats became my strong suit but I could be interpreting what you’re saying wrong.

So Woke up today and apparently work was canceled due to snow. NC doesn’t react to well to snow lol. Hit the gym around 5 P.M Est afterwards went cruising with the fiance and ended up blowing a tire so spent about 30 minutes fixing that… anyway onto the workout for today:

Wednesday January 17th

Seated BB Press 3x8 115, 125, 135
Rev Peck Deck 3x12 130
Seated Alt Raises 3x12 25db
Lat Pull Downs 3x10 145
Seated Cable Rows 3x10 130
Standing low cable rows 3x10 130

Due to the feedback on volume and me feeling as if my upper back was being worked enough I decided to take out the 1 Arm DB rows as well as the 1x5 set on Seated BB press.

Ill post nutrition a little later once I’m rounding the night out.

Not picking about your plan just trying to get you to dial it in. It sounds like you are going to do sets in the 8-15 range bodybuilder style while cutting.

Your focus is cutting body fat. Then a clean build from there. Low carb/ stragtic high glycemic carbs diet with hiit cardio is your friend. Lifting will create the muscle to better burn the fat.

When cutting (calorie deficit) you won’t recover as quickly. Leaving you susceptible to injury or fatigue. Excessive volume will accelerate the fatigue. Just my thoughts. At the end of the day. You know how you feel and how fast you recover.

How are you tracking your diet/ nutrition?

I’m going to try and dial down my volume somewhat, Idk if you noticed but I edited my shoulder back routine for today in my last log. It’s a learning curve for the most part as far as the volume goes being as I’ve grown accustom to volume and tend to love it. I typically stay within 8 reps for the more compound movements and no more than 12 for the accessory work (that may need some tweaking). It really does feel good to me but I am worried I may be overtraining looking at most others routines. As far as the diet goes I typically lose 2 pounds per week sometimes a little less while keeping carbs around 150ish a day. I’ve tried a more keto approach and although the weight came off quicker and less water retention I felt like shit mentally and physically. I’ve been using myfitnesspal for logging my food. I’m definetly going to head to the volume aspect of things and see where I can really make some cuts because I’m sure there’s plenty that I can do.

Bw this morning was at 207

Nutrition for the day
Meal 1: nature valley protein oats .75 cup and 2 eggs
Meal 2: double chicken chipotle bowl with only 1 spoon rice (out and about didn’t have much of a choice)
Meal 3: 2 tortillas 8oz 93% lean hamburger .5 cup of cheese
Meal 4: 2 scoops whey protein and 3 tbsp peanut butter
I also snacked on some almonds throughout the day

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When I first started lifting seriously, I followed a similar approach, trying to hit each muscle from each angle. I was OK with the volume but didn’t have the gains I wanted and couldn’t understand why. A decade later, I finally see how a lack of rep/weight ranges held me back, as did multiple exercises for the same type of movement.
For instance, my arms and shoulder day had four different shoulder exercises, three different curls, and three triceps exercises, all in the same 8-12 reply range. In retrospect, I could’ve cut an exercise from each muscle group, changed the loading parameters for one of the retained exercises, spent less time in the gym, and had better results.

My experience leads to two observations about your goals and program:

  1. Will a single day of HIIT help you achieve your primary goal of body recomposition?

  2. You have some exercises that target the same movement pattern and the same rep range/muscle fiber type.

For instance, you do both pec deck and cable crossovers on your first chest day. Additionally, the vast majority of your exercises are the same rep range (10-12), which means you aren’t proportionally working your Type 1 or Type 2B muscle fibers (whichever is the long endurance fiber.) Doing two pec adduction exercises in the same rep range doesn’t address the muscles in a new way.

Doubling up movement pattern AND rep range leads you to perceive the muscle isn’t thoroughly exercised, which is true.The culprit isn’t lack of volume or exercise selection though, but lack of recruiting each type of muscle fiber.

A sample change to your Day 1 would be to increase the weight of your flat press, first warming up then doing 4 pyramiding sets of 5-6 reps; keep the incline dumbbell press at 3 x 10-12; and do 3 burnout sets of cable crossovers in the 12-15 rep range. For the biceps, do barbell curls at 3 x 6-8 and either 1-arm cable hammer curls or dumbbell curls seated on an incline bench for 3 x 10-12.

Finish with abs and cardio, whether it’s LISS (low-intensity steady state, like an elliptical) or HIIT that incorporates the day’s main muscles. For example, on chest day 1, you could do 5 rounds of push-ups, burpees, and v-ups, resting 30-60 seconds between each round.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

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That makes sense completely, so more or less I need to work on not as much volume but making sure I address the entirety of the muscle in the correct way (you made it sound so simple haha). This definitely has me thinking a lot more about my routine. I knew designing my routine it probably wasn’t the best but when i went hunting for one, it just seemed like I couldn’t find one that made me feel like I was doing enough. I like to hit everything at least twice a week and arms 3 times a week. I may have became a little to stubborn in that aspect. I’m going to try and re-vamp this routine tomorrow and if you’re on I would like to hear your feedback. Thanks so much.

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@TriednTrue

No problem @moderatestrength, I’m happy to share what I’ve learned. For the first several years I lifted, I was afraid of hurting myself by going too heavy, especially on compound movements. At the time, that was smart for me, but it ingrained some erroneous beliefs about exercising that I didn’t begin to shed until a year or two ago.

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy the planning aspect of working out. I prefer to make up my own routines, but I also love learning about different approaches as well as increasing my knowledge base. Along those lines, I find I only progress when I work each muscle group twice a week, too. That guides my programming.

Of the many articles on this site that have revolutionized my understanding about training, a few stand out. One is Thibideau’s comprehensive list of rep ranges according to 1-rep max and the effects each rep range has on strength and hypertrophy. I’ll find the article and link it here:

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Greetings moderate strength hope you’re doung Well. Google Thib’s best damn workout plan here on TN.
Bevare my friend you are chasing that two headed monster. Loosing fat building muscle.
That’s somewhere about 20 something lbs you’re looking for. Might take some time.
When loosing weight make your trips to the Gym short and intense.
Tried and true is that I think. So listen to him.
First exercise go hard in the 5 rep range second go 10-12 reps focus on feeling the muscle.

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I was literally just typing about Best Damn…! :grin::+1:

Here’s the first version, which I found surprisingly effective, for the short time I tried it (I changed because it didn’t match my goals.)

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@TriednTrue @mortdk Thanks again guys. CT’s Percentage guide puts things more into perspective for me for sure. 80% seems to be key in the 5-6 rep range to start things off. I’ve always wondered why I was in the gym for 1.5 hours on average but guys much bigger could come in for 45 mins to a hour and seem so much more accomplished. I’m going to completely overhaul my workout tomorrow in my down time at the office, and make as many improvements to it as possible. It’ll probably need some more tweaking, but I have a much better idea on how it should look. I’m excited to see what you guys think. I’m not knocking CT’s tbdw by no means, just really wanna design my own with as much help from T-nation as possible and run it for a while to see my potential with it. If I’m not making any noticeable improvements I will probably search for a “triedandtrue” program that’s out there and see where it takes me. Excited to have everyone along for the journey.

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