Hey all,
As some of you may remember I was on here a couple of years back when I was the ripe old age of 21/22 getting ready for my first bodybuilding show. After I placed 2nd in October and qualified for the British finals the next year, 6 weeks out I got glandular fever and was in hospital for the next 4 weeks. During this time I lost a tonne of size and only really got back into training properly at the beginning of this year - which brings me to this post.
I started reading more about Poliquinâ??s training principles and really liked the concept so I gave it a go for about 8 months (since March 2011). I have to say Iâ??m very glad I did, I ended up regaining the size I lost and getting a lot stronger in the process. Obviously I can’t do this all year round as I would just get totally burnt out so I did take a week off/have a cruise week every 8-10 weeks.
To give you an example, I started the program incline benching 80kg/180lbs for 10 sets of 5 reps and ended the program comfortably ended the program at 220lbs for 10 sets of 5. On the lower rep range, I managed to get up to about 265lbs for 10 sets of 3. Similarly, on front squats squat I went from doing 90kg for 10 sets of 5 to 110kg and on the 3 rep sets, managed to get up to 130kg. These were all good clean reps, I 'm a stickler for form so trust me when I say this was not quarter squat.
So yeah anyway, there was a lot of thickness added to every body part, especially my arms as they are my weakest area. On Friday 18th 2011 I was 180lbs and around 11%bf (pics will be posted on Sunday 27th).
So to take a break from this (mainly because I started to plateau) I decided to try Hany’s FST7 as the higher volume training seems to suit me better - also I reckon it would be good to use the heavier weight for a higher rep range which should help me add some more thickness. I’ll keep a log of what I do every week and post pics every 2 weeks so that you guys can see any progress/changed since started the routine. I have an idea in the back of my head of doing a competition in April/May 2012 and trying to requalify for the British and achieve what I wanted to a few years back.
I’ll also include my diet and any/supps Iâ??m taking.
So as of last Sunday (20th November) my training schedule looks like this:
Sunday - Arms and abs
Monday - Legs (+calves)
Tuesday - OFF
Wednesday - Chest and Abs
Thursday - Back
Friday â?? shoulders +hamstrings*+calves
Saturday - OFF
- I threw in that extra hamstring day because I need to bring my hamstrings up to match my quads. Also I find that I get a better contraction in my calves right after Iâ??ve done hamstrings as well
For each body part I have 2 different workouts which I cycle so that things don’t become stale/stagnant and Iâ??ll focus on trying to either do more reps or add a little more weight each time the same workout comes around.
Workouts are as follows:
Arms w/o 1
Standing DB curl 3-4 x 6-8 reps
One arm DB preacher Curl 3-4 x 8to12reps
Hammer Curl 3-4 x 8to12reps
EZ Bar curl - 7 sets <8 reps
Ticeps rope extensions 3-4 x 8to12reps
Close grip bench press 3-4 x 6to8 reps
Dips 3-4 x 8to12reps
Skull Crushers - 7 sets <8 reps
Arms w/o 2
Incline DB curl
EZ bar Curl
DB Concentration curl
Seated Cable curl - 7s 10-12 reps
Tricep extensions (EZ Bar)
Dips
Single Arm DB overhead extensions
V Bar pushdown - 7s 10-12 reps
Legs w/0 1
Leg extensions 3-4 x 8to12reps
Front squat 3-4 x 6toreps
Leg Press 3-4 x 8to12reps
Lying leg curl 3-4 x 6to8reps
Stiff legged DL 3-4 x 8to12reps
Single leg curl 3-4 x 8to12reps
Standing calve raise 12-15reps
Seated Calve raise - 12-15reps
Leg press toe raise - 7s
Legs w/o 2
Leg extensions
Back squat
Hack Squat
Seated Leg Curl
DB Stiff legged DL
Lying leg curl
Seated Calf raise
Leg press toe raise
Standing calf raise - 7s
Chest w/o 1
Shallow incline DB Press 3-4 x 6to8reps
Incline DB Flyes 3-4 x 8to12reps
Flat DB Press 3-4 x 8to12reps
Hammer Strength Press - 7s <8
Chest w/o 2
Incline BB Press 3-4 x 6to8reps
Incline Flyes 3-4 x 8to12reps
Hammer Strength Press - 3-4 x 8to12reps
Cable Flyes - 7s
Back w/o 1
Neutral grip pull-ups 3-4 x 6to8reps
Over hand bb row 3-4 x 8to12reps
DB Row 3-4 x 8to12reps
T bar row 3-4 x 8to12reps
Cable pullovers 7’s
Back w/o 2
Underhand grip pull-ups 3-4 x 6to8reps
Underhand grip bb rows 3-4 x 8to12reps
Hammer strength rows 3-4 x 8to12reps
Low Cable rows 3-4 x 8to12reps
Machine Pull downs - 7s
Shoulders w/o 1
DB lateral raises 3-4 x 8to12reps
DB Shoulder Press 3-4 x 6to8 reps
BB front raises 3-4 x 8to12reps
Hammer Strength side lateral machine - 7s
Bent over DB raises - 3-4 x 8to12reps
Machine rear Delt Flyes - 7’s
Hamstring - 5 x 5 reps on lying leg curl
Calves - workout 1/2
Shoulders w/o 2
Shoulder Press
DB front raises
Cable Side raises
Db Side raises â?? 7s
Reverse Flye machine
Reverse DB flye â?? 7s
So what Iâ??ve basically done is keep the movements that I used from Poliquin’s AGVT but will be using the same weight for higher reps with some more ancillary movements thrown in. Most of the workouts don’t really take longer than an hour as I usually take about a minute break between sets.
My Diet
My diet has been something Iâ??ve been trying to get right for a while. Don’t get me wrong, I eat well and make consistent gains every year but trying to find the right carb sources for my body (e.g., brown vs. white rice vs. oatmeal) and how much to eat each meal has taken some tweaking but I think I have managed to get it right.
My main protein sources will be chicken, fish and occasionally beef while carb sources will be oatmeal, sweet potatoes and white rice. Fats are something that I don’t focus too much on. For me personally I feel the fat I get from the foods I eat is sufficient but I might throw in a table spoon or evoo or flax caps with a couple of meals in the day, more often than not towards the end of the day.
Meal 1 - 4 whole eggs and 60g of oatmeal (+1 tab anabolic pump)
Meal 2 - 2 scoops Myofusion
Meal 3 - 200g grilled chicken and 100g sweet potatoes (+1 tab anabolic pump)
Meal 4 - 120g tuna salad with light mayo dressing
Meal 5 - 200g grilled chicken with 100g white rice (+1 tab anabolic pump)
Meal 6 - Pre-workout: 5g glutamine
- Post workout: 1 scoop Myofusion
Meal 7 - 3 tabs ZMA followed by 120g tuna salad with light mayo.
I’ve kept to this kind of diet for the past couple of years with the high protein, moderate fat and low carbs skeleton and played around with increasing carbs etc but I find that I start getting very sluggish and hold a lot more fat. With this kind of diet, I stay relatively learn (~11%) bf year round and consistently gain about 5-8lbs of lean muscle every year.
Supplement wise Iâ??m actually doing a little experiment of my own to compare 3 of the most popular nutrient partitioning supplements on the market today:
Anabolic pump by USP Labs
Glycobol by Anabolic innovations
Indigo 3g by Biotest
I’ve just started on 2 tabs of Anabolic Pump for the past few days (started on Wednesday 23rd November) and will up the dose to 3 tabs a day from next Wednesday. After this, I will move onto Glycobol and then finally indigo 3g. I anticipate that my trying this it should take me nicely up to march when I am about 8 weeks out from the show and with dieting and training, should come in considerably better than my last show.
My first experience with nutrient repartitionning agents were with Universal IsoStak and Animal M-Stak. I found the IsoStak to be better than M Stak but only in terms of increased work capacity. Neither made a massive difference in body composition.
I added the Myofusion after a friend of mine gave me a tub from when I helped him get ready for his first show. I really liked it and actually felt it made a significant difference so I incorporate it into my supplement regime now. Since the new formulation has whey protein in it and couple with the fact that I train late in the evenings - itâ??s a great fit as the whey is great for post workout and the blend of slow digesting proteins means I get to keep a healthy nitrogen balance as I sleep.
ZMA and glutamine are two other supplements that I swear by. I started using ZMA in my university days when I started lifting seriously and havenâ??t stopped using it since. It’s a great agent to help with recovery and just get a better nightâ??s sleep. At the moment, Iâ??m using optimum nutritionâ??s ZMA but most brands work pretty well in my experience. With glutamine, what can I say that already hasn’t been said?! Great recovery agent all round.
So there you have it, a bit of a lengthy explanation but hopefully you enjoyed the read. I should mention that my ultimate goal is to create hybrid physique but the oldskool look of Frank Zane but a little more filled out. I’m under no illusions and my personal goal is to be around 170-175lbs at 5%bf one day and just maintain that. As I mentioned at the moment Iâ??m 180lbs at 11% bf at a height of 5"8
I haven’t taken body part measurements in a while but I will definitely do so along with posting up the pics of some mandatory poses (front/Back DB, Front/Back lat spread, side chest).
As usual, all constructive thoughts and comments are welcome and feel free to PM me if you have any questions you want to ask off the board.