Hey man its good that you hitting the weights at age 14 and seem to know what your doing. For calfs in my opinion machines such as the seated calf raise and the standing calf raise with always be better for just about any purpose then free weights the machines can hit your calfs much harder and they will make your stronger then free weight calf work. You should post some goals of what numbers you want to hit in the next little while.
[quote]Lift or die wrote:
Hey man its good that you hitting the weights at age 14 and seem to know what your doing. For calfs in my opinion machines such as the seated calf raise and the standing calf raise with always be better for just about any purpose then free weights the machines can hit your calfs much harder and they will make your stronger then free weight calf work. You should post some goals of what numbers you want to hit in the next little while.[/quote]
Yeah i realized seated calf raises hit my calves much harder than toe raises with dumbbells when i did seated calf raises last friday haha. Yeah I know i kinda came into this with just the goal to get stronger and gain muscle weight without much specific goals, i mean my goal is pretty much to get stronger every workout in the major lifts but i didn’t set any numbers to shoot for.
you should set numbers the more specific you get with your goals the better. You will make more progress if you say i’m going to hit X numbers in X months so you have a timeline you must push towards but its up to you.
[quote]Lift or die wrote:
you should set numbers the more specific you get with your goals the better. You will make more progress if you say i’m going to hit X numbers in X months so you have a timeline you must push towards but its up to you.[/quote]
Yeah you’re right I’ll think about the numbers i would like to hit and put them up with my original post later today. Thanks for the advice
8/26/09
Wednesday
Bench press:
warmup: 85x12 95x9 115x6
working: 120x2x5 115x3x5 I couldnt hit 120 for all 5 sets.
DB bench:
35x8
40x7
35x10 I haven’t really moved up in this exercise, a bit disappointing but i use a lot of my energy on the bench press so i can see why.
Close grip bench press:
80x8
80x8
75x8 Disappointed i couldnt get 80 for all sets here
Tricep pushdowns:
60x10
65x10
8/28.09
Had to miss another friday workout due to family vacation. crap
8/31/09
monday
squat:
warm-up: Cant remember exactly, i forgot to write it down
5x5: 120
Front:
- 75x8
- 75x8
- 75x8
Leg press:
- 90x8
- 180x8
- 180x8
Calves:
- 30x25
- 30x25
- 30x25
This was the first leg workout after a break so i was expecting more strength losses than had occurred.
9/2/09
Wednesday
Bench press:
warmup: 95x8 115x6
- 125x5
- 125x5
- 135x4
- 135x4 <—Help from a spotter here
- 120x5
I wanted to get 125 for all 5 sets but i was siked after i hit 135! Thats some good progress.
DB bench:
- 35x8
- 40x5
- 35x8
Close grip triceps BP:
- 75x6
- 75x7
- 75x8
I’m a bit stuck at the weight here but i recently adjusted my grip for bench press after an older friend and lifter pointed out that my bench press grip was too narrow and causing my triceps to do a lot of the work.
Pushdowns:
I had to use a straight bar for these today
- 80x10
- 85x10 I think the straight bar allowed me to do more weight than the rope would.
9/4/09
Friday
DL: warmup 85x8 95x8 115x8
5x5 135
barbell rows:
95x8 100x8 100x6
Hyperextensions:
25x12 25x10 10x12
barbell curls:
- 65x5
- 65x5
- 65x5
- 60x5
- 60x5
9/8/09
Tuesday---- switching my workout schedule over a day so the workouts will be on tuesday, thursday, and saturday.
Squat: warm-up 95x8 115x8 125x5
working:
135x5
130x5
130x5
130x5
130x5
Front squats:
- 80x8 – felt like i could do more reps on this but the bar starting slipping from my shoulders. Im getting very outta breath on these front squats.
- 80x8
- 80x8
seated calf raise:
- 35x25
- 35x25
- 35x25
- 35x25
9/10/09
Thursday
Bench press:
warm-up 85x12 95x10 115x6
working
135x4
125x5
120x5
120x5
115x5
Not the workout i wanted. I was disappointed but i think i jumped into the 135 too fast. Also i dont think i shuld have lowered the weight after 125, i should have just seen how many reps i could get with it for the rest of the 3 sets.
DB bench press:
35x8
35x7
35x8
Close grip bench:
75x8
75x8
75x6
Rope pushdowns:
I had to use a different pully machine. I could see what the weight were marked as but i think i did 2 sets of 60x10
overall, not the workout i was hoping for but next time im going to go straight through with 130lbs on bench for all 5 sets
9/12/09
Saturday
Deadlift warmup: 95x10 115x8 135x8
5x5: 140
BB rows:
95x10
100x8
100x8
Hyperextensions:
25x12
25x12
10x15
BB curls
70x5
70x5
70x5
70x4
70x3
Felt like this was a really awesome workout. My whole back was feeling it.
I had a limited amount of time at the gym today because of a doctors appointment so i was unable to do front squats.
Squats:
warm-up: 95x10 105x8 115x5
5x5 135
Seated calf raises:
3 sets of 45lbs 25 reps each set
PArsley…looks like you’re doing 5x5 program which is a great program to start of with. Your CNS will adapt quickly and you’ll start seeing your strength to grow by leaps and bounds. My only suggestion is if you’re going to do 5x5, do it for all your lifts, with thw exception of calves(the require a little more volume IMO. Really what you should shoot for is total number of reps. (Sorry I posted this without going to the next page to see how far you hve progeessed but my advice still stands :() So like on wednesday when you were benching and didn’t get all your reps with 120, dont lower the amont of weight. Shoot for 25 total reps, even if it takes you seven sets to get there. When you can do all five sets with 120, increase the weight 5-10 lbs and start over.
Training this way tell your body that it needs to grow(provided you give it enough of the right calories) in order to move the weight. By lowering the weight when you fatigue, its like saying " dont worry muscles…if you cant lift it, I’ll just make it eaasier for you. % reps per set is a good range for strength, while 25 total reps gets you the volume you need to grow. Hope this helps and keep training hard!
[quote]briandean wrote:
PArsley…looks like you’re doing 5x5 program which is a great program to start of with. Your CNS will adapt quickly and you’ll start seeing your strength to grow by leaps and bounds. My only suggestion is if you’re going to do 5x5, do it for all your lifts, with thw exception of calves(the require a little more volume IMO. Really what you should shoot for is total number of reps. (Sorry I posted this without going to the next page to see how far you hve progeessed but my advice still stands :() So like on wednesday when you were benching and didn’t get all your reps with 120, dont lower the amont of weight. Shoot for 25 total reps, even if it takes you seven sets to get there. When you can do all five sets with 120, increase the weight 5-10 lbs and start over.
Training this way tell your body that it needs to grow(provided you give it enough of the right calories) in order to move the weight. By lowering the weight when you fatigue, its like saying " dont worry muscles…if you cant lift it, I’ll just make it eaasier for you. % reps per set is a good range for strength, while 25 total reps gets you the volume you need to grow. Hope this helps and keep training hard![/quote]
Yeah i know not to lower the weight but i’ve never been told to shoot for a total number reps.
9/17/09
Thursday First workout using Surge Recovery
Bench press warmup: barx20 95x10 105x8 115x5
working:
- 135x3
- 135x4
- 135x2
- 135x3
- 135x5 with help on last 2 reps from spot
DB bench:
35x10
40x10
45x6
Close grip bench press:
- 75x10
- 85x8
- 85x7
tricep pulldowns with rope:
- 70x10
- 70x10
I was really happy about these numbers. Especially the increase of weight on dumbbell and close grip bench presses. The Surge Recovery was awesome as i drank about half during and about half after my workout. I am much less sore today (the day after) and i felt that the Surge Recovery gave me some energy.
9/19/09
Saturday Feeling a bit sick but worked out any way. I love back day and i managed to crank out a pretty good session even with feeling like crap.
Deadlift: warm-up: 95x10 115x8 135x5
5x5 with 145
Barbell rows:
100x10
105x8
105x8 Was really happy bout the weight gain here
Hyperextensions:
10x15 For some reason the deadlifts took me about 30 minutes and i didnt have time to complete the rest of the workou
9/22/09
Tuesday
Squat:
Warm-up: 95x8 115x8 135x5
5x5 140
Front squats:
85x10 85x8 85x8
Seated calf raise:
50x25 50x25 55x25 60x20
9/23/09
Wednesday
Bench press: warm-up 95x10 115x8
working: 1) 135x5
2) 135x4 I thought i culd have gotten 5 here but didnt want to risk it without a spotter
3) 135x4
4) 135x6, Spotter helped with the last 2 reps
5) 135x3
DB bench press:
- 35x10
- 40x7
- 40x7
Close grip bench press:
- 85x7
- 80x8
- 80x7
Cable rope pushdowns:
- 65x10
- 70x10
9/25/09
Friday
Deadlift: warm-up 95x10 115x8 135x6
5x5 155
BB rows:
- 105x10
- 110x8
- 110x8
Hyperextensions:
- 25x15
- 25x15
- 35x15
BB curls:
5x5 75