Time to Pick It Up

[quote]ttboy1988 wrote:
Hi mate, this programs, looks spot on, might move on to something like this after i finished mine

I am from the UK _ Guildford

Whats your goal Strength or Muscle mass?

or both?

Your Diet look really heavy and complicated (maybe just me )
I was after some sort of food for my training, i will probably adjust your food plan

Again Keep it up Niceone

NE [/quote]

Thanks mate

Goals at the moment really its strength that comes first and then mass. Basically i’ve decided that I will be what ever size I need to be to make those lifts i.e 180kg dead, 100kg MP, 140kg front squat. If Im not gaining strength then i’ll just need to eat more.

Your in Guildford? not too far from me Im just south of Reading, live in Woodley, work and train in Wokingham.

Diet isnt really complicated, what I listed was just a basic outline, basically comes down to Protein, Fat, fruit and veg 4 meals a day, a protein and fat meal before bed and some extra carbs after a workout. I dont measure food or have specific sources as long as I stick to the outline.

I run okay on low carbs at the moment its around 20% ish, tempted to drop them completely and go AD soon but Im still researching it a little.

If I have inspired anyone with diet or programming I consider that a real bonus. Cheers mate

Thursday Squat Day

Right I forgot my log book so this is going to have to be from memory. Had a late night last night only got about 6 hours sleep. Popped 2x200mg caffeine tabs when I woke up…didn’t really do alot.

Warmup - Jump rope/ basic mobility/ foam rolling/ mobility squat

Front squat 80kg 5 5

Stll wasnt overly happy with the technique I would love to go narrower with less toeing out but I just cant get depth that way, may have to ask the question in the beginners forum.

Back squat 85kg 5 5
90kg 5
60kg 10

Think Im goin to take this approach more often try and groove in the front squat and then switch to back squat for some real leg work. Threw in light set of 10.

Band assisted GHR

whoops think my technique must have been better on the squats hams and glutes were fried could manage only manage two…got annoyed at this point. So I did two sets of 10 stability ball leg curls

Reverse deficit lunges 12kg

10 / 10 / 10

made some advance here did it with short rest periods was knackered by the end.

Hack Squat Machine 100lb 50reps no rest

my annoyance on the squat and GHR got the better of me thought Id better continue to work myself into oblivion. Weight was probably a little light here but almost fell over when I got off.

Squats (again)

Thought Id re-try the squat with heels raised on a 5 kg plate. Hit 80kg for 5 reps again, felt much better in terms of body position, maybe its an ankle mobility thing

Got to be honest wasnt happy with the day…gonna have to seriously work on my front squat…damn I wish there was someone would could teach me over a few sessions. I thought it might come to this gonna have squat more regularly to groove the motion better. Probably gonna stick a couple of light sets in after the deadlift. Got to get it right though…

Friday - Off Day

Some good news and some not so good news

good news first - i actually for the first time have sore(ish) glutes from a leg session along with some feeling in my VMO, they worked properly for a change, I have a real feeling it was from elevating my heels on that last set of squats, it allowed me to go down straighter and concentrate more on pushing my knees out. Maybe I wont do back squats and just elevate my heels for a couple of sets.

not so good news - I weighed myself this morning, been eating my diet plan for a few weeks even before I started this new program…Im still 12 stone. I Suspected I needed to eat more and this has confirmed it 3000+ calories a day is not enough to put on some weight. I’ve decided I definitely need to be on the anabolic diet. The problem is in a few weeks time I go away for 4 days doing the 3 peaks challenge and so I wont be able to stick to the guide lines, looks like I need to wait till I get back to start it. In the mean time Im going to add 2 extra tbsp of EVOO a day, one at meal 4 and one at meal 6, hopefully this should net me a caloric excess.

Well not much more to say, need to do some walking and some stretching.

Is your program a set length ?
or is it you are gonna do it till you reach your goal?

Mine finishes in start of august, I might look to cut down again,
I am presuming your are a skinny guy to start off, so you need a lot of calories.

Do you have basic plan of your work out, ?

Keep it goin mate, its gonna pay off

[quote]ttboy1988 wrote:
Is your program a set length ?
or is it you are gonna do it till you reach your goal? [/quote]

Yup pretty much going to continue until I reach my goal. Although I can imagine stalling at some point and needing to change the main exercise (i.e. Sumo Dead for conventional dead, push press for military press) to but a plateau but we’ll see what happens.

[quote]Mine finishes in start of august, I might look to cut down again,
I am presuming your are a skinny guy to start off, so you need a lot of calories. [/quote]

Not really that skinny to be honest, Im by no means an Ecto at 170 between 5’8" and 5’9" but I can afford to put on some size and strength, should put some pics up really .

[quote]Do you have basic plan of your work out, ?

Keep it goin mate, its gonna pay off[/quote]

Well the plan is as I have written it at the top, main heavy exercise followed by a few assisstance exercises on the three main lift days then alternating chest and back work on the saturday. At the moment Im trying a few different assistance exercises to see which feels the best and what I get the most work out of. Im not above doing something silly at the end of a workout (ie. 50 rep leg presses, max push ups etc.) if I’ve got the energy to do it, working out is meant to be hard but it should be fun as well. I hope it does pay off, cheers mate

Chest and back Day

felt focused this morning, had my usual super shake and got up there

DB Bench warm up 16x10 24x8 28x3 32x2 36x1
40kg - 5 4 4

Well I got one more rep on the first set so a good result. Struggle a little getting the DB’s in to position, probably would get another rep if I did it smoothly…gonna have to practice.

BB Row Warm up 20x8 40x5 60x3 70x1
85kg - 5 5 5

Solid progress from last week might have missed one rep in the second set but no matter

Dips
BW + 20kg 5 5 5

Got the rep range right gonna push up 2.5kg next week

Pull Ups
4 4 4 3 / negative set 5 / chins 5 4 / pull up 3

just did loads with some chins and some negatives mixed in not as good as I’d hoped though. Next week going to do these before the BB rows and give them a fair run.

Cable flys - 60lb 10 10 70lb 6
reverse flys - 45lb 7 5 (did one set of X-pulls first to try out need to watch video again.

Nothing much to report…improvements on last week.

Ab rollout

10 7 4

was knackered by this point, good first set but just couldnt keep it up

Relatively good day overall with improvements…les keep it going

Off Day today

Went for a 3 hour hike over knowl hil, in preparation for my 3 peaks challenge. Had 12kg (approx) back pack. Was I aching after that hopefully my hips will be fine for deadlifting tomorrow.

right back to studying…

Monday Deadlift day

Did some reading on the deadlift over the weekend especially Dave tates Dead Zone article and I took a piece of advice, I had a short breath and a proper reset in between each rep and I really noticed the form stayed better through out.

137.5kg 5 reps
137.5kg 4 reps (straps)
137.5kg 1 rep (just to make up the 10)

Changed a few things round with the assisstance work today…not much though

Pull through 45kg 5 5
RDL’s 60kg 5 5

Thought Id try out some strict RDL’s they were damn hard but I got a good stretch in the glutes and hams gonna swap out the GHR on squat day for these.

Reverse deficit lunge
12kg 10
14kg 10 10

As I did some normal RDLs I didnt do the single leg version and just did the reverse lunge instead…was destroyed by the last rep.

Face pulls

20kg 10 10 10

not 100% sure with these, going to have a look at the video again.

Paloff static 80lb

22secs
28secs
25secs
26secs

Couldnt concentrate on these…more below.

No silliness today as to be honest I was Fckd probably was a little dehydrated, gym was quite warm and I’d worked myself into the ground with these exercise. For that reason I couldnt do the paloff properly. Left the gym feeling a little shaky and worse for wear…damn good.

Off day

Nothing much to report- not really sore from yesterday. Might run some sprints this evening.

Reconsidered my leg training based on what I’ve experimented with, going with something like this

Deadlift
Front squat (light to groove motion)
Pull through
Reverse Lunge

and

Front Squat
RDL
Bulgarian split squat

Actually very similar to what I wrote originally lol.

Done a meal plan for going on the Anabolic Diet:

Anabolic Diet

Meal 1 5 eggs
1 tbsp Fish Oil
35 P / 45g F Cals 556

PWO 1.5 scoop whey
1 Scoop Milk Protein
1Tbsb EVOO
49.5g P / 20.2g F / 4.1g C Cals 392

Meal 2 200g Steak Mince
100g Cottage Cheese
51.5g P / 25.4g F / 3.3 C Cals 427

Meal 3 135g Tuna
25g almonds
40.3g P / 14.6g F / 1.7g C Cals 300

Meal 4 200g Steak Mince
½ TBSP EVOO
39.2g P / 31.1g F / 0g C Cals 438

Meal 5 200g Chicken
100g Feta
1 tbsp Fish Oil
54.4g P / 38.6g F / 1g C Cals 569

Meal 6 50g Heavy Cream
2 scoop Milk Protein
42.8g P / 27.6F / 2.3g C Cals 443

Totals

312g Protein
12g Carbs
202.5g Fat
3126 Cals

Really want to start now but wondering about getting the blood test done first hmmm…

Tuesday Evening - Sprints 10x100m with 100m walk inbetween each as rest. tried to recover almost completely between sprints…was knackered by the end though but didnt pull a muscle like last week.

Wednesday - Press day

Felt wide awake this morning…bit bizare when I woke up at 5.30am…meh…must be the summer.

Warm ups (jump rope, foam rolling lats/thoracic spine) scap pushes, one arm clap, shoulder push roll and raise.)

Military Press - loaded up with a supra maximal hold (ala Waterbury) to see what it felt like stuck 80kg on the bar and held it over head for 20 secs ish.

67.5kg 2
65kg 4
67.5kg 3
Push press 75kg

Bit of an odd start really messed my rhythm and timing on the first set and missed it completely. Dropped the weight slightly and got 4 pretty easy reps would have got 5 if I hadnt done the first set.

Stuck 67.5 on again and got 3 good ones will go with this weight next week, should get 4 at least.

EZ-bar Curl 45kg

5 5 5

slight twinge in my forearm cause I didnt keep the wrist strong, tightened up got the reps 47.5kg next week.

CGBP 80kg

3 3 3 3 2

60kg 9

Damn no spotter this week…cant believe no one was in the weights area lost a rep or two trying to position it so got some triples…really need a hand off regularly here or I might have to go on the smith.

Hammer Curls - 18kg 10 8+2 7+3
Tricep Pushdowns - 37.5kg 9 7+3 8+2

Improvements on last week, was a bit silly and RP’d on the second two sets ah well, gotta work hard havent you :slight_smile:

changed up the ab exercise a bit today…supersetted single arm DB press with side planks

18kg 10 10 10
Side plank 3x 30secs (each side)

only 5-10seconds in between each side. RPed the last to sets to make up the 10…was knackered after this.

Good session overall maybe pushing the Military a little hard…but we’ll see…need to do a little foam rolling and do a little spinal decompression.

Thursday - Squat Day

Was a little more tired going into the gym but seemed to have more focus. I always know my focus is better if my jump roping is accurate, if my heads not in the game my rope work is terrible.

Warm up - Jump rope / foam roller - calves, ITB, thoracic spine, hip flexors, static hip flexor stretch calf stretch/ glute activation hip pop ups, RDL’s.
Added some X-band walks not great as I need a stronger band.

Front Squats 85kg (raised heel)
5 5 3 2 (ughh)
Got buried on the last two sets for some reason, maybe wasnt concentrating. Noticed on the last rep of the second set I lost my hips coming out of the hole and had a bit of rounding…need more core strength.

Back Squat 85kg (flat)
5 5 5
Just for kicks really tried to push the form here, only got a little tough with the very last rep. Considering getting rid of the shoes next week and going in socks to see how it feels.

Snatch Grip RDLs

65kg 5 5
70kg 12

Tried to just improve on last session…then the ego got in the way when one of the trainers came up and said he does sets of 12 with the 70…so i did it. Form in the second half of the 12 wasnt as good didnt load the hamstrings or push the hips as well…ego wont get in the way again.

Bulgarian Split squats 18kg dbs

9 9 10

Bought these back cause they are a great exercise. my gosh it was hard…heart rate through the roof, lungs bursting, legs shaking…this is what we live for isnt it???

Ab superset

20kg DB goblet squat x 10
with
reverse crunch with 3kg support x 10

Sequence without rest through 3 times. Felt good squat technique pretty good…was knackered afterwards though. Liking the ab supersetted with an exercise it makes it “fun”…for lack of a better word.

Going to do abs in this fashion from now on.

Press day - single arm DB press + Side plank
Squat day - goblet squat + reverse crunch
Chest+back - Press up + renegade row + ab roll out (gonna be brutal)
Dead day - Might just stick with paloff here (they are hard enough) unless I can think of something good.

Well not a bad day overall…learning more getting front squat a little stronger…need to try and work it without raising my heels on plates…more ankle and hip mobility required.

Rest day tomorrow

Friday - Off day

Legs and glutes are a bit sore today…dont think I’ll make it out to do sprints tonight. Done a 30min walk at lunch and will go out for 45-60mins this evening.

Good solid eating today, might struggle getting the meals in tomorrow as Im out for the day and most of the night, just gotta try my best.

gym session in the morning, hitting the bench press but prioritsing pull ups over rows will probably need straps to row as my grip will be pretty shot by the time I finish pull ups.

Until tomorrow…

didn’t have time to update yesterday so here’s saturdays results

Chest and back

DB Bench 40kg

6 4 4

Felt alot smoother getting the weights up and added a rep to the first set top result gotta keep it up.

Pull Up

5 5 4 3

Still pretty poor even though I trained it first. Will do a set of pull ups every session now on to try and bring it up quicker. Will make it the primary focus of chest/back when I hit 10+ reps on the DB bench.

Dip BW+22.5kg

5 5 5

Only struggled with the last rep improved on last week so 25kg next time.

DB Row

36kg 5
40kg 5 6
BB row
70kg 6

just went for a change here, was quite nice to not load use the lower back in a session solid rowing with the dumbells. Saw a 70kg BB set up just broke out a set before I put it away.

Cable fly 70lb 9 7 6
Reverse fly 45lb 9 7 7

Progress on last week dont think I’ll up the weight nex week, gonna hit the reps.

Press up + 10 10 10
renegade row (10kg DB) + 10 10 10
ab rollout 8 6 5

Quite a brutal core workout out and finished off the chest and back nicely.

except for the pull ups a good day overall. Might be mixing up my days this week will have to see what happens

sunday off day

Late night last night…a little too much to drink and practically no sleep…very condusive to mucle building…ah well just gonna have to eat loads today to make up for it.

Gotta rest up for deadlift day tomorrow.

Monday - Deadlift day

Was a little tired this morning as I woke up early than usual…at least I got to the gym ten minutes earlier.

warm up Jump rope, foam rolling, mobility work

Deadlift 140kg

4.5

5 with straps

Took my shoes off this week and the warmup sets felt lighter than usual gonna go like this from now on. First set of 5 my grip was giving out on the last rep and couldnt get my shoulders back to lock it out so I counted it as a half. Put some straps on and then blasted out 5 pretty solid reps with 5-6 breaths in between each. Will go for 142.5kg next week

Pull up BW - 5 reps

Part of my get the technique right. 1 set just to get the motion will repeat every time Im in the gym.

Pull through 47.5kg

5 5 5

Got the reps but couldnt get the feeling, my back remained neutral but the hamstrings werent loading as much, might look at the technique again.

DB reverse deficit lunge 16kg DB

10 10 10

Strapped up to save grip but a brutal set nonetheless. 18kg next week.

Face pull 22.5kg

9 7 7

really tried to pull through the elbows today, got tough…gonna stick with this next week.

Ab Static Paloff 80lb

3x30secs / side

Overall pretty good day, might have to consider straps more often on the deadlift if my grip is not holding out…should be okay for a short while though.
Going to be changing up the days this week and next as I cant train for the next two weekends

Tuesday 23rd - Press
Thursday 25th - Squat
Friday 26th - Chest and back

Monday 29th - Press
Tuesday 30th - Squat
Wednesday 1st - Back
Thursday 2nd - Chest

Wont be training F,Sa,Su and potentially Mo as Im doing the three peaks challenge and thats also why Im only doing one leg day next week.

Tuesday - Press day

Was a bit tired this morning as I had another late ish night. Wasnt yawning or anything just found it hard to get my head in the game and a good pump, which is probably why it lead to a less than satisfactory session in terms of progression.

Military -

70kg x 2
67.5 x 3 3 3
60kg 5

Was stupid here really had a 60kg bar set up for the last warm up and instead of getting the 2.5 and 1.25 plates I just picked up two 5’s was over confident and just didnt get it. dropped the weight did a few more sets and once again for 60kg for 5. Basically was either not rested properly from yesterday or Im just letting confidence,ego and poor technique get in the way. Will drop to 65 next time and get the 5 reps as I havent done it yet and then push the 67.5kg the week after. Just not progressing as I’d hoped here.

Ez bar Curl - 47.5kg

5 4 4

Pretty solid result here, forearm felt strained though will have to be careful.

CGBP - 80kg 4 3.5 3
75kg - 5

Once again not good pressing, took a slightly wider grip than usual got 3.5 on second set as I got stuck in the mid position but got it back in the low rack. Dropped to 75kg and picked up 5 pretty easy ones. going to go with 77.5kg next week and get that down before moving back up.

Alterate Hammer - 18kg 9+1 9+1 9
Tricep Push - 37.5 9 9 9

Better results on the 2nd and 3rd set from last week, might consider 20kg and 40kg

Single arm DB Press 20kg 10 8 7
+
Side plank 30 secs x 3

Good finisher again may have to look at side plank variations to increase the difficulty.

Not a good day pressing overall, no excuses back off a little a do it properly. Its all a learning experience.

Havent updated for a while here’s wednesday - off day

Not too sore this day, got a sports massage tuesday evening had a lot of knots in the lower back, much better now though.

Thursday - Squat Day

Couldnt make the gym in the morning as I was away early for work went in the afternoon, felt good actually being warmed up had more focus than usual, shame I cant work out in the afternoon more often.

Front Squat 87.5kg

4 4 3

Back Squat 90kg

5 5 4

Pretty good squatting, used a 5kg plate on the first 2 sets of front and then 2.5’s on the last for heel elevation only didnt manage four cause I lost the rhythm. Felt good through the legs with very little lower back involvement, will keep the weight the same next time and get the reps.

Pull ups BW

5 - one quick set to get the form, they are certainly feeling better now, still weak though.

RDLS 70kg

5 5 5 5

Solid RDLs with a good ham stretch will up it to 75kg next week

Bulgarian split squats 20kg DBs

R 8 10 8
L 8 9 8

Very hard but very good may consider 22kg’s next week. Not sure, felt abit wobbly on the first and last set which is probably why I missed the reps.

Goblet squat 22kg + reverse crunch 2kg support

10 10 10 (for both)

was very hard, but may have to consider taking my core more seriously from a strength perspective.

Leg Press 110kg

24,12,7,7

only got off the machine between the 3rd and 4th sets just wanted the 50reps, this destroyed me

Enjoyed the afternoon workout, felt a little wobbly and ill after…thats when you know its a good leg session.

Friday - Chest and back

Was out till 11.30 didnt get to sleep til 12.00 and then forgot my alarm was set for 5.30 and not 6.00…got up anyway and wasnt anticipating a good session.

Strangely was mega pumped in the car on the way, felt very aggressive and was looking like it would go alright. Got to the gym at 6.20…10mins before it opened by the time I actually got in there the fire was gone so I decided to take a volume approach to make the most out of the day…I wasnt going to hit any records.

DB Bench 34kg

10 7 6 5 5+2

35 reps but felt weak towards the end.

Wide Pull ups 5 3 / +15kg assist 6
Pull up 4 2 / +15kg assist 7
Chin up 5 4 / +15kg assist 7
Narrow chin 4 3 / +15kg assist 7

Took a page out of the recent back training article. The reps I got felt good technique wise but I was feeling weak.

Dip BW

Wide 11 9 8
Narrow 9 7 5

Alterated wide and narrow, nothing of note here

DB row 30kg

12 10 9 9

Good reps actually probably best exercise of the day

Fly 50lb

15 13 11

Reverse fly 35lb

14 11 10

Lighter than usual but more reps felt good contraction in the back.

Generally just a weak day, probably should have not gone ah well cant win them all. Really wish I could have maintained that “pump” I felt on the way there. Gym was hot so once again felt a little wobbly and ill after…its becoming a habit.

Might experiment with a smaller breakfast as I definitely felt the stomach digesting part way through the DB press work taking blood from where it needed to be. Back to the gym monday, will definitly hit some records next week.

Saturday - off day

  • Slacking again with the updates

Nothing to report here, was a bit slack with the diet, had a 6" subway and a thai takeaway with lots of special fried rice, ah screw it…cals = important.

Looking at getting Laser corrective surgery for my eyes…could be potentially looking at two weeks off heavy lifting…what am i going to do???