Glad you like the squats man. They get brutal fast but they’ll blow your quads up in size just as fast.
[quote]jtownlax wrote:
Cool log man. Diet soda should be your best friend LOL im addicted to it. Drinking BCAA throughout the day should be great for your, iv’e actually heard of people gaining like 5 pounds in 2 weeks just from BCAA’s. I also think dropping alcohol would help you tremendously . I’ll be following[/quote]
Thanks man. I would drink diet soda more if I could bare its taste… hah. High fructose corn syrup just makes regular soda taste so goodddd. No artificial sweetener can compare! D:
I would be very pleased with +5lbs in 2 weeks from BCAA’s but I don’t expect it because I’m dropping lots of sugar calories as well. Who knows though? I just have to wait until my BCAA’s get here next week (damn you UPS for not working weekends! DAMN YOU!)
[quote]Ct. Rockula wrote:
Glad you like the squats man. They get brutal fast but they’ll blow your quads up in size just as fast.
[/quote]
I believe it , man. The range of motion feels big (in a different way than other movements) and I can already see more separation in my quads. It’s pretty cool and I look forward to doing them again today or tomorrow.
Yesterday I did: Back/Delts
V-grip pulldowns - tried my luck at 170 and got 170x5, 170x4.
DB press - lulz. Maybe one day I’ll post numbers for it?
V-grip horizontal rows - thinking about dropping this movement because it doesn’t feel effective anymore. Maybe I’ll try a regular pulldown bar next time. I feel like DB rows give me the same and more, too.
DB partial lateral raises - 45x16,45x12 - I love these. Trap and delt pump like crazy. I may be a little too conservative with weight choice but oh vwell.
DB rows - 110x9, 110x8 - it is amazing how much chalk helps on these.
Over/Backs - lololol - 110x5, 5 - these suck. Why are they so hard? For real.
Rear-delt flyes (lying on incline bench) - 30x16, 30x10
Shruggles - 220x 10, 220x10 , 220x 10, 220x10, 220x10 - decided to do my shrugs 5 x 10. My grip is taking too long to catch up and I thought that’d be a great way to build it up. I’ll add 10lbs every week until I can’t get 10 reps on each set. I don’t think my traps would shrink any anyway and might actually grow since much more reps are being done (even though I am used to heavier weight).
Today I ended up doing:
Chest/biceps:
Incline BP - 180x3, 180x3
Preacher curls
Incline flyes - 60x9,8
DB hammer curls - 45x10,9
Pin press
Incline curls
Not much to brag about but I’m satisfied with the progress I have made on Incline bp in the last few months. I could barely get 150x3 just a few months ago. Now I just want to get into the 200s for reps.
Been super busy lately… haven’t really had spare time for anything. Dislike dislike dislike
Yesterday I did:
Legs:
Rockula hack squats - worked up to 230x6,5,5 - gotta remain conscious of my hips shooting up before my legs because that makes it substantially easier but does not do what one would want from the movement.
Zercher squats - fml missed 300 fucking again. My arms dropped and it rolled down my forearms. Ow? Ow. Considering doing these from the top rather than bottom-up. Mebe there be difference? Hmmmph.
SDL’s - 130x10,10,10 - did these in a way to replicate touching my toes. I stood on the cinder block and the bar was just above toe level. Bend down, grab bar, push out hips, and go back up. Oh, ze burn. Ze burn. Ze burn.
Leg curls = fail. Could not do. Hamstrings were deadddd. I think I did 90x3… lol
Walking lunges - 60x10,9
Gastroc raises - 65xme, 250x10, 10
Tonight was:
Arms
Preacher curls - I have been able to add 5lbs and keep getting 10 reps every day I do these so that’s been kewl. Most probably simply because I have never done this movement before.
CGBP off pins - 180x3, 200x miserable grinding 1 - fuck dem pins - without stretch reflex CGBP is ow 
DB Hammer curls - 47.5x9, 47.5x7
Ez-Overhead extensions - 85x10, 85x8
DB incline curls
Tricep rope pushdowns
CoC grippers - L: 80x10, 140x0, 100 x6, 100x4, 80x18
R: 80x10, 140x2, 100 x10, 100x8
So because I trashed Back/Hammies day I came up with a new split.
Legs
Back/Delts
Off
Off
Legs
Chest/Abs/Soleus
Arms
Which would mean I would do legs again tommorow which is pretty fml but oh well. I must commit to thine new split.
Ramadan, Ramadan go away. Come again some other day/year/never…
Lulz - hey holmies. It has been a few days… I’ve been busy. I’ve still been training but just haven’t had time to log it on here. I’ve been feeling pretty ‘good’ lately and I think I look leaner while weighing a little more. I think that may be due to green tea supplements I’ve been taking upon waking with water or I just got lucky with a growth period.
It’s an ‘off’ day today but I plan on at least moving around sometime today after 8:30. I’ll probably throw some punches, kicks, elbows, and knees at my heavy bag. That’s always the most enjoyable form of cardio for me. That or sprinting - but sprinting is a lot harder these days.
I did 100m’s and 400m’s back in high school all the time but it takes much more effort for me now to maintain my top speed. I’m a fuckload heavier - 40lbs or so and I have a tiny frame. I always wonder what my 100m time is still as I was fairly ok at them. 400m’s were my real strength back in the day but now I just don’t know if I could even complete one.
My in-laws are driving me insane as always. It’s Ramadan which means it’s time to harass krazykoukides constantly about reading the Quran, praying 5 times, praying the hour/hour and a half Ramadan prayer every night, etc…
It’s gotten to the point where I decided if they keep it up I will light into them like nobody has ever before. If they don’t like it - none of them will ever see me again - I’ll go north.
So here is the routine I had started doing:
Legs 1:
Hack squats
Zercher Squats
Toe-touch SDL’s
Leg curls
Walking Lunges
Gastroc Raises
Back/Delts:
V-grip pulldowns
1-arm DB press
Partial lateral raises
DB row
Over/Back’s
Cable rows
Rear delt flyes
BB shrugs
Off
Off
Legs2 - Quick day:
Hack squats
Toe-touch SDL’s
Gastroc raises
Chest/Abs/Soleus:
Incline bp
Incline flyes
Decline bp
Pec minor pullovers
Roman chair sit ups
Seated BB calf raises
Arms:
CGBP
Preacher curl
Overhead Ez-Extensions
DB hammer curl
Tricep pushdowns
Incline DB curl
CoC Grip trainers
It seems fairly solid to me and is pretty much what I have been doing. Just some minor tweaks and the destruction of Back/Hammies and Shoulders/triceps.
Any suggestions are welcome.
Sweet blog/title - following.
Omg… abs are starting to appear.
My camera sucks but you can still see them faintly. Also, the right side of my abs tendon placement is almost non-existent… I have a realll thin looking ab on top and then a triangle type ab. Only 2 abs on the right side and you can’t tell in the pic anyway.
edit: thanks for joining maximus!
Brother
We need to fix your routine.
You do not need an arm day. That’s a waste of a day really. You can hit your arms after your main training with a few sets of a couple different lifts
You should do some tbar and reverse grip bb rows on your back day too.
You should probably rearrange this split like this
Monday…chest back biceps
Tuesday legs shoulders triceps abs
Thursday chest back and biceps
Friday legs shoulders triceps and abs
This way gives you more frequency…ya know its good for your growth.
This also allows you to specify areas of your legs and chest…ie upper chest on Monday and lower on Thursday…quads on Tuesday with hacks and zerchers then hams on Friday with deads rdls and stuff
[quote]Ct. Rockula wrote:
Brother
We need to fix your routine.
You do not need an arm day. That’s a waste of a day really. You can hit your arms after your main training with a few sets of a couple different lifts[/quote]
I think you’re totally right, man, on both accounts. I’ve reached a point where I have grown extremely discontent with my routine. Plus, if I could get a decent picture you’d be able to see that my arms by far over power my chest and back. There’s truly no reason to give them more attention when there are other parts of me that need far more attention.
[quote]
You should do some tbar and reverse grip bb rows on your back day too.[/quote]
I hadn’t even thought of reverse grip anything, lol. I tried reverse grip cable rows today just for the heck of it and it blew my mind how much weaker I am with a reverse grip. Truly an area I never thought of.
I must admit I am hesitant to try higher frequency training [again]. I’ve put on a solid 12lbs this year doing whatever I’ve been doing and I’m even leaner. That’s a huge gain for me. I stalled the year before with higher frequency but, I did probably do it like a tard.
I am truly turning my nutrition around though and I have been ready to get to the next level for a long time. I think I’ll give it a try.
You’re helpful as heck man, thanks a lot.
And to those who have helped me before and are slapping themselves in the forehead… lulz, sorry holmies. It’s a miracle I haven’t drank myself to death already… just be glad I actually stick to picking up iron multiple times a week.
So I’ve decided I will be doing an Upper/Lower split.
I’ve never done just an upper/lower split before and I think if I keep it simple it’ll work out pretty good for a while. I liked Rockula’s idea but I think I would totally prefer to keep legs by themselves.
I want to do something like Modok used to advocate:
Upper A (Chest, Back, Delts, Bis, Tris) 2 exercises for big groups, 1 for small
Lower A (All ze legs) 1 hard and heavy exercise for quads and hammies, 1 for calves
Off
Off
Upper B
Lower BB
Off
Perhaps eventually eliminating one of the off days but for now I think that seems good.
Today I did an experimental Upper day (to make up my mind on this split):
Incline BP
Incline flyes (redundant?)
V-grip pulldowns
Reverse grip cable rows
DB press
Preacher curls
Ez-Overhead extensions
First thing I learned is 2 top sets per exercise will not work for me with this type of split. I was toast after the 3rd exercise and the rest of the workout was limited by my diminished energy levels. lol. So I have come to the conclusion that 1 top set per exercise (assuming I get a decent amount of reps) would probably be best.
I tend to want to add in more exercises (like rear delt flyes) to make sure I hit every muscle imaginable but I’m really going to attempt to keep it as simple as possible. My only concern still is traps - where would you put shrugs? on one of the upper days? both? should I worry about them? etc, etc
Sup?
Upper A - Width:
Incline bp - worked up to 185x3 (love it… couldn’t even get 180 x 1 back in february)
Incline flyes - worked up to 60x10
Pullups - 10, 25x6 - bleck. Haven’t done these in a long while… and I felt it.
V-grip pulldowns - worked up to 170x5
Heavy partial lateral raises - worked up to 50x15
DB hammer curls - worked up to 47.5x10
Tricep rope pushdowns - worked up to 70x11
BB shrugs - worked up to 270x10 (mostly focusing on grip with these right now… traps is not the weakness)
So today I only did one working set per movement but I feel like two would be better. I guess I’ll just wait to see how I recover.
My body weight is hovering around 138 now and 140 easily with a full belly. The BCAA’s just might be helping me put on weight. I almost have an overweight BMI again… yay! and I’m leaner this time around too. Quad separation is starting to appear again… if they get a lil bigger and leaner I’ll post a pic of them sometime.
Legs A -
Hack squats - worked up to 240x10
Straight leg-dead lifts - worked up to 150x10 (allowing my lower back to adapt slowly, plus my glutes and hammies still get hit good too)
DB walking lunges - worked up to 65x8
Seated calf raises - lulzzzz my new calf raise machine is weird. The entire seat pivots and the steel tube the weight stack connects to is like 4 feet long. It makes the weight feel alot heavier than normal.
Gastroc raises - pbbbtttt. 250x16 (had to put the bar down after 12 though for a grip reset)
2 sets just seems better and I will start doing 2 working sets. I was just real tired today after staying up 36 hours.
8/08/2012
Upper B - Thickness:
Decline bp - worked up to 200x3 (thought I would be stronger on these… but I guess that proves my chest gets over-powered by my shoulders/tri’s)
pec minor pullovers - 65x8
DB rows - 110x8 (did these a lil differently)
Reverse grip cable rows - 140x10
DB Press - 65’s x 6
Preacher curls - trolololol x 9
French press - 90x10 with a pause at bottom of each rep
Incline shrugs - fail. Never done them before and they felt freaking weird.
I decided just to roll with one working set each movement. I’m aiming to lift at the very minimum every other day and will probably have stretches without breaks in-between days. I’ve never trained like this before so I need to learn how my body handles it… so I’m not gonna stress over the small stuff. I’m just gonna lift often and see how it goes.
Well I thought I’d post an update since it’s been a long, long time.
I ended up ditching the Upper/Lower split. I could not stand it. I hate training like that. I went back to a one bodypart per day split.
I struggled with massive amounts of nausea and difficulty keeping food down - it turns out it was drinking green tea (no sugar) upon waking. I threw up breakfast a few times a week for about a month before I finally discovered that some people are intolerant of the tannins in green tea. I also discovered some brands are far worse than others (Bigelow tea kills me, but Carrington tea leaves me feeling fine). A minuscule amount of sugar seems to off-set the nauseating effects of the tannins as well
I lost some weight and strength because of that but I’m glad I figured it out (plus I leaned out a lot from drinking no soda and throwing up all the time, haha). I’ll be going to the doctor next week because I suspect I have GERD as well (which I suspect was exaggerating the green tea thing). It kind of sucks because I was finally on the right track putting on muscle but that’s life.
I’m adopting a 5/3/1 approach to my training because I am very susceptible to mental burn outs and I realize it is probably the best method for my continued long-term progress. I plan on focusing on 5 ‘strength’ lifts followed by bodybuilding style ‘assistance’ lifts.
My 5 strength lifts will be: Incline bench-press, military press, close-grip bench-press, front squat, and conventional deadlift.
So… not exactly wendler’s 5/3/1 program but I know it will work if I leave my ego out of it and eat everything in sight. I originally was going to run CGBP like a regular assistance lift but I know I prefer doing low reps with CGBP so why not do 5/3/1 with that too? It’ll work.
I’ll try to post a new picture up that my wife took of me last week just to give you all an idea of where I am and then I’ll try to check in again in about a month or so.
So here’s the picture my wife took last week.
I’ve lost some weight but I think I am still starting to look ok.
I would say my ‘strength’ would be my traps but I’d like to improve everywhere. I want to see how I look in another 30 solid pounds.
nice traps, solid bitching
Those are some serious Traps…
Thanks guys - do you really mean it though? lol
I am flexing them pretty hard there.
Can’t tell if srs becuz I want moar musclez