[quote]london1 wrote:
hey, been following this site for years now but never bothered signing up. Im 205lbs at about 13% right now, aiming to get to single figure bodyfat at a similar weight over the next 6 months.
Im a bit late with following your journal, but ive tried to read through a majoritie of it over the last few weeks.
All i can say is truely amazing progress, a real inspiration!
I have a question for you, regarding going to failure on your sets. What are your thoughts to this subject. Ive been training for around 4 years now and the up until about a year ago I used to go to failure on every set. Nowadays, I generally only hit failure on my pump/hypertrophy sets (8 reps or above).
Also what are your thoughts to the frequency with which you should be hitting the muscles? Im currently on cutting calories and am struggling to hit the muscle more than once every 6 days, as I feel im not properly recovered, but am not sure how much of this is me mentally restricting myself rather than physically.
Thanks[/quote]
Thanks for dropping in and the comments!
I usually will take sets to failure once every other training session, but I would much rather leave 1-2 reps in the tank.
I currently train the big muscle groups (chest, back, legs) once a week and train arms twice, and calves 2-3 times. It really depends on the volume you are doing. I think you could certainly hit a muscle group twice a week if you didn’t do a ton of volume on each day and kept the intensity high, but I seem to do better keeping the volume pretty high and hitting each muscle group very intensely once a week. If you are training with a lot of volume, you probably simply arent recovered, but I’m not sure what you’re training days look like…
Hope that helps!
EVan, what’s considered ‘high volume’? I do Chest mon, Back tues, Arms wed, Legs thurs, Shoulders fri, HIIT sat, off sun. I usually do 16-24 sets each day. I also go to failure quite often. Is that considered high volume?
[quote]hlss09 wrote:
EVan, what’s considered ‘high volume’? I do Chest mon, Back tues, Arms wed, Legs thurs, Shoulders fri, HIIT sat, off sun. I usually do 16-24 sets each day. I also go to failure quite often. Is that considered high volume? [/quote]
Well, there is no real definition of high volume, but I would say that if you are doing 16-24 worksets, that is pretty high volume.
5.29.11
Alternating Dumbbell Curls (relatively strict, palm forward the entire curl motion)
30 x 10 LR
45 x 8 LR
55 x 8 LR
65 x 6 LR, 5 LR
45 x 10 LR
Close Grip Bench Press (5/3/1 principles)
Bar x 10
95 x 8
135 x 8
205 x 5
230 x 5
265 x 11(meh)
Barbell Curls
95 x 10
115 x 8
135 x 8
Dropset
155 x 3 to 115 x 8 to 95 x 5 (3 seconds negative), 95 x 6
Dead Stop EZ Bar Extensions
50 + bar x 10
100 + bar x 8
120 + bar x 8
100 + bar x 10, 9
Fun Set
- Preacher Curls/Rope Pushdowns
8/8
-
-
- Single Arm Dumbbell Extensions
8/8/8/8
-
- Cable 1 1/2 Curls
8/8/8/7/8
-
- Dumbbell Skulls
6/8/7/6/7/8
Triceps Stretch
60 seconds each arm
Biceps Stretch
60 seconds
Very solid arm day…getting back into close grip bench press, didn’t feel great today, but next week will be better…arms looked massive today, which is great because that means they’re improving : ).
Yeah I guess, it works for me though! I’m also eating like 300-500g carbs a day now, so I’ll be fine! You’re strong as shit BTW. I thought I was the only one doing high rep DLs. I usually go for the 6-10 rep range, and most people say that’s stupid becasue DLs should be in the 1-3 rep range…
5.30.11
Standing Elevated Smith Calf Raises (2 seconds negative, stretch, pause at top)
135 x 8
185 x 8
225 x 8
275 x 8
315 x 8
365 x 8
Dropset
405 x 8 to 315 x 8 to 225 x 8
Back Squats
135 x 10
225 x 10
315 x 5
365 x 5
425 x 12 (PR)
Leg Curls
80 x 20
110 x 12
155 x 8 to 125 x 6 to 95 x 10 to 110 x 30 partials
Leg Press + Bands (3 seconds negative)
3 pps x 10
6 pps x 8
8 pps x 10
10 pps x 8
12 pps x 8 (PR) drop to 7 pps x 40 (wow!)
Single Leg Press + bands
3 pps x 8 LR
3 pps x 10 LR to 2 pps x 10 LR to 1 pps x 10 LR
Had to cut it short there, but overall, best leg day in months.
I got a video of the 425 x 12, it felt great…leg press also felt amazing, and was a big PR…
BW was 216.5 this morning at the gym.
Holy hell man, awesome leg day! Insane PR’s! 7ppsx40??! Whattttt
[quote]pbclax1 wrote:
Holy hell man, awesome leg day! Insane PR’s! 7ppsx40??! Whattttt[/quote]
Haha ya it was an insane day…I was doing a Dropset and got to 20 with the 7 pps + doubled minis and just decided to go further…to 40.
Back squat was the most insane…425 x 12 at 216 bw is an all-time PR at any bodyweight. So is the 12 pps, which I did 6 of at 230 Bw, and that was without the bands!
[quote]hlss09 wrote:
Yeah I guess, it works for me though! I’m also eating like 300-500g carbs a day now, so I’ll be fine! You’re strong as shit BTW. I thought I was the only one doing high rep DLs. I usually go for the 6-10 rep range, and most people say that’s stupid becasue DLs should be in the 1-3 rep range…[/quote]
Ya, I enjoy doing DLs in all rep ranges, I’ll even go up to 15-30 with around 405 if I’m feeling up to it…most people don’t like to do high rep DLs or Squats for one simple reason: it’s too hard : ).
[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
[quote]pbclax1 wrote:
Holy hell man, awesome leg day! Insane PR’s! 7ppsx40??! Whattttt[/quote]
Haha ya it was an insane day…I was doing a Dropset and got to 20 with the 7 pps + doubled minis and just decided to go further…to 40.
Back squat was the most insane…425 x 12 at 216 bw is an all-time PR at any bodyweight. So is the 12 pps, which I did 6 of at 230 Bw, and that was without the bands![/quote]
That is crazy man! Theres something about the burn on leg days that I love though…haha
5.31.11
Bike HIIT
10 minute warmup
5 intervals: 20 seconds as hard as possible, 4 minutes 40 seconds easy
10 minutes cooldown
Ab circuits
4 exercises, 15 minutes
Some cardio and abs.
6.1.11
Decline Bench Press
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 10
275 x 5
315 x 3
340 x 3
275 x 8 (not to failure)
Incline Dumbbell Flies
50 x 10
70 x 8
85 x 8
Dropset (each set taken to failure)
100 x 8 to 65 x 7 to 40 x 7
HS Incline Press
1 pps x 10
2 pps x 10
3 pps x 8 to 5
Dead Stop + Band Stretch
2 pps x 8 + 8
1 pps + 25 x 8 + 8
1 pps + 25 x 10 + 10
TRX Pushups and Body Flies
3 sets Pushups to failure
3 sets body flies to failure
(ouch)
Single Arm Flat Press (no hand stabilization)
100 x 8 LR
100 x 5 LR
(just for fun)
DC Chest Stretch
80 x 75 seconds
Rope Pushdowns/Dip Machine
10/10
10/10
10/10
20 minutes Post Workout Bike
Solid Chest/tris and cardio day…updated pics to come this weekend.
6.2.11
Smith Elevated Calf Raise (3 seconds negative)
Ascending (no rest between sets)
135 x 10 to 185 x 8 to 215 x 8 to 235 x 8 to 255 x 8 to 265 x 8 drop to 185 x failure
Rack Chins (slow, stretch at bottom)
45 x 10
65 x 8
85 x 8
100 x 7 (PR)
Single Arm Dead Stop HS Horizontal Rows (hold at contraction)
2 pps x 10
3 pps x 8
4 pps x 8
5 pps x 6 to 4 pps x 10 to 2 pps x 50 to 1 pps x 40
Perfect Pulldown with Stretch
100 x 10
120 x 8
140 x 8
160 x 8 to 120 x 8 to 70 x 8
HS High Row (12-9-7-5-3-1 holds)
1 pps x 6
2 pps x 6 (ouch)
Back Raises (flex lower back at top) (so brutal when you do them right)
25 x 20
25 x 20
25 x 20
Straight Arm Rope Pulldown
2 x 20
Kill Set: lower as slow as possible and try to resist for 60 seconds (made it to 42 today)
Pretty brutal back day…Deadlifts just weren’t feeling it today, I’ll give em’ a try next week. Stress is a bit high right now, as I take the LSAT on Monday, but after that, it’s smooth sailing.
6.2.11
Smith Elevated Calf Raise (3 seconds negative)
Ascending (no rest between sets)
135 x 10 to 185 x 8 to 215 x 8 to 235 x 8 to 255 x 8 to 265 x 8 drop to 185 x failure
Rack Chins (slow, stretch at bottom)
45 x 10
65 x 8
85 x 8
100 x 7 (PR)
Single Arm Dead Stop HS Horizontal Rows (hold at contraction)
2 pps x 10
3 pps x 8
4 pps x 8
5 pps x 6 to 4 pps x 10 to 2 pps x 50 to 1 pps x 40
Perfect Pulldown with Stretch
100 x 10
120 x 8
140 x 8
160 x 8 to 120 x 8 to 70 x 8
HS High Row (12-9-7-5-3-1 holds)
1 pps x 6
2 pps x 6 (ouch)
Back Raises (flex lower back at top) (so brutal when you do them right)
25 x 20
25 x 20
25 x 20
Straight Arm Rope Pulldown
2 x 20
Kill Set: lower as slow as possible and try to resist for 60 seconds (made it to 42 today)
Pretty brutal back day…Deadlifts just weren’t feeling it today, I’ll give em’ a try next week. Stress is a bit high right now, as I take the LSAT on Monday, but after that, it’s smooth sailing.
good luck on the LSAT. How early did you start studyign, and what did you do to prepare? I have that to look forward to as well…
[quote]hlss09 wrote:
good luck on the LSAT. How early did you start studyign, and what did you do to prepare? I have that to look forward to as well…[/quote]
I’ll do a whole writeup later, but I have been studying for about 3 months now.
6.3.11
Smith Elevated Calf Raise
135 x 45 seconds
135 x 45 seconds
135 x 45 seconds
(Brutal technique)
Standing Barbell Military Press (press from chest every rep, no leg drive)
95 x 5
135 x 5
165 x 5
185 x 5, 3
165 (90 percent of heavy set) x 5x3
(doing a little something different here)
Strict Standing Dumbbell Laterals
25 x 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 to 15 (looser form)
Looser Form Laterals
40 x 8, 45 x 8
Partial Laterals
75 x 35, 35, 35 (final set too sloppy)
60 x 35
Pec Deck Rear Delts
2 x 10
Delt Destroyer
60 x 60 to 30 x 30 to 10 x 10 full reps
Barbell Shrugs
225 x 20
315 x 20
405 x 15
495 x 10
545 x 8 to 405 x 15
20 minutes steady-state step mill
Very strong shoulder day. I am experimenting with the military presses with not going to failure and really perfecting this exercise. 185 x 5 and then 3 were not to failure at all, but I stopped when the rep speed slowed…I will be doing something like this every shoulder day as I really feel strict military presses unlike any other shoulda pressing movement. High volume laterals felt great.
Updated pics will be in my “First Contest” thread in the BBing forum tonite or tomorrow morning.
6.4.11
Bike HIIT
10 minute warmup
5 total sprints: 20 seconds as hard as possible, 4 min 40 seconds steady state
11 minute cooldown
Lat Pulldown Standing Rope Crunch
3 x 8 front (no rest)
3 x 8 (front, side, side)
4 x 10 (mixed)
Solid cardio session…Arms tomorrow.
[quote]hlss09 wrote:
nice, best of luck. [/quote]
Thanks bro.