Exercise Selection

Training
1

OK, I started doing big beyond belief this week and wanted to get the opinion of others with more experience on my exercise selection. I work out at home and have the following equipment. Smith machine, 7 foot Olympic bar, pec dec, pull up bar, lat pull down, cable cross over, pulleys on the bottom to do curls etc. squat stand, adjustable dumbbells, ez bar, 4 foot bar, rope attachment, ez bar attachment, 500 lbs of weight

I am doing the 4 day a week program for BBB.

Day 1 13-15 reps

(3)Barbell rows

(3)Pec dec

(3)Barbell curl

(3)Standing calf raise

Day 2 13-15 reps

(3)Over and Backs

(3)Tricep Rope attachment

(3)Seated Leg Curls

(3)Kneeling Cable Crunches

Day 3 10-12 Reps

(3)Front Squat

(3)Decline Smith

(3)Wide grip pullups

(2)Smith Calf Raise

(1)6 Ways

(1) Hammer Curls

(1) Reverse Grip Tricep Push down

Day 4 8-10 Reps

(3) Meadows Rows

(3) Incline Bench

(3) Back Squat

(1) front lat raise

(2) Narrow stance Calf Raise Smith Machine

(1) Skull Crushers

(1) Dumbbell Curls

2

Looks like a clusterfuck to me

3

Any suggestions on what to change up? It’s a full body program and the sets increase each week

4

[quote]overdrive570 wrote:
Any suggestions on what to change up? It’s a full body program and the sets increase each week[/quote]
What are your goals? What are your current stats? If your goal is to do a bunch of exercises, then I wouldn’t change a thing, as you have that covered already.

5

I planned on following BBB for about 12 weeks to lose some fat and maintain muscle. The plan after 12 weeks was switch over to a program to put on muscle with as little fat as possible. Stats are 5’9" about 170lbs. fat calipers (pretty much useless) say 15%, but I’m going by what I see in the mirror

6

I’d have to agree with Ecchastang. There doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason to your exercise selection.

7

It’s based on body parts. IE day 1 do each exercise for 3 sets of 13-15 reps chest, back, arms, calf. So those were the ones that I chose based on the equipment I have

8

Did you read the book correctly? Should be useing NMA level 5-7 type exercises, not stuff like pec dec. I ran this in college, should be using barbell or DB flat & incline bench, squat, front squat, SLDL, BB row, chins, etc. They preach compounds in the book. There is also some threads already on this if you do a search.

9

I read it a few years back and don’t know what I did with the print out that I had. Most threads are people that ran it 6 days a week. Do you have a link to any threads for the 4 day routine?

10

Stick with compound movements on the 4-way. For example:

Day 1: 13-15 reps, 120 seconds rest

Back: Barbell Row(3)
Chest: Incline Dumbbell Bench Press(3)
Biceps: Preacher Curl(3)
Calves: Standing Calf(3)

Day 2: 13-15 reps, 120 seconds rest

Delts: Lateral Raise(3)
Triceps: Dips(3)
Thighs: Lying Leg Curl(1) Squat(2)
Abs: Cable Crunch(3)

Day 3: 10-12 reps, 120 seconds rest

Back: Neutral Grip Pullup(3)
Chest: Bench Press(3)
Thighs: Squat(3)
Delts: Lateral Raise(1)
Calves: Seated Calf(2)
Biceps: Pinwheel Curls(1)
Triceps: Tate Press(1)

Day 4: 8-10 reps, 120 seconds rest

Thighs: Romanian Deadlift(3)
Chest: Incline BB Press(3)
Back: Barbell Row(3)
Delts: Standing Barbell Press(1)
Triceps: Dips(1)
Biceps: Barbell Curl(1)

11

[quote]overdrive570 wrote:
I planned on following BBB for about 12 weeks to lose some fat and maintain muscle. The plan after 12 weeks was switch over to a program to put on muscle with as little fat as possible. Stats are 5’9" about 170lbs. fat calipers (pretty much useless) say 15%, but I’m going by what I see in the mirror [/quote]
Personally, I wouldn’t waste the 12 weeks doing a program that you are just going to ditch. Find a program that you can do long term, and just realize that for the first 12 weeks you will not see much mass/strength gain while on a caloric deficit. You will be farther along at that point than if you switched. Just my $0.02.

12

Yes these are very poor exercise selections for Big Beyond Belief. Definitely read the book.

13

[quote]pcdude wrote:

[quote]overdrive570 wrote:
I planned on following BBB for about 12 weeks to lose some fat and maintain muscle. The plan after 12 weeks was switch over to a program to put on muscle with as little fat as possible. Stats are 5’9" about 170lbs. fat calipers (pretty much useless) say 15%, but I’m going by what I see in the mirror [/quote]
Personally, I wouldn’t waste the 12 weeks doing a program that you are just going to ditch. Find a program that you can do long term, and just realize that for the first 12 weeks you will not see much mass/strength gain while on a caloric deficit. You will be farther along at that point than if you switched. Just my $0.02.[/quote]

I don’t know why OP is saying this anyways. Big Beyond Belief is MADE to put on size. Yeah you could do it in a deficit (I have), but that’s not it’s purpose. So to only do it for 12 weeks as a ‘cutting’ program is silly IMO, because you’re not using it for it’s full potential. Now, running it for some fat loss initially THEN to gain seems fine I would assume. Honestly just doing the program right around maintenance cals would probably give you a nice little recomp effect.

14

I used BBB last year with maintenance calories and the results were pretty good. My waist size went down almost 2 inches and I only lost 3 lbs of scale weight. Sure my exercise selection was atrocious, but it still worked (I was also taking indigo & plazma). Like I stated above, I work out at home. Can anyone recommend a good cutting program?

15

[quote]overdrive570 wrote:
I used BBB last year with maintenance calories and the results were pretty good. My waist size went down almost 2 inches and I only lost 3 lbs of scale weight. Sure my exercise selection was atrocious, but it still worked (I was also taking indigo & plazma). Like I stated above, I work out at home. Can anyone recommend a good cutting program?[/quote]

I don’t think there is such thing as a good ‘cutting’ program. What put muscle on will likely keep it when in a deficit. The difference between cutting and gaining is almost completely dietary. Only difference in training is you might hit more PR’s and be able to handle a bit more intensity/volume on higher cals.

For BBB, for the first ramp at least, use only a few exercises and just keep hitting them until you can’t progress on them. Like:

Chest: DB/BB Incline/Flat/Decline
Back: DB/BB Rows, Chins/Pulldowns
Legs: Front/Back Squats, Sumo DL’s, SLDL’s
Arms: EZ Curls, CGBP, Floor/Pin Presses, Hammer Curls
Delts: Upright Rows, Laterals, Presses (if you can handle it)

Just use stuff like that, and I think you’ll find progress is much better.

16

Maybe using bbb in a calorie deficit is asinine of me. I haven’t touched a weight since late November due to working for a commercial shipping company (we just slowed down last week). I think 8-12 weeks should be more than enough time to get down to a more reasonable body fat level and then I can focus on BBB to gain muscle. I know you said that there is no such thing as a good cutting routine, but do you have a suggestion to a good 4 day split for someone in my situation?

17

I’ve had folks recommend this to me for cutting:

18

Yeah, this is a cluster. Read any of the articles on this site by Nate Miyaki. That dude knows his stuff. Also, just spend some time searching other articles here on nutrition and start to build your knowledge base. Since you seem to be interested in “cutting” or losing body fat first, I would start there.

Good news is that you have a good home set up. I would get a bench press so you would not have to use the smith though. The BBB programs all require a good amount of calorie surplus to gain strength. You cannot “cut” on these type of programs. Just focus on diet, and look at a circuit-based training while you get to where you need to be, THEN try BBB.

Oh, and use the damn pull-up bar! Frequently!!