I would adjust your expectations based on how far along you are in your training journey. I don’t expect that type of gains this time around, but it is much different than my current training style, so who knows? Last time I ran it, it was about 4 years ago.
I will say that the weights will probably look to low. The program ends up being quite a lot of volume though when you add it all up.
If you have never done speed work, you may get quite a bit of bang for your buck there. That kinda depends on the person though. Generally it seems to help people that naturally have explosive power but don’t train it much. It doesn’t seem to help slower people as much. Like if you have it, you can train it and get better, but if you don’t training it yields very little.
BB Curls:
4x15-20 45,45, 65, 95
Idk what I was doing with here. In my defense 2 dudes were literally about to fight about religion on the gym floor lmao
Cable Curls:
4x12-15 20,20,25,25
Increased calories back to 3000 as some solid advice has been put out that the least amount of change to diet with the greatest change is optimal. The idea being this will save me room to progress as I plateau.
First off my guy, I’ve been checking out your workouts…you are a tank. You said our lifts are similar and even if I have 120lbs on you, I now take that as a compliment haha (I get the context was different). You have a much higher intensity than I do in my schedule. As in, your volume is much greater than mine reps x weight. Is these something I am missing as far as more reps less weight. Like instead of 5x5 or 4x12 should I try 1x20-30?
Right now, I’m in a VERY high volume phase of training. My goal is weight gain, and I’m using volume as a driver of that. I train VERY high volume, it force metabolic adaptations, I eat to facilitate to adaptations, and I grow. Were I trying to lose fat, I drop volume down VERY low and up my intensity (in the classic sense: percentage of 1rm) instead. Such a style of training poses less metabolic demand, so less food is consumed and weight is dropped.
The way I’m structuring my current training is 12 weeks of gaining, 7 weeks of a diet break (not weight loss: just no longer force feeding), 12 weeks of gaining. From there, I will assess. I’m in my 6th week of that second 12 weeks of gaining, and so far I’m not fat, so I might just do another diet break rather than a specific fat loss phase and then do another 12 weeks of gaining and go from there.
So it’s similar to bulk / cut? Your workout demands more calories and you eat to fulfill that need, and in order to prevent too much fat, you “cut”, rinse and repeat. Is that accurate?
The thing with a bulk and cut is that, in those situations, physique goals are driving training. My way is opposite: training is driving physique transformations.
High training volume is necessary in order for me to become stronger. This is the accumulation phase of training. Others refer to it as basebuilding, and there are a few other names as well, but the idea is the same: intensity is low, volume is high, base is built broad.
BUT, accumulation isn’t infinitely sustainable. You have to “up the dose” the whole time. For some, yes, that’s literal in terms of anabolics, but I’m referring to the dosage of volume and, with it, the dosage of food. Eventually, it reaches a point of non-sustainability. My training demand will exceed my ability to recover. Typically, it’s y digestion that taps out, but sometimes it’s simply a matter of time. I just don’t have the necessary time to dedicate to cooking, cleaning, eating and eliminating all the food necessary to grow. If you ever watch Brian Shaw post his eating videos, he’ll talk about how eating is the job and training is the “fun”.
Once that level of non-sustainability is reached OR if a competition comes up that I’m particularly interested in doing well in, volume is reduced and, with it, intensity increase. Food intake goes down to match the volume, and I either maintain or lose weight depending on the severity of the restriction. Fat gets reduced if it’s impacting athletic performance, but in truth, I’ve been “underfat” for a bit, and needed to add some back on to be able to get back to where I needed to be performance-wise. It’s been a balancing act for me.
Is there some literature for my level of lifting for me to read? I’ve read Encyclopedia of Strength but it’s so much information I can’t decide what’s applicable for me
I also HIGHLY recommend Paul Kelso’s “Powerlifting Basics Texas Style”, Marty Gallagher’s “Purposeful Primitive”, John McCollum’s “The Complete Keys to Progress”, Jim Wendler’s “5/3/1 Forever”, Randall Strossen’s “Super Squats”, and Chad Wesley’s Smith’s “Purposeful Pursuit of Strength”. Josh Bryant’s “Metroflex Gym’s Powerbuilding Basics” is also a pretty solid “all in one” manual.
Absolutely dude! It’s a process. I’ve been at it for 22 years and I’m still learning stuff. ANd reading is cool, but without doing it’s just trivia. As Ms Frizzle said “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!”