Whats up, I’m 17 and have only been lifting seriously since April. So far I have seen 25 pound gains with around 95% of it being all muscle. The only reason why it was that much was because I was reading articles from various different websites on how to gain muscle.
Well let me start out with my goals. I’m looking to gain alot of strength. I don’t know if I’m posting in the right section because I’m not looking for size (although I do expect it to come after I build strength).
My maxes are pretty pathetic at least I’ve made some progress
Squat 285
Deadlift 285
Bench 200
My training program consists of going every other day with alternating upper and lower body days. Heres an example
Monday: Bench and rows 2 different variations for each
Wednesday: Squats, lunges and calves.
Friday: Dips, Chin-ups, Upright row, military press
Sunday, my favorite day Deadlifts and reverse hyper
Now my reps and sets will vary from day to day. I usually do one warm-up set with 10 reps then do 6 more sets of 5-4-3-3-2-1 Working up to my 1 rep max.
For anyone that knows programs it looks a lot like Chad Waterbury’s ABBH program except I kind of changed it around for more of strength gains (even though i don’t really know what I’m doing).
My nutrition is pretty consistent of around 4800 calories of around 45% carbs 30% fat and 25% protein. I’m trying to raise my protein but its like impossible because i cant seem to get as many calories in without taking away from my fat intake.
If anyone can help me out changing a couple of things up or just some advice on how to attain maximal strength levels I would greatly appreciate it.
first - your lifts are not pathetic at all, especially for your age and experience - so well done on that.
Second - your youth might help you deal with what looks like 4 pretty intense days a week training, i’m not sure you need all of it but if you dont feel worn out and are still making small increments in strength every couple of weeks i suppose you may be fine.
Third - strength athletes, as i understand it, dont look for 1 rep maxes each week but cycle up to specific goals and do so with set/rep schemes such as 5x5. There’s a strength sports forum here you may like to read.
Fourth - all those calories, assuming it’s accurate is netting you a lot of protein but if you must have more you could drop 5% carbs and gain 5% protein i suppose, not sure if that would make a huge difference.
FINALLY! someone who listens and does stuff and sees the benefit! 10 points for effort and 15 points for your avatar!
warning: you will one day hit a plateu and not be able to continue like you are, you might need to do a max only once a week for example. no problems but be aware when you get there, when you stall, don’t keep pushing instead back off a bit for a few weeks.
Your program sounds really cool. You have some general good ideas and you’re clearly going balls to the wall with your training.
Question: are you shooting for 1RM for every lift? Or just the first one each day?
If every lift, you might want to change it to just one a day and just lift heavy for the other exercises. I’d be worried about the feasibility of doing a real 1RM and the safety for things like rows, lunges, military press.
Also, Louie Simmons (google westside barbell and read all of his articles, you need to know his shit in and out if you want strength) talks about “Conjugate Method”, a form of periodization for your main lifts you’re trying to max on to avoid CNS fatigue. If you max out on a lift for 3 weeks in a row or more, you may find your gains stop from neural fatigue (maybe less of a problem for you because of age, but there’s still a limit). Change up the exercise you max out every 2 weeks. Like for bench do incline or board press or lockouts (just the last part of the motion).
If you want a set template that works on strength levels with max effort work look up Westside for Skinny Bastards or Westside for bodybuilders. I wouldn’t, unlike the articles, shy away from shooting for 1RM for your max effort days (they usually recommend 3 IIRC).
That 5/4/3/2/1 method is very intense, even more intense than the classic 5x5, but a lot easier than Thibs’ 5-4-3-2-1 method. I suggest you use it only on your first exercise and use a less intense rep scheme like 3 sets of 6-8 reps on your other exercises.
[quote]TheBlade wrote:
Your program sounds really cool. You have some general good ideas and you’re clearly going balls to the wall with your training.
Question: are you shooting for 1RM for every lift? Or just the first one each day?
If every lift, you might want to change it to just one a day and just lift heavy for the other exercises. I’d be worried about the feasibility of doing a real 1RM and the safety for things like rows, lunges, military press.
Also, Louie Simmons (google westside barbell and read all of his articles, you need to know his shit in and out if you want strength) talks about “Conjugate Method”, a form of periodization for your main lifts you’re trying to max on to avoid CNS fatigue. If you max out on a lift for 3 weeks in a row or more, you may find your gains stop from neural fatigue (maybe less of a problem for you because of age, but there’s still a limit). Change up the exercise you max out every 2 weeks. Like for bench do incline or board press or lockouts (just the last part of the motion).
If you want a set template that works on strength levels with max effort work look up Westside for Skinny Bastards or Westside for bodybuilders. I wouldn’t, unlike the articles, shy away from shooting for 1RM for your max effort days (they usually recommend 3 IIRC).
Best of luck! Your progress is very good.[/quote]
I’m only working up to max for the big lifts. The other lifts i usually do something like a 5x5 or a 3x10. Thank you for the compliment and the information, about to look up Louie Simmons right now.
Deadlifts and reverse hyper