I was doing I,Bodybuilder for the last 8 weeks and loved CT’s Perfect Rep concept. This is the most enjoyable type of training I ever did. I workout at home so I had to switch alot of exercises and set schemes in I,B. I was forced to bastardize it to a point where I have to continue with a regular split but with the techniques used in I,B.
My current stats are :
Height: 5-8
Weight: 210lbs
BF: ~20-22%
Thighs: 27"
Upper arm : 15,5"
Waist : 41"
Lifts:
Squat: 110kg
Deadlift : 110kg
Bench : 90kg
Overhead press : 60kg
Pullups-none (could do 8 chins and 4 pullups when I was 80kg a year and a half ago, but I wasted an entire year of training with not training and eating crap)
My lower body is way too big for the stats I have in the squat, meaning I’m very neurologically inefficient and slow-twitch. I have weak hands, that explains the deadlift. As for my upper body lifts, my upper body is lagging in size compared to the lower body, especially arms and most especially forearms/hands, so I’ve got the T-Rex look going on.
The split I’ll be using will be designed like :
Day 1 : Chest/Triceps
Day 2 : Back/Biceps
Day 3 : Shoulder prehab/back activation/grip
Day 4 : Legs/Shoulders
Day 5 : Off
Repeat another 5 days
Repeat everything with new exercises
I decided to put a lighter accessory day on Day 3 to give the back some time to rest before squatting, and because I’m extremely overtrained and even more extremely depressed at the moment so I want to give this setup a run for two weeks to see if I’ll be able to recover from workout to workout. Training 3 days in a row with overlapping muscle groups and only 1 day rest would be an overkill.
Today :
Bench 55/60/65/68.5/72.5/75/76.5 x3 (Last set wasn’t explosive)
Flyes 5.5/7/8.5/9.5 x5 - MaxRep set 7x10 (Unexpectedly hard)
Close grip bench 50/55/60/63.5/65/67.5 MaxRep 55x10(Last rep had a sticking point)
Pushups - 8/6/4
I felt really bad today and these results are below my capabilities two weeks ago.
I don’t have a dip station yet but I’m trying to get one. I’ll use both bar and rings.
Day 2 - Back/Biceps
Deadlift 67.5/75/80/85/90/93.5/97.5/100 x3 (100 wasn’t dominated)
Barbell row 40/45/50/55 x5 (having trouble activating the back)
Dumbell row 12/14.5/15.5/17/18.5 x3 (same thing)
Didn’t get to the biceps because I planned my time poorly and had to go catch a bus.
Day 3
Squat- ramped up to 92,5kg x3 and then 75kg x 10 MaxRep set
Overhead press - ramped up to 50kg x3 and then 40kgx15
Capacity ramping Scott Press 14,5kg - felt nice and easy
Lateral raises - ramped up to 9.5kg and then 7kg x10
Today-
Behind the neck press - ramped up to 45kgx3 and then 40kgx17 MaxRep set
Front squat - ramped up to 68,5x3
Dumbbell overhead press - Capacity ramping with 18,5kg (this is actually a PR, while on I,BB I struggled with this, today it was easy)
Lateral raises - ramped up to 9,5kg and then 7kg x 12 MaxRep set
External rotations 2x10 with 8.5kg
Day 5 - Back/Biceps
Deadlift - ramped up to 100kg x3 (this time this set was dominative, last time it wasn’t)
Pullups - 3 sets of 10 second isometric/eccentric, 2 sets I couldn’t hold more than 5 sec. (I did these pullups outside, on a square shaped bar)
Barbell row - ramped up to 60kg x5 (wasn’t dominated,hard time activating the back) and then MaxRepped 50kg x 7
Dumbell row - Ramped up to 20,5kg x3 and MaxRepped 17kgx7
Dumbell curl - Ramped up to 18,5kg x 3 and MaxRepped 14,5kg x 9
Barbell curl - 35kg x 6,6,6 (Doing this last exercise to get the mind muscle connection when training biceps in general)
Day 6 - Chest/Triceps
Bench press - Ramped up to 80kg x 3 (Dominated) and MaxRepped 66,5kg x 15 (PR)
Pushups - 8/7/7/6 - Doing this after weight pressing and with 210-220lb of resistance provides a great stimulus for me and I’ll pack a decent amount of strength by the time I’ll be able to do 4x15 with legs elevated. A year and a half ago I could do 4x12 with feet on the ground, but that was when I was at 175 lbs.
Floor fly - Ramped up to 9.5kg x 4 (Very tough, but perfect form, without elbows touching the floor) and then MaxRepped 7kg x 20
Bench dips - 6/4/3 - by the time I got to these I wasn’t in my prime anymore so I after 3 sets I called it a day.
Day 7 - Legs/Shoulders
Overhead press - Ramped up to 51,5kg x3 - Dominated and strong ! and then MaxRepped with 41,5kg x 15 (PR)
Front squat - Ramped up to 72kg x 3 + Lateral raises - ramped up to 10,5kg x 4 and failed - MaxRepped 8,5kg x 7
Dumbell press - Capacity ramping 18,5kg x3/4/5/5/5/5 - Strong on all reps, no sticking points
Remedial:
Cuban rotation 10kg 2x15
Day 8- Back/Biceps
My flexibility for the deadlift was very bad, so I had troubles ramping up to 97,5kg and it took so long the entire training was a bust. I will switch to rack pulls until I get my flexibility up to par again
Day 9- Shoulders/Traps
Overhead press - Ramped up to 51,5kg in sets of 3(More explosive than last time)
Lateral raise - Ramped up to 10,5kg in sets of 4 (The last rep didn’t stick)
Dumbbell press - 4 sets of 5 18,5kg (Moving up in weight next time), Supersetted with Haney shrug - 4 sets, ramped up to 40kg, sets of 8
Dumbell shrug - 3x12 with 18,5kg - Have to move up, Supersetted with 3x15 Cuban Rotations with 13,5kg
Day 10 -
Rack pull (from an inch below the knees) - ramped up to 110kg x3. Then repeated that effort. Grip is a limiting factor
Pull ups- 3 holds of 10 sec, 1 of 5 and 1 failure
Barbell row- Ramped up to 60kg x5 - MaxRepped with 9 at 50kg
Dumbbell row- Ramped up to 20,5kg x 3, MaxRepped 17kg x 10
Dumbbell curl - Ramped up to 18,5kg x3, MaxRepped 14,5kg x 10
Barbell curl - Capacity ramping 4 sets of 5 with 36,5kg
Day 11 - Chest/Triceps
Floor press - took me 9 sets of 3 to ramp up to 80kg, did two Max Rep sets at 65 : 15/9
Pushups - 10/8/8/6
Floor fly - Ramped up to 9,5kg x 4, hard reps
Chair dips - 5/4/5/4
Day 12- Back/Biceps
Rack pull - ramped up to 115kg x3, did another set but only managed to do 2 reps due to grip failing
Pull up - First 3 isometric/eccentric were better than last week, I even tried to pull myself up but ofc, it wasn’t possible. Fourth and 5th set were shaky and I fell quickly back down.
Barbell row - ramped up to 60kg x 5, much better mind muscle connection now
Dumbbell curl - ramped to 18,5kg x 3, dominated this time
Barbell curl - Capacity ramping, 4 sets of 5 with 36,5kg - explosive
Day 13- Shoulders/Traps
Overhead press - ramped up to 52,5kg - really explosive, more explosive than 51,5 last week. Then I banged out 16 Reps at 42,5kg
Lateral raise - again failed at 10,5x4 and then did 8 reps with 8kg
Dumbbell press - 4 sets of 5 with 19,5kg - strong and explosive
- supersetted with
Haney shrug - ramped up to 45kg x 8 in 4 sets
Dumbell shrug - 20,5kg x 12 - and then I had to stop training due to catching the bus
Day 14 Legs/Back
Front squat - Ramped up to 75kg in sets of 3 and Repped out 9 reps at 60kg
Pinch grip deadlifts- Tried those after reading an article by Andy Bolton here. Did 3 sets of 10 seconds with a 15kg plate and with 15+2,5. Very weak ass grip.
Barbell rows- Ramped up to 60kg in sets of 5, still heavy and bad form. Maxrepped 9 at 50kg.
Dumbell curls - Ramped up to 18,5kg in sets of 3, MaxRepped 10 at 14,5kg.
Day 15- Chest/Triceps
Bench press- Ramped up to 82,5kg x3 - hard reps but far from grinding. MaxRepped 15 at 66,5kg. The last one was a grind
Pushups- 11/9/8/8 - PR here
Floor fly- Ramped up to 10,5kg x 4 (finally) and MaXRepped 20 at 8,5kg
Chair dips - 5/5/4/4
Day 16- Back/Biceps
Rack pull - Ramped up to 3 sets of 3 with 115kg. Seems like the grip is a little bit stronger then the week before. Did 10 reps with 90kg as a MaxRep set but had to stop at 7 for a bit because a fly flew into the gym and started bugging me.
Pullups- I was able to hold close to 10 sec isometric/eccentric on all 5
Barbell row- Ramped up to 60kg x 5 and MaxRepped 9 reps with 50kg but the form was bad. My back was really tired but I didn’t feel the reps at higher weights.
Dumbbell row - Only 7 reps with 17kg - Back really tired
Dumbbell curl - Ramped up to 18,5kg x 3, felt explosive, did 11 reps with 14,5kg
Barbell curl- Finisher : 15 reps with 26,5kg
Day 17- Shoulders/Traps
Overhead press - Ramped up to 52,5kg x 3, repeated that effort and MaxRepped 43,5kg x 14. Something was just wrong with this. I couldn’t set up the bar properly on my shoulders and that’s why I pressed so bad, although I had a feeling I was stronger.
Lateral raise - Nailed that sticking point of 10,5kg, although it was a very hard rep. Then did 10 and 7 with 8,5kg as MaxRep sets.
Dumbbell press- all 4 sets of 5 with 20,5kg- same problem with the setup
Haney shrug- Ramped up to 46,5kg x 6 and MaxRepped 35kg x 9 - by accident I flexed my wrist too much on the way up and now I’m having some kind of nerve problem with it. Doesn’t hurt and I hope that with time and stretching it goes away.
Dumbbell shrug- 12/10 with 19,5kg - I have form troubles with this one. Maybe too tight traps…
Day 18- Legs/Back/Biceps
Front squat- Ramped up to two sets of 75kg x 3 and MaxRepped 60kg x 9
Pullups- First time I was really able to control them, even do a proper isometric, but I have troubles pulling the shoulder blades together and squeezing my back while up there.
Barbell row- 4x8 with 35kg - This was for back activation, but failed again, back felt tired and wrist gave me trouble
Dumbbell curl - Ramped up to 18,5kg x 3
Forearm workout:
Orange band squeezes - 3 sets of 15-20 and 1 set of 12-15. Once I get 20+ for 3 consecutive workouts I’m switching to CoC Trainer
Wrist curls - Ramped up to 2 sets of 12 with 12kg and 1 set of 7 with 12kg. Right wrist a bit stronger
Reverse wrist curls - 4x15 with 10kg - Moving up next time.
Week 5 Breakdown
I’m going to be doing these every Friday evening in the future.
This week and those before showed me what a wimp I was. I did good at the gym, even ate well, but slept very poorly, (only 2 nights out of 35 of going to bed before midnight), played computer games, did only 2 cardio sessions in these 35 days, and skipped ab/stretching/rehab work.
I won’t change exercises yet although I’m really having massive sticking points in each one. First I will get some sleep, good food, stretching and muscle activation in. Then I’ll see if these sticking points are due to adaptation (this is funny even mentioning because I’m plain old weak) or just lack of hormones because of my stressful and lazy lifestyle.
Day 19- Chest/Triceps
Bench press- Ramped up to 82,5kg x 3 and repeated that set. MaxRepped 66,5kg x 13 It wasn’t explosive. This is my major sticking point so I’m switching things up and going with capacity ramping next workout.
Pushups- 12/10/8/7 - New PR
Floor fly - Ramped up to 10,5kg x 4 and actually did 8 reps with this weight. Then MaxRepped 9,5kg with 15.
Chair dips - 5/5/5/5/4