My Training Progression Log Through the 20's.

Training Logs
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I’ve been wanting to create a space to publish my personal fitness progress and goals for a while. A friend told me about T-Nation and this category seems to be the most suited for me.

About me: 22 years old, about 6 feet and currently weighing rough 195-198 lbs at a roughly
estimated 10-14%.(I’ll put up some physique pictures soon)

Educational Background: Associates Degree is Business Administration. Currently majoring
in Exercise Science at the University at Buffalo(Buffalo, NY) with
interests in Nutrition and Physical Therapy(I am still considering
which degree to pursue).

Training History: I’ve been lifting seriously for about 3 years.
With the exception of being coached for a men’s physique competition
prep this past summer, which I had to opt out of, I am a self-taught lifter
going off of my own personal research and experience. I prefer more of a
powerlifting/bodybuilding hybrid style with a strength focus surrounding the
big three lifts followed by a hypertrophy focus in accessory lift. I am a big
component of repetition periodization.

Strength Stats: As of 11/25/17: Bench - 275lbs/ Squat - 345 lbs/Deadlift - 495lbs/
Total: 1,115lbs.

Injury History: My right rotator cuff has some scar tissue buildup from a high school injury. I
am continuously dealing with minor reoccurring issues but overall I have kept
the shoulder relatively healthy. I had a strain in one of my piriformis
muscles(glutes) from a deadlift, this is not a reoccurring injury. My upper left
back, particularly the trapezius, has a tendency to become strained from an
overload in overhead or horizontal pressing movements. This is a reoccurring
issue but I have taken preventative measures. I am currently dealing with
patellar tendonitis below the knee which has had a slow but steady recovery
rate. This has had no major effect on my training frequency or intensity.
-NOTE: I am giving my injury history because I think it is an important factor in
how I compose and perform my training sessions.

Long Term Goal: To progressively build and maintain a healthy body status into my 30’s as
well as continuously learn from more knowledgable and experienced
people, especially all of you at T-Nation!

Short Term Goal: I signed up for another bodybuilding competition in March(Classic
Physique Division). My prep begins 11/27/17 and the show is 3/24/18.
Afterwards, I am going to aim for 1200lb total at a powerlifting meet in the
Fall of 2018. I will post my tentative approach to reaching these goals
soon.

All criticism and advice is welcomed! My hope is to be able to refer people I know to this thread so they can learn something from it.

~Adam

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Competition Plan/Weekly Updates

I’m a little late in posting this and I had to push my upper body workout from Monday to today. I haven’t worked out since thanksgiving so this felt really good.

So my plan is to compete in men’s classic physique on March 24th, 2018; I think I’m a little over 18 weeks out. Weighed in at 198.8 Sunday morning and I think I will weigh significantly lower at the end of week because I won’t be retaining as much water(we shall see!).
I’ll take some physique pics eventually for this thread as well as a Rate My Physique one.

GOALS: 1. Just to step on stage! I have no expectations and I will inevitably have a lot of room for improvement this time around. I don’t see myself competing often but this has been a goal for me for a very long time.
Identify weak physique points and do my best to work on them. As I lean out these should become more apparent.
Maintain a strength goal relative to my body weight. My bench/squat/dead will obviously decline, my goal will be to work harder on form and get more volume in with sub maximal loads. Technique over weight will in theory help me prime to strength gains post competition.

NUTRTION/MACROS: I might post a more detailed description of how I eat, but in short its like a meal prep/IIFYM hybrid style.
Non-training days: 200 protein/ 230 carbs/ 70 fat (2350cals)
Training days: 225P/300C/50F (2550 cals)
Refeed Days: 200P/412C/50F (2900 cals)
~for reference my maintenance caloric intake is roughly between 2800 and 3300 cals.

CURRENT WORKOUT APPROACH:
Moving from a 5 day a week split to a 4 day split:
Day 1: Chest, Back, Shoulders(Higher rep range, bench press, rack pulls)
Day 2: Legs. Arms(Back Squat, Hip Thrust)
Day 3: Chest, Back, Shoulders(Lower rep range, bench press, t-bar/barbell rows/OHP)
Day 4: Legs. Arms(Deadlift, Front squat and SLDL work)
On off days will be abs, calves, and cardio wherever I can fit them in around school and work.
Rep TYPES will be cycled on a day-to-day basis. These types are pause, eccentric, and regular/explosive.(e.g. Pause reps on bench press on day 1, eccentric reps then done on day 3 and regular reps done on day 1 of the next week).
The rep range will be periodized in a manner that works from higher–> lower then backs off to the higher ranges(instead of jumping right back to my highest rep ranges I will work back up to them).

I just completed day 1 of week 1 today, but I’m going to post my workout logs in weekly blocks along with some thoughts on how the week went as well as weigh ins and performance stuff.

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12/6/17: Competition Prep Week 1 Recap

Weight loss: 198.8 to 196(weighed in after eating pizza on my refeed day at like midnight so extra water weight is possible haha)

Notes: 2 new rep PR’s for me this week; 425 for 5 on sumo deadlift and 205 for 7 on bench press with a slow eccentric. My goal is to gain strength while cutting by maintaining my current strength through weight loss so this is a good start for me!

11/26/17 - off

11/27/17 - off(weigh-in 198.8)

11/28/17: Chest, Back, Shoulders
(all weights in lbs. Db: Dumbbell/ SS:Superset/(number of reps weight)

Bench press w pause: 10x155/10x165/10x165/8x185
Neutral grip pullups(pause at top) - 10xBW/10xBW/8xBW/8xBW
Mid height cable flyes - 12x25/12x30/10x35
SS close grip lat pulldowns - 12x120/12x140/12x150
Db incline bench press: 6x50’s/6x70’s/4x80’s
SS incline flyes - 10x30’s/10x35’s/10x35’s(finished off each set with close grip db press to failure
Incline lying db row - 3x10x50’s
SS seat rear delt db row - 3x12x35’s
Underhand machine row - 3x12x130(lbs)
SS with rear delt rope face pulls 3x12x70ish(the weight numbering system on this cable is weird)
Seated Db shoulder press with pause at bottom - 10x40’s/10x50’s/8x50’s
SS with seated lateral raises - 3x10x25’s(then half reps to failure. On the last 2 sets I took 10 lb. plates after finishing the half reps and ripped them to failure as well).
Rack Pulls: 10x135/10x225/10x315/AMRAP: 315 for 11

11/29/17: Legs and Arms
Back Squat w/ pause: 10x225/10x225/10x225/8x245
Barbell Hip Thrusts: 10x225/10x225/9x225/10x225
DB SLDL: 12x60’s/12x60’s/12x60’s
SS close stance v-squat machine: 3 plates on side for 3x10
Multibar close grip bench press - 3x10x135
SS barbell curl - 3x10x70
DB skull crusher - 10x20’s/ 2x10x22.5’s
SS db hammer curls 3x12x30’s
DB curls - 35’s to failure, 30 seconds rest, 25’s to failure, 30 seconds rest, 15’s to failure
Seated Tricep Machine extension: 10x100 then 15x80/10x125 then 12x80/11x125 then 13x80

11/30/17: Abs/Cardio/Calves(weigh in: 194.8lbs)
cable rope crunch: 25x65/25x72.5/25x80/25x72.5
Pipe twist crunch(pvc pipe is on your shoulders, when you crunch you turn from side to side to complete the rep): 4x10
SS reg crunches 15 reps each set
bench ab circuit completed 3x: lying leg raises 10 reps, scissors 10 reps, russian twists 10 reps, leg thrusts 3-4 reps
13 minutes steady state cardio on stair stepper
machine calf raises: 12x225/12x225/10x275/10x275
v-squat machine calf raises: 3 plate son each side for 3x10
superset bodyweight calf raise(focus on squeeze) 10 reps each set

12/1/17: Chest/Back/Shoulders
barbell row: 8x155/8x155/7x165/7x175
Eccentric bench press: 8x185/7x205/6x205/6x205
T-bar row - 8x160/8x180/8x180/7x205
SS incline bench press: 10x115/10x135/10x145/9x145
Arnold press: 8x50’s/7x50’s/8x45’s/8x45’s
SS rear delt face pulls - 4x12x65
Underhand cable row: 3x12x140
SS db chest flyes: 4x12x40’s
Low to high machine row: 3x180 to failure
Chest machine press: 3x100 to failure

12/2/17: Letting legs recover an extra day before deadlifts, just did a quick arm session.
cable rope curls - 3x10x57.5
ss rope tricep ext. 3x10x50
Db standing bicep curl 12x35’s/10x40’s/10x40’s
SS db skull crushers 3x10x25’s
Multibar close grip bench - 15x95/8x155/6x185/3x205
Barbell curl: 10x75/4x8x95
isolated cable ext: 3x10x15 for each arm