Professor X,
please PM them to me too!!
thanks
mt
[quote]Professor X wrote:
What is your goal in training like this? I would never start a beginner with a training schedule like this. You would never be able to get a feel for how certain exercises actually affect target muscle groups if your training is from head to toe every single workout. Why are you only training 3 days a week?[/quote]
My goals is of course to increase muscle size and strength. The reason I’m training 3 days a week is simply because the program is a 3-day split. I have no problem working out 4 days a week. (Sun, Mon, Wed, Fri)… and if you think it would help, i could bump it up to 5 days (Sun, Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat)
Yeah, I always felt that my workout sometimes failed to hit a certain msucle group ‘enough.’ If you don’t mind laying out a program more suitable for a beginner, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks again
by the way, so I take it you usually hit a muscle group once a week?
[quote]Professor X wrote:
I am sure most of can attest to MAKING TIME.
[/quote]
Well, you are right. I can make time, but given my family responsibilities my schedule would look a little said.
Work, exercise, food preparation, sleep, work, exercise, food preparation, sleep, etc. If I try to workout 4 or 5 days in a week something would need to give.
The question becomes if there’s a benefit to working out 4 or 5 days in a week and not taking proper care of my nutrition and sleep.
-Yustas
[quote]loctite_zexel wrote:
Professor X wrote:
What is your goal in training like this? I would never start a beginner with a training schedule like this. You would never be able to get a feel for how certain exercises actually affect target muscle groups if your training is from head to toe every single workout. Why are you only training 3 days a week?
My goals is of course to increase muscle size and strength. The reason I’m training 3 days a week is simply because the program is a 3-day split. I have no problem working out 4 days a week. (Sun, Mon, Wed, Fri)… and if you think it would help, i could bump it up to 5 days (Sun, Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat)
Yeah, I always felt that my workout sometimes failed to hit a certain msucle group ‘enough.’ If you don’t mind laying out a program more suitable for a beginner, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks again
by the way, so I take it you usually hit a muscle group once a week?[/quote]
Yes, I do. My original program went something like:
day 1
Back/biceps
2
chest/triceps
3
rest
4
legs
5
shoulders
6
rest
7
rest
This was until I started training my chest twice a week which seems to work best for me. Now, I would never train biceps on the same day as back because I like to give them their own attention. There is nothing wrong with the “big lifts” for those body parts. I just don’t agree with training the entire body 3 times a week and actually expecting the most progress from doing so. Something like that would be more geared towards someone who could ONLY train a limited number of days a week and was looking for an alternative to show at least some progress.
[quote]yustas wrote:
Professor X wrote:
I am sure most of can attest to MAKING TIME.
Well, you are right. I can make time, but given my family responsibilities my schedule would look a little said.
Work, exercise, food preparation, sleep, work, exercise, food preparation, sleep, etc. If I try to workout 4 or 5 days in a week something would need to give.
The question becomes if there’s a benefit to working out 4 or 5 days in a week and not taking proper care of my nutrition and sleep.
-Yustas[/quote]
I’m not married and I don’t have kids. I have, however, been through some intense schooling that took up all of my time. I had it down to 45min in school as far as fixing meals for the following day. I usually took care of this after eating before training while my food digested. If you are married, I don’t see why your wife couldn’t help out with that as well. you would think it would be EASIER for someone who was married because you have the extra help.
X,
You’re an inspiration, bro. I started out at about 160 (probably around the same age as you too) and have seen similar progress as you in my first two years. If you get a chance, PM me your current picture and stats.
Thanks
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Yes, I do. My original program went something like:
day 1
Back/biceps
2
chest/triceps
3
rest
4
legs
5
shoulders
6
rest
7
rest
This was until I started training my chest twice a week which seems to work best for me. Now, I would never train biceps on the same day as back because I like to give them their own attention. There is nothing wrong with the “big lifts” for those body parts. I just don’t agree with training the entire body 3 times a week and actually expecting the most progress from doing so. Something like that would be more geared towards someone who could ONLY train a limited number of days a week and was looking for an alternative to show at least some progress.[/quote]
Would you mind laying out the program you did in a little more detail? For example, how many exercises, and how many sets and reps for each exercise did you do on your back/bicep day?
So now you basically just work out one muscle group a day? ( a day for biceps a day for triceps? do you still do legs all in one day?)
[quote]loctite_zexel wrote:
Would you mind laying out the program you did in a little more detail? For example, how many exercises, and how many sets and reps for each exercise did you do on your back/bicep day?
So now you basically just work out one muscle group a day? ( a day for biceps a day for triceps? do you still do legs all in one day?)[/quote]
I already wrote how many sets I do for most exercises. How about you tell me what you would do for those body parts if you trained in that fashion using 2-3 exercises per body part. Isn’t the goal to learn how to figure out what you should be doing instead of blindly following someone else?
As for your last question, yes, I give biceps their own day now. I usually train triceps on one of the days I train chest. Legs are all in one day.
I checked out how you generally structure your workouts in one of your earlier posts. Interestingly enough, you’re probly one of the few people who don’t do deadlifts or some variation of it.
Thanks for all the advice.
Professor X
I’ve really enjoyed this thread and would love to see your pics/stats. Here is a link to my current program:
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=717240
One thing that struck a chord with me about your workouts is truly EXHAUSTING a muscle/muscle group by the end of your workouts. This is something I used to do when I lifted a lot in my teens. Right now, because of my gym situation, I haven’t figured out a way to do it with my chest. It seems like no matter what exercise I do, my arms wear out before my chest. For those of you who don’t read my thread above, I don’t have access to any machines. I used to finish my chest off with the pec deck and found it did a great job of laying on the fatigue in that area.
Of course, I would welcome any comments you have on my program in general as well.
Thanks
B1
Hahaha. Me too!
Man, I made the best progress on that routine in my life to that point. Neg failure and all. Ah, the things you can get away with at 21.
Prof X,
How do yo handle times when your progress on an exercise slows down or stalls?
Do you change exercises? Change the amount of reps you are doing?
Do you take some time off?
[quote]Professor X wrote:
If you are married, I don’t see why your wife couldn’t help out with that as well. you would think it would be EASIER for someone who was married because you have the extra help. [/quote]
Yes you’re correct one would think that.
I guess I’m not that lucky or maybe I’m since she is busy taking care of a newborn.
I hear some people say here how it takes them 30 minutes to complete one session and I just don’t see that happening in the real world or maybe I’m doing something wrong.
If I need to do 5 exercises around 4 or 5 sets each taking into a consideration the time needed to warm up a little, set the weights, rest between sets, etc it just doesn’t pan out to 30 minutes. Then there’s also the time to shower, prepare and drink Surge, etc all those little things add up quickly time wise. For me it takes 1 hour and sometimes 1.5 hours depending on the exercises. All in all I’m looking at around 2 hours of time.
-Yustas
[quote]Professor X wrote:
That is pretty much it. If you need me to go into further detail, just ask but that is how I train lately.
[/quote]
I would like to ask how to know how many exercises are necessary for a given muscle group? Is it purely subjective and dependent on individual progress?
By the way here is a sample from my training log.
Program 1
Day 1
Bench Press - bb - 30? - Incline - A1 5 x 5 @ 7rm
Rows - bb - Palms Down - Bent Over - A2 5 x 5 @ 7rm
Curls - bb - Standing - B1 5 x 5 @ 7rm
Dips - B2 5 x 5 @ 7rm
Power Cleans 5 x 5 @ 7rm
Day 2
Bench Press - db - Flat - A1 3 x 12 @ 14rm
Pulldowns - Palms Up - A2 3 x 12 @ 14rm
Curls - EZ Bar - Reverse - Standing - B1 3 x 12 @ 14rm
Triceps Pressdowns - B2 3 x 12 @ 14rm
Squats - bb 3 x 12 @ 14rm
Day 3
Military Press - bb - Standing - A1 4 x 8 @ 10rm
Upright Rows - EZ Bar - Standing - A2 4 x 8 @ 10rm
Curls - Hammer - db - Incline 60? - B1 4 x 8 @ 10rm
Skull Crushers - EZ Bar - Lying - B2 4 x 8 @ 10rm
Deadlifts - bb 4 x 8 @ 10rm
Program 2
Day 1
Pull-ups - Semi-Supinated Grip - A1 4 x 6 @ 8rm
Bench Press - bb - Flat - A2 4 x 6 @ 8rm
Step-ups - db - B1 4 x 6 @ 8rm
Hanging Pikes - B2 4 x 6 @ 8rm
Curls - EZ Bar - Reverse - C1 4 x 6 @ 8rm
French Presses - EZ Bar - C2 4 x 6 @ 8rm
Day 2
Curls - db - Standing - A1 3 x 15 @ 17rm
Bench Press - db - 60? - Incline - A2 3 x 15 @ 17rm
Rows - bb - Bent Over - B1 3 x 15 @ 17rm
Triceps Pressdowns - B2 3 x 15 @ 17rm
Squats - bb - Back - C1 3 x 8 @ 10rm
Side Raise - db - 75? - Incline - C2 3 x 15 @ 17rm
Day 3
Dips - A1 10 x 3 @ 6rm
Curls - db - Hammer - Seated - A2 10 x 3 @ 6rm
Shoulder Press - db - Standing - B1 10 x 3 @ 6rm
Rack Pulls - bb - B2 10 x 3 @ 6rm
Bench Press w/feet elevated - bb - Flat - Wide - feet elevated 1 x 10,2,2 @ 10rm
The progression is to add 2.5% more weight to each exercise for 2 more weeks, each program lasts 3 weeks total.
-Yustas
[quote]basementD wrote:
Prof X,
How do yo handle times when your progress on an exercise slows down or stalls?
Do you change exercises? Change the amount of reps you are doing?
Do you take some time off? [/quote]
I usually work on form during those times. Your body progresses very often in spurts. I have made some very decent gains in shoulder development lately and all I did was add another exercise and often train them twice a week. They have grown more in the past six months than they probably did in the year previous. During periods of stagnation where it didn’t seem like I was progressing, I worked on making the max weight I was doing loosely, the current weight that I can do with very good form.
I don’t take much time off. I hear people on this forum acting like it is impossible to train 6 days a week. We don’t all have the same recovery ability. I think some people get off on trying to view everyone as having weaker genetics so that they feel better.
[quote]yustas wrote:
Professor X wrote:
If you are married, I don’t see why your wife couldn’t help out with that as well. you would think it would be EASIER for someone who was married because you have the extra help.
Yes you’re correct one would think that.
I guess I’m not that lucky or maybe I’m since she is busy taking care of a newborn.
I hear some people say here how it takes them 30 minutes to complete one session and I just don’t see that happening in the real world or maybe I’m doing something wrong.
If I need to do 5 exercises around 4 or 5 sets each taking into a consideration the time needed to warm up a little, set the weights, rest between sets, etc it just doesn’t pan out to 30 minutes. Then there’s also the time to shower, prepare and drink Surge, etc all those little things add up quickly time wise. For me it takes 1 hour and sometimes 1.5 hours depending on the exercises. All in all I’m looking at around 2 hours of time.
-Yustas
[/quote]
I have never understood why someone needs to shower at the gym unless they are going out or going to work afterwards. Is there some reason you can’t shower at home? Beyond that, it very often takes me about 35min to train in the gym. However, I am not trying to do full body workouts every other day like you are. You still haven’t told me why you aren’t factoring that in when you think about this.
Prepare and drink a Surge? Why not simply drink it in the car? You overcomplicate what many people do as a very regular routine. People like you are the ones who go to school and quit lifting or simply stop going to the gym eventually. If I had thought like this, I swear I would still be under 200lbs accusing everyone passing me up of anabolics use instead of admitting my own faults.
[quote]yustas wrote:
Professor X wrote:
That is pretty much it. If you need me to go into further detail, just ask but that is how I train lately.
I would like to ask how to know how many exercises are necessary for a given muscle group? Is it purely subjective and dependent on individual progress?[/quote]
I have always kept it at 3-4 exercises for most body parts. It varies more now, but usually that is the case.
As far as your routine, I already told you I don’t have much faith in those types of workouts unless this is based on a need for very minimal time in the gym due to time restraints during the week. I knew a few older lifters at my old gym who used to train 3 times a week, but they were also the first to state that this was only for MAINTENANCE.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Is there some reason you can’t shower at home? [/quote]
I’m not blaming or trying to blame anybody. I simply gave a time breakdown and why it takes about 2 hours of my time. It doesn’t matter where I shower; I shower at home and exercise at home in my own gym. The point is that it takes about 2 hours of time on exercise related activities. This is the time I can’t spend on something else.
But going back to exercises, doing 5 or 4 exercises regardless of the purpose (full body or not) takes about 1.5 hours when you include warm up, rest between sets, changing weights, etc.
I can’t understand where 35 minutes comes from.
-Yustas
But going back to exercises, doing 5 or 4 exercises regardless of the purpose (full body or not) takes about 1.5 hours when you include warm up, rest between sets, changing weights, etc.
I can’t understand where 35 minutes comes from.
-Yustas
35 minutes seems, to me at least, enough time for 3-4 exercises total. For 4 exercises, that averages to just over 8 minutes per exercise. It may take a little longer than 8 minutes for 4 sets, but not much. So, even at the highest volume, 40 minutes looks about right. 35 minutes is the average, factoring in higher volume and lower volume days. The impression that I got of his gym is that it’s pretty serious. I’m guessing that means not many people hogging the machines for 15 minutes at a time. So, it definitely seems possible if you walk in with a plan and immediately get going. Perhaps the warm-up and cool-down are abbreviated, and he doesn’t take 2 minutes rest periods. But, on the whole, 35-40 minutes in the gym seems possible. I think you should be able to put a significant hurt on 1 bodypart in 35 minutes.
[quote]yustas wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Is there some reason you can’t shower at home?
I’m not blaming or trying to blame anybody. I simply gave a time breakdown and why it takes about 2 hours of my time. It doesn’t matter where I shower; I shower at home and exercise at home in my own gym. The point is that it takes about 2 hours of time on exercise related activities. This is the time I can’t spend on something else.
But going back to exercises, doing 5 or 4 exercises regardless of the purpose (full body or not) takes about 1.5 hours when you include warm up, rest between sets, changing weights, etc.
I can’t understand where 35 minutes comes from.
-Yustas
[/quote]
I AM NOT TRAINING MY ENTIRE BODY IN ONE DAY.