Son of a Mother's Duck! ~ Yamanashi!

Training Training Logs
1

I’ve been training on and off not seriously these past 7 years or so. Recently I have been getting back to the game and want to apply what I’ve learned to make gains.

age: 26
height: 5’6
weight: 137lbs
bf: ~13-14%

db bench max - 65lb x 6
pullups - 16
squat - 205lb x 5 (last done about 1 1/2 months ago…injured right knee)
deadlift - 225lb x 5

I’ve always stuck to focusing on the big compound movements using 5 x 5 type structures. However, my gains usually top out due to many reasons (nutrition, i have history of hip and lower back problems that stop training efforts many times, going too heavy, not enough assistance or volume? )

Past month or so I’ve been doing upper body 2x a week and light lower body (after some rest I re-injured my knee coming back too soon) Been incorporating CT’s advice on ramping, activating cns, and focusing on each rep (some people already knew but I didn’t, I thought doing ramping style would tire out my muscles for the heavy weights before. ramping is definitely increasing the quality of my workouts)

outline of workout plan starting today:

focus - gain muscle
split - upper push 2x week, upper pull 2x week, light lower body 1 or 2 depending on how knee feels (can do some posterior chain based movements, squats and deep knee bend no ways)
try 4-6 movements each workout and see how my body responds to it. add supplemental calve and ab sets 3 times a week.

nutrition - keeping basic log to make sure I eat enough (a problem for me) aiming for 2800 calories (20 x bw) and at least 1.25g protein/body weight as starting point. once I get consistent in eating more I’ll worry about managing carbs.

supplements - fish oil, vit D, jack3d 30mins before workout (ordering Surge Workout Fuel next week) 3 scoops Surge Recovery peri-workout. creatine and beta alanine.

short term goal is to stick to the above plan until christmas time and evaluate how it is working. adjust. rinse. repeat.
3 month goal - 145lbs leaning down a little to ~11-12% (doesn’t sound like a lot but for me who has not much success gaining in the past its a good start for me)

thanks for reading and take it easy on me.

2

You should try RDLs for your lower body. Very little knee bend involved, amazing for the posterior chain, and has a similar hormonal effect as that of full deadlifts or squats if you use heavy enough weight. Be warned, the first few times you do this heavy you won’t be walkin right for a few days.