You always do a shitload of assistance work for legs, something I never did. Does it work well for strength or mass gain? Or both?
[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
You always do a shitload of assistance work for legs, something I never did. Does it work well for strength or mass gain? Or both?[/quote]
Its one of those things I do because I have always done and I am a sadistic bastard that loves torture.
Obviously what it has done for my strength speaks for itself (not much). However my legs are probably my best body part in terms of size, so take that for what it’s worth.
Edit: I looked through your log and couldn’t find any leg work besides deadlift after page 3, whats the deal?
February 13th- Deadlift and Back
Fairly decent training session, was feeling pretty depleted the entire workout, looking forward to eating carbs on a regular basis again starting in two weeks.
Deadlift
1x3 290
1x3 330
1x3 375 -These felt pretty strong.
One Arm DB Rows
1x10 60
1x10 80
1x10 100
1x10 120
add straps
1x12 140
Pullups - I did four sets of regular old wide grip then I did about 6-8 sets of just some random ass grips, fat grip neutral, supinated grip on the rack frame, wide on the rack frame, just having some fun.
I tried to pulldowns at this point because I haven’t done them in a while, I changed my mind after 2 sets.
DB Shrugs
3x15 100s -Didn’t use straps on these so my forearms were just blowing up after already doing almost the entire workout strapless.
Leg Press Calf Press
3x20 315
February 14th- Shoulders
Had ONE cheat meal last night, not my usual day and a half binge I have been doing lately, so I woke up starving and had a good session today.
Press
1x5 110
1x3 125
1x4 140 -These flew up.
Seated DB Press
5x10 40s -Next week I will up the weight.
DB Lateral Raises
1x12 20s
1x12 25s
1x12 30s
1x12 35s
1x12 40s
Rear Delt DB Fly
2x50 10s
My shoulders were blown up after all of this.
February 15th- Gun Show
This is the last week doing these exercises.
DB Pinwheel Curls
3x10/side 65s
EZ Bar Preacher Curls
2x8 80
1x6 80
BB Curls 3 Second Descent
2x8 85
Rope Pushdowns
4x15 42.5
Bench Dips
1x12 BW
1x12 45
1x12 70
1x9 90
Incline EZ Bar Ext.
3x15 85
[quote]VikingsAD28 wrote:
[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
You always do a shitload of assistance work for legs, something I never did. Does it work well for strength or mass gain? Or both?[/quote]
Its one of those things I do because I have always done and I am a sadistic bastard that loves torture.
Obviously what it has done for my strength speaks for itself (not much). However my legs are probably my best body part in terms of size, so take that for what it’s worth.
Edit: I looked through your log and couldn’t find any leg work besides deadlift after page 3, whats the deal?[/quote]
I hurt my hip flexor doing sheiko… it hasn’t really recovered. And until I can see a physical therapist im not going to do any squatting. My hips are pretty fucked up.
[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
[quote]VikingsAD28 wrote:
[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
You always do a shitload of assistance work for legs, something I never did. Does it work well for strength or mass gain? Or both?[/quote]
Its one of those things I do because I have always done and I am a sadistic bastard that loves torture.
Obviously what it has done for my strength speaks for itself (not much). However my legs are probably my best body part in terms of size, so take that for what it’s worth.
Edit: I looked through your log and couldn’t find any leg work besides deadlift after page 3, whats the deal?[/quote]
I hurt my hip flexor doing sheiko… it hasn’t really recovered. And until I can see a physical therapist im not going to do any squatting. My hips are pretty fucked up.[/quote]
Shit man, that sucks I remember you getting hurt but didn’t realize it was that bad.
You can come back from this, keep at it.
February 16th- Legs
Squat
1x5 275
1x3 310
1x1 345
Front Squat (Beltless)
1x8 135
4x8 185 -These were hell.
Walking Lunges
3x10/side 60
Lying Leg Curls
1x10 70
1x10 85
1x10 100
1x10 115
Seated Calf Raises
some sets, at this point I started getting a bad taste in my mouth and felt like I was going to throw up.
It was also after this workout I decided I am done with this diet. I am not crazy lean but I am lean enough for me. Eventually once I have added some more size I will diet down to an even lower level, but for now I am ready to build some more muscle and get my strength back and then some.
I am now starting my carb cycling diet with a shit load of carbs around my workout, I will add calories and more high carb days as needed. Starting off with 2 high days for my legs and back days and medium days for my other 3 training days, low days for my off days.
February 18th- Chest
This felt like the first workout of the rest of my life. Felt very energetic and strong.
Bench
1x5 205
1x3 230
1x1 255 -Had the strength but failed on the second rep because I fucked up on the descent.
Low Incline DB Bench
1x10 50s
1x10 70s
2x8 80s
1x7 80s -This was a huge improvement over the past few weeks.
Dips
1x12 BW
2x6 BW +45
1x0 +100
1x12 BW
Incline DB Fly
5x10 20s
February 20th-Deadlift and back
Felt good again. I have been mostly sticking with my plan as I originally laid it out, I had some cheat meals the other night, I plan on being a bit more lax about when I take cheat meals and what I consider cheating, but still sticking to the plan as close as possible.
Its nice too because even though I have been eating more and gaining some weight back I still look a bit leaner, I think it is mostly just from being fuller.
Deadlift
1x5 310
1x3 355
1x1 395 -These all felt good, will up the weight next wave.
One Arm DB Rows
1x10 60
1x10 80
1x10 100
1x10 120
add straps
1x13 140
1x10 140
Pullups, About 6 grips
10 Sets
Chest Supported Row
1x10 45
1x10 90
1x10 135
1x1 180 -I was beat and racked it.
Seated Calf Raises
2x1 minute sets 90
I am changing my training split to a 6 day a week plan based on CC’s plan he wrote in this thread, half way down the page-
Since Thursdays I have school and work all day and there is no way I can train, that will be the one scheduled off day so my training weeks will be basically starting in the middle of what CC laid out.
Mondays- Biceps (basically a glorified rest day)
Tuesday- Triceps (5/3/1 on close grip bench)
Wednesday- Back (5/3/1 on deadlifts, CC used rack pulls)
Thursday- Off
Friday- Chest (no 5/3/1, mostly DB work)
Saturday- Legs (5/3/1 Back Squat, CC wasn’t doing this)
Sunday- Delts (5/3/1 Military Press)
I am doing this because CC is a fucking genius. I have been looking for a good powerbuilding approach that allows me to train 6 days a week, mostly just because I love training and want to train 6 days a week. I was happy when I stumbled on this because I don’t really have to change that much from what I am currently doing and it will allow me to build size while getting stronger.
The other thing I am doing is I have been meaning to get serious about my ab training for quite some time so I am going to train them in the way outlined in this article-
http://www.T-Nation.com/strength-training-topics/466
Basically I will train abs every session and I will alternate between training abs one 5/3/1 wave and not training them the next.
This seems like a lot of changing, but it really isn’t that much different than what I am already doing.
February 21st- Biceps and stuff
Fairly easy day, went well. My biceps were still a bit fatigued from back yesterday so I was very pleased with my performance.
BB Curls
3x10 45
1x8 65
1x8 85
1x8 105
1x4 115 -Controlled the negatives on all reps and felt really good.
DB Pinwheel Curls
1x8 40s
1x8 50s
1x8 60s
1x8 70s
Standing Pulldown Abs
8x8 70
Kneeling Pulldown Abs
8x8 50
DB Swiss Ball Crunches
8x8 30
All those weights were fairly easy to get acclimated, next week I will up the weight on all of them.
Leg Press Calf Press
1x20 315
1x20 405
1x20 495 -I am trying to bring my calves up so I am training them more often.
I am going to decrease the weights a bit on basically everything now that my calories are back up. My idea is that this way I can make consistent progress and hopefully won’t have to reset the maxes for quite some time after this.
Close Grip Bench: 250
Deadlift: 375
Overhead Press: 150
Squat: 335
These are all pretty low, so my goal is to set some bitching rep PRs in the coming months.
February 22nd- Triceps
Close Grip Bench -Grip about an inch away from the smooth part of the bar, really focusing on my triceps and tucking my elbows
1x5 165
1x5 190
1x10 215 -I am going to go ahead and call this a baseline PR.
Lying EZ Bar Extensions
1x10 20
1x10 40
1x10 60
1x10 80
1x10 90
1x2 110 -This set was really shitty for some reason so i decided to try this weight again.
1x6 110 -Way better, baseline PR with this form.
Overhead Tricep Rope
3xsome 50
Hanging Leg Raises (touching feet to bar)
3xfailure
Decline Sit Ups
3xF
Dragon Flags
3xF
February 23rd- Back
Deadlift
1x5 245
1x5 285
1x10 320 -I was happy with this, my back felt strong, I really think all this ab work is going to be very beneficial.
One Arm DB Rows
1x10 60
1x10 80
1x10 100 -I stopped here because my back was still fatigued from working it on Sunday.
Pullups - A lot of grips
10 Sets
Ab Wheel
1x10
Swiss Ball Crunch
1x30
Kneeling Abs Pulldown
1x10 62.5
Reverse Crunch
1x15
February 25th- Chest
Incline DB Bench
1x10 40s
1x10 50s
1x10 60s
1x8 70s
2x6 80s
Flat DB Bench
1x10 45s
1x10 60s
1x10 75s
1x6 90s
1x2 100s
Standing Ab Pulldowns
6x8 100
2x8 85 -Had to decrease the weight to get all the reps.
Kneeling Ab Pulldowns
8x8 62.5
Swiss Ball Cunches Db on Chest
8x8 35
A1) Seated Calf Raises
1x12 90
1x12 100
1x12 110
1x12 120
A2) Standing One Leg Calf Raises
4x10/side BW
February 26th- Legs
Squat
1x5 220
1x5 255
1x8 285
Front Squat
1x8 135
1x8 155
1x8 205
Walking Lunges
3x10 60
Lying Leg Curls
1x10 70
1x10 85
1x10 100
Hanging Leg Raises
3xF
Dragon Flags
3xF
Swiss Ball Crunches
3xF
Februrary 27th- Shoulders
Standing Press
1x5 100
1x5 115
1x5 130 -These were alright, I think I was thrown off from not doing these for almost two weeks due to changing my split.
Seated DB Press
3x15 45s
DB Lateral Raises
1x12 20s
1x12 25s
1x12 30s
1x12 35s
Facepulls
150 Reps 20
DB Shrugs
3x20 100s
Abs
February 28th- Biceps
BB Curls
2x10 45
1x10 65
1x8 85
1x8 95
1x8 105
1x6 115 +2 Reps
Hammer Curls (both hands same time)
1x10 30s
1x10 40s
1x10 45s
1x10 50s
1x10 55s
Lat Pulldown Ab Pulldown
8x8 100
Kneeling Cable Crunches
8x8 70
Swiss Ball Crunches (DB on chest)
8x8 40
March 1st- Triceps
My weight was 209 today, it was 213 a few days ago, not trying to lose weight just fluctuating. I am going to try to gain somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 pounds a month.
Close Grip Bench
1x3 175
1x3 200
1x9 225 -PR for this grip.
Lying EZ Bar Extension
1x10 20
1x10 40
1x10 60
1x10 80
1x10 90
2x6 110
Overhead Rope Extensions
3xSome 50
Hanging Leg Raises
3xF
Decline Situps
3xF
Swiss Ball Crunches
3xF
March 2nd- Back
Awesome day today.
Deadlift
1x3 265
1x3 300
1x10 340 25 lbs from last week
Kroc Rows
1x10 40
1x10 80
1x21 100
Wide Grip Pullups
5xF
Overhand Cable Rows
1x10 100
1x10 120
1x10 140
1x10 160
1x10 180 -This was really difficult after all the other work.
Abs
Seated Calf Raises
2x1 Minute 90