Jim's Nice Little Journal

Hi everybody,

I'm new to the board so I'll take a minute to introduce myself. My name is Jim. I'm from South New Jersey. I'm 24. I've been training since I was 15 but I have a horrible habit of training intense for 6 months then taking 3 months completely off to drink beer and party and wind up getting soft and weak and having to start over again in the gym. So my goal is to set up a program that I won't get tired/grow sick of so can stick with it and enjoy the gains.

I'll be perfectly honest: bodybuilding is not my life. I don't have aspirations to compete and I know I'll be drinking and carrying on during the weekends. However, I love lifting weights. I love the feeling of getting stronger and watching my hard work pay off. I need to find a balance between doing what it takes to achieving my fitness goals and leaving enough time for my social life so that I don't 'burn out'.

Stats: I'm 6'0", 200 lbs. If I had to take a guess I'd say I'm at about 11-12% body fat. As of the time of this post my max lifts are:

Bench: 255x5
Squat: 315x5
Deadlift: 405x5

My Program: I am excited to start a new program. Before I fell into the "1 muscle-group per week" trap and look forward to some heavy compound movements.

Monday:
-Bench 5x5 - ramping weight
-Row - 3x5 - 5RM
-Dip 3x5 - 5RM
-Chin 5x5

Tuesday:
-Squat 5x5 all with 5RM
-Stiff Leg Deadlifts 3x5
-Calfs

Thursday:
-Bench 4x5, 1x3 (+ 2.5% of Monday's 5RM), 1x8 with 3rd set weight
-Row 4x5, 1x3 (ramp weight, 1x3 = 2.5% of Monday's 5 RM)
-Push Press (3x5)
-Chin (5x5)

Friday:
-Squat 4x5 ramping, then 1x3 with 2.5% of Tuesday's 5RM
-Deadlift 4x5 (ramping to max)
-Good Morning 3x5

Please critique and bash me as you see fit. I'll keep this thread updated as much as possible.

-Jim

PS: If you want to learn more (than enough) about me, I have a personal website where I rant and rave about things. It has nothing to do with bodybuilding, though. www.TheBoneRollercoaster.com

To whom this concerns,

7:45 am: For breakfast I had 3 whole wheat waffles and a protein shake consisting of 2 scoops of ON Whey Protein, milk, and a dash of creatine.

9:45 am: I decided I wanted to take a few spoonfulls of Skippy Natural Peanut Butter. Skippy Natty is a treat because it's 'no stir' which means you won't aquire Carpal Tunnel syndrome trying to mix an oily mess together. I also enjoyed another protein shake consisting of milk, ON Whey, Glutamine, and more creatine.

12:00 pm: My beloved girlfriend made turkey chili last night so I brought the leftovers and ate them at noon. I also had milk.

It's 1:13pm, I'm lactose intolerate and my insides are screaming. No more milk until tonight.

I have a tuna sandwich packed for lunch today at 2. It's not a tuna fanatic but it gets the job done.

-Jim

Welcome aboard and good luck with your progress.

I like it a lot.....watch the 1st squat workout, you're not going to be able to do all 5 sets of 5 with a true 5rm, or else it wouldn't be a 5rm......what would work is to do a set weight 5x5 on Tues, then do 5x5 pyramid on Fri.....or another option is to pyramid on mon and keep the fri workout as is.

Other than that, your DL is not proportionately low, in fact, it's your best lift by far. I wouldn't do SLDL's on Tuesday, I'd power clean or high pull, or you can jump shrug if you don't know how to clean or high pull. Weighted pullups are also an idea, with a deadlift that will be contributing to a good deal of your workload, I don't think you need a DL movement twice a week.

Otherwise, I like the setup a lot and I like lots of food. I'll be reading along.

Also, man, you need a new title for this thread real bad, lol, something more badass....check out Guiness 5.0's title for a journal for inspiration, that's a title.

BigT,

Good point about the 5x5 squat. I was thinking the same thing but couldn't figure out a way to say it. I'll follow your advice and do set weight on Tuesday and pyramid on Friday.

I'll clean on Tuesdays as well.

Thanks for your input. Keep fighting the good fight.

So to continue my day...

2:00 pm: 2 spicy tuna rolls, teriyaki chicken, rice.

4:30 pm: Tuna sandwich. I planned on eating a small tub of cottage cheese but I could barely finish the tuna sandwich.

5:30 pm: Gym time. Tonight I hit the bench, worked out some legs and calfs. I nailed the 255 for 3 on the bench like I planned. I probably could have got 5, to be honest, but the 3 was good enough. Monday I'll attempt 5 reps. My workout partner and I also spent quite a bit of time on calfs. They are one of the muscle groups that really don't grow for me unless I crush them. Between calf raises on Tuesday, and power shrugs later in the week I hope to see some progress.

I also got weighed in and it turns out I gained about 6 lbs in a week. I went from 198 - 204. 210 would be nice.

6:30 pm: Post workout shake. 50 grams ON Whey, 10 grams creatine, 5 grams gluatmine, 30 grams dextrose. I enjoy this on the ride home while listening to Opie and Anthony.

7:30 pm: My girlfriend did her job and made some shrimp and sauce so I heated up whole wheat pasta and ate about a half pound and washed it down with a big glass of milk.

10:00 pm: It's about 10 pm so it's time to eat...again. I'm going to probably eat that tub of cottage cheese from earlier and maybe whip up another protein shake. We'll see how saucy I'm feeling.

I wish you folks sweet dreams.

Jimmy Boy.

Omfg, I have to comment:

SPICY TUNA ROLLS! I want sushi now.

Eel is the fucking best ever. Hands down. If you try and contradict me on this, you suck. And I'm right.

Good luck with training & such.

I've never dabbled in the eel although I'm not opposed to it. I'll eat whatever those crazy Asians put in front of me; except those "Canine Rolls"...whatever they are.

Thanks for your kind words.

So I just added 4 pictures to my "Member Gallery" for your viewing pleasure. I'm not exactly impressive, by any means but I know that some people want to see who the hell they are reading about. I don't have any of the poses down or anything, so I just snapped a couple about 5 minutes ago with the webcam.