Help me create a program to accomplish my goals

[fastgain]

Hi all, I'm about to end a fall college sports season, and I'm ready to really start hitting the weights hard again. I'm currently at about 6', 175 and very lean from all the running. I've dropped about 15 pounds of muscle over the course of the season.

I'm looking to create a program with very specialized goals. I've read up on all common elitefitness programs and have used several of them with success. None of them seem to fit my current goals, however.

Basically, I want to gain speed and explosiveness in my lower body, while gaining strength and size in my upper body. I want to minimize the size gains in my lower body since I already have huge quads, hammies, and ass for my size (I swear I carry 75% of my weight in my legs). I will be eating very clean, limiting carbs to pre-workout and post-workout meals while on a moderate bulking diet. I will also be doing some moderate cardio to keep the fat in check.

Anyway, I'm thinking of doing something like 5x5 for upper body with westside for lower body. This is obviously not ideal for my goals, but my limited knowledge really prevents me from coming up with anything better.

I am very dedicated, and will carefully follow a program one of you might recommend. Since I'm not all that familiar with westside, I would ask that you lay out specific splits and programs rather than simply giving me general ideas.

Thanks in advance everyone! I'm sure you will help me get where I want to be.

 

[Lord_Suston]

hmmm, explosiveness for lower body: Sprints, plyos and olympic lifting come to mind. I would say that 5x5 would be a great tool for atrophy and strength in the upper body.

 

[fastgain]

Ok I'm still looking for some help here. I've put together a possible program, I'm now looking for help in improving it. Here's how it goes:



Monday:

Incline BB Press - 5x5
Flat DB Press - 2x8-10
Chest Dips - 2x8-10
BB Curls - 5x5
DB Curls - 2x8-10
Weighted Crunches - 3x14




Tuesday:

Power Cleans or Hang Power Cleans (not sure which I will do)
Rep scheme (approximate): warmups, 5, 5, 3, 3, 3 (increasing the weight between each set)

Plyometrics

I'm trying to read up on these, but I still don't know much about them. I would like some help here.
From CoolColJ's log:
Low Ankle Jumps - 2x15
Med Ankle Jumps - 2x10
High Ankle Jumps - 3x5
Quick Horizontal Hops - 3x10 (5 each)
Horizontal TuckJumps - 3x5

Full High-Bar Squats - Similar rep scheme as power cleans, close stance, ass to floor, slow descent, explosion on the way up

Shrugs - 2x8-10
Calf Raises (slow and deliberate) - 3x15



Wednesday:

Sprints, not sure what sort of rep/rest scheme/distance. Any suggestions?



Thursday:

Military Press (very strict, standing) - 5x5
Side Laterals - 2x8-10
BB Rows - 5x5
Pullups - 2x8-10
Rear Delt Machine - 2x8-10



Friday:

Close Grip Bench - 5x5
Skulls - 2x8-10
Dips - 2x8-10
Pulldowns - 1x8-10
Jump Squats - 8x3 (35% of max)

Deads - warmups, 5, 5, 3, 3, 3 increasing weights
I might alternate these with speed deads (45%) to minimize overtraining as heavy deads tend to fry me.

SLDL - 2x8


Saturday and Sunday, rest.


Well, I'd really love to here some specific comments regarding both small and very large changes. Let me know what you think. Thanks alot!

 

[Lord_Suston]

you're getting better fundamentally

a basic program I could think of is...

Monday: Heavy Deads 3x3 or 3x5, Bent-over rows 2x8-10, Lat pulldowns 2x8-10, Sprints

Tues: Hang Snatches 3x5, Military press 3x8-10 or 5x5 (depends on how you respond), High pulls 3x5, Shrugs 2x8-10

Wens Rest

Thu: Powercleans 3x3 or 4x3, Squat 4x2 (emphasis on speed and explosiveness), BB curl 5x5, DB curl 2x8-10 reverse curl 2x8-10, Sprints

Fri: Incline 5x5, Flat 2x8-10, Dip 2x12, Overhead db press 3x8, Pushdowns 2x12.

Sat: rest

Sun: rest

I would put plyos on W,F,Su

 

[fastgain]

Thanks Suston, I really like the sound of that program. I've never done Hang Snatches or Snatches at all for that matter, so I'll have to start learning them. Nor have I done high pulls.

Couple of questions. Should I keep the weights the same between the sets of Snatches and Power Cleans, or should I increase? Obviously, my goal will be to increase by 5 lbs. each week on the major compound movements. Also, how many sprints and what distance of sprints should I do? What should the rest intervals be like? Finally, I was wondering if you could suggest a plyometrics program, or some good links where I could research my own. Thanks for all your help.

I think I'm going to follow your program almost exactly, starting next Monday. I'll do it for at least 2 months and then evaluate how it's working.

 

[Lord_Suston]

Sprints-depending on what sport yuou play should dictate the distance of sprints. Exampler though: 10x30yard one day and maybe 4x100 another, with weekly increase in amount of sets. Rest ineterval should be the amont of time it takes you to walk back to starting posisiton

I wamr up with a few light set of snatches then I go do some sets with the same weight and increase if I get every rep cleanly. You will be able to do more weight with hangcleans in relation to snatches.

so good videos that CoolColJ has put up