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This thread started as a question about my new workout but I decided to make it a training journal and copied the relevant posts over to this new thread.
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Originally posted on Jan 19
Okay, so I started a new workout today and I need some feedback. First of all, I just finished Phase 1 of the South Beach diet so I haven't had carbs in 2 weeks. As a result all my weights are down significantly...I felt so weak...which is a little discouraging even though I understand likely why. I have typically worked specific parts each day...chest and tris one day, back and bis another, legs and shoulders another. I decided to do something totally different and try a whole-body routine twice a week without any direct arm work. That is probably another reason my weights were down today. I'm trying to convince myself that my body isn't used to doing all kinds of different things in one workout and as a result the weights are suffering across the board...and by doing this workout my body will have to adapt and I'll be bigger and stronger as a result...sound reasonable? My goals are to lean out and build mass...don't care about strenght or power. I'm 178 down from 192 about 4 weeks ago thanks to cardio and the diet. Also got BF tested at 14% today...like to get down 8-10% for summer.
The workout: I'm looking to do this Monday & Thurs/Fri...same both days except swapping squats and deads every other workout. Tuesday and Saturday will generally be off days, 45-60 min moderate cardio (elliptical, rower, bike) plus 5x5-based abs on Wed, 45-60 min cardio (running) Thurs and/or Sun, and another standard ab circuit whenever I feel like fitting it in...probably Sunday.
The idea is to focus on compound moves and get a good whole-body workout twice a week. I'm thinking I'll try this for 4 weeks and see how it goes and then take it from there.
What I did today:
Dips - body weight 3 sets 12/11/8reps
Pull-ups - body weight 3 sets 10/7/6reps
Squats - 235 3 sets 10/10/10reps
Flat bench - 165 3 sets 7/5/5reps - I felt like a 15yo girl
Shrugs - 145 3 sets 15/15/12reps
Hanging clean and press - 3 sets 55/75/75lbs 12/10/10reps
Bent-over rows - 3 sets 75/95/95lbs 12/10/10reps
About 1-2 min between sets and 3-4 min between exercises. Did the whole thing in 55 min. then did 25 min light on the bike. I wasn't planning on the shrugs tossed them in there. So, how does this look? should I keep everything in the same order? I was most disappointed with the bench...just felt so weak...maybe because it directly followed squats?
I've never done flat bar bench on a regular basis so I figured that would be good for a change. I've typically done flat and incline DB presses. Maybe I'll switch between incline and flat BB bench EO workout. Also, I'll be tossing in some accessory work whenever I feel up to it...lateral raises, calf raises, stuff like that.
1/23 Friday
Today was my second day in the gym and I'm getting the bugs worked out. My bench is still piss-poor...although I'm still on the no/low carb diet. I've decided to make beanch a 5x5 style and make it the first thing I do after some light warm-up. I think that it is suffering because I'm doing both dips and pull-ups immediately before and my arms are basically compromised as a result. Also, the left side is clearly the problem...I could definitely get 2-3 more reps out of my right side but the left just fails.
I also thought about dropping the hanging clean and presses but decided to keep them. I think I get significant benefit from the standing position plus the controlled action of lowering the bar back to the hanging position really hits the front of my shoulders. I think it's a better overall body move then going with plain military presses.
So, here's today's workout:
Pull-ups - body weight 5 sets 10/8/6+2 negatives/5+3 negatives/5 negatives
Dips - body weight - 3 sets 12/10/10reps
Flat bench - 5 sets - 6@165/5@165/6/6/5@145
light sets of 15 reps - leg extension and leg curl
Deads - 3 sets - 12@195/12/12@225
light sets of 15 reps - leg extension and leg curl
Hanging clean and press - 3 sets @75 12/12/12reps
light sets of 15 reps - leg extension and leg curl
Bent-over rows - 3 sets @95lbs 12/12/12reps
Abs:
5x5 decline crunches with DBs
Mini ab circuit:
Side bridges - 30sec hold 2x per side
Leg lifts - 35 x 2
About 1-2 min between sets and 3-4 min between exercises. Did the whole thing in an hour 20min then did 25 min light on the bike. I tossed in the light leg work since I wasn't doing squats today just to get a little blood flowing through them.
1/25/04 - Sunday
10 min warm-up on bike
5x5 decline abs with 50lbs
2x25 twists
18 min interval rower
30 min hill treadmill
1/26/04 - Monday
Well, today I figured out the right order for my routine. Definitely put bench first after a light warm up.
Flat bench - 155lbs 5 sets 10/7/7/5/5
Pull-ups - body weight 5 sets 9/7/8/4+4neg/5 neg
Dips - body weight 3 sets 12/11/9reps
Bent-over rows - 95lbs 3 sets 12/12/12
Squats - 235 3 sets 10/10/10
Hanging clean and press - 80lbs 3 sets 12/12/12
Clave raises x3
Incline DB - 40's 2x10
20 min bike
Took 70 min without warm-up and bike.
1/28 - Wednesday
Was on travel for work today so I had to deal with the "fitness" room in the hotel. They had some DBs so I decided to do a little dedicated arm work.
db curls - 25lbs 3 sets 12 reps
db ext - 40lbs 3 sets 12 reps
hammer curls - 25lbs 3 sets 10 reps
conc curls - 25lbs 2 sets 10 reps
db kick-backs - 15lbs 2 sets 10 reps
SLD with 40lb DBs - 3 sets 12 reps
1/29 - Thursday
At the hotel again so I just did 5x5 weighted crunches on the decline board, 2 sets of side bridges, 2 sets of leg lifts, 25 min hills on the treadmill, and 20 min on the bike. Better then nothing.
1/30 - Friday
Now that I have the order of lifts figured out and everything seems to be set, I decided to up the weights and drop reps a little...aside from bench which I'm closer to being at the right weight for 5x5. I'll go 175 next workout and that should be a perfect 5x5. I had another rep or two on the first two sets this week but backed off at 7 and 6.
Flat bench - 165lbs 5 sets 7/6/6/6/6
Pull-ups - body weight 5 sets 10/7/7/4+4neg/3+3 neg
Dips - body weight 3 sets 12/8/10
Deads - 275 3 sets 7/6/5
Hanging clean and press - 95lbs 3 sets 8/6/5
Bent-over rows - 95lbs 3 sets 12/11/10
Incline DB - 45's/50's/45's 12/8/8
I might pick up some straps for deads. I had more in my body but my hands just couldn't hold the bar. I had to go very slow because if I exploded at all I would have just left the bar on the floor.
Didn't do any cardio after because I didn't eat as much today.
*********************************************
Originally posted on Jan 19
Okay, so I started a new workout today and I need some feedback. First of all, I just finished Phase 1 of the South Beach diet so I haven't had carbs in 2 weeks. As a result all my weights are down significantly...I felt so weak...which is a little discouraging even though I understand likely why. I have typically worked specific parts each day...chest and tris one day, back and bis another, legs and shoulders another. I decided to do something totally different and try a whole-body routine twice a week without any direct arm work. That is probably another reason my weights were down today. I'm trying to convince myself that my body isn't used to doing all kinds of different things in one workout and as a result the weights are suffering across the board...and by doing this workout my body will have to adapt and I'll be bigger and stronger as a result...sound reasonable? My goals are to lean out and build mass...don't care about strenght or power. I'm 178 down from 192 about 4 weeks ago thanks to cardio and the diet. Also got BF tested at 14% today...like to get down 8-10% for summer.
The workout: I'm looking to do this Monday & Thurs/Fri...same both days except swapping squats and deads every other workout. Tuesday and Saturday will generally be off days, 45-60 min moderate cardio (elliptical, rower, bike) plus 5x5-based abs on Wed, 45-60 min cardio (running) Thurs and/or Sun, and another standard ab circuit whenever I feel like fitting it in...probably Sunday.
The idea is to focus on compound moves and get a good whole-body workout twice a week. I'm thinking I'll try this for 4 weeks and see how it goes and then take it from there.
What I did today:
Dips - body weight 3 sets 12/11/8reps
Pull-ups - body weight 3 sets 10/7/6reps
Squats - 235 3 sets 10/10/10reps
Flat bench - 165 3 sets 7/5/5reps - I felt like a 15yo girl
Shrugs - 145 3 sets 15/15/12reps
Hanging clean and press - 3 sets 55/75/75lbs 12/10/10reps
Bent-over rows - 3 sets 75/95/95lbs 12/10/10reps
About 1-2 min between sets and 3-4 min between exercises. Did the whole thing in 55 min. then did 25 min light on the bike. I wasn't planning on the shrugs tossed them in there. So, how does this look? should I keep everything in the same order? I was most disappointed with the bench...just felt so weak...maybe because it directly followed squats?
I've never done flat bar bench on a regular basis so I figured that would be good for a change. I've typically done flat and incline DB presses. Maybe I'll switch between incline and flat BB bench EO workout. Also, I'll be tossing in some accessory work whenever I feel up to it...lateral raises, calf raises, stuff like that.
1/23 Friday
Today was my second day in the gym and I'm getting the bugs worked out. My bench is still piss-poor...although I'm still on the no/low carb diet. I've decided to make beanch a 5x5 style and make it the first thing I do after some light warm-up. I think that it is suffering because I'm doing both dips and pull-ups immediately before and my arms are basically compromised as a result. Also, the left side is clearly the problem...I could definitely get 2-3 more reps out of my right side but the left just fails.
I also thought about dropping the hanging clean and presses but decided to keep them. I think I get significant benefit from the standing position plus the controlled action of lowering the bar back to the hanging position really hits the front of my shoulders. I think it's a better overall body move then going with plain military presses.
So, here's today's workout:
Pull-ups - body weight 5 sets 10/8/6+2 negatives/5+3 negatives/5 negatives
Dips - body weight - 3 sets 12/10/10reps
Flat bench - 5 sets - 6@165/5@165/6/6/5@145
light sets of 15 reps - leg extension and leg curl
Deads - 3 sets - 12@195/12/12@225
light sets of 15 reps - leg extension and leg curl
Hanging clean and press - 3 sets @75 12/12/12reps
light sets of 15 reps - leg extension and leg curl
Bent-over rows - 3 sets @95lbs 12/12/12reps
Abs:
5x5 decline crunches with DBs
Mini ab circuit:
Side bridges - 30sec hold 2x per side
Leg lifts - 35 x 2
About 1-2 min between sets and 3-4 min between exercises. Did the whole thing in an hour 20min then did 25 min light on the bike. I tossed in the light leg work since I wasn't doing squats today just to get a little blood flowing through them.
1/25/04 - Sunday
10 min warm-up on bike
5x5 decline abs with 50lbs
2x25 twists
18 min interval rower
30 min hill treadmill
1/26/04 - Monday
Well, today I figured out the right order for my routine. Definitely put bench first after a light warm up.
Flat bench - 155lbs 5 sets 10/7/7/5/5
Pull-ups - body weight 5 sets 9/7/8/4+4neg/5 neg
Dips - body weight 3 sets 12/11/9reps
Bent-over rows - 95lbs 3 sets 12/12/12
Squats - 235 3 sets 10/10/10
Hanging clean and press - 80lbs 3 sets 12/12/12
Clave raises x3
Incline DB - 40's 2x10
20 min bike
Took 70 min without warm-up and bike.
1/28 - Wednesday
Was on travel for work today so I had to deal with the "fitness" room in the hotel. They had some DBs so I decided to do a little dedicated arm work.
db curls - 25lbs 3 sets 12 reps
db ext - 40lbs 3 sets 12 reps
hammer curls - 25lbs 3 sets 10 reps
conc curls - 25lbs 2 sets 10 reps
db kick-backs - 15lbs 2 sets 10 reps
SLD with 40lb DBs - 3 sets 12 reps
1/29 - Thursday
At the hotel again so I just did 5x5 weighted crunches on the decline board, 2 sets of side bridges, 2 sets of leg lifts, 25 min hills on the treadmill, and 20 min on the bike. Better then nothing.
1/30 - Friday
Now that I have the order of lifts figured out and everything seems to be set, I decided to up the weights and drop reps a little...aside from bench which I'm closer to being at the right weight for 5x5. I'll go 175 next workout and that should be a perfect 5x5. I had another rep or two on the first two sets this week but backed off at 7 and 6.
Flat bench - 165lbs 5 sets 7/6/6/6/6
Pull-ups - body weight 5 sets 10/7/7/4+4neg/3+3 neg
Dips - body weight 3 sets 12/8/10
Deads - 275 3 sets 7/6/5
Hanging clean and press - 95lbs 3 sets 8/6/5
Bent-over rows - 95lbs 3 sets 12/11/10
Incline DB - 45's/50's/45's 12/8/8
I might pick up some straps for deads. I had more in my body but my hands just couldn't hold the bar. I had to go very slow because if I exploded at all I would have just left the bar on the floor.
Didn't do any cardio after because I didn't eat as much today.
Everything felt damn good! Especially happy with my 5x5 bench which I added 5 lbs to and actually got every rep without a spot VS. needing a spot on the last rep with 175 last workout. I did get a lift off the rack on my last set so I think that might have allowed me to save just enough to get that last rep.
