New Program(please Critique

[aaron_everette]

I have been working out for 2 years now and have not seen the gains I thought I would have by now. I have gained 15 pounds of lean body mass. Most of my training has been trial and error, like most people do when they first start out. What I have done is put together a program by using the 5x5 program. I used a lot of the weight from the 5x5 and put in my own rep system. I am not going soley for strength, I am looking to maximize strength and LBM gains equally. Let me know what yall think of this and if I should change anything. Also I will be changing the excercises every two weeks. Like instead of Flat Bench I will do Incline, ect., making changes on a couple of the excercises every couple of weeks.
Stats:25
Height:6'1"
Weight: 178
Bf%:13%

Because I work in Iraq, I cant always eat as clean as I should trying to get all my protien and carbs in. I will try and give a rundown of a basic day though. This is probably about the cleanest day of eating.
7am-8 whole eggs, oatmeal or whole grain cereal
10am-Isopure Mass-53g protein 86g carb
12pm-2 grilled chicken breast,vegetable & potato
4pm- Isopure Mass-53g protein 86g carb
7pm- 2 grilled chicken breast,vegetable & potato
Workout
10pm-Isopure Mass-45g protein 72g carb


*Note-all numbers with a + befor it is showing the poundage on each side of a 35lb short barbell

*Back,Bi
Deadlift:warmup-135/8-185/5-205/5-215/5-225/8-185
Row:8-115/5-125/5-135/5-155/8-145
Wide Grip Pull up:10-Bdy.lbs/8-+5/5-+10/5-+10/8-+5
Barbell Curls:8-10/5-15/5-20/5-25/8-15
Reverse Curls:10-Bar/8-+10/8-+15/6-+20/12-+10
*Shoulder,Trap
Shoulder Press:warmup-65/8-75/5-95/5-105/5-110/8-95
Reverse Flyes:10-20db/8-25db/8-30db/6-35db/12-25db
Upright Rows:10-+10/8-+20/5-+25/5-+30/8-+25
Barbell Shrugs:8-135/5-155/5-175/5-185/8-155
*Chest,Tri
Bench:Warmup-115/8-145/5-155/5-160/5-165/8-155
Flyes:10-25db/8-30db/8-30db/6-35db/12-30d/
Dips:10-+10/8-+25/5-+45/5-+45/8-+25
Close Grip:8-+25/5-+35/5-+45/5-+55/8-+35
Skull Crusher:10-+10/8-+20/8-+25/6-+30/12-+15
*Legs,Calves
Squat:warmup-135/8-185/5-205/5-225/5-235/8-185
Dumbell:10-bar/8-+25/8-+30/6-+35/12-+15
Calf Raises:20-115/15-135/10-145/10-155/12-135
Weighted crunches
Side Crunches

 

[aaron_everette]

ok, Im getting some thread views, but where's the replies....IT SUX,ITS GREAT, WORK ON THIS OR THAT, anything????

 

[gettnlarge01]

Looks like a good place to start with training and diet.I would run that program for a month and chart your progress to see what needs to be adjusted.

 

[Czar87]

Try DFHT, you'll see good gains, madcow suggested it after finishing 5x5. 2 lowerbody days and 2 upper body.

 

[BiggT]

AT 6'1, you have a lot of room to fill your frame out. Weight gain is a matter of calories in vs. calories out. Your diet is very clean, however, it is a little low on total calories. The saving grace is you eat whole eggs, which is good. I know you said you're in Iraq and I don't know whats available to you, but I'd add in more red meat and salmon though if you were asking generally. I'd also add in more things like Quiznos at lunch, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, real food that is nutrious and calorically dense. Again, with your location, I don't know what is available to you (or what would be safe to eat), but if you were just generally asking, thats what I would say. AT your weight on a 6-1 frame, you need calories if your goal is size. I know you said you want lean gains, you can minimize fat gain, but 100% lean gains are pretty hard to come by.

With the training, there is no magic to any rep range, so whatever you choose the important thing is consistency.

I wouldn't guess you're at a point where you need to rotate exercises every 2 or 3 weeks. So long as you're training progressively and not to failure, you should be able to string progress along on a select few lifts for a very long time. Pick lifts that give a lot of bang for the buck and milk progress for all it's worth. Change out of necessity when you plateau, don't change for the sake of change.

You seem to have a good handle on things, even though it is boring, you need to milk a lift for all it's worth and don't change until it plateaus. Where you are now, you should be able to get a lot out of your lifts so long as you're not blowing yourtself out training to failure.

Good luck....and get home safe.

 

[aaron_everette]

AT 6'1, you have a lot of room to fill your frame out. Weight gain is a matter of calories in vs. calories out. Your diet is very clean, however, it is a little low on total calories. The saving grace is you eat whole eggs, which is good. I know you said you're in Iraq and I don't know whats available to you, but I'd add in more red meat and salmon though if you were asking generally. I'd also add in more things like Quiznos at lunch, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, real food that is nutrious and calorically dense. Again, with your location, I don't know what is available to you (or what would be safe to eat), but if you were just generally asking, thats what I would say. AT your weight on a 6-1 frame, you need calories if your goal is size. I know you said you want lean gains, you can minimize fat gain, but 100% lean gains are pretty hard to come by.

With the training, there is no magic to any rep range, so whatever you choose the important thing is consistency.

.

I wouldn't guess you're at a point where you need to rotate exercises every 2 or 3 weeks. So long as you're training progressively and not to failure, you should be able to string progress along on a select few lifts for a very long time. Pick lifts that give a lot of bang for the buck and milk progress for all it's worth. Change out of necessity when you plateau, don't change for the sake of change.

You seem to have a good handle on things, even though it is boring, you need to milk a lift for all it's worth and don't change until it plateaus. Where you are now, you should be able to get a lot out of your lifts so long as you're not blowing yourtself out training to failure.

Good luck....and get home safe.

Thanks for the post bro. One of my main problems in the past has been that I try to do every excersice there is for each muscle group. I always try to leave the gym where I can barely move my arms, or barely walk. I overtrained too often. I know it is good to throw in some dropsets every now and then, but I was doing this every time I worked out. My body is proportioned very good, its just that I dont have much size. So now I am concentrating on the basics.
Also the diet I put up is just showing that its the cleanest that I can possibly eat. I cant get the chicken breast everyday so a lot of days I eat steaks, chicken nuggets, anything with a lot of proteing, no matter if fried, baked or grilled. Some days I will get a serving of junk food just for the extra calories. I know that it is very hard to add mass without the fat, I just try to and not make my fat gains overcome the mass gains. I dont want to come off a bulker and be 25% bodyfat. I dont do cardio either. When it is time to cut, that will be the easy part. My metabolism is pretty high, but when I do cardio, it sends it into overdrive and doesnt slow down until after a couple weeks of no cardio. A few months ago I cut for a month and a half and went from 13% to 10%. Since then, I have not done any cardio and been pounding in the calories.

Thanks alot for your input cause everybit of info helps. After the first of the year I will start a cycle. Probably will be a Test and T-bol. Have not completely made up my mind yet. Probably will only run it for about 12 weeks. Thanks again for the info

 

[ZGzaZ]

Thanks for the post bro. One of my main problems in the past has been that I try to do every excersice there is for each muscle group. I always try to leave the gym where I can barely move my arms, or barely walk. I overtrained too often. I know it is good to throw in some dropsets every now and then, but I was doing this every time I worked out. My body is proportioned very good, its just that I dont have much size. So now I am concentrating on the basics.
Also the diet I put up is just showing that its the cleanest that I can possibly eat. I cant get the chicken breast everyday so a lot of days I eat steaks, chicken nuggets, anything with a lot of proteing, no matter if fried, baked or grilled. Some days I will get a serving of junk food just for the extra calories. I know that it is very hard to add mass without the fat, I just try to and not make my fat gains overcome the mass gains. I dont want to come off a bulker and be 25% bodyfat. I dont do cardio either. When it is time to cut, that will be the easy part. My metabolism is pretty high, but when I do cardio, it sends it into overdrive and doesnt slow down until after a couple weeks of no cardio. A few months ago I cut for a month and a half and went from 13% to 10%. Since then, I have not done any cardio and been pounding in the calories.

Thanks alot for your input cause everybit of info helps. After the first of the year I will start a cycle. Probably will be a Test and T-bol. Have not completely made up my mind yet. Probably will only run it for about 12 weeks. Thanks again for the info

Gear should be the absolute last thing on your mind right now.... You have a ton of progression to go naturally on all your lifts and weight, what's the point of throwing in gear now? Not to mention, you frequently overtrain and your diet isn't correct right now... don't sacrifice your heath and waste money when youre not ready for it.

 

[aaron_everette]

Gear should be the absolute last thing on your mind right now.... You have a ton of progression to go naturally on all your lifts and weight, what's the point of throwing in gear now? Not to mention, you frequently overtrain and your diet isn't correct right now... don't sacrifice your heath and waste money when youre not ready for it.

Besides the extra fat that I take in from fried foods, what exactly is wrong with my diet? I still get enough protein/carbs in, just that its not as clean in terms of sat. fats/trans. fats. What's wrong with throwing in a little test? I have spent two years on this site reading and searching gear threads. I have heard both sides of the story on proper time to use gear and everyone has their own opinion. With so many different opinions on here its kind of hard to tell what is what on that subject. Going to see how this program goes for a few months and see where I am at. I will post my results about every 4 weeks or so. I appreciate your input on this and would like to hear more about the diet if you want to explain.

 

[blut wump]

Have you stopped to add up your calories yet?

No matter what your exercise plan, if you want to add mass then calories are the crux of things.

 

[aaron_everette]

Have you stopped to add up your calories yet?

No matter what your exercise plan, if you want to add mass then calories are the crux of things.

Yes I have added up the calories. There are only certain things that I eat at the chow hall so that makes it pretty easy. The guy that runs the chow hall gave me the master menu, that includes all the food, nutritional facts and servings. There is some foods on there that I couldn't believe how many calories there were in them. I'm sure they do it on purpose in a war zone, so that all the soldiers that eat only once a day because of always being on missions. Tons of sodium in everything.
I get 2700 calories a day just from the Isopure shakes. Atleast 750 calories at breakfast lunch and dinner. I am taking in at the least 5000 calories everday. Well above what I burn off a day. I dont burn too many calories throughout the day because a lot of my work are reports.

 

[blut wump]

That should be plenty although it might be better to try to take more as food rather than shakes. If you want to add more calories, you could top up your shakes with powdered oats or with some olive oil or flax oil.

 

[aaron_everette]

That should be plenty although it might be better to try to take more as food rather than shakes. If you want to add more calories, you could top up your shakes with powdered oats or with some olive oil or flax oil.

Yeah, I try to eat whole meals as often as I can. I usually grab 2 plates at breakfast and lunch. If I dont eat one of the lunches, that is what I will have for dinner. I get called out of the office periodically to inspect things, so if I know I am going to be out at my normal meal time, I will fix a shake and take it with me. I hate missing a meal, because if it happens too often, then I become calorie deficiant and then there's no use of even continuing to work out if I cant eat enough. I will definitely try to put some oats just to mix up the taste. Oh and in the shake, I usually throw in 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. Does wonders for the taste. Also I'm using milk instead of water so thats a bump in calories also. Sometimes I dont feel like eating at the time I am supposed to, but I just shove it in anyway. I also drink about 1.5-2 gallons of water a day. To make sure the PurCee does its thing. Thanks blut wump