On-cycle workout

[yuppyguitar]

Normally I workout as follows:

Monday - Chest/Tri - 3 sets - 8 reps each of the following: flat bench, db incline, weighted dips, close grip bench, skull crushers - total 15 sets

Tuesday - Back/bi - 3 sets - 8 reps each of the following: deadlift, weighted pullups, bent db row, bb curls, reverse bb curls

Thurs - Shoulders - 3 sets - 8 reps each of the following: military press, shoulder shrugs, db lateral raises, bent db lateral raises

Sat - Legs - 3 sets each of the following: squats, leg extensions, leg curls, seated calf raises, weighted crunches

I'm planning to start an anavar cycle, 8 weeks @ 50mg/day + bulking diet (+500 cals over maintenance / day). What can I expect in terms of recovery and ability to handle an increased workload?

Can I work all the muscles in 4 consecutive days followed by 1 rest day, giving me a 5 day cycle instead of the normal 7? Should I use 4 sets instead of 3? More super sets, more drop sets?

How do you modify your normal workout when on-cycle to get optimal gains?

 

[zedhed]

Depends largely what your goals are.
So bro post your goals !

 

[yuppyguitar]

Gain and keep solid strength/size.

 

[zedhed]

OK then I would run any of the 5x5 programs, Stronglifts, Madcow etc.
Workout every 48 hours and dont change which ever plan you use. Dont change anything!
I think you will be very happy with your gains off the var, diet and a 5x5.

 

[stevesmi]

I workout 6X per week. if you use splits to your advantage you will be fine. while one muscle group is resting, another is being worked.

my splits are

1. pushing
2. pulling
3. legs

 

[Judo Tom]

Steve would you mind posting some more details.. sets/reps/% of max... stuff like that. Im gonna switch up my routine down the road and looking for new ideas.. push/pull/legs interests me big time

 

[yuppyguitar]

stevesmi, do you mean while on cycle, or all the time?

The reason I ask is on my last bulking cycle I remember my legs taking 5 or 6 days to recover from heavy squats. I can expect this to be 3-4 days on anavar? Otherwise I'm not sure if I can take legs twice/week without overtraining, unless the volume is dramatically reduced. The madcow example I'm looking at has only 4 sets of squats spread over mon, wed, fri.

I did westside for a few months which required legs twice/week, but one of the two workouts was super light and fast, so not as much soreness.

 

[yuppyguitar]

OK then I would run any of the 5x5 programs, Stronglifts, Madcow etc.
Workout every 48 hours and dont change which ever plan you use. Dont change anything!
I think you will be very happy with your gains off the var, diet and a 5x5.

Looking at the stronglifts.com - madcow spreadsheet, plugged in my max lifts and got an auto generated 12 week workout schedule with all the reps calculated. This is extremely aggressive. It has me adding either 5 or 10 lbs to EVERY lift EVERY week. Now while the possibility of that sounds awesome to me, it doesn't seem very realistic. Does it assume you're using steroids with the workout plan? Naturally I've done a similar 5x5 plan before, and was lucky to see a 2.5lbs increase every 2 weeks. Does sound interesting though, I need something different.

 

[stevesmi]

no problem: the basic things are I start my workouts with compound lifts, and then as the workout continues i speed things up and take my sets to failure..

an example of a pushing day for me: warm up, then bench press for 5 sets. first 2 sets are 8 reps, then 3 sets at a heavier weight for 4 reps .. then i will do either incline or decline for 3 sets. then 100 dips in 3 sets. then i do triceps and pushups back and forth. i do 140 pushups and i do triceps to failure.

 

[stevesmi]

stevesmi, do you mean while on cycle, or all the time?

The reason I ask is on my last bulking cycle I remember my legs taking 5 or 6 days to recover from heavy squats. I can expect this to be 3-4 days on anavar? Otherwise I'm not sure if I can take legs twice/week without overtraining, unless the volume is dramatically reduced. The madcow example I'm looking at has only 4 sets of squats spread over mon, wed, fri.

I did westside for a few months which required legs twice/week, but one of the two workouts was super light and fast, so not as much soreness.

as long as you don't max out your legs should be fine if you are conditioned.