Jkurz1
For 4-6 months (leaving out the initial few months of reconditioning of my body from fat pig to gym rat) I did the 5X5 routine exactly like Needsize laid out with one addition. On the final rep (whether you finish the 5th set or not) of the compound excersise I would do a slow negative much like the DC method calls for this seemed to really help me the next time I attacked that excerise. Here are the excersises I used with the 5X5:
Mon: Shoulders/Back
[Keep in mind I have a lower back that is now hamburger and causes me re-occuring pain constantly otherwise I'd have deads & other much better excersises added to this routine]
Completed in 1 hour.
Warm up on eliptical machine for 6 minutes (~100 cal)
5X5 - DB press or BB press [I was doing BTNMP but those were just too much for my cuffs...I don't do behind the neck anymore]
2x8-10 - Lateral raises to failure for both sets
2x8-10 - Bent over lateral raises for the rear delts.
4X10 of DB shrugs with AS MUCH WEIGHT AS I COULD POSSIBLY HANDLE...
5X5 Wide grip pull ups
1 set of crying like a baby
2x8-10 of reverse pec dec (HEAVY, HEAVY, HEAVY!)
2x8-10 of seated rows (HEAVY, HEAVY, HEAVY!)
Teus: 20 minutes HIIT cardio on eliptical.
Wed: Legs
[Once again due to back problems and the fact that I push myself sometimes too hard in the gym I use squats as an additional exersise rather than the compound 5X5 excersise - I'd recommend switching that though for someone else]
Completed in 1 hour
Warm up on eliptical machine for 6 minutes (~100 cal)
5X5 45 degree leg press (if your belly button doesn't pop out there's not enough weight.)
2x8-10 seated leg raises (you know the machine that hurts your thighs)
5X5 lying ham curls (Painfully heavy)
2x8-10 squats
BFL sets for seated calf raises (this seemed to work better for my calves than any other routine. It added the most mass for some strange reason...go figure)
Abs...whatever I felt would hit them that day usually 3 sets of 35 crunches on the swiss ball.
Thurs: 20 min. HIIT cardio on eliptical
Fri: chest and arms
Completed in 1 hour
Warm up on eliptical machine for 6 minutes (~100 cal)
5X5 Incline bench
2x8-10 chest dips, or flat bench
2x8-10 flat DB press, or flys
5X5 EZ bar standing curls, or preachers.
2x8-10 seated incline DB curls (you know where your arms hang almost straight down)
2X8-10 hammer curls, or reverse grip preachers
5X5 skull crushers
2X8-10 rope grip standing cable push downs (or whatever you want to call them)
2x8-10 bench dips, or close grip bench.
Sat: OFF
Sun: 20 min. HIIT cardio on eliptical
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When I start to plateau on the above routine, I switch to the 3X5 routine laid out by Needsize (keeping the slow neg on the last rep). I push this AS FAR AS I CAN GO!!! The exersises are pretty close to the previous just much more weight, and less volume. When I start to feel my joints and tendons aching in a "bad" way (like they have been the last couple of weeks) I switch to the next BFL routine which is IMO pretty "light"
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Every 4-6 months I do 1 month of a "light" BFL program doing almost exactly what the book says just to give my body a break. I keep the cardio at 3 20min sessions a week and the weights at about 45 min just like he says. After doing the 5X5 program believe me, this is EASY! I feel guilty at the end of the day cause it feels like I've done SFA. I stick to the diet quite close dropping my intake a bit from before (mostly dropping the protien down to match the BFL). I think the BFL program is a beginner level approach with merit but is useless for serious gains. At this point it's a program for maintanence. I won't list my excersises here cause I don't think it makes much of a difference and they are fairly similar to the above stuff anyway.
DIET (on 5X5 and 3X5): Taking from DC a little I ate as much protien as I could humanly pack away during the day for a while in no real pattern but the diet below is what I'm doing now. NO JUNK FOOD except maybe every second friday I'd order a huge pizza and eat the whole thing just to stay sane.
Morning: Take multi-vitamins and flax oil 1. Egg whites/oatmeal or All Bran/eggs 2. protien shake 3. high protien meal with carbs and veggies 4. peice of fruit with 1 cup DRY cottage cheese (42 grams protien) Take multi-vitamins and flax oil 5. Big slab of meat (steak, chicken, fish, dozen egg whites (2 yolks), whatever) with generous veggies and a carb like brown rice or sweet potatoes. 6. Natural Peanut butter with Multi grain crackers, or straight protien with some carbs for fuel. 7. On weight days I do a non-whey (caesin (sp?)) protien shake mixed with milk before going to sleep.
If I come across an instance where I can eat straight protien at any time during the day I eat it. Shrimp, meats, whatever. Absolute minimun is 2X body weight of protien (in grams...duh). In the morning I drink 3 cups of coffee with just cream (I will NEVER give up my cream...NEVER, NEVER,NEVER!!!!! Muahahaha). And I tend to drink lots of 1% milk. Often I snack on carrots and almonds in between meals too.
Sleep as much as I can at night which is difficult cause I often have insomnia. Exersise does help this though but one day a week I'm just not sleeping which really affects my gains I'm sure. I don't drink much at all and rarely go over 2 glasses of wine/beer/whiskey(well oz here not glasses...hic).
No sups other than vitamins and flax and protein shakes. No drugs either. I am not a genetic freak and was still rather stocky at 185lbs (last time I was in shape this time I started off at around 230lbs of FLAB!). I'm 5'11" and went from 185lbs (last time I was in shape) at 13-14%bf to 212-214 at 13-14%bf. I dropped so much weight in the first 5 months people though I had cancer or something. Had to buy new cloths etc. Unfortuneatly I didn't take any posed pics cause I didn't want to jinx it. I'm no BMF but I am a stocky guy. I don't think I'd be described as being a "big" guy but I dont' know for sure cause I'm not gonna ask other guys what they think of my body...kinda gay unless they are bodybuilders and would understand the question and it's intent. And I really don't know many people at the gym cause I'm in there to train, not socialize.
And just to REALLY piss people off...I smoke too. I am trying to quit though and I've cut back about 50% of what I used to smoke. I'm not talking weed here either. Don't smoke weed.