Macronutrient Breakdown

So this is what I will be consuming Monday-Friday every day lol. Saturday and Sunday It will change/I will update you with what I eat then too. Tomorrow Cardio :)

Chest training

So today was a just chest day. I was thinking/considering throwing in back but decided that I would just wait until tomorrow and focus on chest today.


Bench Press 225x10,x10, x8 drop to 135x7
DB Flat Press- 50x14, 60x10, 70x10, 80x8 huge pump
Dips Bwx10, bw+65x7, x7 rest 30 sec x3
DB Incline flys 40x7,x7,x7 with push ups in between

Next chest workout will be with back




So to get the best of both worlds since I like putting chest/back together I have devised an intricate split.

It goes like this
Shoulder/Triceps (drop sets and high reps)
Biceps (high volume 8-15 reps)
Rest/Cardio
Legs/abs (standard higher volume 8-20reps)
Chest (high volume 8-12 reps with drop sets and rest/pause)
Back/calves
Rest/Cardio
Shoulders/Triceps/Biceps (POWER Range 4-6 reps, 1-2 failure sets, 2 exercises per body part)
Rest/Cardio
Legs (POWER Range 4-6 reps)
Chest/Back (Super sets!) (6-15reps)
rest/Cardio
rest or repeat

Now I'm really going to enforce the cardio on my off days. Lately I have been super lazy and it shows in my conditioning. To tighten everything up for the summer.... cardio is going up. Calories will be at 3500 every day roughly. I'm actually going to attempt to track calories lol. The macronutrient break down will be high protein/moderate carbs/moderate to low fat

Example day
2 rice cakes/Protein Shake/2tbsp flax
1 cup couscous/ 2 chicken breast/2 bananas
2 rice cakes/Protein Shake/2 tbsp flax
1 cup couscous/2 chicken breast
1 cup brown rice or couscous/ 2 chicken breast/2tbsp flax
2 tbsp natural peanut butter-->can be added with any meal
2 tbsp natural peanut butter-->can be added with any meal

20 fish oil capsules through out the day

My macronutrients will come out to about 40/40/20 protein/carbs/fat
I will have veggies at all the bolded meals as well. I'll try to do this for the next 6-8 weeks and see where I'm at 201 in this pic...holding a lot of water and looking fat lol. Hoping that my split and strict diet really helps lean me out and makes my abs pop more :D
Cheers

Training Update

So guys, I have been slightly MIA because of school and stuff but I thought I would share some of my workouts since I'm training for size right now. I'm focusing on super strict form and feeling all the muscles.

My split for now is something like Shoulders/Triceps, Biceps, rest, Legs, chest, back, rest, repeat. 

Many of you I'm sure are like WTF, biceps day!? Well, I'm trying to work on better form/developing a stronger mind muscle connection so yes I have a biceps day. The workout is only 30-40 min and its even more of a rest day. I'm putting in cardio on almost every day, at least a bit to get my endurance up. 

Shoulders/Triceps 

Shoulder DB Press- 60x10, drop to 40x8, 60x8, drop to 40x8, 55x9, drop to 40x5 (next week I will keep it at 60)

Lateral raises 20lbx20,x20,x20,x20,x20 (go up to 25lb next week)

rear deltoids 75x25, x25, add in another set next week

CG Bench Press- 135x10, 185x10, x10,x9, move up weight next week

Overhead DB extension, 45x10, 30x8, 45x10, 30x7, 45x10, 30x8, each one was a drop set, next week 50lb

Pushdowns 30x12, 42x5,x11, next week stick to straight bar and start at 60lb.

Overall was a decent workout, started very light to get used to it, will be adding weight as needed. I'm mainly focusing on decreasing my rest period and improving my conditioning

Biceps lol

Wide grip EZ curl bar warm up, 70x12, 80x10, 90x8, 100x6, next week I'll add weight and slow on negative, burn out set at 50x20

Supinated DB preacher curls 20x11, 20x10, 20x10, next week keep weight but more reps

DB Hammer Curls 40x12, x11, next week add weight

EZ bar reverse curls 45x12, 55x10, 60x13, next week start at 55lb

Legs (higher reps)

Squats warm up, 275x12, 295x10, 315x20, 315x8, keep weight and shoot for more reps next week

front squats- 135x14, x16,x16, almost no rest with no lockout to keep stress on quads

Leg curls SS with leg extensions

50x18, x14, 50x15, and then giant set for leg extension, 80x14, 70x4, 60x3, 30x2

Lunges 50x10, x8, go higher reps next week. 

Tomorrow I will be hitting Chest, will start out with light bench press, then do some flat presses, flys, and dynamic pushups. 

Hypertrophy workouts

So I would like to plan my workouts and start some form of progression. I'm going to start a little lighter and add weight as I hit rep ranges. I'll start in the 12+ and then if I feel good after the first round I'll go down into 8-12 the following week.

Training will look like this:

Triceps/Shoulders- My triceps are seriously like 3 years behind everything else...even my biceps are better than them. Therefor I am putting them here with an emphasis. Shoulders are starting to fall behind as well so I'm going to group them together.

Upper body mobility- BB Shoulder press + Overhead shrug(light)
DB Shoulder Press- 3x10 + drop set every time to x8
Lateral raises 25x20,20,20,20,20 something like that
DB rear lateral raises- same deal

Close Grip Bench- 3x10, most likely start off with 185 or so
Triceps pullover if I figure out how to do them or overhead DB Extension
Triceps Pushdown- probably rope for that extra squeeze!


Back/Biceps-
rest/Cardio-Sprinting
Legs- Front Squats/Back Squats/Leg Curls/Good mornings/Leg extensions/
Chest- Bench Press/DB stretch fly/DB Flat Press/Dynamic push ups/maybe another fly/stretching exercise
rest/Cardio-Sprinting
rest/repeat cycle

Upper Body.....strength plateau....damn

So as the title says, I did an upper body workout today but hit a plateau. I think this happens to all of us and this is certainly not the first time I have hit a plateau. It was a good long 6+ weeks but my joints are killing me and I feel run down. I think that at this point, this is the strongest I am going to get with this size. So, for the next few weeks I will do higher reps/lower rest with lighter weights to assist with active recovery and HYPERTROPHY. I feel as though I grow in both ranges but the medium to lighter weights are where you really grow. I will do the first week with something around the 12-15 rep range and then maybe go into the 8-12 rep range for a while. Anyhow, this will be a good deload from the heavy iron. I will also throw in more conditioning days.

Bench Press Superset with weighted Pullups:

135x10,185x3, 225x1, 265x5, 275x4, 275x4, 290x4
Bwx10,x6, BW+45x6,x6x5

BB Rows SS with Weighted Dips
135x10, 185x10,x185x12, x13
Dips bwx10, bw+60x10,11,9
DB Shoulder Press 50x13,x9
Pushdowns SS with DB Curls
60x12,x12,x12
35x10,x10, Concentration curl 20x10

Heavy Legs.....all good things come to an end.

So today seems to be my maxing point on building back my leg strength. I knew the end was coming and was planning a deload, it seems as though today was my last heavy strength workout. I will now shift gears towards a higher rep range (12-15) and (8-12). It was fun while it lasted


Squats- Barx10, 135x10, 225x5, 315x4, 355x5, 365x5, 375x7, 395x1, 405x1. 405x1 ATG at a body weight of 200, holding water is pretty good I think. Next cycle of strength I'm sure I will be able to surpass my previous max of 450 and put up 500x1.


Super Set
Leg extensions 60x10,60x10, 70x8,x8, 80x6 and just mess around with lower weights
Lunges 135BBX10, X10,X10, X19
Some Leg curls on the seated machine, just did some slow negative motions.

Tomorrow I'll do my last heavy upper body workout and then the rest of the workouts will be lighter weight and higher reps.

Brutally Strong Strength guide coming soon!

That's right, I'm writing a comprehensive guide to build strength and build muscle. It will be for free! I'm not trying to make money off this and I by no means am an expert, however, I have put on over 50 pounds in less than 4 years through diet and hard training. Initially when I started training I had no idea what I was doing. I started at 145-150 pounds and gained 10 pounds my first year (same bf). Now 3 years later I come in between 195-205 pounds and still fairly lean (10-11% bf). I will complete a cut to get back down to 8%, but more on that later. Anyhow, I'm writing the guide now and it will include nutrition, training and all aspects for those that are interested in learning how I did it. I have tried so many routines/splits that I will include a section on that so everyone can try different ones and see what works for them! I myself am more of an ecto/mesomorph so my diet and training may not suite a pure mesomorph or more endomorph person. Still I think It will be of help to many that are struggling to put on muscle and burn fat.

Back Deadlifts/Light rear deltoid/Heavy Biceps

So I have started to do normal deadlifts again just to bring my numbers up again and hit something ridiculous like 500x20 lol. Anyhow, I have been using an overhand grip on all my sets except the last to improve my grip strength, it seems to be working!

Deadlifts 230x5, 280x5, 325x5, 375x8 (mixed grip), I'll keep adding weight each week and doing the last set for slightly higher reps
BB Curls, cheating on the super heavy ones.
95x10, 115x8, 135x6,x4 (the last 2 sets I cheated like a mofo lol, but focused on the negative to really shock the biceps)

Now, I must say that I am an expert at pull ups, they work my lats like no other exercise and I can usually knock out at least 20 per set. However, the super heavy BB curls completely killed my biceps so I could barely do any lol, great feeling
Bwx7,x9,x5
Behind the neck pull downs(for rear delts)- 130x10, 85x9,x12,x12
Heavy hammer curls 45x10, 50x10 drop set at 30 and 20
Some additional rear delt work with some trap work

Overall a pretty good workout. Really have been considering a deload but I might actually be okay and keep going until I stop hitting PRs. 

Legs from Hell

So yesterday I worked legs. Still making progress but starting to feel run down. I have been thinking that instead of actually deloading I could switch to a 4-5 day split for 3-4 weeks. That way I can take it easier on the joints and recuperate. Anyhow, I might just do that if I stop hitting PRs or something :)


Squats
135x10, 225x5,315x1, 335x2, 360x5, 370x5, 380x4! Drop set to 315x10. Just threw that drop set in there for kicks to really get a burn lol
Hack Squats 210x10, 250x10,270x10
Leg Press narrow SuperSet with leg ext 6 platesx15 with 70lb leg extensions.

Tomorrow I will do a pulling hypertrophy day with some Deadlifts thrown in for power. 

Push Day PR!

So yesterday I put up 280 on the bench for 5 full reps! All by myself! I had a spotter help me on the sixth rep but by then I probably got it only 4 inches above my chest lol :D A year ago I struggled with 245x2..So far been going about 6 weeks of PRs!


Push Day!

Bench Press, 135x6, 185x3, 225x1, 260x5,270x5,280x5! PR
Shoulder Press- 65x10, 70x8,70x6. Might keep these as second to bring up front deltoids a bit and get stronger on this movement.
CG Bench with bands 135x10,155x8, without bands 155x12,155x8
some tricep rope pushdowns and some bw dips along with cg push ups. 

Pull Day

So, my split is something of a upper/lower/pull/lower/push/repeat cycle with rest days thrown in when needed. I plan on running this for another 10-12 weeks with hopes of getting my Bench to 315x5, deadlift to 500x5, and squat to 450x.



Lighter Pull

Deadlifts 230x5, 280x5, 325x5, 375x8
Close grip Chins 10,x8,x8
Rack Chins 9,9,9 + will add more weight next time
Seated Bicep curls 20x10,25x10x10
BB Curls 50x12, 70x10,70x10
-->focus on contraction
Some rear delt pulling exercises with a rope 

Game plan to get shredded!

So, as I declared in my previous post. I'm going to start incorporating 2-3 times a week HIIT to improve conditioning/burn fat. In most likely 2-4 weeks I will start my 10-14 week pre-contest cut. I will aim to lose 1lb of fat per week! Now, for many that does not seem like a lot but as you get leaner, every pound of fat makes a difference. Here is my strategy

I can maintain my body weight at around 3400-4000 calories a day. Since I am doing a slow cut I will go with 2800 calories a day with a re-feed day every third or fourth day. A re-feed day is a day in which I up my carbohydrate intake to ensure that my leptin levels are stable and that I don't stall. For many this seems counter-intuitive but your body likes to stay in a fed state. Once you start to get really lean, it gets harder and harder to lose body fat.

Protein will comprise 320grams total or 1.6-1.7g/lb. This is a lot of protein but this is what works best for my body type when dieting. For others, less may be better.

Fat- I do better on lower fat diets so fats will comprise 50g of my total calories. They will be primarily essential fatty acids and fish oil.

Carbohydrates- on non re-feed days I will go with 270g per day. On re-feed days I will increase this amount by 150-200 grams depending on how I'm feeling.

What will a typical day look like?


Workout Day-
Meal 1- Protein Shake- 40grams protein, Banana 27g carbs, Whole wheat waffle (20-40g carbs) 5 grams fish oil
Meal 2- 2 Chicken Breast (60 grams protein), 2 cups brown rice (90-100grams of carbs) (5grams EFA)
Intra-workout- protein Shake (50grams)+Maltodextrin (50grams)
Post-workout- Veggies (as much as I can), 2 chicken breast (60grams), Low GI source carbs (Brown rice/whatever 65g carbs) +(5 grams fish oil)
Meal 5- Protein Shake (50g protein)+5g fish oil+peanut butter(16g fat, 8g protein)
Meal 6- 1 Chicken Breast  (30g protein) +some additional peanut butter

Non-Workout day- same except instead of an intra-workout shake with maltodextrin, a protein shake with oatmeal or some healthy carb source. On re-feed days I will up the carbs and decrease the protein.

Have to start cutting soon -__-

Hey guys, so I finally have some shitty progress photos (courtesy of my shitty phone :D). Past 2 weeks I have had the worst diet ever and even though strength has gone up I'm starting to up my bf% a bit too high for my liking. So, starting in a week or 2 I'm going to start leaning out a bit and dropping the calories and also adding in some HIIT cardio!

Bench Press- bar x20, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 255x5, 265x5, 275x4 PR, again
Dips bw+70x10,x10,x7
Shoulder DB press- 65x10, 70x6
Chins- bwx10, bw+25x7, bw+30x4
BB Rows- 135x10, 185x6, 195x6, 135x16

Legs Lower and a Chest/Arms workout!

I have been fairly tired/drained these past few days and even had to miss a HIIT workout because of lack of sleep, regardless I have some more PRs! they just keep coming, although they are slowing
down now.

Upper Body
Bench Press- 250x5, 260x5, 270x4! Yes, that's right...last week was 265x3, and today 270x4...non assisted, full ROM
Dips- bw+60x10, 65x10, x10
DB Shoulder Press- 65x10, 70x6
Pull ups- Bwx10, bw+25x7,x6
DB Row- 80x6, 95x6, 105x6
Drag Curls- 70x10, 80x10, 90x6
Straight Push downs- 70x10, 85x10, 100x5

Lower Body
Squats- 135x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x1,340x5, 360x5, 370x12!!Yes, I know its insane
Leg Press- 8 plates x12, 10 plates x 12, 12 plates x 12
Lunges- 100x10, x10, x10
Leg Extensions- 110x15, 150x12, x12 Super Slow

Chest/Arms
Bench Press 185x3 for 6 sets
Incline BB Bench Press- 185x10, 195x9,x6 drop set 135x12
Machine MTS Press- 60x12, 70x12, 80x12
Flys- 50x12, x9

DB Seated alternating curls- 35x10,x9,x7 drop 20x7
Drag curls- 60x12,x10,x10
Cable bent over curls- 42.5x11,x10
Rope push downs- 50x12,x11,10
1 arm triceps db ext- 25x10, 30x8
Push downs straight- 70x15, 87.5x12