JMike starts to take things seriously

[JMike]

Referring to myself in the third person's a little weird. Regardless I'm going to try keep this log and see where it takes me. I've been fortunate enough that I've not been ill for an extended period of time and I'm hitting targets. For the first time in a long time I'm better than I've ever been in almost every respect, and I'm damned if that's going to change.

Base Photos:
It begins
That's me at 76kgs and 5'10''

Background:
I've been working out for about 7 years or so. My secret shame is that I hardly ever do any kind of olympic lifting and (up until now) I've never included squats in my work out. I started out running middle distances and then took up weights. Towards the end of my school time I got into long distance running but quit when I got to university.

Goals:
1)Nail that six pack.
2)Greatly increase my overall fitness.
3)More olympic lifting.
4)Lifting as an addition to my life rather than the main thing I do. So think of it as breakfast rather than going to a restraunt.

Routine:
Here's my routine. I've had to adapt it so that I can cope with University course work which will take priority. There's quite a lot of cardio in there, but I'd rather be a little fitter and less bulky than a little bulky and less fit. Also, I can fit the cardio around the rest of my life easier.

I've omitted reps and weights because I'm not sure of the numbers as I'll be doing a different ordering than usual and some of the exercise I don't know what I lift. But I'll be sure and fill it in after the workout. Each lifting session shouldn't take more than an hour plus cardio, warm up and cool down.

Monday:

Incline Dumbell Press
Butterfly
Barbell Military Press
Weighted Dips
Rev. Grip one hand tricep pulldown
Skull Crushers

Cardio: 30 mins medium speed run. Approximately 4.8 miles.

Tuesday:
Half an hours gentle swimming.

Wednesday:
Squats
Standing Calf Raises
Seated Leg Press
Hanging Leg Raises
Situps
Weighted Oblique Crunches
Woodcutter

Thursday:
30 Mins gentle swimming

Friday:
Weighted Wide Grip Pullups
Bent Over Rows
Deadlifts
One Arm Preacher Curls
Reclined Seated Curls
Cable Curls

Cardio: 20 mins sprint training.

Saturday:
zzzZZZZZ---Rest---ZZZZzzzzz

Sunday:
Long distance run. Approximately 1-1.5 hours.


I'll keep this up to date, and post pictures on a regular basis. If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them. I'll be starting the new routine this monday.

Mike

[JMike]

Day One.

Monday 1our 30mins + Cardio:

10x20kg...10x30kg...8x35kg...46x35kg...Incline Dumbell Press
10x12.5kg.8x20kg....8x20kg.............Butterfly
10x20kg...10x35kg...4x50kg.............Barbell Military Press
3x10x84kg..............................Weighted Dips
3x10x #5 plate.........Rev. Grip one hand tricep pulldown
10x20kg...10x30kg...6x45kg...4x45kg...Skull Crushers

Weight: 74.5kg

15 mins running.


Report:
Not great. Some of the weights were alright, and I'm really happy with my form on the incline. But the cardio was rubbish. I don't think I can motivate myself to run after a workout so I'll maybe try going in the mornings. Also the dips belt was missing so I had to use a nautilus machine...which was broken. It seemed more controlled but because I couldn't adjust the back it was awkward. I also, didn't feel any enthusiasm or energy in this. It might just be today, but I think I need to get more oomph to really nail my goals.

[JMike]

Tuesday:
30 mins cardio
Grr swimming pool's closed. Went running instead. Pretty slow with some interval work. My fitness isn't half as bad as I expected and running at night is a lot easier (motivation-wise).

[JMike]

Wednesday:
Squats: 3x6x60kg

Standing Calf Raises: 3x15x147.5kg+

Seated Leg Press: 3x6x188.2kg

Hanging Leg Raises: 3x15

Situps: 3x20

Weighted Oblique Crunches: 3x10x20kg

Woodcutter: 10x11kg,13kg and 15kg.

Weight 75.8kg

Report:
Those squats are a killer. It's fun doing leg stuff, but damn is it taking it out of me. I need to find some better stretches for the back of the leg. The sit ups were below par, however the leg raises felt like they were really strong. Both the oblique exercises felt all over the place, think it was just an off day though.

Mike

[.V.]

Hey, good luck on your new plan and new focused goals.

yep, the leg work is a drainer...it's worth the effort though (I hope).

[JMike]

Thanks! I hope its going to pay off. I was messing about and decided to shave my stomach today. It's upsetting, the definition I thought was under there isn't. Going to have to up the stomach work for sure.

Mike

[JMike]

Friday:
Weighted Wide Grip Pullups: 10 blank, 3x5x+10kg(total 85kg)
Bent Over Rows: 8x60kg
Deadlifts: 2x6x80kg, 3-4 x 120kg
One Arm Preacher Curls: 3 x 8 x 15kg
Reclined Seated Curls: 3x10x15kg
Cable Curls: 4x18.2kg,20kg,25kg,29kg,31kg


Situps:4x25
Leg raises: 3x10

Report:
Really felt a lack of energy today because I didn't eat well throughout the day. The deadlifts worried me, thought I was going to injure my back and I wasn't sure quite what weight I should be doing. I hate Stomach work.

Mike

[JMike]

Monday:

Incline Dumbell Press: 10x30kg, 8x35kg, 2x6x35kg
Butterfly: 10x17.5kg,3x10x20kg
Barbell Military Press:3x6x40kg
Weighted Dips: 3x6x20kg, 4x30kg
Rev. Grip one hand tricep pulldown: 10x'5 plate', 6x13.4kg, 2x8x11kg
Skull Crushers: 10x30kg, 4x45kg, 2x6x40kg

4x20 situps.
25 hanging leg raises.

Cardio:
I did some boxing/skipping for 30 minutes instead.

Report:
This felt much better. The chest stuff was very solid. And although the weights weren't higher on the tricep stuff they were more controlled and the amount I was lifting was more structured. Still need to power through and do some real cardio though.

[JMike]

Rargh, dropped about 10kg on my foot at work. Not going to be doing any running for a couple of days.

Mike

[JMike]

Friday:
Weighted Wide Grip Pullups: This was mix as I was waiting for a friend.
Bent Over Rows: 6x60kg, 3x8x60kg.
Deadlifts: 4x 60kg, 4x 80kg, 4x 110kg
One Arm Preacher Curls: 10x12kg, 3 x 10 x 15kg
Reclined Seated Curls: 10x10kg, 3 x10x17.5kg
Cable Curls: Four of ten plates ranging from 12kg to 31kg.

3x25 situps.
3x10 hanging leg raises.
20 mins skipping and bag work.

Weight: 75.8kg

Report:Following the advice from the forums my deadlifts really improved. I'm still keeping the reps low because towards the end I start to stray into bad form, but the weight feels a lot more comfortable and it just feels *right*. It's also great to note that when I copy the workout from the previous week I have to overwrite all the weights because I've gone up on pretty much everything. Really getting into the flow now, I just need to pick up my cardio.

Mike

p.s. that should read 100kg that I dropped on my foot not 10kg

[JMike]

Tuesday 8th:
Pullups 4x6
MIlitary Press: 6x50kg, 2x6x55kg
Squats: 6x70kg, 2x6x80kg
Deadlifts: 4x80kg, 3x120kg, 3x80kg, 4x120kg
Reclined 1/4 turn Curls: 4x16x15kg
Weight 75kg
Notes: I've been oversleeping and not had time for the gym, so I went for a mixed bag today. I'm lifting heavier on those deadlits, but my form starts to suffer towards the end, thus the changed to the 80kg. My chest seems to be getting a little smaller, I'll need to fix that.

Mike

[JMike]

Friday:
Pullups 3x10
Bent Over Rows: 4x6x60kg
Inlcine Barbell Press: 3x6x80kg
Z-bar curls: 3x8x40kg
Butterflye: 3x10x20kg
One Arm Bench Row: 8x20kg,25kg,30kg,35kg
Shoulder Press: 3x8x25kg

Weight 74kg

Notes: Another quick mix. I'll get back to the routine come monday.

Mike

[JMike]

Added a new picture.

Front
Back

[JMike]

Ok, here we go again. I've got to try maintain this journal thing.

I've decided to take a big step and I'm going to start taking Whey Protein. This is just another step in my ongoing efforts to take fitness more seriously. Below is my routine for the next four weeks. After that I'm going to re-assess things. I've built in some flexibility because the gym can be very busy. Also, I'm keeping my ab routine and forearm routine flexible to allow me some fun.

Monday 45 mins Running:

Tuesday (Chest+Biceps):
All exercises preformed for 4 sets of 8 reps.
Flat bench press
Incline bench press
Dumbell Flyes
Narrow grip Cable pulldowns
Side curls
Reverse grip e-z bar curls
Barbell curls (as restricted range 21s)

Wednesday (Back+Abs):
All exercises preformed for 4 sets of 8 reps.
Wide grip pullups/Wide grip Lat Pulldowns
Bent Over Barbell Rows
Deadlifts
Good Mornings
Seated Row

Thursday 45 mins running:

Friday (Shoulders+ForeArms):
All exercises preformed for 4 sets of 8 reps.
Seated dumbell shoulder press. 3x(8xheavy,8xmedium,8xlight)
Dumbell Front raise
Rear lateral raise
Shrugs
Behind neck military press

Sunday (legs+triceps):
All exercises preformed for 4 sets of 8 reps.
Squats
Calf raises
Seated leg press
Hip adduction (super-set with abduction for 3 sets of ten)
Hip abduction
Hamstring curl
Leg extension

[JMike]

First time, so I needed to work out where I stood with the weights which meant the sets were a bit uneven. The workout itself was great. I really enjoyed it and I think things are going to work well.

6:50pm-8:30pm
Weight:76.5kgs

Tuesday 20th of February:
Flat bench press...............70kgs,75kgs,80kgs,80kgs

Incline bench press............70kgs,70kgs-75kgs,65-70kgs,70kgs

Dumbell Flyes..................17.5kgs,20kgs-22.5kgs,20kgs,17.5kgs-20kgs

Narrow grip Cable pulldowns....64kgs,77kgs,77kgs,77kgs

Side curls.....................10kgs,12kgs-15kgs,12kgs,12kgs

Reverse grip e-z bar curls.....20kgs,25kgs,25kgs,25kgs

Barbell curls..................20kgs,20kgs,20kgs,20kgs


Mike