My fun workout plan (for this rotation)

candyass · 14-Dec-04, 10:01 PM

Well, I'm what you call a skiny bastard; at 136lb I'm usually one of the smaller people at the gym. As I'm not a bodybuilder, I dont really care about gaining weigth. Instead, my goal is to get a 300lb bench, 400lb squat and a 350 deadlift. This is my workout for this rotation (I change every 5 weeks):

Monday (Chest):
Bench Press: start at my 3 rep max (225), then go down to 175 (increasing reps), ending with a wide grip burnout.
Incline bench press: 2 sets of 115 for 8 reps, 2 sets of 135 for 8 reps, 2 sets of 155 for 4 reps.
Flys: 5 sets of 8, starting at 30 going to 50.
Partial: bottom of the lift, about 4 sets of 10.

Tuesday (biceps/forearms):
barbell curls: a superset of 85lb with 45lb for 4 sets
hammer curls: 4 sets, decesnding weight, starting at 40lb
crossovers: 6 sets of decesnding weight, starting at 40lb
cable curls: 8 increasing weight, all to failure
behind the back forearm curls: 8x4 at 135
wrist curls: 8x4 (20,30,40,50)

Wednesday (shoulders/speed bench):
speed bench: 20x6 at 95lb
military press: 2 sets of 8 at 95, 2 sets of 8 at 115, 1 set at 135, 1 set at 155. all superseted with reverse grip lateral rises (8x6 at 15lb)
lateral rises: strip set (20, 15, 10) x3
some rear shoulder exercise (whatever i feel doing that day): 8x6

Thursday (triceps):
close grip benchpress: 2 sets of 8 at 115, 2 sets of 8 at 135, 1 set at 155, 1 set at 175
tri pulldowns: 8x6 till failure (increasing weight with each set)
weighted dips: 4 sets (25lb, 50lb, 75lb, 100lb) for 8,8,6,3 reps respectively
pause dips: 4 sets (25lb, 30,lb, 35lb, 40lb) all for 8

Firday (back):
deadlifts: 135lbx8 for 2 sets, 185x8 for 2 sets, 225x4, 275x2
bent over rows: 135lbx8 for 2, 155x6 for 2, 175x4
upright rows: 60x8 for 2, 70x8 for 2, 80x8, 90x3
one hand pulldowns: 6x8 till failure (increasing weight)

Saturday (legs):
squats: 135x8, 185x8, 225x6, 275x4, 325x2
leg extensions: 6x8 till failure (increasing weight)
stiff leg deadlifts: 90x8 for 2 sets, 110x8 for 2 sets
leag curls:6x8 till failure (increasing weight)
donkey raise:6x8 till failure (increasing weight)

And thats it. I throw some abbs into too, when i find the time, and some olympic lifts every other week on back day. I do this routine for 4 weeks, then take a week off.

Feel free to let me know what you think.

armorforsleep · 14-Dec-04, 11:17 PM

136lb and 3rm 225 on benchpress

nothing to be ashamed of! im gonna keep an eye on this log

candyass · 15-Dec-04, 09:52 AM

Ok, I'm going to lecture now (I dont know why I want to, but its my journal so there). People do some crazy things on the benchpress. I dont know why they do some these things, but there either just silly or dangerous.

The thing is see the most is doing bench with your legs on the damn bench. Why? People claim that it isolates your chest, or some other such crap. Lets be honest, this is just silly. Your chest isnt isolated during a bench press, that's why they call the damn thing a compound movement, and putting your legs on the bench what isolate anything either. What it does is make you unstable, which is asking for an injury when you got 200lbs or so above your chest. It also eliminates the possibility of getting power from your legs during the lift. Hence, the lift will suffer.

Another benching thing I see, is people who do a barbell bench then run right over to the dumbell rack and do dumbell benches. Why? All you are doing is exhausting the same muscles with virtually the same movement. People will say that the dumbell bench works your support muscles more, which is true, but it has no benefit what so ever if done right after barbell. Infact, your bench, and your chest, will suffer.

There, I'm done ranting.

candyass · 15-Dec-04, 01:37 PM

Just got back from the gym. My shoulders are killing me from all the supersets and dropsets. Plus, I think I'm coming down with something, stomach flu maybe. Had to chocke back vomit twice, once in the middle of my military press. And that protien shake I just drank, which is normally fine, tasted like some of the **** I had to drink during pledging.

candyass · 16-Dec-04, 09:08 AM

Still feeling like crap today. I won't risk another day at the gym with what I think is stomach flu. Im missing tricep training wich is mad important, but what can you do. I might do some bench dips at home if I feel up to it.

candyass · 17-Dec-04, 10:42 AM

Im feeling a bit better so I'm going to drag my butt to the gym. I'm looking forward to the deadlifts. I'm going to try to up my one rep max from 300 to 315. Which reminds me, I got to get some lifting straps. Its my grip thats giving out not my back.

candyass · 17-Dec-04, 02:34 PM

Once again my grip went out at 295. Got to get those damn straps.

Lift2Live · 17-Dec-04, 03:57 PM

Glad to see you got into the gym. Straps are definately helpfull. Just don't use them any more than you need to so that your grip continues to develop. Keep it up!

:

**Firehawk** · 18-Dec-04, 01:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by candyass

Ok, I'm going to lecture now (I dont know why I want to, but its my journal so there). People do some crazy things on the benchpress. I dont know why they do some these things, but there either just silly or dangerous.

The thing is see the most is doing bench with your legs on the damn bench. Why? People claim that it isolates your chest, or some other such crap. Lets be honest, this is just silly. Your chest isnt isolated during a bench press, that's why they call the damn thing a compound movement, and putting your legs on the bench what isolate anything either. What it does is make you unstable, which is asking for an injury when you got 200lbs or so above your chest. It also eliminates the possibility of getting power from your legs during the lift. Hence, the lift will suffer.

Another benching thing I see, is people who do a barbell bench then run right over to the dumbell rack and do dumbell benches. Why? All you are doing is exhausting the same muscles with virtually the same movement. People will say that the dumbell bench works your support muscles more, which is true, but it has no benefit what so ever if done right after barbell. Infact, your bench, and your chest, will suffer.

There, I'm done ranting.

Ahhh...I love powerlifters.

: Great Rant...if only Jaster saw this one...heheheheh

**Firehawk** · 18-Dec-04, 01:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by candyass

Once again my grip went out at 295. Got to get those damn straps.

Try chalk if you are worried about grip going away by using straps.

DaRkAnGel · 18-Dec-04, 04:00 AM

I hope you know that legs on a bench can be used as an assistance exercise to any bench program... i have seen painthriller do it over at fortifiediron.com and he has progressed quite a bit recently.

candyass · 19-Dec-04, 10:50 PM

This is a bit late, but I'm not married to this journal, so whatever. Did legs on Saturday. I took a lot of the advice I got from my question about squats in the powerlifting board, and applied it. I first did my regular, wide stance, squats, but this time I didnt max out like I normally do. Instead, I stopped at around 300. Then, I did 3 sets of box squats. Let me tell you, Ive had an aversion to box squats ever since the day I sat down and couldnt get up. But this time I didnt go crazy with the weight, so I had no problems. My legs felt really strong throughout the whole lift. Hope this helps. I'm going to go for 365 in two weeks.

candyass · 20-Dec-04, 06:31 PM

We had a snow storm today in MA, so no gym for me. Don't know how long this crap is going to take to clean up. I might as well take a week off for Christmas anyway.

candyass · 20-Dec-04, 10:02 PM

I feel another rant coming on, guess its all the shoveling thats making me cranky (damn snow storm). Anyway, this time I'm going to bitch about squats, and all the fun things people do with them.

One thing I always see is people loading up the bar with 3 or 4 plates on there first or second set. Now, there are a lot of lifters that could handle this with ease, but most of the people I see at my gym shouldnt even be looking at this much weight, let alone squating it. Invariably what happens is that the guy will lower himself two inches, scream like someone who's arm has just been cut off, and then barely manage to straigthen. This continuous for 5 or 8 reps. But it doesnt end there, the fun continuous for 2 or 3 more sets. Why the hell would you do this? You obviously cant handle the weight, and squats are worth squat unless you get parallel or close to it. Yet these people think they're damn good lifters and sneer at anyone who doesnt load the bar.

There is one more thing I have to get off my chest, and its totally unrelated to the above. If you're a guy NEVER EVER WARE SPANDEX SHORTS TO THE GYM. Everyday, day in and day out I'm treated to the same view of Mr. Spandex in his WHITE spandex shorts. Good god, what would posses someone to do this?

candyass · 25-Dec-04, 05:15 PM

Well, I got to do something new again. I can feel my body getting stale. So its time to change my routine. I'm thinking about throwing out the bench press for 4 weeks and replacing it with dumbell bench press, same with the incline. Also, I think I'll get rid of the military press and replace it with dumbell shoulder press. My legs are feeling ok (I recently added box squats). For my back, I'm going to add the clean and jerk again. I gave up on it cause my form was so poor. Maybe I can figure out what I'm doing wrong, and try to address it. Too bad the people at my "fitness center" are clueless when it comes to real lifting, I could really use someone with some knowldege at that place. Hell, they wont even let me bring chalk to the gym; I really miss it, especially on the weighted dips (my damn hands get so sweaty). I think thats all I'll change. My lifts werent stagnating too badly so I dont need any drastic revisions.