veggiesasquatch

Thurs-12th-April Cycle 4 Week 1 (3x5) Usual warm up of lighter sets, shoulder work & stretching. Bench press: 62.5kg 72.5kg 82.5kg Assistance: Bench press: boring but big at 50% 5x10 50kg Dumbbell rows: All per arm 5x10 22kg 24kg 26kg 28kg 30kg Pull ups: 2x10 wide grip 1x hammer grips Ab circuit: side bends, weighted crunch, standard crunch,cable crunch. Summary: Breezed through this today, felt strong on benching throughout & should be being the lightest week of the gaining weeks. Boring but big sets felt good & had no issues until last three reps on fifth set, proper ache in the triceps. Not sure going light to heavy in the rows was a good idea, next week I'll have a play & reverse the order...

Training wise it sounds pretty good. How my sessions are planned is by the main lift, not the actual area then I add assistance movements but it's far more practical to focus on the core lift of that session (military,deads, bench & squats) than to kill yourself on isolation/assistance. I use it over again but my shoulder routine use to be so over the top, Press, x2 side raise movements,x2 front & a rear fly. Now all I do is a strict press.My strength & muscle has grown so much. Same as biceps, I actually don't touch them & yet they continue to grow. I just do the main things, pull/chin ups, db rowing ect My days go Mon:Military Tue:Deadlift Wed off Thurs:Bench Fri:Squat weekend off. Again as I always tell people you don't need to kill yourself to make gains, this actually has a reverse effect. You may handle it now but down the road you will hit a wall, small steady gains & a well thought out plan will be key. As for diet (my biggest hatred) is for now just get this in check (which you clearly have) & listen to your body, not what a diet plan/fad diet tells you to do. I haven't counted a single calorie/macro. As long as you're eat well most of the time you will respond. People for some reason become obsessed with calories/macros, Unless you are cutting off fat for a show & need single digit body fat then live your life, enjoy lifting, eat & get stronger. I not fussed if I should eat a kiwi or an orange, I'll eat both covered in peanut butter. I have gone from a light 64kg (142lb?) to 87kg(191lb) in less than a year & only now I cannot fit into my 30" jeans (my quads are to big im sure the waist would just about do up hahha)...It's ok to just look at how many calories you may need from time to time just in case you are under eating. Just follow the rule of a minimum of 1g protein per body pound. I know so many ripped, lean big guys who have no clue what macros even are. I've read just about every diet out there & I came to the conclusion that most (take away what ever gimmick they are pushing) are the same at their core...Eat healthy food. I could write a diet book, make up some random fact & you can bet plenty of people would follow/believe it. Find what works for you I personally work well off four decent sized meals a day. I tried the whole 6-8 small meals & it did nothing for me...

Barbell work, as stated. Deads, bench, military pressing & squats. Track those not pissy assistance/isolation. Build up to doing pull ups/chin ups (various grips & width).

It's good you have realised that. Most people have unrealistic goals & think a couple of months is all it takes. They don't see a huge increase in strength/muscle ect after one month & just give up. Becoming physically active is a life time/life style pursuit & you'll only get better by staying the course for the long run. Squat, deads, bench & overhead press =already on the road to becoming awesome

Two months of lifting is nothing. You need to be patient, the gains will come! You just need to keep chipping away, slow small steady gains will serve you well. Squats & deads are awesome & it's good you're already doing them. Just keep at it...

Yes mate Redditch is only 15mins away. It falls under Worcestershire & I live in Worcester. Stratford is also really close to

Great advice there! Even a bit of work will mean your body will compensate just not to the degree. You don't have to over do it/kill your self ect to make gains. The cns is more excepting of small improvements over a longer period of time.

Tues-10th-April Cycle 4 Week 1 (3x5) Hit up some foam rolling, mobility work, lighter sets & stretching to warm up. Deadlift: 82.5kg 95kg 107.5kg Assistance: Deadlift; boring but big at 50% 5x10 65kg GHR 2x10 Hypers 2x10 Hanging leg raises: 5x10 Ab circuit, leg raises, leg ups, cycle crunches. Summary: I decided to take off a set each on ghr & hypers due to boring but big on deadlifts, just so I don't overload my lower back & to see how it feels come tomorrow. Working sets were easy enough, I did go with full stops on deads as I usually touch & go. I do actually stop when I touch so I'm not"bouncing" but as usual it just starts my sciatica off a little, not that I want to touch & go but I'm having to train around an old injury so what can I do...I do full tops on every set but the top one of the day (also belt up), this way I hope to be able to hit full stops eventually. Jim Wendler outlines these types of deads in his book so I actually feel a lot better about using them (also seen him deadlift this way). Boring but big sets were also fairly straight forward (see how I feel tomorrow) but again my lower back had a huge pump, even after three warm up sets. Decent workout, rest day tomorrow so may run a short distance if my backs not to tight. Here's a picture of Stefán Sölvi Pétursson. Watching him at last years WSM just made something click in my head & really pushed me to look at how to get bigger & stronger. Still don't know what it was he did but watching him compete gave me a huge buzz. My fav strongman outside of Terry Holland & Loz... http://i42.tinypic.com/mree6x.jpg

It's rather busy considering you're just starting back, even though it's cardio it's still 6 days of training. I'd Suggest training weights Mon/Wed/Fri & keeping it all fairly simple. If you're able to use compounds then base your days around these (even if you keep it to four weight sessions) so barbell work of military press, benching, deads & squats. My days are based round these, not actual body part days. Weight wise only you know what you're able to do. I have sciatica, not as severe as what you mentioned but I did have a bad bout of it a few months ago & I ve had to start over on squats & benching. Slow, small steady gains will serve you well. After a bad injury you need to ease in, training in general asks a lot of the cns never mind coming off a long lay off. All the best & good luck

It was meant as a compliment if it sounded otherwise? Skating kinda came out over here when I was aged about 13, disappeared within months then reappeared some yrs later but it's kinds stayed this time. I think we had a little skate park once but nothing major. My other half has a long board but no nice long smooth roads round here!!! Would be pretty awesome seeing you on a board! Especially if you pull of some tricks?!I always loved bmx'ing & got pretty good at one point, along with some off road biking. About one of a few perks only being 5ft 10". I have kinda small hands so I really struggle with the thicker bars, hoping my grip just steadily improves now going "strapless" on everything. How heavy is the bar unweighted? Another great workout, your numbers are awesome, have you always been naturally strong or something you had to work on?....one day man haha

I also hope that you start reading a lot on diet and write a book on it. It doesn't matter what it contains as long as it's got a good name and some ridiculous claims; people will fall for anything but common sense. Taken from a Wendler article

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/a_letter_to_my_younger_self The part on writing a diet book had me grinning from ear to eat!

It stands to reason that if you strengthen the areas around the shoulders that pressing will improve. I was wondering why Wendler didn't have any tricep work in the bbb template. But if you correctly press, shrugging at the lock out it really engages the upper back, traps & triceps (as you know) so come the end of the bbb sets my triceps had a huge bump in them. Also I have been doing the whole "use the lats as a shelf" thing, its like forming a base for the mid back, traps ect to work from.I focused more on wide chins & my lats are really sore today. I ve said many times my shoulder routine use to be rediculious, OHP for the win I struck out on the shoes at the Adidas store...they guy didn't even know they made such a shoe (he was a manager) & asked if I was sure they made them lol

Haha you'd think the 400+hrs of tattooing would of done that!

My shoulders are ruined, I'll be cursing the name Jim Wendler for the next few days

Trained today as I'm in Birmingham tonight for a gig & staying over. Didn't really mind getting a day in front as I had a lot of recovery on my deload week. Going to log this as Monday just to keep the dates in order. Mon-9th-April Cycle 4 Week 1 (3x5) Usual warm up OHP: 35kg 40kg 45kg Assistance: OHP: boring but big at 50% 5x10 27.5kg Pull ups: 5x10 (x3 wide 1xhammer 5reps wide+5reps hammer=1set) Ab circuit: side bends, crunches, cable crunch Did 10 mins on static bike end of session, nothing at all challenging...trying to figure out what cardio to put in. Will do this after lower days, did it today as wasn't pushed for time. Summary: Fucking disgusting on the bbb sets! I hadn't trained a proper strict military press pre 5/3/1 so this was a bit of a ball buster. Obviously been training OHP since starting 5/3/1 but the extra 5x10 even at a reduced weight had me struggling come the second set. In between working sets & bbb sets I allowed for about two-three mins. Just goes to show how simple & effective this work is. Fuck all the side & front raise shit I use to do, OHP is fast becoming my favourite lift. Something about pressing a bar over head that makes you feel a million bucks:)

Keep plugging away matey

I'll start by saying I'm not a bodybuilder, I have no interest in that side of lifting weights. As for your question, again it depends on the user. You can't lump every single person into one bracket & say "everyone eat this & we'll all look the same in six months". It's pretty obvious if you go carb heavy what'll happen though but when I mean heavy..... Fat wise if you don't take enough regular amounts your testosterone level can/will suffer, which effects many aspects of life not just training. I have seen studies on low fat high carb diets vs high fat low carb & the low carb comes out with people dropping the most weigh, so take from that what you will. But they always use overweight people for the majority of these studies so they are already under trained. Again though I go with what I think, right now works for me. You could go with the plan of eating more fats on rest days than carbs but it's not something I'd want to give advice on as I ve not ever ran a diet this way. Everyone's an expert but the majority of people haven't tried out what they are giving advice on, it's ok knowing a principle but have they actually seen effects of whatever they are talking about? I know how to gain weight/muscle & strength but I have also lost a lot of weight in the past, a scary amount in a short space of time. In both cases I did nothing revolutionary, I simply ate less crap, more good foods & did loads of cardio to the flip where I ate more food (carbs protein) to gain. As I said I'm always gaining strength & size so why do I need to alter anything, my diets working for my goals. What you need to do is ask what is your actual goal? Do you wish to lean up, put on size? Increase a lift? Then address the diet accordingly. As an example on days where I work 7:00-19:00 I get up at 5:00, so I'll eat a lot of carbs & protein. How else can I except to break some PR's otherwise? But this is what works for me. As always can't agree more with veganessentials

For those on here who track macros or want to & need a bit of help the site below seems pretty decent. It takes a little playing with but it's something that maybe useful to some...You can even select veggie/vegan diets but it does throw up some random stuff at times eg one meal had me eating 9 slices of bread I'm a good eater but 9??? Also it loves avocados for some reason (I hate them). Hope it's help full to some here. www.swole.me it still wont beat a pen or pencil.

Nice logs there, I'd of def counted the cycling to. I keep saying it but I can't wait to see how you're going to progress on this. It's amazing when you actually apply Wendler's method of cutting out the crap & focusing on more bang for you buck movements. Today on my benching which was light I got more out of it than most "bro's" with their partial reps at weights the can't actually handle. How are the chins coming along? Tried any unassisted yet? Mine have felt off the last couple of weeks & I think it's because I tacked on an extra couple of lb but this week I'm back to 10 reps a set now. I forgot I'am actually in B'ham this weekend for a gig so I'm going to call into the Adidas store, going to see pelican...have a good Easter PS have you ever seen this site? swole.me

Not a pleasant one today. Came off three night shifts & I'm full of a cold/sore throat. Is it me or is the loss of taste the worst thing to come with a cold? Made up some really nice food (home made veggie tikka curry) & in the end I just ended up having the shovel it down my gullet, Waste:( Thurs-5th-April Cycle 3 week 4 (deload 3x5 required reps only) Usual warm up jazz, as the weights on deload are so much lighter I did my usual upper body run through & hit my first "working set" for four sets of five reps on all main lifts this week. Usaly warm up with 40% 50% 60% of my max. Bench press: 37.5kg 47.5kg 57.5kg Assistance: Bench press, Boring but big at 40% for 3x10 at 37.5kg Dumbbell row:3x10 22kg Chins: 3x10 (x2 wide 1x hammer grips) Squats: 50kg 62.5kg 75kg Assistance: Squats, Boring but big at 40% for 3x10 at 50kg GHR 2x10 Hypers 2x10 Leg curls: No idea something like 3x10 of randomness, Who cares it's a leg curl Ab circuit of side bends, leg raises, weighted crunches with a 20kg plate, cable crunch & regular crunch. Once done with upper body I had had enough, Just drained from working & the cold. I was actually mumbling to myself at one point about how I wanted to stop. As it's Easter bank holiday I'm not sure how training will go next week but on a brighter note I have shut down from work till next Thurs Pairing up the deload work has been pretty good, Nothings aching or feeling tight. Looking forward to having a whack at bbb template, I need to really address conditioning work. I have no real plan yet, I have an idea of just adding in 2 light sessions over the coming cycle for may bea couple of weeks. If I walk to work some days that's 2.5 miles with my back pack on & the walk is all up hill pretty much, So I can/should be squeezing that in more often.

The first mistake you made began with typing bodybuilding.com into the address bar. It's tool bag central over there.

It's what I ve been trying to say to you even in the other topic you posted...find what works for you. this week I'm on a deload, I'll pair ohp with deads & squats with bench, I'll even deload my assistance. So instead of training 4 days I'll train 2 giving myself loads of recovery time. Along with this ill just drop/skim off carbs & my protein a little bit, but I don't track it. I just know what works for me. When I'm back to my 3 heavy weeks again I'll have more amounts of carbs & protein, because I'm going to need it. That T nation article is just about the best I ve read on food but I live by what works for me. I work night/day shifts so I need more carbs because of the long hours I work & also with the training or I'd have no energy. A friend of mine right now is eating more fat eg olive oil, almond/peanut butter over carbs as he wanted to reduce his body fat but he hasn't tracked it, he just Knows what he responds to. If your happy with those percentages, your trainings going well & your gaining then stop worrying, just get on with it. What Justin said about tracking general calories isn't a bad idea, I do it maybe every two months but I never change anything. My lifts continue to go up, my weight is also still slowly going up & I'm feeling great. I have gone from 64kg (141lb) to 86.5kg (190lb) in less than a year by simply eat a lot of food, healthy but a lot of it. I can fit into my 30" waist jeans still but my legs now are much bigger It takes a lot of tugging to even get the waist band past my quads. Unless your looking to enter bodybuilding comps where you will need single figure body fat numbers you have to have a huge grasp on food & the macros. "It’s kind of like all the diet crazes that come and go; you try high carbs, no carbs, organic, Zone, Paleo, fasting and then all of a sudden you realize that you just need to eat some good food and get on with your life" Just about every diet out there, if you take away the gimmick(these new diets that come out need a gimmick or people wouldn't buy the books) they push is that at the core it'll tell you to eat healthy food. No one ever got to fat eating to many apples. Do you wanna be big & strong? Eat like you meant it

Lets be fair 2x10 at a much lower percentage isn't going to break you...I kept doing 3x5 for my first cycle on the 3x3 week haha just about getting into the groove of the program:)

Congrats mini, glad to see you still kicking about..Your pics aren't showing up:(