I will be starting to log my lifts in this thread starting Sunday, April 6th. I decided I would finish up this week before I start to post. I've wanted to get pretty serious about my workout program which I've sometimes slacked on in the past so hopefully this thread will keep me motivated (for whatever reason)

Stats
-Height: 5"7'
-Weight: 170 lbs

Goal: Bulk up for now, and cut down ~May.

Diet: Pretty standard just eating as best as I can. Not really counting cals as I roughly know how much I should be eating.

-Supplements:
-Multi
-Fish Oil
-Whey
-Purple Wraath (EAA/BCAA's)
-White Flood (NO supp, overal energy)
-GlycerGrow (Vascularity and nutrient absorption)

Will be starting WF + GG on Sunday.

Will not be taking creatine because it actually causes some pretty bad acne for me (this is not the case for everyone, but it's certainly possible). It sucks but I'll take a clear face over a slight strength boost any day.

Workout Routine (Picked it up from Hola Bola @ the bodybuilding.com forums)
I actually just started this routine this week, but will be logging it from my 2nd week.

1 - Back/Traps
A. Rack Pulls or T-Bar Rows
B. Rows (BB/Smith/DB)
C. Shrugs (Smith/HS/DB)
C. Bent Rear Raises (DB/Cable)
D. Close Grip Rows (Cable/HS/Machine)

2 - Chest
B. HS Incline Press
A. Low Incline Smith/Incline BB Press
C. Weighted Dips
D. Machine Chest Flys

3 - Quads/Calves
A. Squats/Box Squats/Machine Squats
B. Hack Squats
C. Lunges
C. Leg Exts
C. Calf Raises

4 - Lats/Biceps
A. Weighted Hammer Chins/Close Grip Lat Pulldowns
B. Curls (DB/EZ Bar)
C. Wide Lat Pulldowns (HS/Cable/Machine)
D. Curls (Cable/HS)
D. High Cable Lat Iso's

5 - Shoulders/Triceps
A. Smith High Incline Press
B. CGBP
C. Machine Shoulder Press
D. Cable Pressdowns/OH DB Exts
D. Lateral Raises (DB/Cable/Machine)

6 - Hamstrings/Calves
A. SLDL's
B. High Stance Leg Press
C. Lunges
C. Leg Curls
C. Calf Raises

What I like about this routine is that I can lift 6 straight days and take an off day, or do a 3-1-3-1 wkt/off day split, or a 2-1-2-1-2-1 split. There's a decent amount of flexibility with this program. I will most likely be lifting 6 straight days unless I find myself not having time one day.

Sets/Reps will be chosen the day of but I choose a minimum of 4 sets for each exercise ranging from 6-12 reps. Major exercises I usually do around 5-6 sets for such as squats, SLDL's, incline bench, BB rows, etc.

Last logged major lifts:
-Box Squat: 295x6 (just started this week)
-Incline Bench: 155x8
-BB Rows:165x8
-Hack Squats (ass to the grass):215x10
-Lat Pulldowns: 195x8
-Smith High Incline Press: 185x7

This has the makings of big #1 log.

machine squats? Why use the smith machine when there are perfectly fine barbells to use?

That's a lot of volume, what's your workout history?

thanks hopefully I'll remember to log all my lifts

Sorry the routine can be a little confusing. I just posted the original but for example for:
Squats/Box Squats/Machine Squats
I pick one, I don't do all 3. I would never do machine squats but I might change it up between box squats and regular squats.

I guess I should repost what I will actually be doing...

1 - Back/Traps
A. BB Rows
B. T-Bar Rows
C. BB Shrugs
C. DB Bent Rear Raises
D. Close Grip Rows (Cable)

2 - Chest
A. Incline BB Press
B. HS Incline Press
C. Weighted Dips
D. Machine Chest Flys

3 - Quads/Calves
A. Box Squats
B. Hack Squats
C. Lunges
C. Leg Exts
C. Calf Raises

4 - Lats/Biceps
A. Close Grip Lat Pulldowns
B. Curls (EZ Bar)
C. Wide Lat Pulldowns (Cable)
D. Rope Curls (Cable)
D. High Lat Iso's

5 - Shoulders/Triceps
A. Smith High Incline Press
B. CGBP
C. Machine Shoulder Press
D. Cable Pressdowns/OH DB Exts
D. Lateral Raises (DB/Machine)

6 - Hamstrings/Calves
A. SLDL's
B. High Stance Leg Press
C. Lunges
C. Leg Curls
C. Calf Raises


Also to mention is that all exercises with the same letters will be alternated. Not really a true superset because I will take rest, just not for long.

Overall I try to take 2 mins rest tops in between sets.

My story:
Have been doing this off and on for about 4 years now, since I was 16. At first I did it like most people starting off, just dicking around and whatnot. At around age 17 I found bodybuilding.com and became hooked on lifting and nutrition. I would be a freak (not in a good way) when it came down to nutrition, counting cals, macro, etc. It wasn't very good and I became pretty damn obsessive.

So that trend actually followed for a long time, call it a eating disorder if you must but that's what it was. I was never comfortable with eating junk food because I would feel like crap afterwards if I didn't run it off or something. Also one other thing I would mention was that even though sometimes I became unmotivated to lift, my diet never changed; again, it was a diet routine that I just couldn't get myself out of.

But recently I've become very serious about my lifts and have finally rid myself of this disorder. Now I eat what I want and don't worry so much about it, I just make sure I'm eating enough and that most of the time I'm eating well.

I've followed a high volume workout for about 2 months now and I've found it to work great for me; I've had great success in both strength and size with a high volume routine so I will be continuing that with this routine, just set up differently.

If super high-vol works for you, that's fine. Stick with it till you see gains. However, I think you could use better excercise selection than above.

Whatsup with the Megadeth track-sounding supplements

what's your plan for progression? (is there one? I'm not sure how bodybuilders do it, or if it's very important for hypertrophy gains)

Why no conventional deadlifts? also, scrap machine anything for barbell or dumbell versions. For instance on overhead/shoulder press.

What do you recommend I change around?

Heh and the supplements are from a company called Controlled Labs. I've had good experience with them in the past.


I don't really have a set plan for progression. I've been seeing some nice gains on a high volume routine and we'll see how it goes from there. I just go with the flow.

As for deadlifts; lower back problems have always been a thing for me and I usually do incorporate deadlifts in my routine. I might just add them back in, or I'll do rack pulls which are sort of like a 1/2 DL (probably the latter). I know DL's are great, I've been doing them forever but they've given me too many problems in the past.

And you're right about some of the machines, I'll take a look at them again. Though, some machines are fine depending on what I'm doing since BB'rs also focus on isolation exercises.

imo overhead press should be done with free weights not machines, preferably standing.

sucks about the lower back.

Seated keeps the exercise more specific to the shoulders where as if I feel I'd be cheating if I were standing. I used to do push press a decent amount but since my goals were more size than strength I scrapped em; plus they gave me slight wrist pain.

Yeah the lower back thing doe suck; I really love DL's and I got really high with them about 4 months ago before my back went out; I was repping 345x6 and then the next week my back actually gave out on my 2nd set (which was low) and that was it for a month. Rack pulls will have to do for now, and they're a great exercise as well.

For me it's pretty easy to keep my legs out of my overhead press. I feel like the extra work required to balance your body while pushing something over your head is worth more than the minor extra focus on the shoulders. Just my imo but I do think seated free weight is good as well.

Again it depends on your goals; if I were looking for more whole body exercises I would agree. Actually, I'd be doing push press since this incorporates so much of your muscles to do work.

Craziest exercise is the powerclean, push press, squat (all in one repetition), repeat... I remember doing these back in my track days and they were a REAL workout. You were dying by the end.

I'd really like to do something like that, but unfortunately I think it would disrupt my current progress. I can powerclean 155 for reps, what's a good weight to do this with? 95? 115? somewhere in between?

Since poweclean is the hardest of the 3, I'm sure you can do it around 155. You don't have to drop down that much; keep it low reps too, prob around 6 or so.

At first try 95,115 and see how you progress. It's a VERY intense exercise, you'll like it.

There's no way I could do it at 155. I can't really do more than 3 reps at a time at that weight. I will try it @ 95 lbs and see how intense it is, probably low rep sets, short rest periods, and lots of sets.

4/06/08 - Day 1: BACK
28 sets in 70 minutes

A. BB Rows
Bar(45)x20
95x15
135x10
155x10
165x8
175x8
175x8

B. Chest Supported T-Bar rows
45x12
90x10
110x8
120x8
125x8
120x6

C. BB Shrugs (Alternating)
135x20
225x15
265x10
285x10
305x10
315x6 (losing grip, need straps)

C. Bent DB Rear Raises (Alternating)
25x12
25x12
30x12
30x12
35x12

D. Close Grip Cable Rows
120x10
150x10
180x8
180x8

Overall it was a good day; I hit some PR's in my BB rows and my Shrugs which I'm very happy about. Only thing I wasn't happy about was forgetting my iPod at home, I can't stand lifting without some music as this usually helps me get pumped up to lift. Also need to pick up some straps because I doubt I can move up much more in shrugs if the weight is going to slip.

I'll actually be starting cardio much sooner than I wanted to since I want to give myself some time to slim down. I'm standing around 15-16% BF right now and want to try to get it down to 10% in 2-3 months (long shot I know, but who knows).

Tomorrow is Chest day!

4/07/08 - Day 2: CHEST
20 sets in 55 minutes

A. Incline Bench Press
95x12
115x10
135x8
155x8
165x6 (new PR)
155x6

B. Dips
Bodyweight x10
Bodyweight x10
+10x8
+20x6
+20x6
Bodyweight x8

C. Cable Chest Press
80x8
80x8
80x8
80x8

D. Cable Flys
20x12
30x8
30x8
30x8

I decided to go to my college gym today since it opened up about last month and I hadn't been there yet. I went at a pretty ****ty time around 5:30 and it was super crowded. I didn't really like the gym too much because there really weren't enough stations, I only saw 1 squatting station which made me cry. I'm most likely going to go back at lifting at my other gym, but I decided to give this gym a chance. Overall decent workout, I wasn't too happy about doing cable chest press since this isn't what I usually do but w/e, I still lifted my hardest at it and it doesn't differ much from my other exercise. Also the crowdedness kind of made me want to leave but I tried my best to finish my workout as best that I can. However, I was happy that I PR'd on incline bench; my chest has always been my weakest bodypart.

Tomorrow is Leg day! yummy

4/08/08 - Day 3: QUADS/CALVES
26 sets in 65 minutes

A. Box Squats
45x15
135x12
225x10
265x8
295x8
315x4
225x8
135x10

B. Hack Squats (Ass to the grass)
90x10
130x10
170x10
170x10
180x10

C. Leg Exts
45x15
90x10
135x10
150x10
150x10

C. Calf Raises (On Hack Squats)
180x20
180x20
180x20
200x20
200x20

D. Lunges
50x10
50x10
60x10

Decent day today, I only had about an hour so I was a little rushed and had to cut my lunges short.

Really?

lol, nice catch.

I'm also curious how you do a hack squat ass to the grass.

Yuh; not my best Box squat though, I was doing regular squats about 2 weeks ago for the past 4 or 5 months; decided to switch back since I loved doing box squats more

Well the way the hack squat is set up is that I can go all the way down way past parallel, similar to if I was doing ATG while squatting


Keep in mind I've been lifting for a long time now (bout 3 years off and on); it's only now that I decided to follow a real log with this new program...

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...HackSquat.html

http://www.building-muscle101.com/images/hack_squat.jpg