Level 2: Getting Massive

choons

Onwards and Outwards!

This is my second log and follows on from SL 5x5 for 12 weeks of summer.


Stats (as of 13/9/10):
Age: 20
Weight: 66kg
Height: 178cm
BF%: 12%


Goals for the rest of 2010:
Increase body weight
Drop Body fat below 10%
Increase main lifts - Squat, Bench, Dead Lift and Overhead press.

Basically I want to get ripped and improve overall fitness!


I tried the Stronglifts 5x5 program and this was a great introduction to weight training. I made some great gains but now its time for me to move on and take things a bit more seriously.


I intend to hit the gym at least 5 times a week if possible. I've come up with a 3 day split which I'll try out for a few weeks. After the 3 days, I'll have a rest day or maybe get in a bit of cardio.


Weights:
I'm going to keep working with the main lifts, bodyweight and other free weight exercises. I'm going to do 4 sets of 8 reps for most exercises.

3 day split on weights:

1. Squats, Overhead Press, Various shoulder & bicep exercises.
(Chin ups, DB shoulder press, Lat raises, Bicep curls etc.)

2. Bench, Various Chest and Tricep exercises, Abs.
(Incline bench, DB chest press, push ups, flies, tri dips etc.)

3. Squat, Dead Lift, Various back exercises.
(Seated cable row, pull ups, inverted row, shrugs etc.)


Cardio:
Jogging and Cycling.


Diet:
Diet has been fairly bang on for the last 4 months. Only changes will be quantity size, I'll try to eat more!


I'll be back in college soon so it's going to be more difficult to eat properly but a little bit of preparation and planning should help. I'll try making a few protein bars at the weekends to keep my protein stocks up throughout the day.


My Myprotein referral code: MP244120
As always, all constructive/positive comments welcome!
Stay chooned for more

choons

Squat:
20kg x8
60kg x8
70kg (8,8,8,8)

Over Head/Shoulder Press:
20kg x8
35kg (8,8,8,6)


Massive Superset:

• DB shoulder press
  12.5kg (8,8,8,10)
  
  
• Side Lateral raise
  7.5kg (8,8,8), 5kg (8)
  
  
• Chin ups
  (8,8,8,8)
  
  
• Bicep Cable Curls
  40lbs (20kg) - (8,8,8), 35lbs (8)

Spectacular form on my squat if I may say so!

d'Oracle

Why did you give Bench a day to itself and pair off your Deadlift with Squat?

choons

d'Oracle wrote: »

Why did you give Bench a day to itself and pair off your Deadlift with Squat?

I didn't really give benching a full day to itself, I split my workouts into:

1. Squat, OHP, Biceps & Shoulders;
2. Bench, Chest & Ticeps, Abs;
3. Squat, Dead Lift, back;

So I'm squatting 2/3 days. I would have switched days 2 and 3 but from experience, my biceps and shoulders need time to recover before I can work on my back. Either way, I would be squatting on days 1 and 3. Hope this makes sense!

What would you recommend?

choons

Bench:
20kg x8
40kg x8
55kg (8,8,8,7)


Incline DB chest press:
20kg (8,8,8,6)

Superset with

Push ups:
(10,10,10,10)


Ticep cable pull down:
45lbs (8,8,8,10)

Superset with

Tircep Dips:
(5,4,3,3)


Cable fly:
30lbs (8,8,8,8)


Ab machine 1:
17.5kg (15,15)

Ab machine 2:
40kg (15,15)
50kg (15)

Side bends DB:
30kg (15,15)

d'Oracle

choons wrote: »

I didn't really give benching a full day to itself, I split my workouts into:

1. Squat, OHP, Biceps & Shoulders;
2. Bench, Chest & Ticeps, Abs;
3. Squat, Dead Lift, back;

So I'm squatting 2/3 days. I would have switched days 2 and 3 but from experience, my biceps and shoulders need time to recover before I can work on my back. Either way, I would be squatting on days 1 and 3. Hope this makes sense!

What would you recommend?

I'll put it this way.
Heavy Squatting is really frickin hard.
Heavy Deadlifting is really frickin hard.

Bench press is ostensibly a chest and triceps exercise.

So, as I see it:

Your deadlift might be negatively affected by squatting beforehand.
And you seem to have done that to allow for more chest and tricep assistance exercises.

It seems to me to be more efficient to partner a big lower body lift with a big upper body lift, like you have done with your day 1. Rather than flay yourself with two big lower body lifts.

So if I were you, and you have little to no reason to take this on board, I would be looking at:

1. Squat, OHP, Shoulders & Biceps.
2. Deadlift, Back, Abs
3. Squat, Bench, Chest & triceps.

Thats how I see it anyhow.
Looks from the pics like you are making good progress anyhow. Good job.

choons

Squat:
20kg x8
60kg x8 . . . I than gave up! I had serious DOMS in my legs and ass from Monday and it just wasn't happening.

Dead Lift:
60kg x8
80kg x8


Pullups:
(8,8,8,6)

Superset with

Inverted Row:
(8,8,5,5)


Seated cable row:
65lbs (10)
70lbs (10)
75lbs (10,10)

Shoulder push down:
50lbs (8,8,8,8)


Row:
1km in 4.50mins

choons

Squat:
20kg x8
60kg x8
75kg (8,8,8,8)

Over head press:
20kg x8
35kg (8,8,8,8)


Massive Superset:

• DB shoulder press
  15kg (8,8,8,8)
  
  
• Side Lateral raise
  7.5kg (8), 5kg (8,8,8)
  
  
• Chin ups
  (10,8,8,8)
  
  
• Bicep BB Curls
  20kg (10,8,8,8)

choons

Row 500m

Dead Lift:
60kg x8
90kg x8


Pullups:
(8,8,6)

Superset with

Inverted Row:
(8,8,6)


Seated cable row:
80lbs (10,10,10,10)

Shoulder push down:
55lbs (8,8,8,8)


Ab machine 1:
17.5kg (15,15,15)

Superset with

Ab machine 2:
40kg (15,15,15)

choons

After trying out my new split last week, I've decided to follow d'Oracle's advice and go with the following split instead:

Updated 3 day split:

1. Squat, Overhead Press, Various shoulder & bicep exercises.
(Chin ups, DB shoulder press, Lat raises, Bicep curls etc.)

2. Dead Lift, Various back exercises, Abs.
(Seated cable row, pull ups, inverted row, shrugs etc.)

3. Squat, Bench, Various Chest and Tricep exercises,
(Incline bench, DB chest press, push ups, flies, tri dips etc.)

This is very similar to what I'd been doing a few weeks so I'll keep at it.

choons

Bench:
20kg x10
40kg x8
57.5kg (8,8,8,6)


Inclin DB Chest Press:
20kg (8,8,8,8)

Superset with

Push ups:
(10,10,10,10)


Tricep Push Down:
45lbs (10,10,10,10)

Superset with

Tricep Dips:
(6,5,4,4)

choons

30km Cycle

choons

Squat:
20kg x10
60kg x8
75kg (8,8,8,8)

Overhead Press:
37.5kg (6,6,6,5)


Massive superset:

• DB OHP:
  15kg (8,8,8,6)
  
• Side Lateral raise:
  5kg (8,8,8,8)
  
• Chin ups:
  (10,10,10,10)
  
• Bicep Cable Curl:
  45lbs (8,8,8,8)
  
• Shrugs:
  20kg (8,8,8,8)

choons

Deadlift:
60kg (8,8,8) & more - PT helped me with technique

Pull ups:
(8,8,8,7)

Seated Cable row:
80lbs (10,10,10,12)

choons

Squat:
20kg x10
60kg x8
77.5kg (8,8,8,8)

Bench:
20kg x8
40kg x8
60kg (7,4,4,1)


Incline DB Press:
20kg (8,8,7,6)

Superset with

Push ups:
(10,10,10,6)


Tricep Dips:
(8,8,8,8)

Superset with

Tricep Push down:
50lbs (7)
45lbs (6)
40lbs (8,8)


Cable chest fly:
30lbs (8,8,8,8)

choons

Joined my college gym, €210 for the year.

It's a lot bigger than my current one but has a smith machine instead of a squat rack.

I'll be able to go between lectures and the likes.

itsallaboutheL

choons wrote: »

Joined my college gym, €210 for the year.

It's a lot bigger than my current one but has a smith machine instead of a squat rack.

you paid to join a "gym" that doesn't have a squat rack?

choons

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

you paid to join a "gym" that doesn't have a squat rack?

Yep

I know it sounds like a stupid decision considering I get to use my other gym for free. Realistically though, I can only get to the college gym during the week.

Trust me, I thought about it for a few weeks before paying all that cash!

choons

First day in my new gym!

Row:
1km 4.20mins

Squat:
20kg x8
60kg x8
80kg (8,8,8,8)

Overhead Press:
20kg x8
37.5kg (7,6,5,4)


Superset:

• DB shoulder press
  15kg (8,8,8,8)
  
• Side Lateral raise
  5kg (8,8,8,8)
  
• Chin ups
  (8,8,8,8)
  
• Bicep Cable Curls
  22.25kg - (8,8,8,8)

Swim

choons

Row:
1km 4.20mins

Deadlift:
60kg (5,8)
80kg (8)

Pull ups:
(8,8,8,6)

Inverted Row:
(8,7,6,5) . . . . . . . . . . only counting reps when my chest touched the bar

Seated Cable row:
43.75kg (10,10,10,9)

Shoulder Push down:
18.75kg (10)
23.75kg (10,10,12)

Swim

choons

Bench:
20kg (8)
40kg (8)
60kg (8,6,5)
57.5kg (6)
55kg (5)

Incline DB Press:
22.5kg (8,7,6)

Push ups
Tricep Dips

Only had half an hour today unfortunately

choons

Squat:
20kg x8
60kg x8
80kg (8,8,8,8)

Overhead Press:
20kg x8
37.5kg (8,7)
35kg (8,2)
30kg(10)


DB shoulder press:
15kg (8,8,8,8)

Superset with

Side Lateral raise:
5kg (8,8,8,8)


Chin ups:
(8,8,8,8)

Superset with

Bicep Cable Curls:
22.25kg - (8,8,8,8)

choons

Row:
1km 4.18mins

Deadlift:
60kg (6)
82.5kg (8)

Pull ups:
(10,8,7,6)

Seated Cable row:
43.75kg (10)
46.25kg (12)
48.75kg (10,10)

choons

Bench:
20kg x8
60kg (8,7,6,5)

Incline DB chest press:
20kg (10,12,9,9)

Tricep Dips:
(10,10,10)

Cable fly:
13.75kg (10,10,10,10)

1 Arm DB Row:
26kg (8)
22kg (10,10,10)

choons

Overhead Press:
20kg x8
37.5kg (8,8,8,6)


Superset:

• DB shoulder press
  16kg (8,8,8,8)
  
• Side Lateral raise
  6kg (8,8,8,8)
  
• Chin ups
  (10,8,8,8)
  
• Bicep Bar Curls
  30kg - (10,8,8,8)
  

choons

Row:
1km 4.28mins

Deadlift:
60kg (6)
90kg (8)


Pull ups:
(8,4,4,4)

Superset with

Inverted Rows:
(10,8,6,6)


Seated Cable row:
48.75kg (10,10,10,8)

1 Arm DB Row:
26kg (8)
24kg (10,10,10)


Ab sesh

choons

Bench:
20kg x8
50kg x8
60kg x6
72.5kg x1 PB
60kg (7,6)
62.5kg x4


Incline DB chest press:
22.5kg (8,7,6)
20kg (8)


Ticep cable pull down:
40lbs (12,12,12,12)

Superset with

Tircep Dips:
(10,8,7,6)


A few squats on light weights

choons

Squat:
20kg x8
60kg x8
80kg (8,8,8,8)

Overhead Press:
20kg x8
37.5kg (8,8,5,5)


DB shoulder press:
16kg (8,7,6,5)

Superset with

Side Lateral raise:
5kg (10,8,8,8)


Chin ups:
(12,8,6)

Superset with

Bicep Cable Curls:
18.75kg - (8,8,8)

choons

Row:
1km 4.30mins

Deadlift:
60kg (8)
92.5kg (6)
60kg (8)


Pull ups:
(8,8,7,6)

Superset with

Inverted rows:
(12,10,9,8)


1 Arm DB Row:
25kg (8,8,8,8)

Shoulder Push Down:
18.75kg (10)
21.25kg (12,12,12)


Super Ab sesh

choons

Bench:
20kg x8
50kg x8
60kg (8,7,6,4)

Incline DB chest press:
22.75kg (7)
20kg (8,8,7)


Tricep Dips:
(14,14,11,9)

Superset With

Push Ups:
(10,10,10,10)

choons

Squat:
20kg x8
60kg x8
82.5kg (8,8,8,8)

Overhead Press:
20kg x8
37.5kg (8,8,6,6)
30kg x8


DB shoulder press:
16kg (8,8,8,7)

Superset with

Side Lateral raise:
5kg (10,10,10,10)


Chin ups:
(10,9,6,4)

Superset with

Bicep Cable Curls:
18.75kg - (8,8,8,8)


1hr Taekwondo class
1hr Olympic Weightlifting class