My routine. My plan. My Diet. My goal.

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oicdn

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August marks the beginning of the start of me getting (back) in the gym. That, and the GF is leaving for a week, so I will have plenty of time to get into a groove. Here's what it looks like to (hopefully) get maximum gain in as little time as possible:

Monday - morning - Chest
Flat bench -3 sets of 8-10 reps (alternating weeks dumbells and bar) with a double dropset
Incline bench - same as above with a 1 set warm up prior
Decline bench - 4 sets of 10
Cable cross - 3 sets of 8 reps with a single dropset
Seated chest-press -3 sets to failure

Monday - evening - Triceps and abs
Rope pull-downs - 1 warm up 3 sets of 8-10
Underhand tricep pull-downs - 3 sets of 8-10 with a dropset
Single arm skullcrushers - 3 sets of 8-10
Dips - 5 sets to failure
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30 of each in a circuit, 2 minute break, then repeat one more time
Barbell roll-out
Swiss ball Russian twist
Reverse crunch
Knee raise with a drop

Tuesday - Back
Lat pull down - 1 wu then 3 sets of 8-10
Single arm bent over rows - 3 sets of 8-10
Close grip pull downs with seated rows superset - 3 sets of 8-10 with drop set on each
Dead lifts - 4 sets of 8-10

Tuesday - evening - biceps
Standing bar curls 1 wu with 3 sets of 8-10
Preacher bench curls - 3 sets of 8-10
Incline dumbell curls - 4 sets of 8-10 with a long negative

Wednesday - Cardio
Interval sprints of 15 seconds 20 reps

Thursday - shoulders and traps
Seated lateral deltoid raises - 1 wu then 3 sets of 8-10 with a single dropset
Seated military press - 3 sets of 8-10 (alternating weeks dumbell and bars)
Dumbell shrugs - 4 sets of 8-10
Reverse flys - 4 sets of 8-10

Thursday - evening - abs
Same as Monday evening ab session

Friday - quads
Squats - 1 wu then 5 sets to failure aiming for 8-10
Leg press - 5 sets to failure aiming for 8-10
Leg curls - 5 sets to failure holding full extension for 3 seconds

Friday - evening - calves and hammies
Split squats - 1 wu then 3 sets each side of 8-10
Hamstring curls - 4 sets to failure holding curl for 3 seconds
Standing calf raises - 4 sets to failure
Seated calf raises - 5 sets of 15-20 reps holding peak for 1 second

Saturday - Abs and cardio
Same as Thursday and Monday evening ab sessions
Cycle (spin) at 70% for 30 minutes

Sunday - Off

I will be doing morning - evening splits as I work at 10am, so I don't have to get up TOO early to hit the gym (which I think helps), and get off at 7, and will be doing my evening sessions at around 9pm after she goes to work. This also revolves around my GFs schedule as well. Which is what keeps me from doing certain things. SHE doesn't keep me from doing anything, but I just love being around her and things start to not matter. When I can make schedules work, I think it makes other things fall into place.

I think the largest reason most people quit routines (besides schedule) is both a plateau and the fact that you get intervals of not training which allows you to get into the "rest" mode and it keeps you from staying a truly BEATEN path. Nothing will kill you. I've been through bootcamp and learned truly how much you can do with such little sleep and nutrients. Atleast this way I can stuff my face with enough food unlike bootcamp. The lack of a break other than Sunday I think will keep me going. That, and the actual time in gym per session is cut very shortly but very efficient?

I will be eating 7 times a day. How?
-Meal 1 - Usually some sort of cereal in the morning when I first wake-up.
-8am gym session
-Meal 2 - The cereal again post work-out with a protein shake.
-Goto work at 10am
-Meal 3 - Protein shake and a fruit sometime around 1pm
-Meal 4 - Lunch, usually consisting of a sandwich and pasta around 2pm
-Meal 5 - At 5pm-ish snack like bagels or probars (heh, meal 5 at 5)
-Get off work at 7 and relax until about 830-9 when I bring the GF to work
-9pm evening gym session
-Meal 6 - Post session shake and pasta
-Meal 7 - Around 11ish another shake and something to eat for nightly sleep recovery, like a peanut butter sandwich
-Goto bed or rest til 1:45am then pick up the GF at 2am.

A pretty rigid schedule, but I think I can do it in 2 months and pack on USABLE strength, not just look nice AS WELL as being able to spend time with my GF (which is VERY important to me. I don't think I'll be packing in much cycling due to lack of time and energy probably. Possibly on Saturdays and Mondays when I'm off, insert biking and resting. So 2 days a week of riding isn't too bad.

I'm going to put the "6-star muscle" Whey Protein shake stuff from Walmart to test. I don't have enough money to buy tubs and tubs of "premium" shake mix when I'm also having to feed myself 7 times a day. Atleast the Vanilla milk shake flavor I have tastes good.

I'm a very compulsive person, so a "hit it hard and intense" short cycle like this works better for me than some sort of super long term regimen that's less intense and demanding. I realize my immune system will definitely be taking a beating, but that's why I'm getting solid 6 hours of sleep and stuffing my face 7 times a day and taking multi-vitamins.

My goal for all of this is to have a TOTAL fitness level. Not be huge, but look good and be able to INCREASE MY PERFORMANCE on my bike. I think the less-cycling-more-gym will help me realize my gains as well when I finally finish this 2 months of death. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to just stop, rather, I'm testing myself to see if I can achieve a HARD goal and then keep up with maintaining after the 2 months, rather than wanting to see hard gains.

Comments? Suggestions? Diet tips?
 
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Comments? Suggestions? Diet Tips?

I have a few of all:

1)Is that much training sustainable?
2) Why not get a routine that you can maintain "FOR LIFE"
3) What is your goal? Getting in shape is too loose! Be specific
4) be more specific on your diet. You have written a lot of detail on the exercises you are going to do, why not do the same on your food? When you are going to exercise chest you write down all the exercises you are going to use, look at these as your ingredients. So when you are going to eat a meal write down its name and then its ingredients. Your food deserves the same attention as your training.

Hope this helps
 
InnerFight said:
Comments? Suggestions? Diet Tips?

I have a few of all:

1)Is that much training sustainable?
2) Why not get a routine that you can maintain "FOR LIFE"
3) What is your goal? Getting in shape is too loose! Be specific
4) be more specific on your diet. You have written a lot of detail on the exercises you are going to do, why not do the same on your food? When you are going to exercise chest you write down all the exercises you are going to use, look at these as your ingredients. So when you are going to eat a meal write down its name and then its ingredients. Your food deserves the same attention as your training.

Hope this helps
Click to expand...

I think it's completely sustainable. Although I've never been in a targeted muscle groups plan before (all my stuff was major compound stuff like burpees and pull-ups), but I would imagine it would be. Today was the start of it and it didn't seem too harsh, then again, it's day one.

I am looking into a routine for life, and think I can get a better acclimation or inclination as to what I'll need once I get things going. Right now I'm focused on a short term goal, which IMO, makes it seem more achievable. I know I can't just stop once I get through at two months, but I want to see what I can do when I'm full on hammering things out.

As far as my goal goes, just all around fitness. I bike a lot and after watching videos, I realized I lacked EXPLOSIVE power. Mainly due to well, not being as strong as I want to be. I did however realize that I was smooth, and due to lack of explosive power, that the technique was more dialed than some friends who just muscle the bike around. So now that I have the "finesse", I need to get the power and THEN see where I am.

Food. Well, I don't want to get locked in to eating certain foods and get stagnant with the foods and get bored of the diet. I realize that because I am eating 7 times a day, I can be a little more flexible in WHAT I eat, but I know it's going to be heavy on the carbs in the forms of wheat and white bread, bagels, and sourdough breads. Also in the forms of cheese and condiments. The protein will also be coming from heavy amounts of beans, meats, as well as bagels and rice. I'm bringing food to work, so I looked at things that were portable but still feeding my blood sugar levels and protein demands. Things like sweet corn and rice will provide my good carbs while the protein shakes and meat provide my proteins. I'll be eating things like pepper steak with uncooked bell peppers (all 3) so I can get the necessary antioxidants.

I'll be taking fish oil supplements, in addition to the shakes and multivitamins. I'm trying to get maximum results in as little time possible while still being able to maintain a reasonable lifestyle. I'm not trying to get large, but I do want to gain some mass. And a program like this one seems like the ticket??? My biggest concern at the moment is how much I should be lifting. I'm not sure if I'm lifting HARD enough as I was told I should go to failure, but aiming for 8-10 each set.
 
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Seems like you are pretty organized which is good.

My main point is to have short mid and long term goals and to be organized and jump into something thats sustainable.

With regards to what you are lifting. 8-10 reps sounds ok but on your last set you should be really pumping, this is just a case of playing with the weight.

Look forward to hearing about your progress.

Best of luck
 
InnerFight said:
Seems like you are pretty organized which is good.

My main point is to have short mid and long term goals and to be organized and jump into something thats sustainable.

With regards to what you are lifting. 8-10 reps sounds ok but on your last set you should be really pumping, this is just a case of playing with the weight.

Look forward to hearing about your progress.

Best of luck
Click to expand...

I have started a thread with pics right here:
http://training.fitness.com/photo-gallery/starting-anew-41805.html

It's gonna be the progress thread. I desperately hope that there are visual results by the end of even one month.

This 1st week I imagine is going to be finding what weight works I guess. I'm wanting to be at a weight where I'm finding it hard to maintain by the end of a set, and at failure at the 8-10 mark. Problem is, I don't know what that is yet.
 
I admire your commitment dude - that is one hectik schedule, but you are definetly over training in my opinion. And also I think you are under eating with that much training. I would suggested adding more quality dense food like your tuna, chicken, steak, brown rice, milk.

All the best mate
 
matk said:
I admire your commitment dude - that is one hectik schedule, but you are definetly over training in my opinion. And also I think you are under eating with that much training. I would suggested adding more quality dense food like your tuna, chicken, steak, brown rice, milk.

All the best mate
Click to expand...

I was afraid of thinking that I would be over-training, but I can't possibly see how. I used to do MASSIVE amounts of compound training (push-out weighted vest burpees, and weighted variation pull-ups) for 4 months an every other day basis. When I say massive I'm talking 150+ various pullups within an hours time IN ADDITION to those burpees. This is the 1st time I've ever singled out muscles, and thus far it's not too bad. The eating is the hardest part.

As far as the eating dense foods, that's really all I eat. I eat very few veggies, so THAT is the hardest part for me, keeping the other macro-nutrients in my diet that I would/should get from veggies. All of my shakes (16oz 3x a day) are mixed with milk instead of the typical water. Sometimes I'll add in fruitsd and make it a smoothie, but that's rare as it's so much easier to carry around just milk, a shaker, and powder to work.

I've started riding my bike to work again, granted it's only 1 mile away, but it's definitely a "small step that leads to big changes", IMO.

sophie-xx said:
sounds HARD and i think you look really good at the moment anyway!
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Thanks a bunch. I really appreciate it. I'm excited about how I should be looking in a couple weeks time.
 
OK, after my 1st friday (I started on a Tuesday evenin), I've come to the realization that this is going to be a HARD road. But I like the challenge. Pretty much everything except my core and chest are sore (since I started on a tuesday evening). My core, I think is alot stronger than the typical persons due to all the biking and BMXing I do. I was doing swiss ball russian twists with a 45lb plate and my core isn't sore???? I know it was getting worked because I was struggling to finish the last reps of the last set, but still...

My diet has been pretty hard to do. Stuffing 7 "meals" a day down my face is for sure a chore. It's getting damn expensive as well. I'm going to have to vary up my protein sources as well. But otherwise, tomorrow is another day, and I meet up with a trainer tomorrow to go over my diet and routine!
 
Ahh...forgot about this thread. Here's the result:

http://training.fitness.com/photo-gallery/2-months-later-42870.html

This is the thread I linked to many friends who aren't typically on forums who were interested in seeing where I was at the 2 month mark. I should have followed up here, but I posted the link above for those of you who were watching this thread.
 
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