Offseason Begins!

The point of assistance/extra work exercises are for training the muscles that didn't get hit as hard in the main sets, like triceps for bench, abs and spinal erectors in DL. Or to train the muscles that need more work in general because they might be a weak point or whatever.

Once you get past an initial curve, just doing the exercise alone won't get you progress forever.

That sounds like a good way to go, Jman. As for more work that you can do, you shouldn't just look for isolation, don't be afraid to throw in two or three more extra compound movements. Turkish get-ups, GM's, ab rollouts, Bulg squat, suitcase dead, db swings...there are tons and tons of extra exercises you can be doing. Even if the main exercises were enough for you, it wouldn't hurt to try upping the volume for a month or so and see where you end up. You're at the point now where you've been lifting and active long enough to where you're ready to up the volume.
 
Matt Kroc on assistance work. A lot of Elitefts' articles and videos will help explain the importance of assistance work, and extra work in general.

But if you'll notice, a lot of these guys' training volume is kind of low. THat's usually because the weights they use are much heavier and much more taxing than the lower weight. That is why you would compensate for the lack of taxation by adding in more exercises.
 
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Workout #7

Deadlift Hard
165x5
175x5
185x5
195x5
205x5

Bench Press Hard
75x5
95x5
115x5
135x5
155x5

ATG Squats Hard
95x10
115x10
135x2

Box Squats Easy
135x10

Bent-over-rows Hard
75x5
85x5
95x5
105x5
115x5 (range of motion sucked)

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press Fail
40x12
40x9

Notes**
1.) Thanks for you alls help so far. Putting up the volume on the deadlift made my workout feel so much more rewarding.
2.) I'm Back Squatting :) I'm gonna do 2 sets of ATG squats to get use to it again for a week or 2 and a set of box squats for explosiveness. My squats aren't as good as they use to be; but my old trainer told me my Form is now flawless ever since I learned to get the knees out. Took a while to break a bad form habit.
3.) Deadlifts felt great! Kinda made me feel like the past 2 weeks I wasted time. I love it when that last rep is a hard one.
4.) The Bench press was VERY close; that last rep seemed like forever.
5.) Rows again; bah. My range of motion tends to suck near the end and it doesn't feel like I work anything.
6.) Incline Dumbbell Press- I failed. I only needed to get 3 more reps. The first 9 were hard enough though. DAMN. I was progressing fast. I least I know my chest has gotten stronger because when I started I wouldn't even think of using 40 pound dumbbells.
 
Workout #8

Military Press Fail
65x5
75x5
85x5
95x5
105x3

Pullups
7 (+1)
4 (+1)
4 (+1)
3 (+1)

Wide overhead grip lat pulldowns
80x10
100x10
110x8
120x6

Ab Crunches, Leg Raises

Notes**
1.) My legs are still DEAD from Tuesdays squatting. I had trouble warming up the lunges with 25 dumbbells. So I didn't do good mornings or lunges today.
2.) The military press I failed. I decided on stuff that I "fail" I'll just keep it the same weight the next week until I achieve it.
3.) I added the wide lat pulldown. This will give me assitance for my back and help me with rows and pullups. Plus- I always wanted that wide lat look.
4.) Eating tons lately; again. Its odd because I am gaining weight really quickly but I don't look or feel fatter and my waist is the same. Maybe I'm just growing? Because I am 6'0 and my Father is 6'6.
 
Hmm. If you can do 5 reps on 65/75/85/95 easily, whats the point of starting at such a low weight. Wouldn't it be smarter to start at a higher weight and just do 5 sets with the same weights?
 
Like we discussed, you should start counting sets when the weight gets heavy enough to where it's close to your 5 RM or if it is not already. You should be doing five sets at or near 95.
 
My gym closed for reasons unknown. What was the odds of that ...

Anyway I decided that since I missed this workout I really don't wanna switch over my schedule. Instead; I think I'm gonna max out on these:

Deadlift
ATG Squat
40 yard dash
Vertical
Bench Press reps (with 135) <-- I really wanna do this; friend thinks I can't beat 8 and I have done it before.
Pull-ups

What do you guys think?? O tommorow I got my weigh-in. Something tells me I shouldn't max out but I'm dying to.
 
Don't think you should max out on all those on the same day.
You have four lower body based things listed there, after the deads, you'll be seeing much lower maxes in all the rest, and they'll keep getting lower as you max if you're really using max effort.
 
AZN_Dave said:
Don't think you should max out on all those on the same day.
You have four lower body based things listed there, after the deads, you'll be seeing much lower maxes in all the rest, and they'll keep getting lower as you max if you're really using max effort.
Click to expand...

Your right. I'm just getting off track again. I'm gonna max rep 135 pounds on the bench press though but I'll keep the others at the 5x5.
 
Weigh in #3

Start- 172
Week 1 Weight- 172.6 (+0.6)
Week 2 Weight- 175.2 (+2.6)
Week 3 Weight- 179.8 (+4.6)

WOAH. 4.6 pounds in 1 week? How the heck did I do that! Odd thing is I thought I was gonna drop weight when I wen't up do 175.2 but I drank tons of water yesterday. Its kinda scary; because last time I gained weight this time I just got fatter. But I don't look like I have added any fat.

My waist is still 32 inches. IDK weather to be happy or not. Maybe I am in a middle of a growth spurt or something?
 
Remember that there is a certain percentage range of bodyfat (like 13-16) that you won't be able to tell visually if you've gained fat or not.

Also, whether or not you at a particularly large amoutn yesterday, or drank water before hand, or just didn't go to the bathroom can give or take 1-2 pounds.

But, 4.6 pounds in a week is alot. On 20 rep squats, I think i gained about 6 pounds in 3 weeks, and that was with adding 5 pounds to the bar each time I squatted... and I ate alot.
 
Well since my parents couldn't take me to the gym AGAIN I wen't over to my neighbors house to bench.

I decided to max out 135 pounds.

I pulled off 15 Reps!! Thats 5 more then when I tested that at the beginning of this program. Sweet :) I wen't ahead and did a second set and got 3, and a third set and got 2. Kinda like a WSFSB repeptition thing.

In another 3 weeks; I wanna bench 135 20 times!
 
Ugh; I couldn't go to the gym today either. I had to stay after school for a study session so I could get my US history grade up.

My workout will be tommorow Tuesday. So I have only missed one workout. I will go about the workout like I never missed a day and progress as usual.

My ankle is still not 100% fine. I did one sprint today and it started giving me issues. At least I can squat with it now.
 
Workout #9

Workout was BEAST today :) I'm not doing the progress with the sets no more. I am doing all 5 sets of 5 heavy now. Heres how it wen't (no counting warmup-sets)

Deadlift Hard
215x5
215x5
215x5
215x5
215x5

ATG Squats Hard
120x5
120x5
120x5
120x5
120x5

Bench Press Hard
140x5
140x5
140x5
140x5
140x5

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press Failed
1x9
1x4

Bicep Curls
40x10
60x7
40x7

NOTES*
- I didn't think I was able to deadlift 215 for all 5 sets. Its a good thing I did. It was the toughest deadlifting I had ever done. And to think that with my old plans I would have only done 1 set of 5
-Squatting felt good. As usual my quads are dead but not as dead as they are the last time
-Bench press was really hard and its also the first time I did 140 for 5 sets of 5
-Incline dumbbell BP- since my bench press was so taxing I was only able to get a combined 13 reps while last week, with the same weight, I was able to get 22 reps
-Bicep curling :) Hopefully this will help my Rows. Plus: my 13" guns need some work.

Overall; this is the best workout I have had. Did 5 sets of 5 for heavy weights and added assitance work. Since I'm gaining weight really quickly I'm not gonna overtrain. Thanks for the help again!
 
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