The "Slingshot Training System" 8 week mass gain program. With weekly progress pics!

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realworksuks

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The "Slingshot Training System" With weekly progress pics! (cutting for summer)

I just got done reading all about the program yesterday and I really wanted to give it a shot.

To read about the program go here:



There is a lot of reading there so I will try to sum it up. It is a bodypart split program where you only work each muscle once per week. There are 3 phases to the program and it tries to imitate the 3 phase cycles of anabolic steroids. First is the anabolic prime phase where we go into a catabolic state to prime our bodies for anabolism, two weeks long. Second is the anabolic blast phase where we up the volume by a lot and eat like crazy, four weeks long, third is the anabolic cruise phase where we start to taper down the volume and still maintain a calorie surplus, two weeks long.

When we start the program we pick two exercises for each body part. A main exercise and an assistance exercise (bench press and flys) These are the two exercises we will be using for the whole duration of the program.

I will be posting lots of specific information throughout the journal but I didn't want the first post to be incredibly long, or else people might be scared away... ha.

My Fitday Food Journal:



You can go here and see exactly what my diet is for the day.

I have been training for about 1.5 years consistently.

my stats are:

22 year old Male
170 pounds
5 feet 8.5 inches tall

MEASUREMENTS IN INCHES:
Waist 33.5
hips 34.5
chest 36.5
neck 14
right arm 14 flex 13 cold
left arm 13 cold 14 flex
right quad (one hand length from knee) 18.5
left quad 18.5

I will post weekly progress pictures. I should be pretty lean by the time I am done with the anabolic prime phase.

I am planning on doing all of the cardio sessions during the anabolic prime phase and hopefully losing a couple pounds of fat.

My workouts will be

A.
Chest
Calves

B.
Lats

Abs

C.
Deltoids

Traps


D.

Arms

E.

Legs

F:

Off

G:

Off

H. Repeat training cycle.

I actually plan to workout Saturday and take Thursday off instead of the typical setup above. But it is a 5 day bodypart split. I haven't done a bodybuilder program like this before.

Here is a starting picture:



I plan on getting some mass on that skinny ass frame!
 
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During the first 2 week phase the workouts are only 2 work sets per bodypart. And reps should be 12-15.

All work sets should be to "good failure" the point before you know you will fail.

This was my weight training.

Bench Press
Warmups:
155 X 12
175 X 6
185 X 6

Work Set:
165 X 12

15 degree incline fly's
Warm up:
25 X 15

Work:
25 X 15

Standing Calf Raises (smith machine):
Warm up:
135 X 13
155 X 10
185 X 6

Work
165 X 15

Leg press calf raises
130 X 13

Work
145 X 13

This workout kicked my chest's ass. I can't imagine how tough this will be once I get into the mass phase where the work sets increase to 5 per exercise!
 
Specific Workout Program

This is the workout program for the first two weeks. In the following phases the workouts stay the same with the number of sets and reps changing.

it goes 1 set per exercise, to 5 sets per exercise, to 3 sets per exercise.

Here is what I will be doing during the first two weeks.. excluding the 0-3 warm up sets:

Monday: Chest/calves
Key Ex. for chest: Barbell Bench Press: 1 set of 15 reps
Sec. Ex for chest: Incline Dumbbell Flyes: 1 set of 15 reps
Key Ex. for calves: Standing Calf raises: 1 set of 15 reps
Sec. Ex. for calves: Seated Calf Raises: 1 set of 15 reps

Tuesday: Back
Deadlifts: 1 set of 15 reps
Lat Pull Downs: 1 set of 15 reps
Bent arm pullover: 1 set of 15 reps
Bent over Barbell Rows: 1 set of 15 reps
Seated Row: 1 set of 15 reps

Wednesday:Shoulders
Seated Dumbell Press:1 set of 15 reps
Dumbell Lateral Raises:1 set of 15 reps
Bentover Rear Cable Raises: 1 set of 15 reps
Dumbbell Shrugs: 1 set of 15 reps

Thursday: off

Friday: Arms
Incline Dumbbell Curls: 1 set of 15 reps
Drag Barbell Curls: 1 set of 15 reps
Standing Hammer Curls: 1 set of 15 reps
Lying Tricep Extension: 1 set of 15 reps
Tricep Pushdown: 1 set of 15 reps

Saturday: Legs
Squats:1 set of 15 reps
Leg extension: 1 set of 15 reps
leg curls: 1 set of 15 reps
Stiff legged deadlifts: 1 set of 15 reps

Sunday: Off
 
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i never could imagine a split routine like this working well FOR ME
im a full body guy :]
i hope to see good results on you though; cool log.
-and is that a sumo wrestler's thong kind of thing you'r wearing? ebay?
 
Proteinboy said:
i never could imagine a split routine like this working well FOR ME
im a full body guy :]
i hope to see good results on you though; cool log.
-and is that a sumo wrestler's thong kind of thing you'r wearing? ebay?
Click to expand...

Thanks for stopping in man.

Never know until ya try. If full body works great for you though, stick with it for sure! I haven't seen hardly any gains in 1.5 years of consistent training... so I am opting to do what every bodybuilder does.

Heh, those are just my boxers, i'm pulling them up to show my legs :yelrotflmao:
 
Yeah one workout a week/bodypart, I don't see that working for me either.. Good luck though.
 
nice pic! hehhe

anyhow- you have been posting alot, and you seem to have backbone so here ya go-

from the FF directly to you find Sir-

IF you have been training the above body for 1.5 years, then I say this, SCRAP, DITCH, TOSS, FORGET, everythign you know, and submit to anything Mreik has to offer you. HE has what you want. Protein boy is lean, strong, and anybody that can do pistols and balance the way he can has somethin to offer.

With your youth- and 18 months of training- what you are doing is not working the way you want it to.

the other thing that i suspect is you do not lift heavy enough, work hard enough. AND- i believe building muscle mass is the result of damaging muscle fibers repeatetdly. if you give them 7 days to recover, they will not grow.

FF
 
mreik said:
Yeah one workout a week/bodypart, I don't see that working for me either.. Good luck though.
Click to expand...

Really? I thought nearly all bodybuilders did this.. and I know you are one.

What kind of a routine do you do?

flyinfree said:
IF you have been training the above body for 1.5 years, then I say this, SCRAP, DITCH, TOSS, FORGET, everythign you know, and submit to anything Mreik has to offer you. HE has what you want. Protein boy is lean, strong, and anybody that can do pistols and balance the way he can has somethin to offer.

With your youth- and 18 months of training- what you are doing is not working the way you want it to.

the other thing that i suspect is you do not lift heavy enough, work hard enough. AND- i believe building muscle mass is the result of damaging muscle fibers repeatetdly. if you give them 7 days to recover, they will not grow.

FF
Click to expand...

Hmmm, yeah it's tough to know exactly what the best option is. I have tried full body, upper/lower splits, push/pull splits, but I have never tried single bodypart training.

Hopefully with the massive amount of volume and damage I will put on my muscles they will grow... 7 days is a long recovery time, but I will be causing more microtrauma to the muscles than I have ever done before.

I've seen result pictures from people smaller than me and the program worked well for them.

We'll see how it works, though.
 
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It seems like bodybuilders once they get big resort to bb splits, but getting there they go with a hybrid 2-2.5x a week soft split (upper/lower; push/pull; etc). I've always been a huge fan of the upper/lower split, I've never met anyone it hasn't worked on (assuming everything else is in place, ie diet.)
 
good luck!

I agree with what's been written above:

If you've been training for 18 months consistently without seeing much in terms of gains, then there is a serious problem. For someone fairly new to lifting, ANY of the programs you've listed above (total body, pull/push, upper/lower, etc.) should have shown substantial progress.

That said, I don't know what the problem is. For example, you might not be working hard enough or you might be working too much. You might be switching between programs too quickly (so every experience is a "test") or you might be sticking with a program too long (well past your body's adaptation). You might be sabotaging your efforts with how you eat. None of us can tell which of these reasons (or any other) might be true, just based on your reports.

At this point, my recommendation for someone who gave the explanation that you just wrote above would be that you really need to find someone to work with you in the gym (e.g., a trainer or otherwise experienced training partner) to see what you're doing & work with you as you undergo ANY chosen program. That's what I think it'll take to diagnose the problem. Jumping to a new "bodybuilding" body part splits doesn't seem to cure the "problematic" variable here.

I wish you the best of luck with the new program, and I hope you make the progress you're looking for.
 
flyinfree said:
Protein boy is lean, strong, and anybody that can do pistols and balance the way he can has somethin to offer.
Click to expand...

haha you flatter me :rofl: your too kind ff

but for realwork, have you tried periodizing your full body routine before trashing it?
if you'v been gaining strength, then eat more and you'l gain size.
strength can be a tool used to gain muscle.

if you havent been gaining strength, you probably plateud because your body adapted to your routine and gains tapered out.
either that or poor diet/rest/inapropriate lifting time(too long in gym).

did you ever try the seemingly endless variations of the coumpounds? Unilateral movements are also a good way to go.

sorry for posting this in your training log >.> sounds like im trying to convert you to full bodyism lol... just trying to help for after you finish this routine : D
 
realworksuks said:
Thanks for stopping in man.

Never know until ya try. If full body works great for you though, stick with it for sure! I haven't seen hardly any gains in 1.5 years of consistent training... so I am opting to do what every bodybuilder does.

Heh, those are just my boxers, i'm pulling them up to show my legs :yelrotflmao:
Click to expand...

I think the reason you haven't grown as much as you could is not because of your training program, but because you don't eat to grow. You always cut very soon once you get annoyed by the fat, hindering your progress.

though i personally think you've made good progress, you went from soft, skinny, no muscle, to hard, still skinny, but low bf with muscle. which is great, thats exactly my goal for now. You should be eating to grow now though.
 
Proteinboy said:
haha you flatter me :rofl: your too kind ff

but for realwork, have you tried periodizing your full body routine before trashing it?
if you'v been gaining strength, then eat more and you'l gain size.
strength can be a tool used to gain muscle.

if you havent been gaining strength, you probably plateud because your body adapted to your routine and gains tapered out.
either that or poor diet/rest/inapropriate lifting time(too long in gym).

did you ever try the seemingly endless variations of the coumpounds? Unilateral movements are also a good way to go.

sorry for posting this in your training log >.> sounds like im trying to convert you to full bodyism lol... just trying to help for after you finish this routine : D
Click to expand...

I have actually gained a lot of weight but it doesn't seem like much of it is muscle.

I haven't tried to alter my compound movements very much, just regular bench press, squats, deadlifts, military press, and etc.

Thanks, I will still keep a full body routine in mind after this program. I have wanted to try the 5X5 program and the HST routines, both full body programs.
 
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sig said:
I agree with what's been written above:

If you've been training for 18 months consistently without seeing much in terms of gains, then there is a serious problem. For someone fairly new to lifting, ANY of the programs you've listed above (total body, pull/push, upper/lower, etc.) should have shown substantial progress.

That said, I don't know what the problem is. For example, you might not be working hard enough or you might be working too much. You might be switching between programs too quickly (so every experience is a "test") or you might be sticking with a program too long (well past your body's adaptation). You might be sabotaging your efforts with how you eat. None of us can tell which of these reasons (or any other) might be true, just based on your reports.

At this point, my recommendation for someone who gave the explanation that you just wrote above would be that you really need to find someone to work with you in the gym (e.g., a trainer or otherwise experienced training partner) to see what you're doing & work with you as you undergo ANY chosen program. That's what I think it'll take to diagnose the problem. Jumping to a new "bodybuilding" body part splits doesn't seem to cure the "problematic" variable here.

I wish you the best of luck with the new program, and I hope you make the progress you're looking for.
Click to expand...

I think the problem is mostly what Phate said, I wasted too much time cutting, really only 6 of those 18 months were in a surplus.

Some people have definitely said I work out too much.. (too much volume in each session) that might be the problem.
 
Phate89 said:
I think the reason you haven't grown as much as you could is not because of your training program, but because you don't eat to grow. You always cut very soon once you get annoyed by the fat, hindering your progress.

though i personally think you've made good progress, you went from soft, skinny, no muscle, to hard, still skinny, but low bf with muscle. which is great, thats exactly my goal for now. You should be eating to grow now though.
Click to expand...

Thanks Phate,

I dunno, I am really hardcore when it comes to both cutting or bulking.

When I cut I eat quite small and when I bulk I eat too much, so it kind of leaves me with no progress.

I will definitely be eating to grow with this program and pretty much from now on. I have wasted too much time cutting and shouldn't be so concerned with some extra fat gain.
 
I asked some of the people doing the program and I was lifting way too heavy on my warm up sets. They are just for getting the joints and muscles lubed up for heavy weight.

So, basically instead of doing 1 work set on bench yesterday it was more like all 4.

I fixed that today... here is my back workout for the day:

Deadlifts
95 X 8
135 X 7
145 X 6

work set:
155 X 15

medium grip pullups (not chins)
9, 6
work set: 10

bent arm pullover:
45 X 15
work:
65 X 10

bent over rows:
65 X 15

Work set:
95 X 15

T bar row machine:
55 X 15
work set:
70 X 18

then I did crunches and reverse crunches to "good failure" about 75 crunches and 25 reverse crunches.



thoughts:
I need to add more weight! I could have sat there and deadlifted 155 all day long, I will definitely have to add weight on that.

The pullups are hard as hell, I do them very slow and controlled, eventually I plan to add some weight for my heavy sets.

The bent arm pullovers I have never done before and it felt pretty awkward... the work set weight was about right.

When I was doing the work set for the bent over rows I noticed my back started to round on about the 10th rep, I straightened it out and finished the set but my form was slipping.

With the T bar rows I REALLY need to add some weight... I will use my work set weight this time for my warm up next time...

The workout felt great and I am loving this program so far...!
 
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mreik said:
I hate the smith tbar row, try just using a barbell.
Click to expand...

Maybe I just called the exercise by the wrong name..

The exercise isn't on a smithmachine it's a lot like this:

Lever Seated Row
 
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