Steve's HLM Starr v. Hepburn Fullbody Log
 

After much discussion on the issue, endless thought, and more then a few reality checks, I've decided on a full body approach.

I've wanted to try a full body approach for over a year, but have had a steep learning curve. One of the issues I have faced is that, even though I don't use many exercises to begin with, it was hard for me to whittle them down further. It takes time to adapt to a full body approach. Man, did I learn that.

I am starting with basics. Goals are size and strength, as always. I WILL stick to this routine while cutting.

(H) Heavy Day
Bench 8x2
Squat 8x2
Yates Rows 5x5
CG Bench 3x8

(L) Light Day
Deadlift 5-8 singles
Overhead Press 8x2
Military Press (or cleans) 3x8
Curls 3x8

(M) Medium Day
Bench 6x3 - 30 pounds less then Heavy Day
Squat - 6x3 - 50 pounds less then Heavy Day
T-bars 5x5
RDLs 3x8

NOTES
--I am going to "try" cleans. Right now I can't get the back of my hands anywhere near the top of my shoulders. It's not a flexibility issue. It's a big arm issue. I don't know if hang cleans are worth it as a replacement for cleans. I have never really tried them.
--No ab, calf, forearm, trap work.

--Deadlifts. I will progress by one rep each workout. Part of me wants to try 2 to 3 rep sets. We'll see. Single reps don't seem to help my deadlift max.

--Progression. I will progress as fast as I can without going to failure.

I'm subbed in on this MAB.

Your issue with cleans is the exact reason Oly lifters keep their Bi's small. They are strong as hell but work to keep hypertrophy to a minimum on their arms.

Looking forward to the months down the road, and how this progresses. I really think this will work well for you.

I want to give this at least until Easter. I am planning on "re" continuing my cut, and using a dieting approach that is heresy...the Warrior Diet.

What are your thoughts on hang cleans? Are they worth it for shoulder work?

I tend to think of it like this.

Full cleans as part of a heavy day

Hang cleans as part of a lighter day.

It's not that with the hangs your using a lighter weight, but that it's just a bit less work overall. The hangs are more for working on the bar catch, as opposed to the pull phase. I find both give more of a traps session as opposed to delts.

Want a serious delt move? Put the bar on your back like a squat, and squat. Now, do presses from the bottom position. Use a very light weight to start. Your hitting the muscles in a whole new way in this position. I felt this inmy delts and traps like never before.

Watch dimas training here.

YouTube - Pyrros Dimas Training sequence

Sweet mother of Cheesecake. The thought of that just spiked my test levels.

Do these guys do one press from each squat? Or multiple presses from a single squat?

The program I was using had multiple reps per set in the down position.

I'm not actually sure about Dimas. However I have to say that watching Dimas train makes most men look like pussies. On top of that his form is freaking beautiful! Look at the way he pulls the bar. Holy crap.

His strength did give me a Mangasm (a testosterone-spiked urge to grow a beard, kill something and eat its meat, and punch through a wall with my bare hands).

I might try them in reps of 3. I get the feeling they will leave me very sore.

I wonder if front-style presses would be good as well?

[QUOTE=MuscleandBrawn;12305]His strength did give me a Mangasm (a testosterone-spiked urge to grow a beard, kill something and eat its meat, and punch through a wall with my bare hands). NICE!!!I might try them in reps of 3. I get the feeling they will leave me very sore.

I wonder if front-style presses would be good as well?[/QUOTE]

No, your balance is way off for that to work. The bar is too far forward fr a front press from the bottom.

[QUOTE=glwanabe;12306]Thanks GL.

Nice. And subbed as well.

This summer, inspired by Casey's post in the full-body thread in bb.com site as well as my own success with Randall Strossen's 20 rep squats program, I decided to stick to full-body.

Over the summer, for short periods (6-8 weeks), I tried two different implementations of the H/L/M protocol.

The first had me doing all heavy low rep work on Day 1. All high rep light work on day 3. Day 5 was medium rep and weights. I didnt like this, may be my implementation wasnt good and I was trying too much. But OH presses suffered after benching. Same with squats and DL, although not as much, since my back can take relatively more abuse than pushing muscles.

The second had me mixing it up. There are 3 main muscles from each type, push (chest, delt, tri), pull (back, bi, traps) and legs (quads, hams, calves). Each day, I would train heavy, low rep for one from each group, medium rep for one from each group and same with light. Felt awesome and strong, and this way, none of the big lifts suffered due to the other. Overall, I would go with the biggest muscle from each group as heavy on the first day (chest, DL, squat), and so on. So, over the week, overall stress was still H/L/M.

When I return to H/L/M protocol, I will stick with the second variant, not the first. The first one is a good option, no doubt, especially for those with average or above average genetics, but for relative hard-gainers I like the second one. Not sure whose protocol it is (Hepburn or Sloan or Starr), but this is something I tried, and thought I will throw it out in this thread.