1st Year....Go!

[mstott25]

All right, this is my first training log. I started working out March of 2009, went back and forth between a few workouts and slowly began to discover what worked and what did not for me. This year I'm determined to get stronger while paying attention to my physique. My goal is to do the following by December 31, 2011:

2011 Goals
Squat: 365 for reps
Deadlift: 405 for reps
Bench Press: 245 for reps
Overhead Press: 165 for reps
Be under 15% bodyfat while increasing strength!!!

My strongest lifts Dec2010/Jan2011:
Squat: 285x5
Deadlift: 315x5
Bench: 190x5
Overhead Press: 120x5

These goals might seem modest, hell they might be modest, but I'll be stoked once I reach them and if I get there in six months then I'll keep pressing ahead.

BendtheBar gave me some advice in another thread and I tweaked a program that was basically a combination of what I read from Casey Butt and Stuart McBride and what I had been doing with Starting Strength. I'm going to be following a full body routine split, A & B workouts, three times a week and basically increase the poundage as Casey Butt suggested in his beginner workout article. The first two weeks are supposed to be easy and I'll only be working out 2x this week, finish up the easy week next week and then start increasing the poundage. I'm coming from Starting Strength and haven't done more than 5 reps on any consistent basis so today I was feeling out what weights I should be at, keeping in mind that it's supposed to be easy this week.

1st Workout:
18 January 2011
Squat - 185x10; 185x10
Bench Press - 155x10; 135x10 (adjusted after first set)
DB Row - 55x10; 55x10
Overhead Press - 95x5; 65x5; 65x10 (I thought 95 would be easier...I was wrong! I didn't want to give up with the first set of 65lbs and I feel like I have a pinched nerve in my back right now, stupid but not a huge deal)
Stiff Legged Deadlift: 225x10; 225x10
Curls: 45x10; 65x10
Standing Calf Raises: 225x15; 225x10

Took last week off, I left work Monday and was sick in bed with a high fever for three days, figured it was some fluke virus. After that resided I realized my throat was killing me, went to the doctor and he said it was strep throat. I feel fully recovered but I don't mind taking it a little easy this week and next, I was sick too many times in December and January so I'd rather be back to 100% then go through what I went through last week again. Looking forward to getting on with my workout now.

[Abaddon]

That's a solid basis mate. Smash it!
I'm looking forward to reading about your progress.

[Carl1174]

Nice lifts mate and your goals look more than achievable for the commng year, and if BtB has helped with the program you can pretty much gaurantee that its gonna work

Definitely in for this...

Carl.

[mstott25]

Abbadon, Carl - thanks guys! I've been following both of your logs so it was great to hear from you.

I'm going to try to keep up some sprint work on my off days.

19 January 2011
400m - Warm Up
10x100m Sprints (as much rest as needed between sets)
400m - Cool Down

Tomorrow's workout is going to be:
Deadlifts 2x10
Dips 2x10
Pullups 2x10
Overhead Press 2x10
Shrugs 2x10
Reverse Crunches 2x10

I'm probably going to add squats in as well since this is only my second (and last) workout this week until I get back on Mon-Wed-Fri Routine.

I work with a few guys (all of 'em are bigger and stronger than me as well! well definitely not as strong in Squats and Deadlifts but that's because they never do those lifts) who are all putting the pressure on me to do the same workout as them. If I can figure out how to attach an Excel document I'll show you what it looks like. The most experienced lifter out of the bunch looked at my routine and said that's way too much for a week and I'll never recover especially if I'm doing sprints in between workouts. He doesn't like squats 3x a week - I told him I've done bodybuilding routines before and they do absolutely nothing for me, I don't get bigger or stronger. I'm respectful and courteous, I'm sure it looks stupid when he's way bigger than me and has competed in competitions before to disagree but he is a freak, the guy is just naturally huge and my body does not respond like his.

Anyways - definitely plugged into this routine for at least the next 12 weeks but that's really when I just begin - I'll be adding weight to the bar or reps each week and I'm sure I can keep this routine up all year long to reach my goals, so no distractions for me even if it's from big bodybuilding co-workers. By the way - I work on a military base so we all hit the same gym at lunch time.

[BigFiveFive]

Some advice, heed if you like. This is what im here for.

Lose at least 2 days of abs.

On biceps and triceps please dont do more than 3 exercises. No need for 6, thats insane. 3 in my opinion is pushing it, but 2-3 is efficient.

Also referring to number of sets, anything over 4-5 cut down to 4 or 5, honestly more like 3-4 since youre training 5 days a week.

And I know you stated you were going to add squats, please add other leg exercises as well that target quads and glutes, these are important.

In general its a good routine for any beginner or experienced lifter, along with saying that, both types of lifter would just be doing too much with this routine. Try cutting back on some exercises. Aim for 3-4 with 2 compound and 2 isolation with any large muscle group. and Keep small muscle groups around 1-2, sometimes 3 for lacking body parts.

And the abs thing, cut out Tuesday and Thursday please.

[mstott25]

Hey Big,
Thanks for the advice!

I'm sorry I didn't make my post very clear, my workout is a full body routine which I put in bold to make more clear. I'm doing a full body split (A&B) three times a week.

The attachment I added is what my friends at work want me to start doing with them, I did a routine similar to this (bodypart split) back in 2006 and again this year with this same group of guys for about two months and I did not notice any marked improvement in strength or physique. I'm still pretty new at all this but noticed the biggest changes in my strength and physique when I stuck to full body strength routines. I experimented a bit the past 10 months of working out and decided to really focus on full body routines with the goal to gain strength and keep my bodyfat to 15% (which I'm not even at now).

Hope that clears things up, I do appreciate any feedback I receive on this forum.

*Edit: Big - I do appreciate you critiquing that program because like I mentioned, I'm still pretty new at all this and I could tell the guy I work with was thinking I'm an idiot when I tried to explain why his program wouldn't work for me. It looked like far too many exercises for the same bodypart when I'm not even very strong at the major lifts yet. I'd much rather spend my time building up my triceps with Press, Bench Press and Dips than all of the other tricep work. So I really do enjoy hearing the feedback from more experienced lifters around here and it sounds like his plan was indeed too much volume and not enough focus on the major lifts.

Originally Posted by BigFiveFive

Some advice, heed if you like. This is what im here for.

Lose at least 2 days of abs.

On biceps and triceps please dont do more than 3 exercises. No need for 6, thats insane. 3 in my opinion is pushing it, but 2-3 is efficient.

Also referring to number of sets, anything over 4-5 cut down to 4 or 5, honestly more like 3-4 since youre training 5 days a week.

And I know you stated you were going to add squats, please add other leg exercises as well that target quads and glutes, these are important.

In general its a good routine for any beginner or experienced lifter, along with saying that, both types of lifter would just be doing too much with this routine. Try cutting back on some exercises. Aim for 3-4 with 2 compound and 2 isolation with any large muscle group. and Keep small muscle groups around 1-2, sometimes 3 for lacking body parts.

And the abs thing, cut out Tuesday and Thursday please.

[BigFiveFive]

Ahh terribly sorry for getting that confused, but man, have your buddies take a look at this site and what I posted about their routine. It needs some tweaks for sure.

[mstott25]

Originally Posted by BigFiveFive

Ahh terribly sorry for getting that confused, but man, have your buddies take a look at this site and what I posted about their routine. It needs some tweaks for sure.

No problem, I added some more to my post in case you missed it.
I will definitely run what you said by them but I can't tell them about this site yet because it's my secret source to weight training wisdom and I need to kick their asses in the gym!

No seriously, the four of us are all good friends but they don't really listen to me when it comes to anything about lifting weights. I got their respect when we all did squats and deadlifts the same day last month, that was a good day. They all still kick my butt in bench press though.

[BigFiveFive]

Haha, meatheads. Its cool man, when they brag how much they bench tell them how much you squat and pull, and by doing those exercises your bench will quickly meet and exceed theirs.

[BendtheBar]

Looking at the progress you've made so far I have no doubt you will hit your goals.