Thunderdome

[MattySpence]

Hey everyone, Matt here. Wanted to start a training log, hopefully to get some suggestions, criticism, anything to make me better. Right now I'm 21, 5' 11", 205 lbs with 14% bf. My goal is to compete next spring. I want to compete at about 220-225 lbs. Right now I'm trying to cut down to about 5-6% bodyfat, and whenever I get down to there, I'll start bulking up till next january. Here's what my week looks like:

Monday:cardio/abs
Tuesday: back/traps
Wednesday: cardio/abs
Thursday:Chest/biceps
Friday:cardio/abs
Saturday: Shoulders/triceps/cardio
Sunday: Legs

Time to get HUGE!

-Matt

[MattySpence]

I've had a few setbacks since I first started this thread. Senior year of college is hectic, looking for jobs and trying to graduate. But finally, I've got a job lined up for May, and all I have to do is not screw up my classes until then. Still at about 210 lbs, with 16-17% bodyfat. Goal for now is to bulk until the middle of November, then start a pretty serious cut.
Lifting Schedule:
Monday:off/cardio
Tuesday:Shoulders and Tri's
Wednesday:Biceps (I have the most problems with these, so they get their own day.)
Thursday: Legs (no class on friday/saturday/sunday, so i don't have to walk around on campus. This way I can hit my legs harder)
Friday: off/cardio
Saturday: Chest
Sunday: Back

Nutrition:
Meal 1: 5 jumbo eggs, 1/2 cup oats
Meal 2: 2 pbj's
Meal 3: 1 serving tuna salad (1 can tuna prepared), 1 cup oats
Meal 4: 1 serving tuna salad, 1 cup oats
Meal 5: 1 scoop whey, 1 large banana
*Workout*
Meal 6: 2 scoops whey, 1 can tuna, 1.5 cups rice
Meal 7: Real Gains shake before bed

Total calories around 4400, with protein/carbs/fat @ 30%/45%/25%

[MattySpence]

Parents visiting tomorrow, so chest will get worked today. Post later on workout. I'll post my supplementation then too.

[MattySpence]

Great Chest workout last night:
Bench Warmup: 10x135, 12x135, 12x145
Bench Work: 10x185, 10x195, 7x200
Incline DB Press: 10x70's, 8x80'x, 8x80's
Flat Fly: 12x35's, 12x40's, 15x35's, 15x30's
Incline Fly: 12x35's, 15x30's, 15x35's, 10x50's
**Threw in some supersetted dips/cable flyes(from the top) to finish it out.

Here's my current supplementation:
-W/breakfast: Animal Pak
-Preworkout: Superpump 250 **I know I know, I'm not repping another brand, just keeping it honest. I do use Animal Pump though, on my leg day's. I think its a lot easier to tear up a leg workout without a sweet pre-workout drink in your stomach.
-About 3/4 of the way through the workout: gatorade mixed w/storm and some glutamine powder.
-Post workout: Animal Nitro
-Right before bed: Real gains chocolate !!DELICIOUS!!

[MattySpence]

Back day tomorrow, stoked as hell! Back day is my favorite day of the week. I think it's because that's one of my better parts. I know that everyone says you should focus on your weaknesses before your strengths, but thats exactly what got my back to be one of my favorites. Back in November of 2005, when I weighed a whopping 155 lbs at 5'11", I started lifting. I used to race road bikes, the 10 speed kind, which is pretty demanding, but it demands that you be as light as possible, kindof going towards the other end of the spectrum now. Anyway, a friend of mine wanted me to start working out with him so i thought, hey what the hell, it will make me stronger for racing. The first day of working out with him (at the time he was 5'8", 175 lbs) he just couldn't stop making fun of how I had no back muscles at all. After working out with him for a couple of weeks I was hooked on lifting, and started putting on size fairly quick. Within a year, at around christmas of 2006, I was up to about 200 lbs. Up from 8% bf to 15%, but thats not bad considering I had raised my total weight by about 30%. After having him think it was so funny that i had no back, i was totally bent on putting on that size. And I sure did, by the way, he is now still at 175 lbs. So that is why back day is my favorite, it's been a major point of motivation for me. I'm off to bed, ready to throw down the gauntlet tomorrow.

[Matt81]

I had the the exact same thing happen to me! Started training and I was 132ish at about 5'7" really small. the guys I were training wih were bigger, maybe 175-180, now I'm 190+ and they're still the same. Came back after christmas one time and some of the guys in the gym didn't even recognise and the term before they're giving grief because I'm doing this wrong or that wrong!
Pays just to stick at it and thank them for the motivation!

[MattySpence]

No problem, it is nice to go home for the holidays from school, and have the "big guys" from high school treat you a lot different

[MattySpence]

Just got done with my post-workout meal. Back day today was sick, got into a great rhythm, gym was pretty empty, and tore it up.

Reverse rows warmup: 25x45, 15x65, 15x95
Reverse rows work: 12x135, 12x135, 15x115, 13x125
Pulldowns (u.h. grip): 15x105, 12x120, 12x120, 12x120
Seated cable rows (o.h. grip) 15x120, 15x120, 20x135
1 arm DB rows: 10*x85, 10*x90 *10 on each side
Pullover machine: 15x105, 15x150, 10x180
Deadlifts: 10x185, 10x225, 10x245, 10x225

Nothin feels better than some swole up lats!!! I just started working out at the rec center on our campus here at KU (go Jayhawks!!), since my membership ran out at the other gym and this one is free, and I had no idea they had one of those nautilus style pullover machines that Yate's used in his "Blood and Guts" video. Today was the first time I had ever been able to try it, and holy hell, that thing is great! I'm looking forward to using it more in the future, probably going to switch it up and put it second in my workout after barbell rows so I can go heavier on it. See what it does for my back, I'm looking forward to finding out!

Got some homework to work on the rest of the night, and help the fiance clean her car. In bed tonght by 10:30 for a solid 9 hours of sleep.

[MattySpence]

Off to bed, time for the real growth to start. No tests or projects this week, just lectures to sit through. Hell yea, it's gonna be a good week for iron.

[Giant Killer]

Those pullovers will definitely improve the appearance of your lats from the front. You can see it make a huge difference in your front lat spread.

[MattySpence]

Getting ready to do some cardio and abs. Nothing too much on the cardio since I'm still on bulk. Just some 30-45 second high intensity intervals. I like these, they get the metabolism (and hunger) going, and mimic the kind of effort your cardiovascular system expends during an intense set.

[MattySpence]

Tomorrow I will be starting what I call the walk. I walk to class everyday anyway, so this is not that big of a deal, but the weather will be getting colder soon. It will be time to become hardened like the cold iron. It's about a 1.5 mile walk to my classes, then another .5 to the gym where I work out. So after my workouts I will have a 2 mile walk home. My brothers out there from the midwest will understand how much the wind here can change things. A normal 2 mile walk in good weather turns into a death march when it dips down to 10 degrees, -5 or -10 if you count the wind chill. It tears the skin right off of you. But this year, I almost look forward to this as winter approaches. Lately I have been walking home from class and then driving to work out, but it's time to be an animal and harden the fuck up. My food is ready and my gymbag is packed. The weather is still warm outside now, but soon it will not be as forgiving. The walk will start tomorrow, but will symbolize a step towards a path much longer.....

[MattySpence]

The walk is definately going to be something to get used to. It's one thing to walk home after a long day of classes, its another thing to make that trip after a long day of classes, and an intense 60-75 minute workout. Leg day is probably going to be the only day reserved for driving. Sometimes I barely can walk to my car, let alone the 2 miles back to my apartment.

Enough of that noise, today was shoulders and tri's.

Dumbell Press: 20x40's, 14x50's, 12x60's, 11x70's
Arnold press: 10x40's, 12x35's, 12x35's, 9x35's
Side laterals: 15x20's, 15x22.5's, 15x25's, giant set(6x30,7x25,8x20,9x15)
Superset of Bent over DB laterals w/ front cable raises using bar:
12x17.5's/10x40, 12x17.5's/12x40, 12x17.5's/20x40

Cable pressdown using cambered bar: 15x100, 12x120, 12x140, 12x140
Close grip bench: 12x135, 9x155, 12x135, 12x135
Skull Crushers- 12x60, 10x80, 12x70, 12x70
*finished off with some single arm cable pulldowns, various weights and reps, just enough to torch my tri's.

Have about 4-5 more weeks of bulk before I start cutting down in November. It's going to be an 8-week mini-cut. Not for a show, just to get the bodyfat down so I can go on another heavy bulk starting again in January. Planning on doing my first contest sometime in 2009, that gives me over 18 months to put on 15-20 lbs of muscle, so I can compete at 198. Right now I'm at 210, but I have around 15% bodyfat, so its only about 178 lean mass. If i go into contest around 4%, 15-20 lbs should be enough.

Off to bed, bi's and traps tomorrow.