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Goliathus
08-30-10, 9:25 pm
This will be my first journey.
I think the first and foremost important thing to do is to give background information on myself.

My name's Matt, I'm 22 years old, from St. Louis.
I got into lifting in HS, my sophmore year of HS, at 115lbs, through Weight Training class. I stayed in through my senior year, graduating at 135lbs, with a final bench max of 215 and squatted 315.

I had a scholarship to run track, as a sprinter, at a Private Liberal arts school, I competed for 2 years, roughly 145 lbs. I never worried about the bodybuilding aspect of working out, I just did manditory weight-training with my team. I ended up doing 315 for reps of 6-8 at squat, yet my upper body was awful.

I got mono in January of 2009, I got dropped from school because of missing so much class, I dropped to 130lbs, I had lost nearly all muscle mass.

I got better in March, roughly, and started working out in my Hometown.
I had outstanding results, probably from a starters effect, jumping from 130-170 easily.

I maintained, went through things in a mediocre manner for quite sometime, until recently.
I started Studying things, and I've learned a lot since.


Now, about me right now:
I'm 5'8, today I weighed in at 181.
My best to worst bodyparts:
Legs
Chest
Calves
Arms
Shoulders
Back
Forearms

Genetically, my chest and legs were excellent, somehow. My back has an ideal build to be outstanding, I just never work it.
My arms adapt the quickest, making my shoulders look odd, they unfortunately grow the slowest.
My calves adapted to how they are now from Running for so long.
My forearms are awful because quite frankly, I just never do them.

Now, to get onto my goals.
I'm sitting at 12% right now, at 181lbs, 5'8. My goal is to go on a CLEAN bulk, starting now until however long it takes to get to 200lbs, staying around the bodyfat% I'm currently at.

First, my general schedule. I work in a Machine shop, it;s a very busy business.
Right now I work 7am-330pm, which are decent hours. As things are now, I go in at 7, have a 15minute break at 915 which I use to eat, a lunch break at 12-1245 which I cook.
I try to take something in around 3, then usually start my workouts around 4.


Now let's look at my current program, it's subject to change on how I feel that day, obviously, and I adapt to how my body is as well. I'm using a 4-day split, cardio 3x a week.

Monday - chest & Tris. Im alternating incline and flat barbell press with each week. For the time being I'm using 4x6-8. I adapt weight with how I feel, nothing less than 250, sometimes as much as 280(we use a 50lb bar at my gym.) for flat, usually 210-230 for Incline

Warmup: 3x12 - 135
Presses, 4x6-8
Pec Deck Flies, 3x10, usually around 175-200, 4-5 seconds positive and negative.
Incline flies superset with dips. 4x12 on each.
Tris: Skull Crushers, 4x8-12
V-Bar Pushdowns: 3x15
Abs: Upper, mainly cable Crunches
Cardio: 2.1 miles on Roads.

Tuesday: Back and Bis.
Warmup: Lat Pulldowns, 3x10, progressively going heavier.
Deads: 3x8-10, as heavy as I can
Pullups: 4xfailure
Barbell rows: 3x8, usually @ 230
Db shrugs: 4x12
Bis:
Barbell curls, 3x8-10
DB Curls: 3x8-12
Abs: Hanging leg raises & oblique Crunches

Wednesday: Off
Cardio: 1 mile Interval Cardio, HIIT, based off distances mostly because I know how long it takes me to run each section.

Thursday: Shoulders
Warmup Circut: 3x8-10 each, no rest between exercises
Rear Delt machine
Machine Lateral Raises
Machine Presses

Sets:
Standing Barbell Presses: 4x6-8 supersetted with Front Raises, 4x8-10
Upright Rows: 3x8-10 supersetted with Seated Lateral Raises 3x12
* My shoulders have responded from this better than they ever have. I naturally have small shoulders unfortunately, and it's taken a long time to get them where they are now, yet they're FAR from where they shuold be.

Legs: This workout is awful, but Im having AMAZING results from it for the time being. I start witih quads, then move to hamstrings. I have naturally big hamstrings, they're actually ridiculous. So I do them after quads.

Warmup: 3x10 Leg Extensions, progressively getting heavier.
3x10 Leg Curls, progressively getting heavier

Sets:
My sets are done as a giant set - Squat to Walking Weighted Lunges to Leg Extensions, 4 sets of each

Squat: 10-15
Walking Lunges: 10-12
Leg Extensions: 10-15, last set a triple dropset

Hamstrings:
Straight-leg Dead Lifts, the way Dorian explained them, 4x8 supersetted with Leg Curls.


I try to do all my movements slow, focusing on my contractions with each movement, tryin to get the benefit of each exercise. I, just like the majority of people have spent time throwing around weight and getting nothing out of it. It's time to really get to things.

Now, my diet:
I can't seem to get up early enough to make breakfast because I don't sleep well, but that wll change.

I'm going to shoot for 3000-3500 Calories,
I'd like 200g of protein, at LEAST, using only 1-2 Shakes per day
I would like 180g of Carbs per day, for my good bodyparts and 360g for my Lagging bodyparts, mainly Shoulders and back, but I will probably end up running around 250 on Leg day.

I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to split this up yet.
My primary Protein sources are Natural Chicken, 35g of protein per breast, which I grill everytime I make it.
natural Tilapia, which I grill as well, averaging 30g of protein per filet.

93/7 Ground beef, which I'm unsure what I will do with at the moment, unfortunately.
85/15 Burger Patties, which I will eat with buns and ketchup.
Chuck Tender Steaks: 20g Protein/4g of Meat.

My main carb sources for the time being will be Pastas and Clean pancakes, I'm unsure of how i'm going to split this up at the moment.

The area I need most help on is My diet.
I have a few vices, I tend to drink soda, which I'm trying to cut out.
i'm trying to cut out at least 90% of sugar.

I have a drink here and there, particularly Bourbon.
I have a huge sweet tooth. Ice cream and oreos are it for me.

So if you have any tips for the diet, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO HELP. I need it.

Today, I obviously started chest.

My workout was a bit different than normal, I clearly adapted to how I felt.
I warmed up with 3xpec dec, 175lbs, sets of 10.
I moved to Bench, 250x8, 280x2, a set of Negatives @ 230x8.

I moved to DB Incline, 2x6 with 85s, 4 second down 4 second up.
From there I went to supersetting Incline Flies, 40s, with Dips, sets of 10 on each.

I did cable crunches for abs, 3x12, then went to cardio.
2.1 miles, 14 minutes.


Supplement wise, I'm currently out, basically.

But here is what I normally run:
Pak
Nitro
Whey Pro
Shock Therapy, whenneeded
Storm, month on/month off.

So hear I go.
Wish me luck