Hello All
Just want to say, this is by far the most informative, no bullshit, site and forum I have come across in my days of trying to accumulate knowledge.
I Was always athletic but always on the heavier side. Played basetball and baseball all through highschool, and eventually played college baseball for 2 years before deciding to focus on school. I had many injuries from my pitching days and I allowed those to become my excuse for getting fat. I decided in October 2011 that I was done being the fat kid and got to work. At that time i was 5'11 and 340lbs but still fairly athletic. Swam, ran, stepped, and lifted my way down to 300 learning more and more as I went.
Currently I am about 291lbs and looking considerably different.
My diet is generally 2700-2800 calories with a 45% protein, 40% carb, 15% fat split. A typical day with cardio in the morning will go like this meal-wise:
5:45am
Animal Stak and Pre-WO
Cardio (usually 10 min warmup with 20 mins HIIT training)
6:30am - Meal 1
1.5 cup egg whites
1 cup (dry) oatmeal or Kashi cereal or 2 whole wheat english muffins
9:30am - Meal 2
2 scoop Protein Shake or large can of tuna
Fruits (Pineapple and strawberries usually) or Veggies (Snow peas, broccoli, celery)
Noon - Meal 3
6-8oz of beef (lean ground or lean steak) or pork (lean ground or chop)
1.5 cups of brown rice or yams
2:30pm - Meal 4 (Pre Workout Meal)
2 scoop Protein Shake
1.5 cups brown rice or yams (If leg or back day I will sometimes eat some whole wheat pasta, i find i can go harder on these big days if i eat pasta prior)
4:15pm - Workout
6:00pm - Meal 5 (Post Workout Meal)
Glutamine and Creatine + Fish Oil
2-3 Rice Cakes
2 scoop protein shake
Some other carb source (Flax muffin, gatorade powder, rice, pasta, whatever i can get my hands on that day)
9:00pm - Meal 6
Some lean meat or 2 scoop Casein Shake with a spoon of natural peanut butter
some veggies
maybe some fruit for a dessert.
Thats a typical day for me obviously a lot of the protein sources change, eat a lot of chicken, salmon, turkey as well as the tuna, beef, and pork but generally those are my carb sources they do not vary too much.
Workouts are a 4 day split:
For my rep ranges I know what weights I need to use to stay within what rep range i want but I do not count reps religiously, I go to failure each set the best i can.
Monday - Chest and Biceps
Rotator Cuff warm up - 3 sets to get blood flowing
Incline BB - 2 warmup, 4 working sets - 12,10,8,6 strict bodybuilding form not PL form.
Flat BB or DB (whatever is available, BB priority) - 3 working sets - 12,10,8
Incline Flyes - 4 sets - 12,12,10,8
Assisted Dips - 3 sets to failure
Cable crossovers or pec deck - 3 triple drop sets of 10-12 reps each drop.
Goal for chest - Round out my pecs, I have a prominent broad chest but want that nice round look on the lower pec, BF% is going to be the biggest factor here I would guess.
Reverse grip curls - 2 warmups, 3 working sets 12-15
alternating standing curls - 3 working sets 12-15, 1 triple drop set to end
1 arm preacher curls - 3 working sets 10-12, 1 triple drop set to end
Sometimes then do a rope attachment curl for 3 triple drop sets
Tuesday Back
Wide Grip pull downs - 3x15
Assisted Pullups - 3xfailure (10-12 rep range)
Straight to seated rows - 3x15
Yates rows - 2 warmup sets, 4 heavy working sets 10,8,6,4 with best squeeze i can
Narrow grip assisted pullups - 3xfailure (10-12 rep range)
Deadlifts or Rack Pulls (Every other week) - Sufficient warmup, 4 heavy sets 8,8,6,4 then sometimes try a 1 rep to see where im at
Straight arm pull downs - 3x15
Pendlay rows or wide grip seated rows - 3x12 with a tight squeeze to hit upper back
Goal - Be wide as fuck and get me a V-taper, loosing my handles and gut are a big factor here but lats are a big focus for me.
Wedneday - Off
Thursday - Shoulders and Tris
Rotator Cuff warm up - 3 sets to get blood flowing
Side Laterals - 2 warmup sets, HRT type sets 8+6 for 2 sets
Standing (free) or seated (smith) Military - 3 heavy sets 10-8-6 with partial reps to failure (If i really crush my front delts doing seated DB i wont do militarys and do some cleans instead)
Rear Delt Raises or Rev Pec Deck - 1 warmup - 3 triple drops sets (10-12 rep range)
Shrugs for 3 sets if i feel my traps didnt get enough with static holds at the top.
Goal - Side Delt growth, big big focus right now, they are flat as fuck right now.
skull crushers - 2 w/u and 3 working of 12-15
Overhead dumbeel extensions - 3x12
close grip bench - 3 sets 10-8-6 w/ some partial/forced/negatives if i have a spotter
tricep extensions on cable stack - 3 triple drop sets (10-12 rep range)
Friday - Legs
10 min warmup on bike
Leg Extensions - 2 warmup - 3 sets to pre-exhaust 10-15 rep range last one being a triple drop set
Squats - 6 ascending sets, last set repping 455 as much as possible then the occasional 1 rep max attempt after
Lunges - 3 sets of 20
Leg Press w/ High foot position - 3 sets of 20 (Do calves inbetween sets on this on the leg press)
SLDLs - 4 sets 10-8-6-4
Hamstring Curls - 5 sets of 10-12 with a triple drop to finish
Seated Calve extensions - 4x20 with a triple drop set to finish
Abs i will do a couple times during the week in the mornings after cardio.
Cardio - LISS for 30-35mins after training, try to get at least three 25 mins HIIT sessions in during the week in the am.
Would really appreciate any feedback or tweeks my big focus right now is trying to strengthen my grip and forearms so i can quit using straps. My side delts also need some serious work, dont have a nice round shoulder look from the front right now. I have just stepped up my leg training after reading some articles on here, I have always had great legs and could always squat heavier than anyone i work out with even without a consistant training program so i saw this as a reason to slack off on legs but not anymore.
Going to keep this updated to keep myself accountable and hopefully get some good insight and advice.
Thanks.
Brat