My new strength routine

[Neil]

ok just starting new routine and diet. Stats:
6' 178 17%bf

I'm looking to increase in dl, bench and squat. My current maxes are as follows:
dl-360
bench-215
squat-around 305 ( I say around because I figured it using a rep calculator because I'm afraid to max due to knee pain.)
supps.
creatine-5g preworkout, 5g post.(none on off days)
glutamine-20g a day in 5g doses
protein will be upped to 260g a day from my previous 180 and will come mostly from chicken, tuna, and powders.
I'm gonna try to get my carbs from fruits, vegs,oatmeal, and potatoes.(hopefully I can control the sugar cravings cause I'm trying to get bf to 10-12%.)
routine:
MON:chest and bi's-flat bench press, dips, incline db press, barbell curls, preacher curls, 5x8 60 sec. rest.
TUES:squats, lying leg curls, leg press, dl. same sets and reps but longer wait in between sets.
THURS: pull ups, close grip pulldowns, cable rows, skull crushers, tri. pushdowns. 5x8 60 sec. rest.
FRI:dumbell presses, lateral raises, reverse pec deck flyes, shrugs. 5x8 60sec. rest
no cardio, will mix in some abs.
reps and sets will change every 2 weeks:
5x6 75 sec. rest
6x5 75 sec. rest
6x4 90 sec.
6x2 3 min.
max at end of 10 weeks.

[Neil]

critics please don't hold back
I will probably post a pic next week if I can figure out how to do it. (don't know much about computers.)

[Joe Black]

Originally posted by Neil
ok just starting new routine and diet. Stats:
6' 178 17%bf

I'm looking to increase in dl, bench and squat. My current maxes are as follows:
dl-360
bench-215
squat-around 305 ( I say around because I figured it using a rep calculator because I'm afraid to max due to knee pain.)
supps.
creatine-5g preworkout, 5g post.(none on off days)
glutamine-20g a day in 5g doses
protein will be upped to 260g a day from my previous 180 and will come mostly from chicken, tuna, and powders.
I'm gonna try to get my carbs from fruits, vegs,oatmeal, and potatoes.(hopefully I can control the sugar cravings cause I'm trying to get bf to 10-12%.)
routine:
MON:chest and bi's-flat bench press, dips, incline db press, barbell curls, preacher curls, 5x8 60 sec. rest.
TUES:squats, lying leg curls, leg press, dl. same sets and reps but longer wait in between sets.
THURSull ups, close grip pulldowns, cable rows, skull crushers, tri. pushdowns. 5x8 60 sec. rest.
FRI:dumbell presses, lateral raises, reverse pec deck flyes, shrugs. 5x8 60sec. rest
no cardio, will mix in some abs.
reps and sets will change every 2 weeks:
5x6 75 sec. rest
6x5 75 sec. rest
6x4 90 sec.
6x2 3 min.
max at end of 10 weeks.

Hey...

Diet sources look great... You may want to use the fruit sparingly if your goal is to drop bodyfat.

Why 10 grams of creatine a day? You might just wanna stay with 5 grams post workout. It would be cheaper and from what I have read there is not much benefit from higher doses..

Also 20 g of glutamine is quite high too.. Again many people just take 5. Bear in mind you are eating a fair amount of protein too..

As for your trainin why not swap thursday and friday around.., It would give your push and pull days some more recovery that way?

Also 5 x 8 for every excercise? Thats quite a lot! What about redcing to 3 x 8 for now? If you are natural it may be hard to fight off overtraining on that sort of volume.

oh and good luck!!!!!!

[Neil]

Hulk- thanks for the tips, I think your right about the overtraining, thats something I was kinda worried about. Also I hadn't noticed the push pull thing probably will switch those days too. Thanks again.

[Neil]

TUES:legs
squats-
2 sets 185x8
2 sets 155x8
1 set 205x8
lying leg curls-
3 sets 60x8
1 set 70x8
1 set 70x9
leg press-
1 set 360x3
3 sets 270x8
1 set 300x8
sldl-
5 sets 155x8

[Neil]

this workout sucked!! no energy or strength at all.

back-
5x8 pull ups on gravitron
cable rows-
3x8 100
2x8 110

tris-
skull crushers-
4x8 55
pushdowns-
3x8 90
1x8 100

went home pissed off, need to get better sleep, and have more consistent meal times.

[Neil]

today was better than yesterday.

shoulders
dumbell presses-
5x8 42.5
lateral raises-
4x8 17.5
1x8 15
reverse pec deck flyes-
5x8 95
db shrugs-
5x8 70

I need to decrease volume, I feel a bad case of overtraing coming on.

[Neil]

Good workout, lots of energy

chest
Barbell bench press-
3x8 155
1x6 155
1x6 145
incline DB press-
2x8 40
2x8 37.5
1x8 35

bi's
bb curl-
5x8 55
preacher bb curl-
1x8 45
3x8 35
1x8 45
abs
decline situps-
2x10
Biceps weights will go up considerably next week when I start strength training.

[Delphi]

Do you ever do calf raises on leg day?

[Neil]

Thats a good question. I forgot to enter my calf training.
I do 3 sets of 25 on my chest and bi day, and 5 sets of 8 on my back and tri day, thanks for reminding me.

[Neil]

TUES:legs
squats-
4x8 185
1x10 205
leg curls-
1x8 60
1x8 70
2x8 80
1x7 80
leg press-
3x8 290 I'm ashamed to say I totally wussed out on these.
SLDL-
4x8 185
1x10 185

I felt about 80% today, I worked out at 9:00pm, I usually don't go later than 7pm.

[Neil]

very good workout, lots of energy.

THURS:back, tri's
pull ups on gravitron-
2x8 100
1x8 80
2x8 60
1x6 60+1 forced rep
cable rows-
5x8 110
skull crushers-
3x8 55
1x8 65
1x5 75+1 forced rep
pushdowns-
3x8 110
2x8 120
I forgot to do my calves. Will have to do them tomorrow.

[Neil]

FRI:shoulders
dumbell press-
4x8 42.5
1x8 45
Lateral raises-
4x8 17.5
1x7 20 sloppy form on number eight, did not count it
reverse pec dec flyes-
2x8 90
2x8 105
1x5 135 this was total ego lifting, stupid!!
db shrugs-
4x8 75
1x8 80

yet another great workout, this whole week has been pretty good.
Nice progression since I started the program, so far I am very happy wth it.

[Neil]

Mon:chest, bi's
barbell bench press-
1x6 165
2x6 175
1x5 185
1x5 175+1 forced rep
incline db press-
1x6 40
1x6 50
1x6 55
1x6 57.5
1x5 57.5
bb curls-
4x6 75
1x5 75
incline db curls
2x6 22.5
1x6 35
1x6 27.5
1x5.5 30 (couldn't get the last one on my left arm.)

On a 1-10 I'd give this workout a 9.5, incredible energy!

[Neil]

TUES:Legs
squats-
4x6 205
1x7 225
leg curl-
2x6 100
2x6 90
1x5 90
leg press-
4x6 360
1x6 410
SLDL-
5x6 225

I got a second wind after leg curls, didn't think I was going to make it through the routine, progression continues......

[Neil]

THURS:back, tri's
pull ups on gravitron-
4x6 40
1x5 0
machine rows-(cancelled cable rows because on to much strain on lower back coming off of leg day.)
4x6 110
1x5 120
skull crushers-
3x6 65
1x6 75
1x5 75+1 forced rep
pushdowns-
1x6 110
1x6 120
1x6 130
1x6 140
1x4 140+1 forced rep

Another good day

[Delphi]

I see that you increase the weight each set when you're doing skulls, row, and pushdowns. I've always done decreasing weight each set. Is that a personal preference, or is there some method to doing it that way? Hmmm, maybe I should try that for awhile on my next cycle...

[Neil]

Well i'm training for strength right now and for me it's all about increasing poundages. I'm experiencing the best progression Ive ever had right now so I just keep challenging myself. Being that I am getting such good results I am stronger than I think I am which is one of the reasons I increase the weight as the sets progress. It's like "dam this was heavy last workout but now ...."
Check out the way my set and rep scheme works at the beginning of my journal, with the times between sets also, it's working better than anything I've ever done.

[Neil]

FRI:shoulders
db press-
4x6 50
1x8 52.5
lateral raises-
2x6 20
2x6 22.5
1x7 25
reverse pec dec flyes-
1x6 105
3x6 120
1x8 135
db shrugs-
5x8 85

Excellent week, can't wait for monday.

[Neil]

MON.chest, bi's
barbell bench press-
1x4 185
1x5 185
1x6 175
1x5 175
these sucked, I almost lost my motivation and gave up after doing these.
incline db press-
1x6 52.5
1x6 55
1x6 57.5
1x6 60
1x5 60
bb curls-
5x6 75
inline db curls-
2x6 27.5
3x6-30

this was another one of those 80% days, very little progression from last week, but still some so I should be happy.

[heathj]

Enough sets? Hot damn...

[Neil]

Thats what I thought when I first saw the routine, (I didn't make it) but so far it's working so I haven't been questioning it. I had one of those NSCA guys make it for me.

[Neil]

TUES:legs
squats-
4x6 225
1x2 225 pain in my knee, didn't finish set
leg curls-
2x6 100
3x6 90
no leg press because of knee pain
SLDL-
5x6 235

went to fast on negative when doing squats, I think this is what caused the knee pain. Need to make mental note not to do that again.

[Neil]

THURS:back, tri's
pull ups-
4x6
Machine rows-
5x6-110
skullcrushers-
5x6 75
pushdowns
4x6 130

Cut back a little on volume today, I feel like I might be getting a cold.

[Neil]

I didn't work out on friday cause I did something to my right trap on thursday when I was doing skulls, so I missed shoulders last week.

MON:chest, bi's
barbell bench press-
1x6 175 decreased weight on following sets because it really hurt to lift off
1x8 155
1x10 155
incline db press-
1x5 60
2x5 65
1x3 65
1x5 60
1x4 60
curls-
6x5 85
incline db curls-
1x5 30
2x5 32.5
2x5 35
1x5 37.5

sh*t thats a lot of sets