KTW's intesification/accumulation log

[ktw]

Ok, so after much reading and trying out bullsh*t hybrid routines, I decided to give Thibadeau's pendulum training a try. For those of you not familiar with the idea behind this, you alternate a lifting method each week back and forth, like a pendulum. The intensification week is the power week basically and is used to enhance limit strength and CNS capacity. The accumulation week is the hypertrophy week and the goal is to increase cross sectional area and minimize CNS stress. Here is the program for the intensification week (this week):
Day 1
Bench- 5x5
Bent over BB rows- 5x5
Back Squats- 5x5

Did this today, benched 200 for 5, Rowed 165 for 5 and squatted 250 for five.

Day 2
Incline Press 5x5
Powerclean from blocks- 10x3

Day 3
Bench Press- 10x3
Chins- 10x3
Romanian deadlifts- 5x5

Day 4
Push Press- 10x3
Powerclean from blocks- 5x5

Pretty basic low volume high intensity strength week if you ask me, the goal is not to burn the muscle out but to improve limit strength. Next week is accumulation week which I will post the day I start it. I will be using rest pause, varied tempos, supersets, short rest periods and lots of other methods for inducing sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Volume will be higher, but frequency will be lower. I put this in the strongman/powerlifting section because the goal of this program is to increase limit strength and FUNCTIONAL hypertrophy. EDIT: I may change the powercleans to drop snatches, not sure yet. I want to do an exercise that is full body, explosive, and something I can do with good form on those days, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[ktw]

Alright Day 2 is in the bags
Felt a little tired today and my workout suffered from it
Incline 160x 4, 1st set I did 150 and it was obviously way too light.

Powerclean from blocks
Blocks were really low, I used those cardio step things. I focused mainly on positioning and getting that hip thrust and pull down. For the first few sessions I'm going to keep the weight consistant and just work on getting the pulls right. Still, I managed to get a bicep, lat, trap, shoulder, and quad workout from doing them
10x3 with 135 lbs

Workout took about 45 minutes. Funny to note that when I was warming up, there were 3 dudes doing an arm routine. While I was there they did about 6 bicept exercises alone and were halfway through tris when I was done. Warmups usually take me about 5 to 10, so they spent over an hour on their arms. They were also going to failure on every set and saying things like "Oh feel the growth yah". I was laughing so hard inside. It would also be really nice to be able to drop the weight after doing the clean, but my gym would probably nix that idea really fast.

 

[guyfromkop2]

i'm curious, why powercleans from blocks?

 

[ktw]

You know, I'm not sure why he reccomends it, but I'm guessing because pulling off the floor for most o lifts is very complicated, with the correct bar acceleration, re bend, etc. I think by doing them from blocks you eliminate this factor and for newbies it allows them to focus on the hip snap and the pull. It actually makes the movevment a lot harder too since you can't use momentum from below the knees. The reason for the powerclean is basically that it's a full body move if done correctly, so it fits into the routine this way. I might use drop snatches next time.

 

[ktw]

Ok last Thursday was the third intensification day
Bench 10x3 w/ 200lbs. Not as hard the first few sets but after 5 fatigue definately set in and the last 3 sucked pretty bad.

Weighted chins
10x3 w/15 lbs attached

Romanian Deadlifts
5x5
Haven't done these in quite a while, ended up repping 185 for my sets, but after I felt I could have gone slightly higher, oh well, next time

Friday was the next day but I missed it due to my gym closing too early for me. I hate missing workouts too.

Today was the first accumulation day.
Bench
175x10
175x10
175x8

DB military Press
50x10
50x10
55x8

Skull Crushers
75x10
75x10
75x8 (really shaky this last set, tri's must have been tired from the other compound stuff)

Rack Pullups
Bodyweight+35 lb plate x10
Bodyweight+35 lb plate x10
Bodyweight+35 lb plate x9

Bent over cable rows- Lean forward without arching the back and use a rope or a close grip handle and do like normal. Just a variation on normal cable rows. Also a whole lot harder and a longer range of motion. I usually row 175 for 10, but today I did
125x10
125x10
125x10

Abs- Leg raises

I know it doesn't seem like much, but my strength is up on bench for sure. Changing my grip and coming more towards my collar bone is harder, but my strength went up after getting off WSB. As you can tell, I stole the Doggcrapp training template for the accumulation phase. Today's workout went good, pretty damn sore, got a great chest pump (which I don't usually get using the other grip for some reason).

 

[ktw]

Today was Quads, Hams, Bi's, Calves, and Forearms
Squats
barx10
135x10
185x8
205x8
230x10 for 3 work sets
Really weird not having a box. I ended up using a bench for reference, it turns out I was going super low. Anyways, not impressive numbers for most people on the board, but with a 285 max, it's on par for what I should be doing for 10. I did them normal powerlifting stance with my feet touching the edge of the squat rack, going to parallel so I hit the hams and glutes a lot.

Quads
Was going to do leg press, but these 5 frat boys decided they were doing a 20 set workout or something and after 10 minutes I got sick of waiting so I just did leg extensions
215x10 all sets

Calves
Seated calf raises w/pauses at the top and bottom
I paused today because going explosive was putting a lot of tension on my right calf and it was not feeling good.
I did 2 plates for 10 reps for 3 sets

Biceps
Preacher curls w/ EZ curl bar
80x8 for all 3 sets

Forearms
To be honest, wrist curls to me are garbage. I get plenty of grip workout doing my compound lifts and rock climbing so I do not feel the need to sit there and work them out. Naturally I have a strong grip (family strength, my dad with 3 torn finger tendons managed to register a grip strength of 150lbs, normal strength for a healthy person using the same test is 110. He has also never worked out a day in his life). Instead I did shrugs on some plate loaded deal that basically is the same as dumbell shrugs
2 plates per side for 2 sets of 10, then the last two I could only manage 8 reps.

 

[ktw]

Today was the second upper day this week.
Chest- Barbell Incline
155x3x10, not bad considering I only did 160 for 5 for all sets last week, hopefully that number will go up, it is a pathetic amount.

Shoulders- skipped them, my rear delt was kinda of pinching, I don't know from what but it sorta hurt. Front delts got worked from the incline, and delts are aestetically my strongest point so I'm not worried about their lack of training.

Back Width- Rope pulldowns. Thought I'd try these for the hell of it. A lot easier than I thought. worked up to 215 and that wasnt that bad, so i started pausing at the bottom. Did that for all sets. Prob. gunna do some shoulder width grip pulldowns on that pulldown deal next time

Back Thickness- Hammer strength low row- 2 plates+10 each side
3x10. Last set did sort of a rest pause drop set with each individual lat.

Tri's- Tate press
Will not be doing these anymore, they really hurt my elbows bad, more than skullcrushers for sure.
40'sx3x8.

Abs
Weighted swiss ball crunches. Trying new **** so I thought I would try them. I actually liked them a lot.

Did streches after all of my sets were done. Chest w/45's for 30 seconds, for back i had someone hold me while i tried to do a pullup for 30 seconds, shoulders and tri's did the corresponding DC stretches for those as well.

 

[ktw]

Alright second leg day of the week was tonight
Leg Press
Worked up to set of 5 plates for 12, then 6 plates for a solid 10.

Romanian Deadlifts
Previously in my intensification week I did 175 for 5. Today I pumped out a solid 9, then rest paused 3 more out on my last set, so next phase I'm going to take them up to 190 or 195 for the 5rm. 3 sets of 175

Standing Calf raises
180x3x10

Preacher hammer curls
35x3x10

Barbell Shrugs
Paused at the top for a count of 2
175x3x10
The pause really makes these a lot harder

Abs
Pulldown Abs, 80x3x10

Workout went really fast, I've gone up at least a few reps in everything this week and even shattered some of my previous pr's if you look through my other logs.

First time in a while that I have been breaking pr's like this on my higher rep days. We will see next week how this plan works out and if my strength stays the same or increases like it theoretically should with this style of training. I don't feel as burned out as I did with WSB. Still eating around 3700kcal a day, doing 35 to 45 minutes walking on an incline on cardio days. Weight after workout today was up to 204, last time I weight myself after workout a few weeks ago I was 201. I don't think it's water because I always work out at the same time every day and drink the same amount of water during my workout, so hopefully it's some mass. If it is, I think it's going straight to my quads, they measured 24 inches last time I believe and tonight I got 25.5 out of them before workout. I have very responsive legs genetically, dad was a pro bike racer for a while I've never had to work out my calves and they have grown. Well hopefully someone actually reads this and can offer advice/comments.

 

[ktw]

Ok so i haven't posted an example of my diet yet so here it is on a typical lifting day:

Breakfast:
1 scoop hydrolyzed whey
2 whole eggs, 8 whites
1 whole wheat bagel, 2 slices whole wheat toast or 1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cap fish oil
total: 72g protein/99g carbs/10g fat

Meal two:
8 ounce low fat ground beef, made into a burger
Whole wheat bun
1/2 cup oats
1 cap fish oil
total: 56gp/54gc/11gf

Meal 3 Preworkout meal
8 oz chicken breast, cooked in olive oil, patted dry after
1.5 cups whole wheat pasta
Low calorie sauce
Total: 55gp/80gc/6gf

During workout drink:
6 scoops Xtend
1/4 cup malto
Total: 36gp/25gc

Meal 4 PWO Shake
2 scoops hydrolyzed whey
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup malto
Total: 55gp/80gc/0f

Meal 5 Post-Post-Workout meal
8 oz chicken breast fried in olive oil, patted dry
1 cup nonfat milk
I usually vary the carb source, today it was from 1/2 cup old fashioned Oats and 1 slice whole wheat Bread
1/8 cup mixed nuts
2 caps fish oil
Total: 55gp/50gc/14gf

Meal 6 Pre-Bed meal
1 serving Hydrolyzed whey
1 cup Non fat Cottage Cheese
1 tbsp Organic flax seed oil
Total: 51gp/5gc/16gf

Also throughout the day I snack on mixed nuts during class and stuff, usually a few handfuls, so I should be around 85 grams of fat total, all from relatively decent sources I would say. I also eat veggies with about two of my meals, but I don't really count the amount of carbs because it is probably miniscule. I eat a buttload of Broccoli and mixed Veggies usually with my 5th meal and my 2nd meal.

Total: 380 grams Protein/388 grams Carbohydrates/80 grams fat

Caloric Breakdown: 1520/1552/720
Total Calories: 3792

Supplementation:
Hydrolyzed Whey Powder
Multi
Cellmass (hate this **** with a passion, just going to get some kind of bulk CEE next, maybe Storm again)
Superpump250 (hated this as well, had to use it up though, ran out about a week ago)
I won't be using NO anymore till I cut, I feel no need while bulking. I can get a pump just by working out intensely and I get enough energy from my food.
Xtend
Fish oil- 4 caps throughout the day
Flax oil- 1 tbsp in my pre bed shake

Starting weight: 201
Weight end of phase 1: 204

Strength increases: 10 rm from bench up from 160 to 175, Romanian deadlift up from 175 by 5 to 175 by a solid 10, Squatting 250 for 5x5 (going for 240 next week, think I can handle it), 5rm on bench up from 190 to 200, 5 rm on bent over barbell rows up to 165.

Notes:
I feel a lot stronger, and my numbers show it. I had stagnated while on WSB, but have shot up in a lot of exercises so far, we will see next week if there are any more strength increases. I'm going to increase accumulation volume by 1 set for everything next phase or I might vary the range a little bit. I'm thinking of keeping this plan while cutting, or maybe trying a DC type program dependning on my time level with my internship.

Upcoming cutting program plans:
Think I'm going to stick with this program and just carb cycle so my high days correlate with my workout days, still going to keep the cardio the same. I will be walking to work in DC 6 blocks in a full suit every day, to and from, which will provide me with a good amount of low intensity work. I might add one day of sprints in on the weekends depending on how my fat loss is going.

Planned supplementation:
Activate, Reboundxt, Venom, CEE, Shock Therapy, Xtend or Purple Wraath, Hydrolyzed whey. Thinking of running two Alb cycles in the 8 week cut, but not sure yet if the benefits outweigh the risk for me. Even after reading all the logs, I'm concerned with possible beta receptor damage since I am only 20 years old and still growing (2 inches since I've been in college, which is 2 years now). I would really love to run a 50 day IGF 1 cycle at 40mcg/day, but again I am too young for this kind of supplementation, so that will wait until a later date.

Future plans: After my 8 week internship/cutting phase is up I will return home for a few weeks. I live on a ranch and can do plenty of GPP around the ranch like hay bale tossing, feed bag lifting and tossing, hay bale pulling, fence lifting, you get the picture. I will increase my cals from a slight deficit back up to around 3800 or 4000 and will be either doing one of Thib's pendulum programs or DC training and an assload of GPP to get my activity level high enough to not gain fat with all of those extra cals. I'm hoping this will add some nice mass as I will have just been getting off a 2 month cal deprivation, and short enough so I don't accumulate significant body fat. I hope to return to school at a lean 190 and clean bulk until January. After that point I might either try a SD stand alone cycle, or an SD/Enan/EQ small beginner cycle, it will really depend on how my development is going. If I am still gaining the way I am now, there would be nearly no need. My end goal after all these years is to be a solid looking 215 with fairly moderate bf, like around 10 to 12%. I'm 6 foot 2, so that will fill out my frame decently. When I get to that weight my goal will be solely strength oriented, probably start a p lifting program again.

Gains since September 05: 48 lbs w/ 2% bodyfat increase. Max bench up from 135 to 230. Squat max up from 170 to 285.

 

[ktw]

I do not understand what happened today. I worked up to my 5x5 work sets like normal, got to 200, and some problems arose. I did all 5 for the first set fine. Next set was different, I got stuck at the bottom on rep 3. I re racked the weight, did 2 more about 10 seconds later. The next few sets I could only get 200 for 3 for some reason. To give some perspective, last time I did 5x5 for bench, I did 200 for all the sets without a spot, which pisses me off that I couldn't do it today. So my verdict was that I was either overtrained or tired.

So I moved onto rows and guess what, I went up drastically in the movement.
I did 175 for my first 4 sets, then 180 on the last. So I do not think I was overtrained, since I rowed a whole lot more than last time.

Was pissed off and being a baby so I didn't do squats and left. If anyone reads this, what do you think happened that caused me to not be able to bench like normally, but go up in another movement?

 

[Poobah]

NOt every day can be a huge day...

get'em next time.

 

[alexandr0s]

maybe you're just not yoked enough, bro.
or maybe you're short one or two grams on carbs for your pre work out shake.
you really have to get that in check. also, try xyience for xtreme gainz--worked for me.

 

[BigCasino]

maybe you're just not yoked enough, bro.
or maybe you're short one or two grams on carbs for your pre work out shake.
you really have to get that in check. also, try xyience for xtreme gainz--worked for me.

:blink:



Moving along, KTW like any sport you are going to have "off days" where things do just not feel right. Could be from stress, lack of sleep, poor diet the past few days, or maybe you stayed late the night before with your buddies getting plastered. In any case, these things happen, do NOT dwell on it, make sure your sleep, diet, and energy is spot on next time!

 

[ktw]

Ya, I had a big final paper due today and I had stayed up late all weekend working on it, so I think that is what caused the lack of performance.

 

[ktw]

So tonight I repeated the other day's workout since I won't be able to lift that many times this week. Lets just say I was happily surprised.

Bench
195x5x5
I think when I had done the 200, the guy spotting me was helping me when he said he wasn't. Either way, got all of these on my own

Squats
K here is where I got surprised. Last time I squatted 5x5, i did 250 for all of my sets.
So today I warmed up less than usual. Usually I go up about 10 lbs at a time. I do 135, 185, then 195, 205, 215, etc.
Today I just did 135, 185, 225 and then went straight to 250.
250 was really easy.
So I went up
And up
Before I knew it I was doing 275 for an easy 5
Ended up doing my last 3 sets at 305. This is my first time ever even squatting over 300 lbs, and I was doing it for reps. This also means a 55 lb increase since last time.
I think that training quads actually has helped me. Also, I have been training my core every workout, alternating ranges and exercises, which could have contributed. One last helper I think are the Romanian deadlifts. I always feel the most from these right around the knee, which I think helps the bottom of the movement. Either way, I was way pumped to put up that weight, and to have the bar bending when I squatted.

Bent Over rows
180x5x5

Abs
Heavy ball crunches
Don't recall the weight but it was for 5x5

 

[ktw]

Thursday was my last intensification day last week before going out of state for a long weekend of partying, which I thought would destory my gains, but apparently didn't

Incline bench
165x5x5

Rom. Deadlifts
205x5x5

Pulldowns w/ chin up grip. Some stupid ass Russian kids that always come in and do 90000 sets monopolized the pull up bar, so being that I was in a hurry I used a machine.
185x5x5

Abs
Weighted Sit ups
35x3x12

 

[ktw]

Sunday was an accumulation day

Flat BB Bench
175x3x10

DB Shoulder press
55x2x10
60x1x8

Bent Over BB row
170x2x10
175x1x8

Pulldowns w/ chin grip
165+5+2.5 (jumps in 15 lb increments so i have to attach plates for in the middle)
for 3x10

Skull Crushers
80x2x10
80x1x8

Abs
Weighted pulldown abs
80x3x10

 

[ktw]

Today was the first lower accumulation day this week. Again, I can't really believe my squat strength is jumping up this much, something must be in my protein powder.

Squats to 1/2 inch above parallel (Couldn't use the same bench as last time)
Last time I squatted for reps I hit 230x3x10
As you recall, the other day I hit 305x5x5
So with a 1rm calc I should have been repping 257 for 10

Wrong
275x3x10
Really can not believe this. This puts my calculated max at 367 lbs, so hopefully soon I will able to max out and hit this number.

Leg extensions
215x3x10

Calves
Seated calf raises, paused, with 4 second eccentrics and explosive concentrics, 3 second pause at top
2 platesx3x10
If I do calf raises too fast I get a pinching feeling in my calf, which can not be good.

Bi's
Standing ez bar curl
80x3x10
Preacher curl
32.5x2x15
(In his program you can double up on weak spots during the accumulation phase so since my bi's are small and weak I'm doing it for them right now)

Shrugs
Shrug machine with plates
2 plates a sidex3x12

I have come to the conclusion that training Westside does not really agree with me. In my months training with it, my squat went up 10lbs and bench went up 20. So far in one month on this program, I have managed to increase my squat max by 80 lbs, my bench max by 15 lbs and I don't feel over trained at all. I will take measurements soon to see how I am doing. Also benching above the nipples, not below like pl style, is easier for me and hits my chest so much more, I'm almost mad I wasn't doing it before.

 

[ktw]

Second accumulation day for the upper body last week went something like this:
Incline BB bench
155x3x10 (Really never feel too much in my upper chest, thinking of switching to dumbells)

Again the chin up bar was monopolized so I did super widegrip pulldowns
190x3x10

Narrow grip seated cable rows
170x3x10

Arnold Press's
50x3x10

Close Grip Bench
140x3x10

Abs- Core Training for Smart Folks program

 

[ktw]

Second lower body day went like this:
Leg Press
6 plates a sidex2x10
6 plates a side+25 a sidex1x9

Romanian Deadlifts
185x3x10
(I really think these are responsible for my recent squat gains)

Standing calf raises
Don't remember weightx3x12 paused at the top for 2, 2 second eccentric and concentric

Reverse Barbell curls
70x3x10

Barbell Shrugs
185x3x10 paused at the top for a count of two

 

[ktw]

Today was an intensification day, and a horrible one at that.

Flat Bench
195x5x5, on the last set the 5th didn't tire me and I ended up getting 7, I really do not know how this happened
I really haven't gained a whole lot on bench recently so next cycle I'm going to change things up. One day will be flat, one will be upper or flat dumbells and then the third day will be decline possibly or pause bench.

Squats
295x1x5
305x1x5
I was feeling really good with the 305 so I decided to go to 315.
First set I did 5 reps, the 5th one was a complete ***** and I barely got it up. Rather than lower the weight I decided to try and be a tough guy and got a couple spotters and tried another set. Well this set each spotter lifted one side of the bar off the rack with me and 1 decided to lift too high and the bar was offset on my back too much, which ended up being a problem. I got 4, but on the 5th I leaned way too far back and got stuck in the hole. So next set I thought I would be able to avoid that mistake. Well one of the spotters decided to move my bench back more for some reason or another. I do not touch the top of the bench, but the edge, which happens to be just parallel for me. So I go down and I realize the bench is not where it is spost to be and end up about 3 inches lower than I should be. I strain and barely get the weight up and there goes my lower back feeling really bad. So I back up and ended up squeezing out 4 more, when I really should have re racked and done 305. I had scooted back too much and the 4 more were about an inch above parallel, so I'm not counting them.
Used wraps today wrapped like a video I found on TeamSniffy.com, not sure if they really helped or not, but oh well. I need a better belt for sure, mine really doesn't feel like it supports me much at all.

Bent over Rows
180x2x5
185x3x5

Abs
Hanging knee raises
2x25

So when doing the 5x5 I definately noticed a net increase in strength at first and also an increase in muscle hardness, way more than when I work in the upper rep ranges on my accumulation days. I like doing the intensification phases a lot more, so I'm going to find a program by him that works them in more often. At the end of the week is a week off, which will be much needed. I think I might stick this program out for at least 1 more cycle until I find something better.

 

[ktw]

Today, like my last workout things didn't go well. I ached all over and felt very sluggish despite over 8 hours of sleep and a good diet. I think it is time to deload. I'll be back in a week either continuing this log or starting another one

 

[Poobah]

Sweet increase in squats.:jaw:

 

[ktw]

Yah, you do not know how pumped I am. My goal is 4 plates (405) by 2007 so it looks like I'm definately on the path to that.

 

[Poobah]

Yah, you do not know how pumped I am. My goal is 4 plates (405) by 2007 so it looks like I'm definately on the path to that.

If you don't do it by then, I'd say your slackin.

 

[ktw]

Decided to do a week similar to my intensification weeks today before I go to DC for 8 weeks and do my cutting routine while I'm at my internship. Did squats first today which was kind of weird, usually do bench first but whatever.

Box Squat
305x3x5
315x2x5
all good reps, 315 went up fairly well today

Dumbell Bench (looking to try something different for once, haven't really consistantly used dumbells in a long time)
Just felt the weight out and got used to doing them again

75x1x5
80x3x5
85x1x5
Next time I will do more sets with the 85s

Bent Over Rows
185x5x5, on the last set I managed 7 so I guess it's time to go up in weight on these.

Accesory work
Rope pulldowns
70x3x12

Hanging leg raises
bwx3x20