Starting Over....Again!

[Hard2Gain]

Well, I seem to end up in the gym all winter only to end up back out on my bicycle and ride off all my gains. I finally got serious about this last winter and even ran a basic cycle. Went up about 20lbs only to end up back on the bike again! Back down to 173lbs! So things are different this year as I am now without a bike and back in the gym already. I can say that I highly dislike the whole being sore thing after working out. None the less, I am sticking with it. Right now I am trying to go back to the basics to a degree and making sure that I do all three manjor lifts and maybe even throw in some olympic lifts as well. I will be doing a three day workout (MWF) with isolation exercises and stretching on the off days. This should go on for about the next 2 months before I switch things around again.

Supplements: Taking Mass FX
Hyperdrol
True Protein Whey
Food, lots of food
Maybe something a little more powerful over the winter????

Start weight 173 on 7/13/09

Once I go through this week I will post up all weights lifted for all exercises. Please keep in mind that they are all low right now simply because I have not even driven past the gym in over 3 months.

 

[bigmoe65]

Looks good. Good to have you over here, lots of good info on this board.

 

[Hard2Gain]

Well, this week has gotten off to a good start so far! My lift numbers are still down but I am sticking to my routine. The workout went well on Monday and I only got a little stiff in my glutes and back from doing power cleans. But today was squats and I can already feel my right quad getting tight. I am sure that by tonight they will be quite tight and tomorrow my hams will start getting stiff! Oh, I can't wait! Hell, I was only squating 95lbs. I did 20 reps, ass to ankles. I felt like I could pretty easily lift more weight but know that my legs get sore really quick. So I figure I will continue to work my way back into all of this instead of being stupid and jumping back in at a weight that ends up tearing something.

 

[bigmoe65]

Just take your time, theres no hurry. At our age (i'm 40) we have to be a little more careful. When I started back six months ago I started hammering the squats and my tendons above the knee cap started getting really sore. I had to take 6 weeks off from training quads to let them heal. I started taking cissus a few weeks ago but they still hurt, so I'm just training them light now. I'm not trying to get big so I can care less about squating anymore.

 

[Hard2Gain]

While "on" last winter I never felt any pain. I was also taking glucoseamine as well. I may start that again if my knee starts bothering me. I already had surgery on it once about 2 years ago so I am rather critical about that. I am in no rush either mind you but I feel like crap when I am squating 95lbs and know that I can normally do 270 for 8-10 reps. The strength is there but I know my tendons are not going to be ready for a while. So, goes the aging game!

 

[rantorcha]

H2G, it looks like you are taking the smart approach and easing back into things. Don't worry about the weight on the bar; just stick to your plan and you will see the results you are looking for in due time. Keep it up and good luck!

 

[Hard2Gain]

Well today was an off day. Basically this means that I get to do abs and biceps. I am doing bi's in my plan but they are more of a single exercise in conjunction with my other exercises. Basically I am doing a DC plan the best I can. So there are pretty basic movements which leaves room on my off days to hit some isolation exercises. The beauty of the dc style in my case is that it allows me to hit several different body parts each workout and then the workouts rotate. This allows me to hit everything and still get some good recovery in there. After a month or so I will switch back to my standard 1 body part a day routine while still keeping the core lifts. Bench, squat, and deads!

In a nutshell, my right quad is fairly tight today. Definitely more than my left. Should be better tomorrow though.

Below is my workout for now. Basically, I am doing one working set though I am actually putting in a total of 2-5 sets for each exercise.

Day 1
Incline Bench Rest Pause 12 reps
Dead Lift Straight Set 8
HS Shoulder Press Rest Pause 14
Chins SS 12
BB shrug SS 20
Close Grip Bench RP 14

Day 2
Squat SS 20
BB Curl RP 14
Wrist Curl RP 12
Stiff legged deads SS 8
Standing Leg Curl SS 20
Calf Raises Standn' RP 15

Day 3
Flat Bench RP 12
BB Row RP 12
Lat Pull Down SS 20
Smith Military RP 12
Rev Grip Bench RP 12
DB Shrug SS 20

Day 4
Leg Press RP 15
Hack Squat SS 20
Preacher Curl RP 12
Rev wrist curl RP 12
Lying Leg Curl RP 16
Donkey Raises RP 15

Day 5
DB Press RP 12
HS Iso Row RP 12
Rev Grip Pull Down RP 10
DB Shoulder Press RP 12
DB Upright row SS 20
HS Shrug SS 20

Day 6
Front Squat SS 12
Leg Press Nautalus SS 20
Incline DB Curl RP 12
Hammer Curl SS 20
Standing Leg Curl RP 12
Seated Calf Raises SS 20 HS=hammer strength

So there you have it. The goal is to beat the weight from last week or the reps! If I beat either, the next week the weight goes up or the reps go up. My cut off is 14 reps at which point I will add weight and start over again at 10 or 12 reps. I don't have a training partner so I can't go to positive failure on my lifts but this works out great for me getting back into it for now.