Newbie Here: to the forum, not to training, help me out.

BeastMode13

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Ok, so i'll start out by giving a little background information since this is my first post on these forums.

I'm 21 years old, 5'7", and weigh 165 lbs. Ive been lifting pretty consistently for the past 4 years, 4-5 days a week. I worked my way from 135 lbs to where I am at now. In high school, i couldn't gain a lb, but I was shredded and had a clearly visible six pack. Went to college, gained size and strength, but also gained some fat. I am currently at a plateau and need to change things up. My strength and weight has pretty much been the same for the past 8 months, with very slight increases in random exercises such as bench and preacher curl. Summer is getting closer and closer, and I want to cut down but i don't want to loose muscle. I guess what I am looking for, is recomp training. In an attempt to cut down while still retaining mass, I have recently started a new lifting regiment. As far as my diet goes, I pretty much eat three things every day...grilled chicken salads, lemon grass chicken with brown rice, lots of tuna, and protein shake or two. Now, this is the routine I just started. I have broke my workout plan down into 5 days, Back and Biceps on Monday, Shoulders Traps on Tuesday, Chest Triceps on Wednesday, Legs on Thursday, and Bi's and Tri's on Friday.

I know this seems like a pretty typical routine so far, but to make it interesting I've been super setting everything. Each day, I will do five exercises for each body part, doing 3 sets of 10-12 reps. Every time I do a set for one body part, I super set for the secondary muscle.
Example: On Monday's, I'll start out with lat pull down, then super set that with alternate curls. The next exercise is seated rows with a super set of preacher curls...this pattern continues until I hit five exercises for each body part. The following week, I will start with biceps and super set the back exercises. I've found that everyday, my workout runs to about an hour. The difference is, I'm drained and sweating after this hour compared to my typical routine. I try to use very little rest and push as hard as my body will let me. Also, I have been doing cardio and abs every other day. So Monday, Wednesday, Friday I do a half hour of cardio, and Tuesday and Thursday I run through half an hour of abs. My question is, does this workout plan seem to work with my goals? I want to gain a few lbs, but all in lean muscle. Im not looking to gain 20 lbs. but i wouldn't mind cutting up what I have and gaining a few lbs on top of that.

I know this is a lot to read, sorry guys. I have been told that this may be over doing it and I may just be over working my body. The thing is, my plan is not to do this a 100% naturally. Along with the pre-workout, multivitamin, protein, and other daily supplements, I will be taking a cycle of test. I have taken pro-hormones before with great results, but this will be my first injectable cycle. I have read up enough on how to dose it and proper use of post cycle, but I want to make sure my workout is down so that I can efficiently reap all the benefits possible from this cycle. I'm just sick of being one of those kids that puts up the same weight as all his buddies, if not more, but looks 1/2 the size.

I guess to give you a real quick gauge of strength, I bench 225 for about three sets of 8. Thanks for the help in advance guys, hopefully I don't get too much **** for this post. Remember, its my first one!


TL:DR
How should a lift on a cycle of test to transform the body below? Goal:stay at the same weight, or gain a few lbs, but all in lean muscle. Its pretty obvious from the pics I need to cut. I don' want to be a water weight freak of nature.

EDIT: damn, guess I can't post pics until I have 50 or more posts : (
 
Newtonselite

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Wow all that made my head sore. First your too young to be jumping on test/ph's bla bla bla! ok i got that out the way.

Are your arms a weak spot? Is that why you hit bi's and tri's twice?

First if you want to run a split like yours run it some thing like chest/back/off/shoulders,traps/arms/legs/off/repeat

You know why your not gaining strength and size? Its because your eating to keep your fat down while building muscle. Pick a goal! If you want to have a decent bod for summer and you need to cut then cut. Lift as heavy as possible while eating reduced calories based on macro intake. If you want to put some size on, then eat for size and dont worry about carry excess bodyfat.

Also half n hour just on abs twice a week?

why does everyone make things seem to much more complicated then it needs to be?

ugh im tired right now, not sure where im going with this atm, will clear it up tommorow unless someone else jumps in hahaha,
 

BeastMode13

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Arms aren't necessarily the weak spot, but I want bigger arms. I feel like my arms take the longest time to see progress (wheras I see results in areas like my shoulders alot faster), so I bumped up from training them once a week to twice a week. If I have to pick a goal, I am going to go with cutting down. The only reason I didn't want to do this in the first place, is becuase I don't want to lose the mass I had to work so hard to obtain. Maybe 1 hr on abs a week is a little overkill? Should I not even worry about hitting abs until I get my body fat percent down?

As far as lifting as heavy as possible, not a problem. I try to lift to failure every set. If I don't lift to failure, I hold my last rep in a negative as long as I can. Ive also been focusing on exploding weight up, and bringing it back down very slowly as opposed to banging out 10 reps in 10 seconds. Should I increase the amount of reps from 10-12 to something like 14-16?

sorry for the headache inducing posts. Probably why the thread has so many views and no responses.
 
ZiR RED

ZiR RED

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Remember, there is more to your core than your abs. You should balance trunk flexion (abs: crunches, leg raises, etc.) with trunk/hip extension exercises (super mans, glute bridges, bird dogs, etc.). Further, don't neglect the importance and potential of static exercises (planks of varying sorts) to develop and strengthen the core. There's some good evidence to suggest that over emphasizing the rectus abs reduces weight lifting performance.

As for your training routine and dropping body fat while maintaining muscle mass you don't need to change things around too crazy. Keep lifting heavy to maintain size and strength. Add in some interval cardio to elevate metabolic rate and decrease CHO consumption.

What you bench tells me very little...what do you squat? Your lower body comprises 50% of your muscle mass. By not training it you miss out on so much: metabolic, hormonal, balance, etc.

Br
 

BeastMode13

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I do incorporate planks into my ab routine, its actually one of my favorite exercises. I usually hold the possition with the addition of a plate on my back for 4 sets. The first two are 1 minute long, and the second two are 2 minutes long. Maybe I should broaden the ab routine up a little though.
I squat 3 plates on each side for reps of 10, but that is on the smith machine with the bar on a track. I know I should probably be doing freeweights in the squat rack. How often and how intense should I be doing cardio? How often for abs/core?
 
ZiR RED

ZiR RED

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Yes, you should absolutely ditch the smith machine for free weight squats.

Cardio is going to depend on your level of conditioning. I always suggest erring on the side of less and not falling trap to "too much too soon".

Start off with a series of 8-10 sprints twice a week (and look up how to warm up for track workouts) and some light cardio in the middle to recover.

I incorporate some form of core work into each workout. It usually rotates between trunk flexion (typical abs), trunk/hip extension (bird dogs, db swings, etc.) and static work (planks/bridges) with each workout.

Br
 
kingk0ng

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Great advice in this thread.

Most hip flexion focused exercises like sit ups for the abs only lead to eventual cases of lordosis, unless you take Reds advice and balance it out with the antagonist - trunk extension.

I like to recommend training of isometric focused exercises. Focus on bridges and such. Your core is usually worked isometrically in the other lifts, so increasing your isometric core strength will have a lot of functional carryover.
 

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