Back to Basics

Yeah, the thing about fullbody that is attractive to me is the simplicity. It is so much easier, doing splits takes a lot more of a time investment. Only question at this point is how much time I will have once I move, if I can maintain four days a week in the gym or not, and what equipment the gym will have as well as what is generally available during the hours I will be at the gym. They have several squat racks, a monolift, a bunch of hammerstrength stuff, so I'm sure I can make my proposed cycle work.

I haven't done negatives in forever so it will be interesting to see how that works for me. I have a hunch that it will allow me to eke out what gains I can from the cycle.
 
I just remembered when I stopped by the Gold's gym near where I am going to be living, the guy told me something about how he has dumbbells heavier than anyone would probably ever use. The heaviest was only a pair of 150 lb DBs. I was like "dude, I used to shrug 200s at my last gym using straps." I hate it when non-lifters own/operate a gym. He was clearly a "cardio and abs" type of guy.

Anyway, I'm going to test maxes prior to the beginning of this cycle. I'll try to get as many of them out of the way this week and next as I can. Thinking of just dedicating each workout day to three or four lifts, since finding an exact max can take a while sometimes.

I met a guy at the supermarket today who had to stop me and compliment me on my v-taper. Then he was asking me about my diet and stuff, it ended up being like a ten minute conversation. It still weirds me out when people approach me and talk to me about stuff like this because I, being the type of person I am, still think that I am tiny/fat/not ripped/weak looking/etc. But it's getting to the point where I think I might just start carrying around little pieces of paper with a link to my ebook to give to people when they ask me about what I do because it's starting to get a bit time consuming. I guess I should be flattered by all the attention but generally speaking, I'm not the kind of guy who likes recieving compliments and attention.

Found out I am going to be moving on the 23rd as a final date, so I'm not going to be competing in that powerlifting competition I spoke of. I still hope to attend and watch, but I don't think I can spare a whole day to be there. I have a lot of packing to do that weekend.
 
@Totetanz - do negatives on incline using either;

-Spotter
-Squatting rack back up (smith machine)
-One hand down, two hands up (smith machine)

Instead of negative dips.

Just my $0.02
 
Dips are so convenient for negatives and are such a good exercise for pecs, front delts and tris that I can't think of a good reason not to include them at the end of a cycle. My vote is definitely for negative dips but it might be fun to try some other chest dominant movements where assisted negatives are possible.

Great looking routine btw. Looking forward to finding out how that works out. All the best with your move and settling in to your new place too. Hope you get some fine weather that weekend.
 
Personally, I think dips do near nothing for front delts, not compared to a press of some kind.

Also, I think incline and dips don't really have a natural connection. Flat and dips? Sure. Decline and dips? Obviously. Incline? Pretty far away.
 
I definitely want dips for negatives but incline negatives sounds intriguing. I will swap flat bench out for dips during negatives and experiment with negs on incline, I think.
 
The thing is, doing negative dips is such an easy way for most folks to try negatives and they are really effective so, if you're going to do negs, I can't see why you wouldn't do them? Delt activation is a lot to do with how deep you are able to dip comfortably. That said, I totally concur with the thought that it would be good to do some sort of assisted negs for incline bench if it was possible to do so.
 
Lol said:
Dips are so convenient for negatives and are such a good exercise for pecs, front delts and tris that I can't think of a good reason not to include them at the end of a cycle. My vote is definitely for negative dips but it might be fun to try some other chest dominant movements where assisted negatives are possible.

Great looking routine btw. Looking forward to finding out how that works out. All the best with your move and settling in to your new place too. Hope you get some fine weather that weekend.
Click to expand...

I agree, which was why I included them in the first place. Weighted dips and chins are two of the best exercises all around for negatives in my opinion.

I'm really interested to work out the logistics of negatives on everything else so I can update the book with detailed instructions on how to perform negatives.
 
Grooveongreg said:
Also like the look of your new program. Might try something similar after my SD.
Click to expand...

If you do, let me know what lifts you end up doing, diet plan, etc and keep updated throughout so I can compare notes before I use my cycles as material for the book.
 
Input on negatives:

Chest:

-Incline smith machine; two up, one down. Flat smith machine is not as appropriate for leverage and physical spacing
-Dips (obvious)
-Flat bench negatives w/a spotter

Back:

-Chins/pulls (go heavy and slow)
-Seated row; two up, one down. Use your other hand to brace physically as necessary, reduce unusual angles of tension on torso and joints, connective tissue.


List of other machines to use 'two up, one down' approach:

-Leg press
-Leg press calf-raises
-Leg extensions
-Leg curls

Am purposefully ruling out shoulder press machines from the above, I think it's a v.bad idea and would just use a Smith Machine at 60 degrees

Bi's and Tri's:
-Use a cable stack, two hands concentric, one hand eccentric. I like cable for this using the single-hand attachment (for each). Can do pronated, supinated for either/both.
 
I'm not sure my elbows can take negatives on biceps or triceps, one of the only lifting injuries I ever got was from negatives on elbow joint isolations. I will probably stick to max stim for biceps and triceps. Not real confident on the shoulder press machine negatives but I do plan to do military press/push press for negatives and figure the incline bench negs will take care of getting any overlap. Flat bench is out as I don't plan on having a spotter so I'm just going to ditch flat when I get to negatives and do dips. Thinking I may alternate weighted chins and weighted pullups for negatives. Legs are easy as most leg machines can do the two up one down thing.

Just found out that Mike Wojciechowski apparently teaches classes and possibly lifts at the gym I'm going to be joining. He's a big DC guy. I actually have a DVD he made along with some other guy all about DC. Pretty cool. That guy is massive. I guess he teaches jujitsu at the gym. Totally unrelated, just something I thought was cool.
 
Apparently the new thing to do is to use the flat bench to do curls now. I go to the gym, can't do squats because someone is curling in the power rack. Can't bench because both flat benches are being used by assholes who decide to do curls in them. I don't even understand this one. They straddle the bench and do curls in it? How is that even a thing?

Meanwhile, all the curl stations and little racks they have specifically for doing standing curls or preacher curls, and all the curl machines stand empty.

FMG. Can't wait to get to the new gym.
 
Almost everything in my gym has been desecrated by curls at some point. The squat racks, the benches, all of the cable machines are used for curls at all weird angles... its ridiculous. It seems big arms are the most desired feature among male gym-goers. Many of them devote 50% or more of their workout time to doing arms. Ignoring the fact that the rest of the body is far more important, and arms are relatively small muscles... oh well.
 
Sci said:
Almost everything in my gym has been desecrated by curls at some point.
Click to expand...
You can blame the invention of the T-shirt for that!
(And for the fact that heavy dips and rows are too much like hard work compared to curls.)
 
Smashed my damn finger doing military presses in the power rack. I was trying to test maxes... stupid rack is too short so I hit the top rails with the bar at the top of each rep. No biggie, tells me that I'm locked out. But there is a railing that goes across in the middle and as I was pushing 145 up on the seventh rep while trying to find my 15 RM, I smashed my middle finger between the bar and that stupid railing. Pissed me off. It was only 145 but it takes a fair amount of momentum to push that overhead. The finger is still swollen all to hell. Every rack I've ever owned was tall enough that I could do miltary presses in them without worry, this rack at this stupid gym is the only damn rack in the entire world that is slightly too short.
 
Yeah, add my ouch to that too! It'll be bruised to heck for a while. Hope you didn't fracture it.

I always have to do any pressing outside my rack. It's too darn short as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top