Hey, thought I'd write this for anyone who's interested, just a midway (well, it's kinda late, finished 1st week of 5s) report.
This is the routine I started with:
Deadlift (A), Leg Press (B) - 2
Incline Press (A), Bench Press (B) - 2
Lat Pulldown (A), Bent Over Rows (B) - 2
Leg extn
Leg curl
DB Shoulder Press
Shrugs
Lat Raise
Rear Raise
Calf raise, done on leg press (the one where your leg points upwards on an angle - 3
EZ Bar
C.Grip Press
15s
The 15s weren't as hard as my first cycle of 15s, and something I've noticed is that it's the 2nd set of an exercise that makes 15s feel like cardio. Something I've learned from the 15s is not to use the lat and rear raises in this phase, as you just run out of increments in the 10s and practially can't increment more than once for the 5s. The rear delts get a great hit from rows and pulldowns to the neck/c.grip anyhow.
I alternated DB presses with c.grip upright rows, just for the sake of boredom. Didn't do this beyond the 15s.
Used loaded stretches from the get-go on calves, and they responded, I started seeing results for these (and in general) from about my 9th workout onwards.
I was able to achieve linear progression for just about all exercises into the tens this cycle.
10s
Exercises that were changed:
Lat raises - dropped. Due to lack of increments I started using body-language in this exercise to further increase the load, and that didn't agree with me (just didn't feel right), and in general I'm not sold on this exercise anymore. I think the lat delt is hit in a press just fine for me.
DB press - became a Sm. Machine Press, b/c it allows me to get better have linear progression and no zig-zagging in my 15s->10s, 10s->5s. Also, I find the extra stretch down low and the groove of motion is working better for me. Finally I can use higher loads, and there's pretty much zero impact of the rotator cuff.
Bench press - became Dips. I'm strong enough to use them thru the 10s now, without the assist platform. They hits the pecs better than a standard BP.
I made some aggressive increments with the compound upper body exercises, and these have paid off I think, my upper back and lat are as big as they've ever been. However, the best results from aggressive increments came on my biceps. I pushed the EZ bar curls up a bit, and managed to get a PB with 62.5kgs for 10reps, cheating on the last 2-3 concentric. The aggressive increments produce results I reckon, but not at the expense of form.
Thrown in heavy barbell wrist curls, behind the back, as well as reverse(palm up) wrist curls with a BB. Using a weight I can complete 12-15 reps with. The philosophy I'm trying is dkm's of effecting a constant load (work them as often as possible, don't worry so much about RBE, bit like calves), and they're growing so far, the inner (flexor?) muscles esp.
5s so far
Incline Press became Incline Flies, ~ 30%
EZ bar became Incline curls alt. with Incline Hammers
C.Grip Press became Skullcrushers
Using drop sets for chest, back, shoulder, bis, tris. Repping out to 12 reps (15 will make me faint I think
).
Still doing rear raises, but it's effectively working @ my 5RM for 4 weeks instead of 2, so I'm alternating with a few other rear delt exercises, just experimenting a bit for the next cycle.
Overall here's what I've noticed the most:
- My joints are absolutely fine with 6 days a week. I take about 300g of fish, sometimes up to 700g, per day, and standard glucosamine. Also taking in plenty of olive oil and natural peanut butter (I'm a lil hazy on how EFAs/which ones are helpful for joints...so just listing it
)
- I'm getting cut up around the abs a bit, losing a lil bit of puppy fat, but also seeing gains in muscle..can this happen?
- My back and calves response the best to 6 days a week, not exactly sure why, but they're def. showing the most gains.
- I don't think I'm eating quite enough - as I said, getting a lil bit cut. Think I might up the carbs and protein by ~ 15gms/day each.
- I know I'm sub-maximal in terms of glycogen. This doesn't seem to affect my workouts, but I'm fairly sure that I'm not as big (full) as I will be come the middle of SD. And even with this, the arms are beyond 15inches cold :d
So yeh......that's my midpoint review.......qu's anyone?
This is the routine I started with:
Deadlift (A), Leg Press (B) - 2
Incline Press (A), Bench Press (B) - 2
Lat Pulldown (A), Bent Over Rows (B) - 2
Leg extn
Leg curl
DB Shoulder Press
Shrugs
Lat Raise
Rear Raise
Calf raise, done on leg press (the one where your leg points upwards on an angle - 3
EZ Bar
C.Grip Press
15s
The 15s weren't as hard as my first cycle of 15s, and something I've noticed is that it's the 2nd set of an exercise that makes 15s feel like cardio. Something I've learned from the 15s is not to use the lat and rear raises in this phase, as you just run out of increments in the 10s and practially can't increment more than once for the 5s. The rear delts get a great hit from rows and pulldowns to the neck/c.grip anyhow.
I alternated DB presses with c.grip upright rows, just for the sake of boredom. Didn't do this beyond the 15s.
Used loaded stretches from the get-go on calves, and they responded, I started seeing results for these (and in general) from about my 9th workout onwards.
I was able to achieve linear progression for just about all exercises into the tens this cycle.
10s
Exercises that were changed:
Lat raises - dropped. Due to lack of increments I started using body-language in this exercise to further increase the load, and that didn't agree with me (just didn't feel right), and in general I'm not sold on this exercise anymore. I think the lat delt is hit in a press just fine for me.
DB press - became a Sm. Machine Press, b/c it allows me to get better have linear progression and no zig-zagging in my 15s->10s, 10s->5s. Also, I find the extra stretch down low and the groove of motion is working better for me. Finally I can use higher loads, and there's pretty much zero impact of the rotator cuff.
Bench press - became Dips. I'm strong enough to use them thru the 10s now, without the assist platform. They hits the pecs better than a standard BP.
I made some aggressive increments with the compound upper body exercises, and these have paid off I think, my upper back and lat are as big as they've ever been. However, the best results from aggressive increments came on my biceps. I pushed the EZ bar curls up a bit, and managed to get a PB with 62.5kgs for 10reps, cheating on the last 2-3 concentric. The aggressive increments produce results I reckon, but not at the expense of form.
Thrown in heavy barbell wrist curls, behind the back, as well as reverse(palm up) wrist curls with a BB. Using a weight I can complete 12-15 reps with. The philosophy I'm trying is dkm's of effecting a constant load (work them as often as possible, don't worry so much about RBE, bit like calves), and they're growing so far, the inner (flexor?) muscles esp.
5s so far
Incline Press became Incline Flies, ~ 30%
EZ bar became Incline curls alt. with Incline Hammers
C.Grip Press became Skullcrushers
Using drop sets for chest, back, shoulder, bis, tris. Repping out to 12 reps (15 will make me faint I think
Still doing rear raises, but it's effectively working @ my 5RM for 4 weeks instead of 2, so I'm alternating with a few other rear delt exercises, just experimenting a bit for the next cycle.
Overall here's what I've noticed the most:
- My joints are absolutely fine with 6 days a week. I take about 300g of fish, sometimes up to 700g, per day, and standard glucosamine. Also taking in plenty of olive oil and natural peanut butter (I'm a lil hazy on how EFAs/which ones are helpful for joints...so just listing it
)- I'm getting cut up around the abs a bit, losing a lil bit of puppy fat, but also seeing gains in muscle..can this happen?
- My back and calves response the best to 6 days a week, not exactly sure why, but they're def. showing the most gains.
- I don't think I'm eating quite enough - as I said, getting a lil bit cut. Think I might up the carbs and protein by ~ 15gms/day each.
- I know I'm sub-maximal in terms of glycogen. This doesn't seem to affect my workouts, but I'm fairly sure that I'm not as big (full) as I will be come the middle of SD. And even with this, the arms are beyond 15inches cold :d
So yeh......that's my midpoint review.......qu's anyone?
