Gatordude's Log

U

UFGatorDude30

New Member
Alright, so I am currently doing a SD before I begin my first 8-week cycle next Monday. In the meantime, I am looking to get a fully-planned workout (as close to fully-planned as one can get), hopefully with the help of input from you guys.

Reading a lot of posts from Scientific Muscle, my interest was sparked from your method of clustering reps and your 1% increase every workout based off of your 1 RM. I see this as a great benefit, as I can see where it would be difficult in accurately determining your 15/10/5 RM, as well as staying away from the zigzag effect that has been discussed in other threads.

The only question I have for this method would be.. Let's say my bench max was only 100 lbs. (example # for simplicity, trust me), it would seemingly take 5 workouts, or five 1% increments to even add weight since 2 1/2's are the smallest plate. How do you go about this? If you only made increments every 5 workouts, would this still be following the Progessive Load Principle?

Digressing... I really want to keep this first cycle as simple as possible while still be effective. I really want to get a feel for the whole system, so I can tweak on future cycles such as messing with reps and adding iso's in the future.

Here is the workout I was considering:

Bench Press
Squat
Wide-Grip Pullups
Upright Rows
--some abs/calves toward the end
---Monday-Wednesday-Friday

Please let me know if you think I should add/take out or substitute exercises for this. As for reps/sets, as I said earlier... I feel like Sci's method of 1% increments seems the easiest to keep up with, as long as someone could explain it to me. If it helps or makes a difference, I've more or less plateaud on most of these exercises over the last couple months. I don't necessarily use these all of the time in my workouts however.

Lookin' forward to suggestions.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">it would seemingly take 5 workouts, or five 1% increments to even add weight since 2 1/2's are the smallest plate. How do you go about this? If you only made increments every 5 workouts, would this still be following the Progessive Load Principle?</div>

Yes....I was doing curls, but dropped them. My one rep max is about 50 lb. dumbells. So I would end up doing the same weights for about a week before adding. Just round to the nearest load. You can grow for at least two weeks with the same load, before RBE and conditioning catches up, so repeating loads is not a problem.
 
Gotcha.. as for clustered reps, are you doing those Max-Stim style or as normal continued reps. Either way, what overall number of reps would you recommend on these exercises if using clustered reps?
 
Thanks for the input guys.. I'm slowly starting to piece together what I want to do. This SD is killing me as I can't stop thinking about getting back in the gym to start this. However, I've been looking into Pendlay Rows (had never heard of them prior to this forum), and was wondering if they were more or less bent-over's with setting the bar down in between reps. Basically a Max-Stim bent-over?

Also, guys that do follow Max-Stim... which exercises do you find this to be the most applicable with? I can see it being great with things like bench, barbell curls, etc. but kind of tedious for things like squats.

Lastly, what is defined by an OH Press? Standing/seated Militiaries, OH dumbell raises, etc.

I'm also thinking of going with an A/B routine as I have been seeing that as a popular twist with the workouts. Now thinking more along the lines of...

A
Incline Bench
Pulldowns
Squats
OH Press

B
Dips
Weighted Chins
Deadlifts
Lateral Raises

A-B-A B-A-B

Still debating about incorporating Max-Stim, but am looking to start at 65% of my 1RM and go up 3% each workout which will leave me at around 100% at the end. I am thinking about using cluster reps... 30 for the first 2 weeks, 25 for the second two, 20 for the third, 15 for the last two weeks.

Again, critique/criticize away. I greatly appreciate any of the advice.
 
So the time has just about come to start, and what better time for it to be here. The last two weeks have been miserable fitness wise.. been eating like **** with all my studying for final exams, getting little sleep, etc. etc. I wanted to start today, but had to get things situated with my internship and summer classes.

But, I'm starting to pump myself with protein and also starting to cycle my creatine. Tommorrow morning, the adventure begins. I'm really going to try and push myself to go to sleep at reasonable times during the week so that I can wake up and workout before I goto work. It's actually harder than you think when you spend 8 months being up until 4 in the morning partyin in the frat house (hard life, I kno
cool.gif
).

So hoping to get in for tommorrow:

Incline Bench
Pendlay Rows
Squats
Dumbell Overhead Press

With some abs/calves with the time I have left.

Doing 30 rep cluster sets, at 65% of my one-rep max, and Max-Stim on Incline and Rows. I don't really see it being feasible on the other two, as I'm not looking for a bicep workout picking up the dumbells between every rep on the overheads.
 
<div>
(liegelord @ Apr. 24 2007,00:29)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I would drop the upright row and do power cleans instead. You also have no OH press.</div>
Power Cleans take some practice. I definitely learned that this past cycle. I may give them another go in the summer. Rows and Chins are great easy compound exercises that hit your arms and upper back!

As long as you have deadlifts, your routine is fine in my book...
 
WORKOUT #1

Well things worked out pretty close to as planned. I can't believe I am waking up an hour later than I was usually going to sleep a week ago. Anywho, I was really impressed to the difficulty these light weights were, especially the incline bench. I can tell using Max-Stim is going to take some getting used to, I almost felt like I was pissing off the early bird guy by clanking the weights on the re-racks every few seconds lol.

@ 65%
Incline Bench 125 x 10 x 10 x 7 x 3
Pendlay Rows 120 x 10 x 10 x 10
Squats 160 x 15 x 10 x 5
Dumbell OH 40 x 10 x 10 x 10

Ran out of time for abs/calves... but overall a really good, crisp workout. It was great being back in the gym for the first time in 11 days. Does anybody have any links to videos or pics to Pendlay Rows? I read an article on them but had to use my imagination as to what it looked like. I'm going to do Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday this week, and then get back on track for M - W - F next week.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">an out of time for abs/calves... but overall a really good, crisp workout. It was great being back in the gym for the first time in 11 days. Does anybody have any links to videos or pics to Pendlay Rows? </div>

I did a quick search on google and found this short youtube example...

pendlay rows

I can see how they can be great for Max-Stim.
 
WORKOUT #2

Dips 45 x 10, 10, 10 (Max-Stim)
Chins 30 x 5, 5, 5, 10, 5 (Had to take weight off after first 15)
Deadlifts 145 x 10, 10, 8, 2 (Max-Stim)
Upright Rows 75 x 10, 10, 10

HARD WORKOUT!! The dips and chins were a lot harder than I thought they would be... especially the chins. I think I need to start off w/ no weight, even though my max says otherwise. I felt burnt out after only doing 15, so I don't see myself doing those with successfully adding weight already. Overall though everything went well but this was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I don't know if it was from being a little tired or what. Anywho, back to workout A on Saturday, then next week I should be back on track for M-W-F.
 
Yeah, weighted chins on 15's are rather hard, do them with BW and progress with weights from 10's, 15's is not a growth zone anyway!

Or are trying to do 3 x 10's but rather clustered to get there? Seems like it, just drop the weight a litlle, did you calculate the weight for the RM's or checked it by doing?
 
Fausto,

I am doing clustered 30 reps, and started at 65% of my 1RM for the lifts. Every two weeks I planned on dropping 5 reps to make up for the increased weight.
 
WORKOUT #4 (No 3
sad.gif
)

Alright folks, so I made a boo boo and skipped a workout
rock.gif
but considering it was my birthday weekend I figure I will let it slide. No worries though, I hate missing them as much as anybody else. So.. I am back on M-W-F for this week and had my best workout yet today. Everything went exactly as planned, I got a great pump, had a lot of energy since I made myself go to sleep early, and my pops even started hitting the gym with me. I will have him pumping some HST in no time.

Dips BW + 47.5 x 10, 10, 10
Chins BW + 10 x 5, 10, 7, 5, 3
Deadlifts 150 x 10, 10, 9, 1
Upright Rows 75 x 10, 10, 10

DL&quot;s made me want to puke! Pretty nasty considering the light weight. Again, did Max-Stim on the dips and deadlifts. I am looking forward to a great week. I loaded my creatine more or less successfully. It was somewhat difficult getting adjusted to the new job and trying to keep up with it. Anywho, sorry to be MIA for a few days but I will see everyone around.
 
Workout #5

@ 71%

Incline Bench 135 x 10, 10, 10 (Last 10 Max-Stim)
Dumbell OH 40 x 10, 10, 10
Pendlays 125 x 10, 10, 10 (Max-Stim)
Squats 175 x 10, 10, 10

Weights took a big jump for me today. When I missed that #3 workout, I decided that instead of using the weights I would have used for then, I would act as if I already did. So this is the first time I've done my &quot;A&quot; workout since Workout #1... which meant a pretty big jump in some of the lifts. Fine by me, since I'd rather be on track anyways.

I sure was heaving today though.. not so much from the weights being too hard but just seems like I need to get a little bit of cardio in. I have trouble enough putting on weight so I don't know how much I should really do.

Lastly, and I'm looking to some suggestions... When I designed this workout, I had it setup so that on the last workouts of A and B, I will be cluster repping my previous 1RM 20 times. My question is, does this seem feasible? I was thinking about it, as I really do not want to burn out completely 3/4ths of the way into this cycle.
 
Workout #6

Dips BW + 50 x 10, 10, 10 (Max-Stim)
Chins BW + 15 x 10, 10, 10 (Last two sets Max-Stim)
Upright Rows 80 x 10, 10, 10
Deadlifts 160 x 10, 10, 5, 5 (Max-Stim)

Done with the first two weeks, yaaaa! Anyways, I'm still trying to decide how much I want to decrease the rep total for the next two weeks. 30 is starting to get really, really hard. Not that I'm up for the challenge, but one exercise will burn me out for the entire workout if I keep that rep total up going towards 80%. I did a really good job this week of pounding in the protein. Ate a lot of chicken, fish, and averaged 3 shakes a day.
 
WORKOUT #7

@ 74%

Incline Bench: 145 x 8, 6, 5, 1
Dumbell OH: 45 x 10, 10
Pendlays: 135 x 8, 6, 6
Squats: 185 x 8, 6, 6

Felt a little sluggish going in today (had a heck of a weekend). I decided after reading some discussions by Sci to lower my rep total to 20 for the next two weeks. Then for the last four I will try to stay at 15 until the end of the cycle. Sounds low, but vanilla HST only calls for 3x5 which is 15 total. This is the one area I want to play by ear while keeping all else the same. The workout setup seems to be perfect. I loved the squats today.. my legs really got a huge pump. I am really going to try and eat like a horse all week and see if I can pack on a pound or two this week. I have a goal of gaining 20 over the summer, so we'll see.
 
WORKOUT #8

@ 74%

Dips BW + 50 x 10, 10
Chins BW + 20 x 10, 10
Rows 85 x 10, 10
DL 165 x 8, 6, 6

I decided to do DL's first today so I could really get a lot of energy into them. My legs are my current weak point as I haven't trained them regularly since high school weightlifting oh... 2-3 years ago. I think dropping the reps down to 20 from 30 was a great call... it seems this new threshold of weights is at a level where I would be overtraining if I tried to stay at 30.

I am also trying a variation of MS, though I'm sure I'm not the first. I am repping out what I can normally, then after I start to fatigue... using MS to keep going. As you can see, I am stopping at 10 if I get there to somewhat simulate the &quot;10's period&quot; which is where I would be at right now with a vanilla cycle. At the end of next week I'll post some pics to update... but as of now I have gained a semi regular 5-7 pounds. I've weighed in the morning and at night. Not too excited as it's probably a lot to do with the creatine but I am not stopping until I get another 15.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top