Casey's Training Log
 

The Program

Strength I
Foam Rolling / Dynamic Stretching
Back Squat: 1-5RM
Bench Press: 1-5RM
Chin-Ups: 20+ Reps
Weighted Abs
C2 Row Machine

Strength II
Foam Rolling / Dynamic Stretching
Deadlift: 1-5RM
Split Jerk: 1-5RM
DB Rows: 3-4 x 5
Weighted Abs
C2 Row Machine

Completely Off

Chest / Triceps
Foam Rolling / Dynamic Stretching
Incline Bench Press: 5 x 5
DB Decline Bench Press: 3-4 x 8-15
DB Flyes or Machine Flyes: 3-4 x 8-15
DB Floor Press: 1-2 x 15-20
Tricep Pushdowns: 1-2 x 15-20
Stationary Bike

Back / Biceps
Foam Rolling / Dynamic Stretching
Rack Pulls: 5 x 5
T-Bar Rows: 3-4 x 8-15
V-Bar Pulldowns: 3-4 x 8-15
Cable Rows: 1-2 x 15-20
DB Shrugs: 1-2 x 15-20
Preacher Curls: 3-4 x 8-15
Zottmann Curls: 1-2 x 15-20
Abs
Stationary Bike

Legs / Shoulders
Foam Rolling / Dynamic Stretching
Front Squats: 5 x 5
Manual GHR's: 3-4 x 8-15
Leg Curls: 1-2 x 15-20
Calve Raises: 1-2 x 15-20
Seated Military Press: 3-4 x 8-15
Arnold Presses: 1-2 x 15-20
Lateral Raises: 1-2 x 15-20
Stationary Bike

Completely Off

Your program looks weird. I dunno why you'd do heavy squats and deads back to back. Where did you find this program?

^^^ I agree. There would be no way to recover. It's not a very good plan.

It's a program that goes by feel, I won't necessarily hit a personal record or attempt to hit a personal record every strength day. I should rephrase my outline to heavy weight / low reps during the first two workouts, and low weight / high reps during the last three workouts.

I've been lifting for six or so years now and I feel that I know my body well enough to attempt this type of program. I actually took it from natural bodybuilder Layne Norton, except I'm using a lot less volume because of my powerlifting background. I'm in the process of cutting so I'm not going out every week trying to smash PR's but a few will definately come my way.

Goodluck with this and I hope you get some good results.

November 10, 2009
 

Strength Day

Weight: 230 lbs

Foam Rolling / Dynamic Warm-Up

Deadlifts
135 x 5
135 x 5
225 x 3
Add Belt
315 x 1
315 x 1
405 x 1
425 x 1
495 x 1 -- PR (No Hitch)

Split Jerks
45 x 5
45 x 5
135 x 3
135 x 3
Add Belt
185 x 1
205 x 1
225 x 0
225 x 1

DB Rows
65 x 5 (per side)
65 x 5 (per side)
75 x 5 (per side)

Weighted Decline Sit-Ups
10 x 10
10 x 10
10 x 10

500 m Row

Dynamic Cool-Down

Thanks man just cutting back down to the 190's. Last year I competed in the 181's and shot quickly up to 220, my college changed the food company they used so I guess that was partly it. Working my way down to the 190's and then getting back to Westside Training.

Best of luck. You're not going to be making optimal gains and you'll be wasting a lot of time and effort, but you should still make some progress. I just don't understand why you wouldn't do something better.

November 10, 2009
 

Meal 1
1 serving of ground beef
1 serving of Italian sausage
1 serving of fruit
1 serving of green tea

Meal 2
1 serving of ground beef
1 serving of Italian sausage
1 serving of green tea

Pre-Workout Shake
½ scoop of whey
2 servings of fish oil

Intra-Workout Shake
3 scoops of bcaa’s
1 scoop of taurine

Post-Workout Shake
1 scoop of whey
1 cup of chocolate milk
1 serving of red machine naked juice
1 scoop of creatine
1 scoop of taurine

Meal 3
1 serving of ground beef
1 serving of Italian sausage
1 serving of fruit
1 diet coke

Meal 4
1 serving of ground beef
1 serving of Italian sausage
1 cup of 1% milk

Before Bed Shake
1 scoop of casein
2 cups of 1% milk
2 servings of fish oil

So your trying to drop 30lbs . When is your meet ?

It's going to be hard to keep your numbers climbing while dropping weight , espically with this much training and not that much recovery time.

What is your total calorie intake ?

Whose to say I'll be wasting time? The program is geared more towards muscular hypertrophy, rather than strength gains. The function of the two strength days isn't to gain, but rather maintain or limit the loss of the strength you've acquired while trying to increase muscular endurance, hypertrophy, etc. I know it's not optimal to either strength or hypertophy, but this is simply a means for me to cut down permanently to a lower weight class while maintaining strength and then follow traditional Westside principles and continue on my path.

I don't have a meet coming up until mid January, this really isn't to do a quick cut for a meet. I'm trying to keep this fat off that I've accumulated going from 180 lbs - 230 lbs. I'm going to work my way down to somewhere in the low-mid 190's and compete in the 198 lbs class, then eventually work my way SLOWLY back up to the 220's.

Having two high intensity strength days back to back is just going to accrue CNS fatigue faster. At the very least you'd want to spread those two out. Why back squat and then deadlift on consecutive days? That's a very poor idea. You're also doing a couple of additional back movements on both days. There is soooo much volume on your hypertrophy days. If you give a decent effort in the gym, you'll burn out in a couple of weeks. It's possible that you're a freak of nature that the laws of physiology don't apply to, and you'll do really well. You're trying to reinvent the wheel by coming up with a totally unconventional workout. There is no way that you're going follow this program to a "T" and have optimal gains. It will have to be modified a lot...even if you ignore me now, you'll end up making changes later because it's not a good routine. You'd be better off IMO to start with something realistic.

Also, you're not going to be packing on muscle when you're cutting. It's just not going to happen. Even if you go slow. So why are you doing a "hypertrophy" workout when you could do something more standard? Keep the compound lifts high intensity, plenty of volume on your accessory stuff, have a caloric deficit, and add some cardio. That makes a LOT more sense. To me at least. Maybe you can explain why your plan is better...?

You could even loosely follow the westside template.

I have such poor muscular endurance, from training the past three years never going past five reps in a set, that the weight I can handle on my "hypertrophy" days is laughable at best, which is why I probably don't burn out.

For example:
Back Squat 1RM ~ 500 lbs, past parallel
...I can only Back Squat 135 x 10-12, 225 x 5-8

Let me try to explain it a little better, by giving some background of my training. I started my first few years off with standard training regimens; Starting Strength, 5 x 5, etc.

I moved onto learning Westside principles and began to follow their training. However I always noticed my muscular endurance was shit, so even on repetition days I'd follow more closely to an 8x2 or 10x2 set/rep scheme, rather than traditional hypertrophy. I've learned that while trying to cut I make shit gains on Westside simply because I cannot "max-out" twice a week.

I've also learned that I'm a "deadlift more" lifter. I know that most people, especially when they starting moving some weight on deadlifts benefit from pulling once every other week, sometimes only once a month. This is not the case for me.

I simply can't do cardio, both because of a pre-existing injury (patellofemoral syndrome) that severely limits the cardio I can do and out of sheer boredom. This is why I see the "hypertrophy" workouts as a way to burn calories and also build up my dismal muscular endurance. I'm also a strong believer in being able to put on muscle while cutting, especially because I have alot of fat ~18% on me, I feel that I can successfully recomp because I'm cutting at such a slow rate.

Here's an example of what my week will look like:
Tuesday - Strength Workout 1-5RM, NEAR MAX
Wednesday - Strength Workout 75-85%RM region, NOT A MAX
Thursday - Off
Friday - Higher Rep Work
Saturday - Higher Rep Work
Sunday - Higher Rep Work
Monday - Off
Tuesday - Off
Wednesday - Repeat

I forgot the most important part, because of the high workload and high demand on my CNS I'll be taking a de-load every 4-5 weeks.

I don't think you can blame not doing cardio on a injury. If you can workout you can do cardio. Walking is still cardio and I beleive not matter what you should always do cardio ( even if your trying to gain weight ). As for it being boaring , just find something that isin't.

I'm with Ross on this. What you do could progress on this, then it's fine. But do I think it distributes fatigue correctly? No.

I've actually just recently been cleared to do all cardio besides weighted cardio (farmer's walks, sled dragging) and running, so I may adjust my program into more of a typical three day full-body schedule with cardio on 2-3 of the off days.

You got any videos of your training?

just superset everything....takes out the need for cardio. plenty of energy system/metabolic training stuff out there.....especially on a deficit...screw cardio :)

Yeah I have a video of a 405, 425, and 455 squat, a 315 + 140 lbs. of bands squat, a 455 deadlift, and a 225 split jerk

^^^ Can we be privy to them :)

I'm also curious to see the vids.

As far as your training, I don't think I could do heavy squats and DLs back to back with any sort of success. Hell, I can hardly do a heavy upper right next to a heavy lower day without something being affected negatively. But I mean if you really are putting up numbers like you say you are then you obviously have been doing something that has been working for your body.

IW

This sounds like a much better plan.

Sure, I'm not sure how to embed but I'll upload them to youtube and you can see them.

Here's the link to my youtube page, I've just uploaded a few of the videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/lionsrugby12

By the way I know in the Box Squats w/ Blue Bands video that the bands go slack at the bottom. It was my first time experimenting with bands and I didn't use a large enough tensor at the bottom.

Just in case you guys were curious I'll include my totals...my upper body is quite weak compared to my lower body. Actually just a few months ago I finally broke the 225 bench plateau but now it seems to be moving quickly.

Raw
Squat - 490
Bench - 255
Deadlift - 495

Gear
Squat - 585
Deadlift - 405 -- haha I need to figure this one out
Bench - N/A

I also just noticed the 455 looks really sketchy form wise, the video was taken a few months ago and at that point that was my max. I uploaded a video of 315 x 15 to show what my form generally looks like. I didn't even notice how bad I was straight legging it in the 455 vid.

on the 315 x 15 vid...most of the reps it doesn't look like you're finishing with your hips. squeeze them glutes and get all the way through.

Despite some slight form issues thats some very strong lifting overall. I'm impressed!

IW

I'd love some form critique, I've always prided myself on my form, but I understand that my form breaks down on my PR attempts slightly which I'm trying to rectify.

Squat
- I notice I might have a slight lean forward on heavier sets
- Also although I don't see my knees cave in, I'm not actively pushing them out on heavier sets but I'm really trying to force this.

Deadlift
- Obviously pulling pretty SL there

...any others?

Also what do you guys think about this schedule...more traditional full body workout, mimics one of my old rugby programs with some variation.

Monday
Back Squat
Bench Press
Manual GHR's
T-Bar Rows
Single Arm Shoulder Press
Weighted Abs

Tuesday
Elliptical 20-30 Minutes

Wednesday
Power Cleans
Split Jerks
Chin-Ups
Overhead Kettlebell Squats

Thursday
Stationary Bike 20-30 Minutes

Friday
Deadlifts
Floor Press
Lunges
DB Rows
Seated Military Press
Weighted Abs

Saturday
C2 Row Machine HIIT

Sunday
Completely Off

Looks a lot better.

^^Yeah.

I would shift some of the volume on Monday over to Wednesday, and switch deadlifts and squats. It depends on your priorities (whether you want to work on your squat or your deadlift) but deads get the short end of the stick by being put on friday.

I would even be tempted to do a 3 day Lower/Upper/Full Body.

I was talking mostly about the deadlift when I said form issues and I really did mean minor. You SL'ed that pull slightly but being that it was a PR pull you can't expect it to be perfect. Something to focus on though. Also looking at your 315x15 it looks like you've got a pretty good handle on the DL but Pity is right when he says squeeze the glutes at the top. Well, they should really be activated throughout the entire pull.

The squat looked pretty damn solid to me. I couldn't tell if it was paralell or not cause the rack kind of got in the way but it was damn close if it wasn't.

I don't know much about split jerks so I can't help you there.

IW

I'm with Kane on the layout of the plan. If you had to workout 3 days a week, I'd go with something more basic like:

Monday:
Deadlifts
Grip Training
Core Training
I'd keep it simple on this day because you'd try to work around 85-95% of your max for multiple sets (more than 5-6 work sets) and with the 5 minute rest intervals you'd need it would take up quite some time. Follow that with some grip work and core work and you're good to go.

Wednesday:
Bench Press
Military Press
Pull-ups
Dumbbell Rows
Cable Rows
Tricep extensions

Friday:
Front Squats
Back Squats
Glute Ham Raises
Some more rowing
Core Training

You'd rotate exercises in and out...so you could do this for 3-4 weeks and then change the set-rep scheme or switch out front squats for front box squats or back squats for box squats, etc...But you'd be trying to do different types of sets each time...for example, this is hoow your workout could look...I'm using different colors for each week:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4

Monday:
Deadlifts:
415 x 2 x 3
415 x 3 x 3
415 x 3, 425 x 3
425 x 3 x 2

Wednesday:
Bench Press
225 x 5 x 2, 205 x 3 x 3
225 x 5 x 3, 205 x 5 x 2
225 x 5, 235 x 5, 245 x 2, 205 x 5 x 2
235 x 3, 245 x 3, 255 x 2, 205 x 5

Friday:
Front Squats
255 x 3 x 5, 275 x 2
255 x 3, 265 x 3, 275 x 3, 255 x 3
275 x 3 x 2, 255 x 3 x 3
255 x 3, 275 x 3, 295 x 2, 300 x 1
Back Squats
365 x 3 x 3, 385 x 1
365 x 3 x 5, 385 x 2
375 x 3 x 3, 385 x 3
375 x 3, 385 x 3, 405 x 2

You don't need to focus on the numbers themselves but look at the trend thats being established.

Take Deadlifts for example: you work in the 415-425 range for 4 weeks knocking out a whole bunch of reps thereby establishing a safety point: after this, 415-425 is an easy lift for you even on a bad day. Now, this becomes your base for future planning and programming. The same goes with Back Squats on Friday. You start by drilling in 365 and then work your way up so that at some point 405 is an easy max.

I just used these numbers arbitrarily..they aren't set in stone and you don't need to base anything off them entirely. I meant to use your 88-90% 1RM for Deadlifts and like 80-85% for Squats....so if you need to go about selecting a foothold this would be how.

And I am also very impressed with your strength.

Thanks for all the help guys, I figure I'm going to set my training up like this:

Monday
Deadlifts
Floor Press
Grip Training
Core Training

Wednesday
Split Jerks
Chin-Ups
Overhead Kettlebell Squats

Friday
Back Squats
Bench Press
Rows
Core Training

You guys are right about the deadlifts, I feel like I'll progress pretty quickly to mid-upper 500's, so I might as well milk it now. It seems like everytime I finally conquer a new plate I progress pretty quickly up until I get near another plate. The reason for bench pressing so late in the week is I can never stay tight or keep an arch after I deadlift.

Looks good now.