What should I do now?

[kurtjohnson]

Over the summer I did Bill Star's 5x5 Power Routine and I made some great gains, but now school has started and I no longer workout out at a gym, so I don't have a bunch of time. I have 2 periods of weight lifting with approx. 30 mins for each class. Any suggestions on what workout I should be on? I was thinking maybe do the 5x5 again, but split it up between both periods. I have weight lifting 2nd period and then I have it 4th period so i have around an hour or so between workouts and I also eat between workouts. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I am also trying to bulk up right now so that might also help you guys in determining what would best fit me at this time. When I started bulking I weighed around 165ish and Now i weigh 175ish, how heavy should i get before cutting? this is all new to me, i have never bulked b4 so i dont really know what im doing. i drink around 9-12 cups of milk monday-friday which is around 1/2 gallon to 3/4 gallon of milk and is around 1350-1800 calories, i also try and eat a hunking peanut butter sandwhich once a day which would probably be around 600+ calories and then i eat my regular meals. Im 17, 5'9" 170-175ish and you can see my stats in my sig. and if you guys want to see some pictures just let me know, idk if they would help you or not. but yeah any help or feedback would be great! thanks yall

[Darkhorse]

Lol, got your pm.

I have 2 periods of weight lifting with approx. 30 mins for each class. Any suggestions on what workout I should be on?

Damn, I know you don't have any control of your school schedule so that sucks! However, your cloud does have a silver lining IMO. Here's my suggestion. You're wanting to continue building muscle (as do we all), so I'm NOT inclined to give you some bullshit 4 day split so don't worry.

This can work for you. Do an UPPER/LOWER split, four days a week. I recommend doing 2-3 compound exercises per every 30 minute workout for you. Including all your warmups, worksets, and the possible 5 minute wait holding your dick in your hands waiting for your turn with a bench, 30 minutes is just enough.

You have a terrific foundation to build off of. Instead of wasting your time with a 4-6 day split, you've been focusing on progressing with your compound only, full body workouts. Here's the next step:

I'm LOOSELY following FI's hypertrophy routine since it's one of the better upper/lower split routines that is structured with a linnear periodizational model..Which is terrific for mass gain.

Here's the exercises that you're gonna do (per each session).

DAY ONE- Upper

(1st 30 minute workout) Chest/Shoulders/Triceps

- Flat Bench Press
- Standing Overhead Press (Strict! No leg drive)
- Skullcrushers (or another form of triceps extensions)

(2nd 30 minute workout) Back/Biceps

- Pulldowns
- Pendlay Rows
- Barbell Curls

DAY TWO- Lower

(1st 30 minute workout) Quads/Calves

- Front Squats
- Leg Extensions
- Calves

(2nd 30 minute workout) Hamstrings/Lower Back/Abs

- Deadlifts
- Pullthroughs
- Heavy Abs (whatever you want, weighted)

DAY 3 OFF

DAY FOUR- Upper

(1st 30 minute workout) Chest/Shoulders/Triceps

- Incline Bench
- Seated DB Shoulder Press
- Rolling DB Triceps Extensions (or suitable replacement)

(2nd 30 minute workout) Back/Biceps

- Weighted Pullups
- Cable Rows (or suitable replacement, DB rows, cables, ect)
- Incline Curls (or suitable replacement)

DAY FIVE- Lower

(1st 30 minute workout) Quads/Calves

- Olympic Squats (yep, ass to the grass)
- China Squats (unless you don't have a smith machine)
- Calves

(2nd 30 minute workout) Hamstrings/Lower Back/Abs

- SLDL (standing on 45 lb plates)
- Power Shrugs (bend slightly forward, then drive shoulders up)
- Heavy Abs

* China Squats are usually done in the smith machine. You put your feet very close together and start off ass to the grass. Use light weight BTW . All you're gonna do is go from sitting on your calves to 1/2 - 3/4 of the way up, then back down again. You do this exercise VERY slowly!! Quad burner for sure!! If you don't have a smith machine, use DB's.

* Power Shrugs are the same as a regular shrug, but you're gonna let the bar go lower as you bend forward more before driving the weight up. It's basically using more lower back, and you'll be able to use a lot more weight.

=================================

Week 1: 3x12
Week 2: 3x10
Week 3: 3x8
Week 4: 4x6
Week 5: 5x5
Week 6: 6x4

* Will do these reps on all lifts.
* Will repeat the cycle after you finish the 6th week.

Upper
Lower
Off
Upper
Lower
Off
Off

Now i weigh 175ish, how heavy should i get before cutting?

Don't bring up cutting until your above 200 lbs IMO. Reason being, if you go on a cut from hell weighing a tender 180 lbs, you'll come out at a stellar 150 lbs and look like John Basedow...Which noone should want to look like. (in my opinion). Basically, you cannot cut without a significant amount of muscle to showcase. Oftentimes cutting is catabolic too, especially for someone new to cutting, so account for 'some' muscle loss as well.

[Darkhorse]

Also, for your BICEPS/TRICEPS/CALVES exercises...

Keep them at 10-15 reps per set! Those weekly progressions are for everything else! My suggestion is to keep those muscles at a much higher rep range compared to everything else for a million reasons.

[kurtjohnson]

Ummm... I probably should have mentioned this in my initial post, we are only in the weight room Mon, Wed, and Fri. Tues and Thurs we do cardio so is there any way to critique this or any other workout that would fit into my schedule. Sorry 0311 for not being more specific on my how many days I have to hit the weights. I appreciate the time you put into your post though. 200lbs!!! Dang I'm going to be soo fat! 5'9" 200lbs! Man I'm going to be self-concious walking around with that bagage, but hey if that's what I need to do to grow, then so be it. 200lbs just seems huge. I've never weighed that much before. Hope I can get the weight off and not have stretch marks.

[Darkhorse]

Well then I'd stick to the full body, doing upper in the morning, lower in the afternoon. Simple.

200 lbs really isn't a lot. You won't get fat unless you don't eat right. I got up to 262 and I was far from being fat. Trust me, the last thing you need is to cut. A 150 lb person would look like a strong gust of wind could knock them over.

If you were to cut and shred off another 15-20 lbs I guarantee you if you ask 100 people if you were a weightlifter or a marathon runner, 80% would say you were heavy into track and field.

[kurtjohnson]

So the full body workout being Bill stars 5x5 or doing something more like 2nd per mon and fri a2g squats, 4th per mon and frid bench press. and wed 2nd per deadlifts and 4th per powercleans? and if i have time i would do auxillary lifts also like pullups, dips, pulldowns. rows, etc using wut rep scheme? maybe the one u posted earlier?

Week 1: 3x12
Week 2: 3x10
Week 3: 3x8
Week 4: 4x6
Week 5: 5x5
Week 6: 6x4

[Eric3237]

Originally Posted by Kurt

So the full body workout being Bill stars 5x5 or doing something more like 2nd per mon and fri a2g squats, 4th per mon and frid bench press. and wed 2nd per deadlifts and 4th per powercleans? and if i have time i would do auxillary lifts also like pullups, dips, pulldowns. rows, etc using wut rep scheme? maybe the one u posted earlier?

No point. No point at all. The Bill Starr 5x5 worked for you. You put weight on the big lifts. You have three days and I can think of no magical ways of separating or making a special routine for tow 30 minute sessions.

Why do one week of one rep range and as soon as you start loading the bar switch? Any type of periodization for the sake of periodization is pointless if you can progress through a simple and direct route...i.e. putting weight on the big exercises. So stick with 5x5. You can change things up how you'd like. You can put in some pullups (pullups are really a "core" exercise, not an auxilliary) or you could change a squat session to front squat or maybe a single leg variety, which is excellent for injury pre-hab. That, btw, is a good way to fill up any extra time. Rotator cuff work and shit like that. Don't "add" to the core routine.

You did say in your other thread that you had goals you wanted to reach in certain lifts.

[kurtjohnson]

OK well thanks for the advice Eric. Earlier today I decided to hit the 5x5 again, it's probably the best thing for me at this point. I do have some goals to meet for certain lifts and I intend on meeting them so Bill Star's 5x5 is what I'm going to use to help get me there. It kinda hit me that pullups are a compound movement once you pointed that out... Duh! Alrighty well thank you guys for your help and guidance.

[Eric3237]

Good choice. I'm impressed with that decision.

[kurtjohnson]

with my bulk how much weight should i gain in wut amount of time? if you look in my sig u can see my current progress, and another question. once i get to my goal weight which is going to be around200lbs how long should i stay at that weight b4 cutting down? or should i just start cutting as soon as i hit that weight?