Long time no write. Since last time, I moved, I now go to a new gym, and I completely changed my program.
The move
I did take a 1 week full break from the gym. I moved from the city to the suburb. It’s calm, peaceful, and I was suspecting that my previous apartment mold problems was impacting my health. So it’s all good, except that I’m still in the painting/arranging/unpacking process, so I’m pretty busy.
Transportation isn’t too bad, 15 minutes more, every morning and evening. I gives me time to read M&F et Ironman Magazine. Ok, I know there’s a lot of detractors out there, but for my defense, I’m a reader, not a blind believer.
I also found a nice bio/eco/trendy grocery store close to my new home. They sell plenty of quality unprocessed healthy food, but it’s a little bit pricey. I still have to find a good butcher with lean ground horse.
The New Gym
The new gym isn’t as good as the old one. The old one was the size of the eastern warehouse of a national company. The new one is more like a bunker. They don’t have all the equipment I learned to love. That means no hack squat, no vertical press, no master blaster, no preacher curl station, no spinning bike… but they’ve got the essentials: dumbbells, barbells, cables, dips bars and a squat rack. Plus it’s 66% the price of the old gym. Anyway, I’ve got to get used to it, it’s the only decent one around.
The New Routine
The back specialization routine I was doing did good and I improved my V-taper and my traps a lot. But I nearly stopped progressing in the last 2 weeks, and I have to admit I was quite bored of it.
My new objective is to fix my upper chest, increase my delts and my quads size.
I go for the pump and the intensity. This means almost full range of movement but stopping short of articulation lock, 45 seconds pause, and drop sets or negative on the last set. I keep every rep slow (1/0/2 or 1/0.5/2). I also give a try to giant sets for arms for the next 2 weeks, to see how it goes. I aim for 10 reps, but might end up doing 8 or 12 depending on how my muscle reacts.
The routine goes as follow.
Monday: Chest and Back. Incline Press, Dumbell lightly-inclined Press, Dumbell Flat Flies, Deadlift, Lat pulldown, Seated rows, Dumbbell row.
Tuesday: Shoulders. Standing Barbell Press, Seated Dumbbell Press, Dumbbell Lat Raise, Barbell or Cable Front Raise, Dumbbell Rear Raise.
Thursday: Legs. Parallel Front Squat, Full Squat or Leg Press, Leg Extension, SLDL, Leg Curl, Standing Calf Raise, Seated Calf Raise.
Friday: Arms. Giant set of Overhead Barbell Extension, Skull Crushers, Tricep Pulldown, Upright Dips. Giant set of Incline Dumbbell Curl, Standing Barbell Curl, Seated Half Barbell Curl, Preacher Curl.
As for supplements, I stick to the same, as it seems to work well:
- Morning: 1 protein shake with oats, greens powder and a banana. Multivitamins.
- Pre-workout: 1 protein shake with oats, 1 caffeine pill.
- Post-workout: 4 scoops of Cyto-Gainer (contains glutamine and creatine, ~450cals, 80g of carbs, 40g of protein)
- Bedtime: 100g of CC and 1 scoop of protein with almonds, ZMA, glutamine.
Upcoming
I will run this new routine for the next 8 weeks and see how it goes. There will be a 2 week intermission for my vacation, at the end of July, where I’ll "go south", so to speak, and visit Virginia. I’ll try to stick to a bodyweight routine for maintenance, but it will most likely be hard on the willpower.
After that, I might reduce the intensity of my workouts and progressively incorporate cardio, for a little 2-4 week maintenance break, and pump up the intensity again. We’ll see…
3 day split of Chest+Back, Arms+Shoulders, Legs. I bought resistance bands at a local shop after seeing a routine in my girlfriend’s Oxygen. Ok, it’s definitely not iron, but it’ll do for two weeks.
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