2008 Transformation Contest

As the contest nears officially starting, I have finally worked all of the kinks out of my workout plan for the 13 week duration. I will be following Scivation’s High Reps To Hugeness workout plan, which is a high rep plan geared towards gaining and defining your physique even while dieting.

Some key high-lights of the program are explained below:

- Cardio is performed each day following weight training. For at least the first 8 weeks of the contest I will be strictly following the prescribed cardio plan of lower intensity extended duration. I will be aiming for right at 130 beats per minute, using mainly incline treadmill or very light jogging to achieve this. I may add in extra frequency at any time, but not neccesarily more intensity. I’m going to truly put the notion of Low Intensity Cardio for High Intensity Fat Loss to the test. If I reach any sticking points then, and only then, will you see the usage of High Intensity Interval Training.

- Each workout uses 2 sets of 15 repititions. If I cannot complete all 15 reps I will use a rest-pause fashion and take 4-5 reps and grind out the rest. Once I can finish both sets using a weight, the weight will increase.

- Both abs and calves are hit at each and every lifting session. Since the calves get ‘work’ everyday just by being mobile beings, I feel that they require extra stimulation to just really force growth and definition upon them. Up until now I’ve been doing 3 sets of 15. Get ready though, because for the 13 weeks of the contest I will be hitting calves 5x per week at 3 sets of 25. Referenced below in the ‘workout listing’ are some of the exercises I’ll use to really bring my calves to a new level. In regards to abs, despite the fact that my abs are not visible I will not ignore them. I treat them as any other muscle group. However, since they are also used for everyday lift I will train them frequently to strength them. This is more for the purpose of increasing core strength and stability than ‘getting rock hard abs’, but more on the exercises which will be used for abs in the ‘workout listing’ below.

- A few of the exercises listed in the link provided above tend to aggravate my old AC joint injury, so they will be substitued out, but rest assured all of the big compound movements remain in place.

The ‘Workout Listing’:

Day 1 - Chest
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
Isolateral Bench Press
Barbell Bench Press
Machine Flyes
Rack Pushups (Pushups off of the 2nd/3rd notch of the squat rack)

Day 2 - Back
Deadlift
Lat Pulldown
Seated Cable Rows
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown
Single Dumbbell Rows

Day 3 - Legs
Leg Extensions
Squats
Leg Press
Seated Leg Curls
Hack Squats
Dumbbell Step Ups

Day 4 - Shoulders
Machine Military Press
Machine Shrugs
Dumbbell Shrugs
Seated Lateral Raises
Alternating Front Raises
Rear Delt Raise Machine

Day 5 - Arms
EZ-Bar Curls
Preacher Curls
Skullcrushers
Assisted Dips
Rope Pulley Hammer Curls
Machine Overhead Tricep Extension

Options for Calves:
Seated Calf Raises
Leg Press Sled Calf Raises
Donkey Calf Raises

Options for Abs:
Hanging Leg Raises
Planks
Crunches
Weighted Ab Machine
Crunch Machine from Hell

Thanks for reading, it is going to be a wild ride my friends!

Josh/Stonecoldtruth