mikschu’s BodyBlog

I gave up on barbell bench about 5 or 6 months ago and switched over to dumbbells.  Then I got really hardcore and decided to just do single arm dumbbell press.  I tried bilateral a few weeks ago and discovered that it was harder than unilateral!  So I thought maybe it would be best to alternate every set between bilateral and unilateral to ensure I’m not leaving anything out and get a good range of growth.  Anyway, I’ve been slowly working my way up the dumbbell rack and did 75’s 4 times the other week, not great but not too shabby.  Before I switched to dumbbells I probably couldn’t hit 205 on the bench.  The other day I was just messing around and decided "what the hell" and did a couple warm up sets before putting 205 on.  I pushed that sh@t off like it was nothing!  Well I only did it once but I might have been able to do another rep or 2.  And my chest is getting bigger!  So from dumbbells I have more size and strength than I ever got from barbell.

I’m only saying all of this because I remember reading an article once that said you have to do barbell bench to get a big strong chest.  The reasoning behind this was that because barbell bench allows you to lift a lot more weight than you could lift with dumbbells, your muscles will be stimulated to grow bigger than they would if you had used dumbbells.  So basically my own experience has proved that this theory is pure BULLSH@T!!!  I’m not saying barbell bench is bad, I just don’t think it’s as efficient as dumbbells.  If you’re a body builder, the dumbbells allow you to lift with much greater ROM, which means better growth, definition, size.

And I know some of you have made some great awesome chests with barbells, and you should continue to do that if it works for you.  All I’m saying is, dumbbells work better for me.  And if anyone reads this who is struggling on barbell bench, leave the bench and go to the dumbbell rack, you might be pleasantly surprised

It feels great to change, especially when you change to a BETTER program than the one you were on before!!!  So I eliminated a leg/core day and put one leg/core workout into every workout so every day is like a full body day but with different movements.  It allows for optimal upper body rest and helps boost the metabolism with having a leg work out on every day (should help growth too with release of more growth hormones.)

So I’ll break it down, it’s very simple, 3 days:
Day 1: Standing military press / wide pullup, rest, deadlift / weighted stability ball crunches, rest, repeat.

Day 2: Dumbbell flat bench press / bent over barbell row, rest, a variation of squat (lunges, single legs, front, etc.) / hanging weighted leg raises.

day 3: Close grip dumbbell press (incline or decline) / close grip chinups (or close grip bb row,) rest, over head squat / torso twists.

yay!  All compound movements, when I get up to 8 or 10 reps I’ll probably eliminate the rest in the middle and just do a giant cycle.  I’m on 6 reps right now so It’s a little too heavy to go straight through.  I’m also trying something very different, in addition to one long distance cardio day and one HIIT sprint day, I’m jogging to the park and doing various calisthenics (pullups, pushups, dips, anything I can think of) and sprints in between sets.  I figured it would help get rid of the fat a lot quicker and maybe even stimulate some new growth.  I don’t like the idea of staying inside the box of lifting in a set rep range, I want to be able to lift some heavy weight and get big but I don’t want to suck at pushups and everythign else, so I’m keeping those going.  If anything I think it should help with the weightlifting, and likewise the weight lifting will help me get better at pushups (and everything else.)

Kick ass at life!

I’ve been feeling extremely bloated lately due to eating around 4000 calories a day.  The high amount of carbs and fiber, especially from whole wheat, has me more gassy than fart factory (I don’t know what that is, don’t ask.)  Anyway, I’ve been noticing a little extra fat around my waist; the ab definition sucks and love handles are forming quite well.  I need to remedy this situation.  I thought about reducing calories or trying "carb-cycling," but after consulting my personal-trainer friend I decided that doing that would be counterproductive as it would just confuse my body.  What works best for me is consistency, so I will continue to just eat like a horse because if I limit myself then I have no energy.

So instead of cutting carbs I’m going to just throw in some more cardio sessions, as well as a "fun day."  I’m going to jog to the park about a half mile away from home and do about a half hour or so of constant movement: pushups, pullups, dips, situps, leg raises, sprints, jump squats, whatever…  I’ll keep moving while I’m resting so I can really keep a high heart rate the entire time, that should get some good fat burning going.

One day a week I’ll do just 20 minutes of cardio after a workout.  I’ll probably just warm up, stretch, then time myself for one mile.  That will give me a good goal to work on while I’m burning fat: improve my mile time.  That will make it a lot more fun than just running to burn fat.

I’m going to keep this up for about 2 or 3 weeks and see how I feel as far as recovery and energy goes.  I’m somewhat skeptical towards the whole thing right now because I could quickly see my overall recovery rate going down and energy sources being depleted as a result of increased cardio.  But on the other hand I think that if I just continue to eat enough food (especially carbs,) I should be alright.  In fact the extra cardio/calisthenics could even improve recovery, which would be great.  If not that then it could at least help break up the monotony and shock my system into new growth.

Constructive criticism is always welcome, but I’ll probably go through with this plan even if you tell me it’s a bad idea…  I know, learn from your mistakes, well I learn from MY mistakes, it helps me develop a program that’s specifically catered to ME.

I started the strength phase (4 reps) of my cycle yesterday.  I thought I’d do 4 reps for just one week for something different; I loved it so much that I’ll be sticking to it for at least 2 weeks.  I don’t care if the size gains aren’t that great from 4 reps but the mental clarity is absolutely priceless.  I loved the feeling while I was in it and had a huge endorphin rush that kept me high all morning.  I was able to go much bigger on everything.  I think it would be a good idea to stick with this for just a little while longer anyway.  Once I have more strength it will be easier to gain mass by the time I climb back up to 10 reps.  Technically, whatever the last weight was that I do on 4 reps should eventually be the 10 rep weight when I slowly climb back up there (I go through a 6 rep phase, an 8, and then 10.)

I did a giant cycle, had to split it up in the middle though.

Dumbbell bench: 70lbs, single arm: 70 lbs, 70 lbs, standard: 65, single arms,  65 lbs, 65 lbs.

Bent over bb row: 177, 177, 177, 177, 165, 165

standing military press: 125, 120, 115, 115, 105, 105

Pullups: 4 reps all sets.

So I’ve been cutting way back on running over the last month doing only one day a week, some weeks maybe I’ll do two days but never more than that.  Anyway as a result the weight lifting sessions have been much more energetic from an overall abundance of energy reserves, and I’ve been growing muscle mass much more easily.  I’m not a hard gainer by any standard; I used to be fat, but the way I lift automatically revs my metabolism up ridiculously, so running has to be minimal if I want to see gains.  I also eat all day long so that’s just fueling the metabolism.  Anyway back to the running!  So I’ve been taking a minimalist approach to running, and now I’m reaching for one long distance day and one HIIT day with sprints.  I did the long distance day yesterday morning up in the hills (it had been a couple weeks since I ran the hills) and I was still sore from an amazing leg workout I got on Tuesday.  I was scared because I felt really stiff and I thought I was going to crap out.  But instead, my running partner was having a hard time keeping up with me!!!  I know the gains I’m making in the gym are the sole reason for this.  I’ve been not only getting bigger and stronger but I’ve been growing some very intense mental strength and fortitude to push myself to the extreme.  I used the same mental techniques on the running as I use in the gym to will myself into doing more weight for more reps.  It’s so cool, I expected that becoming a bit more "musclebound" and doing less running and getting heavier would slow me down and make running harder; on the contrary I’m developing the "overall" package deal and getting better at everything.  Eating like a horse is helping as well, having a lot of energy will make everything easier.  Eat big, lift big… Run big?  I don’t know, but it’s working out that way!  When and IF I decide to do some cutting it should be really easy…  We’ll see how I feel about that, I’ve always felt cutting can be detrimental to everything and is just for show anyway.  I’ll decide when I get up to 220 lbs.  At this rate when I get up there it’s going to be mostly muscle gains, thanks to the running.  I’m gaining weight consistently but I’m not "balooning up" too quickly.  Good stuff…