My Jettisoned Ponderings

Thanks to Eric at LG Sciences for sponsoring a full Trifecta stack and adding in enough of their new product Receptor to add on top of that! I’m keeping a log, which can be found here: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?p=27230591

This routine is definitely going to be a rough, but I don’t think anything less is going to give me the results I’m looking for at this point. I need to split my workouts into two parts in order to hit everything I want to without dragging it all out in one prolonged session in the day. I’ll need the daytime to recover from the morning, too. Morning workouts will be on specific muscle groups, while the evenings will be more emphasis on three areas I want to hit a lot more: traps, abs, and calves. This routine is assembled based on some of my favorite exercises, an off season routine of Markus Ruhl’s, and incorporating some of the principles from Nutrex’s S.A.I.S. training program.

Morning Workouts:
Monday - Chest
Wide Grip Incline Smith Press - 3×10 (Warm Up), 5×6-8
Decline Chest Press Machine - 2×10 (Warm Up), 5×8-10
Peck Deck Fly Machine - 3×20-30 (Lighter for pump)

Tuesday - Back
Behind Head Lat Pulldowns - 3×15 (Warm Up)
Front Lat Pulldowns - 5×6-8
Parallel Grip T-Bar Row Machine - 2×10 (Warm Up), 5×8-10
Full Range Of Motion Seated Rows - 5×15-25
Lat Pullover Machine - 3×20-30 (Lighter for pump)

Wednesday - Arms
Preacher Curls - 2×10 (Warm Up), 4×6-8
Reverse Grip EZ Bar Curls - 1×10 (Warm up), 4×8-10
Cable Rope Hammer Curls - 4×15-30 (Lighter for pump)
Lying EZ Bar Tricep Ext. - 2×10 (Warm Up), 4×6-8
Reverse Grip Tricep Pushdown - 2×10 (Warm Up), 4×8-10
Parallel Bar Dips - 3×20-30

Thursday - Off

Friday - Upper Legs
Leg Press - 4×12 (Warm Up), 5×4-12
Hack Squats - 2×10 (Warm Up), 5×10-12
Machine Front Squats - 3×20 (Lighter for Pump)
Prone Leg Curls - 5×10-20

Saturday - Shoulders
Smith Front Presses - 3×15 (Warm Up), 5×6-15
DB Laterals (Chest down on incline bench) - 2×10 (Warm Up), 5×8-10
Seated DB Laterals - 5×10-12
Cable Upright Rows - 5×12-15

Sunday - Off

Evening Workouts:

Monday/Friday - Calves & Cardio
45 Degree Calf Raise Machine - 15x 10-15 reps
3 Warm Up sets, 10 Working Sets, 2 Pump Sets
Cardio - 15 minutes

Wednesday - Abs & Cardio
Weighted Crunches - 5×15-30
Weighted Reverse Crunches - 5×10-15
Cardio - 15 minutes

Tuesday/Thursday - Traps & Cardio
Dumbell or Smith Shrugs - 15×10-15
3 Warm Up sets, 10 Working Sets, 2 Pump Sets
Cardio - 15 Minutes

The past three weeks I’ve been increasing my intensity and taking a lot more sets to failure. I’m also lifting a bit heavier and lowering the reps on a few exercises. Right now I’m training four days a week and quite frankly, this isn’t cutting it for me. After brainstorming ideas of what to change, reviewing my past workout programs, reviewing what worked and didn’t work, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to split my workouts into morning and evening sessions. My problem now is that in order to sufficiently work all the muscles I want to, I’m limited by my morning schedule’s time constrait. I don’t care how many people or published articles say "Keep your workouts to less than 60 minutes". Flat out, that does not work for me at all. It never has. Additionally, when going heavier I’ll go well over an hour just factoring in sufficient recovery time between sets! As it stands right now I don’t have time to get in cardio (which I highly dislike, but know I need to start incorporating), nor do I have time to do as many warm up sets as I’d like before sets that I go heavier on. So with that, I’m assembling a new program based on rep ranges I’ve seen the best results with for each body part, a past off-season workout routine of Markus Ruhl’s, and the basic principles covered in Nutrex’s "S.A.I.S." training program. I’m going to be going back to lifting five days a week, each muscle group being worked once a week. This will allow me to spread out my training and really focus on those muscles for that time. It’s going to be hard and yeah, I’m going to be sore for a little while. To me though, it’s all worth it and I realy believe this is going to be the only way that I can truly get the results that I want and demand from myself.

After far too long, I’m finally cutting my ties to 24 Hour. After resigning I only kept a membership going because I couldn’t find another good gym around that that was affordable, not crowded all the time, had good equipment, etc. Well, I finally found one and I absolutely love it. It’s brand new, just opened their doors this week and I got a great deal on membership for myself, parents, and girlfriend. There is a lot of new equipment, and some that no other gym in the state has (Kinesis and Gravity). I’m going to start training there in the morning, so it’ll take a little adjustment to adapt my current program to the selection of equipment available, but it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I’ve also inquired about employment with them, so if I’m lucky something will pull through on that. Considering I have my degree in Massage Therapy (which will be an offered service), previous gym management experience, currently work in supplement retail, etc. and want to get my ACE and NCSF certs sometime this year, I’m hoping that’ll all pull enough weight to make the CEO take interest since the other staff currently has. We’ll see, but I suppose there’s no harm in being optimistic.

Here’s just the one corner of the gym where I’ll probably be spending most of my time:

If anyone in Centennial/Highlands Ranch/Littleton/etc. area is looking for a good gym, come see this one! It’s just west of Holly and Arapahoe next to King’s.