Hey everyone, great to be back. Just want to take this opportunity on my first journal entry here to give a little background about myself and sort of re-introduce myself, if you will.
I've been a member of this site for a long time, and can credit many amazing people who are active in this site with providing me with 90% of what I know on fitness and health. Over the winter, I tried to live a healthy and active lifestyle, but did not apply what I had learned.
I lifted weights in way-too-long 2 hour sessions 3 days a week, all the while eating way-too-few calories. I ended up getting weaker and weaker each week, to the point where I ended up getting a slight hernia. I ended up stopping working out for fear of injury and became quite depressed.
Lifting was such an amazing release at the end of almost each day that once it was out of my life, I had all this pent up frustration with nowhere to put it. At the time, my job required a lot of travelling and intensive teamwork, so clashes and stress were part of the norm. I ended up ballooning up to 210lbs. at 5'10".
I've recently got my act together and mustered up the energy to lose 35lbs. Although I did not do it the right way, and lost weight rather fast (over about 2 1/2 Months), I did end up losing a good decent amount of body fat in the process.
Now that I'm down to 177lbs. as of yesterday, I can justify telling myself and others that I'm starting a clean bulk. Using meal plans and workouts found at
www.bodybuildingrevealed.com (check out MD's video review!), I plan to gain about 1-1.5lbs. weekly.
I'm starting with a "True Beginners" workout, 3x weekly full body workout. Here it is! I would post my meals but it's too much work. I'm a very busy man who just happens to care about fitness. I'm not obsessed though! If I have time and if I run into any issues with weight control, I'll certainly post my diet. For now, here's the physical part.
Abdominals (Set 1): Crunches - 20
Abdominals (Set 2): Crunches - 18
Abdominals (Set 3): Crunches - 15
Arms (Biceps) (Set 1): Barbell Curl - 10 @ 55 lbs
Arms (Biceps) (Set 2): Barbell Curl - 8 @ 65 lbs
Arms (Biceps) (Set 3): Barbell Curl - 6 @ 75 lbs
Arms (Biceps) (Set 1): Chin-Up - 10 @ 75 lbs
Arms (Biceps) (Set 2): Chin-Up - 8 @ 65 lbs
Arms (Biceps) (Set 3): Chin-Up - 6 @ 55 lbs
Chest (Set 1): Barbell Bench Press - 10 @ 95 lbs
Chest (Set 2): Barbell Bench Press - 8 @ 115 lbs
Chest (Set 3): Barbell Bench Press - 6 @ 135 lbs
Chest (Set 1): Barbell Close Grip Bench Press - 10 @ 85 lbs
Chest (Set 2): Barbell Close Grip Bench Press - 8 @ 95 lbs
Chest (Set 3): Barbell Close Grip Bench Press - 6 @ 115 lbs
Legs (Set 1): Standing Calf Raises - 20 @ 50 lbs
Legs (Set 2): Standing Calf Raises - 15 @ 70 lbs
Legs (Set 3): Standing Calf Raises - 10 @ 90 lbs
Legs (Set 1): Stiff Legged Barbell Deadlift - 10 @ 65 lbs
Legs (Set 2): Stiff Legged Barbell Deadlift - 10 @ 75 lbs
Legs (Set 3): Stiff Legged Barbell Deadlift - 8 @ 85 lbs
Legs (Set 4): Stiff Legged Barbell Deadlift - 6 @ 95 lbs
Legs (Set 1): Barbell Box Squat - 10 @ 85 lbs
Legs (Set 2): Barbell Box Squat - 10 @ 95 lbs
Legs (Set 3): Barbell Box Squat - 8 @ 105 lbs
Legs (Set 4): Barbell Box Squat - 6 @ 115 lbs
Shoulders (Set 1): Seated Dumbbell Press - 10 @ 15 lbs
Shoulders (Set 2): Seated Dumbbell Press - 8 @ 20 lbs
Shoulders (Set 3): Seated Dumbbell Press - 6 @ 25 lbs
I used
www.bodybuildingjournal.com to track this. Now, I'd like to tweak this, so far as how much weight I put up. I want to increase muscle size, so a Hypertrophy Specific Workout is what I'm shooting for.
This would require me to figure out my maxes, though. Can anyone give me advice on how to do that? Should I try and max out one one exercise each day I go to the gym, until I've figured out the maxes for each one?
My basic understanding of hypertrophy training is that the change in the weight is just as important as the actual amount of weight. In other words, increasing your weight in each workout and hitting your max weight on the last workout of a 3 week cycle would be better than just working til muscle failure each time (www.hypertrophy-specific.com). Am I misunderstanding this?
Look forward to some valuable insight from you all. Bye for now!
<message edited by danmac75 on Saturday, August 25, 2007 9:04 AM>