Chilli's Journal

[Chillisauce]

And so starts Chilli’s epic gym journal.
Duration: 5 months.


Personal Stats:

6'2 height.
Floating between 162 and 170 pounds.
bodyfat estimated to be between 8 and 12 percent. (i have very visible abbs, which better be less visible in a few weeks or my diets screwed).
New to weightlifting, not new to hard physical exercise.
For the next 5 months I will be stopping my cardio activities.

I have already been following my routine for 3 weeks now with minimal gains ( i suspect my calorie intake is too low, eating this much is harder than I thought)

My diet currently is around 3700 calories, 200 grams of protein, 140 fat and 415 carbs, I am supplementing with a whey protein shake twice daily, 500 mg of vitamin C, a multivitamin minus iron and 2 flaxseed oil pills (omega 3).

My Routine:

Sunday (back, bicep) – Wide Grip Pull-ups (assisted), Barbell Rows, Shrugs, Hammer Curls, Crunches

Wednesday (Chest, shoulders, triceps) – Flat Bench Press, ShoulderPress with dumbells, Dips, Crunches.

Friday – (legs) – Squats, Deadlifts, Calve Raises, Crunches.

Goals:
Increased strength
Increased size
10 lbs of muscle would be good.

All the gym weights are in kilograms and I cant be bothered changing every number for your reading pleasure , so times these numbers by 2.2 for lbs.

First week:

Bench – 50 x 8, 50 x 6, 50 x 4, 50 x 2
SP - 30 x 8, 30 x 6, 30 x 4, 30 x 2
Dips- bodyweight x 7, bw x 5, bw x 3, bw x 1
Squats – 50 x 8, 50 x 6, 50 x 4, 50 x 2.
Deadlifts – 40 x 8, 40 x 6, 40 x 4, 40 x 2
Pullups – assisted with 35 kg x 8, 35 x 6, 35 x 4, 35 x 2
Barbell Rows – 17.5 x 8, 17.5 x 6, 17.5 x 4, 17.5 x 2
Shrugs (dumbells)– 15 x 8, 15 x 6, 15 x 4, 15 x 2
Hammer curls (assuming bar is 10kg) – 20 x 8, 20 x 6, 20 x 4, 20 x 2

Third week:
Bench up 5 kg
SP unchanged, the next increment in dumbells is 2.5kg more for each hand and i am unable to complete the required reps.
Dips unchanged
Squats up 20 kilograms
Deadlifts up 15 kg.
Widegrip Pullups, 5kg less assisted weight
Barbell Rows up 2.5 kg
Shrugs up 15 kg each hand. (I feel I could do more but my grip is still weak)
Hammer curls up 3kg


Is it important to increase the weight each set, and by how much should I try to?

Failure is not an option.

 

[Chillisauce]

My revised Routine (with the advice of Warboss Alex):

Sunday (back, bicep) – Deadlifts . Wide Grip Pull-ups (assisted), Barbell Rows, Hammer Curls

Wednesday (Chest, shoulders, triceps) – Flat Bench Press, Incline Bench Press?, ShoulderPress with dumbells, Dips, weighted sit-ups.

Friday – (legs) – Squats (a 20 rep after first two sets), hamstring curls, Calve Raises, weighted sit-ups.

Rep/sets changed to 2 x 5-6 for Deadlifts, Squats, Bench/incline B, Pull-ups.
2 x 10 for other excercises.

 

[Skilla_Staz]

http://www.ahealthyme.com/CalBurn.do

and the book

Advanced Sports Nutrition

along with the website

www.fortifiediron.com

are all you need to bulk up, intelligently

 

[Chillisauce]

There is such a thing as too much information . This may not be the best program around but i believe it will work. Hard work and consistancy will take me alot further than more research.

 

[Chillisauce]

Dips - bw x 9, bw x 8
Flat Bench - 58 x 4, 55 x 4 (doing dips first really affected my bench)
Incline Bench - 30 x 6, 30 x 6
shoulderPress - 12.5 x 10, 12.5 x 10
weighted situps - 32.5 x 20, 37.5 x 13, 42.5 x 8, 47.5 x 3

 

[Chillisauce]

Squats - 6 x 80, 5 x 80 (last one wasnt all the way down, i'm a dirty cheat!)
Calf raises - 20 x 70, 15 x 80 , 10 x 90
Weighted situps - 32.5 x 20, 37.5 x 13, 42.5 x 8, 47.5 x 3

 

[Chillisauce]

Deadlifts 70 x 6, 70 x 6 (go up 10kg next week)
Wide Grip Pull-ups (assisted) - 5 x 5, 5 x 4
Barbell Rows - 12.5 x 10, 12.5 x 10 (go up 2.5)
Hammer Curls - 20 x 10, 20 x 9
Assisted Situps - 32.5 x 20, 37.5 x 15, 42.5 x 10, 47.5 x 5 (go up 2.5)

 

[Lifeforce]

Seems you've got a pretty solid workout schedule.

It's important to increase, but even more important not to use sloppy form. Either increase weight or reps. If you can manage 10x70 kg on the squats, and raise to 75 and manage 6 reps, then don't increase, lift 75 until you get to 10 and then increase. Another rep is = strength increase. Just an example.

Important thing is you get stronger.

 

[Chillisauce]

Thanks for the advice. I will keep that in mind when i'm doing my next session.

I'm taking a few personal training sessions next week to make sure i'm doing the excercises correctly. Something about my deadlift just doesnt seem right, and the fact that it is less than my squat is abit iffy too.

 

[Lifeforce]

Yeah, form is key when lifting. Take it from me, I tore my back and couldn't lift anything good for months. Not even sure I'll ever be able to deadlift ever again. Good thing to get help from a personal trainer. Just don't let him or her convince you to stop lifting the good lifts.

 

[Chillisauce]

Just don't let him or her convince you to stop lifting the good lifts.

I have already fallen for that one already. The guy told me compound stuff such as squats, deadlifts and bench were too 'advanced' for me. Turned out to be a money hungry salesman really, just wanted me to buy more personal sessions and could have cared less if i improved.

What extent does creatine help? I'm on a limited budget (uni student) and i'd rather not blow a large portion of my expendable budget on something that will only increase my gains by 10% or less.

 

[Lifeforce]

Sounds like an *******. Isn't there someone in the gym you can ask if your lifts look good? We used to have an instructor at my old gym and his help really helped me on some exercises.

Don't by creatine if you can't afford it. Buy more food instead. It's not guaranteed to work on everyone so you might throw your money away. However food works for everyone.

 

[Chillisauce]

Sounds like an *******. Isn't there someone in the gym you can ask if your lifts look good? We used to have an instructor at my old gym and his help really helped me on some exercises.

Don't by creatine if you can't afford it. Buy more food instead. It's not guaranteed to work on everyone so you might throw your money away. However food works for everyone.

Yeh i'm having my old boxing coach who does some part time personal trainer work come along and check my form. Should get some cheap, helpful and unbiased advice this way. My body is already showing improvement , and it feels great.

Nice gains this week.

Flat Bench - 55 x 11, 55 x 7 (go up 2.5 next week)
Dips - bw x 5, bw x 5
Incline Bench - 30 x 12, 30 x 10 (go up 5)
weighted situps - 35 x 20, 40 x 13, 45 x 8, 50 x 4
shoulderPress - 15 x 10, 15 x 10 (on machine, 15 with dumbells next week)

 

[Chillisauce]

Squats - 80 x 5, 70 x 8, 70 x 7, 40 x 18
Calf raises - 20 x 70, 15 x 80 , 10 x 90

I'v been sick as a dog for the past few days, hopefully it clears up soon.

 

[Chillisauce]

Had my personal training session today, it kicked arse.

Everything i'm doing is right except for:

Deadlifts - nearly fine, need to straighten my back abit at the top of the lift.
Squats - majorly stuffed, he's suprised i havent injured myself yet - had to completely rework it (this alone makes the session worth it)
dumbell rows - elbow not coming in close enough to my body, leg too far back.
barbell curls - elbows abit too far back, need to bring it forward to concentrate more on the biceps.
incline bench - need to bring it up the chest abit.

Was too stuffed to do my chest day afterwards, overall i'd say it was worth it.