Armin's Training Log...

Armin_Tamzarian

Hi-
Here's my current Gym program.
I've been following it religiously for 3 months solid now.
I've had some decent gains but now it's time for a change.
I'd appreciate it if you'd take a look and offer me any advice / criticism that hou have.

My goal is for muscle and size.
I'm 28, 6ft, 13st, Body Fat 7%...
My main problem is that I am what they term a 'Hard Gainer'.
I find it very difficult to put on weight.
My meals are all catered for so unfortunatly I have to choose
from what's on the menu.
I try to eat as many high protein foods as possible.
I've been eating 2 lunches lately and have noticed an improvement.

I start off every session with a 2k run to get warmed up and finish off with a 500M sprint.
I take Cyclone before and after each session.
I've recently started taking a scoop of ProMax first thing in the morning when I wake up.
It's supposed to stop the body feeding off the muscle in the catabolic state.
I've found it to be a good trick.

My routine starts on a Thursday.

Thursday - Core Muscles:
Weighted Knee Raise
4x10 @ 6Kg (dumbell)

Ab Crunches on floor
75 flat
75 twisted to the left
75 twisted to the right
75 flat

Clean & Press
3x10 @ 40Kg (barbell)

Weighted Step Ups
4x10 @ 34Kg (dumbells - per side)

Ab Cruncehes on Machine
3x8 @ 72.5Kg
3x12 @ 62.5Kg

Ab Crunches on floor
75 flat
75 twisted to the left
75 twisted to the right
75 flat

Friday - Chest & Back:
Incline Pressup
4x10

Incline Bench Press
4x8 @ 30Kg (Olympic Bar)

Pull Ups
4x5 (aiming for 4x10)

Incline Flys
4x10 @ 12Kg (dumbells - per side)

Dual Pulley Row
3x8 @ 43.5Kg (machine)

Dumbell Drop (Flat on Bench)
3x10 @ 32Kg (dumbell)

Lat Pull Down
3x8 @ 33.5Kg (machine)

Saturday - Legs:
Half Squats
4x10 @ 150Kg (Smith Machine)

Hamstring Curl
4x10 @ 60Kg (machine)

Lunge
4x10 @ 34Kg (dumbells - per side)

(I feel slightly dodgy doing these next two )
Hip Adduction
4x12 @ 152.5Kg (machine)

Hip Abduction
4x12 @ 152.5Kg (machine)

Leg Extension
3x8 @ 122.5Kg (machine)

Sunday - Shoulders & Arms:
Incline Bicep Curls
4x10 @ 16Kg (dumbells - per side)

Tricep Dips
4x6 (aiming for 4x10)

Lateral Raises
4x10 @ 10Kg (dumbells - per side)

Shoulder Press
4x10 @ 12Kg (dumbells - per side)

Barbell Bicep Curl
3x8 @ 30Kg (barbell)

Shoulder Shrug
3x10 @ 25Kg (weight disc - per side)

Forearm Curl
3x10 @ 30Kg (barbell)

Machine Bicep Curl
Start at 6 discs and work to exhaustion
Then 5 discs, etc, etc, down to exhaustion at one disc.

Walk the length of the gym and back
holding 2x32Kg dumbells.

Monday - Core Muscles (repeat of Thursday session):
Weighted Knee Raise
4x10 @ 6Kg (dumbell)

Ab Crunches on floor
75 flat
75 twisted to the left
75 twisted to the right
75 flat

Clean & Press
3x10 @ 40Kg (barbell)

Weighted Step Ups
4x10 @ 34Kg (dumbells - per side)

Ab Cruncehes on Machine
3x8 @ 72.5Kg
3x12 @ 62.5Kg

Ab Crunches on floor
75 flat
75 twisted to the left
75 twisted to the right
75 flat

Tuesday:
1 hour of boxing training.

Wednesday:
REST

cardio,shoot me

seeems u do alot of sets per session but maybe thats just my lazy side speaking

Armin_Tamzarian

cardio,shoot me wrote: »

seeems u do alot of sets per session but maybe thats just my lazy side speaking

Could this have a negative effect?

Let's say I can manage 4x10 @ 16Kg (dumbell)
on the bicep curls.

On the next session I'd move up to say 18Kg.
In reality I'd probably manage 3x8 and then fail,
so I'd then finish off with a 1x10 back on 16Kg.

The goal would be 4x10 once I can do it I move
upwards the same way with all my exercises.

I've heard of the expression to over-work muscles but I don't know
much about it or understand it.
I thought the whole point was to break down the muscle and then
allow it time ro rebuild stronger than before?

cardio,shoot me

well there are much more educated people than me here, but i was always under the impression that training to failure and that much sets where a big no no.

FunkZ

First off I'd stop running the 2km before and 500 metres after your workout sessions. And instead run 2km after every second workout... less cardio is less calories burned! And you'll still being doing a bit which will keep your fitness levels around where they already are.

I'd drop all those ab exercises except knee raises and the machine crunches with the weight. You have abs from having a low BF% not from doing 75 reps and 1000 sets of ab exercises. Treat them as any other muscle, do about five sets for your abs and just add weight as you get stronger, that'll make them bigger and more pronounced.

Your goals are for muscle and size. But you find it hard to gain weight? Well what do you eat on an average day?

You said you're meals are made for you. There's always other small things that can make a difference that you can carry around with you. Milk, there's 1280kCals in a 2 litre bottle. Nuts, they're loaded with good fats that you need, protein and fibre. Cheese, even eating a couple of Cheesestrings every couple of hours between meals will help!

And if your trying to gain muscle and get bigger you need to concentrate on compound free weight exercises. There's a million programs out there that are based on that and they'll all work. They'll include these exercise which you need to do if you want to gain muscle.

Squats, full squats with a barbell, not half squats with a machine. Deadlifts. Bench Press. These are the three main exercises that will cover your whole body in muscle. And doing those clean and presses is great, fair play.

There are plenty of other compound exercises too. Bench Press (flat and incline), squats (front, sumo, hack and just plain old normal), deadlifts, stiff legged deadlifts, barbell rows, T bar rows, shoulder presses, pull ups, chin ups, upright rows and loads more that I can't think of.

One program I think you should check out is 20 Rep Squats.

Best of luck dude!

Armin_Tamzarian

Cheers mate, thanks for all the advice.
I've a few questions if you don't mind.

I use the run before training as a way of getting my body warmed up.
Surely 1k wouldn't do any harm?

I dropped the 600 crunches from my rountine today.
How is it that they can have a negative effect?

I'm off for 2 weeks leave in a few days.
When I get back to work I want to get going on a new program.
I'll google some of that stuff you suggested.

RE overtraining, what can you tell me about it.
I've got plenty of time on my hands but from what people say,
you shouldn't spend more than an hour in the Gym.

If there was some rountine I could use that would allow me to
train for say, 2 hours a day I'd be very interested in it.

-Thanks again for all the info...