[xeno]Julios wrote:tx man.
so the 8,6,6,4 should be with the same weight? When you say move to 4 reps for working sets for the next two weeks, do you mean i should skip the 8,6,6 part? Bit confused here.
Also - gonna be jogging for a month regularly (training for a run mid june) - guess i'm gonna hafta up the calories quite a bit
any recommendations on how to split up the exercises throughout the week?
No, pyramid up.
Pyramid to a weight you can just barely do four reps with...the fourth should be the absolute last one you can do.
Email me and we can go over it in more detail.
But as for a split - something real simple...we could do it a couple ways - for strength I'd advise doing your 'pushes' one workout and your 'pulls' another.
Maybe this:
Day 1 - Chest, tris, front delts
Day 2 - off
Day 3 - Back, Biceps, traps, rear and side delts
Day 4 - off
Day 5 - legs
Day 6 - off
Day 7 - off, or repeat cycle
If you are planning on lots of cardio, do it on your days off - but remember it will be tough to gain a lot of strength under intense cardio.
Then, as an example, here would be a chest workout
Let's say your 1 rep max on the bench is 200 lbs
Day 1 - Chest
Warm up - 10 mins on a treadmill, walking, to get blood flowing
2 sets of rotator cuff exercises (VERY light)
Flat Bench press
2 warmup sets of 15 - very light, just to get the feel
Set 1 - 8 reps of 135 (not to failure)
Set 2 - 6 reps of 165 (not to failure)
Set 3 - 6 reps of 165 (not to failure)
Set 4 - 4 reps of 175 (to failure), 1 negative at the end of the set
If you can get more than 4 reps, keep going, and record that, because you will bump the weight up next time
Incline Dumbell press
3 sets of 6-8 reps (to failure but no forced reps)
Weighted Dips
2 sets to failure
Lying triceps extensions (french presses)
3 sets of 8-10 (as many as you can do with good form, don't force these ones beyond failure without a spotter, you don't want to get sloppy and fuck up your rotator cuff.)
That would be it.
Now, the next week poundanges might look like this:
Set 1 - 8 reps of 140
Set 2 - 6 reps of 170
Set 3 - 6 reps of 170
Set 4 - 4 reps of 180 (to failure, with negative)
After this, add 1 negative with 15 lbs above your max (about 215...have a spotter, all you do is lower the weight to your chest as slowly as you can then have the spotter pull it...don't bother even trying to press it...all we care about is the negative here.)
After 2-3 weeks of that, we go to this
Set 1 - 6 reps of 170
Set 2 - 4 reps of 180
Set 3 - 4 reps of 180
Set 4 - 185 to failure
1 negative of 225 lbs
Stick with that for another 2-3 weeks, modifying poundages as you see fit (remembering that if you are easily getting more than 4 reps at that weight, you move up.)
Final week -
Set 1 - 5 reps of 170
Set 2 - 3 reps of 190
Set 3 - 2 reps of 200
Set 4 - 1 rep of 215 (keep going if you can)
Then, after peaking and increasing your max, you go back to a 10-12 rep phase for awhile...
modifying exercises...building some more muscular endurance...etc..
THose numbers are just estimates based on what I've seen in numerous strength building phases. If you want to get ultra scientific about it, you can look at the actual percentages of your 1 rep max you should be lifitng etc, etc,. etc...but to be honest, I have always believed that lifting should be a 'feel' thing. Keep a training journal...if your poundages are going up, you need to modify. But I think people have begun to over-analyze some of this stuff.
Let me know if any of this helps. Email me if you want to get into specifics - which reminds me, I am still supposed to email someone else a workout plan....
