Gym


I stopped lifting weights in July 2015, and I have no plans to start lifting again.

Stats:
Height: 180cm
Body fat: 15-20%
PRs: na

Weight progress:

1. 2012/10 76kg - 2012/12 76kg  -  college exams, no progress, stopped working out
2. 2013/3 75kg - 2013/7 75kg  -  no progress, I didn't know what I was doing, stopped working out
Reset -> lift heavy, eat a lot more
3. 2013/12 71kg - 2014/8 78kg  -  >30°C in the garage, had to stop working out
4. 2014/10 76kg - 2015/3 81kg - 2015/4 81kg - stuck on 81 kg :(

Equipment:
150cm barbell (2.5cm)
2x36cm dumbbells (2.5cm)
66kg iron weights
46kg DIY reinforced concrete weights
DIY squat rack/pull-up bar with bench spotter
DIY rope pulley
Flat/incline bench with leg extension
Ab bench
DIY dip station aka rectangular iron table without top

Location:
A corner in a garage

Warming up (10 min):
- dynamic stretching for upper body
- static stretching for legs
- warm up sets

Cardio:
In summer I swim, a lot.

Nutrition:
Four normal meals a day, no fancy stuff or supplements, I don't even take whey protein. I just eat whatever mom makes for lunch(I have lunch two times on a workout day), other meals I prepare myself. I try to get around 2000-2500 kcal a day, and around 100g of protein. On a workout day I drink one multivitamin pill. The goal is to gain around 1kg of weight per month.

Rest:
I either workout two days in a row then rest one day, or I workout every other day.

My current 4 day split (sets x reps, rest between sets):

Day 1. Chest - Abs (1h 45min - 2h)

1. BB Bench Press                     5x(failure + pyramid up), 2-3 min
2. Weighted Incline Leg Raise   3x10-15 + dropsets, 1-1:30 min
3. Weighted Chest Dips             4-5x(failure with weights + failure without), 2-3 min
4. Rope Crunch                          3x15-20, 1-1:30 min
5. Incline DB Bench Press         4-5xfailure, 1:30-2 min
6. Weighted Oblique Crunch      3x15-20, 1 min

Day 2. Shoulders - Legs (1h 45min - 2h)

1. BB Overhead Press                   5x(failure + pyramid up), 2-3 min
2. BB Back Squat                          4x6-8 (pyramid up), 2-3 min
or Leg Curls                                  3x8-10 , 1-1:30 min
3. Single Arm DB Lateral Raise   4x8, 1:30 min
4. Single Leg Extension                 4x10 + dropset, 0:45 min
or Deadlift                                     4x5-8(pyramid up), 2-3 min
5. DB Front/Rear Raise                 4x8, 1:30 min
6. Single Leg Calf Raise                4x10-12 + dropset, 0:45 min

One week I do squats, leg extension and calf raise, other deadlift, leg curls and calf raise. Same with front and rear raise.

Day 3. Back - Abs (1h 45min - 2h)

1. Weighted Pull-Up               5x(failure with weights + failure without), 2-3 min
2. Weighted Decline Sit-Up    3x20-25 + dropset, 1 min
3. BB Bent Over Row             4-5x(failure + pyramid up), 2 min
4. Weighted Toe Touches        3x20-25 + dropset, 1 min
5. Single Arm DB Row          4-5x8, 1:30 min
6. DB Wrist Curls (ss)            2x(3x10-15), 0:15-0:30 min

Abs two times a week, seriously ?
I do abs on chest and back day to rest main muscles, so I can hit them harder on the next exercise.

Day 4. Traps - Arms (1h 45min - 2h)

1. BB Shrugs                                4x(failure + pyramid up), 1:30-2 min
2. BB Bicep Curl                         4x(failure + dropset each set), 2-3 min
3. Bench Dips                              4x(failure), 1:30-2 min
4. Single Arm DB Shrugs             4x10-12, 0:45-1 min
5. Alt. DB Hammer Curls             4x8, 1:30 min
6. Close Grip BB Bench Press     4x(failure), 1:30-2 min



VARIATIONS (January 2015):

It gets boring doing the same routine all the time, so I decided to vary the workouts a bit, even though I am limited with the equipment I have.

For example on chest day instead doing chest dips and dumbbell press, I just lower the weight a bit and do barbell press again as my second and third chest exercise. Same with overhead press and squats on shoulder/leg day. On back day every other time I do pull-ups instead of dumbbell rows. On arm day sometimes instead of hammer curls and close grip bench press I repeat bicep curls and bench dips with lower weight. Instead doing both barbell and dumbbell shrugs, I alternate between those two each workout, because that workout started to become too hard and lasts more than 2 hours.

I have also decided to workout 2 days in a row again*, so I lowered the number of sets on some compound lifts from 5 to 4, so I am not too tired the other day. I have increased the weight and decreased the reps on most of the lifts and the rest times are longer, since I want to focus more on strength.

*yeah... that didn't work out.

8 comments:

  1. Update:
    - instead 4 sets I do 3 sets for all ab exercises (priorities...)
    - instead 5 or 4 sets I do 3 sets when doing deadlifts, squats, leg curls and leg extensions (priorities...)
    - instead 5 or 4 sets I only do 3 sets for shrugs (priorities...)
    - replaced DB flys with incline DB press
    - replaced DB lateral raise with single arm DB lateral raise (enables me to lift heavier)
    - replaced body rows with single arm DB rows

    ReplyDelete
  2. Update:
    - replaced rope tricep pulldown with close grip bb bench press
    - instead 3 I do 4 sets for deadlifts, squats and bb shrugs
    - in all weighted ab exercises I do a dropset(without weights) for every set
    - increased rest time for every compound lift by 30-60 seconds (listed values are not updated yet)

    ReplyDelete
  3. After two months without lifting, I've started moving weights around again. I've lost 3 kg and most of my strength and motivation is at all time low...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Increased the number of sets from 4 to 5 for chest and back exercises.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm now doing a superset of normal and reversed wrist curls on back day. After that I burn out my forearms by just hanging on the pull-up bar as long as I can.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What was the reason you stopped lifting?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Things fell apart on all fronts and I completely lost motivation.

      Delete