This Journal will chronicle the next 22 weeks, at the end of which I intend to be in "contest" condition. I am a 45 year old "non competitive" bodybuilder in that I live the bodybuilding lifestyle, but choose not to compete on a stage. I do a "pre contest" program usually once a year for my vacation and thats what the next 22 weeks will involve.
The first 13 weeks through January 22 will be a building phase. I am currently 187 pounds at slightly over 5' 6" with bodyfat at about 10%. I want to gain 7-10 pounds over this period and then go to a nine week cutting phase where I will slowly reduce calories weekly, make other dietary adjustments and increase cardio to cut bodyfat while retaining as much muscle as possible. When I last did this in February, I did a seven week cut, ending up at 182 pounds with 6% body fat, but the cuts in my legs ( which are the last and hardest part for me to cut) never came in, so this time I am doing nine weeks.
I have been training seriously the last 5 1/2 years after several years before that involved in another sport. I have been training all together for 24 years. I usually train with weights three days a week and do cardio once or twice a week, the cardio depending on my schedule and how I look in the mirror. Right now my primary split is:
1) Chest/ Back
2) Shoulders/ Biceps
3) Legs/Triceps
Sometimes, I will switch to this instead for a change of pace:
1) Shoulders/Back
2) Chest/Biceps
3) Legs/Triceps
Forearms and Abs are worked in occasionally during the second or third workouts.
I use the periodization and pyramiding principles heavily and they work very well for my body. I usually train intensely for 2-4 weeks at a time and when I feel my energy level lagging or the quality of my workouts declining, I then back off for a week or two to low intensity ( high reps and stopping short of failure) so my mind and body can recover. If I really feel overtrained, I will take a few days, up to a week, off from the gym. I rotate among several different set and rep schemes when I am training at high intensity:
1) High volume training, doing up to 9 ( arms) to 21 ( back and legs) working sets for each body part, doing 12 or 15 reps and short rest periods of 45 or 60 seconds. Because of the high volume, I do not take these sets to failure, but I have found in the last year or so that this program really develops muscle size and thickness in my body.
2) 12 reps with 1 1/2 or 2 minute rest periods, three working sets per exercise, with 2 ( arms) to 4 or 5 ( legs and back) exercises per bodypart, weights pyramided up each set, with the last set going to total muscle failure, whether it be less than 12 reps, 12 or more. The weights are challenging in that on the last set, the muscle starts to fatigue around the 8th or 9th rep, but the weight is not so heavy that I have to start cheating or using the assisting muscles to lift the weight. If I do 14 or 15 reps, then it means the next time, I will increase the weight. My goal on each exercise is to do more reps or more weight than the last time I did this routine. The 12 rep program also works very well in developing muscle for me.
3) 20/15/12. This was given to me by a trainer 2 1/2 years ago, is the most challenging program I have ever done and whenever I finish one of these cycles, I always look bigger in the mirror. After a warm up set or two, I choose a weight at which I will almost reach muscle failure at 20 reps, thus pre exhausting the muscle. I rest 2 minutes, add weight and then do a 15 rep set, but to failure, so if I still have energy left after 15, I keep going. Rest two minutes, add more weight and then go to absolute failure, which is usually around 12 reps.
4) 8-10 reps with 3 minute rest period. This is my low rep, heavy weight sequence. I do not do this often because heavy weights and low reps do not put size on my body ( as I showed earlier, high volume and higher reps stimulate much more muscle hypertrophy for my particular body). This also puts strain on my joints, which is an issue for upper body exercises due to a rotator cuff strain from three years ago that still bothers me occasionally. I will use this 8-10 program sometimes as a change of pace and to guage my strength increases.
My physique is a combination of mesomorph and ectomorph. I have a fairly high metabolism, so I need at least 3900 calories a day to maintain my bodyweight. I will cover my nutritional program in another post in a couple of days. My strengths are large quads and triceps and fairly good shoulder development. My weaknesses are small, high calves, not enough lat width to balance out with my shoulders and quads, a lack of a good hamstring/quad separation in a side pose, a genetic propensity to hold fat on my side( "love handles") and lower back regardless of how low my body fat percentage is, and a slight lack of chest thickness which gets exaggerated due to the width and size of my shoulders. I have improved my lats, hamstrings and chest by prioritizing these weaknesses since last February, but the calves remain a challenge, especially since my hamstring size has also increased since then. Because it appeared my quads were overpowering my upper body in pictures I had taken in " contest" condition last February, I stopped training my quads intensely for several months up until late this summer and there is a much better upper body lower body balance now. During the next three months, though I will be training 3 days a week most of the time, I plan to occasionally add a fourth workout so I can do an extra day of work on the calves or chest. I have been experimenting with 20 rep sets and compound sets to try to shock the calves and induce more growth the last couple of weeks.
In my posts, I will list the exercises done in each workout plus the working sets with weight and reps, but not any warm up sets. In my nutritional post in a couple of days, I will outline my diet program, but it is very voluminous on a daily basis and I do vary my foods from day to day, so I will not be listing my daily diet after that. Instead, each week, I will post my average intakes of calories, protein, carbs and fat at the end of the week, and add any important notes for that week and my goals/targets for the next week.
As I progress, feel free to provide any input, comments, suggestions, etc. I will come back in a couple of days with my nutritional program and then post my workouts starting on Thursday.
The first 13 weeks through January 22 will be a building phase. I am currently 187 pounds at slightly over 5' 6" with bodyfat at about 10%. I want to gain 7-10 pounds over this period and then go to a nine week cutting phase where I will slowly reduce calories weekly, make other dietary adjustments and increase cardio to cut bodyfat while retaining as much muscle as possible. When I last did this in February, I did a seven week cut, ending up at 182 pounds with 6% body fat, but the cuts in my legs ( which are the last and hardest part for me to cut) never came in, so this time I am doing nine weeks.
I have been training seriously the last 5 1/2 years after several years before that involved in another sport. I have been training all together for 24 years. I usually train with weights three days a week and do cardio once or twice a week, the cardio depending on my schedule and how I look in the mirror. Right now my primary split is:
1) Chest/ Back
2) Shoulders/ Biceps
3) Legs/Triceps
Sometimes, I will switch to this instead for a change of pace:
1) Shoulders/Back
2) Chest/Biceps
3) Legs/Triceps
Forearms and Abs are worked in occasionally during the second or third workouts.
I use the periodization and pyramiding principles heavily and they work very well for my body. I usually train intensely for 2-4 weeks at a time and when I feel my energy level lagging or the quality of my workouts declining, I then back off for a week or two to low intensity ( high reps and stopping short of failure) so my mind and body can recover. If I really feel overtrained, I will take a few days, up to a week, off from the gym. I rotate among several different set and rep schemes when I am training at high intensity:
1) High volume training, doing up to 9 ( arms) to 21 ( back and legs) working sets for each body part, doing 12 or 15 reps and short rest periods of 45 or 60 seconds. Because of the high volume, I do not take these sets to failure, but I have found in the last year or so that this program really develops muscle size and thickness in my body.
2) 12 reps with 1 1/2 or 2 minute rest periods, three working sets per exercise, with 2 ( arms) to 4 or 5 ( legs and back) exercises per bodypart, weights pyramided up each set, with the last set going to total muscle failure, whether it be less than 12 reps, 12 or more. The weights are challenging in that on the last set, the muscle starts to fatigue around the 8th or 9th rep, but the weight is not so heavy that I have to start cheating or using the assisting muscles to lift the weight. If I do 14 or 15 reps, then it means the next time, I will increase the weight. My goal on each exercise is to do more reps or more weight than the last time I did this routine. The 12 rep program also works very well in developing muscle for me.
3) 20/15/12. This was given to me by a trainer 2 1/2 years ago, is the most challenging program I have ever done and whenever I finish one of these cycles, I always look bigger in the mirror. After a warm up set or two, I choose a weight at which I will almost reach muscle failure at 20 reps, thus pre exhausting the muscle. I rest 2 minutes, add weight and then do a 15 rep set, but to failure, so if I still have energy left after 15, I keep going. Rest two minutes, add more weight and then go to absolute failure, which is usually around 12 reps.
4) 8-10 reps with 3 minute rest period. This is my low rep, heavy weight sequence. I do not do this often because heavy weights and low reps do not put size on my body ( as I showed earlier, high volume and higher reps stimulate much more muscle hypertrophy for my particular body). This also puts strain on my joints, which is an issue for upper body exercises due to a rotator cuff strain from three years ago that still bothers me occasionally. I will use this 8-10 program sometimes as a change of pace and to guage my strength increases.
My physique is a combination of mesomorph and ectomorph. I have a fairly high metabolism, so I need at least 3900 calories a day to maintain my bodyweight. I will cover my nutritional program in another post in a couple of days. My strengths are large quads and triceps and fairly good shoulder development. My weaknesses are small, high calves, not enough lat width to balance out with my shoulders and quads, a lack of a good hamstring/quad separation in a side pose, a genetic propensity to hold fat on my side( "love handles") and lower back regardless of how low my body fat percentage is, and a slight lack of chest thickness which gets exaggerated due to the width and size of my shoulders. I have improved my lats, hamstrings and chest by prioritizing these weaknesses since last February, but the calves remain a challenge, especially since my hamstring size has also increased since then. Because it appeared my quads were overpowering my upper body in pictures I had taken in " contest" condition last February, I stopped training my quads intensely for several months up until late this summer and there is a much better upper body lower body balance now. During the next three months, though I will be training 3 days a week most of the time, I plan to occasionally add a fourth workout so I can do an extra day of work on the calves or chest. I have been experimenting with 20 rep sets and compound sets to try to shock the calves and induce more growth the last couple of weeks.
In my posts, I will list the exercises done in each workout plus the working sets with weight and reps, but not any warm up sets. In my nutritional post in a couple of days, I will outline my diet program, but it is very voluminous on a daily basis and I do vary my foods from day to day, so I will not be listing my daily diet after that. Instead, each week, I will post my average intakes of calories, protein, carbs and fat at the end of the week, and add any important notes for that week and my goals/targets for the next week.
As I progress, feel free to provide any input, comments, suggestions, etc. I will come back in a couple of days with my nutritional program and then post my workouts starting on Thursday.
I look forward to following this- Good Luck 
