Progress!!!!

[StevePJC]

I've been back in the gym with weights now for going on 10 weeks. This is after taking the better part of 10 years off from a bad screw up with gear.

I started back and the first day was chest day. I could do maximum of 185 pounds and that was with ALOT of elbow and shoulder pain. Could do 2 or 3 max. Last time I benched on gear I was pushing 550. HUGE drop. Here it is 10 weeks later and maxed tonite at 315 which is my bodyweight.

Here is the thread for pictures showing 1 year progress.

http://forums.anabolicreview.com/sho...d.php?t=108132

Training looks like this
Training is like this
Mon - Chest, shoulders, tri's 30 minutes cardio
Tue - Bi's, traps 30 minutes cardio
Wed - 45 minutes cardio morning and night
Thurs - Chest, Quads 30 minutes cardio
Fri - Hams, calves, back 30 minutes cardio

Any advice or comments would be much appreciated. I know there's not a real point to my post but I'm absolutely thrilled with my progress. I have read alot about muscle memory and kind of discredited it. Starting to believe. Since my wife is back in the states for the next 30 days I had to tell SOMEONE.

I'll shut up now. Thanks for reading.

[Spoon]

just be consistent and slowly youl get your strength back. getting back on track will not take overnite but if your diet and training are in check it would certainly aid in achieving your goals quicker. good luck bro!

[ImmmtheIceman]

Nice job bro, glad to hear your back. Best of luck

[ImmmtheIceman]

Nice job bro, glad to hear your back. Best of luck

[StevePJC]

Thanks for the comments. I've got a long way to go towards my "Stage 1" goal of 275 pounds. Then 250 and hopefully stopping at 235 before I'm 40.

[aussiejuicer]

Starting out again can be tough

[StevePJC]

I tell you what. When I started back with the weights I thought surely I could do atleast a third of the weights I used to do when on gear. After one week I was ready to quit and stay the way I was. Grossly overweight waiting to die in my forties.

I owe it to my wife for kicking me in the ass and helping me get back the feeling of not being able to wait to get in the gym and do something. Living on a military base as a civilian is a hell of a deal. Have free access to a gym that constantly wins awards for being one of the best fitness centers in the Air Force.

[Warrior]

Training looks like this
Training is like this
Mon - Chest, shoulders, tri's 30 minutes cardio
Tue - Bi's, traps 30 minutes cardio
Wed - 45 minutes cardio morning and night
Thurs - Chest, Quads 30 minutes cardio
Fri - Hams, calves, back 30 minutes cardio

Great job... I'll critique your split.

You need to sperate some of the large muscle groups and pair them with some of the smaller ones... so that eveything gets it's due treatment. You need to train your body as an entirity for the best progress - your body is best primed for symetrical growth. For example, giving your legs little effort will effect your upper body development. Plus, if you are benching over 315 now - I would deffinitly start giving chest more than two days rest. A smaller muscle group like biceps could be worked more often than once every 7 days... the more frequent you can work a muscle group the better - quicker progress... but just keep track of your numbers and adjust rest days as needed...

In addition I would rethink how you organize your split. You don't want to go by days of the week because it's simply to constricting. If your wife needs some added attention or surprises you with another commitment on Tuesday - what then? Miss that workout and your biceps get neglected and untrained. Think in terms of training days, this way if you need a day off for rest or external commitments - you can just hop back on the next day... I would suggest this:


Day 1: Chest, Delts, Calves, Light Cardio
Day 2: Lats, Traps, Rear Delts, Abs, Light Cardio
Day 3: Cardio
Day 4: Quads, Hams, Calves
Day 5: Triceps, Biceps, Forearms, Abs, Light Cardio
Day 6: REST
Day 7: REST
REPEAT

Entire body is worked once every 7 days...

[StevePJC]

My goal is to shed off as much of thiks outer layer of fat as I can. Would this program do it with light cardio? Also I think I'm from an old school of thinking about abs. Would it really be of any benefit to me considering I've still got a large dunlap belly?

Warrior I cant thank you enough for your input. My information that I used to put together my program is pretty old. I dont understand not training chest only once per week. I've always thought that to make the chest grow once every 3 days is best. Same with legs. You know it's really strange that my legs still have most all of their strength of when I was using gear. Only lost about 25% on them.

Wife is easy to deal with. We're both DOD school teachers and have the summers off. She decided to go back and visit her mom so I've got nothing but time. When she's here she's in the gym as well. We dont workout together though because of potential bickering about form and other distractions.

Thanks again.

[Warrior]

My goal is to shed off as much of thiks outer layer of fat as I can. Would this program do it with light cardio? Also I think I'm from an old school of thinking about abs. Would it really be of any benefit to me considering I've still got a large dunlap belly?

The big thing is to shed fat and not your LBM - the more muscle you maintiain the higher your metabolism. I suggest a couple light days and then a heavy cardio day to mix things up - and I have found this method to be effective for increasing cardiovascular fitness for myself and my troops when I ran PT in the Marines... we actually focused on three cardio days; 3 mile (for time), 6 mile (easy pace) and then a day full of Sprints and pick-ups (for stride and beating fatigue). For your purpose I would just do the couple light days at the low end of your target heart rate - and then a day where you push youself for an improved time/distance.

Abs = low bodyfat and hypertrophied abdominal wall. There is another thread where people have put up good posts on ab training. Increased abdominal fat can also be related to lowered androgen levels from age...

[StevePJC]

I'm riding my bike around the runway here on the base. The route I take is 7.4 miles. Takes me about an hour - 90 minutes depending on how windy it is. Makes for a hell of a workout the more wind there is. I'm doing this 3 days a week. For the next 4 weeks I was going to up it to 5 days a week. While I've got my joints to cooperate with me for lifting, my knees wont put up with jogging. I tried jogging a total of two times. Knees were aching so bad I had to get a ride.

My problem right now seems to be my diet. I put together a diet that I THOUGHT would keep muscle and be low enough in calories and fat to lose weight. 1645 calories, 324 g protien, 216 fat calories. Been on this diet for 3 days now and have lost 3 pounds. Strength doesn't seem to be affected though. Yeah I know it's only been 3 days. Couple of buddies say if I stay on it I'm going to have sheets of loose skin hanging off me.

I'm using one of the cybex machines for abs. I cant get the burn that I believe is supposed to be there. When I'm done my midsection feels like it's done something but no burn.

Thanks for the great input. This has been a great help.

[Warrior]

Warrior I cant thank you enough for your input. My information that I used to put together my program is pretty old. I dont understand not training chest only once per week. I've always thought that to make the chest grow once every 3 days is best. Same with legs. You know it's really strange that my legs still have most all of their strength of when I was using gear. Only lost about 25% on them.

This is another thing to do with detraining with decreasing natural androgen levels. A fully virilized male has a broadened shoulder girdle and strong upper body... as your natural testosterone levels diminish with age - it would make sense that in the absence of proper strength training the upper body will so a large dose of the atrophy. But a lot of what are your good and bad parts are built into your gentic code - I knew a guy that had awesome, huge, cut, calves; when I asked him what he did for them he said, "Nothing special really... to tell you the truth... my whole family has them."

But the larger a muscle group is the more trauma you impose on the body (due to the muscle size and the loads you use to work it)... the more muscular damage as well as more stress to the CNS. Legs for example hold the largest muscle in your body - they require the most energy and rest. Be sure you do not neglect them, working legs fills you up with a great hormonal cocktail that effects your whole body. So even if you feel you do not need to work them because they have maintained there strength well - this will effect you in other areas. Work the at least every 7-10 days. Chest you can work every 4-7 days depending on how hard you pulverize it... depending on the intensity used and your ability to recover...

Read my Guidelines for Growth, it's a sticky in this forum... it will give you some further info on doing what works...

[Warrior]

I'm riding my bike around the runway here on the base. The route I take is 7.4 miles. Takes me about an hour - 90 minutes depending on how windy it is. Makes for a hell of a workout the more wind there is. I'm doing this 3 days a week. For the next 4 weeks I was going to up it to 5 days a week. While I've got my joints to cooperate with me for lifting, my knees wont put up with jogging. I tried jogging a total of two times. Knees were aching so bad I had to get a ride.

My problem right now seems to be my diet. I put together a diet that I THOUGHT would keep muscle and be low enough in calories and fat to lose weight. 1645 calories, 324 g protien, 216 fat calories. Been on this diet for 3 days now and have lost 3 pounds. Strength doesn't seem to be affected though. Yeah I know it's only been 3 days. Couple of buddies say if I stay on it I'm going to have sheets of loose skin hanging off me.

I'm using one of the cybex machines for abs. I cant get the burn that I believe is supposed to be there. When I'm done my midsection feels like it's done something but no burn.

Thanks for the great input. This has been a great help.

There are other ways to get your heart pumpin' then jogging/running. Find a way that doesn't cause you injury. When you are leaner you may be able to work back into running on a track or treadmill... eliptical machines are good too. You can start off on a stationary bike - just use enough pedal resistance to get your heart rate up... most have monitors build into them. In fact, for the sake of variety - use the bike on your light cardio days and the eliptical on your regular cardio days.

AR has probably the best Diet Forum on the Net - go post your diet there and you'll get more specialized info...