PDA

View Full Version : Pbradish's Training Journal



pbradish
03-18-2004, 11:05 AM
Plan
Like all the others in this particular forum I have decided to keep a training log online. My hope is that you all here will both review and critique all the different aspects of my training regimen, and offer some advice and encouragement. With that in mind, I promise you that I will continue to make every effort to become better and better at what I do.

Short Bio
First off, my name is Paul and I am 19 years old. I live in Woodbury, MN (suburb of the twin cities). I am 5ft 10inches tall and roughly 172lbs as of this morning. I have a gym in my house that consists of a bench, olympic weights, a plethora of dumbbells, a treadmill, and an exercise bike that collects dust in the corner. I am by no means a large guy, but people do notice and steer clear when I am irritable. I am NOT a bodybuilder. I do in fact lift weights 5 days per week, and have been doing so for a year this month, but I do not consider myself a full-fledged member of your sport. I have no desire to compete in bodybuilding, though I respect it as a sport 110%, and respect the lifters themselves just as much.
The sport that I follow is NHB. I have had a passion for mixed martial arts competition and no holds-barred fighting (on both amateur and professional level) for years, and wish to one day compete. Though, that day is not today. That day is not next week, next month, nor next year. I am only 19 years old, and have plenty of time to grow in strength, endurance, and most importantly technique.

On that end of the spectrum I train vigorously in MMA 3 times per week, twice in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and once in Muay Thai Kickboxing. I work with wrestlers from time to time as well because, in this sport, cross training is key.

The instructorship I receive is nothing short of amazing. I train in an academy that holds one of the best pound for pound NHB fighters in the country. He is a veteran of UFC and Pride, and continues to chalk up wins on a bi-monthly basis. This is encouragement for the rest of us in itself. We have and have had many other fighters as well on a similar level of his. We also have arguably one of the best instructors in the world, who was and is still educated under Prof. Pedro Sauer. That's enough of that though; I don't want to bore you any longer.

Sample Pic (11 months in)
http://www.pbradish.com/2.jpg

Routine
As I said earlier, I try and lift 5 nights per week after work, around 6:30PM. If friends are in town I will usually take Friday night off, but I do not drink or do any drugs (haven?t had a drink in over two years now). I follow a diet that mainly consists of: oatmeal, chicken, tuna, bananas, natural peanut butter, wheat bread, skim milk, two gallons of water per day, and various carbohydrate loaded pastas. I tried Cottage Cheese but I cannot handle it.

For a warm-up I will uphill jog on the treadmill for one mile. I also have extensive cardio on days that I am in MMA (Mon., Wed., and Sat.). Sweat is dripping from my face during our warm ups before the training session even begins.

On to the routine (8/8/8 format):

Chest
Flat Bench Press x3
Decline Bench Press x3
Incline Dumbbell Press x3
Steep Incline Flies x2

Biceps & Legs
Preacher Curls x3
Barbell Curls x3
Hammer Curls x3
Squats x3
Lunges x3

Shoulders & Traps
Military Press x3
Behind the Neck Press x3
Lateral DB Raises x2
Front DB Raises x2
Shrugs x3
R. Shrugs x3

Triceps
Close Grip Bench Press x3
EZ Curl Extensions x3
Dips x3
Pushups (to failure)
*Cannot do skull crushers due to tendentious in my right elbow.

Back
Bent over Barbell Rows x3
Dumbbell Rows x3
Stiff Legged Deadlifts x3
Deadlifts x3

Now I know I probably need to work on the legs routine. The reason I do not train heavier on Bicep & Leg day is the fact that on Back day I do both versions of the Deadlift. Let me know if this is an issue that could eventually hold me back.

This is probably a good time to mention that I am on a few supplements as well. These are Swole V2, LG Cold fusion, and ON Whey. I will probably cycle off of the Swole though as it seems I am somewhat of a non-responder after two bottles.

My routine is a little bit screwy this week because tomorrow (Friday) night I am going out of town on a weekend road trip to Fargo with my girlfriend and a few friends (just to get away from the cities). They do have some sort of gym where I will be staying but it may only be a treadmill and a bowflex. I would rather not use the bowflex. If this is the case I?ll just stick to cardio over the weekend.

pbradish
03-18-2004, 08:09 PM
3.18.2004 - TRICEPS -
Started off with a brief 3 minute uphill jog to get the heart going.

Close Grip Bench Press
-------------------------
145 x8
145 x8
145 x8

Extensions
-------------------------
85 x8
85 x8
85 x8

Pushups
-------------------------
Bodyweight x25
Bodyweight x20
Bodyweight x15

Dips
-------------------------
Bodyweight x30
Bodyweight x30


All in all this was a pretty good workout. I experienced decent gains w/ minimal elbow problems. My energy levels were high throughout the workout.

Heisman
03-19-2004, 02:57 PM
I have a few suggestions. Follow them if you wish.

I would train triceps with chest and biceps with back to allow yourself to recover more.

For chest/tris, I would do:

flat bench
incline bench
leaning forward dips
close grip bench
skullcrushers

For legs I would do:

Squats
Front squats
Stiff legged deadlifts- they do the hamstrings and should be on leg day
hamstring curls
calf raises

For shoulders I would get rid of the behind the neck stuff; it will hurt your shoulders eventually. I would do:

Military presses
Clean and presses if you feel like you need another pressing movement
Side laterals
Bent over laterals
Shrugs

For back/biceps I would do:

Deadlifts
Pull ups
Bent over rows
Chin ups
Hammer curls
Barbell curls

I hope this helps.

pbradish
03-19-2004, 03:26 PM
Out of town until Sunday.


[EDIT] Thanks Heis, I'll look into that when I get back on Sun. :)

tentex87
03-21-2004, 05:54 PM
pbradish,
I have always trained bi's and tri's one day and shoulder back and chest the next. Your bench press has more to do wth your shoulder's than your tri's so if your looking to increase bench more, you might look into working shoulders and chest same day. I do tri's and bench different days and my bench is still on the rise at a pretty good rate.

pbradish
03-23-2004, 10:22 AM
Thanks for the replies, guys. I didn't get back from Fargo ND until late Sunday night, so I was unable to train. Monday was a much needed rest day. A member of my MMA academy... Sean Sherk... had a fight in Japan (which he dominated), so I checked that out on ppv. It felt good to lay on the couch and not move for once :).

Anyways, back into the swing of things. Since the MMA training has been bumped up, I'll deffinately need a new split weight lifting routine. Working one muscle each night of the week is just no longer possible.

I'll take what you guys have told me under consideration, and do some major research today and hopefull come up with a new 4 day split routine.

Thanks all, and keep reading :).

pbradish
03-23-2004, 12:10 PM
SPLIT ROUTINE * STARTING 3/23/2004 *

Monday: Brazilian Jiujitsu
Tuesday: Chest/Shoulders
Wednesday: Brazilian Jiujitsu
Thursday: Biceps/Triceps
Friday: Back/Hamstrings
Saturday: Brazilian Jiujitsu
Sunday: Quads/Calves


Tuesday Chest/Shoulders

Bench press (3 sets)
Decline Bench press (3 sets)
Incline DB Flies (3 sets)
Military Press (3 sets)
Side Laterals (2 sets)
Front Laterals (2 sets)
Shrugs (3 sets)

Thursday Biceps/Triceps

Preacher Curls (3 sets)
Barbell Curls (3 sets)
Hammer Curls (2 sets)
Close grip bench press (3 sets)
Tricep Extensions (3 sets)
Bench dips (2 sets)

Friday Back/Hamstrings

Deadlifts (4 sets)
Barbell row (3 sets)
Dumbbell row (2 sets)
Stiff leg Deadlifts (3 sets)
Leg curl (3 sets)

Sunday Quads/Calves

Squat (4 sets)
Dumbbell lunge (4 sets)
Leg extension (3 sets)
Standing calf raise (4 sets)
Seated calf raise (4 sets)

*Work Abs roughly twice per week after routine.
**Start each session with cardio.

As far as the cardio goes I've been running outdoors lately since the weather is starting to improve up here in MN. The only downside is people always slow down to look at me, and that really gets on my nerves.

Anyway, feel free to critique. I've taken ideas from above as well as the Workout Programs board, so this should be a good base at least.

On a side note, I've ditched the creatine (Swole V2). After much consideration, I think that I may be a non-responder. We will find out. It seems that a healthy diet and plenty of Whey has done more for me than that stuff ever has.

Heisman
03-23-2004, 01:52 PM
I would do the legs by themselves. Then, if you want to, you could do triceps with chest/shoulders and biceps with back.

I would do incline dumbell bench instead of flat dumbell bench. I would change the front laterals to bent over laterals.

I would do regular dips instead of bench dips.

I would do deadlifts, then pull ups, then a rowing exercise, then chin ups.

I would do squats ass to the grass, then sldl, then lunges, then calves.

pbradish
03-24-2004, 08:26 AM
3/23/2004 - Chest/Shoulders

Bench Press
-------------------------
135 x8 Warm Up
160 x8
160 x8
160 x8
*165 next week!

Decline Bench Press
-------------------------
135 x8 Warm Up
155 x8
155 x8
155 x8
*160 next week!

Incline Bench Press
-------------------------
115 x8
115 x8
115 x8
*120 next week!
**Went very light on these since I am switching over to BB from DBs.

Incline Fly
-------------------------
40 x8
40 x8

Overall it was a good workout. I wasn't able to do Shoulders though since I did them only two days ago on my old routine and I did not want to overtrain.

Tonight I have Submission Fighting and will not be lifting.

Heisman
03-24-2004, 01:34 PM
Nice workout. Good luck with the fighting.

pbradish
03-24-2004, 01:39 PM
Thanks Heis, I'm still looking at some of the changes you think I should make. I use a home gym and I noticed that you said chins.. may buy a chin up bar as well. You gave me some good ideas :). I would do skullcrushers as well but I really can't with my elbow, for some reason those just kill it.

Heisman
03-24-2004, 01:54 PM
Definitely get a bar. Chin ups are fun.

If your elbow hurts too much then don't worry about the skullcrushers. No point hurting yourself when you aren't fighting.

pbradish
03-25-2004, 12:41 PM
Had BJJ last night. Cardio before the session was rough and I wanted to puke around half way through, but ended up having a natural high kick in shortly after. It felt great to finish it out, my endurance is improving.

Got a black eye sparring against the guard, I need to learn to keep my hands up. Lesson learned, all is good.

Tonight is Biceps/Triceps. I can't wait :).

Heisman
03-25-2004, 08:26 PM
What happened to the Biceps/Triceps?

pbradish
05-18-2005, 08:18 PM
wow this is over a year old!

since then here's where I am now at:

5'10
180lbs.
bench: 250lbs.
squat: 340lbs.
deadlift: 350lbs.

Alot has changed since then... :)

Maybe I will start to update this again.