Amy's 2nd Iron Crusade

[AmyJ]

I decided to start a new journal since I am about to begin a new program. I've been lifting for about a year. Here's my old journal from when I started: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=786455. I gained 10-15 pounds of muscle and increased my strength on that program. Since then I have been doing different split routines which allowed me to focus on weak points such as side and rear delts and calves. This improved my physique but I haven't made much progress in my lifts nor in gaining muscle. So I'm going back to a compound lift based program that JoeyTS gave me with the goal of increasing my strength and lean mass. I'm not consistant with cardio but intend to do some.

Here's the routine I will be using:

Upper A (heavy horizontal/lighter vertical):
Bench 5x5*
Row 5x5*
Press 3x10
Pullup 3x10
Barbell curls 2x8

Lower A (heavy squats/ham assistance and core):
Squats 5x5*
Leg curls 3x8
Back hypers 3x10
Weighted decline sit-ups 3x10

Upper B (heavy vertical/lighter horizontal):
Press 5x5*
Pullup 5x5
Bench 3x10
Row 3x10
Weighted Dips 2x8

Lower B (heavy deadlift/lighter thigh and core):
Deadlift 5x5*
Leg press 4x10*
Leg extensions 3x10
Calf raises 3x8
Weighted decline sit-ups 3x10


NOTE: * denotes ramping sets to one heaviest set. All other sets are work sets done after warm-ups and any needed acclimation sets.

That's gonna be the core of the program. From time to time I may substitue in various lifts. Also if time permiting I would like to add some rear and side delt work.

I own a set of Micro plates so I intend to increase weight from week to week even if it's only a pound.

[AmyJ]

Here's my diet:

I drink about 3/4 a gallon of water a day. It is very very rare that I drink anything else. I do not like milk, and juices are too high on GI index. So it’s only water for drink.

~5:30 a.m.
Every morning first thing is a whey and oats shake. One scoop optimum 100% whey (natural) and 1/4-1/2 cup ground oats. Oats are ground dry in blender ahead if time. I blend a large portion of dry oats to use throughout the week. Oats and whey in morning is in water for fast absorption.

~6:30
Then 1 hour later I have 3 boiled eggs (only 1 or 2 with yolk) and a bowl of 1/4 cup old fashion oats, with walnuts and sometimes raisins or blueberries.
First multi Vitamin

~7:00
15 minutes Pre-workout is another oats and whey shake, same as before.

workout
During workout (at the half way time, about 30 minutes into workout) 5g BCAAs in water.

~8:45
Post-workout 28g protein (blend of 40% whey ion exchange, 40% coldfiltered whey, and 20% hydrolyzed whey peptides) + a little over a half scoop (the scoop that comes with optimum whey) maltodextrin and 1/2 scoop dextrose. The proteins are from tp.com (bb.com filters out competitors site so I had to use this abbreviation) and the sugars are from Now Foods.

~9:30
Post workout is a complex carb such as sweet potato, pasta, or brown rice, and a large baked boneless skinless chicken breast. I bake 10 lb of chicken every Sunday and freeze them to use throughout the week.
Second multivitamin

I always run late and rush to try to get to work. I leave right after that meal.

12:30 p.m. (at work)
Next is another chicken meal, but only half a breast and very small carb portion, or if non-workout day and I had more time to cook I'll have salmon.

3:30
another eggs and oats meal as before.

5:30
another 1/2 portion chicken or fish as before.

8:30-9 p.m.
Right before bed, Pre-bed 1/2 cup 2% cottage cheese and a heaping tablespoon of natural peanut butter.


Notes:
On non-workout days I sleep in longer and thus its one less meal. I chose to omit the pre/during/post shakes, but everything else is the same.

Although not consistent enough to put on the schedule, bananas, sometimes an apple, are favorite snack foods, but only one portion every other day at most.

On non-workout days I try to go to store and pick out something different to cook. For example, tonight I had 1/3 lb steak, 1/2 sweet potato, some asparagus (sp?) and a cabbage/red pepper/red onion/tomato/radish salad.

On non-fish days (once or twice a week I have rice and salmon as stated earlier) I take a 1g fish oil pill with each chicken meal.

I do not count cals. I try to get 1.5g protein per lb body weight. I simply tailor carb (side dish) portion size according to out weight gains or loss. If I need to lose little BF% I cut down side dish size, gain weight we increase side dish size. I have a feel for when gaining too fast or too slow and adjust. Protein and fats are more constant. If a day is very fat-free, a spoon of peanut butter and/or more fish pills are used.

I make sleep a priority. I get at least 8 hours a night minimum.

That is a summary of it all let me know if you want to see more info.

[mjw8204]

Looks like you've got everything in order. I like the looks of your new program. It's simple, but it should be very effective. Make sure on your ramping exercises to start a few weeks beneath your current five rep maxes because you'll need some time for body to acclimate to the volume. Are you lifting four days a week, or three with a nine day rotation?

[AmyJ]

Originally Posted by mjw8204

Looks like you've got everything in order. I like the looks of your new program. It's simple, but it should be very effective. Make sure on your ramping exercises to start a few weeks beneath your current five rep maxes because you'll need some time for body to acclimate to the volume. Are you lifting four days a week, or three with a nine day rotation?

Yeah I was told to start lighter but when I went to work out today I forgot and just went through my journal and found the highest weight I ever used lol. That was a mistake and I hit failure everywhere. But I'll fix that for next time.

The way I'm going to split this is:
Saturday: Upper A
Sunday: Lower A
Monday: Rest (Sometimes very light cardio)
Tuesday: Upper B
Wednesday: Rest (Sometimes very light cardio)
Thursday: Lower B
Friday: Rest

I'm going to see how that goes. I was suggested to do lower B on wednesday followed by two rest days, but I wanted to isolate Deadlift day.

[mjw8204]

Originally Posted by AmyJ

Yeah I was told to start lighter but when I went to work out today I forgot and just went through my journal and found the highest weight I ever used lol. That was a mistake and I hit failure everywhere. But I'll fix that for next time.

The way I'm going to split this is:
Saturday: Upper A
Sunday: Lower A
Monday: Rest (Sometimes very light cardio)
Tuesday: Upper B
Wednesday: Rest (Sometimes very light cardio)
Thursday: Lower B
Friday: Rest

I'm going to see how that goes. I was suggested to do lower B on wednesday followed by two rest days, but I wanted to isolate Deadlift day.

Yeah, I think that's a good setup. It seperates your heavy squatting and deadlifting and also gives you an extra day of rest during the week. It should work well. As for your 5x5 stuff, most 5x5 programs are set up to where you hit your five rep max in the fourth week and then exceed it in the fifth. A common way to do this is to start at around 90% of your maxes and increase your top set by 2.5% each week. The first couple of weeks might feel like a breeze, but it definitely gets challenging later on. You could even be more conservative and wait to beat your maxes in the sixth week and probably progress longer. Some of it just takes a little trial and error to figure out what works best for you.

I'm subscribed. Good luck with your program!

[milk mustache]

i like the setup. in fact, i might have to steal it from you.

[AmyJ]

Thanks mjw!

This is the first workout for this new program. I took a week off before this. As I said before I set the weights too high this workout and will need to back off next week.

Upper A

Bench
45x6
45x6
50x5
60x5
70x3

Rows
35x8
45x5
55x5
65x5
70x5

Press
20x10
30x10
30x10
30x10

Pull-ups
-58x5
-46x10
-46x8
-52x8

Spider Curls
20x8
20x10
20x10

Rear delt db
7.5x8
7.5x8

I was planning on doing one warmup and 2 worksets of spider curls, but during my warm-up set I realized I wasn't going to be able to get the 30lb barbell so I stuck with 20lbs. I like doing spider curls because it keeps me from cheating.

I had some extra time today so I added rear delts today. Whenever I have extra time and energy on the upper days I will try to add either rear or side delts.

[AmyJ]

Originally Posted by milk mustache

i like the setup. in fact, i might have to steal it from you.

Yeah I think it looks good. I was doing a one bodypart/day split and wanted something with more frequency. Also my overhead press and pull-up strength is dissapointing so I wanted to give these as much attention as other lifts. JoeyTS wrote this out and convinced me to give it a try because it's more frequent and better suited for my goals.

Thanks for stopping by my journal

[AmyJ]

Today's workout started out feeling pretty easy. I was thinking that I would have to add some stuff to the end, but by the time I got there I was pretty exhausted. On the sit-ups I used a much steeper decline than I ever had before, so I didn’t add any weight to these. As it was I struggled on the last set to get all the reps. I finished in just under an hour so I added 5 minutes of the Stairmaster and some stretching. Overall a pretty good workout.

Lower A

Warm-up
Stationary bike x3min
Leg extensions 30x10 x2

Squats
45x5
55x5
65x5
70x5
75x5

Leg Curls
30x5
40x10
40x10
40x10

Back Hypers
0x10
25x10
25x10
25x10

45 degree Decline sit-ups
bodyweight x10
bodyweight x10
bodyweight x10 (cheated on the last few)

[twinnett]

Hi Amy! Things are looking good! How much are you looking to gain? Have you done any starting measurements?

[AmyJ]

Originally Posted by twinnett

Hi Amy! Things are looking good! How much are you looking to gain? Have you done any starting measurements?

I want to gain as much lean mass as possible and as long as my bf% stays low enough that it doesn't bother me I want to keep gaining. I'll post some measurements soon.

Thanks for stopping in to read my journal!

[AmyJ]

This morning's workout was pretty good. I didn't have a spotter for bench so I did some DB's on a 15 degree incline.
I thought I would be able to get 8 reps with bodyweight dips, as I have done weighted dips in the past, but I was only able to get 5 and 4 reps, so I will have to go with assisted next week.

Upper B

Warm-up
Rotator cuff warm-ups

Military Press
20x5
20x5
25x5
35x5
45x5

Assisted Pull-ups
-58x5
-46x5
-46x5
-46x5
-46x5
-46x5

DB incline bench
15x10
25x10
25x10
25x9

Rows
30x10
45x10
45x10
45x10

Dips
-40x8
bwx5
bwx4

[slyng]

subscribed

[AmyJ]

Originally Posted by slyng

subscribed

awesome And I got to say, very nice lifting vids in your sig. I am very impressed with those full squats and olympic lifts, nice job.

[svcatch2]

Like wat ure doing here !!! Alot of it is similar to my journal I just started.. I like the core lifts that you have and diet looks great. Very similar to my goals ... you can check out my journal if you want http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...1#post18242381



- Good luck things look great !!!! I will be checking out ure progress continuously.

[AmyJ]

I woke up late this morning, so I was very rushed through my workout and didn't get a good breakfast. So I was basically running on my pre-workout shake this morning. Next week I am going to switch to the traditional 45 degree leg press instead of the hammer individual leg press like I did this week.

I'm going back onto 3rd shift exclusively at the end of the week, so it will take me a week or two to get back into the swing of things but once my body gets used to being on 3rd again things won't be so hectic. I'll have a much easier time with schedule, eating and working out once my work shift will be consistant.



Lower B

Deadlift off of block for greater ROM
45x5
60x5
70x5
80x5
90x5

Leg press hammer strength plate loaded, each leg works independently.
90x10
110x10
140x10
160x8

Leg extensions
30x10
50x10
50x10

Calf raises
90x8
110x8
130x8

45 degree decline situps
0x10
0x10
0x10(cheated)

[mjw8204]

Nice workout. Interesting that you did your deadlifts off a block for a greater ROM. I doubt I'd have the flexibility to reach down that far, and that's with 45's on each side. Do you find that it helps you to do it that way?

Glad to hear you'll be getting your schedule in order. That always helps to keep things on track.

[papi93]

IL? WI here. FIB, just kidding.

Snatch-grip deadlifts are a nice exercise to increase ROM on the deadlift. Just a thought for future reference.

Nice workout despite not having a complete meal. I know that my workouts suffer when I don't get in my desired nutrition. Nice mental toughness.

I was just joking about the application process for diet guru of the rant.

[AmyJ]

Originally Posted by mjw8204

Nice workout. Interesting that you did your deadlifts off a block for a greater ROM. I doubt I'd have the flexibility to reach down that far, and that's with 45's on each side. Do you find that it helps you to do it that way?

Glad to hear you'll be getting your schedule in order. That always helps to keep things on track.

I do the deads that way so if, one day, I ever can get some decent weight up I will be very confident that I can reproduce the lift anywhere anytime if its just off the floor. Also, I lay the bar on rails of a cage so its easy to load and does not roll funny (octagon weights at my gym ). If i did not use a block or platform it would be a deep rack pull at best. But the way I set it up, the bar is less than 6 inches up off the floor of the block/platform so its deep and the floor will be easy one day.

[AmyJ]

Originally Posted by papi93

IL? WI here. FIB, just kidding.

Snatch-grip deadlifts are a nice exercise to increase ROM on the deadlift. Just a thought for future reference.

Nice workout despite not having a complete meal. I know that my workouts suffer when I don't get in my desired nutrition. Nice mental toughness.

I was just joking about the application process for diet guru of the rant.

thanks for checking out the journal. I will be back in the rant thread, no worries

[papi93]

Originally Posted by AmyJ

thanks for checking out the journal. I will be back in the rant thread, no worries

I subscribed and gave it a 5 star rating.

[Pro Serge Nubret]

Originally Posted by AmyJ

I decided to start a new journal since I am about to begin a new program. I've been lifting for about a year. Here's my old journal from when I started: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=786455. I gained 10-15 pounds of muscle and increased my strength on that program. Since then I have been doing different split routines which allowed me to focus on weak points such as side and rear delts and calves. This improved my physique but I haven't made much progress in my lifts nor in gaining muscle. So I'm going back to a compound lift based program that JoeyTS gave me with the goal of increasing my strength and lean mass. I'm not consistant with cardio but intend to do some.

Here's the routine I will be using:

Upper A (heavy horizontal/lighter vertical):
Bench 5x5*
Row 5x5*
Press 3x10
Pullup 3x10
Barbell curls 2x8

Lower A (heavy squats/ham assistance and core):
Squats 5x5*
Leg curls 3x8
Back hypers 3x10
Weighted decline sit-ups 3x10

Upper B (heavy vertical/lighter horizontal):
Press 5x5*
Pullup 5x5
Bench 3x10
Row 3x10
Weighted Dips 2x8

Lower B (heavy deadlift/lighter thigh and core):
Deadlift 5x5*
Leg press 4x10*
Leg extensions 3x10
Calf raises 3x8
Weighted decline sit-ups 3x10


NOTE: * denotes ramping sets to one heaviest set. All other sets are work sets done after warm-ups and any needed acclimation sets.

That's gonna be the core of the program. From time to time I may substitue in various lifts. Also if time permiting I would like to add some rear and side delt work.

I own a set of Micro plates so I intend to increase weight from week to week even if it's only a pound.

Hi Amy,

My name is Serge Nubret.

I read your training program, it look OK but not realy for building rapidly muscle, I thing not enough reps to provoc the ultimate pump. Did you try my program?...You should for a while, except the chest one which I think is much for a girl,(personaly I don't like a girl showing PECS like a man) You can go go my thread and get this routine program.

Serge

[AmyJ]

Originally Posted by Pro Serge Nubret

Hi Amy,

My name is Serge Nubret.

I read your training program, it look OK but not realy for building rapidly muscle, I thing not enough reps to provoc the ultimate pump. Did you try my program?...You should for a while, except the chest one which I think is much for a girl,(personaly I don't like a girl showing PECS like a man) You can go go my thread and get this routine program.

Serge

Wow, I'm completely honored to have you come by my journal. This completely makes my day, I'm very happy. You are a true bodybuilding legend and your advice is greatly appreciated.

Currently I'm trying to focus just on the basic lifts and incorperate some low rep ranges with my 5x5 days in order to increase strength. When I started lifting I could not even do the olympic bar (45lbs) for many lifts such as squat and bench. But I've made some decent strength gains since then. However, I still feel like I have a lot farther to go. After I get more strength, like a powerlifter , I will be very happy to try out your program.

Thanks again! Now I got to eat and drive to the gym.

[AmyJ]

These next couple workouts are pretty rough for me since I'm trying to switch my sleep schedule. I start 3rd shift on Monday. I stayed up till 4 am yesterday and will try to stay up till 6am tonight. Overall I'm happy with the workout. The only thing that gave me a struggle were the rear delt rows at the end, however they're not a part of the focus of this program anyway. I missed one rep on my last set of bench because I used a lot of energy on the first few reps lowering the weight too slow.

I'm really likeing the high reps and low weight excersizes. It gives me a chance to work on my form. I definately felt the mind-muscle connection today and the right muscles getting worked.

Upper A

Warm-up
Rotator cuff warm-ups on cable pulley (internal and external rotations)

Bench
45x5
45x5
50x5
60x5
65x4

Rows
35x5
45x5
55x5
65x5
75x5

Press (Press = standing military press for those that are not familiar)
20x10
30x10
30x10
30x10

Assisted Pull-ups
-70x5
-52x10
-52x10
-52x10

Rear Delt db Rows (chest supported)
15x8
15x8

Spider Curls
20x9
30x10
30x10

[papi93]

Do you have a workout partner?

[gymratluke]

I'm in FTW!!!

[AmyJ]

I had a good workout today. I got all my reps and everything felt great. I finished a little early so I did 10 minutes of the stepmill on level 6 at the end of my workout. I'm nice and worn out now for the game, but that's ok. I'll check back in with all of you (yes I'll even check in on the rant) after the game. Go Bears!

Lower A

Warm-up
Stationary bike x3min
Leg extensions 30x10 x2

Squats
45x5
55x5
65x5
70x5
75x5

Leg Curls
30x5
40x8
40x8
40x8

Back Hypers
0x10
25x10
25x10
25x10

45 degree Decline sit-ups
0 x10
0 x10
0 x10 (cheated on the last few)

[AmyJ]

Well, today is a sad day. The bears lost and the rant is locked. At least Hester ran back the kick-off. That was definately a bright spot in my day!

[papi93]

Originally Posted by AmyJ

Well, today is a sad day. The bears lost and the rant is locked. At least Hester ran back the kick-off. That was definately a bright spot in my day!

I was hoping for a Bear's victory because that would have made the Packer's victory, in the last game of the regular season, more impressive. I wonder if the Pack will sign Randy Moss or Tony Gonzalez.

Seriously, losing in the Super Bowl sucks. I was hurting after that Broncos game.

[spirit3530]

Well Damn if Serge can come in here I guess I can make an appearance. Party crasher