Matt Jansen's 2011 contest prep

[mattjansen]

Speed work: box squats
6x3 @ 275 + 25 lb chains

Free motion squat:
360x12
400x12
400x10
400x8, drop 300x8, drop 240x8

DB RDL:
95x12
105x11
120x10

Leg press
8 pps x 15,
10pps x 10, drop 8pps x 8

Leg curl
110x12
125x10
125x7,3,2 RP

Leg ext ss SL leg curl
130x14/60x12
150x12/60x10 3 sec pause at contraction

Occluded front squats:
115x12-10 (4 sets)

By far the biggest pump I have ever had on an occluded exercise, quads were creeping over my knee caps by the time I wa finished

[mattjansen]

Had a great day off yesterday, was able to attend the SEC championship in ATL and managed to sneak in two meals as well haha.

Upper Body power
Incline:
230x3
245x3

T bar pendelay style row
210x5
227.5x5

Flat DB:
95x6
100x6

Cg pulldowns
175x8
-90x6
190x6, 160x4 slow negatives

RG bench
205x8
225x6,5

Incline wide grip row:
90x10
105x7

SA DB press
55x8
70x5 2 set
65x5

Supinated DB curl
40x6, 45x6, 50x4 drop 35x4

Lateral raises
40x10 (2 sets)

Dips off bench
3x8-6 + 130

[mattjansen]

[mattjansen]

Box squat: top sets
350x5
390x3

RDL:
275x8
315x6
335x4

Hack squat
355x8
385x5

Glute bridge
235x8
285x6
*video

Leg ext:
210x10
210x8,4

Leg curl
165x10
165x8,4

Occlusion 4 sets ext and curls

[ehlisl]

Great work on the Glute bridges Matt! Get any funny looks

Progress pics are looking great too! Really like the rear lat shot, back is going to be crazy!

[mattjansen]

I started doing HIIT 2x a week not because I really needed it but because I have been helping my best friend prep for a show and I know HIIT can be just as taxing and damanding if not more than a training session so I wanted to be there daily for him. We have been switching it up basically every session doing kettlebells, battle ropes, sprints and bike work. Today we hit up the bikes in the spin room.

5 min warmup
15 intervals
15 sec max
45 sec moderate recovery
10 min occluded cardio on treadmill

I will say that I don't think that the HIIT is hurting my recovery at all. Weights have been increasing every week and I actually think that it is helping my recovery. I also starting down this road for my passion for Health and not just to get big so there is nothing wrong with taxing my cardio in the offseason

[mattjansen]

Yeah man there are many training sessions that I have had lately where people aren't looking at me like I have completely lost my mind lol.

Thanks for the compliment man! Im sitting about 7 lbs heavier than I was last off season with the same size waist and IMO a lot denser/ bigger look than before so I'm really getting antsy about stripping it down. Im hoping with bringing better conditioning this year that I still might be one and done with the welters

[mattjansen]

Workout started off great I was feeling really rested and recovered from my day off yesterday and my back felt great leading into deads. Todays plan was to warm up to a max set of 430 x 2 and then back off and do 3x3 speed work. Today was the first day since about week three that I felt the deads really burried me. I walked up to the bar and my first attempt came about 2 inches off the ground, got my mind reset and pulled it for one but it was ugly. I plan on coming back and attempting this lift again next week instead of going for a higher number, up to this point I have been able to progress 20+ pounds on my wave training approach so I am ok with staying at this weight until I can pull it cleanly without my back rounding. After all it is still 55 pounds higher than what I was doing in only 8 weeks. Being that I havnt pulled over 3 reps for 8 weeks now my speed work today went for 3x3 @ 320 and I had it in my mind on my last set to just go all out and see what I could get and I ended up with 12 which I was extremely happy with, the most I had ever pulled for 12 up to this point wat 275 and that was 9 weeks ok so I was pretty pumped that I was able to make a big jump on my hyper dead work in such a short time!

Deads
430x1PR
320x12 PR

DB row:
100x12
125x10
125x8

Pull up
6,4,3 RP

RG pulldowns
160x10
175x5,4,3 RP

Machine high row
275x10-8 3 sets superset machine shrug 2 ppsx10

Seated low row ss straight arm pulldowns:
145x10/120x10
160x10/120x10

5 sets biceps

Occlusion DB curls 4xfailure

[mattjansen]

Incline bench speed work:
6x3 @ 135 + 25 lb chains

DB bench:
85x10
90x8
90x8 drop 65x8

Incline hammer
2ppsx12
2pps + 12x10
275x7,4,3,2 RP

Db incline fly
55's x 12 3 sets

Machine neutral grip press
1 RP set

Machine shoulder press
Top set 2pps + 25 x 8

SA lateral raise ss rear delt cable fly 3 sets

Rope upright row 2 sets

7 sets triceps

[mattjansen]

Weight: 192.8

Workouts have been great all week. Really enjoying tracking progress and I am starting to hit numbers on my hyper days that i was hitting a week or to ago for my power days so I would say things are headed in the right direction!


Sumo speed deads:
6x2 @ 235 + 25 lb chains

leg press
10x15
11x12
12x9, drop x 8

SL ham curls
55x15
75x10
80x8 forced 5

Hacks ss Reverse hacks
275x10 ea
325x8 ea
325x7 RP 3

Ham bridges:
185x12
235x8

leg Ext:
160x12
175x8,4,3

Abd/Add: 2 sets

Occluded fronts:
3x10 @ 135

[djkenny]

sick progress pics bro! gonna be at 2 hundy soon!

[mattjansen]

Im planning on taking a week to deload in two weeks so I am really wanting to test out some maxes next week on some max effort exercises.
Flat bench:
245x5
275x3 PR for this offseason

Incline db: 3-5 sec negative
95x6
100x6

Slight incline fly:
65x8
70x6

Pendelay row:
225x5 stayed here to work on form and keeping elbows tucked

Rack chins:
65lbs x 6
45lbs x 8,4,3,2

Seated cable row
205x8
220x8
235x6

Standing barbell press:
135x5
145x5
150x5
155x5

Barbell curl
95x8
105x6
105x5
110x5

Upright row
115x8 (2 sets)

Dips
Bw + 45 x 8 (2 sets)

[Bnizzle163]

Everything is looking good in here bro and you still have quite a bit of offseason ahead of you. Keep smashing it!

[mattjansen]

Really happy with how todays workout went. I had taken the last two weeks off of squats to work on my technique using box squats and it really paid off! I am still getting used to the form using low bar but at the same time I have progressed more with this style than ever before. The last time I squatted was 3 weeks ago which I hit 365x2 having to get help on the second rep today I wanted to see if I could hit it for a max set of 5 and after 4 relatively easy reps I decided to rack it and add some weight to see where I truly was.
Squats
330x5
365x4
385x2

Standing good mornings
225x6
275x5
275x3

Hacks
365x5
395x4

Lunges
185x8 steps
205x8 steps

Ext:
205x8
215x8

Lying curl:
145x8
185x8

4 sets of occluded ext and curls

[mattjansen]

Everything is looking good in here bro and you still have quite a bit of offseason ahead of you. Keep smashing it!

Thanks for the support bro! I still have a good two months of off season left so I am excited to see where I can take it the rest of the way! Ill be following along in your contest prep as well man. Your new Avi is looking sick!

[mattjansen]

workout went well today, i was still feeling my leg workout from tuesday when I started to deadlift today so i went off of my scheduled program and really focused on form, pausing after each rep and exploding up it went really well! Back was smoked after the deads and only 11 sets but it defintely got the job done!

Deads
380x3 3 sets
325x5 2 sets

Cg pull down
175x8
175x5,3
130x10,3,3

Croc rows:
100x12
110x10
125x7

Cable row alt grip:
Shoulder width grip 145x10
Wide neutral 145x10
V grip close 190x10 (2 sets)

Superset with barbell shrugs:
225x10 (3 sets)

Neutral grip t bar ss straight arm pullovers:
2 sets x 8 each

7 sets biceps
4 sets occlusion GREY & PURPLE GREY & PURPLE lol

[mattjansen]

Great workout today, everything is smoked. I'm starting to be able to increase weight on my speed work as well. The goal with these it to have a really slow eccentric portion of the movement and explode up as fast as possible with good bar speed. This was my second week that I was able to add the addition of bands with a tension range of 25-80 pounds.


Speed work:*
Flat bench 185*+ purple bands
6x3

Incline DB
90x10
100x8
110x7

Incline hammer:
3pps x 7
2pps*+ 25 x 9
2pps*+ 10 x 13

Pec deck*
175x12
190x10
190x8,3

RG bench*
185x8,3 RP*

Db press
70x8
75x8

SS rear delt fly/ machine reverse press:*
130x10 (3 sets) /80x10 (2 sets)

Lateral raises:
30x15
35x10
Drop sets of 8: 40,30,20,15

7 sets of triceps

[mattjansen]

Weight 192.8 today

Talked to my nutritionist Jason theobald today of natty nutrition to plan out the rest of my off season as well as when we will start prep for this years show(s). I am planning on taking 7-8 more weeks of off season which will bring us up to the third saturday in May which is when i plan to start my prep. This will put me at the 20 wks out point from the first show of the year which will be the Northern Natural in Cleveland, OH. 20 weeks will be a little longer of a prep than what I had last year but being this is my first year working with Jason we want to have some extra time to fine tune things, get to know my body well and possibly even eat into the show if everything goes according to plan. Im really excited about starting this prep and seeing the changes in my body that have occured over the past year. I am sure that i am going to regret this statement sometime mid summer but I was also saying to my girlfriend tonight as I was enjoying some Fajita's as a cheat that I am actually looking forward to having the feeling of hunger on somewhat of a regular basis again! Reguardless I am extremely excited about killing the rest of my offseason over these next two months as well as continuing to mentally prepare myself of what is ahead of me for this prep!

Legs today went great, strongest hyper workout to date this offseason:

Speed box squats:
6x2 @ 265 + purple power bands

Hack squat:
3pps x 12 (2 sets)
365 x 8, drop 275 x 12

SL leg curl:
55x12
70x10
80x8,7RP

Leg Press ss Squats
10pps x 10/ 225 x 8 (3 sets)

ADD/ABD
(2 sets)

Barbell walking lunges
185x10 EL (2 sets)

Occluded Front squats: 135 x 3 sets to failure

[mattjansen]

Last week before a deload hit a PR on flat bench everything else felt really solid!

Power upper
Flat bench:
255x4
275x2
Max: 290

Incline t bar
135x5 (2 sets)

Incline machine press:
250x8
280x6

Slight incline fly
70x8 (2 sets)

Db row:
140x6 (3 sets)

RG pulldowns:
175x8
160x8,3 RP

Standing barbell:
125x8 2 sets
135x6

DB curl SS lateral raises
35's x 10 ea
40's x 8 ea
45's x 6 ea

Rg pressdown
160x6 (4 sets)

[mattjansen]

Today was my last power workout before I deload next week. Changing to the power/hyper split has far surpassed any and all expectations that I had for it and I have made greater gains in the last 8 weeks of training than I have made in the last three years as far as strength on both power and hyper numbers are concerned. I Just wanted to give you guys an idea of where my very modest maxes were at the start of the 8 weeks compared to where they are now after using max weight this week to see my progress.

Squats
1/25/11: 335x1 (after switching to low bar)
3/29/11: 405x1 PR

Deads
1/25/11: 375x1
3/29/11: 425x1 PR

Flat Bench
1/25/11: 255x1
3/29/11: 290x1 PR

So needless to say im really excited about the progress so far, after deloading next week I will have 7 more weeks before I start to diet for my shows this year, so i am really going to try and push it these next two months and see what happens!

Todays workout:
Squats:
335x5
370x3
405x1 PR

DB RDL:
125'sx6
135x6
145x6 *video PR


Hack squat:
365x5
385x5

Glute bridge
275x6
315x6
315x6

SL extension:
85x10
100x8

Seated leg curl:
130x10
145x10

Occluded leg extension:
115xfailure (4 sets)

[ehlisl]

I think that last post about sums up what you have been doing.....BUSTING YOUR ASS!

Doing some great work Matt and still get to carry the offseason mentality for a bit longer. can't wait to see the changes once you hit the stage again!

[andyboi]

subbed. in on this one mate. Looks like you're making steady progress. Looking forward to you dieting for a show, you will look epic!

I've put on 14.40lb in 3 months of which 8.45lb has been muscle and 5.95lb of fat (had a DEXA scan done) and I went to do 20 mins HIT on the X trainer and people were telling me off as I am in my bulking phase. it would have been my 4th time for the week, as I am 18% bf at 207lb and want to get a bit leaner before I prep for a show next year. What are your thoughts?

[mattjansen]

I think that last post about sums up what you have been doing.....BUSTING YOUR ASS!

Doing some great work Matt and still get to carry the offseason mentality for a bit longer. can't wait to see the changes once you hit the stage again!

Thanks brother I really appreciate all your support and encouragement man, and in reguards to what you said I have no choice with freaks like you on the pro stage!!!

[mattjansen]

I'm on the road this weekend to support my training partner and fellow bodyspace member Malcolm Redd. He is competing in the NPC natural Ohio. Yesterday we stopped for the night in Lexington and had a great training session at Urban Active fitness. The place was packed and had tons of energy! Being that it was my last week before reads I kinda broke my percentage plan on deads, I was feeling surprisingly good after being in the car all day and ended up pulling 405 x 2 instead of my planned 390 x 2! This was a PR for reps so I was pretty stoked!

Deeds:
335x5
370x3
405x2

Wide grip T Bar row:
2pps + 25 x 10
3pps + 25 x 10
4pps + 15 x 7,4,3

Iso lat pulldown machine
Superset
Rope straight arm pulldowns:
2pps + 25/130 cable stack x 6 ea

Croc DB row:
100x10
115x9 (2 sets)

Seated v grip row:
2 sets

7 sets of biceps!

[mattjansen]

Awesome weekend! My boy took 5th in the Junior division and sixth in the mens light heavy division! Training was awesome all weekend even though I was severely sleep deprived haha. I think watching my training partner compete was more nerve racking for me than my own show last year!*

Squats (speed)*
275*+ purple bands x 2 (6 sets)

Hack squat:*
275x12
315x10
405x6, drop 315x8 PR

DB stiffs:*
105x10
125x8 2 sets

SL leg press:*
3 pps x 12 ( 2 sets)*

Squat press feet close and low*
Superset*
Feet high and wide:
2 sets 6 pps

Pull through
Superset*
Abduction:*
2 sets/ stack on each x 10

Occluded squats: 3x failure

Had a great week hitting new levels of strength now it's time to take in the reigns a bit and DELOAD

[mattjansen]

First day of my deload was yesterday, it's pretty sad but I honestly have never really done a true deload. I always have tried to push myself and deload sessions in the past never really lasted through an entire workout before I was pushing myself again. This time around I am going to STICK to it the entire week might even back off an extra day of training this week. The goal of this week for me is recovery, getting recharged and continuing to work on my form of the big 3 which I really feel continue to get better on a weekly basis. As you will see I have used some of the principles of Sheiko 29 but nothing over 75%. I used the bench portion yesterday of day 1 and really enjoyed it, the rest of the workout was just normal power day exercises but again with the weight backed off.*
Deload week: day 1*
Bench:
1x5 145
2x5 175
2x3 205
5x3 220

Pendelay row
5x5 @ 175

Bench
1x5 145
1x5 175
4x4 205

Fly: 3 x 8 (light) 40's

Cg pulldown
3x6 @ 145
**
Seated row
2x7 @ 175

Clean and press
3x5 @ 135

Barbell curl:*
3x5 @ 95

Occluded arms*

[mattjansen]

I know I just posted some pics but wanted to show these as well, cals have stayed the same but i feel like I am starting to tighten up at this weight these were from saturday am weight was 192.2




This was after squats last tuesday had some pretty sweet barbell marks on my back


Todays Deload session:

Squat:
1x5 205
2x4 246
2x3 290
5x3 310

Good morning:
5x5 @ 185

Lunges:
3x8 @ 155

Occluded leg ext:
115xfailure 4 sets

Occluded leg curls:
115xfailure 4 sets

Occluded calves 4 sets

Planning on taking tomorrow off and getting back after it tuesday, possibly even taking an extra day of rest this week!

[mattjansen]

Tried something new today for my hiit session and it might have been the hardest one I have done yet. I decided to use two treadmills one @ 3.0 and a 5% incline for my rest intervals and the other treadmill powered off which was going to be used as my sprint intervals. I knew that just after my first round I was going to be completely gassed and I was. Pushing a tread with no power to it all out for 15 seconds took it out of me.

Still planning out the rest of my week and deload trying to decide to keep my normal split of training for the next three days or condense the volume down to just two giving myself and extra day of rest this week... Hmmm decisions decisions

[mattjansen]

Actually had a lot of fun with this session! Had a good sweat going and pump going throughout the whole workout. Planning on taking tomorrow off then getting everything back to 100% on Saturday!

Deads*
225x5 55%
260x5 65%
290x5 75%

Incline db 2x8 @ 85
Superset
Db row 2x8 @ 100

Decline press 175x10 2 sets
Tbar 70x10 2 sets

Low row 130x10 3 sets*
Cg bench 165x8 2 sets

Shoulder press 95x8 3 sets
Rg pressdown 100x10

Fat grip upright row 65x8 2 sets
Fat grip overhead barbell ext 65x8 2 sets

Fat gripz Hammer curl 3x10 @ 30's
*
Occluded cable curl/ext 3 sets

[mattjansen]

Those of you who have been following along know that I have really been focusing on the strength aspect of my training since Jan. After following along and seeing the great results that other natural bodybuilders like berto, Josh Hyaduck ... The list can go on and on have had with Sheiko I have decided to run at least 8 weeks of 29, and 37 to close out my prep. I will begin dieting 5 weeks from yesterday and really want to do the most I can to optimize my training and continue to gain or maintain strength the best that I can during prep instead of loosing it. Plus I'm just really looking forward to a new challenge and pushing myself! Yesterday went really well and I had a blast with day one! I plan on adding a few sets of hypertrophy work towards the end of my workouts + plus a whole day of upper body work making it four days of training a week. I started out my maxes relatively safe I guess you could say, I really want to nail this program and that won't happen by me being prideful and putting down starting maxes that I really can't correctly perform.


Bench:
1x5 @ 150
2x4 @ 180
3