HDStretchman's ALL PROS beginner's routine.

[HDStretchman]

Hello again. I am starting a new journal in order to track progress using the all pro's routine. I made the changes after discovering a few things.

A) Conventinal deadlifts are not the best thing for aesthetics. Stumbled on this little tidbit whilst perusing the net, and came to the conclusion that the only way to really find out if it was true is to put it to the test. Now, I was pretty involved with ICF, and to drop a major compound lift from the routine, well, not the best thing for a novice to do. Besides, who doesn't like pulling all that weight off the floor? So this for me is a hard sell. I have to think about this.

B) Squatting to depth with heavy weight is hard. It takes a lot of practice. Even if you think you're going all the way down, there's going to be somebody behind you saying you need to go deeper. Wait, wot? NVM. Anyway, anything less than a sufficiently deep squat will throw off your muscular balance, and when you start going up to the heavier weights, that imbalance is going to be more pronounced. Especially if you just started this two months ago and now are frightened when you see what's actually on the bar. So, there's only one way to really improve the movement. You have to lighten the load, and work on form. In a 5x5 routine, that's a reset. In All Pro's, that simply means you recalculate for a 10 RM instead of a 5 RM. Actual 1 RM is pretty close to static. So, I am not suffering for giving up gains.

C) There's one more problem to address. Now that you have your squats to a more manageable level, you also have to do some work on the hammies. That there push pull stuff. Works for upper body, so it has to be good for the lower body. Replacing conventional deads with SLDL makes the lower body more balanced. I don't have to back this up, because I know that AP can, but, after only one workout, I am pretty sold.

D) endurance, unlike strength, doesn't require a huge amount of cals. I started looking at everything I was eating and said, whoah. In the meantime, the scale isn't budging either. Recovery? Normally just in time to do the next ICF workout. Progress is being made, but at what cost? I'm eating a ton of food, some of which could simply be qualified as junk, and not making any real visible progress. Sure, getting stronger is progress, but is that really the only reason why we do this? Something more balanced makes better sense.

E) I was getting psychologically obsessed and was ready to slow things down. Deload, whatever you want to call it. I was sick of being totally focused on nothing but the routine. Hard to believe I started all of this in June, and am just now beginning to develop an understanding of it. That's 4 months of reading stickies, checking diet, getting enough sleep every night. saying no to things I would liked to have done, that didn't fit, ad nausea-um. I was so focused on training that I lost sight of everything else.

I am ready to slow progress a bit, but I have no regrets that I did what I did. I am going to put those strength gains to some good use training with a different program is all.

This is the first day's workout log, in bodyspace.
http://my.bodybuilding.com/workouts/...f242d173a3f5b1

Rather than type everything out, I have a much better idea of what is going on with my lifts using that tool. I'm going to use the journal as an adjunct to that. I will run at least one cycle of this, but probably at least 3. By then, if progress with this is anything like with ICF, I should be in the range that I was initially shooting for anyway, as far as my 1RMs are concerned. I am also going to try and drop a few lbs and see if I can improve on my physique a little bit. I think I'm strong enough now to use some weight that should make some difference. I am definitely stronger than when I started this two months ago. Progress is good.

L8rz!

[HDStretchman]

A little background on me. Contrary to popular belief, this is actually not my first time around with weights and physical training. I started as a kid, and although I was kind of a pudgy kid, my first sport was soccer. I started when I was 8 years old. We grew up on a canal, and back in those days, the water was crystal clear, to 33 feet down, and swimming was a daily occurrence. I also had a 12 foot jon boat, and used to row.

Once in Jr High, I started with Judo first, then karate. Trained 2 years pretty steady. I hit a growth spurt at age 14, and went from 5'6" to 6'2". Played football for a season. I also lost a lot of weight when this happened, and for the first time in my life, I was actually thin.

Stayed pretty much the same, and joined the military. Really trained hard while I was in the service, had thoughts of trying out for rescue. Threw out my back in 84. Injury plagued me for two years. Separated in 1985, and training took a back seat. In 86, life threw me a curve, and when I relocated to Houston, the economy crashed. No jobs. Not even minimum wage jobs. I decided to head out and see what else what out there. Ended up in California with about a million other homeless people, and decided I needed to do something. I rejoined the service in 86.

Now, up until this point, I was doing pretty good. Test scores were high, I got early promotions, my career had been moving along nicely. I had a problem with one of the guys in my shop, and got into an argument, and the next thing I knew, I was sent to psyche. Not my first trip to the Doc, but this time, they started testing me. Evidently, they didn't like what they saw. I was discharged after four months. Three months after I got home, and the VA got a hold of my records, I was locked up for about a month or so, on the psyche ward.

The medication and I didn't really agree. Long story short, I almost died. Screwed me up really bad. About 3 years before I could fully function again. Worked, studied, and worked out my way back to health. In 1991, the VA made a determination that my condition was going to be permanent, and rated me as such. It was about this time that I realized I had to fight back. Lots of of gym time, bicycling, lifting, surfing, anything I could do in order to get fit. I wasn't ready to give up on me. 22 years ago, and I'm still fighting.

I eventually did technical school for computers, security training, a couple semesters in college, and a lot of physical work. Still have issues, and I'm on meds now. This is why I am training. Still don't think I'm done. Just like then, train the body, and the mind will follow. I'd like to get re-certified in computers, get healthy again, and still be able to do something constructive with my life. Having a pension doesn't mean that I've lost the drive to be better.

I spent a good chunk of the late 90s and early 2000s working out on machines, doing bodyweight, and even used a bullworker for a while. I did a lot to keep active, but in 2005, I had a spontaneous pnuemothorax, which basically meant that my lung burst and then collapsed. Took a few days before they figured out what happened, and I was hurting pretty bad. In 2008, they took my gall bladder. So, my training regimen suffered greatly during this period. I started up again in February of 2013, with machines, and switched to bar 2 months ago.

On a happier note, my insurance company just settled a personal injury claim for a very minor accident, in which there was a physical injury claim against me. Less than 500 dollars of actual vehicle damage. No lawsuit hanging over my head anymore. That's going to free me up to do a little more. Although I am rated by the VA, my rating is such that I am encouraged to work. I know it's different for others, who are rated based on employ-ability, but I am not, and can pursue other goals.

Right now, weight training is simply another tool to help me reach those goals. It's an ancillary function, but, it play a big part of my life right now. I know for some, the goal is more prominent, but for me, it's to help me reach other goals.

That being said, this is by far the absolute best education I have ever got on this subject. The no BS approach to doing this, and the regimens offered, plus explanations for how things all work is amazing. It's nearly a course unto it's own. I invested less than 1000.00 total into a home gym setup, and have it at my immediate disposal. Really visible (to me) results in less than 4 months. New PRs set. New holes had to be made in old belts. A much, much better diet.
Healthier. It's easy to see why people like to do this. I like to do this. I am learning, and trying new things.

Ran ICF for about two months total. Got my first oly set July 13th, and started ICF the next session. My stats -

Squats - 250x5
Deads - 280x5
Rows - 185x5
Curls - 90x8

Bench - Max on bar - 155x5
Max on machine - 245x5 - quite a difference

I took those totals, and ran them through a rep max calculator. I then read the All Pros sticky, and did my best to put those weights to equivalent 10 RM rounding down, as suggested, and think I got pretty close. Ran them through the All Pro's spreadsheet, and am using the totals it spit out. That's the weight I am using for this cycle of All Pros.

Squats - 205
Bench - 125
BOR - 160
OHP - 95
SLDL - 140
Curl - 85
Calf - 205


Added 2 sets of cable crunches at the end. Saves having to split to a 2nd day.

That's where I'm at. WIll keep things up to date as possible. Workout later tonight.

[HDStretchman]

Thursday night All pros workout - Medium day.

Pre - 3 scoops neurocore
Post - Muscle Tech Phase 8 chocolate.

http://my.bodybuilding.com/workouts/...f27d4ae60a9216


All reps hit. form was solid. Have to fix the weight for the BOR, because it's too light for a floor pull, but needs to be. it's no good doing rack pulls for it and getting the rom right. All reps hit with it no problem, so we'll just tweak the weight a little and do them outside the cage. Going to leave the 45s on the bar.

[HDStretchman]

What a week. Started the week on Sunday with a 257 mile motorcycle run. Came back to a leaking toilet. Fixed that, next day had a crown installed, and then, the ac unit in the gym blew up. That might not mean anything to the people up north, but for us, down here in South Florida, it's like working out in a sauna. Did it anyway, though, and will probably install a new ac unit next week.

I track my workouts on bodyspace now, because there are a lot of features there that you don't see when looking at a workout that are there when you are posting one. You should check it out, it's a great tool.