The road to 200 and massive strength

[darrenUA]

Hey guys this is going to the start of my journey. I've been working out for a few years now off and on, but the past 4 months seriously, in which i have put on about 20 pounds of muscle. I attribute these gains to newbie gains as they have come to a screaching halt. So this is the start of my hardcore journey to 200 pounds and some insane strength hopefully. I will be udating this daily more than likely. Please feel free to comment and give me some tips along the way. I have about 6 weeks untill I move to go to school so until then I am planning on using the West Side for Skinny Bastards to up my strength levels and add a little lean mass. After this I will be moving so I'm going to take the time moving for the deconditioning phase before i do HST and really focus on putting on some more mass. Trip starts tomorrow so stay tuned for updates.

Current stats:
21 years old
6ft
175lbs
12-15% bodyfat (I can see my upper abs when i flex so i dont have to much fat)
chest: 41in flexed
R bicep: 14 7/8 flexed
L bicep: 14 3/8 flexed
both quads are around 23 inches flexed
waist: 33 1/2

Best lifts:
Bench: 205X2 (have a good feeling i will break this tomorrow)
Squat: 225X14 (my legs respond well to high reps so i've never tested max)
Deadlifts: havent started full deads yet, but i do rack pulls from right below
knees 295X6 before) start full deads sometime this week
dips:BW+45X16
pullups:BW+25X4

[darrenUA]

6/27/2005
Have decided not to do W4SB because I am still gaining strength right now and I just want more size. Will be sticking to the same split I have been using for the last 4 months. Workout A: chest shoulders, abs. Workout B: back and triceps, Workout C: legs and biceps. I alternate these workout every time I workout and usually hit the gym 5 or 6 days a week. I change exercises and reps every couple weeks to keep shocking my muscles.
Today:
flat bench: 135X10, 165X4, 185X4, 205X2, and 205X2negatives.
dumbbell incline bench: 55X10,8,9,12 (didnt rest enough between first two sets and just got pumped up for the last one is why I did more on that one)
Standing military press:60X10, 95X6, 105X5, and then 60X20 to get a good burn out
side lateral machine: 90X15, 100X10
Did 30 minute ab class
threw in some db shrugs with 50s: 3 sets of 20
also did some hammer curls 40's: 3 sets 15,12,12

[sword chucks]

nice workout!

[darrenUA]

6-28-2005
BACK AND TRICEPS
pull ups: bwX15,8,5
rack pulls from knee: 225X10, 275X5, 295X3
chest supported rows:90X10,105X8
one arm db row:65X7
lat pull down to front:100X10,8; 70X20
close grip bench:135X10 for 2 sets
v-bar press downs:140X10, 170X8,7
db shrugs: 52.5s for 2 sets of 20

[darrenUA]

6-29-2005
LEGS
left knee bothering me a little so I went light
squats: 135X10, 225X10 for 2 sets
leg press: 450X10 for 2 sets
leg extension: 135X8 for 2 sets
lying leg curls 55X10 for 2 sets
seated calf raises: 135X10 for 2 sets
usually do biceps with legs but was getting weak because i'm carb cycling and only carbs i had today before the workout was a red bull. when that wore off i was shot and decided to call it a day. will do arms tomorrow with a light chest workout.

[darrenUA]

6-30-2005
Have decided that I’m going to cut for about a month and try to get rid of about 1" to 1.5" off my waist.
Did a little light chest with higher reps and extra wide grip.
135x15,12,10 with about 60 seconds between sets.
Biceps:
bb curl:95X10
alternating db curl: 35X12,10, 30X15, and then a drop set: 30X12, 20X20
triceps:
straight bar press downs:120X10, 140X10 for 2 sets
v-bar press downs: 170X10
dips:bwX7 (usually do a lot more but something is acting up in my left elbow)
rope press downs: drop set 110X20, 70X8
Cardio: played tennis for about 2 hours last night and will try to do the same tonight.

[darrenUA]

7-5-2005
took the past four days off from any kind of physical activity and I feel really fresh.
Today was supposed to be heavy chest and shoulders but I was in a hurry and didnt have a spotter so I didnt go to heavy.
Flat bench: 135X10, 165X5, 185X5,4– this was the easiest I’ve got 185X5 and if I’d had a spotter probably would have went on up to 205 and tried to get 3.
Did one more set of 135X10 with wide grip.
Incline DB:60X5
dips: bwX10 leaned way forward
last exercise is what I call the upper cut chest exercise. Its done on the high cable machine and really hits the middle and upper chest. If anyone wants to know exactly how to do it just tell me and I’ll explain more. Really feel this one hurting.
Will be hitting back tomorrow, this little break i took is really making me feel good cause i'm already psyched up about my back workout hope to break some PRs.

[darrenUA]

7-6-2005
Back and triceps
first workout around 1p.m.— much earlier than usual and I hadn’t ate to much and felt weak so I decided not to do to much.
pull ups-bwX15,10,6
full dead lifts-135X8, 185X5 (first time I’ve did full deads so I didn’t want to do to many and end up injuring myself)
rack pulls from knee height-225X10 2 sets
chest supported rows-90X10
second workout at 5p.m.
Pull ups–bwX12,8
chest supported rows-45X12, 70X10
dips-bwX10,10
close grip bench press–135X10, 155X6, 165X4
triceps push downs- with straight bar 120X15, v-bar 140X10, 170X10, 200(stack!!)X10, 170X15 ---Straight bar 3 sets of 8 with 120
30 minute ab class
weighed on electronic body fat scale 172 with 16.1% body fat, I know these aren’t very accurate but just gives me a good idea.

[darrenUA]

7-7-2005
today was legs. Workout went ok but I’m still feeling weak and tired constantly. Might be from working outside and the sun draining me down before I work out. Will up calories next week. Havent been drinking my protein shakes in a couple weeks, could be the source of my problem so I will start back on them.
Didnt get to much volume in todays workout but left the gym with my legs feeling like lead weights. Still feel that way almost 5 hours later.
Squats:135X10,225X10, 235X10
lying leg curls: 55X6 for 2 sets
seated calf raises: 135X10, 90X20 for 2 sets

[darrenUA]

7-11-05
Chest
flat bb bench-135X10, 185X6, 205X3(had to have a little help on last one), 185X3, 135X10
pull ups-bwX8
incline db- 55X8,7
dips- bxX10
fly machine-90X8
standing military press-60X10, 95X5
30 minute ab class
seated calf raises- 135X10 for 2 sets
12 minutes on bike with rowing handles
10 minutes in sauna

[darrenUA]

7-12-2005
LEGS
awesome workout today- probably highest intensity workout I’ve ever had
squats-135X10, 225X10, 245X5, 275X5, 315X3 could have did a few more but I thought we were doing another set but had to cut it short a set (previous best was 235X10)
leg press- 3 plates on each sideX30,30,35 (I almost passed out after the last set trying my best to get 40)
one leg press to hit hamstrings- 80X8,12 each leg
goal is to hit 365X3 on squats by september

[sword chucks]

awesomg job on those squats

I am gonna start doing high reps on legs when I start bulking. Do u think the gains are a lot better than 6-8 reps? I was thinking I would keep it in the 10-15 range.

[darrenUA]

Well when I put the most size on my legs i was using higher reps on squats. Like in the 10-20 range. what i would usually do is get a weight i knew i could do for around 10 reps after i warmed up and when i would get to 10 just keep telling myself to get one more trying to get 20. Then the next time i would up the weight by 10 or 20 pounds and do it again. But i was also doing low reps on leg press after my squats, usually no more than about 6 or 7. I just wasnt as interested in building my squats as much then as i am now. I just started the lower reps on squats and higher on leg press today, so we'll see what happens in the next couple weeks.

[sword chucks]

sounds like a good plan

Great job on that 35 rep set btw man, thats crazy, and I thought 20 was a lot

[darrenUA]

thanks man. it was crazy i had a killer head ache for about 10 minutes after that set and could hardly walk. but as they say no pain no gain.

[darrenUA]

7-14-2005
Arms
Did a few chin ups with palms facing each other to hit biceps a little.
bwX10, bw+10X10, 8 really held the last one and did a long negative
5 exercise super set for triceps, did 10 reps of each exercise on first go round and 8 on next, barley and I was fried. These were done with no rest between exercises.
CGB 115, BW Dips, V-bar press downs 120, rope press downs 90, dumbbell kickbacks 15
alternating Db curls: 40X7, 35X10
hammer curls: 35X11 with a drop-set 25X10

[sword chucks]

Tricep workout looks crazy keep it up

[darrenUA]

7-18-2005
Chest
flat bench:135X10, 185X7, 205X2, 185X3, 135X10 with extra wide grip
dips: bwX10 3 sets
thats about all I really did, had some bad news today and just couldn’t get motivated

[darrenUA]

7-25-2005
Switching to a full body workout which I will try to do 3 times a week. Will be using alternating exercises each workout to keep from getting used to the same ones every time.
Flat bench: 135X10 warm up, 175X3 2 sets, 165X3 8 sets
Pull ups: Bw+10X3 6 sets, BWx3 6 sets
Squat: 135X5 warm up, 225X8, 275X6 2 sets
Hamstring Curls: 45X6 3 sets
BB curl: 60X10, 95X6
Kneeling Rope Ext.: 70X10, 110X10
Decline Crunches: 45 db on chestX20
Side bends: 70X15 each side

Still had plenty of energy when I left and wanted to do more but talked myself out of it.