Matt Jansen's 2011 contest prep

[fltallpaul]

Solid approach Matt!

[mattjansen]

Solid approach Matt!

Thanks Paul, trying to be a student of this thing and apply as much as I can to hopefully be on your level one day!

[mattjansen]

Focused on slighly shorter rest periods today especially on biceps, really trying to work on hypertrophy through more than just overload on theses days. Being that I have heavier power days as well, weight is not my main focus on these days.

Incline T Bar Row(Full pause at top and bottom of rep)
2px8
2p+10x8
2p+20x8 (2 sets)

Lat Pull down
155x8
165x8 (2 sets)

Old school T Bar
125x12
150x10
160x8
175x4,150x4,125x4

CG pull down
130x8

ss (2 sets)

Cable pull over
90x8

Banded Hypers Red band
3x25

Hammer preacher curl (45 sec rest)
60x15/12/10
50x12

Incline DB hammer curl (3 sec eccentrics/45 sec rest)
20x10 (2 sets)

Supinated incline DB curl (3 sec eccentrics/45 sec rest)
20x10 (2 sets)

Cable Curl
90x10 (3 sets)

[jpfaherty]

Love me some old school t-bar rows! Next accessory day I'm doing them, thanks for the reminder

[mattjansen]

Instead of back tracking workouts from the end of last week I thought i would just re start on this week. Last week finished really well all of my weights increased on my hypertrophy workouts and I paid even closer attention to rest periods keeping them all at 90 secs or less so I was very pleased. This was a pretty big wedding weekend for Jordan and I, I picked her up from the air port Friday evening which was a fun surprise being that I got to pick her up rather than her drive home and be home a lot later. Saturday we went shopping for our wedding rings then had our couples shower saturday night which was a blast and as it should be not a macro was counted! 20 days from today Ill be a married man and chilling with my wife in Mexico I cannot wait!

I am really liking the progression I am using on Power days, Hitting some PR's and getting stronger weekly so things are progressing nicely. Some exercises I am going all out on the last set, accessory lifts I am either trying to increase total poundage lifted through increasing reps over the previous week, increasing weight lifted or both. My body weight is sitting right around 180 with veins in my quads, calves, shoulders and biceps on a semi regular basis.

Bench
255x3 (3 sets)
255x7 (PR)

Incline T Bar wide grip
2p+35x6 (4 sets)

OHP
140x5 (3 sets)
140x7 Stopping short of failure

Hammer Low Row
2pps+5x6 (4 sets)

CG Bench
230x5 (4 sets)

Barbell curl
80x30 seconds (4 sets)

Tricep ext
130x30 seconds (4 sets)

[wrkoutfrq]

awesome man, glad to hear things are going smoothly with the wedding! 255*7 is a legit set man

[mattjansen]

8.21.12

Had some fun today, I added in some timed sets of deads after finished my RX'd sets which was fun! I am always sticking to the plan that I have programmed out but If I am feeling it I might add in some additional work on a day.

Squats
355x3 (3 sets)
355x6 (1 set)
Here is a video of set 2 and 4


Dead Lift
365x3 (3 sets)

365x1 (5 sets w/ 45 sec rest)

Reverse Band Hack Squat
5ppsx6 (3 sets)

Seated Calf Raise
2px8 (6 sets) Rest periods where just enough time to switch between me and my training partner.

Heading to surprise Jordan in the morning in Kentucky, because of my health my finances have not been the best so I have only got to make one trip up there to see her, was not even able to help her move into her new apartment so tomorrow I am going to surprise her and head up there to help set up our apartment. She also has two showers that are surprises to her that I will be attending as well

[Frankdaddy]

Sorry to hear about not getting to see the lady very much, but fort you guys will be married before you know it with life taking over once again. Keep up the hard work and focus, everything will fall into place. On that note, form looks tight on the exercises with great bar speed. I will say 400lbs should be no problem, but stick to the original plan of following out the routine.

[jpfaherty]

Nice squats man! Looking good!

Have fun seeing/surprising Jordan!

[mattjansen]

Sorry to hear about not getting to see the lady very much, but fort you guys will be married before you know it with life taking over once again. Keep up the hard work and focus, everything will fall into place. On that note, form looks tight on the exercises with great bar speed. I will say 400lbs should be no problem, but stick to the original plan of following out the routine.

Thanks bud, its been tough not seeing Jordan and I never was much of a fan of the whole distance makes the heart grow fonder until we were engaged then I was a believer. Being that I have seen the light at the end of the tunnel its been a lot easier despite not getting to spend much time together and not that we have not seen each other much but being that it was our choice to do a quick wedding that meant our weekends together have been filled with planning and not really any quality time. 16 days though
Thanks for the input on my squats, I feel more and more confident every time I squat coming up on a year since my slight fracture, although I am not what I feel as smooth in transition I think overall technique now is better than ever. Although its tempting I am going to stick to my regular plan of not hitting 400+ until I know I can hit it for a triple, like you I am using PL to help improve my BB goals so really dont see the point in hitting any more singles.

Nice squats man! Looking good!

Have fun seeing/surprising Jordan!

My surprise was a bit ruined yesterday when I arrived to her office to no Jordan to be found anywhere haha. But she came in about 30 minutes later and was completely shocked so it all worked out! Getting ready to head to our suprise (for her) wedding shower.

[mattjansen]

Yesterday was my normal BFR recovery day. Its a brutal but fun 15 minutes

Leg Extensions
Barbell Curls
SA tricep Ext
4x30-15-15-15 on each.

[mattjansen]

Back and Biceps

8.23.12

I made a point to keep all rest periods to 90 seconds or less from start to finish. Strength was up but was not the focus. I trained back at the gym I used during my internship and will be my gym home once I am up here for good in September so was able to use a few different machines that I dont have access to, one of them being a elbow pad driven seated pull over. Wow the tension it put on my lats and serratus was crazy, just like an old school seated pull over but this has a place where you can drive with just your elbows on pads as oppossed to holding on to a handle, creates really awesome MM connection. I hit a few PR's to end the day too which I was stoked about

Seated Hammer Neutral Row
100ppsx10 (4 sets)

Seated Low cable row (with slight forward lean)
120x8
140x8 (3 sets)
100x20

SA neutral grip lat pulldown
60x10 (3 sets)

Pull over
135x8
120x8 (2 sets)

Barbell shrug
225x20 (4 sets) Traps on fire

Rack pull from Knee
315x10
405x8,6 (PR's)
365x10

DB Hammer curls (same time)
35x10 (4 sets)

Crazy 8's (3 sets)
Seated supinated curl
hammer preacher curl
reverse grip barbell curl

[Frankdaddy]

Pretty good rack pull numbers after that fatique inducing workout before hand, I would be smokeddd. I have been deadlifting mid way through my workout as well the past month or so, which sucks, but hurts soooo good. I mostly do it ibecause if I deadlift first it ruins the comfort of how I feel while I do heavy rows in any fashion, and it doesnt effect my deadlift form as much besides the weights are slightly down, but the groove still feels good.

[NaturalPursuit]

that rack pull pr...DAYUM! great work!

[mattjansen]

8.24.12

Keeping rest periods around 90 secounds or less on all sets

Chest Shoulders and Tris

DB Bench
100x8 (3 sets)

Incline Barbell 3 sec eccentrics/pause go
186x6 (4 sets)

Seated cable fly
50x10 (3 sets)

Bench + monster mini
135x5

superset

Bench Pushups
3x12,10,8

Rear Pec Deck
100x10

superset

Band pull aparts
Red band x 15 (3 sets each)

Seated Lateral raise machine (speed emphasis)
40x25 3 sets

Over and back press
60x20 (2 sets)

Straight arm press down 15,12,10,8,8
Single Arm overhead cable ext 3x10
Dips with slow eccentrics 3x10

Legs

Lying Hamstring curl
110x10
120x10 (2 sets)
120x10, drop 70x30

Hack Squat
3ppsx8
4ppsx8
4p+25psx8
4p+25psx6, drop 4ppsx6, 3ppsx6

Leg Press + monster mini + mini
Add set: 4ppsx6 + 5 ppsx6 + 6ppsx6 + 7ppsx6 + 8ppsx6 This is done by completing 6 reps having a partner add two plates then continuing until you cant get 6
2nd set: 8ppsx18 + bands

Smith Machine split squat
135x10
155x10 (3 sets)

Barbell RDL
225x8
275x8 (2 sets)

Stadning calf press
120x30 with 10 sec pause every 10 reps (3 sets)

Adduction
stack x 12 (3 sets)

Attention Pro card holders

We at the strength guys are doing research on the LTAD (Long term athlete development) of natural bodybuilders. If you guys that see my page could help me out and either post your responses the the questions below as a reply or email me at thestrengthguys@gmail.com that would be great here is some more info of what we are doing!

We are currently designing a long term athlete development model for natural bodybuilders. The goal of LTAD is to develop athletes as quickly and efficiently as possible by utilizing windows of trainability during the maturation process.

We are in the process of collecting data regarding the chronological age and training ages of natural pro bodybuilders when they earned their pro card. If you have a pro card in a natural organization and wish to help us in the development
of an LTAD model for bodybuilding, please answer the following questions:

Questions
- How old were you when you earned your pro card with your first natural organization?
- Did you play any sports before you began to specialize in bodybuilding? If so what sports did you play?
- What age did you start training at?

For more information on the LTAD model, here is a brief summary - http://www.thestrengthguys.com/2012/...fe-ltad-model/

Thanks,
The Strength Guys

[mattjansen]

Pretty good rack pull numbers after that fatique inducing workout before hand, I would be smokeddd. I have been deadlifting mid way through my workout as well the past month or so, which sucks, but hurts soooo good. I mostly do it ibecause if I deadlift first it ruins the comfort of how I feel while I do heavy rows in any fashion, and it doesnt effect my deadlift form as much besides the weights are slightly down, but the groove still feels good.

Thats exactly my thought process on lower days I am squatting and dead lifting from the floor but for back days I but all lower back work towards the end, I think its important to hit it directly but like you its hard to row with a taxed lower back. I have been doing banded hypers lately too man they are killer!

[mattjansen]

that rack pull pr...DAYUM! great work!

Thanks buddy I had not pulled from the knee in quite a while so i was pumped to see the improvement!

[mattjansen]

Upper Power Week 7

8.27.12

Bench (Training Max: 280)
260x3 (3 sets)
260x6 (PR)

T Bar Wide Grip
2p+40x5 (4 sets)

OHP
145x5 (3 sets)
145x7

Hammer Low Row
2pps+10x6 (4 sets)

CG bench
235x5 (4 sets)

Barbell Curl
80x30 seconds (controlled speed here 4 sets)

Tricep ext
110x30 seconds (4 sets)

Another solid sesh here!

[jpfaherty]

260 x 6?!

strong an an ox!

[mattjansen]

260 x 6?!

strong an an ox!

Ah I dont know about all that, I got my eyes on a 300x3 on bench and a 405x3 on squat by years end!

[mattjansen]

8.28.12

Squats (Training Max 385)
365x3 (3 sets)
365x5 PR

Dead lift (Training Max 390)
375x3 (3 sets)

Reverse Band Hack squat
5pps+10 x 5 (2 sets) PR's
5pps+10 x 5 (1 set)

Seated Calf Raise
50ppsx8 (6 sets)

Its getting heavy but I am taking it for all I can! I have been enjoying after my CNS is nice and primed taking my last set of the day if I feel the need, I have yet to feel the need on dead lifts following 3 sets of dead's and 4 sets of squats taking one for all its worth lol. I am purchasing some Rehband knee sleeves I think the weight is getting to the point at least for me where some extra support would be beneficial, not a fan of wraps but I have heard nothing but good things about the sleeves.

[Frankdaddy]

Good job on the squat PR, and great pulling post squats. Looking forward to your progress within this long offseason, especially with the right mindset and science behind it I am sure you will get those numbers well above what you ever have.

[mattjansen]

BFR Recovery Day

I added in a hamstring curl cluster today by set 4 my adductors were engorged in blood it was nuts.

4 sets of 30/15/15/15 on each of the following
Leg extension
Leg curl
Tricep Pressdown
Cable curl (2 sets)
Hammer curl (2 sets)

I have a massage planned today after work looking forward to that!

A little update on the LTAD research I am apart of with the strength guys. This research has been fun to collect so far we have gotten help from a lot of the big names in natural body building including Phillip Ricardo Jr, Kiyoshi, Doug, Paul, Ron Parameter, Eric Helms, Brian Ahlstrom, Robbie Sardina, Ryan Doris and more with still more coming in so we are excited to present this to you all once we are finished compiling all of the data.

[mattjansen]

Good job on the squat PR, and great pulling post squats. Looking forward to your progress within this long offseason, especially with the right mindset and science behind it I am sure you will get those numbers well above what you ever have.

Thanks bud, you were my motivation going into my squat sets yesterday seeing you hit that 365 all of these weeks deep into prep was very motivating for me. I am no where near your strength yet but closer than I have ever been!

[fltallpaul]

BFR Recovery Day

I added in a hamstring curl cluster today by set 4 my adductors were engorged in blood it was nuts.

4 sets of 30/15/15/15 on each of the following
Leg extension
Leg curl
Tricep Pressdown
Cable curl (2 sets)
Hammer curl (2 sets)

I have a massage planned today after work looking forward to that!

A little update on the LTAD research I am apart of with the strength guys. This research has been fun to collect so far we have gotten help from a lot of the big names in natural body building including Phillip Ricardo Jr, Kiyoshi, Doug, Paul, Ron Parameter, Eric Helms, Brian Ahlstrom, Robbie Sardina, Ryan Doris and more with still more coming in so we are excited to present this to you all once we are finished compiling all of the data.

Will be be sharing what information you find?

[adamjohn32]

BFR Recovery Day

I added in a hamstring curl cluster today by set 4 my adductors were engorged in blood it was nuts.

4 sets of 30/15/15/15 on each of the following
Leg extension
Leg curl
Tricep Pressdown
Cable curl (2 sets)
Hammer curl (2 sets)

I have a massage planned today after work looking forward to that!

A little update on the LTAD research I am apart of with the strength guys. This research has been fun to collect so far we have gotten help from a lot of the big names in natural body building including Phillip Ricardo Jr, Kiyoshi, Doug, Paul, Ron Parameter, Eric Helms, Brian Ahlstrom, Robbie Sardina, Ryan Doris and more with still more coming in so we are excited to present this to you all once we are finished compiling all of the data.

nice BFR work

looking forward to the results from all the input from those top-notch natty pro's.

[mattjansen]

Oh and how can i forget Layne...

[mattjansen]

8.30.12

Great lift today, kept all rests timed 60-90 sec on back work and 10-45 seconds on Biceps

Meadows Row (Using Supported T Bar)
75x8
85x8 (3 sets)

Hammer High row
2ppsx10 (3 sets)
2ppsx10+3+3 (Myo set)

Wide Grip lat pull down (straight up here, big stretch and pausing at nose)
135x10 (2 sets)
135x8 (2 sets)

Hammer seated shrugs
185x10 (4 sets)

V grip pull down
135x8 (3 sets)

superset

Stretchers
90x8 (3 sets)

Banded Hypers (3 sec pause at contraction) + red normal band
bwx25
bwx15 (3 sets)

Seated Supinated Curls
25x8 (4 sets)

Hammer Preacher curl
55x10 (4 sets)

Cross body hammer curl (1 arm at a time)
8+8+8+8 R/L/R/L = 1 set (2 sets)

[Frankdaddy]

I am glad I can motivate you brother. Fortunetly for you with your progression is just that, progression. I was a lot stronger on squats in my offseason before my injury. So as far as my progression goes I would like to see better out of me once my leverages go back up by next year. Keep up the great work, you will reach those bench and squat goals I gaurantea.

[mattjansen]

Chest/Shoulders/Tri

8.31.12

Continuing to really push myselfself time wise on these sets, hypertrophy is more than just overload through weight progression. My power days are my all out heavy days, these days weight is secondary.

60-90 sec rest on all sets
Hammer Chest press
215x8
225x8
235x8

DB Bench
90x10
80x12
65x12 (2 sets)

Incline Bench (3 sec eccentrics/no lockout)
135x8
155x8
165x8
170x8
175x8
185x8 (2 sets)

Hammer Decline Banded press
45+25psx6
Superset
pec deck
120x10 (3 sets each)

Shoulder Triset (4 rounds)
Pec Deck-75x15
band pull apartsx15
spider crawlsxup+downx2 = 1 set

Shoulder Press machine facing
85x10 (3 sets)

Tricep Over head ext
70x12 (3 sets)

RG single arm cable press
25x8+8+8+8 R/L/R/L (2 sets)

CG machine Press
100x15 (3 sets)

Great workout with my bride to be today. We got our marriage license today as well. Almost there 9 more days!