AllPro: A Simple Beginner's Routine part VI

[MissChill]

You "may" want to run the program with wide stance high bar back squats. AKA keeping the shin perpendicular to the floor for most if not all of the movement. That will equalize tension on the knee. However that also means you may need a quad exercise once you get strong. Then again if you do the box squats with the wrong form, it will kill your knees. Its kinda hard to nail down the form to keep your shin perpendicular to the floor in all directions while sitting on the box.

Thanks I'll try that and I'll check back in when I'm anywhere near strong

[JeanRoqua]

Nightanole back again with BORS! Can I substitute them with pendlay rows? Also can I add lat pulldowns after sldl and move bicep curls to the end of workout?

[nightanole]

Nightanole back again with BORS! Can I substitute them with pendlay rows? Also can I add lat pulldowns after sldl and move bicep curls to the end of workout?

If you want to sub pendlay you need to use the 10 sets of 3 pattern.

You start off with your 10 rep max, and do sets of 3 with 30 seconds of rest, till you fail a rep. Once you get in 10 sets you add 10% and odds are drop down to 4-5 sets again.
With pendlay you focus on pulling as hard as possible with the highest bar speed, or you will never be able to lock out a heavy weight. I have people who are having trouble with the bent over row to do pendlays at the end to break them of the habit of just dogging heavy weight to get the reps in.

You can replace the curl with an assisted chinup, or a medium/close chinup grip lat pulldown. You do not want the wide grip bent bar pullup grip style lat pulldowns that is popular.

[AlfonsoCrinkle]

I am currently on 8 rep week (have done H/M, light is tonight), and have just found out that I will be away at a conference for what would otherwise have been my 12 rep week. What would you recommend - doing weeks 8-11, having the week off and then resetting to 9? Trying to blast it with autoregulated for the next three weeks, taking a week off and resetting my 10rms? I think there is a gym at the hotel but not expecting it to be well equipped, will try to have a bit of a go with whatever is there to keep my hand in.

Current working weights (I weigh about 84kg):

Squat - 80kg
Bench - 65kg
BOR - 55kg
SLDL - 60kg
OHP - 30kg
Lat pull (palms facing) - 65kg
Calf raises - 65kg

I know my OHP is terrible - have struggled with shoulders throughout, and just switched from dumb bells and my form is shaky. Thinking about doing the few reps of heavy push press that normally get recommended, although the weight is quite intimidating!

[nightanole]

I am currently on 8 rep week (have done H/M, light is tonight), and have just found out that I will be away at a conference for what would otherwise have been my 12 rep week. What would you recommend - doing weeks 8-11, having the week off and then resetting to 9? Trying to blast it with autoregulated for the next three weeks, taking a week off and resetting my 10rms? I think there is a gym at the hotel but not expecting it to be well equipped, will try to have a bit of a go with whatever is there to keep my hand in.

Current working weights (I weigh about 84kg):

Squat - 80kg
Bench - 65kg
BOR - 55kg
SLDL - 60kg
OHP - 30kg
Lat pull (palms facing) - 65kg
Calf raises - 65kg

I know my OHP is terrible - have struggled with shoulders throughout, and just switched from dumb bells and my form is shaky. Thinking about doing the few reps of heavy push press that normally get recommended, although the weight is quite intimidating!

Reset to 9 reps
start auto regulated when you get back using your current heavy weight
do a 10 rep test when you get back and see if you starting numbers changed

those are your options. The most popular is reseting to 9 reps and hoping for a 15% bump at hte end of teh cykle.

[AlfonsoCrinkle]

Reset to 9 reps
start auto regulated when you get back using your current heavy weight
do a 10 rep test when you get back and see if you starting numbers changed

those are your options. The most popular is reseting to 9 reps and hoping for a 15% bump at hte end of teh cykle.

Cheers as always - will take it as it comes and see how I'm feeling at the time.

[Sh724]

I am currently on 8 rep week (have done H/M, light is tonight), and have just found out that I will be away at a conference for what would otherwise have been my 12 rep week. What would you recommend - doing weeks 8-11, having the week off and then resetting to 9? Trying to blast it with autoregulated for the next three weeks, taking a week off and resetting my 10rms? I think there is a gym at the hotel but not expecting it to be well equipped, will try to have a bit of a go with whatever is there to keep my hand in.

Current working weights (I weigh about 84kg):

Squat - 80kg
Bench - 65kg
BOR - 55kg
SLDL - 60kg
OHP - 30kg
Lat pull (palms facing) - 65kg
Calf raises - 65kg

I know my OHP is terrible - have struggled with shoulders throughout, and just switched from dumb bells and my form is shaky. Thinking about doing the few reps of heavy push press that normally get recommended, although the weight is quite intimidating!

A lot of gyms will let you in if you are from out of town and just want to use the equipment once or twice, some have a week long trial pass that could also work for you. At most they will charge you a few bucks a visit. If you have time available i would check around where you are staying for a gym and see if they will let you in without a membership.

[DandyLion1]

Sorry stupid question warning, just wanna check - my maintenance cals atm are around 2100, is it okay to up my carbs and reduce fat to around 65g if I'm getting them from a good range of sources? (Like you said, not just from olive oil and milk)? If I kept my fat up at 100g I'd only be able to eat 200g carbs which I'd rather not do if possible.

I'm 146lbs so 0.45*146=65.7g

[nightanole]

Sorry stupid question warning, just wanna check - my maintenance cals atm are around 2100, is it okay to up my carbs and reduce fat to around 65g if I'm getting them from a good range of sources? (Like you said, not just from olive oil and milk)? If I kept my fat up at 100g I'd only be able to eat 200g carbs which I'd rather not do if possible.

I'm 146lbs so 0.45*146=65.7g

Im going to respond to a stupid question with a learning opportunity

http://www.fao.org/3/a-i1953e.pdf

Focus on the PUFA section because boiled down that is what you are asking about.

So based on table 2.1...
the "health benefit" range of fat is 20-35% of your daily calories.
the "health benefit" range of PUFA is 6-12% of your daily calories.
the "health benefit" range of omega 6 is 2.5-9% of your daily calories.
the "health benefit" range of omega 3 is .5-2% of your daily calories.

SOOOOOOO as long as you hit your mins you can do what you want. Technically if you had medical grade omega 3&6 you could live off of 14-17g of fats

[DandyLion1]

Im going to respond to a stupid question with a learning opportunity


Focus on the PUFA section because boiled down that is what you are asking about.

So based on table 2.1...
the "health benefit" range of fat is 20-35% of your daily calories.
the "health benefit" range of PUFA is 6-12% of your daily calories.
the "health benefit" range of omega 6 is 2.5-9% of your daily calories.
the "health benefit" range of omega 3 is .5-2% of your daily calories.

SOOOOOOO as long as you hit your mins you can do what you want. Technically if you had medical grade omega 3&6 you could live off of 14-17g of fats

Perfect, thank you so much!
(I'm a medical student and it's such a shame that they don't include any of this in our training. Also I know I should be better at searching for papers etc haha but I'm just not.)

[milat3340]

This week I finished CYCLE 2 and it looks like this:

Squats 39 kg PASS
Bench Presses 39 kg PASS
Bent-Over Rows 26 kg PASS
Overhead Barbell Presses 28 kg PASS
Romanian Deadlift 29 kg FAIL (I managed only 9 reps on last set-it is because i dont have strength in my arms. my forearms start to hurt)
Barbell Curls 24 kg FAIL (I managed only 8 reps on last set)
Calf Raises 24 kg PASS

After 2 cycles I can see some positive changes.
Few questions:
1. can I reset barbell curl weigt to 22 kg( I was not realistic with 24 kg)?
2. What should I do with romanian deadlift( Only reason I cant do it is becuse my forearms start to hurt). Should I keep weight on 29 kg or should I maybe reset it to lower weight?
3. As I said, i can see some changes, but I still have big beer belly( yes, my diet si good, I dont eat too much crap, I get around 120 g of protein daily- My weight is 91 kg).Should i start doing cardio or HIIT on days off? How often and how much( for example: 2 time per week for 30 minutes- more or less?). I am still fat bastard
4.My triceps is showing nice, but I am not so satisfied with my biceps. Could I add some extra biceps exercise or that would be contra productive? If yes, which exerecise( I am working out at home and I have only barbell and dumbells as workout equipment)

Thank you very much!!

[rlefebvr]

Hey,

I would like your opinion on weather this destroys the program or not.

I have added an incline bench to the program because my chest is my weakest link that needs the most work. So far it's gone very well.

I have kept the stiff legged deadlift on day 2 and day 3, but I have kept my deadlift on day one cause I have worked so hard on it and I don't want to loose it.

The thing is I train M-W-F and I do the deadlift on Saturday as a stand alone exercise so I can really concentrate on my squat on Monday.

So Monday there is no deadlift as I can't do the heavy deadlift and squat together and do them justice.

Does this still work or am I compromise the program by doing this.

Ron

[nightanole]

Hey,

I would like your opinion on weather this destroys the program or not.

I have added an incline bench to the program because my chest is my weakest link that needs the most work. So far it's gone very well.

I have kept the stiff legged deadlift on day 2 and day 3, but I have kept my deadlift on day one cause I have worked so hard on it and I don't want to loose it.

The thing is I train M-W-F and I do the deadlift on Saturday as a stand alone exercise so I can really concentrate on my squat on Monday.

So Monday there is no deadlift as I can't do the heavy deadlift and squat together and do them justice.

Does this still work or am I compromise the program by doing this.

Ron

If you are going to have a dedicated deadlift day, i would remove SLDL on medium and replace it with deadlifts of the same tonnage. Since SLDL is an accessory and not a mass builder, this should be fine. You may even be able to do the deadlift first in the program, followed by bench,row, squat, it all depends on how your body handles it. For some deadlifting first wipes them for the rest of the workout, for others they work best with starting with the heaviest lifts and ending with the lightest.

[nightanole]

This week I finished CYCLE 2 and it looks like this:

Squats 39 kg PASS
Bench Presses 39 kg PASS
Bent-Over Rows 26 kg PASS
Overhead Barbell Presses 28 kg PASS
Romanian Deadlift 29 kg FAIL (I managed only 9 reps on last set-it is because i dont have strength in my arms. my forearms start to hurt)
Barbell Curls 24 kg FAIL (I managed only 8 reps on last set)
Calf Raises 24 kg PASS

After 2 cycles I can see some positive changes.
Few questions:
1. can I reset barbell curl weigt to 22 kg( I was not realistic with 24 kg)?
2. What should I do with romanian deadlift( Only reason I cant do it is becuse my forearms start to hurt). Should I keep weight on 29 kg or should I maybe reset it to lower weight?
3. As I said, i can see some changes, but I still have big beer belly( yes, my diet si good, I dont eat too much crap, I get around 120 g of protein daily- My weight is 91 kg).Should i start doing cardio or HIIT on days off? How often and how much( for example: 2 time per week for 30 minutes- more or less?). I am still fat bastard
4.My triceps is showing nice, but I am not so satisfied with my biceps. Could I add some extra biceps exercise or that would be contra productive? If yes, which exerecise( I am working out at home and I have only barbell and dumbells as workout equipment)

Thank you very much!!

Do a 10 rep test for curls on a light day and use that for your new weight, vs just picking a random weight.
I dont keep track of everyone so i have no clue why you are doing RDL instead of SLDL. If your forearms are giving out you can either do farmers carries to increase forearm volume, or you can switch the RDL to goodmornings and finish the exercise with some kind of grip work, either alternating 1 arm bar hands or farmer carries, etc.
The recomended cardio on allpro is up to 3x 10k jogs per week that take over an hour to complete. We are not looking for intense sub 20min 5k's here. Or any cardio you can sustain the pace for at least 45min, even if you only do it for 15-30min.
for more bicep development i would do a yates row with a hammer grip at the sides using the dumb bells. Its kinda hard to describe the form. Its a more upright version of the bent over row, and you pull the weight from slightly behind the knees at the bottom, and you end at the hips. Its a bicep dominant row that has massive stretch and you can use alot heavier load on the biceps because you are over loading them.

http://fitnesshe.co.za/focused-movement-training/

do that only with the db more to the sides and with a hammer grip.

[rlefebvr]

If you are going to have a dedicated deadlift day, i would remove SLDL on medium and replace it with deadlifts of the same tonnage. Since SLDL is an accessory and not a mass builder, this should be fine. You may even be able to do the deadlift first in the program, followed by bench,row, squat, it all depends on how your body handles it. For some deadlifting first wipes them for the rest of the workout, for others they work best with starting with the heaviest lifts and ending with the lightest.

Cool. even better. Thanks

Ron

[nightanole]

Would anyone be interested in an AllPro-specific mobile app? I've been thinking about building one for my own convenience, but I'd be more motivated if I knew others would find it useful as well. I found one existing Android app, but it's lacking a few quality-of-life features like warm-up calculations, doing the math for which plates to put on each side, etc.

I'd be building it in Ionic 2 and making it open-source if anyone would want to contribute.

Hey Dundi tried his best last summer. I believe the complaints was the lack of lbs/kg, no warmup calc, and adding additional exercises.

[milat3340]

Do a 10 rep test for curls on a light day and use that for your new weight, vs just picking a random weight.
I dont keep track of everyone so i have no clue why you are doing RDL instead of SLDL. If your forearms are giving out you can either do farmers carries to increase forearm volume, or you can switch the RDL to goodmornings and finish the exercise with some kind of grip work, either alternating 1 arm bar hands or farmer carries, etc.
The recomended cardio on allpro is up to 3x 10k jogs per week that take over an hour to complete. We are not looking for intense sub 20min 5k's here. Or any cardio you can sustain the pace for at least 45min, even if you only do it for 15-30min.
for more bicep development i would do a yates row with a hammer grip at the sides using the dumb bells. Its kinda hard to describe the form. Its a more upright version of the bent over row, and you pull the weight from slightly behind the knees at the bottom, and you end at the hips. Its a bicep dominant row that has massive stretch and you can use alot heavier load on the biceps because you are over loading them.
do that only with the db more to the sides and with a hammer grip.

I am doing RDL instead of SLDL because of my back problems(not comfortable with SLDL).

As for cardio, my english is bad,so I didnt undrestood, did you basicly meant that I do only "normal" cardio, and no HIIT?

For biceps,did you meant this? shapefit.com/exercise-guides/middle-back-exercises-bent-over-hammer-dumbbell-rows.html

And this extra biceps exercise I should do last or right after biceps curl? And I do 2 sets like in other exercises?

[nightanole]

I am doing RDL instead of SLDL because of my back problems(not comfortable with SLDL).

As for cardio, my english is bad,so I didnt undrestood, did you basicly meant that I do only "normal" cardio, and no HIIT?

For biceps,did you meant this? shapefit.com/exercise-guides/middle-back-exercises-bent-over-hammer-dumbbell-rows.html

And this extra biceps exercise I should do last or right after biceps curl? And I do 2 sets like in other exercises?

the shapefit site is correct, but you need to me more upright so that when your arm is straight it is at knee level, not mid shin like a normal row.

Do not do HIIT on allpro, it taxes recovery.

Do LISS, Low Intensity Steady State cardio. This will increase recovery, and make the 2nd set on allpro exercises easier.

[vimalrajsharma8]

If I want to play tennis twice a week, what days would be best according to you? Considering that my HML are on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I am a beginner in tennis too.

[nightanole]

If I want to play tennis twice a week, what days would be best according to you? Considering that my HML are on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I am a beginner in tennis too.

Any day but sunday. If you do it on your hml days, do them after the workout.

[5penn]

squat dilemma...."leg size"

it's the only exercise I haven't failed as of yet (currently on C4/W4/D2) squat weight from 115--->160. planning on at least 7 cycles on All Pro

my dilemma is I like the size of my legs as it is now. I don't want them to get any bigger.

do i adjust my progression? or is that too light of a weight to be worrying about my leg size?

note: i'm 5'5 151-155 lbs depending on what scale i use ;-)

[nightanole]

squat dilemma...."leg size"

it's the only exercise I haven't failed as of yet (currently on C4/W4/D2) squat weight from 115--->160. planning on at least 7 cycles on All Pro

my dilemma is I like the size of my legs as it is now. I don't want them to get any bigger.

do i adjust my progression? or is that too light of a weight to be worrying about my leg size?

note: i'm 5'5 151-155 lbs depending on what scale i use ;-)

Human silhouettes dont really get wider after the first few months of lifting. Instead they start looking thicker from the side.

I tend to have this problem with girls. They get a butt, they get all happy, and then a year from then they complain that their butt disappeared even though their deadlift went up 50%. What happened? What happened was their hamstrings finally filled out, making the transition from leg to butt from the side, less noticeable.

I am of the opinion that most people who think they have huge legs from lifting, really just carry alot of fat on the legs, and it makes their silhouette look wide due to having an extra 5lbs of steak on each leg pushing the fat out more.

Look at natty body builders i bet their leg measurements are smaller than yours, yet they can do double your working weight.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson207.htm

Just research "doryphoros body measurements" and analysis. That is the ideal, and he dont have quads for the broads.


But if you are really serious about not wanting the legs to grow, you need to reduce volume and increase intensity. You would need to look into a 3x3 program. Those are what the high volume (what is needed for max growth) dudes use inbetween volume training to maintain and heal up for the next meso cycle of volume work. It would be half of the allpro volume, but you would be working at 90% of your 1rm and need 5-10min rest times in order to complete all 3 sets with the same weight.

[5penn]

Human silhouettes dont really get wider after the first few months of lifting. Instead they start looking thicker from the side.

I tend to have this problem with girls. They get a butt, they get all happy, and then a year from then they complain that their butt disappeared even though their deadlift went up 50%. What happened? What happened was their hamstrings finally filled out, making the transition from leg to butt from the side, less noticeable.

I am of the opinion that most people who think they have huge legs from lifting, really just carry alot of fat on the legs, and it makes their silhouette look wide due to having an extra 5lbs of steak on each leg pushing the fat out more.

Look at natty body builders i bet their leg measurements are smaller than yours, yet they can do double your working weight.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson207.htm

Just research "doryphoros body measurements" and analysis. That is the ideal, and he dont have quads for the broads.


But if you are really serious about not wanting the legs to grow, you need to reduce volume and increase intensity. You would need to look into a 3x3 program. Those are what the high volume (what is needed for max growth) dudes use inbetween volume training to maintain and heal up for the next meso cycle of volume work. It would be half of the allpro volume, but you would be working at 90% of your 1rm and need 5-10min rest times in order to complete all 3 sets with the same weight.

thanks for the insight.

noticed last weekend when I put my jeans on. thigh area was a little but snug..

[Tklein3826]

He did a great job on it, and it's the app I'm using now so I didn't mean that to come off as disrespecting his efforts, just thinking about taking it a step further feature-wise.

Ya man that sounds awesome....i say go for it!

[Tklein3826]

probably a dumb question but is this routine ok for my wife as well?

[nightanole]

probably a dumb question but is this routine ok for my wife as well?

Yes but the wife will progress around 1/2-2/3 of the speed of you the first 7 cycles, on the other hand she will blow you out of the water with her progression on the 7 cycles (or another routine) after that. Women dont gain as fast, but they dont plain out as quickly as men either.

[epaquin]

Hi,

I've been running this workout for a little more than a year now (switched to novice for the last 2 cycles):

Squat: 185 lbs
BP: 135 lbs
Rows: 145 lbs
OHP: 70 lbs
SLDL: 170 lbs
Upright rows: 70 lbs

34 years old, 5'9.5'' and currently 158 lbs (BF 13%, maybe a little less). I follow the recommended diet. I've read several times that I should be able to BP my BW and squat 1.25-1.5 time my BW by the end of this program. Yet, I feel like I've hit a plateau everywhere and BP and OHP is where I struggle the most. Any advice to help progressing? I'd like to at least be able to BP my BW and squat 1.25 time BW.

Thanks

[rlefebvr]

Hi,

I've been running this workout for a little more than a year now (switched to novice for the last 2 cycles):

Squat: 185 lbs
BP: 135 lbs
Rows: 145 lbs
OHP: 70 lbs
SLDL: 170 lbs
Upright rows: 70 lbs

34 years old, 5'9.5'' and currently 158 lbs (BF 13%, maybe a little less). I follow the recommended diet. I've read several times that I should be able to BP my BW and squat 1.25-1.5 time my BW by the end of this program. Yet, I feel like I've hit a plateau everywhere and BP and OHP is where I struggle the most. Any advice to help progressing? I'd like to at least be able to BP my BW and squat 1.25 time BW.

Thanks

That is pretty much what I have right now weight wise after 7 months and I have 6 to 8 pounds more then you, body fat closer to 19%)

Someone better qualified will chime in, but you seem pretty skinny to me. Probably just a question of eating just a little more and the weight will go up.

Ron

[nightanole]

Hi,

I've been running this workout for a little more than a year now (switched to novice for the last 2 cycles):

Squat: 185 lbs
BP: 135 lbs
Rows: 145 lbs
OHP: 70 lbs
SLDL: 170 lbs
Upright rows: 70 lbs

34 years old, 5'9.5'' and currently 158 lbs (BF 13%, maybe a little less). I follow the recommended diet. I've read several times that I should be able to BP my BW and squat 1.25-1.5 time my BW by the end of this program. Yet, I feel like I've hit a plateau everywhere and BP and OHP is where I struggle the most. Any advice to help progressing? I'd like to at least be able to BP my BW and squat 1.25 time BW.

Thanks

If you have the equipment, i would try to bench pin press your body weight. Start off with 1 rep every 30 seconds till you die. If you can get in 10 reps then switch to 2 reps every 30 seconds. Once you can get in 3 reps every 30 seconds for 10 sets, that should be your new 10 rep max.

Or if you want to abandon ship, TheViking1992's new bare bones full body program is an excellent 1 year program, while allpro is only good for about 6-9 months.

Your final option is to go for a peaking cycle of 1.25x bw for 1 rep:

http://www.joeskopec.com/coancalc.html

[epaquin]

If you have the equipment, i would try to bench pin press your body weight. Start off with 1 rep every 30 seconds till you die. If you can get in 10 reps then switch to 2 reps every 30 seconds. Once you can get in 3 reps every 30 seconds for 10 sets, that should be your new 10 rep max.

You mean as a replacement for the BP or at the end of the workout?