sword_'s Max-OT Workout Journal

[sword_]

I have been on the forums for a while. Hopefully no need for an introduction, but I will give a brief bio.

Got introduced to weightlifting because I found out that it helped me fight my period of depression.
I have been working out intensly since late August, but I have been introduced to weightlifting before in the past, but did it inconsistently at times. I used to be 6' 150 around August.

I am going to start posting my progress on this thread to get some feedback from my workout, keep a record, and reach my bulking goals.

Stats/Measurements

Height: 6' 1/2''
Weight: 175 lbs
Bodyfat: Appx 12%

Neck: 15.5''
Waist: 31.5''
Midsection: 32.5'' (I am trying to tighten my what is to believed distened midsection)
Biceps: 13''
Forearms: 11.5''
Thighs: 24''
Calves: 15''
Chest: 39''

I have pictures I will post later on. They need recropping.

Goals

Plain and simple. I am trying to clean bulk to 190 by August 31st. I also am trying to tighten my midsection up. That is one unclear goal I have on this venture. I also noticed in my recent pictures that my chest and shouders have not developed as much as I'd like them to. My back and legs seem to be my strong points and my shoulders and chest seem to be the areas I need to emphasize the most. I have changed those two workouts to something I think that will be effective.

Supplements

Dymatize Elite Whey
AST 32x Multivitamin
Glutamine Peptides
Udo's Choice Oil Blend
Gatorade Powder.

I am also drinking two cups of green tea once a day. I also vary it up sometimes with Roobis (Red) Tea . These supplements could change because I want to see what works best for me. A few supplements I am going to try in the near future:

Glucophase XR (ALA)
Sesathin (Used to use this for a while, effective)
Leptigen Mass (Are the 'clean bulk' claims true?)
Substance WPI (Never tried an Isolate)
Optimen Multivitamin (Supplies more antidioxidents)

Ahhh one more thing I have to add to this is the Workout. I used to do a four day split: legs, chest/triceps, back/biceps, shoulders, abs twice a week. Since I have more time in the summer from the traditional fall/spring semesters, I decided that I am going to try something different: A workout which adheres to Max-OT principles. I have heard great things about this style, so I perused through the AST website on it and created my own workout. Here it is:

• Squats (5 sets consisting of one warmup and one intermediate set)
• Leg Press (2)
• Good Mornings (3)
• 45 Degree Calf Raises (2)
• Seated Calf Raises (2)
  
  
  Day 2 (Arms)
• Skull Crushers (4 sets consisting of one warmup)
• Cable Pushdown (3 - 2 forward, one reverse)
• Tricep Kickbacks (2)
  
• Barbell Curls (2)
• Reverse Curls (2)
• Hammer Curls (2)
• Alternating Dumbell Curls (2)
  
  
  Day 3 (Shoulders)
• Seated Dumbell Press (4 consisting of one warmup and one intermediate)
• Standing Military Press (2)
• Dumbell Side Lateral Raises (2)
• Front Raises (2)
• Shoulder Shrugs (3)
  
  Day 4 (Back)
• Deadlifts (5 consisting of one warmup and one intermediate)
• Pullups (25 - Grip varying)
• Lat Pulldown (3 - Last set with V-Bar)
• Seated Cable Row (2)
• Barbell Bent-Over Row (3)
  
  Day 5 (Chest)
• Incline Dumbell Press (4 consisting of one warmup)
• Flat Barbell Press (3)
• Iso Chest Machine (2)
• Decline Bench Press (2)
  

I will do abs twice a week. I will be using a pool of exercises consisting of Dumbell Side Bends, Cable Crunches, Weighted Crunches, Leg Raises, Stomach Vacuums, etc. The distented midsection is a MAJOR problem I want to fix within the next two months.

Comments? Suggestions? Stay posted.


Beast Mode.

[JJWB023]

re-crop then get the pics up.
good luck with the bulk..i'll follow the journal
hope that midsection problem works out for you 2.

[sword_]

Here are some pictures of me I took last week. My chest and shoulders I need to work on, but I am impressed with my back. You do not get a good shot of my thighs in these pictures but I am impressed with them as well

[sword_]

One final picture.

Also, here are some of my most recent lifts:

Squat: 305 lbs
Deadlift: 315 lbs
Flat Barbell Bench: 195 lbs
Dumbell Incline Bench: 70 lb dumbells

[sword_]

Just a head's up, GhostfaceKillah is coming back in town and he is doing a different workout than I am doing. I will post some of my lifts with him. After this week I will be back to my normal routine.

[sword_]

I hit chest yesterday, because I couldn't go to the gym on friday.

• Incline Bench Press 35x8, 60x6, 70x5, 70x5
• Flat Barbell Press 195x3, 185x4, 185x4
• Iso Wide Chest Machine 230x5, 230x4
• Decline Dumbell Press 70x6, 70x5

My Dumbell Incline has went up from around 50-55 to currently 70 over a few months. I stopped doing flat barbell press for a while, and it seems to be getting weaker. Maybe its because I started off w/ incline dumbell press. I will work on that.

[Rich Wallace]

Not bashing whatsoever, but this isn't as close to Max-OT as you may think it is. Have you looked over the AST site or do you have the now famous PDF file that walks you through the theory and principles from the group up yet?

As for the distended mid-section, do your ab work, but also look into doing stomach vacuums, I've been doing them and they've trimmed off about 1.5 inches within 2-3 weeks. Add them in if you like them.

[sword_]

Not bashing whatsoever, but this isn't as close to Max-OT as you may think it is. Have you looked over the AST site or do you have the now famous PDF file that walks you through the theory and principles from the group up yet?

As for the distended mid-section, do your ab work, but also look into doing stomach vacuums, I've been doing them and they've trimmed off about 1.5 inches within 2-3 weeks. Add them in if you like them.

I looked at the 12 week program on their website. I wasn't aware that there was a PDF file. Any suggestions? Stomach vacuums have helped my midsection some.

[sword_]

I decided to hit legs today since I have to spend time today and monday on an engineering project due tuesday (fun fun). When I was going to the gym I felt motivated, but once I got there it was colder than usual and somehow my motivation dwindled when I did my intense sets on my squats. I could have sworn I did some half ass reps (slightly above parallel) and I am a sticker for form. I made it up on the leg press, but I have to say it wasn't my BEST workout. Mentally I wasn't there as much as I wanted to be. You win some you lose some.

• Squats 135x10, 225x8, 305x5, 305x6, 305x4
• Leg Press 540x6, 540x6
• Good Mornings 160x8. 165x6. 165x6
• 45 Degree Calf Raises 450x12. 450x12
• Seated Calf Raises 205x, 205x6

I did a high number of 45 degree calf raises as that is a new exercise for me. The gym I'm at right now doesn't have a standing calf raise machine. A little higher volume than I would like, but I will up that weight next week.

[sword_]

I came back from my day off on monday and blasted arms. Instead of starting off with the Lying Tricep Extensions today (like I normally do) I started with pushdowns. I also tried dips today. On my Lying Tricep Extensions I close grip press the weight I did for each set.

• Tricep Pushdowns 150x6 150x6 140x8
• Lying Tricep Extensions 95x6 95x6 100x5
• Dips (using 35 lb weight) 35x6 35x7
• Barbell Curls 100x5 100x4
• Reverse Curls 70x6 75x5
• Hammer Curls 55x4 50x6
• Alternating Dumbell Curls 45x6 45x5

[sword_]

My friend GhostfaceKillah is spending his last days here, so we hit back together. He is doing a different routine in which he alternates days in which he emphasizes volume, and other days power. This was NOT a Max-OT workout, but it was preety good...him and I were exhausted after we were done with this workout. I was little dissapointed to find that I was overwhelmed by 315 lbs today (I usually do 2 sets of 5), but the day before I had to literally run somewhere for a little over two miles and my back was sore after that. This makes me realize futhermore that I need to step up my ab routine. I used to have this problem when I was around 150 lbs (back then I was in ROTC and doing a lot of cardio). After running for a few months it eventually went away, but I am about 25 lbs heavier.

• Deadlifts 135x10 225x6 315x3 295x6 295x5
• Lat Pulldown 160x12 170x5 160x7 160x7
• Machine Row 180 (90 on each side) x 10 200x10 200x10 200x10
• Machine Pulldown 160x8 160x8 160x8

Remember, this exercise was all about volume and we accomplished that.

[Rich Wallace]

Looked like a decent workout to me...

[sword-]

Looked like a decent workout to me...

Man, I was SO exhausted after that workout. We are hitting chest today.

[sword_]

Well..it is 2:30 but yesterday GhostFaceKillah and I decided to lift more before he leaves. We did an exhausting chest and bicep workout. Volume again of course. You can see below why it was so exhausting

• Incline Dumbell Press 50x8 70x8 60x8 60x8 60x10
• Flat Barbell Press 175x6 165x5 155x5 145x5
• Iso Chest Machine 140x6 140x5
• Iso Incline Machine 90x8 90x7
• Hammer Curls 40x8 40x7 40x6
• Preacher Curls 80x6 70x8
• Cable Curls 50x8 50x8

[JJWB023]

seems to be goin good..keep it up

[sword_]

What a great day. I was running on a low amount of sleep since I was up last night doing work. I didn't come into the gym unmotivated. Perhaps I was motivated that a friend of mine came along for the ride to supposively do legs. Turns out the bastard wanted to do shoulders! F- em (j/k). Since a few of us in my circle of friends neglect to work out their legs, I used that as my fuel for this workout. It worked great since I managed to push 315 for 4. I did not have a felling that I half assed any of these squats. This workout was intense. I left th gym sweating with satisfaction.

• Squats 135x12 225x8 305x6 305x5 315x4
• Leg Press 540x6 550x6
• Good Mornings 165x8 165x8
• 45 degree Calf Raises 460x12 460x12
• Seated Calf Raises 210x8 210x6

The workout lasted about 45 minutes.

[sword_]

Preety good workout here. I have decided that it would be a good idea for me to start logging my ab exercises. Stomach Vacuums I am not logging though. Instead of doing regular hammer curls today I did incline hammer curls. I was mad that I could not push two more reps on the barbell curl, so I ended up dropping to 85 and pumping out 6 extra.

• Lying Tricep Extension 65x10 105x5 105x5 105x4
• Tricep Pushdown 150x6 (bar) 135x5 (rope) 135x5 (reverse w/ bar)
• Tricep Kickbacks 30x8 30x8
• Barbell Curls 100x5 100x3 85x6
• Reverse Curls 65x6 65x5
• Alternating Bicep Curls 45x6 45x6
• Incline Hammer Curls 45x5 45x5
  
• Dumbell Side Bends 50x12 50x12 50x10
• Cable Crunches 160x12 160x10 160x10

[BPP]

kickbacks!?!?


good workout other than that



are you doing the GM's on leg day SL or close to it? if not id add them to lower back instead

id also replace kickbacks with a dif exercise such as overhead DB ext, JM press, etc

[sword_]

On leg day I'm doing good mornings. I believe it will help add more mass to my hamstrings with a slight bend in my knees. On back day I do full deadlifts and I think that is enough for me that day . Leg day and back day are my most exhausting days.

I have contemplated doing dips instead of kickbacks (or another tricep exercise).

[BPP]

On leg day I'm doing good mornings. I believe it will help add more mass to my hamstrings with a slight bend in my knees. On back day I do full deadlifts and I think that is enough for me that day . Leg day and back day are my most exhausting days.

I have contemplated doing dips instead of kickbacks (or another tricep exercise).

yeah, as long as the legs are close to straight it will give enough hammy stress tol justify its placeon leg day

and yeah, def do something other than kickbacks!!!!

[Rich Wallace]

kickbacks!?!?

I agree, I don't see you doing the Ms. Olympia anytime soon, get rid of these.

[sword_]

This was a preety good workout, but I am honestly amped for tommorrow..back day. And ahh friday I have an engineering test. Anyways here was my workout:

• Seated Dumbell Press 45x8 45x8 60x4 60x5
• Standing Military Press 95x6 95x6 95x4
• Front Raises 25x8 30x6
• Side Lateral Raises 25x7 25x6
• Shoulder Shrugs 235x8 235x6 235x8

The bars at the gym I go to are extremely slipperly. To remedy that problem I bought some lifting straps. These will also help me tommorrow so I won't mess up my hands like I usually do on deadlifts.

I am also thinking about trying dumbell press kneeling. It requires you to stabilize your core more.

[Rich Wallace]

nice workout!

I'd go for gloves before straps for slippery bars....or, make the idiots who sweat (or drool) on them clean their **** up

I hate using straps since it takes away a decent grip workout for those heavy movements.

[Lok7y]

This was a preety good workout, but I am honestly amped for tommorrow..back day. And ahh friday I have an engineering test. Anyways here was my workout:

• Seated Dumbell Press 45x8 45x8 60x4 60x5
• Standing Military Press 95x6 95x6 95x4
• Front Raises 25x8 30x6
• Side Lateral Raises 25x7 25x6
• Shoulder Shrugs 235x8 235x6 235x8

The bars at the gym I go to are extremely slipperly. To remedy that problem I bought some lifting straps. These will also help me tommorrow so I won't mess up my hands like I usually do on deadlifts.

I am also thinking about trying dumbell press kneeling. It requires you to stabilize your core more.

You could save yourself a lot of undue hassle (and also come off as extremely badass in your gym) if you just started doing cleans (with the press) &/or snatches and dropped some of that isolation bother.

Plus from a nutrient-partitioning, conditioning, and anabolism standpoint, OLs own anything dumbell-related.


Also, willing to bet the farm that the whole 'distended midsection' thing is a combination of VAT & bad posture: training your abs with all that volume isn't going to do a damn thing for that. Vacuums will help, but you also need to focus on your lower back (DLs & squats will hit them if your form is good, so maybe one additional day/week of reverse hypers or something); training the front might even exacerbate things (unless you just have a really weak core in general). I don't even train my abs outside of the recruitment they get from olympic lifts and compounds, and they are nonetheless quite 'purty'.

Something like Sesathin &/or Ab-Solved would deal with the VAT-aspect of the distension (kind of depends on your bodyfat, but in general a lot of guys have issues with the cortisol/cortisone reductase/hydrogenase picture, which is like the numero uno culprit for 'male beer gut' (aside from the calories contributing to it, of course...)).

More to the point, I feel like all that ab-volume is exceedingly unnecessary.

[sword chucks]

Why does sword get posts from loky and not me?

nice workouts sword :P keep ti up

[sword-]

Lok7y, I believe my university gym won't let people do cleans and snatches which sucks because I'd be all on that. I need to check again to make sure.

My form is solid with my squats/deadlifts. I believe that my midsection (particuarly my tranverse abdominas) is weak and my lower back is 'overstrong' for it). This is evident when I have to run, my lower back starts to hurt because it is overcompensating for my weaker abs. Thanks for the advice Loki.

[rizay]

Lok7y hit it on the head with the cortisol issue, as well as controlling insulin spikes. I don't see a "distended gut" but by reducing visceral (under your abs) fat, and balancing your lower back out with your ab strength you should be fine. I wouldn't do so much volume on abs personally.

You mentioned a couple supplements that you might start taking for insulin control, but I personally like BioChems Glucolean, and mix that with some Phosphatidylserine should be fine...Take 200-400mg of PS post training and split another 200mg during the day in two servings. It's not cheap, but worth it, or you can compare it the products Lok7y recommended.

Maybe some close grip bench press instead of the kickbacks, although I do those to finish off triceps, partly because i have elbow tendinitis and it's one of the few tri exercises I can do without pain...

The rest of the training looks fine man, just push your limits and you see your goal in no time.

[sword_]

Yep..I didn't post my workout for my favorite day of the week, back day. 6/23/05. First time I used the straps. I've decided to use the straps only on heavier weights on my deads (e.g. 315) not the lighter ones. I did something inventive on my pullups this week, I did a few reps and changed the grip up on them. Perhaps I was amped, the fact that GhostFaceKillah tortured me on back day last week, or all the nice eye candy in the gym boosted my testosterone levels up, which made my cable row and my bent-over row go up..great workout.

• Deadlifts 135x12 225x10 315x6 315x5 315x4
• Pullups (each w/ different grip) 6-7-8-4
• Lat Pulldown 160x5 150x8 160x6
• Seated Cable Row 160x8 170x6
• Barbell Bent-Over Row 150x7 155x6 160x5

[sword_]

I realized today that I have been doing inclines at too high an angle (60 degrees) versus the regular angle (30 degrees). I corrected that only on the last set today of my incline dumbell press, but its all good. I think I am going to alternate the first two exercises coming the next few weeks to help develop my chest.

• Incline Bench Press 35x10 60x8 70x4 70x4
• Flat Barbell Press 185x5 185x4 175x8
• Iso Wide Chest 140x6 140x4
• Decline Bench Press 70x6 70x6

[sword_]

Instead of doing kickbacks in my arm workout, I am replacing them with two sets of close grip bench press.