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My initial goal was to see if I could once again press 2x bodyweight (at 38 I haven't been able to do that in a while). I got there fairly quickly but it wasn't all because of strength increases. Losing bodyfat is a much easier way to improve your power to weight ratio. The next goal is gain more size while maintaining that 2x bodyweight at my new lower BF%.
My program I came up with was a hybrid of the Critical Bench program and Leangains intermittent fasting though I broke cardinal rules for each program (such as 15 minutes HIT cardio before every weight workout).
My cardio consists of running each morning in a fasted state for 15 minutes on a treadmill. I'd start around 7:00AM at whatever pace I could maintain without having to stop. This progressed from 6.2 mph to 8.7 mph. The point wasn't to exhaust myself but I worked pretty hard each day. Afterwards I drank small 1 gatarade with 10 grams of BCAAs while I toweled off from the cardio and then trained heavy with weights (usually 4-6 reps, 10 was the most)
I did this 5x a week for around 9-12 sets in 45-60 minutes. I took Saturday and Sunday off. I took 10 more grams of BCAAS immediately after the weight workout and then consumed my first real meal around noon.
My bodyweight went down considerably. I would have been content to maintain strength but I got a lot stronger. I'm still surprised how much bigger you can look and weigh 20 pounds less. Eventually I'd like to get back to my out of shape bodyweight of 180 with around 7% bodyfat.
The core of the program I came up with for myself consists of 3 main sets for a single body part followed by 6-12 more sets of supplemental exercises.
Monday = chest
Tuesday = legs
Wednesday = back
Thursday = shoulders
Friday = biceps and triceps
Reps rarely exceed 8 and you try to add at least 5 pounds on the first exercise each session (I care less about the second-forth exercises since they are gravy).
For instance :
Chest :
Flat 6x,4x,2x (rep cadence 1:2) (I care most about increasing weight here)
Incline 8x,5x,3x (rep cadence 1:7)
Dumbell Flys 8x,8x,8x (rep cadence 1:7)
Back :
Weighted pullups 10x,10x,10x (rep cadence 1:2) (I care most about increasing weight here)
Barbell Rows 8x,8x,8x (rep cadence 1:7)
Pulldowns 8x,8x,8x (rep cadence 1:7)
Random back exercise 8x,8x,8x (rep cadence 1:7)
Shoulders :
Front Barbell Press 6x,4x,2x (rep cadence 1:2) (I care most about increasing weight here)
Seated Dumbell Press 8x,6x,4x (rep cadence 1:7)
Shrugs 10x,10x,10x (rep cadence 1:7)
Random shoulder lift 8x,8x,8x (rep cadence 1:7)
Random shoulder lift 8x,8x,8x (rep cadence 1:7)
I weighed myself each morning and took measurements so have good data during the process. During the cut my waist went from 34" to 29". Most other measurments were literally unchanged.
-M
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