Rapz - Getting it in!

[genetic freek]

Zero science in this post but...

From my experience my legs stay lean all year round & i think its largely to with how i train them, Very short rest periods, lots of volume, I mix up the reps.

It could be something to look into. If they burning ...they burning fat.

Could just be the way my body carry's fat but iv been up around 115-120kg with separated quads, still striated.

If only i could grow my calfs though lol

[jimmybro1]

Zero science in this post but...

From my experience my legs stay lean all year round & i think its largely to with how i train them, Very short rest periods, lots of volume, I mix up the reps.

It could be something to look into. If they burning ...they burning fat.

Could just be the way my body carry's fat but iv been up around 115-120kg with separated quads, still striated.

If only i could grow my calfs though lol

I'm the same way both my legs and arms stay lean throughout the offseason.

Volume I feel is a must with legs

[rapz]

another weekend of not posting godammit......

thanks for the advice guys have taken it onboard :nod:

was in dunners for the whole weekend, managed to get in some delts and traps at sky fitness, not a bad gym, lots of pics of the old school bodybuilders, a good atmosphere and i really enjoyed it.

nothing special about this workout, just the regular heavy compound movements with a few isolations chucked in. did get a couple of PBs though, managed to get upto 25kg DBs with lateral raises and shrugged 300kgsx8 reps :dancing: im happy with any PB whether it be squats of bicep curls, it means im progressing and im happy with that.

i will have to say eating was not optimal, i would have eaten sufficient calories but the quality of protein etc wasnt the best, went out for turkish a LOT!!! lol

Drove back to CHCH yesterday, went straight to the gym, hit legs (hammie focus) & calves warmed up with SLDs with DBs then went into squats. did more higher reps than usual today with really short breaks, absolutely took the breath out of me :oops: better do more cardio!!!

BB squats

60x20

100x15

140x12

140x12

140x10

Walking lunges

40x10x3

standing hammie curl (single leg)

35x15

45x15

55x12

55x12

BB SLDs

60x12

100x12

100x12

100x12

seated hammie curl

65x15

75x12

75x12

Finished off with some seated calf raise and the went to the leg press and did some more calf raises, lots of volume and reps with these and very short rest periods, kept rep range 15-20-failure and completed about 12-15 sets cant really remember, all i remember is that my legs were shaking like a mofo when i left the gym. :pfft:

[DCYPL]

Freakin HUGE Brah!! good job

[rapz]

Freakin HUGE Brah!! good job

cheers bro always trying to improve

missed Tuesday's log, i hit chest and triceps that day..

only thing worth mentioning is that i achieved a PB on the incline BB press 145x6 reps (one spotted) the 145x6 (two spotted) was really pleased with this, again improving on different lifts on a weekly basis which im really stoked with.

I worked back with biceps yesterday, not the greatest of workouts, had a full on day at work and i was shattere, even with pre workout i was still tired at times. no recorsd were broken this day

wide grip lat pulldowns

worked up to the whole stack (130kgs) for 2 working sets at around 6-8 reps with the last 1-2 reps being spotted.

narrow grip lat pulldowns (underhand grip)

worked up to 110kgs for two working sets of around 10 reps again with 1-2 spotted reps, really felt pumped after this one.

Stiff arm pulldowns

decided to chuck these in to really isolate the lats, did 4 sets of around 12 reps nothing ridiculously heavy just enough to really get some blood in the muscle.

T-bar rows

worked up to 6 plates (120kgs) for 10 reps, stayed within this rep range majority of workout.

seated low row

ended doing 4 working sets working up to my heaviest of 120kgs, really got a good contraction in lower lats.

finished off with biceps, nothing special, just heavy EZ bar curls, hammer curls and concentration curls to finish off.

eats were on par just need more sleep each night, rest day today so will be chillaxing tonight :grin: maybe a bit of cardio??

[rapz]

missed logging in the weekend, rested last thursday and ended working ou fri/sat/sun and did shoulders/traps,legs,arms.

Friday- was a good strong shoulder session banging out 50 Dbs for reps on the shoulder press with only a slight assist near near the end, hammered 3x8 working sets, worked upto 300kg shrugs as well strength is going up weekly :nod:

Saturday- did legs with a quad focus, started off on BB squats 60x20,100x15,140x10 for warmups then went onto 2 working sets of 180 (knees wrapped) first set got 8 with 2 spotted reps then last set got 5 with 2 reps assisted. i nearly caked it on the 3rd rep of my last set, almost fell backwards :oops: luckily my spotter was there and helped me straighten up again.

Moved onto hack squats and worked up to 8 plates per side (knees wrapped) where i did a drop set down to 6 plates per side, i actually worked until complete failure (was literally stuck at the bottom of the hack machine :pfft: went to leg press did 2 working sets with lthe last being a triple drop set then went onto extensions for 3 heavy working sets and lastly 2 sets of walking lunges to really kill my legs.

Surprisingly legs are not too bad, not as much DOMS as usual, i did take some extra rest between sets especially in between the big compound movements.

Sunday- hit an arm session, 4 exercises for both bis and tris did not go as heavy as usual, stayed within the 10-12 rep range got a good pump going on, was in and out of the gym within an hour, worked out with the missus as training partner was away. energy levels were not too bad but i am welcoming the rest day today, ended up having hells pizza and cooked up some steak for post workout meal =P~ will probably head to the gum today just to do some light cardio and keep the heart healthy (so they say)

nutrition wise has been pretty good still getting in 4500cals+ this will increase as the weeks go by as i have introduced some goodies to my regime, but still early days yet. BF% has definitely increased so if i get too fat i will have to incorporate a mini cut somewhere down the line.

[rapz]

so i was feeling good yesterday, even though i said i would rest i didnt went and hit a back session.

started off with wide grip pull ups.

BWx10 - 1 assisted rep

BWx6 - 4 assisted reps

BWx5 - 5 assisted reps

after doing lat pulldowns for so long going back to pull ups was fecking hard :oops: all my pullups are really slow and controlled, none of this kipping bizness. so when i cant do anymore on my own i get a spot and continue to do them nice and slow.

Deadlifts

60x15

100x8

140x8

180x6

220x5 PB \:D/

although i havent done deads in good while i didnt plan to break any PRs tonight but it just happened. i warmed into the heavier sets and 220kg went up pretty easy, i was actually gonna go for 280 and try and get out a couple reps but didnt want to push too much today, im happy with this and will build from here. I also use double loops and belt for the heavier sets (pussy) :pfft:

BB rows (overhand grip)

60x15

100x12

140x8

140x8

was feeling really good and lots of energy with these so i went fairly heavy and banged out a good 8 reps of 140kg for 2 working sets, felt nice and strong!!!!!!!!

Seated rows

70x12

80x12

100x8

100x8

nothing special here just warmed into 2 working sets, and really concentrated on contracting my back squeezing the f*ck out of it.

wide grip lat pulldowns

70x12

100x12

100x11

100x10

was more or less chasing the pump on this exercise, but also focused on getting a good stretch at the top of the movement.

DB row (bentover)

25x12

30x12

35x12

40x10

decided to do these a bit different today, instead of one at a time i did both and treated it like a bent over row, although the load was not particularly heavy, by the end of this workout i was really concentrating on the contraction and stretch.

Finished off the workout with 15min of abs, all up about 90mins in the gym tonight which is about the regular at the moment, i didnt workout until complete failure on all sets like i usually do but still felt like i got a really beneficial workout from lastnight.

I can feel the DOMS from the deads already, im surprised at the recovery rate i dont feel too bad today almost like i could go again but definitely having a rest today and will go do some light cardio tonight :nod:

[rapz]

Man what an epic session last night, did chest & tris and calves, was full of energy and strength was definitely up :grin: broke a heap of PBs last night which i was really pleased with, trained at cityfit chch so was able to utilize the heavier DBs

weighed in this morning 122.8kgs, up 3.8kgs since last week :shock: , must be water (and fat)

session went like this.

DB incline press

25x12

35x12

40x12

60x12 PB \:D/

60x8

60x8

Fucken stoked with this, the last time i did these i got to between 6-8 reps and that was with a spot last. however last night these were all unassisted maybe on the last rep of the last set i got a touch from a spotter but thats it.

Hammer Strength press

1x20kg per side x12

2x20kg per side x10

3x20kg per side x10

4x20kg per side x6 PB \:D/

Again another PB for the final heavy working set, 6 reps with 1 rep that was spotted, my previous best from memory i think was 3 plates???

DB incline flyes

25x12

35x12

40x10 PB \:D/

40x8

still feeling strong at this point of the workout and got another PB on flyes, resp were good and strict as well.

Cable flyes

Nothing special here, didnt go really heavy, just wanted to fill the muscle with blood and get a decent stretch, chest was feeling helll pumped by this point.

moved onto triceps

Rope pull dows

worked down the stack, ended up doing 2 working sets of 8-10 reps of the stack, cant quite remember what it was though but triceps were screaming after this.

Dips,

BWx20

BW+20kgx12 PB \:D/

BW+20kgx12

BW+20kgx10

stoked with another PB can usually only opo 10 of these with a plate and strict form, feelsgoodman.jpeg

EZ bar skull crushers

30x15

50x12

70x8 PB (1 rep spotted) \:D/

70x8 (2 reps spotted)

another PB, stoked as i havnt done these in a while but was feeling strong

close grip bench (smith machine)

60x12

100x12

140x6

140x6 (1 rep spotted)

decided to finish of on these, like using the smith as i feel i can control and contract the tricep a bit more. surprised i got 140 for reps actually as usually by this point im pretty fried.

Calves

finished off with 15 mins of calves, stayed within the 15-20 rep ranges with short arse breaks and about 12 sets all up.

Awesome workout stoked as hell with all the Pbs and today im surprisingly feeling awesome and ready to go again today, nutrition has been on par 4500+cals a day at the moment.

sneaky photo doing flyes

[jimmybro1]

Nice lifts man. Strength going up eh :wink:

Do you typically use the smith machine for close grip bench ? My joints don't seem to like the direct up and down movement.

[rapz]

Nice lifts man. Strength going up eh :wink:

Do you typically use the smith machine for close grip bench ? My joints don't seem to like the direct up and down movement.

strength is definitely going up, weights that felt heavy a couple of weeks ago are not too bad, thats with majority of bodyparts im finding as well, legs is still a work in progress, but hit them last night and they felt "stronger" and my endurance in the gym allows me to go more intense for longer, if that makes sense?

Yea i love CG bench on the smith, my wrists are not the best so it allows me to reposition and use suicide grip, even part way through the movement, and i dont have to worry about the bar falling etc.

[rapz]

Hit legs last night (hammie focus)

BB squats.

barxlots

60x12

100x12

140x12

160x12 (2 spotted)

180x5 :evil:

100x20

pissed off at the 180kgx5 effort, i really though i had it in me to get more out as 160kg didnt feel too bad, although by then by legs were really feeling it for the set before.

SLD

60x12

100x12

100x12

100x12

didnt go too heavy with this, back was pretty pumped from squats and i really tried to engage the hammie and glute, managed to get a good stretch with each rep and kept strict form.

Standing hammie curl (single leg)

couldnt remember the weight to be honest all i know is the i managed to work upto the whole stack for 10 reps which is a PB \:D/ , otherwise i usually stay within the 12-15 rep range for this exercise.

Seated Hammie curl

pretty much same story for this, worked up to the whole stack except for 8 reps, all up would have done about 5 sets of 10-15 reps and progressively got heavier.

Walking lunges

22.5x10x4

did 4 sets of these bad boys, really felt it the glute/hammie region, felt like they were on fire :twisted: dont go too heavy on these just try and keep breaks nice and short and keep good form through the movement.

Hammer strength Lying Hammie curl

finished off with 2 heavy sets of lying curls, the machine is funny,unlike a regular hamstring curl, the negative part of the movement feels harder than the positive, did 20kg plate per side x 8 reps, legs felt cooked after this.

Decent workout today, got in some good volume, all up would have spent 90mins in the gym, really trying to push my legs to the max at the moment.

thinking about having a rest day today the last 2 days have been big workouts, but im actually feeling all good. usually from a workout last night i would be feeling the DOMs already but surprisingly i feel hardly any DOMs and feel full of energy, actually if my life depended on it i could almost do legs again tonight :pfft: must be thanks to my new goodies :grin:

[rapz]

Hit back for the 2nd time this week and threw in some biceps. really working on bringing my back up, going to throw a video up of my CG pulldowns, if anyone can critique my form, i really do try and get a good squeeze in my lats, like with all back exercises.

Widegrip lat pulldown

worked upto the stack for 2 working sets of 130kg for 8 reps with 2 spotted.

Deadlifts

warmed up with 60,100 x 12 reps went onto to do a couple of working sets. first was 180x8 then 220x6 and this didnt feel too bad, although back was pumped, wanted to try 260 for 1 and failed :oops: got it to knee level and couldnt lock out, im confident i could get this up fresh, will have to try again soon, definitely want to get strong at this lift.

Bent over row

back was still hella pumped warmed up on 60kgx12 then 100x12 the 2 working sets of 140x8.

CG pulldowns

worked down to 3/4 of the stack for 3 working sets of 10 reps, didnt go to complete failure just got in some good solid reps and squeezed the hell out of my lats

Seated row

worked down to 3/4 stack, did 2 working sets of 8 reps with 2 being spotted, got a mean squeeze on this movement and felt good.

Biceps....

EZ bar curl

warmed up with 30x12, then 50x12 then did 2 working sets of 60x10, got a wicked pump on :twisted:

DB Hammer curl

first set was 25 Dbs x12 reps to get a feel, then did 3 working sets. 35x12,37.5x10 and finally 40x8 which is a PB i think \:D/

Single arm curl (cables)

did something different sort of like a concentration curl but with the cables, did 3 working sets of 10 reps, nothing majorly heavy just got some good reps in, but still difficult.

DB concentration curls

just to finish off the guns i threw in 2 heavy sets on concentration curls and squeezed the hell out of the biceps 20x8x2.

[Android]

Can see the muscles working so must be good :-)

Biceps look like they're getting a good workout as well, they're a good size too bro!

strong

[rapz]

Can see the muscles working so must be good :-)

Biceps look like they're getting a good workout as well, they're a good size too bro!

strong

thanks Android, yes biceps have come up over the last 5 months have manged to put a good 2 inches on them. the are 19 when cold so happy with this, would love to have 20s by the end of the year.

So i hit chest, calves & abs yesterday...

Flat BB bench

the incline bench was taken so though i would do this yesterday, warmed up on 60x15,100x12,140x10 then did 2 working sets. first one was 160x6 with one rep spotted then went onto to 180x4 PB \:D/ with 2 reps spotted then drop to 140x4 then finally another drop to 100x10, chest felt like balloons after this.

Incline DB bench

i actually should have gone to BB incline as the 50kg DBs felt a bit light, however i reduced the breaks top around 45 secs and pumped out 4 sets, 50x12,50x12,50x10,50x10.

Incline DB fly

Was happy with this as i worked up to 2 working sets of 40x10 PB \:D/ good solid reps and made sure a squeezed the heck out of my chest at the top of the movement.

Cable flyes

nothing special to report here, more or less did 3 sets not to complete failure just got a good contraction of 12 reps cant remember the weight as i just went by feel, was almost half the stack i think??

Seated Calve raises

i really want to bring up my calves as they are shit house going to be working them 2-3 times a week at the end of a workout, will be doing seated and standing calf raises, only did 2 plates per side for 20 strict reps x5 sets, calves were really burning after this.

Leg press calve raise

standing calve raise was taken but this basically mimics the movement of standing calve raise so did 4 sets of 200kg x 20 reps.

finished off with 15min of abs, rope pull downs and some reverse crunches, really need to be hitting these a bit more only hitting once a week if im lucky, i just feel reluctant as my abs are far from "showing" at this point in my bulk

[rapz]

hit quads last night, 3rd workout in a row feeling good :grin:

Leg extensions (single leg)

hit extensions first up, basically to warm up the knees and pre exhaust my legs a bit, worked up to 3/4 of the stack (65kgs) for 10reps x 2 sets, after this quads were full of blood and felt pumped.

BB squats

really happy with squats today, warmed up on 60x15,100x12,140x10. went on to 2 working sets of 180kg, previous week only did 5 reps. managed to hit out 2 sets of 8 reps (2 spotted) although i had a slight assist on the last 2 reps i felt a lot stronger and was happy with the progression since last week.

Smith machine squats (narrow stance)

kept a real narrow stance on this, i wanted to mimic the hack squat movement and really hit the outer sweep, i was going to do front squats but form needs perfecting. anyway warmed up on 100x10, then did 2 working sets of 140x8 (1 rep assisted) got nice and deep and powered up through the heels, really hit the sweep well. Finished off on a 20 rep sets of 100kg :oops:

Horizontal leg press (single leg)

the normal leg press was taken so decided to give this a whirl, kept my stance narrow one again and did 3 working sets at different loads 1st set was 160x12, then 180x10, then 190x8. last set felt like hell really noticed my left leg was a lot weaker than my right only manged to get 6 reps of 190 on my left, will have to work on this.

Leg extensions (single leg)

basically went back to leg extension and did 5 working sets of different weights, 50x15,55x12,60x10,65x10,65x10 :puke:

Leg press (45 degree)

although my legs felt absolutely blasted i went and finished off with 2 sets of 20 repsx270, nothing too extreme just felt like doing em

Workout complete!

good solid workout, spent a good 90mins in the gym, sweated like a rapist, smelt like a pig and went home and ate like a beast :twisted:

[rapz]

oh my, have not logged for almost a week, no good rapz :naughty:

so whats happened since last Thursday.....

weighed in at 126.5kgs, up 3.7kgs since last week

definitely got in some good workouts, broke a couple of PBs once again!

managed to squat 180kg for 8 reps x 2 sets (2 assisted reps)

hamstring curl (seated) whole stack for 10 reps x 2 sets

Smith machine press 3 plates per side for 6 reps x 3 (1 assisted rep)

DB front raises with 30kg Dbs

BB row 140kg for 8 reps x 3 sets

DB hammercurl 40kg for 10 reps x 3 sets

CG bench (smith machine) 140 for 8 (attempted 160kg, only got 2 reps )

triceps cable pushdown, whole stack + 10kg plate for 12 reps x 2 sets

Lat pulldown whole stack for 10 reps x 3 sets (2 assisted reps)

Deadlift 240 for 1 rep \:D/

although i have not made dramatic changes in weight in the list above, the number of reps or time under tension has definitely increased almost like my muscles have the ability to do more reps, so overall i would be safe to say my strength is increasing on a weekly basis which im pleased with.

Happy with 240x1 deadlift, this was after doing sets of 100,140,180,220 so i wasnt totally fresh, aiming for 260 by the end of this month, that shouldnt be a problem as 240kg was not too bad of a grind :pfft:

what else has happened.....

went away for the long weekend, was a bit relaxed with diet, still consumed lots of calories, but not as clean as usual. and sleeping in till 11am doesnt help when your trying to scarf 5000+ cals a day :doh:

sleep was rubbish last night, tossing and turning (no pun intended) and up pisssing (too much water). got a chest and triceps scheduled in today, have run out of protein, have run out of pre workout FML!!!!!!! :banging:

[rapz]

thought i would throw up some progress pics of upper body, will add lower shots later (legs looking like water balloons at the moment ), happy with the growth in the upper body when i compare them to last years bulk, holding heaps of water.

[jimmybro1]

Back is definitely growing, so is the waist

[rapz]

so is the waist

:cry: :cry: :cry:

lol story of my life bro, dont want it going overboard though, but pleased with how the back is coming along compared to last year.

[whiterhyno]

Nice journal an good weights, sorry I missed it but are you a natty or on?

[Leeroid]

Nice journal an good weights, sorry I missed it but are you a natty or on?

LOL

[rapz]

Nice journal an good weights, sorry I missed it but are you a natty or on?

Am on lots of protein bro and a bit of celltech here only when i wanna get hooge :grin:

Legs shot, as i said look like fecking water baloons at the moment, training them twice a week at the moment, plz grow! Apologies not the best photo

inb4 tidy your room messy keint

[jimmybro1]

Nice journal an good weights, sorry I missed it but are you a natty or on?

Am on lots of protein bro and a bit of celltech here only when i wanna get hooge :grin:

Legs shot, as i said look like fecking water baloons at the moment, training them twice a week at the moment, plz grow! Apologies not the best photo

inb4 tidy your room messy keint

You use the Hardcore series, Fruit Punch my favorite flavor.

[rapz]

Nice journal an good weights, sorry I missed it but are you a natty or on?

Am on lots of protein bro and a bit of celltech here only when i wanna get hooge :grin:

Legs shot, as i said look like fecking water baloons at the moment, training them twice a week at the moment, plz grow! Apologies not the best photo

inb4 tidy your room messy keint

You use the Hardcore series, Fruit Punch my favorite flavor.

Mmmmmhmmm :nod: only the hardcore series lol

[rapz]

so just finished an epic chest & tricep session had to come home and post whilst sipping some proteins :grin:

slammed out a couple of PBs again tonight

BB incline press

60x12

100x12

140x10

150x8 ( 2 reps spotted)

160x6 ( 2 reps spotted) drop set 100x10 PB \:D/

super stoked about the incline bench, was a tough grind but have not done this in a couple of week and strength has gone up by at 20kgs. would be awesome to get 4 plates!

DB incline press

50x18

50x12

50x10

went for as many reps i could basically with minimal break, these are the heaviest DBs so to up the intensity i did what i had to. chest was pumped to the max and full of blood/ lactic acid, burn baby burn :twisted:

Seated machine press

cant remember the specific weight but did 3 working sets of the full stack x 10 reps which is a PB \:D/ the last time i done this a few weeks ago i could only do between 4-6 reps of the stack, feeling super strong at this point, wanted to add more weight but the way the machine was i couldnt get the dam plate to stay on.

Db flat flyes

30x12

40x10

40x10

have not done a lot of these in the past as my primary focus has been to bring up my upper pec region but gave these a whirl and im pretty sure its a PB \:D/ , chest was cooked after this moved onto triceps.

Rope cable pushdowns

worked upto 3/4 of the stack for 3 working sets of 10 reps, nothing to exciting.

overhead cable extensions

worked upto the full stack for 2 working sets between 8-10 reps cant quite remember.

Dips

BWx12

BW+20kg platex10

BW+40kg platex6

workout complete

felt good today, pleased with bench progress and overall strength gains. brought some craze preworkout and took 2 scoops, i hope i get to sleep tonight time to cook my dinner 350g steak hash browns and veg, yeahh boy!!