So many programs avaiable! Goal = Definition

[marshallbenji0]

This is my program, comment please.

Mon - Spartacus Workout (H.I.I.T with weights)

Tues - Weights session focusing on mass, Evening I will do Interval Cardio training

Weds - Spartacus Workout (H.I.I.T with weights)

Thurs - Interval Cardio training

Fri - 40 minute cardio

Sat - Spartacus Workout (H.I.I.T with weights)

Sun - Rest

Attached is a link of the Spartacus Work out and the pic is the Mass program I will be doing.

http://www.brobible.com/life/article/sp ... culpt-body

Question! Doing a mass session with the Spartacus Workout (H.I.I.T with weights). Will that build me mass while I get more cut with the Spartacus program.

Thanks!!!

[Phedder]

Where is your strength work for your legs, and why are you only doing 1 'mass' session a week to target your upper body?

If your goal is definition, diet should be your number one focus. Your number two focus should be training heavy enough to ensure you can maintain as much muscle as possible. Currently, I'd invision you burning a fair bit of muscle.

First of all, what training have you done before this program? Because there is A LOT of work involved there, I would dare to say far too much for someone who hasn't been training very long and is unaccustomed to that much volume.

To help preserve as much muscle and strength as possible, I would change your program as follows;

Mon - Lower body Strength. For simplicity, you could keep this as a similar set up to your upper body strength session, keeping the sets and reps the same.

Squats (Do not superset)

Romanian Deadlifts

Weighted lunges

Superset of Leg Extensions and Leg curls, 3 sets of 8-12 reps each.

Tue - Spartan workout

Wed - Light cardio (20-30minute jog, 1 hour walk) Think recovery whilst still maintaining a good level of activity. Don't push hard here.

Thursday - Your upper body Mass/Strength program.

Friday - Spartan Workout

Saturday - Quick HIIT Style workout, sprinting or rowing are great here. Keep the volume and time taken very low, but work hard! 5-8 max effort sprints/rows. Aim for 30 seconds of maximal effort, 30 seconds recovery and then go again. So this shouldn't take any more than 10 minutes total to complete.

Sunday - total rest, walking is fine but you still need to recover.

As I said earlier, your diet here is going to be key. You can't outwork a poor diet, which is what it looks like you were trying to do. What's above is still a hell of a lot of work, and I'd prefer to trim it down a bit more but you seem quite intent on doing a lot of work. This way at least you have a strength focus for the entire body, and then an HIIT weights session twice a week to help get some real intensity and fat burning going. The light cardio is for recovery during the middle of the week, and HIIT on Saturday is to make you feel like you've done some work without doing so much that the body struggles to recover in time again for the next week starting Monday.

I've typed that out in a bit of a hurry, so if any of it's confusing or doesn't quite make sense feel free to ask for some clarification.

[marshallbenji0]

yEAH BOI

[Phedder]

When you say "why are you only doing 1 'mass' session a week to target your upper body?" Do you imply I do more then 1 mass session for the upper body?

Sorry, I was implying you should be doing more than 1 mass/strength session for the entire week. You basically had 1 actual strength session, and the rest was high intensity cardio based. The Spartan work outs still involve weight, but they definitely fall into the realm of high intensity cardio.

I don't think you need to do more than 1 heavy upper body session, I was more refering to the lack of lower body strength work as well. The two strength sessions should serve to help you maintain your muscle and strength. The Spartan sessions, and cardio will help you increase your energy expenditure, which combined with a solid diet will lead to the fat loss.

Attached is pics of me now. Your advice will be much appreciated because I just want a good set program that will get me cut but not too bulky. I'm 92KG atm. Thanks!!!!!!!

You've got a pretty solid build already, and don't worry you won't get any 'bulkier' whilst losing weight. The difference the strength sessions can make will be in helping you keep muscle, whilst losing the fat. For example, with the strength sessions you could end up looking pretty cut/lean between 80-84kgs or so. Without them, if you were doing more cardio work and less strength work, you'd likely lose more muscle mass during the cut, and you may end up weighing around 76-80kgs or so looking fairly cut/lean.

[marshallbenji0]

Thank you very much! Your help is much appreciated and I look forward to working towards the new program you set up

If I was to do H.I.I.T the morning's I do the Spartacus program. Is that just over training?

The Spartacus program, you said it was good for cardio but with the weights and exercises for example T push ups, lunges etc is that just helping with getting more definition?

Thanks again!

[Phedder]

Thank you very much! Your help is much appreciated and I look forward to working towards the new program you set up

No worries mate, that's what these forums are here for.

If I was to do H.I.I.T the morning's I do the Spartacus program. Is that just over training?

To put it simply, probably. From the base you're coming from, that's a hell of a lot of work. You won't truly 'overtrain' as that takes a long time to accumulate, but you'll definitely start feeling burnt out fairly quickly, notice your performance in sessions dropping, feel fatigued all the time and have trouble sleeping. HIIT in the mornings is definite overkill. Go for a light 30 minute walk if you really have to do something, but please realise that doing too much work will burn you out in the long run. Use your diet to help drop the fat as well, not just working like 'The Flash'

The Spartacus program, you said it was good for cardio but with the weights and exercises for example T push ups, lunges etc is that just helping with getting more definition?

It'll definitely get your heart rate going and you'll be involving all your muscles which is great. As for being good for definition, that comes from two factors. Having muscle mass, and not having very much body fat. It'll definitely help strip the bodyfat, and hopefully your strength sessions and diet will help you maintain muscle, which you've got plenty of currently. So for you, definition will come from losing the bodyfat.

[marshallbenji0]

MUCH RESPECT!

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge, look forward to doing the program. I'll keep in contact and see you around on the forums, Cheers.

[johnd787]

Where is your strength work for your legs, and why are you only doing 1 'mass' session a week to target your upper body?

If your goal is definition, diet should be your number one focus. Your number two focus should be training heavy enough to ensure you can maintain as much muscle as possible. Currently, I'd invision you burning a fair bit of muscle.

First of all, what training have you done before this program? Because there is A LOT of work involved there, I would dare to say far too much for someone who hasn't been training very long and is unaccustomed to that much volume.

To help preserve as much muscle and strength as possible, I would change your program as follows;

Mon - Lower body Strength. For simplicity, you could keep this as a similar set up to your upper body strength session, keeping the sets and reps the same.

Squats (Do not superset)

Romanian Deadlifts

Weighted lunges

Superset of Leg Extensions and Leg curls, 3 sets of 8-12 reps each.

Tue - Spartan workout

Wed - Light cardio (20-30minute jog, 1 hour walk) Think recovery whilst still maintaining a good level of activity. Don't push hard here.

Thursday - Your upper body Mass/Strength program.

Friday - Spartan Workout

Saturday - Quick HIIT Style workout, sprinting or rowing are great here. Keep the volume and time taken very low, but work hard! 5-8 max effort sprints/rows. Aim for 30 seconds of maximal effort, 30 seconds recovery and then go again. So this shouldn't take any more than 10 minutes total to complete.

Sunday - total rest, walking is fine but you still need to recover.

As I said earlier, your diet here is going to be key. You can't outwork a poor diet, which is what it looks like you were trying to do. What's above is still a hell of a lot of work, and I'd prefer to trim it down a bit more but you seem quite intent on doing a lot of work. Now, I can tell you something, if you want to know how to build muscle fast and get big muscles. This way at least you have a strength focus for the entire body, and then an HIIT weights session twice a week to help get some real intensity and fat burning going. The light cardio is for recovery during the middle of the week, and HIIT on Saturday is to make you feel like you've done some work without doing so much that the body struggles to recover in time again for the next week starting Monday.

I've typed that out in a bit of a hurry, so if any of it's confusing or doesn't quite make sense feel free to ask for some clarification.

Thank you for the post, because I have a similar routine.

[marshallbenji0]

" Now, I can tell you something, if you want to know how to build muscle fast and get big muscles."

I really like the program that Phedder tweaked for me

Johnd787, what do you do to build muscle fast and get big muscles?

[Pseudonym]

Ignore Johnd787... he's an Argentinian spammer. And now he's banned.

[marshallbenji0]

oh ok, thanks

[marshallbenji0]

Hey Phedder!

Training is going good so far,

Sat: Spartacus (Looked like I came out of the shwer wen finished exercises lol)

Sun: Rested

Mon: Upper Body Strength

Tues : Rested

Wed: 30 min light run in the morning, touch rugby in the evening

Thurs: Intervals, 1min hard 1 min really slow x5 then rest 4mins then repeated 1min hard 1 min really slow x5

Fri: Spartacus

The upper body strength program I gave you. I see it doesn't have many exercises for specific parts for example for shoulders it only hits it once..... And chest only has two exercises. Should I still stick with the this program or do you recommend a different one?

Whats your take on programs like these?

(Greg Plitt, Avengers, The Town(Ben Aflick movie))

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mft28-g ... et-rx.html

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/avenger ... urney.html

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ben-aff ... e-town.htm

etc......

So many different stuff I don't know what to go for. Anyway thanks for the help so far.

[Phedder]

The upper body strength program I gave you. I see it doesn't have many exercises for specific parts for example for shoulders it only hits it once..... And chest only has two exercises. Should I still stick with the this program or do you recommend a different one?

There's only one direct movement for shoulders, but the front of your shoulders will be hit during all your pressing movements, and the back of your shoulders hit during the rows and chin ups. Also the close grip bench press will also hit your chest, so that's 3 exercises. But, the number of exercises doesn't really matter. The strength sessions are there for you to push yourself with heavy weights to help maintain your muscle whilst you drop the fat.

Have you done any lower body strength work?

[marshallbenji0]

Thanks for the reply! Oh cool I see. Am I going to gain more muscle or just maintain. If I maintain it doesn't look like I have much on me (what I see in the mirror) lol. Yeah I'm gona do the lower workout tonight for sure Those celebrity programs (Bourne Legacy, Hugh Jackman) from bodybuilding.com. What do you think of them?

Thanks heaps!!!

[Phedder]

Thanks for the reply! Oh cool I see. Am I going to gain more muscle or just maintain. If I maintain it doesn't look like I have much on me (what I see in the mirror) lol. Yeah I'm gona do the lower workout tonight for sure Those celebrity programs (Bourne Legacy, Hugh Jackman) from bodybuilding.com. What do you think of them?

Thanks heaps!!!

Most likely just maintain the muscle you currently have, it's very very difficult to gain muscle mass whilst losing significant bodyfat, especially with the amount of cardio and lighter weight work you're doing. Trust me, once you've dropped the bodyfat you'll find there's plenty of muscle under there.

Honestly, I didn't read any of those programs. 95% of the time celebrity programs aren't what the person did at all, they're a way to get attention and sell products. What you're doing is fine, but you have to give it a chance to work. You won't transform in 1 week, but by 4 weeks you should be seeing some solid results, 8 weeks really noticeable changes, 12 weeks look like a completely different person. If you maintain your upper and lower strength sessions, keep up the cardio and spartacus workouts, and stick to a solid diet plan you will definitely see that muscle definition you're after.

[marshallbenji0]

Thanks! ok awesome I was just thinking I needed to bulk up with more muscle but time to get rid of the fat time instead

Looking forward to 3 month mark! and those programs, thanks for the info. I just hope the cardio Spartacus program doesn't fall under that category lol but I bet its fine if you telling me to stick with it

Thanks again!