Ive been squatting- conjugate programme based on WS.

[Ash]

Getting sick when you're doing well at gym is a bitch.

I tend to only last 4-5 weeks going hard out on my current programme before I start getting all the usual signs of over-training - sore throat, blocked nose, general run down feeling etc. At that point I have to switch into a 1 week cruise or else I will inevitably get sick.

Sure enough this is my 4th week and I am feeling a bit off today.

I've heard it said that there is no such thing as over-training, just under-eating (I don't buy that 100% but there is some truth to it). This time I am trying hard to get on top of it by eating like mad and getting plenty of sleep. I may have to think about changing the routine to a 3-day split if this doesn't work.

[jono]

DOOMED FROM SQUATTING.

Forces of nature have conspired against me to stop me from squatting.

Last week my knee was screwed.

The week before that I had exams.

This week Ive had 2 excellent workouts and was really looking forward to leg and shoulder day today since Im working tommorow.

Alas, I awoke at 0600 hrs in severe pain. My throats all red n swollen, the oesophagus entry has constricted to the size of a 5cent coin with the swelling.

I seem to have come down with a sever sore throat/fever outta nowhere.

Cant so much as to talk or eat. Stting around sipping green tea and warm water with honey in it all day

Goddamnit ! I just wanna frigging squat !

This is unimaginably frusturating.

Thought about forcing myself to squat but Im definitely too weak today. Cant stick with diet either, appetite completely lost and furthermore nothing fits down my throat.

:grin: !!!

whats this ! excuss's !!!!!

lol jks man :grin:

on a side note ive squatted b4 with zero sleep and still made progress

[Growth]

Dont pay any attention to jono, he squats with sleep, he squats without sleep, he even squats in his sleep! :pfft:

[Ash]

Dont pay any attention to jono, he squats with sleep, he squats without sleep, he even squats in his sleep! :pfft:

LOL I must be the anti-jono then? I don't squat at all, ever. :grin:

(Damn wrecked lower back)

[deegee]

Dont see many people at my gym squatting, hoever whwn you get into the habit of it and see the gains it is hard to stop. Probably it is the best all round leg excersise

[Marcus]

Squatting is a staple exercise, but lately I seem to get more out of hacks. I hate it how on squats your back always goes before your quads.

[Varven]

Alright now I finally summoned the courage to post my pics for the NZBB challenge.

Im trying to analyse what I need to develop.

Yes Im nearly through a bulk cycle with only about 8 weeks to go so cant make a whole lot of difference but nothing wrong in trying yeah ?

I believe I really need to max out on:

Quads.

Im intending to increase volume and add a few sets of Iso Lat Leg press after my squats.

Shoulders.

I WANT cannonball sized delts. Hopefully those Seated BB military presses will do their work. Do I need to perform any rear delt work ?

Overall will try adding as much muscle mass as possible. I have a relatively high fat % ( as though the pics didnt give it away lol ).

But Im not too fussed at this point as first I just wanna add some more muscle and then focus on cutting.

[jono]

Alright now I finally summoned the courage to post my pics for the NZBB challenge.

Im trying to analyse what I need to develop.

Yes Im nearly through a bulk cycle with only about 8 weeks to go so cant make a whole lot of difference but nothing wrong in trying yeah ?

I believe I really need to max out on:

Quads.

Im intending to increase volume and add a few sets of Iso Lat Leg press after my squats.

Shoulders.

I WANT cannonball sized delts. Hopefully those Seated BB military presses will do their work. Do I need to perform any rear delt work ?

Overall will try adding as much muscle mass as possible. I have a relatively high fat % ( as though the pics didnt give it away lol ).

But Im not too fussed at this point as first I just wanna add some more muscle and then focus on cutting.

military presses will work. i think you will need to work the rear delts as well. just hit up 4-5 sets bent over db laterals or somthing similar at the end of your shoulder training.

also i have noticed since i started doing seated db laterals they have really worked well for me to help build the side delt.

you're looking good in the pics man, just keep hitting all the basics and get that food in and you will gain like crazy.

edit: oh yeah for the quad training, well i would reccomend as heavy weights as you can handle with good form, set after set after set, squats, legpress, frontsquats, hacksquats, sldl, leg curls etc. dont be scared to train so hard that you feel like you just want to collapse and lie on the ground shaking etc. training legs HARD is a HARD thing to do.

[jono]

also remember this: if you always do what you always done, you always get what you always got. - ronnie coleman

[Varven]

Just waiting for next week,

Monday come hell or whatever Ill be in the gym.

Just been working this whole week n recovering.

Any1 care to guess my body fat level as a guesstimate from my pics ?

My pics are up on the NZBB competition post .

[Ash]

Just waiting for next week,

Monday come hell or whatever Ill be in the gym.

Hope the weekend is enough to get you to 100% fitness so you can smash the weights next week.

Any1 care to guess my body fat level as a guesstimate from my pics ?My pics are up on the NZBB competition post .

Every time I see that question posted, the answers usually vary by about 15%. :wink:

[Pseudonym]

Hehehe... this is true, Ash. I've had my pics taken with calipers, using two different formula and two different testers, but on the same day. The results were different by about 5%! :grin:

But for what it's worth, Varven, I'd put you at around 14-16%.

[Ash]

Hehehe... this is true, Ash. I've had my pics taken with calipers, using two different formula and two different testers, but on the same day. The results were different by about 5%! :grin:

But for what it's worth, Varven, I'd put you at around 14-16%.

Ok, in order to maintain the trend of a 15% variation, I'll say he's either at 1% or 31%...he can choose :grin:

[Varven]

LOL good one guys, ah well Im off for a test next week at some point.

Id personally guess I was at about 20%.

[jono]

LOL good one guys, ah well Im off for a test next week at some point.

Id personally guess I was at about 20%.

i would guess around 20 % too

[Varven]

Back to life this week !

Its been a full on start .

Monday I was in the gym and then worked from 2pm till 11 pm.

Again worked Tuesday Morning from 9 am till 6 pm. Havent had time to come online, so heres my updates:

Mondays workout

Legs and Shoulders.

Its been soooo long since Ive squatted, I was dreading this session.

Warm up on leg press

squat

60kg 1x10

70kg 1x7, 1x5, 1x6, 1x6

60kg 1x10

On my last workout I got 5 clean sets of 8 reps at 75kg and was intending to up the weight, alas injuriy/exams/sickness kept me out for nearly 5 weeks of squatting.

Form was obviously a bit disastrous, sorta turned into a 'good morning/squat' combo as reps progressed. Im sure another session or 2 at this weight or lower will have form sorted back to acceptable levels.

Iso Lat Leg press

2.5 plates a side 1x6 - this was done in true " half repper style ", so i dropped the weights.

2PPS 1x12, 1x12

Leg Curl

48 kg 1x8,1x8,1x7,1x7

Seated BB press

20 kg 1x15

30kg 1x10

40kg: 1x6.5, 1x7, 1x5,

35kg 1x8

(the last time I did this work out I had 4 full sets of 8 reps at 40kg and was about to raise the weight .. back to where I started)

DB side Lateral Raises

9kg 1x7, 1x6, 1x5

Calf raises

150kgs: 1x12, 1x12, 1x12

Overall, I was just really happy to be able to squat and military press again.

All my weights are down but that isnt too bad, Im sure in another couple of sessions, I should be adding weights again to all lifts.

Diet has been super clean and BIG both Monday and Tuesday. Probably cause Ive been working both days so its easier to shove in a load of food. Tuna Cans and Chicken tits galore

ps: Its Tuesday night/wednesday morning and the DOMS in my quads/calves is so bad, I cramp if I so much as to try to move an inch, and I pull funny faces and limp up/down stairs. Needless to say You can imagine the nature of the jokes directed towards me at work.

[jono]

hope you make some big progress on the squats man. the 1st sign of when you start to cheat on squt is when your ass comes up. eg you start to do a goodmorning instead of a squat. hit dls hard so your lower back can handle the squat

[Varven]

Jono, How long did it take you to get to 6 pps and a 100kg plus squat ?

[Ash]

Nice workouts - good to see you're back into it.

Form was obviously a bit disastrous, sorta turned into a 'good morning/squat' combo as reps progressed. Im sure another session or 2 at this weight or lower will have form sorted back to acceptable levels.

Always be careful when you're coming back after a layoff. If you can't shift the weight with good form, rather drop it a bit and keep the form perfect. It's not worth injuring yourself.

[jono]

Jono, How long did it take you to get to 6 pps and a 100kg plus squat ?

the squat took me ~a year or so. full rom. good form squatting. every week.

basically i added 2.5kg every week. or mayb just some reps. but each week i forced myself to make progress.

legpress well

i think the start of this year i was doing 4-5 pps, this week i did 8pps

[Varven]

Well for those of you following my journal, you must have noticed this is introduction week. After my long time off, its almost like being a newbie to lifting.

Most of working weights were down to about 70% of their last amount. Hopefully muscle memory should catch up and about 2 sessions should suffice to get back to where I was before trundling ahead.

I had a chest and tricep routine on wednesday, didnt record anything, but the weights were low and it was mostly getting back into the routine.

Friday was back and biceps.

Deadlifts 60 1x18

90 1x6

100 1x5

105 1x4, 1x4

I was last on 115kgs for deadlifts for 3 sets of 1x3/4

Lat Pull down

54kg 1x10

60kg 1x8, 1x7, 1x6,

54kg 1x8

Bent Over BB rows

40kg 1x10, 1x10,

45kg 1x8, 1x8

40kg 1x8

BB Bicep curl 22.5 kg 1x10, 1x7, 1x6

1 arm hammer curls db 10 kg 1x8, 1x7, 1x6.

What amazed me the most was my decreased ability to handle volume !!

Im just dying halfway through the workout, especially deads and rows:

out of breath, lactic acid build up, tiredness etc.

Im guessing this is a decrease in cardio vascular fitness. Believe it or not, I believe squats and deads at high volume had instilled a certain basic amount of fitness in me which I had lost after my longish break.

Waiting for next week. Hopefully weights/reps will return to original levels and the week after I can nail improvements.

Have a good safe weekend every1.

oh yeah diet has been clean , missed a couple of meals, but tried to make up. Should be on track by monday.

[Growth]

Do you do your deadlifts last? I find if i do deads first it takes too much out of me and ill struggle for the rest of the workout, thats why ive got them on there own day with some other core work.

[Varven]

My programme revolves around each body part once a week.

i.e. Back and Bi, Chest and Tri, Legs n Shoulders.

Each of the main body parts - back/chest/legs always starts with a basic compound lift. Then I add in other excercises.

Yeah your right, after doing deads first Im already half dead, But if I was to do pull downs and rows first, I wouldnt be able to max deadlift.

Whats your weekly routine roughly looking like mate ?

thanks.

[Growth]

Mon - Chest / Tris

Tues - Back / Bis

Wed - Legs

Thurs - Shoulders

Friday - Core work - deadlifts / abs

Its an okay split, not the best, i feel friday is a bit of a wasted day because only the deadlifts are significant.

[Varven]

Dont you feel your back/posterior chain gets overtrained with so little break between deads / back work /squats ?