Masons get lean log!

Mason-

Mason-

Mason-

Soldato
Joined
18 Jun 2010
Posts
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Location
Essex
Alright so after my first year of university which consisted of a lot of alcohol and a lot of takeaway, I decided it's time to lose some weight.

Got weighed at the gym today:


As inaccurate as the body fat measurement may be, my target is to get under 20% so I'm cutting hard. I'm on 1800 calories a day. And have cleaned up my diet considerably. Porridge for breakfast, chicken wraps for lunch, and meat and veg for dinner, only drinking water and occasionally fruit juice as well as eating fruit when I feel like a snack. The only supplement I take is fish oil as I don't really eat much fish.

Weight lifting PBs:
Bench: 80+
Squat: 130
DL: 160
OHP: 45 x 2

These probably won't be going up in a hurry.

I want to hit a body weight bench. And that I think is obtainable whilst on a cut. I've stopped using machines (except lat pull down as I don't have the strength to do pull ups yet) and only use free weights now.

My exercise routine consists of a 3 day cycle push/pull/leg(and shoulders):

Chest + Triceps
Back + Biceps
Legs + Shoulders

and I throw in cardio + core work when I feel like it.


I understand there is a vast, vast wealth of knowledge on the forums, I greatly appreciate any advice you guys could give me. Thanks a lot.

I will get some pics up, mainly for me but so you guys can gauge my flab! :D
 
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Back + Biceps.

Was feeling really tired today, stayed up till 3 watching the SuperBowl, up at 10, in Uni till 6 so was not feeling great at all.

Deadlifts:
8x60
8x80
8x80
5x100
1x130

Lat Pull Down:
40 x 10
40 x 10
50 x 8
60 x 8
60 x 6

Dumb bell shrugs:
25 in each hand x 10 x 5

Bicep curls:
15 two handed, strict form x 10 x 5.


In general apart from the deadlift a pretty crappy day was not feeling up to it at all really. Also the gym was absolutely rammed today (come on new years resolution people go away!) and I had to wait for the pull down for about 20 minutes -.-. Regardless, early night tonight, rest tomorrow, legs day on Wednesday!
 
Dumbell shrugs make me feel sad. Poor way to slowly build pointless size.

If you have access to somebody who knows what they're doing, try powercleans. Want big traps? Do some proper lifting. ;)
 
Advice taken.
Cheers. I'll stop doing shrugs then. To be fair I normally do more, like some rows etc but I wasn't feeling up to it at all today.
 
What do you mean as in what I would do in terms of at the gym or food?

If you mean weights usually something like this:

Chest + Triceps day:
Start with Bench
Dumbbell flies
Incline dumbbell press
CGBP
overhead dumbbell tricep extensions
and skullcrushers.

Back + Biceps:
start with DLs
barbell row (I'm thinking about adding T-Bar Row too)
lat pull downs (will transition to pull ups when I lose weight/get stronger)
bicep curls
I don't really know what else to do for biceps. They have what seems like one motion and a lot of the back exercises bar deadlifts incorporate the biceps anyway. So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Legs + Shoulders:
Squats
Calf Raises
Lunges
OHP
Lateral raises
Upright row

When I do cardio I keep between 130-140bpm heart rate to burn fat. Core work is various. Decline sit ups + twists for obliques with medicine balls, planks etc.

I'm looking at adding dips on Chest/Tricep day.

Oh and hats off to you btw for the competition LiE, super impressive.
 
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You'd benefit more from a compound centric program. Stronglifts, HST, etc.
 
StrongLifts 5×5 Workout A StrongLifts 5×5 Workout B
Squat 5×5.......................Squat 5×5
Bench Press 5×5...............Overhead Press 5×5
Barbell Rows 5×5...............Deadlift 1×5

So focusing more on compound and less on isolation. I shall look into it. Cheers for the advice LiE.
 
No dips makes me sad. Ditch the skullcrushera and add in dips! So much better an exercise, switch upright rows with a db shoulder press and for awesome pump super set those with front barbell raise.
Swap all bicep work for pull ups and chin ups, and you won't go wrong with throwing in some db rows
 
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Mason- said:
StrongLifts 5×5 Workout A StrongLifts 5×5 Workout B
Squat 5×5.......................Squat 5×5
Bench Press 5×5...............Overhead Press 5×5
Barbell Rows 5×5...............Deadlift 1×5

So focusing more on compound and less on isolation. I shall look into it. Cheers for the advice LiE.
Click to expand...

Definitely more compounds, it will develop a good base for you. Isolate can come later if needed.
 
I am confuse bro. Haha.

What about alternating between stronglifts and what I have set out at the moment?

Or does that defeat the point?
 
Your routine was fine, it just needed a little tweaking to take out the rubbishy isolation exercises and adding in some better movements.
I think LiEs points about sl or Hst are that they both have a nice structure and keep you focused on the best movements with progression in mind.
What set/rep structure are you thinking of using?
 
Well I was going to do 2 weeks of 8-12 medium weight 5 sets
then do 1 week of 1-5 heavy lifting 5 sets (obviously with some high rep warm up sets).
And repeat.

But I'm pretty sure that's a bad idea.
 
You want structure i.e progressive. Keep it simple and do the main compounds to create the most stimulus. Add in a few accessory lifts to work on weak areas and you'll be fine.
 
Lol mason, as I said above your routine with some advised tweaks is fine, you just need to plan your set/rep and weight progression.

At least with strong lifts you have that all set out for you. Oh and be humble, don't jump in week 1 and dl 110kg for 5 as you will stall.

Read the program, start smart and make progress. I've done sl, a 3 day split like you have above but with the tweaks advised, and Hst,ads progress on all of them. I had set/rep and weight progression planned out though so knew what I needed to be doing before getting in the gym each day. That's what most guys here are like, the ones you see make progress anyway :)
 
I hear you loud and clear Syla, I've been lifting heavy and going to the gym too often, just because it's a bit of an ego boost. But I'll start being much more regimented. Anyway, I'll read a bit in bed because I am absolutely shattered, cheers to both of you for the advice.
 
Got my mate to help me squat today, he recorded me and my shorts split on camera!!! ahaha! He'll upload it later and I'll put it up later. But he said my form was pretty good.

Only problem was, I would end up pushing on the inside of my foot and twisting my knees in, so I worked on that and now it's much better. You guys will be able to see it later.
 
Mason- said:
Only problem was, I would end up pushing on the inside of my foot and twisting my knees in, so I worked on that and now it's much better. You guys will be able to see it later.
Click to expand...

Ahh my old nemisis, the knee collapse. I look forward to the video. From what i have learnt this is charicteristic of squatting a weight that is to heavy for the system as a whole to deal with. It highlights weakness in the posterior chain and also would mean that your not taking advantage of the great technique of screwing your feet in to the floor through your heels to create great torque to help with your lifting and keep you in a better position:).

http://www.mobilitywod.com/2012/12/creating-a-stable-low-back-with-better-hip-mechanics.html

check this out for some good pointers :)

Also what experience does your friend have to say your form is good?
 
3 years experience. I respect his knowledge he knows A LOT. But I also know that other peoples opinion is good too and that's why I will post the video on here.

And actually it was the opposite syla. He made me do body weight, and just the bar and my knee would collapse. Under weight, my knee wouldn't collapse. :/

Apparently it's my gluteus medius not being strong enough he said, he also showed me how to stretch quads, hams, glutes, hip flexors, calfs and adductors properly. Was a really good session.
 
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