Road to the BNBF Welsh Qualifiers 2011 - Progess Journal

[Steedie]

Hi all,

So this is the journal I said I'd make. I'll try and log all workouts, monthly progress pictures and my diet. Also any noteable events I'll also put in here.
I've been training 2 and a half years now, I've been quite lucky in the gains I've had since then, and I've always wanted to compete, but it was only recently I thought I had the foundations to build on for a competing physique.

Current stats:
Height - 6 ft 1
Weight - 90kg
Bodyfat - 20%

My previous training split/workout

Monday - Back/Biceps
Deadlifts 5x5 120kg
Closegrip Pulldowns 4x8 70kg
Seated Cable Row 4x8 60kg
21's x3 32.5kg
Preacher Curls 5x5 18kg (Supersetted with Hammercurls 22.5kg)

Wednesday - Chest/Triceps
Benchpress 5x5 80kg
Incline Benchpress 4x8 90kg
PecDeck 4x8 60kg
Weighted Dips 3x10 5kg
Skullcrushers 5x5 30kg
Cable Pushdowns 4x8 40kg (Supersetted with Overhead tricep extensions 27.5kg)

Friday - Legs/Shoulders
Squats 5x5 100kg
Leg Press 5x5 200kg
Leg Extensions 4x8 70kg
Seated Calf Raises 3x15 170kg
Shoulder Press Seated 4x8 20kg
Front Raises 4x8 14kg
Side Raises 5x5 8kg

The event is the BNBF Southern Qualifiers, I don't have the exact date, but this year it fell on the 11th June, giving me over 8 months to get to competition standards. I'm doing this to be competitive, I'm not doing it to take part and just "get on stage" like a lot of people do it. I'm in it to win, and if in June, Rob or I don't think I'll bring enough to do that, I'll wait a year. This is a one time thing for me, do the qualifiers, hopefully win and then go on to win the finals in September.

I've got some really good help, in Rob Waterhouse. Junior (U23's) National champion 2008, and Mr. Lightweight National runner-up 2009 and 2010. I've known him for years so decided to go in and see if he would be willing to lend his expertise in putting together a workout, helping me with timings and a diet.

So this week I started my new workout, a 4 day split
Monday - Shoulders/Traps
Tuesday - Quads/Hams
Thursday - Chest/Tris
Friday - Back/Bis

And my new diet as from today

07:00 - Banana, flaked almonds and raisins, 30g Whey
08:30 - 70g oats, 60g Whey
11:00 - Sweet potato with 6oz chicken
13:00 - 30g Whey, Banana, pre-workout
15:00 - 30g Whey with 30g Dextrose, Tuna bread Pita
17:30 - Wholemeal brown rice with Chicken and vegetables
20:00 - Wholemeal brown rice with Chicken/Scrambled eggs, handful of mixed nuts/dried fruit
22:00 - 4 rice cakes, 200g cottage cheese

Stats breakdown:
Calories - 2820
Protein - 250g
Carbs - 339g
Fats - 50g

This is my off-season diet, which will change month to month, and I'll be on "off-season" until around March, then 16 weeks of the hard part. Hardcore dieting!

I know Freefaller will disagree with the amount of Whey in there. But apparently the morning shakes are to get some very quick digesting protein in to your system when you need it most. I did ask about it but I wasn't going to argue as obviously he's a lot more qualified than I am for dieting advice. In terms of other supplements, he said not to bother apart from maybe some BCAA supplementation

So that's it Roll on June

Feel free to discuss, throw in any comments/praise or even just slate what I'm doing if you think I'm wrong. I need your expertise just as much as I need his

 

[Steedie]

Monday 4th October

My first Shoulder/Traps workout with Rob. Got to the gym and he basically threw everything I've previously done out the window. Threw all my current weights out the window and made me start again from very lightweight. It was all about getting my form right

First thing he noticed is that my rear delts were extremely under developed compared to the rest of my shoulders which he said were very good. So today was about getting them worked

Workout consisted of Sets Weight (if DB, weight of each DB) 10-20 second rest in between sets
Seated DB Shoulder Press 5x8 (10kg, 20kg, 22kg, 22kg, 24kg)
Seated Side Raises 3x12 (4kg, 6kg, 6kg)
Lying Rear Delt Raise 3x12 (6kg, 6kg, 6kg)
Seated Barbell Press 3x20 (Barweight, Barweight, Barweight)
Front Raises with Bar 4x6 (15kg, 15kg, 15kg, 15kg)
DB Shrugs 4x15 (20kg, 22kg, 24kg, 26kg)

I am not kidding when I say this, but I've never been in so much pain. The shoulder press he pointed out that I push with my triceps a lot, so it was all about making sure my elbows come back more and I press before I get too deep. This made so much difference and the pain was something else. Especially as he makes you hold before you can press again.
Side Raises, again, maybe I was doing this wrong, but he made sure it isolated my rear delts more. The pump I had after this exercise was really good.
The next 2 exercises, I'd never done Lying rear delt raises, but dear god, the pain during them even at that weight was insane. Rob really makes sure you don't cheat and keep form strict all the way through. Even when I had nothing left and couldn't physically do it, he'd make sure it got done. The seated barbell press, I was only using the bar for god sake, but by this time my shoulders were so spent, I struggled with this, doing 20 reps when you have nothing left is not nice. But he wouldn't let me stop, I was actually shouting my lungs out in agony which I never usually do as I'm quite shy in the gym, but I couldn't help it, it just came out and wouldn't stop with the pain.

The front raises were all about 3 positive reps and 3 negative. It was really good doing it with the bar as opposed to DB, really makes sure both shoulders get equal treatment.

Finally shrugs, now he said my traps were very well developed, but apparently, my form was shocking on shrugs, he showed me the correct form and I must admit, it felt so much better and more natural. Even though before how I did it they felt worked, this way even the lower traps felt pumped

So that was that, my shoulders were throbbing and after all that he made me do 10 minutes on the bike. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

 

[Steedie]

Tuesday 5th October

Legs, I was dreading this after yesterday. Really dreading it, felt sick all day thinking about it. My shoulders were in agony from yesterday, god knows what he'd do to my legs

Arrive there and he looks smug, I know he's got something big planned

So workout was this
Workout consisted of Sets Weight (if DB, weight of each DB) 10-20 second rest in between sets
10 minutes on the bike
Leg Extensions 4x20 (20kg, 40kg, 40kg, 40kg)
Squats 4x12 (Barweight, 40kg, 50kg, 50kg)
Hamstring Curls 3x15 (25kg, 30kg, 30kg)
Walking Lunges 4x12 (BW, BW, BW, BW)
10 minutes on the bike

Not much volume today by the looks of it, maybe he's letting me off today. Maybe yesterday was just a one off.
I get on the bike, surprised that he's making me do cardio on my legs before I'm surely going to be squatting. 10 minutes and my legs on a high resistance were already pretty pumped. But he explains now we do leg extensions, 4 sets of 20, just to get blood in to the muscle first. On this, he made sure my toes were facing up and my legs were further apart than I'm used too. Tell you what, I wasn't lifting much, but when he makes you contract for a second at top and then go as deep as you can go, these hurt and they hurt bad.

I limped over to the squat machine, my legs felt done already.
Bar weight, and he stopped me straight away, corrected my positioning and made me go away, until my bum was nearly touching the floor, not too bad
Then the weight went on, and I've always done slow down, explosion to the top with squats. He was about super slow down, then 2 count to the top, holding that tension at the top before going down. This made it so much worse and again, I don't know why, I'm usually lifting double this weight, but for some reason I'm struggling here, and the pain is stupid

Skip to the end of the workout, I'm doing walking lunges. By my last set, I'm physically unable to pull myself up when I go down. Not exxagerating either. I actually can't get up, my legs are so pumped and so exhausted, they have no strength left. But he's giving me a push up, then pushing me straight into the next one. He knows I am struggling but he won't let me stop until I've given him his last set.

At this point, I am actually dry heaving, if my body wasn't so tired, I'd be blowing chunks now. But I finish the set and just collapse, my legs are throbbing. But he pulls me up and tells me it's time for a 10 minute cool down on the bike with a high resistance

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU, I can barely walk to the bike, but he stands there and makes sure the RPM doesn't go below 80 for the whole 10 minutes

After this, I'm pretty sure my legs are going to explode and I lay down, for a long time, a very long time. Thank god it's rest day tomorrow!

 

[Morba]

Will be adding this to watch list. Good luck fella

Get a pic up! (in here)

 

[Steedie]

Will be posting pics on Friday, taking the first set of progress pics then. He can help me with the proper poses then too

 

[Morba]

Yeah i was gonna say do some in the standard poses

 

[Freefaller]

If your trainer/coach thinks protein shakes are useful for your body composition and absorption then I'm not going to argue. Another reason why I won't compete!

Keep us updated going to enjoy reading your progress.

 

[Steedie]

If your trainer/coach thinks protein shakes are useful for your body composition and absorption then I'm not going to argue. Another reason why I won't compete!

Keep us updated going to enjoy reading your progress.

Hehe By all means mate throw in any replacements that you think will be more suitable. I've always been impressed with your nutritional knowledge so will definitely take it on board

It's like he said to me when he told me the diet. Nothing is set in stone, use that as a foundation, add/remove things as you please. As long you keep the protein/carb/fat ratio the same and it's clean

 

[Buffman]

Nice thread, 20 second rest times would kill . What are your measurements like (chest/arms/legs etc)?

 

[BennyC]

Will be keeping a close eye on this mate

 

[Steedie]

Will get measurements Friday hopefully

Chest and Tricep workout today I'm excited, usually my favourite workout when I do it myself, god knows what he has planned though

 

[Steedie]

Thursday 7th October

Chest and Triceps today, usually my favourite workout. And even though he punished me, it remained that way, even under his regime

Workout consisted of Sets Weight (if DB, weight of each DB) 10-20 second rest in between sets
5 minutes bike
Incline DB Press 5x10 (10kg, 16kg, 22kg, 26kg, 28kg)
Bench Press 3x8 (Bar, 50kg, 50kg)
Incline Bench Press 3x6 (Bar, 40kg, 40kg)
Incline Flys 2x10 (10kg, 10kg)
Cable Pushdowns 5x10 (25kg, 30kg, 30kg, 35kg, 15kg)
Dips 2x6 (BW, BW)
Skullcrushers 2x10 (15kg, 15kg)
5 minutes crosstrainer

A lot of volume today. And yet again, I'm shocked by how much someone making sure you do perfect form for every rep, no cheating allowed means your weight has to drop significantly

Started off with the incline DB press, he made me do a set with 10kg DBs to check my form. Told me that my elbows weren't far enough back, and I was pushing too much with my delts. Next set I did it with him, and straight away my chest started to fill out as the blood just rushed to my pecs.

One thing Rob makes sure I never do is bounce at the bottom of the movement. I always have to hold it for a second then press. Which means the muscle is used so much more and it makes those last few reps that much harder. First exercise and by the last set he was already helping me on the last two reps. Wow, it's going to be a long work out

Next the bench press. Again I used the bar and straight away he showed me a new form. Feet on the bench, and in towards the neck, rather than upper chest like I've always done. I instantly felt my upper chest get bought into the movement a lot more, so it definitely felt like my whole chest was being used through the exercise. By the end of this, my chest had such a strong burn that I really felt like I couldn't do any more, sure enough, Rob would just keep me going and it was one of those moment where had he not been there, I'd definitely have given up for the last set

When I got to triceps, there were surprisingly less exhausted as they usually would be by now, because I was using my chest a lot more rather than pushing with my arms. But he made sure they weren't allowed to stay that way. The cable pushdown machine there was brilliant, it had a place to put your feet to make sure you were stood correctly, and the way you were stood meant your shoulders more inclined to be back where they should, so the whole movement came from the tricep.

Dips were a nightmare and by this time I really was on empty, the 20 second rests just don't do it for me and the lack of cardio before this new workout is really catching up on me

The skullcrushers were just the icing on the cake, I was shouting in agony the whole time, the burn was insane. When I finished, again, I just lay on the bench until being reminded promptly I need to get on the crosstrainer and bang out 5 minutes before I can rest

Got in the changing rooms and my arms looked amazing. Better than they ever have done, the pump was brilliant. Even now they feel like they're going to explode. Just gutted I didn't have a camera. Roll on tomorrow, back and biceps! Deadlifts

 

[BennyC]

That's how I like my triceps at the end of a workout, so pumped that I can't pinch any skin on them

Makes me realise how much I miss having a training partner.

 

[Steedie]

Friday 8th October

Back and Biceps today.

Workout consisted of Sets Weight (if DB, weight of each DB) 10-20 second rest in between sets
10 minute bike
Lat Pulldowns 5x8 (35kg, 55kg, 75kg, 75kg, 55kg)
Bent Overrows Overhand grip 2x8 (Bar, 40kg)
Bent Overrows Overhand grip 2x8 (40kg, 40kg)
Deadlifts 3x12 (Bar, 40kg, 40kg)
Single Arm Rows 3x6 (10kg, 22kg, 24kg)
Incline Curls 3x20 (8kg, 8kg, 8kg) For blood volume, he wasn't kidding!
Alternate Incline Curls (resting arms stays tensed) 2x10 each arm (8kg, 8kg)
Hammer Curls 2x6 (10kg, 10kg)
Pyramid Bar Curls 3x15 (25kg, 20kg, 15kg)

Massive amounts of volumes, especially for biceps which I usually only do a couple of exercises for. He did stress that after today, it would only be 3 exercises for biceps but today was all about shocking them and finding what works best for me

I am in absolute agony today. My arms are so so sore and my back feels 10ft wide. I would type more but I'm a bit busy

But deadlifts, I usually do 120kg, yesterday, he corrected a few issues with my back. My lower back is very tense due to it being more developed than the middle of my back. So my body is compensating and my stance means I'm using legs too much in my deadlifts. So that was corrected and boy, even just doing 40kg felt like 120 previously

The training for my arms. Well after the "blood volume" warmup, my arms already felt too pumped too continue. But that doesn't mean anything to him and I still had to go through the rest of it. The alternating curls with the non working arm still in a tension position is a brilliant brilliant exercise. It almost forces you into perfect form as you can't not think about what you're doing. It means which ever arm you don't start with will unlikely finish though

To finish off with the pyramid weights was insane. I actually couldn't do it. 3x15 was the aim. I managed 3x5 at most. Even he couldn't force me here as my arms had nothing left

Massive pump though. I always feel huge after a workout with him as he makes sure the musclegroup that's being worked has plenty of blood volume

Answering the phone was near impossible at work after though

As for pictures, it was tight for time due to the amount of exercises we went through finding the best ones for me. I'm going to book a separate session to go through it properly with him. So will update hopefully early next week with that

Next week it's back to training on my own. I need to make sure I don't lose that intensity

 

[Steedie]

Well last night my girlfriend of 1 year broke up with me. It was so out of the blue and I'm absolutely devastated.

I've got my gym stuff with my today, but just don't know if I can put the effort in that I need too at the moment

 

[Freefaller]

Oh dude That sucks - I'm sure a few of us have been there before. No words can really help - but I found I got the best results at the gym by focusing my anger and depression onto the gym. That was when I first started training "properly" - look where it's got me!!

Chin up dude - if it wasn't meant to be it wasn't meant to be. There aren't always reasons why things happen, killing yourself to find the answer isn't conducive to your development.

Sorry I can't offer more support/help. Keep at it. Also, make sure you let us know the venue, I know I'll be there to support you.

 

[BennyC]

Sorry to hear that mate.

Imo the gym is the best place to be when dealing with relationship/women issues.

Like FF says focus it all on the weight. It's generally easier if you hate the person in question but it's not a healthy mental attitude to have. If you can, leave all the issues at the door when you arrive at the gym. Train properly as you should and then deal with them again when you leave.

If I hadn't of had the gym at uni when I got 'played' God knows where I'd be or what I'd have done. I was bored most of the time as it was so those 60-90 minutes were welcomed.

Chin up, chalk up and get to it.

 

[Steedie]

Monday 11th October
Week 2 - Workout 1 Shoulders/Traps

Thanks so much guys

I am absolutely gutted, like I said it was so out the blue and only Saturday we were talking about how happy we were and planning stuff for our future

But anyway, I got to the gym today and I was feeling sorry for myself. As I'm only training with Rob 1 week of the month, I got another training partner, to make sure I don't slack off

Workout consisted of Sets Weight (if DB, weight of each DB) 10-20 second rest in between sets
Seated DB Shoulder Press 5x8 (10kg, 20kg, 22kg, 22kg, 24kg)
Seated Side Raises 3x12 (4kg, 6kg, 6kg)
Lying Rear Delt Raise 3x12 (6kg, 6kg, 6kg)
Standing Reverse Flys 2x12 (8kg, 8kg)
Front Raises with Bar 4x6 (15kg, 15kg, 15kg, 15kg)
DB Shrugs 4x15 (20kg, 22kg, 24kg, 26kg)

First set of DB shoulder press, I just couldn't do it. Wasn't focused and really couldn't lift. My form was rubbish and I was so annoyed. Training partner must have wondered what he'd let himself in for
I got up, stood looking in the mirror and thought "**** it, it's her loss, I'm going to train my ass off and look so good that she's going to regret ever letting me go". And as silly as it sounds, doing that and thinking about standing on that stage and showing her what she's missing really fired me up

I nailed the rest of the workout. Made sure I hit every rep with the intensity I did last week, and made sure having a partner impacted rest times as little as possible. We usually stuck to 30 seconds tops. It still hurt like hell which I was really worried it might not do, not having Rob there to correct my form I was worried I'd lose that, but I seem to remember everything well

Freefaller, thanks again mate, words mean a lot I will definitely let you know the venue. Would be awesome to have you and anyone else who wanted to go there

 

[Freefaller]

If I can be there - I'll be there, I mean it.

 

[BennyC]

Depending on where & when it is I might well pop down (as long as it's not a million miles away) and throw my knickers at you...errrr I mean... offer some support