The Adventures of Beans

[string_bean00]

if you wanna a bigger bench dont do shoulders the day before chest. thats like pullin deads the day before you squaty. all righty?

I try not to do this; usually I have at least two days between them. However, some weeks with work and school the days I have to work out are limited, so I tried to make the best of it.



It happens.

 

[pullinbig]

thought you were dissapointed with your bench. my bad.

i dropped shoulder work and within a few months my bench went from 460 to 575. po little shoulders were overtrained. not now.

congratas on your progress. keep posting it. good stuff.

 

[string_bean00]

Did your shoulders atrophy at all when you dropped all shoulder work?



I just recently dropped shoulder work to 4-5 sets/week, but I could drop that if it would help my bench that much.

 

[BigRonWannabee]

How are the 5x5 deads treating you? I personally hated 5x5 routine for anything big (ie. deads, squats). I find I make much much better gains by lowering the volume and upping the weight.

That, and are you cycling or natural for now? Appologies if you already told us, i just skimmed through this for the first time.

 

[pullinbig]

Did your shoulders atrophy at all when you dropped all shoulder work?



I just recently dropped shoulder work to 4-5 sets/week, but I could drop that if it would help my bench that much.

how can they atrophy if i am still hitting them. they are bigger now than when i was overtraining them. front delts get pounded on bench. rear delts get hammered on back day. just do some side laterals or upright rows on chest shoulder tri day. these three are primarily hit whenn you bench so why not hit them the same day then they have more time to rest, which equals more growth.

so many people have a hard time graspng this concept. therefore they train year after year and never grow. they come in the gym and bench 225 for reps year after year or even get weaker in some cases. my gym is full of them. have you read some of my workouts i posted? they are in the sticky in the training forum "do deadlifts thicken waste". read them please and you''ll get an idea of how i work out.

 

[string_bean00]

How are the 5x5 deads treating you? I personally hated 5x5 routine for anything big (ie. deads, squats). I find I make much much better gains by lowering the volume and upping the weight.

That, and are you cycling or natural for now? Appologies if you already told us, i just skimmed through this for the first time.

I love using 5x5 for deads and squats. Manipulating the rep ranges between 3 and 5, I can always avoid a plateau.

Oh yes, natty by the way.

 

[string_bean00]

how can they atrophy if i am still hitting them. they are bigger now than when i was overtraining them. front delts get pounded on bench. rear delts get hammered on back day. just do some side laterals or upright rows on chest shoulder tri day. these three are primarily hit whenn you bench so why not hit them the same day then they have more time to rest, which equals more growth.

so many people have a hard time graspng this concept. therefore they train year after year and never grow. they come in the gym and bench 225 for reps year after year or even get weaker in some cases. my gym is full of them. have you read some of my workouts i posted? they are in the sticky in the training forum "do deadlifts thicken waste". read them please and you''ll get an idea of how i work out.

I will give them a good read over.



Thanks. I may very likely switch to one of those as soon as I start to plateau on what I'm doing now, which may be soon.

 

[pullinbig]

aight good luck bro. i listed some of my training days and listed one routine that you may find intersting a well. 3 days per week. I have some trainees doing 2 days per week with much success.

 

[string_bean00]

4-28-04 Back

Deadlifts: 235x5x5x5x5; 240x4 (+)
Dumbbell Rows: 75x10; 70x10; 65x10; 60x10 (+)
Lat-Pulldowns (Reverse Grip): 130x8
Shrugs: 60x8; 65x4; 70x3; 75x2

 

[string_bean00]

4-30-04 Legs

Squats: 165x5x5x5x5x5 (+)
Stiff-Legged Deadlifts: 225x5x5x3x3
Nelson Montana Calf Routine: 30x75
(Painful!)
Front Squats: 95x8
(Did these last when my quads and abs were already shot...pretty hard. I was shooting for a set of 12...and I could barely keep my balance)

 

[pullinbig]

leg day after dead day is not the wisest of choices little buddy. need about 72 hours there. =0)

 

[string_bean00]

leg day after dead day is not the wisest of choices little buddy. need about 72 hours there. =0)

LOL, yeah my split isn't the most efficient. I'm thinking of moving leg day to Sunday instead of Friday, which would be a good three days rest between them. It just gets complicated with my work schedule.

 

[string_bean00]

5-1-04 Chest

Flat: MAX: 225

30 lb PR!

This was all I did for chest for the week. I did widen my grip a bit to get my lats involved more and an extra 30 lbs went up.

 

[string_bean00]

5-3-04 Pansy arm day

Close Grip Bench: 125x5x5x5x5x5 (+)
Barbell Curls: 85x5x5x5x5x5 (+)
Tate Press: 45x8x8x8 (+)
Incline Dumbbell Curls: 35x8x6x5
Overhead Dumbbell Extensions: 70x9; 65x7; 60x9; 55x6 (+)
Cable Curls: 65x8x6x4

 

[pullinbig]

5-1-04 Chest

Flat: MAX: 225

30 lb PR!

This was all I did for chest for the week. I did widen my grip a bit to get my lats involved more and an extra 30 lbs went up.

congrats

 

[TxLonghorn]

Lookin' good, beansie!

 

[string_bean00]

5-5-04 Back

Deadlifts: 240x5x5x4x3
Military Press: 95x10x10x10x8
(Wasn't going to do shoulders, but decided to do a few high rep sets)
Dumbbell Rows: 80x10; 75x8; 70x9; 65x10
Pull-ups: 3, 2
Lat-Pulldowns (Reverse Grip): 130x8
Shrugs: 60x8; 65x6; 70x3; 75x2

Shitty workout; didn't hit all my reps on anything. I'll get the deads and dbell rows next week though.

 

[string_bean00]

5-7-04 Legs

Squats: 170x5x5x5x4
Front Squats: 95x8x8x8 (+)
Stiff-Legged Deadlifts: 225x5x5x5x5; 230x3 (+)
Nelson Montana Calf Routine: 30x100 (+)

 

[string_bean00]

5-8-04 Chest

Flat Bench: 165x5x5x5x5x5 (+)
Decline Dumbbell Press: 55x8; 60x5; 65x3
Incline Dumbbell Press: 60x7; 65x4x3
Incline Dumbbell Flyes: 35x8x4x4

Did things a little different today. Lowered the volume by a couple sets and took 45 seconds rest in between sets, instead of my usual 1-2 minutes. I was in and out in about 35 minutes.

 

[string_bean00]

5-10-04 Arms

Close Grip Bench: 130x5x5x5x5x5 (+)
Barbell Curls: 90x5x5x5x2x1
Tate Press: 50x8x5x3
Incline Dumbbell Curls: 35x8x6x4
Overhead Dumbbell Extensions: 75x10; 70x6; 65x10; 60x9 (+)
Cable Curls: 65x8x43