Salty's Pre- Pre-season

[Salty]

So the footy season finished a couple of months ago and my team lost the grand final, which was devastating, but it was my first season of football (AFL for those of you not from australia) so I still have a long time left. I was one if not the fittest at the start of last season and want to get that way again. However I also want to get bigger and stronger while maintaining/improving my speed which is my main asset. So I got my gym membership and started going for the past 2 weeks, so i'm going to use this to keep myself accountable and to track my progress.

Current stats
Height- 181cm
Weight- 80kg
Fat %- unknown

Supplements
Protein Shakes
Glutamine
Creatine

I'm using the workouts from this 12 week program found here.

First 2 weeks...

Week 1

Day 1 (Monday): Chest, Triceps & Abs
Sets Reps Weight
Bench Press 3 x 8 x 55kg + bar
Incline Bench Press 2 x 8 (forgot
Decline Bench Press 2 x 8 (forgot)
Cable Pushdowns 3 x 8 x 3 (weights on machine)
Skull Crushers 2 x 8 x 20kg

Day 2: Back, Biceps & Calves
Sets Reps Weight
Lateral Pulldown 3 x 8 x 11 (weights on machine)
Cable Rows 2 x 8 x 11 (weights on machine)
Hyperextensions 2 x 8
Barbell Curls 3 x 8 x 25kg
Alternate Dumbbell Curls 2 x 8 x 12.5-15kg
Seated Calf Raises 3 x 8

Day 3: Legs, Shoulders & Abs
Sets Reps Weight
Leg Extension 2 x 8 x 80kg
Hamstring Curl 2 x 8 x 40kg
Leg Press (45 degree) 2 x 8 x 160kg
Shoulder Press 2 x 8 x 17.5kg
Side Lateral Raises 3 x 8 x 12.5kg
Rear Lateral Raises 3 x 8 x 10kg

Week 2

Day 1 (Monday): Chest, Triceps & Abs
Sets Reps Weight
Bench Press 3 x 8 x 60kg + bar +5kg
Incline Bench Press 2 x 8 20kg
Decline Bench Press 2 x 8 22.5
Cable Pushdowns 3 x 8 x 4(weights on machine) +1 weight
Skull Crushers 2 x 8 x 20kg

Day 2: Back, Biceps & Calves
Sets Reps Weight
Lateral Pulldown 3 x 8 x 12 (weights on machine) +1
Cable Rows 2 x 9 x 11 (weights on machine)+1 Rep
Hyperextensions 2 x 8
Barbell Curls 3 x 8 x 30/25kg +5kg
Alternate Dumbbell Curls 2 x 8 x 15kg +2.5kg
Seated Calf Raises 3 x 8 x 90kg

Day 3: Legs, Shoulders & Abs
Sets Reps Weight
Leg Extension 2 x 8 x 85kg +5kg
Hamstring Curl 2 x 8 x 45kg +5kg
Leg Press (45 degree) 2 x 8 x 170kg +10kg
Shoulder Press 2 x 8 x 20kg +2.5kg
Side Lateral Raises 3 x 8 x 15kg +2.5kg
Rear Lateral Raises 3 x 8 x 11.5kg +1.5kg

Next week I'm going to start interval training twice a week to start the fitness work

[Salty]

Week 3

Day 1 (Monday): Chest, Triceps & Abs
Sets Reps Weight
Bench Press 3 x 8 x 65kg + bar +5kg
Incline Flyes 3 x 8 17.5kg
Flat Flyes 3 x 8 15kg
Cable Pushdowns 3 x 8 x 5(weights on machine) +1 weight
Skull Crushers 3 x 8 x 20kg
Dips 3 x 10

Day 2: Back, Biceps & Calves
Sets Reps Weight
Lateral Pulldown 3 x 10 x 12 (weights on machine) +2 reps
Reverse grip pulldowns 3 x 8 x 12 (weights on machine)
Bent over rows 3 x 8 x 45kg
Hyperextensions 3 x 8
Barbell Curls 3 x 8 x 30kg +5kg
Alternate Dumbbell Curls 2 x 8 x 15kg
Standing Calf Raises 3 x 8 x 95kg +5kg

Day 3: Legs, Shoulders & Abs
Sets Reps Weight
Hamstring Curl 3 x 10 x 45kg
one leg RDL 2 x 8 x 22.5kg
Shoulder Press BB 3 x 8 x 40kg+ Bar
Arnold Press 3 x 8 x 22.5kg +5kg
Rear Lateral Raises 3 x 8 x 12.5kg +1kg
One arm clean & press 3 x 5 (per arm) x 30kg

Started mixing the schedule up a bit, especially legs. I'm definitely getting strongr quickly which is nice, can bench press over 1x my weight now. Biceps/chest are probably my weakest areas while my legs/shoulders are my strongest.

Think of doing plyo's/vertical jump/sprint training instead of intervals during the week, anyone know of any good programs?

[Youngblood]

Think of doing plyo's/vertical jump/sprint training instead of intervals during the week, anyone know of any good programs?

jump squats w/ weighted vest, walking lunges w/ medicine ball side to side rotation, box jumps or stair steps, + w/e else you want (prob. core?) but just don't feel the need to do tabata protocol?..then do a sprint at the end of each set?

I do something similar at times but in tabata, and to be frank a lot of the exercises were from the plyo list you put together some time ago.

[Salty]

Think of doing plyo's/vertical jump/sprint training instead of intervals during the week, anyone know of any good programs?

jump squats w/ weighted vest, walking lunges w/ medicine ball side to side rotation, box jumps or stair steps, + w/e else you want (prob. core?) but just don't feel the need to do tabata protocol?..then do a sprint at the end of each set?

I do something similar at times but in tabata, and to be frank a lot of the exercises were from the plyo list you put together some time ago.

Thanks mate, it's good to know someone read's this haha. I played touch rugby last night and rolled my ankle pretty nicely so plyo's/cardio/legs are off this week.

I'm wondering if I'm eating enough to bulk up, so started taking a protein shake in the morning with my toast and taking 3 or 4 tuna sandwiches to uni. I might start up a food diary and try and see how many calories i'm actually eating, but i'll weigh myself at the end of the week and put up photos to help track my progress.

[Youngblood]

Thanks mate, it's good to know someone read's this haha. I played touch rugby last night and rolled my ankle pretty nicely so plyo's/cardio/legs are off this week.

I'm wondering if I'm eating enough to bulk up, so started taking a protein shake in the morning with my toast and taking 3 or 4 tuna sandwiches to uni. I might start up a food diary and try and see how many calories i'm actually eating, but i'll weigh myself at the end of the week and put up photos to help track my progress.

Bummer about the foot. hopefully just a slight roll. If you are picking it up with the intensity you are...I think for sure you need to look at amping up your diet. I added 20 lbs in the last 6 months eating as I worked on building strength. Mostly in the legs, doing free weight squats, some DLs etc plus a variety of things, plyos too. Carried around more then normal fat levels (for me) but it was easy enough to burn off after. Was the first camp I haven't hurt myself in trying to build strength, and I attribute a lot of that to not running too lean when doing so.

[Sharla]

I've never really thought about building size but i understand what you mean about being too lean while trying to gain size. I have found previously that training hard while making weight has left me prone to illness. The last serious chest infection i got was after a longer than usual run and it left me coughing for weeks - set me back to what feels like the very beginning.

Apart from that i wonder with the attempt at gaining strength if there are intermediate steps i miss out. For example when doing chin-ups I have found that I can do a certain number of reps but struggle to lift my chin above the bar - up to the bar is fine but to feel like i'm doing them properly I'd like to be able to clear it by a good 10 cm each rep.

I see people in the gym who do this with added weight (including small elite junior female swimmers) and i have to wonder what step I've missed that doesn't allow me to progress to that next stage. Surely it's not all nutrition - not enough protein - i think it could be related to the muscle group transition at that stage but what to do to train that i don't know.

Sorry if this is not related I guess I see some similarity between getting to build size and strength. Afterall there's no point in building size in a sport like boxing if you end up carrying non-functioning muscle mass is there - surely you're aiming for muscle that will be specific to the sports you'll be participating in?

[Youngblood]

I've never really thought about building size but i understand what you mean about being too lean while trying to gain size. I have found previously that training hard while making weight has left me prone to illness. The last serious chest infection i got was after a longer than usual run and it left me coughing for weeks - set me back to what feels like the very beginning.

Apart from that i wonder with the attempt at gaining strength if there are intermediate steps i miss out. For example when doing chin-ups I have found that I can do a certain number of reps but struggle to lift my chin above the bar - up to the bar is fine but to feel like i'm doing them properly I'd like to be able to clear it by a good 10 cm each rep.

I see people in the gym who do this with added weight (including small elite junior female swimmers) and i have to wonder what step I've missed that doesn't allow me to progress to that next stage. Surely it's not all nutrition - not enough protein - i think it could be related to the muscle group transition at that stage but what to do to train that i don't know.

Sorry if this is not related I guess I see some similarity between getting to build size and strength. Afterall there's no point in building size in a sport like boxing if you end up carrying non-functioning muscle mass is there - surely you're aiming for muscle that will be specific to the sports you'll be participating in?

Ya Sharla. In my case was looking to jump up a weight class as just couldn't maintain middle weight any more (75 kg), and moved up to light heavy (81 kg). In realizing I needed to have more bang in my punches in making the transition, the focus was to add strength from the bottom up...beginning with quads. So in using some principles of lifting, added a lot of fat stores to help build that mass where required. The noticable difference in leg strength, even looks of them ( i look at old pics and they look like spindles!), is fairly huge. I've noticed a considerable difference in overall power now...and am just trying to tie it all together with core, and upper body too. but ultimately when that is done...then going back to fast twitch muscle conditioning to have speed also...and this is where I burn the fat stores off. It's a tough balancing act and takes time. Best done in the off season imo because the recovery time is important.

[Spicoli]

Good luck Salty. Learned the hard way....n.e.v.e.r neglect the cardio. Water weights a b**ch!

[Sharla]

I've never really thought about building size but i understand what you mean about being too lean while trying to gain size. I have found previously that training hard while making weight has left me prone to illness. The last serious chest infection i got was after a longer than usual run and it left me coughing for weeks - set me back to what feels like the very beginning.

Apart from that i wonder with the attempt at gaining strength if there are intermediate steps i miss out. For example when doing chin-ups I have found that I can do a certain number of reps but struggle to lift my chin above the bar - up to the bar is fine but to feel like i'm doing them properly I'd like to be able to clear it by a good 10 cm each rep.

I see people in the gym who do this with added weight (including small elite junior female swimmers) and i have to wonder what step I've missed that doesn't allow me to progress to that next stage. Surely it's not all nutrition - not enough protein - i think it could be related to the muscle group transition at that stage but what to do to train that i don't know.

Sorry if this is not related I guess I see some similarity between getting to build size and strength. Afterall there's no point in building size in a sport like boxing if you end up carrying non-functioning muscle mass is there - surely you're aiming for muscle that will be specific to the sports you'll be participating in?

Ya Sharla. In my case was looking to jump up a weight class as just couldn't maintain middle weight any more (75 kg), and moved up to light heavy (81 kg). In realizing I needed to have more bang in my punches in making the transition, the focus was to add strength from the bottom up...beginning with quads. So in using some principles of lifting, added a lot of fat stores to help build that mass where required. The noticable difference in leg strength, even looks of them ( i look at old pics and they look like spindles!), is fairly huge. I've noticed a considerable difference in overall power now...and am just trying to tie it all together with core, and upper body too. but ultimately when that is done...then going back to fast twitch muscle conditioning to have speed also...and this is where I burn the fat stores off. It's a tough balancing act and takes time. Best done in the off season imo because the recovery time is important.

Yeah that does make sense - i guess a periodized training program is really the only solution as you can never really do everything at once. I never mastered that myself but i can definately see the logic in it!

[Salty]

I've never really thought about building size but i understand what you mean about being too lean while trying to gain size. I have found previously that training hard while making weight has left me prone to illness. The last serious chest infection i got was after a longer than usual run and it left me coughing for weeks - set me back to what feels like the very beginning.

Apart from that i wonder with the attempt at gaining strength if there are intermediate steps i miss out. For example when doing chin-ups I have found that I can do a certain number of reps but struggle to lift my chin above the bar - up to the bar is fine but to feel like i'm doing them properly I'd like to be able to clear it by a good 10 cm each rep.

I see people in the gym who do this with added weight (including small elite junior female swimmers) and i have to wonder what step I've missed that doesn't allow me to progress to that next stage. Surely it's not all nutrition - not enough protein - i think it could be related to the muscle group transition at that stage but what to do to train that i don't know.

Sorry if this is not related I guess I see some similarity between getting to build size and strength. Afterall there's no point in building size in a sport like boxing if you end up carrying non-functioning muscle mass is there - surely you're aiming for muscle that will be specific to the sports you'll be participating in?

With the chinups, if you reach a plateau you can use negatives to improve. You should be constantly be searching for progression every workout you do, either on reps or weight even if its 1 a set. A negative is what people use to build up the strength to do one arm chinups, etc. So if you find yourself fail at 8 reps but you want to get to 10, you would do 2 negatives to make up the reps, the video below shows how it's done...



Although try not to swing as much.

The reason i'm using a body building program and not a sport focussed program is that I wanted to gain as much muscle as quickly as possible. In the league I play in it's not exactly a high quality league so you get fat pricks who will try and hit as hard as possible, at 75kg's I wasnt the smallest, I was probably average, but at 85kgs I would be able to break tackles/ride bumps and go harder at the ball a lot easier. Once I reach 85-88 I will switch to a more power based program, with more compound lifts/olympic lifts. Plus it's not that serious, so the program is good for the beach

Anyways here is an update, as of yesterday I am 82kg and upped my bench to 90kg for 3 sets of 8 reps, pretty happy. Will update the log when I can be bothered, which isn't right now as I have to get back to study

[Sharla]

I've never really thought about building size but i understand what you mean about being too lean while trying to gain size. I have found previously that training hard while making weight has left me prone to illness. The last serious chest infection i got was after a longer than usual run and it left me coughing for weeks - set me back to what feels like the very beginning.

Apart from that i wonder with the attempt at gaining strength if there are intermediate steps i miss out. For example when doing chin-ups I have found that I can do a certain number of reps but struggle to lift my chin above the bar - up to the bar is fine but to feel like i'm doing them properly I'd like to be able to clear it by a good 10 cm each rep.

I see people in the gym who do this with added weight (including small elite junior female swimmers) and i have to wonder what step I've missed that doesn't allow me to progress to that next stage. Surely it's not all nutrition - not enough protein - i think it could be related to the muscle group transition at that stage but what to do to train that i don't know.

Sorry if this is not related I guess I see some similarity between getting to build size and strength. Afterall there's no point in building size in a sport like boxing if you end up carrying non-functioning muscle mass is there - surely you're aiming for muscle that will be specific to the sports you'll be participating in?

With the chinups, if you reach a plateau you can use negatives to improve. You should be constantly be searching for progression every workout you do, either on reps or weight even if its 1 a set. A negative is what people use to build up the strength to do one arm chinups, etc. So if you find yourself fail at 8 reps but you want to get to 10, you would do 2 negatives to make up the reps, the video below shows how it's done...



Although try not to swing as much.

Thanks Salty I will give them a go next time i go to the gym

[Salty]

Wow it's been a long time since I updated this, but here's the latest news in my world...

Finished exams last wednesday, they included very few hours of sleep and a lot of reading so i took the week off. It was terrible, so in order to refresh my crammed short term memory I had a massive weekend to say the least. My body was paying for it, so I took a second week off the gym. So thats now 2 in a row, which means I can't afford another week off. I was pretty happy with my progress so far, with strength gains in all area. Before i took my break i managed 2 sets at 100kgs ( reps and 1 at 95 so was pretty stoked with that.

My uni gym membership has expired so will need to work out at home until I can afford another one. I'm currently still around 82kg but i think I have lost a little weight.

I hope everyone is going well and having fun!

[Sharla]

Good to seeya back Salty!

Exams do suck! You must be so relieved now they're all over.
I look forward to reading about your non-gym workout solutions. It's always cool to see how resourceful people can be when they have to brainstorm their own alternatives.