Bench press: power but no stamina?

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: hungfarover

Originally posted by: brikis98
guys, i'm not arguing that low body fat percentage is important to looking toned... but i'm at about 7% body fat and my muscles look a lot more bulky than "cut"... at any rate, i'm still more interested in more muscle stamina would be useful or not

top pro athletes are around this mark. Terrel Owens is probably about 7%. you've seen him i take it? if you look like that then yeah maybe you are at 7%, but i doubt it.

people have a misconception about what real body fat percentages are. i recall seeing some guy on atot claiming he had 3% body fat. lol

at 9% you are VERY lean. at 8% you have a defined 6-pack. anything below like 6-7 is very rare and/or cutting numbers for pro bodybuilders.

well, i got it tested at a gym, so it's possibly inaccurate. but even if it's off by as much as 5%, 13% body fat is still a very healthy/lean amount for a male. for my age range ("male 20-39"), ~13% is a very normal number.

body fat percentage also doesn't tell the whole story - muscle percentage is important too. that is, if i have as much fat as another person of my height, but more muscle, my body fat percentage will obviously be lower. however, it doesn't mean that person is fat or unhealthy.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: hungfarover

Originally posted by: brikis98
guys, i'm not arguing that low body fat percentage is important to looking toned... but i'm at about 7% body fat and my muscles look a lot more bulky than "cut"... at any rate, i'm still more interested in more muscle stamina would be useful or not

top pro athletes are around this mark. Terrel Owens is probably about 7%. you've seen him i take it? if you look like that then yeah maybe you are at 7%, but i doubt it.

people have a misconception about what real body fat percentages are. i recall seeing some guy on atot claiming he had 3% body fat. lol

at 9% you are VERY lean. at 8% you have a defined 6-pack. anything below like 6-7 is very rare and/or cutting numbers for pro bodybuilders.

well, i got it tested at a gym, so it's possibly inaccurate. but even if it's off by as much as 5%, 13% body fat is still a very healthy/lean amount for a male. for my age range ("male 20-39"), ~13% is a very normal number.

body fat percentage also doesn't tell the whole story - muscle percentage is important too. that is, if i have as much fat as another person of my height, but more muscle, my body fat percentage will obviously be lower. however, it doesn't mean that person is fat or unhealthy.

I think you're starting to confuse yourself. Muscle percentage? It's either lean body mass (LBM) or it's fat. There's no other magical number involved. LBM includes your muscle, bones, etc. etc. If you have 20% body fat you have 80% LBM. If you have as much fat but muscle as someone else of the same height, you'll weigh more. The body fat percentage will therefore obviously be less.

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: Amused
When you lift heavy (8 reps and under) a rest of 4-5 minutes is far better.

All my rests average 4 minutes.

High reps do not "tone." Tone comes from less body fat. Less body fat is achived through diet and cardio.

High reps are good for one thing: Specific muscular endurance.

In other words, if you do not need muscular endurance for sports or other activities that require pushing, there is no reason to do high rep sets of bench presses.

interesting info about the rest between sets... i'll have to give that a try as well.

however, i'm not sure your opinion on toning is quite accurate. i know that toning does not have any impact on weight loss or cardio - that's just a common misconception. but toned muscles do look different.

in fact, there's basically three categories: lifting for power, lifting for size and lifting for toning. obviously, all three are very closely tied together, but the differences are noticeable.

* power lifters do very few reps (1-6) but a tremendous amount of weight. these are the guys you see in the olympics putting up ridiculous amounts of weight
* to build size, you do more reps, usually 6-8. you do this number of reps with about 75-85% of your max weight which has been shown to produce the biggest muscles. this, combined with some toning, is primarily what body builders do. this produces the biggest muscles, but not necessarily the strongest - typically, body builders will not be able to lift as much as power lifters
* toning has the greatest number of reps, usually 10-15. toned muscles have a different look - they are not as big as the above two, but have tons of stamina and look very cut and refined. look at a the legs of a pro biker or hockey player and you'll see what i mean. of course, if you're fat, toning won't help and no one will see your chiseled muscles

my question, however, is whether building muscle stamina would help my bench press since it seems like stamina is the limiting factor at this point...

Power lifters don't compete in the Olympics as it is not an Olympic sport. Weightlifters or Olympic lifters lift at the Olympics as Weightlifting is an Olympic sport .

In regards to bf% most are inaccurate. If your 7% you would be cut to hell and back.

You either focus on leaning out, getting bigger, more stamina etc. Focus on ONE THING at a time. Train in cycles. Go for 6-8 week cycles and focus on one thing at a time. Much more efficient then trying to do everything at once.

Koing

 

[Fern]

Firstly, remember that everyone is not the same. People's bodies will respond differently. So, some trial & error experimentation may serve to help you find what works best for you.

Rest period: 2.5-3 minutes is sufficient for me. My current bench routine is similar to your's, excpet I use less weight.

If I understand correctly, one of your goals is to increase the weight in your bench. If so, you may consider increasing your rest betwen sets (of your current routine- the first one you listed) and see if you can go up in either weight or reps. Try 2.5, 3, or even 4 minutes and see what suits you best.

As regards your "toning or stamina" efforts:

"1st set: 225, 8-10 reps
2nd set: 225, 6-8 reps
3rd set: 225, 4-6 reps
4th set: 225, 2-4 reps "

I'd first increase your rest period to at least 2 - 2.5 minutes (I wouldn't go any higher initially with this type routine) and note the results on your current routine above. Afterwards, might try doing these sets till exhaustion (as many reps as possible) and/or DECREASING the weight in each subsequent set to maintain a higher rep count.

Fern

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: hungfarover

Originally posted by: brikis98
guys, i'm not arguing that low body fat percentage is important to looking toned... but i'm at about 7% body fat and my muscles look a lot more bulky than "cut"... at any rate, i'm still more interested in more muscle stamina would be useful or not

top pro athletes are around this mark. Terrel Owens is probably about 7%. you've seen him i take it? if you look like that then yeah maybe you are at 7%, but i doubt it.

people have a misconception about what real body fat percentages are. i recall seeing some guy on atot claiming he had 3% body fat. lol

at 9% you are VERY lean. at 8% you have a defined 6-pack. anything below like 6-7 is very rare and/or cutting numbers for pro bodybuilders.

well, i got it tested at a gym, so it's possibly inaccurate. but even if it's off by as much as 5%, 13% body fat is still a very healthy/lean amount for a male. for my age range ("male 20-39"), ~13% is a very normal number.

body fat percentage also doesn't tell the whole story - muscle percentage is important too. that is, if i have as much fat as another person of my height, but more muscle, my body fat percentage will obviously be lower. however, it doesn't mean that person is fat or unhealthy.

I think you're starting to confuse yourself. Muscle percentage? It's either lean body mass (LBM) or it's fat. There's no other magical number involved. LBM includes your muscle, bones, etc. etc. If you have 20% body fat you have 80% LBM. If you have as much fat but muscle as someone else of the same height, you'll weigh more. The body fat percentage will therefore obviously be less.

what i was trying to say was that body fat percentage shouldn't be used an "absolute" measure of how "ripped" you are. you wouldn't call a 6 foot tall, 130lbs computer dork with 10% body fat ripped. but a 6 foot tall 280lbs linebacker with 15% body fat would be. why? because body fat percentage doesn't tell you the whole story - you have to consider the muscle percentage (which may or may not be possible to measure).

for my height and weight, my body fat percentage is distorted - not because i have an under-average amount of fat but because i have an above average amount of muscle.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: hungfarover

Originally posted by: brikis98
guys, i'm not arguing that low body fat percentage is important to looking toned... but i'm at about 7% body fat and my muscles look a lot more bulky than "cut"... at any rate, i'm still more interested in more muscle stamina would be useful or not

top pro athletes are around this mark. Terrel Owens is probably about 7%. you've seen him i take it? if you look like that then yeah maybe you are at 7%, but i doubt it.

people have a misconception about what real body fat percentages are. i recall seeing some guy on atot claiming he had 3% body fat. lol

at 9% you are VERY lean. at 8% you have a defined 6-pack. anything below like 6-7 is very rare and/or cutting numbers for pro bodybuilders.

well, i got it tested at a gym, so it's possibly inaccurate. but even if it's off by as much as 5%, 13% body fat is still a very healthy/lean amount for a male. for my age range ("male 20-39"), ~13% is a very normal number.

body fat percentage also doesn't tell the whole story - muscle percentage is important too. that is, if i have as much fat as another person of my height, but more muscle, my body fat percentage will obviously be lower. however, it doesn't mean that person is fat or unhealthy.

I think you're starting to confuse yourself. Muscle percentage? It's either lean body mass (LBM) or it's fat. There's no other magical number involved. LBM includes your muscle, bones, etc. etc. If you have 20% body fat you have 80% LBM. If you have as much fat but muscle as someone else of the same height, you'll weigh more. The body fat percentage will therefore obviously be less.

what i was trying to say was that body fat percentage shouldn't be used an "absolute" measure of how "ripped" you are. you wouldn't call a 6 foot tall, 130lbs computer dork with 10% body fat ripped. but a 6 foot tall 280lbs linebacker with 15% body fat would be. why? because body fat percentage doesn't tell you the whole story - you have to consider the muscle percentage (which may or may not be possible to measure).

for my height and weight, my body fat percentage is distorted - not because i have an under-average amount of fat but because i have an above average amount of muscle.

That's probably because ripped isn't an absolute anything. What does ripped mean? Personally, if some scrawny guy has 10% body fat I'll say he's ripped because his muscularity will show.

To me, the state of being ripped is entirely a property of body fat. I do not think a 280lbs linebacker with 15% body fat will look ripped. He'll be big, but not ripped.

Of course, this is all subjective anyway.

 

[Czar]

start with 100lbs, do 15x2 reps for one week
do 120lbs, do 15x2 reps for one week
do 140lbs, do 15x2 reps for one week
do 160lbs, do 10x3 reps for one week
do 180lbs, do 10x3 reps for one week
do 200lbs, do 5x3 reps for one week
do 220lbs, do 5x3 reps for one week
do 240lbs, do 5x3 reps for one week

or something along those lines, start again with very little weights and alot of reps and work yourself up

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: hungfarover

Originally posted by: brikis98
guys, i'm not arguing that low body fat percentage is important to looking toned... but i'm at about 7% body fat and my muscles look a lot more bulky than "cut"... at any rate, i'm still more interested in more muscle stamina would be useful or not

top pro athletes are around this mark. Terrel Owens is probably about 7%. you've seen him i take it? if you look like that then yeah maybe you are at 7%, but i doubt it.

people have a misconception about what real body fat percentages are. i recall seeing some guy on atot claiming he had 3% body fat. lol

at 9% you are VERY lean. at 8% you have a defined 6-pack. anything below like 6-7 is very rare and/or cutting numbers for pro bodybuilders.

well, i got it tested at a gym, so it's possibly inaccurate. but even if it's off by as much as 5%, 13% body fat is still a very healthy/lean amount for a male. for my age range ("male 20-39"), ~13% is a very normal number.

body fat percentage also doesn't tell the whole story - muscle percentage is important too. that is, if i have as much fat as another person of my height, but more muscle, my body fat percentage will obviously be lower. however, it doesn't mean that person is fat or unhealthy.

I think you're starting to confuse yourself. Muscle percentage? It's either lean body mass (LBM) or it's fat. There's no other magical number involved. LBM includes your muscle, bones, etc. etc. If you have 20% body fat you have 80% LBM. If you have as much fat but muscle as someone else of the same height, you'll weigh more. The body fat percentage will therefore obviously be less.

what i was trying to say was that body fat percentage shouldn't be used an "absolute" measure of how "ripped" you are. you wouldn't call a 6 foot tall, 130lbs computer dork with 10% body fat ripped. but a 6 foot tall 280lbs linebacker with 15% body fat would be. why? because body fat percentage doesn't tell you the whole story - you have to consider the muscle percentage (which may or may not be possible to measure).

for my height and weight, my body fat percentage is distorted - not because i have an under-average amount of fat but because i have an above average amount of muscle.

That's probably because ripped isn't an absolute anything. What does ripped mean? Personally, if some scrawny guy has 10% body fat I'll say he's ripped because his muscularity will show.

To me, the state of being ripped is entirely a property of body fat. I do not think a 280lbs linebacker with 15% body fat will look ripped. He'll be big, but not ripped.

Of course, this is all subjective anyway.

well, my definition of ripped is someone with a high ratio of muscle to fat. which is why i don't consider a 130lbs guy, even if he has 10% body fat, ripped. i call that "skinny". on the other hand, the 280lbs football player with 15% body would be ripped (and big, for that matter).

but yeah, it's subjective and fairly irrelevant. i'll try out what people suggested, see what happens. thanks for the replies!

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: brikis98
well, my definition of ripped is someone with a high ratio of muscle to fat. which is why i don't consider a 130lbs guy, even if he has 10% body fat, ripped. i call that "skinny". on the other hand, the 280lbs football player with 15% body would be ripped (and big, for that matter).

but yeah, it's subjective and fairly irrelevant. i'll try out what people suggested, see what happens. thanks for the replies!

A 130lb @ 10%bf guy has a higher ratio of muscle to fat than a 280lb guy with 15%bf.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: CadetLee

Originally posted by: brikis98
well, my definition of ripped is someone with a high ratio of muscle to fat. which is why i don't consider a 130lbs guy, even if he has 10% body fat, ripped. i call that "skinny". on the other hand, the 280lbs football player with 15% body would be ripped (and big, for that matter).

but yeah, it's subjective and fairly irrelevant. i'll try out what people suggested, see what happens. thanks for the replies!

A 130lb @ 10%bf guy has a higher ratio of muscle to fat than a 280lb guy with 15%bf.

how do you figure (assuming the same height)?

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: CadetLee

Originally posted by: brikis98
well, my definition of ripped is someone with a high ratio of muscle to fat. which is why i don't consider a 130lbs guy, even if he has 10% body fat, ripped. i call that "skinny". on the other hand, the 280lbs football player with 15% body would be ripped (and big, for that matter).

but yeah, it's subjective and fairly irrelevant. i'll try out what people suggested, see what happens. thanks for the replies!

A 130lb @ 10%bf guy has a higher ratio of muscle to fat than a 280lb guy with 15%bf.

how do you figure (assuming the same height)?

Because one guy has 10% and the other has 15%?

 

[Praxis1452]

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: CadetLee

Originally posted by: brikis98
well, my definition of ripped is someone with a high ratio of muscle to fat. which is why i don't consider a 130lbs guy, even if he has 10% body fat, ripped. i call that "skinny". on the other hand, the 280lbs football player with 15% body would be ripped (and big, for that matter).

but yeah, it's subjective and fairly irrelevant. i'll try out what people suggested, see what happens. thanks for the replies!

A 130lb @ 10%bf guy has a higher ratio of muscle to fat than a 280lb guy with 15%bf.

how do you figure (assuming the same height)?

How was that not obvious...?

 

[SVT Cobra]

OP before I comment on some of the stuff said in this thread, I am curious to how tall you are and how much do you weigh?

I can probably help you out (but mostly everyone has been right on the mark with their good advice anyway), but I am just curious about those stats before I offer some advice.

 

[rise]

Originally posted by: Amused
When you lift heavy (8 reps and under) a rest of 4-5 minutes is far better.

All my rests average 4 minutes.

High reps do not "tone." Tone comes from less body fat. Less body fat is achived through diet and cardio.

High reps are good for one thing: Specific muscular endurance.

In other words, if you do not need muscular endurance for sports or other activities that require pushing, there is no reason to do high rep sets of bench presses.

you're a moron.

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: rise

Originally posted by: Amused
When you lift heavy (8 reps and under) a rest of 4-5 minutes is far better.

All my rests average 4 minutes.

High reps do not "tone." Tone comes from less body fat. Less body fat is achived through diet and cardio.

High reps are good for one thing: Specific muscular endurance.

In other words, if you do not need muscular endurance for sports or other activities that require pushing, there is no reason to do high rep sets of bench presses.

you're a moron.

On the contrary. He is completely correct. Although unless ME is being done, 4 minutes is a bit much, maybe 3....

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: F22 Raptor
OP before I comment on some of the stuff said in this thread, I am curious to how tall you are and how much do you weigh?

I can probably help you out (but mostly everyone has been right on the mark with their good advice anyway), but I am just curious about those stats before I offer some advice.

LOL I'm guessing that most probably won't get this...

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: F22 Raptor
OP before I comment on some of the stuff said in this thread, I am curious to how tall you are and how much do you weigh?

I can probably help you out (but mostly everyone has been right on the mark with their good advice anyway), but I am just curious about those stats before I offer some advice.

6ft tall, 206 lbs.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: CadetLee

Originally posted by: brikis98
well, my definition of ripped is someone with a high ratio of muscle to fat. which is why i don't consider a 130lbs guy, even if he has 10% body fat, ripped. i call that "skinny". on the other hand, the 280lbs football player with 15% body would be ripped (and big, for that matter).

but yeah, it's subjective and fairly irrelevant. i'll try out what people suggested, see what happens. thanks for the replies!

A 130lb @ 10%bf guy has a higher ratio of muscle to fat than a 280lb guy with 15%bf.

how do you figure (assuming the same height)?

Because one guy has 10% and the other has 15%?

uh, dude, lets try a math lesson... if they are the same height and one ways 150lbs more than the other but only has 29lbs more fat, the VAST majority of that (121lbs) difference will be muscle. so, lets make some simple assumptions and prove that you're wrong.

assuming 40% of the first 130lbs of a 6 foot tall male's weight is muscle (which is probably an overestimate for the skinny guy)... and that 90% of all the weight above 130lbs is muscle (the other 10% being from more dense bones, more blood, and whatever else)...

130lbs guy: 52lbs muscle to 13lbs fat = 4
280lbs guy: (52lbs + 135lbs) muscle to 42lbs fat = 4.45

so... given these assumptions, the bigger guy has a higher ratio of muscle to fat. now, are these accurate assumptions? i'm not sure, but i would tend to think they are not too far off. but your statement that the skinny guy has the better ratio is not garaunteed by any means.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: rise

Originally posted by: Amused
When you lift heavy (8 reps and under) a rest of 4-5 minutes is far better.

All my rests average 4 minutes.

High reps do not "tone." Tone comes from less body fat. Less body fat is achived through diet and cardio.

High reps are good for one thing: Specific muscular endurance.

In other words, if you do not need muscular endurance for sports or other activities that require pushing, there is no reason to do high rep sets of bench presses.

you're a moron.

if you don't backup your words, you're not being helpful. so either take the time to explain yourself or keep your trolling ass out of my thread.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: rise

Originally posted by: Amused
When you lift heavy (8 reps and under) a rest of 4-5 minutes is far better.

All my rests average 4 minutes.

High reps do not "tone." Tone comes from less body fat. Less body fat is achived through diet and cardio.

High reps are good for one thing: Specific muscular endurance.

In other words, if you do not need muscular endurance for sports or other activities that require pushing, there is no reason to do high rep sets of bench presses.

you're a moron.

if you don't backup your words, you're not being helpful. so either take the time to explain yourself or keep your trolling ass out of my thread.

I don't know about even having to back it up if we are talking 4 minutes between sets.

Even 4 mins between exercises seems insane.

This is really the wrongest forum to talk about lifting though.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: rise

Originally posted by: Amused
When you lift heavy (8 reps and under) a rest of 4-5 minutes is far better.

All my rests average 4 minutes.

High reps do not "tone." Tone comes from less body fat. Less body fat is achived through diet and cardio.

High reps are good for one thing: Specific muscular endurance.

In other words, if you do not need muscular endurance for sports or other activities that require pushing, there is no reason to do high rep sets of bench presses.

you're a moron.

lol.. right

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: rise

Originally posted by: Amused
When you lift heavy (8 reps and under) a rest of 4-5 minutes is far better.

All my rests average 4 minutes.

High reps do not "tone." Tone comes from less body fat. Less body fat is achived through diet and cardio.

High reps are good for one thing: Specific muscular endurance.

In other words, if you do not need muscular endurance for sports or other activities that require pushing, there is no reason to do high rep sets of bench presses.

you're a moron.

Really?

Wanna compare body size and strength?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: rise

Originally posted by: Amused
When you lift heavy (8 reps and under) a rest of 4-5 minutes is far better.

All my rests average 4 minutes.

High reps do not "tone." Tone comes from less body fat. Less body fat is achived through diet and cardio.

High reps are good for one thing: Specific muscular endurance.

In other words, if you do not need muscular endurance for sports or other activities that require pushing, there is no reason to do high rep sets of bench presses.

you're a moron.

if you don't backup your words, you're not being helpful. so either take the time to explain yourself or keep your trolling ass out of my thread.

I don't know about even having to back it up if we are talking 4 minutes between sets.

Even 4 mins between exercises seems insane.

This is really the wrongest forum to talk about lifting though.

Low volume, high intensity training requires long rests in between sets. You cannot achieve the intensity required if you're not recovering adequately between sets.

I watch guys knock themselves out in the gym every day, and never get far past the intitial gains all newbies make.

In fact, with weight training, the more you do, the less you gain. More is NOT better.

Again, I can back up my advice with my results. I'll let it speak for itself.

Red Dawn can too. When he took my advice and started minimizing everything except intensity, he had explosive gains.

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: F22 Raptor
OP before I comment on some of the stuff said in this thread, I am curious to how tall you are and how much do you weigh?

I can probably help you out (but mostly everyone has been right on the mark with their good advice anyway), but I am just curious about those stats before I offer some advice.

6ft tall, 206 lbs.

And now unless I see a video of you actually benching that weight I call shens big time...especially with the part of you being even close (even with error) at 7% body fat.


Your problem is associated with a problem all newbie lifters get (within their first 6 months to a year)...a lot of it has to do with training the CNS and improper form when not being able to lift lighter weight for the same amount, I am also willing to bet you are overtraining.

When you do heavy reps, especially benching (which is very different in the advantages one gets with form) your muscles really do not have anything to do with if you get the lift or not (as long as the weight is reasonably over your max), it all has to do with your CNS shutting off different muscle groups, and you have to train with different exercises (or if your hardcore, get acupuncture also, obviously if you are a pro or something, not just a lifter) and because you are new your muscles are automatically doing the same thing even with lighter weight, you muscles stop firing on lower rep sets. One way to get past this is to do dynamic effort bench, which is when you use about 85% of your max and do explosive reps for speed. I hope that helps, and I am sorry if you are not lying, but for now I don't have any other reason to believe otherwise.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Amused

Really?

Wanna compare body size and strength?

Doesn't mean you are right.

I am just getting back in to training myself after a 5 year break. I am about 6 months in with two months lost to business travel and vacation.

I don't shoot for max reps since usually training solo and they just open you up for injury.

My typical workouts right now are a 4 day split. I take about 20-30 secs between reps, sometimes a minute or two between sets. If I took 4 min breaks between each set I'd get nothing done. Keep in mind it's now pretty much canonical that going beyond 45mins of intense training starts to produce other undesirable traits (cortisone levels, etc).

Pro's are often on 'juice' to do 2-3 hour workouts successfully. They also sleep a lot.

My routine is about 45-60mins like below. Some of the exercises get changed as I progress out of them (pulldowns will become pullups, then weighted pullups. Dips will become weighted. DB Rows will be replaced with barbell rows as I have run out of wieght on the rack (100lb DB max), etc)

Day 1:

Warmup with incline DB Press, about 80 x 10-12

DB Incline Press 4 sets of 6-8 (80-90lb DBs)Incline Smith Press 2 sets 4-6 (200lbs or so)
DB Bench Press 5 sets 6-8 (90-100lb DBs)
Smith Bench Press 2 sets 4-6 (225-235lbs)
Pec Deck 4 sets 8-10
DB Pullovers 4 sets 8-10 (80-90lb DB)

Standing curl (EZ) bar curls 5 sets 6-8 (100-115lbs)
Alternate DB Hammer curls 4 sets 6-8 (45lb DBs)

Standing Calf Raises 5sets 8-15 (500lbs)
Seated Calf Raises 5 set 8-15 (155lbs)

Day 2
Warmup squats about 160lbs

Squats 5 sets of 6-8 (up to 265lbs)
Front Squats 5 sets 6-8 (155-205lbs)
Leg Press 5 sets of 6-8 (450-540lbs)

Leg Raises 5to failure
Crunches 5 to failure (25lb plate)
pulley crunches 5 to failure (150lbs)
low pulley side bends 3 sets of 15-25 (130lbs)

Day 3
warmup Pulldowns about 160lbs

Pulldowns 5sets of 6-8 180-200lbs will be moving to pullups soon
Dumbbell Bent Rows 5 sets 6-8 (100lb DBs) hitting 10+ reps now with the 100lbs, will be switching to barbell bent rows.
T-Bar Rows 5 sets of 6-8 (90-120lbs)

Dips 5 sets to failure (up to 30 dips a set)...buying a weight belt
Cable Pressdowns 5sets 6-8 (150lbs)
Cable Extensions 5sets 6-8 (90-100lbs)

Leg Press Calf Raises 5 sets 15-20 (540-720lbs)
Seated Calf Raises 5 sets 8-15 (155lbs)

Day 4
DB Military press warmups (60lb DBs)

Military Press 5 sets 6-8 (135-145lbs)
Side Laterals 4 sets 6-10 (25lbs)
Bent Laterals 4 sets 6-10 (25lbs)
Shrugs 4 sets 6-8 (225-245lbs)

Deadlifts 6sets 6-8 (up to 275lbs)
SL Deadlifts 6 sets 6-10 (180-205lbs)
Leg Curls 6 sets 6-20 (up to 130lbs)

Abs like day 2.

No cardio right now on my bulk, I usually hit the gym on Saturday to hit a body bag about 30 mins and stretch about 10mins prior. When I am cutting I run about 4 times a week, 20-30mins covering as much distance as I can (3+miles usually)

I am 35, about 5'10.5" tall, target weight is going to be 180-185 at about 10-15% body fat, at 202-205 right now after cutting from 221 to 197. I add about 2-5% weight about each week to my exercises. I am not doing bad after a 5 year layoff, only a few months back in the game.

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