Originally Posted by Nine Pack

A pre contest journal from me would be very boring I suspect. I set the macros, hit the cardio & every day is identical, apart from me becoming more Zombie like as the weeks pass. James' journals are far more interesting as he maintains brain function right the way through whereas my brain dribbles out my ears after about six weeks! My gym journal is about to get intersting though...

James, further to our discussions this is what I think IMHO you need to concentrate on to iron out the symmetry:

Back in general
Hamstrings (which seem to be growing so let's keep it that way)
Chest

That's it as far as I can see. Your delts are like cannonballs, your arms should have their own postcode & your quads are well proportioned (maybe a tiny bit more in the adductor region, Staffy is the gifted one there though). You could do a restricted split on those on an eod schedule & work in two distinctly different back workouts & rotate them (one heavy rowing session & one pulldown & chins etc). Chest is not so easy to vary but I strongly advise some deep tissue work on the pecs by an experienced sports masseur to stretch the fascia out & allow more growth. It'll be painful, but knowing you it'll not even be an issue.

This split would see each of the workouts being hit every sixth /seventh day. Something like this perhaps:

Day 1) Heavy Rowing Back session
Day 2) Rest
Day 3) Chest
Day 4) Rest
day 5) Hams & lower back (deads)
Day 6) Rest
Day 7) Back (pulldowns & chins)
Day 8) Rest
Day 9) Rest
Day 10) If recovered, repeat cycle or take another days rest & begin again.

Now this may seem a little against the grain to what I normally advocate, but factor in that the other bodyparts are not using up any recuperative energy or nutrients & these trained bodyparts will recover & adapt to the increased workload. If you tried this frequency whilst still hitting the entire body, you'd burn out rapidly, but not this way.

Originally Posted by Nine Pack

James, further to our discussions this is what I think IMHO you need to concentrate on to iron out the symmetry:

Originally Posted by supercell

Today is Weds 12th March 2008

Today was a good day.

Not for any other reason than the leg session today was a great one.

After coughing my lungs up for the past 4 days I was a little reserved as far as what to expect of myself, plus the fact it was my first 'proper' leg session for 6 weeks!!

Anyway to the session itself

1. Front Squats

1x8 60kgs
1x8 80kgs
1x6 100kgs
1x5 120kgs
1x5 140kgs

After chalking my t shirt (thanks to Matt) the exercise became less of a 'hang onto the bar for dear life' exercise and more of a 'concentrate on the form' exercise.

I think we both suprised ourselves here as to how heavy we were actually going to go. I last did front squats about 2 years ago and Matt did them around 5 years ago.

Form was excellent, right to the bottom until glutes hit hamstrings. It felt suprisingly comfortable but with my rather wheezy chest it certainly made me breathless.

it felt good and 140kg on the front squat was a great start to our leg workouts for this phase of the off season.

2. Hack Squats

1x12 120kgs (I am taking the machine as 20kgs here but in reality its probably more)
1x8 140kgs
1x8 180kgs

The hacks felt good after the front squats and really hit my quads a treat after a serious pre exhaustion on the front squats. They really did feel pumped by this point and very wobbly meaning I had gone pretty much to muscular failure.

3. Seated ham curls

1x15 half stack
1x15 3/4 stack
1xfailure whole stack

The difference between the 3/4 stack and whole stack was huge. I think I managed around 10 reps (last 1-2 assisted) with the whole stack but by then my legs were shaking

4. Standing Leg Curls

1x12 20kgs
1x12 25kgs
1xfailure 30kgs

Again on the work set I went to failure on these with Matt just giving me a helping spot on the last rep or so, in fact we had to laugh because on the last rep he lifted the whole weight and I couldn't lift the weight of my leg!!!

I sit here now with my legs feeling tight and getting DOMS already.
Looking forward to a day off tomorrow as I am knackered tonight and really want to shift this cough as its not conducive to training although saying that todays session was right up there with the best.

J

Originally Posted by Warstu

Damn matey , Considering your first proper leg workout your lifts are inzane mate , I thought your leg workout would have more movement then that in it to be honest Think Am 2/3 years ago from having a chance of keeping him with you in weigh wise .

My basic leg workout is
Squat
Leg Ext
Lying ham curls ,
Stiff deads and lunges if am not too tired, If you have time could you give me your views of the exercise I do , thanks

Originally Posted by supercell

I train my legs with fewer exercises, sets and reps now but I use a lot more intensity, thats the key. Long drawn out leg workouts (or any workout for that matter) can be counterproductive to your recovery and gains.

Your training programme looks Ok to me but remember the following.....

I always tend to start with a compound movement as I find leg ext harsh on my knees so would rather do front squats, hacks, leg press first but do plenty of warm ups. I personally see ext as a finishing exercise and may put in 1-2 sets at the end once the main work has been done.

As a guy fairly new to BBing I would stick to the basics. Squats are great, so are leg press. For me leg ext dont really give me any size. If doing lunges make sure you have someone with a good eye watching over your form; there are SO many wrong ways to do lunges!!

As for hams, lying curls and SLdeads are a good way to go IMO. One is shortening the muscle, the other lengthening; perfect. Just make sure you stretch out once the workout is complete as this will also improve your gains and limit DOMS, helping recovery.

Your sets should be around 8-10 for quads and 6-8 for hams (inc warm ups) Hit them once every 7 days making sure that you schedule a day of (or 2) after training them. It puts a lot of strain on the nervous system doing legs so make the most of the recovery period and eat well and consistently to feed them what they need to improve.

Hope this helps

J

Originally Posted by supercell

Hi Paul,

Thanks for taking the time to do that but what you also have to understand is that I now have a training partner.

As a BBer I have to weigh up the benefits of doing your split on my own against the benefit of having a hard working and motivating training partner.

Your split would mean losing the very one thing that I feel is important to me and I'd be back training like a **** on my own.

The benefits of training with Matt are huge and I WILL NOT give that up. It may not be in your opinion PERFECT for me in terms of my physique but it is infinately better than training on my own as I have done for the last 5 years. Plus he's a good friend too and has gone out of his way to assist me and show me a different way of training that I personally think WILL show a better James at the British.

The world is not perfect and nor am I but my world at the moment is about as perfect as it will get and I dont want to lose that.

I am sure you understand my stance here.


J

Originally Posted by Nine Pack

No problem James, it was merely my take on things. There is always an ideal scenario but it may not be the most realistic so we make the best of what we can whilst keeping within the realms of reality.

I know Matt is pushing you & that is pricelss so you need to keep that dynamic going. I love training with John Hodgson. Is everthing we do exactly as I would like? No, but there's give & take & the benefits of being pushed by someone as driven as me is worth the compromise.

Originally Posted by supercell

Exactly my friend. BTW how are you getting on with Mr Hodgson, is he coming round to your way of thinking?

J