[Cork]

Alright guys I have returned to the log section. After logging every single workout I've had for 11 weeks of my contest prep, it feels weird to not type this stuff out anymore. So to change all that I'm making another log, even if people don't read it, it'll still be a place to atleast put my thoughts.

As a natural competitive bodybuilder at my height and weight, the best I could ever place is out of the top 3, so in order to fix that I am using the rest of this year foe a clean bulk and will compete again in 2010.

I am still 6'0" and weigh in at 190 right now. I hope to be a compete around 190lbs next year so I have a hard year ahead of me (I weighed in at 170lbs contest day [June 18]).

Anyhow, I'm actually at work posting this and it's time to go home, haha. I'll finish my training split and nutrition after my workout this afternoon. Have a good day gents!

[Cork]

Alright now, home from the gym, let's get into the details.

I've been reading a lot on DC and FST-7 and the principles on stretching the muscles as you go. For now I'm really digging split training, so I went with FST-7 instead of the full body workouts of DC. I posted my routine in the training section, but it has changed a little after 2 weeks of feeling my way through this new style and making it my own.

First the split, next is why I'm doing it this way:

Monday
Hammies/Glutes
Squats 5x5
Glute/ham raises 4x 8-10
Glute/ham press 3 sets 8-10
SLDL 3 sets 8-10 reps

Tuesday
Chest/Triceps/Traps
Incline DB Bench 5x5
Flat BB bench 3x 8-10 (explosive reps)
Incline Flyes 3x8-10
Cable Flyes FST-7
Skull crushers 3x8-10
Tricep rope extensions FST-7
Machine shrugs FST-7

Wed
rest/cardio

Thursday (days alternating between width/thickness focus)
Back/Bis/Delts
Width days
Neutral grip Chins 4xfailure
Wide grip pull downs 3x10-12
HS high rows 3x10-12
Pullovers FST-7
Thickness days
Deadlift 5x5
BB Rows 4x8-10
HS low Row 3x8-10
Cable Row FST-7
Front laterals super set with upright rows 3x8-10
Rear delt flyes FST-7
EZ-bar curls FST-7

Friday
Quads
Front Squat 5x5
Leg press 3x8-10
Walking lunges 3x20 steps
Leg extensions FST-7

Saturday
Active recovery day, full body, do whatever I feel like I didn't hit hard enough during the week. I'll probably drop this day once my obligations are done on wed nights and pull a "2 on 1 off" split. For right now though I need that day off from the gym so I have to have a set schedule.

Sunday
Rest

Calves get 2 FST-7 sessions whenever they are not sore.
Toe presses and seated calf raises (last time I did this they were terribly sore for 5 days...)

Ok that's the split, it's intense, and it's exactly what I need. I have the nutrition to support optimal recovery, so bring the pain.

As some of you may notice I added in some principles of Alex Stewart's 3S theories and I'm liking it. I use 5x5 for "strength", 8-12 for "size", and FST-7 for "shock". As you can see I do FST-7 for all parts except glutes and hammies, this is because I don't like isolation exercises for them. Every time I do a seated leg curls (no laying leg curl in my gym), my hip flexors start to cramp.

As far as nutrition goes I'm holding at ~350g cho ~200g prot and I don't count fat but my only sources are the meat, eggs and olive oil. Fat is no more than 100g. Right now I'm liking the amount of food and it's something my appetite can handle, I might raise it a bit depending on what kind of results I'm seeing. All my sources of food are clean so that way on the weekends I don't feel guilty about alcohol or taking the woman out to a nice dinner. I'm looking for a very lean bulk, I was the kind of guy who thought that any increase in weight was an increase in muscle... well all I did was get fat last time, so this time I'm keeping it under control.

This was a huge post, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something so feel free to ask any questions and I'll answer you as best I can! Enjoy reading.

[HawaiianPride.]

Good luck on your bulk Cork, I'll be watching watching this.

[Chimera]

Good luck Cork! Keep it clean, as I know you will!

[Cork]

Alright, I edited my second post and made it a good read.

Now to confuse you, I know it's Monday so it should be legs, but for reasons beyond my control I did my chest workout. Legs will be tomorrow and the universe will correct itself and I'll be back on schedule for Thursday.

Also I'm not usually one to put weights on my log because a number on the internet is usually about as real as an internet 16 y/o girl being interested in you (she is instead a fat balding pedophile in real life), but... what the hell, I'm a modest guy and I have nothing to brag about, I'll just put weights for points of reference.

Chest/Tris/Traps
Incline DB Press 5x5
75x5
75x5
75x5
75x4
75x3
Flat BB Press 4x8-10(explosive reps)
155x8
155x7
155x6
135x6
Incline Flye 3x8-10
30x10
30x10
30x10
Cable Flye FST-7
45x12
45x12
45x12
45x10
45x9
45x7
35x10
Skull crushers 3x8-10
60x10
65x9
65x8
Rope tricep extensions FST-7
60x12
60x12
60x12
60x12
60x10
60x10
60x10
Machine Shrugs FST-7 (squeeze at the top)
100x12
100x12
100x12
100x12
100x10
100x10
100x10

For my FST-7 exercises I was utilizing a little cheat movement in the last couple sets. I decreased the weight as you can see in the cable flyes because I found myself cheating for most reps in the previous 2 sets, haha. I didn't find myself cheating too badly in the others so the weight stayed the same. Crazy pump today in targeted areas, it felt great. FST-7 day was a success.

Flat BB bench is exhausting doing it explosively from the bottom. I ran out of steam FAST with that much weight. I thought I'd be able to do more but I'm glad I didn't load the bar anymore than I did, haha.

[Freak]

This is great Cork. I will be keeping up with this. Keep up the good work! You have a solid plan.

[Cork]

They say to take NO on an empty stomach...My stomach is never empty!

1/4 cup green beans
1 cup whole grain pasta
5oz ground turkey
1 1/2 scoops NO

Pre workout snack, gotta fill up my reserves. It's going to be a grueling leg day.

[HawaiianPride.]

I know what you mean. When I use to take it it'd be about 30 minutes after my prior meal, wait 15 then go train.

[Cork]

Enjoying my post workout meal as I write this:

1 1/2 scoops of whey over top of 1 1/2 cups of sugary cereal

LEGS!
Squats 5x5
205x5
225x5
225x5
235x5
255x4
Glute-ham raises 4x8-10
Body weight
8 x 8 x 7 x 6
Glute-ham presses 3x8-10
70x10
80x10
85x8
Romanian Deads
135x10
155x12
185x8
Calves FST-7
Standing BB calf raises
All 7 sets were at 135lbs and 12 reps except the last 2 sets were 10 reps
Seated calf raises
All 7 sets at 50lbs and 12 reps

For legs... I always used to be so afraid of hurting myself. I've limited myself and held back gains unintentionally due to how I've felt about training. I'm very discontent with how I used to train so I'm really going all out. I'm still feeling out a good weight of where my 5x5 squat sets should start, as well as the romanian deads. I have to get used to the feel of lifting heavy. I think I'll be starting off with 235 on squats and 185 with the romanian deads next week.

Also something I'm very proud of, my first rep of GHRs was completely unassisted! I went down for the second rep and was about 1 inch off the ground, and I could hold it there....but I just couldn't get enough force to get all the way back up, haha. At least I got 1, not bad for still lifting heavy on squats before hand eh?!

[Moro]

Looks awesome Cork im following, im currently in the progress of making my new workout which is going to have a lot of the 3s principals in there, problem im having is the amount of volume in that type of programme vs high frequency training but meh ill figure something out, anyway good luck im following,

[dapack]

looks like you have a solid plan, really like you workouts out you have, get a little of everything each workout. if you every decide to do iso for your hammies you should try dbl curls they are my new fav right now. all i have is a seated leg curl and at heavier weights it kills my knees to do them, that is why i started to db curls for my hammies.

[Cork]

Originally Posted by Moro

Looks awesome Cork im following, im currently in the progress of making my new workout which is going to have a lot of the 3s principals in there, problem im having is the amount of volume in that type of programme vs high frequency training but meh ill figure something out, anyway good luck im following,

Yeah, that's what I have saturday for. I can do a full body workout to round out the week and make sure I hit everything atleast twice. I think it's doable for you to have a good routine that hits everything twice a week with some 3S principles thrown in. I have some ideas, I'll PM you.

Originally Posted by dapack

looks like you have a solid plan, really like you workouts out you have, get a little of everything each workout. if you every decide to do iso for your hammies you should try dbl curls they are my new fav right now. all i have is a seated leg curl and at heavier weights it kills my knees to do them, that is why i started to db curls for my hammies.

Yeah Dapack, we seem to enjoy very similiar workouts, great isn't it? How exactly do you do dumbell curls with hammies? I can do isolateral work for hamms, but if I do that I would like to make it FST-7 style. But with the intensity of my leg workouts, and already doing them twice a week, I think if I added in an FST-7 I'd be over training.

Breakfast:
3 whole eggs 4 egg whites
Whole grain bagel with PB

~25g prot, 50g cho, 15g fat

[dapack]

Yeah agree on FST-7 for legs, I leave that out also, just do drop, pause, tempo to change things up. Good thing about the dbl curls for hammies is the weight is sort of light, at least what I use, 35lbs, but still give you a good workout. Here is a like to a Utube video.
YouTube - Unique Hamstring Exercise For Huge Growth

[Cork]

Slight change to back day regimin. I don't want to fully ignore width if I'm on a thickness day and vice versa. I'm swapping the low rows with high rows so that way on thickness day, I have 1 width exercise and on width day I have 1 thickness exercise.

Now that being said, obviously it all encompasses the muscles in the back, but I like being thorough and I just can't ignore either width or thickness for a whole week. So my back looks like this:

Thursday (days alternating between width/thickness focus)
Width days
Pull ups 4xfailure
Nuetral grip pull downs 3x10-12
HS low Row 3x8-10
Pullovers FST-7
Thickness days
Deadlift 5x5
BB Rows 4x8-10
HS high rows 3x10-12
Cable Row FST-7
Front laterals super set with upright rows 3x8-10
Rear delt flyes FST-7
EZ-bar curls FST-7

I'm also altering my nuetral grip chins into normal old pull ups and changing pull downs into nuetral grip. So today's workout is going to be:

Pull ups 4xfailure
Nuetral grip pull downs 3x10-12
HS low Row 3x8-10
Pullovers FST-7
Front laterals super set with upright rows 3x8-10
Rear delt flyes FST-7
EZ-bar curls FST-7

Meals so far:
3 whole eggs,4 egg whites and 1 whole grain bagel with 2 tbsp peanut butter

1 cup oatmeal with 1 scoop whey

I'm going out to lunch today so I can't say for sure what's on the menu, but it'll be followed up by more oats, green beans and some chicken before the workout later this afternoon.

[dapack]

Originally Posted by Cork

Meals so far:
3 whole eggs,4 egg whites and 1 whole grain bagel with 2 tbsp peanut butter

1 cup oatmeal with 1 scoop whey

I'm going out to lunch today so I can't say for sure what's on the menu, but it'll be followed up by more oats, green beans and some chicken before the workout later this afternoon.

I am jealous, would kill for a bagel with peanut butter, I can't wait to bulk in December. Pizza Hut better start getting ready!!!!!

[Cork]

Now that was a brutal workout. I've never trained so many body parts at once, and so many sets in 1 day. I got to the final FST-7 with shoulders and bis and TOTALLY ran out of steam, haha. I had to use cheat movements and still lowered the weight.

Width focus day
Weighted Pull ups
25x5
30x5
30x5
30x5
30x4
Neutral grip pull downs
140x9
140x9
140x8
Hammer strength low row
60x10
60x10
70x8
Cable pullovers FST-7
80x12
80x10
70x12
70x12
70x12
70x10
70x10
Front laterals super set with upright rows
25x8 65x10
25x8 75x10
25x8 75x8
Back Flyes FST-7
75x12
75x10
60x11
60x9
50x10
50x10
50x8
BB Curls FST-7
65x8
55x11
55x10
45x11
45x10
45x10
45x8

I felt like a huge weakling. I was so pumped but I couldn't put up any big weight, haha. Struggling big time to just curl the bar was bad!
Anyways, now I'm enjoying a nice big plate of shrimp and rice, mmmhmmmmm.

[dapack]

looks like you had a pretty awesome workout, nice job on the pullups, wish my fat butt could add weight LOL. shrimp and rice, yummy. i have 3 5oz chicken breast left for the day with fats from avacado, nuts, and olive oil. will gladly switch you

[Cork]

Quads today

Front Squat 5x5
175x5
195x5
195x5
205x4
215x3
225x1 (I just wanted to see if I could do it)
Leg Press 4x8-10
4 plates x10
4 plates+25 x10
4 plates+25 x10
4 plates+25 x10
Walking lunges 3 sets x 20 steps
30lbsx20
30lbsx20
30lbsx10
Extensions FST-7
120x12
120x12
120x12
120x12
120x12
120x10
120x9
10 minute bike/stretch cooldown

I had to get back into the form of front squats, I think 225 is the limit that my delts can take right now. I've never front squatted 225 before and it was pleasing to put it up. I probably could have done it a couple more times but I was satisfied and my legs were feeling good enough from the previous 5 sets. All in all I was pretty pleased with myself and plan on being rightfully sore tomorrow. Anyhow, it's Friday, time for a beer! Yuengling is calling my name.

Tomorrow is going to be some chest, shoulders, calves... a wild card day for the most part with some cardio thrown in. I don't think I'll log it because it'll be fairly random, we'll see though. Enjoy your weekends!

Currently reading "Hardcore Bodybuilding: A Scientific Approach" By Dr. Squat.

[dapack]

looks like you had a great workout. was interested in that book, when you are done let me know if it is worth picking up, seen some routines on-line about it, but everyone says you really need the book.

[Cork]

Well it's a long book, and I'm in the middle of a fiction book (which is my preferred genre) so it might take me a while to get through it. So far I can say though, that it's pretty damn technical, if you couldn't assume that from the title. It really helps you get a full perspective on what bodybuilding is and what exactly we are trying to do. I've only read the first 100 pages or so but I fully recommend it to anyone with interest in the sport (his breakdown of workout/intensity cycling is worth it alone). One qualm I have with it is that he really does bash steroid users. Sometimes it seems he'll try and make a certain point just to get the opportunity to say something derogatory to a user. To each his own... but that's just my opinion.

[dapack]

Sounds good, will def look for it, heard a lot about it.

[dapack]

funny thing, went to half.com and accidently clicked on two of the books and at checkout was not paying attention, so looks like i have 2 books coming. LOL. guess will leave one at work and one at home.

[Cork]

You could have a competition on here and mail it to the winner!

[dapack]

hey cork found this on bbd.com, some nice spreedsheets in the first post for the book. can't wait to get the book and read it, really interested in this and really wont to start it

The Hatfield's FAQ thread - Brought to you by Team Ground Zero! - Bodybuilding.com Forums

[Cork]

Well it seems it's basically going to be a year of being sore.

Today I worked on my specific weak points: chest, shoulders and calves.

I don't remember the weight I did or even the reps, I kept a steady tempo and even closed my eyes to focus on the muscle connection.

Incline BB Bench 4 sets
DB shoulder press 4 sets
Hammer curls super set with skulls 3 sets
Incline skulls super set with EZ bar curls 2 sets
BB Calf raises 5 sets
Heavy side laterals 3 sets
HIIT (Kettlebell snatches)

[Cork]

Monday
Hammies glutes and calves
Back Squats 5x5
225x5
245x5
245x5
245x4
245x3
GHRs 4x6-8
2 unassisted then 6 assisted
1 unassisted then 7 assisted
8 assisted
8 assisted
Pistols (just to see if I could still do them)
10lbs 2 each leg (I almost fell over a couple times so that was good enough)
Glute-ham press
80x8
80x8
85x6
RDL
165x10
175x10
185x8
Standing BB calf raises with toes elevated FST-7
135x12 all the way out to 5 sets then 10 reps then 8 on the last 2 sets.

I was sick for 3 hours after this workout. It taxed me bad. I've been pushing myself way past my comfort zone and lifting more weight than ever. It's clearly taking a toll on my body. I plan on upping carbs so that I'm not so devastated. It was a great session though, I'm very proud of the fact that I can do more than 1 GHR unassisted.

Food:
After workout meal was a tilapia fillet with a big sweet potato
Soon to be having a whey shake with some PB

I cooked up some rice and chicken tonight so tomorrow I'm having rice, green beans, chicken and left over tilapia. Hopefully I can recover to pound chest hard tomorrow. I might get stuck working late, but I should be able to fit the gym in still.

[Cork]

Originally Posted by Cork

I might get stuck working late, but I should be able to fit the gym in still.

Well ****... I screwed myself as soon as I said that. It's 9:15pm and I'm still stuck here at work. I've been here since 7am and I'm dog tired. No gym today, especially since it will be closing in 45 minutes.

On a positive note, I did get a chance to prank a co-worker. I've been generating tons of data and it all comes out on these long slips of paper. So taking a ton of these long strips, I taped them all the the ceiling of his office like streamers. His office has paper slips hanging off of everywhere, it looks awesome

Anyhow... Chest will be tomorrow followed by volleyball followed by skeet shooting.

[Moro]

Sucks you got stuck at work bro still 14 hour days pay well, i bet his office looks mean haha im tempted to pull something at my work since im finishing in a couple of weeks and im running the store solo on saturday...

[Cork]

Finally a good workout! Then I come home and get a good one in with the missus

Chest/tri/trap
Incline DB Bench 5x5
75x5
75x5
75x5
80x4
80x3
Flat BB Bench Explosive reps 3x6-8
155x8
155x6
155x7 dropset 135x5
Incline Flye 3x8-10
30x10
35x9
35x8
Cable Flyes FST-7
45x12
45x12
45x12
45x10
40x10
40x9
40x8
Skull crushers 3x8-10
65x10
65x10
65x9
Rope tri extensions FST-7
60x12
70x12
60x9
55x10
55x10
55x10
55x10
Shrugs FST-7
110x12
110x12
110x12
110x12
110x11
110x10
110x9

I am still weak as hell with BB benching, what the hell? Why can I incline press 80s but can't move 155?! Oh well, I'm leaving it to he fact that I put most of my energy into the inclines. I'm at least going to go with 160 on the BB next week.

I went up in weight from my lifts last week, so some FST-7 sets had to come down. I'm not surprised by that, FST-7 is intense and it wears me out quick. That's how it's supposed to be though, so all is good. Chest feels great, so much so in fact that I'm applying lotion everyday to prevent stretch marks. I don't think I'm really growing that fast, but after FST7 pumps, I feel like it.

Had volleyball after the gym, my team won all 3 of our games. Pretty lopsided too, the best the other team got was to 15 points (out of 25 to win). Then I went and shot skeet. Shot some good rounds, I broke over half of the clays. 35 out of 50 total. Now... it's time for some gooooood sleep. Tequila makes me tired .

[Cork]

You know, after yesterday's session, I was thinking a good bit about the mind-muscle connection. What I've come to realize is that I believe this connection is emphasized by increased mass.

In the past, whenever working out my upper chest, or calves or even my small shoulders, I never really felt that connection as much as I could in my lats, or quads, or any of my other strong (read as:not weak) points. Yesterday, I noticed after my first couple sets that I could really feel the inclines targetting my upper pecs. Just under the collar bone, I could seriously feel it, and it felt great. I can say that I have noticed the same feeling in my calves and shoulders recently as well. Anyone who used to be small, you feel the same way? Is it easier to feel the muscle now that it's bigger? Now that I point it out, it seems obvious. More muscle, more blood, more nerves, more everything. But I don't think it's anything anyone has ever really mentioned. Hopefully as size increases the connection will strengthen and I can exponentially increase my gains for a period of time. I look forward to the perfect feeling of connection with every lift I do.