Depends. The new owner is the son now. The old guy was his father, now that fella was an a$$hole. His son is a bit more mellow.

Hence there's a reason why there're so many variations of exercises to work the upper chest. If the incline barbell press doesn't work for you, then don't do it. There's still the Smith or dumbells or even machines. Don't limit yourself to one particular variation of an exercise. There are no absolutes in bodybuilding.

Yes, isolation exercises are done at the end of compound movements as finishers. I don't believe in the pre-exhaust principle of doing iso first then compounds though some peopel seem to swear by it.

I don't get your statement, you prefer bulking into super huge or you don't? Your posted sounded contradictory. It said you're into bulking super huge then you said you prefer ripped with a bit of mass.

20 sets may be a bit too much for you. Even i need to reduce my volume once in a while. You might overtrain.

Biceps and shoulders together are fine.

Heh... you think it's easy to get super huge? I give you 2-3 years and you won't even reach the standard of a male Fitness magazine model yet unless you are really dedicated. Not to sound condescending and disparaging but it's the truth. It's not easy to build solid muscle. In order to get ripped, you need mass. In order to sculpt something, you need a lot of rock. So how is an individual going to get super ripped if he has no mass in the first place right? Something to think about. So focus on getting as much mass as possible first.

Trust me. Try bulking as much as possible but also try keeping it as clean as you can. Obviously we all can't avoid having cheat meals, this is Malaysia. =) Try to avoid missing meals. General rule is try to eat every 3-3.5 hours. Try not to go without food longer than 5 hours unless it's bedtime.

There is no such thing as high reps for cutting and low weights for bulk. It's crap. It depends on how the individual responds to training.

1) Creatine works. I've stopped using it but it works. Terry also recommends it. I take it with Glucolin.

2) Tell your friend to get the new Lollipop flavoured whey by Charlie's Chocolate Factory. Cos i take whey for its function, not for the brand and flavour, so i don't know.

24-36 reps is way overkill imo. And no way you can do 80-90% of your 1RM max with those number of reps. Stick to good old fashioned 10-12 reps, 4-5 sets per exercise, 3-4 exercises per bodypart.

You don't have to. Go by instinctive training.

I do HVT, and I don't max out for 1RM's except for deadlifting but I can match powerlifters in my gym, and my gym isn't filled with weaklings either. HVT can make you very strong, just that it's not that obvious from the high rep poundages we use.

To those who have been following my journal, I apologize for the absence. Taken a 4 week break, and busy with other commitments but will resume posting here by next week or maybe sooner. I'll still be around for questions.

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Added on August 21, 2008, 12:33 pmFirst link looks very good. Second link doesn't work. I'm a firm advocate of high rep, high poudage training (high poundage being relative here). Go for it. You can get very strong with high rep trainign even though you are not maxing out with low reps.

This post has been edited by darklight79: Aug 21 2008, 12:33 PM

Of course you can get both big and strong with high poundage/high rep training? Do you think the weights I'm pushing are baby weights? =) Anybody told you the opposite?

Not so mate, I train for both. Hence even with high volume high rep workouts, i am still adding poundages to the bar every week.

No problem. Generally pulling movements on a vertical plane are more for width while horizontal pulling is more for thickness. However, you can accomplish both by varying the grip and the movement.

No problem. You can do without the bench press. My chest workout consists of:-
Incline db presses
Incline bb presses
Cable crossovers
Gironda neck presses

A lot of bodybuilders don't use the flat bench press, it's more of an ego exercise anyway.

Lol... I'm rather charmed by your impeccable command of English as well as your eloquent and elucidative posts. Anyway....

My US trainer Blake Skola used a rep scheme of 5,5,8,12 per exercise where he would adjust the weight accordingly. Low reps with heavy poundages and high reps with lighter poundages. That way he got the benefits of both hypertrophy and strength.

Answer to your $500 dollar question, if you want a strength foundation, Mark Rippetoe. If you want hypertrophy/size, there are other viable alternatives. But yes, it is one of the better strength training programs out there. But you don't necessarily have to move on to Madcow's 5 x 5 after that.

This Pyramid workout, where did you get that from? Is it your own plan or you're following another fixed program?

This post has been edited by darklight79: Aug 23 2008, 12:30 PM

Lol.... others might tend misinterpret the way we converse as disparaging and patronizing, which is why I tend to tone down my vocabulary when conversing with fellow Malaysians. Down to business.

Most strength sports such as powerlifting aren't interested in how many reps can you do with a particular weight most of the time. They want to see how much you can lift with 1 rep, eg. squat/deadlift/bench press records at powerlifting meets. Lifting a particular poundage with just 1-3 reps is a show of strength but it doesn't necessarily induce as much hypertrophy compared to conventional bodybuilding rep ranges. Hence the strength to size graph isn't as linear as most people think.
In order to stimulate optimal hypertrophy, a muscle has to undergo a certain amount of tension under time, which is why bodybuilders do more repetitions to make a set last longer. Obviously if you do just 1-3 reps, your set isn't going to take more than 10 seconds. Go figure.
But there's a certain limit to that. Anything more than a certain number of reps, for example above 15 for most cases and it becomes more of an endurance exercise. Which is why the muscle bulk of long distance runners differ so much from 100m sprinters.
However, the theory of individual muscle fibre composition also applies. Different individuals respond to different rep ranges depending on the ratio of fast twitch to slow twitch fibres. See, nothing in bodybuilding is set in stone. Which is why we need to experiment with our own bodies. Even Madcow once said, his template workout is just that, a template. It's nothing but a guide, but once you know your body better, that program would have outlived its usefulness if you know how to create a program which suits you exactly.

There are no absolutes in bodybuilding. But i'll tell you one thing, those old school bodybuilders knew what they were doing in the 50's. Most of the concepts of old school bodybuilding haven't changed much even till now.

This post has been edited by darklight79: Aug 23 2008, 03:13 PM

Tuesday 25/08/2008 Back

Workout time : 53 mins

Wide grip suppinated pulldowns
190lbs x 9
190lbs x 8
160lbs x 10
150lbs x 10
130lbs x 12

Barbell rows (light)
135lbs x 12
135lbs x 12
145lbs x 8, drop set 135lbs x 2
135lbs x 12

Narrow grip hammer pulldowns
100lbs x 10
100lbs x 10
90lbs x 10
80lbs x 15

Medium grip machine rows
100lbs x 10
100lbs x 10
90lbs x 11
80lbs x 15

Dumbell shrugs (per hand)
90lbs x 15
100lbs x 12
100lbs x 12
100lbs x 12

Comments:-
Pics are talking today:-


This post has been edited by darklight79: Aug 27 2008, 05:41 PM

Thanks. I'm 5 feet 8 inches, 87kg.

Then it never happened to you, no problem for me. Lol. I have a colored one too but I love black and white/sephia pics. Most of my friendster pictures are also using that effect. I find colored pics boring. And stop calling me Mr Hulk. =)

Wednesday 27/8/2008 Quads/Hamstrings

Workout time: 45mins

Squats
Warm up
115lbs x 12
135lbs x 10
Work sets
275lbs x 10
295lbs x 8
295lbs x 6
225lbs x 10
225lbs x 8

Leg curls
4 plates x 12
5 plates x 10
5 plates x 11
4 plates x 11

Leg extensions
175lbs x 15
190lbs x 12
205lbs x 12
190lbs x 11

Db walking lunges
50lbs per side x 20 steps x 2 circuits

Comments:-
Almost no rest time. The moment my partner finished, I began my set.

Any rep range between 1-20 stimulates hypertrophy. It is almost impossible to discern the accurate ratio of muscle fibers in an athlete therefore a training program consisting of sets with rep ranges that hit all muscle fibers would be most effective. Even powerlifters implement high rep sets into their training.
If hypertrophy is the main goal, then the pump is what a trainee should focus on; fascia tearing. Anyone can get a pump on bunny weights though, so obviously poundages should be around 75-80% of 1RM.

Nah, don't fret about it. I'm not the least bit offended. I just find it funny. =) Cheers.

Not really. Desvaro explained it quite well in the previous post. I'm just explaining what he said in a nutshell.

Narrower grip, wider grip. All hit different parts of the back.

Doesn't matter. Consistency is the key.