Well, I've been letting myself get unfit during the past 2 years. Been mostly indoors onlining and playing guitar and rarely go to play football like I did everyday during my schooldays. Tore my ACL and went for surgery in August 07, that kept me out of any solid working out activities for almost a year. Decided to try and enroll into the National Defense University (UPNM) to do my engineering degree, found out they have a 10 day strength/fitness test first somewhere around early/mid-April, so I'm trying to whip myself into shape by then. Started lifting weights and doing slight cardio last year October, really want to lose the fat and gain some serious muscle mass. I'll just post my workout log here. Any feedback on how I can improve or alter my workouts are welcome, thanks!

Info
Age - 20
Weight - 80kg
Height - 172cm
Bodyfat - Haven't checked, but its probably 20-25% based on pics comparison online.

Supplements
ON 100% Whey Gold Standard Cookies and Cream 5lbs. (Breakfast and Post Workout)
Nutrex Lipo6 120 V-Caps

*Started taking supplements on 23rd Jan 09



Workout

* Exercise, SetsxRepsxWeight

Arms
Bicep
Barbell Curls, 3x8-10x22.5kg
Hammer Curls, 3x8-10x10kg
Dumbbell Preacher Curls, 3x8-10x12.5kg

Tricep
Close-grip Bench Press, 3x8-10x30kg
Skull-Crushers, 3x8-10x25kg
Cable Pushdown, 3x8-10x7 plates (Not sure how heavy each plate is )

Chest
Flat Bench Press, 3x8-10x40kg
Incline Dumbbell Fly, 3x8-10x15kg
Incline Dumbbell Press, 3x8-10x15kg

Shoulders
Arnold Dumbbell Press, 2x8x12.5kg
Bent-Over Dumbbell Raise, 2x8x10kg
Front Dumbbell Raise, 2x8x10kg
Upright Barbell Row, 2x8x20kg

Back
Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown, 3x8x13 plates (STILL not sure how heavy each plate is )
One-Arm Dumbbell Row, 3x8-10x15kg
Deadlift, 3x10x45kg
Dumbbell Shrugs, 3x10x20kg

Abs (Bodyweight)
Incline Sit-ups, 3x20reps
Knee Raises, 3x20reps


*Haven't worked on legs yet, still a little scared of what will happen since I tore my right ACL before. Might give it a try next week though. Wish me luck!



So yeah, thats basically my workout routine. I normally do arms on Monday, chest+shoulders on Tuesday, abs+stationary bicycle(cardio) on Wednesday, rest on Thursday and back on Friday. Then I normally do some light cardio during the weekend. Any critiques or opinions on how I'm going about this is most welcome. Thanks!

This post has been edited by fatboythin: Jan 30 2009, 07:17 PM

welcome to the club...how's the ON whey CnC flavor? i bought it once, and it sucked for me...

where do you workout brah? and nice nickname you have there, i like it

This post has been edited by Disciple: Jan 30 2009, 02:20 PM

Thanks brah! My nickname is my motivation, lol. But not really wanting to get thin lah, more of fit/lean.

The ON Whey CnC is kind of a love/hate thing. During breakfast I feel like gagging, but post workout I love the taste! Lol, its not for everyone I guess. I workout at a gym in a clubhouse near my place, the Sri Damansara Club. Its not the best, but adequate enough I guess.

yup maybe CnC flavor is just not for me...i asked for some reviews on lyn before i bought it, they told me it tastes like vagina or rotten fish or something lol...i think i cant stand the artificial flavoring in there...

anyways, good luck and remember to post some pictars in a month or two k..

No offense, but there seems to be no weight-exercises for legs.

No legs day?

lol, it is normal, most of the people neglect leg workout,
they will say: i dont need leg workout, my leg is big enough...

maybe got something todo with ACL injury.. how is it? serious or not? why so serious? lolz..

If you've got reconstruction, it's probably okay already by now right?

If you don't want to risk it, then you can use snatch grip deadlifts and car pushing and sled/tire pulling with a rope. These movements can really work your legs and entire body very well.

I'd go for about 5x5 with snatch grip deadlifts and then do 4-5 rounds of pulling or pushing for 20-30 meters per round. Killer exercise. Just make sure when you're deadlifting, don't move your ass up first. Use your quads to lift it up.

I'd drop your deadlift repetitions way down to a maximum of five reps if I were you. And deload every single repetition.

Thanks man, will post the progress pics up when I start seeing enough progress!


READ the post brahs. I mentioned why in there.

Total tear, underwent reconstructive sugery where they cut off a part of my hamstring to attach back the ACL.


Yeah, had reconstruction. Just kinda had a phobia about overloading my knee, but I'll try some squats and calf raises next week anyway since my legs are quite lacking compared to my upper body. Thanks for the advice brah, I'll look into it. I was thinking of reducing the reps of my deadlifts also, haha. But why should I deload by the way?

This post has been edited by fatboythin: Jan 30 2009, 07:15 PM

Deload every repetition in the deadlift so that you can readjust your form.

If you take a video of your first rep and the forth rep, you'll notice obvious difference if you don't deload. If you do deload, you'll be able to control your starting form and make sure it doesn't fcuk up.

My friend had a total reconstruction as well. They remove your hamstring muscle and they twist the muscle over and over and over again until it becomes super tight and uses it to replace your ligament right? He's now squatting 210KG'S at 77KG bodyweight. No probs d.

Woah, thanks for the info man, will do that! And yeah, they gave me the VCD of the surgery, felt like puking seeing the ligament and all the drills drilling in and out of the bones, ergh..


This post has been edited by fatboythin: Jan 30 2009, 09:01 PM

Since you're a beginner,why don't you use Rippetoe's Starting Strength routine. That routine's absolutely incredible. I don't ever recommend beginners to make their own routine. They usually mess things up all over.

Just download that routine, follow and see your strength levels go sky high in 3-4 months.

Well, I did bodybuild for about 1+ years, back when I was 14-15, but then stopped. So am I still considered a beginner?

I was looking up Rippetoe's Strength Training and Max-OT also. But I'll just do this routine another 2 weeks to make it a month on it, then I'll see whether the gains are justifiable enough to stick to this. If not, I'm definitely giving Rippetoe's a shot. Thanks again man!

This post has been edited by fatboythin: Jan 31 2009, 05:34 AM

Good luck. If you can squat, by all means do so.

An ACL tear can be a b****, but don't let it hamper your gains. I'd try with a very light weight and bring it up from there (maybe 40kg start)

Well considering you want to exhaust your lats before your deadlift by doing rows first, and choosing to do 45LBS x 3 x 10 of deadlifts, erh....yeah, you sound pretty newbie'ish to me. This isn't a stab, but what I think.

I'll tell you why aight. As you go heavier with the deadlifts, you need your lats to really hold on to the weight, or you'll end up rounding your upper back, thus making your deadlift look like a curved back deadlift (or my coach and I named it "The Udang Pull") Your lumbar may be straight, but heck it looks ugly as hell once your lats fry. Anyway, deadlifting first already gives your lats a serious workout. I do snatch pulls and my lats can go sore for days.

I'd change to the Rippetoe's now actually. Guys are gaining about 20-30LBS with this routine. Fat melts, muscle grows, strength goes up the roof.

Thanks man, I'm definitely going to start squating next week. No pain no gain!


Woah, now I feel like a newbie. Ok man, you got me. Guess I'll start Rippetoe's next Monday. Thanks for all the info man, really appreciate it!

PS; I deadlift 45KG, not lbs. Don't make me sound weak brah, lol..


This post has been edited by fatboythin: Feb 2 2009, 03:00 PM

UPDATE


On Friday I decided to try out some squats, thankfully all went well and my knees didn't give way. Guess its fully healed by now already. Did a warmup set with light weights first to get my knees used to it, then did 3 sets of 8x60lbs on the Olympic bar (which was heavy by itself!!). Going to try and increase it by 5-10 pounds this week, hope all goes well. This was the routine I did on Friday, is it good enough for legs or should I change some exercises or the order? Any input would be appreciated, thanks!

Legs
Squats (Olympic Bar) - 3x8x60lbs
Dumbbell Lunges - 3x8x15kg (each dumbbell)
Seated Calf Raises - 3x10x60lbs

PS; My ass was sore the whole weekend after that, haha!

This post has been edited by fatboythin: Feb 2 2009, 03:38 PM

Since your ligaments may potentially be weak, I recommend this aight;

2 or 3 sets of high repetition squats with just the empty bar. Full R.O.M. Stand up straight, don't use your glutes to get up. You will feel sore on the quads and that's not wrong.

Then follow whatever routine you're doing.

I've an issue with my right knee as well. At the end of the session, my coach makes me do what I call "Quad Busters" because they're HORRENDOUSLY painful on the quads.

What we do is;

- Stand on two boxes or elevated platforms.
- Hold a small bar weighted in front of your body.
- Squat up and down for high repetitions, 10-15 repetitions for 5-8 sets

THis burns the shit out of your quads. And the bonus is, you CANNOT cheat by excessively arching the back or standing up backwards with your glutes. You try. You'll slam the bar into your balls



Another method is to get this ironmind super squats hip belt, which I think is nonsense. I can get the same thing with an old seatbelt, a knife and strong thread and a bit of creativity. But that's to just give you the idea.

This I know is a rehab tool used by the Chinese team. Heck, half of the things I talk about is things from China's weightlifting team anyway.