ScottWUK's Progress Record

Hello all, i've finally got round to making a progress thread and it's gonna be a really long post so I apologise beforehand.

I've been lifting weights for about 2-3 years now (albeit, not with any set programme up until 5 weeks ago (23/08/2010)). I designed my current programme based loosely around Scooby's intermediate workout programme. In fact, it did start off as exactly Scooby's programme, but I tweeked it around and revised it a bit throughout the first few weeks to make it more suitable for me, and it eventually developed into the programme that I follow now.

I'll start by explaining my weekly workout programme:


Monday
CHEST
3 sets of Dumbbell Flys (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Dumbbell Press (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Thumbs-Up Dumbbell Flys (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Bench Press (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Dumbbell Press From The Hips (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Ultra-Wide Pushups (As many reps as possible)
3 sets of Pushups (As many reps as possible)
(60 seconds between sets)

TRICEPS
3 sets of French Press (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Dumbbell Kick Backs (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Close-Grip Bench Press (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Tricep Pushdowns (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Standing Dumbbell Tricep Extensions (8-12 reps)
(60 seconds between sets)

ABS
4 sets of Crunches (As many as reps possible)
(60 seconds between sets)

CARDIO
20 minutes: Jog, Brisk Walk or Bike

Tuesday
CARDIO
30 minutes: Jog, Brisk Walk or Bike

Wednesday
BACK
3 sets of Wide-Grip Overhand Pull Downs (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Dumbbell Rows (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Straight-Arm Pull Downs (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Bent-Arm Barbell Pullover (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Close-Grip Overhand Front Pull Downs (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Wide-Grip Pullups (As many reps as possible)
(60 seconds between sets)

BICEPS
3 sets of Dumbbell Hammer Curls (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Barbell Curls (21 reps half, half, full)
3 sets of Overhand Barbell Curls (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Dumbbell Curls (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Negative Rep Concentration Curls (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Concentration Curls (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Underhand Close-Grip Pull Downs (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Underhand Grip Pullups (8-12 reps)
(60 seconds between sets)

ABS
4 sets of Crunches (As many as reps possible)
(60 seconds between sets)

CARDIO
20 minutes: Jog, Brisk Walk or Bike


Thursday
CARDIO
30 minutes: Jog, Brisk Walk or Bike

Friday
SHOULDERS
3 sets of Alternate Dumbbell Shoulder Press (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Dumbbell Side Raises (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Dumbbell Front Raises (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Dumbbell Reverse Flys (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Military Press (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Rocky Press (8-12 reps)
3 sets of Front Plate Raises (8-12 reps)
(60 seconds between sets)

LEGS
3 sets of Lunges (8-12 reps) – All
3 sets of Barbell Squats (8-12 reps) – All
3 sets of Leg Extensions (8-12 reps) – Quads
3 sets of Hamstring Stretches (20 second reps) – Hams
3 sets of Rocking Standing Calf raises (8-12 reps) – Calves
3 sets of Seated Calf Raises (8-12 reps) – Calves
3 sets of Standing Dumbbell Calf Raises (8-12 reps) - Calves
(even though there are a lot of leg exercises listed here, I do not do most of them, they are there purely for my brother as I have taken all this info from the sheet I have printed and stuck on the garage wall. The only leg exercises I do are Leg Extensions for my quads and Hamstring stretches. The reason for this is because i have a back condition that makes it dangerous for me to do anything like squats or lunges and because my calves are already at my goal size (see below)

ABS
4 sets of Crunches (As many as reps possible)
(60 seconds between sets)

CARDIO
20 minutes: Jog, Brisk Walk or Bike

Saturday
Core Strengthening
Left Plank (hold as long as possible)
Right Plank (hold as long as possible)
Front Plank (hold as long as possible)
1 Set of Crunches (as many as possible)
Kneeling Superman's (hold as long as possible)
Knee to Chest Stretch (hold for 20-30 seconds per leg)
Repeat all above in a cycle 4 times.

CARDIO
20 minutes: Jog, Brisk Walk or Bike

Sunday
CARDIO
30 minutes: Jog, Brisk Walk or Bike

**NOTE** On the weights days (Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, I don't do all the exercises listed. I pick 3 or 4 each day from the list and do them, then the next week I try to pick different ones to the week before).

My short-term goals are to lose fat and gain muscle. I want to lose the surface fat I have so I can see the tonality of the muscles and then I want to build on this. But with my diet and routine I should be losing fat whilst gaining muscle at the same time (im definitely losing fat, but I need to make sure I am gaining muscle by measuring my body fat and calculating my Total Body Mass, but I have only done this once so far, so I don't have much data for comparison purposes yet).

My long-term goal is to reach my ideal grecian proportions which are all based on ratios from a wrist measurement and are as follows (along with my current measurements):

Wrist
Grecian: 18cm
Current: 18cm

Chest
Grecian: 117cm
Current: 95cm

Forearm
Grecian: 34cm
Current: 28cm

Waist
Grecian: 82cm
Current: 80cm

Thigh
Grecian: 62cm
Current: 58cm

Hip
Grecian: 99cm
Current: 90cm

Calf
Grecian: 40cm
Current: 40.5cm

Biceps
Grecian: 42cm
Current: 30.5cm

Neck
Grecian: 43cm
Current: 36.5cm

So from this, you can see that I need to work on every muscle apart from my calves, which are oversized by half a centimeter. The reason I have such big calves is from years of riding bikes (i've done everything from trials riding to attempting flatland bmx, through to trying dirt bmx and street bmx riding). My calves are by far the most powerful muscle in my body and therefore you will see over my progression that I am purposely not doing any building exercises on my calves because they need to stay the size they are currently at.

All of the following measurements are from a starting date of 11/09/2010, which is the first day that I got my gf to properly measure me (Note that I have been doing this programme from 23/08/2010, but I only started recording measurements on 11/09/2010. I used to weigh 183 pounds before starting the programme)

Starting weight	Weight on 22/09/10
169 pounds	168.7 pounds

Starting waist size	Waist size on 22/09/10
31.5 inches	31.3 inches

Starting Lean Body Mass	Current Lean Body Mass
146.37 pounds	147.015 pounds

Meaning that in just under 2 weeks I have gained roughly 0.645 pounds of muscle mass. I've just calculated this per moth and its around 1.29 pounds a month if I carry on at that rate, which equates to 15.48 pounds of muscle a year (which is about the average as far as im aware)

Starting Body Fat%	Current Body Fat%
13.3%	12.85%

I know this percentage will be meaningless as far as the actual % goes, because i've not used calipers and i've used a calculation. There are about 100 different calculations that give different percentages. But what is important from that, is that ive used the same calculation and i've lost some % which means that I am losing body fat, I just don't know the actual % of body fat I have.


Dumbbell Flys: 8kg - 9kg
Dumbbell Press: 10kg - 12kg
Thumbs-Up Dumbbell Flys: 9kg
Bench Press: 15kg
Dumbbell Press From The Hips: 15kg

French Press: 5kg - 6.25kg
Dumbbell Kickbacks - 6kg
Close-Grip Bench Press - 15kg
Tricep Pushdowns (Multigym) - 2nd Slot
Standing Dumbbell Tricep Extension - 15kg

Wide Grip Overhand Pull-Downs (Multigym): 4th Slot - 5th Slot
Dumbbell Rows: 11kg
Straight Arm Pull-Downs (Multigym): 2nd Slot
Laying Bent Arm Pull-Over:
Close-Grip Overhand Pull-Downs (Multigym):

Hammer Curls: 7.5kg - 12kg - 13kg
Barbell Curls (overall weight): 10kg - 15kg
Overhand Barbell Curls (overall weight): 10kg
Dumbbell Curls: 11kg
Negative Rep Concentration Curls: 14kg - 14.5kg
Concentration Curls:
Underhand Close Grip Pull-Downs (Multigym):
Underhand Grip Pullups:

Alternate Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 10kg - 12.1kg
Dumbbell Side Raise: 8kg
Dumbbell Front Raise: 8kg - 10.5kg
Dumbbell Reverse Flys: 3.5kg
Military Press:
Rocky Press:
Front Plate Raises:

Leg Extensions (Multigym): 2nd Slot
Hamstring Stretches: Not Applicable


And I think thats about it for now, my gf will be taking some pictures of me within the next few days, both flexed and unflexed so ill post them as soon as they're taken. Has anyone got any poses they think are best for showing overall development?

Comments and suggestions are welcommed, sorry for the huuuuuge post.

 

that was my basic routine...chest tri, back bi, shoulder legs...abs and cardio everyday after lifting...but after those 3 days of weights, one day of just abs and cardio, like you, then 3 days weight training....so 6 weight training days and 1 cardio day

when i get back to the gym, i plan to do cardio everyday too

my goal is to be between 5-10% bodyfat

Just a bit about my mood...

The workout generally was a good one, apart from the cardio. But I feel pretty deflated and run down this evening, and this happens sometimes and to anyone reading this thinking theyre going through the same and wondering what they can do about it, I think the answer is nothing. You just have to let it pass and pick yourself back up again tomorrow and get on with things.

The reality of it is that everyone is going to feel down every now and then, and anyone who says they dont have down days is plain and simply a liar, unless theyre on prozac or something... which in this day and age is probably pretty common haha.


Anyway, thats how I feel today. Thought I would post about it for any beginners reading and wondering "how do all these people not have down days like me"... just to show that we do have down days, but most people don't mention them.


Thanks for reading again,
Scott.

haha cheers Fin.

These days happen after workouts for me sometimes, just got to deal with it.


Scott.

Hey Dannyc, yeah I remember you, definitely small world, and your same age as me by the looks, born in 1990?

I think I might be doing too much too, but the problem is when i'm actually out there doing it... it doesn't feel like im doing enough. I don't get DOMS often which makes me think that the workout wasn't very productive, and I get really p*@#~d off with myself for it. But at the same time I don't feel like I can increase the weight im lifting anymore without injuring myself. And another thing is the weight i'm lifting isn't increasing very fast. Maybe 0.6-1kg every 4-5 weeks or something and sometimes not at all in that amount of time... is that normal or too slow increase?.

When you say Wolf's guide, do you mean http://www.askscooby.com/excellent-postings/the_wolf%27s-guide-on-how-to-create-your-own-workout-routine-8172/ ?

And its ok Danny, I need the criticism to tell me what it is that i'm doing wrong. I've never stuck to a routine like this before until around 6-7weeks ago when I started. I always just did 3 weeks on... long time off... 3 weeks on again for the past 2-3 years. So no real programme.

I thought you were meant to do isolation before compound? because then when you've worn yourself out with the isolation, you can move onto compound and this helps you get the reps out because more muscles are being used? or is this wrong? :S.

The reason I don't do as much on my back is because I don't have much equipment for back... I've got a multigym that I do pulldowns and straight arm push downs on, thats it... I have a pullup bar for the door but its not wide enough for lat exercises really. The only other back exercise I can think of is bent arm pullovers with the barbell. I have to be careful about doing lower back exercises because of the condition I have. Can you suggest any other back exercises?


Thanks,
Scott.

So the last 2 days i've been pretty bad and eaten a few bits of crap.

On Thursday night I got a big bottle of Pepsi and had a pint of it, along with a Snickers Duo and half a pack of tesco double chocolate chip cookies over the course of about 3 hours. So that was bad. Then today I had 2 pints of Pepsi within about 4 hours of eat other and I bought some chicken and bacon filled fresh pasta from the supermarket and I had a pack of that with some mascarpone sauce on top, which was also pretty bad, and tasted pretty crap if im honest.

Not only that... but it made me feel incredibly sick for the rest of the night. And I got to a point during my workout when I thought I was going to throw it all back up. And thats just made me realise how bad junk food makes you feel when you haven't eaten it for such a long time.

The only reason I got any of it was because I had cravings. However, I think im slowly giving myself aversion therapy to junk food, because every time I have any of it, it makes me feel so sick. And as well as making me feel sick, it makes me feel guilty and annoyed that i'm working so hard to just go and eat some crap like that. Its just going to be the odd bad / junk food item every now and again from now on.

Anyway... all in all the last 2 days have been bad as far as my food intake goes, and I just thought I would share it with you to show you the up's and down's that im going through from time to time. I don't read a lot of peoples progress diaries, so I don't know if other people mention their down days and things, but i'm trying to give people a detailed idea of what its like for an average person like me.


Thanks,
Scott.