Ben2285's never ending quest of self-improvement

[President Wilson]

Decline Close Grip Bench
225 x 8
205 x 8
205 x 8

Holy smoke! No wonder your arms are so thick! Thats insane! I like your volume to, you are blasting your body beyond human limits. I like the superset on your pecs to where you SS machine flys with incline flys. Definately going to incorporate that my next hypertrophy pec day!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ben2285]

Originally Posted by President Wilson

Holy smoke! No wonder your arms are so thick! Thats insane! I like your volume to, you are blasting your body beyond human limits. I like the superset on your pecs to where you SS machine flys with incline flys. Definately going to incorporate that my next hypertrophy pec day!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hah thanks my man, I appreciate the compliments but my arms have a loooong way to go. I am a big fan of supersets on hypertrophy days .

[Ben2285]

Monday - Day 1 HST

DB Bench
2 sets 75 x 12

Decline Close Grip Bench
2 sets 115 x 12

Bent Over Row BB
2 sets 185 x 12

Close Grip Lat Pd
2 sets 145 x 12

Preacher Curls
2 sets 50 x 12

Left Arm DB Curl
2 sets 20 x 12

BB Squat
2 sets 245 x 12

Good Morning
2 sets 145 x 12

Well it is a big change from my normal split, but I always like to throw in something completely different every once in a while. The weights were very light today but it felt really good to have a whole body pump. I'm very eager to see how I will like this change, and I can't wait for my max weeks to come!

On another note, I am down to 205 from around 213ish and I am about as lean as I think I need to be at this point. Being that this split is only a 3 day, I will use it to transition back into a bulk while keeping my calories the same and seeing what my weight does. I will also likely add some low intensity cardio on my off days.

To give a brief description of how this split works:

- I will be doing high frequency (i.e. the same workout 3x/week on M/W/F)

- Weights build up to my max each session over the period of 6 sessions until I hit (or attempt to hit) my designated max for that rep range. So I will be maxing out every 2 weeks.

- To keep volume constant and at a good level I will be adding one set as I descend rep ranges (i.e. 2 sets for 12s, 3 sets for 8s, 4 sets for 5s). If I see it necessary I will add more.

- I have added an extra exercise for my left arm as it is developmentally inferior to my right arm.

- I purposely perform legs last as they are at the moment the area that needs improvement the least. (plus it makes them that much harder)

I have set some pretty lofty goals so we'll see how it goes

[will-work4andro]

Originally Posted by Ben2285

13 is thick as ****t hah. It took a while to get mine. I called and they told me they were in the process of getting their shipment of buckles in and they were a bit behind. Hopefully that problem has been resolved for ya. It took about 2 weeks all in all to get mine. What size belt did you buy and what does your waist measure?

Be prepared for some major pain,bruising, and discomfort hah but at the same time support that is unmatched. You are going to have to learn to breathe a bit different with it on too, but wait till you see how much it straightens you out when you push your abs into it. Enjoy my friend

i ordered a medium 30-33...so cross your fingers

[Commander]

Originally Posted by Ben2285

- I have added an extra exercise for my left arm as it is developmentally inferior to my right arm.

I have that same issue. For me, it is from breaking my left arm years ago. I never quite caught up from the atrohpy that occured. It just looks different from my right arm. Good luck.

[Ben2285]

Originally Posted by will-work4andro

i ordered a medium 30-33...so cross your fingers

I think that will be perfect

[Ben2285]

Originally Posted by Commander

I have that same issue. For me, it is from breaking my left arm years ago. I never quite caught up from the atrohpy that occured. It just looks different from my right arm. Good luck.

Thanks ! Yeah, for me its just an odd peak and is about 1/4" smaller than my dominant arm. We'll see how it goes!

[Ben2285]

Wednesday - HST 12's day 2

DB Bench
3 sets 80 x 12

Decline Close Grip
3 sets 165 x 12

BO Row
2 sets 200 x 12

Cable Machine Pulldown
3 sets 240 x 12

Preacher Curl
3 sets 60 x 12

Left Arm DB Curl
2 sets 20 x 12

Squat
2 sets 275 x 12

Good Morning
2 sets 155 x 12

Felt really great today, though the weights are still fairly light I got a good workout in. I decided to make two more small adjustments to the program.

1. I added one more set to most exercises. I feel I hit the volume sweet spot for myself now so I will use 3 sets for 12's, 4 for 8's and 5 for 5's.

2. I will be doing a one on one off split. So it will work out to be 3.5 days/week on average. I didn't see the need for two off days on the weekend, especially when I believe training every 48 hrs is optimal for hypertrophy.

I have a good feeling about this, hopefully it will be justified.

May get some pics up by the end of the weekend too to use for before/after comparisons.

[Ben2285]

And here are my goals for each rep range:

12's
DB Bench- 200 (100's)
Decline Close Grip- 205
BO Row- 260
Pulldown- 280
Preacher Curl- 100
Left Arm DB Curl- 40
Squat- 350
Good Morn- 195

8's
DB Bench- 230 (115's)
Decline Close Grip- 230
BO Row- 295
Pulldown- 300
Preacher Curl- 110
Left Arm DB Curl- 50
Squat- 395
Good Morn- 225

5's
DB Bench- 250 (125's)
Decline Close Grip- 255
BO Row- 325
Pulldown- 325
Preacher Curl- 125
Left Arm DB Curl- 60
Squat- 435
Good Morn- 245 (This may be subbed out as I'm not sure how comfortable I feel going heavy on a movement like this)

[Venom]

Looks like you are killing it, Ben!!

I like how your splits have so much detail to them. I do mine the same way! The detail is ridiculous.