My new program (maybe)

[IronFist]

I don't think I like OVT. The first day kicked my pecs' ass, but I think I'm going to give this a try instead.

Ford, I appreciate you answering all my OVT questions, although I'm not going to actually do it right now. I'll still archive it for later tho in case I decide to do it later.

Maximization Throught Specialization (http://www.ruggedmag.com/index.php?type=Article&i=1&a=6)

Perhaps some tweaking of that program is required, but I think that's what I'm going to work with now. I'll post what I'm going to do once I get it written down.

[IronFist]

Ok here's how I'm going to do it. Since I'm choosing my arms as the body part in need of specialization, my first 4 weeks will have arms as specialization and everything else as maintance.

Monday Arm specialization
5RM
Biceps 12 sets of 3-4 (probably dumbell curls but maybe ::gasp:: an isolation machine cuz I have a problem preventing my front delts from becoming active during curls)
Triceps 12 sets of 3-4 (skull crushers)
Rest 1-2 minutes

Wednesday Chest/Back main
5x5 Bench
5x5 Pullups (or perhaps lat pulldown if for some reason I can't get the full 5 sets with pullups)

F Arm spec
12RM
Biceps 5 sets of 8-12 (same exercises as above)
Triceps 5 sets of 8-12 (same exercises as above)
Rest 1-2 minutes

N Quad Main
5x5 Squat or DL

So that's most likely it for the first 4 weeks. The second 4 weeks I will likely do quads for speciliazation

[IronFist]

Here's what I was told from MikeTheBear on Pavel's forum with reference to increasing weight:

"Here's the "official" version of what to do (from Joel Marion, one of the authors) -

For the 12x3-4, try to get 4 reps per set if possible, not to failure, and do 3 if you need to. If you can get all 48 reps in the 12 sets, increase the weight 5-10 lbs.

If you're primarily interested in strength like I am, here's what I would do: add 10 lbs. each week (i.e., add 10 lbs. to the weight you use for 12x3 and for the weight you use for the 5x10). This type of progression is based on the Smolov routine - very intense and produces major strength gains. If that seems too much, add just 5 lbs. "

[IronFist]

First workout tonight:

Curl bar curls:
I had no idea what my 5RM for curls was so I played around til I found what I thought it was:

8 sets of 4 reps with 1 min rest
4 sets of 4 reps with an isolation machine (cuz of problem in above post) with 1 min rest.

So since I got all those for 4 reps I guess I'm increasing the weight next time.

Skull crushers with curl bar:
8 sets of 4 reps with 1 min rest
2 sets of 4 reps with DBs
2 sets of 4 reps with original curl bar and weight

It's very weird doing such low reps with curls and skull crushers.

Ok.

Skull Crusher form question: If I bring the bar behind my head I can do them, but if I lower the bar so it's just over the top of my skull, it's like twice as hard. Is that proper form? Where are you supposed to bring the bar down to?

Thanks.

[Cheese Dog]

You are supposed to bring them to your forehead ( can't crush your skull if you don't touch your skull :D !

When you bring the bar behind your head your lats come into play and make the exercise easier.

[Ford Prefect]

tehehe. Cheesedog is correct. It looks pretty solid. I'll always have a special place in my heart for 5x5's. :) The heavy skull crushers will really shoot your bench up. I've had great results doing low rep tricep stuff with skull crushers, pin presses, and jm presses.

[IronFist]

bump cuz I'm starting a new cycle on this program.

That cycle above was working well. My arms do not grow well from benching and weighted pullups alone, so my chest and back were kind of more developed than my arms. After 3 weeks on that program, my arms were looking much better and I had gained 5lbs! (a lot for me cuz I'm an ectomorph) Then at the end of the 3rd week I got food poisoning and was sick for 5 days and lost all the weight I had gained as well as all the size. I finished the 4th week of the cycle once I could eat again but my weights and size were both down.

Boo food poisoning.

Alright whatever. So now I'm going to do another 4 weeks, but this time specializing legs. My legs are my second most lagging bodypart (after arms). So it looks like this:

M - with 5RM weight
Box Squats - 12 sets of 3-4. Rest 1-2 minutes

W
Bench 5x5. Rest 1-2 minutes
Pullups 5x5

F - with 12RM weight
Box Squats - 5 sets of 8-12

N
Biceps curls 5x5. Rest 1-2 minutes
Skull Crushers 5x5

For the last 4 weeks I'll probably go back and do arms again. Heh. As long as I don't get food poisoning anymore. (Knock on wood)