By: Alton Hare

Anyway, these two weeks I have significantly increased volume and/or intensity to really stress my body right before my break, so that the two weeks off will provide more benefit. I'd like to draw the reader's attention to how I started out at a much lower level than I will be in these last two weeks, how I have progressed slowly, building my conditioning and recovery ability. If your not highly gifted, that's the way it has to be done, especially when you have been training consistently for about a year and your muscles have become significantly strong; because strength increases about four times as fast as recovery ability, it is easier to overtrain when you get much stronger. As an example I'll use bench since its so familiar to everybody, for instance, you start out training and you can bench 120 lbs for 8, maximum. Your get sore at first because your body isn't used to the stress, but then it goes away as your muscles quickly acclimate. A year later you bench 200 lbs. for 8, that's an extra eighty pounds on each rep, 640 pounds of extra stress.

So, if you take an elongated break, of a month or more, your strength may go down to 185 for 8, but your recovery drops off much faster. You come back and you will try to do near your old weight, and you'll probably get through the workout, but you'll overtrain terribly because your body is deconditioned. Just wanted to explain the reasoning behind that. That's also why people who have been training a VERY long time, 10 years or more, have to train less to see gains, because their recovery ability simply cannot catch up to the fantastic strength they have built. I think maybe (just my thoughts) this is the reason HIT became popular in older trainees who's recovery ability is down. Maybe, who knows, anyway, I'm gonna go ahead and get into the diet and the sets and the numbers and all that good stuff.

Monday- 10/01/01- Day 42- Back
6:45 Cheerios, banana, Big Whey in water
9:35 1 quart of milk
11:30 corndog, fries, 8 oz milk, 2 Peanut butter cookies
3:00 Big Whey in 16 oz milk, 5 g creatine
3:45 train
Deadlift: 415x3, 425x1 pause then 415x2, 365x5
Bent Rows: 155x11, 165x6, 155x8, partials until I couldn't move the weight, strip to 95 and went to failure then partials to failure, I just felt like I needed to work, still didn't feel like I worked hard enough though lol.
Pulldowns: 105x10, 95x10 too many bent rows now I can't do pulldowns w/ any weight :(
Close RG Pulldowns: 120x8, 110x10 drop to 75x12
Seated Rows: 85x11 drop to 65x? drop to 45x? total of 31 reps though
4:50 N Large, 5 g creatine
6:45 chicken pot pie, 2 boiled eggs, 1 slice bread, potato salad
8:45 3 ZMA caps
10:45 Big Whey in milk

I tried as hard as I cold to raise the intensity of this workout, but it just didn't seem hard enough, even with all the bent rows. I think I should take a break from deadlifting so I can concentrate more on isolating and annihilating my lats/rhomboids.

Tuesday- chest/tris- 10/02/01- Day 43
6:50 Cheerios, Big Whey in water, banana
9:30 1 qt. of milk
11:45 Beefaroni w/ cheese, fries, 8 oz milk, pudding
3:00 Big Whey in milk, 5 g creatine
3:30 banana
3:50 train
Bench: 240x8, 255x6, 275x4, 235x8, 205x11
DB Press: 100sx5, 90sx6, 80sx6 (benched pretty hard,
so this went down a little)
Superset flyes and cable flyes: 30sx10, 10 and 20x12,
10 respectively
Incline french presses: 65x12, 85x5, 65x9
Cable Pressdowns: 50x12, 50x10, 50x9
Dips: 7 plus 1 forced, 6 plus 2 forced, 4
Incline diamond push-ups: 5

5:00 N-Large, 5 g creatine
7:15 ham, two rolls, rice
8:45 3 zma caps (officially my last dose)
9:15 Big Whey in milk

What a fantastic chest/tris workout, I really annihilated both. Even though I had to decrease my weight on dumbbell presses, I was able to keep my intensity up, plus my chest was already smoked from my 5 sets of benching to failure. Of course this addition of workload to my first exercise decreased almost everything afterwards. That doesn't matter, the demand placed on my chest/tris will surely lead to an adaptation, so that those lifts will go up in the presence of extra bench workload and the muscles will get bigger.

Wednesday- off- 10/03/01- Day 44
7:00 Cheerios, Big Whey in 16 oz milk
9:40 1 qt of milk
11:45 pizza, fries, 8 oz skim milk, cup of fruit
3:30 king size snicker bar, Big Whey in 16 oz milk
5:30 chicken breast, 2 thighs, stuffing, beans
7:30 chicken breast, potato salad
9:30 Big Whey in 16 oz milk, 5 g creatine
Chest and tris are slightly sore today, not much, man recovery is awesome, I'm lovin' it!

Thursday- Day 45- 10/04/01- legs
7:00 cheerios and Big Whey
9:35 1 qt. of milk
11:30 6 chicken nuggets, fries, fruit Jell-O, green beans, 8 oz milk
3:15 Big Whey, 16 oz milk, 5 g creatine, banana
3:50 train
Squat: 315x8, 335x6, 345x4, 300x8, 255x14
On my last set when I racked the weight I got a splitting headache, I tried o go forward with my workout but it just got worse. I think I was dehydrated, anyway I got home and took some aspirin and laid on the floor for about 30 minutes and it faded. I should have been drinking more water, especially since its still pretty hot here and I'm on creatine. MY legs were completely exhausted anyway, but I think they wouldn't have been so fatigued if I'd been better hydrated.

Friday- Day 46- 10/05/01- bis/calves/shoulders
6:50 cheerios, banana, Big Whey
9:35 1 qt of milk
11:30 Chicken nuggets, 8 oz milk, fries, fruit jello
3:15 Big Whey, 16 oz milk, 5 g creatine
4:15 train
DB incline curls: 30sx10, 8, 25sx10, 25sx9, drop to 15sx10
lateral raises: run the rack 30s-15s, 21 reps. Then 25sx6
military press: 135x8, 145x6, 145x5, 125x7, 105x9
calf presses: 340x12, 380x10, 400x8, 360x8, 320x10, 320x9
5:00 N large, 5 g creatine
7:00 4 slices of pepp and mushroom pizza
9:30 Big Whey in 16 oz milk

Saturday- day 47- 10/06/01- off
9:30 4 eggs, 2 serving grits, 2 pieces of toast
12:30 grilled chicken sandwich
3:30 beefaroni w/ cheese
6:30 dbl cheeseburger and medium fry
9:30 protein bar, harvest bar, cliff bar
4:00 am Big Whey in 16 oz milk w/ 5 g creatine
Sunday- Day 48- 10/01/01- off

9:30 6 eggs, 2 serv grits, 1 slice toast, 3 slices bacon
12:30 16 oz T bone, some corn, 2 rolls
3:30 Powerbar
6:00 protein bar, cliff bar
7:00 roast beef, med. fry
(work again, putting my breaks right beside each other)
10:30 Big Whey in 16 oz milk

Monday- day 49- 10/08/01- back
LAST WEEK OF CREATINE
10:30 2 pieces of Texas type French toast w/ peanut butter and 16 oz milk
12:30 chicken sandwich
3:15 Big Whey in 16 oz milk and a banana
3:30 train
Kind of a light back workout today
DB rows: 70sx12, 70sx10 rt and 9 lft, 70sx9 rt and 7 lft
Bent Rows: 155x9, 145x8, 135x9
CRG Pulldowns: 135x10, 135x8, 120x10
wide seated rows: 90x8, 90x7, 75x10
4:15 N Large w/ 5 g creatine
7:30 lasagna, baked potato
11:00 Big Whey in 16 oz milk
I'm only taking 5 g creatine even on training days now because its my last week and I like to taper it off a little. It just makes sense to me to taper it a little when going off. For people who take 5 g a day regardless, I'd suggest just taking 5 g on training days your last week.

Tuesday- Day 50- 10/09/01- chest/tris
7:00 cheerios, Big Whey in milk
9:30 1 qt of milk
11:30 pizza, fris, 8 oz milk
3:05 Big Whey in 16 oz milk
4:15 train

bench: 245x8 (PR), 260x6 (PR), 280x4 (PR), 235x8, 185x12
DB press: 100sx5, 90sx6, 90sx5
Superset flyes and cables as always: 35sx8, 6, 30sx8;
25x10, 8, 20x8
Incline french presses: 85x7, 75x7, 65x9
Cable Pressdowns: 55x10, 55x9, 50x8
Dips: 8, 7, ext. rest then 8 more
Push-ups w/ feet raised: 4
5:30 N large w/ five grams creatine
7:30 chkn and dumplings and two rolls and green beans
9:30 Big Whey in 16 oz milk
Sheesh all the PRs... hehe

Wednesday- Day 57- 10/10/01- off
7:00 Big Whey in milk, cheerios
9:30 1 qt milk
11:30 chicken breast, vegetables, fries, 8 oz milk
3:15 Big Whey/milk
5:30 chicken and dumplings, 2 rolls
9:30 Big Whey in milk, 5 g creatine

Thursday- Day 52- 10/11/01- legs
7:00 cheerios (just felt too full for more)
9:30 1 qt. milk
11:30 chicken tenders, fries, apple sauce, 8 oz milk
3:05 Big Whey milk and banana

4:05 train: Squat: 315x8, 365x4, 365x2 (took it little easier on the squat) just to show u how much I increased from 2 weeks of NOT training, I did 390 for 4 my 1st leg workout back...
Leg Press: 16 platesx8, 7, 7
Leg Extension: 80x10, 8, 70x10 supersetted w/
Leg Curl: 90x12, 10, 80x10

5:05 N Large and 5 g creatine
7:30 4 slices big new yorker pizza
9:30 Big Whey in 16 oz milk

Friday- Day 53- 10/12/01- biceps
7:00 cheerios, Big Whey, 16 oz milk
9:30 1 qt of milk
11:30 sloppy joe, 8 oz milk, fries, green beans
3:15 Big Whey in 16 oz milk
I only trained biceps today because we did some intense shoulders and abs in weightlifting, plus my calves were a little tight from last week.

4:20 train
barbell curls: 55x21's, 85x8, 85x7, 95x4, 75x8
Dumbbell curls: 30sx10, 8, 25sx8, 25sx8
4:45 N Large w/ 5 g creatine (last dose!!!)
7:00 Powerbar, protein bar
12:30 Big Whey in milk

Saturday- off- day 54- 10/13/01
6:30 2 bcn egg and chs biscuits, cinnamon roll
3:00 grilled chicken sandwich, 24 oz milk, 2 pieces toast
7:00 beefaroni w/ cheese
11:00 Big Whey in 16 o z milk

Not sucha good day, but hey, sometimes living is a little more important than eating in a perfectly regimented manner. Do that for too long and you start feeling like a machine or robot, not a human being. Remember, your human, have fun in your life, don't devote every iota of energy to being a perfect bodybuilder. Why? because you CAN'T be a perfect bodybuilder no matter how hard you try. But you can be a damn good one if you enjoy it, so enjoy it and you'll actually do much better than if you do everything perfect and get bored and mechanical.

Sunday- day 55 (off for next 2 weeks)
8:30 4 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, 2 slices toast
11:00 Powerbar, protein bar
1:30 2 sngl deep dish pizzas
6:30 barbecued ribs, 2 rolls
9:30 Big Whey in 16 oz milk.

That's that for the last two weeks. Not a lot of gains on my squat, but don't worry I get that in order after I come back from my layoff. Leg training has just been a bit iffy, even though I love squats. Bench has obviously increased, but you ain't seen nothin' yet till I come back from my break, and bent row has increased quite a bit, again it gets even better after my layoff.

I hope this is helping a lot of people, and as always feel free to e mail me! Adios.

- Alton

beautifuldisaster420@yahoo.com

Recommend this article to a friend by e-mail here!

Back To Alton Hare's Main Page

Back To The Articles Main Page.

Related Articles
Phano's Training Journal 12
Keeping A Training Journal.
Online Training Journal: Q & A - Week 5!

SciFit Extra Strength HMB Pharmaceutical grade b-hydroxy b-methylbutyrate monohydrate. Learn More!