Now as my hero, Skip La Cour does I'm training a 5-day split - something not that common in training which I think is quite unfortunate because I find it to be one of the best splits available to us. Perhaps you think that 5 days a week will lead to fatigue, uninterest and poor gym performance I'm here to say that if you are focused and dedicated 5 days is nothing! Especially if you love going to the gym - my split in my opinion eases the stress of training on your body by having less body parts to train at once and more importantly it allows you to concentrate on one body part without previously wearing it out already in prior compound exercises. For example, you're doing the very popular back/bicep combination used in a 3-day split. Problem is that when doing your back you're often compounding your forearms, biceps and triceps in unorthodox movements that will not necessarily increase muscle size. What you are doing here is purely tiring your biceps and meaning that you can't work to your full potential in the bicep training following your back training or vice-versa. I mean really this is going to happen what ever split you do but I'm trying to minimize it - even on arms day (biceps/triceps/forearms) I'm not compounding other muscles TOO much.

First of all here's my workout split:

I'll be starting it on Monday though, tomorrow and on the weekend I'll be doing just a small light weight, high rep circuit just to sort of get back into things after my 2-week break from weights training because of other commitments. You will notice that I don't train calves, the reason being that they are already quite developed and I will be relying on my bike to work me calves just to keep them the same size so they don't look too silly. I also do abs on my shorter workouts. ok here we go...

Monday: Chest/Abs
Tuesday: Back
Wednesday: Legs
Thursday: Arms
Friday: Shoulders/Abs
Sat/Sun: Morning or Afternoon Cardio

Another thing is that after each workout I usually do 30 minutes cardio on whatever is the best piece of equipment in the gym. I will detail my workouts when I actually do them and at the end of next week will put them all together so u can easily view them all at once to see what workouts i do and exactly what I do in each workout.

As I think I said in my introduction I have quite a decent amount of supplements that I will be using over the next 4 weeks before I will re-assess my supplementation according to my goals and progress. At the moment I already have AST Micronized Creatine, generic brands of Anti-Oxidants and Cytodyne's Cytoplex MRP and a few other MRP's also that I still have from previous supplies of supplements. I am hoping to receive in the next day or so my next order from Bodybuilding.com's online store (I'm hoping they don't get held up at customs again) the following; Sportpharma L-Carnitine, Sportpharma Amino Maxx, Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey, Chromium Picolinate, AST Multi-Pro 32x, AST GL3 L-Glutamine, AST Vanadyl Powder, AST VP2 Whey Isolate and AST ALA 200. I carefully selected these supplements to make sure they were quite simple and most importantly safe - it took me about 3 weeks before I found this stack and I'm quite positive I'll see some great results from it! If you're wondering why I have so many AST supplements it's because I have a high respect for the company and believe that it makes good supplements that actually do their desired purpose. So to make it easier for you to view this is my total list of supplements:

AST Micronized Creatine (1000g)
AST Multi-Pro 32x (300caps)
AST Vanadyl Powder (196g)
AST ALA 200 (90caps)
AST GL3 L-Glutamine (300g)
AST VP2 Whey Isolate (2lbs)
Sportpharma L-Carnitine (45caps) x2
Sportpharma Amino Maxx (300caps)
Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey (5lbs)
Cytodyne Cytoplex (20 packets/servings)
Chromium Picolinate (only to be used on rest days)
Anti-Oxidants

Just before I leave you I'll give you a tiny little summary on these supplements. Firstly I started off with the bare essentials; Creatine, Glutamine, Protein and worked from there. Now I got the highest quality Creatine and the highest quality Glutamine so I wasn't about to stop there so I got what is definitely the best quality whey protein - VP2 Whey Isolate (also from AST). I also got some cheaper whey to use as a meal during the day. I'll explain next week when I spend all of next week talking about supplementation and the various supplements and what exactly it is that they are supposed to do. In my stack I made sure I stayed healthy and included Multi-Pro 32x which is a great multi-vitamin and also some anti-oxidants. >From there I then I added amino acids (Amino Maxx) and to help force it into the muscles I included Vanadyl in the form of powder. ALA 200 does a very similar thing - this helps the recovery process. For fat burning I got safe supplements, L-Carnitine and Chromium Picolinate - both very effective. And last but not least for a quick meal with everything you need in it you need your MRP's - nothing beats them, especially when they're tasting which isn't very often :P

Just before I go I'll just let you know what to expect for the rest of this week. Tomorrow I will be including how my supplementation program will look and I will also describe my workouts in detail as well as the forms of cardio i feel are best. On Saturday and Sunday I'll show the circuit program I'm using on sat and sun this week and will also include two of my past articles - updated with better info! I will also have a Q&A section of the best questions on the boards this week.

I hope I haven't made too many typing errors :P
I was in a bit of a rush tonight,
Ben

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Protein

Meal Replacement Powders (MRP's) < - be careful of the ingredients of MRP's In terms of fat burning supplements I don't think it's that necessary for younger lifters but if I was to recommend a safe supplement for fat-burning it would be L-Carnitine which is supposed to encourage your body to use your fat stores as forms of energy. Now some people say you can achieve the same level of results without supplements but unfortunately I would definitely have to disagree with them. Good supplement stacks give a huge advantage to any lifter whatever his goal may be and used along side a great diet and lifting program are invaluable! One myth about supplements is that they'll do all the 'dirty' work for you - they don't! There is absolutely no substitute for hard work and there never will be! Although it's a really bad example the only example I can think of is likening supplements to a shovel - a shovel only quickens the process of digging up dirt, you have to put the effort in to actually do it though. (haha, that's such a pathetic example!)

Two supplements off the top of my head that I personally feel teens should avoid are any hormonal supplements (self explanatory) and E/C/A's (because ephedra just ain't safe for kids or really anyone for that matter). And of course if you've spoken to me on the boards or read my past articles you'll know I'm totally against any use of steroids by everyone - I'm not saying I'm right or wrong it's just my personal opinion and also for those people who smoke (and I know there's lotsa teens that do) - just QUIT! Anyway there's my view on supplements - you can't win with out them but they're by no means miracle drugs there's still lots of work on your behalf!

Here's my supplementation program - it's quite big but the supplements I have are actually quite simple - which is the way I like to keep it! I haven't actually received the supplements which is why there will be SOME CHANGES made to my program when I do receive them depending for example on some on the things written on the supplement containers etc.. This'll be in the format of a total day Meal/Supplement program (I haven't worked out all meal times) but breakfast/lunch/dinner are all there but anyway enough said, here it is:

8AM - WAKEUP
Generic Brands of Anti-Oxidants (2caps)
AST GL3 L-Glutamine (5g)

8:15AM
Sportpharma L-Carnitine (2caps)
Sportpharma Amino Maxx (3caps)

8:35AM **WORKOUT**

9:20AM **CARDIO**

10AM
AST Micronized Creatine (5g - must be at least 2 hrs after taking L-Glutamine)
AST Vanadyl Powder (1 scoop with Creatine)

10:30AM - MEAL ONE
AST VP2 Whey Isolate (1 scoop in water)
AST Multi-Pro 32X (1)
AST ALA 200 (1)

11:30AM
Sportpharma Amino Maxx (3)

12:30PM - LUNCH, MEAL TWO
Chicken and Salad Sandwiches

2:30PM - MEAL THREE
Cytodyne Cytoplex MRP (1)
AST ALA 200 (1)

3:15PM
AST Multi-Pro 32X (1)
Generic Brand Chromium Picolinate (1)
Sportpharma L-Carnitine (1)

4:00PM - **Afternoon CARDIO**

4:30PM - MEAL FOUR
Mixed Fruit and/or Vegetables

6:30PM - DINNER, MEAL FIVE
AST ALA 200 (1)

6:45PM
AST Micronized Creatine (5g)
AST Vanadyl Powder (1 scoop)

7:45PM
AST Multi-Pro 32X (1)
Amino Maxx (3)

8:30PM - MEAL SIX
Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey (1 scoop in skim milk)

9:30PM
AST GL3 L-Glutamine (5g)

11:15PM
L-Carnitine (1)

So there you have it, that's roughly my diet/supplementation plan for the time being - it will probably change next week when I receive my supplements - I'll be sure to let you know if I do change it though!

Till tomorrow,
Ben

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Saturday, 2nd December 2000 Ok, here it is - this is for the most part the workouts I will be following throughout the next 9 or so weeks, nothing fancy but hopefully something very effective :P The following contains my split as well as the lifts/exercises I will be doing each workout - I will be beginning my on-going commentary I guess you could call it about each of my workouts. Hopefully I will be getting some pictures up real soon for before and after shots of me. Here's my program, for my supplementation/diet program see yesterday's journal entry.

Monday: Chest/Abs/Calves

Flat Bench Press
Incline Bench Press
Decline Bench Press
Cable Crossovers (depending on strength)

Hanging Leg Raises
Crunches
Decline Bench Sit-ups

Tuesday: Back/Abs

Pullover Machine
Dumbbell Rows
Lat Pulldowns
Seated Rows

Hanging Leg Raises
Crunches
Decline Bench Sit-ups

Wednesday: Quads/Hams

Leg Extensions (in three different toe positions - in/out/straight to hit all three sections of quads)
Sled Hack Squats
Leg Presses (feet wide apart for quads)
Leg Presses (feet close together, toes pointing straight forward for hams, pushing from heels)
Lying Leg Curls
Standing Leg Curls

Thursday: Biceps/Triceps/Forearms

Alternating Dumbbell Curls
Barbell Curls
Preacher Curls
Machine Tricep Dips
Cable Pushdowns
Barbell Wrist Curls
Barbell Reverse Wrist Curls

Friday: Shoulder/Traps/Abs

Shoulder Presses (Military Presses)
Dumbbell Lateral Raises
Dumbbell/Arnold Presses
Front Delt Press
Upright Rows (close and wide grip for traps and shoulders respectively)

Hanging Leg Raises
Crunches
Decline Bench Sit-up
Dumbbell Shrugs

Saturday/Sunday: Cardio

Any Cardio (just once - Cycling, Stationary Bike, Treadmill, Walk Dog, Stairmaster, X-Trainer)

Tomorrow I will be doing my first weekly Q&A's from the teen bodybuilding section of the boards. Also I'd very much appreciate some feedback about what everyone thinks about the journal so far... gimme a buzz at the Teen Bodybuilding sections of the bodybuilding.com message boards. Thanks and enjoy your weekend!

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Ben C.
benny@toughguy.net

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