New Routine Going Forward part 2 ~ The Sweet Life Of J and E

Previously I discussed the nutritional aspect of my routine going forward. Just remember, the calorie intake will adjust as you grow into your frame. I will be checking my weight and frame on a weekly to bi-weekly basis. I will be doing this by weighing in, bodyfat analysis, measurements (monthly) and photographs.

With the photographs, I will going through my prejudging routine to see what areas I need to improve on. I believe this will help a great deal. Some competitors believe in doing this when they are getting ready for a show. I believe that if you are considering competing in bodybuilding, you might as well work on your posing all year round. Whether it's once or twice a week, holding the poses will give you full control of your body. This will condition you so when you are on stage with the beaming lights, you won't die out. That's the problem I had with my competition last year. With losing all the weight I lost, which was 51lbs in 13 weeks, I didn't have any gas for the prejudging. It was a good experience though and after that day, I vowed to myself that I will never get that out of shape ever again. Below are some before and after pictures.

Before picture with my family plus the legend of David Pettaway aka @ActionMango via twitter. My weight was at 231lbs.

Backstage at the Hercules INBF Championships weighing in at 181lbs

My proudest moment and they will be more to come. I cant wait to get to where I'm looking to be!

For my routine, I have went to a more basic set up. Here is my routine for the next 12 weeks.

Day 1: Hamstrings/Calves/Abs

Day 2: Chest/Triceps

Day 3: Back/Biceps/Abs

Day 4: Quads/Inner-Outer thighs/Calves

Day 5: Shoulders/Abs/Biceps

Day 6: Rest

repeat

The first thing people usual ask is why do you do quads one day and hamstrings another. My answer is why not. The reasoning behind this techique was an article published in Muscular Development featuring Kai Greene. I believe it was right after is Arnold Classic win. He stated that training quads one day and hamstrings another gives him more time to focus on the respective muscles. I truly believe this and to my surprise, a lot of people train this way. If you think of it, big muscle groups get close to 16 sets. If you are training legs that day, that means it's going upwards to 36 sets when your working your entire lower body. That will average out close to 2 hours in the gym leaving you will less energy to complete your leg workout. When I do this separated workout, I really zone in on blasting my quads one day and hamstrings the next. Every leg workout is geared to that specific day and I have seen result. My outer sweep is more pronounce and the girth of my legs has improved. I will conuntie to utilized this technique for many years to come.

When it comes to training back, I'm focused on my lower lats and density. I'm lifting heavy with each and every workout. Focusing on my lower lats will give me a better V-Taper looks and it will make my waist look that much smaller. Just keep in mind that bodybuilding is all an illusion. We try to look the biggest even though we may not be able to lift crazy weight.

In every workout I do, I will finish out every bodypart with the FST-7 set. It stands for Fascial Stretch Training and the seven refers to 7 sets performed usually as the final exercise of a target bodypart. Basically you train that bodypart on any given day heavy as you normally would keeping the rep range between 8-12, but the last exercise you perform the seven sets to finish off that particular muscle, with minimal rest (30-45 seconds) in between to get the best pump. So for example, if I'm training shoulders, I will use side lateral to finish the day because I believe that you can never has too much width on your frame. The better shoulder width you have, the more pronouce your waist will look. Big shoulders, small waist and big legs win competitions. This techinque was developed by Hany Rambod.

So from here on out, my main focus will be adding to my X-Frame. Life is full of treasures we are all pirates at heart. I leave you with this thought.