Weighted Chinups First Cycle - Test Cyp 12 Weeks

[weighted chinup]

Damn @weighted chinup , sorry I'm so late to the party....

Your workout routines are pretty sick my man....

I'm in and look forward to seeing your progressionseses

Good to see that you are here for the show my friend, and thank you, this log will be centered mostly around my workouts / training, so I am glad to hear that the workouts are interesting and worth following. Thank you for your support.

 

[weighted chinup]

Week 3 9/27/2014

Weight 206lbs

Alright guys, so while Its too early in the cycle to notice drastic changes in overall body composition and large increases in lbm, I can safely say I am beginning to see the process slowly starting. At this point some minor changes I am noticing are improved chest thickness, greater forearm density, rounder / fuller looking biceps, and overall looking a little bit fuller.

That being said, none of these improvements are major, and the majority of them can be attributed to glycogen super compensation and I.M water, It is still much too early to observe drastic improvements in LBM and body composition.

But physique wise, I am without a doubt looking fuller and a bit bigger overall, with improvements in muscle fullness, shape, etc...

Feels good man.

Today was leg day, and it went amazingly well, performance wise I felt great with a slight improvement in strength, felt good the entire time, everything felt easy. I felt like I could front squat my 10RM all day, I didn't even want to stop, but 2 hours is plenty of time for training legs imo.

No increased weights yet, but RDL's felt way easier, a few reps stronger. Front squat went by perfectly imo, a few reps stronger here as well. I feel like I will be adding weight on the bar pretty soon, at least if this workout is a good indicator of things to come.

Legs are feeling much fuller and harder, and my performance has improved slightly. I would call that a successful leg day all things considered...

Workout - push/pull/legs/push/pull/legs

legs - quads hamstrings calves etc

Second leg day of the week

Romanian Deadlifts 350lb x10
50 Total reps
10, 10 , 10 , 11 , 10

Straight sets.

- These felt waay easier. I even got a few extra reps in on the last couple of sets, I normally get like 5-6 reps in the last 2 sets with this weight, whereas this time I was able to get 10 reps in all of my sets in order to reach my rep goal for 50 total reps. I felt really good doing these, improved depth and I even had an easier time with the myostatic reflex.

Front Squat 185lb x 10
50 total reps
10, 6 , 5 , 5 , 5, 5 , 4 , 5 , 4 , 3

Narrow stance
Maximal depth way below parallel
Heels placed on edge of 45lb plate because no weightlifting shoes

- Performance was excellent here, felt great doing these and had a shit eating grin on my face the entire time. Maximum depth of course, zero issues maintaining speed on the explosive, a few reps stronger, less rest time needed in between sets. Nothing huge strength wise yet, I don't want to over-hype the small improvement over my previous workout, but when an exercise that gives you so much pleasure in your training routine suddenly becomes easier and feels better...I think its worth mentioning.

Aside from being a few reps stronger on a few of the sets on this lift and the overall feeling of ease, I would also like to mention on certain sets I would do the rep with a 2 second or so pause in the hole / bottom position just because the increased tension and higher effort work feels good...I had zero issues maintaining bar speed even if I did the occasional rep with a pause, the weight went up nice and quick. A definite improvement here, and overall my back was more upright towards the end when the fatigue really starts to set in, speed was good the entire time, never felt heavily fatigued, and form never took a hit at any point during the lift...I could have done these all day.

I am expecting to be getting stronger in these very soon. I look forward to what week 4 does to my front squat.

Single leg. Leg Extension 45lb x 15
80 total reps per leg
15, 10 , 10 , 10 , 10 , 10 , 10 , 8

- No rest, alternating between left and right leg. Decent isolation exercise for quads, doing them single legged definitely feels better for me. Some high fatigue isolation work to compliment all the front squatting, and a leg extension is a great lift for this purpose since its different enough from squatting it should give me some improved motor unit recruitment, hitting the quads differently than squatting movements. Variety is always good for hypertrophy.

Single Leg. Leg Curl 45lb x 15
45 total reps per leg
15, 15 , 15

- Same deal, no rest, alternating left to right. Just some extra isolation to hit my back legs / hamstrings on top of the romanian deadlifts...definitely a useful isolation lift, but nothing imo comes close to the rdl for growing out your back legs..these are good for the extra variety and volume, since I respond well to them.

 

[Ozzy619]

Right on, I've been looking forward to this cycle for awhile now. I've been working alot so haven't been on here like I should. Very detailed log my brother and everything looks spot on. I think you'll get good gains from Astro's Test with your routine and caloric intake. Ill most likely base my next cycle off this log.

 

[weighted chinup]

Right on, I've been looking forward to this cycle for awhile now. I've been working alot so haven't been on here like I should. Very detailed log my brother and everything looks spot on. I think you'll get good gains from Astro's Test with your routine and caloric intake. Ill most likely base my next cycle off this log.

Always good to hear from you big guy, glad you showed up. I appreciate your support as always, I think this log will be especially interesting for you as well since its training centric . Your gonna run a tren cycle in the coming weeks you mentioned, correct? Thats gonna be some crazy shit, getting strong and recomping like crazy, I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes for you, you've been training hard so it will be awesome to see what some good quality tren does this time around.

 

[Oregonstrong]

Nice work WC! Definitely Subscribed! Very detailed and organized log. Keep up the work brother as I know you will! I have a feeling you will be hitting all of you strength gain goals, no problem brother.

 

[Ozzy619]

Always good to hear from you big guy, glad you showed up. I appreciate your support as always, I think this log will be especially interesting for you as well since its training centric . Your gonna run a tren cycle in the coming weeks you mentioned, correct? Thats gonna be some crazy shit, getting strong and recomping like crazy, I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes for you, you've been training hard so it will be awesome to see what some good quality tren does this time around.

Yes sir, its a tren stack from Astro so looking to finally get on your weighted lifts level.

 

[4leafclover]

Chinup! I didn't know you were on your first cycle! I'm going to follow this one, your writing is very nice and detailed. Love it!

I know you don't like to use higher reps, but something I learned from Arnold (reading and following his programs) is that high rep ranges in cables (non-free weights) and 1st rep of a set does wonders for the pump. Especially since you like low rest (which I feel personally, helps the pump, too much rest aka 1 min + and I lose the pump).

Do me a favor and for one of your workouts, throw in a rep of 30 at the beginning of your sets, I'm not talking super light weight either (no bar shit) and see what you think. For instance, I'll do (flat barbell bench) 135x30, 5 sets 205 x 10. Another one of my favorites after hitting all the heavy compounds is to go to cables and do 30-15-12-10 or 20-12-10-8 it really elevates the pump to a whole new level!


I don't know who said you don't get strength off of test, but I get pretty damn good strength gains from test, sure it's not the same as win or dbol but test lets you pack on more muscle which coincidentally = more strength. You should notice good strength gains in week 8, over what you started at pre-cycle. It's just test isn't a WHAM juice, so it's not the same type of gain as with say tren. Well maybe test p and suspension is wham juice...

 

[mghoward74]

^^^yep....cable reps will give you crazy pumps that sometimes dumbells/barbells just can't do

 

[weighted chinup]

Nice work WC! Definitely Subscribed! Very detailed and organized log. Keep up the work brother as I know you will! I have a feeling you will be hitting all of you strength gain goals, no problem brother.

Thank you Oregon, and good to have you here, I appreciate the support man. Hopefully the following weeks things will get really interesting up in here, I have a feeling they will!

 

[weighted chinup]

Yes sir, its a tren stack from Astro so looking to finally get on your weighted lifts level.

Some good quality Tren combined with the work you've been putting in and I guarantee your weighted lifts will be on a whole other level in a short amount of time, you should have no problem getting 2 plate chin ups for reps, probably even stronger than that, you will see, its gonna get crazy. I'm Looking forward to seeing it unfold!

 

[weighted chinup]

Chinup! I didn't know you were on your first cycle! I'm going to follow this one, your writing is very nice and detailed. Love it!

I know you don't like to use higher reps, but something I learned from Arnold (reading and following his programs) is that high rep ranges in cables (non-free weights) and 1st rep of a set does wonders for the pump. Especially since you like low rest (which I feel personally, helps the pump, too much rest aka 1 min + and I lose the pump).

Do me a favor and for one of your workouts, throw in a rep of 30 at the beginning of your sets, I'm not talking super light weight either (no bar shit) and see what you think. For instance, I'll do (flat barbell bench) 135x30, 5 sets 205 x 10. Another one of my favorites after hitting all the heavy compounds is to go to cables and do 30-15-12-10 or 20-12-10-8 it really elevates the pump to a whole new level!


I don't know who said you don't get strength off of test, but I get pretty damn good strength gains from test, sure it's not the same as win or dbol but test lets you pack on more muscle which coincidentally = more strength. You should notice good strength gains in week 8, over what you started at pre-cycle. It's just test isn't a WHAM juice, so it's not the same type of gain as with say tren. Well maybe test p and suspension is wham juice...

Whats happening 4leaf! Thanks for showing up and supporting this log brother, its great to have you here.

Your on the money imo when it comes to high rep work giving you legendary pumps, I actually do quite a bit of high rep isolation with 20-30 reps per set, I just didn't really go into much detail about them when I logged the workout, but I will be sure to next time since they are extremely enjoyable, there just isn't a lot to report on, aside from a wicked pump and some nice gains.

On push day I do a few variants of lateral raises and I often get 20-30 reps in some of the sets that I do on certain lateral raise variants, usually after I do the lift with my 10RM, these work great when used on top of your major lifts that you are trying to get stronger in. Rope pressdowns is another one, after I do rope pressdowns with my 10 rep max, I switch to single arm rope pressdowns and get about 20-30 reps per set. These are absolutely amazing, pump aside, the high rep work has been really useful for hypertrophy. Rope pressdowns are the only lift with cables I have in my routine, aside from lying cable curls.

So for example, for tricep isolation what I normally do is -

Tricep Rope Pressdown 115lb x 10-15
10-15, 10 , 10 , 10 , 10 , 10 , 10

then right after I do that, I do the following

Single arm tricep rope pressdown 30lb x 20-30
20-30, 20 , 20 , 20 , 20

I really love doing these, these are a consistent part of my routine and are really effective imo. I am already fairly strong in rope pressdowns so obviously the gains slow down a lot, and I seem to respond really well to doing these high fatigue sets with high reps after I get my normal volume in with my 10 rep max.

Obviously the majority of my tricep development comes from doing heavy weighted dips for 8-10 reps and a lot of volume, and next to that doing Rope pressdowns with an 8-10 rep max, but I have a pretty high capacity for volume/work and the high rep work thrown in towards the end has been pretty useful and definitely something that I enjoy.

I am going to try the progression method for high rep work that you outlined, Incline I'm thinking would work great with this. Probably just do a set of 135x20 or something and then go straight into my 10 rep max. Normally when I do high rep work for Isolation I just do high reps for the whole lift, I've never tried taking a compound and doing the first set with a high rep set then going into my working weight / 10 rep max, I will have to try it out and report back to you at some point.

Your advice is always welcome brother, thanks again and I hope you stick around to see how this unfolds.

 

[weighted chinup]

End of Week 3 9/28/2014

Weight 206lbs

Rest Day

So the 3rd week is over and while I didn't really increase the weight on any of my lifts, the only two I can think of are seated rows and dumbbell lateral raises, I have noticed a definite improvement in size and fullness, minor improvements in strength, and general improvements in performance, which became readily apparent when I trained legs on Saturday.

I think week 4 is going to get really interesting, I feel like I will be able to up the weight on Weighted Dips, Incline Barbell Bench, Front Squat, RDL, and possibly even become a few reps stronger per set on Weighted Chinups. At the very least I am guessing these lifts will feel easier and I will be a few reps stronger, so I am hopeful to make some increases in weight being lifted soon. Hopefully week 4 is when things really start to get interesting.

Tomorrow is going to be a PUSH session for me, so I am looking forward to seeing improvements in my Weighted Dip, as I am still pushing my pre-cycle poundage's for Weighted Dips, 100lb @ 206lb bw x 10 reps for 60 total reps. I am really hoping for a 3-4 plate weighted dip when all is said and done and the cycle is wrapping up, I think it should be definitely achievable this cycle.

 

[4leafclover]

Whats happening 4leaf! Thanks for showing up and supporting this log brother, its great to have you here.

Your on the money imo when it comes to high rep work giving you legendary pumps, I actually do quite a bit of high rep isolation with 20-30 reps per set, I just didn't really go into much detail about them when I logged the workout, but I will be sure to next time since they are extremely enjoyable, there just isn't a lot to report on, aside from a wicked pump and some nice gains.

On push day I do a few variants of lateral raises and I often get 20-30 reps in some of the sets that I do on certain lateral raise variants, usually after I do the lift with my 10RM, these work great when used on top of your major lifts that you are trying to get stronger in. Rope pressdowns is another one, after I do rope pressdowns with my 10 rep max, I switch to single arm rope pressdowns and get about 20-30 reps per set. These are absolutely amazing, pump aside, the high rep work has been really useful for hypertrophy. Rope pressdowns are the only lift with cables I have in my routine, aside from lying cable curls.

So for example, for tricep isolation what I normally do is -

Tricep Rope Pressdown 115lb x 10-15
10-15, 10 , 10 , 10 , 10 , 10 , 10

then right after I do that, I do the following

Single arm tricep rope pressdown 30lb x 20-30
20-30, 20 , 20 , 20 , 20

I really love doing these, these are a consistent part of my routine and are really effective imo. I am already fairly strong in rope pressdowns so obviously the gains slow down a lot, and I seem to respond really well to doing these high fatigue sets with high reps after I get my normal volume in with my 10 rep max.

Obviously the majority of my tricep development comes from doing heavy weighted dips for 8-10 reps and a lot of volume, and next to that doing Rope pressdowns with an 8-10 rep max, but I have a pretty high capacity for volume/work and the high rep work thrown in towards the end has been pretty useful and definitely something that I enjoy.

I am going to try the progression method for high rep work that you outlined, Incline I'm thinking would work great with this. Probably just do a set of 135x20 or something and then go straight into my 10 rep max. Normally when I do high rep work for Isolation I just do high reps for the whole lift, I've never tried taking a compound and doing the first set with a high rep set then going into my working weight / 10 rep max, I will have to try it out and report back to you at some point.

Your advice is always welcome brother, thanks again and I hope you stick around to see how this unfolds.

It's all about the pump brother!!!

You gave me an idea for tricep day! Going to try your single rope pressdown, normally for triceps I start flat close grip barbell, then skull crusher, single over head dumbbell extension, then standing tricep press down. I'll replace my single over head, with the single arm rope press this week, but put the single arm right after the rope press down like you have outlined. I don't do any dips, I may have to try these out too. I will have to see how I feel come bicep/tri day.

I'm switching training methods this week, I was on 2x a week per body part, going to try shredded's one body part every 9 days. So your log about what types of exercises you use, has been giving me ideas about some new moves I might try.

 

[4leafclover]

End of Week 3 9/28/2014



Tomorrow is going to be a PUSH session for me, so I am looking forward to seeing improvements in my Weighted Dip, as I am still pushing my pre-cycle poundage's for Weighted Dips, 100lb @ 206lb bw x 10 reps for 60 total reps. I am really hoping for a 3-4 plate weighted dip when all is said and done and the cycle is wrapping up, I think it should be definitely achievable this cycle.

One thing I have found to be very helpful when trying to achieve a big poundage gain like you want on your dips is to do 1-2 weeks of powerlifting rep range. Adding strength I have found, has helped me when moving up weight in the 8-10 rep range. I'll give you my two favorite versions. Put your dips first, do 10 sets x 4 reps or 30,8,6,4,2. If you want to shock the muscle, when you get to the last set (if you did 10x4, you need to add a little weight) start a strip set, NO REST! That should add tremendous strength if done during peak serum levels, enough to propel you towards you goal!

 

[mghoward74]

You guys should try.....Nicely suggesting
1.) tricep pushdown with close grip. Heavy for 10- 12 reps
2.) Over head extension with close grip. Heavy for 10-12 reps
3.) Come back to triccep pushdown wide grip for 10-12 reps
4.) single reverse grip tricep push down 10-12 reps
all cables

Then go to weighted dips

This from what I've done with crush your tri's ( major pump). You'll develop that much more fuller look on the arms, making them look huge.

That's how my arms got massive. The biggest my arms have ever been was 22 1/2. Now they're just a measley 19 1/2.

good luck....sorry to butt in so much

 

[weighted chinup]

Week 4 9/29/2014

Weight 206lbs

Strength Increases
Weighted Dips +15lbs
current weight 115lb at 206lb bw x 10

Getting stronger here guys. 3 plates is happening this cycle, no question. 4 plates is definitely a real possibility at this point.

Not much else to say, added 15lbs on my weighted dip, a lot of the times with these lifts you are actually capable of pushing a heavier weight for the same amount of reps, but mentally you convince yourself you are not strong enough and never bother trying. When you say fuck it and try it anyway because you are feeling good and you end up getting the same amount of reps, you realize just how important mental strength is as well. That's enough rambling for now.

Incline felt way easier, a few reps stronger, I will be upping the weight on this one soon.

Triceps are seeing some improvements, chest is getting noticeably thicker and bigger, slightly improved roundness in side delts and a tiny bit better side delt separation.

Felt really strong today. I will probably try pushing more weight on weighted dips in my next session this week, why the fuck not.

Workout - push/pull/legs/push/pull/legs

push - chest side-delt front-delt tricep

First PUSH session of the week.

Weighted Dips 115lbs x 10 , at 206lb
60 total reps
10, 6 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 4 , 5 , 5 , 4 , 3-4

Short rest periods

- I am very pleased with that 15lb increase in weight. These felt a bit harder but rep wise I was still getting just as many reps in the subsequent sets, depth was good, felt great doing these and I will definitely be upping the weight soon.

Incline barbell bench wide grip reduced incline 175lb x 10
50 total reps
10, 7 , 6 , 6 , 6 , 6 , 8 , 5

Short rest periods
Reduced Incline
Wide Grip

- Again, much easier. A few reps stronger than my last session on some of the sets. I had a buddy give me a spot for a few sets about half way through, so that would explain why I was able to maintain strength in the latter part of the lift so well, even getting 8 reps towards the end. Weight will be upped soon.

Peck deck fly 180lb x 10
50 total reps
10, 10 , 10 , 10 , 10

- Easy. Straight sets, nothing to report.

Side delt work -

Dumbbell side lateral raise 85lb x 25 - 25, 25 , 25 , 25 Dumbbell side lateral raise reduced weight 45lb x 25 - 25, 25 , 25 , 25 Seated Dbell Lateral Raise 35lb x 20 - 20, 20 , 20 Single Arm Machine Lateral Raise 120lb x 30 alternating left / right arm no rest - 30, 30 , 30 , 30

Much stronger on my side delt isolation. I went into more detail about my side delt work in an earlier entry, but to summarize, I responded extremely well to high volume and progressive overloading dumbbell lateral raises, side delts are easily one of my best muscles and I was stronger in my side delt work and noticeably fuller while doing these.

Tricep work - Rope press-down 115lb x 15
15, 15, 15 , 15 , 10 , 10

Single Arm. Rope Pressdown 30lb x 20-30 Alternating between left/right arm no rest
30, 20, 20 , 20, 20

 

[theprodgicalson]

Not much else to say, added 15lbs on my weighted dip, a lot of the times with these lifts you are actually capable of pushing a heavier weight for the same amount of reps, but mentally you convince yourself you are not strong enough and never bother trying. When you say fuck it and try it anyway because you are feeling good and you end up getting the same amount of reps, you realize just how important mental strength is as well. That's enough rambling for now.

The mental aspects of lifting are huge. As soon as I changed my outlook I was able to lift more weight. Great job on the weighted dips man!

 

[weighted chinup]

Week 4 9/30/2014

Weight 206lbs

Strength Increases
Weighted Chin-ups +10lbs
current weight 80lb at 206lb bw x 10

Weighted Wide Grip Pull Up +10lbs
current weight 35lb at 206lb bw x 10

Seated Row +10lbs
current weight 190lb x 10

Lying Cable Curl +10lbs
current weight 80lb x 10


Lots to report on this workout, both strength and physique wise.

I'll start off with strength. Holy shit, 10lbs stronger on weighted chin-ups for the same number of reps. My goal of 115lb chin up x 10 is definitely going to happen this cycle, you can count on that.

As for wide grip pull ups, I was really surprised I was able to up the weight on these, I mainly include these for variety and to hit my lats with shoulder adduction on top of shoulder extension from chinups, and after doing 60 reps of chin ups your strength for these is pretty much in the shitter, but I am very satisfied with that 10lb increase. Felt great doing these, range was just as good as before the weight increase, if not better.

Added 10lbs on Seated Rows because I felt good and thought I could do it without issue. There were no issues, 10 reps came easy on all the sets for these.

And lastly, 10lbs on lying cable curls. Really happy with these, this isn't a lift that you can push insane amounts of weight with, a small amount of weight on the weight stack is a harder workout for most people than what they are used to doing in more traditional bicep curl variants, so I am pleased that I am getting stronger in these.

Physique wise I am noticing some excellent re-comping going on. Triceps are bigger, and Biceps are much rounder and fuller. The increase in bicep size is definitely real and very noticeable. I like it. Same goes for chest thickness, side delts, forearm density, and legs are much fuller / harder. Great things are coming physique wise, I can tell....

Workout - push/pull/legs/push/pull/legs

pull - upper back rear delt bicep

First PULL session of the week

Weighted Chin-ups 80lbs x 10 , at 206lb
60 Total reps
10, 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 6

Short Rest Periods

- 10lb increase and I'm still getting the same number of reps per set. Improvements in bicep size are a pretty good indicator of the strength gains I've been making here. Very satisfied and felt great doing these, although they certainly were a bit harder than usual, but that is not an issue.

Weighted Wide Grip Pull Up 35lb x 10, at 206lb
50 total reps
10, 10 , 10 , 10 , 10

Short rest periods

- Very happy with how these went, good range and felt strong doing these, with a 10lb increase in weight no less.

Bodyweight Wide grip Pull Up at 206lb x 10
50 total reps
10, 10 , 10 , 10 , 10

- These felt super easy, I'm getting and maintaining better range and the reps feel extremely easy.

Chest Supported Dumbbell Row 130lb x 20
60 total reps
20, 10 , 10 , 10 , 10

Straight sets / Short Rest

-What was a 10 rep max last week is now a 20 rep max, how about that....

Getting 20 reps in the first set when I normally only get 10 with that weight surprised the shit out of me. The subsequent reps/sets felt much easier as well, improved range, more controlled, etc... I will be upping the weight on these next session. Looks like I will be able to max out on these during this cycle after all...


Seated Row 190lb x 10
50 total reps
10, 10 , 10 , 10 , 10

Straight sets
Neutral Grip attachment
Elbows Tucked
Full squeeze

- Getting really strong in these and still maintaining good range and getting a 1-2 second squeeze, elbows tucked. Very satisfied here.

Lying Cable Curl 80lb x10
60 total reps
10, 9 , 7 , 5 , 5 , 5 , 6 , 5 , 6, 5

- Biceps are getting much more swollen and round, and I was able to up the weight by 10lbs on this lift, so things are going good. I am very pleased with the weight increase and look forward to seeing even more of the physique changes unfold.

 

[Johnson513]

Incredible progress WC!
I'm pulling for you to get dem 4 plates....
(Heck, I was eager for you get 3 but after seeing your gains, I'm gettin' greedy)

 

[preworkout1984]

Love the log Man, so today after reading this thread I decided to start with 30 reps each exercise. And you guys weren't joking about the pump! Felt great. I'm addicted now