Mars' 1st shot at the Blueprint

Unfiltered Tips & Techniques centered around Blueprint Training
mars88
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Post by mars88 »

Yesterdays workout was wicked!

Bench 170x5 the 5th rep wasn't as clean as I would have liked it to be.
Dumbell pullover 60x10

pr zone 1 14 mins 5 sets
incline dumbell press 60x6 superset with dumbel row 60x6 then 5th set hit 8 reps for both

this felt great! Right before I took a week off I couldn't even kick up the 60lbs myself I started to lose strength and yesterday they just flew up

pr zone 2 14 mins 5 sets
widegrip lat pulldown 125x6 superset with weighted dips bw plus 40lb dumbellx6 last set got 7 reps on Both

pr zone 3 11 min 4 sets
preacher curls 85x6 superset with skullcrushers 60x6

I think I'm starting to see the light I woke up today and the soreness I have it feels like when I just started lifting for the first time ever like a differnt type of soreness I guess this goes back to the point of establishing that phase for newbie gains all over again!

My hams snd Calves are still a lil tight bur I'm going to do lower body anyways today I think working out will help!
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

PR clouds are forming :)

This is fantastic. Keep it rollin' man. I absolutely love it. It's like discovering newbie gains all over again :) :)
mars88
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Post by mars88 »

So i did the 2nd half of the 2nd HIT workout yesterday. AND i KILLED IT!

Squats 245x6 supersetted with stiff legged deadlift 175x8

The most weight ive squatted before was 275 but the form was HORRIBLE a half squat essentialy, SO THIS 245X6 SQUAT with proper form IS A PR. Thats right a PR in just the 2nd workout!

Pr Zone 14 minutes
Romanian Deadlift superset with Leg Press

175x6 450x6
175x6 450x6
175x6 450x6
175x5 450x6
165x5 450x6

The legpress is just the plates didnt include leg sled weight.. This was a solid workout the 1 pr zone and 1 squat really worked the legs!
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

SUPER!
mars88
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Post by mars88 »

Workout 3!
Bench press 195x3 my spotter assisted me a tad on 3rd rep so 2 clean reps
55lbd dumbell pullover 5 reps

pr zone 1 incline dumbell press supersetted with cable rows 14 min
65x6 135x6
65x6 135x6
65x6 136x6
65x7 135x6
65x7 135x6

squat 255x3 the 1st rep I didn't get low enough I was nervous with that weight but I'm confident I could have done it so 2 clean reps superset with stiff legged deadlift 185x5

pr zone 2 Romanian dead with leg press
195x6 450x6
195x6 450x6
195x6 450x6
195x5 450x6
195x4 450x6

I was dead after this workout wasbreally intense I'm looking forward to the deload and then the 1rm for workout 5!
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

Great work Mars!

Sounds like traction is well underway...
mars88
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Post by mars88 »

Thanks man. The first 2 weeks of have been interesting no doubt. At the beginning i asked alot of questions in pertaining to fat gain because i was concerned about it. Now with that said i was cutting for 4-5 months and by the end of it i was really sick of the gym dieting everything all together. For the past 2 weeks of feast i have esentially been eating whatever i wanted to. I asked Rob how forgiving is the blueprint in terms of fatgain and he said very. He DID NOT lie! I've put on a solid 5.5 lbs in just about 2 weeks with a little bit of fat gain, given that ive been eating junk for 2 weeks straight i find this great. Now onto workout 4

Workout 4
Bench Press 155x8 superset with dumbell pullover 60x8 --This set felt GREAT! Workout 1 of HIT protocol calls for a set of bench from 8-10 reps. I went with 155 and i struggled to hit 8 reps. Just 3 workouts later i felt as i could have 10-11 reps EASY with 155. Thats 3 FREAKING WORKOUTS. Normally i would have completed 4 workouts in 1 week and not notice any strength increase. Here ive done just 4 workouts over a span of 2 weeks and have noticed strength gains. SIMPLY REMARKABLE! I couldnt believe how easy these 8 reps were. Im Psyched for workout 5 to test new 1 rm!

Pr zone 1 14 minutes.. it was about 13 and 40 seconds to be exact
Incline Dumbell Press supersetted with 1 arm dumbell rows
65x6 65x6
65x7 65x6
65x8 65x6
65x8 65x6
65x7 65x6

Thats 36 reps of incline dumbell press, versus 32 last workout in about 20 seconds less time to boot! I think ill stick to 65 next workout too and try to go for 8 reps each set, what do you think Rob?

Squat 185x8 superset with stiff legged deadlift 185x8. FELT EASY! Form was Great and the set felt great. Let me tell you though i was BREATHING HARD after this!


PR zone 2 14 minutes.. about 13 and 35 seconds to be exact
Romanian Deadlift supersetted with Leg Press
200x6 555x6
200x6 555x6
200x6 555x6
200x6 555x6
200x6 555x6

In case you guys forgot.. my last workout was 195 for deadlifts that felt tiring and wait for it.. 450 FOR LEGPRESS. With that said i actucally miscalculated the last 3 workouts for legpress it was only 360lbs. Now im not saying i just miraculously was able to leg press over 130 lbs in just 1 workout. Ive done the weight before but nevertheless IT FELT GREAT! The last 3 workouts the leg press deadlift supersets were tiring with that weight and today yes they were tiring but i felt great doing them the weight did not feel heavy! I did abs at the end of my workout too.

I cant believe how much stronger im feeling just about 3 weeks ago i was losing strength and all motiviation for the gym and now i cant believe it. FOUR FRIGGIN WORKOUTS LATER I FEEL GREAT. My previous best for a deadlift with 10 reps was 225 and it would take everything i had to lift it off the floor for that 1st rep. Lifting 200 today felt EASY!

Another thing before my bench and squat set i tried the whole visualizing it in my head first and damn it worked!

The e-bol tbol trib def kicking in now as i noticed i was hardly sore after workout 3, i will note how i feel on monday and tuesday and will go for my 5th and final workout of the HIT protocol on wednesday and go for my 1rms.

Speaking of 1rm I dunno what i should try for, coming into the blueprint i hit 200 for 1 for bench press.. what should i attempt? And for squat i think i will attempt 275x1 or maybe 265.
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

Man this friggin fired me up! GREAT work Mars!!

Thats 36 reps of incline dumbell press, versus 32 last workout in about 20 seconds less time to boot! I think ill stick to 65 next workout too and try to go for 8 reps each set, what do you think Rob?

A. I think you're strategy of sticking to 65 makes a lot of sense. I forsee that increasing though in short order :)

Speaking of 1rm I dunno what i should try for, coming into the blueprint i hit 200 for 1 for bench press.. what should i attempt? And for squat i think i will attempt 275x1 or maybe 265.

A. I think you should settle for 210lbs and no less. Ideally, I want you to shoot for the moon and 225lb. Burn that into your brain via visualization.

For as you've seen... what the mind believes the body will achieve.
mars88
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Post by mars88 »

So im going in for my maxes today and i just wanted to clarify something. Im going to max bench, squat am i also trying to max on the pullover and stiff legged deadlift as well?
Redgum
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Post by Redgum »

mars88 wrote:So im going in for my maxes today and i just wanted to clarify something. Im going to max bench, squat am i also trying to max on the pullover and stiff legged deadlift as well?
The programme suggests you do 5 rep max for pullovers and Deadlifts.

I however, did Bench, Squat and Deadlift. I didn't go max on pullovers or anything else, mainly due to after a good warm up you're using all your energy to get those 1RM.

I'll just add if you do go for the Deadlift max, make sure you don't substitute form for weight, after the Squats (assuming you are doing traditional back squats) you don't want to induce any lower back injuries!
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

Great advice Redgum. GREAT advice..
mars88
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Post by mars88 »

Thanks Redgum, appreciate it!

Now just got back from the gym and i must say im quite dissapointed :(

I went for my bench first set up 210 lbs and my spotter def gave me a little bump through that sticky point and then i got it up myself. I was pissed so i thought okay fine lets go for 205 then, rested a few minutes and same thing i mean it was barely any assitance at all but my spotter did touch the bar again. I didnt even bother to drop down to 200 since that was my 1rm coming into the blueprint.

I felt like going home right after that failure but i powered through and did a couple pr zones but i didnt even attempt the lower body portion of the workout i guess ill do that tmmrw or something.

PR Zone 1
Incline Dumbell Press supersetted with single arm dumbell rows
65x8 65x8
65x8 65x8
65x8 65x8
65x8 65x8
65x7 65x8

So i almost accomplished what i wanted to do just missed the 8th rep on the last set for incline dumbell press.

Pr Zone 2
Preacher curl supersetted with skullcrushers
85x6 60x6
85x6 60x6
85x6 60x6
85x6 60x6
85x6 60x5

I was pretty drenched this workout and was really tired finished it off with some abs.

What do i do about this failed new 1 rep max? This sucks major balls i cant believe i couldnt hit 210 or even 205 for that matter =/ Should i rest a couple days then go back to the gym and finish the lower body part of the workout and just try to bench again?

on a plus note i'm up 9 lbs up to 148 so this makes it even worse the fact that im up 9 lbs now and couldnt up my bench =/ its weird cuz when i was warming up i did 170 so easily and normally its pretty hard so i dunno what gives.
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

Couple of possibilities here and a few adjustments to make.

First, it may be a frequency issue. Meaning an extra rest day inserted prior would have been helpful. Just very odd you'd be hitting great #'s like that on workouts 1-4 and drop on #5. The other thing that struck me was that the EDT blocks are coming along nicely so work capacity is growing. That's one of the things that's led to the nice +9lbs increase in bodyweight (assuming most is LBM).

The other variable to consider would be your warmups. Did your warmups look anything like this?

https://bodybuildingsupplements.com/phpB ... .php?t=441

The reason I ask is that sometimes when you don't warm up close to your targeted 1RM too big a jump can lead to CNS shutdown. Getting close (or even priming the CNS with a heavier negative prior to your 1RM) really greases the groove because once the CNS has "seen" a weight like that it's much easier to max out.

And yes, absolutely give it a few days to re-run it (both the bench and squat). Whatever those #'s are, they're going to be history in six short sessions. The GLP does a nice job of vaulting those #'s forward quickly.

Hope that helps. Don't let this get you down too much. You've got some nice bodyweight recovery going on, work capacity coming up and another shot at it. Right here for you if you have any questions!
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

I'm going to ask Redgum to chime in here and PM him. He hit 3 new PR's on workout #5 and there may be clues for you as to why...
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