Hey guys!

3 weeks ago, I had to change my routine but nothing struck my imagination. At the recommendation of a friend, I started following the much-hyped "12 Week Hardcore muscle building" program by Kris Gethin on bodybuilding.com

http://www.bodybuilding.com/gethintrainer

I don't spend any of my hard earned money on any of the fancy supplements advertised or follow the broscience diet he specifies. I did however, add 20 minutes of light intensity cardio at the end of each workout and in the morning.
The end result? I've lost almost 6 lbs and I fear most of it isn't fat (what I was looking for in addition to gaining some size. I'm a relatively newbie at weightlifting so I did expect I'll have some newbie gains and beginners luck in gaining muscle while burning fat). I've lost almost an inch off my arms and chest in just 21 day and don't feel as if the muscles are "hard" enough.I have made strength progressions though.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on whether I should continue with the program or not. If not, I really need your help in building a program which focuses mainly on building muscle with some HIIT or Tabata thrown in.

Thanks!

Achyut

Whoop-whoop!!! I'm new and poking around the forums...

First thing you need to do is get a way to calculate your body fat wether you use calipers or an electronic handheld which are the cheapest but not 100% accurate. You will still have numbers to go by. Body weight can be deceiving which is why you don't want to rely on just that. This will tell you many of factors like example if you're losing muscle in which case if your strength is increasing I would bet not. If you're 200lbs and have a body fat of 15% and using your weight of 6lbs lost putting you at 194lbs and you can estimate 1% bf per 2lbs bw. This isn't always accurate especially when you are at a low bf. At this point if you're bf reads 12% you know it was all fat lost. If it's 13% you may have lost 4lbs of fat and 2lbs of muscle. This is all an example and just a guide to help go by and keep track of everything. When you first start training it may be quick an easy to lose weight but it will eventually slow down. If you start your training extreme and don't get the proper nutrients you could eat up muscle too. Do you know your Macros?

hey man,

 

So usually I dont believe beginners require as much protein (maybe .5-.8 per lb) but are you getting enough? Not enough protein could be detrimental to maintain lean muscle tissue. Secondly, you are doing to much cardio. I would skip it in the morning and just perform it 3 times throuhgout the week: 1 HIIT, and the other 2 moderate intensity or play sports. Hope this helps!

Hey guys!

3 weeks ago, I had to change my routine but nothing struck my imagination. At the recommendation of a friend, I started following the much-hyped "12 Week Hardcore muscle building" program by Kris Gethin on bodybuilding.com

http://www.bodybuilding.com/gethintrainer

I don't spend any of my hard earned money on any of the fancy supplements advertised or follow the broscience diet he specifies. I did however, add 20 minutes of light intensity cardio at the end of each workout and in the morning.
The end result? I've lost almost 6 lbs and I fear most of it isn't fat (what I was looking for in addition to gaining some size. I'm a relatively newbie at weightlifting so I did expect I'll have some newbie gains and beginners luck in gaining muscle while burning fat). I've lost almost an inch off my arms and chest in just 21 day and don't feel as if the muscles are "hard" enough.I have made strength progressions though.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on whether I should continue with the program or not. If not, I really need your help in building a program which focuses mainly on building muscle with some HIIT or Tabata thrown in.

Thanks!

Achyut

Yes. I'm currently at 78.8 kg bodyweight and around 12% bodyfat (which doesn't result in any olid muscular definition since I don't have a lot of muscle). There's been no change in the bf percentage over a month.

 

I'm currently surviving on mess food due to really long working hours (14 hours a day at an average) and my macros are 132P/58-68F/230-280C daily.

 

The main issue I have in continuing further with the program is tha training volume is insanely high, specially on legs. High repetitions (30-50) cpombined with supersets, partial reps on every leg day!

Do I consume more protein and carbs just to keep the energy levels up?

 

Thanks!

Achyut

@ADawg & @JoeHurricane

 

Do you suggest a definite amount by which I should increase my intake or do I play it by the ear?

What do you think of the workouts? Too high volume and intense for someone who's in the first year of lifting (11 months) or should I stick to it? Either way, I'm gonna attribute all the gains to this forum

 

Thanks!

@ADawg & @JoeHurricane

 

Do you suggest a definite amount by which I should increase my intake or do I play it by the ear?

What do you think of the workouts? Too high volume and intense for someone who's in the first year of lifting (11 months) or should I stick to it? Either way, I'm gonna attribute all the gains to this forum

 

Thanks!

Adawg38 & JoeHurricane

 

I'm currently maintaining a 150 surplus. I'll bump it up to 220 and figure out the protein needed like you said.

 

The program has 2 muscle groups a day (usually) and looks something like this:
Monday: Chest & Tricep
Tuesday: Back And Biceps

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Shoulders

Friday: Calves and Abs

Saturday: Legs

 

The split remains the same but the days can be jumbled up. I try to keep 2 days on & 1 day off rather than ome of the erratic schedules that are provided.

I'm attaching screenshots of the workouts over the next 2 weeks.

This week has only the leg day left and this is the routine:

Superset:

1. Leg Press: 3 sets of 85 reps: 20 reps with feet at bottom of plate, 20 reps 1 inch up, 20 reps 1 inch up, 25 reps at top of plate

2. Squats: 3 sets of 20 reps

 

3. Leg Extensions:  3 triple drop sets of 12-15 reps 
1 burnout set with partial reps

 

I'm attaching screenshots of the workouts over the next week to give you an idea.

Day 1 : Triceps

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2: Shoulders

 

 

Day 4: Chest & Triceps

 

 

 

Day 5: Legs

 

 

Day 6: Back, Biceps & Abs

 

 

 

Eagerly awaiting your feedback!

 

Achyut

Adawg38 & JoeHurricane

 

I'm currently maintaining a 150 surplus. I'll bump it up to 220 and figure out the protein needed like you said.

 

The program has 2 muscle groups a day (usually) and looks something like this:
Monday: Chest & Tricep
Tuesday: Back And Biceps

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Shoulders

Friday: Calves and Abs

Saturday: Legs

 

The split remains the same but the days can be jumbled up. I try to keep 2 days on & 1 day off rather than ome of the erratic schedules that are provided.

I'm attaching screenshots of the workouts over the next 2 weeks.

This week has only the leg day left and this is the routine:

Superset:

1. Leg Press: 3 sets of 85 reps: 20 reps with feet at bottom of plate, 20 reps 1 inch up, 20 reps 1 inch up, 25 reps at top of plate

2. Squats: 3 sets of 20 reps

 

3. Leg Extensions:  3 triple drop sets of 12-15 reps 
1 burnout set with partial reps

 

I'm attaching screenshots of the workouts over the next week to give you an idea.

Day 1 : Triceps

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2: Shoulders

 

 

Day 4: Chest & Triceps

 

 

 

Day 5: Legs

 

 

Day 6: Back, Biceps & Abs

 

 

 

Eagerly awaiting your feedback!

 

Achyut

Well, the best way to tell if you this is too much training/volume for you is to see how your body is responding to the workouts. Do you feel really fatigued and tired all the time? Anything like that? If you're eating and sleeping well, there is no reason for this to be too much, IMO.

 

My question is about the drop sets - pretty much everything is drop sets. That's cool, but, for example, when it says 4 drop sets of 10-12 reps, does that mean you will do something like this...

 

Set 1: 100lbs, drop to 80lbs, drop to 60lbs, drop to 40lbs.

Set 2: Repeat

Set 3: Repeat

Set 4: Repeat

 

Or does it mean that you do 1 set of 4 drops, so a total of 40-50 reps for that exercise?

 

Does that make sense? I hope so hahaha :)

 

The routine itself looks good. You just need to make sure your meal plan is on point to accomodate your training.

 

Jordan