My new split (AKA triumphant return)

[Jihad]

If you have any useful knowledge WRT to serious weight training, or if you're trying to gain experience, please read this all, I know its alot.

Quick background:
Insane gym monkey in college with minimal knowledge of proper diet, but managed to get to exactly 200 lbs @ 6'1", very strong, bouncing between 8-12% body fat for a year. Got out of college and into flight school, which is a 3 year frat party, got up to 225 lbs, still in the gym, and still pretty strong. Moved to North Florida and started melting. 245 at my peak and not strong enough to validate it. 12 weeks ago, at about 240 lbs, started a pretty intensive program. Now my stats are, roughly:

6'1"
215 lbs (15% body fat, educated guess, muscle starting to take definition)
315 bench
365 squat
Running 3 miles in 21 minutes.

Now I'm ready. I'm going to really step it up with my new program, and try to follow it exactly for 12 weeks, then re-evaluate. I'm going to be eating between 2300-2700 cals a day, and I'll change my diet as the program goes on to reflect both intensity levels and results. The only sups I'll be using is standard Whey protein and Creatine for at least 1 month. My goals are very simple:

1) Don't be a p*ssy
2) Leaner
3) Stronger

I'm most serious about the first one, as the amount of excuse-making I'm doing always directly affects my performance in the gym, and inevitably the rest of my life.

I'm going to show you my training cycle, and when I get done next weekend I'll post how I feel with the first week. Its something I've thought very hard about, and is a combination of a couple different articles and my own experiences, the split itself coming from a wonderful cover article in a very recent M&F (August), something about "Big Arms". Not for the faint of heart or beginner, the intensity levels start and end with the intention of being 100% hardcore, and deference is given to a couple things, namely a shoulder injury/surgery that has not ever fully recovered, and the general concept of start heavy, end with failure. The only thing I haven't figured out is my abdominal program.

I'm open to any suggestions you guys have about any aspect of my new program. I hope I can kill it, if there's any interest or if I feel it will help me focus, I'll post updates.

Monday (Chest, triceps, abs, bike)
Flat Bench Bench Press - 4 sets of 12, 10, 8, 6-reps (2 minute rest)
Incline Bench Press - 4 sets of 8 reps (1:30 rest)
Superset (1 minute rest), 3 x 12:
Dumbbell Flys
Straight-Arm Dumbbell Pullover
Downward cable crossovers - 4 drop sets, 30 second rest
1 cable triceps move - 6-8 sets, 10-12 reps, rest 30 sec, drop 1 plate, continue process as many reps possible 6-8 sets
Abs
20 minute bike

Tuesday (Back, biceps, run)
Bent over barbell rows - 4 x (12, 10, 8, 6) (2 minute rest)
Deadlifts - 4 x (12, 10, 8, 6) (2 minute rest)
Cable Rows – 4 sets of 8 reps (1:30 rest)
Cable Pulldowns – 4 drop sets, 30 second rest
1 bicep move - 6-8 sets, 10-12 reps, rest 30 sec, drop 1 plate, continue process as many reps possible 6-8 sets
High intensity interval run (20 minutes)

Wednesday (Legs)
5 minute jog
Squats – 12, 10, 8, 6, 6 (2 minute rest)
Romanian Deadlifts – 4x10 (1:30 rest)
Hamstring curls – 3x12, 1 drop set (3 drops), 1 minute rest
Leg extensions - 3x12, 1 drop set (3 drops), 1 minute rest
Seated calf raises – 3x12
Standing calf raises – 3x10

Thursday (Shoulders, traps, abs, eliptical)
Smith machine military presses – 4 x (12, 10, 8, 6), 2 minute rest
Dumbbell lateral raises – 4 x (12, 10, 8, 8), 1:30 rest
Upright barbell rows – 4 x 8-10, 1 minute rest
Superset (1 minute rest), 3 x 12:
Incline barbell front raises
Bent over rear delt flys
Superset (1:30 rest), 3 x 12:
Smith machine front shrugs
Smith machine rear shrugs
Abs
20 minute eliptical

Friday (Cardio only)
20 minute high intensity interval run
20 minute other cardio

Saturday (Biceps, triceps, calves)
Standing EZ bar curl – 4 x (12, 6, 6, 8), final set drop once (2 minute rest)
Alternating seated dumbbell curl – 3 x (8, 8, 10), final set drop once (1:30 rest)
High cable curl – 3 x (10, 10, 12), final set drop once (1 minute rest)
Triceps dip (machine) – 4 x (12, 6, 6, 8), final set drop once (2 minute rest)
Lying triceps extension – 3 x (8, 8, 10), final set drop once (1:30 rest)
Cable kickback – 3 x (10, 10, 12), final set drop once (1 minute rest)
2 calf exercises – 3 x (10-12)

[Thremp]

It sucks. Do Starting Strength.

[Jihad]

[ QUOTE ]
It sucks. Do Starting Strength.

[/ QUOTE ]Come again? Care to elaborate?

[Jihad]

I guess you're speaking to its general redundancy. I didn't go into it, but I plan on changing up a lot of little stuff every 2 weeks. This is the template that I will follow the first 2 weeks.

[thirddan]

seems like you will be spending 2 hours a day at the gym...thats a lot of gym...

[Jihad]

Yeah I know. Big commitment, I used to do a lot more though and I think I wanna try it out and see if the real intense stuff is still something I enjoy. I guess we'll see.

[Thremp]

Your exercise selection is terrible. The split isn't that hot for a general physique person unless they know they respond to it very well.

You got too much volume. You don't break apart your carido/weight lifting.

And you created it. Just copy someone else's. Or use a framework they provide.

[shemp]

Is this a strength program? It looks like body building? -- referring to your goals.

Anyway, be interesting to see how well it works au naturale.

[Jihad]

Monday: Awesome. Really blasted everything, felt great afterwards and now today. I'm way further off my old #'s than I thought, and I have a feeling that will be a common thread in the coming week.

Tuesday: Gonna have to remove the high intensity intervals. Just plain not enough gas left over after doing deads and failure sets. Biceps are currently shaking, expecting nastiness tomorrow morning in my back. I miss the days when I was doing 320 lb. pull downs, and I've got a long way to go. Its very strange not to be extremely strong in my back, but with my current motivation and diet, I'll get back there.

[Jihad]

About a month later, this split is truly amazing and I am firing on all cylinders. I've made several adjustments but for the most part the initial philosophy of the split is working incredibly. I've been following my diet pretty well during the week, but as usual having trouble on the weekends. Creatine is doing its thing, and although I do have trouble running hard without cramping up, I'm still loosing weight while gaining strength. I've dropped 5 pounds total, down to 215, and I have a legitimate 6 pack finally. The biggest issue with the workout is a tear in my left abdominal area that has completely prevented ab workouts, but I'm shredding enough that it still shows through. Here are the #'s, maxes are extrapolated from 4-6 rep stuff:

215#
34.5" waist
315 bench
380 squat
425 DL

Since I'm including back pictures, its appropriate to mention that I'm repping the whole stack (300) 4 times on pull downs, after bent over rows. I feel like my back is getting very strong, but there was a time in my life that I was adding 25# weights to the 300# stack, and I'd like to get back there or higher. Also, those #'s all come with the stipulation that I focus very much on form, so no cheating for me.

I would ideally like to have my bench up to 350, squat above 400, and DL 450, all at 210-215# by Xmas.

To give you an idea of the type of improvements I'm seeing, this is a picture taken 3 months ago vs. a couple weeks ago. I was doing a different program for 2 months that was more structured to just getting back into the swing of things, but although I lost probably 20 pounds in that 2 months, I assure you that this last month I have been absolutely packing on the muscle.






I don't know what the reaction to the pictures will be on this site, which is why I only posted a back, because I have a feeling there would be some serious flaming for the front stuff. Hope I didn't gay up everybody's day too much, but as I said when I first posted this thread, my working out is pretty much for aesthetic benefits.