12-Week Cycle Finale

12-Week Size Cycle Wrap Up

It is the end of the 12 weeks. Time to wrap things up.

When I began this cycle my primary lifts were the following:

Squat               245

Deadlift           245

Bench              155

Bodyweight    235

Age                 49

I did have a birthday in there, so that number went up, too. The numbers at the end of the 12-weeks look like this

Squat               350

Deadlift           355

Bench              205

Bodyweight    245

As you can see, I added 105 pounds to my squat, 110 to deadlift, and 50 to my bench press. At the same time, I only added 10 pounds to my overall bodyweight. Not too shabby for 49, 50 years old.

I need to clarify that I am not one to over use supplements. I have a protein mix that I use. There are no bottles of extra pills, creatine mixes, added boosters. I have never used steroids. Never even tried pot, so … I get most of my nutrition through a good diet now. Supplements are just that, supplementing where I fall short.

This routine was originally billed to me, 20-some odd years ago, as a mass building routine. I am a little larger, but massively huge, no. The routine has made it so pants fit tighter and shirts are definitely tighter, yes, but have no misunderstanding. I did not go from that little kid from the Bronx to some hulking mass-monster.  

I do have stronger, thicker thighs, notably bigger arms, broader and thicker back, and am losing my neck to traps.

Overall, this is a cycle worth doing a couple of times a year. I ill certainly keep it in my log books, and I recommend that you do this, too. The way this routine breaks out it can be done on a four day or three-day split. This makes it flexible enough to fit most any schedule.

Here is what it looks like:

PUSH DAY

Squat

Leg Extension

Shoulder Press

Triceps Exercise of Your Choice

Plank for time

Bicycle Crunch

PULL DAY

Deadlift

Leg Curl

Bent Row

Upright Row

Biceps Exercise of your choice

Plank

Bicycle Crunch

The four day split  looks like Monday-Tuesday/Thursday-Friday. Monday and Thursday are push days while Tuesdays and Fridays are pull days. 

The three day splits look different, of course. Monday and Friday of Week 1 may be pull days with Wednesday as a push day. Them Week 2 Monday and Friday are pull days and Wednesday is a push day.

One modification that I made at Week 7 was to add a more exhaustive arm routine. This looks like

Incline Curls

Preacher Curls

Standing Curls

Overhead Triceps Extension

Skull Crushers

Triceps Press Down

The beauty of this arm routine is that both muscle groups get worked through three different positions. These are the extended, contracted, and midrange positions. By working these muscles, or any muscle, throughout these positions you are getting the fullest and most effective workout possible.

Why not do a workout routine based on these three ranges?

That is possible, but requires a five-day split, at minimum, to be done safely. This is not possible for a four or three-day split. Adding this into the 12-week routine makes for awesome arms.

You have noticed that there is leg extension immediately after squats and leg curls also immediately after deadlifts. The specific reason for this is clear. Squats hit quads heavily. You will also feel them deeply in other parts of your glutes and legs when you do them deeply enough. What you may not be fully aware of is that deadlifts hit the hamstrings at least as much as the quads.

This may seem counterintuitive but work with me here. By dropping the weight below and in front of your center of balance the muscles used and in what proportion they are used shifts dramatically. Keeping you hips low and back creates the need for muscles that will pull the weight up. You will also find that the muscles along your spine, from your trapezius down to your coccyx, will be fully engaged. This is part of the pulling machine used to get that bar off the ground. The hamstrings are necessary in that machine.

Doing leg extensions after squats and leg curls after deadlifts allows you to focus on the primary movers for these exercises. It makes it so you can hit those muscles in their contracted states. In this way, you get to two of the three angles straight off.

The crux of ho this mass and strength routine works is by basing the entire thing on compound movements. Compound movements are those that include more than one joint to execute. Think about the squat. To squat, you need to flex your ankle, knee, and hip joints as well as have spinal flexibility. For bench press, you are using shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints.

Using multiple joints requires that several different muscles are engaged in the movement. These muscles are involved for completing the movement. There are, of course, other muscles used to support and stabilize the body during the movement. All of this works together for a combined result of far more muscles engaged in one lift than when doing isolation exercises.

Now you know what and how and why. You make the when happen.

12-Week Cycle Update

While gym night is generally Wednesday, I shifted it to Thursday. The plan kept it as a lighter night. What I’ve done is shifted from the four day split to the more common three day split. This pattern allows for Monday to be the moderate intensity night, Wednesday to be light intensity, and Friday is Beast Mode.

Friday is Beast Mode because there are two days for recovery. And, two days for my wife and kids to laugh at me. When any of my kids join me at the gym, which they occasionally do, we laugh And cuss at each other for what we’ve done.

Another change that I’ve done to the 12-Week mass routine is changing some of the 8 to 10 repetitions for three sets into drop sets. I love the intensity of the drop sets.

If you are not familiar with the overload capabilities of drop sets, we can cover them quickly. You set the weight to start at just about your max repetitions. Whatever that number looks like, you set the bar with that weight. I am setting the weight for a rep range of 3 to start with. I know that I will be able to max out at 6 to 8 repetitions as the weight drops during the set.

So, for example, you’re doing squats. I set the weight today at 345 pounds. Being a light day, I only did 3 reps and racked the bar. As quickly as I could, I stripped 20 pounds from the bar, shouldered the weight, and did the next set. Then, I acmes the weight and stripped another 20 pounds. And squatted more.

You keep this pattern of squat, rack drop weight, squat, rack, drop weight, and so on going without stopping or resting until one of two situations happens. One, you have only the empty bar on your shoulders. Two, you have completed the number of drops you have set for yourself.

For me, that’s 10 drops. My 12-week cycle has become a mix of drop sets for the compound movements and sets of 3x8 for isolation exercises.

This is week 10 of 12. At the end of 12 I will tell you how much weight I’ve added to my squat, deadlift, bench, bent row. I will also share how much my body weight has changed. To date, I’ve put on just under 10 pounds of body weight. The rest of the update will have to wait until the end of the cycle.

I will also outline the full routine again so that you all can go and grow, too.

Stay healthy!
Stay strong!

Pressing Matters: The Bench Press

 By far, this is the singular most popular and widely referenced exercise around any gym or fitness culture. Start up a conversation with someone about going to the gym and the first question after, “Oh? You lift?” is, “Whaddaya bench?” It usually goes somewhere along those lines. More for guys than gals, it seems. In spite of the love and draw of this movement there are still a number of mistakes in the form. Some of which can land the person doing them in hot and painful water. From my own experience, years back, as I was doing triples with 315, my left shoulder came apart. That bar landed on my chest and rolled onto my throat.

That one event, the injury and the bar on my throat, scared me. It scared me more than the injury hurt. Let me assure you, it hurt like nothing else. The failure of my shoulder was due to my form. Thanks to my using poor form, my shoulders were not properly supported by either my musculature or by other bones the way they should have been. That is why my left shoulder came apart.

Today, we are going to detail the proper form and technique for bench pressing. I am not going to go through that kind of pain again, nor am I going to sit by and not say anything that could prevent you from the same.

I am not a doctor. Talk to your physician and make certain that your body is ready for the stress that you are about to put it under.

As Boromir has so elegantly pointed out, you do not just flop onto the bench, heft the bar, and go to town. There is technique to the bench press. Far more than I had imagined prior to tearing my shoulder apart. When you stop to think about it, the shoulder is a rather tenuous joint that is held together in a precarious manner.

Let’s take a quick look, not an in-depth or medically technical one, but a basic understanding-style look at the shoulder here. The construction of the joint is ball in socket. This allows for an enormous range of movement. Along the flexibility and range of movement comes the higher risk of injury. The joint is held together and stabilized by four muscles and tendons. This group is known as the rotator cuff. It often takes the brunt of injuries.

The image here, from Stack, shows the muscles used in this exercise and how they encapsulate the shoulder. It all comes out to be a very impressive package.

The form used, the way one moves the weight while under it is what we have come to. We don’t just flop on the bench, no. There are preferred points of contact that will be on the bench. Those points include the upper back, shoulders, head, and your glutes. Your feet are on the floor and pressing firmly down and slightly out. How far out and at what angle is up to you. Still, try to keep your heels close to being under your knees. Squeeze your glutes some.

 With your upper back on the bench you will squeeze your shoulder blades together. Flexing your upper back stabilizes your entire back, shoulder, and chest region. This is the solid foundation from which you will move the earth.

Grip the bar firmly. I prefer a narrower grip at shoulders width. For someone of my height and long arms this is an anomaly. Competitive lifters with my build will go for a wider grip. This is to shorten the vertical range of motion that the bar must move in to complete a repetition. You will also see the wider grip used with barrel-chested lifters, again for the same reason of shortening the distance needed to move the weight. Still, I like to lift with my grip at just outside of my shoulder width.

Back flexed? Check

Grip firm? Check

Feet planted? Check

Butt on the bench? Check

Unrack the bar and bring it over your chest. As you begin to lower the weights your shoulders could move in a variety of angles. The strongest angle is where your upper-arms come down alongside your torso and, when at your sides, are at a 45-degree angle to your centerline. Imagine that there is a straight line down the middle of your body. Just a perfectly straight line. The line from the tips of your elbows to your shoulders and going on to intersect with that centerline should be about 45 degrees from the centerline. The positions the shoulder joints to be best supported by the muscles of the shoulders, the chest, back, and along the sides of your body. In order, these muscles are the deltoids, pectoralis, rhomboids, and latissimus dorsi.

You have unracked the weight and have lowered it toward your chest. The bar should not hit you with a thump, thud, or hard impact. You must have enough control over the weight to stop its decent so that the bar just lightly touches your shirt. The bar will make contact, and you should be aware of this light contact, just above your diaphragm.

At this point you can hold the weight here for two seconds before pressing it up, just to increase the intensity, or immediately press the bar upwards. Once the bar reaches the top position, pause. Do not lock your elbows at the top of the repetition as this will later cause problems for you, rather keep your elbows slightly flexed.

While you are bench pressing you will want to coordinate your shoes with your workout top. No, not really. Nobody gives a fig about your outfit. You should coordinate your breathing. Inhale as deep as you can at the top of the repetition. Hold your breath without forcing it on the decent. Exhale on the pressing portion. Breathe again with the weight in the top position.

A spotter, someone you trust implicitly, is a highly suggested thing. When my shoulder came apart, I was alone. Nobody was even in the gym with me. Believe me, you do not want to get caught under a bar with more weight than you can press or a with a shoulder injury.

Use a weight with which you can do three sets of 8 to 10 repetitions with if you are just starting our or adjusting your form. Practice your form adjustments and make them a regular habit prior to attempting a 1-rep maximum.

Whether you are new to the gym or not, I hope that this helps you out.

Lift safe and lift smart.