Week 12 Hypertrophy I - Finish line reached!

Weight 14st 3.5lbs which has increased slightly over the last week but nothing to get too hung up about.

Having completed the Hypertrophy I sessions over a 12 week period of 2 sessions per week I thought that I’d look back over any improvements within the workouts that I’ve made. So lets start with workout A which is effectively what you would call the upper body session of a traditional split programme. It consists of Dumb-bell incline bench press (approx 45 degrees) superset paired with Cable seated row, Dumb-bell shoulder press superset paired with Widegrip lat-pulldown and Barbell close grip bench press superset paired with High pulls.
With NROL Hypertrophy I the difficulty comes in the form of changing rep ranges and the number of sets. The rest periods between sets are also adjusted as well. So in order to illustrate what happened over the twelve weeks I’ll have to identify the set and rep range being discussed. The best way to do this I think is to simply list the exercises and any increases achieved, so here goes;

Workout A:
For 5 sets of 5 reps
Dumb-bell incline bench press – weight increased by 10KG
Cable seated row – weight increased by 1 plate
Dumb-bell shoulder press – overall weight increased 5KG (that’s 2KG/side)
Widegrip lat-pulldown – weight stayed the same
Barbell close grip bench press – slight increase of 2.5KG (that’s only 1.25KG/side)
High pull – weight increased by 7.5KG (that’s 3.75KG/side)

For 3 sets of 15 reps
Dumb-bell incline bench press – weight increased by 5KG
Cable seated row – weight increased by 1 plate
Dumb-bell shoulder press – overall weight increased 5KG (that’s 2KG/side)
Widegrip lat-pulldown – weight increased by 1 plate
Barbell close grip bench press – weight stayed the same
High pull – weight stayed the same

For 4 sets of 10 reps
Dumb-bell incline bench press – weight increased by 5KG
Cable seated row – weight increased by 1 plate
Dumb-bell shoulder press – weight stayed the same
Widegrip lat-pulldown – weight stayed the same
Barbell close grip bench press – weight stayed the same
High pull – weight stayed the same

Clearly from the above we can see that for workout A the best improvements were achieved within the 5 sets of 5 reps range. The two largest improvements of 10KG and 7.5KG respectively were achieved here. The least productive range for workout A was the 4 sets of 10 reps range where the majority of the exercises remained at the same weight. I did experience some problems within this workout for about 2 to 3 weeks in I was struggling with the Widegrip lat-pulldowns as I was experiencing a sharp nipping in my right shoulder. That aside this workout was enjoyable.

Moving on to workout B, the lower body portion of a traditional split programme approach. This encompassed the Squat superset paired with the Deadlift with shrug and the Bulgarian split squat superset paired with the Step-up. As with workout A these were also dealt the changing rep and set ranges so I’ll list the exercises and any improvements under the appropriate approaches;

Workout B:
For 5 sets of 5 reps
Squat – weight increased by a fantastic 27.5KG (that’s 13.75KG/side)
Deadlift with shrug – weight increased by 22.5KG (that’s 11.25KG/side)
Bulgarian split squat – increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/ dumb bell)
Step-up – increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/ dumb bell)

For 4 sets of 10 reps
Squat – weight increased by 10KG (that’s 5KG/side)
Deadlift with shrug – weight increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/side)
Bulgarian split squat – increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/ dumb bell)
Step-up – increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/ dumb bell)

For 3 sets of 15 reps
Squat – weight increased by a mere 2.5KG (that’s 13.75KG/side)
Deadlift with shrug – weight increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/side)
Bulgarian split squat – increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/ dumb bell)
Step-up – increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/ dumb bell)

From these results we can see that the two largest increases appear within the 5 sets of 5 reps range for the Squat and Deadlift with shrug respectively. At 27.5KG, the squat holds the record for the biggest improvement during the Hypertrophy I sessions over the 12 weeks. It’s interesting to note that the third largest increase for workout B, 10KG also appeared within the Squat for the 4 sets of 10 reps range. The Bulgarian split squat and the Step-up experienced a consistent 5KG increase across the board of rep and set ranges.

Not to neglect the Core work the Slant board crunch (that I substituted for the swiss ball crunch) in workout A and the Reverse crunch of workout B were performed consistently over the 12 week period at 3 sets of 20 reps.

So that about wraps up this quick evaluation. I hope people find this useful and encouraging that improvements can be made over a relatively short period of time. I am sure others can and will experience better improvements that I have. Just stick with it!

Cheers, BustaGut!

Week 11 Hypertrophy I - Penultimate week!

Very near to the end of Hypertrophy I now with just another 2 sessions to go. I've kept up with the cycling and did my two sessions this week in the gym. I've been hitting it hard and putting some real effort but have had a big blow out over the weekend with plenty of carb and sugary treats (naughty). Anyhow, I have been feeling a bit run down lately so I suppose I've treated myself to make me feel a bit better. Strangely I do feel ok if a little guilty. My weight this week has remained the same at 14st 1lb so it should be alright I think. I've been doing some preliminary work one working out the weights etc for the next set of workouts that I intend to move onto Hypertrophy II. It's all been paper based and looking at what I did previously on them but it will give me a good indication of where to start. Anyway that's all for now, just a quick update this week.

Cheers, BustaGut!

Week 10 Hypertrophy I - Nearing the end!

Hi Everyone,

It's been a very busy week at home and at work but I've stuck with the training and the cycling. I have let myself down a bit at the weekend by having a blow out with sugary carbs (a no no) over the weekend (Saturday and Sunday)though I dont intend to do that for a while now I have it out of my system. I do think that it is worth doing that once in a while purely for that reason. Don't feel guilty just move on. So how's the training being going? Well apart from some nipping in my right shoulder with pulldowns very well. I've been trying to move the weights up gradually in each session even if it's not on all the exercises I know that I've done more work in each iteration of each session. I've also kept an eye on the time and tried to limit the amount of wasted time between each set(ie getting to the next exercise). I've only overshot a couple of times but generally speaking I either improve the time to complete the session or bring it in the same as previously. This ensures the intensity of the sessions are as high as possible.

So what has this equated to? Well the pictures are an improvement from last week but again I dont think they are a true reflection of where I am. The weight side of things on the Saturday morning was 14st 1lb so has fallen by a couple of pounds. I'll have start looking to what session I want to do next and at the moment I think it'll be Hypertrophy II but after that I may have to revert back to Fat Loss again as I do feel I'm putting fat on as well as some muscle. I suppose we'll have to wait and see where we are at the time. I don't really want to be restricting too much over the Christmas period so I'll make a judgement nearer the time. Well that's all for now.

Cheers, BustaGut!