Just finished my last mesocycle in the end of February and am feeling pretty good. My goals this year are to gain some aesthetic muscle without increasing my bodyfat % by too much.
THE WORKOUT
I ran my last cycle from January to the end of February for 5 weeks with 1 week to deload. The workouts were 3x a week with one day off between workouts. Cardio was 2x a week of playing basketball.
This year I’m trying to slowly increase the volume of my workouts. I typically have been doing lower volume strength focused workouts but I’m going to see how my body responds to some higher volume training as a main component to adding muscle size.
Lower body workouts were scheduled for only 1x a week. This was for two reasons. One being I’m happy with my leg size and don’t want to get them much bigger. Two, with basketball 2x a week they are worked pretty hard already. For now, maintenance and preventative work is all I want to do for the legs.
Workout was as follows:
Day 1:
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest | |
| 1 | BB Bench Press | 3 | 4-6 | 3 mins |
| 2 | DB Shoulder Press | 4 | 6-10 | 120 s |
| 3 | Triceps Dip | 5 | 6-10 | 90 s |
| 3 | EZ BB Curls | 5 | 6-10 | 90 s |
| 4 | 1 Arm DB Laterals | 1 | 8-12 | 90 s |
Day 2a:
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest | |
| 1 | BB Hang Clean | 3 | 5/3/1 | 120 s |
| 2 | BB ATG Squat | 3 | 5/3/1 | 3 mins |
| 3 | Chin Ups | 3-5 | 3 | 3 mins |
| 4 | DB Rows | 4 | 8-12 | 90 s |
| 5 | DB Shrugs | 4 | 10-15 | 90 s |
| 5 | DB Y Raises Inclined Bnch | 4 | 10-15 | 90 s |
Day 3:
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest | |
| 1 | BB Military Press | 3 | 4-6 | 3 mins |
| 2 | BB Incline Bench Press | 4 | 6-10 | 120 s |
| 3 | DB Bench Press | 4 | 8-12 | 90 s |
| 4 | DB Decline Skull Crushers | 3 | 8-12 | 90 s |
| 4 | DB Preacher Curls on Bench | 3 | 8-12 | 90 s |
| 5 | DB Side Lateral Raises | 3 | 8-12 | 60 s |
Day 2b:
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest | |
| 1 | BB Deadlift | 3 | 5/3/1 | 3 mins |
| 2 | DB Lunges | 3 | 8-10 | 90 s |
| 3 | Chin Ups | 3-5 | 3 | 3 mins |
| 4 | DB Rows | 4 | 8-12 | 90 s |
| 5 | DB Shrugs | 4 | 10-15 | 90 s |
| 5 | DB Y Raises Inclined Bnch | 4 | 10-15 | 90 s |
RESULTS
At the beginning of the cycle I weighed 178lbs and at the end of the cycle managed to maintain the same weight. I didn’t track my macros this cycle but eyeballed portions instead. I’ve been tracking macros a lot so I roughly know how much I’m eating a day just by portion size.
The workouts were designed to focus on my side delts and traps. The extra volume and focus on side laterals definitely worked to add a bit of size to my shoulders. I’ll give them a break next cycle but will go back to it soon as my shoulder width is something I’m trying to improve on this year a lot.
Strength gains were minimal but did see progress on the bench and chin-ups. The chin-up progression of adding sets instead of weight each week really helped.
Seated Military press strength has stalled. Stuck at about 125lb for 3 sets of 4-5 reps. I’ll need to find some way to get out of this plateau.
OVERALL
Pretty happy with the progress made this last cycle. Managed to maintain weight, add some size to targeted areas and have some strength gains as well. I enjoyed the workouts but they were a little bit longer than I’m used too.
In my next cycle I will workout 4 days a week with an upper/lower split. I prefer 3 days a week but it’s hard to get in enough volume in 3 days a week without having workouts last an hour. The focus will be to add some chest and lat size which are two areas that I’m definitely lacking in.
After that I’ll do a strength cycle to give my body a break from the higher volume before repeating the cycles again. Training mindset “I will get bigger, I will get stronger.” This is the year.
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Paolo
3 Comments
Spectacular high flooring house boasting impressive views of the Adelaide Hills
and park.
Nice routine how. Out throwing some kettle bells in there. Nice workout though thanks for the info.
Thanks! KB’s are great. I don’t have any right now but will definitely get some when I can.