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Just realized I was writing my journal as a forum…
Ill start over, The past few days i worked out my shoulders, bi’s, tri’s and chest. Struggled to put up 225 on the flat bench only once! So frustrating, but i guess thats what I get for not benching for 4 months. Today I’m doing back/traps, and legs but i think I’m gunna start benching every other day now to up my reps for a combine in december. It tests how many times you can press 185, and I’m thinking I’m probably somewhere around 8 or so but my goal is to get to 16 or 17 so i gotta work hard these next few weeks… Ill be posting my daily workouts and progress here for the next few months on my way to reach goals I’ve set for next football season, any suggestions or changes that anyone thinks should be made to my workouts after I post them will be really appreciated
-Blake

Blake,

If you haven’t benched in 4 months then you shouldn’t be too upset about struggling with one rep of 225 on your first attempt back. “If you don’t use it, you lose it”. You’ll be right back to putting it up no problem again after a couple weeks of training it when your muscle memory has kicked in and your body has adjusted to that type of lifting again.

Is this the NFL combine you are talking about?

Hey man, at least your putting up 225. I don’t think I ever sniffed 225 in my heyday. Why did you stop lifting for 4 months?

what grade are you in? college? highschool? whats your possition?  how much do you weigh? 

No haha its not the NFL combine im only 16 its for a D1 combine and i stopped lifting because i got hurt during football so my shoulder was shot for a while then i tore my ACL and between rehabbing it and school work i flat out had no time. Im a Jr and I’m 6’2 and weigh around 215-220 and i play left tackle, but I’m going to college to play defensive end which will probably end up being linebacker at some point down the road in college

very nice, what college?

There are a few im looking into, less likley Clemson, Maryland, but more likely Bucknell, Sacred Heart, Assumption, Middlebury, and a few others

6’2” 215… Yeah, LB or DE sounds about right, unless you have the speed for S, WR or TE. As a junior you still have plenty of time to fill out. It’s good that you are already focusing on improving your lifts and looking at colleges. You’ll be ahead of a bunch of guys who haven’t even started yet. Good luck!

are you trying to gain weight?

thanks spitz, and yeah Jon, i mean I’m around 220 like i said, ideally i have 9 months till next season and i wanna be around 240/245, but thats just a goal, and does anyone know if creatine is gunna add mass or weight to my frame?

to continue on posting my workouts, today I plan on doing Shoulder’s and BI’s, for shoulders I’m going to do Arnold’s, military press both dumbbell and bar, also adding in drex raises side and front, bi’s i do 7’s curls, regular bar curls, dumbbell hold and curls, and cables. Anything i should add in just leme kno!
Thanks
Blake

hey Blake,
creatine might add a little weight becuase it will cause you to retain some water, but that isn’t necessarily the weight you are looking for. creatine by itself doesn’t add weight, the real benefit of creatine is that it will increase your work capacity and allow you to work harder for longer. as a junior in hs you should have just learned or be learning about ATP as the currency of energy for cells in your body… creatine increases and replanishes the ATP to allow you to keep going. being able to do more work should help you to build more muscle.

hope you understood all that but yes, if you are looking to pack on 20-30 lbs creatine is one of the first supplements i would recommend, along with a heavy weight regimen like the 5x5 program Glenn talks about in his article.

http://muscledog.com/article/view/170/YOU_WANNA_GET_BIGGER_PART_FIVE

good luck and let us know if you have any other questions!

Blake.. are you trying to gain 20-25 lb of muscle or you dont care were the weight comes from?
 
I would try to focus on gaining muscle rather then fat.. it will benefit you in the long run.. I would look more into your nutrition and understanding of supplements before you go out and JUST try to gain weight

It’s extremely difficult, practically impossible to gain muscle without also gaining at least a little fat, especially as much as 25 lbs. You do have 9 months which is a really long time, so you don’t need to eat a shit bulking diet, but I would recommend a lot of steak and milk and a significant increase in the amount of total calories you are eating.

I do care that its not all fat but like spitz said there is a little fat that comes with a lot of weight, currently im eating 6 meals a day, in the morning a carb with some sort of protein, then a protein shake, then luch i eat mostly protein and starch, then another shake, and again another after i lift, then dinner i eat proteins and vegitable, is there anything that i should change?

you have 9 months to tweak things. i would say run with this for a few weeks and adjust as you go based on the results. if you aren’t gaining, add in more food. if you still aren’t gaining i might try to add in more fat, particularly good saturated fats like whole milk, steak and coconut. maybe add in some easy snacks like handfuls of nuts with dried fruit and beef jerky, and a glass of milk.

everyone is different and the same thing that works for one of us might not necessarily work for you, so it’s up to you to track your results and change things as you go.

I agree with Pete 100%… Its all about trial and era…  Keep doing what you are doing and journal your progress.  Try to do a healthy bulk, of course some fat with come along with muscle but do you best to eat clean (nuts, eggs, milk, red meat, healthy oil, nut butter, avocados, oatmeal, rice, potatoes ect..
 
You should log your progress in your journal so we can follow along and give you our input as well.
 
What protein are you taking?

Right now im taking optimum nutritions 100% gold whey and i really like it!

so are we going to see you in the NFL!?  pro ball over seas, or what?  whats your plan?  coaching?

Haahahahaha, no i dont want to give off the impression that im an all star lol, i just wanna get the most out of high school and college football as i can, and though it is a slight posibility that i may play at a small division one school, im really just trying to set myself up for a good education at maybe a good D3 school, but the reason i train like i said is to be the best i can be and get as far as it will take me

Hey Blake! That is a great answer!
 
Education does come first and all you can do is be THE BEST YOU CAN BE.
 
I believe whatever you choose to do with your life you will be successful.  You have a positive attitude and a good outlook on life.  I think it’s great that you are preparing yourself for your future and prioritizing your future goals… You are still young so baby steps is key! Don’t look for miracles to happen over night… Like you said!  Just be the best you can be and everything will fall into place…
 
 
How is your training going so far?
 
When does football season end?
 
What kind of workouts and practices are your coaches making you do?     

Thanks Laura! and my training began only last week really working out hard, but so far so good. unfortunately we lost in the 1st round of playoffs so im done, but we do things that are explosive and related to football like olympic lifts and such, for example today was chest and we did supersets with 15 pushups in between everything ( and i cant really move as of now) but i can feel it working with everything i do so i take it thats a good sign!

Nice dooder, sounds like good progress. Sounds like you have your priorities straight, I wish I’d put more effort into going to college. Are your coaches setting up your workouts or are you doing your own program?

Well one of my coaches is a personal trainer so he does them with me everyday and basically tortures me for an hour and a half but ive talked to other kids that hes worked out with and they tell me he really helps so i figured id try it but yeah so far so good

What high school do you go to? 

I go to MKA (Montclair Kimberley Academy) in New Jersey

today is another olympic lifting day, were gunna be doing hang cleans, snatches, deadlifts bothe straight leg and regular, and were uping the weight a little today but not that much, and then some kick boxing after for some hand speed…

Are there any other olypic lifts that anyone recommends that i do to get more explosive

 
 
were are you doing these lifts? in school or a private gym?

I was doing them in my school gym with my coach/trainer