Topic: My Program

[FastGuppy]

Goals:
Full-Squat 300
Gain 25 more pounds
-Emphasis on biceps, abs and chest.
Jump on a 42 inch platform
4 muscle-ups in a row
35 Pull-ups
35/dips
L-sit for 20 seconds
Handstand

(I need to look better for films. and no, not those kind of films perv.)

Weight: 165
Height: 6 foot
age: 19 1/2

Routine Starting Strength

Workout A

Warm-up
    -pushups, jump-rope

Core workout
     -L sits, front lever, planche

Squat 5 sets of 5

Bench 5 sets of 5

Overhead press 5 sets of 5

Dips (weighted) 5 sets of 5

Curls 5 sets of 5

Workout B

Core workout
   -L-sits, planche, front lever

Warmup
    -Push-ups, jump rope

Squat 5 by 5

Power Clean 5 by 5

Pull ups 5 by 5

Dead lifts 2 by 5



Monday, Wednesday and Saturday

question: What's a good core workout to get better looking abs?

Tell me if it looks good or if I need to fix anything.

[Chris Parker]

Better looking abs come from a very good diet, little stress and using HIIT training. The stress is a minor part but when males are stressed we can put weight on the stomach. Also it would help us too to see how much weight you are using for each routine. Curls really dont relate to parkour/freerunning, they are only to make your arms bigger and look better. The other workouts you have there will help out alot with arm strength, but if you want your arms to look better then you can work on curls. Lastly do you have any goals for endurance, or speed? If so then you need to put some cardio in there as well. Long distance and/or sprints will help with endurance and help burn fat at the same time. I would say that the HIIT training would be the best cardio you can do.

[Grayson]

No need to do core exercises if you are doing the oly. lifts, they target the core big time. You say you want to gain 25 pounds of muscle, you could go on the GOMAD diet which is SS and drinking a gallon of 2%/whole milk a day, and be sure to get as much protein and good fats in as possible. Abs are all diet, stress, sleep, and just a little core work (which the oly. lifts cover) to make the abs bigger. The 42 box jump will come with doing the squats, deadlift, and cleans, also training some plyometrics would help. Muscle ups will come with training pull ups and going all the way up to your chest and dips. Dips and Pull ups will come with training... you guessed it, dips and pull ups (Front lever will also help with pull ups).

Bicep curls are pretty useless, in my experience, pull ups has created more definition in my biceps and have slimmed them down from bulky to lean muscle.

Isometric holds (planche, front lever, etc.) should go after the warm up but infront of the actual workout.

I'll close it with this, if it was me I would go here http://www.americanparkour.com/smf/index.php?topic=15354.0 and pick two pulling, two pushing, two strength, and two power workouts to match your goals and come back here and post your routine.

[Chris Salvato]

Looks great -- but you are trying to do too much all at once.

If you were asking for my advice directly I would say that strength is the most important thing to work on first -- hypertrophy and endurance follow strength gains, in my experience and opinion.

With that said, SS is a great choice but you modified it way too much.  Once you get into week 3 or 4 of SS this will be way too much for you to handle, trust me.  Stick with SS + dips and pullups and you will get very close to all of your goals.  The goals that you want to hit, like body comp and aesthetic gains may take a bit of specific training after 3-4 months of SS...but you will be very close.

I almost never train L-sits and I can hold one for ~40 seconds after a full day of training....or over 1 minute if I am fresh.

In short:
Drop the curls
Drop the L-sit, planche and FL -- you will have to work on these in another cycle, sadly.
Drop DLs down to 1x5 -- they are brutal.  Trust me, you will thank me later
P. Clean should be 3x3 or 5x3....not 5x5 by any means.
Everything else should be 3x5 for strict SS -- if you want to do 5x5 thats up to you but the results are not as good in my experience.  5x5 is better for the intermediate.

Note: Everything above is in Sets x Reps format.

Other notes:
You may want to replace the bench with planche progression work like TPPU or PPPU on rings or PBars.  That will have more translation to your ultimate goal and work the chest as a good substitute for SS.
Weighted pullups to the nipples have a great translation to the front lever - so you don't have to think of putting the FL off to the side...its more like you are training them indirectly.

[FastGuppy]

TPPU are tuck planche pushups right?

Suppose I do bench press for three months and then I do Planche progressions, would that be fine?

[Chris Salvato]

TPPU are tuck planche pushups right?

Suppose I do bench press for three months and then I do Planche progressions, would that be fine?

That's entirely up to you.  The translation from Bench to planche is minimal, at best...but the bench press is good on its on right depending on your goals.  If you want your chest to get bigger both will help since you are a novice -- the bench may be a bit more effective but its entirely up to you.

[FastGuppy]

Thanks Chris

+2 for you today. Don't blush.

[FastGuppy]

I can do tuck planche for 5 10 seconds. I can do two tuck planche push-ups. What kind of routine will i need to be on in order to progress?

[Chris Salvato]

I can do tuck planche for 5 10 seconds. I can do two tuck planche push-ups. What kind of routine will i need to be on in order to progress?

Does this mean you are going to be replacing the bench with planche?  I would work PPPU into your routine with rings preferentially...and elevated feet.  That will cover all of your bases on the planche for a while, imho..

[Sat Santokh]

Better looking abs come from a very good diet, little stress and using HIIT training. The stress is a minor part but when males are stressed we can put weight on the stomach. Also it would help us too to see how much weight you are using for each routine. Curls really dont relate to parkour/freerunning, they are only to make your arms bigger and look better. The other workouts you have there will help out alot with arm strength, but if you want your arms to look better then you can work on curls. Lastly do you have any goals for endurance, or speed? If so then you need to put some cardio in there as well. Long distance and/or sprints will help with endurance and help burn fat at the same time. I would say that the HIIT training would be the best cardio you can do.

Did you guys read his post?  Let's see what did he say.  Oh yeah he said that he needs to look better for films so I really have absolutely no idea why you would post that curls really don't related to parkour/freerunning and wait for it to make your arms bigger and look better.  Holy shit thats his goal!  The thing that confuses me si you saying right after that that if you want your arms to look better then you can work on curls.  I'm pretty sure he wasn't asking for advice on cardio either.  If you look at his stats he is about 6 foot and 165.  This is pretty close to how much I weigh and I know it varies for everybody but I doubt it would be realistic for him to lose more then 10 pounds of fat.  Whoever posted after you: WHY ARE YOU REPEATING THAT BICEP CURLS ARE USELESS.  Not only was it already said, but they are not useless for his goals.  i'm getting sick of all the parroted information I am seeing posted in this forum.  It seems like everybody is taking some good general advice for parkour and just broadly assuming that it will work for everything.

[Spencer B]

If he wants to work on size and looks, he should go to a BB forum. Plain and simple.

[Chris Salvato]

If he wants to work on size and looks, he should go to a BB forum. Plain and simple.

Well, not necessarily.

Adding in SOME isolations may be good depending on his goals but the fact of the matter is he needs to get stronger first -- especially since most of his goals are strength related.  That said, a program like SS is very stressful so he can't do it all at once...but SS or a similar program will lay the strength foundation that is necessary for good hypertrophy.

I think adding curls right now would be jumping the gun because he can get so much more out of a strength program to start - he may find he wouldn't even need curls to get his arms to the size he would like.

That said, I agree with Sat.  We all need to learn the value of context dependence.  In this context curls and other isolations may fit into his program - though I don't think he is there quite yet.

Referring someone to a BB forum is good if their goals are 100% aesthetics - but his goals are mostly strength and, like everyone else in the world, wants to look good without a shirt on.  Most people would be surprised at how much of their aesthetics gains can come from strength work.

[FastGuppy]

If he wants to work on size and looks, he should go to a BB forum. Plain and simple.

 but his goals are mostly strength and, like everyone else in the world, wants to look good without a shirt on. 

This is true.
1. I am slightly narcissistic
2. but I do like girls more. . .

Does this mean you are going to be replacing the bench with planche?

Yup I am. Just one more question, how many sets of push-ups should i do? It seems to be harder to progress because of a rather arduous task to increment intensity.

[Chris Salvato]

Steve turned me on to his method of F-1.  This means that you go to 1 rep just before failure.  That is, if you feel like the next rep is going to be too hard to do with perfect form then stop and rest before another set.

You can use F-1 to progress to 10-15 reps.  If you can do that I would say you can hold an adv. tuck easily....maybe even straddle.

[Sat Santokh]

If he wants to work on size and looks, he should go to a BB forum. Plain and simple.

Should we turn away trickers too since this is a parkour and free running forum?  Your answer kind of disgusts me in a way.  He obviously came here because he feels comfortable and welcomed here and figured (correctly) that since people like Steve, Chris, Tom, Charles etc... are all intelligent, and kind people they would give him some helpful advice. 

[Patrick Yang]

If he wants to work on size and looks, he should go to a BB forum. Plain and simple.

Should we turn away trickers too since this is a parkour and free running forum?  Your answer kind of disgusts me in a way.  He obviously came here because he feels comfortable and welcomed here and figured (correctly) that since people like Steve, Chris, Tom, Charles etc... are all intelligent, and kind people they would give him some helpful advice. 

I don't feel that Spencer was turning him away.  I think perhaps it was misplaced, but he was trying to help.  You'll have a higher proportion of people knowledgeable about æsthetics on a BB board.  Since FastGuppy's comment about looking good was the bit that Spencer that caught onto, it seems he was just trying to direct him to a place where he'd be able to get more specialized help.  Of course, since FastGuppy also has strength goals, the advice may be a little off…

[Spencer B]

If he wants to work on size and looks, he should go to a BB forum. Plain and simple.

Should we turn away trickers too since this is a parkour and free running forum?  Your answer kind of disgusts me in a way.  He obviously came here because he feels comfortable and welcomed here and figured (correctly) that since people like Steve, Chris, Tom, Charles etc... are all intelligent, and kind people they would give him some helpful advice. 

Jesus christ! Damned if I do, damned if I don't! And did you not just get done saying that you were sick of people always regurgitating the same recommendations over and over and complained that they weren't reading his post?! They will 99/100 time recommend people to go on a strength training program first and foremost. I offered an alternative to the advise of the 'helpful, intelligent people' whom in your post before this one bitched out royally and all but told them straight out that they were wrong and not listening to the guy!

I don't feel that Spencer was turning him away.  I think perhaps it was misplaced, but he was trying to help.  You'll have a higher proportion of people knowledgeable about æsthetics on a BB board.  Since FastGuppy's comment about looking good was the bit that Spencer that caught onto, it seems he was just trying to direct him to a place where he'd be able to get more specialized help.  Of course, since FastGuppy also has strength goals, the advice may be a little off…

Thank you for sticking up for me and all, but I was half replying to the OP and half replying to Sat's hissyfit towards Steve, Chris and Tombb.

[Chris Salvato]

This is all a simple misunderstanding.

Sat was focused on the people who are speaking up without actually reading/listening -- which is something that DID occur here.  Chris Parker spoke WAY out of turn with his advice seeing as he did not read the post in fully nor did he give really good advice based on the goals and stats of the OP, imho. This criticism of Chris Parker was misperceived to be an attack on the people who did read/listen properly.  That is all.

Sadly, if this continues I am deleting the flame posts and locking the thread.

With that said, I am increasingly disappointed with the amount of threads I have to lock these days.  I think that the people here on Gen Fitness are above that sort of thing so please don't prove me wrong.

[Spencer B]

I understand Chris, and as such, I am stepping out. I've said more than my piece and I'm sorry if I've crossed any boundaries.

[Sat Santokh]

If he wants to work on size and looks, he should go to a BB forum. Plain and simple.

Should we turn away trickers too since this is a parkour and free running forum?  Your answer kind of disgusts me in a way.  He obviously came here because he feels comfortable and welcomed here and figured (correctly) that since people like Steve, Chris, Tom, Charles etc... are all intelligent, and kind people they would give him some helpful advice. 

I don't feel that Spencer was turning him away. 

I didn't know there was a different way to interpret "If he wants to work on size and looks, he should go to a BB forum.  Plain and simple.  I guess I just don't know what that actually means.  Could you enlighten me?