[Matt Jansen]

Keith – I personally cannot do cream of wheat I get bloated from it, although I do not have issues with other wheat products that one does not sit well with me. When I am doing cream of rice I usually mash banana in it or honey OR I will do it savory with my protein source and hot sauce. I will always add pink salt as well.

G Valenga –
Shoulders / Traps / Triceps
Hamstrings / Calves
Chest / Biceps
Back
Quads

Every other week I will do arms on their own day within the training week where it makes sense so just not right before chest or shoulders.

[Matt Jansen]

Hey Caito – If I had to really break it down to the bare minimum man I would use L citruline, Creatine and Glycerol pre workout are you able to get these. Not that what you laid out is bad but if cost is an issue I would get what I laid out above.

Hey G Valenga – Honestly buddy I do tons of warm up sets on the leg press until I am ready to go. Its not rare for me to be on the leg press for about 45 min so I can warm up slowly and get everything firing properly.

Hey James – great question I will answer this in a video q/a this week!

[Matt Jansen]

Arm Training – Tuesday Jan 30

***Honestly all of these loads are very relative and dont matter just trying to give you guys a scope of what I am working at and how I build up.

D – Handle Single Arm Press down (probably my favorite tricep movement hands down)
30lbs – 70lbs x 12 reps (each)
80lbs x 8
90lbs x 6
100lbs x 4
110lbs x 12 (working set)
110lbs x 11 (working set)

Seated DB SA Overhead Ext
45 x 8 (last warm up)
60 x 6 (fighting eccentric all the way on last rep)
50 x 8 (fighting eccentric all the way on last rep)

Skull Chrusher using Supra barbell
3 count on way down – 1 count hold at bottom – explode on way up
95 lbs x 8 – 3 – 2 rest pause set

Single Arm DB preacher Curl
35 x 8
40 x 8 Failed on 8th rep would not have been able to get 9

Incline DB Curl
(I actually do incline curls on a 90 degree short back bench and I just bring my butt up to the front of the seat and pin my shoulder blades on the seat back)
30 x 8
35 x 8 (Failure)
30 x 8

Preacher V Grip Machine Curl
40 x 8
50 x 8
60 x 8

Stretch Biceps and Triceps

[Matt Jansen]

Hey Donyae – As far as health supplements go the things that I listed out are what I feel strongly about in order to keep important health markers in place which is something I have been doing for years regardless of the amount of muscle that I carried. Its not like I have increased my supplementation as I my amount of lean tissue has increased. If you wanted more of a barebones list I would include – Ultimate Omega (nordic naturals brand), Ubiquinol, Curcumin (life extension brand), Citrus Bergamot, NAC that is a solid start!

Hey Keith – Basically the way it works out is one week I train my triceps following shoulders and my biceps following chest but no matter how hard I try to stay locked in I always have a better connection with my arms on their own day so every other week I will add in an arm day to train them just by themselves.

[Matt Jansen]

Weight: 257.0 – Staying the course of pushing the food, its definitely a challenge I will for sure be ready to diet when the tie comes but for right now doing what is needed.

Shoulders / Traps

Had it on my mind that I wanted to give 315 a go on barbell presses all week, last week I did 295 for 5.5 but two variables to consider is that this was my first week re introducing the lift since early November and secondly I hit the rack twice when pressing which threw me off so I knew that now my body was acclimated to the movement again I would be able to get more out of it. Again working without a spot or partner right now so just doing the best I can to get the most out of each set.

***Just going to show true working sets today. I have done a video called “My approach to training” which goes over how to properly warm up so check that out if you have not already!

Seated Barbell Military Press
315 x 5

Plate Loaded Arsenal Press
5pps x 5.5
4pps x 8 (fighting the last eccentric all the way down)

Standing Lateral Raise Machine
(I dont want to call this a true rest pause as I did not get all full reps but it was rest pause style and went like this.)
Stack x 8 full reps (10 deep breaths) Stack x 5 half partial reps (10 deep breaths) Stack x 5 quarter partial reps

DB Lateral Raise – Directly out to the side not resting DB on my hips
50 x 8

Reverse Pec Deck
170 x 10 + 5 partials from the stretch

Incline Rear DB Fly – keeping chest pinned to pad
45 x 10 + 5 partials

DB Shrug – completely on the outside of my hips then into front once hitting failure
150 x 9 + 6

[Matt Jansen]

Hey Ric – Yes we are, I want to protect myself and my athletes as things are different here in the US. I also honestly believe that aas do nothing more than enhance a plan and I want this site to be about finding the best way to nail the plan for you with all the things that most seem to struggle to be 100% consistent with.

Hey Cody – I feel that I have put a good bit of nutrition info out in the article section and also my own log being month 1 but yes I plan to expound on this as well as things like blood work. You mentioned as in where to start how to adjust ect which I can do but I feel stuff like that is so generic unless I know what you the individual is doing. I will do my best to cover these things though without knowing set variables.

Everyone else’s questions are great and I will be covering these in a weekly Q/A!

[Matt Jansen]

Donyae – Hey man I posted a pretty comprehensive list on my diet post in page 1, I am assuming you are meaning health supplements here? Just give me a little more insight and I will be happy to help.

Clay – Its hard for me to answer stuff like that buddy as I know nothing about you really. With nutrition I believe you need to make changes based off of where you are at currently so you need to look at your current intake and then establish the direction you want to go. See like I dont know if you are eating 250g of carbs now or 500g of carbs. But if you are looking to increase weight take your current intake that you are at now and start off by raising your carbs by 15% keep everything else the same and then monitor progress from there with all other variables in place.

Alyx – I am not going to sit here and act like this is easy. I am not miserable but I am certainly full to the brim all day long. As far as me getting here though this did not happen overnight. I have not competed since July of 16 so I have been working up my cals since then. Also one of the biggest changes that I have made this year is really cutting out any “cheat meals” when I go out now I order as close to my normal meal at that time I can get. Prior to this off season I was one of those guys that would enjoy a meal once a week and most likely have dessert. I was never really a big junk food eater but I would basically have some sort of ice cream once a week. I have cut that out this year and I feel its really helped me work my intake up without the excess junk. In the past I would get fatter from that meal over the months of having it and as a byproduct I would also not be as assertive pushing up my intake due to having the cheat meal.

On my off days my diet stays the same minus the intra powders so I basically am keeping all meals at 30g fat / 100-120g cho on those days

[Matt Jansen]

Hey Greg – I use cream of rice and I make sure to cook it. Its ground up rice so I do feel its important to cook for proper digestion. I prefer rice as my main carb and this is just a variation of this that I find I can get down easier when my calories are high as I can control the water volume I am cooking it in.

[Matt Jansen]

We had my parents in town this weekend for a visit (really they just want to see our son haha)

So I am going to be backlogging the next two sessions

This AM weight was 256.2 (Last Monday I woke up at 254.4 which was a high as a reference)

Friday – Chest
(Had to modify my workout a bit due to not having a spot throughout, I made sure I had a spot for my top set of flat bench then was solo the rest of the session)

Wanted to touch on flat bench as well for a second in terms of risk vs reward I know in a lot of camps its a no no and I am also not saying that I am above injury but I feel if you really hammer technique and only make calculated jumps based off of progress you are going to be fine. Not to mention for me I get more activation out of heavy flat bench then I do out of any single movement, I think for me it suits my limb lengths well.

Flat Barbell Press
Few sets with the bar
135 x 8
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 3
345 x 2
375 x 1
405 x 6

***typically would do a back off rest pause set here but I did not have the spot for it so I wanted to be safe.

Arsenal Plate Loaded Press (very slight incline)
2pp x 8
3pp x 8
4pp x 8 (since I cannot get a forced rep here I fought hard on the last eccentric for about 15-20 seconds)

***The rest of the workout I did with a 3 second eccentric and 1 second pause at stretch
3ppx x 8 (again with 20 second eccentric on last rep)
Both top sets were to failure just not beyond it

Incline DB Fly
50 x 8
60 x 8
70 x 8
80 x 8
90 x 7 (Failure)

Chest Supported Cable Fly
90 x 8
80 x 9

Loaded stretches

Saturday – Quads

Best session I have had on my legs since last early December seriously so for over a year. The work I had done on regaining the function of my hip joint has really helped. Not only in terms of blood flow but without my hip functioning properly I was not fully accessing the full range of tissue in my legs so its like I am now able to access them again which is really changing my range of motion and what I can feel firing.

Throughout this process I have really learned to not rush my leg training days, warming up properly for me is HUGE. For example with this knee hip issue that I have if I were to load 2 plates a side to the leg press at a time or three like I used to do it would be to much for my joints to handle and I would have to call the session early so now when I warm up I really warm up and regardless if its light or not on things like the leg press I simply just keep adding 1 plate at a time until I am at my working weight regardless of how heavy I go. I am adding bands to all my leg press work as well so this aids in not having to put on as much additional load due to the tension the bands add.

I also try to hit my adductors first now and that too makes a big difference I feel in getting them properly warm and having blood in them before starting any of the heavy main work.

I am doing my adductor work for now using the cable stack placing the D handle attachments low on both sides and doing adduction while sitting in the middle of the stacks with the D handles around my feet. At the same time I am also trying to force internal rotation of my hip joint to get my hips firing properly as well. (I can do a video to demonstrate this.)

Cable Adductors
3 working sets at 40lbs x 12 / 10 / 9 aiming to hold contraction for 1 count and 1 count at stretch

Single Leg leg Press (foot low on platform with red 1 inch band on each side of sled)

1p through 7pps x 10 each

Single Leg Leg Press (foot on middle of platform – keep bands on sled)
7pps x 10
8pps x 15
9pps x 15
10pps x 14

Hack Squat with feet lower on block
5pps x 8
6ppx x 7

Walking Lunges (bodyweight with short stride to emphasize quads having more knee travel)
50 yards x 2 rounds

(First time doing walking lunges in over a year)

DONE! Ill work up the volume a bit more here but was extremely happy with this session and really how my body responded. I have trained for months with zero pump in my left leg and I was waddling out so I was thrilled to be honest.

[Matt Jansen]

Parowa123

First off you if you are squatting to Depth you are stretching the quads as well as adductors and glutes and you will be hitting your leg fully. A great example of this is Seth Shaw if you watch him he basically does all of his squatting movements with the same wide stance driving knees out and really engaging his adductors and glutes and his legs are huge. He is training through a full range of motion and due to his joint mobility he is able to access a full range of tissues within the leg.

I would just not actively load your quads the next few weeks, dont do leg extensions and allow the inflammation to relax. What I mean by this is you want to get the least amount of knee flexion as possible and have a vertical shin angle at the bottom of the movement.

Jorge –

Thank you buddy! As far as the asprin being 100% honest my grandparents have done it for a greater majority of their life and are very healthy in their late 80’s so its just been encouraged there as well as by a Doc that I worked closely with in 2014 who was the one that recommended many of the lipid supplements I take daily as mentioned above. It does reduce risk of blood clotting, heart attack, ect.

I have always used Bergamot derived from fruit either from Jarrow Formula or a company called Revive. Great supplement also great for healthy BG levels.

Keith – Even if I trained early I would do a meal prior to and intra during.

Thank you guys for following along here, I do want to keep this subject oriented relating to my current training. We also have a section here to ask any type of question you want which I am checking as well!

[Matt Jansen]

-It depends on the movement per say and top end strength. Typically I will jump quicker at the start IE 45 a side and then the closer I get adjust and make smaller jumps. If I am hack squatting, Deadlifting ect I will make 25 lb per side increases until I am ready to go. Smaller movements I typically make 10-25lb jumps the closer I am getting to my working load.

-Rather than a set time on the eccentric what I feel is most important is that the eccentric is actually controlled through the working muscle and not dropped, engaging the muscle through the eccentric goes along way and if you master this I think you will be ahead regardless of a set second count.

[Matt Jansen]

Parowa123 thank you man!

Do you just have pain or do you also have grinding and cracking within the joint as well? What have you done to try and help up to this point?

[Matt Jansen]

Back

This is my second week of this exercise selection, everything went up today.

Deadlifts (I am doing this with as much eccentric control as I can no bounce off of the floor, last rep this week I deadstopped)
315 x 3
405 x 2
455 x 1
495 x 1
545 x 6

Supra Bar Cable Pullover
100 x 8
150 x 8
170 x 8
210 x 8 Full + 2 partial reps

Supra Bar Reverse Grip Barbell Row (No leg drive)
1pps x 8
2pps x 8
3pps x 8 (max set here previous week was 2p+25ps x 10)

DB Row (Completely fixed position no leg drive)
85 x 8
120 x 8
160 x 8 + 1 partial rep

Arsenal Lever Row
***This is more “volume work for me” this row is very heavy and upper back dominant so I am not wanting to jerk or pull my chest off so I am aiming to stay a bit lighter here and get in more reps. As you can see here I am making smaller jumps but the load to start is heavier
90 x 8
110 x 8
115 x 7 + 2 partial reps

D handle Reverse grip pulldown (with hold at contraction)
120 x 8
130 x 8
150 x 8

Loaded Stretches

[Matt Jansen]

Shoulder / Traps / Triceps

AM Weight: 255.4

I am training solo this week which for the style of training I am doing is a bit more of a challenge, I am depending on those last reps right now so on my own I am doing the best that I can. Brad Holt a good friend of mine is helping me out in the gym just being there for me and he has been a great asset to my training this year.

Seated Barbell Military Press (full sets including warm ups)
(working this movement back into rotation – I had not done it in a while so that is why I did a few extra warm up sets to get into the groove.)
Bar x 8
95 x 8
135 x 8
185 x 5
225 x 5
245 x 3
275 x 2
295 x 5.5 (ish) failed at top of 6

Arsenal Plate Loaded Machine
2pps x 8
3pps x 8
4pps x 4
4.5pps x 7 (all out set)

DB Lateral Raise
-5 rep acclimation sets up until working weight
70lb DB x 9.5 reps

Arsenal Standing Lateral Machine
Stack x 8 Full Reps + 8 Bottom half partial reps (not resting on my hips)

Reverse Pec Deck Fly
80 x 8
120 x 8
160 x 9 + 6 Partials (leaning my head into the pad here aiming to keep upper body as fixed as possible only using rear delts)

Incline Rear DB Fly
45 x 9 with my hands in a neutral grip then turn my hands into pronated grip and did 8 partials

DB Shrugs (DB at my sides not in front of me, holding each rep at the top)
80 x 8
110 x 8
150 x 10 (max set)

Barbell Shrug (Close grip maybe 6 inches between my hands)
working set at 315 x 10 with holds at the top

***with my shrugs I honestly am trying to really drive in on my heals and let my body go really relaxed for lack of better term (not sloppy) but I am really trying to pull as hard as I can with my traps rather than a momentum shrug.

Wide Grip Cable Straight bar Press down
Rest pause set after warm ups
230 x 8 – 4 – 3

D – Handle overhead extension
40 x 8 (quick touch warm up)
60 x 11

D Handle Press down – 1 drop set
90 x 8 – 70 x 6 – 50 x 5

Done

[Matt Jansen]

Hamstring Emphasis Leg Day

Notes on leg training
My leg training has not been up to par or my standards since December of 2016 so for over a year now. I am not one to talk about negative things but just so you guys have some context to why I am doing what I am doing. In November of 2016 my leg training was at a peak for me, I went for a hack squat the end of the month that I should have waiting a few more weeks on and basically gave myself a level of tendonitis in both patellar tendons as well as lateral mal tracking of the patella in my left knee (this is still not fixed) . Any type of loading of my knee hurt and was causing visible inflammation so I took Jan and Feb of 2017 off from training legs. Coming back things just did not seem right basically long story short I have had zero internal rotation in my hips which is causing excess stress on my knees hence why I suffered the initial injury so I have some good weeks, then some bad weeks and due to over compensating for bad motor patterns I have also had some adductor strains on my left side as well that I have had to work around. That being said I was able to get some really good joint work done by John Quint last week so things are improving and my goal for now is to train my legs in order to be able to string together successful session after successful session without any set backs. I am not training them as all out with heavy loading throughout like on all my upper body session but what I am doing is aiming to load heavy at the beginning after a lot of warming up (if my legs allow) and then do more blood volume type work at the end to train some motor patterns that are just generally weak right now or undertrained just from my extended time off / working around issues.

Due to this I am trying to load quads on both days to get my left side back up to par so that way my legs can be progressing at a similar rate rather than playing catch up.

This is how today went…I am going to be stringing together these movements so that you guys will be able to track progress weekly!

**Only working sets show, I will be showing how I work up to warm up sets on my videos!

1 – Banded Leg Press with a low foot placement (1 inch and 1/4 inch band added to both sides.)

Worked up to a max effort set with 8 plates a side x 15 reps

***The leg press serves as a warm up as well I am doing a lot of sub max sets here starting out with just the bands added to the platform and no plates and then working up from there.

2 – Lying leg curl – driving my hip flexors into the pad throughout.
(Remember when you are training hamstrings a hamstring is intended to do both knee flexion and hip extension you need to be doing both!)

110 x 6.5 – 2 – 1 + 6 partials

3 – Barbell RDL

Max set of 495 x 5

4 – Bulgarian Split Squat

35lb x 10 reps each leg (this was light but with my knee mal tracking I am working on getting the muscles surrounding my knee strong again through some iso lateral work)

5 – Lying DB Curl on Floor (Again driving my hips into floor, hard isometric contraction on adductors throughout)
40lb x 8
35lb x 8

6 – Straight leg cable Adductor
40lb x 10
40lb x 9

***I place my feet through nylon D handles with the base of the cable machine at the floor, I have a bench set in the middle of the cable station and set back a bit so that the cable pull can stay in a stright line. I am adducting both cables at the same time.

7 – Lying Leg Curl Single Leg

40lb x 10

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