Alright it’s time for a recap of my journey so far…

Workout List:

6-Week Beginner

8-Week Split

8-Week Supersets

Heavyweight Prep

10-Week Mass

The Cut

(If you don’t feel like reading, check out my video on YouTube.)

Without further ado…

It’s been more than a year since I began my fitness journey, and let me tell ya… 

It has not been easy…

First off, my main goal is to build visible lean muscles and create a healthy lifestyle.

And since I’m practically starting from scratch – by having no athletic background or a personal training certification, just an on-and-off gym goer, that’s never been consistent enough to see results – I’m just trying to figure everything out and see what works best for me.

6-Week Beginner

I started this journey with a simple 6-week program to get myself back into the swing of things, because in the past, I’ve never been consistent enough to see any results, and at the same time, I didn’t want to overwhelm myself or burn myself out.

Training was done 3 days a week with 2 days of cardio and 2 full rest days.

My diet was not strict; I only watched my sugar intake and made sure I had 3 meals a day. 

Overall, this program was manageable, and it took me 2-3 days to recover from soreness.

As a result, I lost 3.5 pounds, had more energy compared to when I wasn’t working out before starting this program, and I also started to feel stronger.

Full Body

Exercise	Set	Reps
Lunges	4	10
Calf Raise	4	10
Push Up	3	15
Lateral Raise	4	10
Dumbbell Row	4	10

Upper Body

Exercise	Set	Reps
Shoulder Press	4	10
Hammer Curls	4	10
Triceps	4	10
Plank (Shoulder Tap)	4	30 sec
Chest Press	4	10

Lower Body

Exercise	Set	Reps
Squats	4	10
Deadlift	4	10
Donkey Kicks	4	10
Leg Raise	4	10
Mountain Climbers	3	30 sec

Cardio

Treadmill – 1 mile (20 min or less)

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8-Week Split

Next, I did an 8-week split program to help strengthen my body in preparation for a more strenuous workout in the future.

I made small changes to my diet by adding 1 snack and made sure I only had 1 starch or carb during each meal. 

Training was done 4 days a week with 2 days of cardio and 1 full rest day.

This program was manageable, and it took me 2-3 days to recover from soreness.

As a result, I gained 1 pound, which could be anything. I do believe I got stronger after this program and a little muscle started to show.

Weeks 1 -4:

Legs (Hamstring Focus) & Core

Exercise	Set	Reps
Goblet Squats	3	12
Mountain Climbers	3	40 sec
Barbell Stiff Leg Deadlift	3	12, 10, 8
Alternating Toe Taps	3	14
Glute Brides	3	15
Lateral Lunges	3	10
Knee to Opposite Elbow Standing Crunch	2	30

Upper

Exercise	Set	Reps
Incline DB Bench Press	3	12, 10, 8
Palms Up DB Front Raise	2	12, 10
DB Bent-Over Row	3	10
Alternating DB Curl	3	16, 12, 8
DB Skull Crusher	3	10
One-Arm DB Row	3	12, 10, 8
Plank Walk (on Treadmill)	3	15

Legs (Quads Focus) & Core

Exercise	Set	Reps
Back Squats	3	12, 10, 8
Kneeling Pickup and Jump Over	2	10
Ab Roller	3	8-12
Step-ups	2	20
Dumbbell Reverse Lunge	3	16
Jump Rope	3	90 sec

Upper

Exercise	Set	Reps
DB Lateral Raises (Seated)	3	12-15
Close Grip Push-Up	3	8-10
DB Cross-Body Hammer Curl	3	8
Barbell Upright Row	3	10
DB Shoulder Shrugs	3	12
DB Chest Fly	3	10
Plank Walk (on Treadmill)	3	15

Weeks 5 – 8

Legs (Hamstring Focus) & Core

Exercise	Set	Reps
Kettlebell swings	3	12
Good Morning (Barbell)	3	10
Bulgarian Split Squat	3	10
Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift	3	12-15
V-Up	2	15-20
Plank to Leaning Cross w/ DB	2	10

Upper

Exercise	Set	Reps
Push Ups	3	10
DB Rear Delt Flies	2	12
DB Chest Press	3	10, 10, 8
Alternating DB Curls (21’s)	2	21
Arnold Press	3	12, 10, 8
DB Overhead Triceps Extension	3	10
Deadlifts	2	5

Legs (Quads Focus) & Core

Exercise	Set	Reps
Squat Pulses	2	25
Jump Rope (Four Corners)	3	90 sec
Single Leg Box Squat	2	8
Deep Squats w/ DB	3	8
Turkish Get-up	2	10
Wall Sits	2	to Failure

Upper

Exercise	Set	Reps
DB Pullover	3	10
Incline Push Ups	3	15
Seated Military Press	3	12, 10, 8
Seated Concentration Curl	2	10
Standing Lateral Raise w/ 3 sec Hold	3	8
One Arm DB Kickback	3	10
DB Farmers Carry (Heavy)	3	Doors to Windows and Back

Cardio

Treadmill – 1 mile (20 min or less)

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8-Week Supersets

Following the 8-Week Split, I did another 8-week program that included supersets to train more muscle groups and to potentially increase muscle growth and strength. 

However, after week 1 things started to go downhill… 

Training for this one was for 4 days a week, 2 days cardio and 1 full day of rest.

I was to increase my calories to over 2200 and meal prep in advance…

Week 1 went smoothly as planned.

But during Weeks 2 and 3, work became busy for me and the last thing I wanted to do was work out after a long day or meal prep.

Being mentally drained from work took its toll on me and I ended up not working out for almost 2 weeks.

However, I did manage to turn things around after realizing that it was okay to take a break to regroup, but at the same time, I told myself I wasn’t going to go more than two weeks without working out.

After finally completing this program, I only gained 2 pounds.

Upper Body 1

Exercise	Set	Reps
Bicycle Crunch	3	15
DB Reverse Flies (superset 1)	3	15
Barbell Curl (superset 1)	3	8
Close Grip DB Press (superset 2)	3	8
Arnold Shoulder Press (superset 2)	3	12
Tricep Dips	3	12
DB Shrugs	3	15, 12, 10

Lower Body 1

Exercise	Set	Reps
Alternating Lateral (Side) Lunges	3	20
Calf Raises (superset 1)	3	20
Deep Goblet Squat (superset 1)	3	10-12
Romanian Deadlift	3	12, 10, 8
Box Jumps (superset 2)	3	15
Single Leg Glute Bridges (superset 2)	3	15

Upper Body 2

Exercise	Set	Reps
DB Bench Press	3	12, 10, 8
Crossbody Hammer Curls (superset 1)	3	15, 12, 10
Push Ups (superset 1)	3	15
Russian Twists	3	15
DB Row (superset 2)	3	15, 12, 10
Tricep Kickback (superset 2)	3	12
DB Lateral Raises	3	12
Pike Push Up	3	8-12

Lower Body 1

Exercise	Set	Reps
Kettlebell Swings (superset 1)	3	15
Star Crunches (Alternating) (superset 1)	3	20
DB Bulgarian Split Squat	3	12
Donkey Kickback (superset 2)	4	12
Hip Fire Hydrant (superset 2)	4	10
Single Stiff-Leg Deadlift	3	12

Cardio Conditioning

Treadmill – 1 mile

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Heavyweight Prep

The 4^th program I did was a heavyweight prep program, to help increase muscle mass by performing compound exercises. 

This time around I was ready to start meal prepping and go for 2500 calories.

Training was for 4 days a week, 2 days of light cardio and 1 full rest day.

Since this was my first time fully committing to meal prepping and counting calories, I found it easy to stick with the meal plan for the most part.

Recovery for this program was about 3-4 days from soreness.

As a result, I gained over 10 pounds.

Lower Body

Exercise	Set	Reps
Back Squats (heavyweight)	4	6-10
Deadlift (heavyweight)	4	6-10
Front Squats (heavyweight)	4	6-10
Alternating Toe Taps	3	20
Single-Leg Glute Bridge	3	10
Box Jumps	3	10

Upper Body

Exercise	Set	Reps
Barbell Curl (heavyweight)	4	6-10
DB Bench Press w/ Static Hold (heavyweight)	4	6-10
Overhead Press (heavyweight)	4	6-10
Hammer Curls	3	20
DB Pullover	3	10
One-Arm DB Row	3	10

Full Body 1

Exercise	Set	Reps
Barbell Hip Thrust (heavyweight)	4	6-10
Front Squat (heavyweight)	4	6-10
Barbell Curl (heavyweight)	4	6-10
DB Bench Press w/ Static Hold (heavyweight)	4	6-10
Plank Shoulder Tap	3	30 sec
Straight-Leg Deadlift	3	12, 10, 8

Full Body 2

Exercise	Set	Reps
Deadlift (heavyweight)	4	6-10
Overhead Press (heavyweight)	4	6-10
Barbell Curl (heavyweight)	4	6-10
Back Squats (heavyweight)	4	6-10
Triceps Extension	3	10
One-Arm DB Row	3	10
Lateral Side Lunge	2	20

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10-week Mass

After seeing my results from the heavyweight prep program, I was excited to start a 10-week Mass program to help me continue to increase my muscle mass and reach a goal of 140 pounds. 

My bulking phase.

There were 5 training days (3 lower, 2 upper), light cardio was done on upper body days, 1 day of full rest.

This was by far the hardest program I did.

Not only was the program 10 weeks, but also because of:

• The number of exercises I had to do in one session.
• The time it took to complete a workout.
• Having to eat the same meal plan. 
• The amount of food I had to eat was difficult.

The only way I was able to get through this was to split up the longer workouts into two sessions or two days, which ultimately made this program longer than 10 weeks, but doing so helped me push through.

Recovery for this program was about 3-4 days.

As a result, I gained an additional 10 pounds and reached my goal of 140 pounds (with a variance of 2 pounds over).

You can find the 10-Week Mass Program here.

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The Cut

Currently I am in a cutting phase and trying to decrease my body fat percentage so I can reveal any new muscle I’ve bult thus far.

The Cut Program (add a link) will consist of 4 programs.

The first one is a 3-day split: Push, Pull, Legs.

I’ve also decreased my calories to a range of 1200-1400.

So far, the challenges I’ve faced are being hungry all the time, tired one day, irritated or annoyed the next day. I’ve learned to just go to bed early so that I don’t think about food or get irritated. Simple as that.

On a positive note, this has been the easiest meal plan to follow, because I actually like what I’m eating and because it’s not too much food to eat.

For part one of The Cut, the recovery has gotten longer, about 3-5 days, and I have lost 3 pounds thus far.

You can find The Cut Program here.

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