I have been posting my journal on bb.com thought I'd post it here too, maybe get some more insight etc. This is an experiment to see if training each bp once a week would work for me.
I'm 24, 190lbs being working out at home for 6 months just doing- flat press, incline presses, bar curls, military press, bench dips- I just joined a gym and this is my new 3 day split.
Monday 11/18/04

Legs

Squats
the barx8x1
55x6x2
65x6x1 (I'll deff keep increasing the weight as I get more used to this exc)

Leg press
no weightsx8x1
70x8x1
90x6x1 (same with these, they feel great real power move like squats)

SLDL's
55x8x3 (that's a comfortable weight for right now, I really feel the stretch in my hams)

Leg curls (first time doing these, it's pretty awkward getting on and off the machine, I'll figure out a good way in time)
30x10x1
60x8x1
70x6x1

leg extensions
50x8x1
60x6x1

Standing calf extension
100x8x1
120x6x1

All this only took around 35 mins including some quick stretches. I didn't really take very long rest between sets or excercises, as I'm still introducing my legs to my routine. Plus pretty much all my first sets were warm up sets, I might change that next week. As my weight increases I'm sure my rest time will too.
My first ever all leg day it was very tempting to jump on the flat bench and pound out some bb presses, but I resisted.
I didn't do supersets, coz I'm still new to these excersises and trying to find my working weights. I'll deff think about them soon though coz I know they set my amrs on fire doing bar curls then bench dips at home

Tomorrow rest
wed-chest/shoulders/tri's
thur-rest
fri-back/bi's <-looking forward to this one

Wednesday 10/20/04

Chest/shoulders/tri's day

Today went great I got the intensity thing down, I was sweating like a mofo.
Today I didn't stretch before workingout (as I used to do) all I did to warm up was 1 set flat bb bench with 95lbs for 12 reps real slow. I did all my reps pretty slow and kept great form. I was chuffed it felt great.

Flat bb press
140x8x2
150x6x1
150x5x1

Incline bb press
130x6x2
130x5(just made it)x1

Chest dips
BWx6x2

Seated db shoulder press
25x8x2
30x6x1 (I love this excercise it's really taxing, on the last set w/ 30's my left arm was having a harder time, but it got there in the end)

Side laterals
12x8x3

Skull crushers
30x8x1
35x8x1
45x8x1

I ran for like 3 and half mins on a treadmill just for a laugh coz no-one was around.

After reading that link overload put up to that iron man website about dips I tidyed my form abit, like elbows out to the sides, chin on chest. However, I kept my knuckles on the outside. I know the weight on the bb presses dropped slightly but I was trying to do real slow and controlled reps.

The weight on the skull crushers went right up, I'm sure I can do more too, I'm just getting used to them still. I gave CG bench presses a tri with just the bar and they feel pretty good too. I think next time I'll do 2 sets Skulls then 2x GC bb presses.

This was a great workout.

Friday 10/22/04

Back and bicep day

The gym today was filled with soldiers, nice. Normally when I get there it's empty. So the order of my excercises might be a bit sparatic

Overhand chin ups
BWx2x1 (ugh today I was trying them with proper form and it was super hard so the second set i just did 3 slow negatives, I heard that helps w/ strength)

Seated lat pull downs
100x6x3

Bent over bb rows
65x8x3

Supported T bar (first time on this)
one 45platex8x2

Rack Pulls! (thought I'd try these for the first time even though there were big ass soldiers everywhere. Everywhere but the squat rack, nice
barx10x1
65x10x1
85x10x1
105x8x1
115x8x1
125x6x1(I could deff go much heavier, I was surprised, but I was working hard enough keeping strict form. When I get to 135 I'll try them off the floor with 45's but I have really long legs so off the rack seemed a good idea. I love this excercise, I'm glad I tried it)

BB shrugs (it's a lot easier to hold onto the bar than a couple of 55 db's)
115x10x1
115x8x2

Flat bar bar curls (soldiers were using all the EZ's)
65x8x2
65x6x1 Failure I guess.

This all took around 35-40 mins, not too long but like with legs most of these r new excercises to me so it'll take a while to start "givin it loads".

I much prefer the way this 3 day split went this week compared to my 2way split 2xweek last week.
Sat-rest, maybe mow the yard, maybe
Sun-rest

One thing the soldiers in the gym were lifting some heavy weights but most of them had horrid form.
Like on wed chest day there was this guy in there using like 4 stations at a time doing carzy super sets but when doing incline bench he would lift the bb off the rack and kinda bounce it like 6" off his chest instead of pressing it. I don't know if this is some kind of work-out technique (ojs?) or what but it looked silly to me.

Monday 10/25/04

Leg day

The gym was full of soldiers again, woohoo...I think on wednesday, chest day, I might have to go to one of the other Y's gyms to maybe get a free bench.

3 minute (didn't wanna over do it.lol) treadmill walk to warm up

Squats
the barx12x1
65x8x1
75x8x1
80x8x1 (with the extra weight I can really see how your back comes into play)

Leg press
I don't know how much the platform or sled weighs so I just count the plates I put on.
70x8x2
90x8x1

SLDL's
55x8x3 (i'm really comfortable with this weight now. I was gonna go a bit higher for another set but I didn't wanna push it)

Leg extensions
50x8x1
60x8x1
70x8x1

Calf raises on the leg press machine (good ole stretch off these, cheers ojs )
50x12x1
50x14x1
50x12x1

leg curls
50x10x1
60x8x2

Phew!
I felt pretty light headed after this and kinda dizzy. I know exactly why too. I got up at 6 am and didn't eat 'till nearly 11am, I know, I know. I was waiting for my wife to get home from work so we could go out for breakfast and we ended up running a few erands efore eating. I just downed a double protein shake and now I'm gonna get some pasta and chicken down me gullet mmmm.

My legs will decide for me tomorrow whether or not I'll being some cardio. If not, ah well lol

Wednesday 10/27/04

Chest/shoulders/tri's

This was an awful workout. I lost strength badly. I dropped a few reps on my flat bb press and also 15 odd lbs on my incline bb press, which really pissed me off
This is my second week of my experiment with a 3 day split, and after today I feel I know how to change things for the better. More frequency.

Flat bb press
warm up 95x12x1
140x8x1
140x7x1 (horrid loss of power)
150x5x1
150x5 (failed on 5, thank god for those bail out catches)

Incline bench press
130x5x1
125x5x1
120x5x1 (no comment)

Chest dips (these still felt great)
BWx6x2

Seated shoulder press db's
25x8x2
30x6x1

double set, skull's + side laterals (to save time mainly)
skulls
45(assuming the bar's 20lbs)x8x3

Side laterals
12x8x3

I'll practice my back excercises some more on friday and next week jump into my new routine which'll be something like: Monday+Thursday-chest/shoulders/tri's
Tuesday+friday-Legs/back. Between the two days I'll vary the exercises.

Oh yeah, no cardio so far... hehe

Friday 10/29/04

Back/bi's

Once again gym was full of soldiers even more now. I saw a sign saying they r only there between 9-4, so I'll have to go earlier hey.

Pull up neg's x5

Rack pulls
95x10
115x8
125x8
135x6

Shrugs
95x10
115x8
125x8

Bent over rows
65x8x2
70x6

Lat pull downs (I left this excercise coz the soldiers were queing for the machine untill I couldn't leave it any longer and had to use some odd maching downstairs with not as much rom but it worked)
100x6x2
90x6x1

Ez bar curls
40x10
60x8

Phew!

I was well pleased with my rack pulls. They feel a lot better with more resistance, like the action seems more natural than forced, as with hardley any weight.

Monday 11/01/04

Legs

5 min treadmill walk

Squats

the bar x12x1
65x8x1
75x8x1 (getting harder)
80x8x1 (bloody hell, phew. yeah I know my legs r weak)

SLDL's

55x10 (edit- I had the weirdest crack/ pop type thing happen in both knees just above the knee cap, one after the other, on my first rep. I've had my knees pop before but this was just strange. no pain though)
65x10
70x10 (nearly caught up with my squats.lol)

Leg press

90(and the sled)x8
180x6x2 (woohoo)

Calf raises on leg press

90(and the sled) x12x3

And that was it. Inc the treadmill it took around 40-45mins. I'm dropping leg ext, coz I really don't like them, and my quads felt like lead anyway. I went to a different gym today, due to the bloody army invading the other one, and there was only one leg curl maching (one u sit up in) and there was a que of old ppl playing on it, so I skipped that too.

Squats r what really get my legs working hard. After my squats I was having trouble walking around the gym. I guess a good goal for me would be to squat my BW some day. Some day..lol

Wednesday will be interesting. My shoulders still feel kinda tired, not sore but like brushing my teeth, holding my arm in that postion for a while, I can feel them, they're tired. Even if my bench weight drops down some more, I'll just stick with it and work it back up, coz my chest deff got worked last week. Pluss I'm going to replace incline bb press with db's so that weight'll drop anyway.

Wednesday 11/03/04

Chest/shoulders/tri's

5 min walk treadmil

Flat bench bb press
95x10
135x8
140x7
150x6
155x5

Incline db press
35x8
40x8
45x6

Chest dips
BWx7x2 (Thats one rep on each set more than last week, woohoo. hardwork though)

Seated db shoulder press
25x8x2
30x6

Side laterals
12x8x3

Skull crushers
45x10
65x8
75x6 (too heavy)
70x6 (yeah, I threw in an extra set just for fun. My arms were nearly as thick my legs after that)

A good workout. I'm glad my shoulders and tri's caught up, and I didn't loose any more strength on my flat bench.

I haven't lost any size by dropping each MG down to once a week. I am actually seeing an increase in size, be it a very small increase. I even have some visable lats now. Since when I started this journal I have gained roughly 2lbs a week. So I now weigh around 194lbs. I'm not claiming that the weight increase is pure LBM, as I'm sure it's probably quite a bit of fat coz I don't excersise at all appart from weights 3x week. I'm going to start some cardio as soon as my leg'll allow it.

Friday 11/05/04

Back/bi's day

Went for 5am workout today to miss the soldiers.

Rowing machine 3 mins warm up

Chin up negs x3 ugh

Lat pull downs
100x6x2
110x6

rack pulls
95x10 \
did these a little bit lower than usual
115x10 /
135x10 (I found this weight too heavy from this lower, kept smacking my knees trying to keep strct form)
145x8 (from noraml height-just below knee)

Shrugs
115x12
135x10
145x8

Bent over rows
Today I started pulling these to my abs, rather than to my chest
much better
60x10
65x8
70x8
75x6

EZ bar curls
55x8
60x8
70x8

Flat bar curl
65x6

Treadmil 5min walk-3min run-2min walk

Pretty good workout. I'm going to have to do some reading about deads and rackpulls about how high the bar should be, how to miss your knees etc.

Monday 11/08/04

Leg day
5 min treadmill walk

Squats

The barx10
60x8
70x8
80x8 (feeling loads more strength in my legs)

SLDL's

55x10
65x10
70x10

leg press

sled+90x10
sled+180x8x2

leg press calf raise

sled+90x15
sled+140x15


Pretty good workout. I pleased with my progression on the squats, hopefully it'll keep coming.
I've been having some sharp pains in my shoulders ever now and then, since friday, so I'll be taking it easy on wednesday. I think it might have something to do with flat benching. I read how u should keep your shoulders tucked in, pointed toward your feet to avoid shoulder injury, and gave it a try (I have always done flat bench with a wider than shoulder grip and kept my elbows pretty much under and in line with the bar, I push my shoulder blades together as the bar comes down). Experimenting at home with my bench and liek 50lbs I tried some different grips etc and found elbows tucked in, pointed towards feet felt horrible and that the most pwerful and comfortable postion was my old faithfull.

11/14/04

I have been sick since tuesday , so I skipped chest day-wed and back day-friday. Not so bad as my shoulders have had plenty of time to recover, and they now feel totaly normal again, I even wacked out some puch-ups yesterday.

Today, I just needed to go to the gym, so me, my wife, and step kid went for a swim. We were there for about an hour. I did some laps and probably between 10-15 mins of getting-me-out-of-breath-swimming.

I'm looking forward to going to lift tomorrow, as I feel much better now. I can't believe I haven't worked my upper body for nearly 2 weeks

I let my diet slip a few times while I was sick. I had some pizza, a few whoppers,, and I even went to macdonalds, but I needed comfort food.

Monday 11/15/04

Leg Day

treadmil 6 min walk

Squats
The barx12
65x8
75x8
85x8
95x8
105x3 (I had to go for 100 )

Leg press (whoever had used this before me left 12x45s and 2x25's on there for me to unload, thanks. The gym was empty so no suspetcs.
90x8
180x8x2

SLDL's
55x10
65x10
75x10 (nice and easy, I'm trying to creep the weight up on these, coz this is deff an ex' I could some damage on)

Calf raises on leg press
90x14
140x12
140x14

Notes: A great workout. I reckon could lift more on squats if I didn't go down below parallel, as I can feel it suddenly get harder as I go low like that. I feel a great burn in my hams when going low like that, and I reckon it makes me use my back and core muscles more to keep stiff like.

Not inc warm up it took pretty much dead on 45 mins.

Tuesday 11/16/04

35 min swimming, just taking it easy, stopping every now and then etc just to raise my heart rate.

Wednesdy 11/17/04

Chest/shoulders/tri's

Warmed up with some unweighted RC movements and my usual arm windmils (thats what I call them). Also, I'm stretching before doing chest/shoulders now, like I used to.

Flat Bench

95x12
135x8
145x8
150x6
150x5

Incline Db

25x10
30x8
35x8
40x8

Chest Dips

BWx6
BWx7

Seated DB shoulder press

25x8x2
30x8

Side laterals

12x8x3

Skull crushers

55x12
65x8
70x8 (failed on the 8th rep)

A good workout. I didn't push anything too much, maybe skulls, coz I was feeling more confident. I was so scared my shoulders were going play up. I guess it was just due to that odd movement I was trying to do with flat bench. My old style felt so comfortable, and powerful today. Also, I was surprised how my strength didn't decrease much after pretty much 2 weeks off.

I'm looking forward to friday. Hopefully my shoulders'll be cool then too. I'll be taking it easy with rack pulls, as it was when doing them it hurt quite a bit too, and warming up good too.

Time -about 55mins inc stretching before and after.