FORUMS > Strength Training Forum Rules

yay! So looking forward to this one too.

So I think everyone who plans to participate in it should spend this week/weekend taking a "before" photo to share with us all in 12 weeks, when we will do an "after" photo. We tried something like this with the previous workout plan, but it sorta didn't get off the ground.

Also, lets use this thread to share ideas, thoughts, comments, questions, experiences and suggestions about the new plan.

good luck everyone!

Thinkin I may give this program a shot. Pretty bored with mine now.

I'll have to give this one a go when I finish with the Strong and Lean program...

should i have done the strong and lean before this one?

Hey Fryblock: Nope, you don't have to have done the other program to start this one. They work well as follow-ups to each other, but also as starting points.

We have a before-and-after contest in the works where we're going to allow members to submit before and after photos from the workouts and win some cool stuff. More on that later, after we finalize the details...

I'll run the other feedback by the trainers and try to make some improvements in the coming months.

Cheers,
Jeff

I'm interested in getting on board if there's going to be a group of seriously committed guys engaged in the program.

I'm really psyched for this! Who else is taking part?

I'm gonna take some BEFORE photos as well... what should they look like? Is there one of these threads from the strong&lean program?

There were a number of threads floating around for the Strong/Lean program, so I thought it would be best to start one main thread for this one.

I'm sure Jeff will specify the requirements for the before shots, but if its like most other before/after shots, generally you wear shorts or swimmers and sometimes you hold up a current newspaper in the photo to prove the date it was taken.

I'm really looking forward to this new plan. The first one did wonders for me!

Hello gents. OK, the good news is that the first week of Muscle-Building workouts are now live.

We're also working on this (hopefully) cool new system that will allow you to upload your before, during, and after pics when doing these workouts, see which other members are doing the workouts, etc. That said, it's not quite done yet... sorry about that.

In the interim, if you want to get started, here is a link to information about how to take your before and after pics. We figured it made sense to set a standard to make this new feature more useful.

Before and After Pics Information for Muscle-Building Workouts

If you have any questions, feel free to email me and I'll pass it along to the trainers. More coming soon...

I'm on day five of the first week. The weekly mass mail from realjock called the program "wonderfully brutal." Truer words were never spoken. Every inch of me aches.

I started thinking that I'd be pretty prepared. I began the Strong and Lean program last spring and my friends have heard me rave about it ever since. It completely changed how I work out. I was especially happy that it finally got me to love doing cardio, something that I've resisted because of a fast metabolism and laziness. I guess I was a fool thinking that I was in shape.

Days one through three had so many exercises that I had already spent the hour and a half I'd planned before I got to the final 30 minute bike/elliptical/treadmill sections. Day two I was determined to run, but found that I could barely eke out 15 minutes at a granny pace. The same was true day three. Thank God, yesterday there was no final half hour of torture expected.

I haven't been this sore since the first time I started lifting weights. I guess that's enough of an endorsement, but, wowsa! I hope this gets easier.

I bet it only gets harder! I just finished day 3. I was pretty damn proud to have done every single exercise for the indicated number of sets on day 1 and 2, but I didn't do them all at once, I split some between two workouts because of time restrictions. I added some extra bench work to day 1 and that was dumb of me, my chest was so sore and swollen today I could have crossdressed with a sports bra and a wig. Really though, I'm loving this program it's just the right level of difficulty so far and I'm feeling good results.

I think I'm going to give this a try once I renew a gym membership next month. Wish I could start it out now, but I don't have access to any of the equipment necessary for it. I'm excited to start it, though, from the few comments on it I've seen so far.

we don't have tubes at my gym - what would be a reasonable alternative?

I asked one of the staff trainers to loan me some tubes for the warm-ups. Otherwise, I'd bet they aren't that expensive. I learned right away, however, not to get too much resistance. A little goes a long way with that over-the-head stretch.

Cable machines are always good, and they provide great resistance.

mike

I just started week 2.

I've been lifting weights for a couple years, and lately felt like I was stuck in a rut going through basically the same routine I've been doing for ever.

I love this program—I'm learning a ton of new workouts, and feel like I'm hitting muscles I didn't know I had. It takes a decent amount of time (1.5-2 hours a session w/ cardio is about what I'm averaging, though I'm taking a little extra time to learn some new workouts) but it's well worth the investment.

I haven't been this sore for weight lifting in years! Can't wait to post some "after" shots in 11 weeks

Hey, any suggestions for alternative exercises to a Graviton dips and pull-ups machine? My gym doesn't have one.

Ex. For the "Wide-Grip Pull-up with Slow Negatives," I did a chest press machine and slowed by drop-down to 5 seconds. Not the same but perhaps on the way there?

Any suggestions would be great!

Hey guys,

Jeff from RealJock here. At long last, we've launched the Workout Photos tracking section of the workouts. This new system allows you to upload before, during, and after body photos to your profile as you do one of RealJock.com's 12-week workout programs. When you add your first photo, you'll be automatically added to the searchable list of other RealJock.com members participating in the program.

You can read all about it here:
Before and After Pics Overview

Once you add your photos, they'll go into our review queue. After we've approved them, they'll go live in a new section of your profile called "My RealJock Workout Photos". In addition, you'll be added to a list of participants that can be found as a link on every page of the workouts. We've finished adding all of this to the Muscle-Building 12-Week Workout; it will go live on the Strong and Lean 12-Week Workout tomorrow.

We really hope some of you participate in this program! We would love to see some of the body transformations in action.

Also, on an unrelated note, we're working on an overview of alternative exercises you can do if your gym does not have specific equipment such as the Gravitron machine, tubes, or cable machines. We should have that live in a week. As a general rule, though, if you come across an exercise you don't have the equipment to do, try to find an exercise that is closely related and mimics the movement of the exercise. For example, for tube rows, the best alternative would be cable rows, with a second best alternative being dumbbell rows. For Gravitron wide-grip pull-ups, your best alternative would be to do wide-grip pull-ups on a Smith machine bar set at head height with your legs slightly bent and feet lightly supporting you on the ground, or standard pull-ups as a second alternative. More on that next week!

Thanks Jeff.

And thanks to Mike for designing this program which is kicking my sorry arse!

cronks xx

Jeff,

What a great addition to the site! I can't wait to get my new gym membership so I can start on the muscle building program and upload some workout pics. This site just keeps getting better and better.

I am going to start this one on Monday, Oct. 8th. Have been reading it through and it looks awesome.

Finishing up an 8 week program that was okay and ready to put on a little muscle and strengthen up. The exercises in here are perfect for that. Can't wait! Putting up some before pics tonight.

Good luck guys.

Got my pic up! Come join me fellas!

I didn't have resistance tubes but they were $10 at my sporting goods store, come in 5, 10, 15, and 20 lb resistances. I got the 20's, but might recommend the 10 or 15s instead, it's a rating of resistance so it isn't doing 20lbs of resistance it's 20lbs per distance stretched and of course it's not linear.

Good substitution for Graviton dips for Triceps is doing chair or bench dips if you need low weight, if you're able to support your entire weight (I'm not!) then just any stable surface you can suspend yourself between will work. Railings, turnstiles, that kind of thing. You could even set up two very sturdy ladders. Around my house I've taken to using 4x4 posts and loose cinderblock to construct specific structures but I doubt many others have that option.

My biggest tip for this so far is use your 6 and 7 day strategically, if you've got a busy day make it your rest or if you're just too damn sore or worn out just do the active cardio day instead of struggling to work in order!

Thankfully, my gym is awesome, and has everything, suckas!! Including std laden sorority girls!

I just want to say that i hate that the stuff gets updated on wednesday. I had to redo the first week because of the weird staggering just so i could get it scheduled right...And I hated the first week! But my legs are quite quite sore from yesterday... And I'm not one of those people who never do legs.

There are only 4 of us with pictures on there. Slackers!

Dude- so what the heck's the difference between this one and the Strong and Lean?

I went based off the titles and decided I wanted to build mass more than lean up so I chose this one. Started day 1 today. Damn I spent over 2 hours at the gym today, usually I'm out in an hour. And I skipped the cardio but I ride my bike to and from the gym so heh.