Mytmous log - Kelei style

[mytmous]

Welcome to my first log.

I've been going to the gym for the past 2 years and have made some progress, but my progress has seemed to stall over the past 6 months or so. Notice I say going to the gym instead of training. I've pinballed around between different programs, but my ADD side has kept me from sticking to one for long. I've done my own routines, Starting Strength, Y3T, Dorian Yates, Kris Gethin, 5x5's, etc, etc. It always seems that something new distracts me from sticking with a program for longer than 2 or 3 weeks. I'm hoping that changing from the typical 3x8-10, 5x5, 3x12 programs will keep my focus for a longer period of time.

My short term goals are to keep my BF low, but gain some muscle mass. I'd like to shoot for 150lbs at 8% BF short term. Longer term is TBD. One of my biggest issues has always been a diet plan. I worry too much about gaining fat and constantly second guess my calories. I'm starting this program at 2400cal, based on the calculations from Emma's sticky in the Nutrition forum. This puts me at roughly 15% over maintenance for my lifestyle. I'll adjust this intake as needed every 2 weeks.

Supplements: Cellucor C4, Cellucor Cor-Creatine, Whey

Starting pics are in my profile since I cannot attach pics yet.

Gender: M
Age: 39
Height: 5' 4.5" ( that .5 is important )
Weight: 148lbs
BF%: probably around 10 - 11%

Pre-program stats:
BP: 200x5
Squat: 205x5
Deadlift: 220x5

Program: forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=146471313

D1 - Chest, front/side delts, triceps
D2 - Upper back, rear delts, biceps
D3 - Legs, lower back
D4 - Repeat D1
D5 - Repeat D2
D6 - Repeat D3
D7 - Rest

D1 - Bench press, incline bench press, rope pressdowns, overhead dumbbell extensions (single arm), dumbbell side laterals
D2 - Chin-ups, pull-ups, chest-supported rows (or seated rows), rear delt flyes, preacher curls
D3 - Romanian deadlifts, front squats, leg curls, leg extensions, standing calf raises, seated calf raises

I will be starting the first week figuring out weights and shoot for 40 reps going forward. Eventually, I'll move up to 50 reps.

[mytmous]

1/3/2013

I started with D2 because I had already done Back Mon, Chest Tues, and wanted to give a little more time for the chest to rest before hitting it with this new program.

D2 - Upper back, rear delts, biceps

Chin-ups - BW x 10, 7, 4, 3, 3, 3 = 30
Pull-ups - BW x 8, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3 = 29
Lying T-Bar row - 85x12, 95x8, 6, 5, 105x6, 7, 115x6 (need to dial this one in, not one of my normal exercises)
Reverse Machine Flyes - 90 x 9, 5, 6, 4, 5, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 41
Machine Iso Preacher Curl (single arm) - 30x15, 40x5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 40

Felt great. AWESOME pump! It was difficult to change clothes after this workout.

[mytmous]

1/4/2013

Had to start with incline instead of flat bench because of availability

D1 - Chest, front/side delts, triceps

Incline Press - 120x15, 135x12, 150x8, 8, 5 = 48 (off quite a bit here, but will adjust next week)
bench press - 160x9, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 38 (adjusted rest time to 45 seconds after 160x1)
tricep rope extensions - 80x14, 90x5, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, 3, 2 = 40
one arm overhead tri extension - 30x8, 25x5, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3 = 31
Dumbbell lateral raise - 70x12, 75x7, 4, 3, 3, 5 = 34

Ab rollouts - 1x15, 1x10
leg raises - 1x15, 1x10

One arm tricep and lateral raises had to be cut short due to time. I workout over lunch and took too much time to warm-up (10 minutes) and rest between exercises (3 minutes). Workout itself still ended up being an hour. I'll have to adjust the schedule a bit. I feel good today though. Biceps still feel pumped even a day later. Forearms are sore probably from using my grip too much doing pull-ups/chin-ups.

[mytmous]

I took off Sat & Sun to recoup from last week. I'm not used to a 5 day split so I wanted to make sure to give plenty if time to recover before really getting going next week.

From the mirror's perspective, it was almost like I had a pump for 2 days after running through D1 & D2 lol. My biceps were killing me during a band gig Friday. It was a chore just to play. I know this isn't an indication out anything other than doing something different.

Planning to take measurements tonight and weight first thing tomorrow morning as a baseline for the next couple weeks.

[mytmous]

D1

Bench Press - 145 x 11, 6, 4, 3, 2, 2, 3 = 31
Incline Bench - 140 x 9, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 3 = 30
Tricep pressdown (rope) - 90 x 12, (100) x 5, 3, 2, (90) x 3, 3, 3 = 31 (I upped the weight on this one, but felt my form was slipping, so I dropped the weight back down. Will have to try 100 next time)
Overhead tricep rope ext - 80 x 11, 6, 6, 6 = 29(have to increase weight next time)
DB lateral raise - 35 x 10, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 31
Machine flyes - 100 x 10, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2 = 24 (form started to suffer, so I moved on)

AB rollouts - 15, 12
Leg Raises - 12, 12


Today I lowered the weights on my bench and incline bench to focus more on the mind/muscle connection. I always seem to have a hard time focusing on chest. Lowering the weight helped some, but I had to correct my focus in every set. Old habits die hard I guess. So my A.D.D. side gets the better of me today... already. Since I had such a hard time focusing on the bench exercises, I threw in some machine flyes at the end of the workout. This will either do nothing for me, or make me hate my life for the next 2 days. I also swapped out overhead DB extensions for overhead rope presses and doubled the weight. My triceps seem to grow just from straightening my arm, so I'm not overly concerned with this substitution.

Still on 2400 clean calories. The scale said 147.4 this morning, which is down 1lb since last Monday. Although, I also finished off the last of the holiday cookies on 12/30/12, so that could be part of it. Measurements have increased slightly from the last time I measured, but I'm not going to concern myself with that right now. I'm more interested to see what the tape/scale says in 2 weeks.

I'm going to stick with 30 reps this week and maybe increase to 40 next week. 30 reps fit my schedule perfectly today, even with the added exercises.

[mytmous]

D2

Chin-up - BW x 10, 6, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 31
Pull-up - BW x 8, 6, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 32
T-Bar Row - (110) x 10, 7, 6, 5 (140) x 4, 3 = 35 (once again, I felt stronger than expected on these, so I'll have to start heavier on Friday)
Reverse Machine Flyes - (90) x 10, 8 (100) x 4, 3, 3, 3 = 31 (should have increased the starting weight to start with today)
Preacher curl machine (one arm) - 40 x 10, 5, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 30

Felt good today. I really tried to focus on the contraction (ala Kai Greene vids) rather than the weight, but that went out the window during T-Bar rows. That exercise is still fairly new to me. I used the Hammer Strength Iso machine for this exercise with a wide overhand grip. I REALLY felt the reverse Flyes today. focusing on the rear delts exclusively really helped to get a nice pump back there. Preacher curls I think I slipped into cruise control. I may drop back down to 35 on Friday and focus on the contraction.

I'm already having issues trying to keep myself from changing things around. Specifically my diet plan. I decided on 2400 calories, but haven't given enough time to really see how my body reacts at this level. Need to make sure I'm vigilant in sticking with exactly what I'm doing for the next 1.5 weeks at least. It's not that long. In my head, I change between bulking and cutting several times a day... LOL. Starting today, I'm getting 50% of my carbs in pre/post workout. No/minimal carbs planned for dinner this evening.

Chest/Tris are not sore as I expected them to be from yesterday. I can feel it if I flex, but not too bad otherwise.

[mytmous]

D3 (first time)

Leg Press - 440 x 10, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 30
RDL - (115) x 10, 8 (135) x 6, 5, 4 = 33 (I wasn't feeling this much today)
Standing Calf Raises - 105 x 14, 5, 5, 5, 3, 3, 3, 4, 3 = 45
Seated leg ext - (75) x 12 (90) x 6, 6 (105) x 4, 3 = 31 ( more weight to start next time. )
Seated leg curl - 80x12, 95x8, 100x5, 4, 4 = 33 ( this machine was stupid. It took me 2 sets to figure out how to set it up correctly. Yes, the machine is stupid. )
Seated calf raise - 55 x 20, 12, 10, 8, 10 = 60 ( more weight to start next session. )


So today pretty well sucked. The workout itself was good. My legs feel very weak right now, so I should be crying like a beotch for the next 2 days. The problem today was time. I squeezed this in between meetings today and it felt like I just ran in, threw around some weight, and left. I usually try to focus on muscle contraction, but today I was just distracted by the clock. Aside from loading and unloading plates, I had issues with a couple machines (leg curls in particular) and getting them setup right.

I normally do back squats, but for some reason forgot it was international squat day today. Everyone in the gym seemed to be squatting today, so I used the press instead. I'm thinking if I continue using this exercise, I may use the stack loaded machine instead of the plate loaded machine to save time loading weight.

RDL's I forgot my straps today, so all I seemed to focus on was grip. I could probably add more weight here next session with straps.

The seated leg curl machine is different than what I've use in the past. I know I may lose my man card here, but I had to stop and read the instructions on the machine on setting it up after the second set. After that I was good (and I don't think anyone saw me reading the instructions).

In all, I was distracted today due to time limitations. I'm thinking I wasted a lot of time in-between exercises and setup/break down on the machines. I ran out of time to get abs done, so I'm going to have to throw that in this evening sometime. I may have to re-evaluate the lunch time workouts after today. This was my first day on D3, so it could have just been the unfamiliarity, but I think I may at least have to start doing D3 after work. I generally try to avoid workouts in the evening, so I'm not taking time away from the family after work. One day a week isn't going to be significant though I think. However, as I move into 40 rep and 50 rep sets, I may have to move all of the workouts to evenings.

More than anyone really wanted to know I'm sure.

[mytmous]

D1

Bench - 145x12, 155 x 5, 4, 3, 2, 2, 2 = 30 (should have started with 155)
Incline bench - 150 x 8, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 31 (weight up 10lbs from Monday. I'll stick here until 12 reps)
Tricep press down - 100x15, 110x7, 4, 3, 3, 3 = 35 (will start with 110 next time)
One arm DB Tricep ext - 25 x 10, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 30 (Triceps were still rocked from press downs)
DB lateral raise - 35x12, 40x8, 6, 4, 3, 3, 3 = 31

Great workout today. This is my first full week running through this program. One thing I've noticed since starting is I feel like I still have a pump from Monday. Almost like walking around flexing all day (trust me, I'm not). Legs feel good, but my hamstrings are tight. I'll be doing some stretches this evening. Total workout time was about 45 minutes, maybe a little less.

I have always done bench presses with my shoulder blades locked back. I read through the program thread yesterday and saw that Kelei doesn't like that method, and made a pretty good argument why. Today I didn't worry about pinning my shoulder blades back and noticed a much better mind/muscle connection and pump in the chest. I also noticed that my shoulders were more sore afterwards. Not like painful, injury type sore, but "utilized" sore.

Tomorrow D2 again. Next week I'll be moving to 40 reps per exercise.

[mytmous]

D2

Chin-ups - 150 x 12, 6, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 30
Pull-ups - 150 x 8, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 32
Lying T-Bar row - 140 x 9, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 32
reverse machine flyes - 105 x 10, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 31
preacher curls - 80 x 12, 90 x 5, 4, 3, 3, 3 = 30
Ab rollouts - 10, 6, 4, 3, 3, 3 = 29

Great workout today. I'm planning to up my reps to 40 next week, and I'll be switching chins/pullups order and doing pull-ups first for next week. Over the "I must change something hurdle" and enjoying just having a set plan. I weighed myself upon waking this morning and weight has dropped to 147.2. I'm not going to change anything for another week, I was just curious. I did notice though that my waist size has increased by .5". I'm guessing since my weight has gone down, that this may be bloat??? Maybe my posture just sucks bad and is getting worse daily. I have added about 2 cups of brown rice each day to my diet since starting this plan, so I'm not sure if it could be a reaction to that or not. I switched to white rice today to see if it makes a difference. I'm not going to make drastic changes, but I'm curious if this small change will help in that department.

I weighed myself just before starting the Chin-ups so I knew exactly what weight I was pulling, rather than just saying BW. I'll start with pull-ups next week and If I'm still starting with 12, I'll add weight.

Reverse flyes and preacher curls both went up in weight since Tuesday. WOOT!

I'll be skipping D3 tomorrow and replacing it with a 30 mile bike ride. It's supposed to be nice tomorrow, and I'll be riding every Saturday as the weather improves. We usually ride about 60+ miles, but we've been off for the last month or so. We'll be starting out with a little less volume for the first few rides.

[mytmous]

Rode 24 miles and burned about 1300 calories. It was tough to eat enough food to make up for burning all those calories. Legs feel great. Sunday was a welcome rest after the first full week. Took measurements Sunday evening and made gains in all measurements. Waist measurement is back down to 31.5. Not sure if I measured weird or cutting out the brown rice actually helped. Either way, I'll weigh myself in the morning and see where my weight is. I'll allow one more week at 2400 calories and then adjust accordingly.

Looking forward starting the week off with D1 tomorrow. One of my band mates made a comment that my arms looked bigger than last week, which is true. It was nice to hear that 1 week of effort on this new plan has paid off visibly. I'm excited to see how long the gains will continue. 40 reps per exercise starts tomorrow.

[AD1984]

Subbed and welcome aboard!

Do you use mixed grip for RDLs? That might solve your grip issues for now.

[mytmous]

Thanks AD1984.

You know, I didn't even think to switch up my grip. I was too concerned about everything else, especially the clock (fixing that problem). I'll have to try to remember this if I forget my straps again.

[mytmous]

D1

Bench - (155) x 12, (160) x 6, 5, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 41
Incline Bench - (150) x 10, 5, 3, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 40
Tricep Press - (110) x 12, (120) x 5, 4, 3, 2, 3, 2, 2, 3, 3 = 39
One arm overhead tricep ext - (25) x 10, 5, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 35
DB lateral raise - (40) x 18, (45) x 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 39
Ab rollouts - 15, 7, 6, 6, 6 = 40

Great workout today. Moving up to 40 reps was tough. I had an awesome pump in my chest, which isn't normal. I've been picturing in my head, the feeling I get doing flyes and trying to get that same feeling doing bench presses. It's hard to explain, but it's help with the mind muscle connection I think. My triceps were absolutely rocked after the press downs. I added more time between sets for the overhead extensions, but it was near impossible to squeeze out 3 reps on those last sets. I didn't want to spend 20 minutes on that exercise, so I moved on.

My highly accurate $10 bathroom scale said 150.8 this morning right after getting out of bed. There's no way I've gained 2 lbs in the last week on 2400 calories, especially after as much cardio as I did on Saturday. I'm not going to stress about it. I'll make changes, if needed, after weighing in next week. Stomach bloating seems to have diminished. I'm not sure if that is due to cutting out the brown rice or not, but that's basically the only thing I've changed. I'm one of those people that are perfectly happy to eat the same exact thing every day, so my diet hasn't varied much other than that. I did have a considerable amount of beer on Saturday though (which is not normal)

Finished off my container of C4 on Friday and picked up some ACG3 as a pre. My local GNC has ACG3 priced at $39 every day, so it's about the same price as the C4. I've used both of these before and they are very similar in my opinion. The ACG3 gave me great focus and stamina today, aside from my triceps giving up on me.

Total workout time today was 50 minutes.

[mytmous]

D2

Pullups - (152.8) x 11, 6, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 40
Chinups - (152.8) x 8, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 39
T-Bar row - (160) x 11, 6, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 41
Reverse Flyes - (100) x 15 (115) x 7, 6, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 44
Preacher Curls - (90) x 10, 5, 3, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 40
Seated cable rows - (150) x 8, 5, 3, 3, 3 (120) x 5 (75) x 6 (last 2 sets were a drop set) = 33


Great workout today. I didn't make it out for lunch, so I did my workout after work. It was interesting to see the after hours crowd for a change. The ACG3 gave me really good focus today. I didn't listen to any music like I normally do. Aside from noticing the number of people in the gym when I walked in, I wasn't distracted by anything the whole session. Plenty of energy and drive through the entire workout. Not sure if it was the supplement or my body adjusting, but I didn't feel wiped out in the middle of the program like I did last week.

All of my weights went up since Friday. I threw in some cable rows at the end of the workout to really exhaust the back muscles. My back is my weak point in my opinion. The one thing that I didn't do at the beginning of this log is take bodyfat measurements before I started. Kicking myself for that now since my weight seems to have gone up a little over 2 lbs in about 2 weeks. I'm curious how much is muscle and how much is fat. I think I'll get BF measurements on tomorrow evening and see where I'm currently sitting, and go from there.

I am slightly concerned about leg day tomorrow. I tweaked something on the inside area of my knee over the weekend, and it's a little tender. I'm really only worried about the squats,. If it doesn't feel right, I'll move on quickly, rather than injure myself.

[mytmous]

D3

Leg press (machine) - (180) x 15, (210) x 8, (225) x 6, (240) x 6, 6 = 41
RDL - (155) x 10, 6, 4, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 41
Standing Calf Raise - (105) x 10, 6, 6, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3 = 60
Leg Ext - (105) x 11, 8, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 40
Lying leg curl - (100) x 8, (95) x 6, 4, 4, 3, 3 (80) x 4, 4, 4 = 40 (form started to suffer doing 95# so dropped to 80. 100 was too much)
Seated calf raises - I fail
Roman chair leg raises - 20, 15, 10 (need to add some weight)

Ok. I have no choice but to do D3 after work. There is no way I can fit everything in during lunch. The options I have are to keep my reps low at 30, which I couldn't get in during lunch anyway, or go after work. Getting home from work late 1 day per week is not going to kill me. We're only talking maybe an hour later than normal anyway. I'd much rather do this than cheat myself like I did today on seated calf raises. I looked at the clock and said "hmm, 80 reps of calves, or 40 reps of abs... abs it is". I'm not going to beat myself up too much about it, but damn it bummed me out.

My quads are going to hurt bad tomorrow. My knee didn't hurt like I thought it would. It was a little stiff at first, but didn't cause any pain. The extensions hit me hard. Especially in the medialis. I switched around foot width and angles to try to hit the other areas of the quads, but the medialis was just on fire. I mean, is there a way, maybe using hip rotation to hit the lateralis a little harder? I know I'm working the entire quad, but my medialis already looks like knee boobs, I want to work on the lateralis sweep as well. I will go back to squats when I switch to workouts after work. I haven't used them thus far for the sake of time. Again though, I don't want to cheat myself here and need to make the proper arrangements to do the program as prescribed. I can always alter it later after I advance (I doubt I will though).

Hams got rocked on both exercises today. I will be sore tomorrow. I will also be hitting the wall stretches this evening.

I definitely need to add some weight to the leg raises next time I do those. The rollouts kill, but the leg raises are almost easy.

I also checked my BF using JP/7 caliper locations. The results say 7.85% ,but I don't believe it. Seems too low. At least it's a reference point.

[mytmous]

D1

Bench Press - (160) x 13, 7, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2 = 41 (need to go up more)
Tricep press down - (120) x 11, 8, 5, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2 = 40
Incline Bench - (150) x 11, 5, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 40
Overhead tricep press - (80) - 11, 5, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 40
DB lateral raise - (100) x 9, 5, 3, 3, 3 = 23 (got interrupted and could not finish this exercise)

Ab rollouts will be completed this evening

Ok. As much as I want to do 40 reps and eventually 50 reps per exercise, I just can't fit it into my normal workout schedule. I'm not willing to do 5 days a week after work and take time away from the family. I tried going before work a year ago, and while it worked fine, I became a crabass at around 7pm every night because I was always so tired. It seems to me, if I'm going to stick to 5 days + bicycling, I'm going to have to keep my reps at 30 per set. I have experienced some good gains by way of the mirror. I'll be measuring Sunday to really be able to identify total gains.

Enough belly aching. This workout was awesome. The pump I felt walking to the locker room afterward was just insane.

I switched the order around a little bit this session, just to see how my body would respond. Rather than jump from bench right into inclines, I threw the tricep exercises in-between. I feel like this gave my chest a good rest. I did feel a lot stronger on incline than I did earlier in the week. I also noticed that I was able to feel the contraction more in the chest this way. I guess this was kind of like pre-exhausting the triceps before the incline bench... err something.

I got interrupted during the lateral raises by a workmate. By the time we finished talking, I would have had to start the exercise over again, but I didn't have enough time left to start over. Even though I only did 23 reps, at 50lbs, I could REALLY feel it. My shoulders were very glad that I decided to call it a day.

I'll be doing abs later tonight and will edit this post to include those later.

So nearing the end of my second week of the Kelei program, I can say with certainty that my body is responding really well to the change. It's nice to have a set plan, even though I have to deviate slightly here and there, and know exactly what is expect of each workout. After the first week, people I see regularly have noticed a change. One guy asked if I started shooting up in the past week, LOL. Measurements and progress pics to come in the next couple days. I won't be weighing myself until Monday morning, but I know that I've gained some. Curious to see just how much.

[mytmous]

D2

Pullups - (154) x 13, 6, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 31
Seated Cable Rows - (150) x 9, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 31
Close reverse gtrip pulldown - (155) x 9, 4, 3, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 30
Reverse machine flyes - (120) x 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 3, 3 = 30
Preacher Curl - (80) x 8, 3, 2 (70) x 2, 2 (50) x 3, 3, 3, 3 = 29 (these hurt bad today)
Ab rollouts - 12, 5, 4, 4, 3, 2 = 30


Today was a good day. Because I'm a big wuss and have to keep my workouts at 30 reps, I decided to really beat myself up today. My rear delts and traps were burning all the way back to the office. I weighed myself again before pullups and I was exactly 154. That's about 1lb heavier than Tuesday of this week :O Not reading into that at all...

Preacher curls were a little weird today. I normally use the preacher machine and do one arm at a time. Today I decided to use the Preacher bench and an EZ bar. I got a few reps at 80lbs, but something felt weird in my forearm. I dropped the weight slightly, but it still hurt. I was able to finish out the sets, but I had to drop all the way down to 50lbs. I think partially because of the forearm thing, and partially because the weights on the preacher machine lie.

Is it normal for my hamstrings to hurt more after stretching? Holy Crap they're giving me hell today. I keep stretching them out periodically, but man they're tight. My bike ride tomorrow already sucks, even before we start. I hope it's all downhill.

[AD1984]

This routine is very tricky to do on your lunch break, I wouldn't be able to, it just takes too long. I prefer going after work, when I can relax and focus on the workout instead of the clock..but I have nowhere I have to be. Even if you do 30 reps, you're still going to see results, when you're doing it for 5 days a week. Don't sweat it too much.

I wouldn't worry about the quad sweep just yet, the front squats will take good care of your overall quad development. Stick with the setup for a few more months before deciding to alter things. And as far as the straps go, I think you should ride out your grip for as long as you can before using straps..my progression was double overhand->mixed grip->straps. After straps, there's no where to go, ya know?

Good workouts, keep it up!

[mytmous]

Thanks AD. I appreciate you checking in and your advice/input. As I''ll list below, I' m already seeing great gains. You're exactly right that I should be running this as prescribed right now. Scanning my tag at the front desk for 2 years in no way qualifies me as an expert. I need to listen and learn from those with much more knowledge and experience than myself.


I was right on one thing however. The ride on Saturday sucked a big one. For the first time ever, I almost bailed. I've been riding a long time and I've never seriously considered it like I did that day. My hamstrings hurt SOO bad. Of course, luck would have it that it was climbing route. By the end of the ride, my lower back cramping and spasming from over compensating for my lagging hammies.

On an upnote, and serious one at that, all of my stats have increased over the past 2 weeks! Some of them increased a lot. I'm using the same tape and the same locations etc. The stats are updated in my profile if anyone wants to know specifics, but to give examples:

chest - 1/6/13 38.9in
chest - 1/20/13 40in

arms - 1/6/13 14.5in
arms - 1/20/13 14.8in

my shoulder measurement made the biggest improvement, increasing by 1.6in. I don't think I'm doing anything different measurement-wise. I mean, those are significant gains from where I have been for the past 6 months or more. I will be weighing myself in the morning, but I know my weight has gone up.

I can't thank Kelei enough for this routine. it has revitalized my desire to get into the gym. I'm more focused, and more determined to get in and beat myself up every day. The cycling stuff will come easier once I get past these initial DOMS with this routine.

I'll get some updated progress pics on my profile either tonight or tomorrow.

[mytmous]

D1

Bench press - (165) x 11, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2 = 30
Tricep press down - (120) x 12, 8, 5 3, 3, 3, 3 = 37
Incline bench - (150) x 12, 6, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2 = 32
DB one arm press - (30) x 14 (35) x 7, 4, 4, 4 = 33
DB lateral raise - (50) x 10, 6, 4, 3, 2, 3, 2 = 30


Good workout today. I went later in the day the day than normal, so I skipped my typical pre-workout drink. I lacked the same level of focus, but still got the job done.

My weight is up to 153. That puts me at 5lbs gained in 2 weeks. Either my initial weight measurement was off, or I need to lay off the Twinkies. My BF hasn't increased as far as I can tell. it actually looks like it's down a bit.

New pictures have been uploaded to my profile. I think I'm going to keep the calories the same and see what happens after another 2 weeks. If nothing else, I may drop them to 2200. We'll see...

[mytmous]

D2

Pullups - (152) x 12, 5, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 32
Seated cable rows - (150) x 10, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 30
Chinups - (152) x 10, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 32
Reverse flyes - (120) x 12, 6, 4, 3, 3, 3 = 31
Preacher curls - (65) x 10, 4, 3, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 31


Great workout today. Nothing really special to report. My weight was down since D2 on Friday. Thinking that My weight from yesterday was definitely off. I'll check that again tomorrow morning to be sure.

I think I may need to add some weight to the pullups and chinups on Friday.

[mytmous]

D3

Leg press - (240) x 12, 10 (255) x 6 (270) x 4, 4, 3, 3 = 42
RDL - (165) x 10, 5, 4, 4, (175) x 3, 3, 3 = 32
Standing calf raises - (90) x 12, 8, 6, 5, 4, 4, 5 = 44
Leg ext - (115) x 10, 8, 5, 4, 4, 4 = 35
Lying leg curls x (85) x 10, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2 = 30
Abs - 12, 6, 6, 4, 3 = 31

Great workout today. I felt strong on RDLs, and could have probably gone a little heavier. Not sure how I managed it, but somehow I forgot the seated calf raises. No wonder I got done on time.

Calories still at 2400.Weighed myself again this morning and the scale said 149.4. Basically, I've learned that the scale is stupid, and I need to more or less ignore it.

It will be freezing this weekend, so I'll be in the gym doing D3 instead of riding this weekend.

[mytmous]

D1

Bench - (165) x 12, 5, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2 = 31
Recipe pressdown - (130) x 12, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3 = 30
Incline Bench - (165) x 11, 5, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3 = 30
Overhead triceps - (45) x 10, 6, 5 4, 3, 3 = 31
DB lateral - (110) x 11, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 30
Ab rollout - 12, 6, 5, 4, 4 = 31

I may have gone a bit too heavy on the Bench exercises today. I should have at least increased the rest time in between sets to hit 3 reps, rather than only 2. Not a huge issue really, it was still a good workout. Hamstrings are a little tight from D3, but not as bad as last week.

My macros were a little off today, since I ran out of some ingredients. it didn't really seem to affect my workout any. This has been an extremely busy / stressful week. it's nice to have the gym available for some me time.

Lots of people in the office have been commenting on changes in size this week, which is a nice ego stroke, but also an indication that something is working right. Looking forward to measurements at the end of next week.

[AD1984]

This routine gives you a pretty much perpetual pump lol. Don't sweat the scale, it lies. Your weight will fluctuate a lot, I think it's a good idea you're taking pictures, they'll tell a better story. Just wait till you get to 3 months!

[mytmous]

D2

Chin-ups - (150) x 10, 6, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 32
seated cable rows - (150) x 9 (135) x 5, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 32
pullups - (150) x 8, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 29
reverse machine flyes - (120) x 10, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 35
rope hammer curls - (70) x 10, 5, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 30

So, I didn't get into the gym Friday or at all this weekend. No bike ride either, since it was cold as hell. I was crazy busy all weekend anyway, but was bummed I didn't get in the gym. Yesterday I did D1, but I was so scatter-brained and inconsistant, I'm not even going to log it here. In a nutshell, I tried different machines and exercises for chest, and I feel it was only half-assed at that. Today was almost just as bad. I'm seriously considering checking my ego at the door and dropping my weights a bit. I think I'm going too heavy on some exercises. For example, I noticed today at the end of reverse flyes, I was kinda rotating my shoulders forward a bit during the reps. If I kept my shoulders as quiet as possible, I was able to feel the contraction much more in the rear delts, but at the expense of not being able to push as much weight.

Seated cable rows, I decided to try dropping the weight after the first set and sure enough, I was able to squeeze harder than at 150, but was still able to fatigue the muscle sufficiently.

I tried rope hammer curls for the hell of it today instead of preacher curls. They felt pretty good, but I started to get a pain in my right forearm, just below the bicep. I finished out the sets, but it was uncomfortable during the last.

I think I might start going to the gym after work starting tomorrow. I would really like to drop the weight a bit and increase reps to at least 40. After work will give me plenty of time to get through all of the sets/reps.

One question I have (of thousands) is, what is the most effective way to add thickness to the chest and back? The reason I ask is, while I'm happy with my front and rear pics, from the side, I'm like a cardboard cutout. Maybe I should just shut up and hit the weights...

Hey AD, you wanna take a vacation and come down here to Ohio to kick my ass around the gym a bit? LOL. I need to keep focused and on track with this thing. It's 65 degrees here today rather than that -30 stuff you've got up there, if that's any incentive.

Tomorrow is a new day and I should be less stressed... I hope.

[AD1984]

I can't say for chest since it's never been a priority for me, but in terms of back thickness, rows have done great things for me. You can just do the routine as it is laid out for now, and if you still find them lagging in a few months you can add some extra exercises.

Hey AD, you wanna take a vacation and come down here to Ohio to kick my ass around the gym a bit? LOL. I need to keep focused and on track with this thing. It's 65 degrees here today rather than that -30 stuff you've got up there, if that's any incentive.

I would if I could..we'd totally trash the place I am extremely fed up with the winter, and we still have months to go..

[mytmous]

D3

Front squat - (135) x 1 ouch
BB back squat - (185) x 2 ouch
Hack squat -(195) x 9 [28reps]
Standing calf raise - (75) x 14 [44reps]
Leg ext - (105) x 10 [32reps]
Lying Leg curls - (85) x 12 [31reps]
Ab rollouts to be completed at home tonight

Something weird happened today. I started with front squats and even did a warm-up with the bar. I managed one rep and felt my lower back on the left side cramp up. I decided to switch to back squats, since my body is more familiar with them. I managed two reps before the same cramp happened. For fear of really hurting myself, I moved on to hack squats to protect my back. Actually, it's a "V Squat" machine and not a hack squat machine, but whatever.

Since my back was touchy today, I decided to skip the RDL.

I was sweating like a freaking pig today during this workout. I didn't have enough juice to get the abs in, so those will be done tonight before bed.

Also tonight I'm going to take some measurements to see if I've had any gains. I've decided to ignore the scale for a while. I've also upped my calories to 2500, since I know I've gained at least some weight.

Legs were feeling very weak after completing today. I'm really going to be hating life for the next 2 days.

[mytmous]

D1 (1/31/13)

Incline Bench - (150) x 12 (165) x 8, 8, 6, 4, 4, 3 = 45
Tricep rope press - (100) x 10, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2, 3, 2 = 34
Bench - (150) x 10, 6, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 32
DB 1 arm over head ext - (25) x 10, 6, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 32
DB lateral raise - (30) x 10, 5, 4, 4, 3, 4 = 30
Machine flyes - (105) x 12, 7, 5, 5 = 29



D2 (2/1/13)

Pull Ups - (153) x 12, 6, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 30
Seated cable rows - (135) x 9, 5, 3, 3, 3 (120) x 3, 3, 3 = 32
Chin Ups - (153) x 9, 4, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 33
Reverse Flyes - (120) x 9, 5, 4, 5, 4, 4 = 31
BB curl (back against wall) - (65) x 9, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2 (45) x 4, 3, 3 = 30
Ab rollout - 12, 6, 5, 5, 3 = 31


I'm a couple days behind updating. Both Thursday and Friday were great workouts. I started to notice that the weights I have worked up to are feeling almost too heavy to even match reps from earlier in the week, even last week. I feel like I'm in a perpetual state of DOMs from head to toe. My shoulder joints are sore, not like hurt sore, just "worked" sore. Rhomboids are fired up and feel like they have been for the past two weeks. I was right, my legs were freakin' rawked Thursday, and were even tighter Friday.

From the mirror perspective, I look like I've lost some size. I think it's just in my head. The tape says I've grown even more in the past 2 weeks. I have not taken official measurements yet, but I have to wait until Sunday for that to make 2 weeks.

From the way my body feels, and reading through other logs and the Kelei thread, I'm going to take next week to deload at 50 - 60% of my working weight. I'm also going to cut back to a 3 day split. I'm considering keeping the 3 days split after the deload, but haven't decided that yet. I'm also going to take a week off of the preworkout supplement. I should probably take 2 weeks off, but whatever.

Both Thursday and Friday (D1 & D2), I cut back the weights where I could slightly from earlier in the week. I was feeling weaker in the beginning of the week and was talking about dropping weight slightly to get a better contraction. I had a hard time hitting 10 reps on a couple of the exercises, even with less weight. Curious to see what the total change in stats has been after 4 weeks.

[mytmous]

So I decided to do a deload week. Unknown to me I would have a dental emergency and interviews to deal with at the same time. I've pretty much done a COMPLETE deload this week by not going to the gym at all. I'm chomping at the bit to get back into it on Monday. I cut calories back to about 2000 since I haven't been doing any physical activity pretty much at all this week. Things will ramp back up again in three days. I can't wait.

Measurements went up slightly again. So totals so far...

Chest
Jan 6 - 38.9"
Feb 3 - 40.6"

Arms
Jan 6 - 14.5"
Feb 3 - 15"

Shoulders
Jan 6 - 45"
Feb 3 - 46.6"

Calves
Jan 6 - 13.6"
Feb 3 - 13.8"

[mytmous]

D1

Bench - (140)x12 - 40 reps
Rope Pressdown - (90)x11 - 40 reps
Incline Bench - (150)x12 - 40 reps
Overhead DB press - (70)x10 39 reps
Lateral raises - (30)x10 41 reps


I was super excited to get back into the gym after a week of nothing. However, in my excitement, I didn't plan my day properly. I had a piss-poor breakfast and went to the gym in the morning. Not a great idea. Halfway through overhead press, I was gassed. It was a struggle to get through the rest of the workout. I chose to do this day on Sunday, since I have a dental appointment Monday afternoon. I will be in no shape to go into the gym until at least Tuesday afternoon... if that.

On the upside, I felt really good through most of the routine. I dropped the weights back a bit to kinda "reset" after being off a week. It doesn't seem that I lost much strength, if any on these exercises. I plan to ramp the weights back up quickly. I'm also planning to up my reps to 40 per exercise. The above workout took about 50 minutes, so it should not be a problem schedule-wise.

Joints, biceps, and rhomboids feel as though they have fully recovered. I may have to switch to 3 weeks on, one week deload going forward, but we'll see how I feel 3 weeks from now.