One Step Back and Two Steps Forward ~ Chimpinzo's SNS Log

[Chimpinzo]

Hello everyone and welcome back to the log ~ I can honestly say this has been the most demoralizing few months of my weightlifting career. I have lost significant amounts of muscle mass due to an inability to lift as I was once able to (no gym access at my school anymore).

I have been watching my hard earned gains slowly slipping away, and have finally decided that I'm fed up with watching my hard work slip away, and I HAVE to do something about this NOW!

In retrospect, I believe that I let myself stray too far from the basics, and began a shift away from what should have truly been done.

Consider this log my step from world of weightlifting and back into the world of bodybuilding. Lets get this show on the road!


Current Stats:
Height - 5'10.5
Weight - 171lbs
Est 11% bf
Forearm - 10.8/11
Arm - 12.25/12.5
Neck - 14.75
Waist - 30
Thighs - 21.5 / 21.5
Calves - 14.5 / 14.5
Wrist - 7
Ankle - 8.25 / 8.25
Chest - 38.25
Shoulders - 46.25

I'm honestly hoping that some muscle memory will kick in and help me get some of my muscle/mass back, but have no clue if that will happen. Either way my only choice now is to do my best to undo what has been done.

I will be attempting to sleep by 10:00pm every night, to wake up at 6:00 AM to begin training.

I have no access to the gym, and am essentially starting from scratch, so have spent quite a bit of time brooding on which lifting routine to start with first. In the end, I decided to go with what worked the best for me all along. Rippetoe's.

It was my kickoff into the weightlifting world, and gave me some good progress. I felt that my legs began to overdevelop, leaving the rest of my body lagging which was my original reason for changing routines. I believe that this may have been due to improper execution / drive in each exercise.

I will be doing my best to create a ripoff gymless version of Rippetoe's 3x5 workout with what materials I have.
A steel belted radial tire.
A girl (105lbs) willing to help me out (bodyweight exercises) don't be crude you sick b*tches haha.
Rope. (unrelated to the girl xP)
A nearby play structure.
2x 5 gallon Water Jugs (could fill /w sand as an option).


Stripped directly from the webpage that I based my first routine off of.
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=712752

Example:

Week 1:

Monday - Workout A
Wednesday -Workout B
Friday - Workout A

Week 2:

Monday - Workout B
Wednesday - Workout A
Friday - Workout B

Etc.

For the actual workouts read below:

Note: This doesn’t include warm-up sets

**Means this is OPTIONAL**

Workout A
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift
**2x8 Dips (if you cant do these or no assist machine then do Decline Dumbbell Bench Press with your hands Facing each other)

Workout B
3x5 Squat
3x5 Standing military press
3x5 Pendlay or Bent Rows (or power cleans)
**2x8 Chin-ups (recommended mainly if doing the cleans)

Squats, I will begin with bodyweight squats (with the girl on my back) to add weight. ATG of course.

Bench press, I believe my only option is pushups with the girl (or tire) on my back to add weight.

Deadlifts... I'm rather at a loss, any suggestions would be MORE than welcome. Currently I'm considering deadlifting one of the desks/beds at the dorm, or deadlifting the tire with the girl sitting ontop (though it'll get quite hard to get a good angle/leverage on it with a person sitting in my face). I've gotta get something better. DEFINITELY open to suggestion here. Maybe I can hijack one of the school's golf carts and use that for reps haha

Dips I can do at the playstructure / on anything I setup/find around the dorm. To add weight to the dips I can use some waterjugs I have lying around my dorm, or perhaps even with the tire if I get strong enough.

Standing Military Press can be performed with the tire / perhaps girl (I'm serious). I need to find some midranges of weight for this.

Bent rows can be accomplished with the tire+rope, or perhaps dressers / couches / anything heavy I can find around the dorm in conjunction with the rope.

Chinups may be accomplished on the playstructure near school.



I sincerely apologize for the jenkiness of the workout routine, but one can only work with what materials they are given.


SNS was generous enough to grant me the opportunity to log Reduce XT and Agmatine despite my odd workout routine, and I will do my best to make this log worthwhile.

Please. Yell at me, give me suggestions, criticize me. I need to get going again. Upon seeing my progress pictures, I died a little inside when I realized how much mass I had lost, and how quickly I had lost it.




Oh yeah, and I got a tat xD - It means Justice in Chinese


I will do my best to report in every day that I train, wether it be minor supplementary exercises or an attempt at a Rippetoe's day.


Wish me luck! I will begin the routine 11/16, as I already trained with the tire today for sled drags / standing military press

[donoh]

Sup Chimp? Hope everything goes well in here.

The first thing I thought of when reading about your workouts was Bruce Lee. He did a lot of high rep body weight stuff if I'm not mistaken right? Either wy good luck bud!

[Chimpinzo]

Welcome back Donoh

Yes, you're completely right on that ~ Bruce Lee did tons of bodyweight exercises ~ Unlike me though, he was able to dedicate about 8-12 hours a day to training if I recall correctly haha.

I'm just trying my best to regain my lost muscle mass for now, I assume it'd be easiest to get toward a larger, but dense physique like Bruce Lee's by cutting into it from a larger size, so until I have the time for his crazy training schedule, I'll just be massing up

[donoh]

I feel ya man. I myself have been out of the gym for a while. I've only been back for a week but I've lost muscle and strength so I'll be geared towards getting it back.

[WhirlyBird]

A Chimpinzo appears. Glad to see you again bro. Also glad to see you logging beings you give great detailed logs.

I am in for the ride and Safeway sandwiches

[SNS8778]

Good luck getting back into the swing of things. I havent been able to train properly myself lately and it really does suck thinking how long it takes to make gains versus how quick they can slip away.

I hope you will be pleased with the products.

[Chimpinzo]

Seriously, thanks for the support and familiar faces everyone, I will do my best to crank some kickass results out for this log ~ It's time for a turnaround! I'll be up at roughly 6 am tomorrow to start my first training session (still trying to adjust my body's internal clock from a 4:00AM-Noon sleep based schedule), See you all tomorrow!

[Synapsin]

Awesome man, best of luck tomorrow!

[Chimpinzo]

Performed my first training session ~ I woke up at 6:00 AM but still felt fried, so slept till 7:00AM.

I downed 4 caps Agmatine (1g) and 2 caps Reduce XT (100mg blend alpha/beta 7-hydroxy-dehydroeoiandrosterone) at 7:00AM coupled with a soymilk protein shake (2.5 cups soymilk / 30g whey) with a large banana as a preworkout so I'd have some protein / carbs in my system at least

I have decided I'll be dosing Agmatine 4 caps (250mg per) right out of bed (right when I begin training also) on training days, or 2/2 on non-training days.

Reduce XT I will dose 2/1/1 on all days (50mg blend of alpha/beta 7-hydroxy-dehydroeoiandrosteroneper cap).



Walk - 0.9miles (to the nearby park/lake)
Pushups
15/20/15/12/12/10/8

Squats (with girl on back)
9/8/8/7/6

Tire Drag
0.5 miles

Dips
12/12/10/8


I first attempted pushups with the girl sitting midway up my back, but found myself unable to complete a reasonable # of pushups, so decided to simply begin with decline pushups, and work toward incline pushups /w her on my back, then parallel pushups, so on.

Squats were excellent, I found she was best balanced by sitting on my shoulders. Next time I will load a backpack for her to increase the weight

Dips were rather good, tris are a bit torn up from the pushups

Tire drag is acceptable, but I really do need to find a better method of hitting my hamstrings/lower back.

All in all, tomorrow's a rest day unless I do some breakdancing for cardio, and the following day (wednesday) is workout B (Squat/Military Press/Bent Rows/Chin ups)

I may try to acquire a picture for the luulz of lifting /w her haha

-No comment on Reduce XT yet (obviously), but holypump for my freaking quads. I'll repost more about my ongoing pumps over the next while. It's too hard to judge a product like this on the first day, but I'd say it would be a 9/10 for pump in my quads for today

[donoh]

I bet you're sweating a lot on this kind of training

[Chimpinzo]

Would be if it was any later in the day!

At Merced, the temperature's in the low 40's when I workout around 6-7 AM It keeps me nice and cool

[donoh]

Whoa that's cooler than I thought it would be haha

[Synapsin]

Not a bad workout, and yeah I imagine the pumps on leg day would probably be high anyways. 40 degrees is so cold, I'd be freezing! Good luck with your workout today.

[Chimpinzo]

Whoa that's cooler than I thought it would be haha

Not a bad workout, and yeah I imagine the pumps on leg day would probably be high anyways. 40 degrees is so cold, I'd be freezing! Good luck with your workout today.

It's freezing at first, but it's great once you get going. I start out in a huge jacket and by the end I'm sweating in a t-shirt

-Though today is Wednesday, and rippetoe's designates workouts on Mon/Wed/Fri, since I started on a Tuesday, my workout scheme will be

Tues/Thurs/Sat I believe ~ Sorry for throwing you off ! Haha


Legs are very sore, everything else is, but not as much as legs ~ I've decided to make some sandbags with the help of a friend, by sewing cloth bags closed while full of sand. We estimate each will be roughly 25-30 lbs, we'll have these done within a few days, which will be a great mid-range for lots of lifts.

I've decided, for bent rows I will be able to perform decline rows, while letting the girl (Saniyah) hang off of my back in Koala fashion for additional weight.

Standing military press I assume would be best with the tire and sandbags sitting within the rim's portion (unfortunately don't have the sandbags yet) I'll find something to do. Perhaps handstand presses? I'm not too sure how closely the exercises relate. Though it seems to be an inverted version of the same lift, I question if it uses the same muscles, as it feels quite different to me when I've tried comparing the two.

[Chimpinzo]

I slipped home this weekend for my grandfather's 80th birthday, but was able to maintain a lifting routine

Workout B
-Standing Military Press
(replaced by handstand presses, it's inverted xD)
-Bent Row
(replaced by tire dragging with a rowing motion)
-Squats
(Did not accomplish, legs are still brutally sore)

Definitely need to find a better variation for bent row, but the workout overall was rather smooth.


This morning I hit my 2nd A routine
-Bench Press
(Pushups, slight incline /w Saniya on my back)
This worked out far better than the previous attempt, I suppose I needed a lifting session to kick my body back into gear. I began the lifting session at an incline of roughly 8 inches (estimated) with her sitting on my hips, ending the session with an incline of rougly 4 inches (estimated) still sitting on my hips.
5x5 routine'd of course
-Squats
(Saniya sitting on my shoulders)
5x7 Also easier than expected, I need to get her a backpack to wear to add weight though. Should be setup by next workout
-Deadlifts
I really need a substitute here, did not hit deads yet, and I'm considering good-mornings as a tie-over until I find a substitute

[Chimpinzo]

Upon my return home for thanksgiving break, I was able to hit the gym ~ Amazing trip ! I was very estatic to find that much of my strength was still reasonably maintained


Workout B:11/24/10
Squats (slightly below parallel)
135x5 - Warmup
185 - 5x5
Perfect weight for me, I perhaps could have hit 190, but it was an excellent set, I was squeezing out the 5th rep for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th set.

Standing Military Press
70x5 - Warmup
100x5 - Warmup
110 - 5x5
Good set here, I was having slight difficulty in balancing the weight so as to effectively allow maximum muscle activation. I am sure this will come in time ~ I estimate discluding stability issues, I should be pressing ~125lbs

Bent T-Bar Rows
80x5 - Warmup
125 - 5x5
Good weight for me here once again

I was relieved that my numbers still seemed quite reasonable despite my mass-losses, suggesting to me that my size may return a bit quicker (I hope). All aside, it was an excellent lifting session, because I was able to find great weights for myself in a very timely manner, jumping directly from a light warmup to heavy working sets.

[Chimpinzo]

Workout A:11/27/10
Bench Press
135x5 - Warmup
165x5
170x5
163 3x5
I'm weak as always in bench pressing, I say it only means that I'll have a bit more room to grow. I am quite focused on how much my bench numbers / pressing strength / chest improves over the course of this log

Squats
135x5
185 5x5
Good working weight, I believe I'm ready to up the weight now

Deadlifts
135x5 Warmup
225x5 Warmup
250 3x5
Solid set, I am trying to start "touching" the weights to the floor between reps as opposed to just lowering the weight most of the way down. It was a nice deadlift considering how long it's been since I've actually been able to train them. Just hoping to see these numbers jump

-Lifting's going fine, I believe I have already leaned out a little, though it could be all in my head. I can't comment as to strength increases as of yet obviously. Just keeping logging~

[Synapsin]

Just work hard and it will all come along

[Chimpinzo]

Got mixed up on my routine and hit workout A again D: haha... Nonetheless was quite a solid workout. Back in Merced and hitting it junkyard style, I'll explain xP


Workout A:11/30/10
Bench Press
2x5 Warmup
5x5 - Saniya sitting @ waist - no incline/decline. It was a good workout to be honest haha... I always laughed about oldschool bodybuilders doing pushups /w girls on their backs, but it's a great workout!

Squats
Saniya on back x5 - Warmup. She's too light D: ~95lbs.
Saniya + 1.5 gallon waterjug x5 - Too light still (I had her hold the jug while sitting on my shoulders xP
Saniya + 4 gallons water - (strapped a backpack to myself /w 2.5 gallons, Saniya + her holding the 1.5 gallon jug). 3x5. Nicely played here too xP

Deadlifts
I was stressing about deadlifts for quite some time... So I decided that my personal fitness took precedence over my humility. I deadlifted the dumpsters in the commons (@ night). Sadly, I cannot include weights, but I can estimate.
Cardboard dumpster x5 (est 240) - too light
Recycling dumpster 4x5 (est 280-290) - Great weight, slightly offset balance though, would like alternative activity.



All in all, a very odd but productive night, my suitemates walked in on me doing squats with my waterjug tower, then actually came to watch me attempt to lift the dumpsters (they didn't think I could ~ Owned haha), and now that I can rep pushups /w Saniya on my back on an even surface, I'm set.

Crazy but productive night ~ I may try to snag a picture of the squat tower, or dumpsters I was playing around with haha...

[WhirlyBird]

Man hard at it as always Bruce...I mean Chinpinzo. Good work

[Chimpinzo]

Man hard at it as always Bruce...I mean Chinpinzo. Good work

xD Much appreciated ~ I'll be hitting some lifts tomorrow, attempting handstand presses (standing military press), any row variant I can devise xP (bent row / pendlay rows), and squats (same as always). I have an organic chemistry quiz and two labs tomorrow... but I'll get the lifting done toward the late afternoon

I believe I've seen some positive recomposition in the mirror already, I want to take progress pics to compare and verify, but that would ruin the surprise @ the end of the log, wouldn't it? Haha

[donoh]

No pics til the end!! Haha

Keep it up

[Chimpinzo]

I was able to hit the lifts yesterday, but not in the whole that I wished :'( - I will elaborate


Workout B -
Standing Military Press - Tire Presses
3x8
2x12
Good exercise, and as close as I can get without weights, but I really need to find a way to attach more weight for this ~ I estimate I should be pressing ~25 pounds more. I have to find a weight to strap to the tire

Squats
2x5 - Saniya + 4 gallons water
3x5 - Saniya + 2.5 gallons water
I got a bit fatigued and eventually told Saniya to put down the water jug she was holding while sitting on my shoulders. Good working sets though, slow ups and downs and hit the quads hard.

I couldn't hit rows unfortunately, because I somehow bruised my left forearm the night before o_O? Anyways... I can't grab with it too well, or at least not good enough to properly perform pulling/rowing motions. I'll hit it next roto :\ I really need to hit more rowing motions, my back's falling behind!!!

Pullups!
1x11
1x10
2x8
I have no bar to perform pullups on, so simply performed these on my dorm's door (luckily it didn't rip off the hinges) Haha... Desprate measures

Solid lifting, a bit dissapointing whenever I see how much I'm missing out on without my weights set... I can't wait to get back to the gym @ my home

[Chimpinzo]

I'm seriously cranking down for finals, dedicating about 10 hours a day to studies... Things will get weird here and I assume I'll lose some weight due to stim abuse ~ I suppose this is a cut before the end of the log? XP

Workout A - 12/4/10
Bench Press - (Saniya weighted pushups)
2x8 - Warmup
Saniya sitting on hips
5x5 - Solid weighting and good rep speed/activation.

Squats -
1x8 - 4 gallons water (warmup)
5x5 - 2.5 gallons + Saniya (working sets)

Solid activation also. Just grinding out the sets, had slight bloodpressure issues (took some 1,3dimethyl before workout) but overall did fine

Dips
3x8
Performed on chairs as before, good finisher after the pushups

Deadlifting was passed today due to excessive rain and finals studies :\. Will continue the lifting though!

[Chimpinzo]

Ha, just thought of this aspect... Stim usage spikes cortisol levels, this will be an interesting test for Reduce XT's effect on cortisol. xD Bonus points!

[Chimpinzo]

Another twisted day in the gymless life of chimp~

I setup a workout time with my partner (Saniya) and she fell asleep (in my bed -.-") in the 4 minute timespan it took for me to whip up a protein shake in the same room!

Nonetheless, lifting must be done, and I found a revised way of finishing my exercises once again.

Bent Rows - Pullups -On the dorm door xP
11
9
8
8
7
5
Slow and steady reps with good activation ~ Feels good to get some nice activation going with simpler exercises.

Standing Military Press - Handstand Pushups
6
4
4
4
Honestly, these things wipe me out like crazy, I learned how to adjust the angle of resistance (by arching my body further) to make the exercise more similar to an actual standing military press. Also great activation here, I would have popped a 5th set to finish things officially, but seeing as how I nearly faceplanted the previous set (almost failed on the 4th rep) I decided against xP.

Squats - I will push this off till sometime tomorrow, I didn't have the heart to kick Saniya out of bed, and my quads always over-develop anyways.

This workout scheme's kill'n me. I want to post #'s, this vague business drives me crazy. It's hard to show/see improvement ~ The speed of repetitions could create the difference between 5 or 9 reps, both offering equal workload



I am now rather positive that I can visually see a compositional change in the mirror
/feelsgoodman.

In regard to the products being tested (Agmatine and Reduce XT {7-OH} ) I have some opinions to toss out, mainly concerning what curiosities I myself had before starting this log ~ I will obviously provide a more complete summary at the end of the log, but believe forethoughts could be a nice addition to the log

I have bolded the highlights of the products below for those who want to skim read

~Agmatine (currently dosed 4 caps {1g} each morning upon waking)
As some people claim to experience on blueprint (though I myself doubt its possibility {I've tried plasmajet also}) I do not experience all day pumps or anything of the like on Agmatine, but have been experiencing minimal muscle soreness (good recovery) despite starting lifting again off an extended break of laziness. I can honestly say that my sleep over the past few weeks has been the best I've had in ages, superior to melatonin (I dose 4~5mg sparingly when needed) / valerian root / ZMA (after acclimation) just to name a few. I didn't expect this, but who can complain about catching some extra Z's. Saniya's been telling me that I've been sleep talking nightly (dreaming CONSTANTLY too, and also remembering the dreams).

I would LOVE to answer questions such as, how much does Agmatine help pumps (one of my main questions myself) but in all honesty, with low rep schemes like I am working with, I never really experience pumps of any substance in the first place (a few from squats though), so would find this unfair to judge.

~Reduce XT (currently dosed 2 caps {100mg} morning, and 1x {50mg} afternoon, 1x night)
This is obviously much harder to judge due to its shotgun of effects upon the body. I would have to say... Read over the above paragraph. It's honestly hard to say which Reduce XT could be influencing (reduced cortisol has countless effects on the body). In regard to the obvious though, I have leaned out through the course of this log (I need to weigh in, haven't in a while). Nothing comparable to a dedicated fatburner, but seeing as how this is also muscle sparing, unlike a fatburner, that would be an unfair judgement, now wouldn't it?

I suppose I'll have to wait till the end of this log to compare progress pictures to see if I believe I would have made more/less progress without Reduce XT's benefit.

We're all in the same boat on this one!

[TheUnderdog]

nice buddy...didn't realize you started a new log. in from here. loving the girl assisted excercises...she might need to bulk up though soon to increase the workload!

[Chimpinzo]

nice buddy...didn't realize you started a new log. in from here. loving the girl assisted excercises...she might need to bulk up though soon to increase the workload!

Haha, I always joke with her about it, but for she seems resistant to the idea for some reason

I put a 2.5 gallon jug of water in a backpack, then have her put it on ~ I'm going to start needing more weight than that soon though D:

[TheUnderdog]

Haha, I always joke with her about it, but for she seems resistant to the idea for some reason

I put a 2.5 gallon jug of water in a backpack, then have her put it on ~ I'm going to start needing more weight than that soon though D:

do you not have a rec center at your school?

[Chimpinzo]

do you not have a rec center at your school?

We do ~ It's a long story about why, but I don't use it due to personal reasons, so have to scheme up various ways to workout with high weight without actual equipment.

The following semester (roughly 9 months from now) I will have a house to stay at off-campus, in which I have convinced my dad to help throw in for a squat cage / bench press. Then I'm set to do whatever for life