Decided to start new journal (actually the first one ever online) to keep me motivated and track my results.
So I returned to training 09 12 and was 200 (morning weight) now sitting at 205 (morning weight too) and 6'2 (was 250 few years ago), 26 years old. Over the next few months I'll try to get to 225-230 then I'll decide what to do.
DIET:
Don't have the set in stone plan...it might be few very high calories days then few low etc...keep the carbs and protein high-moderate and fats moderate low (might throw in few high fat days here and there). Began at 2700-3000 cals a day (too low for me), now I’m taking in between 3000-3500 cals about 50-30-20 carb protein fat, I’m total ectomorph so I need a lot of cals and especially carbs to gain weight in the next few weeks planning to up cals to 4000, then 4500 and then depends on where I will be - lean out a bit for a few weeks or continue to grow.
On weekends I’m cheating. And when I cheat I cheat! At least 1500cals per meal [last cheat was ¾ cheesecake and half chicken with baked potatoes, took 1hour to pound down haha]
TRAINING:
Up until this day I was training 3 times a week M W F, Push/Pull/Legs workouts… This week decided to go 4 times a week and split will look like this:
Monday: Chest / Shoulder / Triceps
Tuesday: Back / Biceps / Rear delts
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday: Quads / Hams / Calves
Friday: Chest / Shoulders / Triceps or OFF
Saturday: OFF or Chest / Shoulders / Triceps
Saturday: OFF [cheat day]
10-16 total sets exercises for big body parts, 8-12 for small.
SUPPLEMENTS:
Whey protein powder
BCAA
Glutamine
Optimen Multivits
I'll try to post as much as possible videos, photos to keep my journal more entertaining.
Bodybuilding is not weight and repetitions; it’s resistance and absolute muscle failure. It’s not quantitative; it’s qualitative. It’s more mental than physical. It’s more control than rage. It’s the realization that you can always get bigger. ~ bodybuilding
also, im going to post my back/bis workout from yesterday...any critques or suggestions would be helpful
Underhand Barbell Row
115x12
x10
x8
x8
T-Bar Row
70x12
x10
x8
x8
Chinups (assistance)
70x12
x10
x8
Narrow grip seated row
85x12
x10
x8
Wide-grip pullups (assistance)
85x12
x10
x8
Incline DB Curl
15x12
x10
x8
pREACHER cURL machine
65x12
x10
x8
Note: i usually do a hell of a lot more weight for all these exercises, but recently ive shortened my rest period between sets to a strict 1 and 1/2 minutes for more hypertrophy/fatigue. any recommendations? thanks
My Training/Diet Log: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=148408843
hey bro, awesome journal and workout split! please keep us updated on this man, im gonna follow!
Thanks, I'll do my best to keep this thread alive
Originally Posted by dragonman6
also, im going to post my back/bis workout from yesterday...any critques or suggestions would be helpful
Underhand Barbell Row
115x12
x10
x8
x8
T-Bar Row
70x12
x10
x8
x8
Chinups (assistance)
70x12
x10
x8
Narrow grip seated row
85x12
x10
x8
Wide-grip pullups (assistance)
85x12
x10
x8
Incline DB Curl
15x12
x10
x8
pREACHER cURL machine
65x12
x10
x8
Note: i usually do a hell of a lot more weight for all these exercises, but recently ive shortened my rest period between sets to a strict 1 and 1/2 minutes for more hypertrophy/fatigue. any recommendations? thanks
Workout looks good. Weights no matter, perfect form - does...I used to do barbell rows with 365 few years ago, now never go above 275, muscles don't know the wights you are lifting. Keep up hard working, man!
what are some tips to cutting down to single digit body fat while preserving as much muscle as possible? is there a good rule of thumb to go by for determining calorie intake for cutting?
My Training/Diet Log: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=148408843
what are some tips to cutting down to single digit body fat while preserving as much muscle as possible? is there a good rule of thumb to go by for determining calorie intake for cutting?
Well it depends on your activity levels, metabolism, there are a lot of calculators over the net, you can calculate how much calories you...but basically what I'm using is:
bodyweight x 10 - extreme weight loss [wouldn't go this low for a long period of time, because of fat and too much muscle loss]
bodyweight x 12 - steady weight loss
bodyweight x 15 - maintenance
bodyweight x 17 - gain weight
bodyweight x 20 - extreme weight gain
as far as calorie break down, what works for me best is 1g [1.5 most - but rarely go that high] protein per lb, and the rest calories goes from 40-50% carbs, and 10-20% fat...never go below 35-40% carbs, I need them, if I go too low on carbs I've no energy, look like never trained in my life - stringy, my muscles gave no fullness...if I'm at my lowest carb intake and the weight loss stopped - increase cardio, drop all fat, then even drop protein intake, not carbs.
So summing it up - I would start with higher calorie/carb intake (let's say 15kcal/lb) and then drop little by little as the weeks goes...If I where you - weighting 160bs I would add some mass, but if you decide to cut I would start with 300-330g of carbs, 180-200g protein, 40-50g fat...every other week drop 20-30g g of carbs but won't go below 150g of carbs per day, if i would be at that carb level and would have to drop even more fat - I would increase cardio and/or drop all added fat, then drop some protein (10-20g or so eow)
Well it depends on your activity levels, metabolism, there are a lot of calculators over the net, you can calculate how much calories you...but basically what I'm using is:
bodyweight x 10 - extreme weight loss [wouldn't go this low for a long period of time, because of fat and too much muscle loss]
bodyweight x 12 - steady weight loss
bodyweight x 15 - maintenance
bodyweight x 17 - gain weight
bodyweight x 20 - extreme weight gain
as far as calorie break down, what works for me best is 1g [1.5 most - but rarely go that high] protein per lb, and the rest calories goes from 40-50% carbs, and 10-20% fat...never go below 35-40% carbs, I need them, if I go too low on carbs I've no energy, look like never trained in my life - stringy, my muscles gave no fullness...if I'm at my lowest carb intake and the weight loss stopped - increase cardio, drop all fat, then even drop protein intake, not carbs.
So summing it up - I would start with higher calorie/carb intake (let's say 15kcal/lb) and then drop little by little as the weeks goes...If I where you - weighting 160bs I would add some mass, but if you decide to cut I would start with 300-330g of carbs, 180-200g protein, 40-50g fat...every other week drop 20-30g g of carbs but won't go below 150g of carbs per day, if i would be at that carb level and would have to drop even more fat - I would increase cardio and/or drop all added fat, then drop some protein (10-20g or so eow)
thanks a lot man, appreciate you typing all that out for me. yeah i weight 160 right now, but don't plan on cutting until i reach 180...i just wanted to know in advance the methods for cutting down to single digits.
My Training/Diet Log: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=148408843
thanks a lot man, appreciate you typing all that out for me. yeah i weight 160 right now, but don't plan on cutting until i reach 180...i just wanted to know in advance the methods for cutting down to single digits.
was really hungry on Saturday until cheat meal, ate as much as I can, today having hard time putting down all the food, have few meals to go so might skip the carb part...
Decided to make some changes into my training and diet. I've always responded good to training every body part 2 times a week with higher volume (since beginning made the biggest progress on this type of training) so for the next few weeks decided to give it a try. First two weeks will be lighter week to adapt my body for training 6 days on 1 off, with 60-66 sets per workout, that means, close to 400 sets per week (20-30 sets per body part 2 times a week) . Then I'll have 1 lither and 1 harder workout per muscle group per week. This looks like overtraining but I've nothing to loose, if I will overtrain I'll have a week of, back to training and grow even better due to rebound.
Diet wise, calories will be upped too. Ar least 4000 cals with 55-30-15 carbs protein fat breakdown (High carb) for MTW and 25-30-45 breakdown for the ThFS (High fat), then chest day on Sunday. At the end might need to go to 5000cals to gain weight.
So the plan:
TRAINING:
Monday:
Back (4 exercises 8-6 sets 32 sets total)
Biceps (3 exercises 8-6 sets 20 sets total)
Rear delts (2 exercises 8-6 sets 14 sets total)
Abs
Tuesday:
Chest (4 exercises 8-6 sets 32 sets total)
Shoulders (3 exercises 8-6 sets 20 sets total)
Triceps (3 exercises 8-6 sets 20 sets total)
Abs
Wednesday:
Quads (4 exercises 8-6 sets 32 sets total)
Hams (2 exercises 8-6 sets 14 sets total)
Calves (3 exercises 8-6 sets 20 sets total)
Abs
Thursday:
Back (4 exercises 8-6 sets 32 sets total)
Biceps (3 exercises 8-6 sets 20 sets total)
Rear delts (2 exercises 8-6 sets 14 sets total)
Abs
Friday:
Chest (4 exercises 8-6 sets 32 sets total)
Shoulders (3 exercises 8-6 sets 20 sets total)
Triceps (3 exercises 8-6 sets 20 sets total)
Abs
Saturday:
Quads 4 exercises 8-6 sets 32 sets total)
Hams (2 exercises 8-6 sets 14 sets total)
Calves (3 exercises 8-6 sets 20 sets total)
Abs
Sunday:
OFF
keep the reps 12-15 per set no lees than 10 reps
weights used will be 60-70% lither than they used to be for all 8 or 6 sets
rest time between sets 90-30 seconds
abs done after every workout 15-30 minutes depending on strength levels
I'll try to keep cardio non-existent, no other physical activities outside the gym
DIET:
Monday Tuesday Wednesday
Meal1:
2 Cups oats
45g whey protein
5oz yogurt
1 tablespoon natural peanut butter
Meal2:
2 Cups brown rice
5oz fish
Meal3:
2 Cups brown rice
5oz fish
Meal4:
16oz baked potato
5oz chicken
Meal5:
2 Cups oatmeal
45g whey protein
5oz yogurt
Meal6:
3/4 Cup oatmeal
45g whey protein
2 tablespoons natural peanut butter
Night time snack:
Cottage cheese cheesecake
PreW and PostW:
5g bcaa, 5g glutamine
5g bcaa, 5g glutamine
~ 4210cals
530g carbs
320g protein
80g of fat
Thursday Friday Saturday
Meal1:
1 Cup oats
6 whole eggs
2tablespoons natural peanut butter
Meal2:
1 Cup brown rice
5oz fish
2 tablespoons olive oil
Meal3:
1 Cup brown rice
5oz fish
2 tablespoons olive oil
Meal4:
8oz baked potato
5oz chicken
2 tablespoon butter
Meal5:
1 Cup oatmeal
45g whey protein
2 tablespoon natural peanut butter
Meal6:
1/2 Cups oats
6 whole eggs
2tablespoons natural peanut butter
Cottage cheese cheesecake
PreW and PostW:
5g bcaa, 5g glutamine
5g bcaa, 5g glutamine
~ 4210cals
260g carbs
320g protein
210g of fat
If i will be hungry - I'll eat more snacks (nuts, fruit, cheesecakes, icecream)
if I'll drop weight for the 3 consecutive days - will another add 200-300 calories to the diet
Thanks, Lucifer. Stay tunned I'm planning to do more experiments with training and diet...
With this experiment I'll prove that :
There is no such thing as muscle overtraining. As long as your Central Nervous System isn't overtraining, you can use as much volume as you want and still grow (although more volume needs more calories, this is where most high volume trainees makes mistake - they eat too little).
Muscles don't need a whole week to recover from training.
Muscles don't know how much they are using. You can hit it with volume and they grow just as good (if not even better) as with heavy weights, lower volume, but without risking of injury. Although this is time demanding - not everyone has time to spent in the gym 2 hours a day 6 times a week.
You can eat very high carb/calorie diet stay lean and grow at the same time There is no such thing as carb sensitivity, carbs making peaple fat thing - as long as you take in adequate number of calories, nutritious carbs - you won't get fat. BTW none needs 1.5-2g per lb protein to grow, as long as your calories are high - you'll grow (this will be my other experiment).
Total sets: 58
Workout complete in 95 minutes
Weight: 211.5lbs (lost 1 pound in 1 day)
Overall workout was good, had insane pumps during the workout, but was shot at the end, I've started with very light weights but it feels and taxes body even more when it's done in 30-60 seconds rest intervals and for close to 60 sets per workout. I'll give my body 2 weeks to adapt to this training and then I'm expecting to grow and see the results
Diet wise the plan was complete 100% - had all my meals, plus even more (some fruits, peanut butter with rice cakes here and there, also had 2 peaces of cheesecake instead of 1, so had a little over 4500 calories a day and even though I've lost 1 lb. Might need to up calories, or decrease other activities during the day for the next few weeks, at least
DAY 2 of experiment YOU CAN'T OVERTRAIN Old School Training Review
Trained: Chest / Shoulders / Triceps
Bench press - 135x12 225x12 225x10 225x10
Incline Smith press - 135x10 202.5x9 202.8 180x11
Dips - bwx12 +45x10 +45x10 bwx15
Standing Military press - 135x8 135x9 135x8 135x8
Seated laterials - 27's x 12 27's x 12 27's x 12 27's x 12
Triceps pushdowns - 6x20 8x10 7x12 7x12
Incline DB extensions - 36'sx12 40'sx9 40'sx8
One arm cable pushdowns - 3 x 20 3x20
Total sets: 28
Workout complete in 60 minutes
Weight: 211.4lbs (0.1lb lost over 1 day, 1.1 lost from the beginning of experiment)
Due to my duty changes at work I won't be able to spend 2 hours 6 times a week in the gym anymore So I will train in the same manner just lower volume (while up the weights) and 4-5 times a week. Felt a little tired in the beginning of the workout, but as the workout went on I was feeling normal, so that was just my mind. As mentioned cut sets aproc in half, but added more weight, still don't train to failure, I would say only about 70-80 of my max, I'll gone increase my working weights and might add some more volume as the weeks goes on.
Had all my meals and even more, calories ended up about 4500 for the day.
DAY 2 of experiment YOU CAN'T OVERTRAIN Old School Training Review
Trained: Chest / Shoulders / Triceps
Bench press - 135x12 225x12 225x10 225x10
Incline Smith press - 135x10 202.5x9 202.8 180x11
Dips - bwx12 +45x10 +45x10 bwx15
Standing Military press - 135x8 135x9 135x8 135x8
Seated laterials - 27's x 12 27's x 12 27's x 12 27's x 12
Triceps pushdowns - 6x20 8x10 7x12 7x12
Incline DB extensions - 36'sx12 40'sx9 40'sx8
One arm cable pushdowns - 3 x 20 3x20
Total sets: 28
Workout complete in 60 minutes
Weight: 211.4lbs (0.1lb lost over 1 day, 1.1 lost from the beginning of experiment)
Due to my duty changes at work I won't be able to spend 2 hours 6 times a week in the gym anymore So I will train in the same manner just lower volume (while up the weights) and 4-5 times a week. Felt a little tired in the beginning of the workout, but as the workout went on I was feeling normal, so that was just my mind. As mentioned cut sets aproc in half, but added more weight, still don't train to failure, I would say only about 70-80 of my max, I'll gone increase my working weights and might add some more volume as the weeks goes on.
Had all my meals and even more, calories ended up about 4500 for the day.
wow, you have an awesome bench press. its cool how your doing these experiments...im really looking forward to "You can eat very high carb/calorie diet stay lean and grow at the same time" experiment. in the future, you should do some experiments for cutting
My Training/Diet Log: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=148408843
wow, you have an awesome bench press. its cool how your doing these experiments...im really looking forward to "You can eat very high carb/calorie diet stay lean and grow at the same time" experiment. in the future, you should do some experiments for cutting
Actually bench press is my worst lift, I've long arms and my pressing movements sucks compared with other exercises. When I was at my biggest I could deadlift 450x5 495x3, squat 450 for 5, the best bench press was only 315x5.
As for cutting...it's the simplest part. It's much harder to gain muscle, gain muscle and loose bf, gain strength and so on...For cutting you have only to lower calories and be consistent. Everyone overstress on macros ratios, losing too much muscle, strength when cutting...it's all about calories in calories out, as long as you are getting 1g (sometimes you don't even require this amount) of protein per lb, don't go too low on cals - you won't loose muscle at all. These days most guys goes on ridiculously high protein diets when dieting, too low carbs, they look flat and soft on these diets, because of too low muscle glycogen, they think they have lost muscle...the trick is to find the amount of cals you need for steady fat loss 0.5-1lb a week (that's usually 10-13kcal per lb) and then take 1g per lb protein, 40-50 sometimes even 60 percent of carbs and the rest - fats. Example for 211lb man:
211x13=2743kcals
~220g protein
220g protein = 880kcals
50% of 2743 cals = 1372 cals or 343g of carbs
protein+carbs [cals] = 2252
that leaves 2743-2252 = 491 cals for fats or 55g of fat
So the start point for 211lb man if he wants to stay loose fat is
343g of carbs 220g of protein and 55g of fat
When the weight loss stops - start eliminating fats, then carbs only if needed but don't go lower than 1g per lb.
High volume, huh? Interesting. Will be following. I want to see how this works out for you, since I've never believed in high volume workouts. I usually do 12-16 sets per day.
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Actually bench press is my worst lift, I've long arms and my pressing movements sucks compared with other exercises. When I was at my biggest I could deadlift 450x5 495x3, squat 450 for 5, the best bench press was only 315x5.
As for cutting...it's the simplest part. It's much harder to gain muscle, gain muscle and loose bf, gain strength and so on...For cutting you have only to lower calories and be consistent. Everyone overstress on macros ratios, losing too much muscle, strength when cutting...it's all about calories in calories out, as long as you are getting 1g (sometimes you don't even require this amount) of protein per lb, don't go too low on cals - you won't loose muscle at all. These days most guys goes on ridiculously high protein diets when dieting, too low carbs, they look flat and soft on these diets, because of too low muscle glycogen, they think they have lost muscle...the trick is to find the amount of cals you need for steady fat loss 0.5-1lb a week (that's usually 10-13kcal per lb) and then take 1g per lb protein, 40-50 sometimes even 60 percent of carbs and the rest - fats. Example for 211lb man:
211x13=2743kcals
~220g protein
220g protein = 880kcals
50% of 2743 cals = 1372 cals or 343g of carbs
protein+carbs [cals] = 2252
that leaves 2743-2252 = 491 cals for fats or 55g of fat
So the start point for 211lb man if he wants to stay loose fat is
343g of carbs 220g of protein and 55g of fat
When the weight loss stops - start eliminating fats, then carbs only if needed but don't go lower than 1g per lb.
what your saying makes A LOT of sense to me. i didnt know it was possible to burn fat at a high carb intake. why do so many people stress eating low carbs to get into single digits?
also, what kind of guidelines would you follow for an OFF day?
My Training/Diet Log: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=148408843
High volume, huh? Interesting. Will be following. I want to see how this works out for you, since I've never believed in high volume workouts. I usually do 12-16 sets per day.
I also don't train high volume year round. As with diets i try to cycle - few months very high volume, few month high volume another few - low, then another few - very low (DC ir HIT style) and so on. From my own experience - on very low volume I can see A LOT OF strength gain, almost every workout, but less muscle gain, more fat gain (due to decreased workload). On very high volume i can't gain strength at all but my muscles shapes up a lot, got better looking and it's much much easier to loose bf without stressing on diet to much and eating as much as you want, even force feeding (of course with clean food).
Originally Posted by dragonman6
what your saying makes A LOT of sense to me. i didnt know it was possible to burn fat at a high carb intake. [1]why do so many people stress eating low carbs to get into single digits?
[2]also, what kind of guidelines would you follow for an OFF day?
1 - they are brainwashed by the supplement companies. Yes - protein builds muscle, but none NONE needs more than 1g per lb, none can gain more than 10-15 pounds of lean muscle a year. 10-15 pounds a year = ~1 pound a month that's 10-15g a day...so you can't gain more than 10-15g of muscle a day, BUT you have to remember that 60-70% of muscle is water, glycogen, so for muscle growth is used less than 10g of protein you eat a day. Isn't that silly to consume 300 400 500g of protein a day? Of course 10g of protein a day is too little because protein is used not only for muscle growth but isn't it silly to consume 300 400 500+g of protein a day? With AAS this number might increase but just a little bit, actually I know only few PROs (heavy AAS users) whose has gained more than 10-15 in one year. It's all about calories in calories out - if you're taking in a lot of cals - you'll grow.
Mike Mentzer was very intelligent man (actually he might be one of the most educated man in bodybuilding industry ever) his thoughts about right dieting, protein needs etc: http://imbodybuilding.com/articles/m...ar-part-3/?p=1
Supp companies are making millions out of protein powders, and whey protein is very cheap to make, actually whey is waste product in diary industry. For example - you got milk. From milk you get sour cream [valuable product] and fat free milk [waste product]. From sour cream you get - butter [valuable product] and buttermilk [waste product] and from fat free milk you got - cottage cheese [valuable product] and whey [waste product]...after that lactose is separated from the whey, they is dried and made into powder...whey is used in food industry for milk replacement because it's cheaper than regular milk, and of course - widely used by bodybuilders, but it's sold in ridiculously high prices by the supplement companies. Supp companies make millions because bodybuilders thinks they "need" tons and tons of protein a day.
2 - it depends, might be few options. Your off days are you recovery/growth days, the food you've eaten on your off day will be used to repair muscle AND tomorrow in your workout, so keeping that in mind if I'm trying to grow I tend to eat as much, sometimes even more than on my lifting days, especially if I was experienced some type of tiredness in the last few workouts. My cheat days are also on my off days, when I'm dieting I chest on my off days too, day before leg or back workout and so on.
When cutting it's a little bit different.
Option1 would be - eat less, deplete yourself on off day and then train in some kind of depleted stage next day for better fat burning
Option2 would be eat more than training days too, for better recover too (when using this option it's better if you're in single bf digits)
Option3 - eat the same as on training days.
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. Might need to up calories, or decrease other activities during the day for the next few weeks, at least 
So I will train in the same manner just lower volume (while up the weights) and 4-5 times a week. Felt a little tired in the beginning of the workout, but as the workout went on I was feeling normal, so that was just my mind. As mentioned cut sets aproc in half, but added more weight, still don't train to failure, I would say only about 70-80 of my max, I'll gone increase my working weights and might add some more volume as the weeks goes on.
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