Becoming a PheNOM With Help From The ProNOM...........23 That Is

[ragnar1199]

Just a quick post to get this log started, I just received my shipment of the new ProNOM 23 protein blend from Controlled Labs this evening.

[ragnar1199]

The label says to mix 1 scoop with 5-10 oz of liquid. I went with 5 for my first tasting, I usually use a small amount of water when I take my post workout scoop of protein. It shook up fairly thick and absolutely clump free. The taste was a very mild chocolate flavor, perhaps a hint of a batter flavor. It was so mild that I will not mix it with more water in the future. I would think mixed with 10 oz of water it might be kinda bland. It didn't have much sweetness to it, which I like. It also tasted kind of milky and creamy. Overall, pretty tasty. Looking forward to mixing it with milk tomorrow, as well as other things.

[ragnar1199]

I bought a container of whole milk greek yogurt the other day just so I could mix ProNOM with it, which I did this morning:








And here's breakfast. Yes, a pizza. A Tombstone pizza.






I'll post some info about myself later tonight, such as my training, diet, etc. I'll also try to have better lighting for future videos.

[RaginAzN]

I like how this log is starting off so far

[ragnar1199]

Hey everybody. Here's some info about me. Been working out pretty seriously for about 11 years with some time off here and there. I was 157 lbs when I graduated high school. Put on about 30 lbs the first two years I lifted consistently. The heaviest I've been is 213, right now around 195, gotta get back over 200. Currently working out 4 days a weeks. For the last couple years I've been doing all barbell work, low volume stuff, focusing on the power lifts. I did my first powerlifting meet back in April this year, a USAPL meet. Took third in the 220 class weighing in at 208 (there were 7 lifters in that class). Now I'm doing higher reps and more exercises. Also using dumbbells for the first time in years. I work out at home and recently purchased olympic dumbbell handles.

Worked out very little for the few months following that meet, then I hurt my right front delt when I tripped over a flower pot running in the dark and drove my shoulder in the ground. It hurt. A lot. I couldn't raise my right arm in front of me for a few days. That was about 11 weeks ago and I've been back in the gym for 7 weeks now. Delt still hurts some, but has been getting better, unfortunately my bench press is suffering, other lifts aren't too far off from where I was back in April. Workouts are as follows:

Sunday: Chest, biceps
Monday: Legs, forearms
Wednesday: Delts, triceps
Thursday: Back, calves

I'll be back with some more info. I leave you with this deadlift video from tonight's workout, 425 for 6:

[Dracoy]

Dat pizza OH DEAR LAWDY. In

[RaginAzN]

Dat pizza OH DEAR LAWDY. In

You know the log is going to be a good one especially when the Op is eating pizza for breakfast

[ragnar1199]

Supplements I'm using right now include creatine, aminos, a pre-workout powder, joint supp, and a little stack of APE and MN's Test Factor that I started 20 days ago. I try to consume 4500-5000 calories a day now that I'm in full bulk mode. I don't gain muscle too easily anymore, or any weight really. Daily carbs are over 600 grams and protein is around 225, give or take 25 grams or so.

My workout area:

I also have an old Gold's Gym bench with pulley and leg attachments, as well as a preacher bench and dip station. I plan to get that stuff for the new equipment pictured above, probably next spring/summer.


Yesterday's workout was okay, was kinda screwy because the wifey was working out, too. She's on week 6 of the Live Fit Trainer. Makes my workouts go longer sometimes since we're using the same equipment and I have to help her because she's never worked out before this. So anyway, I didn't do alot, but here it is:

Pulldown: 12x140, 11x150, 11x150

Deadlift: 6x425, 5x425

Bent Row: 5x240, 7x240

Dumbbell Row: 10x99, 9x99

I think I'll go lighter on the bent rows next time and use better form. That yogurt I mixed up yesterday with the Pronom was good, almost tasted like chocolate pudding. Almost. I think I'll be doing that often. Also had a scoop before and after my workout yesterday. I leave you with today's breakfast pic, 4 eggs scrambled and 2 large potatoes. I also had about 8 oz of 1% milk:

[ragnar1199]

So after watching Antoine's Super Awesome Kitchen stuff the other day, the one where he makes the Bulk The F Up pancake, I decided to make one with some Pronom this morning. Using a bit of pancake mix, oats, PB, eggs, milk and a scoop of the Pronom, I made this:



Now, I have very little experience using protein in recipes. The pancake came out alright, but about as dry as the Sahara. Couldn't really taste the chocolate protein. I figure if a smaller pancake was made with a smaller amount of the other ingredients, especially the oats, then maybe there would be more chocolate flavor. But, it gave a good amount of calories, about 850, and it was edible. With some syrup.

90 grams of carbs
55 grams of protein
30 grams of fat

[ragnar1199]

Let's see if I can get some stuff posted before the power goes out for good. Had a pretty good workout yesterday, chest and biceps. My flyes are kinda like a press/flye, not a real strict flye. Here is what I did:

Flat BB Press: 10x225, 7x225, 5x225 Front delt starting to hurt a little more as I went.

Decline Bench: 11x145, 12x185, 12x185

Incline DB Flye: 10x64, 8x64

Standing BB Curl: 10x115, 8x115

Incline DB Curl, Not Alt.: 9x46.5, 8x46.5

DB Hammer Curl, Alt.: 11x46.5, 11x46.5

First set of bench press video:




First set of incline flyes video:

[RaginAzN]

Definitely digging your video/picture log, also stay safe bro!

[ragnar1199]

Heading out to the barn yesterday afternoon:




So the worst part of the storm is over here. Still pretty windy, but we got lucky here being farther inland. The power went off and on like 20 times but we haven't lost it for good yet. The power outage map shows about 42% of people in my town without power, meanwhile most towns along the cost are close to 100%. Best wishes go out to those that suffered damage from the storm.

[ragnar1199]

Workouts are going well. I've pretty much been using a scoop of Pronom mixed with water after my workouts. I've also been using a scoop mixed with about 10 ounces of milk and half a cup of oats as a snack in the morning, at some point between 9:30 and 10:00. Sometimes I throw some PB in there, too. Absolutely delicious. My diet hasn't been the greatest, funds are really tight right now, I'm doing the best I can. So I did a pretty nice leg workout 3 days ago, when the storm was coming. Squats needed to be a tad deeper, as you'll see in the video. I just recently started doing the pause squats again, where I pause for 2-3 seconds at the bottom.

Squats: 9x325, 8x325

Pause Squats: 10x135, 10x155

Leg Extension: 12x135, 14x135

Stiff Leg DL: 11x285, 8x305

Leg Curl: 12x45, 11x45

First set of squats:



First set of stiff leg deads:

[ragnar1199]

And here's a pic of some Pronom in my oatmeal the other day:



Pretty good chest and biceps workout two days ago. Right delt is still slowly getting better, I'm able to hit chest pretty heavy now. Well, pretty heavy for me. Still working on getting the bench press back to what it was about 7 months ago, getting pretty close.

Flat BB Bench: 8x235, 9x235

Decline BB Bench: 12x195, 10x205, 8x205 Right delt hurting on last set

Incline DB Flye: 8x69, 7x69 drop set to 25

Standing BB Curl: 8x120, 6x120

Incline DB Curl: 10x49, 7x49

DB Hammer Curl: 10x49, 11x49

First set of flat bench:



First set of incline DB curl:



And deciding to take a pic of myself after a chest and biceps workout, not this one, the one before it:

[ragnar1199]

Had a great back workout this morning on this awesome day, the Marine Corps birthday. I was in from 2001-2005, 2/7 Echo Co. Weapons Plt, mortarman. Dropping mortars was pretty much the most fun thing I've ever done in my life. I'll probably be throwing a back a few beers tonight and remembering my brothers in arms that I served with, those both dead and alive. Oorah! Here's a pic from about 10.5 years ago in Twentynine Palms, CA, dropping mortars. Me in the foreground thinking, "Yeah, check out the awesomeness."



So yeah, good back workout this morning. I forgot to bring my camera out, would've gotten a few nice videos. Timing of the mornings events looked like this:

6:00 Three caps of APE
6:30 One scoop of Pronom with 6 oz of milk, 3 caps of Test Factor Advanced
7:15 Two scoops of Flashover, 2 grams of citrulline malate
7:45 Begin workout, drinking 2 scoops of Recover Pro during workout
9:15 End workout, 1/2 scoop of Creatine RT, 5 grams of glutamine
10:00 Post workout meal of pasta, 4 whole eggs, 10 oz of milk

And this was the workout:

Pulldown: 9x170, 10x170, 9x170

Deadlift: 4x445, 4x450 Feeling kinda weak on these

Bent Row: 9x195, 9x195, 10x195

DB Row: 9x119, 8x119

BB Shrug, behind the back: 12x235, 12x235 Drop set to 195, 145 Good long squeeze on each rep

Chins, close grip, palms facing me: 9xBW, 8xBW

Standing Calf Raise, BB: 20x135, 16x155, 17x155

The meal afterwards, eggs and pasta with mustard:

[RaginAzN]

Looking swole man, also eggs/pasta/mustard? I don't know man but then again I just don't like mustard at all, it creeps me out

[ragnar1199]

Haha, yeah, I usually use ketchup on a lot of things. Once in a while I like to put mustard on things like eggs or french fries. The wife thinks I'm nuts putting it on eggs.

[ragnar1199]

Got up bright and early to hit the weights before work. Got a bit of late start and did a short, intense workout. Of course, work is rain delayed so I coulda done more anyway. Did front squats today. I keep flipping back and forth on what exercise I do after regular squats. I think I'll stick with front squats for awhile. Got up around 4:20, took some APE, then a scoop of Pronom mixed with 4 oz of water (delicious), then some Test Factor, then some flashover a bit after that, and BOOM, went and hit the weights.

Squat: 7x330, 6x335

Front Squat: 10x145, 10x165

Stiff Leg Deads: 9x305, 10x305

Here's a few videos of my chest and biceps workout two days ago:










Thinking about giving Mike 0'Hearn's power bodybuilding routine a shot at some point soon, but without so much cardio: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mike...k-program.html

[ragnar1199]

Sorry for my absence. Been without internet the last few days, it's back on now. The Pronom is almost gone. Gonna get some ingredients to make some super duper protein brownies before it's gone.

[ragnar1199]

Hey guys, I know this log kinda fizzled out towards the end, sorry about that. Been saving what was left of the Pronom to make some brownies. My wife picked up the ingredients for me a few days ago and I made them last night. I pretty much have no baking experience except for stuff that's in a box or pre-made. I've never baked anything from scratch that I can remember. So, I found a recipe I decided to try, and it included these ingredients:

4 eggs
5 scoops whey protein powder
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 stick butter (room temperature)
1 cup maple syrup
1 cup almond butter
2/3 cup almond flour
2/3 cup walnuts

As you can see, it's not supposed to exactly be a healthy protein brownie, which is what I was looking for. Something high calorie that I can snack on. I tweaked the recipe a tad. I used 6 eggs, regular flour, 2/3 cup of cocoa powder instead of 1/3, and I didn't use walnuts. I also mixed in 1 cup of peanut butter chips. I added extra cocoa powder because when I was tasting the batter, it tasted very strongly of the almond butter. I think I used a little too much of the almond butter, if I do this again, I'm gonna use like half. I want a chocolate taste, dammit! Oh, and I added a little milk because the batter was way to thick. I should've added a little more than I did.

It made a lot of batter. It's supposed to go into a 9x12 pan. The only baking pan I have is a little smaller. With all the batter, these came out very thick and took a long time to cook the center (like 45-50 minutes), which ended up drying out the sides. But they came out OK, they taste good, not great, but good. After adding up all the calories and cutting them up into 10 brownies, each brownie has approximately:

620 calories
36 grams of fat
48 grams of carbs
26 grams of protein

Now, they are a little dry, so I gotta have some milk or coffee with them, which is fine with me. And, they are super dense, I mean seriously. All in all, not bad for my first time ever baking anything from scratch, and with protein powder, too. This particular recipe is kinda expensive to do, so I wouldn't do something like this too often. Anyway, voila:

[RaginAzN]

Delicious looking brownies you got there sir.

[ragnar1199]

Final review is up in my review thread: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...03&pagenumber=