Kanis Bulk/Cut Cycle 4.0 - Epic Metabolism Rev and Rise of the Chesticles

[kanis999]

Hey Guys, starting my Bulk/Cut Cycle 4.0 thread!!!

You can see the 3.0 version here:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...post1039926033


***All of the details about the NEW training cycle will be in Post 2!! This first post will be for getting you up to speed!!***


Training History

To give you an idea of where I am and where I'm going in my bodybuilding career, I want to first share what I've done so far!

As you can already tell, this will be my 4th 'bulk', and I am on my 3rd year of training. I am without a doubt at my life pinnacle at this point in time, but I intend to go much further.

A quick view at my weight/bodyfat at various milestones in my career so far:

Noob - 150 lbs, 20% bodyfat
End of 1st cut - 150 lbs, 13% bodyfat
End of 2nd cut - 153 lbs, 9% bodyfat
Now - 160 lbs, 10% bodyfat

Although my actual weight has hardly changed over the years, my composition is vastly improved!

Here are some fun progress pics, and then on to post 2!

Noob Kanis (This is, believe it or not, a year into 'training' regularly. Problem was is I was doing
circuit style training instead of weight lifting):



Cut Comparisons

Left Panel - End of 1st Cut
Middle - End of 2nd Cut
Right - Current, and near end of 3rd Cut

[kanis999]

Primary Objectives
1) Reverse Diet myself up to as high a metabolic rate as I can
2) Transition into the bulk without blowing up
3) Grow the chest without injuring my shoulder

The Reverse Diet
FYI my go-to nutrition gurus are Lyle McDonald, Layne Norton, and Alan Aragon. If anything you see in here starkly contradicts their philosophies, please correct me!

My number 1 problem in the whole world: I get fat really really REALLY fast on my bulks, especially in the first month.

It is obvious why! Let me show you an example of what my transition from cut to bulk might look like in all 3 of my previous bulks:



- The red row represents the last week of my cut. As you can see the week after my cut, I jump up to maintenance and stop tracking macros carefully.
- Two weeks after the end of the cut, I'm already at 2600 calories, which is probably a surplus considering I had just finished prolonged calorie depletion!
- Only 3 weeks after the end of the cut, I'm on 2900 calories, which is all out bulk mode.
- And then finally, I begin to surpass my allowed calories and probably end up eating 3100-3600 calories per day for the rest of the bulk.

NOT GOOD. If this looks like something you do too, listen carefully because I think I have a good strategy.


The Fix - Reverse Diet
I am going to do the smoothest, most gentle crescendo of carb increase I've ever contemplated.

Here is the chart I am going to follow for the rest of 2014:



Let me explain what's happening in the chart above.

The first row is this week. I will eat 1780 calories, 180g protein, 175g carbs, and 40g fat. This is the lowest I will ever go for the rest of the year!

Every week, I begin adding about 3-5% increase in carbs. I will still be in a deficit until 6/1, which is good because I want to lose a couple more body fat %.

On 6/1, the 2nd highlighted row, I'll be around maintenance I believe. Yes, maintenance is pretty low at that point because I've been cutting for a long time, but I'll be really really lean.

For another 2 months, I keep SLOWLY adding in carbs, and a little more fat some weeks.

By 7/27, I will finally be fully transitioning into a surplus. This is around where I will probably look the best I've ever looked in my life!


Finally, I CONTINUE the crescendo into the end of the year. This is definitely an experiment that could totally go wrong, but there's a CHANCE, that I could get to 2015, hardly have gained any fat at all in the bulk so far, and be able to eat 500 carbs per day.

According to Layne, everyone responds differently to the reverse diet, which is why I don't know for sure whether or not this will work yet.

BUT, I can almost guarantee it will go better than the first couple of weeks of my previous bulks.


A quick note on adjustments:

It should go without saying that this chart is subject to change at all times. If things are going better or worse than expected, I will adjust calories at different rates. The end goal, however, does not change, which is the rev up carbs slowly rather than quickly, and get to a higher metabolic rate.


Mini-Goals
As stated in the primary objectives list, growing my chest is my number 1 goal. I think it is obviously lacking behind most other body parts, yet is one of the most desired features in a bodybuilder!

Here are my other, less important goals for this year:

1. Don't improve the legs and glutes. YES YOU HEARD ME. When I look in the mirror, I see a guy whose upper thighs and glutes completely dominate the upper body. I have to fix this! Therefore, I will put less emphasis on heavy back squat and deadlift PRs (Focusing extremely hard on these 2 lifts in bulk 3 is the reason my thighs got out of proportion)
2. DO improve the calves. I'm gonna be workin these guys FIRST on leg days, just like my boy Kai. Having big calves would make my oversized thighs look a lot more aesthetic.
3. Focus on the far-upper silhouette. I mean the muscles that make you look wide and powerful from the front - side delts and upper traps!
4. Take arms more seriously. I think I took the "heavy squats are for men and working out arms and chest is for bros" mentality too far. My legs are too big. My chest and arms are underpowered, and I want them to be overpowered!
5. Continue doing whatever I've been doing to the back - If there's one thing I have confidence in, its that I know how to work my back. There is nothing I want to change about my back routine because progress is solid!
6. Get a 300 lb bench. It's time. Just so I can say I did it, and never feel the need to prove my strength anymore (I felt the need to do this with squat and deadlift last year. Once I hit some PRs I liked, I switched back to bodybuilding style rep/set scheme)


Training Methodology
I used Ogus' Leg Push Pull routine as a template and plugged in different exercises for the muscles I'm wanting to improve the most.

This differs in my previous routines in that:
- I am working out with more overall volume and frequency throughout the week
- I am working out less overall volume per individual workout
- I am not using any more low reps (nothing under 6)
- I am vastly increasing the weekly workload on the stubborn, tiny, mostly slow twitch muscles:
abs, calves, side delts, arms


Scheme is:

Leg 1 - Push 1 - Pull 1 - Rest - Leg 2 - Push 2 - Pull 2 - Rest - Repeat

Deload after 3 of those cycles ^. Planning on pretty high calories for ~3-4 lbs per month gain, because that's my preferred style. Based on Lyle McDonald's principles.

Leg 1
Back Squat 4 x 10
Romanian DL 4 X 10
Barbell Lunge 3 x 12 per leg
Rope Pull Through 4 x 8
Calf Raise 5 x 8
2 weighted ab exercises

Leg 2
Front Squat 5 x 10
Conventional Deadlift 4 x 8
Bulgarian Split Squat 5 x 10 per leg
Calf Raise 5 x 8
2 weighted ab exercises

Push 1
Bench 5 x 10
Incline Fly 3 x 10
Wide Grip Upright Row superset w Lateral Raise x 3
Shrug 4 x 10
Rope Tri Extension 5 x 10
Skullcrusher 5 x 10

Push 2
Incline Bench 5 x 10
Incline Fly 3 x 10
Db OHP 3 x 10
Cable Lateral Raise 4 x 12
Overheader Tricep Extension 5 x 10
Straight bar Tri Extension 5 x 10


Pull 1
Wide Grip Pullup 4 x 8
T Bar Row 5 x 10
Supinated Pulldown 4 x 10
Barbell Curl 5 x 8
Static Grip Work (For Deadlift maxing)
Face Pulls 4 x12

Pull 2
BB Row 4 x 8
Close Grip Lat Pulldown 5 x 10
DB Row 4 x 10
Incline Curl 4 x 8
Reverse Curl 4 x 8
Face Pulls 4 x12





And that's it folks! Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted as time goes on!

[kanis999]

I'm going to officially end the cut today!

Here's your official 'After' fat loss pic. Only flexing abs here. Note the definition in the serratus. That is probably the top indicator of leanness.



The reason I called my diet is that I'm not going for contest lean this time, just 'bulk ready' lean. I'm ready to put on more mass!

I'm going to go ahead and skip down to the second red week in my diet plan above. That's about where I estimate my maintenance is right now. By June 2nd, I should be beginning to slowly gain weight.

Will keep you all updated!

[LadyLore420]

Great progress!

Keep the goatee plz. The no-hair looked way too cyber-punk.

In for mass.

[kanis999]

Great progress!

Keep the goatee plz. The no-hair looked way too cyber-punk.

In for mass.

Thank you. My brother has been nagging me to shave it, but there's no way.

[kanis999]

First time I've seen this on my body!

Hints of cross striations on my triceps:



Really happy cause I've never had particularly massive triceps. Now I at least know they have potential to compensate for mass with detail.

[LadyLore420]

Dat lateral tricep head!

[kanis999]

Strugglin a little bit these days.

Even though I'm back to a caloric surplus and I've gained a couple pounds over the past 2 weeks, I'm feeling depleted, lethargic, and fragile. Even weaker than I was during some of the later cutting workouts!

I suppose this is somewhat of a hormonal shockwave from the dieting phase, which ended just under a month ago. Even though the body is receiving calories again, the hormones might not have reached a healthy state for growth and strength yet.

This is manifesting itself as poorer workout intensity, and more aches and pains. Right shoulder in particular is buggin me every press workout.

I guess this thing to do is to accept the limitations my body is experiencing right now and allow myself more rest while whatever is wrong goes away.

[LadyLore420]

Oh my!

Add more BCAAs, you should be totally 5g a day MINIMUM.

Eat more greens.

Change your evening routine to get better sleep habits(less technology, more meditation or reading).

Hope things get better.

I wouldn't mind you dropping in my journal. There's not enough pecs and sixpacks.

[kanis999]

Oh my!

Add more BCAAs, you should be totally 5g a day MINIMUM.

Eat more greens.

Change your evening routine to get better sleep habits(less technology, more meditation or reading).

Hope things get better.

I wouldn't mind you dropping in my journal. There's not enough pecs and sixpacks.

Sure I'll come check out your journal.

Thanks for the tips.

I think I actually overtrained for the first time, like for real, Makes sense considering I tried to transition from a cut to bulk without any sort of break in the gym for the last month or so of the cut.

Not only was this mental stuff going on, but a shoulder injury started recurring, and then on Thursday I pulled my quadratus real bad on squats!

Injured muscle:


The quadratus injury is still gonna need to heal for a while, so I'm going to deload and let my nervous system rest. Seeing a chiropractor and actually identifying the problem as the quadratus (and some glute/piriformis tightness) has really helped so far.

Definitely need emphasis on green stuff and intentional mental relaxation.

[kanis999]

Finally able to lift lower body again after the SI/lower back pains I triggered about 2.5 weeks ago!

I had 3 chiropractic adjustments, which really helped. Although it felt like it was doing more harm than good during the actual adjustment, hours later huge results appeared!

Speaking of lower body, I came up with a fun and familiar plan to jack up my legs this bulk. That is to do what I did for squats last bulk, except with sets of 10's instead of 5's.

Last bulk I started being capable of squatting 225 lbs for 5 reps, and ended up at 320 lbs for 5 reps. One of the biggest gains I've ever had in any muscle region. This bulk, I'm starting in the lower register again, but with 10 rep sets instead of 5. If I can actually get to being able to do about 315 for 10 reps at the end of this bulk, I will be extrmely happy, and probably have much bigger thighs (considering they'd be used to much more time under tension at that weight)

To be honest, though, my calves need so much attention compared to thighs it isn't even funny. The problem is I've just never stuck to a single progressive exercise long enough and with enough consistency and good form to see any results. I've finally found some technique advice for calves that I feel I can really trust. It makes perfect sense:



In other news, I think I finally know how to build my chest instead of my shoulders when I do 'chest' exercises.

[kanis999]

In terms of diet and body composition, things aren't going amazing, and yet, they're going better than expected lol.

As illustrated in my OP, my tendency is to start a bulk and gain 10 lbs within a month.

I have been 'bulking' for a month and a half now, and have only gained about 4 lbs! This is right about the pace I want. Not too fast, and not boringly slow either. Unfortunately, it still is painfully obvious that those 4 lbs were mostly fat, but hey, that fat is going to help cushion my joints for heavy lifting ;p.

After all that chiropractic work, deload, and overfeeding, I'm ready to get into the thick of things big time. I'm going to gain about 10 lbs and then see what I look like. I will possibly go on another short cut when I hit 175 lbs.

[kanis999]

Finally in the thick of things. This bulk took forever to get momentum, but this past week has finally shown SIGNIFICANT increase in strength in ALL exercises. Hopefully this trend continues for a couple months.

[kanis999]

Been pretty stalled this bulk. I blame my (now former) program. It worked like this:

Leg 1 - Push 1 - Pull 1 - Rest - Leg 2 - Push 2 - Pull 2 - Rest - Repeat

Since it alternates exercises every other cycle ('Leg 1' day had different exercises than 'Leg 2'), I think too much time goes by before repeating movements. This makes it hard to progress in the individual movements. I've decided to do away with the alternating and just do the same Leg-Push-Pull routine over and over again.

Reasons why I think this new routine is better for me:
- More experience particular exercises
- Can monitor changes in strength more closely
- Will most likely lead to more rapid weight progression due to more practice with the same movements
- I reduced overall volume
- I added more emphasis on compounds, and cut a lot isolation moves out

Here it is -

Legs
*Don't be deceived by apparent lack of volume. We're talking about 8 near-failure sets of squats in a row! I've cut out all the BS and added more squats.
Calf Raise 5 sets
Back Squat 4 sets
Front Squat 4 sets
Cable Crunch 3 sets

Push
DB Bench 5 sets
Russo Press (an upper pec emphasis press) 2 sets
DB OHP 3 sets
Wide Grip Upright Rows (my top secret weapon) 3 sets
Skullcrusher 3 sets

Pull
Wide Grip Pullups 4 sets
Barbell Row (yates) 4 sets
Rack Deadlift 3 sets
Face Pull 3 sets
Curls 3 sets


For curiosity's sake, you can see my old routine in the second post. I'm going to miss some of the isolations, because they gave me this comfort that I'm hitting EVERYTHING, but I realized that they're just not nearly as important as making sure the most important movements go up in weight rapidly.

[kanis999]

P.S. I no longer give a chit about reverse dieting. I've been eating about 3k calories/day for the past 6 weeks.

[kanis999]

Standing mostly relaxed with tensed abs to show the weight gain. Mostly fat, of course, but I must admit this is by far the best I've looked 3 months deep into a bulk before. Normally I'm real chubby at this point.



For the first time ever, I can actually see my chest getting a little thicker. I've sacrificed a lot of shoulder power in my DB bench technique in order to actually use the chest to lift the weight. This is making a huge difference.

I think that in all the years leading up until now, I've been basically neglecting chest completely due to my shoulder-dominant bench press technique.

[kanis999]

I have an inexplicable shoulder injury. My workouts were going fine and pain free. One day, 2 days after the last workout that involved the shoulder joint, I just completely out of the blue started feeling stiffness and pain in my shoulder as if it were injured. This has been going on for about 3 days now. Hopefully it is a temporary thing.

I think a big contributing factor is computer posture. I spent a TON of time at the computer recently, so I think that constant forward head posture caused extreme stiffness. It just really hurts to try and keep the shoulder blades retracted right now.

I can identify that the muscles that are spazzing out (really really tight and painful) right now are:
- Scalenes
- Sternocleidomastoid
- Upper pec and/or pec minor
- Long head of the biceps
- One of the teres muscles

Actually just massaging stuff right now is revealing that the teres area is one of the main culprits. It is preventing me from opening the inside of the shoulder capsule up enough for overhead reaching.

[LadyLore420]

Computer posture is a killer for me. PC gamer and it's jacked me up.

More pulls, longer warmups, lots of ice, broomstick RC stretching, and NSAIDS.

My rule of thumb and what my physical therapist told me is 2 pulls for every 1 push exercise, also 2x the pull volume than push volume. It's helped.

[kanis999]

Computer posture is a killer for me. PC gamer and it's jacked me up.

More pulls, longer warmups, lots of ice, broomstick RC stretching, and NSAIDS.

My rule of thumb and what my physical therapist told me is 2 pulls for every 1 push exercise, also 2x the pull volume than push volume. It's helped.

Good advice. Longer warmups don't apply bc I'm not lifting until it stops hurting, but I will do that when I'm healed. I've neglected pressing so much for so long, that most of my training career I was doing 2x pull v push. I have to catch up my chest though, it is legit lagging behind my back because of how much time I've spent not training it bc of shoulder injury. No matter how 'strong' I am at doing pulls, the issue is that I still let those muscle go limp all day long. Doesn't really matter that they're in better shape, the muscles are still just 'turned off' all the time...

[LadyLore420]

Good advice. Longer warmups don't apply bc I'm not lifting until it stops hurting, but I will do that when I'm healed. I've neglected pressing so much for so long, that most of my training career I was doing 2x pull v push. I have to catch up my chest though, it is legit lagging behind my back because of how much time I've spent not training it bc of shoulder injury. No matter how 'strong' I am at doing pulls, the issue is that I still let those muscle go limp all day long. Doesn't really matter that they're in better shape, the muscles are still just 'turned off' all the time...

Is there any way to get a daily pump?

For example, having a pullup bar in place at your work? Every time you go somewhere, you do some pullups, with a really slow negative to activate your entire scapula, humerus gets yanked back, then you go on with your day?

[kanis999]

Is there any way to get a daily pump?

For example, having a pullup bar in place at your work? Every time you go somewhere, you do some pullups, with a really slow negative to activate your entire scapula, humerus gets yanked back, then you go on with your day?

Pullups hurt too right now unfortunately hehe. It hurts about 30% less than it did yesterday though, so I think its on the way to being better.

I need to actually start taking an anti-inflammatory like you suggested. I went to my medicine cabinet to get some, saw I was out, and then didn't go to the store.

[kanis999]

Another 30% reduction in shoulder pain overnight. I really don't see this as a 'shoulder' problem anymore. It just happens to hurt in the shoulder. This is an upper back and neck problem, which is probably related to the same back problems that occasionally hurt me during squat (like just a couple months ago during this bulk).

[kanis999]

Did my first pressing workout since the shoulder injury even though I wasn't feeling 100% quite yet. And then I went really hard and did more reps than before the injury like a crazy. Now, a couple hours later, my shoulder is feeling totally healed. Almost as if the workout forced things back into alignment somehow.

[kanis999]

Note to self: low bar squat 2 days after rack pull doesn't work out too well for me anymore. Gonna have to throw in an extra day of rest.

[kanis999]

According to all the math around LBM and body fat % I've been crunching for the past day, I have lost almost 8 lbs of muscle in the past year. I am, at 4 years into training, almost exactly the same size as I was 2 years ago, at only 2 years into training.

I have no idea what's going on. I'm about 15% bodyfat right now at the same weight I was 2-3 months ago, when I looked to be about 12% bodyfat. This bulk has been a complete disaster. Injuries, no appetite, too much time at work, and cyclical depression.

I'm going to just cut and possibly just maintain this size forever.

[kanis999]

As predicted a week ago, I'm melting off fat on over 2500 calories, which still feels like I get to stuff my face. It's a fat kid's wet dream.

I didn't factor in the impact of bloating when considering my progress over the years last week. Once the thick water film from all the soda I drink came off, I saw that although I am indeed roughly the same size as I was a couple years ago, I am so much better proportioned that it doesn't actually look like it.

I can see that my chest has grown tremendously this bulk. I'm pretty sure my delts have too, but they always grow without needing too much encouragement. The ab muscles themselves look much thicker too, which is odd because I don't know what I did to cause that. I basically neglected abs this bulk. Biceps look thicker, and they've gotten a lot stronger too. The impact on my arm circumference is completely negligible though.

On the flipside, I see no evidence that my back has grown, and I'm almost certain my triceps haven't changed. Quads look totally proportionate imo, but they might have lost size because I'm squatting 245 for sets of 8 whereas I could do 315 for 5 last bulk. The 8's feel harder still though. I'm not used to such TUT for squats anymore (when I was a noob, I would do sub 175 lbs for 10s, but then it was 5s ever since).

We'll see how low I cut to. I have a feeling that since calories are so much higher than I normally use on a cut, I will get leaner faster and with less muscle loss.

[iammrhappy]

hey buddy are you still doing keto?


keep up the good work.

[kanis999]

hey buddy are you still doing keto?


keep up the good work.

Hi there. No more keto for me. One of the benefits of keto is supposed to be that the fatty foods you get to eat are delicious, but I'm just not that big a fan of fatty foods' flavor. I am a carb guy. Every single food I like to eat is high carbs. In addition, I think I saw significant LBM loss on the keto cut and my energy was lower than ever.

Status update
Been on cut #4 for 2 weeks and I have lost a lot of puffiness despite only losing a couple pounds. My maintenance is so high right now, I love it. The major difference between this cut and all cuts I've done in the past is the rate of weight loss. I'm trying to keep it slow and steady instead of rushing through in hopes of preserving more LBM.

I'm basically going to cut until my metabolism gets too slow for my liking. As soon as I have to start eating 1800 calories per day just to barely lose weight, I'm calling it quits. Hopefully by the time that happens, I'll be more shredded than ever.

Motivation in the gym is generally low. I work out at a home gym now, and a sad truth has dawned on me:

I am completely extrinsically motivated when it comes to bodybuilding. The only thing I care about is how other people perceive me. Because I'm working out at home with no exposure to girls who can see me lifting, motivation is almost completely gone.

Oh well, I guess that just means I won't make as many gains as an intrinsically motivated lifter.

[kanis999]

I've only lost about 3-4 pounds on this cut and the visual difference is tremendous. Pecs and shoulders have that rugged rocky look now. Abs are halfway visible.

Motivation is coming back slowly since my buddies on the Exercise forum told me I should probably take a week off.

[Hybridreamer]

Hey Kanis. I'm in too see your progress. Looks like your previous cuts have worked out really well for you. I'm currently cutting down to 7-8% bodyfat before bulking while maintaining single digit BF. Your lifts look real solid too btw.