rajib's gym journal

King of the Misc · 03-14-2006, 01:02 AM

Hello. I've been registered on these boards for a few months but have been reading them for a bit longer and I thought it was time I poseted my own journal. But I'll tell you my story first. I graduated from high school at the end of 2004 at 5"9" and about 90kg, with a pretty fat frame. Like many others in my generation I neglected my body and didn't really respect it. But when 4 month holidays started I thought I might try doing something about it. In about 9 months I dropped to 72 kg, while increasing my strength in most areas. However, in my haste to lose weight I made a few mistakes like not gettting a proper weights regime (ie more balanced) going and still not getting enough protein. Taking care of diet has been a bit of a battle because my parents haven't been very cooperative in overhauling the family dining habits so I've had to do it myself to an extent. I think this may change though in the future.

I think I took my 'cut' too far before, as I started losing strength as the newbie gains wore off. So from Jan 1 I started a bulking program, and I wil lsee how I go. My diet is usually pretty similar every day so I will show you today's one.

Meal 1 - 8am - Bowl of oats with 250 ml skim milk + banana
Training - 9am-10am
Meal 2 - 10am - banana + 1.5 scoops On whey
Meal 3 - 1pm - Roast chicken sandwich (250gm skinned chicken, 125g cottage cheese, some lettuce and 4 slices multigrain bread)
Meal 4 - 5.45pm - 250ml skim milk + 2 slices of wholemeal bread with 25g peanut butter (yeah I know it was too much of a gap btw meals but I had uni. I'll try to sort it out tho.)
Meal 5 - 7pm - Banerjee Deluxe roll (150g drained springwater tuna + 125g low fat cottage cheese + some lettuce + whole meal pita bread)
Meal 6 - 10pm - 1.5 scoops On whey + 500ml skim milk.

I'm not sure how many calories this is. I'll try and come up with a rough guess a bit later but I calculated protein intake to be around 190g from the labels, excluding the roast chicken, so its probably about 210-220g today. Hopefully if I can get over 190g a day I'll be happy (let me know if my maths is wrong!).

Now to my training...

I'm sort of midway through a bulk but I'll start recording my results here on this thread. Here are my max lifts. I'm doing a conventional 4 day split. Nothing fancy.

Bench - 70kg x 5 reps x 3 sets
Deadlift - 85kg x 6
Squat - 90kg x 8
MP - 47.5kg x 6
Leg press - 275kg x 8 (lol this was done two years ago. Doubt I'm capable now!)

I'll post my current picture after I take a few shots, but I need to get my brother's camera. I'll do it this week for those eager to see some skin =p. Anyway thanks for reading my thread and I'd love it if you could offer some comments/criticism too.

King of the Misc · 03-14-2006, 01:04 AM

Forgot to put my stats lol. 5"9" at 75kg at approx 15%. You can judge when my pics go up.

King of the Misc · 03-14-2006, 01:31 AM

Pre-gym psych up track

Memphis Bells - The Prodigy

BACK/TRICEPS

Warmup

- stretching/dynamic stretching
- BW hyperextensions

Deadlift

40kg x 6
50kg x 6
60kg x 6
80kg x 6
85kg x 6
85kg x 5
85kg x 5

These felt ok, but I'm still new to the exercise so I'm trying to work on making it one smooth motion before I jack up the weights. Might get the trainer to have a look again but theyre pretty useless at my gym lol.

Underhanded pullups

FW x 7 (FAIL)
FW x 4 and a half (FAIL)
FW x 3 and a half (FAIL)

These aren't that super yet but boy do I feel them. Super slow negative to minimise swaying and lifting with the lats. Was pretty happy.

Bentover BB row - 90 degrees

20kg x 6
40kg x 5
45kg x 6
50kg x 4
45kg x 5 and a half (FAIL)

You gotta be in the zone for these and today I was only half way there. I didn't get a good enough squeeze on the 50 so I went back down. The last set felt good though. Elbows in as always.

Wide grip pull-down

25kg x 10
60kg x 6
55kg x 6
55kg x 6
Got a good squeeze here, except for the last few reps on the last set. I could only bring it down to the top of my mouth, instead of chin. Otherwise they were ok.

CGBP Smith

30kg x 8
50kg x 6
50kg x 6
50kg x 6

These were going well till I had a bit of an accident at the end lol. Was trying to rack the bar after my last set but I didn't realise the hook was only sitting in the round thing instead of hooking around it, so it landed back on my chest =p. Lucky I still had some control over the bar when it came down! Silly me. Apart from that they felt really good and tris were pumped.

Assisted dips
20kg x 6
20kg x 5 (FAIL)

I don't like this exercise. I wanted to try normal dips first up today but the d1ckhead trainers were busy as always so i didn't have anyone to show me how to do them propeply. Will def try FW next week.

My thoughts

Was a pretty good session for a morning start but my tricep regime definitely needs an overhaul, and its showing as I haven't really made much progress recently on them. Suggestions for a tricep workout would be greatly appreciated.

enka · 03-14-2006, 03:57 AM

Great to finally see a journal!

I like your choice of back exercises

I tried nearly all tricep exercises in my experimental bodypart split days.. IMO the best tricep exercises would be weighted dips and close grip bench. Just these two exercises would cane my tris heaps hard.

King of the Misc · 03-14-2006, 04:52 AM

hehe thanks mate, good to see you here. Yeah I'll definitely give them a try next week. Might do the CGBP on teh barbell instead of smith too. I'm finding the fiddly wrist positioning affecting the recruitment of my triceps.

King of the Misc · 03-15-2006, 06:39 PM

Ok, I still cannot get access to a digital camera so that's no good, but I promise I'll get pics up soon. Here's today's diet.

Meal 1 - 9am - Bowl of oats + 250 ml skim milk+ banana

Training - 10am-11am

Meal 2 - PWO 11am - banana + 100g low fat yoghurt + one and half scoops ON whey

Meal 3 - 1pm - Banerjee deluxe roll (pita bread + 125g LF cottage cheese + 150g tuna)

Meal 4 - 4pm - 3 wholemeal toasts with 25g peanut butter (I'll try and get natural pb next time I go shopping) + 250ml skim milk

Meal 5 - 7pm - Super Protein omelette (4 whites + 2 yolks + tomato + capsicum + 125g cottage cheese)

Meal 6 - 500ml skim milk + one and half scoops of ON whey

Today's weight: 75.40kg

King of the Misc · 03-15-2006, 07:08 PM

Pre-gym psych up track

Acquiesce - Oasis

SHOULDERS/ABDOMINALS

Warmup

-Stretching

Standing Military Press

20kg x 8
20kg x 8
50kg x 6 -------> PR baby!
50kg x 3 1/2 (FAIL)
45kg x 4 1/2 (FAIL)
45kg x 2 (FAIL)

hmm interesting these. Was really amped before the session and I sort of knew the PR was gonna go today but I was hoping I'd back up better after the first set, but strength faded a bit. Next week I'll focus on improving the second and third sets instead of fighting for another PR. Otherwise, good pump and felt good.

Seated bentover rear delt raise

5kg x 20
7.5kg x 12
7.5kg x 10
7.5kg x 9 (FAIL)

I've tweaked my technique on these to focus on bringing the dumbell to a horizontal position at the top of the movement and bringing the elbows further up as well, and it seems to be working ebtter with less swinging/momentum. Had a good pump and the posterior delts were pretty fcuked after, althoguh I'll stay at the same weight for next week to perfect the movement.

2 arm lateral raise

7.5kg x 8
7.5kg x 8
7.5kg x 7 1/2 (FAIL)

Thse were going great till the last set but I don't mind failing early, as long as the reason for the fail is physical not mental. By now the delts were really wrecked.

DB Shrugs

12.5kg x 8
32.5kg x 6
32.5kg x 5 (GRIP FAIL)
32.5kg x 5 (GRIP FAIL)

For some reason traps were already fatigued before I started session so I thought I might really punish em today. As always, they hurt like hell but I've noticed that in some part the DB is always in contact with my hips during the movement, although it obviously moves up when I shrug. Should I change something around to fix this or is this ok?

Upright row

12.5kg x 8
32.5kg x 8
32.5kg x 8

Not too hard but I usually do these to finish off the delts and traps. Don't want to go too heavy as I heard this exercise has a bad reputation for doing damage.

Weighted Crunches

FW x 25
10kg x 14 (FAIL)
10kg/free x 8 + 6 (FAIL)
10kg/free x 5 + 4 (FAIL)
10kg/free x 5 + 4 (FAIL)

what I do here is for my working sets I go to failure with teh 10kg plate, then drop the plate and do FW crunches going to failure again. Like always I was well pumped after this and very fatigued although I think I went at 95% instead of maybe 100%. It's a mental thing and I better makes sure I'm willing to push through the pain harder next week.

My thoughts.

Was a pretty good session with a PR in the MP and generally pretty good intensity. was disappointed I flunked the second and third sets of MP but I know I will work harder on that. Me tired now.

daveske · 03-15-2006, 09:28 PM

Goood Journal and nice lifting!

-U could definitely use more protein in ur meal 1. Ur body came out of a 8hr starvation mode and so u should definitely add in more protein. Or have a shake, since the BCAAS will do u good for the workout to follow. (if u take ON whey)

-Choice of excercises overall looks good. Be careful with upright rows as i know u already know. I took it out to remove all risk.

-Some of ur meals iv noticed are 2 slices bread with peanut butter and glass of milk.. seems pretty pretty low on protein.

also i didnt know ur PB for squats is 90 x 8. Thats pretty good man! I thought u started them quite recently. Good stuff for sure!
Will be following this journal, so dont slack off

King of the Misc · 03-15-2006, 10:09 PM

Thanks for the advice dave. I'll rearrange my diet and throw in a shake in the morning. A lot of the time I have lunch less thna an hr after training so it seems a bit of a waste to get soemthing like 90g protein within such a short time period. Bit of a reorganization required and potentially more protein.

King of the Misc · 03-15-2006, 10:43 PM

http://photobucket.com/albums/e294/r...mage&test=test

Try this link for a few pics...please dont laugh

King of the Misc · 03-15-2006, 10:52 PM

User name :rajibbanerjee86

pw:rajib86

daveske · 03-15-2006, 11:03 PM

Looking 100x better then what i remember u of man!
Get some better pics up when u got the time and really looking forward to ur progress

King of the Misc · 03-16-2006, 01:35 AM

hehe I might get mum to do the photography next time for me so I can focus on the modelling

daveske · 03-16-2006, 02:13 AM

i dont know why, but i cant bring someone else to take a picture of me flexing. I think im camera shy but i cant do it.. My dad found some of my pics and i just mumbled and grumbled.. lol!

King of the Misc · 03-17-2006, 04:07 AM

haha yeah now I'm sort of reconsidering thinking abt how uncomfortable I'll be. Oh well more photos in a week or two when I can be bothered.

King of the Misc · 03-19-2006, 03:36 AM

I've taken a couple of days off to deal with a big uni assignmnet + I had to work two full days, polishing glasses no less. Had to rearrange a few things but will be back on track tomorrow and will annihilate quads in a big leg session. I will limit the rest during the lunges to 30 seconds and will see if this is possible during squats as well altho I'm kind of scared considering the DOMS I had last week. Anyway I better get back to work...hoping it won't be an all nighter tonight.

Diet is the same as original plan only with an extra scoop of whey with my oats for breakfast. never gonna get vanilla whey again, it was terrible. Has anyone tried chocmint or strawberry? I'm deciding what to get this week.

enka · 03-19-2006, 04:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by r-ban

I've taken a couple of days off to deal with a big uni assignmnet + I had to work two full days, polishing glasses no less. Had to rearrange a few things but will be back on track tomorrow and will annihilate quads in a big leg session. I will limit the rest during the lunges to 30 seconds and will see if this is possible during squats as well altho I'm kind of scared considering the DOMS I had last week. Anyway I better get back to work...hoping it won't be an all nighter tonight.

Diet is the same as original plan only with an extra scoop of whey with my oats for breakfast. never gonna get vanilla whey again, it was terrible. Has anyone tried chocmint or strawberry? I'm deciding what to get this week.

ive tried PVL chocmint whey and it was heaps good, even better than ON choc and thats really saying something

daveske · 03-19-2006, 06:44 AM

Apparently ON Chocmint is awesome.. But ON Chocolate is the bomb. Iv been on it for 2 yrs now and not stopping

With regards to ur short rest quad workout, maybe u should try 60s rest for quads because 30s might be a bit hardcore considering u havent done a short rest quad workout before.

Sounds like pain though whatever u decide to go with

ps. glad to c uv added some more protein into meal 1!

King of the Misc · 03-20-2006, 12:42 AM

Pre-gym psych up track

Slide Away - Oasis

LEGS

Warmup

-2 min easy bike ride
-Stretching

Leg Extension Pre-exhaust (30 second rest)

45kg x 10
50kg x 8

Squats (1 min rest between sets and 1 min rest after leg extensions)

20kg x 8
60kg x 8
80kg x 8
90kg x 6 FAIL
90kg x 4 FAIL
80kg x 8

This was very hard. By the second set I was getting a pump. Form was sound up until the 90 kg sets where by the third rep I was only going just past parallel. I was in agony by then lol. Last set was easy and went all the way down.

DB Lunges (30 second rest/2 min rest after squats)

20kg x 16(8/8)
20kg x 10 (5/5) FAIL
20kg x 7 (4/3)
20kg x 7 (4/3)

Boy oh boy were these hard, I'd say they were harder than the squats. Form was slow and controlled...I got nice and low. Needless to say I'll try and avoid going up flights of stairs tomorrow.

Lying Hamstring Curl (3 min after lunges)

25kg x 8

25kg x 8 (Done after RDL + lying swiss ball curls)
55kg x 4
50kg x 3 No rest between these 2 sets.

Here's where the fun really began. What I didn't mention was that I had lost my water bottle earlier and when I realised I was between sets on the squat so I made a decision to only get water from the water machine after exercises, obviously resulting in a much lower water intake. As a result I had a brutal cramp in my calves after the 8th rep and couldn't continue immediately. When I tried it again a bit later I could feel the cramp about to come on and strength way lower than normal so I aborted.

Romanian deadlift (1 min rest)

20kg x 8
60kg x 6
60kg x 4 FAIL

I tried this after my cramp and I unfortuantely felt it more in my lower back than hamis, at least initially for the first set. Strength was about 10kg shy of what I had a few months back but I hadn't done it in ages and my legs were shaking like I had parkinson's.

Lying Swiss Ball Hami curl (30 second rest)

FW x 10
FW x 10

Went super slow but did less reps and one less set than usual as I was still quite wary of getting the calf cramp again. Nevertheless, hamis were now in pain.

Warmdown

-Stretching
-Easy 2 min bike ride

My thoughts.

Intense session today. Last week's workout (which was before I started recording this log) was pretty hard but I think the low rest really jacked up the intensity. Workout was completed in 48 min which included stretching and dealing with the cramp in as dignified a manner as possible

. Hami workout suffered slightly today but that was completely to do with the cramp and not lack of intensity. I'll return to conventional rest times next week although I may keep the 30 sec rest for the lunges and will look at staggering the weights/reps for this exercise next week. Obviously I could not fit calves in today due to cramp.

On an amusing side note, the gym was packed like sardines today but surprise surprise the squat rack was still empty with approximately fifty million people benching! Bunch of morons.

King of the Misc · 03-20-2006, 12:52 AM

Today had a pretty rough start as I was up until 3.30am doing an assignment while simultaneously watching the soccer, which unfortunately left me with only 4 and a half hours sleep. However I think I was lucky today as I managed to compensate with good diet + a shot of caffeine before the session. Here's today's diet.

TODAY'S WEIGHT: 75.10kg

Meal 1 - Breakfast 9am - Oats + 250 ml skim milk + 1 scoop ON whey (getting sick of vanilla)

Meal 2 - Lunch 1pm - 2 ham sandwiches (4 wholemeal slices + 100g ham + 125g low fat cottage cheese + lettuce)

Meal 3 - Pre-workout 3pm- 1 scoop ON whey + 1 banana + 1 cup of black coffee (no sugar with a touch of skim milk)

Training - 4pm-5pm

Meal 4 - Post workout 5pm - 1 and half scoops ON whey + 1 banana + bottle of gatorade (for the cramp)

Meal 5 - Dinner 7.30 pm - Banerjee deluxe roll + 250 ml skim milk

Meal 6 - 10.30 pm - 1 scoop ON whey + 500 ml skim milk

In other news, I have decided to begin another cycle of CEE from next week. I'll cycle it for 6 weeks and I have been off it for 4 weeks. Hopefully some good gains to come

enka · 03-20-2006, 01:34 AM

I'm lovin' the short rest periods hehe... must have been death aye? I'm not the biggest fan of going to failure twice in one exercise in one day, but if it works for you, keep it up!

Good luck with the CEE... you should get some decent gains

King of the Misc · 03-20-2006, 02:06 AM

Cheers mate.Yeah I won't go to failure too often, I think its a bad habit I've been getting into. A bit of a mindset that I have to really destroy my muscles to grow them but it does slow down recovery a bit so I'll change it around slightly.

enka · 03-20-2006, 02:39 AM

Yeah it took me a while to get rid of the "going to failure is good" and "you must be sore the next day to be progressing" myths...

daveske · 03-20-2006, 05:44 AM

Dude thats a killer session!

I would have really struggled with that...!
When did ur free squat get so high, i thought u only did smith squat until recetnyl?

King of the Misc · 03-20-2006, 06:17 AM

Yeah lol I'm already feeling some hardcore quad stiffness. I'll keep squat at 90 for a little while while I take my squats from 3/4 to rock bottom.

King of the Misc · 03-20-2006, 06:28 PM

I just got back from training a little while ago but I'm kind of in a rush I'll see if I can post it before I leave for uni otherwise I'll do it in my break. Here's today's diet.

TODAY"S WEIGHT: 75.25kg

Meal 1 - Breakfast 9 am - Bowl of Oats + 1 scoop of ON whey + 1 banana + 250ml skim milk + cup of black coffee

Training - 10am-11am

Meal 2 - PWO 11.30am - 1 scoop ON whey + 1 banana + 300 ml Powerade

Meal 3 - Lunch 1pm - Banerjee deluxe roll + 250 ml skim milk

Meal 4 - 4pm - 1 scoop ON whey + 1 apple

Meal 5 - 6pm - 2 multigrain slices + 20g peanut butter + 250ml skim milk

Meal 6 - Dinner 8pm - Lamb curry with 1 1/2 wholemeal pita bread (I'll have only the meat and not the juice

)

Meal 7 - 10.30 pm - 250 ml skim milk + 1 scoop ON whey + 125g low fat cottage cheese + 10 cashew nuts

King of the Misc · 03-20-2006, 09:56 PM

CHEST/BI

Warmup

-Stretching

Flat BB Bench Press

20kg x 8
40kg x 6
70kg x 5
70kg x 4 + 1 SPOT
70kg x 2 +1 SPOT (FAIL)

Terrible. Pretty strange as I did 70 x 5 for 3 sets ok 2 weeks ago and it was fine. Lack of sleep is the only factor I can think of causing any problems.Think I've hit a plateau. I'm done with the Derek Charlebois chest routine...back to inclne db next week.

Incline Smith Press

50kg x 8
50kg x 6
50kg x 4 (FAIL)

This was ok, I improved from last week but as I said new chest routine next week.

Incline Flyes

7.5kg x 8
17.5kg x 6
17.5kg x 5
17.5kg x 6

The weight was ok although I think the second set was hitting my delts more than they were supposed to. Last set felt good though.

EZ Barbell Curl

15kg x 6
15kg x 6
35kg x 6 ----> PR
32.5kg x 4 (FAIL)
30kg x 3 (FAIL)
25kg x 3 (FAIL)
15kg x 10
15kg x 9 (FAIL)

PR was nice although biceps are a bit of a wankfest so I don't really care. I would have been happier with some more pain instead. They hurt but not as much as they usually do. Normally they're fried after this routine but today it was only pretty tired. Got decent pump/veinage.

My Thoughts.

Pretty crap session. I was pretty pissed after bench failure and for some reason intensity deserted me towards the end. One dud workout is one thing, but this has been 2 bad chest workouts in a row, so it looks like a plaateau. Gonna change it up next week. I'll do this bicep routine again next week then reassess and may consider including hammer curls and reducing volume for EZ curls. Maybe lack of sleep is catching up on me, which is gay as its the easiest factor to look after. Will try and get 9 hrs tonight and tomorrow.

daveske · 03-21-2006, 05:12 AM

hm seems to be a lack of strength in that workout eh Raj?

Dont worry in the new chest routine keep the intensity up and ull be right.

Incline DB press is the best anyway

Dont worry keep ur head up, everyone has **** days. Its the best that keep powering through.

King of the Misc · 03-21-2006, 09:07 PM

Will do mate cheers. Hopefully CEE can have a bit of a placebo effect too. I'll be pumped for it come sunday. lol I got 10 1/2 hrs sleep today. Went overboard and nearly missed my tutorial

King of the Misc · 03-22-2006, 01:01 AM

CARDIO

20 min on bike using interval program (which is ****) on level 15 + 12 min row on max resistance= 400cal

Decent total but not near my best. I don't expect it to be as CV fitness was always gonna drop during a bulk. Tomorrow I have my shoulder workout again and I'm really gonna psych myself up for it. Hope the morning curse doesn't strike again although I should get some good sleep in tonight. Just a question for my followers...do any of you train with music, do you find it helps or is it a distraction? Thanks in advance.