SUAS's Quest To Go From 180 to 210 LEAN -- Former Powerlifter turned Bodybuilder!

[ShutUpAndSquat]

My Background

Howdy! I'll take a minute to introduce myself and give some of my background history. I've
been lifting weights seriously since the age of 14, back in September 2002. I transferred to
UC Davis when I was 14 (yeah, I started college young lol), but I was dissatisfied with how I
looked compared to everyone else! I wanted to look like the buff juniors & seniors who were
sporting 16"-17" guns. Sad things was, I was a naturally skinny kid...back then I was 5'8 at
120 pounds. So, I decided to do something about it. I took up weightlifting as a serious
hobby starting September 2002, and learned everything I could about bodybuilding --
training, nutrition, etc. I must've spent a total of 500 hours reading stuff on this site
alone, lol. I was obsessed. I went from 120 pounds to 140 by the end of that year. Newbie gains rule!

By March of '03, I decided that I was more interested in how much weight I could lift as
opposed to how I looked. I was a natural deadlifter & squatter -- within 3 months of
starting to do those 2 lifts, I was already in the high 200s on each of them. It was really
fun getting attention from everyone else at the University gym. People seeing some random
skinny kid being able to handle heavier weights than most of the people there. So, I decided
to go the powerlifting route and switched my entire routine over. By July '03, I made it to
the coveted 315 on both my deadlift and squat. I was still benching a mere 140 pounds
though, haha.

Anyway, fast forwarding. I made it up to 365 on my deadlift by '04, but ended up tearing my
lower back muscle and slipping a disc in my lumbar region -- not fun. I took a couple months
off deadlifting & squatting whilst doing rehab exercises to get back into heavy lifting
ASAP. By Fall '04 I was back to 100%, but I didn't want to risk injuring my back again...so
I've been staying away from maxing out on squats & deadlifts ever since.

I graduated from UC Davis on December '04 (at the age of 16), moved back home, and have been working full time. I switched back to a bodybuilding regimen, with a powerlifting routine
for my benchpress. Although I was capable of doing double bodyweight lifts, my benchpress
was still at 160 (weighing in at 160 pounds)! So up to now, I have been working my ass off
trying to improve my benchpress.

Okay, enough backstory...here are my current stats:

Stats

Age: 20
Height: 5'10
Current Weight: 180
Current Bodyfat: 10%
Years Trained: 5 1/2

1 RM Maxes

Benchpress: 315 (as of 12/07)
Squat: 350ish
Deadlift: 365ish (I ended up maxing out at 365 last year with no problem at all last year,
wanted to do it for fun haha)


I've just finished cutting down to 180 pounds @ 10 BF, from the bulky 200 I was at last December. My goal for this year is to make it at 210 with as little fat gained as possible. I have a mesomorphic build but when I started out I was a classic ecto -- and I can still bulk dirty without putting on too much fat. Now, I know gaining 30 pounds of lean mass in the course of 9 months is pretty farfetched...that's why I'm taking a few extra steps to try and reach my goal. In addition, I'm placing extra attention on improving my benchpress. I'll be shooting for 365 by the end of this year, which is a pretty hefty goal to make. However, I went from 275 to 315 the previous year, and I'll be taking a few extra measures to ensure my success.

Extra Steps I Will Be Taking To Achieve My Goal

* Higher volume workouts. I'll be using an unorthodox split to catch up on bodyparts
I think are lagging, namely my chest and biceps. Here is my planned split:

Sunday: Biceps
Monday: Chest/Tris
Wednesday: Shoulders/Traps
Friday: Back/Chest
Saturday: Legs

This is a really weird split, as I will be hitting my chest & biceps twice a week (my biceps
are technically getting a workout on back day). This would probably overtrain most people,
but I think I've got enough experience under my belt to try something new out...plus I'll be
taking different supplements to aid recovery, whilst bringing up my caloric intake as the
workouts get harder.

* Better nutrition. I work a full-time job, which is a great thing for me -- I give
myself regulated breaks and a standard lunchtime, so I *never* miss a meal or a snack, ever.

Here's how my diet will look on the weekdays:

4:30 AM -- Pita Bread & Hummus, 1 Whey Protein Shake
7:15 AM -- 1 5oz Pastrami/Turkey/Chicken Sandwich
10:00 AM -- Trail Mix (Almonds, peanuts, etc. for fats) & Protein Bar
12:00 PM -- Chicken Curry (1/2 of chicken w/ rice and vegetables)
3:00 PM -- 1 5oz Pastrami/Turkey/Chicken Sandwich
5:30 PM -- Protein Bar
6:50 PM -- (If a workout day) 1 PW Shake
7:30 PM -- Dinner; usually a big protein meal with pasta on the side
9:00 PM -- Protein Bar

Pita bread & hummus might seem like a really weird breakfast meal, but those two foods combined contain all the amino acids your body needs -- nice way to start things off when you've just woken up and your body's in a catabolic state. Plus, the shake covers my caloric & protein needs for that timeslot.

Not much else to say about my diet really, except that I'm going super strict on myself for this...I'm not going to miss a single meal or stray off into eating junk food. I'm the type of guy who can achieve things with a high level of focus, so I know I can follow my diet for months and not struggle to keep up with it. I like what I eat anyway, so it works out for me!

* More supplements. I'll be using some supps that I wouldn't have even considered using when I was younger...I've paid my dues and have made some solid gains over the years, and I know what I'm doing overall. So, I'll be taking Activate Xtreme for the next 2 months starting April, and after a month of discontinuing that, I'll do a cycle on Jungle Warfare.
Here is my schedule for the next upcoming months:

March -- Higher Power Creatine
April -- Creatine, Orange Triad, Activate Xtreme
May -- Creatine, Orange Triad, Activate Xtreme
June -- Creatine, Orange Triad
July -- Creatine, Orange Triad, Jungle Warfare
August -- Creatine, Orange Triad, Jungle Warfare
September -- PCT, and will have to evaluate how I'm doing before making my next move

You're probably wondering why the hell I'm starting a bulking cycle with just creatine being
used. Well, I'm about to start a stack of Orange Triad & Activate Xtreme next month, but I'd
like my body to take a month and recoup some of the strength I lost. So, rather than just
rushing into a hardcore bulking cycle, I'm doing a clean bulk just above maintenance with
creatine on the side.

* Better recovery. I haven't been taking multis, and I've only been getting 6 hours of sleep on the weekdays (I have a long commute, have to get up at 4:30 AM). I'll be using Orange Triad as my multi of choice, which'll also help keeping my joints healthy while I move up to using heavier weights. I'll also be sleeping an hour earlier (9:00 PM) to get 1 more hour of sleep. 7 hours of sleep is not much, but it's the best I can do on a weekday.


__________________________________________________ _______________

And now my journal will officially begin! It's my first lifting day of this planned bulking cycle, which I'll be doing chest and tris. I'm reseting my weight back to 245 for my benchpress -- I like doing a 3x3 to improve strength. I will updated this log in about 4 hours with the results of my workout. I use some decent weights, so things should stay exciting. Stay tuned!

[Mutineer]

I suggest cutting out all that creatine. bb kidneys.

[ShutUpAndSquat]

3/3/08

Chest/Triceps

Flat Barbell Bench

135 x 8 (Warm-up)
245 x 3
245 x 3
245 x 3

Easy. Blew through 245 on all 3 sets without a hitch. I'll be increasing the poundage on my flat BB bench by 5 pounds every week, to the point where it'll be at 275 x 3 -- my best triple. I'm timing the beginning of Orange Triad and Xtreme to go with my 275 triple so that onwards I can attempt to go past 280 x 3 and beyond.

Incline Barbell Bench

135 x 8
155 x 5
185 x 3

DB Skullcrushers:

70 x 10
70 x 12
70 x 15

Cable Chest Flys:

30 x 12
50 x 8
50 x 8
60 x 10

DB Flys:

30 x 8
35 x 8

_______________________

None of my sets intentionally go to failure -- I usually stop an exercise when I think my next rep will fail.

Wednesday will be shoulders & traps. Even though I don't deadlift heavy anymore, I still have good trap & grip strength...prepare to see 405 being repped for shrugs in 2 days.

[ShutUpAndSquat]

3/5/08

Traps/Shoulders

BB Shrugs:

225 x 15 (Warmup)
315 x 12
405 x 10
455 x 5

Things felt pretty light up to 405. When I'm up to 405 I really have to start working for my reps, and 455 is near my limits. I can't seem to grip anything heavier than 500 pounds, so I'll have to do some gripwork in the future if I want to be able to sustain a grip of 15+ seconds for heavier weights.

DB Laterals:

30 x 10
40 x 10
50 x 8

Yup, for some reason I'm able to go heavy on my laterals with perfect form...and the side delts prove it. I'll try to post pics sometime later.

Bent Over DB Laterals:

25 x 10
30 x 10
25 x 10

My rear delts are kinda lagging relative to the two other heads, for some reason it's hard to make them grow (amongst other things, like the upper portion of your chest). Maybe my next workouts will place emphasis with rear delts over side delts -- I'll switch the order of the exercises around.

I don't do military or DB overhead presses since my shoulders are already kind of shot from bench day. My shoulders like to compensate over my triceps and chest for flat bench, so I'd be kind of overtraining if I were to do another pressing movement 2 days later. It's okay though, as my delts are my body's strong point.

Other than that, day 3 of creatine...nothing much to report here, as I usually don't notice any changes in explosiveness/endurance until at least being on creatine for 3 weeks or so.

Friday will be Back/Chest! Yep, I'll be comboing chest with back for the first time ever...