College Student's Journey to Natural Bodybuilding

Hello, my name is Brandon Ramsey. I am a Junior Economics and Business Major at Hanover College with a Minor in Political Science. I went to Hanover to play baseball, and now serve as a student assistant coach after "retiring."

I have been lifting for about 5 years, but only have been serious about it for a 1 1/2 years. My roommate and I started a weightlifting club on campus that has grown to over 20 member that we help train. As I have become more immersed in the weightlifting culture I have realized that I really, really would like to compete. I have seen quite a transformation in my body in the last couple of years. When I cam to college I was a 175 lb skinny kid. I got up to 195 and about 15% fat, and just started cutting for the first time 2 weeks ago. I currently am 5'11'' 187 lbs and about 14% body fat.

My current plan is to continue cutting for 14 more weeks and just get as lean as possible. This is really just to learn about my body because I have never really "cut" before and am not sure how lean I can get, but I certainly can't wait to see myself all shredded!! From their I will be bulking for quite a while before I begin my first actual contest preparations. Currently I have my sights set on entering my first contest in the spring of 2014. That should give me plenty of time to continue my transformation and become somewhat competitive.

I don't have the best genetics so most of what I gain comes from simple hard work and dieting. I am very proud of that. If nothing else I just want to push my body to places it has never been before. Whether I can become a competitive bodybuilder or not I am dedicated to working towards that goal and getting as big and shredded as I can possibly get.

As a busy college student I may not post on here everyday, but I will try and do it as much as possible. I enjoy talking about lifting and writing about it, so this will be fun for me if nothing else.

To begin, here are a few pics of me. The top link is a picture of me today, after 2 weeks of cutting. The 2nd pic is 2 weeks ago before I started my new diet. The third is a "senior picture" which was about 3 years ago and before I really focused on lifting.

Hope everyone enjoys following along with my diet, training, and progress towards my goal!

My current Macros on my cut are 2150 Calories, 62 Fat, 250 Carbs, 170 Protein. This seems to be working pretty well and still allows me to not starve myself.

Training Splits are Chest on Monday, Arms on Tuesday, Legs on Wednesday, Back on Thursday, Shoulders on Friday. I do cardio for 200-250 calories on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday I do abs.

Currently my 1-rep maxes are 295 on Bench, 405 on Squat, 450 on Deadlift. That just gives you a feel for my current strength.

Here was yesterday's workout.

Bench Press: 4x3 @ 250, 3x2 @ 250, 1x250...drop-set 5x225, 8x185. (My current bench press workout is a program where I start by doing a weight for 8 sets of 3 reps. Once I can do that I move to 6x4, then 5x5, and from there I move up 5-10 pounds and begin again. I have made some good gains from this. However, this week I jumped from 240 that I got 5x5, to 250 and it may have been a bit too much)

Incline DB Press: 3x8 @ 70 lbs (each dumbbell). I was pretty beat after the bench press, so I struggled a bit more on these than usual. Still, got my 3x8 so will move up to 75's next week.

Iso Incline Machine: 3x10 @ 160 lbs. I really like this machine as it blows up your upper chest.

Incline Cable Flys w/ Push-ups. I like to superset my flys w/ push-ups, just something I have done for a while. I did 4x12 on flys with 30 lbs, and 12 pushups between each set.

Plate Holds: 2 sets of 45 seconds. For this I get a 10 lbs plate and hold it out in front of my chest with my hands flat on each side of the plate facing inward. Really focus on squeezing my chest. This is a great way to get that final pump and finish off your chest.

Finished it all off with abs and that was the workout. That is pretty much what I do for all of my chest days.

Going to try and catch up.

Tuesday was arms day. I always like doing circuits for my arms; just gives me the best pump and I have gotten nice size increases in the past year or so of doing them. Currently, I like the Golden Era Arms workout by Muscle Pharm.

Barbell Curls 12 reps, Incline DB Curl 12 reps, Preacher Curl (close grip) 12 reps, Reverse Barbell Curl 12 reps. Do that for 5 rounds.
For triceps, sets of 15-20 reps on Overhead Tricep Extension, Band Pushdowns, Skull Crushers, Bench Dips, and Kickbacks. 5 rounds of that.
It will blow you up!!

On Wednesday I was back home for Thanksgiving break and had to workout at a crappy gym. Their selection was extremely limited so I just did 5x10 @ 225 on squat. 4x12 @ 430 on leg press. 4x12 on Leg Extension and Leg Curl. 3x15 on seated calf raises. Really the only thing I couldn't do was go heavy on squat, but I was just in a bad mood the whole time because the machines were crap. Oh well, still a solid lift.

Today (Thanksgiving) I just did a a shoulder workout at home. I did 3x10 on front raises, 3x10 on lat raises, 3x10 on Upright plate rows, and 2x12 on Shoulder Press. Nothing special, just wanted to get the blood flowing a little bit.

Tomorrow I will get back in the gym for a back workout.

Today (monday) was chest day. Overall it was a good day and I got I more set of 3 at 250 than I did last week. The gym was super crowded which made me aggravated (I get mad easily!) so I had great intensity today. I ended up cutting about 10 minutes from my normal workout time just because I was kind of fired up.

The diet has been going well, and other than Thanksgiving dinner I stayed within my macros just fine while home for break. I am at 187, which is down 4 pounds since the beginning of my cut 3 weeks ago. I am happy with that, especially considering Thanksgiving was last week. I hope to get to 185 sooner rather than later.

I am seeing my abs coming in nicely, I am definitely anxious to see what I look like when I get really lean!

Keep on it bro. That's a good pace of loss. I'm on a similar pace myself and it feels good. Although, you controlled your bulk much better than I did lol. Good job man. I'll be stoppin in to check on your progress.

And there's an old saying, "Don't ever let someone with twice the genetics and half the determination, beat you."

Today, Wednesday, was leg day. I have always thought that I had pretty good legs; my quads have good size and my calfs are pretty well defined. However, I also feel like I haven't made significant gains in my legs (either strength or looks wise) in quite some time. I have played baseball my whole life and was a catcher which kept my legs in very good shape by itself. Squat was always an exercise that I could do a lot of weight on and therefore I think my ego got in the way of my progress as I tried to just push really impressive weight (at least compared to my other lifts) instead of focusing on getting in enough reps and using proper form. So, I have decided to switch things up for a bit on legs. I am cutting weight back and going to focus on doing more reps with perfect form. The last time I made significant lower body gains was probably about a 1 1/2 ago when I used the Smolov Squat Routine which gave me a 75 lbs max increase and great size/definition gains in just 2-3 months.

So, here was todays workout.

Squat: 2x5 @ 225 (Warm up) 3x8 @ 275, 2x5 290. I will probably keep doing a similar rep sequence, but may a few more sets in the coming weeks as I get more endurance.

Leg Press: 4x12 @ 480

Leg Extension: 3x10 @ 45 lb (each leg) w/ a triple-drop set 1x12 @ 30, 1x12 @ 20, 1x12 @ 10.

Leg Curl: 3x10 @ 35 lb (each leg) superset w/ RDL: 3x10 @ 135 lb

Calves: I always do a circuit for my calves. 3x25 on seated calf raise, 3x15 on standing calf, then 3x10 calf raises on the stairs so I can get a really good range of motion.

Also hit abs today.

Overall, things are going really well. I weighed in at 186.5 today, the lowest I have been in at least 6 months. That is down 5 pounds in 3 1/2 weeks which is a pretty solid pace in my opinion. I suspect that the weight loss will slow a little somewhat soon, and with the holidays coming up I will be happy if on Jan. 1st I am around 183-185. That will give me about another month and a half of my cut and hopefully get down to around 175. Currently, my abs are coming in pretty well and I have maintained my strength on everything.

As for my diet, that has been going well too. I am at 2200 calories, 300 carbs, 65 fat, 200 protein. For an example of what I eat, I will give you my food intake today.

Breakfast: 1 Belgium Waffle (using the waffle mix in the cafeteria at school), Animal Flex Pak, Multivitamin, 2 cups of Skim Milk
Lunch: Turkey Sandwich on Whole Wheat Bread w/ Special K Cracker Chips
Dinner: 8 oz Grilled Chicken Breast and a Spinach Salad w/ a little French Dressing.
Snacks: 6 oz Yoplait Vanilla Yogurt mixed with 1 cup of Frosted Cheerios. 1 Smore Pop Tart
Post Workout: MTS Whey Protein, Cellucore Creatine, and Muscle Pharm Re-Con.

Usually I just have eggs for breakfast which allows me some more wiggle room with snacks later...but I was just really feeling a waffle today!!

Good back workout today. I can really feel my lats coming in, but feel like my lower back is a little behind. However, as I get leaner I think my lower back will lose some fat and look better.

3x10 Underhanded Pull-ups
4x12 Lat Pull Downs (Underhanded)
4x12 Rear Delt Flys
4x12 Seated Cable Rows
4x12 Face Pulls w/ Rope
4x12 Bent over rows (Underhanded)
Deadlift: 2x10 @ 225, 2x5 @ 285. I switched to doing a double overhanded grip today. Just tried mixing it up, I usually do the staggered grip w/ quite a bit more weight. However, I kind of liked doing it this way.

30 minutes of cardio on an incline treadmill walking at a fairly brisk pace.

Had a really good day in the gym today. 8x3 @ 250 on Bench Press, first time getting that. Next week I will move on to 6x4 @ 250.

Weighed in 186 today which is down 1/2 a pound from last week. I wasn't expecting to have lost much because I had a pretty big cheat meal last night (Sunday night). My diet has been going really well so I decided to treat myself while preparing for finals. Hopefully I can get down to the 185 mark this week!

Finally back! I don't really have a good excuse for not posting on here...just go away from it. Anyway, I am going to start posting every day from here on out hopefully!

Everything has been going really well. I am getting ready to start Week 12 of my cut...weighing in at between 176-178 the past few days. Down from 191 when I started. Have 5 more full weeks...would really like to get to 170.

I have been cheating on my diet way to much for my liking (meaning almost every Saturday). That is my main reason for getting back on here. I know if I am writing about it and putting it out for others to see I will stick to it better than I have been.

I will be back tomorrow with my day's workout and eating!

Here is my most recent photo...

Chest Day

Bench Press: 5x5 @ 235,235,235,240,245
Incline Bench Press: 3x8-12 @ 135,155,175
Iso Incline Machine Press: 3x8-12 @ 160,160,180 w/ drop-set 140x5, 90x5
Decline DB Bench (first time I had done this in months): 3x6-12 @ 75,75,80
Incline DB Flys: 3x12 @ 20,25,25...Super-set w/ Push-ups 3x10

ABS

150 Calorie Cardio Session (low-intensity)

Eating

Meal 1: 2 Packets of McCann's Instant Irish Oatmeal (Apple Cinnamon), Vitamin, Animal Flex Pak
Meal 2: Oven Roasted Turkey Breast on Wheat Bread, Special K Cracker Chips (Cheddar Cheese)...those chips are the best EVER, especially Honey BBQ.
Post Workout: 1 scoop MTS Nutrion Whey Protein, 1 scoop Muscle Tech Creatine, 1 scoop Muscle Pharm Recon
Meal 3: 8 oz Grilled Chicken Breast, Smart Foods White Cheddar Popcorn
Meal 4: Lean Cuisine Orange Chicken w/ White Rice
Snacks: 2 Quaker Rice Cakes (Buttered Popcorn), 2 Snack Well's Devils Food Cookie Cakes (great sweet snack, just 50 cal, 0 fat per cookie!), 1 serving of Planter's Honey Roasted Peanuts.

Comes out to 2221 Calories, 296 carbs, 50 Fat, 172 Protein...btw my macros are 2200/300/50/180.

Arms Day

Tricep Pushdown (Rope): 3x15 @ 100 lbs
Tricep Pushdown (Straight-Bar): 3x15 @ 100, 110, 110
Seated DB Curl: 3x12 @ 25 superset w/ 3x5 Iso-metric @ 25
Skull Crushers: 3x15 @ 50, 60, 65
Preacher Curl: 3x8-12 @ 50 (12), 60 (12), 65 (10)
Tricep Pushdown (Rope): 3x15 @ 100 superset w/ Cable Curl: 3x10 @ 100
Forearm Circuit

Eating

Meal 1: 2 Packets of McCann's Instant Irish Oatmeal (Apple Cinnamon), Vitamin, Animal Flex Pak
Meal 2: Oven Roasted Turkey Breast on Wheat Bread, Special K Cracker Chips (Honey BBQ), Special K Brownie Bites
Post Workout: 1 scoop MTS Nutrion Whey Protein, 1 scoop Muscle Tech Creatine, 1 scoop Muscle Pharm Recon
Meal 3: 8 oz Grilled Chicken Breast
Meal 4: Lean Cuisine Beefy Macaroni (this was awesome! Just 260 calories, 5 fat, 35 carb, 15 protein...decent size too), 2 Quaker Lightly Salted Rice Cakes w/ 1/2 tbsp Peanut Butter.
Meal 5: Healthy Choice Chicken Tortilla Soup w/ 1 scoop MTS Nutrition Whey Protein.

Comes out to 2209 Calories, 278 carbs, 49 fat, 178 protein...today macros are the same but carbs go down to 275.

Tomorrow is leg day which is higher carb at 350. Other macros stay the same.

I started the Smolov Squat routine last Monday. I did it once last year and it absolutely works for adding strength, and with doing so much volume it helps with size/definition as well. All-around awesome routine in my opinion.

When I did it last year my squat max went from 365 to 405 in just 6 weeks. My 1RM is down to about 375 now because I just haven't focused on going heavy much in the past 3 or 4 months. Because I haven't squatted for than the typical 1 day a week in so long I just put my max at 345 to be safe...the Smolov is still plenty hard!

On Monday and Tuesday of Week 1 I had 3x8 @ 225, 5x @ 240, 2x2 @ 260, and 1x @ 275. Then on Wednesday I had 4x5 @ 240, 3x @ 260, 2x2 @ 275, and 1x @ 310. This week is a really low rep week (Mon/Wed/Fri) in preparation for the craziness of the next 4 weeks. Monday was 2x2 @ 295, today (Wednesday) will be 3x @ 295, and Friday I will have a set of 5 @ 295.

Has anyone else done the Smolov before? If so, how did you like it?

Yesterday (Wednesday) was leg day.

Smolov Squat: 3 reps @ 295 pounds.
Leg Press: 4x12 @ 380, 400, 420, 420
Leg Extension: 3x10 @ 45, 45, 45
Leg Curl: 3x10 @ 35, 35 35...superset w/ DB RDL: 3x10 @ 70, 70, 70
Calf Circuit: Seated Calf Raise, Standing Calf Raise, Bodyweight calf raise on the stairs.
Abs
200 Calorie Cardio Session

Eating

Meal 1: Weight Watcher Smart Ones Waffles w/ Turkey Sausage (love this!), Maple Grove Farms Low Cal/Sugar Free Syrup, Vitamin, Animal Flex Pak
Meal 2: Turkey on Wheat Bread w/ Honey BBQ Special K Cracker Chips, Fiber 1 Chocolate Fudge Brownie
Post Workout: 1 scoop MTS Nutrion Whey Protein, 1 scoop Muscle Tech Creatine, 1 scoop Muscle Pharm Recon
Meal 3: 8 oz Grilled Chicken w/ 2 cups of Uncle Ben's Ready Rice Brown Rice
Meal 4: Healthy Choice Chicken and Rice Soup, 1 Quaker Carmel Corn Rice Cake, 100 Calorie Chips A-Hoy
Meal 5: 1 scoop MTS Nutrion Whey Protein

Comes out to 2206 Calories, 339 Carbs, 41 Fat, 158 Protein...Macros today were 2200, 350, 40, 180 (came up a little short on protein I know).

Thursday, Back Day!

150 Calorie Cardio Session

3x10 Underhand Pull-Ups
4x12 Lat Pull-Downs 130, 130, 150, 160
4x12 Rear Delt Flys (machine) 45, 50, 50, 55
3x10 Seated Rows (one-arm at a time) 45, 65, 65
4x12 Face Pulls (Rope) 100, 100, 100, 120
4x12-15 Bent-over Barbell Row 135, 155, 155, 165
3x5 One-Arm Rows 85, 90, 95

Took the day off from Deadlift because my lower back is bothering me just a little bit from all the added squat since starting the Smolov. With the Smolov going into full affect next week I figured I would take it easy. Typically do 4x8-12 reps double-over hand deadlift to finish off my back days.

Diet

Meal 1: Smart Ones Waffles w/ Turkey Sausage, Maple Grove Farms Syrup, Vitamin, Animal Flex Pak
Meal 2: Honey Ham on Wheat, Special K Honey BBQ Cracker Chips, Fiber One Chocolate Chip Cookie
Post-Workout: 1 scoop MTS Nutrion Whey Protein, 1 scoop Muscle Tech Creatine, 1 scoop Muscle Pharm Recon
Meal 3: 8 oz Grilled Chicken, Healthy Choice Chicken and Rice Soup
Meal 4: Lean Cuisine Orange Chicken (stuff is amazing! 310 cal, 46 carb, 8 fat, 14 protein)
Meal 5: 2 Quaker Carmel Corn Rice Cakes w/ 1 tbsp Low-Fat Peanut Butter, 1 scoop MTS Nutrition Whey Protein

That is 2196 Calories, 296 Carbs, 47 Fat, 178 Protein...Macros were 2200/300/50/180.

Tomorrow is low-carb day. Always tough for me. Luckily, I am driving home (2 and a half hours, then driving to Dayton and back, 2 hour round trip) so I will have plenty of road time to keep my mind off eating! Will probably grab some Subway for dinner to eat on the road. Looking forward to making some eggs and turkey sausage in the morning!

Didn't log a couple days...but I'm back at it.

Yesterday (Monday) was chest day. Wasn't my best workout, can feel a little loss in strength that I can attribute to cutting, but I am definitely maintaing or gaining size and am the leanest I have ever been by far! This is week 12 of my 16 week cut and I feel (and look, in my opinion) great!

Yesterday was also the first day of the Base Cycle of the Smolov. This is where it starts to get crazy. Had 4 sets of 9 reps at 240 pounds which wasn't too bad...but have 3 more high rep squat days this week!

Luckily no squat today, just arms. Been hitting my arms really hard recently, even throwing in a 2nd, shorter arm workout on Saturdays. I just don't want to lose any size while finishing my diet, and having actually seen about 1/8 of an inch in growth. Also, had a new low weigh in this morning! 175.4 lbs!

Had a good arms workout today. Just over 16 1/2'' w/ pump which is just a hair bigger than when I started my cut...I will take that!

Todays diet...

Meal 1: 1 packet Better Oats Oat Revolution Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal, 2 Jimmy Dean's Turkey Sausage Patties, Animal Flex Pak, Vitamin

Meal 2: Turkey Breast on Whole Wheat Bread, Honey BBQ Special K Cracker Chips, Special K Pastry Crisps Chocolatey Delight

Snack: Chobani Strawberry Banana Greek Yogurt

Post-Workout: 1 scoop MTS Nutrion Whey Protein, 1 scoop Muscle Tech Creatine, 1 scoop Muscle Pharm Recon

Meal 3: 8 oz Grilled Chicken Breast, Smoked Ham w/ 1 slice whole wheat bread, Chicken and Mini Noodles Soup at Hand, Dole Pear Cup

Meal 4: 1 scoop MTS Nutriton Whey Protein, 2 Quaker Carmel Corn Rice Cakes, 1 Snack Well's Devils Food Cookie Cake

Macros: 2201 Calories, 277 Carbs, 41 fat, 202 Protein...goals were 2200/275/40/200

Weight in at a new personal low of 175.4 lbs this morning! Hoping for 174 by weeks end!