JohnB's Journey

[johnblythe]

Hey everyone,

Here I go again. I've been sorta all over the place since January. I've had a log for:

• AllPro's Beginner Routine
• The Warrior Diet
• and Occam's Protocol

Since I'm in such a new place with this whole body building journey, I figured it'd be time better spent for me to have one log from here on out. Perhaps something will come up that I'd rather use a separate log for, but for now I think sticking with one place to log everything will be best since being a n00b consists in large part of figuring things out, aka changing things often, especially given my curious nature.

Thus, this is my new home in the workout journal section. Check out my older logs to see where I've been if you'd like. Otherwise, I'd love to have you join me for the journey as I move forward into who know's what.

More details forthcoming about who I am, where I want to be, what the next routine will be, etc.

[johnblythe]

The Start
I started working out and caring about fitness almost a year ago. I finally hit a point where I realized I was only getting fatter. I had gotten married a year and a half before and started a church a year prior. Both of these things—marriage and ministry—I'd always heard helped to pack on the pounds.

Sure enough, they were packin'. So, I started Insanity. Thankfully, it worked. In 4-5 months time I had lost about 25 pounds. My diet hadn't changed drastically though I did take care more regarding eating out, especially places that were predominantly fried foods.

From there I began to run for a month or two because the weather was so nice.

After that short running stage, I moved on to P90X in order to add some muscle to my frame. After starting that I contacted a friend I knew who loved working out. She pointed me to the direction of this site and the rest is, as they say, history.

I started hunting for some home gym equipment on Craigslist in late December and finally found something early January for a reasonable price. Got it, set it up, threw it in the shed in my backyard and then began a beginner's routine (see post above for link) in mid January.

Now
The past 3 months have been used to become more disciplined, knowledgeable and overall acclimated to this whole body building gig. I've really developed a love for it. The mixture of its art and science intrigue me so I love to learn more about physiology, diet, etc. as I go along.

I've done varying versions of diets since starting, from the Warrior Diet to shed some extra fat (~4 lbs in 2.5 weeks) to an ultra bulk (coming off of that as we speak). The reason being that I am skinny fat and thus needing to both lose and gain weight to look like a normal human being.

The Goals
My longterm goals are still being sorted out. I don't know what I want yet because I don't know enough as of yet to make a good estimate of things. To be vague and as general as possible, I want to be fit. I'd like to be somewhere between 180-190 with 12% or lower BF. That may be beyond my reach with the amount of dedication I'm willing to put into this coupled with my genetics. But it may not be. We'll see as we move along.

For now, I'd like to continue gaining muscle, particularly on my arms and chest, whilst losing fat around the old midsection. Pretty standard goal, eh?

I'll be updating my goals based on where I'm at. Every month or two should have some sort of redefinition, whether big or small. My routines, diet, etc. will change subsequently, of course. I'll try to make special posts for said goals to where it's clear cut when I/we head in a new direction.

---------

That about sums it up for now. Will post more tomorrow concerning my new direction beginning Wednesday. Night-

[johnblythe]

Started my first day of Starting Strength today. Don't have adequate time to post my plans, my workout or my diet at this point, but will make sure to get the ball rolling full on tomorrow.

[Jasonpan]

1st, I am glad you decided to give SS a shot bro. I am sure if you put as much effort into it as you did your other experiments, you will gain massive strength with SS.

[johnblythe]

1st, I am glad you decided to give SS a shot bro. I am sure if you put as much effort into it as you did your other experiments, you will gain massive strength with SS.

thanks brah. looking forward to seeing those lifts go crazy. about to type out my plan and all that jazz, so check back soon!

[johnblythe]

The routine I will be on for what I'm planning being 8 weeks minimum is Starting Strength. If you haven't heard of it then Google it. As far as I can tell, it's the n00b lifter's gospel account of what to do.

I will be going with the Onus Wunsler program. It looks like this:

Workout A
Squat
Press
Deadlift/Power Clean

Workout B
Squat
Bench Press
Back Extensions
Chin-ups

Here are my starting/test weights:
Squat - 105
Bench Press - 115
Press - 80
Deadlift - 115
Power Clean - 45

I'm using a 20% reset on squats and a 10% reset on bench. Press is high and I may change it to 70 before tomorrow's workout just to give myself a bit of a break, that heavy of weight for press is no fun :\

Deads and cleans are guestimates. I know that deads are usually higher than squats, so I added 10lbs to the squat number. Cleans I have no idea how much I can do and hardly know the form so starting with the bar will be wise and safe I believe.

One last thing to note: my last workout from my previous routine was on Sunday before my 4 week Monday weigh-in. As such, I didn't want to wait a whole week to get started on this, so I figured I'd use Wed. & Fri. to get acclimated with the routine and figure weights out a bit better. Thus, I started yesterday (Wednesday). But, since I'm kinda OCD about some things and already have a nice spreadsheet with everything laid out, I pretended I started on Monday with WA (Workout A) and thus did WB (Workout B) yesterday. I'll do WA tomorrow and then proceed from there as if I was on week 2 after a full first week.

I can upload the spreadsheet to help with visuals as well as to let anyone interested in the program look at what their numbers may look like if they were to start.

[johnblythe]

As far as diet goes, I'm currently transitioning. I was hitting a minimum goal of 3400 the past two weeks. Most days I surpassed it (purposefully) with anywhere from 3400-4k+. This week I've not spent so much energy (or cash!!) gorging myself for an ultra bulk. I don't want to taper off too soon, and maybe I already have and/or will, but my plan has been to cut back this week and then swap to intermittent fasting this weekend without any workouts in the way. This week I've been dropping down to 3200 cals, some days a little less. I'll try to keep the cals relatively high the first week or two of IF (~2800, yowsers!) so I don't plummet too much and lose lean mass as a result. After that I'll taper down some more to whatever my good IF maintenance numbers are.

Last time I went with IF (right before the ultra bulk), it took about 2-3 days to get used to it. The first day felt like a Keto diet for the most part, just had a fog over my head more or less. Felt more normal the next day, just hungry. Third day was finally beginning to feel 'normal.' So, I want that to be taken care of for the most part over the weekend's time.

I'm still figuring out my macros and total caloric intake goals while being on the protocol, so more on that later. Last time I did the Warrior Diet, this time I'll be going with something that looks a bit more scientifically sound and overall simply more convenient time wise—LeanGains (www.leangains.com).

Like I said, more info concerning the details when I figure them out.

[Jasonpan]

Can I ask why you doing this variation of SS and not the original?

Also, remember those are regular DL's, not the SLDL...you will be surprised how fast that lift goes up.

[johnblythe]

Can I ask why you doing this variation of SS and not the original?

Also, remember those are regular DL's, not the SLDL...you will be surprised how fast that lift goes up.

of course broseph. doing one of the variations because 1) they are presented on the SS wiki as viable variations that are seemingly 'sanctioned' more or less and 2) since i have been doing some work for a few months it seemed alright to have the extras (chins) in there.

i did think about just doing the standard so i could get deads in more often and do chins as a supplemental exercise, but felt it was too much tampering compared to going with a version of the program that has been more or less 'approved' by the wiki and others.

what do you think?

and ya, i'm good with the DL thing. i just didn't know where to start so i figured i'd start light. i'll be adding 20 pounds each time for a while. since my squat will be going up so quickly that will as well, so i should be able to get +20lbs each time for a few weeks.

[Jasonpan]

what do you think?

Its human nature to do the opposite of what is best, so I have learned in my 30+ years on this planet. What is best, do the original program, nice and simple. Run that course until you need to move one or add assistance lifts, as detailed in the program and book.

What do we humans do? We over analyze and over compensate for everything.

You will be doing deads enough as it is. Recovery will become an issue faster with the Onus version. I would take the program at face value, do it as it was intended. Pretend you have never touched a weight before. Start light (as I see you derated already for some lifts) and enjoy the ride.

[johnblythe]

Thanks for the thoughts, man!

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying (might be because you misunderstood my post earlier).

Deeds won't be more often than the base program, actually less.

Standard would be every other day. This has deads OR cleans (swap back and forth) every other workout. So deads once a week, cleans once a week, every week instead of deads twice and cleans once or cleans twice deads once.

Make more sense?

[Jasonpan]

A/B/A - Week 1
B/A/B - Week 2
A/B/A - Week 3
B/A/B - Week 4

or are you doing A/B/A every week?

EDIT: I am confused

[johnblythe]

A/B/A - Week 1
B/A/B - Week 2
A/B/A - Week 3
B/A/B - Week 4

or are you doing A/B/A every week?

EDIT: I am confused

a/b/a/b/a/b ad infinitum. so ya, what you posted.

this week i did a/b/a (though the first 'a' was technically skipped). will start monday with b, wednesday a, friday b. following week = a, b, a.

WA has deads and cleans swapped out every time you do it. so my WA from monday had deads, today, WA #2, will have cleans in its place.

make more sense? will post that excel sheet from the SS wiki that has the legit, authorized SS variations, that should help out some

[johnblythe]

WORKOUT B

Squats:
Warm ups: 45 - 2x5
60 - 1x3
80 - 1x2

Working: 100 - 3x5

Bench:
Warm ups: 45 - 2x5
50 - 1x5
70 - 1x3
90 - 1x2

Working: 105 - 3x5

Chins:
BW x 3
BW x 2.7
BW x 2


---------

Everything felt great and relatively easy. Was a bit rushed because my workout partner had about 25 minutes before had to go. Besides that, no troubles save for maybe pulling something slightly when I stretched?

May have tried to jump too deep into the stretch too soon. Squatted to stretch out the abductors. After my first working set I noticed they were super tight. After second set, even more so. By the end of the workout they were pretty sore and aching. Not sure what the deal was, but they didn't bother me after a few hours.

The next day (and today, two days later) I was feeling DOMS like it's the first time I've squatted in my life. I guess it's because for a month I did 5/5 cadence squats to failure and the slow/fast twich muscle fibers had been swapped out, so this is the first time I've done anything at a normal pace in a while. May be another issue, but my entire leg (and butt!) are pretty freaking sore. It's difficult to walk after sitting for an extended period of time!

But I'm about to head home and do the next workout, so hopefully stretching out (slowly this time!) and working out will alleviate the doms, kick'em on out.

[johnblythe]

WORKOUT B

Squats:
Warm ups: 45 - 2x5
65 - 1x3
90 - 1x2

Working: 115 - 3x5

Press:
Warm ups: 45 - 2x5
55 - 1x2

Working: 70 - 3x5

Cleans:
45 - 1x3
95 - 5x3


---------

Wow, so cleans are pretty awesome. I was planning on starting at 45 and working my way up like all the other exercises, but after doing it figured it'd be interesting to see what it was like to have some weight on there so we threw on 50 pounds to bump it up to 95.

Form seemed to be pretty good so we went with it. Tiring! Had never done cleans before. I really like them, actually. One of the reasons I went with the Onus Wunslor program on the SS wiki spreadsheet was because I didn't really care all that much to do that exercise—or so I thought—but liked the idea of chins being available.

Talked to my workout buddy, we're gonna go with the original SS now instead so we can get more cleans/deads in and then add chins if or when the time comes as a supplemental thing since we're not complete novices.

Sore today from yesterday, but not in the OMGIWANTTODIE sense that I was yesterday from Wednesdays workout. Cleaned out the shed today so seeing the gym look nice makes me really want to get in there and pump some work out. Can't wait for Monday to get here now.

Also, began my IF'ing with Lean Gains today. Wasn't bad at all. I had gotten used to a large breakfast, but it wasn't a big deal to wait til 12 especially since I woke up later than I do on week days (7:45 today as opposed to 6 at the latest).

Looking forward to seeing the results of all this. Will post baseline measurements and what not in the next day or two. Won't bother measuring as often as I was on my bulk (weekly), but will either bi-monthly or monthly.

Blessings-

[johnblythe]

WORKOUT A

Squats:
45 - 2x5
50 - 1x5
75 - 1x3
100 - 1x2

125 - 3x5

Bench:

45 - 2x5
55 - 1x5
75 - 1x3
95 - 1x2

110 - 3x5

Deadlifts:
55 - 2x5
80 - 1x3
115 - 1x2

140 - 1x5

---------

Everything went well this morning. My first time to do regular deads (used to do SLDL in AllPro's routine), really enjoyed them. Felt a good bit spent afterwards, but not dead or anything.

Squats weren't too difficult, but I was definitely working on the last two reps of the final set. Bench was pretty similar, which I found surprising since I had been doing 115 at 5/5 cadence to failure previously for about 6 reps. Didn't think doing the typical f/2 at 5 reps would be as difficult as it was (wasn't so til the final set, though). No biggie though all in all.

I do wonder after each workout how I will possibly add 10 pounds to the squat next time and keep doing this for several weeks. Rippetoe says if you can't do that for I think it was 4 weeks then "YNDTP" (you're not doing the program). I can't imagine not having any problems over the next 2.5 weeks to get to 215 lbs! Honestly, I'll be pleased to just make it through this week without any problems and then start adding 5lbs next week. Not saying I'm giving up on the possibility of +10 for another few weeks, just can't really fathom that kind of strength growth happening in that short of time for me.

[johnblythe]

Here's the spreadsheet I'm using. There are several variations. I'm using the original plan for now. Will probably add chins in somewhere either halfway through this first phase (8 weeks total, so week 4) or when I mooch the program after this initial 8 weeks.

For now I feel plenty worked after the routine as written.

[johnblythe]

here's my first entry on diet. i started the transition to IF (Lean Gains protocol) this weekend. As such, things weren't really worth recording so I won't bother backtracking the information. Here goes with today:

Fat | Carbs | Prot | Total
115.20 246.78 230.93 2929

My goal is to hit ~3k for now. I don't want my lack of intake to effect these potentially huge strength gains, so though I'm doing some cutting of sorts by simply being on an IF style diet, I'm trying to do a big/bulk type version of it.

I can list out all the foods in a day if anyone is interested (did so on my previous Occam's log, see first post above for link), but it gets tiresome and most people don't really care for such details. So until I hear otherwise from followers I'll just post totals and then try to make it more indulgent in the interactive realm by posting food pr0n when possible.

With that said, here's an amazing chicken casserole my wife cooked up tonight. Biscuit with cheese, some creamy chicken stuff mixed with sour cream and rotisserie chicken underneath. Good macro profile and completely delish!

[johnblythe]

And lastly, to wrap tonight up, here are some pics of the gym. We've got a nice sized shed off in the back of our yard, half enclosed and half a carport. It used to be used for junk and storage (more for my parents than our own stuff). When I decided to take the plunge and really work out instead of just doing P90X, purchase equipment, etc. we cleared out as much as we needed to to put a bench and power rack in there. This weekend my workout buddy came over and cleared everything out, vacuumed it (had crazy mad amounts of white dust in there) and then we laid out some padding to use for cleans and deads.














and last but not least, the workout partner, Kyle (complete with a blurred face a la The Ring and our seated rest area:



Diet update tomorrow, Workout B on Wednesday.

Ready to tear this stuff up.

[Jasonpan]

nice posts mate, your garage looks just like mine...but I dont have any gym stuff in mine. I like pics in my journal as well, listing out foods everyday can be very tedious, but it is your journal...do as you wish mate. Waiting for next workout....

[johnblythe]

nice posts mate, your garage looks just like mine...but I dont have any gym stuff in mine. I like pics in my journal as well, listing out foods everyday can be very tedious, but it is your journal...do as you wish mate. Waiting for next workout....

thank you sir.

i definitely want to get some novelty, interactivity up in this mug so that more people follow and thus get me further motivated to kick arse. ideas are welcomed

[johnblythe]

thinking about trying to drop in some awesome music here and there. i love my music, use it as a motivator, so might as well share some good stuff occasionally.

found these dudes yesterday:

[MatTheCur]

One band that's going to make it into my iPod, very soon (read: Tonight), is Static-X. Love these guys.

[johnblythe]

Hey all,

As promised a few days back, here are my baseline stats as well as some pics from about a week or so ago.


Baseline

Weight: 186.2

Chest: 41.5"
Hips: 41"
Waist (beltline): 36.5"
Waist (navel): 36.5"

Left arm: 12.75"
Right arm: 12.9"

Left leg: 21.4"
Right leg: 21.9"

Left calf: 14.25"
Right calf: 14.5"

caliper (at hip): 20.5mm
caliper 2 (1" above hip): 18mm

----------------------------------------

[Jasonpan]

One band that's going to make it into my iPod, very soon (read: Tonight), is Static-X. Love these guys.

If you like them, check out devildriver. They just released a new album..they kick ass. (Lead singer is the dude from coal chamber)

[MatTheCur]

If you like them, check out devildriver. They just released a new album..they kick ass. (Lead singer is the dude from coal chamber)

Will most definitely do that. I kinda got lost last night, in myself, after not doing so well in the gym (updating ze log today on that one), so I never got around to putting 'em on. I'll add that to the "get it in there" list. Along with Coal Chamber!

[CHOOSE]

Static-X = win

I have been reading this log for a little while after seeing JB post in JP's log, just never posted.

Diggin the home gym VERY much. Do you live someplace warm where you can lift in there 365 days/ year? Or will it just be a little colder in the winter? Also, are you able to plant your feet while using that bench?

In for ass-kicking.

[johnblythe]

Static-X = win

I have been reading this log for a little while after seeing JB post in JP's log, just never posted.

Diggin the home gym VERY much. Do you live someplace warm where you can lift in there 365 days/ year? Or will it just be a little colder in the winter? Also, are you able to plant your feet while using that bench?

In for ass-kicking.

welcome!

i live in a place that has a good deal of extremes. we had a cold front come through so this morning was 40-something degrees. not killer by any means. had some morning workouts back in january that were in the 20s. have a little space heater to help out with that. besides, after a set or two of squats you get warmed up nice and quick

as far as summer, last summer we had upwards of 110. super humid here (know that little bay nook at the bottom of alabama? that's our bay, Mobile Bay). so afternoon work outs will be killer if i have to go that route.

i did mornings on AP's routine. did afternoons for most of my occam protocol. will be back in AMs most days on this, especially through the summer months.

[Jasonpan]

are you able to plant your feet while using that bench?

yeah, you gotta make sure you do it right......

[johnblythe]

yeah, you gotta make sure you do it right......

oops, didn't even see that part of CHOOSE's post. ya, i'm able to. only time i've had trouble keeping them flat is when i did decline for a while.