"Self-Improvement's masturbation. Now self-destruction..." Zewski's Recomp/Bulk

[Zewski92]

Ok so this will be my log including workouts, nutrition, random thoughts, etc. While I try to add lean mass throughout my sophomore year of college

STATS:
19 years old
5'7''
~150 (149.6 this morning)
maybe around 12-15% bf (will post pictures later)
Have been working out with weights since i was about 13 (only passed 2-3 years have been bb'ing/aesthetic driven)

MY STORY: (warning, kind of long) feel free to skip over this for the details of my upcoming bulk

I grew up chubby my whole life (well actually i was skinny until about 1st grade and then i found tasty kakes :9 ) up until about junior year where after a shoulder injury (sustained while wrestling for high school) I reached my all time fattest at around 220lbs. standing at about 5'6'' (>20% bf at least).

*Mind you I was also involved with sports (football,wrestling, and lax) up before the injury and normally weighed around 205. Granted i was still pretty fat, but i was also very strong 220 bench, >400lb squat. Never really maxed out but was on something like a SS set-up (minus the deadlifts) while lifting for football so i also had a good base of muscle underneath (or so i liked to tell myself )*

Anyway, One of my best friends at the time then introduced me to my first supplement ever. "Animal Cuts", he told me how his older brother, who was involved in D3 football in college, used it to help him cut some fluff in prep for the season. I went home and did some research on animalpak.com, found the vids of frank mcgrath on youtube (the black/white ones) and my life was changed forever. Using the "resources" from the website i started implementing the bb'ing style workouts (since my aforementioned injury kept me from playing football so i no longer worked out with the team *mistake), and using all of the "cutting" diets on the website.

So I basically became completely brain-washed by bro-science. Workout out 5 times a week hitting a different bodypart each workout. eat 5-6 small meals a day. Don't eat carbs or you'll stay fat. only eat grilled chickin+brocc or you'll stay fat. rev your metabolism or you're muscles will fall off. Do retarted amounts of HIIT or you won't see progress. You get the picture.

As retarted and unneccessary as these ideas were/are, i did lose a **** ton of weight (fat AND muscle) and wound up at around 143lbs. of basically skin and bone, and weak as **** by January. This was in the midst of wrestling season my senior year (my shoulder recovered in time for this), but thanks to the bb'ing type workouts+undereating/crash dieting I was completely worthless on the mat, and was winless up until i quit the team about half way through the season.

I told myself it was because wrestling gave me an eating disorder (saying i lost the all the weight to make weight, when in reality i was doing it to myself). But the truth was I was addicted to the bb'ing lifestyle, and although what i was doing was terrible for me (at least the way I was doing it), and my performance suffered because of it. I wasn't willing to give that up due to my vanity/obsession.

Anyway I quit wrestling but continued with my bro-tastic routine of eating only chicken,eggwhites,etc. and running my dick into the dirt in the weight room almost EVERY day.

I would however have brief spells (normally only lasting about 2 weeks) where i would say, screw it I'll BULK, but as soon as i saw my abs start to dissapate (mostly from water retention cause i actually let myself eat some ****ing carbs) I would revert back to my old diet.

Flash forward to about December of the following year (my freshman year in college/about 9 months ago from today). While on the forums for the supp company "universal" (found through animal.com) I was turned onto something called "Leangains" thanks to a member on those boards who constantly went against the norm of your standard bb'ing ideology that polluted that forum. The member was actually "the solution" (as he's known on these forums), and although he doesn't know it, I credit him for changing the way I live my life today *shoutout*

After some perusing of the website, I still wasn't convinced. "16 HOURS WITHOUT FOOD?!?!? I'LL ****ING DIE!" So i didn't really look into it. But then later that week. Through some stroke of luck, a spam email linked me to "EAT STOP EAT" by brad Pilon. I took it as a sign that maybe IF'ing isn't crazy. So i bought the book.

THANK GOD I DID!!!!!!!!!!!!

Over my winter break from college i started using the fasting protocol (2 24 hour fasts weekly) from that book, and was amazed to find that my muslces somehow didn't fall off!!! So now that i realized IF was legit, I started reading up on leangains and found that it is a much better program for those with aesthetics in mind so i decided to switch over to that around feb of last year and haven't looked back. Around the same time I started implementing SS/RPT/Minimalist training in an attempt to get my old "fatboy" strength back. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm working on it.

Some other notable people that helped break me of bro-science are JC Deen, Roger Lawson, Alan Aragon, and Lyle McDonald. If those names aren't familiar to you than i suggest you google them NOW!

Anyway that leaves us to present-day. I'm now at a decent level of leanness, but I'd like to add some muscle (although I now have a better relationship with food, I'm still pretty hesitant to "bulk" due to having grown up fat). So hopefully starting a forum here, will help keep me motivated and on track.

HOLY ****! that was a lot longer than I inteded. Kudos if you made it through that whole thing. Ok now onto my current recomp/bulk plan.

THE PLAN:

I've actually just recently finished up a RAPID FAT LOSS diet. Following Lyle's "Rapid Fatloss Handbook." Which is essentially a ~2 week PSMF diet with a large refeed at the end to help lose fat in the shortest time possible with minimal strength/muscle loss. It's basically the "right" way to crash-diet. Since I let myself get a tad sloppy (probably was actually fine, but my FFB tendencies kicked in again :/), and I wanted to look good coming into my sophomore year.

After the crash diet (which tends to lower your metab. a bit due to such a large caloric defecit) I maintained on a constant intake of ~1890 cals a day. Fpr about two weeks. (Although i think my maintenance will be higher than that now since I'm back at school and my NEAT is throught the roof thanks to walking to/from classes) To see where my maintenance cal level was at.

I'm gonna implement a cyclical LG-type diet cycling macros/cals based on activity for the day. Working out 3x a week. I'm gonna start with a recomp cal level at first to see how much i should be eating as well as to "harden" up a bit before going into a gaining phase. This will also allow me to gradually increase cals which I've never done in the pass and will hopefully help with the puffiness i see come along with bulks in the pase when i just jumped right into it.

So as a start I'll set it up like this...

DIET:
Workout Days:
2300 cals- 180/320/30 (P/C/F)

Off Days:
1700 cals- 195/60/75
*I realize the macros dont add up to the cals, but they're just general goals to hit, the exact numbers on different days will differ*

TRAINING:
I'm gonna workout 3x/weekly on Sun, Wed, Thurs (only way to fit schedule at school) following a ABA BAB set-up with a focus on the upper body. I use a Upper Body(minus arms)/Lower+Arms Split. I do this in an attempt to make the cals I'm eating go more towards the growth of my upper body, since my legs are less important to me, and I've always had a weak chest, and smaller arms.

Upper:
Decline Bench 3x6-8
Weighted Pull-up 3x6-8
Incline press/flye 3x10-12
Some type of row (normally seated) 3x10-12
Lateral Raise 2-3x10-15
Rear-delt Raise 2-3x10-15

Lower:
Squat/Deadlift (rotated ever other workout)
SLDL/ Leg Press (also rotated)
Heavy Bicep 2x6-8
Heavy Tricep 2x6-8
Pump Bicep 3x10-12
Pump Tricep 3x10-12
Weighted Abs 2x6-8

Ok this post is already wayyyy too long so I'll leave it at that for now, and hopefully update this further as the days go by.

[The Solution]

Giving me a "shout out"?
In for this!

[Zewski92]

Giving me a "shout out"?
In for this!

Great to hear it! Glad to know someone with a knowledgeable head on his shoulders will be lurking here

[vitornoob]

in 2 (:

[Zewski92]

in 2 (:

Glad to have you! hopefully this won't deter me from posting pics of my mediocre meals (a habit I've formed), for fear of inadequacy haha

[Zewski92]

Ok so this may not be the best first progress post for a nutrition log but here it goes.

Yesterday was basically an off day training-wise, followed by a night of teh drinking

I basically followed this guide here http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/tru...nd-muscle.html (as I always do when i plan on drinking)

The meals i had for the day were as follows

1. A small greens salad with 2 chicken breasts
2. 2 tuna steaks, 3 chicken breasts, a butt-load of cucumber slices and some cauliflower

I rarely track cals on these days (just make sure to hit my minimum protein target @~160-180 for the day), and then make sure to only drink spirits for the night (as outlined in the article above)

As far as the drinking went, I actually didn't drink all that much. About 3 mixed drinks of vodka+diet coke (w/about a shot's worth of alc in each), one shot of captain morgan, and maybe about 4 oz. of beer total (from playing flip cup)

Like I said not all that much, for me at least.

I punched in the numbers from the drinks today and the total cals came out to less than 500 cals. o_0 which actually means i was UNDER maint. for the day. Not that this was a goal in mind or anything, I just didn't really feel like drinking that much last night. And the fact that I wound up under maintenance is really only an estimation since I don't track calories that closely on these days. (not that there's much to track anyway).

So yea, not the best start my log, but then again it does set the tone for "looking good while living the college life"

Today will be another off day from training (planned), and as far as nutrition will either follow the off-day eating as describe in the first post or might go out drinking again tonight since I didn't really drink that much yesterday. I guess we'll just have to wait and see

[Vitek92]

Hey, I have a question about the Rapid fat loss diet - for how long did you follow it and how much did you lose?

thanks

[Zewski92]

Hey, I have a question about the Rapid fat loss diet - for how long did you follow it and how much did you lose?

thanks

I've actually done it twice

The first run lasted a little over a month (since I was fatter at that time) going from 162-149lbs.
-Here was a log that i kept at that time: http://forums.lylemcdonald.com/showthread.php?t=10952

The second time only lasted about 12 days (this time because i was leaner) and went from about 153-144 (before the re-feed) with my weight settling around 150 afterwards so about 3 pounds of true fat loss (prob closer to 2lbs. of fat 1lb. of muscle but who cares/knows haha)
-Here's the log for this one: http://monkeyisland.lylemcdonald.com...ad.php?t=49720

If you're thinking about doing the diet I STRONGLY recommend that you buy Lyle's book. Actually I wouldn't suggest you do it at all without the book, and advise against it since there are a lot of tactics used to make sure you don't **** up your metabolism and waste muscle throughout the process.

Going through it twice I will say that this diet is good for those at higher body fats (>12%) since it allows you to run it longer and it's not QUITE as extreme for those who are leaner (as i was during the second run). But to each there own.

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask

[Vitek92]

^wow thanks a lot for the reply!

I'll check out your other logs too and I'll definetly get my hands on the book.

I'm currently bulking and I'd like to learn more about the RFL because I plan on doing a short cut around January.

[Zewski92]

^wow thanks a lot for the reply!

I'll check out your other logs too and I'll definetly get my hands on the book.

I'm currently bulking and I'd like to learn more about the RFL because I plan on doing a short cut around January.

No problem bro. Here's a link to the book http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/the...-loss-handbook

TBH in hindsight I would have much rather taken a less drastic approach. -20% deficit LG type cut over a longer period, but I also understand how it feels to just wanna get the cut over with and get back to bulking haha. Like I said to each their own. I suggest you look at all of Lyle's other things regarding bulking/cutting as well on the site. His site is a HUGE wealth of knowledge.

Good luck on your bulk!

[Zewski92]

Talk about water loss! So although i normally don't weigh myself more than 1-2 times a week i just did it for gits and shiggles before taking a shower today. two days ago i weighed right around 150lbs. And today i weighed 145!

I know this is just due to a lack of food in my gut, along with water loss from the alcohol. Either way I'm lighter than expected. Oh well, guess the drinking guide works then. Good thing too, since I'm most likely gonna use it again tonight

[The Solution]

at 5'7 145 bro we need to add some mass in here. Even though you are enjoying a drink here or there a cheat meal every now and then will not kill you especially not in contest prep. lets add some mass dont get too restrictive on the calories and still have fun. Lets see you get the calories rolling and lets see some strength gains.

[Zewski92]

at 5'7 145 bro we need to add some mass in here. Even though you are enjoying a drink here or there a cheat meal every now and then will not kill you especially not in contest prep. lets add some mass dont get too restrictive on the calories and still have fun. Lets see you get the calories rolling and lets see some strength gains.

Well I normally walk around @150 I'm actually really suprised I weighed so little today (again probably just water loss/lack of food in teh gut)

That being said I agree that I need to put some muscle on. I'm just trying to ease into it since I'm coming off of such an extreme diet (RFL). I'm gonna progressively up cals over the coming weeks and hopefully get up to 2000 on off days and 2500 on workout days. Which was the highest I ever bulked on before my FFB syndrome kicked in again, and i went on another cut haha.

Also, I'm not afraid to eat (quite the contrary actually ) and since tomorrow's a workout day, I'll finally be able to put up some decent meals in this log!

Thanks for keeping me in check bro, It's why I made it after all.

[tswdan]

I'm in on this.

;-)

[Zewski92]

I'm in on this.

;-)

Awesome! Never noticed you were on the bb.com forums!

[tswdan]

Awesome! Never noticed you were on the bb.com forums!

I'm not highly active, but I like to lurk around on a lot of my subbed threads. Can't wait to see your progress man. I'll be here to support you.

[Zewski92]

I'm not highly active, but I like to lurk around on a lot of my subbed threads. Can't wait to see your progress man. I'll be here to support you.

Thanks bro. I only ever really comment on the IF mega-thread to help people out as best as I can (and kill all notions of bro-science that i can ) Glad to know I have so many like-minded people following my log

[Zewski92]

Ok so I finally got to have a normal day of eating after that circus of a weekend (it was the first weekend back at school so I had to kick-off the year right )

Anyway today was an upper-body day, but I was actually home for the weekend (for the labor day weekend), and was limited to the weights I have at home. Which is essentially just a rack, barbell, plates, and a pair of 25lb. DB's.

Not that this isn't enough to have a great workout (It's actually what I used all summer), but I wasn't able to do the workout that I wrote out for this bulk or see how I've progressed from my last upper workout. But I made due!

This was also interesting since It allowed me to see how my strength rebounded after my two weeks of maintenance (I performed a deload during my two-week diet break, since during my RFL stint I was basically maxing out every workout to preserve muscles so I figured my joints/CNS could use a little break).

I actualy felt pretty tired/weak during this workout but that was probably due to the fact that I had been fasting for >20 hours prior to the workout. Not too mention the two consecutive days of drinking beforehand. But I dug my own ditch in this case so no choice, but to suck it up! Anyway Enough talk here's how it went.

WORKOUT
*only working sets listed*
Decline Barbell Bench
205x6
185x7
175x8

Weighted Pull-up
+35x7
+25x8
+10x9

Incline Bench Press
130x10
130x9
130x6

Pendlay Row
150x8
130x12
*to be honest I can't remember whether I did a third set (I guess i was more tired then i realized! Although I'm almost positive I did, I'd rather err on the edge of undershooting what I did than patting myself on the back for a set that didn't happen)

Seated DB lateral Raise
25x10x3

DB Shoulder Press
25x20 *supersetted after last set of Lat. Raises (I normally never do this, but I just wanted to kick my own ass for being so sluggish/tired during this workout. Dumb and backwards thinking I know, but I was just kind of frustrated with myself by the end of this workout)

Thoughts
So the Dec. Bench felt much heavier in this workout compared to the last time I did the lift (although I hit the same # of reps), but the down sets felt solid. Also I noticed my triceps were SHOT after decline and are still almost sore to the touch as I'm sitting here typing this. My suspicion is that decline is much more tricep-intensive than DB bench press (which is what I've been doing for my main push for the past 2 weeks), and it shocked my tri's a bit.

I hit a PR for weighted pull-ups although, it's still not close to my chin PR of +40x7. However I feel that chins are easier due to the fact that bi's can help out a lot more than with Pull-ups

DIET

Total Calories:2361
Fat:20
Carbs:377
Pro:186

I decided to go slightly over 2300 today since I felt so sluggish today, and although I drank the past two days I'm pretty sure I remained under-maintenance regardless of the alc. So essentially I've been under-eatin for the past two days (with ~0 carbs on both days). So today looked a little more like a refeed. Not to say I don't normally eat a lot of carbs on workout days, but I went a little overboard to make up for the weekend and my fat intake had to go down as a result of it. Here's what the meals looked like. (sorry for the ****ty quality, I took these with my cheap-ass cellphone).

MEAL 1

Turkey w/Walden Farms Honey Dijon and ~20oz. of taters topped with salsa


Skinny Cow Low-fat Ice-cream

MEAL 2

Turkey, taters, and a butt-load of brussel sprouts


"Berry Bowl"
2 cups low-fat CC
1 cup Frozen Strawberries
1 tbsp. reduced-sugar grape jelly

Skinny Cow Cookies 'n Cream Ice Cream Sammich

Thank god I found IF+IIFYM! It keeps my inner-fatty happy

Well tomorrow's gonna involve a lot of laying around and recuperating! Can't Wait

[Zewski92]

Anyone know how to fix my images?

[ErikTheElectric]

Hey Man,

Just found your log. Best of luck to you and your bulk!
Subbed!

[Zewski92]

Hey Man,

Just found your log. Best of luck to you and your bulk!
Subbed!

Thanks for the support bro!

[tswdan]

Anyone know how to fix my images?

Upload to imgur.com instead is what I would do.

[Zewski92]

Thanks for the heads up. That site's awesome!

[Zewski92]

WORKOUT
Off Day

Diet
Cals: 1622
Fat: 56
Carbs: 69
Protein: 203

Meal 1

19.6oz Sirloin steak. Topped with cottage cheese, ketchup, and tomatoes. Side of brocc

Meal 2

2 cups of cottage cheese w/ketchup, bacon, hot sauce. AKA, "Awesome Sauce". and a banana (not pictured)

[b]Thoughts[b/]

Well I kind of underate today, but to be fair I overate last night so in the grand scheme of things it evens out which is good cause I'm still not sure where my maintenance is at now that I'm back at school and walking a lot more than I was when i was back at home. I'll just have to see how my strength feels on my next workout (wednesday) and see whether I should up the cals or not.

I know i could probably be recomping at much higher cals (Last year I was slowly gaining on 1800/2300), but I'd rather get up to that level slowly than just jump up all at once and get sloppy.

[Zewski92]

Figured I'd snap some shots of my current conditioning while I was close shopping since I don't have a full-sized mirror at school.

Not too bad for the day after a high-carb day.

Relaxed


Flexed

[Zewski92]

Another Off day

Diet
Cals 1600
fat 50
carbs 103
protein 194

Meal 1
Chicken salad w/cottage cheese

Meal 2

Tuna steak w/greens topped with honey mustard.

Cottage Cheese w/ketchup, bacon, and hot sauce

Frozen Bananas topped with melted chocolate pb :9

So as i said today was another off day from the weights, but i easily walked a couple miles from class to class today since I was busy from 9am till around 730pm. So my NEAT was off the charts. Along with all the walking I only got about 7 hours of sleep (thanks to room mates and an early class), so by the time my feeding window came up around 5 I was much hungrier than usual. But after the meal I felt just as satiated as I normally do.

Anyway Tomorrow is a Lower Body day so I'll get to see how my strength is with my current calorie level

Im also rethinking a new workout split since I've finally figured out my schedule with school/work. My free days are sunday monday wednesday and thursday. So I'm contemplating running Lyle's generic bulking routine.

Or if i keep it to three times a week I may do a full-body workout on sunday and then upper/lower on wed/thurs. that way I would still get the frequency of 2x a week but only over 3 days. Therefore, I'd only have 3 days of high cals, plus I'd have more days devoted to recovery. I'll have to think about, open to suggestions

[ErikTheElectric]

How are your energy levels on those kcals bro?

If it were me I wouldn't be doin so good. :/

I hope everything else is going great for you though!

[The Solution]

Diet
Cals 1600
fat 50
carbs 103
protein 194

but i easily walked a couple miles from class to class today since I was busy from 9am till around 730pm. So my NEAT was off the charts. Along with all the walking I only got about 7 hours of sleep (thanks to room mates and an early class)

Anyway Tomorrow is a Lower Body day so I'll get to see how my strength is with my current calorie level

Im also rethinking a new workout split since I've finally figured out my schedule with school/work. My free days are sunday monday wednesday and thursday. So I'm contemplating running Lyle's generic bulking routine.

I'll have to think about, open to suggestions

1) up the calories, you cant be 140-150 pounds forever and your goal is to gain mass. Can't be done while eating less than a typical grandmother on a daily basis. You need at least a good 200-300 calorie bump to get your reversing after your diet. Don't wait do it now.

2) Your neat will rack up walking around a uni, and because of it you will burn a lot more calories than you think. NEAT > Weightlifting/Cardio as far as kcal expidenture goes. You would be surprised you will maintain on around 3000 calories due to the amount of NEAT you rack up. This is why you need to get the ball rolling.

3) Lyle's Generic Bulking, 5/3/1, or a Push/Pull/Legs done 4x a week is fine (hit push/pull/legs 2x a week over a 3 week span so one week hit pull twice, hit push twice (2nd week), and legs twice (3rd week) over those 3 weeks). Utilize the exercises that suit you and know that work well with your body.

Eat up, 1600 kcals is bogus even if you did the RFL. Lets go.

[Zewski92]

How are your energy levels on those kcals bro?

If it were me I wouldn't be doin so good. :/

I hope everything else is going great for you though!

Surprisingly not bad, although I do drink a couple cups of coffee a day, as well as take EC 2x/daily on my low cal days so that probably helps a lot. Again I was fine on those cals when i was almost completely sedentary at home. I have a feeling that due to college life (more walking, less sleep) I may need to up cals sooner than expected.

1) up the calories, you cant be 140-150 pounds forever and your goal is to gain mass. Can't be done while eating less than a typical grandmother on a daily basis. You need at least a good 200-300 calorie bump to get your reversing after your diet. Don't wait do it now.

2) Your neat will rack up walking around a uni, and because of it you will burn a lot more calories than you think. NEAT > Weightlifting/Cardio as far as kcal expidenture goes. You would be surprised you will maintain on around 3000 calories due to the amount of NEAT you rack up. This is why you need to get the ball rolling.

3) Lyle's Generic Bulking, 5/3/1, or a Push/Pull/Legs done 4x a week is fine (hit push/pull/legs 2x a week over a 3 week span so one week hit pull twice, hit push twice (2nd week), and legs twice (3rd week) over those 3 weeks). Utilize the exercises that suit you and know that work well with your body.

Eat up, 1600 kcals is bogus even if you did the RFL. Lets go.

1) I gotta say I aggree with you there. I realized today that I made this to be a recomp/bulk with my plans being recomp first (maintain for a while see where I'm at ) and then start GAINING. Despite this, I've been kidding myself cause I know for a fact that I've been eating a weekly intake of about 13300 cals (1900x7) when I should AT LEAST be eating around 16100 (2300x7) and that's just if I want to MAINTAIN. I'm not gonna lie, I kind of scared myself too much with the whole RFL thing (slowed metabolism etc.) and used it as an excuse to keep dieting and stay small (FFB Syndrome). But I gotta face facts and realize that my metab. won't get any better if i stay in a defecit. Besides I'm ****ing 19 these are my prime years for growing. Time to ,as you say, get the ball rolling!

2) Again, completely agree. I'm well aware of how much impact NEAT can have. I say this tongue in cheek of course, since I've yet to use it as reasoning to eat more than a hummingbird . I guess I just needed a swift kick in the pants to get me to wake the hell up.

3) It's funny cause I've actually done all three of those splits in the past. That being said I'll most likely do Lyle's bulking routine.

I gotta hand it to you bob, I always love when you lay down the hammer. You always give no BS advice when people really need a wake-up call. I truly appreciate you taking the time to talk some sense into me. Thanks man, I mean it.

[Zewski92]

Ok so before I even read what bob said about upping cals, I kind of had a sneaking suspiscion that I haven't been eating enough. I normally don't like to weigh myself too often, but for gits and shiggles I decided to weigh myself again today since the last time I weighed myself wasn't a very good idication of where I'm at since it was after a day of drinking (and PSMF eating). I was kind of shocked at the result

I weighed 147!

That's >2lbs loss in about five days. This would be great if I was trying to lose weight. But I'm trying to GAIN, or at least recomp, and -.6lbs. a day is not a recomp.

So it's time to shift things a little bit.

First off I gotta EAT MORE! Which to be honest is a joy to say

Secondly, I'll start working out 4x/week using Lyle's Generic Bulking Routine. I have the time available to me, why not take advantage of it?

So , just to start, my new cal intakes will be ~2000/2500 for off/on days (2000x3)+(2500x4)=16000 which SHOULD be my maintenance. So I'll start this with my workout today (I figure it's good to shift my cals on a workout day anyway) and see how my body reacts. I also took some better progress pics to start mark the true start to my recomp/bulk.

Lower body today YEA BUDDY!