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

[Zewski92]

Ok so as i mentioned in the post above, yesterday marked the first day of upping my cals. Plus I finally logged a workout although it wasn't my best

WORKOUT

LOWER(working sets only)
Squat
205x6
185x7
175x8
*my squats have always sucked ever since I lost all my weight, and that's probably just because i neglected my lowerbody training in general when i was in my bro-training mode, and have only gotten back into squats this past year. Hopefully my squats will improve with this bulk because it is BY FAR my weakest movement. 205 was kind of a ball buster, but the down-sets felt pretty good.

SLDL
225x8x3
*these felt good, except i had to deadlift from the floor to start it which was a pain. Also the calluses on my hands started to hurt during these, gotta trim them down a bit i suppose.

Leg Press:
4ppsx12,12,10
*I put my feet high up on the pad, and actually really felt these in my glutes. Which was a surprise cause leg press normally doesn't do much for me. Definitely feeling these today though

Calf Press on leg press:
4ppsx12,9
*was planning on doing heavy seated calfs later in the workout, but the machine was already loaded and i was pressed for time so i just did them here.

Lying leg curl:
95x10,10
*My hams were still pretty torched from the SLDL's so i kept it to two sets here.

Unfortunately i didn't plan my day quite right and was pressed for time at the gym due to a class that I had to make. Not to mention my schools gym was VERY crowded at the time. I may start working out earlier in the day (around 11am) since the gym's normally empty around then, and then just taking bcaa's until my feeding window (~5pm). If the gym is as crowded today as it was yesterday I'll most likely start doing this. I can't stand my gym when it gets crowded.

DIET

Cals: 2480
Fat: 29
Carbs: 401
Protein: 152

Holy hell I actually didn't realize until just now that my protein intake was so low yesterday that was not on purpose! I normally like to keep protein @180 on workout days. Well needless to say i screwed that up a bit. I'll just have to make sure I nail it today!

Meal 1

Cream of wheat (cinnabon flavor) w/maple syrup

2 chicken breasts topped with ketchup, one mini lenders bagel w/ff cream cheese, and a rice krispie treat

One normal-sized cinnamon raisin bagel w/ff cream cheese


Meal 2

Salad with 2 chicken breasts

oats+cream of wheat w/syrup,jelly

Ok so as I've already realized i kind of botched yesterday's diet, but with the help of a knowledgeable person on these forums I think I've figured out my new macro/cals and will do much better today.

Upper-body today, time to make up for yesterday and crush this ****!

[Zewski92]

Ok so I took some better progress pics to see where I'm at for the start of my bulk/recomp


The messed up part is I look at these pics and think i could still get leaner. but i KNOW that's not the case. Besides more muscle will help my physique much more than less fat will at this point. Not to mention I wouldn't mind being stronger which won't happen while eating at a defecit. Time to put on some muscle!

[vitornoob]

30g fats?

man, up this and lower your carbs !

[Zewski92]

30g fats?

man, up this and lower your carbs !

Yea haha, I guess I took the "higher carb/lower fat" thing a little too seriously. It's also because I've done lots of diets in the past with drastic refeeds so I just got used to a sort of all or nothing approach with my macros. My off days look like keto days, and my workouts look like refeeds. Starting today however, I'm also gonna not be so drastic with my macro swings.

Thanks for lookin out!

[vitornoob]

if you do not want to **** yourself, keep the macros almost the same, everyday...do not carb cycling.....

[Zewski92]

I'm still gonna carb cycle, just to a lesser degree than i have been. I'll see how that works for a while. Honestly I never bloat that much from high carbs or anything. But i do miss the fullness that fats give me on my high carb days. I'll deff keep things more level from here on out

[vitornoob]

I'm still gonna carb cycle, just to a lesser degree than i have been. I'll see how that works for a while. Honestly I never bloat that much from high carbs or anything. But i do miss the fullness that fats give me on my high carb days. I'll deff keep things more level from here on out

so just keep at least the minimum fat...i do this due to preference, i prefer to get a tons of carbs ON days and a lot of fibrous veggies from off days, so, i eat more fat to get the cals....

[Vitek92]

Hey.

I've been lurking around, thought I'd post too.

If I were you I'd up the fats a little, doesn't need to be that much, and I'd screw the carb cycling thing.
Just eat up and get big.

Good luck!

[tswdan]

Throwing my suggestion into the hat..

You = 150lbs -> I would eat @ 2500 cals to start and see how that treats you for a few weeks. I would split up my macros something like this:

77g fat (693cal)
250g cho (1000cal)
200g pro (800cal)

I also wouldn't carb cycle. Make it easy on yourself man. I think carb cycling is way overblown with this mass love of IF & leangains. Don't get me wrong, I love IF too and find it fits my schedule well, but I don't think carb cycling is necessary at all. I don't cycle my carbs or calories at all anymore and I did for a long time.

Also, I definitely would just keep testing the water with different macro values. Some people respond extremely well to certain things, while others will be the complete opposite. Some people when cutting see better results from low fats / high carbs, whereas some people have to keep their carbs crazy keto low and do a mass amount of cardio to prep. The same thing goes for bulking. You might find that you see much better results from different macronutrients, so keep that in mind and play around with values. That being said, I definitely would stick to something for 2 weeks to see how it goes before switching off. Bouncing around like mad won't get you anywhere.

[Zewski92]

so just keep at least the minimum fat...i do this due to preference, i prefer to get a tons of carbs ON days and a lot of fibrous veggies from off days, so, i eat more fat to get the cals....

Agree with you there, keeping fat so low on workout days just sort of became a habit. I'll definitely keep them to AT LEAST 60g's everyday (more on off days) and see how that treats me.

Hey.

I've been lurking around, thought I'd post too.

If I were you I'd up the fats a little, doesn't need to be that much, and I'd screw the carb cycling thing.
Just eat up and get big.

Good luck!

Thanks brotha! glad to have you following

Throwing my suggestion into the hat..

You = 150lbs -> I would eat @ 2500 cals to start and see how that treats you for a few weeks. I would split up my macros something like this:

77g fat (693cal)
250g cho (1000cal)
200g pro (800cal)

I also wouldn't carb cycle. Make it easy on yourself man. I think carb cycling is way overblown with this mass love of IF & leangains. Don't get me wrong, I love IF too and find it fits my schedule well, but I don't think carb cycling is necessary at all. I don't cycle my carbs or calories at all anymore and I did for a long time.

Also, I definitely would just keep testing the water with different macro values. Some people respond extremely well to certain things, while others will be the complete opposite. Some people when cutting see better results from low fats / high carbs, whereas some people have to keep their carbs crazy keto low and do a mass amount of cardio to prep. The same thing goes for bulking. You might find that you see much better results from different macronutrients, so keep that in mind and play around with values. That being said, I definitely would stick to something for 2 weeks to see how it goes before switching off. Bouncing around like mad won't get you anywhere.

Yea I'm definitely up the cals now that I'm back on campus and trying to gain some muscle. I'll also see how having a less drastic swing in macro's treats me and go from there. I'm pretty sure my body actually prefers fats to carbs just based on past experience (although I may just being saying that as an excuse to eat more bacon :P)

Its great to have so many helpful comments on my thread! And no worries guys I've wised up a bit and I'll definitely start eating more (as you'll see from today's post!)

[Zewski92]

Ok so I've upped the calories (thanks to all of the reccomendations on here )

Here's how yesterday went:

WORKOUT
UPPER
Decline Bench
205x6
185x7
175x9
*I've been stuck at 205 for a while now, but then again this was the first time doing it at school with different bars/bench/etc. so hopefully my body will adjust and upping the cals will bring some strength!

Chin-up
+40x6
+30x7
+15x9
*I messed up here cause my best is actually +40x7 but when i was doing the lift i thought it was only 6 so i didnt bust my nut getting the 7th which I may or may not have been able to do (new log book so old workouts weren't in there for reference), plus i actually used a dip belt this time instead of just holding the weight between my legs. So that might have added some weight. Also the chin bar is much thicker here at school which will be a good thing for my grip-strength in the long run.

Incline DB Press:
70x9
65x8
60x8
*meh, these will go up with time, never know what weight to pick so this is a starting point for the bulk/recomp

Seated Cable Row
100x10x3
*I honestly don't like these (or most back movements for that matter), cause i feel its so easty to cheat form and get a couple extra reps out of it. That being said, I always strive to keep good form and really squeeze the shoulders together. I also really felt it in the upper back so i guess its serving it's purpose.

DB Lateral Raise
20x12,10
*love these. kept good form anc could really feel the burn on these

Rev. Pec Deck
95x8
80x9 -> 40x10 (dropset)


Thoughts

Well i suppose it's a good thing I'm upping the cals since my strength has either stalled or gone down on most of my lifts. Also, i saw in the mirror at the gym today while doing lat raises that I'm plenty lean. It's time to put on some muscle and gain strength!

DIET
Some good stuff in here

Cals 2597
Fats 68
Carbs 300
Protein 197

Meal 1

two chicken breasts, three eggs, bacon topped with ketchup+hot sauce, cream of wheat+oats with hot cocoa mix mixed in and topped with syrup. lenders cinn. raisin bagel w/ff cream cheese

Meal 2

two chicken breasts wrapped with bacon on top of green salad


Zewski's BOWL OF WIN!
1 cup cottage cheese
2 servings pb (cinnamon raisin pb&co.)
1 tbsp marshmallow fluff
1 crumbled up rice krispie treat
1 tbsp honey
*blend together and freeze for 1 hour (thanks to VITORNOOB for the idea!)

Well I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little tentative to be eating so much, but I know it's for the best and I'm gonna stick to it for at least two weeks before I make ANY changes. I gotta stick with it!

[Zewski92]

Also for ****s and giggles i recently purchased some psyllium husk. Anybody have any suggestions on how to use this in various meals/recipes? I kind of bought it on impulse haha. Perhaps in a protein fluff recipe?

[Zewski92]

Ok so yesterday was basically a total sham as far as my nutrition went....

WORKOUT
off day

DIET

total cals ?


Ok so basically i planned on following the whole PSMF+Night of drinking template last night, but that got kind of ruined.

My first meal was just a simple greens salad with two chicken breasts. So far so good. But then my friends all went out to all you can eat sushi "no prob, I'll just stick to sashimi no prob." .....not so much

The first plate came out and I was dissapointed to findout that an order of sashimi basically amounts to a an inch-long sliver of raw fish so i had to order about 10 servings worth to even feel like i ate anything. I was doing ok but for some reason i caved and wound up having at least 5-6 rolls on top of the sashimi. Now this wouldnt be terrible on its own since before this meal i only had around 300 cals in the form of chicken breast. However, i then went out that night to drink. To be honest I was still feeling guilty about caving at sushi so i didnt feel like drinking all that much and kept it to about 1 mixed drink, with probably ~2 shots worth alcohol in it (it was mixed with diet sprite).

So all in all it wasn't TERRIBLE, and most likely didn't even over-eat that much. I just don't like not being in control when it comes to my diet. I'll just count it towards making up for the abysmal amont of cals i was eating before two days ago and not worry about it to much.

*note to self, reserve all-you-can-eat sushi for planned cheat days. Or at least plan on eating sushi.*

Oh well, live and learn. Not gonna worry about it all that much.

Just gotta make sure I'm on point today. 80/20

[Zewski92]

Well yesterday went much better IMO

WORKOUT
Off day
*probably first REAL rest day since I normally walk at least a couple miles around campus. But yesterday was dedicated to doing schoolwork and sittin on my ass

DIET
Cals 2080
Fat 74
Carbs 135
Pro 233

No pics from yesterday (like i said i was lazy yesterday ), and i realize i kind of overate, but I also didnt track a few tomatoe wedges in a salad that I ate, or my psyllium husk powder (all fiber) so who knows I may have hit my target. Plus my whole sushi-tebackle two days ago probably made up for it anyway.

I'm wondering what to do lift-wise on this bulk. I like Lyle's routine, but I'm not sure if i should change exercises on my upper-days since i feel like maxing out on bench/chins 2x/week isn't the best idea. I might have one day with OHP as my main push and pendlay rows as my main pull, and then have bench/chins on the other day. Oh well i have a day to decide haha.

Deads today. I've been stuck at 295x6 for WAY too long. I think I may change the rep range to 4-6 and just up the weight since Im having to go to 8 reps on my down-sets which is too many imo for deads. Time to CRUSH THIS **** FOR AMERICA!

[Zewski92]

WORKOUT
Deadlift
300x6 (PR!)
270x7
255x8

Leg Press
4ppsx10
6ppsx8x2

Power Shrug
225x15
315x12
*still not sure how I feel about these compared to DB shrugs

Seated Calf Raise
170x10
185x8

Leg Extension
100x12
125x10x2

Lying Leg Curl
125x6
110x8
*hams were fried kept it to 2 sets

Cable Crunch
77.5x8
87.5x8

One-Arm DB Shrug
100x12
*For gits n' shiggles

Workout went great! I've been stuck at 295x6 for the longest time and figured i should try upping the weight and working at a lower rep-range since I was doing up to 8 reps on my down-sets, which i consider too high of volume for deadlifts. Needless to say it went well, and I can up weight next workout!

DIET
Cals 2556
Fat 65
Carbs 319
Pro 203

5 servings of oats (mixed with cocoa honey and crushed up rice krispi) with tuna steak and chicken topped with cottage cheese
1 scoop protein+psyllium husk and 2 tbsp of pb and crushed up rice krispie
chicken topped with kethcup with oats mixed with banana and wonton soup

[Zewski92]

WORKOUT
Standing Barbell Press
120x5
105x7
95x8
*Decided to switch between presses (havent done this move in over 5 months) since I feel like maxing out on dec. bench 2x a week is doing more harm than good. Really felt good!

Weighted Chin
+40x6.5
+30x6
+15x8
*gonna have to rotate this with another back exercise. Although I'm not sure what since Pendlay rows have been giving my left bicep trouble recently and I'm not sure what other back exercise to use since most become too easy to cheat on when going for new pr's SUGGESTIONS APPRECIATED

DB Bench
85x6
*Shoulders/tris shot from press, should have started lower, so i switched to flyes so my chest wouldnt suffer from my arms being tired

DB Flye
45x12
50x9

DB Bench
60x11
*for volume since i dont work tris directly
rt
Pendlay Row
150x10
*Felt an uncomfortable pinch in my left bi so i stopped after this set. I'll start lighter next time

Seated Cable Rows
110x8
*still don't like these all that much, but I'm at a loss for back exercises

One-arm Cable Row
50x10
*decided to switch to one-arm instead so i could use a lighter load to keep from cheating

Lateral Raise
20x15,12,10+3+3(myo-reps on last set)

Pull-up
BWx8
*friend challenged me at pull-ups to failure. He got 2

Ok, so good and bad points with this workout. I found a great new lift in presses (well rediscovered it actually), but realized I won't be able to progress on chins at each workout 2x/week so I'll most likely use Pendlay rows as my first back exercise after dec. bench next UB workout. I just need to use a light enough load to not bother my bicep. We'll see how it goes.

DIET
Cals 2595
Fat 60
Carbs 330
Pro 203



chicken w/steamed veggie dumplings topped with ketchup and cottage cheese(only 7 dumplings here, but i wound up eating 12 :9)
~26oz of baked taters with ketchup and chipotle mayo
3 eggs and some chicken w/brocc topped with ketchup
"berry bowl" (2 cups CC with strawberries, blueberries, 3 crushed rice cakes)

[Zewski92]

Ok here's the deal. It's been about 1.5 weeks and I've only had 1 BM (and there wasn't much to it), I'm honestly starting to get worried. I'm not in any type of pain, but when i don't consciously suck in my gut I look like Im pregnant (huge belly, but little to pinch). Which leads me to believe that there's just a bunch of waste gathering in my system. I've been taking Mira-lax for the past week which is a non-stimulant laxative with no effect. So today i decided to try ducolax which is stimulant based and will hopefully see results from that.

The really problem is I dont know WHY this is happening. I eat plenty of fiber. I drink a lot of water. I'm active (in and out of the weight room), and Im not under too much stress. I really don't know whats going on.

The only thing i can maybe account it to is the fact that I've switched from potatoes to to oats as my carb source, but i REALLY doubt that this would cause constipation.

Has anyone ever dealt with something like this and think they can shed some light on my problem? It would be really appreciated. Thanks

[Zewski92]

Workout
None

DIET

Cals 2191
Fat 77
Carbs 192
Pro 196

Some Eats...

[Zewski92]

WEIGHT
150.6
Ok so I'm basically back to my starting weight, but than again I'm pretty sure there's a lot of "bulk" in there (along with water retention, refilling glycogen). Pretty much the opposite of a big whoosh of weight loss when starting a drastic cut. My weight's probably just spiking from the sudden increase of cals.

WORKOUT
Squat
195x5x3

SLDL
225x8x3

Seated Calf
185x12

Calf Press on Leg Press
7ppsx8x2

Cable Crunch
87.5x8x2

LLC
80x12
85x10
80x12

Leg Extension
120x12,11,12

I think I'm gonna utilize more strength-oriented type training with my squats from now on. My squat #'s have always been pathetic compared to my other lifts. even with 190 my knees kept shooting in and I looked almost knock-kneed when coming out of the hole.

Also, after this week I might switch to a Push/Pull/Leg 4x/week set-up. Simply because I dont think I'll be able to progress ALL of my lifts 2x/week. I'll see how tomorrow goes and decide

DIET
Cals 2591
Fat 61
Carbs 305
Pro 213

[Zewski92]

Also, my "problem" seems to have gone away thanks to the use of stimulant-based laxatives. But it's still not back to normal, however something's better than nothing.

[Zewski92]

WORKOUT
Dec. Bench
205x6
185x7x2

Pendlay Row
155x8x3

Incline DB Bench
70x10
65x7

Chest Dip
BWx10

Chin-up
BWx12,10,8

Lateral Raise
20x15+3+3+3+5+5 (Myo-Reps)

Band Pull-apart w/Mini-Band
11,15

Well my bench still isn't budging which is making me think that a push/pull/legs split would be better since it allows more recovery before hitting the same muscle group again. The only problem is I've never set-up a push/pull/legs split so I would have to do some research first.

DIET

Cals ~2600
Fat 63
Carbs 320
Pro 202

No Pics today

Nothing really out of the norm though. I think I'll only put up pics when it's something worth snapping. (oats can get kind of boring to look at)

[Zewski92]

WORKOUT
None

DIET
Cals 2150
Fat 77
Carbs 167
Protein 218


Meal 1

Coffee (with coffee-mate), large apple, and chicken salad

Meal 2

Chicken tits, with dab of CC and hot sauce, and brocc


3 egg pancake topped with nanners and 2 servings of PB


Big Ol' Berry Bowl: 3.5 servings of CC w/2 cups of frozen pineapple and a cup of frozen raspberries

[vitornoob]

CHicken tits HEUAHEUHEUAEHAE LOOL

btw, bro, blend the cottage cheese if you can...lot better

take care with laxatives, they could **** your stomach...

keep going, man (:

[Zewski92]

WORKOUT

Legs
305X6 (+5lbs!)
275X6X2

Leg Press
6ppsx8x3

Calf Press
6ppsx10,8,7

Lying Leg Curl
80x12x2

Leg Extension
125x12,11,11

Cable Crunch
92.5x8x2

Another 5lb increase on deads! Also, I think I've decided that I'm switching to a pull/push/legs split this way I can still workout 4x/week but have more recovery time before hitting the same muscle group again (every 5th day vs. 2x/week). Tomorrow's gonna be a PULL workout so we'll see how it goes

DIET
Cals ~2600
Fat 68
Carbs 299
Protein 222

no pics but basically a bunch of chicken, oats, potatoes, and an amazing egg pancake topped with pb,cc, syrup, and jelly (mouthgasm)

Also as far as my "regularity" goes, I've gone since I mentioned the problem. Although, it's still not back to the way things were. I'm gonna stop any kind of laxative for a while and hope things just work themselves out. I'm also gonna try potatoes+brown rice as my carb sources tomorrow (no oats) to see if maybe my food choices are the cause of this. Alright time to sleep.

[ErikTheElectric]

Loving your eats man! Especially them bowls! Regarding the psyllium husk, I've actually made pancakes with them before.
But dont have a recipe
Anyways, keep up the solid work brah!

[Zewski92]

CHicken tits HEUAHEUHEUAEHAE LOOL

btw, bro, blend the cottage cheese if you can...lot better

take care with laxatives, they could **** your stomach...

keep going, man (:

hahaha Thanks for lookin out man. Yea, I only took a stim-laxative one time. I dont really wanna mess with them since they can, as you said, **** with your stomachs function. So hopefully things will just work themselves out.

And no worries I have no plans of stopping anytime soon

Loving your eats man! Especially them bowls! Regarding the psyllium husk, I've actually made pancakes with them before.
But dont have a recipe
Anyways, keep up the solid work brah!

Thanks brah, wish i could have snapped a pic of my egg pancake yesterday :\ it was epic. But I mainly just put psyllium husk in my egg pancakes and some times my grits or something if i accidently use to much water. I try to use at least a tsp a day. Thanks for the kind words!

[Zewski92]

WORKOUT

Pull

Weighted Chin-up
+40x7
+25x8
+10x9
*Well I'm finally back to 40x7, but I used straps (due to the fact i did deads yesterday) for that set. But that doesn't mean my back had to work less hard so I'm still happy with it I'm contimplating putting deads as the main move on pull day. more food for thought

DB Row
80x12
85x9,8
*I like these much more than rows. No bicep pain whatsoever. Still too easy to cheat IMO, but i just have to focus on form while doing them

Lying Rear Delt Flye
25x15

Band Pull-apart
Mini-Bandx15x2
*Good burn on these

DB Curl
25x15
36x6/25x10
*Cause I'm a bro

Reverse Curl
42.5x15
*Cause Im REALLY bro

*Not a bad session, I like the fact that I get out of the gym much quicker now. All that's left to see is if my bench can improve at all on this split, which was the whole catalyst to the switch.

DIET

Cals 2558
Fat 71
Carbs 286
Protein 215

Meal 2

2 egg omellette with turkey pepperoni, chicken, and brocc. All topped with ketchup+hot sauce


1 cup oats with PB, syrup, instant coffee (decaf), and psyllium husk (for teh thickness!)

Well I've definitely lost at least SOME definition, but as far as I can tell I'm getting stronger and I'm still not sloppy by any means. So far so good

[Zewski92]

WORKOUT
None

DIET

Cals 2181
Fat 77
Carbs 166
Protein 212

some of meal 2...

9.2 oz. steamed beef with brocc topped with hot sauce and spicy mustard


1 cup ***E 0% with syrup and frozen pineapples


3 eggs fried in bacon grease, 6 oz. roast turkey breast, and 5 strips extra thick bacon. All topped with syrup
WHATCHU NO BOUT SALTY+SWEET?!?

Push today! Can't wait to see if OH press has improved

[ErikTheElectric]

WORKOUT
None

DIET

Cals 2181
Fat 77
Carbs 166
Protein 212

some of meal 2...

9.2 oz. steamed beef with brocc topped with hot sauce and spicy mustard


1 cup ***E 0% with syrup and frozen pineapples

3 eggs fried in bacon grease, 6 oz. roast turkey breast, and 5 strips extra thick bacon. All topped with syrup
WHATCHU NO BOUT SALTY+SWEET?!?

Push today! Can't wait to see if OH press has improved

Eats are looking amazing sir. What sort of hot sauce do you use? I'm. Franks red hot sauce and a Tabasco fan:P

[Zewski92]

Eats are looking amazing sir. What sort of hot sauce do you use? I'm. Franks red hot sauce and a Tabasco fan:P

Thanks brah! wish i could take better quality pics, but i feel kind of awkward taking a picture with my digital in front of my roomates haha.

and as far as hot sauce, it depends. If im just lookin for heat i use frank's red hot. But if I'm lookin for a little flavor i'll use texas pete white garlic or cholula chipotle hot sauce. basically anything by Cholula is full of win haha.