Chris' quest for muscle up glory

[jzpowahz]

13 September 2013
BW 84.1kg



Mainly upper body sesh with some core stuff. First time, I've used a 45deg leg press too. Didn't like incline db, going back to bb.

Also, helped out a guy testing his maxes on the big 3 at work. Finally someone without ****arounditis

Then a big night as Kee was having a girls night for all her fit girl friends. I was the shirtless waiter haha. But then ended up having a few, dancing up a storm til early hours. Good fun Jelly shots made with SF jelly has to be a first

EATS

japanese chicken curry


shredded chicken mexican salsa


roo roast, pumpkin and peanut oil baked asparagus



Cals lots

[jzpowahz]

Ok, after lots of thinking I have decided against running cube program. It appears that it is designed more for geared lifters with a lot of variety in the lifts (like Westside). I then had the options of 5/3/1, sheiko or linear progression PTC style. After lots of thinking, I found sheiko 39 that has higher %'s and appears to be more targetted at bench (squats and deads appear very similar to 37). I will use my wrapped squat max but squat without wraps. Will add an extra day to do additional chest, upper back hypertrophy work.
Also, going in a novice deadlift comp tomorrow. Pulling conventional just for fun

[jzpowahz]

I won the novice deadlift comp today. PB for conventional of 235kg with average form IMO. Missed 245kg on 4th attempt as shoulders too far forward.

Kee won the female class with 130kg at 66kg also.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjTQnjD-Zjg and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wmQLUqp6QI

[jzpowahz]

16/9/13
BW 84.9kg


First day of new program. It is a modified diggit program from PTC linear progression style which I've adjusted a few accessory movements for my goals and I "may" have an optional bb day for my chest hypertrophy. squat/bench on Mon & Fri and DL on Wed.Squats were all high bar and beltless to make it harder but still not that hard. First time squatting properly in ages and felt great. Bench is harder for me even at light weight as I struggle to keep tightness for that many reps. On Mr Miyagi's advice I will be incorporating the 3 board press weekly. RDL's at 120 is pretty damn challenging for a starting weight.

Targets for the program are set at 220 squat, 107.5kg bench and 255 deadlift. I realise I am still at a 240max DL currently but basically put the lack of no increase in 1rm last cycle down to the hip mobility rather than any programming. Plan is to do it all conventional in training to give the hips a break and I'll just see how I feel when the weights get heavy again.

Also, officially started my Carb Backloading experiment today but I'm not too good at keeping the protein a bit lower. Rough target macros are 200/350-400/70 on training days and 250/50/100 on non training days.

I think we are going to have to include some more sugars to reach these carb numbers! I was very proud as Kee was able to eat just as much as me! that is 200g of raw pasta there. Bowl as big as my head.


EATS

burger from local shop


mint lamb chops, broccoli and peanut oil baked asparagus


roo spag bol with wine bottle for size ref


Cals 3020
286P/249C/89F

[jzpowahz]

18/9/13
BW 83.8kg


First DL session in the books. I wasn't sure how I'd go today as last night I was too sore to even do a body balance class to get some mobility back! But time came and all was good. First time doing deficits in a long time. Really like the extra TUT and how it forces you to just keep upper back tightness and use maximum leg drive. Speed deads with 30secs rest and done with right hand under for mixed grip for the first time ever and it felt so weird! Decided to pass on the KB swings and db rows as my back was fried.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0evYRULE7o
First set form check, then realised my head was facing too far down, all neutral from then on.

Also, got an incline bench pb of 60x10 messing around yesterday.

EATS

tuna sriracha salad


chicken, onion, cauliflower sriracha bake



Cals 4700
306P/612C/108F

[ilove2run]

You and Kee are pure animals! Interested to see how the carb-backloading works for you. I must have missed the details on it, but basically the principle is to consume a high amount of carbs with not as much protein on training days ----- then high protein, low carb on non-training days?

[jzpowahz]

You and Kee are pure animals! Interested to see how the carb-backloading works for you. I must have missed the details on it, but basically the principle is to consume a high amount of carbs with not as much protein on training days ----- then high protein, low carb on non-training days?

Thanks mate Sort of right, non training days is P&F predominantly, carbs from fibrous veg only pretty much. Training days is P&F through the day and then LOTS of carbs PWO. The amount is very ambiguous though and will take a bit of experimentation I'd say. I think around 350-400 is probably about right for me but we will see. I always like a bit of self experimentation. WIll be a bit more lax on the weekends though as low carbing on the weekends sucks. Not very practical.

[MrCarl.]

Are you doing fasted WO after rest days?

[jzpowahz]

Are you doing fasted WO after rest days?

Nope, I train at 5ish pm normally. I may train fasted if I do a Saturday morning session occasionally but not regular.

20/9/13
BW 84.3kg


First real session at commercial gym. Squats felt great so I paused the last rep. I had a revelation with bench too as the bench they have there is substantially lower. With flat feet and knees just below hips I was able to get a LOT more tightness in lower body and leg drive. Now just need to figure out how to do it on normal height. This set at 67.5 was easier than 62.5 on Monday. Started FS at 100 with cross grip and got a bicep cramp so dropped it back a bit and did OL grip. I believe that is close to PB on DB row too? PB on incline that was at 50x10x3 last week but still a new movement, feels more comfortable now. Dips SS with cable x-overs, BURN!

3hr session, good fun!

Then heading to friends place. His GF just moved here from LA and cooked us some legit mexican which was so good! Had a couple of wines and lots of B&J cookie dough. Carb load complete No pics sorry

EATS

massaman curry and roo burger melts and veggies


Cals 4500ish

[jzpowahz]

21/9/13
BW 85.9kg

Yesterday had a great day out by myself at Jamboree 4,6 and rotary drag racing event. CRAZY cars! I used to be a drag racer BTW.



Today went and had breaky with Liam and Holly which was very nice. Then UFC with the mma boys, then some cardio :P Frisbee at the beach, sprints around the place for about an hour or so. Great day!



Cals 2455
191P/190C/102F

[jzpowahz]

23/9/13
BW 85.4kg


Good sesh. Paused last rep on each set of squats. Bench felt good, DB bench felt even better. No board press today so I did a couple of sets of pause bench from my sticking point. Switched RDL's for leg curls today as lower back was pretty pumped already.

EATS

carnivore breaky at cafe


strawberry/banana thickshake with oreos


lamb chops and veggies


snags, baked pumpkin and peanut oil baked zucchini


cheesey omelette


mexican roo mince and lots of rice underneath



Cals 4266
300P/506C/99F

[jzpowahz]

25/9/13
BW 84.8kg


Deadlifts didn't feel "too" hard today. Speed ones still weird with right hand under. Decided to go lighter and higher reps on KB swings just to be a bit careful with the lower back.

Thanks to Chocchillimango for my prize pack which I received today for baking the cauliflower bread the other day.



EATS

chinese 5 spice & peanut oil baked chicken and veg


chinese 5 spice omelette (was liking that today!)


sesame/peanut chicken and 1.5kg of carisma low carb potatoes (38P/135C/12F)


Not pictured: 2 bowls of choc oats and 1L yoghurt.

Cals 4828
308P/541C/160F

[MrCarl.]

Holy protein! Doing PSMF right now and not eating 300g P on my training days. Do you think doing UD have any benefits compared to eating basically the same ammounts every day?

[jzpowahz]

Holy protein! Doing PSMF right now and not eating 300g P on my training days. Do you think doing UD have any benefits compared to eating basically the same ammounts every day?

yeah, I like to eat meat I only aim for 200ish g but always seem to go over.

You mean UD2?

If so, I think there may be small benefits when very lean (10% or less) but otherwise probably not worth the hassle.

I prefer to make my diet fit my training rather than the other way around though as performance is more important to me than aesthetics/leanness at the moment.

[MrCarl.]

yeah, I like to eat meat I only aim for 200ish g but always seem to go over.

You mean UD2?

If so, I think there may be small benefits when very lean (10% or less) but otherwise probably not worth the hassle.

I prefer to make my diet fit my training rather than the other way around though as performance is more important to me than aesthetics/leanness at the moment.

You pretty much answered it. I would like to try UD2, but I play sports 3 times a week and I need to perform pretty much 6 days a week (incl. gym)

[jzpowahz]

You pretty much answered it. I would like to try UD2, but I play sports 3 times a week and I need to perform pretty much 6 days a week (incl. gym)

yep, no way mate!

27/9/13
BW 85.1kg



Firstly, I had a massage about 5 hours before training today focussing on stupidly tight upper back, neck, lower spinal erectors, glutes, calves, hammies and right tricep.

Had to ditch bench press as my right tricep was seriously not feeling right. Very strange as it was fine for DB SOHP. What I noticed (lucky I have a mirror :P) is that I have a visual lump on the right tricep about 4" from armpit and that is the bit that has been stupid tight for the last month or so. Physio next week.

Squats, low bar and felt great. Paused last rep of each set too. Still suck at front squats but mainly just the positioning still. Rest of stuff was just hypertrophy work. And kicked the **** out of the bag for a bit.

Looking forward to moving to 6 rep sets next week. I was planning on starting to wrap in week 5 when I'm on 5rep sets.

EATS

found this today. SO GOOD!


bbq steak, snag and salad


pancakes with nutella, strawberries and banana


Cals 4070
220P/273C/224F (LOL, got stuck into the peanuts)

[jzpowahz]

Saturday:
mates 30th bday. Lots of drinks, not very much food, lots of activities! Camped at a turf farm and set it up like a mini festival. Cricket, frisbee, golf, frisbee drinking games, LOTS of dancing. So much fun!






Sunday

recovery day haha

Monday
BW 86.2kg

Catch up day and went to see physio about my right tricep. He said that I have a tear. Don't do anything that hurts, stretch and foam roll. See him again in 2 weeks.

I decided to listen to the body and have a rest type day. Did some chest, bicep ad upper back hypertrophy and a spin class. Squats tomorrow and will now be a full leg session really.

EATS

katsudon


japanese curry


choc proats with banana and coconut/pb


aussie brospec meal haha. kanga bangas, broccoli, cheese and piri piri sauce


deconstructed roo burgers with egg, cheese, pumpkin/carrot cake


Cals 3372
312P/134C/178F

[Bnizzle163]

Catching up in here and saw those pancakes... I am impress!

[jzpowahz]

Catching up in here and saw those pancakes... I am impress!

Thanks mate Highly recommended!

[jzpowahz]

1/10/13
BW 85.9kg



Went for a nice walk on the beach in the morning. No upper body exercises today and avoided all tricep stuff. Felt like doing some high rep squats. Paused last rep on 3 out of 4 sets, (1 set I was a tiny bit forward on one so didn't want to). All felt good. Looking at upcoming numbers, and looks like I'll be wrapping again soon. Then did a body balance class straight after that which definitely helped loosen up the hips!

Forgot to say, I did my first spin class yesterday. Good high intensity stuff. Will do again.

EATS

chicken tikka masala (with 550g of rice hidden underneath)



Cals 3479
255P/325C/127F

[jzpowahz]

4/10/13
BW 84.6kg

Firstly, yesterday I had a low day and did a 29hr fast hence lower weight today.

Deficit deadlift 191x5x5
Speed Deads 160x1x8
High Pulls 75x5x3

http://youtu.be/0cVemgaAeq0

And that was it. Happy with deads although I'm still perfecting the technique. Some of them weren't quite tight enough in lats/upper back and some had a bit of hyperextension of lower back which I'll be aware of for next time. Also, lost my neutral neck as it doesn't seem to come naturally like it does when I pull sumo.

Also, did some #hotdogsorlegs today haha.





And went for a 45min walk with Kee, Mel & Muzz today. Weather was beautiful.

updated board


EATS

Baked thing. Layers of cream of chicken rice, onion,broccoli, chicken & sweet potato


bacon, hot salami, onion, mushroom, chilli, garlic, one egg in the centre, egg whites around and topped with cheese and then salsa when cooked


pumpkin butter baked chicken, pumpkin and peanut oil fried asparagus



and another omelette concoction



caramel peanut brittle ice cream with pb pop tarts and strawberries



Cals 3895
217P/472C/124F

[ilove2run]

'Miring everything in here Chris. Every time I see a pic of the weather you get in Australia...become so jealous...Maybe one day I'll move their...maybe.

Would already be there TBH, if It didn't cost so much for insurance moving, I would actually be attempting to go to Graduate school somewhere in Australia.

[jzpowahz]

'Miring everything in here Chris. Every time I see a pic of the weather you get in Australia...become so jealous...Maybe one day I'll move their...maybe.

Would already be there TBH, if It didn't cost so much for insurance moving, I would actually be attempting to go to Graduate school somewhere in Australia.

Thanks mate. It is my favourite time of year for sure. It is damn hot in Summer but rains more often. It is about 32 deg C today and some friends and I just got back from climbing Mt Tibrogargan which is 360m vertical height and is actually a climb not a hike. Some near vertical bits which is always a bit challenging. I'm not the greatest with heights.

What's the deal with insurance for moving? Never heard of such a thing? My next US trip will be East Coast predominantly and Washington is one of the places I wanted to go. Although, I know very little about it other than the fact that it is the capital. I'm sure there are plenty of things to see and do though

[ilove2run]

Thanks mate. It is my favourite time of year for sure. It is damn hot in Summer but rains more often. It is about 32 deg C today and some friends and I just got back from climbing Mt Tibrogargan which is 360m vertical height and is actually a climb not a hike. Some near vertical bits which is always a bit challenging. I'm not the greatest with heights.

What's the deal with insurance for moving? Never heard of such a thing? My next US trip will be East Coast predominantly and Washington is one of the places I wanted to go. Although, I know very little about it other than the fact that it is the capital. I'm sure there are plenty of things to see and do though

Regarding Washington, I'm in Washington "State", not D.C., I'm on the West Coast

Regarding Insurance: In terms of straight up moving, I'm sure it isn't as big of deal (although not 100%), but in terms of wanting to come to Australia for a Master's degree, you have to lay down roughly 10,000$ in order to do it. Or something along those matters.

[jzpowahz]

Regarding Washington, I'm in Washington "State", not D.C., I'm on the West Coast

Regarding Insurance: In terms of straight up moving, I'm sure it isn't as big of deal (although not 100%), but in terms of wanting to come to Australia for a Master's degree, you have to lay down roughly 10,000$ in order to do it. Or something along those matters.

holy crap! that is expensive. Well I hope you can get here some time mate. It's a fair flight but I really do love it here. In saying that, I really love to travel as well but I'm happy to call the sunshine coast home.

6/10/13
BW 86.1kg

Cals 6159
264P/738C/220F

7/10/13
BW 86kg



squatted two days in a row because of schedule this week. Both times felt great. Was going to wrap at 165 today but then didn't need it. All felt great!

Kee and I on our squat date hehe


actual date night (bloody good combo cashew stirfry)


EATS

Elvis oats


chocolate protein sludge with kellogs krave


mexican roo mince, bacon, egg and cheese


caramel/peanut brittle icecream with crumbled peanut bar, pb pop tart, pb & maple syrup

[jzpowahz]

monster steak, home made bread and salad


nutella/pb banana wrap


Cals 4041
245P/444C/140P

[SolorzanoJose]

How can you eat 4k cals a day and weigh 185lbs?!

[jzpowahz]

How can you eat 4k cals a day and weigh 185lbs?!

That isn't everyday as I am experimenting with Carb backloading so I eat a lot more on training days (which is pretty much all I post these days). But today for example, I will be at 219P/60C/51F for 1605cals. Last weeks average was 3700cals/day so got a bit carried away on the carb ups haha. This week's target average is 2700 and I only have 2 more actual training days. So far, I'm quite liking the CBL approach. Despite being a bit heavier than when I started (less than 1kg though) I don't appear to be much flabbier in the gut that before. Strength is feeling AWESOME. Can't complain so far except I was supposed to be cutting so I just need to drop the average cals a bit now.

oh and I have a relatively active job as a PT.

[jzpowahz]

8/10/13
BW 87.5kg

Cals 1888
255P/78C/55F

9/10/13
BW 87kg


http://youtu.be/7hbJDSp0drc

TOUGH deficit deads today but I got through them. Also went for a bit of a walk, did some HIIT on the bike.

Also, will be resting for rest of the week as I'm going in a deadlift comp (open weight) at Fitness Expo being run by PTC. I'm hoping not to come last but that is a possibility haha. Will be aiming for 250kg conventional.

EATS

chicken and veg stirfry


pumpkin, bacon & cheese with moroccan spice


katsudon (grilled not fried)


Cals 4159
260P/476C/129F

[jzpowahz]

10/10/13
BW 86.5kg

Today, I ran my 2 S&C classes in the morning, had a power nap around lunch time, did a few client programs and then was back at work for a few more clients.

After I was finished, I was going to do some cardio. One of my MFP friends had posted a 5k time on a treadmill and I was thinking about trying to beat it. I looked up and every treadmill was taken by women except 1. I couldn't do it. I went home and did 12x3min rounds on the heavy bag instead. So much more fun! On the last round I did the ladder of kicks, 10,9,..1 Going right leg kick then left leg kick. I was expecting to get close to spewing haha but was all good and actually felt quite efficient.

Then I had a bit of spare time so I did the following hypertrophy & rehab stuff.


TT, I think I'm "slowly" getting a chest haha. Noticed that I've got some striations going on so not too fat yet haha.

Today will be my last day officially on Carb Back Loading diet. I will most likely still use some of the principles of it (as I used to anyway) but the strict nature of very low carb after a day of very high carb does not seem to work well for me. The day after a CBL, it seems like I can pretty much eat as much P&F as I can and I just never seem to be full. So all in all, even if this diet does have some minor benefits in terms of LBM retention on a cut or fat gain on a bulk the difficulty of staying within a manageable calorie range means it is not worthwhile for me. (avg cals were 3700 last week and 3500 this week and I need to be closer to 2500-2700)

So end of CBL experiment.

The best diet is the one that is most easily adhered to

P.S I'll take measurements a bit later and do a comparison. Basically same weight though and I don't think there will be much difference.

Cals 3961
191P/332C/209F (lots of almonds)


P.S just took some progress pics but I won't bother posting them as I look pretty much exactly the same as a month ago. Not surprising really. On a positive note, can average about 3500cals/day and not get fat haha.


Oh and on the strength side of things, nothing conclusive but I pulled 235kg conventional just before starting CBL. My sets of 5 at 197.5kg were 230kg 1rm equivalent from 40mm deficit. Some of that could be just getting better at conventional deadlifts again though? As I said, nothing conclusive and I wouldn't expect any massive strength gains at my level in a month anyway no matter what diet.