YeomenKek ICF intermediate routine bulking log

[thomas543]

Subbed, am also doing an ICF workout atm. Loving the look of that rice, chicken, bean, salsa thing too, might have to try it out

[YeomenKek]

Subbed, am also doing an ICF workout atm. Loving the look of that rice, chicken, bean, salsa thing too, might have to try it out

Good luck with it mate! Let me know whether you like the salsa thing if you give it a go.

Week 8

Mon:
Back to 5x5 for this last week before deload
Sq - 90kg (198), 5x5
Weighted Pullups - 13.75kg (30), 5x5
Flat BBP - 87.5kg (193), 5x5
BB OHP - 62.5kg (138), 1x5, 1x4, 60kg (132), 3x5
Damn you shoulders, always stalling. At least where last time I finished the 5 sets with 57.5kg, I was able to do so with 60kg this time. So that's a good sign I think
Inc DBC - 20kg (44), 3x5
Gonna keep it here until 3x8
Skulls - 42.5kg (94), 2x8, 1x7
Fail last rep last set FML, keep it the same next cycle
Rollouts - BW, 1x2 strict reps, 13.75kg (30), 4x5


I weighed in a 76kg (167) this morning, up 0.7kg (1.5) from last week. Not sure that was all me though, because 1 sip into my morning coffee and my ass was on the toilet making ungodly noises.

Anyways, here's the difference between my 5x5 stats from 8 weeks ago (these are 5x5 max efforts, not 1RMs);
BBP - 75kg (165) to 87.5kg (193), +12.5kg (27.5 lb)
Squat - 80kg (176) to 90kg (198), +10kg (22 lb)
Deadlift - 85kg (187) to 105kg (231), +20kg (44 lb)
Barbell row - 65kg (143) to 80kg (176), +15kg (33 lb)
Standing OHP - 55kg (121) to 60kg (132), +5kg (11 lb)

So pretty happy with all except maybe shoulders but I believe the 1RM has increased, and according to the calculators I've used, the amount I press at my weight is quite considerable anyway - so I'm not too fussed.

As for deload, anyone have suggestions? I've heard to just do regular routine with ~60% of what you normally lift, but I've also heard the intensity should be the same, just reduce frequency and load. Not sure atm.

Until Weds.

[MrCarl.]

Great progress on your bench, man! I am afraid that my bench is going to stall first alongside with my OHP.

[YeomenKek]

Great progress on your bench, man! I am afraid that my bench is going to stall first alongside with my OHP.

Thanks! I think the important thing to remember is that if you do fail, and need to move the weight down and rebuild up, you're eventually going to get stronger as a result of that undulation in the long run. For example it might take 3 times over the period of months of failing and resetting the weight 10% before you finally reach that max. Each time you do fail and undulate, you're only getting closer.

That's at least how I've been thinking about it with my shoulders. I really want to get a 65kg 5x5, and I believe every time I fail & reset 62.5kg back down to 60kg, I'm getting closer in the larger scope of things, even if it doesn't seem like it at the time.

I think every time you hit a wall and reset the weight, it should be viewed as progression rather than a plateau and shouldn't be disheartening, but empowering.

[YeomenKek]

Videos of these lifts in thread below. Filmed all my big lifts so if there's any form issues I can rectify them on my deload. Check it out if interested or can provide some critique, thanks.

Weds:
Sq - 90kg (198), 5x5
Deadlift - 107.5kg (237), 1x5
Flat BBP - 87.5kg (193), 5x5
BBR - 82.5kg (182), 5x5
BB OHP - Worked up to 70kg (154) 1RM
Attempted a BW OHP, video of the failure in thread below

That's actually all I did because my friend who I drove to the gym had plans and I needed to get him home. I'll finish the rest of my w/o tomorrow.

Form check thread with vids: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...post1028628693

[MrCarl.]

Bench form looks solid man! Did you injured your lower back during DLing? If so I would recommend you switching to sumo/hybrid DL's. I found them easier to do while maintaining better form.

[YeomenKek]

Bench form looks solid man! Did you injured your lower back during DLing? If so I would recommend you switching to sumo/hybrid DL's. I found them easier to do while maintaining better form.

Thanks brah. It was a while back I was going too deep in squats for my flexibility. Hurt my lower left side of my back and took months off of any lower back work. It never got better, so I slowly built the weight back up despite discomfort still being there. Still get sharp pains occasionally when walking, sitting down for too long, etc. but unless I'm getting a 9/10 sharp, stabbing pain during a deadlift or squat, I'm not gonna sit on my ass and do nothing.

I've tried sumos before but once again my flexibility was awful and I pulled my abductor. I did like them a LOT though, I might return to them. Never heard of hybrid DLs, I'll have a look, cheers!

[MrCarl.]

Thanks brah. It was a while back I was going too deep in squats for my flexibility. Hurt my lower left side of my back and took months off of any lower back work. It never got better, so I slowly built the weight back up despite discomfort still being there. Still get sharp pains occasionally when walking, sitting down for too long, etc. but unless I'm getting a 9/10 sharp, stabbing pain during a deadlift or squat, I'm not gonna sit on my ass and do nothing.

I've tried sumos before but once again my flexibility was awful and I pulled my abductor. I did like them a LOT though, I might return to them. Never heard of hybrid DLs, I'll have a look, cheers!

Pretty much the same injury I had. I would recommend doing mobility/strength exercises for your lower back on a daily basis. After the exercises I really liked this stretch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc3V3f45nOI I would personally hold my hands more up while doing it. Did lots of planks, high rep and controlled hyperextensions etc. The main criteria is that they need to be pain free. I still have some "bad days", but I recovered my strength. 2 months after I pulled my back I wasn't able to deadlift 50kg for one rep. Today I am going to lift 150kg for 5.
Hybrid stance is just between conventional and sumo. Legs are not so wide apart. Find the position that is comfortable for you.

[YeomenKek]

Pretty much the same injury I had. I would recommend doing mobility/strength exercises for your lower back on a daily basis. After the exercises I really liked this stretch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc3V3f45nOI I would personally hold my hands more up while doing it. Did lots of planks, high rep and controlled hyperextensions etc. The main criteria is that they need to be pain free. I still have some "bad days", but I recovered my strength. 2 months after I pulled my back I wasn't able to deadlift 50kg for one rep. Today I am going to lift 150kg for 5.
Hybrid stance is just between conventional and sumo. Legs are not so wide apart. Find the position that is comfortable for you.

I'll give all of those a go, thanks again for the help. Hope your injury is all sorted now.

[YeomenKek]

Fri:
Was in a really bad mood cause my bank charged me $64.00 in 'unpaid fees' because I had the money in a different account it was being withdrawn from, so I just superset everything and fuking smashed myself. Turned into about a 30 min workout. Hardly met 10 rep range, just went failure. No rests, did circuit then repeated straight away
A1 - Leg P - 182.5kg (402) 3 set
A2 - Inc BBP - 60kg (132) 5 set
A3 - Seat Calf - 72.5kg (160) 3 set
A4 - Lat PD - 52.5kg (116) 5 set
A5 - Lat Raise - 10kg (22) 5 set
B1 - Flat DBF - 18kg (40) 3 set
B2 - BB Curl - 42.5kg (94) 3 set, was meant to be 37.5kg but put wrong weight on and cbf changing
B3 - Tri PD - 35kg (77), 3 set
B4 - Face Pull - 35kg (75), 3 set
Good Morning (vid, form check) - 40kg (88), 3 set
Inc Shrugs - 40kg (88), 3 set

$184 bill so far next week not including petrol, public transport, food and this is the 3rd week in a row with 0 hours at work. Fuking stupid.

Anyway probably no updates for a week because I'll be deloading so unless anything significant happens, seeya in a week.

[YeomenKek]

Nothing amazing happened today but just checking in to once again express my hate for scale weight as a measure of progress because apparently I have lost another 2kg (4.4 lb) in 7 days. Fuking nonsense.

[MrCarl.]

Nothing amazing happened today but just checking in to once again express my hate for scale weight as a measure of progress because apparently I have lost another 2kg (4.4 lb) in 7 days. Fuking nonsense.

2kg up and downs are quite common. If I tend to eat less and drink a little I am almost always 2kg lighter and it takes me 2-3 to regain the water that was lost. How are you monitoring your weight? Using weekly avg.?

[YeomenKek]

2kg up and downs are quite common. If I tend to eat less and drink a little I am almost always 2kg lighter and it takes me 2-3 to regain the water that was lost. How are you monitoring your weight? Using weekly avg.?

I've been doing it on Mondays the same way. Wake up, have coffee, release bowels then weigh in. It's just odd because I've had virtually no diet interruptions and eaten the same thing 99.99% of the time for the last 8 wks. Normally I would expect a change like this after a weekend of drinking but I haven't touched alc for about month now.

I've been plotting it on a graph in excel, hopefully when I look at it at a larger scope (6 mths) it will be a lot of ups and downs but with a general trend going upward.

Apologies for spelling errors, autocorrect is being fuking abysmal this morning.

[MrCarl.]

I've been doing it on Mondays the same way. Wake up, have coffee, release bowels then weigh in. It's just odd because I've had virtually no diet interruptions and eaten the same thing 99.99% of the time for the last 8 wks. Normally I would expect a change like this after a weekend of drinking but I haven't touched alc for about month now.

I've been plotting it on a graph in excel, hopefully when I look at it at a larger scope (6 mths) it will be a lot of ups and downs but with a general trend going upward.

Apologies for spelling errors, autocorrect is being fuking abysmal this morning.

Sound decent, but maybe it is time to up the cals?

[YeomenKek]

Sound decent, but maybe it is time to up the cals?

Maybe I was even a little cheeky last week and started upping it before I said i would by having 2 slices of toast before my workout on M/W/F. Looking back at that avg. though its really not much of an increase. Might have to move onto something a little more set in stone.

[YeomenKek]

Nothing interesting regarding my routine to report obvs as this is my deload however I've undergone a lot of chit for my legs.

Doctor referred me to physio for possibility of stress fracture recurrence. Had appointment two days ago, she said from what I've described and from the analysis she did it sounds like another recurrence (4th time now), was referred to podiatrist, bone specialist and back to doctor.

She said it's going to be a very long road for full capability again, assuming it's not permanent (gotta wait for specialist appointment). Have my rehab with her tomorrow and I'll be booking my podiatry appointment then too.

As for bone specialist, doctor is doing that. My doctor is fuking awesome, known her since I was a little kid. She used to be a body builder herself and has had stress fractures in her tibia too. Said from a bodybuilder's POV my heavy squat/deads are fine as long as I make sure I'm lifting through the heels (like I should be anyway) and to stay the fuk away from leg extension, but the physio may tell me otherwise.

Basically got a long road ahead of me in terms of lower limb rehabilitation but hopefully it doesn't impact on any of this. The only bright side I suppose is that I'm not paying for any of it, Army is covering since they've accepted liability.

May update tomorrow following rehab if anything significant happens.

[MrCarl.]

Get better man. And if physio suggest you to do leg extensions instead of squat (talking about pefect form amd 50% 1RM weightish) the tell him/her to ....
If it is your 4th time I am pretty sure you have some biomechanical issues or bone formation issues.

[YeomenKek]

Get better man. And if physio suggest you to do leg extensions instead of squat (talking about pefect form amd 50% 1RM weightish) the tell him/her to ....
If it is your 4th time I am pretty sure you have some biomechanical issues or bone formation issues.

Will try my best man haha. Yeah although Army accepted liability, they were very quick to determine that it wasn't permanent. Never did any actual testing for it, just went to Army-paid specialist who saw me for about 15 min total and he deemed it temporary. Hopefully these scans will actually shed some light.

[YeomenKek]

Cliffs on last week:
-Electrode therapy for shins helped a bit. No sharp pains over weekend
-Appt with bone specialist booked 16APR13
-More regular physio and podiatry in the mean time (first podiatry appt tomorrow followed by more physio)
-Entire weekend full of friend's 21st birthday, lots of alcohol, and deficient protein/kcal/bank account (I regret nothing)
-New lifting partner:

(not srs) (semi srs) (i will lift him for cuddles)

ANYWAYS
Thought I'd keep the same weight I lifted last week of Mesocycle 1 so to get back into it. Did not go exactly as planned with squat (as you will now witness).

Week 1

Mon:
Sq - 90kg (198), 1x5, Too easy, might move it up a bit, 92.5kg (203.5), 1x5, Da fuk? Did I forget to put the plates on? Better make sure this time, 1x5, Yep, definitely put them on. Up up up., 95kg (209), 1x5, Some type of black magic giving me unholy strength. MORE!, 100kg (220), 1x5, [i]Holy fuk finally a 2 plate squat for 5 reps for the first time again in years (recall this was my weight for singles about 3-4 wks ago). Up 10kg from 2 weeks ago!
BBP - 90kg (198), 1x4, Overzealous lol, down down, 85kg (187), 4x5
BBR - 80kg (176), 5x5
OHP - 60kg (132), 5x5
Inc DBC - 20kg (44), 3x6
Skull - 42.5kg (93.5), 1x8, 1x7, 40kg (88), 1x8
Rollout - 13.75kg (30.25), 5x5

-2.5kg bench for +10kg squat? I'll take that.

[YeomenKek]

Physio just told me no more lower body movements... notsureifgoingtofollowadvice

[MrCarl.]

Physio just told me no more lower body movements... notsureifgoingtofollowadvice

Told you why exactly?

[psychodiver9]

Physio just told me no more lower body movements... notsureifgoingtofollowadvice

then why did you go?

[YeomenKek]

Told you why exactly?

Told her I was static stretching. She said that could inhibit my neuro-something which is what we're trying to improve. Then she asked why I'm trying to increase flexibility, I said squats/DL and she straight up said no more lower body

then why did you go?

Fix running, get scans, determine if permanent.

Edit: Edited out rant.

[gymjunki3]

Not all physio's are the same, I slipped my disc around 8-9months ago and had to change my routine my physio was happy for me to go back to the gym but she went over my workout routine and said yay or nay to certain exercises. She didn’t say “no lower body work or no gym full stop” go see another physio.
Still following keep up the good work.

[MrCarl.]

I guess she said about proprioreceptive training? Cutting out all lower body work seems stupid to me. Hypermobility is just as bad as hypomobility. I guess you better listen to her untill she explains why no lower body work as she has seen you in person.

[YeomenKek]

Not all physio's are the same, I slipped my disc around 8-9months ago and had to change my routine my physio was happy for me to go back to the gym but she went over my workout routine and said yay or nay to certain exercises. She didn’t say “no lower body work or no gym full stop” go see another physio.
Still following keep up the good work.

I think I'm in a bit too deep as Army is all paying for it and so the clinic is liaising with everything I need, so going to another physio is a bit out of the question unless I wanted to pay for it myself which I cannot I might just ask her to explain why I can't do the things she's saying I can't, and explain my situation. Either way it turns out, thanks for the advice.

I guess she said about proprioreceptive training? Cutting out all lower body work seems stupid to me. Hypermobility is just as bad as hypomobility. I guess you better listen to her untill she explains why no lower body work as she has seen you in person.

I can't fully remember what she said but it had 'neuro' in it somewhere. I think like I said to gymjunkie I'll just have to ask her to explain it a bit more, because I only feel like I've just returned 100% atm and it just sucks hearing that I may have to stop again.

Today's session

Weds:
Sq - 100kg (220), 5x5
Deadlift - 110kg, 1x5
BBR - 80kg, 5x5
Behind head OHP - 50kg, 3x8
Inc DBC - same as mon
Skulls - same as mon

Little lazy to write out tonight, demotivated as **** (see below). Basically I got my 5 sets of 2p squat so that's cool, and Deadlift new PB is okay too I guess.

First warm-up set of bench my left pec tightened up and gave a sharp pain at the bottom of the movement. Waited a couple of minutes and tried again with just the bar, figuring I may have pinched something and just need bit more of a warm-up, but I still got that sharp pain even worse. Hurt turning steering wheel on the drive home.

I'm icing the hell out of it and gonna bust some anti-inflammatorys these next 2 days to see if it feels any better on Fri.

Just having one of those days, getting a little tired of the state my life is in. I really hope I look back at this post in a couple of days and laugh.

[YeomenKek]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO I took pics to compare to myself some 8 weeks ago, I knew I shouldn't have, lmao feel fat as all fuk.







On plus side I think I look a bit wider but that might just because because my torso has blown up all pudgey rofl.

Fri:
Bench Press - 85kg (187), 1x5
First up tried to do the heavy bench I couldn't do Weds due to sore pec. Did one set and no pain but it felt super, super iffy. Like on the verge of something seriously going wrong. Felt it was a good idea to just give a rest until the end of the week. I won't move the weight up next week. Pretty much super-set everything from here aiming for 10 reps, had physio and needed to smash though this one.
Leg Press - 180kg (396), 3 sets
Calf Raise - 70kg (154), 3 sets
Lateral Raise - 10kg (22), 3 sets
Lat PD - 52.5kg (115), 5 sets
Good Morning - 50kg (110), 3 sets
Inc Front Raise - 10kg (22), 2 sets
Face Pull - 32.5kg (71.5), 3 sets
St BB Curl - 35kg (77), 3 sets
Tri PD - 35kg (77), 3 sets
DB Shrug - 30kg (66), 3 sets, 10 sec rest
Side Bends - 30kg (66), 3 sets
Dragon Flag - 1xfailure (4 reps)

Although I couldn't do chest I'm pretty happy it doesn't seem to be badly injured. It is really sore to touch though which is weird. Like brush my hand alone it and one particular spot fuking hurts with a sharp pain. On a related note, my shins were specially bad today. Had a physio on each leg massaging interior tibia muscle thing and then role over for hamstring/calf release so goddamn painful.

Until Monday (I'll weigh in, forgot to this week).

[YeomenKek]

Great workout today IMO.

Week 2, Meso 2

Mon:
Sq - 102.5kg (225.5), 5x5, first 4 sets with box, last set without. Will reverse Weds.
BBP - 85kg (187), 5x5, No issue with pec this week, felt light too. Very happy with this.
BBR - 82.5kg (181.5), 4x5
Weighted Pullup - 15kg (33), 1x5
BB OHP - 62.5kg (137.5), 5x5, WOOHOO! 3rd time I've cycled up to this weight (and failed), but this time I got it! Very awesome.
Inc DBC - 20kg (44), 3x6,5,4
Skull - 42.5kg (93.5), 2x8, 1x6
Rollouts - 15kg (33), 5x5

Pretty happy with everything TBH. Oh I weighed in this morning and was 75.6kg, down 0.4kg from last weigh-in, generally just hovering in 74-76kg range. I've upped the kcal too, switched out chicken for untrimmed beef and my light vanilla ice cream to full fat neopolitan. Not sure why scale weight is being such a *******, my strength is going up an from those pictures I posted above I think it looks like I've put on something.

Physio tomorrow. Seeya Weds.

[YeomenKek]

Didn't get to update last night, had to study for Chemistry exam I had this morning. Don't feel too confident about it, but got results back for Monday's prac and got Honours for it (phew).

Weds:
Sq - 102.5kg (225.5), 5x5
Dead - 112.5kg (247.5), 1x5
FBBP - 85kg (187), 5x5 This was a lot more difficult than it should of been considering how easy I got it on Mon. Maybe was because I was using the bench lower to the ground.
Weighted Pullups - 15kg (33), 1x5, 1x4, 12.5kg (27.5), 3x5 Forgot belt, did these instead of BBR. Crazy lat doms today, really like pull-ups.
Behind Head OHP - 52.5kg (115.5), 1x6, 50kg (110), 2x8
Did the rest of these with 10 sec rest because it was at this point I remembered I had to study
Inc DBC - 20kg (44), 3 sets
Tri PD - 37.5.kg (82.5), 3 sets
Standing Cable Crunch - 35kg (77), 3 sets

Doctor gave me X-rays today for legs. Report is being emailed to my physio who I'll be seeing tomorrow. Nothing really significant from Tues's physio sesh apart from massages and electrode therapy.

[psychodiver9]

Congrats on the exam. Hope the xray results are positive