PhoeniX9369's journey to Classic Physique... In 2018!

[Phoenix9369]

Been working on keeping a journal or writing things down to make it a habit and make me accountable for my projects and ideas

So I'm gonna start a workout / nutrition journal that I'll update as often as possible so I can track my progress and not lie to myself.

I'm just done with contest prep, and decided to take a year off from competing, and dedicate it to bulk and add as much lean size as possible.

I'll start with listing my split, a hybrid of some sorts.
Every day I'll list the weights used, specially for the strength portions of the workouts to see if I'm getting stronger or not.

6 days a week, 1 day for cardio.
Ab work everyday, switching it up of course.

Lift PRs:
Squat: 285 as of August 2016
Bench: 235 as of August 2016
Deadlift: 405 as of August 2016
Overhead press: 155 as of August 2016


---
Power Days

Heavy Leg Day

Squat 5/3/1 (4 warm up / 4 work sets)
Deadlift
Leg press 4 sets 8-10 reps
Hamstring curls
Leg extension
Calf raises 4 sets 15-20 reps
Ab work

Heavy Upper

Bench press 5/3/1 (4 warm up / 4 work sets)
Overhead press
Weighted pull ups 4 sets as many reps
Weighted dips
Incline flyes 4 sets 8-10 reps
Shrugs
Front raises to side raises 4 sets 8-10 reps

---

Off day
Cardio 60 mins threadmill
Ab work 4 sets 15-20 reps

---

The next three days look a little confusing but aren't really.
The / mean A/B/C workouts.
So if I do flat bench today for push day, my next push day will have the B exercise and so on
Not all workouts change, that's why the arrow for some exercises (like the pullover)


Hypertrophy Days

Leg Day

Squat / Front Squat / Sumo Deadlift 5sets 10reps
Romanian Deadlifts / -> / Hack Squat
Walking lunges / -> / Hyperextensions 4 x 12
Leg extensions / -> / ->
Leg curls / -> / ->
Calf work / -> / -> 4x20-25

Push Day

Incline Bench / Overhead Press 5 x 10
Decline Bench / Close grip Bench
Machine Flye / Cable Flye
Pullovers / -> 4 x 12
Arnold press / Incline Shoulder press
Front raises/ ->
Straight Bar Pushdown / Rope Pushdown
Overhead Tricep Extension / Skull Crushers
Ab work / -> 4x20-25

Pull Day

Underhand Pulldown / Overhand Pulldown 5 x 10 Overhand Bentover Row / T-bar Row
Dumbell Row / Machine Row
Lat Pullovers / -> 4 x 12
Arnold Press / Incline Shoulder Press
Barbell Curls / Dumbell Curls 3x10
Preacher curl / Hammer curl
Face pulls / Reverse Flyes
Side raises/ ->
Ab work / -> 4x20-25


That's a reasonable high volume and intensity
I'll try to add 15 minutes of HIIT cardio if time allows for it, to help with the fat burn and keep the heart healthy


Macro breakdown

Protein 268g
Carbs 383g
Fats 51g

Gonna stick with these for now, and change accordingly as I see fit

Starting weight, October 2nd 2016:170lbs

Goal weight 190lbs

Diet wise, I'll try to stick to old school bro foods
Rice, oats, potatos
Chicken, fish, steak, eggs
Lots and lots of veggies (they helped during prep)
Little fruit if any. Bananas maybe.

I'll stay away from processed foods, specially fast food chains and restaurants because I can't really track what I'm getting and I have noticed a decrease in energy the days after I eat fries or burgers or any other processed foods

I'm not huge in milk, sodas and juices
A Diet Coke every now and then because I like the sparkly sweet
I stopped drinking so that's not an issue, maybe a beer when I go out which I plan to do the least possible. No more than one night out a month.


Water intake will be at around 1 gallon a day at most

Only supplements I rely on:
Multi, bcaa pills, fish oil, caffeine pills
Pre workout

That's as detailed as I can be for a log's first post, and I'll try to post immediately after a workout, with the respective lbs; and at the end of the day once I've hit my macros.

Weight wise, I'll try not to weight myself too often because it is easy to let the scale drive me crazy.
Instead I'll gage progress with how I look, how I feel and how strong I've become.
I'll also post progress pics here whenever possible, although my Instagram has plenty of those.

Let the journey begin!
Wish me luck

[Phoenix9369]

Monday, October 2nd

After only sleeping 2 hours before an overnight shift, I made it to the gym at 5:30am after I got off work.

It was heavy leg day, and while I thought me standing up all Saturday and Sunday would take a toll on my knees, it didn't.

Due to all the food I had over the weekend, I did feel my stomach preventing me from going too heavy, but I had no issue squatting 245lbs for 3reps

Deadlifts have been re-incorporated after not really doing them since February
It surprised me I was able to do multiple sets of 315 for 3-5 reps

Leg press went smoothly, getting up to 5 plates per side.

Leg curls and extensions were no issue whatsoever

I added some hanging leg raises and calf raises, and I was out in 1H30M

Food wise, it was an odd day due to me working through the evening

But, meals were as follows:

4.5 oz chicken, 2 cups of mixed veggies

30 mins Preworkout, 4.5 oz chicken, 100g yams

Post workout, protein pancakes:
Oats, protein pancake mix, 4 eggs, 1.5 scoops of whey isolate, 1/4 banana, some chocolate chips
4 tbsps lite maple syrup

Then I went to sleep for 4 hours and went for dinner with a friend, but before I left the house I had 1 cup of rice cereal and 1tbsp of chocolate peanut butter

Had 1.5 cups of rice, 1 egg, 4oz BBQ chicken, 1 cup of green tea.
I ate out but stuck to a "macro friendly" option

I managed to resist the temptation to get a donut. Major accomplishment <laughs>

My protein numbers are almost met, I still have some carbs left, and my fat is slightly above.
But I'm not freaking myself out over that, I'll get some cardio done tomorrow and my eating habits will be back to normal.

I plan of having a cup of oatmeal in water to meet the carb macro goals, and maybe some egg whites to meet the protein one.

I purchased creatine monohydrate so I wanna give that a shot, and I'll document it here of course.

Weight today was 170lbs
Some water and all the cheat meals from the weekend might have contributed to that
Next weight update will be next week

Some pics, aka starting of bulk pics

Spoiler!

[Phoenix9369]

Tuesday, October 4th

Set up an alarm at 5:45 am
Woke up fully rested at 5, so I decided to get ready and head out for some fasted cardio

My morning routine for the last 5 weeks has been to drink a glass of water with half a lemon squeezed, call it broscience but I wanna help alkalinity and fat loss.
Took my morning vitamins and left.

Did 20 minutes on the incline, and 30 minutes of 3 rep sets squats
Went up to 275lbs, and although sore from yesterday, it felt much better because my stomach wasn't as full of food as it was yesterday morning.

Finished with some and work; decline oblique twists with 45lbs plate, incline oblique crunches and some hyper extensions with 45lbs kettle bell

Had to run some errands but I'll be heading back home for some breakfast.

[devilbones]

Subbed.

[Phoenix9369]

Subbed.

Thanks brah!!
Need to make this a habit so I stay on track

[Phoenix9369]

Today's heavy upper was just great
I can still feel I'm not 100% ready to go THAT heavy
But I stuck as close to my 1RMs for bench and OHP as possible

Got in a good number of pull-ups too
Need to work on my back thickness

By the end, I was super setting side and front raises, and I had a nice pump!

Still have a couple carbs and protein numbers to hit, and I plan to have two more meals.

Going earlier for an extra cardio sesion to help burn any excess from Saturday's binge definitely got me feeling full and pumped, instead of sluggish or lazy.

While I may not always be able to do cardio, I wanna maintain the habit of doing it and not leaving it just for cutting season or contest prep

[Phoenix9369]

Wednesday, October 5nd

Off day that resulted as follows

4 sets of 8 reps squats
3 sets 5 reps / 3 reps / 1 rep <- PR hit (285)

Weighted pull ups: 10lbs - 25lbs - 45lbs - 45lbs
Sets of 8-6 reps

Rope crunches
Hanging leg raises

30 minutes of steady state cardio


Macros are about to be hit, fat is slightly over but not too crazy

Gonna head home from work soon, sleep and hypertrophy leg day + cardio tomorrow before work.

[Phoenix9369]

Thursday, October 6th

Got a good 6 hours of sleep, didn't feel tired or lazy at all

Got to the gym at around 07:00
Decided to run a mile as fast as I can, as a form of HIIT cardio, and because time between gym and work is going to be a little tight

Ran 1 mile in 6M50S
Not bad, for having come off contest prep, and for upping my calories since Sunday.

I went to the hypertrophy leg part of the split
And it went smoothly
Was able to squat 215 x 10 reps in my last set

The deadlifts also went smoothly and I even got a forearm pump because I was gripping the bar pretty tight (not a bad thing if I'm indirectly working my forearms!)


Lunges, I always used the fixed barbells but this time I did them off the squat rack and was able to load 95lbs
It's a light weight but lunges is an exercise I don't really incorporate into my leg sessions
But I will from now on

Leg curls, extensions and hip thrusts were challenging but didn't stop me.


I finished the day with some calves and abs work

I feel my legs sore and now that I'll be doing squatting everyday and upping my calories I wanna see what effect that has in strength and leg size.
I did squat everyday for about 3 weeks while cutting and it worked wonders but the extra cardio, double sessions and slight caloric deficit took a toll in my knee, as it would feel slightly uncomfortable.
It's all good now.

I had a no bake homemade protein bar
Oats + protein isolate + coconut oil + peanut butter + water
For a whopping 20F / 43P / 52C

And off to work and the rest of my day I go

[Phoenix9369]

Friday, October 7th

Got another 6 hours of sleep, and even though I didn't wake up as early as I wanted to, I got going for push day.

I managed to hit EVERY SINGLE set and rep.
The extra calories this week are definitely helping and I look forward to workout and my pumps are just insane, and strength has remained if not slightly increased.

Started warming up with squats: 3 sets of 8 at 135, and 3 sets of 5: 185-215-235

Packed all my meals, and even factored a donut in (peanut butter and banana cream)
SO good



Was also able to fit 2 cups of white rice with lunch and that helped me remain full.

Gonna head home and go to sleep early for pull day tomorrow.

[Phoenix9369]

Saturday, October 8th

Fully rested!
Got to the gym and for the sixth day in a row, warmed up with squats
Bar x 8
145, 185, x5
225 x 3
255, 285, 300 (new PR!!!) X11

Then I went on to start pull day

4 sets of 10 pull ups as a back warmup (I've been adding pull-ups to every pull day for a while. Nothing better than getting stronger at Bodyweight exercises)

Got a SICK pump. Veins were popping when I was doing the curls
It was also the first time in a WHILE that I did bent over barbell rows (scared of injuring back, so I did T bar rows instead), but it felt great!
Used wrist straps to prevent premature fatigue from my hands, and because the calluses are too real

Finished with some rope crunches
And off I go with my day
Cup of coffee #1, and looking forward for breakfast

For breakfast I made some protein pancakes alongside scrambled eggs
Yum yum

[Phoenix9369]

Sunday, October 9th

Had the sniffles and was planning to hit the gym and do some Oly lifting
Stayed at home and did 10 sets of 10 pull-ups and some lacrosse ball smfr instead

Diet remained on point, but my fat macros went a little over since I went to eat a 1lb burger
SO good

Gonna use the extra fat as fuel for tomorrow's heavy leg day

Will also weight myself in the a.m. And update

While I'm trying to update weight here once a week, I've been tracking my weight daily and logging it on my fitness pal so I can get a graph and see when I'd need to adjust calories
So far, I feel great.
Still vascular, pumped, and strong at the gym

Ordered a dip belt off Amazon, working on getting knee sleeves and a barbell pad so the everyday squatting doesn't give me a bad back callus and so my knees don't get too ****ed

Goodnight everyone!

[Phoenix9369]

Monday, October 10th

With The extra fuel from yesterday's burger, today's heavy leg day wasn't gonna be a ride in the park.

Checked in at 173lbs too!
It's nice to see a stable weight after the calorie bump this week.


Warmed up and foam rolled to be ready to take on the squats

Worked my way to 305 for 1
Deadlifts, 410 for 2
Leg press, 6PPS
Single leg curl, 125lbs
Leg extension, 250 lbs (all the weight in the machine)
Calf raises were done at the end of each leg press set due to some time constraint

Feeling pumped and solid!
Having my fourth meal of the day,
And got some 60P 60C left for the day

[Phoenix9369]

Tuesday, October 11th

Got up early and went to a sesion for merely squats and some ab work
Then went into my work day and managed to squeeze the most interesting meals today (a Reuben I made at home, and cinnamon sticks!), and I had a very successful heavy upper day

I managed to go as heavy as 160lbs for OHP and 225 for bench.
I definitely need to work on my bench

The pump was great and I'm finishing my day with some protein oats (oats, Greek yogurt, soy milk, protein powder and protein pancake mix)

Tomorrow is cardio and some Oly lift + ab work!

[Phoenix9369]

Wednesday, October 12th

Slept in and made it to the gym at 7

I ran for 10 minutes and went to do squats
5 sets of 8 at 135
3 sets of 5 at 185

Then I went on to do some ab work
Leg raises with the hands locked out in the captains chair
And side crunches

I also decided to do snatches
Got about 100 reps in total, learning the technique while at it

Macro wise it feels as though I've eaten A LOT of food yet my macros seem to check
I like that
Back and chest are slightly sore and pumped from yesterday's heavy upper

Hypertrophy leg day tomorrow, and with me it's good night for now !

[Phoenix9369]

Thursday, October 13th

Got another good night of sleep, and made it to the gym not as early

I started with some foam rolling, followed by some light back squats.

Then I immediately started to front squats.
5 sets of 10 at 165lbs

Decided to attach a band to add resistance to the top portion of the deadlifts, and it did feel nice.

And instead of walking lunges, I did Bulgarian squats
I liked the pump and stimulus I got off these much better, and I was able to better control 125lbs

I followed curls and extensions and some ab and calves work.

It's now 5pm and I feel sore already

Weight hasn't fluctuated much in the last week, so I think my current macro set up is a happy place for me for now

[Phoenix9369]

Friday, October 14th

Passed out last night yet I managed to be at the gym at 6:30
Had some issues getting in the zone but I did
And chest shoulders and triceps got a NICE pump
Was able to slowly progress adding weight, but a 10lb increase won't allow me to complete all the reps, so a 5lbs one was just enough to challenge me.

I had a pizza slice without blowing my macros too badly

I have no macros left, and as soon as I get home I'm going to sleep

Feel good. Still holding nice pumps and vascularity,
Weight has gone up a little
Might post pics tomorrow


Got a chained dip belt delivered, will be using it for pull-ups and dips
Really excited
Also, 2 weeks of squat everyday and I hit 275 like butter.
No knee pain at all so far.

Good night !

[Phoenix9369]

Saturday, October 15th

Great pull day!

I realized the pull day I outline here has Arnold press thrown in there, that's a typo.
My fault on that one

Started with squats
Got 3 sets of 5 for 185 AND 225
And onto pull day

Tried out the weighted dip belt and started with 5 sets of 5 pull ups, wide grip and with 25lbs attached

Pump is ridiculous I'm loving it

I had my multis this morning on an empty stomach as usual, but yesterday and today I added one scoop of adaptogen's isolate
Really good tasting protein and a good source for that after fasting state and post workout window.
Got a crazy workday ahead of me, so off I go.

Happy Saturday y'all !

[JustBulk]

Nice work done, Phoenix! Enjoy your Saturday too!

[Phoenix9369]

Nice work done, Phoenix! Enjoy your Saturday too!

Thanks brother


Today was an off day
Worked 21 hours straight so I am toasted

[Weaver14]

In for moral support Mr demigod

[Phoenix9369]

Monday, October 17th

After 21 hours of non stop work, and a large pizza, I went to bed last night at 21:30 and was up and running by 5.

Got to the gym to do some squats and abs, nothing too heavy, but I got a good core workout before work.

After work, I went for a heavy upper (swapped days this week), and in spite of the gym being crowded, the workout was great.

was able to hit an assisted bench PR of 245lbs
I really took advantage of those extra calories from yesterday
Weighted pull ups went also well, was able to do multiple sets with 25lbs attached and two sets with the 45lbs attached as well

Macrowise, I still have a couple calories left and I do plan on getting some stuff done online so I'll get quite the amount of food before I head to bed.

Some pics





Back gainzzz

Weight fluctuation for the last week




Have a good night y'all

[TS3g]

GJDM! Mirin strength to weight ratio. And looking joocy as well...again, no homo

[Phoenix9369]

GJDM! Mirin strength to weight ratio. And looking joocy as well...again, no homo

Thanks A LOT bro!
But lettuce be cereal... It is always homo
Nothing wrong with that! huehue

[Phoenix9369]

Tuesday, October 18th

Heavy leg day was a total success!

Hit a Squat PR again, A front Squat rep PR, a 415 Deadlift...
And was able to get some calves and abs work as well....

Went to a sushi buffet and got about 2,5K cals of sushi at least

Glad tomorow I'll be going for cardio so I can sweat it all out.

Feeling a little tired, but that can also be due to me working almost 3 weeks straight.

Sipping on some coffee, I think I have some Carbs left for the day which I will have later tonight.

Will report with weight gains from today's feast later.

[devilbones]

Keep up the good work. What are you using to track your Macros?

[Phoenix9369]

Keep up the good work. What are you using to track your Macros?

Thanks bro !

MyFitnessPal

[jason1052004]

Just saw this, in.

[Phoenix9369]

Just saw this, in.

All board the gainzzz train!

[Phoenix9369]

Wednesday, October 19th

Cardio day
Which means snatch practice
Got my good squat sets in, and after about 20 minutes of squatting a relatively low weight (185)
For sets of 5, the platform was free so I took over.

Form isn't the best but I was able to hit 95lbs on the snatch
Definitely liking this form of cardio, since I feel it will improve my upper body (specially my back) development.

Then I proceeded to do some ab exercises, and got an overall great cardio day.
About to hit the sack, early rising tomorrow as usual.

[Phoenix9369]

Thursday, October 20th

Hypertrophy push day
Felt a little lazy the first couple sets of squats and of the incline bench
But I lowered the weight on the bench to get some warm up work in
And felt a great energy and focus boost and kept going
Shoulders felt nice as well
Added some weighed dips as a tricep exercise

And after some ab work I was out and about

I trained fasted and didn't really get much good besides 2 scoops of whey isolate pre and post workout, because I went to do a little photo shoot in the city.
Immediately after though, I went full yolo mode and stuffed my face with donuts, muffins, and even store bought ramen

So vascularity is great at the moment and the extra sugar and carbs (only 20g extra though) should boost tomorrow's pull day.
Weight has remained constant so I may up calories next week to about 3500 just to see what happens to fat levels.