[center]June 20, 2011 Upper Body[/center]
BB Flat Bench: 275*3 280*3 285*2 265*4
Pullups: 25*5 25*4 20*4 20*4
DB Flat Bench: 105*6 110*4
Rope Pullups: 5, 6, 5
Push-Up Position Plank Press: 1:30
Good session! Felt great to get some reps back on flat benching, had been tailing off there for a while. Decided to go weighted on pullups; I feel my form is better with weight strapped to me. Got FOUR reps back on the dumbbell flat benching. Rope Pullups I added a rep on each set from the last time I did 3 sets. Also added 15 seconds onto Plank Press. Great workout. Tomorrow’s double will be upper body conditioning, and then squats in the P.M. Can’t wait!
[center]June 21, 2011 Conditioning on the Solstice [/center]
Plyo Bench Pushups: 9,9,10
Rope Slams: 30,35,35
DB Farmers: 100*1
Happy Summer Solstice everyone! Days are only getting shorter from here. Good conditioning workout. I realized I slam the ropes so hard that the TRX station that I anchor the rope too actually jumps and shimmies across the gym floor. Whoops.
Would you say you have any regrets about the “infamous” manner in which you chose to bulk? In retrospect would you do things differently?
[center]June 21, 2011[/center]
Squats: 3005 3152 3351
Front Squats: 1853 2052
BB Box Front Squats: 1355
Rope Pullups: 5,5
One-Arm Plank KB Drags: 28KG
Push-Up-Position-Plank-Press: 2:00
Missed last squatting session, and one before that all the racks were taken. Just getting back into it this week. Next week weight should feel much lighter. Adding Front Squats back in as well. The reps were low considering the weights, but I kept my form pristine, elbows up the whole time, no leaning forward, chest up, deep depth. Also tried BB Front Box squats for fun. Plank drags with heaviest kb in the gym. Next time I’ll take a couple lighter kbs and tie them to the end of the rope. VERY happy with the plank press, oddly I’m happiest about that probably out of all the stuff in this workout. Good times!
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
Would you say you have any regrets about the “infamous” manner in which you chose to bulk? In retrospect would you do things differently?[/quote]
LOL Infamous. I love it!
Regrets from Previous Bulk: NO MORE WHOLE MILK lol. What I’ll do differently next time:
Next time I bulk I’m keeping the fats down. I peaked at around 250g of fat per day on this bulk. This next time I’ll keep it to around 125g of fat, maybe 150 if I feel like eating an avocado. Even if a lot of the fats I had came from Coconut Oil, EVOO, Walnuts, etc., at some point you take in so much fat that the sources really don’t matter. When you couple those “healthy” fat sources with the milk it just lead to a ton of adipose tissue gain.
To make up for the less fats, I’ll be adding carbs in more. But whereas previously I just had them all the time with every meal, and also from the shit ton of milk, this time I’m going to be tactical with them. I’m going to have some carbs in the morning in my shake, most of which will be from blueberries, with most of the remainder from the 12 oz. of milk I use. From then until pre-workout I’ll have only trace carbs, probably none, or however much is in an oz. of walnuts. Pre workout will be a quick converting carbohydrate. I like apples & bananas, so probably will come from that. Post workout I’ll get the bulk of my carbs, probably in the form of brown rice, with occasional post-workout pasta.
Overall I’m just going to be more precise with my nutrition. This past time I took a shotgun approach, and clearly hit my target. This next time it’s going to be more like a sniper with an m95. The way I did it this past time was carbs most meals, a half gallon of milk in the hours leading up to bed, and a half pound of peanut butter with my 3/4 lbs. of steak for dinner. Will NOT be doing that again.
I also rapidly added calories during the previous bulk. I went from my base of about 2800 calories per day to 5000 in the space of two weeks. This next time I’ll add them a bit slower, and I won’t go to 5000 again. I’m at about 2200 right now on this cut, which is probably right around where I’ll be for maintenance. I’ll probably go up to 2700 the first week, see how that goes for a while then go to 3200 or so. I can’t imagine going higher than maybe 3500-3700 next time.
[center]June 22, 2011[/center]
Sprints: 100m*6
Air was like soup today! Overcast, drizzling for the last 2 sprints. I hate days like that. I finished my 5th sprint at the opposite end from where my regular sneakers and water bottle was, so rather than walk back I sprinted. Honestly on the last 2 sprints I felt like I hit a brick wall on the last 15m or so. I was still making the sprinting motion but I couldn’t have been going faster than a jog. It was like my body just turned off.
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
Would you say you have any regrets about the “infamous” manner in which you chose to bulk? In retrospect would you do things differently?[/quote]
Liked this question actually; put it here too: http://hurrrrrrrrr.blogspot.com/
Surprised to be the first to ask you that around here, considering hardly anybody has the balls to do what you did. I’m more of a lean gains guy myself. I guess I’ve always sympathized with the tortoise over the hare…lol.
LOL, yeah I hear ya. I just wanted to get the muscle as quickly as possible. It sucked having to keep buying new jeans though as I outgrew each pair every 3 weeks lol
I dont know dude, I think you knew what you wanted and you made it happen.
I saw the pictures of you lean so I dont think youll have a major issue shedded the blubber you put on.
Great to hear the cut is going well, dieting f**king sucks doesnt it? The saddest part is im on 2100 kcals daily(I am always hungry lol) and am still eating more than most of my family lulz.
As for my goals, same as you dude. Cut the fat I gained during my failed and I mean FAILED bulk and try again 
There is something empowering about the gym…Nowhere else are you as in control of your own destiny.
How much lbm did you gain on the bulk? Do you know why it failed? If you learn something from it, it’s not really a failure.
I am tired of dieting. I just wish I could eat several boxes of pasta at this point.
[center]June 23, 2011[/center]
Evil 7 Complex: 100 lbs.
Battling Ropes: 40, 30
Ab Wheel Rollouts: 8,9
[i]Typical morning conditioning session. I’m starting to lean out pretty well. May post some pictures on here, haven’t decided yet. I’m not sure if I’ve posted about complexes here or not. If you search the T-Nation article base there’s also several more articles on them here. In case you don’t know what a complex is here’s a description: “A complex is where you pick up a barbell, perform several reps of an exercise with it, then move right into another exercise, then another, and another, and maybe one or two more. Then you see black spots, get all ripped 'n sh*t…”
So yeah. My complex of choice is from Alwyn Cosgrove:Deadlift, Romanian Deadlift, Bentover Row
Power Clean, Front Squat, Push Press, Back Squat, Good Morning. On round one, perform 6 reps of each exercise, moving from one exercise to the next, never letting go of the bar, never resting. Remember, you’ll finish all six reps of each exercise before moving to the next one.Rest 90 seconds after the first circuit, then perform 5 reps of each in the next circuit; rest 90 seconds, 4 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 3 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 2 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, and then do 1 rep of each. I don’t do the good mornings however, since by that point of the complex I can’t keep good form on them.
Rest of workout went well. I enjoy the battling ropes, and though I prefer blast strap fallouts on the TRX for anti-flexion work, the ab wheel works as an occasional alternate. Good session! [/i]
[center]June 23, 2011[/center]
DB Incline Bench: 1008 1054 908
DB Rows: 10010 10510 1108
Dips: 8, 6 - hurt shoulder/clavicle
Neutral Grip Pullups: 8,8,5
Ball Pushups: 12, 10
Little disappointed I didn’t do a bit better on the incline dumbbell bench, but I’ll live. Haven’t led off with it in ages so I decided to switch it up. DB Rows went well…I’m never doing dips again. Every few months I try them and they ALWAYS hurt either my clavicle or insertion point of the pec at my shoulder. This time it felt like they were going to tear the insertion point, so I stopped. Ball pushups were added for a change of pace. They were actually pretty challenging. For the uninitiated, here’s a video (I did the first kind he does)
[center]June 24, 2011[/center]
Bench Plyo Pushups: 9,8,7
Rope Slams: 40,30,30
Rope Pullups: 5, 6
Push-Up Position Plank: 1:10, 1:13
Pretty tired upper body wise here. Won’t have a chance to deadlift later today, got a friend coming up to Boston to walk the Freedom Trail. Tried doing the plank again, couldn’t match the 2:00 I got the other day. My body is just decimated right now from the 2 a days, in a good way. Leaning out quite well. Will post pics soon I think. Also, need a way to weigh down the TRX frame, if anyone has an idea, I’d love to hear it. I use it for an anchor on rope slams, and I do them so hard the frame jumps several feet. Tried using heavy bags and weight plates today, worked on the 2nd set, the 3rd set not so much…
[quote]AccipiterQ wrote:
There is something empowering about the gym…Nowhere else are you as in control of your own destiny.
How much lbm did you gain on the bulk? Do you know why it failed? If you learn something from it, it’s not really a failure.
I am tired of dieting. I just wish I could eat several boxes of pasta at this point.
[/quote]
I gained about 10 pounds lbm me thinks, im defiantly bigger than when I started.
One thing im coming across more and more is a very simple idea if you want to be huge like most bodybuilders and that is, at some point you need to gain A LOT of weight.
Ive been asking most of the bigger guys and the common message seems to be the same “unless I gained that amount of weight I never could have gained that amount of muscle”
Nom, pasta lol
[quote]Oregand wrote:
[quote]AccipiterQ wrote:
There is something empowering about the gym…Nowhere else are you as in control of your own destiny.
How much lbm did you gain on the bulk? Do you know why it failed? If you learn something from it, it’s not really a failure.
I am tired of dieting. I just wish I could eat several boxes of pasta at this point.
[/quote]
I gained about 10 pounds lbm me thinks, im defiantly bigger than when I started.
One thing im coming across more and more is a very simple idea if you want to be huge like most bodybuilders and that is, at some point you need to gain A LOT of weight.
Ive been asking most of the bigger guys and the common message seems to be the same “unless I gained that amount of weight I never could have gained that amount of muscle”
Nom, pasta lol[/quote]
10 lbs of LBM isn’t bad…how long did it take?
[center]June 25, 2011[/center]
7KG KB Slam Tabata: 20, 21, 21, 21, 21, 20, 20, 21
bonus conditioning session. Haven’t done a tabata of these in like 6 weeks. That’s way too long. Nothing destroys me like tabatas of ball slams. The ball’s extra bouncy so I catch it pretty high on the rebound and slam it back down; that’s how I end up doing so many in each 20 second interval.
[center]June 26, 2011[/center]
29KG KB Swing Tabata: 13,12,11,12,12,12,11,12
High + Low (34") Plyo Box Jumps: 30
Seated Plyo Box Jumps: High (22.5")*15 High+Low (34")15
Paloff Presses: 503
Good stuff, instead of 2 sets of plyo box jumps, added in a set of seated box jumps. I enjoyed them quite a bit actually. Good stuff. Here’s a video of seated box jumps.
[center]June 26, 2011[/center]
[i]I’ve noticed lately, and believe me I enjoy this, that people at my gym copy a ton of what I do. It’s pretty flattering actually, I’ve gotten a lot of help and a ton of ideas over the years from places like T-Nation, and people like Corey Grant; it’s nice to be the one passing on knowledge now. First it was wearing Vibrams; I saw maybe 2 people in 3 years wearing them at my gym. Within 2 weeks of me using them, and a ton of people asking me about them, I saw about a dozen people wearing them. We had a rope that rarely got used as well, I started doing a ton of rope work, and again shortly after it seems like everyone is. What really surprised me though was these past couple weeks I started doing plank position kb rope drags. I have never in my life seen anyone ever do these, and actually got the idea from the video at the end of this post. The video uses a prowler, but since we don’t have one, I improvised by tying kettlebells to the end of the rope and dragging them. A day or two later I went to grab the rope for some work and as I picked it up out of the pile there were two kettlebells tied to the end of it, not from me. It’s such a random exercise, and I’m assuming that’s what the person had tied the kb’s to it for, I was surprised someone else there gave it a shot. Hopefully whoever tried them enjoyed the exercise as much as I do.
[/i]
also, as always, cross-posts on the blog:
T-Nation doesn’t load well from my droid, so I figure if anyone’s on a mobile device it may be easier to view the blog instead.
