Any thoughts on body composition? I’m thinking I’m still lean enough to keep bulking for a while. Between this pic and my pic from the summer @ 208, I don’t look much different, except a tiny bit leaner, so I feel like when I reach 208 again, I’ll be even more muscular at less body fat. My arms definitely seem more defined…
[quote]acelement wrote:
@intersweat
Any thoughts on body composition? I’m thinking I’m still lean enough to keep bulking for a while. Between this pic and my pic from the summer @ 208, I don’t look much different, except a tiny bit leaner, so I feel like when I reach 208 again, I’ll be even more muscular at less body fat. My arms definitely seem more defined…[/quote]
You look to have made some good progress there Adam. Shoulders and traps have good proportions especially. I agree with you that you should continue on this bulk for longer.
*side note - my rule for when to stop bulking
Personally I go by fat on my lower back not my abs necessarily. Genetically it’s where I loose fat last and its pretty consistent regardless of what I’ve recently eaten, unlike my front mid-section. If it gets out of hand back there I stop :o)
Again, everyones different. After paying such close attention to your own progress over such a consistent period I think you should be a good judge of what is required now.
Well done so far and keep it up…
Thanks for the input! I remember I thought my shoulders were lacking so I made a huge effort to grow them, and now they’re great! Now I’m focusing on biceps because they’re severely behind pretty much every muscle group, so I’m doing huge work on them.
Speaking of which, today was arms day, and I gotta say, doing reverse and hammer grip variations works my biceps more than traditional supinated grips for things like EZ bars. GREAT workout today!
Oh yeah, and I’m definitely a guy whose abs are the last to go, for sure. Even at 11% I still looked tubby. My numbers were great everywhere BUT my abs…it was like 10mm difference, which kinda sucks. It’s a cortisol thing according to CT – I guess I’m too stressed maybe?
Weighed in today at 198. 2 lbs in 11 days. This is great, this puts me at 10 lbs in 1 month, which is exactly how fast I was gaining back in the summer. It’s like I’m resuming without a hitch!
Chest/back workout was INSANE today. Totally annihilated all of my lifts, everything went up…man I’m REALLY retarded for thinking that I shouldn’t be sipping PWO during my workout…the past 2 workouts have been GREAT and those were the ones I’ve been using a PWO during and after. Clearly the smart move.
Anyway, shoulders/abs tomorrow, and well, yeah I’m bigger. 200 lbs by March 1st!!! Well, technically I’m 200 lbs right now because I just went to a ribhouse with some friends, and let me tell you, it is the greatest post-post workout meal of your life. EVER. 
happy weekend!
Got all 4 workouts in last week. Also, got 6/7 days to meet my calorie requirements. 1 was under, 2 were over (only by 200-300 calories). I consider this a big success. So hopefully I’ll be 200 by the end of the month!
felt a cold coming on today…so im gonna sleep a ton and see if i cant feel more up for a leg day tomorrow. i would rather go at a leg day at 100% than fudge it while im feeling like shit on a sick day.
made 5/7 caloric goals in the past week, which is better than before, and 1 of them was an over calorie day by about 400 calories, so if anything, its more like 6/7!
Hello Adam,
Just to day i remembered seing your first log entry…then i look at your log last night, great progress man…i keep watching once in a while!
By the way i know how you feel…cold…fu…ng cold!!
Hey man thanks for checking in!
Honestly, I’m really surprised I’ve gotten almost 9000 views since June, thanks for reading everyone!
COLD
IS
GONE
Last night I was sneezing non-stop, runny nose…it felt like a legit cold.
I took 2 multivitamins before bed (150% of my zinc), slept for 8.5 hrs, took another multi this morning, slammed down a 1000 calorie breakfast (thanks to many-a-suggestion) and I feel perfect again!
Leg day will be mine…I will make these lifts my bitch!
Damn busy forum tonight!
So I re-applied some of CW’s principles to get a more efficient workout.
Before I was using the metric that I should try to finish everything in 5 sets, but that really isn’t the point. The point is to get 25 reps, with your first set being difficult enough to last at most 6 reps…any more and you need to up the weight next week. So I took that to heart and really increased all of my exercises, and I paid for it.
For example, I moved up to 205 on the front squat, and it took me 10 sets to get to 25. The first set I hit 4 reps, and the rest were 2-3. Now I just gotta stay at this weight until I can hit 7 reps on the first set with perfect form.
Also, I think it may also be due to CW’s principle of “lift as fast as possible, as quickly as possible.” I.e., I’m not resting 2 min between each of those sets, more like 60-75 sec, whenever I feel “ready,” so I bang out a few more reps. So now my next metric is not to increase the load for next week, but to simply accomplish everything in fewer sets, because I’ve clearly hit my upper weight limit on this (and pretty much every other) exercise.
I also didn’t feel like vomitting today, which was good. Probably because I took the whole “stop when your form changes” bit to heart. The moment I lost momentum, I re-racked, which was better for my gag reflex, but not so good for my brain. I clearly felt that my brain/CNS was really TIRED of doing 10 sets of front squat, and I can see how heavy low rep stuff can weigh you down mentally. But I got through it.
Oh well…
And finally, onto eating. I decided now that I’m basically at 200 lbs, its time to put Berardi’s Massive Eating into play. He’s putting me at anywhere from 4445-4715 calories a day, depending on how long I work out, so that kinda sucks only because I’m trying desperately to get 4200 calories in, and now I’ve got to add on another 300+, which is just not trivial because usually what happens is, I make my fat requirements before I make protein, and I make protein requirements before I make carbs.
I don’t have a lot of money, so basically in order to play catch up, I have to slam down tons of cottage cheese and brown rice, which is just so damn filling. I seriously cannot have a dried cup (about 4 servings) of rice at once, even though it provides a much needed 150+ g of carbs that I that me complete my goal.
Ugh, here’s where this all becomes a struggle to get in enough calories…and I could easily cop out and have more protein shakes, but I feel like between 2 for PWO and 1 in the morning, I just don’t want to turn into one of those guys who neglects real food…even though it takes up so much damn real estate in my belly! According to Gyminee, I’ve got another 1100 calories to eat before bed, so it’s time to start cooking up some rice, maybe some tuna, and then have some cottage cheese + strawberry preserves for dessert.
mmm…
EDIT: according to my calipers, I’m up to 14.5% body fat… 
I guess that’s not so bad, so basically I’ve added 10 lbs and only .5% was body fat. At this rate, I’ll be around 15.5-16% when I stop bulking, which I guess is acceptable, and then I’ll simply just cut back to 8-10%, I just hate seeing this part go up…
Ugh I had about 1200 calories an hour before my workout, AND I didn’t take my usual pre-workout meal (including my Beta Alanine), so I got a sugar crash and felt like shit for today’s workout (arms). Nonetheless, I still completed it, despite having super low energy by the 2nd half of the workout.
Last 2 days I haven’t had problems hitting pretty much exactly 4500 calories, hitting about 1.5g/lb protein, ~500g carbs, ~150g fat. My hope is to be 201 by Monday. I’ll post a pic then too.
EDIT: For the record, I’m already starting to feel blech. Maybe I’m just super bloated right now from consuming a ton of calories rather quickly, but I feel like I’m gonna hit 208 and be at 17% again. I’m fucking pissed, I feel like I’m going to hit the same weight and be at the same body fat, and thus never really made any progress. I think I just need to shut up and keep lifting…I MUST GET TO 225!!!
Also, I feel like the smallest 200 lb individual ever. Being naturally tall and lean does not lend well to adding weight…I add on 10 lbs and no one notices…my dad adds 10 lbs (at 5’5’') and everyone thinks he’s the next Arnold! Shit!
DOUBLE EDIT: Naah, I’m not puttin on chub…I just haven’t taken a shit in a day and a half, so I got 7000+ cal backed up. TMI? You decide! I guess my point in sharing this is that everyone gets the “my belly is huge! i wanna cut” woes, and I think Prof X said it a few days ago in a thread, but its when “a skinny kid finally fills up his belly” that’s me!
Today was chest/back day…most lifts went up. Every week at least 2 exercises improve significantly for every day. Monday I will find out if I hit 201…fingers crossed…I better, because I just upped my calorie goals and I’ve made my mark every week.
Days off I should be getting around 3600 calories, while days on I should be getting around 4500-4700, so I’m pretty much right on the mark for that.
We’ll see if it all pays off on Monday…
FEB REVIEW
Didn’t miss a single lifting day.
I was consistently hitting 4-5 nutritional goals a week, usually undershooting if I missed it. For my 2 lb gain in 11 days from Feb 10-20, I averaged ~3770 calories, missing 3 of my 11 nutritional goals by being under an average of 1000 calories or more.
In comparison, the last 9 days my caloric average has been 4390. I have made (or exceeded) all 9 of my caloric goals on those days, and I will certainly fulfill that on the 10th day – weighin day – on Monday. With an average up over 600 calories/day, this should ABSOLUTELY put me on track to reach a solid 201 at weigh-in tomorrow.
This would be 3 lbs in about 10 days, which is what I’m looking for because my last gain works out to about 1.3 lbs / week, and I want to up it to the full 2 lbs / week, which should have me gaining almost exactly 3 lbs in 10 days, bringing me up to 201 tomorrow…meaning I should hit my goal of 225 by May 25th…hurray math!
It’s also snowing like hell, so I may opt to workout on Tuesday, giving me the full 11 days to feed myself to my 3 lb gain in another 11 days.
Got to the gym too late to get on the scale, but signs point to hopeful. I’m so excited for weigh-in tomorrow!
Today was the first day where my numbers stayed the same as last week, but progression continues because I did the same amount of volume in FEWER sets, and in some cases, higher reps…so a few select exercises will be increasing next week.
Out of nowhere, I pulled a MASSIVE 345 RDL for 7, it was awesome! Breathing in when going down really helps…it supports your lower back and abs to act like a weight belt when you’re ready to climb back up! I’m gonna go for 355 next week.
At some point I want to go back to deadlifts because I miss them. I might do them AFTER my bulk to try and maintain strength while decreasing body weight.
If I get in the gym early enough tomorrow, I’ll post the whole sche-bang…weight, pics, and … dare I say it … measurements!
I think I have a terribly small 44’’ chest right now and 15’’ arms (cold, unflexed), which I GUESS isn’t too bad for 200+ lbs, but to me it seems REALLY small for this weight…thoughts?
Sorry to double post but I was bored and thought this was neat:
on the left we have the pic I took 2 weeks ago @ 198lbs
on the right we have a front and back pic I took over the summre @ 197 lbs.
Same weight, BIG difference in body comp, which is encouraging because it seems to me that I’m in better shape at the same weight than I was over the summer. Agreed?
YES
2 0 1 lbs!!!
I’ve got this down to a science…
Measurements and pics coming up sometime later tonight…
AGREED! Excellent work bro keep it up. Everytime I read through this log it get me pumped
200 LBS - A COMPARISON
Now that I have reached 200 lbs again (201 to be exact), I want to see how my numbers compare, and if I am doing better.
SUMMER MEASUREMENTS @ 200 LBS
neck: 15 3/4’’
chest: 45’’
arms (unflexed): 15’’
wrist: 7’’
waist: 34’’
thigh: 25’’
calf: 15 1/2’’
BODYFAT: > 15%
CURRENT MEASUREMENTS @ 201 LBS
neck 16 1/8’’
chest 43 3/8’’
arm unflexed 15 1/2’’
wrist 6 7/8’’
thigh 25 1/8’’
waist 33 5/8’’
calf 15 5/8’’
BODYFAT: 14.7%
Bigger by almost 1/2’’ all the way around, and almost 1/2’’ smaller waist! The only anomaly is my chest…how is my chest THAT much smaller? I’m guessing because because I’m thinner, and therefore less man boobs.
Either way, that’s me, 200lbs from the summer and 201lbs now…no poses, no sucking in of the stomach…and all of those numbers were taken today, which are DEAD cold, because I’m not working out today and it actually is pretty cold in here haha. T
houghts? Suggestions? Want to ramble?
Bench day today which went well.
A few observations:
-
Last time I was 200 I said “I feel like a really small 200.” I said the same thing a few days ago.
-
For the 3 lb gain in the last 11 days, 1.2 of those lbs were fat and 1.8 were muscle. So my caloric utilization is 60% muscle to fat. I’ve heard the OPTIMAL is 66% or 2 lbs muscle for every 1 lb fat, so I guess I’m pretty close. Could I be doing better? Generally I’ve been at 45-28-27 (carb-pro-fat) and always making my minimum requirements for fat and protein…so I don’t really know if I could be doing better.
My goal is to reach 190 lbs of lean body mass, so it looks like I’ll have to balloon up to 230 to do that, but my hope is maybe doing carb cycling or some sort of fat loss routine will help cut fat and perhaps gain 3-5 lbs lean mass so I don’t have to soar up to 18% body fat.
This all seems unavoidable to me, but my hope is that if I cut back down to 200 from 225, and utilize the same 78% fat loss (or better) from the summer, I should be 200 @ 10% body fat. Ugh…this is gonna be such an ugly road!
finished up all of my workouts this week. went very well. sticking to my diet.
not much to say. booya!
actually broke up with my girlfriend (for real) this time…and i havent eaten much this weekend. plus, with a family emergency, i’m at a very emotional low.
we’ll see how tomorrow’s workout goes.