I decided to give BBB var.1 a go, so I figured I’d write a bit about it for anyone interested in doing it.
Age: 26
Ht: 6’
Wt: 178 (start)
Bf: 10% (start)
TM: squat 235, dead 320, bench 210, Ohp 140, power Clean 170.
diet: 3500-4000 cal, between 250-350 grams protein/day.
I’ve done bbb with 50% previously. Thought I’d take advantage of the food surplus over winter and try this out as a personal challenge. The ONLY thing I’m adding is power cleans, some jumps, and some throws before my lifts, along with the occasional band pull-aparts while at the office. Seeing as my TMs are fairly low, I figured I might as well do this now while the weights aren’t too hard to recover from.
Week 1 wasn’t too bad, had to break up the sets of ohp. Squats and bench have been smooth. Week 2 deadlifts however were another matter entirely; looking forward rather masochistically to week 3. I pull doh until it becomes a limiting factor. I am without a doubt deloading on week 4, and plan on doing a second cycle after this. I’ll check my new weight & bf% upon completion of cycle 2.
My traps are almost perpetually sore, and my patellar tendonitis is beginning to flare up pretty nicely again. My gf is a nurse and is helping me out recovery wise.
[quote]Beatso wrote:
Wow… that is an insane amount of protein per day.[/quote]
It’s close to 2g/bw daily on the high end. It’s what’s recommended for the rp challenge, and I felt in this case too much would be much better than too little. 2 or 3 50g shakes and 3-4 meals based around a 40-60g./protein chunk of meat like salmon or beef daily and I’m there.
Good for you for eating like you actually give a shit about your progress.
Make sure you are taking enough rest between for 5x10 work - this is not a race to see how fast you can get your workout done. Do it right! Good luck on your quest as it’s refreshing to see someone finally eat with purpose. You made my day.
[quote]Jim Wendler wrote:
Good for you for eating like you actually give a shit about your progress.
Make sure you are taking enough rest between for 5x10 work - this is not a race to see how fast you can get your workout done. Do it right! Good luck on your quest as it’s refreshing to see someone finally eat with purpose. You made my day. [/quote]
People are always complaining about the difficulty of the programs - I say eating right and resting enough is just as tough, at least it is to me.
[quote]Jim Wendler wrote:
Good for you for eating like you actually give a shit about your progress.
Make sure you are taking enough rest between for 5x10 work - this is not a race to see how fast you can get your workout done. Do it right! Good luck on your quest as it’s refreshing to see someone finally eat with purpose. You made my day. [/quote]
Thanks for the assuring words Jim, and for creating such a badass program and template. I like to stare at each meal as if it alone will be the sole factor between my success and failure.
I’m glad to hear you mention the rest periods as well. I was getting a little worried as I’ve been resting quite a while between my deadlift sets. Good to know that I’m on the right track.
People are always complaining about the difficulty of the programs - I say eating right and resting enough is just as tough, at least it is to me.[/quote]
The phone app myfitnesspal has really helped keep me honest about how much I’m eating. It even estimates how much you’ll weigh after 5 weeks each day. If it’s late, and it says I’ll have lost 3 lbs. in 5 a five week period if I don’t eat more, it scares me right into the kitchen.
People are always complaining about the difficulty of the programs - I say eating right and resting enough is just as tough, at least it is to me.[/quote]
The phone app myfitnesspal has really helped keep me honest about how much I’m eating. It even estimates how much you’ll weigh after 5 weeks each day. If it’s late, and it says I’ll have lost 3 lbs. in 5 a five week period if I don’t eat more, it scares me right into the kitchen.[/quote]
Just installed and tried Myfitnesspal and it is awesome. Had every food/supplement I was looking for, including Biotest, and apparently I consumed 3,400 calories and 250g of protein today. Doesn’t seem to be properly accounting for my Training this morning (squats and deads), but perhaps I need to fool around with it some more. Nice tip. Thank you.
Yeah it only factors cardio, So you have to estimate the caloric cost of the workout and factor it in accordingly.
Final update:
Only ran this template for one cycle. I would have loved to do another however life’s obligations limited my training time (Holidays, work, etc.)
I was getting great gains, and my focus and work capacity really improved. I got a stomach illness the week after Thanksgiving and lost a fair amount of weight, so I can’t measure exactly how much I gained in LBM post-cycle, but it was noticeable (I’m still up a few pounds) Appetite became ravenous during the cycle.
Week 3 was tough, real tough. Deadlifts were the most difficult, as I found myself resting for 5-10 minutes between sets 3-5. Most of the time I got the full 10 reps/set of the BBB work, but I had to break up the sets more than a couple of times. I had to really scale back the conditioning on this one.
What I lost in size via my stomach illness, I gained in a new level of drive through this particular cycle. AMRAP Down-set squats and deadlifts don’t feel like much of a burden right now.