My metabolism is slow, I start accumulating fat when I get over about 2200 calories. But I think you’re right about the calories, I really probably should’ve eaten more and I did some days(usually on the weekend) but I often didn’t have the appetite to eat much more and I hate gaining fat. I’m sure if I were to gradually crank up my calories, my metabolism may catch up.
Dave, thank you for your review.
I can’t emphasise enough how much I appreciate , real life program experience with real people -honest, specific, consistent.
Thank you so much.
And as I am interested in Fortitude training myself, I will now check your log here, so keep us posted.
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It honestly sounds like you made the right call. A program that’s going to grow muscle is going to FORCE you to eat more. You’ll have no other choice. It will either drive up your appetite and eating will happen, OR the program will be so demanding that you NEED to eat to complete it. Sometimes both even. It sounds like this one did neither to you, and forcing calories for no reason would have had the results you’re talking about (unneeded fat gain). Hoping that you’ll get that experience with your next approach.
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Being above an amount of calories thats below a sedentary persons maintenance level is far from “forcing calories”. Come on now
OK matt
I figured i’d get that sort of an answer!
Me too 
The daily calorie maintenance level for an active 170lb man is between 2300-2500 cals a day, depending who you cite. So an extra 500 calories, at least, on those days would be very beneficial, far from force feeding.
Thank you for explaining how to grow muscle to me
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Are you always a pompous ass, or do you just play one on forums? Some on here would like to know how to do it naturally
What’s the point of contention here?
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Like how I did it?
I have been nothing but civil with you. I very much do not appreciate the name calling Matt.
Instead of doing this in Dave’s log, you are welcome to discuss in mine.
I genuinely don’t know.
@T3hPwnisher Thank you for the feedback and I do agree with your point. Aside from the gym and softball on the weekends, I am very sedentary. I only get about 2,500-3,500 steps a day depending on whether it’s a workout day or not. My job is very sedentary, just at a desk most of the day and then I come home at night and relax, watch tv, play video games, or draw. 2 workouts into Fortitude and I’m already eating more. I just grabbed 4 chocolate milks from the McDonald’s by my gym. Working out intense for an hour vs 15 minutes makes a big difference.
@hogar thank you for the kind response! I look forward to having you along!
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Good job on creating a valid before/after, and also on your overall results. 
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Thanks man. I had my brother retake the photos a couple of times to try to get the pose and angle exactly the same haha
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This mornings workout was another brutal one. I forgot to do my stretches until the end of the workout so may not have gotten max benefit there. My whole posterior chain is fried, from my spinal erectors, to my hamstrings and glutes. I definitely overestimated on bench and will try to pyramid up a bit more intelligently next time, I also may try to adjust my form in rows next week as I wasn’t quite connecting with the muscles quite like I wanted. Oh well, I guess this is the week where I figure this stuff out.
Upper Load/Lower Pump
Deadlift 315x5
Barbell Rows 225x7
Bench Press 275x3 half rom,225x10(full ROM)
Overhead Press 135x5
Nautilus Leg Press “8”x42
Prone Back Raises 25
Toe Presses “18”x37
Stretches were 70 seconds in the bottom of a dip and 70 second dead hang
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What does this workout look like, without heavy piracy obviously?
Is it a case of work up to the listed topset or is there more to it?
Yes I pyramid up to a top heavy set with the loading sets. I just do a few warmups to get, well, warm and ready for the pump sets which are just a light weight done to failure in the 15-25 rep range, although I’ve gone higher rep than that on some of those pump sets. Friday and Saturday will be muscle rounds, a muscle round is 6 sets of 4 reps with a weight that is about your 15 rep max, each set separated by about 5 deep breaths or 10 seconds. There will be one failure point, in the 4th or 5th set (or 6th set if you have yet to reach failure on any prior sets In which case you don’t stop at 4 reps and just go until you can’t complete another rep). This is best done on machines or dumbbells so you can easily drop the weight to one that will allow you to finish the remaining sets without hitting failure again. I know it may sound complicated on paper, but it’s pretty simple in practice. I like that with this program I get so much variety in stimulus, from heavy work sets, to lighter pump sets, to the muscle rounds which are somewhere in between. And of course I love the focus on progressive overload.
Monday is Lower Load/Upper Pump
Wednesday is Upper Load/Lower Pump
Friday is Muscle Rounds for Legs and Arms
Saturday is Muscle Rounds for the rest of the Upper Body
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Another thing I was thinking about was that my scale weight increased by 6 pounds. I think this would suggest that I was in a caloric excess in total from the beginning to the end. I’m thinking that if I had engorged myself more frequently by eating a lot more calories, I would’ve gained a decent amount of fat and that would make it harder to measure exact progress in muscle gain.
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