[quote]wildcat37 wrote:
Major thank you for taking the time to post your plan. I am currently 2 months into the plazma program; I joined Meadows’ website and have changed some things due to the need for variation.
At any rate, thanks again. Your results are obvious and motivating.[/quote]
I’m happy to help, let me know if you have any more questions
[quote]myself1992 wrote:
[quote]zraw wrote:
In reply to ur question id put.emphasis on quads and triceps, imo
[/quote]
Thanks, I’ll modify my training accordingly, hamstrings as well or just quads? I’ll add a widowmaker set after day 1 for tris and do the same for quads or fst-7 for the leg extensions, not sure yet[/quote]
Everyone can use more hams 
but I dont think they “need” special attention
[quote]zraw wrote:
[quote]myself1992 wrote:
[quote]zraw wrote:
In reply to ur question id put.emphasis on quads and triceps, imo
[/quote]
Thanks, I’ll modify my training accordingly, hamstrings as well or just quads? I’ll add a widowmaker set after day 1 for tris and do the same for quads or fst-7 for the leg extensions, not sure yet[/quote]
Everyone can use more hams but I dont think they “need” special attention[/quote]
Everybody could use more ham?? you damn right!! Bacon too!!
Haha im having a double cheeseburger with mushrooms and bacon from five guys right now trololol
Definitely looking solid in the first set of pics. Good balance, good size, yeah, a few areas can come up, but to be honest, I’m not sure if the triceps are weak (relatively), or if your arm is just positioned a bit too low on that side chest shot.
Calves could come up as well. I’ve gotten good results the last several years by hitting my soleus and gastroc on separate days with different rep ranges.
I’ll follow along, and if you decide to do a show I’m sure it’ll be a great journey.
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Definitely looking solid in the first set of pics. Good balance, good size, yeah, a few areas can come up, but to be honest, I’m not sure if the triceps are weak (relatively), or if your arm is just positioned a bit too low on that side chest shot.
Calves could come up as well. I’ve gotten good results the last several years by hitting my soleus and gastroc on separate days with different rep ranges.
I’ll follow along, and if you decide to do a show I’m sure it’ll be a great journey.
S[/quote]
Thanks for the input Stu! Alright I’ll work on bringing up my quads and tris then. I’ve honestly tried just about everything for my calves I’ve done super high volume once a week, the DC style calf training, hitting them 2x, 3x, 4x even 5x a week with varying volume, intensity, and exercises and they just stay the same. And I’d do that for at least two months to see if I’d see growth.
Did back tonight
Lat pulldown
210x14
Bent over row
315x8
Deadlift
455x4
HS shrugs
4ppsx9
DB curls
55x5
DB Preacher curls
40x12
Abs
few sets of abs nothing special
You only lift 3 days a week?
Also, how many cals do you shoot for a day? Looking really good and you seem not to overcomplicate shit so that’s always cool!
height?
also i’d place your bodyfat around 10 or so (im no expert, but ive done the whole precontest gig)
[quote]pwr_speed_size wrote:
You only lift 3 days a week?
Also, how many cals do you shoot for a day? Looking really good and you seem not to overcomplicate shit so that’s always cool! [/quote]
I was lifting 6-7x a week since January and each session was crazy with 6-10 exercises at least 4 sets each many to failure and a lot of intensity techniques so I kind of needed that break haha. And I don’t shoot for a set amount of calories I just eat when I’m hungry but they’ve been around 5-6k this past week
Regarding diet, this is what Brickhead posted in another thread and its pretty much exactly what I do
From Timberwolf’s Myspace page post years ago:
Kelly Bagget summed it up well here…:
Unless you just have really good genetics or take steroids the only real way to accomplish what you want is to take a 2 steps forward one step back approach. Building a significant amount of muscle without adding some fat is about impossible for most people.
Contrary to popular belief, providing your basic protein requirements are met and you’re training, the “composition”, “timing”, and “frequency” of your diet are not as important as many think and are not as important as your total caloric intake. Let’s run through a few myths right quick.
How Important is the Complicated Stuff?
For the most part, whatever complicated nutrition scheme you’re on is not all that relevant as to what your body does with excess calories in regard to muscle gain as long as you’re eating enough protein. Activity itself along with the total calories that you eat and the endocrine signals your body sends (genetics) are much more important. In order of importance the major factors would be:
Minimums
What are the minimums? Well, there is no minimum level of carbohydrate, - Carbs are just energy. If you wanted to get nitpicky you could say that 100 grams of carbohydrate would be required per day to maintain enough blood glucose to think straight, but that’s not necessarily essential.
For protein the minimum generally runs anywhere from 1 gram per lb of bodyweight to 1.5 grams per lb of bodyweight, depending on the total caloric intake and activity. The less calories consumed and the greater the activity, the more protien you need.
For fat intake, fat is also just an energy source, the only fats required are essential fatty acids. You can get those by eating cold-water fish, or supplementing with 6-10 grams of fish oil per day. More essential fatty acids aren’t going to do anything anabolically to magically transform your body.
Setting up a Diet Based On Minimums
Say I weigh 200 lbs and I want to set up a diet. Based on the minimums I’d be consuming:
200 grams of protein (1 gram per pound of bodyweight for 800 calories)
100 grams of carbohydrate (100 grams to fuel the brain 400 calories)
6 grams of fish oil caps (60 calories).
That means my baseline diet would be 1260 calories. I would obviously never go under that. From that point I would add additional carbs and fats to get my energy status where I wanted it.
Total Calories
Total calories refers to how much energy you need to take in to meet your daily energy demands. Take in less calories (energy) then you need and your body will either:
A: Burn fat
B: Burn muscle
Take in more calories then you need and your body will either:
A: Store the excess as fat
B: Use the excess to promote muscle growth.
Partitioning
You create the “stimulus” for muscle growth through training. You provide the raw material (food), for the growth. Once you’ve done those 2 things the rest is up to your body. How many calories can you direct into the “muscular” compartment and how many calories are directed into your "fat’ compartment? We refer to that as nutrient partitioning.
Some people will gain 1 lb of fat for every pound of muscle they put on. Others will gain 3 lbs of fat per every 1 pound of muscle. Others will gain 4 lbs of muscle per every 1 pound of fat. The amount of muscle building in relation to fat building that goes on once you’ve provided excess raw materials is primarily determined by your genetics and how fast you attempt to gain weight (how much above maintenance you eat). If you don’t believe me about the gentics all you have to do is hang around a group of division I athletes for a while - see who has the best physiques then watch those people eat.
Genetics
Genetic expression is 1/2 DNA and 1/2 environment. It can be affected by many things including activity, psychology, nutrition, and drugs but for the most part genetics are genetics. Obviously, there are major differences between different individuals but the ability to cause physique alterations can even change in a given individual over time.
The main thing that changes genetic expression in a given individual more then anything else is not what type of diet they’re on, how they combine their meals, or what supplements they take, it is their activity and their age. Activity is obvious and 100% controllable but the only thing that can come close to over-riding the effect of aging is drugs. Go look at the diet and physique of a 70 + yr old bodybuilder like Jack Lalanne and compare it to the diet and physique of a 22 yr old Jack Lalanne. At 22 Jack Lalanne could probably gain 3 lbs of muscle per every 1 pound of fat. At 70+ he probably gains 4 lbs of fat per every 1 lb of muscle. He’s still Jack Lalanne, but the difference in response to his environment (training and nutrition) is night and day. Now, put Jack Lalanne on a cycle of testosterone and he could probably come fairly close to duplicating what he could do in his 30’s or 40’s.
What about fat loss?
Ok. Now, when it comes to losing weight, the example I gave above with the twins also holds true. Assuming one consumes the minimum levels of protein, the amount of fat vs muscle they lose is mainly determined by the caloric deficit and genetics, not nutrient timing or whether they consume eggs, chicken, low carb, high carb, or the $100 protein powder.
Therefore, if we again have two twins wanting to lose weight and they each weigh 150 lbs and require 3000 calories per day, - and we have one eat a 2500 calorie diet with 150 grams of protein and the rest made up of expensive supplements, specifically timed nutrients, and only “health” foods, while the other twin eats 2500 calories per day consisting of 150 grams of protein along with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and crackers, once again there will be very little difference in the effectiveness of either plan since the primary determining factors are the genetics and daily totals, which are the same.
Exceptions
Now, if we take a person who consumes only 30 grams of protein per day and the rest sugar and compare that to a person consuming 150 grams of protein per day and a wholesome diet, then yes, we will see some differences because one guy is only consuming 30 grams of protein thus the minimums aren’t being met.
If we take one person dieting on a 500 calorie deficit compared to another person dieting on a 1500 calorie deficit then yes, one will lose a lot more muscle then the other because one is trying to lose a pound per week while ther other is trying to lose about 5 lbs per week.
If we take one person trying to gain muscle on a 500 calorie excess while another person is trying to gain muscle on a 2000 calorie excess, obviously the 2nd person is likely going to gain a lot more fat in the process.
If person A does an Atkins diet while person B does a south beach diet while person C does a Pritikin diet they can all get the same results. The primary difference between them is that some diets make it easier to consume lower calories. A low carbohydrate diet, for example, tends to blunt appetite. A high carbohydrate diet tends to stimulate appetite for a lot of people.
The Real Anabolic Secret
Ok, now having said all that and getting back to your original question, if you’re gonna build muscle without getting fat you can either manipulate your endocrine signaling or you can manipulate your dietary totals.
The first consists of taking steroids. The primary benefit of steroids isn’t that they allow you to get big it’s that they improve nutrient partitioning and allow a person to get big without turning into a fat piece of crap in the process.
Anybody can get big. If you wanna get 250 lbs of muscle all you need to do is train a few times per week with basic movements and eat yourself up to about 400 lbs of scale weight. You’ll be fat as heck and look like crap but it’s not that hard. Hell, sumo wrestlers carry more muscle then either bodybuilders or powerlifters and they don’t even train much less take steroids.
Manipulating Diet
Other options including manipulating your dietary totals. This might consist of:
The number of weight gain days and the number of weight loss days depends onyour metabolism and genetics. The basic tenet is that you put on muscle and accept some fat gain for a certain period of time and then you take off the fat that you gained. At the end of each phase you should be a bit heavier and just as lean.
Some people do well with a 5 day high calorie phase and a 2 day low calorie phase. Others do well with a 7 day high calorie phase and a 2 day low calorie phase. Others do well with a 13 day high calorie phase a 3 day low calorie phase. Others do well with a 2-3 week high calories phase and a 1-2 weeks low calorie phase. How you set it up doesn’t really matter.
Here’s an example of a 14 day 11 days high/3 days low split:
Mon- full body workout - high calories (maintenance + 500)
Wed- lower body workout - high calories
Fri- upper body workout- high calories
Mon - upper body workout- high calories
Wed - lower body workout - high calories
Fri- low calories + light full body workout
Sat- low calories (maintenance minus 500) interval sprints/cardio
Sun- low calories/ treadmill walking
Mon- Start over with day one
Hopefully that gives you some ideas.
I will add that my personal perference is a low to medium carb intake along with a relatively high fat intake mainly because I don’t want to rely on only lean protein sources to get my protein intake. The lower carb intake also lets you ‘appear leaner’ even when bulking up because of reduced water retention. I think I’ve only measured my sodium intake for one period in my life… so IMO your water and carb consumption is more of a determining factor for water retention than sodium is.
So I am now a proponent of the idea that at least in terms of partitioning or improving body composition only, health isssues aside, eating clean is not a necessity. Of course I still recognize the fact that the health factor shouldn’t really ever be totally separated or ignored. But in the short run…if your in your target caloric range, if certain macros are met (protein and EFA requirements)… then enjoy that burger while dieting.
[quote]Mr. Walkway wrote:
height?
also i’d place your bodyfat around 10 or so (im no expert, but ive done the whole precontest gig)[/quote]
yeah I saw the before/after pics good job on that bro, I’m 6 ft
Just contacted Phil Hernon to handle my diet/training I want to experiment a bit with what I’m currently doing for 4-8 more weeks so I’ll probably start working with him after that
[quote]myself1992 wrote:
Just contacted Phil Hernon to handle my diet/training I want to experiment a bit with what I’m currently doing for 4-8 more weeks so I’ll probably start working with him after that[/quote]
Phil Hernon is a solid coach, very health-oriented
[quote]Mr. Walkway wrote:
[quote]myself1992 wrote:
Just contacted Phil Hernon to handle my diet/training I want to experiment a bit with what I’m currently doing for 4-8 more weeks so I’ll probably start working with him after that[/quote]
Phil Hernon is a solid coach, very health-oriented[/quote]
That’s the main reason I chose him, also his training and ideas and specially diet I’ve found work pretty good for me
Did chest/shoulders/tris today, was feeling a little bit fuller/bigger so I weighted myself and was 236 at the gym wtf…
Here’s what I did
Bench Press
275x8 (up 3 reps)
Decline Bench
275x10 (up 50 lbs and 2 reps)
DB flyes
55x10
55x11 (went up 5 lbs for both sets)
HS shoulder press
3ppsx8 (went up 3 reps)
Lateral raises
40x10
50x11 (increased both sets by 5 lbs)
Rear delt flyes
180x10 (up 2 reps and 10 lbs)
Pushdowns
110x8 (up 4 reps)
Overhead tri extensions
100x8 (up one rep)
Did some tri work for my left arm after that, 1 set of oh extensions and of pushdowns
05/06/13
Weight: 226.2
Bodyfat %: 3.97
Lbs fat: 8.98
Lean lbs: 217.22
Skinfold measurements (mm)
Umbilicus: 6 mm
Chest: 3 mm
Thigh: 8 mm
Suprailiac: 4mm
Lower Back: 9 mm
Muscle circumference (in)
Arms: 17 8/16 17 2/16
Chest: 46 3/16
Legs: 26 12/16
Calves: 16 0/16
Waist: Am: 34 0/16, Pm: 34 12/16
[quote]myself1992 wrote:
Did chest/shoulders/tris today, was feeling a little bit fuller/bigger so I weighted myself and was 236 at the gym wtf…
Here’s what I did
Bench Press
275x8 (up 3 reps)
Decline Bench
275x10 (up 50 lbs and 2 reps)
DB flyes
55x10
55x11 (went up 5 lbs for both sets)
HS shoulder press
3ppsx8 (went up 3 reps)
Lateral raises
40x10
50x11 (increased both sets by 5 lbs)
Rear delt flyes
180x10 (up 2 reps and 10 lbs)
Pushdowns
110x8 (up 4 reps)
Overhead tri extensions
100x8 (up one rep)
Did some tri work for my left arm after that, 1 set of oh extensions and of pushdowns[/quote]
Not bad bro… Making solid gains from one workout to the next… But whats up with that 10 lb weight gain?
Probably glycogen and water since I’d been cutting and am just now starting to eat normal again, but some of the skinfolds actually decreased so I didn’t gain any fat according to that. The 236 was in the gym scale which gives me a heavier weight than the one I have at home so I “only” went up 4 lbs. I was also taking the measurements at night before after working out and took them today in the morning fasted and will do it that way every monday to be as consistent as possible. I honestly got scared when I saw the 236 lol I didn’t know wtf was going on haha
[quote]myself1992 wrote:
Probably glycogen and water since I’d been cutting and am just now starting to eat normal again, but some of the skinfolds actually decreased so I didn’t gain any fat according to that. The 236 was in the gym scale which gives me a heavier weight than the one I have at home so I “only” went up 4 lbs. I was also taking the measurements at night before after working out and took them today in the morning fasted and will do it that way every monday to be as consistent as possible. I honestly got scared when I saw the 236 lol I didn’t know wtf was going on haha[/quote]
okay 4lbs is different!! lol
In
