If I don’t drastically change my stance on privacy, no. I like to remain unrecognizable, and besides, a 193cm/82kg guy isn’t really anything impressive even at ~6%bf
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Daily log:
Weight:
86.2kg/190lbs
Same as yesterday, I don’t think this hs happened even once during the diet
Nutrition:
1438 Calories
230g Protein
80g Carbs
22g Fat
Ate the remains of the lean beef I had yesterday, from tomorrow on I’ll be back to ground beef
Training:
1 Jump squats paired with front squat warmups
3x2
2 Front squat
2x2
increase weight
3x1
3 Front rack hold
150,200% of top weight
4a Good morning with a pause on pins
2x8,22(amrap)
4b Weighted sit up
3x10
5a Leg press
3x15
5b Leg curl w/exercise ball
3x20
5c Calf raise on smith machine
3x12
5 minutes of cardio
Notes:
Today was a heavy day. Or at least it felt like it.
On front squats I wanted to keep the reps crisp, and to be honest, the last single felt pretty heavy. No chance I could’ve done 3+ with it.
On good mornings I increased weight by 5kgs again and it brought the reps down from 30 to 22, which is good. Ideal would be around 9-11.
On assistance stuff I increased weight and decreased volume. Next time I’ll increase volume while keeping the weight where it is. Only exception would be the leg curl as you can’t really load it. That’s why I’m just increasing reps there.
Today was the first time on this diet that I could tighten my belt all the way. That means my waist is around the 29" mark now. I’ll probably have to drill some new holes soon (again)
I like my belt because it’s a really easy way to see how things are going. It has holes every two centimetres. Feeling like diet is not going your way but you can go three holes tighter with the belt? It’s working. Feeling like the bulk is going really well but you’ve got to go a hole looser every two weeks? Dial back.
It keeps you from lying to yourself.
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Daily log: My plans for carb load and mass gaining season edition
Weight:
85.6kg/188.5lbs
Under 86kgs for the first time on this diet.
Nutrition:
1200 Calories
190g Protein
40g Carbs
30g Fat
Training:
200 Calories worth of cardio both AM and PM (so a total of 400 Calories)
Foam rolling and stretching
I was really feeling the depletion today. I couldn’t focus on anything and overall just felt like my body weighted approximately two and a half metric tons. Everything was exhausting.
Looking really empty all around, for me the most obvious indicators are my delts, and they are flat as pancakes at the moment. Luckily after tomorrow is done I’ll get to load some carbs. Now when I say load some carbs there are a couple of things that must be noted. I’m not talking about a cheat day, a carb load for me is a day of moderate protein (200-250 grams) high carbs (700+ grams) and low-ish fats (trying to stay under 70 grams). That’s because I’m looking to fill my glycogen stores and I want to see how long the effect will last and how my body reacts overall. A full on cheat day is a whole another thing. Another criteria I have is that the foods I eat must be easy to let go of (for me personally, that is) so I don’t have an insane craving for those foods later on. So, cereal, pasta, rice, bread etc. are all good, but any kind of pastry is the devil. (That’s my Achilles heel, man I’d give anything for cinnamon rolls or croissants) I’ll be eating both fast and slow acting carbs, with the focus being on the latter post workout (for 2-3 meals) and on the former for other times. For the first two meals post workout I’ll also be consuming some coffee to get caffeine in as it has been shown to help drive glucose to your muscle cells after exercise. If I do eat fruit I’ll have it earlier in the day, because after my liver glycogen is full fructose will bring me no added benefit.
On the first meal of the day I’ll have some fats to ensure consistent energy levels throughout the training session, after that I’ll be eating as low-fat as possible.
Now, bulking.
In a bit over a month I’ll be beginning my mass gaining phase. Now what you’ll see is that I’m not going to go out of the gates really fast, rather I’ll start increasing calories and decreasing extra activity piece by piece. I want to maintain a decent level of leanness (sub 14%) so when the time comes, there won’t be too much fat to burn. I’ll use regular mini-diets to keep my conditioning in check.
The harsh reality is that when my last mass gaining phase ended I was 17, that’s 2.5 years ago. After that I cut for half a year (from 110kgs to 80kgs, yeah didn’t remember I was under my current weight two years ago) then I reverse dieted to recover from the cut (over a kilo per week is pretty much when done for half a year straight) and got up to about 97kgs. After that I dieted down to ~92-94 for military and then I spent 9 months there + 3 months now to get back to decent leanness with a bit less mass.
So, in the last 2.5 years I haven’t really gotten all that much done, I’ve built maybe 8-9kgs of muscle in that time (in a total of one year in a surplus.) Before that I built ~25-30kgs in 2.5 years on a long ass bulk.
Now, I’ll need to build 25-30kgs more muscle (if I gain 40kgs I’ll be all good) tough task, right?
Yeah, it’s a challenge. But I’ve been waiting long for this and I’m hungry to do it. Literally. And I haven’t yet experienced a long mass season with adult levels of testosterone and a better level of knowledge. (Let’s face it, at 17 you have neither of those) I’m willing to give this bulk three years if all goes like I want it to go. That’s a lot of time to build some quality muscle.
So yeah, five weeks and then the building will begin.
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im so excited to see how it goes.
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So am I, can’t wait to fill out some clothes.
Last time I got big my gf made me gym shirts from scratch because I couldn’t find any from the stores, I still have them somewhere
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Please tell me she made them out of King size bed sheets? Lmao
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Not even kidding; she actually did
You can’t even imagine how dashing I looked, but let me tell you, those things do not breath at all.
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Daily log:
Weight:
85.5kgs/188lbs
Down 100 grams from yesterday, not that it would really matter. Still, anew low weight in despite getting about 4 hours of sleep
Nutrition:
1470 Calories
220g Protein
80g Carbs
30g Fat
For anyone who saw this when I posted it accidentally, that’s about how deep I am at the moment
Training:
Upper body:
1a Clapping push ups
3x3
1b Explosive sternum chins
3x3
2 Close grip bench
2x2
increase weight
2x1
decrease weight
1x5
3a Bench holds
110,120,130% if top weight
3b Weighted pull ups w/fat grips
3x5
4a Alternating incline DB Press
2x6/side
4b Seal row
2x10
5a Seated DBCurl
2x12-15
5b Tricep pushdown
3x12-15
5c Side delt burns
3x15-20
Notes:
Heavy. Exhausting.
Used the same weight as last time for bench but couldn’t get all the reps. On the plus side, I got five with the same weight I failed with last time. Although it’s less than my triple weight was supposed to be it still feels good.
Also, some dude told me I’m “pretty strong” after the set so that’s a plus
When I was done with bench I realized I only have about 15 minutes left so I did my inclines and rows with low volume and fast to set up variations and then just pumped a couple of sets of arms and side delts to failure.
After that, ran home, downed a meal and rushed to work. I had read my calendar wrong and though I had an extra hour of time in the morning.
Yeah, diet psychosis.
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Right on man. I was feeling it hard today, usually I’m the calmest person around but today every little thing was irritating me and getting on my nerve. Hopefully tomorrow will change that.
And in a month I’ll be all good. Maintaining strength for five cycles is all I need to do.
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Morning weight was 84.9kgs/187lbs
That’s 2.8kgs/6lbs down in 5 days two months deep in a very strict diet
I think you now get what I meant when I told you I get depleted fast
Today I have to do nothing but train and eat a lot of high-carb foods. I’m having a day off from all of my jobs (that’s probably the first time after getting back from military) so now it’s time to just chill out for a while.
Usually I’d hate ti have a day like this where I’m not earning money and going forward in my career but I feel that my body needs this. Like @Irishman92 has said, I’m burning the candle at both ends. I’m telling you, I have a long ass candle, but I’m burning it with a flamethrower at the moment.
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Daily log: carb up day
Weight:
84.9kg/187lbs
Slept pretty well nd woke up at the lightest I’ve been on this diet.
Nutrition:
5750 Calories
367g Protein
846g Carbs
85g Fat
It was surprisingly hard to keep the fat down, I’ll need to try harder next time.
What I’m gonna do in term if diet from this point on is that I’m going back to the hard depletion for until I’m 1.5-2kgs lighter than today (so 83-83.5kgs) and then I’ll refeed again on the next leg day from that. Only change I’m making to the diet is that I’ll add 2 drinks to my day that consist of amino acids (eaa+bcaa), HMB, creatine and a zinc-magnesium-vitamin D powder I have. Those are to be consumed after I’ve finished my last meal of the day (which is around 2pm most days) to keep from losing muscle mass. Both my HMB and Creatine consumption will practically triple by doing that, and the creatine can potentially make me gain some water weight which I will account for if it happens.
Oh, by the way, Lidl has these new cheese sandwich buns that only have 0.7 grams of fat per 100 grams and they are absolutely delicious. (Also they do not have short-chain fatty acids “hidden fat” in them, in Europe you don’t have to count those into the nutrition information but it must be mentioned in the ingredient list and these don’t have them. A lot of “low fat” pastries, however, do.) If you’re having a high carb day or just want to taste something delicious I highly recommend them.
Training:
Jump squats paired with squat warm ups
3x2
1 Pause squat
3x3
2a Rack pull from pin 3 w/fat grips
3x5
2b Standing crunch on lat pull down
3x8
2c Squat supports
150,200,250% of top weight
3 Single leg leg curl
6x4, 10 second rests (muscle round)
4 Constant tension lunges
2x2x6/side (cluster, see notes for explanation)
5 Leg extension
1x12
stretch, drop weight
1x8
stretch, drop weight
1x4 straight into 1x15 slow bottom half reps
Long stretch
6 Seated calf raises
2x6 with 10 second stretch each rep
decrease weight
3x10 with 5 second stretch each rep
60s stretch
7a Pullup
2x20
7b Pushup
2x20
7c Side raises
2x20
Notes:
Lower back wasn’t feeling it, probably slept in a weird position or something. So I chose exercises that force you to use lighter loads (pause squats and fat grips on pulls).
On reverse lunges I did an interesting cluster that I haven’t seen anyone do before, I think.
I did 2x6 per side, rested 30 seconds and did it again
So it went like this
6 reps left
no rest
6 reps right
no rest
6 reps left
no rest
6 reps right
30s rest
Repeat the above
On calves I did just clusters with 15 second rests, and after the last set I went straight into a minute stretch with the weight.
I really like clusters.
After my main stuff I did some upper body work to get blood flowing and to prepare it to take in carbs. The pull ups felt ridiculously light. I think if I wanted to push it I could’ve gone for 30 or at least 25. Now mind you, I’ve only done sets of 5-6 with fat grips and weight for the past two months. Seems to be working.
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Daily log:
Weight:
87.7kgs/193lbs
Up 2.8kgs/6lbs from yesterday. Didn’t sleep well at all, I was sweating like crazy and after waking up for the third time I just moved outside for the rest of the night. For anyone who hasn’t refeeded on a strict diet, that’s completely normal.
Training:
200 Calories worth of cardio
Foam rolling and stretching
Now font let the weight fool you. I don’t feel like I’ve filled out at all really. A lot of that extra weight is just food from yesterday and water weight.
I remember that I said your next day performance may suffer due to refeeding, but I’m actually not feeling all that bad now. That’s probably because I had pretty low levels of fat in there and I drank a whole lot. In previous diets I’ve done these crazy 15K days and the next day I’d feel clogged up, dehydrated and bloated. With days like those training didn’t take away the filling effect because the sheer amount of food was so massive. But with these smaller carb-focused loads I feel like training on the same day is counterproductive. It makes all the carbs go towards fuel for the session and I don’t fill out + I have to eat more fat to avoid crashing during training. On a rest day I could eat virtually fat free for the entire day because my energy levels wouldn’t matter so much.
So, once I’m down to 83-83.5 I’ll refeed, but I’ll do it on a rest day.
After all, this is all about experimentation for me. I see that this approach was suboptimal, so I won’t force it, instead, I’ll try something else.
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Daily log:
Weight:
86.1kgs/190lbs
Already over halfway back down
Nutrition:
1470 Calories
220g Protein
80g Carbs
30g Fat
Training:
1a Clap pushups
3x3
1b Explosive sternum chins
3x3
2a Incline bench
2x3
increase weight
A double
increase weight
A miss
decrease weight
A single
2b Weighted pull ups w/fat grips
5x6
3a Floor press w/fat grips
5x6
3b Smith machine row
5x10
4a Standing cable skullcrusher
3x12
4b EZ-Bar curls w/fat grips
3x10
4c Side laterals
3x12
5 minutes of cardio
Notes:
Trained alone today and had a terrible headache. I don’t like to take pain meds so I just tried to roll with it.
On incline bench you see that my rep scheme differs from what you’ve usually seen. That’s because I’m testing out what I have planned for phase 3. Now you also see that I missed a rep there, yeah. The weight was more than I’ve ever tried on incline and it actually felt really light. It’s just that I had to unrack it from behind my head and the headache that were too much. I trust that next time I’ll hit it.
Had to substitute low pulley rows because, surprise surprise, it was being used. Smith rows actually felt really good. No lower back stress and it’s easy to set up for + the Smith is rarely being used, so I think I’ll start using this more often.
Also, I think I finally found my new tricep exercise. The standing cable skullcruchers (which is probably not their real name) give me a good stretch, decent weight and no elbow pain at all. I had completely forgotten about these even though the guys who taught me to train swore by it. So that’s coming in now.
Apart from being a hair away from throwing up due to the headache at every point of the workout I’m pretty happy. Everything progressed apart from the incline and even that didn’t feel too bad.
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Oooh
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Soon, brother, soon 
Daily log:
Weight:
85.7kgs/189lbs
Another pound down, expecting a new low weight in during the next 5-7 days
Nutrition:
1470 Calories
220g Protein
80g Carbs
30g Fat
For the record, I’m not including the newly added amino acid shakes here, so in reality my protein intake is about 20 grams higher than that.
Also introduced coffee again. I have a month left and we are in pretty deep waters now so I see that I can benefit from it without having any drawbacks. After I get back to a surplus I’ll either drop it again or consume just a cup per day for the health benefits. (At the moment I’m having 2 cups before training)
Training:
Squat jumps paired with front squat warm ups
3x2
1 Front squat
2x3
increase weight
A double
*increase weight
A single
decrease weight
A triple
2 Front rack holds
3a Good mornings with a pause on pins
2x8, 23(amrap)
3b Weighted sit ups
3x10
4a Leg press
4x15
4b Hanging leg curl
4x15
4c Smith machine calf raise
4x12
5 minutes of cardio
Notes:
The new rep scheme for primary movements feels so good. I’m getting in five sets without getting bored at all because the weight is changing all the time. Everything feels really solid and good. I’m introducing the phase 3 rep schemes one by one because on a hard diet you got to be careful.
The good mornings never fail to surprise me. I added another 5kgs from last time and got a rep more on my amrap. Yeah.
On assistance I added volume, next time I’ll bring it back to three sets and add weight. Had to use hanging leg curls instead of exercise ball because it was being used.
Oh, by the way, my triceps are sore as hell today. Every single fiber in there is screaming. Guess the old guys were onto something with the standing skullcrushers.
Gonna go for a walk later today, maybe for an hour or 90 minutes.
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Can’t wait 
I think phase 3 is going to work really well especially with that bulk.
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Phase 3 is a realization-ish kind of phase where we dig out the strength we built during phases one and two, so I wouldn’t run it for too long
I’ll probably be running phase three for about two months, which should be about the same amount of time that it takes me to get back to a slight surplus.
When I’m there I’ll switch over to a program that has clear prioritization and more volume and I’ll just focus on getting my strength up for reps and sets, aka, I’m gonna build some muscle
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