[quote]Professor X wrote:
Defekt wrote:
your profile is private, cant see shit
I said HE could see my profile. If I wanted it public I would make it public.
[/quote]
okay then
[quote]Professor X wrote:
ab_power wrote:
X, I was wondering if I could get a snapshot of what your eating habits/diet were like back when you were 170-180lbs. Just wanna know what you did during that time, since you were probably at university and didn’t have access to a endless supply of ultra-zen pure clean bulking foods.
I ate what was available…which included several trips through the line in the cafeteria, waking up early so I could fix a big ass waffle on Saturday mornings before they ran out, way too many bags of Raman Noodles, and even a quick trip through Mc Donald’s dollar menu.
Would I do the same right now? Of course not because I have alternatives, but when you are a flat broke college student with a goal of hitting 200lbs before the start of the following year, you eat what is available and ask for seconds. You work out hard enough so that food goes where I want it to…which itself seems to be a concept hard for some to follow.
On any given day, I NEVER missed one of the three meals offered in the cafeteria. What was hard was trying to find food after that to tide me over from about 6pm to 6am the next morning. I couldn’t afford protein shakes…or hell, even a blender to mix them in. I literally had no supplements at all until my senior year…and I still gained enough size for people to ask me if I was on something.
I ate eggs (the powdered ones) whenever they had them to serve. I ate those dry ass hamburgers. I drank that powdered milk they served as much as possible (in spite of lactose intolerance) and simply dealt with the shits afterwards.
There was no measuring. There was no data overloaded flow chart where my body fat was tracked down the tenth of a point.
My focus was on simply eating enough food to gain weight and lifting enough weight to make that food turn into muscle. It was not perfect. It was trial and error and everything I learned at that time helped me from that point forward.
Sorry that wasn’t as analytical as you may have hoped…but remember, I was a biology major good enough to tutor other people in the classes I was taking while I was taking them. I wasn’t clueless and I had a plan. [/quote]
This is exactly what I wanted to hear. For me it is difficult to have a steady supply of high quality food, so I have to resort to cafeteria lunches, fast food lunches, and mounds of pub food to fill the void.
It’s just with all this clean bulking talk going around, it just had me second guessing what I was doing, but now I realize what is most important is the end result. I’d rather make better progress eating the sumo-sized teriyaki chicken than the other guy eating swordfish steaks and wild rice.
I like this thread, it’d be great if other experienced members did something similar because we can all certainly learn a lot from those more advanced than us, they don’t necessarily have to be coaches.
Anyway, I appreciate the opportunity to read a bit in Prof X’s training life, I have certainly gained some knowledge.
X,
I know your not a big fan of Surge.
What exactly you take post-workout?
[quote]Professor X wrote:
ab_power wrote:
X, I was wondering if I could get a snapshot of what your eating habits/diet were like back when you were 170-180lbs. Just wanna know what you did during that time, since you were probably at university and didn’t have access to a endless supply of ultra-zen pure clean bulking foods.
I ate what was available…which included several trips through the line in the cafeteria, waking up early so I could fix a big ass waffle on Saturday mornings before they ran out, way too many bags of Raman Noodles, and even a quick trip through Mc Donald’s dollar menu.
Would I do the same right now? Of course not because I have alternatives, but when you are a flat broke college student with a goal of hitting 200lbs before the start of the following year, you eat what is available and ask for seconds. You work out hard enough so that food goes where I want it to…which itself seems to be a concept hard for some to follow.
On any given day, I NEVER missed one of the three meals offered in the cafeteria. What was hard was trying to find food after that to tide me over from about 6pm to 6am the next morning. I couldn’t afford protein shakes…or hell, even a blender to mix them in. I literally had no supplements at all until my senior year…and I still gained enough size for people to ask me if I was on something.
I ate eggs (the powdered ones) whenever they had them to serve. I ate those dry ass hamburgers. I drank that powdered milk they served as much as possible (in spite of lactose intolerance) and simply dealt with the shits afterwards.
There was no measuring. There was no data overloaded flow chart where my body fat was tracked down the tenth of a point.
My focus was on simply eating enough food to gain weight and lifting enough weight to make that food turn into muscle. It was not perfect. It was trial and error and everything I learned at that time helped me from that point forward.
Sorry that wasn’t as analytical as you may have hoped…but remember, I was a biology major good enough to tutor other people in the classes I was taking while I was taking them. I wasn’t clueless and I had a plan. [/quote]
A lot of people would consider that pretty hardcore. I am lucky that I have a slow enough metabolism to gain weight rather easily on clean foods. It is useful to read just how determined you were to get where you wanted to be. Kudos to you.
[quote]wicked08 wrote:
X,
I know your not a big fan of Surge.
What exactly you take post-workout?
[/quote]
I try to get some form of carbohydrates in me. It does not matter that much where those carbs come from. The most important factor is that you simply fuel your own body. It is NOT as important that what you eat is 55% this or 80% that. What will help you reach your goal is being consistent enough to get SOMETHING in you that has simple carbs. Anything else is “extra credit”.
That is coming from someone doing this long enough to observe that there are too many people who seem to be under the impression that if they aren’t using “Supplement A” or trying to be absolutely perfect, that they might as well not try…and that’s just plain stupidity.
The basic concept is to get SOMETHING in you. That alone is more important than anything else.
I agree, only been working out less than 2 years though 
My brother always buys different proteins and we always have different carbs for after workout…
I dont think there is much difference other than maybe a bit faster entry to your blood stream… but the slower ones will get there too !
[quote]Professor X wrote:
wicked08 wrote:
X,
I know your not a big fan of Surge.
What exactly you take post-workout?
I try to get some form of carbohydrates in me. It does not matter that much where those carbs come from. The most important factor is that you simply fuel your own body. It is NOT as important that what you eat is 55% this or 80% that. What will help you reach your goal is being consistent enough to get SOMETHING in you that has simple carbs. Anything else is “extra credit”.
That is coming from someone doing this long enough to observe that there are too many people who seem to be under the impression that if they aren’t using “Supplement A” or trying to be absolutely perfect, that they might as well not try…and that’s just plain stupidity.
The basic concept is to get SOMETHING in you. That alone is more important than anything else.[/quote]
thanks
[quote]chirag wrote:
If that was the case, your legs should presently be more lagging than say, your arms.
Judging by your pics, you don’t look like the typical guys who is all upper body and little (or no) lower body size.
How could training your legs only once a week as opposed to training your biceps more than once, provide you with such a balanced physique?
There is something of your split and routine that you posted that I simply do not get.
Did you start prioritising your legs afterwards (ie. when your knowledge on bodybuilding increased and you realised how important leg training is to obtain a balanced phyisique)??[/quote]
It’s fairly simple, bigger muscles take longer to recover than smaller muscles. So smaller muscles can be trained more often or hit harder because the recover time is shorter.
Prof X: So it’s almost been a month now that I’ve been following my new regimen that I lifted from you. I know we are in completely different stages but do you do much for forearms and if so what day?
I’m loving the results I’m seeing but I feel like I’m ignoring my forearms. I feel a good burn from other exercises but I haven’t been doing any forearm isolation exercises.
Thanks
Do you do your T-Bar rows with a barbell, or have you tried the chest supported machine?. It gives an interesting manner of controlling whether you want to squeeze the lats, or focus on the upper back harder.
Besides that, I’ve read this thread and it’s been insightful.
[quote]Alquemist wrote:
Do you do your T-Bar rows with a barbell, or have you tried the chest supported machine?. It gives an interesting manner of controlling whether you want to squeeze the lats, or focus on the upper back harder.
Besides that, I’ve read this thread and it’s been insightful.[/quote]
Using those T-bar rows with the chest pad becomes more and more uncomfortable the more weight you use. I quit using them a long time ago.
Professor X,
When you where training 6x a week in college, how did your split look? Where you already giving biceps and triceps their own respective days, or where you training muscles more frequently or something?
Also, if you can still remember, how was your program when powerlifting different from normal? Did you just train the bench and squat heavier (on their respective days), or where you doing a ‘bench’ and ‘squat’ day, with accessory work etc?
Thanks.
[quote]Alquemist wrote:
Professor X,
When you where training 6x a week in college, how did your split look? Where you already giving biceps and triceps their own respective days, or where you training muscles more frequently or something?
Also, if you can still remember, how was your program when powerlifting different from normal? Did you just train the bench and squat heavier (on their respective days), or where you doing a ‘bench’ and ‘squat’ day, with accessory work etc?
Thanks.[/quote]
I wasn’t training 6 times a week in college. My college gym was closed on the weekends so I was forced into a 5 day a week schedule. AFTER college I started training six days a week and there is no specific example of what I trained each day. I trained what needed to be trained mostly doing one body part a day. I was doing chest twice a week at one point…and then shoulders twice a week after that because I was focusing more on those muscle groups.
At that point, I was giving biceps their own day. Triceps were trained with chest.
When we were training just to get our lifts up, there still wasn’t much difference in how we put our schedule together. The biggest difference was that we were doing one rep maxes after a few sets or static holds to get our strength up.
prof. x,
i apologize if you have already answered this before as it has been awhile since i read through this thread, but,
how do you feel about getting some food in during the middle of the night? do you ever wake up to eat (or to use the restroom and eat since you are up), or do you aim for uninterrupted sleep?
i have to sleep now, cos i have too much study to do but this thread is fucking interesting and im only up to page to, sooo yeah…
bump
[quote]ktennies wrote:
prof. x,
i apologize if you have already answered this before as it has been awhile since i read through this thread, but,
how do you feel about getting some food in during the middle of the night? do you ever wake up to eat (or to use the restroom and eat since you are up), or do you aim for uninterrupted sleep?[/quote]
I did that once…in high school. It didn’t make a difference because overall daily calories are STILL the primary factor. At that time, several bodybuilders were all claiming to wake up at night to get another protein shake down or a whole meal. I guess that sounds like a great idea when your job is literally to simply make sure you sleep 8-10 hours a night and lift weights.
For the rest of us who have less time and are barely getting even 8 hrs a night, that sleep is more important. I would recommend increasing overall daily calories before worrying about waking up in the middle of the night just to eat.
Eat before you got to sleep unless you are specifically dieting down and then eat when you wake up. Decrease the amount of time you go in a day without something either going into your stomach or on its way out.
X,
First of all thanks for answering so many questions in this thread.
It was interesting to read about your eating habits at college when you were a similar weight to me.
I was just wondering if you have any guidelines for the distribution of macronutrients when bulking?
As a frame of reference, currently I am 5ft7 and about 170 at 12% body fat. That is up from under 110lbs when I started lifting 2.5yrs ago. I didn’t exercise OR eat so I was skinny-fat too! My maximum bench when I started was less than 45lbs because I remember getting pinned by the bar alone.
I’m eating around 3700-4000kcal a day due to my fast metabolism. My breakdown is usually about ~30/30/35 fat/carbs/protein. I’m wondering if this is too much fat? I think I’ve built a good base considering my starting point but I want to take it to the next level.
I realise I need to get enough calories, but luckily I DO have the time to take care with what I eat so I might as well get it right.
Or should I just stop worrying and keep on doing what I’m doing?
Again, thanks for participating in this thread.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Lower chest day was dumbbell presses, wide grip HS presses and HS flat bench press.
Upper chest day and triceps was incline HS machine, incline Smith machine (or incline free barbell press), and one or two sets of incline dumbbell presses.
I then did my regular triceps workout. Soon, I was down to two exercises for upper chest and let the dumbbells slide for that one.
No, I didn’t cut out overhead pressing. Why would I limit shoulder training?[/quote]
Hi professor, I just read through this thread and was very impressed by your results and approach.
I don’t want to hijak the thread and turn it into “Ask professor x what to do with your life”, but the routine below was created from yours after reading this thread, so I was hoping you would give me input if you had time.
day a: back/biceps
weighted chin variant
1-arm rows/row variation
lat pulldown
later: biceps, 2-3 exercises
day b: lower chest
bench press
db presses
chest press/movement
db flies
day c: shoulders
overhead press
db press
trap shrugs
lateral raise
rear delt fly
day b: upper chest/tricep
incline db press
incline bench
tricep extension movement
tricep movement
40-50 minute workouts. Lots of variation but the point is to keep them short and get some strength sets in and otherwise crush the muscles.
I’ve been alternating when I do what depending on how I’ve recovered.
Twice a week I’m doing lower body stuff.In the future I’m gonna do more (for performance), but for now I want to add some upper mass.
I am only an intermediate lifter (6’0, 200)
If you have time to tell me what you think and if this is a sound approach, I’d appreciate it.
If it’s too much to ask, np. Thanks for all the great information and time you’ve put into this thread.
Hello.
I have some questions for you, if it’s ok for you to answer.
-
What are your favourite exercises for each muscle group?
-
I noticed you do dip machine work for your triceps. Have you ever done free dips, or have you preferred more stationary movements.
-
Do you do any training for your lower back, or do you let the t-bar rows statically train it?
Thank you.