Samul's Training and Nutrition Log

Training Training Logs
484

I want to say something that may sound unintentionally harsh or like I am bashing Carter, because I’m not. He is a professional in this game and I’m just a 30 something insurance broker who lifts weights in his garage. That being said I like interacting with you and I’m only bringing this up because of the last post I responded to here and it is solely my opinion so it can be taken or left.

You were not too fat to bulk. You do not have to “bulk”. If you want to gain muscle that will not make you feel ‘underwhelmed’ by your own words, it’s not going to happen in 6-8 weeks. It doesn’t matter what workout plan you pick, unless you take the needle or orals, 6-8 weeks at BEST will be what, 2-3 pounds of muscle? You also don’t have to get fat to gain muscle. If you look at the next 12 months, the amount of total muscle mass you gain will be due to how long you are in a surplus. Every time you diet down you are taken away that time, and I’ve said it alot but it is so much easier and faster to lose fat than to gain muscle.

If you took a solid 6 months, and ate a modest surplus, 300-400 cals, that’s going to add about 15 lbs to you. Done right, maybe 5-6 of that will be fat, the rest muscle and water. Now if you eat like crap, back off cardio etc because you are in the ‘bulking’ mindset(what most of us fall victim to) that number will be higher. If you treated gaining with the same fervor as you do cutting, you’ll be fine. Then what, spend 5-6 weeks dieting and you are back but with 6 months, not 6 weeks worth of muscle gain.

I know this was unsolicited advice but I hope it made some sense. I think it just needed to be said before you embark on a long 5/3/1 journey. Dont sacrifice next year’s physique for a temporary and inconsequential body fat % goal which nobody every notices unless you walk around naked or shirtless all the time. You don’t have to get fat to get big.

And yes, I know I just invited people to debate, but I dont want to take over his log, this is just directed at Samul from someone who has been in his shoes and done the same thing years back.

Edit - Also wanted to add this, Abs, like full on abs, are a temporary status unless you have the genetics or drugs to take keeping you that lean year round. Trying to stay at that level of lean will just delay your end result. Once you get to the size close enough to where you feel happy or glad to be, then you can focus on staying lean and adding 1-2 pounds a year.

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485

Hey man, I don’t really want to give you form advice because it’s not something I’m any good it. I think both sets moved with good speed, I wouldn’t bother lowering the TM numbers from there.

I’d suggest tagging a couple more experienced folks that you have good rapport with for technique tips. I’d like to help there but I just don’t have a ton to offer.

486

It’s my fault for having used the word bulk here. Paul and I never referred to this as a bulk, but rather as a mass gain phase. And Paul told me multiple times that there is no need to get fat to gain muscle.

There was a week where I had gained 3 lbs and that was above our target rate and it looked like I’d put on too much fat and he did lower my calories.

I should have phrased it this way, “my body fat level was too high to get proportionally good results from a mass gain phase compared to fat gains.” Had I started eating at a surplus in that condition, I would have accumulated more fat, meaning an eventual dieting period would have been much harder, and my hormone levels and insulin sensitivity weren’t optimal. I am positive this was the right decision and I’m not saying this because I have paid him.

Now I have a leaner base to work with, and I can push my calories for longer than if I had kept doing so before. Paul told me that I should spend considerably more time building than cutting, the reason for this mass phase being 8 week long has to do with money. I simply couldn’t afford to pay him for 16 weeks after eight weeks of dieting.

Paul told me this too. One thing I’d like to point out here, is that I don’t want people to mistake some of my being a paranoid with what Paul has taught me. He was the first to tell me I can’t hold onto cut abs and gain muscle at the same time, at least at this stage. He told me, “you don’t need to get sloppy fat to get big, but you’ll have to put on some fat and you’ll eventually have to peel it out.”

That’s my plan. I’ve been gaining for two months now, and I plan on keeping on until the end of April. Then I’d start lowering calories until I get lean enough for the summer. By then, my body fat will have reached a high enough level to cut and I will have been gaining for five months.

I know I have said I have cut for eight weeks and gained for eight weeks. But I never said that I’m going to go back to dieting now.

But thanks for the advice, you do have a point.
I’m going to push the envelope in terms of weight. I am doing cardio and training hard, and I’m eating in such a way that allows me to gain between 1 and 2 lbs a week. My diet is really good, I just need to keep at it. It’s my inner self that’s being neurotic about the fat gain, Carter never suggested I try and gain while staying shredded

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487

Since I don’t want to make a disservice to Paul by misreporting what he told me, I’m going to share a couple of his mails where he mentions these things.

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These are unrelated to one each other and come in response to some of my questions that I asked him in different moments.

488

Again not bashing Carter, more just trying to help you see your own paranoia which you are well aware of. I only feel compelled to chime in here because I see you doing a lot of what I did when I was younger, and the mental side of it. I weighed about 120 lbs when I joined T-Nation. I went to college at 145lbs with a 185 max bench and 240 squat and some abs. Always in a constant cycle of trying to look like a men’s health cover model from the 90’s today instead of think in years forward. Wasted alot of time, money on supplements, and brain power obsessing over the details. When a while back you talked about how your ‘obsession’ with this stuff was affecting you, you described me from 17-20 to a fucking T.

One day I just stopped reading new stuff, stopped buying anything other than creatine, protein powder and food. I stopped posting on forums. I didn’t do a curl(still have maybe done like 10-15 curls in the past 10 years), calf extension or isolation type movement for a few years. I ate, I squatted, dead lifted, benched, rowed, lunged, dipped and picked up a barbell off the ground and put it over my head for 2 years straight. When I was sitting at around 190 lbs repping 275 on bench for a 5x5 and repping 405x8 DLs before ever even trying on a lifting belt, I had my ‘ah ha’ moment.

You’re going to kick some serious ass this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing it. Just remember, advice that comes from someone who is not trying to profit from it in anyway is worth at least thinking over.

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489

not going to read any of that. The first paragraph on the first email is enough. :smiley:

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490

Thank you! I’m glad to know you believe in me. I can see what you’re saying about profiting, but honestly I feel like Paul has been very honest with me and the advice he gave me sounds like what he’s found to work best.

Haha yeah, apparently everyone needs to tell me I’m a neurotic overthinker. I read some of Paul’s mails to my mom and she said, “this guy figured you out from overseas without having ever talked to you in real life.” I just posted them because I honestly felt like defending him: if you find the time to skim through them, you’ll see the advice he gives me is pretty much the same as what you told me.

If you’re not going to read them still, at least read this sentence from him

“I can only answer this the way I have like, 10,434 times before. This is a long process, and you’re incredibly impatient which is why you ask so many questions. Because you totally “feel” as though there’s some short cut. There’s not one. You had a great fat loss cycle and thus far, a really good muscle building cycle. There will be times where you have to gain some chub in order to grow, then you’ll need to peel that back. Yes, that process gets repeated over and over again for quite a while. There’s really no other way or people would be doing it.”

And

“You still have abs. You’re not in need of dieting again. You need to spend some extended periods eating, and growing. You are NOT going to be able to hold onto deep abs, and at the same time grow the muscle you want. I was fat for years. It’s why I can walk around now at 240 lean.”

I realized this one too. Actually Paul told me. I have lost all interest in the minutiae and want to crush the big stuff now. My only compromise is that I want to be as lean as possible without compromising progress during most of summer. That’s why I’ll cut in May and I’ll get back to gaining as soon as I’m lean. That way I’ll have gained mass for five months and then I’ll get back to it for months on end.

Taking into consideration what we just discussed, does this plan sound good to you?

491

I was just generally referring to the fitness industry as a whole.

Yes. 5-6 months is a long time mentally for someone who has the love of abs mindset so just be warned. There will be moments after about 3 months where you will start thinking you are fat just because your vascularity and definition go away. Just remember that isnt fat, that is ‘normal person’. It is ok to be ‘normal person’ as a temporary state to reach a goal.

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492

Got it, thank you. Btw check your Instagram.

Also, have you seen the two videos I posted?

493

Yes, form looks fine on both. Honestly, after 2 cycles of BBB, you’ll have performed these movements so many times, it will be robotic when it comes to form.

I will say, the more you do heavy OHP with 5/3/1 you will learn how to use your legs and core to drive the weight despite not actually moving your legs. I know that sounds like it makes no sense but trust me. OHP is a total body lift, dont care what anyone else says. Also, lifting a barbell over your head is the manliest thing you can do.

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494

loved reading those emails. Carter thinks like I do. That was good to see.

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495

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Shopping time

496

First day of 5/3/1 went by.

Week 1 Day 1
Press
28.9 kg x 5
33.3 kg x 5
37.8 kg x 13
28.9 kg x 5 x 5
Dips x 8, 12, 13, 9, 10
Chin ups x 11, 10, 8, switch to neutral grip x 7
Face pulls 3x20

Loved this workout. It was amazing to come back to the gym after my deload week. Also, the session was done in about 40 minutes.

I filmed my pr set because I want you guys to tell me if the weight looks right for me. Is 13 reps a good starting point for my very first cycle? The weight felt manageable.

A note on the video, the guy who took it decided it would be a good idea to film another fuck face who was trying to be funny and get noticed mid set, so a couple of reps are missing. Can’t really do anything to fix that apart from picking better persons to help me at the gym.

Here it is

@flipcollar @flappinit @T3hPwnisher @mr.v3lv3t @Waittz

Hope I’m in the right direction

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497

Looks like a press. You’re moving pretty slow/deliberate there. If you speed up, you’ll for sure have more reps in you.

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498

Actually I’m not exploding as fast as I can because I am afraid form might break down if I just concentrate on pushing too fast. I’m trying, you know, to keep the weight under control.

Is it maybe just a matter of not being very familiar with the movement yet?

499

It’s not speed on the concentric I observe, but more the eccentric to concentric reversal. Just a lot of dead time. Although now that you bring it up, the concentric is a little slow as well.

You’ll find your groove I imagine.

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500

when I was doing PR sets before switching to 5 Pro I would stop at 10/8/5 reps personally even if I had something in the tank. But then again I’m of the mindset that anything after 10 reps is cardio for what its worth.

Your press looks fine, but like Pwnisher says, its slow. This aint bodybuilding, its fighting gravity. Press that shit.

Only thing I’ll add, and im sure others may have a difference opinion, is to balance every upper body press with some form of pull. With the main lifts, including the 3 warm up sets, I’ll do band pulls or band face pulls by 15-25 after each set(including squats and DL). Then during assistance, I super set or alternate set the antagonistic movement. So on FSLS it would be set 1 of press/bench supers setted with db row or pull up. Same for assistance work. As far as weight reps, doesnt really matter, I like 5x10 rows to balance bench FSLS and pullup/weighted pull ups for 5x5 on Press day.

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501

Deadlift
76 kg x 5
87.75 kg x 5
99.45 kg x 14
76 kg x 5 x 5
Rdl 52 kg x 13, 57 kg x 12, 13
Hanging leg raises

Man, that pr set definitely took some life from me. I was breathing very hard for minutes after, and when I headed into my FSL sets I would get severe lightheadedness between sets, to the point where I thought I was about to pass out.

I guess my conditioning isn’t up to par yet. Oh and I discovered that I suck at hanging leg raises. Lol

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502

Feeling much like shit today. Apart from having all the symptoms of a flu minus the fever (I’ve doubled vitamin D intake just in case. I REALLY don’t want to catch a fever right now), I’m sore as flying hell in my pecs and abs. Like, every fucking movement hurts.

Luckily today’s a rest day.

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503

Bench
50.7 kg x 5
58.5 kg x 5
66.3 kg x 13
50.7 kg x 5 x 5
Incline dumbbell press
Dumbbell row
4 rounds alternating @ 24 kg x 12-15 reps

2 Likes