Serge Storms Experimentation Log - New Methods to Gain Muscle and Lose Fat

Training Logs
21

Friday

2350 Calories
245g C
161g P
64g F

At about 6pm, I had an espresso martini and ended up with roadmap vascularity about an hour later. It was pretty cool.

There is something about that 5-8 pm timeframe…it seems like I always feel that pumped and vascular feeling right around then, no matter what I eat earlier. If the gym didn’t suck balls at that time, I might switch my workout to that window - maybe there would be an advantage to timing my training to coincide with this natural circadian pump.

The plan for this week while I’m on vacation:

I don’t really have one. That’s the point.

In general, though, I’m really trying to get away from the type of mentality that would have me stressing over the possibility of blowing my diet on vacation. By “blowing my diet”, what I really mean is ditching my habits and principles because I have a convenient excuse. Sure, I’ll enjoy some good meals, but it doesn’t mean this needs to be some kind of “cheat week”. What would I be cheating on? It’s not like I’ve destroyed my metabolism through a long period of calorie restriction…I’m pretty sure I still have room for a bit more leaning out if I wanted, and I know I can do it without needing to drop into some kind of deprivation zone.

So as far as food goes, it’s pretty much just gonna be business as usual. Less frequent but larger meals, more real food and minimal supplementation, and of course…a few cocktails. I’m thinking wake up, espresso martini, pump circuit at gym, pool. Nah.

I did bring the jump rope and will probably get at least a short lift in every morning. Hoping to play a few rounds of golf and maybe some tennis.

And then next week, more of the same. Continue to let my training evolve. Invent more ways to stimulate muscle growth. Solidify good habits. And lock down the one element of all of this that I’ve never been able to nail: TIME. Just keep fucking lifting and let the months pile up so that by October, I can say that I finally strung together a continuous 12 months of lifting and eating like a machine.

What I look and feel like is a reflection of how LONG I’ve been doing this. Not how hard. Not how smart. Not how much. How long.

Just. Keep. Lifting.

22

Back from a great vacation. Definitely won my weight class, age division, and probably the overall title.

I lifted pretty much every day, so nothing will change there. I ate more than I thought I would, so I may need a few days to clean things up. Nothing drastic…basically just returning to my normal eating.

For the next few weeks, I’ll shift some macros around and try to hit the 2500-2700 calorie mark. My fat goal will increase from 60g/day to 90g/day, so my macros will now look more like 40/30/30. I’ll see what I observe at those levels after about 3 weeks or so.

I am not sure what, if anything, I could change about my training. I want to keep improving on my pull-ups and stupid human tricks, but as far as pure muscle mass goes, I’m not really looking to add a bunch of size. I may play around with even more density, volume, and tension while using even lighter loads. Maybe I’ll see just how far I can push the envelope with this training style to get even more of a metabolic effect while still providing enough stimulation to maintain mass.

As for the diet, I’m just trying to find a way to stay super lean all the time without feeling like it is ever a struggle.

23

You bboy too? Have you seen my log:D

dude internet throwdown right now!

24

[quote]marrot wrote:
You bboy too? Have you seen my log:D

dude internet throwdown right now![/quote]

Well what do you know…somebody else here is crazy enough to log reps and sets of windmills. I love it.

25

Saturday

2500 Calories
300g C
240g P
90g F

190.2 pounds

Sunday AM

60 minutes lifting with a few jump rope circuits. Est. 650 calories burned.

Today I went pretty light on the upper body dumbbell work but still got a great shoulder and arm pump.

26

Sunday

2770 calories

310g C
260g P
83g F

189.4 lbs

*NOTE - I have no idea how I got back down to my pre-vacation weight in just a few days. Although my plan was to eat healthy throughout the trip, things escalated pretty quickly out there. I must have averaged about 5,000 calories per day, most of it from normal people food like pizza and stuff. I also had plenty of pure junk like chocolate and ice cream and shit.

Looking back, I’m not even sure why I was so intent on sticking to my diet while on vacation. I think there is a very small part of my mind that thinks I am still vulnerable to completely going off the rails and not being able to reign in back in. Turns out, it was much easier than I thought to just go right back to my normal eating habits. I was actually looking forward to it.

So next year, I’ll do the same thing. Come in absolutely shredded, eat my fucking face off all week, and then get right back to business as usual.

27

I went to Japan for a week last year, and my rule for eating was just basically to eat whatever my girlfriend ate (this included things like treats and ice cream/ candies, etc… Whatever she ate, I ate)… It kind of acted like a control mechanism for calories. I’m super prone to fat gain, so I cant eat my face off for a week and wanted a stupidly easy rule I couldn’t adjust or break at will.

She definitely does not eat body builder friendly, so it was a fun week of good and tasty food, but she cant shovel it down like I can so it was a quick and dirty way to keep myself to going back for 2nds and 3rds…and 4ths…

28

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
I went to Japan for a week last year, and my rule for eating was just basically to eat whatever my girlfriend ate (this included things like treats and ice cream/ candies, etc… Whatever she ate, I ate)… It kind of acted like a control mechanism for calories. I’m super prone to fat gain, so I cant eat my face off for a week and wanted a stupidly easy rule I couldn’t adjust or break at will.

She definitely does not eat body builder friendly, so it was a fun week of good and tasty food, but she cant shovel it down like I can so it was a quick and dirty way to keep myself to going back for 2nds and 3rds…and 4ths…[/quote]

Lonnie, that’s a great idea.

My wife weighs about a buck-o-five and seems to have the appetite of a cricket on meth. If I tried your approach, I would have lost about 12 pounds last week!

Seriously, though…I do use your approach when it comes to alcohol sometimes. If I just pace myself to my wife’s drinking, it’s impossible to overdo it. She never has more than two!

29

Monday

2800 calories
300g P
322g C
63g F
3800 mg sodium
120g fiber

weight = 189.4 lbs

Tuesday training - 1 hour, 600 calories burned
leg extensions
leg curls
adduction/abduction
pull-ups
jump rope
abs
shoulders
bis
chest
back

Back on the Quest bars this week, that explains the 120g of fiber.
I don’t tend to use them as between-meal snacks.
Instead, I eat 3 at once as a meal replacement. Seems to work for me.

30

Tuesday

2840 calories

330g C
275g P
57g F
107g fiber
2850mg sodium

Looking and feeling very tight, sharp, and lean these days…especially today.

My arms, shoulders, and upper back have never looked this good. I wonder if it’s because I do arms, shoulders, and upper back pretty much every day.

I also have the lighting dialed in. The knob is set to maxLD, which is the setting for Left Delt shadowing.

EDIT - Today I found out you can change the title of your log. For some reason, I didn’t know this. So now my title is Arms and Shoulders Every Day. Because that’s what I do.

31

Wednesday AM

weight - 190

Chest Day
Dips, seated dips, wide-grip incline fly, cable fly, machine fly

Oh, and of course ARMS AND SHOULDERS.

32

Wednesday

2900 calories
300g C
300g P
62g F

190.8 lbs

Thursday Training

Back, Arms, Shoulders, Abs

For back, I focused on mostly straight-arm pull-down variations, cable high pulls, and reverse DB fly variations. Lots of special techniques thrown in there today.

Starting to see just a bit more depth in the lower back separation. Quads are also separating more…uncharted territory for me, my legs have never really gotten very lean. Ever. If I ever decided to get contest-lean, I feel like my upper body would waste away by the time my legs and glutes cleared up. I used to feel that way about my lower ab area, too…but now that I’m finally pushing past that point, I realize that I was never as far away as I thought.

My weight is creeping up very slowly, which confirms that the 2800 calorie ballpark is still the “recomp” zone for me. If I want to see the scale actually move, I need to drop below about 2600 or drop carbs.

Right now, I’m okay with not seeing the scale move - I’m not desperate for size and I feel lean enough right here. For now, I guess it’s more about finding those food choices and habits that make the diet part easy, and continuing to let my training evolve.

Oh, and getting bigger shoulders and arms - I almost forgot about that. And maybe just a little more leanness would be nice.

33

Great physique mate!

34

[quote]rpm500 wrote:
Great physique mate![/quote]

Thanks for droppin’ in, I appreciate the comment!

35

I’m impressed by your legs btw, didn’t expect that for a arms and shoulders everyday guy ha! How does your leg training looks like? Or is this the wrong log for that sort of questions?

36

[quote]rpm500 wrote:
I’m impressed by your legs btw, didn’t expect that for a arms and shoulders everyday guy ha! How does your leg training looks like? Or is this the wrong log for that sort of questions?[/quote]

I was a volleyball player in college and my legs have pretty much always been very big compared with the rest of my body.

These days, I do a few pistol squats here and there and some body weight squats every once in a while. About once every two weeks, I might do a dedicated leg session, but it’s only for about 30 minutes and I only do extensions, curls, and low-cable hamstring/glute work. This is mostly when my upper body needs a break but I still want to turn over some glycogen.

No squats, no deadlifts.

37

Thursday

3500 calories
465g C
325g P
92g F

Friday

192.4 lbs

Training

60 minutes of forearms and calves

Basically, it was time for a day off, but I went in anyway just to keep my momentum, move around a bit, and protect my 60 minutes.

38

Friday

3600 calories
388g C
300g P
120g F

Saturday

Weight 193.4

Training

Arms and Shoulders - 75 minutes

850 calories burned

MASSIVE shoulder and arm pump, my head didn’t look like it belonged on my body anymore. It was nuts. Must have been the late-night handful of mini-nutter butters.

New diet experiment this week.

2800ish calories
40% C
15% P
45% F

If I eat 5 meals (which I hardly ever do), they would each have 56g C, 21g P, and 28g F.

Primary endpoint:
Appetite/cravings -

Secondary endpoints:
Energy/performance -
Weight/appearance -
Convenience/social ease/sustainability

I’m not sure if #4 will work on such a low protein intake - my life has pretty much been centered around PROTEIN intake, so it might seem LESS convenient, a bit restrictive, and just plain strange for a while. I’m willing to bump it to 20% if the first few days indicate a sustainability risk. For now, I’ll try to keep it at 15%.

The extra fat will come from coconut oil, almonds, pistachios, and maybe some dairy fat here and there.

39

Sunday - DAY OFF

Monday
Weight = 195

Training
Chest, Arms, Shoulders, Back
Jump Rope 2 x 4 minutes
60 minutes total
550 calories burned

New Plan
(I tweak, therefore I am.)

Starting Point
300g C
250g P
75g F

I’m going to see what my bodyweight does from there.

If it dips below 193, I’ll add some protein or carbs.

If it stays between 193 and 196, I’ll keep it the same.

If it climbs past 196, I’ll drop some carbs and/or protein.

The trick here is that this only works if I keep that fat intake at 75. Anytime that number gets blown out, it means I probably fucked up pretty bad, which will make my if/then scenarios nothing but a meaningless exercise in distraction.

Why am I doing this?

I’m noticing that if I loosen up on my diet just a bit, I fill out very quickly and my weight shoots up fast. Maybe this is an indication that it’s time to move my lean baseline up to about 195 instead of down around 188.

Also, for the first time probably ever, my skinny jeans fit at 195. I don’t actually own skinny jeans, no. But I do have a pair of jeans that I must have bought after a string of low-carb days or something. These jeans don’t make it out of the drawer when I’m not in good shape. Also, my wife says my chest looks too thick. She wants me to stop lifting heavy. Silly girl. Doesn’t even realize that I hardly ever go heavier than 25-pound DBs.

40

In.

Awesome vid of your daughter on the prowler. Made me smile.

How long is your artifical grass prowler run in the basement? (I presume you use it primarily for prowler work?)

Super impressive on the rings there too.