Slowly but Surely

Training Training Logs
492

[quote]Gmoore17 wrote:

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
I’m following this log. You’ve made crazy progress man, very inspirational. [/quote]

Wow, thanks man I really appreciate the compliment. I’ve never considered the progress I’ve made “inspirational,” especially when I see some of the progress some guys on this site are making, but I suppose I do look a fair bit different than even the pictures at the start of this log. I just try to stay consistent and figure out what works for me. I don’t really update the log as much as I used to, I’ll try to more.

Thanks again for the kind words.[/quote]

I think your being hard on yourself, you def have a solid physique. It would be awesome to see you post in this log more, see what style of training and keep up with the progress you make.

493

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]Gmoore17 wrote:

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
I’m following this log. You’ve made crazy progress man, very inspirational. [/quote]

Wow, thanks man I really appreciate the compliment. I’ve never considered the progress I’ve made “inspirational,” especially when I see some of the progress some guys on this site are making, but I suppose I do look a fair bit different than even the pictures at the start of this log. I just try to stay consistent and figure out what works for me. I don’t really update the log as much as I used to, I’ll try to more.

Thanks again for the kind words.[/quote]

I think your being hard on yourself, you def have a solid physique. It would be awesome to see you post in this log more, see what style of training and keep up with the progress you make. [/quote]

Well as I’m getting to this point of leaning out the weights aren’t really moving up like I’d like for the most part, but it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything so I’ll post everything I do this week, talk a lil bit about why, then in a few weeks I’ll post some ‘end of cut’ pics. That might be a little more than a few weeks.

494

Chest/Tris

I’m really not worrying as much about the weights moved as I used to. Generally I’ll start with a heavier exercise, but after that just worry more about stimulating the muscles, really feeling them doing the work. Also a little while back I hurt my wrist, couldn’t do much pressing at all for a bit, which actually got me working more with lighter weights, feeling the muscle move, etc, which I’m liking now, so oh well… but that’s why a lot of things are lighter. Anyway…

Bench press: 45x30, 135x15, 185x8, 225x5, 275x6

Incline bench press (Very wide grip, really stretch it down, pause at bottom, not full lockout) - 135x12, 155x10, 165x8

Decline Cable Flys - 20x15, 25x15, 30x12

Pushdowns (more of a pre-exhaust exercise) - 50x20, 57.5x18, 65x15, 72.5x12

Lying cable extensions - done like PJR pullovers letting my upper arms go back - 50x12, 50x12, 50x10

Seated single-DB Extensions - same as above like PJR’s, really stretchin er back and pausing - 45x10, 35x15

Abz

495

Yesterday - Back/Bis

For back especially, the focus is all about feeling the muscles work. I start with two movements to pre-exhaust, and don’t go especially heavy on any movements. I keep very solid form, and use straps for the heavier sets on most things, so I can focus on using my back muscles to move the weight.

Pullover machine - slow, pause/stretch it out at the top of each rep, really push my elbows back at the end - 80x15, 110x12, 140x8

Straight-arm pulldowns (cable pullovers with a straight bar?) - lean forward, again really stretch it out, pull in an arc in towards my body, push elbows back at the end - 50x12, 57.5x10

Close-grip pulldowns - 120x12, 140x12, 160x10, 180x8

Wide-grip HS Pulldowns - 90x15, 180x12, 230x10

Seated row - really let my shoulders come forward then force them back each rep - 120x12, 140x12, 160x12, 180x10

BB Shrug - start out very very strict form, 3 second holds at the top… form gets less perfect as it gets to the heavier sets but still quite good - 135x15, 225x15, 315x15, 365x10

Bis

Db Curls - 35x12, 45x9, 55x7

Pinwheel curls - 55x10, 65x10

Jesus curls (Cable curls like doing the front double bi pose?) - 25x10, 20x10, 20x10, drop set

496

Today - Shoulders

OHP - 45x18, 65x10, 95x8, 115x9 (I don’t know why I am just awful at regular overhead press. Probably because I haven’t done it a whole lot, but still… I’ve seated DB shoulder pressed something like 90’s x 8 or so, so it seems odd how weak my standing BB overhead press is. And it’s not like it’s shooting up now that I’m doing it more, but oh well, keep at er I suppose)

Front raises - drop set, immediately after the OHP… 45lb plate x 10, then 35x10, then 25x12

Lateral raise machine - 80x15, 110x12, 140x9

Cable lateral raises - 5x15, 10x12, 10x12

Cable reverse flys - 10x18, 15x15, 20x12

Face pulls - 42.5x15, 57.5x12

Reverse fly machine - 100x30

Then elliptical for a bit

497

Whoops, stopped posting again… will fill out the rest of the week now… Shoulders was wednesday, so

Thursday - Legs

Sumo DL - 135x12, 225x6, 315x5, 405x8 (These were all dead stop reps. My best is 445x9, but I used to do all touch and go… when I did 445x9 touch and go I could only do 405x3 or 4 dead stop, so I’m pretty happy with it)

Rest of leg day I do lots of time under tension stuff, not super heavy but really feeling the muscles work, getting a good pump, dying… did one-leg leg press, then two-leg leg press, then leg extensions, leg curls, abz

Friday - Arms - Basically combining the tri stuff from Monday and the bi stuff from Tuesday, maybe an extra exercise for each thrown in, then elliptical.

Saturday is USUALLY a shoulder day… same as Wednesday but also some traps thrown in. But sometimes I’ll just do whatever I feel like doing Saturday, or sometimes not even go if I don’t feel like it.

Then came Christmas, lots of family/friends down so I’m doing a lot of eating/drinking/being merry. The past week or so was the worst week diet/training wise I’ve had in a long long time, but honestly I really don’t care, it’s been an amazing week. I’ll get back on track hard next week.

498

Changing some stuff up…

Decided, since I have a bit more free time than I’ve had in a long long time, I’m going to try to get to the gym and lift 7 days/week, only taking a day off when I really feel I need it. In order to be able to do this, I’ll be trying real hard to get 8 hours of sleep, and eating a bit more. I was planning on leaning out a bit still but I might as well take advantage of the next few months of being able to spend more time at the gym and try to put some more muscle on. I will not, however, be putting on much fat at all, very slow gain, or maybe even recomp, we’ll see how she goes.

My split will be

Chest/tris cardio
Back/Bis/forearms
Shoulders cardio
Legs/abs… for legs I will alternate two workouts, one I’ll do Sumo Deadlifts, Stiff leg deadlifts, and a bunch of other stuff, the other day I’ll do Squats, Good mornings, and a bunch of other stuff.

Leg day I’ll go a little higher on the carbs, shoulder day a little lower.

A few exercises (bench, OHP, deadlifts and squats) I’ll do more powerlifting-style, lower reps, more sets, taking my time with it. The rest will all be more bodybuilding-type, mostly 8-12 reps, really focusing on feeling the muscles, do some time-under-tension stuff, maybe a drop set here and there for bis or whatever, etc.

Should make some good gains over the next little while, hope to look a lot better by summer.

499

[quote]Gmoore17 wrote:
Changing some stuff up…

Decided, since I have a bit more free time than I’ve had in a long long time, I’m going to try to get to the gym and lift 7 days/week, only taking a day off when I really feel I need it. In order to be able to do this, I’ll be trying real hard to get 8 hours of sleep, and eating a bit more. I was planning on leaning out a bit still but I might as well take advantage of the next few months of being able to spend more time at the gym and try to put some more muscle on. I will not, however, be putting on much fat at all, very slow gain, or maybe even recomp, we’ll see how she goes.

My split will be

Chest/tris cardio
Back/Bis/forearms
Shoulders cardio
Legs/abs… for legs I will alternate two workouts, one I’ll do Sumo Deadlifts, Stiff leg deadlifts, and a bunch of other stuff, the other day I’ll do Squats, Good mornings, and a bunch of other stuff.

Leg day I’ll go a little higher on the carbs, shoulder day a little lower.

A few exercises (bench, OHP, deadlifts and squats) I’ll do more powerlifting-style, lower reps, more sets, taking my time with it. The rest will all be more bodybuilding-type, mostly 8-12 reps, really focusing on feeling the muscles, do some time-under-tension stuff, maybe a drop set here and there for bis or whatever, etc.

Should make some good gains over the next little while, hope to look a lot better by summer.[/quote]

New plan looks cool. I love working out as many days as possible. I feel as long as you have food and sleep in check, you make more progress, as opposed to only lifting 3-4 times a week.

What’s the diet look like for the new split?

500

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]Gmoore17 wrote:
Changing some stuff up…

Decided, since I have a bit more free time than I’ve had in a long long time, I’m going to try to get to the gym and lift 7 days/week, only taking a day off when I really feel I need it. In order to be able to do this, I’ll be trying real hard to get 8 hours of sleep, and eating a bit more. I was planning on leaning out a bit still but I might as well take advantage of the next few months of being able to spend more time at the gym and try to put some more muscle on. I will not, however, be putting on much fat at all, very slow gain, or maybe even recomp, we’ll see how she goes.

My split will be

Chest/tris cardio
Back/Bis/forearms
Shoulders cardio
Legs/abs… for legs I will alternate two workouts, one I’ll do Sumo Deadlifts, Stiff leg deadlifts, and a bunch of other stuff, the other day I’ll do Squats, Good mornings, and a bunch of other stuff.

Leg day I’ll go a little higher on the carbs, shoulder day a little lower.

A few exercises (bench, OHP, deadlifts and squats) I’ll do more powerlifting-style, lower reps, more sets, taking my time with it. The rest will all be more bodybuilding-type, mostly 8-12 reps, really focusing on feeling the muscles, do some time-under-tension stuff, maybe a drop set here and there for bis or whatever, etc.

Should make some good gains over the next little while, hope to look a lot better by summer.[/quote]

New plan looks cool. I love working out as many days as possible. I feel as long as you have food and sleep in check, you make more progress, as opposed to only lifting 3-4 times a week.

What’s the diet look like for the new split?[/quote]

Diet is pretty much:

Meal 1 (Preworkout) - Protein shake with 2 scoops protein, water, banana, and yogurt mixed in, and a granola bar

Meal 2 (Postworkout) - Protein shake with 2 scoops protein, water, and mixed berries, and a granola bar or something else carby

The rest will vary quite a bit, but will be something like

Meal 3 - tuna sammich with whole can of tuna and olive oil mayo

Meal 4 - Meat and vegetables, maybe a carb source, most days not

Before bed - 2 scoops protein in water

I also take creatine, fish oil, and a multivitamin

501

[quote]Gmoore17 wrote:

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]Gmoore17 wrote:
Changing some stuff up…

Decided, since I have a bit more free time than I’ve had in a long long time, I’m going to try to get to the gym and lift 7 days/week, only taking a day off when I really feel I need it. In order to be able to do this, I’ll be trying real hard to get 8 hours of sleep, and eating a bit more. I was planning on leaning out a bit still but I might as well take advantage of the next few months of being able to spend more time at the gym and try to put some more muscle on. I will not, however, be putting on much fat at all, very slow gain, or maybe even recomp, we’ll see how she goes.

My split will be

Chest/tris cardio
Back/Bis/forearms
Shoulders cardio
Legs/abs… for legs I will alternate two workouts, one I’ll do Sumo Deadlifts, Stiff leg deadlifts, and a bunch of other stuff, the other day I’ll do Squats, Good mornings, and a bunch of other stuff.

Leg day I’ll go a little higher on the carbs, shoulder day a little lower.

A few exercises (bench, OHP, deadlifts and squats) I’ll do more powerlifting-style, lower reps, more sets, taking my time with it. The rest will all be more bodybuilding-type, mostly 8-12 reps, really focusing on feeling the muscles, do some time-under-tension stuff, maybe a drop set here and there for bis or whatever, etc.

Should make some good gains over the next little while, hope to look a lot better by summer.[/quote]

New plan looks cool. I love working out as many days as possible. I feel as long as you have food and sleep in check, you make more progress, as opposed to only lifting 3-4 times a week.

What’s the diet look like for the new split?[/quote]

Diet is pretty much:

Meal 1 (Preworkout) - Protein shake with 2 scoops protein, water, banana, and yogurt mixed in, and a granola bar

Meal 2 (Postworkout) - Protein shake with 2 scoops protein, water, and mixed berries, and a granola bar or something else carby

The rest will vary quite a bit, but will be something like

Meal 3 - tuna sammich with whole can of tuna and olive oil mayo

Meal 4 - Meat and vegetables, maybe a carb source, most days not

Before bed - 2 scoops protein in water

I also take creatine, fish oil, and a multivitamin[/quote]

So I guess you like more of a high protein, low/moderate carb, low/moderate fat diet? It seems like a lot of guys who try to stay leaner during a bulk seem to go that route

502

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]Gmoore17 wrote:

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]Gmoore17 wrote:
Changing some stuff up…

Decided, since I have a bit more free time than I’ve had in a long long time, I’m going to try to get to the gym and lift 7 days/week, only taking a day off when I really feel I need it. In order to be able to do this, I’ll be trying real hard to get 8 hours of sleep, and eating a bit more. I was planning on leaning out a bit still but I might as well take advantage of the next few months of being able to spend more time at the gym and try to put some more muscle on. I will not, however, be putting on much fat at all, very slow gain, or maybe even recomp, we’ll see how she goes.

My split will be

Chest/tris cardio
Back/Bis/forearms
Shoulders cardio
Legs/abs… for legs I will alternate two workouts, one I’ll do Sumo Deadlifts, Stiff leg deadlifts, and a bunch of other stuff, the other day I’ll do Squats, Good mornings, and a bunch of other stuff.

Leg day I’ll go a little higher on the carbs, shoulder day a little lower.

A few exercises (bench, OHP, deadlifts and squats) I’ll do more powerlifting-style, lower reps, more sets, taking my time with it. The rest will all be more bodybuilding-type, mostly 8-12 reps, really focusing on feeling the muscles, do some time-under-tension stuff, maybe a drop set here and there for bis or whatever, etc.

Should make some good gains over the next little while, hope to look a lot better by summer.[/quote]

New plan looks cool. I love working out as many days as possible. I feel as long as you have food and sleep in check, you make more progress, as opposed to only lifting 3-4 times a week.

What’s the diet look like for the new split?[/quote]

Diet is pretty much:

Meal 1 (Preworkout) - Protein shake with 2 scoops protein, water, banana, and yogurt mixed in, and a granola bar

Meal 2 (Postworkout) - Protein shake with 2 scoops protein, water, and mixed berries, and a granola bar or something else carby

The rest will vary quite a bit, but will be something like

Meal 3 - tuna sammich with whole can of tuna and olive oil mayo

Meal 4 - Meat and vegetables, maybe a carb source, most days not

Before bed - 2 scoops protein in water

I also take creatine, fish oil, and a multivitamin[/quote]

So I guess you like more of a high protein, low/moderate carb, low/moderate fat diet? It seems like a lot of guys who try to stay leaner during a bulk seem to go that route
[/quote]

Yeah I really just try to get a good amount of protein in each meal, and most planned carbs pre and post workout. To be honest, now that I’m not worried about ‘cutting,’ and am focusing more on putting on some muscle, I will indulge a bit more in the foods I want. So what I wrote up there will be more like my shoulder day, and then days like legs or back if I want to eat something else, maybe not quite as ‘clean,’ I’ll rationalize it to myself by thinking ‘well my muscles need it.’ I’m not saying I’ll always do this, just that what I wrote up there isn’t exact.

I’ve had five pretty amazing workouts in a row and am just feeling much more into it than I have been in the last little while.

503

Ohh I see. I’m always interested to see what leaner guys eat, because sadly the way I store fat, really kills my V-Taper if I let body fat get even a bit outta hand. What’s an average workout look like now? Same as it use too, just on different days?? Or new set-up?

504

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Ohh I see. I’m always interested to see what leaner guys eat, because sadly the way I store fat, really kills my V-Taper if I let body fat get even a bit outta hand. What’s an average workout look like now? Same as it use too, just on different days?? Or new set-up?[/quote]

Believe me I’m not naturally a ‘leaner’ guy, I was quite chub most of my life, and also store fat shittily, I just happen to be just finishing a diet, hence the current leanness. I do plan on staying ‘leaner’ from now on though.

My workouts are pretty similar to what they were before, just 4 day split, repeating with (for the most part, assuming it works) no days off, instead of 5 day split with weekends off, or maybe go and do something on saturday. It means my chest, back, and legs will be getting hit almost twice as often as they used to, with arms and shoulders getting hit about the same.

Also the other difference is that I’m going to be doing bench press, overhead press, squats and deadlifts more like a powerlifter, lower reps more sets, focused on weight progression. This is because while I train with bodybuilding in mind, I know that I’m naturally more suited to powerlifting than bodybuilding, and I would like to compete in powerlifting at some point.

505

[quote]Gmoore17 wrote:

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Ohh I see. I’m always interested to see what leaner guys eat, because sadly the way I store fat, really kills my V-Taper if I let body fat get even a bit outta hand. What’s an average workout look like now? Same as it use too, just on different days?? Or new set-up?[/quote]

Believe me I’m not naturally a ‘leaner’ guy, I was quite chub most of my life, and also store fat shittily, I just happen to be just finishing a diet, hence the current leanness. I do plan on staying ‘leaner’ from now on though.

My workouts are pretty similar to what they were before, just 4 day split, repeating with (for the most part, assuming it works) no days off, instead of 5 day split with weekends off, or maybe go and do something on saturday. It means my chest, back, and legs will be getting hit almost twice as often as they used to, with arms and shoulders getting hit about the same.

Also the other difference is that I’m going to be doing bench press, overhead press, squats and deadlifts more like a powerlifter, lower reps more sets, focused on weight progression. This is because while I train with bodybuilding in mind, I know that I’m naturally more suited to powerlifting than bodybuilding, and I would like to compete in powerlifting at some point.[/quote]

Well that’s similar to what I’m doing, with low reps on power moves, but high reps for iso work, so that’s encouraging. Are you shooting for any particular goals in the next year with bench, squat, DL, and OHP??

506

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]Gmoore17 wrote:

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Ohh I see. I’m always interested to see what leaner guys eat, because sadly the way I store fat, really kills my V-Taper if I let body fat get even a bit outta hand. What’s an average workout look like now? Same as it use too, just on different days?? Or new set-up?[/quote]

Believe me I’m not naturally a ‘leaner’ guy, I was quite chub most of my life, and also store fat shittily, I just happen to be just finishing a diet, hence the current leanness. I do plan on staying ‘leaner’ from now on though.

My workouts are pretty similar to what they were before, just 4 day split, repeating with (for the most part, assuming it works) no days off, instead of 5 day split with weekends off, or maybe go and do something on saturday. It means my chest, back, and legs will be getting hit almost twice as often as they used to, with arms and shoulders getting hit about the same.

Also the other difference is that I’m going to be doing bench press, overhead press, squats and deadlifts more like a powerlifter, lower reps more sets, focused on weight progression. This is because while I train with bodybuilding in mind, I know that I’m naturally more suited to powerlifting than bodybuilding, and I would like to compete in powerlifting at some point.[/quote]

Well that’s similar to what I’m doing, with low reps on power moves, but high reps for iso work, so that’s encouraging. Are you shooting for any particular goals in the next year with bench, squat, DL, and OHP??[/quote]

I wasn’t, but you saying that makes me think I should haha so thanks. Let’s say:

Bench 365 (best is 335, current prob 315)
DL 545 (best 495, current prob 475)
Both of those ‘bests’ I was about 25 pounds heavier.

My OHP and squat both fucking suck, mainly because I’ve hardly ever done them… so:

OHP: 205 (current I don’t even know, probably 145 or 155, it’s bad)
Squat: 405 (current 275x5, but that was my first time doing them in well over a year, I’ve never loved squats but if I ever want to do a powerlifting comp I have to get it respectable)

I would be very, very happy with any/all of those in the next year. Realistically though my main goals are ‘get bigger and leaner,’ so as long as that’s happening I don’t care as much about the lifts, but obviously the plan/hope is that the lifts will help me get there.

507

Was supposed to do legs today, but they were still sore from 4 days ago, so instead of doing nothing I went in and did some arms. I’m basically figuring ‘the more the better’ for the next little while.

The weights I did this week for the ‘money lifts’ that I’m really focusing on increasing were:

Bench: 245 for 3 sets of 5
OHP: 115 for 3 sets of 5
Squat: 275 for 2 sets of 4 (again, first time squatting in well over a year, didn’t wanna kill myself)
Deadlift: was supposed to do today, will do it tomorrow, plan on doing 455x2 then 405x5

My plan for ideal progression is for bench and OHP, do 3 sets of 4 the one workout, 3 sets of 5 the next workout, 3 sets of 6 the next workout, then add 10 pounds and go back to 3 sets of 4, and so on. For squat I plan on doing 3 sets of 5 and just adding 10 pounds each session, since I only squat every other leg day and it should go up quick since it’s so bad. For deadlift, going to do the heavier set of 2 and the lighter set of 5, try to add 10 pounds to both each time, as again it’s every other leg workout. This almost certainly won’t work perfectly but that’s my plan.

508

3 weeks into the “4 day split, every day” thing and it’s going quite well so far. Feeling great, and have only missed the gym one day. A few things:

  • Everything is progressing as I’d hoped. However, that’s obviously easier at the start. The more I think about it the more I think it’s very unrealistic to expect it to keep up, and I’ll probably slow down the progression plan, because for this to continue, I’d be putting like 60 pounds on my bench and overhead press in the next 12 weeks.

  • Elbows were acting up just a wee bit from the increase in heavy pressing. Upped the fish oil and brought back the elbow sleeves for heavy pressing/extension work, they feel fine now, I’m confident they’ll continue to.

  • Started playing football for a couple hours every Sunday with some friends. Have only done this the past two weeks but it looks like we should be able to keep it up. This is why I missed a day, I was supposed to do legs but they were quite sore (along with the rest of me) from the football. So that’s something I’ll have to work around, but I’m thinking once I’m more used to playing every week it won’t be much of an issue anyway.

509

Changing up the progression on bench and OHP, to slow myself down a bit, because I know I can’t keep this progression up… Now I’m going to do 5 sets of 3 with a weight, next workout 4 sets of 4, next workout 3 sets of 5, next workout 2 sets of 6, next workout add 10 pounds, 5 sets of 3, etc. Basically just adding 10 pounds one workout slower now, and doing more sets of the lower weight to get used to dominating it.

Deadlift and squat will stay the same plan as I wrote two posts ago.

PS the last 3 weeks have been 3 of the best weeks, training-wise, that I’ve had. Hoping to keep it up for the next 10-12 weeks, gaining about 15 pounds in the process, then see what I wanna do. I do want to be quite lean this summer but if my lifts are still going up steady and I’m gaining muscle I’ll probably keep going.

510

Update: 2 weeks later, haven’t missed another day, things are going swimmingly for the most part, feeling good, looking a bit bigger I think, getting stronger

Couple small changes:

  • 3 top sets of squats was proving too much for my lower back, so I started using a belt, and just ramping up to one top set, more reps on the lighter sets, and really really focusing on form more

  • My OHP progress may be starting to stall, I failed to get 4 sets of 4 yesterday… I will try to just eat more and really make sure I fucking destroy every set, and if that doesn’t work I’ll change up the progression somehow… I can’t believe how awful my OHP is, like less than half of my bench. When I said my max was 145 or 155, it was probably actually 135.

511

2 more weeks in, still going well, missed 3 days in a row though cause I got quite sick, but other than that, excellent. That makes 7 weeks total on the new gaining split, and progress so far:

Weight: 176-185
Bench: from 245 for 3 sets of 5, to 275 for 5 sets of 3 (fairly easy)
OHP: from 115 for 3 sets of 5, to 145 for 3, 3, 3, 2, 2 (hard as fuck)
Squat: from 275 for 3 sets of 4, to 275x5, 295x5, 315x3
Deadlift: Started at 455x2, last time did 485, might try 500 on Monday… hard to say progress on this though because 455x2 wasn’t that hard.

I feel like a good chunk of the 9 pounds gained has been muscle, because I can see some improvements pretty much everywhere. Progress in the weights is definitely starting to slow down though. And I do want to be real lean this summer, so we’ll see what happens in the next couple months.