Background
I see many comments telling people who are asking several questions to start a log. I feel like I am beginning to ask a lot of questions and since the T-ransformation Challenge is coming up, I thought I would begin a log.
I am 35yo, 5’6”, and about 163 lbs.
I have a background in endurance sports (e.g., triathlons, 5ks, and mountain bike racing) as an adult (post-high school).
I have done cross-fit for a few months prior to my wedding and otherwise I have only done running biking and suspension/bodyweight work (I’ll post my 6 month suspension workout plan in another post for anyone interested in suspension type work).
My goals are to increase size and strength.
Nutrition
My diet is basically some combination of the following for each meal…
Meats: Chicken, tuna, pork, beef, wild game (squirrel, rabbit, deer, etc.)
Vegetables: Bean, greens (anything green really), carrots, tomatoes (could be under fruit), avocado (might be a fruit), potatoes, and squash
Grains: Cream of wheat, wheat and white bread, quinoa, brown and white rice, lentils, granola, oats
Dairy: Milk, Greek yogurt (low/no fat), cheese (occasionally)
Fruit: Peaches, pears, oranges, apples, watermelon, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, bananas
Other things I sometimes eat: Kolaches, cookies, cereal (Life and Honey Bunches of Oats), canned condensed soups
Supplements: Whey and Casein Protein, Amino Acids, Pre-workout
My 10-day average caloric intake is approximately 2673kcal. According to my Mifflin St. Jeor Equation calculation, my BMR with sedentary lifestyle (BMRx0.2) is 1943kcal. I chose sedentary because I sit at a computer for work. I also did this by hand and verified it. I add my exercise into the equation using Cronometer. By visual inspection, I eat about 2400 calories 4 days a week (rest days) and about 3000 calories 3 days a week (workout days). If you take (2400x4 + 3000x3) / 7 it will come out to about 2657, which is pretty much what my 10 day average shows.
My 6 day macro average split for those calories is Carbs – 49%; Protein – 27%; Fat – 23%. I am shooting for a 50/30/20 split. This gives me about a 1-1.2g of protein per pound of bodyweight average. If you are wondering how I got there: 2673 (kcal) x 0.27 (27%protein) / 4 (approx. kcal per gram of protein) = 180g of protein and I weigh 163ish. Why more carbs than fats? I like eating carbs more than fats. I don’t really have a better reason than that. Why 50/30/20? It is easy to remember and seems as good as other splits (e.g., 40/40/20, 40/30/30, 50/40/10, etc.).
Workouts
From April through October I trained using a TRX type suspension system to burn fat, build a little muscle, but mainly create a workout habit.
Starting in November, I began hitting the gym.
My program is the “How to Build Muscle Naturally: An Unexpected Plan” posted on T Nation by Stuart McRobert. I chose this plan because it fit my lifestyle, schedule, and natural-ness. I compared about three different programs. Of course there are others out there, but I want to give this one a shot for the 33 weeks and then go from there. I am sticking to it pretty strictly so I can maximize the validity of my comparisons from week to week. I can also make comparisons with my nutrition when my workout plan is strict and standardized.
The plan boils down to this:
- Stage 1
- Two workouts (upper body and lower body)
- Three workouts a week (e.g., MWF), alternating between the two (some weeks you will hit the same body section twice a week; sometimes once a week
- Two warm up sets, two working sets
- First working set 6-8 reps. If you fail before 8 reps, repeat weight. If you make 8 reps increase in weight next time.
- Second working set 10-12 reps. If you fail before 12 reps, repeat weight. If you make 12 reps increase in weight next time.
- The only caveat is carved out for calves, which is 10-12 and 18-20 for the working sets.
- Do this for 10 weeks and then take a week off.
- Stage 2
- Same principle as in Stage 1, but the workouts change to two near full body workouts and only twice a week. So, basically, you will do the same two workouts each week, but only once.
- Do this for 10 weeks and then take a week off.
- Stage 3
- Same as Stage 2, but now do three workouts every two weeks. For instance, you would workout Monday and Friday on Week 1 and Wednesday on Week 2 and Monday and Friday on Week 3, etc.
I will say, sometimes if I’m feeling good on my last working set, I’ll go beyond 12 until I hit failure (e.g., Week 2, Wednesday, lateral raise). I have also done this for my 3rd working set, but I’m going to quit doing that because it takes away from my ability to get the reps in my last set (e.g., Week 3, Friday, overhead press) and I want to tighten up my adherence to the program so I can have a good valid week to week comparison for the sake of progression.
Below are my workouts up until this point.
Notation: reps x pounds
Order: Warm-up set 1, Warm-up set 2, Heavy work set, Less heavy work set
Week 1
Monday
Bench - 8x95, 8x115, 8x150, 12x135
Pull up (narrow grip; reps only) - 8, 8, 8, 8
Seated Back Supported Overhead Press - 10x20, 10x25, 6x42.5, 4x37.5 (went too heavy)
Chest Supported Row - 10x35, 10x40, 5x55, 12x45
Lateral Raise - 8x10, 8x10, 6x22.5, 11x17.5
Curl (Incline Dumbbell curl) - 10x10, 10x12.5, 8x30, 8x20
Slight Decline Triceps Extension w/ Dumbbells - 10x10, 10x15, 5x25, 9x20
Wednesday
Squat - 7x125, 7x125, 8x160, 12x140
Calf Raises/Extensions (dumbbells in hand on a raised box – note I figured out we had a machine at a later date) - 10x35, 10x40, 19x75, 19x65
RDL - 6x125, 6x135, 6x215, 10x175
Leg Curl (machine) - 6x50, 6x70, 8x110, 10x110
Crunch sit-up (weighted) - 8x10, 8x10, 8x25, 12x25
Friday
Bench - 6x95, 6x115, 9x155, 8x140
Pull up (narrow grip; reps only) - 8, 8, 8, 8
Seated Back Supported Overhead Press - 6x20, 7x22.5, 8x42.5, 10x35
Chest Supported Row - 7x35, 6x40, 8x55, 10x50
Lateral Raise - 6x12.5, 8x10, 6x22.5, 11x17.5
Curl (EZ bar curl) - 8x30, 6x40, 11x70, 9x60
Slight Decline Triceps Extension w/ Dumbbells - 6x10, 6x15, 8x25, 12x20
Week 2
**********Decided to use 6 reps as my warm up rep #. It seems to give me a good warmup and I want to keep it consistent.
Monday
Squat - 6x125, 6x125, 8x165, 12x145
Calf Raises/Extensions (dumbbells in hand on a raised box – note I figured out we had a machine at a later date) - 10x35, 10x40, 15x80, 20x70
RDL - 6x135, 6x135, 6x220 (grip failure), 10x175
Leg Curl (machine) - 6x50, 6x70, 6x130, 10x110
Crunch sit-up (weighted) - 6x10, 6x10, 8x25, 12x25
Wednesday
Bench - 6x95, 6x115, 9x160, 7x140
Pull up (wide grip; reps only) - 6, 6, 5, 5
Seated Back Supported Overhead Press - 6x20, 6x25, 7x45, 8x35
Chest Supported Row - 6x35, 6x40, 8x60, 11x50
Lateral Raise - 7x10, 7x10, 9x22.5, 13x17.5
Curl (EX bar) - 8x30, 8x40, 8x75, 11x60
Slight Decline Triceps Extension w/ Dumbbells - 6x10, 6x15, 2x27.5 (dropped to 25 for a set of 6 more), 0x22.5 (dropped to 20 for a set of 10)
Friday
Squat - 6x95, 6x125, 8x170, 12x150
Calf Raises/Extensions (found the machine!) - 10x60, 10x100, 12x160, 20x120
RDL - 6x135, 6x145, 8x215, 10x175(grip failure)
Leg Curl - 6x50, 6x70, 8x130, 12x110
Crunch sit-up (weighted) - 6x10, 6x10, 12x30, 14x25
Week 3
Monday
Bench - 6x95, 6x115, 7x165, 10x130
Pull up (wide grip; reps only) - 6, 6, 7, 6
Seated Back Supported Overhead Press - 6x20, 6x25, 8x45, 10x35
Chest Supported Row - 5x35, 6x40, 6x65, 11x50
Lateral Raise - 6x10, 6x10, 6x25, 10x20
Curl (EX Bar) - 6x30, 6x40, 7x80, 12x60
Slight Decline Triceps Extension w/ Dumbbells - 6x10, 6x15, 7x25, 10x20
Wednesday
Squat - 6x95, 6x125, 8x175, 12x155
Calf Raises/Extensions (machine) - 6x60, 10x100, 12x160, 20x140
RDL - 6x135, 6x145, 7x220 (grip failure), 12x190
Leg Curl - 6x50, 6x70, 3x150 (dropped weight to 130 to get 9 reps total), 12x110
Crunch sit-up (weighted) - 6x10, 6x15, 10x35, 10x30
Friday
Bench - 6x95, 6x115, 8x165, 9x130
Pull up (wide grip; reps only) - 8, 7, 4, 4
Seated Back Supported Overhead Press - 6x20, 6x25, 9x47.5, 11x35
Chest Supported Row - 6x35, 6x40, 6x65, 12x50
Lateral Raise - 6x10, 6x10, 8x25, 12x20
Curl (EZ bar curl) - 6x30, 6x40, 8x80, 10x65
Slight Decline Triceps Extension w/ Dumbbells - 6x10, 6x15, 8x25, 10x20
Week 4
Monday
Squat - 6x95, 6x125, 9x180, 12x160
Calf Raises/Extensions (machine) - 10x60, 10x100, 12x180, 20x160
RDL - 6x135, 6x145, 8x225, 11x195
Leg Curl - 6x50, 6x70, 8x140, 12x110
Crunch sit-up (weighted) - 6x10, 6x15, 8x37.5, 12x30
Wednesday
Bench - 6x95, 6x115, 8x170, 12x130
Pull up (wide grip; reps only) - 8, 7, 6, 5
Seated Back Supported Overhead Press - 6x20, 6x25, 8x50, 13x35
Chest Supported Row - 6x30, 6x45, 7x65, 10x55
Lateral Raise - 6x10, 6x10, 6x27.5, 8x22.5
Curl (EZ bar curl) - 6x30, 6x40, 8x80, 11x65
Slight Decline Triceps Extension w/ Dumbbells - 6x10, 6x15, 5x27.5, 12x20
Here are my progression charts over the first 3.5 weeks. I only used my working sets because warm up sets can be manipulated to fit my warm up and working sets are where progression can be measured. I split them into the high and low weight working sets and included an average line because the average between the two is sensitive to progression in one but not the other and can be used as an overall marker of progression (a crude overall marker). I do not have sets built in because it would be difficult to do so and not the point of the charts. I could also do a total tonnage chart if people are interested and would find that helpful. I will not post a chart every workout or every week because that is tedious and obsessing about progression in the short term is distracting, so I will probably post these charts every couple of months. I will continue to update them in the meantime. I enjoy charts, graphs, and numbers so this is more for me than anyone else, but I’ll post them for everyone else too since copy and paste is so easy to do. One thing to note, some linear progression is just a reflection of my increasing the weight systematically and not yet finding my limit (e.g., squats). Also, some progression is artificial as a result of technique or a change in equipment (e.g., bicep curls and calf raises). Similarly, some regression is artificial due to a change in technique or equipment (e.g., pull-ups). All Y axis starting points are approximately 10 pounds lower than the lightest load to make the charts more readable.
