Super Size Me

Training Training Logs
101

Was given the green light from MODOK on the exercise selection. I’m still considering doing all compound movements for chest rather than alternating compound/isolation movements, but we’ll see. Re: today’s incline press, the DB/BB decision will be made during the workout.

I also plan on keeping track of my eating for this ramp (not really for kcal/macro totals, but rather to keep myself accountable), so here goes (will update throughout the day)

8:00am - 3/4 cup dry oatmeal, 1 cup skim milk, 2 scoops whey protein (48g protein)
11:30am - 1/2 lb grilled chicken breast, 1/4 lb steamed broccoli, 1-2 tbsp ranch dressing
3:00pm - 1/3 lb grilled chicken breast, small spinach salad, 2 tbsp blue cheese dressing
6:30pm - Chipotle burrito bowl w/ extra meat (chicken, steak, small amount of rice, black beans, grilled onions and bell peppers, cheese, small amount of sour cream, hot salsa, lettuce)
10:00pm - 1 scoop Surge Workout Fuel
11:15pm - 2 scoops Surge Recovery
12:00am - 1 small bag of hot peanuts (1 5/8 oz… the stuff you find at gas stations)
12:45am - 3 cans of tuna (66g protein), 1-2 tbsp light Miracle Whip, 5g fish oil

102

Ramp 2, baby! I almost missed today’s workout because my evening nap went a little longer than expected. I woke up around 9:30pm and felt like shit (how you always feel when you wake up from a nap that isn’t a power nap or isn’t 3+ hours long). Fortunately, I dragged my ass to the gym and got my workout in.

13-15 reps is a bitch just like I remembered. My problem seems to be that I choose weight that feels fine early on, but after 8 or so reps, I start fatiguing fast. This was especially apparent during my BB incline press.

HS lat pulldown (supinated grip)
200 x 13
190 x 10/2
170 x 8/5(160)

BB incline press - changing to HS incline press starting next week
155 x 8/4(145)
140 x 7/4(135)
125 x 10/3

Swiss ball leg curls
BW x 15
BW x 15
BW x 15

Seated calf raises
90 x 15
90 x 13
90 x 12

DB hammer curls
40 x 13
37.5 x 12
32.5 x 8/5

In case the above notation confuses you, x/y means I did x reps with the designated weight, reracked, took about 10-15 deep breaths, and then did y more reps with the same weight. If there’s a number to the right of it (in parentheses), that means I dropped the weight to that amount and then did y reps with the new weight. Basically, it’s rest-pause.

I definitely do not plan on using rest-pause too often. I really only incorporate it if I missed my rep range by a significant number of reps. By next week, I really shouldn’t be using rest-pause since I’ll be more familiar with what weights I should be using.

I’ve decided to change the BB incline press on Monday to HS incline press. With the number of reps, I’m destined to fail (like I did today). Using the HS incline press with help me mentally since failing I can easily drop the weight, whereas on a bench, I have to wait for someone to help me lift the BB off my chest. I suppose I could also use DBs instead, but I guess I don’t have to make this decision until next Monday.

103

I’ve never felt so exhausted after a workout. I didn’t even hit any PRs or anything (given, I’m doing 13-15 reps). I’ll discuss possible reasons for the fatigue.

Machine pec flies
150 x 13
150 x 13
140 x 13

One-arm DB rows - this exercise got me surprisingly tired
105 x 10 - got 13 reps with my left hand and 10 with my right hand
100 x 13
95 x 12 - this is when my lower back started to tighten up and hurt

Angled leg press - lower back pain from the rows compromised this lift big time
450 x 10 - had to take a longer break before starting due to my lower back tightness (in the form of more warm-up sets)
450 x 15
450 x 15 - this one was tough… had to rest 30-60 sec long before doing it though

My back was so tight that I decided to make my Surge Recovery drink before continuing, hoping that the carbs would give me a second wind.

Seated calf raises - was supposed to do these on the leg press, but my quads were fried and I couldn’t keep my legs straight
90 x 15
90 x 13
90 x 13

Machine dips
300 x 13
285 x 12
270 x 11/4

Why did I get so exhausted from this workout? Possible reasons:

  1. I’ve had about 10 hours of sleep in the past two days.
  2. Dropped 2 cups of milk that I used every morning to make my protein shake.
  3. Today, I didn’t eat much of my afternoon snack (grilled chicken breast with spinach). Just wasn’t very hungry today.
  4. Dinner was also on the smaller side. 1/3 - 1/2 lb burger patty and 1 banana.

I’m going to hit the sack right now to cover #1. I’ll be sure to finish my afternoon snack tomorrow and eat a bigger pre-workout meal. If I still feel weak, I’ll throw the milk back in.

104

Wide-grip rack chins - these were surprisingly more difficult than I had expected!
15 x 10
10 x 10
BW x 10 - yea, I’m weak. My last few reps aren’t even that good (I’m not getting my chin above the bar)

DB decline press (neutral grip)
85 x 9
80 x 9
75 x 9

Standing DB alt. curls
40 x 9
37.5 x 10
35 x 10

Seated calf raises - quick concentric, slow eccentric, 5 sec pause at bottom
90 x 12
90 x 10
90 x 11

Machine hack squat - these hurt my knees a little bit. I used a narrow stance and put my feet way up on the pad. My glutes and quads felt it big time.
230 x 12
230 x 12
230 x 11

105

Cable crossover - first time doing this in a long time, hence the increase in weight over the sets (didn’t know where my starting point was)
70 x 12
80 x 12
90 x 10

Corner rows
185 x 10
185 x 10 - used straps
175 x 10 - used straps

Wide reverse-grip Smith press - these hit my triceps pretty hard. I liked it!
185 x 12
185 x 10
185 x 11

Angled leg press (calves) - was supposed to do the deadlifts next, but I knew I had to give my lower back more rest
270 x 12
270 x 12
270 x 12

Straight-legged deadlift - lower back problems
245 x 10 - back was fine during the set, but the tightness came after I was done
225 x 11 - had to take a 3:30 min break (tried lifting at 2:30, but it didn’t work)
225 x 8 - these hurt

As you can see, my lower back cannot handle more than 3 sets of work. I need to figure out why my back’s fatiguing so quickly, and I need to fix the problem. I plan on dumping the corner rows and doing seated rows or chest-supported rows instead. I think these movements will probably hit my upper back moreso than my lower back, so hopefully I’ll be able to do them with the straight-legged deadlifts. I’d hate to get rid of the deadlifts altogether because I really like the movement for my hamstrings.

I’ve made a few other changes to the program re: exercise selection, so I’ll post the revised version on Sunday after I see how the rest of the week turns out.

106

[quote]jo3 wrote:
Was given the green light from MODOK on the exercise selection. I’m still considering doing all compound movements for chest rather than alternating compound/isolation movements, but we’ll see. Re: today’s incline press, the DB/BB decision will be made during the workout.

I also plan on keeping track of my eating for this ramp (not really for kcal/macro totals, but rather to keep myself accountable), so here goes (will update throughout the day)

8:00am - 3/4 cup dry oatmeal, 1 cup skim milk, 2 scoops whey protein (48g protein)
11:30am - 1/2 lb grilled chicken breast, 1/4 lb steamed broccoli, 1-2 tbsp ranch dressing
3:00pm - 1/3 lb grilled chicken breast, small spinach salad, 2 tbsp blue cheese dressing
6:30pm - Chipotle burrito bowl w/ extra meat (chicken, steak, small amount of rice, black beans, grilled onions and bell peppers, cheese, small amount of sour cream, hot salsa, lettuce)
10:00pm - 1 scoop Surge Workout Fuel
11:15pm - 2 scoops Surge Recovery
12:00am - 1 small bag of hot peanuts (1 5/8 oz… the stuff you find at gas stations)
12:45am - 3 cans of tuna (66g protein), 1-2 tbsp light Miracle Whip, 5g fish oil[/quote]

Looks like your eating a lot but just from a glance it seems like a ton of protein and not enough fat. Taking the best estimates i can it looks like 70g of fat + what your getting with the chipolte burrito bowl which may actually be a lot now that I think about it…I don’t know.

I guess that would be fine normally, I’m only bringing it up because you would obviously need a ton of energy with a routine like this. Do you have any idea how much of each macro or even total calories your taking in?

107

[quote]pumped340 wrote:
jo3 wrote:
Was given the green light from MODOK on the exercise selection. I’m still considering doing all compound movements for chest rather than alternating compound/isolation movements, but we’ll see. Re: today’s incline press, the DB/BB decision will be made during the workout.

I also plan on keeping track of my eating for this ramp (not really for kcal/macro totals, but rather to keep myself accountable), so here goes (will update throughout the day)

8:00am - 3/4 cup dry oatmeal, 1 cup skim milk, 2 scoops whey protein (48g protein)
11:30am - 1/2 lb grilled chicken breast, 1/4 lb steamed broccoli, 1-2 tbsp ranch dressing
3:00pm - 1/3 lb grilled chicken breast, small spinach salad, 2 tbsp blue cheese dressing
6:30pm - Chipotle burrito bowl w/ extra meat (chicken, steak, small amount of rice, black beans, grilled onions and bell peppers, cheese, small amount of sour cream, hot salsa, lettuce)
10:00pm - 1 scoop Surge Workout Fuel
11:15pm - 2 scoops Surge Recovery
12:00am - 1 small bag of hot peanuts (1 5/8 oz… the stuff you find at gas stations)
12:45am - 3 cans of tuna (66g protein), 1-2 tbsp light Miracle Whip, 5g fish oil

Looks like your eating a lot but just from a glance it seems like a ton of protein and not enough fat. Taking the best estimates i can it looks like 70g of fat + what your getting with the chipolte burrito bowl which may actually be a lot now that I think about it…I don’t know.

I guess that would be fine normally, I’m only bringing it up because you would obviously need a ton of energy with a routine like this. Do you have any idea how much of each macro or even total calories your taking in? [/quote]

To be honest, I’m really not too sure about my macro breakdown, but I’ll keep track of what I eat tomorrow, stick it in Fit Day (only if I don’t have a nutrition label for it), and report back. My food intake is roughly the same every day, so we’ll get a good sense of how I’m doing nutrition-wise tomorrow.

Week 7 is in the books. I have a lot of reading to do for work tonight, so I’ll throw up my workouts from Friday and today tomorrow. I mentioned this in the BBB thread in the Bodybuilding subforum, but on Friday, I tweaked my right knee a little bit. I was worried that it would prevent me from squatting, but I ended up squatting today.

It was 30 lbs less than my attempt on Friday, but safety first! My knee’s slightly sore, but I managed to get some good reps in. I think my shoes may be partially to blame (I’m wearing running shoes, which = lots of padding, which = not the most stability in the world).

108

Nice journal man, I just glanced at it a little bit tonight. I"m currently on SuperGrowth Week One, so it’s nice having someone slightly ahead of me to look up to. Keep up the awesome work, it looks good so far. Diet is a very individual thing, so I like how you are approaching it. Just don’t sweat it and look at the big picture right?

Hope your knee feels better. I didn’t read what you posted in the other thread, but along with the usual stretching I’m sure you’re aware of (quads, hip flexors, abductors, etc), you might want to have your feet looked at. I have tons of people with flat feet/fallen arches that have knee pain. Falling arches = leg and knee rotation inwards = hip and back pain.

Just my two cents. Later dude.

109

[quote]pumped340 wrote:
jo3 wrote:
Was given the green light from MODOK on the exercise selection. I’m still considering doing all compound movements for chest rather than alternating compound/isolation movements, but we’ll see. Re: today’s incline press, the DB/BB decision will be made during the workout.

I also plan on keeping track of my eating for this ramp (not really for kcal/macro totals, but rather to keep myself accountable), so here goes (will update throughout the day)

8:00am - 3/4 cup dry oatmeal, 1 cup skim milk, 2 scoops whey protein (48g protein)
11:30am - 1/2 lb grilled chicken breast, 1/4 lb steamed broccoli, 1-2 tbsp ranch dressing
3:00pm - 1/3 lb grilled chicken breast, small spinach salad, 2 tbsp blue cheese dressing
6:30pm - Chipotle burrito bowl w/ extra meat (chicken, steak, small amount of rice, black beans, grilled onions and bell peppers, cheese, small amount of sour cream, hot salsa, lettuce)
10:00pm - 1 scoop Surge Workout Fuel
11:15pm - 2 scoops Surge Recovery
12:00am - 1 small bag of hot peanuts (1 5/8 oz… the stuff you find at gas stations)
12:45am - 3 cans of tuna (66g protein), 1-2 tbsp light Miracle Whip, 5g fish oil

Looks like your eating a lot but just from a glance it seems like a ton of protein and not enough fat. Taking the best estimates i can it looks like 70g of fat + what your getting with the chipolte burrito bowl which may actually be a lot now that I think about it…I don’t know.

I guess that would be fine normally, I’m only bringing it up because you would obviously need a ton of energy with a routine like this. Do you have any idea how much of each macro or even total calories your taking in? [/quote]

Little update. My past 3 workouts have been pretty shitty. Mondays and Tuesdays are supposed to be for endurance, and…well… I don’t have any. After finishing today’s workout, I thought about why this might be. I just started ramp 2 (8 days into it), so surely I can’t be nearing overtraining just yet.

Now, I’m pretty sure it’s been my nutrition. I’m not eating as frequently as I had been during the first ramp, and it seems to be taking a toll on my workouts. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be sure to log everything I eat to keep myself accountable

[quote]Bonechiro wrote:
Nice journal man, I just glanced at it a little bit tonight. I"m currently on SuperGrowth Week One, so it’s nice having someone slightly ahead of me to look up to. Keep up the awesome work, it looks good so far. Diet is a very individual thing, so I like how you are approaching it. Just don’t sweat it and look at the big picture right?

Hope your knee feels better. I didn’t read what you posted in the other thread, but along with the usual stretching I’m sure you’re aware of (quads, hip flexors, abductors, etc), you might want to have your feet looked at. I have tons of people with flat feet/fallen arches that have knee pain. Falling arches = leg and knee rotation inwards = hip and back pain.

Just my two cents. Later dude.[/quote]

Thanks for stopping by. My knee surprisingly feels much better. I’m making sure that I do a lot of light warm up sets. Might prevent me from lifting as heavy as possible on my work sets, but I still feel like my legs are working hard. And plus, better to err on the safe side.

You bring up a very interesting point about flat feet. I did a self-diagnosis of my feet on some Nike website (I wish I could find a link), and I determined that my feet are flat and my ankles are pronated. I’m guessing that I’ve recently noticed the hip/back pain because I’ve only been hitting my legs and back hard and consistently since mid/late May. I’ll try to find a foot doctor in the area to get a real diagnosis.

110

Sorry about the lack of updates. Work has been keeping me super busy, so I haven’t had the time to update my Excel spreadsheet or this log. I should be able to do a massive update this weekend.

But a few notes about my workouts:

-As I mentioned above, I need to be more conscious about what I’m eating. Not only has my diet been subpar, but I don’t think I’ve been getting enough calories. I used to have 3 meals by noon; now I’m only eating 2 meals. I used to eat a bunch of fruit; now I’m not eating as much fruit. I plan on keeping a rough log of what I eat from here on out.

-Past few workouts have been pretty shitty. I feel like I’m fatiguing really quickly. Most likely due to the reason above.

-Work is starting to stress me out. I think this is part of the reason why I haven’t been as diligent about my food intake. I’m also getting less sleep. Hopefully I can work around this.

-The one-arm DB rows (aka Kroc rows) still fried my lower back today even though people have told me that it’s not supposed to. My form seems to be pretty good. I’m keeping my back straight at a slight incline. I drop my shoulder at the bottom of each rep to do the full ROM, and I pull the DB up until the bell hits my upper chest. I’m sure a video would better help diagnose the problem, but does anything seem out of the ordinary based on my description? Maybe I just have a weak lower back?

111

8:30am - 3/4 cup (dry) oatmeal, 1 cup skim milk, handful blueberries, 2 scoops whey protein (48g)
11:00am - 1 string cheese, 1 medium Fuji apple
12:00pm - 6-8 oz breaded tilapia, 4 oz steamed broccoli, blue cheese dressing
3:00pm - 4-6 oz grilled chicken w/ blue cheese/ranch dressing
5:15pm - 8 oz 90/10 ground sirloin, 1 string cheese, BBQ sauce, 1 banana
8:45pm - 8 oz 90/10 ground sirloin, 2-3 handfuls spinach, salsa, low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
9:30pm - 1 scoop Surge Workout Fuel
10-11:15pm - 2 scoops Surge Recovery
11:45pm - 1 medium peach
12:15pm - 1 string cheese
12:45pm - 8 oz 90/10 ground sirloin, 2-3 handfuls spinach, liberal amounts of low-fat shredded cheddar cheese (I’d guess 2-4 tbsp), low-fat Miracle Whip (mayo substitute), ketchup, 1 pan-fried egg, 3 tbsp fish oil

112

Did barbell hack squats today for the first time in about 3-4 years. Didn’t use much weight since I did quads yesterday also (moved leg press to yesterday since my quads cramped up badly on Monday), but even with little weight, they make your quads burn!

Hopefully I have time to put all my workout stats on here tomorrow.

113

Diet’s been pretty rough today to say the least because I woke up late.

8:45am- 2 scoops whey protein (40g)
9:00am- 3 breakfast tacos from McDonald’s
12:00pm- 0.5 lb pepita-crusted catfish (was pretty oily), 0.25 lb steamed broccoli
3:45pm- 0.4-0.5 lb grilled chicken breast, ranch dressing

114

I can’t be arsed to update you guys on my past 6-7 workouts. Sorry y’all.

But rest assured, the workouts are still happening. Today’s workout was very nice. I’m still struggling to find my groove on any barbell bench work. I think it has to do with me being hesitant to go for that extra rep even if it means I won’t be able to get the bar back up. I need to start asking for a spotter.

Re: food intake, yesterday was really, really, really bad (I barely ate anything), but today I got back on track. I plan on eating like an animal this week since it’s week 3 of ramp 2, meaning 4 sets per exercise with only 60 seconds of rest between sets. It’s going to be brutal.

Other interesting notes:

-My lower back used to get really sore during my straight-legged deadlifts. I’ve been meaning to do barbell Romanian deadlifts (for some reason, I thought they were basically the same), but I’ve been trying to move the bar all the way down to the ground. As a result, the deadlifts would always work my lower back more than my hamstrings, so I’d never really feel it in my hamstrings. During my last set of deadlifts, I moved the bar just about 2-3 inches below the knee, and I could feel a really good stretch in the hamstrings with hardly any stress on my lower back. I should be good to go from here on out.

-I need to get some good weightlifting shoes. I’ve been wearing my padded, inclined running shoes, but I think that has an effect on my squatting since my feet aren’t firmly planted. I’ve squatted barefoot the last two squat days, but now I think the lack of ankle support is getting to me. Maybe I need to get some Chuck Taylor high tops.

That’s about it.

115

Things going well??

LR

116

[quote]London Runner wrote:
Things going well??

LR[/quote]

Yea man. Did my first week 3 workout yesterday, and boy did it kick my ass! 4 sets of 13-15 reps with only 60 sec rest between sets is a bitch. I feel like I only have time to get a sip of water, adjust the weights, and stretch before having to get back on. Going from 3 minutes to 1 minute is a huge change!

117

[quote]jo3 wrote:
London Runner wrote:
Things going well??

LR

Yea man. Did my first week 3 workout yesterday, and boy did it kick my ass! 4 sets of 13-15 reps with only 60 sec rest between sets is a bitch. I feel like I only have time to get a sip of water, adjust the weights, and stretch before having to get back on. Going from 3 minutes to 1 minute is a huge change![/quote]

I feel you on this, I used to always have 45-60sec rest when starting out, I considered 90 seconds long lol. Now that rest is almost always about 120sec. training is way more fun, 4x15 on anything with 60sec rest sucks ass but doing each set to concentric failure and on the big movements (especially lower body)…makes me scared to try BBB lol

118

Ramp 2 is in the books! This ramp was considerably tougher than ramp 1, most likely because of the lower rest periods (60 seconds) and the lack of a break for my chest, which not only affected my chest numbers but probably also had a residual effect on my triceps pressing movements (I don’t know if it’s possible to completely remove the chest from my triceps movements, which included dips, reverse wide-grip Smith press, and close-grip bench press). Regardless, I’m happy that I’m done.

The second training phase is no walk in the park either. The reps are still there (13-15, 10-12, 8-10), as are the sets (4 sets per exercise) and the limited rest periods (90 seconds). Only difference is that I’m doing the same body parts as week one’s training session. This means I’ll be doing shoulder and ab exercises again and won’t have to work my chest and calves every day. I’m excited to see how my numbers look this time around.

Will post measurements tomorrow.

119

I’ve been absolutely terrible about updating this, but thought I’d post a quick update.

I’m halfway through training phase 2. I’m a little frustrated because I don’t know if my strength levels are really improving. If anything, they’re not going up as quickly as they did during training phase 1 where I’d move up 5-10 lbs in weight every week. This time around, I still move up in weight in some exercises, but for some others, I’ve been pretty stagnant. It could also be that I absolutely hate the 13-15 rep workouts since I always get really tired around the 9-12 rep mark.

This whole process is quite odd. I still feel like I’m putting on too much fat (admittedly, my diet has been terrible as of late), but surprisingly I’ve been getting quite a few compliments. A few examples:

Friend who I hadn’t seen in over a year: “Wow man. It looks like you’ve been working out a lot.”
Italian who I recently met: “Are you on the football team?”
Australian who I recently met: “Not to sound gay or anything, but you’ve got a nice V-taper going.”

Stuff like that keeps me going even with all the psychological bullshit I have to deal with (particularly, the fat gain). I do need to kick things up a notch and focus on keeping my diet as clean (and big) as possible. That could very well explain the fat gain + the lack of strength gains.