Been a bit of a shitty week. I’ve been sick and the coughing just won’t go away. My business has been exploding lately (a good thing) but it has kept me from sleep and the gym (obviously bad). Back felt tweaked, too, for a couple of days apparently from something I did not do in the gym, strangely.
Feels good now and I had another good training session after, unfortunately, 3 days off. I have dropped to about 219 now, so I have actually lost a couples of lbs. this week, probably due to all of the above factors.
However, my body itself looks great, and I don’t feel like I have lost any muscle. In fact, my muscles are now taking on a full, plump, rounded look that I am loving, it’s like I have a constant, hard pump all of the time, except that when I train I really blow up. My strength is still going up. Today was hard to judge by how much because I felt it was time to change up my workout.
I worked back but did different exercises than I normally do. The only way I can gauge an increase is completely unscientifically. I always have a pretty good idea of what I need to start and finish with, but today, what I started with was flying up, and just kept on going up from there. What I was finishing with was quite a bit more than I had expected it to be. Yeah, that wouldn’t hold up in any peer reviewed journals, I’ll wager, but it’s good enough for me.
I’m also increasing my calories starting a couple of days ago by adding a cashew/walnut/almond/peanut/raisin mix in between meals as a delicious snack.
Man, it just seems to be flying by on this side of the screen. Must be how smooth things seem to be going for you…Hope you are still enjoying the ride.
Hey what’s going on bro. I just spent the last 30 minutes reading your blog. Seems like everything is going great and I’m happy for you. I’m about to turn to the darkside also. REALLY EXCITED after reading your blog
[quote]MrZsasz wrote:
So are you around week 6 or week 7?
Man, it just seems to be flying by on this side of the screen. Must be how smooth things seem to be going for you…Hope you are still enjoying the ride.[/quote]
7th week started today, actually. And yeah, I guess things are flying by, as I appear to be on the other side of halfway. Some things are going smoothly, but all of the sickness and little injuries really put a damper on it all at times. This last week was almost a throwaway. I’m of course still going to be careful but I’m going to try and change up my exercises and really push the volume along with the calories this week to see if we can’t get these pounds going up again. I’d like to hit 230 before I finish, if possible. Anyway, all frustrations aside, I am very definitely enjoying the ride.
[quote]sean071388 wrote:
Hey what’s going on bro. I just spent the last 30 minutes reading your blog. Seems like everything is going great and I’m happy for you. I’m about to turn to the darkside also. REALLY EXCITED after reading your blog[/quote]
Hey thanks Sean, I appreciate your taking the time to read and I hope that my experiences have been of help to you. You should post up your plan and let the smart folks on this board critique it for you. Doing that really crystallized my own plan and I made some (good) decisions that I wouldn’t have had I not asked for help.
Be warned, though, if you haven’t done your homework, these guys can be pretty unforgiving. Good luck on your first cycle!
Here is a question that keeps coming to mind as I read all these logs. Are you having any trouble with the hair line? Everyone talks about bloat, zits, and gyno but I never here about hair loss experience. Just curious if you’ve noticed any troubling increase in your forehead…
[quote]MrZsasz wrote:
Here is a question that keeps coming to mind as I read all these logs. Are you having any trouble with the hair line? Everyone talks about bloat, zits, and gyno but I never here about hair loss experience. Just curious if you’ve noticed any troubling increase in your forehead…[/quote]
None at all, and I’m not worried about it as I am pretty positive I don’t have the gene for MPB. That line you hear about your mother’s father determining if you will go bald or not is just an old wives’ tale, as my mother’s dad was going bald before he ever hit puberty, huge forehead that quickly got huger and eventually just became a head.
My dad and his dad, on the other hand, have all had the same hairline as me (regular to smallish forehead, widow’s peak), no baldness into the late 50’s (dad’s dad died before 60, I believe), and, at 32, I show zero signs of baldness and would bet my pinky finger I’m not going bald.
So maybe my situation is not the best one to base your assessment off of, actually. I could take 5 grams of AAS a week for the next 2 years and, aside from all of the other problems I might have, I’d still have my hair.
Sorry for the lax posting recently. Not much new to tell. As I start week 8, things have smoothed out and the wild shot upward has become a slow, steady gain. I hit 225 but, honestly, I’m not interested in getting any bigger at this point in my life. I wear suits and dress clothes to work, and my shirts are starting to fit too tightly, and the arms of my suits are starting too, as well.
I definitely do not have the cash or time to buy an entire new business wardrobe right now, so I am going to try and level out on the size gains and shift my focus more to strength.
I really, really like how I look. The muscles “popping out” thing works for me. My only regret right now is that whatever injury it is occurred in my left calf is very, very stubborn and I have not been able to train calves since then. That was my focus, and they remain smaller than I am satisfied with.
Also will be traveling to the US in early spring (cycle doesn’t end till nearly the end of January), so I’m thinking now that I am going to have to do a shorter taper, or standard PCT, possibly, so I will probably post with questions about that, soon.
After the new year I hope to put up a decent thread, but yours has been awesome and I commend you bro! Keep up the good work, and just cut those carbs back and you should remain lean and mean, and not have to buy any uber huge new suits!
Fantastic,
ToneBone
[/quote]
Thanks for the kind words, Tone. Yeah, it’s definitely time to cut the carb intake down. There’s probably a couple other places I could clean up, too, if I really look.
Here’s another not so good side effect. Now that I am getting (for me) big, I am apparently snoring, so much so that occasionally my wife has to go sleep in the other room. It wakes me up in the mornings at times. This doesn’t happen every night, but it has been happening more often.
On top of that, I typically sleep on my side. I have trouble staying or falling asleep on my back. But now, whenever I lay just slightly on my side, my hands and arms fall asleep. I have read about both of these effects on another board, and I assume my body is not used to the new size and it needs a few months to adjust. Strange, where I was sleeping great at the start of the cycle, now I don’t sleep as well because of the results of the cycle. Oh, well, better than growing a set of boobies, I guess.
[quote]sawadeekrob wrote:
Are you doing any cardio???[/quote]
No. Actually thought about adding it but the only “cardio” I can presently do would involve some sort of running, which messes up the calf more (I tried a bit), so that is out for now. I could use the exercise bikes at the gym but my workouts are too long already and I’m really not up to spending another 20-30 minutes there right after my workout. Gym is far away so I’m not going back later, either.
[quote]Cortes wrote:
sawadeekrob wrote:
Are you doing any cardio???
No. Actually thought about adding it but the only “cardio” I can presently do would involve some sort of running, which messes up the calf more (I tried a bit), so that is out for now. I could use the exercise bikes at the gym but my workouts are too long already and I’m really not up to spending another 20-30 minutes there right after my workout. Gym is far away so I’m not going back later, either. [/quote]
Brother I hear you on the reasons, however I don’t think is wise not to do cardio while gaining so much muscular mass. It messes with the blood pressure and the heart.
Ellipticals somewhere close to you?? Municipal gyms?
[quote]sawadeekrob wrote:
Cortes wrote:
sawadeekrob wrote:
Are you doing any cardio???
No. Actually thought about adding it but the only “cardio” I can presently do would involve some sort of running, which messes up the calf more (I tried a bit), so that is out for now. I could use the exercise bikes at the gym but my workouts are too long already and I’m really not up to spending another 20-30 minutes there right after my workout. Gym is far away so I’m not going back later, either.
Brother I hear you on the reasons, however I don’t think is wise not to do cardio while gaining so much muscular mass. It messes with the blood pressure and the heart.
Ellipticals somewhere close to you?? Municipal gyms? [/quote]
I’m not contradicting you, I agree with you. So far the blood pressure remains an excellent 125/70, same as it has been from the start. Heart rate is up. I used to have a very low heart rate, like a resting 40bpm. Now it is closer to 60 (in the morning when I wake) and more like 90bpm throughout the day.
Would walking at a reasonable pace in the mornings be considered “cardio?” Is this enough to raise heart rate enough to make a difference? There is a municiple gym, but again I’m in the first year of starting a business here, and it takes most of my extra time to get to the real gym as it is (the rest of which is spent posting on T-Nation, ha-ha-ha).
[quote]Cortes wrote:
sawadeekrob wrote:
Cortes wrote:
sawadeekrob wrote:
Are you doing any cardio???
No. Actually thought about adding it but the only “cardio” I can presently do would involve some sort of running, which messes up the calf more (I tried a bit), so that is out for now. I could use the exercise bikes at the gym but my workouts are too long already and I’m really not up to spending another 20-30 minutes there right after my workout. Gym is far away so I’m not going back later, either.
Brother I hear you on the reasons, however I don’t think is wise not to do cardio while gaining so much muscular mass. It messes with the blood pressure and the heart.
Ellipticals somewhere close to you?? Municipal gyms?
I’m not contradicting you, I agree with you. So far the blood pressure remains an excellent 125/70, same as it has been from the start. Heart rate is up. I used to have a very low heart rate, like a resting 40bpm. Now it is closer to 60 (in the morning when I wake) and more like 90bpm throughout the day.
Would walking at a reasonable pace in the mornings be considered “cardio?” Is this enough to raise heart rate enough to make a difference? There is a municiple gym, but again I’m in the first year of starting a business here, and it takes most of my extra time to get to the real gym as it is (the rest of which is spent posting on T-Nation, ha-ha-ha).
[/quote]
Have you thought about getting a heavy bag? Doing rounds on that would get the hear pumping and not mess around with your already messed calf. Also, easy to do at home which would help out with your busy schedule…
Considering space and time limitations you need to do an exercise that doesn’t cost much, that you can do close to your home and that doesn’t take too much space at home to store.
All restrictions point to early morning run, however with your ankle the way it is, running on the pavement is out. I don’t know the extent of your injury but the following may be suitable options:
Hard Bicycle riding in the morning (easy to do)
Rope Jumping in park
DB complexes in park
Get Weight Vest and go for walk with 30-40kg additional.
Since your goal is just get the heart rate up a little to keep your resting HR where it was I would go for 1 and have a shake after it. Everyone has bycicles and you can just take a 30min ride around the neighborhood no problem.
All the above items can be bought right in Sports Authority or other department store near your area.
I have kettlebells and a bloated double chin now, so I am pretty sure I know what I am going to start doing 20 minute high rep KB workout to start the day should do the trick. Also, though I live in Japan luckily I have my own yard, so I don’t even have to leave my property for that one.
Thanks for the advice, too!
[quote]sawadeekrob wrote:
Considering space and time limitations you need to do an exercise that doesn’t cost much, that you can do close to your home and that doesn’t take too much space at home to store.
All restrictions point to early morning run, however with your ankle the way it is, running on the pavement is out. I don’t know the extent of your injury but the following may be suitable options:
Hard Bicycle riding in the morning (easy to do)
Rope Jumping in park
DB complexes in park
Get Weight Vest and go for walk with 30-40kg additional.
Since your goal is just get the heart rate up a little to keep your resting HR where it was I would go for 1 and have a shake after it. Everyone has bycicles and you can just take a 30min ride around the neighborhood no problem.
All the above items can be bought right in Sports Authority or other department store near your area.
i read through your entire post and i gotta say this has got to be one of the best ones out there, period. kudos cortes nice job. getting ready to start my cycle the first of the year. I wanted to ask you, do you wish you would have shot yout test at 500mg/wk or are you happy with your gains at this point? just hammering out the final details on whether i need to get a 2nd bottle of test for mine thanks!
[quote]Game_over wrote:
i read through your entire post and i gotta say this has got to be one of the best ones out there, period. kudos cortes nice job. getting ready to start my cycle the first of the year. I wanted to ask you, do you wish you would have shot yout test at 500mg/wk or are you happy with your gains at this point? just hammering out the final details on whether i need to get a 2nd bottle of test for mine thanks![/quote]
Thanks Game_over! Shooting E3D just over 250mgs a shot, the average I have shot over each week is actually 600mgs, and I have been very happy with that. In fact, sides have been so negligible that I will probably shoot at least 750-800mgs a week on my next cycle.
I also found that, though I was a bit apprehensive about shooting as often as I chose to, I am actually a tiny bit disappointed on days that I don’t inject! I really look forward to it. E3D is probably not necessary with enanthate, but it has certainly given me really nice, steady levels with basically no sides. Good luck on your cycle!
Also, I’m starting on my third bottle and it looks like I will probably have to buy one more to do a proper taper. So make sure you have enough stuff before you start. You can never get the exact amount out of each vial, you’ll lose a bit every time you pull, so calculate a 1-2ml loss on each bottle.
the boxers do it very well and damn fast. That would get your heart pumping in under 5mins.
20 minute high rep KB workout to start the day should do the trick. Also, though I live in Japan luckily I have my own yard, so I don’t even have to leave my property for that one.