Thread: So, i havent eaten in caloric excess for 10 months...

I suppose it's ready to take a break.

This log will 'officially' begin on monday, the 20th. The plan right now is to do a 4 week mini-bulk. I'll be carb-cycling, as usual... since its by far the easiest diet i've ever used, and im not about to fix something that isnt broken.

I recently moved from a 2 high, 2 low, 3 no schedule to a 2 high, 3 low, 2 no schedule. Over the next few days/weeks i'd like to work up to 4 high, 1 low, 2 no... scheduled as high/high/no/high/high/low/no. This schedule would have 'no' days coinciding with my days off from the gym. It's open to tweaking, of course, depending on how fast/slow i add weight. I haven't had a chance to reread the carb cycling articles yet (i took way too many classes this semester), so if something looks retarded, please let me know. Also: thoughts on adding a post w/o spike and/or during w/o shake?

For my lifting routine, i'm going to move to a twice weekly schedule:
Monday: chest, triceps, back, biceps, traps, grip
Tuesday: hams, quads, shoulders, calves, abs
Wednesday: off
Thursday: repeat monday
Friday: repeat tuesday
Saturday: off or light snatch practice
Sunday: off

The idea will be 3 sets per bodypart, all at or near failure (depending on how fucked up i think my cns is). This is my first attempt at throwing together a twice weekly routine, and i wrote all this between classes today, so i'm really hoping for some comments here if something doesnt look right/needs improvement.

The Drugs!

I'm still on venlafaxine @ 150mg and bupropion @ 300mg. A recent addition is adderall at 25mg 2-4 times daily. On the adderall... god damn, this little pill is the most fantastic piece of mind-candy ive ever ingested. My mood is actually GOOD most of the time, now. I finally have a positive outlook, whereas previously my view towards life was indifferent at best. Social and general anxiety is greatly decreased. I'm much more outgoing. Motivation is absolutely through the fucking roof. I had to stop myself from adding even more classes to my already asspounding schedule. Class is a breeze. The textbooks are about as intimidating as an abridged version of Charlotte's Webb. My attention is fabulous. No longer am i distracted by every noise, by every person that walks past the door, or by the hypnotic rolls of fat undulating across the girl sitting in front of me. This stuff is the veritable, undeniable, bona fide, indubitable, genuine, undoubtable, shit.

Of course, the problem with all that, is that im likely to sensitize to it right quick. That scares me, since i dont want to fall back into the general malaise thats plagued me for my entire life. So... deprenyl or other MAOI's are going to be a fallback, since they seem to work well on atypical depression. I remember there was a thread at avant on preventing amphetamine sensitization, but (like most things) i havent had the time to go find it. IIRC there were some good ideas in there that might prolong my love affair with adderall.

Anyway, as for supplements in general... no real changes since the last journal. The only big difference is that i'm off creatine for the first time in forever. Beyond that, its just various vitamins, fish oil, etc. I'm not taking ALCAR or NAC anymore, since dealing with powders just got way too tedious. Still take tyrosine every once in a while.

I think thats everything, for now.

Originally Posted by Twin Peak

as to the workouts, its impossible to say, since you did not post exercises, volume, or rep range.

Monday does sound like a lot of work though.

Eh... well, that's the thing. I haven't been on any serious workout "plan" since i gave P/RR/S a try ~a year ago. What ive been doing recently is just varying RI's and rep range, moving between 180-240s RI with 2-4 reps (with ocassional singles), and 30-90s RI with 6-10 reps. I usually spend 4-6 weeks on each.

Exercises are more or less seat of the pants. I tend to repeat the same stuff for 2-3 weeks in a row, then change it.

For example, today i was probably going to do something like this:
Chest - 3 sets decline BB
Triceps - 3 sets CG BB
Back - 3 sets BB rows
Biceps - 3 sets BB curl
Traps - 3 sets BB shrugs
Grip - 3 sets BB rev curls

Tomorrow would probably look like this:
Hams - 3 sets SLDL
Quads - 3 sets overhead squats (technique only) + 3 sets squats
Shoulders - 3 sets DB press, 2 sets rear DB fly
Calves - 3 sets standing raise
Abs - 3 sets various... probably cable crunch/decline situp supersets

So 18 sets on monday, 20 on tuesday. Should be out in an hour or slightly more, depending on how crowded things are. RI's would be around 60s, reps somewhere in the 6-10 range.

While we're on this subject, ive been having second thoughts about "bulking" with only 4 days in the gym. Usually ive been doing 5. It seems a little odd to reduce the volume like this... eh.

Anyway, comments are appreciated.