BulkMeUp

DB preachers - wu - 15x10, 11 - 30 x10, 7, 8
Hammers - 30x 8, 7, 7
RG cable pushdowns - 70x11, 10, 7
Arm Extn - 100 x8, 5 ,95 x9

Hang curls - 9,9,9
Ab crunch machine - 55x15, 60x15, 15

Equip: Ellipitical

Warm up: 3mins
level:1/1/3

HIIT: 12 mins
low level: 3
high level :9

cooldown: 2mins
level: 3/1

DB Preachers and Hammers came along nicely. Didnt get all sets in RR, but close.

Pushdowns were good too. Couldnt find the regular bar that i used, so i tried with with a diff one. No biggie. Good to do it with a slightly diff grip.

Arm extns. Hiked up the weight by 10lbs. Made it to 8 for the 8-10RR for the first set. but got only 5 for the second. Went down to 95lbs for the 3rd set to get to the RR.

Got an extra rep out on all sets of hang curls. Felt it a bit in my lower back. cant seem to get this dang exercise right

Last day of HIIT. Will post new plan shortly.
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Baught a bottle of these GREEN TEA capsules. It says 1 cap = 8 cups of green tea. Plan to take 3 caps/day. Think that should be ok

BulkMeUp

Current spilt is:
Mon-off
Tue-cardio/Abs
Web-Quads/Shoulders
Thu-Upper Back/Chest
Fri-cardio
Sat-Arms/Abs/cardio
Sun-Lower Back/Hammies/Calves

So...
Tue cardio = 40mins ellipitical cross trainer on random mode* (low level of intensity)

Fri = 20mins ellipitical cross trainer on random mode* (mod level of intensity)+ 5mins break + 20mins rowing machine.

Sat = 20mins ellipitical cross trainer on random mode* (high level of intensity)

*= The crosstrainer had a mode which randomly changes the intensity.

The present routine will be for 5-6weeks. After that i shall change the wo (Thinking of giving p/rr/s a try for now.. but yet to work on details.) and cardio.

BulkMeUp

Regular DL's - wu - 90x10, 10 - 180X8, 8, 7, 6
Lunges - 70x 14, 14, 16 (total both legs)
Lying Leg curls - 80 X10,10,8
Calves seated - 120x8, 130x5, 5
Calves standing - 115x20, 19, 17, 16

DL's - hiked weight by 20lbs. and got the reps in the RR. Only couldnt pull the weight up with speed. It was slightly faster than lowering it down. But boy is my back sore since. It has been sore since i left the gym. Never have i done that much of weight on DL's. Hope it is just soreness that i feel today and nothing wrong But now i am DLing above my bw. Next time onwards weights will increase in smaller increaments. Also almost took off some some skin like last time. Same leg, same place

Lunges - up by 10lbs. Decided not to be too brave with these. But i dont feel it on the sides of my thighs/glutes like i used to for the previous sessions. Oh well, am taking it a bit easy with these as it requires a lot more balance than most other exercises.

Leg curls up by 10lbs. This exercise always kills me. A LOT of burn when doing them. Just made it to the RR.

Calves comming along ok. Have always realised that when doing heavy weights i cant lift to full rom. And if i lower the weight, then i can surpass the RR. My calves are pathetic.

BulkMeUp

Equip - Elliptical Crosstrainer
Setting = Random
Total time = 40mins
Level = 3/6/9
Time = 10/1/29

Did the 10 mins on level 3. Didint feel i was getting anywhere. raised to level 6 for a min, then went to level 9.

Ok wo. Not too great. i was sweating, but not exhausted. Kinda missed the HIIT.(*never thought i would ever say that. * ). Will up the intensity next time.

Forgot to do abs again! Oh well. yesterday was a busy day at the office and i got to the gym later than usual. Anyway i shall do it today after legs.

BulkMeUp

Squats - wu - 70 x10, 10 - 190 x4, 6, 8, 8
Leg Sled - 260 x7, 10, 10
Leg Extn - 110 x12, 120x13
DB mils - 20 x10, 45 x5, 3, 40x7, 5
Lat Raises - 25 x10, 9, 9
Bent overs - 20x12, 10

Dec crunches - 50 x10, 10, 12
Weighted leg raises 15 x9, 10, 10

Squats up by 20lbs. Didnt feel too confident on the first set so i stopped at 4 reps. But got better in the later sets. However wasnt able to go down with quads parallel. Only hams parallel, well almost, i guess. Next time i shall stick to the same weight and try to get quads parallel.

Leg sled up 20lbs. Missed the rr for the first set but got it for the next 2

leg extn - got the first set in the rr so upped the weight by 10lbs for the second. managed to get the RR, but couldnt get legs quite paralle. Next time i might stick with this weight and try do this rom slower and try get legs higher.

Mils were dissapointing. failed at 45's. Dodnt feel too confident, so went back to 40's and got to max RR. Oh well, will try 45's again next time.

Bent overs felt good. But need to work on a little slower controlled movement.

Dec crunches used 50's and did feel a burn.

Weighted leg raises- used same weights but got a higher nbr of reps tha previous.

Do not feel very satisfied with this wo. Even though my quads and shoulders feel it a bit. Guess i couldnt do the squats low enough as well as failed on DB mils, 2 exercises where i was hoping to do better. Oh well, sometimes one needs to step back to move forward.

Will revisit my weight/bf numbers this w/e and wiull decide wether to do ECA for the remainder 4 weeks of this routine.

Tom_B

Hey Adrian , great looking w/o there!
so how's the weather treating you guys there? Our temp was like 20 degress today , people are wearing summer clothing and getting sun burns and everything!

P.S. whats ECA?? LOL

Emma-Leigh

something that you don't need!

Emma-Leigh

Nice looking workout! Your really starting to get some nice looking numbers on some of those lifts!! 190 for squats is great! And 40# for Mils is certainly not anything to be disappointed about - I bet you'll hit the 45# in no time!

Hmmmm.... any reasons why you want to jump to this? Have you considered other options first?

I would be cautious of asprin - you don't want to give yourself stomach ulcers. What about just stacking the EC components?

Also - what dose rate where you thinking of? If you have never taken them before you don't want to go dose yourself with huge quantities... How frequently where you thinking of taking them?

Tom_B

lol well I figured that whatever it is/ does , more than likely I got youth on my side.

BulkMeUp

Thanks Tom!
wow. sounds nice. Weather here is mid 20's. Just fine for me. Some people would like it to be hotter, but i like it this way. Oh well, the weather comes with the country. Cant choose the weather

It is Ephedrine + caffeine + Aspirin. But you dont need to consider it. Really, dont even think about it.

BulkMeUp

Thanks Emma. But i think my over enthusiaim on mils might have effected my chest w/o. (explained in next post)

I felt like i was stalling. So i was considering adding something to give me a 'boost'. See my weight/bf analysis below.
Not really. Some of the other options sounded like very hard core stuff, and i dont think i want to go that way. Any other options you would suggest? I'm always open to your suggestions

The last resort option would be to lower cals and do a bit of a cut. But I dont want my wo to suffer with the lower cals and loose lbm in the process.

I did consider EC only but came accross a post from LAM. The asprin was supposed to make the Eph more effective. (http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/sh...45&postcount=4 (asprin) )

I did ask him about concerns about asprin, but he said that it could be done for 6 months http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/sh...90&postcount=6 (asprin)

The only thing i took before was Ephedra. But that was over 2-3 yrs ago. I read that Ephidreine did not cause the same level of anxiousness/nervousness as Ephedra.

LAM suggested that the recommended dose of ECA was 25/200/300 - 3x a day.http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/sh...7&postcount=17 (Attack of the belly fat)

But that seemed a bit much for me. I was considering 2x a day. One in the morning and the other with M#4 (or M#2 on weekends) which is ~1.5h prior training. And only once in the morning on the off day.

The only thing i am not happy about theis ECA stack is that some have said it supresses appetite. I am not a big eater and having my appetite supressed will only start to make things difficult.
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Weight/BF analysis :
Date - Weight - bf% - lbm - fat
09-Apr-05 161 16% 135 26
30-Apr-05 159 15% 135 24
03-Jun-05 158 14% 136 22*

*= This 14% is borderline as it has been fluctuating for the past few days. But lets consider it for arguments sake.

I started this body recomp phase almost 2 months ago and i think i have given it a fair chance and more than ample time. However, doing the math, I seem to have gained 1lb LBM and lost 4lb fat during these 8 weeks. That makes it a total of 5 lbs. So about 0.6/week for this 8 week period.

I agree, thats not bad a result. But at this rate, to get to 10%, i need to have a difference of 15lbs (+7lb LBM and -8fat, assuming i can hold the same total weight). Hence @0.6/week, that would take another 25weeks. Thats ~6months!

BulkMeUp

WG Front lat pulldowns - wu -75 x12, 12 - 157x8, 8, 8, 8
Bent over rows - 110x 8, 8, 6
Seated cable rows - 130x12, 9
DB inclines - 55x4 , 6, 5, 4
Pec Fly135 x11, 8, 6

WG pulldowns - stuck with the same weights as last time. Managed to get reps to the max RR. But the last few reps couldnt get the bar as close to my collarbone as the first few. I tend to bend forward to try and get the bar down when i cant pull down to my collarbone. Should avoid doing that. But weights will go to 165 next time.

Bent overs - up by 10lbs. made it to RR for first 2 sets but missed the last one. Will try again with same weight next time and try to get to max RR

Seated rows - max rr for first set, but missed for the second.

DB inclines - same weight as last time, but didnt get too many more reps out. (see below)

Pec Flies - one less rep than last time for the first two sets and 2 less for the last set (see below).
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Again a not-so-great wo. I think i was a bit overenthuastic with the DB mils on my wo the previous day. This might have had something to to with this sessions performance.

On the very first exercise (WG pulldowns) i noticed that my shoulders were 'crunchy'. Not a good sign. Tells me i might need to take a break. Shoulder issues became more prominent on DB inclines. They were crunchy as well i felt a pain on my right shoulder (sorta right in the middle of my shoulder. There was a sharp pain. but not so bad that i had to stop) when pushing up between halfway and the top. This was for all those sets. Which is why i didnt do very well. Same for pec flies. Felt it in my shoulders, esp right one. When the weigths are heavy, i tend to push my shoulders up. This does not help though i consiously try to hold them down.

Oh well, i'v been doing this routine for 4weeks and prior to this the previous routine for ~3weeks. Thats a total of 7 weeks. So maybe a week off is due or at least a week with lower (50-60%) weights???? before completing the remaining 4 weeks of this routine.

BulkMeUp

Ellipitical cross trainer
Level 9
rpm 60
time 20min

5min break

Rowing
level 5
spm 28
time 15

Total time 35mins

Didnt realise til the end, but the level on the ellip was probably not working. It wasnt that intense as when i tried another machine the next day.

Planned to do rowing for 20 mins, but felt my arms were getting fatigued. So i stopped at 15mins.

Ok wo. I was sweating but not exhausted.

BulkMeUp

DB preachers - wu -15 x10,12 - 35 x8, 6, 5
Hammers - 30 x12, 12, 11
RG cable pushdowns - 75 x10, 10, 9
Arm Extn - 90 x10, 10, 10, 10

Hang curls - 10,9,9
Machine lying crunches - 60x12, 13, 12

Ellipitical cross trainer
level-6
rpm - 1min 40 , 1min 80
time 15 mins

DB preachers- didnt get to RR of 8-10, but got a couple of extra reps out.

Hammers - managed to get to max RR of 10-12. Previous session last week i only did 8,7,7. Was quite surprised that i could do 12,12,11 this time!

RG cable pushdowns - got to max rr of 8-10 and weights up by 5lbs as well!

Arm extn - got to max RR of 10-12 for all 3 sets.

Cardio - thought i would try level 9 but after a few secs found it would be diff. so went with level 6. 1min rom ~40 and 1 min rpm ~80. Good wo. was a bit exhausted. Possibly will include this method on other days as well.

Great wo! i was quite surprised. I thought my wo would be effected by the cardio the previous day which had ellip cross trainer and rowing. Both using a lot of arm movement. Maybe i should switch to the regular ellip for
the previous days cardio. But on the other hand maybe that arm wo on cardio helped my arm weight wo? i dunno. lets see what happens next time.
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Been thinking about ECA. maybe i should work with manipulating cals before going on eca? reduce them by 100-200. Will keep cals for pre, post shake and post meal the same and reduce them on other meals and more on cardio day than weight day. But then again, need to keep cals in 2600-2800 range as Emma suggested. think... think..

maybe i shall keep the present 2665 daily cals but increase on weight and reduce a bit on non weight days.... yea, that sounds better... i shall think about that strategy.

Pylon

Looks like things are going really well...good w/o! Are you due for a BF check?

I just came off an ECA stack (sort of.) The three days of headaches were enough to keep me off for a while. Not saying you will have the same reaction, just a thought.

"For beverages, I only drink water or whiskey and when I’m drinking whiskey, it’s usually when I’m working out. It gives me the courage to lift more than I can when I’m sober." - C. Bratton

Fresh Start Journal

Emma-Leigh

Hey Adrian...

You could look into cycling your cals a little more than you are doing at the moment. eg - a five or six day cycle such as:
low carb (25% below maintainence, 100g carbs, 1.5g protein/pound)
low carb (25% below maintainence, 100g carbs, 1.5g protein/pound)
low carb (25% below maintainence, 100g carbs, 1.5g protein/pound)
HIGH CARB (15% above maintainence, +++ carbs, HEAVY workout day)
Normal carb (maintainence cals, normal carbs, 1.5g protein/pound)
Normal carb (maintainence cals, normal carbs, 1.5g protein/pound)

Not really - the asprin has only really been shown to help in obese individuals and the dose rate was REALLY high (300mg). 1. You are not obese... and 2. you REALLY shouldn't take that much... So I would still not do the asprin component.

And I would be very careful about your general health too for the other ingredients - so make sure your heart, blood pressure etc is fine.

WAYYY too much for someone who has not done it before. That is really not needed!

I would only do EC and I would start at half doses (if you must) - 10mg ephedrine and 100mg caffeine once/day to start with. See how you react. If you are fine - then increase this to 1 full dose. If that is ok, then add a second dose/day..... ONLY THEN, if you are still fine, would I add a third dose.

And don't have the meds close to sleeping - otherwise it will really hinder your recovery. About 6 hrs before you go to bed would be the closest to have it.

Yes - It will suppress appetite. So if you don't want that effect, you might have to look into something else.

Ok - My advice.... Lower cals or try a cyclic/lower carb type diet before you turn to supps. You are still at a pretty good cal intake for your lean mass - so you could get away with it without significant lean losses.

Emma-Leigh

ps: will reply more tomorrow... need sleep!

BulkMeUp

Thanks!
I have a BF impedence scale. These things are not accurate but consistant. So i use it to track changes. I found that my scale is 10 point off. So i simply deduct that from the scale number to get my bf.

Yea, i read that in your journal. I Also remember reading that it does burn off some lbm as well. Cant be sure where i read that. Anyways, i think i shall hold off for now on that.

BulkMeUp

Ok, i'll rework the cals to match that.

I think I'll shelve the idea for now and work with cals cycling. I'll reconsider it (or something else, dunno what else yet) if cycling stalls. But thanks for the info.

I shall do exactly that and see how things go for the next couple of weeks.
Hope you had a good rest

BulkMeUp

Regular DL's - wu -90 x10x10 - 190x7, 8, 6, 8
Lunges - 80 x14, 14, 14 (total reps both legs)
Lying leg curls - 80 x12, 11, 6
Calves seated - 80 x17, 18, 14
Calves - 215 x8, 8, 8, 10

DL's up by 10lbs. and got them in the rr of 6-8

Lunges up by 10lbs. did not get to RR. Always feel it in my mid back after 10-12reps

Lying leg curls. same weight but got a couple of reps moew for the first 2 sets but lost a couple of reps for the 3rd set.

seated calves - were good.

standing claves - upped weights to next plate but couldnt lift to full rom.

Nice wo. DL's comming along nicley. Forgot to take my pwo shake with me, so i had it when i got back home. Temp is around 30C and expected to be this was for the week. With humidity probably even higher. So i had to cheat and have a couple of peppermint and chocolate ice cream Today there is a heat alert.

Was feeling wiped out this morning, though. Almost called in sick. But am feeling better now. On days like these, it is a pleasure to go to work. Just to chill out in the a/c atmosphere.

Pylon

Nice lifts, Bulk. Take it easy in that heat!

"For beverages, I only drink water or whiskey and when I’m drinking whiskey, it’s usually when I’m working out. It gives me the courage to lift more than I can when I’m sober." - C. Bratton

Fresh Start Journal

BulkMeUp

Thanks Pylon.. Yea, this heat is gets a bit crazy at times.

BulkMeUp