Andalite's PowerBuilding Journal Part 1

[Andalite]

Fall '07 - Upper 1, Week 15

Overall Impression:

i am still not at a 100%. i feel bloated. maybe its the wazy maize ive started having. im trying to figure out my diet all over again. this isnt home where i get to eat 1-2 kgs of chicken a day in the last 14 weeks i have not relied on supplements at all. yet, now when im here it seems to be different: i rely on them a whole lot more. im taking in like 3-4 scoops of weightgainer a day. that makes it a little over 800 calories right there. im also having waxy maize 1-2 scoops a day. i had 1 scoops of WMS and 2 scoops of Weightgainer before i hit the gym today. i worked out in the morning. apparently im not so over my jetlag as i thought i was. this is bad news. its never happened to me that im not over jet lag. i sleep the entire time on the flight so i have zero jet lag. something must've gone wrong somewhere. hopefully, ill be over this soon. im also not that strong. i dunno why but im feeling kinda weak. i had 7 litres of water as soon as i landed i was that dehydrated. so it cant be that anymore. maybe my body is getting used to the climate. maybe its because im very tense about studies right now. im not sure what it is but i hope everything works out fine. im giving this till next week to get myself straight. otherwise im gonna have to reduce volume and load on all workout days for a while. i hate this. but this is just a temporary set-back. also, i hate college food. too bad i dont have a car. otherwise id go out and eat almost everyday. the cost would be the same but the quantity would be a whole lot more. and quality would be better too. i might get a car next year though. i also weighed myself. im at 184. its like 1 lbs down from my usual bad day 185....which is sad but its not too bad. probably another temporary set back. also, my lower back is behavng wierd once again damnit. i think its because on box squats i plop down too fast. but im not going to be doing box squats for the next 5-6 weeks so no need to worry about that right now. we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.​

Flat Bench Press = 10 sets x 3 reps x 165 lbs

this wasnt as easy as i expected it to be. keeping the 60 seconds to 72 seconds rest interval is tough work. this should have been much easier than it actually was. perhaps its because im still not 100% over the jetlag.​

Hammer Grip Chin-ups = 3 sets x 5 reps x bodyweight

getting used to a new grip. i plan on doing 4x6 next time.​

Unilateral Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press = 3 sets x 10 reps x 40 lbs

Eric has me doing seated presses once more. feels very good. i think 40 lbs is a fairly decent weight to start with. it felt pretty heavy and set 3 was a fucking killer. im sticking to the weight next time. ill just bump the reps ​

Rows = 4 sets x 5 reps x 135 lbs

after doing so much work these rows were pretty tough to do. i realize why kethnaab put rows last in his WS4BB program. but, i didnt push myself too much and all reps were smooth. i could have handled 145 i think. next time im doing 135 for 4x6 or 4x7. lets see.​

Overhead Shrugs = 1 set x 12 reps x 45 lbs

nothing special to report.​

Plate Side Bends = 2 sets x 10 reps x 25 lbs

nothing to report here too​

Leaving Thoughts:

might do cardio tomorrow. i want to rest up for the next squat session. i intend to do 225 for 4x6. but if im not feeling it by monday and if im still a little down, i plan on doing 4x6 with 185 next week and then 225 the week after. so, if things dont go as i had planned before, and im very tired and drained out, ill be doing
Week 16 = 4x6x185
Week 17 = 4x6x225
Week 18 = 4x6x245
Week 19 = 4x6x255
Week 20 = max out with 315 and try to do 315x5.

lets see how this goes. it all depends on just how temporary this temporary set back is.​

cheers and have a good weekend y'all

 

[Andalite]

i am a pretty active member over at DC's site and i was reading some threads and i came across this one which caught my attention. some of the posts made by the big guys made a lot of sense to someone like me. im trying to increase my weight. my bodyweight from 6th grade to 12th grade was 160 lbs. actually it was 70 kgs which makes it 155 lbs but im guessing i was a little over at the time. in the last 2-3 years ive increased my weight to 185 solid. its not much but im trying my very best to reach 200.

so, back to topic: some of the posts in this thread made a lot of sense to me and showed me how i could improve my diet.

"Just eat copious amounts of food (up to 500-600 grams of protein) and bring your bodyweight up the charts which will allow you leverage and strength gains to allow you use the incredible weights you have to use in the gym to accomplish this. Then after being at that level for density reasons for awhile, you can slowly take it down and I mean slowly and most likely have the most muscle mass gain your genetics allowed in that time frame."

So I am aware that, when gaining weight and gaining new muscle, it is important to hold that weight for awhile for the muscle to (for lack of a better word) fully solidify, am I right?

I am interested in hearing someone talk more about this (I am searching the net, not coming up with the good stuff).

However, I have came across something where D Palumbo states that, when gaining weight, when you have that period where your weight stops going up, it's actually a process where your body is under a process where your gains are becoming "permanant", and then you'll be able to start gaining more again.

a very experienced DC Trainee called Brian replied to this:

I remember reading about Dave Smith (someone who D has been training recently) and wants Dave to get to a certain bodyweight and stay there for a while so that muscle ends up being his.
it seems like people try to gain a lot of weight and then lose a lot of weight right away. I dont want to call it bulking and cutting but I will -- they bulk for 6 months strait and just eat and eat and eat and get their bf up to 20% and then all of a sudden they realize they went out of control and they are fat and need to drop some bf asap. so they start cutting right away and dont really eaze into the diet and go from doing zero cardio and 5+ cheat meals a week and eating as many grams of carbs from whatever sources they want to doing cardio 5x a week and eating 200g of carbs a day. go ahead and say goodbye to all the muscle you thought you had if you are gonna do that.
edit -- found the thread http://intensemuscle.com/showthread.php?p=403324#post403324

the big dogg replied to that

stay at a certain bodyweight mass for 4 plus months? It will be viable usable dense muscle mass that is yours and not a facade lost in the dieting process.....

eat up to a certain bodyweight mass and Boom instantly go into diet mode? Seeya--youll be losing weight at probably a 50/50 to 80/20 fat to muscle mass ratio---kiss that hardearned muscle mass you thought "was yours" goodbye---you didnt punch the density time clock.

a few posts down...

Who the heck said anything about "fatness"?

If you are going into "fatness" your sure as heck arent doing anything Ive recommended correctly.

Im talking about keeping dense muscle mass on you in the dieting process. If someone goes from 200 to 220 fairly quickly and all of a sudden goes into extreme dieting mode right when he gets there....he is going to be losing bodyfat and "that percieved new muscle mass he thought was his" very quickly...and im guesstimating (and only guesstimating) that the NEW weight gain would come off somewhere in a 50/50 to 80/20 ratio (somewhere thereabouts)

Now that same guy goes up to 220lbs and holds it for half a year, trust me that muscle mass is his and unless he is an idiot and diets incorrectly he is going to be keeping that hard earned muscle mass during the prep/diet process....

another big boy:

it's unlikely for someone to keep their newly gained muscle mass while fighting homeostasis in order to keep it while going on a diet-frenzy.

by 'holding onto it', the body will recognize it as something more permanent (increasing with time), meaning it will gradually readjust its point of homeostasis to accommodate the new mass. remember that the human body does not want mass that it 'perceives' as unnecessary, simply because of the increased energy requirement and decreased energy efficiency (unless it is 'needed' move heavy objects or something and all the necessary nutrients are there to support it).

to expand it a little: When is the last time you went on a diet and lost muscle that you gained 2 years ago?

the main post i wanted to refer to which really made a lot of sense to me:

Haven't you guys all observed with your bodies or with others that every time you get to a new level of size (weight) initially you kinda look like shit. Watery and bloated... But over time as your body gets accustomed to that new level the quality seems to improve. Call it maintaining homeostatis if you wish.
All were saying is the longer you're able to stay at that level to 'solidify' those gains the better off you'll be when the dieting commences.
And here's something else that I have personally observed.

When you're dieting and if you come down too quickly the muscle you seem to lose is the last muscle that you put on.

Did I explain that OK?

Hope so....

What I am saying is that those bodyparts that you've been working so hard to bring up...If you don't give them a little time...Let the glue set so to speak before brining it down leannesswise.

ive found from personal experience that this is very true for me. initially when i gain weight i tend to look really fat. but then as i stay at that weight for a while, things begin to look better. i can think of this happening quite a few times but i went from 165 to 185 from last year fall semester to now. mostly atleast. when i did dc training in fall last year i went up to 180 lbs. and i looked very fat. then in spring i did the texas method. i was stuck at 180 lbs throughout the 16 weeks that i ran the program. but i looked much better than i did on dc training. not necessarily because of the training regiment but because i was able to hold that wieght. my arms went from 14 (they were 14 at 180) to 15 easy and i looked much more built. then this summer i added 5 more lbs to my frame in the first 4 weeks and ive been holding this for 10+ weeks now and my physique only seems to be getting better.

im just sharing this info i find it very informative and thought provoking because it could also be applied to fat loss if i use it correctly.

 

[Andalite]

Fall '07 - Lower 2, Week 16

Overall Impression:

ive been eating a LOT of food. no, a shitlot. i fucking go to sleep at 2:00 am and wake up at 6 so hungry u have no idea......ive been doing this for the last 2 days: eat midnight meal of a chicken sandwhich, sleep at 2, wake up at 6 am hungry, eat another chicken sandwhich plus a weightgainer shake, go to bed till 11, wake up hungry, go get some lunch (chinese), sleep (i was awfully sleepy) wake up around 4, get some food (chicken quesadilla), do some work, eat a heavy dinner at 8. eat another meal at midnight, sleep, repeat cycle. pretty wierd

but whatever...im feeling much better today. i think im almost over my jetlag which is good...​

Deep Squats = 4 sets x 5 reps x 225 lbs

shifting from 14 weeks of low box squatting to oly squatting (or "deep" squatting) is pretty difficult. 225 felt very easy on my back but getting the movement right was a tad bit difficult. im still not at my 100% so this wasnt so easy but the good news is that my last set was better than my first i think next week im going to try 225 for 4x6 before i increase the weight. im not too disappointed though. i had anticipated these minor set backs. all this plane travel does fuck up ur system sometime. i guess my chance to get fucked was now lol..but, im eating a lot of food and im resting well oustide of the gym so ill be back on my feet soon i cant say the weight felt too heavy because it didnt. the weight by itself didnt feel heavy at all. but the motion of doing deep squats felt kinda awkward at first (for example, my knee hurt a bit but then i figured out why - i was pulling my knees together but then i got that sorted out in the warm-ups so it didnt affect the work sets at all) and thats what made the weight so darn heavy. im sure in a short while ill be back to my old way of squatting without any worries.​

Unilateral Romanian Deadlifts = 2 sets x 10 reps x 65 lbs

damn, Eric was right...my left leg is a lot weaker. but i think its become stronger because i didnt have to put it down (rest it on the floor) as many times when i did this. its not as strong as my right leg but i can see that its catching up. this is good.​

Romanian Deadlifts = 3 sets x 5 reps x 135 lbs

i wanted to take this exercise easy so i didnt push myself too much. it was pretty light and smooth.​

Reverse Hyperextensions = 2 sets x 10 reps x 25 lbs

i missed this machine when i was back home lol...(no homo)​

Overhead Plate Side Bends = 2 sets x 8 reps x 10 lbs

nothing special to report.​

Leaving Thoughts:

ill try and do some cardio tomorrow. im not so worried about my squats because i actually knew something like this would happen. but im sure in like 4-5 weeks ill be back in better action than before on these.​

cheers and have a good week y'all

 

[Andalite]

Fall '07 - Upper 2, Week 16

Overall Impression:

diet has been fucking amazing. im hungry all the time which is really odd. but ive been having a lot of food every 2-3 hours for the last 2 days....sleep is also going good (more than my usual 5-6 hours a night). i did cardio for 45 minutes yesterday on some sort of step-up machine or cross-trainer...my legs were pretty sore yesterday and i thought by doing low intensity cardio perhaps they would become less sore and i was so wrong because my legs are hurting today...damn....its painful to walk to my classes! tomorrow is a complete off day. hopefully my legs will be ok by then.​

Barbell Military Press = 3 sets x 7 reps x 115 lbs

felt pretty easy. could've done 1 more set but i decided to save that for next time. militaries arent that easy to progress on and right now the simple "add 5 lbs to the bar every session" principle isnt gonna work for me. so im gonna try triple progression (add reps or sets or weight or 2 of the 3 or all 3) so next week ill be doing 3x7x115...​

Pull-ups = 5 sets x 3 reps x BW

i completely bombed on this today. i have no idea why this exercise was so tough for me. maybe because im eating so much food ive gotten heavier lol....but this was really difficult. im hoping this becomes ok by next week or so. if not, ill start doing 3x5 then 4x5 then 5x5...lets see​

Paused Flat Dumbbell Bench Press = 3 sets x 12 reps x 50 lbs

pretty tough. next week im going to try 3x10 with 55 or 60 depending on how i feel. actually, scratch that idea. im gonna be doing unilateral presses next week so the weights gonna go down to probably 40 or 45....more on this next week.​

Cable Rows = 2 sets x 7 reps x 150 lbs

did this exercise after a year...​

Facepulls = 1 sets x 12 reps x 50 lbs

nothing special to report.​

Russian Twists = 1 sets x 12 reps x 25 lbs

nothing special to report.​

Leaving Thoughts:

good workout IMO. very productive.​

cheers and have a good week y'all

 

[Andalite]

Fall '07 - Upper 1, Week 16

Overall Impression:

Pretty fucked up workout.​

Deadlifts = 1 set x 1 rep x 275 lbs

so i warmed up like normal today. and i was all set for 275. so i pick up 275 and my form is perfect all the way but somewhere around midpoint, my lower back starts hurting like a fucking bitch. in the sense it was a sudden unexpected jolt of pain out of nowhere! i was so shocked but i finished my rep with good form and when i put the barbell down, it hurt me again at the same position as it had before. fuck. remember a while ago i had an injury on my lower back? that was near my spine. after that injury went i still had some little pain remaining but that was more to the left of the original pain. well, right now that fucking spot is hurting. well, not right now. ive come back from the gym but if i bend too low it hurts a lot. im gonna rest this for some time and see if it gets better. maybe ill have to lay off deadlifting for a while. its still hurting a bit but not at all as bad as it did when i actually deadlifted. fucking injuries. also, just before the pain hit me on that rep, i felt as if someone had knocked the wind outta my stomach. wierd.​

Reverse Hypers = 2 sets x 10 reps x 25 lbs

i did some light sets to hopefully ease the pain. i have no clue if this was good or bad. probably bad. fuck.​

Leaving Thoughts:

bad workout. i need to wait and see what happens.​