ChiMike’s BodyBlog

Well, there’s now a Democratic nominee for president, so, true to my word, I’ve started cardio again.  In fact, I’ve switched up my routine entirely.  I had moved to splits over 5 days (Chest, Arms, Legs, Shoulders, Back), but decided to try Muscle and Fitness’ 3 month challenge, which incorporates weights and cardio.  Weights are now over 4 days, once per week (Chest/Tri’s, Legs/Calves/Abs, Shoulders,Calves/Abs, Back/Bi’s), and, for the first month, cardio is 3 days per week.  Not only are the splits different but the reps and sets are a deviation from what I had gotten used to also, which seems like a good thing (as amysuds said recently, "always stay one step ahead of adaptation" - or something like that).  This program often starts with low reps and high weight and then gradually lowers weight and increases reps; 6,6,6,10,12,12 or 6,6,10,12,12 is typical.  The fatigue that sets in on the last few sets and effort that it takes to work through them has to mean that, in fact, I had adapted to my prior routines.  Halfway through the first week (2 days lifting and 1 of cardio) . . . so far so good.

Lowfat vanilla yogurt + peanut butter = Good Snack.

I’m sure this has been done before, but it was a happy discovery to me.

A few days ago, I was pretty bummed out because I had lost some hard earned lbs after not really watching my diet for a week or so.  The good news is that I had my bf checked today and I was down to 9.4%, which is the lowest it’s been since I decided to make a concerted effort to add some mass back in the fall.  Even when I wasn’t staying on top of my diet, I continued to work out hard, and fortunately what I lost was more bf than lean mass.  Hooray.  I’m about 8 lbs hevier than I was six months ago and at a slighyly lower bf; if I can do that twice more over the next year I’ll have achieved gains beyond my wildest expectations. 

Sort of bummed today.  My lower back is killing me after aggrivating an old injury.  I just wasn’t careful enough picking up 80lbs dumbbells from the ground for flat bench presses yesterday and felt a bad pull in my back.  Still really stiff this morning, and today was supposed to be a back day.  Was on vacation last week, which was nice, but it threw me off of my routine with eating properly and I’ve lost a hard-earned 6 lbs, so I’m feeling sort of literaly and figuratively deflated.  The back and the weight is the first real setback that I’ve had over the last six months, and it just kind of sucks.

 OK, venting helped.  Now back to it!!

Well, here I am at 180 pounds.  I started in the high 160s, and it seemed like a lot of weight to put on for someone who has never actively tried to put on (or shed) weight.  As anyone who has done this before would probably expect, it was not a straight, linear shot.  Bodyspace has been a great tool, both in terms of a way to track the weight with a chart and view progress pictures, and from the people who have chimed in here and there with some encouragement.  So now the big question . . . do I keep going?

Originally, my plan was to get to 180 and then drop back to the low 170’s.  Not far from where I started in terms of weight, but hopefully with more lean mass.  Now, I’m not so sure.  I’m still fitting into my pants (actually with less of tight squeeze then when I first hit 175), and I don’t feel quite as bulky around the middle as I thought I would.  If getting to 180 and dropping to low 170’s might have a nice impact, how much better if I go from 185 to 175?  On the other hand, I know I’m carrying at least a little more around the middle than when I started, and it’s tempting to get rid of it and then start all over again.  What to do . . . what to do . . .

Yesterday I wrote that I had completed a 10 week chest program from Muscle & Fitness, which promised big gains by sticking to the routine - 2" to be exact.  Well, optomistic measuring might have given me the 2", but I try to be conservative when evaluating myself, and, erring on the smaller side, I showed an increase of about 1.5" over 10 weeks.  All in all, I’m pretty pleased and have to give the program high marks.  Good range of exercises, hit the chest from all angles, good change-ups in intensity, volume, etc., and, of course, it delivered on the promise to create real gains over a relatively short period of time.

. . . now for the results.  Happy because I finished a 10 week chest program that I was following from Muscle & Fitness.  Guaranteed* to add 2" to your chest (*subject to following their meal-plan and probably other qualifications that will leave me with no recourse should the final measure come up short).  In any event, the last few weeks became pretty intensive, with nearly 30 sets on chest day (today’s workout is posted in the Workout Tracker - along with others from over the last few few months).  Regardless of the what the tape says, it was a good program - forced me to focus on upper chest and a variety of exercises that I had never done before.  After relying pretty heavily on the flat barbell bench, I feel like I’ve got a good set of tools to maintain forward progress.

I’ll take a measurement tonight and will share the tale of the tape.  Next stop is to check in on what effect this program had on my 1RM for bench.  Then onto the next lagging bodypart - not sure if that will be legs or arms.

Two unrelated scramblings today.  First, I read that at least two whole eggs and two egg whites a day correlates strongly with success in weight gain, so for the last few days I’ve been mixing them up first thing in the morning (with a little salsa for flavor) - easy prep tip . . . microwave . . . 1:40 and nice, fluffy eggs are done, could hardly be easier.  I didn’t change much else in my diet in any drastic manner and seem to have broken the 175 lb. plateu that I had been at for a while, so maybe there’s something to it.

Second, I decided to scramble up the set/reps that I’ve been doing for calves (forearms too, but today was back/calves) and have gone for closer to 20 reps on a few sets and then added a big set at the end standing on the Smith Machine (heaviest weight I can manage for 20 reps, drop about 20%, 20 more reps, drop about 20%, 20 more reps, etc. — no rest until I hit 100 reps).  By the end I’m struggling to lift my bodyweight and my calves feel deeply blasted in a way that other workout’s haven’t achieved.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to see results, but it sure feels like it, so I’m going to roll with this one for a while.

For any Zeppelin fans out there, hopefully I’ll still be working out in 9 nine years and can do a similar post (maybe even with music by then!).  It was roughly a year ago that I started lifting more regularly and more seriously.  I was not as disciplined about working out and my diet then as I am now, but thoughts of weight gain goals and cleaning up my diet were percolating.

So, how has the year progressed?  Over all I’m pretty happy.  In terms of lifting, I’ve definitely expanded my repoirtiore and have a good idea now of how to lift to achieve the goals that I want.  In terms of diet, I’m  *a lot* more educated about how to eat to get where I want to be, whether bulking or cutting, and whether the scale is going up or down, overall, everything that’s going into my body is much, much healthier than it used to be.

As far as the numbers go, this time last year, I weighed about 10 pounds less and my body fat was around 12.9%.  Around 9 months ago (before I had really focused in on bulking), bf had dropeped to about 8.8%.  Up until December, I worked out generally to get stronger and bigger, but didn’t have specific goals or a plan in mind.  Over the last few months, since I joined BB, everything I’ve done has been with a purpose (thanks to everyone who contributes here, because everyone’s shared experiences has helped provide me with some direction).  My bf has gone up from my low to about 12.2%, but that seems sort of inevitable when bulking.  The good news is that compared to a year ago, my bf is a bit lower and I’m about 10 pounds heavier, so I’ve got a least 10 lbs of lean mass to show for that last year’s effort.  Looking forward to putting on those last few pounds and then cutting to see what happens.

I have been trying to bullk from high 160’s to 180 for a while and had stalled out at about 175.  With some props to JitWit and her friend Victor Dean, I’m glad to say that I seem to be back on track.  Turns out that I had somewhat too eagerly followed advice that a 40/40/20 diet was the be-all-end-all, and with some help from Jean and Vic, I’ve ratcheted up the fat (good fat!) a little bit (probably closer to 35/35/30 now) and have finally broken 175 at my morning weigh-in.  Now the trick will be to keep lifting hard and not go overboard packing on the pounds.  I’m hoping to gradually get up to 180 over the next 4-6 weeks.  Assuming all goes as planned, I’m hoping to have a good progress pic comparing the pre-bulking me at about 170 and the post-bulking/cutting me at 170+?

I would welcome comments from anyone willing to share experience with bulking/cutting in terms of how much, how often, how fast, expectations, etc.