Jettisoned Ponderings

…especially when its on a body part you use all day. I strained my soleus yesterday doing calves. I’m not a fan of ballistic stretching and certainly not weighted motions. Got a little too much of a bounce on one of my reps bringing the weight down and immediately felt it pull just above the achilles tendon. Of course I did 3 more sets on it after just going a little easier. *sigh* I got a massage yesterday after it all (I love my new therapist!) and went a little easy on it. Today its been more cranky with me. Walking has loosened it up, so no need for heat. Some ice tonight should help. Hams and calves are on the agenda tomorrow since we’re mixing things up a bit. I’ll have to see how its feeling by then.

Got everything I needed and GJ is starting up her Gaspari stack next week. So with that we’ll be changing gears and going a bit heavier for a while then probably come back and finish off with the same workout we’ve been doing the past few weeks. So, on that note I plan to absolutely push myself as hard as possible. The cycle will be another 45 days followed by 4 weeks of PCT.

As a side note, I need to vent how much I hate the damn FDA. I loved the Tren I used last cycle and I found out yesterday that it will be being pulled off the market in about 6 weeks along with two other ACL products (one of which, the Mass Xtreme, I’m using this cycle). The product worked fantastic and no ill sides at all. Then I saw a forum post, "Yeah, but it says on the label it contains ingredients known to cause cancer in CA". Ok, what the hell doesn’t cause cancer these days!? A friggin pack of gum or anything artificially sweetened says the same thing. You don’t see the FDA rushing to pull packs of gum or cigarettes off the market do you? Why should supps be any different? I don’t want to hear all the crap about minors being able to use them and what not. That’s the fault of poor vendors that want a quick sale instead of being concerned for their customers. Its like any other substance out there that’s got an age limit on it. If someone wants it bad enough, they’ll get it. Just slap a warning label on there then they can sit back later and say, "Told ya so, but it was your choice. That’s what this country is SUPPOSED to be founded on, isn’t it?". I’m getting off my soap box now. Bottom like, if you wanna give the Tren, Mass, or MMA3 a try anytime you better order it now before it gets yanked. Ok, moving on…

I’m gonna need a lot of calories to make the gains I want, so this time around I’ve tweaked the diet a bit. Not going quite as high on the protein or fats as I did with the Tren. The diet will look like this for workout days:

Meal 1 - 6:00am
Whole Milk    16oz
Big Max 50 Gainer    3 scoops

[Cardio]

Meal 2 - 8:15am
Frozen Shredded Potatoes    15oz
Whole Egg (Large ~63g Raw)    4 eggs
Ketchup    5 tbsp
Picante Sauce    2 tbsp
Shredded Cheese    1/4 cup

Meal 3 - 10:30am
Whole Milk    16oz
Big Max 50 Gainer    3 scoops

Meal 4 - 1:00pm
Pasta w/Red Sauce     10oz
Coleman Ground Sirloin (91/9)    8oz (pre-cooked weight)
Yoplait Original    1 "Cup"

Meal 5 - 4:00pm
Chicken Breast (Grilled)    8oz (pre-cooked weight)
Frozen Green Beans    1 cup
Medium Apple (3" Diameter)    1

Meal 6 - 7:00pm
Whole Milk    16oz
Big Max 50 Gainer    3 scoops

[Workout]

Meal 7 - Post-Workout/9:30pm
Probolic-SR    2 scoops

Totals: 5158 Calories, 380.5g Protein, 583.5g Carbs, 136.5g Fat

Non-workout days I’ll back down the carbs switching out the potatoes for 1c oats and eliminating the yogurt and apple to bring down the carbs a bit and also most likely make my gainer shakes with water instead of milk.

Supps will include the following:
ACL Mass Xtreme - 2 capsules (1 AM, 1 PM)
ACL VNS-9 - 2 capsules (1AM, 1PM)
Vibe - 1oz
Anabolic Innovations Cycle Support - 2 servings (AM/PM)
Cranberry Extract - 4×1 softgell
ACL Livr Xtreme - 1 capsule
Zinc 50mg - 1 capsule
ZMA - 3 capsules before bed
Norwegian Cod Liver Oil - 4×1 softgell
Anabolic Pro Line Kre-Alkalyn - 3×2 capsules
Optimum GlycoMaize - 1 scoop during workouts
Full Blown Extreme - 1 scoop pre-workout
BCAAs - 7g pre-workout, 14g during
GABA - 3g pre-workout
Glutamine - 10g During Workouts
Anabol EXT (PCT; bridged last 5 days on cycle)

So all in all, hopefully I’ll be good and blown up by the time this is all done! Not like its a problem but absolutely no alcohol while I’m on this cycle. The Mass and VNS-9 are both methylated, so they’re harder on the liver, hence using both the Cycle Support and Livr Xtreme together. As needed I’ll take some Max Cleanse also to keep the rest of my system in working order. Gonna be a fun ride!

Pull-Ups (BW/Neg): 5×10-12: 12, 10/2, 6/6, 6/6, 5/9
T-Bar Rows: 4×15: 180/185/175/170
Barbell Rows (Bent/Smith): 4×15-8: 120/130/140/150
One-Arm DB Rows: 4×15-8: 85/90/95/105(x11)
One-Arm Cable Rows: 4×15-20: 70/70/70/70

Things are going fantastic with the workout. I wish my body didn’t adapt to workouts so dang quickly… I could get another good week out of this workout before I’d typically start to level off. Either way, soon the workout will be changed again but I’m for sure saving this one to use again in the future. Got some new progress pics tonight, too, so if you have a moment I’d appreciate any feedback on them. GJ and I both need to start working on our posing more, especially for things like back shots. All part of the learning process I suppose.

Tonight’s workout again showed good improvement since the last. This time, again, I didn’t go for increasing the last set weight, but trying to close the gap more between sets. I will admit that I didn’t expect the flyes to turn out like they did…

Incline Barbell Press (Smith): 5×30-10: 70/90/95/100/105
Hammer Flat Bench: 4×30-15: 70/80/90/100
Incline DB Flyes: 4×12-15: 35/40/45/40
Pec Flye Machine: 4×20-10: 80/83/85/100

Overall, I’m pleased. Reps were a little more explosive tonight and took a few more rest pauses as needed. My sternal attachments are feeling the most worked, which is good for a change since usually the distal/shoulder attachments feel it more. Tomorrow is back and I’m expecting some really good numbers if the trend continues like it did tonight.

Thursday ended up being a short night since we went to see an 11pm opening show of Iron Man (Fantastic movie by the way!)

So yesterday was a double day. Hams/Calves in the morning and Biceps/Triceps in the evening. While I’m not particularly happy or satisfied with my updated bodystats today, I can’t argue that I’m happy with the amount of weight I’m lifting:

Morning:
Lying Leg Curls - 4×20-10: 80×30, 90×19, 100×15, 110×10
Romanian Deadlifts - 4×20-10: 95×20, 135×18, 145×14, 165×18
Seated Leg Curls - 4×20-10: 150×20, 165×20, 180×18, 210×10 (Sticking Stack…)
Calf Raises on Leg Press - 5×20-30: 400×30, 420×30, 490×30, 580×27, 600×24
Seated Calf Raises - 5×20-30: 140×30, 140×30, 145×28, 145×25, 145×23

Evening:
Skull-Crushers - 4×30-12: 55×30, 65×26, 75×19, 85×12
Cable Pushdowns w/Straight Bar - 4×20-10: 110×20, 120×20, 130×15, 150×12
Overhead Extensions w/Rope - 4×15-20: 95×20, 100×18, 100×17, 100×16 (forced rep)
Barbell Curls - 4×20-15: 55×20, 65×20, 75×19, 85×15
Hammer Preacher Curls (1 Arm) - 4×15-20: 35×20, 40×20, 45×17, 45×15
One-Arm Cable Curls (Cross Body) - 4×20-12: 40×20, 45×20, 50×15, 55×12

On the seated leg curls we hit a problem on the last set where it suddenly seemed much more difficult. After GJ and I did a set I realized there was a plate that had shifted and was rubbing against the slide rail making it much harder. Got that fixed and will remember it for the future. I’m very happy with calves! Huge bounce back after the shoddy performance from last week. Then for arms… Are you kidding me!? 85×15 on curls and 45 on 1 arm hammers!? That’s up 20lbs on curls and 10lbs on hammers from last week. Yeah, I had to do a fair amount of rest pausing but the form was good on all of them and much more intense. I’m hoping I can finally break this plateau I’ve been on with my biceps!

Supps I think a lot has to do with re-adding the BCAAs. I’ve found that I can mix 1 tbsp (~7 grams) in with my Full Blown (additionally I’m adding 3g GABA) pre-workout, then another 2 tbsp in with the mixture during the workout. So I’m still getting at least 20g down in the mornings. I finally found a mixture that works well with flavorings so its not a problem. I might try going up a little more on the BCAAs in the future, but for now this is working well:

1.75-2 litres water
1 scoop GlycoMaize
2 tbsp BCAAs
1 rounded tbsp Glutamine
1 packet (Size that makes 2qt) Kroger Raspberry Lemonade Lite

I’ll for sure keep running this during my Xtreme Cycle. The other things I need to do are add some Norwegian Cod Liver Oil in for more Vitamin A as well as adding some Zinc (natural anti-aromatise). I’m really excited to start running that stuff! I may even start it a bit prior to changing the workout so it has a chance to kick in more and aid with the recovery I’m going to need to survive the intensity of that workout!