De Silva's He-man log.

[de silva]

Howdy everyone. Great community on these boards. I desperately need to get my sex life back up and running again. I think I'll start by posting my workout log here, as I'd prefer to talk about this kind of shyt with other up and coming DJs.

Comments are welcome, but please no flaming if you disagree with workout protocal. Constructive criticism is welcome, but please, just consider whether you really know what you're posting about before you post it. For my part, I'm no expert, but I'm no idiot either.

Background

Worked out on and off for many years. Before beginning again last year, I'd had a couple of years off, during which all the good work of previous years came undone. Sex life suffered, too, as I was consumed by little else but work, getting nothing the whole time. That was a big mistake. Anyhoo, no point crying about it.

Beginning about this time last year, I started an abbreviated workout routine, working out only twice a week, and focusing on the big lifts. The first period of five months was spent dieting down, which also included near daily cardio, consisting of jogging and exercise bike. During this period, my bodyweight went from 210 to 185.

I then began an intense bulking cycle, which took me from 185 to 225 over the next five months. Needless to say, a lot of that was fat, but I made strong gains in strength and (most likely) muscle.

During the period, my lifts went from:

Squat: 110 x 10 to 200 x 10, and 285 x 1. (Azz to grass squatting.)
Deadlift: 130 x 10 to 260 x 10, and 320 x 1.
Bench Press: 130 x 10 to 165 x 10, 200 x 4 and 220 x 1.
Military Press: 65 x 10 to 120 x 10, 150 x 1
Chinups: Bodyweight x 3 to Bodyweight x 8
Dips: Bodyweight x 3 to Bodyweight x 15
Biceps Curls: 55 x 10 to 90 x 10, 110 x 1
Skullcrushers: 65 x 10 to 90 x 10

During the bulking period, my measurements went from:
Right bicep (flexed): 15" to 16 3/4".
Waist: 36" to 41.5".

Current Measurements (all taken in flexed position):
Height: 5'10
Weight: 207
Right biceps: 16 1/3"
Waist: 38"
Mid-Thigh: 24"
Upper-Thigh: 25.5"
Chest: 47 1/4"
Shoulders (arms by side):53.5"


Calories consumed while cutting: ~2500/day
Calories consumed while bulking: ~4000/day

I have since begun cutting once again, first three weeks standard cutting diet, last two weeks on a ketogenic diet. I'm currently consuming between 2200-2400 calories/day. My bodyweight is now down to 207. I will continue the ketogenic diet for approximately the next two months. I will also be increasing the cardio from the current once-every-second-day, to every day. In that time I expect my bodyweight to be somewhere between 190 and 195. I'll judge then whether I have lost enough fat. My guesstimate for now is that I'm ~15% fat.

I took a couple of weeks off after the bulking cycle, because I was quite worn out from lifting heavy all the time (even though it was only twice a week, it still took its toll.)

I am currently in the process of transferring my training protocal from a strength focus to a hypertrophy focus. Even though I am not expecting any hypertrophy, as I am calorie deficient, I would like to work my way into the new routine over the next couple of months. This will mean adding more volume, increasing the frequency and adding some new exercises. Over the coming weeks I want to work up to working out each bodypart twice a week. I am going to significantly lowering the amount of weight I am lifting because I want to focus on "flexing the muscle" in order to move the weight (which is a lot different to "just lift it".)

Right now, I am using a three day split: pushing/pulling/legs, which I will, as I said, increase the frequency of, so that the split is completed twice weekly.

Current Routine:

Pushing:
Bench Press 90 x 10, x 4
Incline Dumbell Press 27.5 (per d/b) x 10, x 2
Military Press: 45 x 10, x 3
Lateral Raises: 10 (per d/b) x 10, x 3
Skullcrushers: 55 x 10, x2

Pulling:
Pulldowns: 70 (is that meant to be kg?) x 10, x 4
Bent Over Rows: 65 x 10, x 3
Shrugs: 130 x 10. x 3
Standing Biceps Curls: 30 x 10, x 3

Legs:
Squats: 120 x 10, x 3
Deadlifts: 120 x 10, x 3

I will be adding exercises to these groups in the coming weeks, and probably get rid of deadlifts.


Thanks for reading.

 

[Alpine]

I'll be interested in seeing how you get on. I'm thinking of doing a bulking log on here, hopefully helping to keep me motivated.

 

[de silva]

Alpine, do a log on here dude. It really does help with the motivation. I mean, you should be keeping a log anyway (how else are you gonna if you're improving or not? Guesswork?), but posting it also helps.

Feb 15th

Warmup: Bike x five minutes.

Pulldowns: "70" x 10 x 4 (whatever that "70" stands for)
Shrugs: 130 x 10 x 3
Bent-over Rows 65 x 10 x 3
Curls: 30 x 10, x 9, x 8

Cardio: Bike x 30 min, hard.

Felt pretty good. Bike at the end is awesome. Curls done back against the wall, focusing not on lifting the weight, just on flexing the biceps as hard as possible, which then gets the weight moving. Huge pump at the end of this. I'm looking forward to adding more isolation movements into this routine. (Just a note: beginners are better off focusing on the big lifts until building up a decent level of strength).

Feb 17th.

Warmup: Bike, 7 minutes.

Squats: 120 x 10, x 3
Incline leg press: 330 x 8 x 2
Leg extensions: 50 x 10, 40 x 10, 30 x 10
Deadlifts: 120 x 10 x 2
Leg curls: 40 x 10, 30 x 10, 20 x10
Hyperextensions: Bodyweight x 10 x 2

Cardio: Bike, 20 minutes. Fairly hard, but my legs were gone, and it was a struggle and a half getting even 20 mins.

Squats were surprisingly taxing. I went DEEP on these, deeper than I've ever seen anyone go, and I don't think it's possible to go deeper (way beyond parallel). Still, I think I'll switch to Front Squats, as these target the quads more -- it's kinda tricky to concentrate on flexing the quads in back squats, as so many other muscles are involved in the lift.
Leg presses I haven't done in eons. And it was tricky to focus on flexing the quads. I had to take it quite slowly to do this, so the lift became even harder.
Leg extensions and curls are great isolators, and even though I was working on some of the lightest settings available (THE lightest on curls), when the focus is on flexing, it is WAY harder.
Hypers I hadn't done for quite a while either.
Deadlifts, I think, are just going to have to go. Too hard to focus on flexing the muscles with this lift. (Any new lifter reading this: don't ignore the deadlift, it's one of your best lifts!)
My legs are STILL sore from this workout. Ouch. Hopefully this won't last long.

(PS I'm bringing my little 14 year old cousin with me. Actually, he's not so "little" -- 6" 265lb. One month into it, I've already got him deadlifting 200lb singles, with good form. Kid's got a future I reckon.)

Feb 19th

Warmup: Bike, five minutes.

Flat bench: 90 x 10 x 4
Incline DB: 27.5 (per side) x 10 x 2
Military Press: 45 x 10 x 3
Lateral Raises: 10 (per side) x 10 x 3
Skullcrushers: 65 x 10, 65 x 8

Cardio: Bike, 30 minutes. Good hard session. I want to push even harder next time.

Man, the ego takes a real bruising doing this "flexing" style lifting. Lots of young skinny dudes stacking on twice as much weight on the bench as me. I could see some smirks there, as they lifted more than the "big guy" (not that I'm all THAT big, but I am compared to these guys).
I think I'll bring some sort of fly movement in here as well. I'm not a big fan of flyes, as I think they're too injury prone, but I guess done light and not stretching too far I should be okay.

Weight: 204.5
Waist: 37.5"

Thanks for reading. Hasta la proxima...

 

[Double]

man PLZ use another system, it's hard to follow your journal, i have the impression u sometimes use kg and sometimes lb?? or did u really bench 220kg or really only 90lb?? PLEASE USE

1.SET: REPS X WEIGHT [UNIT: LB/KG]
2.SET: .......

thanx

critic: i would keep the reps in 6-8 range....espiacilly deads and squats, that is hypertrohy. also cardio after workout, espiacially at leg day is like drinking and post workout beer instead of whey! if you want to do cardio than do it on other days.

oh, ok i understand now, the bench lifts are in pounds b/c you do the flexing style lifting. but why are you doing this??

also, why do you think you need more isolation movements? if you want to be a bodybuilding pro than yes do it, but until your not performing on stage and taking S, i would stick with the big exercises.

have fun and keep your jounal going!

 

[de silva]

Double, the form is: "Exercise: Weight x Reps x No of Sets". Pretty easy.

Weights are in pounds, except for machine exercises which I'm not sure whether they're in kilograms or pounds, but I don't care.

critic: i would keep the reps in 6-8 range....espiacilly deads and squats, that is hypertrohy.

I, and other people, I can assure you, have achieved hypertrophy by training with both low reps (1-4 reps) and very high reps (15-20). Despite what you might think, there's no hard and fast rule that says if you want hypertrophy you MUST train 6-8.

Everybody is different. That's why bodybuilding is so frustrating for so many people, because somebody else's advice might not really apply to you. The bottom line is always, if it works for YOU, do it.

also cardio after workout, espiacially at leg day is like drinking and post workout beer instead of whey! if you want to do cardio than do it on other days.

There's nothing wrong with doing cardio on lifting days, or leg days. Especially when you're cutting. I plan to be doing cardio every day in the coming weeks. And no, it's not like drinking beer!

oh, ok i understand now, the bench lifts are in pounds b/c you do the flexing style lifting. but why are you doing this??

Why I'm doing it right now: to learn this style of lifting.
Why I'll keep on doing it: because I believe -- based on my research -- it's an effective way of inducing hypertrophy. As I said in my opening post, I'm not expecting any hypertrophy for now -- because I'm cutting (pretty hard to grow while cutting).

also, why do you think you need more isolation movements? if you want to be a bodybuilding pro than yes do it, but until your not performing on stage and taking S, i would stick with the big exercises.

In your case, I agree, you should stick with the big exercises. But once you've built a decent level of strength, which I think I have (nothing amazing, just decent), and you want to focus more on hypertrophy, isolation exercises are very useful. You certainly don't have to wait until you're a "bodybuilding pro".

Furthermore, it's difficult to just keep adding iron to the bar every week, pushing your personal bests. Eventually, most people hit a plateau, or burn out from the heavy lifting. In my case, I really hit a wall, and was exhausted, after months of heavy lifting. Combined with the fact that I was eating very heavily, and the eating was beginning to show up on my waist in a big way, I decided to take a break from all the heavy lifiting, diet down, and focus on more volume and flexing type of lifting. I'll start lifting heavy again in the next half of the year.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Lifeforce]

You're losing fat fast. already down 2.5 pounds on four days!

I really have nothing to comment on, if you've trained for a while then stereotype answers won't help. So Good luck I guess.

One thing though, I used to do squats and deadlifts on the same day, well, it didn't work out because it was too taxing. If you feel like it, separate those two exercises.

 

[de silva]

Originally posted by Lifeforce
You're losing fat fast. already down 2.5 pounds on four days!

Not quite that fast! I am on a "ketogenic" diet. That is one that consumes no carbs. Every once in a while, ketogenic dieters "carb up" -- consume carbs. Some do it every weekend, consuming vast quantities of carbs. Some only consume small amounts just before and after their workouts. Eating no carbs, your glycogen stores get depleted. Then heavy workouts become VERY difficult -- you lose a lot of strength. So, to compensate for this, people "carb up". I tried the weekend carb ups, but I didn't like it. So I tried a "targeted" carb up last week, but didn't notice much of a difference, so I'll just keep working out without carbs for now. When you do carb up, your bodyweight can go up very quickly -- after a weekend carb up you can gain 5lb literally overnight. I didn't gain that much after last week's midweek carb consumption, but probably a pound or two. So my weight was "artificially" up. I didn't "really" lose 2.5lb in four days.

One thing though, I used to do squats and deadlifts on the same day, well, it didn't work out because it was too taxing. If you feel like it, separate those two exercises.

Oh yeah, squats and deads on the same day can be a killer. You really need to ease off on the intensity if you're going to do them on the same day. (Or you have to love punishment!). But the way I'm doing these lifts now, they aren't as taxing. Well, they are taxing, but in a different way -- it's only the target muscles that get fried, not the whole body, as when you're lifting the heavy weights.