Jimmon's bulking journal

[Jimmon]

Ok, I've had a below-average physique for far too long. A few weeks ago I decided to change that, once and for all, no matter how hard it is.

I have no aspirations to be a body-builder. I have a clear image of the type of physique that would make me feel very confident and cool, and which I think is realistically achievable considering my genetics, and which will be compatible with my passion for martial arts.

I started at 65kg (144lb), 183cm (6'0). I think if I can get to 80kg and then cut down to 75kg (167lb), I will achieve the physique I want.

So here's what I'm doing: compound exercises on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Mondays; ~4000kcal relatively clean daily intake (2000kcal on Tuesdays to resensitize); ~200g protein per day. (I lurk on bodybuilding.com and am using the Rippetoe workout/diet that seems pretty vogue-ish.)

I started on 18 Feb with three weeks warmup, using very light weights, eating about 3000kcal/day, just getting used to the schedule. On 6 Mar I started for real with the workouts, but after a week of minimal size gains I realized that 3000kcal wasn't enough, so I took it up to 4000kcal.

   5 reps x  3     3     3      1    3    2    2        kg     cm    cm        cm   cm   cm
             Squat Bench Press Deads Rows Dips Chins*  Weight Chest Shoulders Arms Quad Stomach
18 Feb 2008                                            65.1   90    108       29.5 51   76
25 Feb 2008                                            66.6   92    109.5     30   52   78
 3 Mar 2008                                            67.2   92    110       30   52   77.5
 6 Mar 2008  48    58          58                       
 8 Mar 2008  50.5        35.5        28        0
11 Mar 2008  53    60.5        63         15
13 Mar 2008  55.5        38          30.5      2.5     68.3   92    109       30   53   78
15 Mar 2008  58    63          68         17.5         68.7   92    110       30.5 53   79

(All weight in kg. 1kg = 2.2lb)
* Close underhand
i Incomplete sets or Improper form

Basically, if I don't start gaining some muscle around my chest after the workout I did today (15 Mar), I'm going to take everything up another notch. Increase to 4500kcal and throw in some more protein.

 

[Jimmon]

Well, strength and weight and some measurements are increasing, but my chest is almost the same size as when I began, despite my bench 1RM increasing by at least 7.5kg (17lb).

As I promised myself, I'm gonna take it up a notch to 4500kcal/day because I didn't achieve my progress goals.

I will be eating something like this:
- Muesli w/ small serve whey protein
- 1L full fat milk
- Steak sandwich (steak, bacon, egg, cheese, wheat bread, salad)
- 1L full fat milk
- Eggs and bacon, lentils, small serve veg
- 1L full fat milk
- Almonds
- 1L full fat milk

It's high fat, but it's also high protein, and I find I feel much better and have much more energy if I eat protein/fat rather than carbs (for obvious reasons).

At the moment, eating anything is very hard. My city (in Australia) is having a record heat wave of about 15 consecutive days within the 96-106F range. Doesn't exactly make me crave a big hot plate of bacon and eggs.

Does anyone have any ideas as to why I'm having difficulty adding muscle mass to my chest, and how to resolve this issue?

   5 reps x  3     3     3      1    3    2    2        kg     cm    cm        cm   cm   cm
             Squat Bench Press Deads Rows Dips Chins*  Weight Chest Shoulders Arms Quad Stomach
18 Feb 2008                                            65.1   90    108       29.5 51   76
25 Feb 2008                                            66.6   92    109.5     30   52   78
 3 Mar 2008                                            67.2   92    110       30   52   77.5
 6 Mar 2008  48    58          58                       
 8 Mar 2008  50.5        35.5        28        0
11 Mar 2008  53    60.5        63         15
13 Mar 2008  55.5        38          30.5      2.5     68.3   92    109       30   53   78
15 Mar 2008  58    63          68         17.5         68.7   92    110       30.5 53   79
17 Mar 2008  60.5        40.5        33        5i      69.3   92    110.5     31   54   79.5

(All weight in kg. 1kg = 2.2lb)
* Close underhand
i Incomplete sets or Improper form

 

[Quagmire911]

You are going to start getting fat. At 145ish there is no way you need 4500kcal. And it takes time to put on weight, doesn't happen over night.

Your diet needs some adjusting, having that amount of milk is a sure fire way of getting fat, and fast. Check out EFFORTS "Simple starting diet" in the vault.

And please type out your routine in plain english, I can't make it out the way you have it coded. Is it Rippetoe?

PS-I know why you are having trouble adding muscle to your chest. You have been at this for about a month. Come back in a year with 30-40+lbs on you and see if you are complaining then . HEH, you actually started heavy on the 6th? And you expect to be noticeably bigger?

 

[Jimmon]

Yeah, workout and diet are pretty much straight from Rippetoe's suggestions in Starting Strength, including the gallon of milk and the 4000-5000kcal intake. I alternate the following two workouts with a day or two of rest in between.

Squats 3x5
Bench 3x5
Deadlifts 1x5
Dips 2x5

Squats 3x5
Press 3x5
Rows 3x5
Chins 2x5

Anyway, yeah, I'd expect at least a half-centimeter gain around my chest over the last three weeks and six pounds. I'll sit patiently and wait for results, but only after I'm sure that I'm doing everything I can to make my goal a reality. Being proactive has worked well for me in the past.

By the way, "complaining" implies I'm seeking sympathy rather than constructive ideas.

 

[Quagmire911]

At 145lbs you do not need 4000-5000kcal. Start of on around 3500kcal and see how you get on.

You want to be gaining around a pound a week, even this is ambitious. Although in the first few weeks it is natural to gain at a faster rate. Two pounds a week will only get you fat.

Milk also has the potential to make you fat, getting the calories from beef and eggs is a much safer bet and will keep you leaner long term.

And don't count on seeing size gains in the chest after a few weeks. I would measure your weight once every two weeks and check measurements once every two months, although the waist could also be done every two weeks. Anything else probably won't see appreciable size gains in such a short time.

 

[I-tallionStallion]

Quag is right...a pound a week is good. Thing about it...52 weeks in a year= 52 lbs in a year. You do it 2 lbs per week = 104 lbs. And half or more of that will most likely be fat. A pound a week may not seem like much, but is.

Also, i would not sit around and measure myself all the time...its more likely to bum you out if anything and ruin your drive to workout. Go by the scale twice a month like Quag said. And if you can honestly drink that much milk in a day, everyday, you must really like milk. I say get rid of the milk (too sugary), use whey, raw eggs, and follow EFFORTS eating guide.

 

[EFFORT]

You've gotten good advice. Only thing left now is to follow it and stop over analyzing every little detail. Write out what time you will eat your meals everyday of the week and what/how much you will eat at that time. Once you've done that the only thought process you need is "Its 9am, my schedule says its time to eat x meal, its 4:00pm my schedule says to do x lift with x amount of weight, etc"

 

[shaunuk]

Yeap, listen to these guys. EFFORT, Quag, Stallion, Throttle etc are some of the straightest talkers. It's only when you don't overanalyse and just lift your weights and eat your food that you start seeing the best gains of your life.

Even with EFFORT's help I used to overanalyse things but I've recently gained some more maturity and patience and now I just lift weights and I've stopped worrying about things. I know I'm getting stronger and now I just appreciate being able to go to the gym and train. People are now commenting on how I've "put some f*cking beef on since they last saw me".

Thing is, even though 7.5kg is a good increase on your bench, you just gotta keep doing this and the size increases will come over time. Keep plugging away, eating your food, and DON'T worry about whether your arms are getting bigger from week to week. Then look at yourself in 6 months time. Your're 20lbs heavier, your pecs are starting to take good shape, and your arms are blatantly bigger. No need for measurements there, the change is damn obvious.

So congrats for getting into this man and keep at it!!

 

[Quagmire911]

Shaun lets see an update in your log!

And that 7.5kg will have been mostly neural, newbie strength gains. They are fantastic.

 

[shaunuk]

Quag: yeah man, sorry bud, I kept saying I was gonna start that log again. This time I actually am I'll post my next week mate. Bit nervous though cos my numbers aren't as good as yours hehe

 

[Quiksilver]

Screw numbers man, just keep adding 2.5-5lbs onto the bar every session.

 

[Quagmire911]

Excellent!

And numbers are irrelevant, progress is what counts.

I prefer strength to weight ratio anyway.

 

[I-tallionStallion]

Yes keep it up Jimmon. I'd love to see you get the results you want and get nice big and strong. We are here to help you. Trust me here, i started at 163 in August 2007...now I'm at 202ish, and i followed EFFORT's, and WBA's advice. I'm not talking out the a$$ here, i know for a fact it works for me. Give it a shot.

-Shaunk, don't worry about it lol Like Quik and Quag said, progress is what counts!

 

[EFFORT]

Shaun lets see an update in your log!

And that 7.5kg will have been mostly neural, newbie strength gains. They are fantastic.

shaun has been too busy with the ladies

 

[Jimmon]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Don't be offended if I don't work in the suggestions regarding the diet. I have a background in sports nutrition and what I'm doing is getting me the results I want, more-or-less.

After upping the intake to 4500kcal:
- I gained on my chest (almost half an inch ^_^).
- I also gained around my shoulders.
- I didn't gain around my stomach, so it's a relatively lean increase.

I'll stay on (at least) 4500kcal until my stomach gains outweigh my shoulder/chest gains. Incidentally, this is why I take my measurements often. But 4500kcal isn't that much... in student clinic, we once put a guy on a 6000kcal/day intake! (Now that's a lot! )

Also, don't worry about the milk sugars. It's raw milk, so the nutrients are correctly utilized. (Besides, the idea that milk sugars are bad is a bit of an "eggs-cause-cholesterol" type of misunderstanding. The conversion pathways for natural lactose are quite complex, just like with natural fructose, so there's not a huge insulin spike. What you need to watch out for is stuff like bread and potato and refined sugars.)

Instead of a workout, I tested my 1RMs today - increases are from February 18 to March 21.

Bench: up from 78kg (172lb) to 88kg (195lb)
Squat (ATG): up from 58kg (129lb) to 78kg (172lb)
Deads: up from 93kg (206lb) to 118kg (262lb)

My friend looked at my workout and pointed out that the dips might be leading to overtraining, so next workout I think I'll axe them. Coupled with the 4500kcal diet, that may lead to some more consistent upper-body mass gains. Until then, here are my latest stats:

             3x5   3x5   3x5   1x5   3x5  2x5     kg     cm    cm        cm   cm   cm
             Squat Bench Press Deads Rows Chins*  Weight Chest Shoulders Arms Quad Stomach
18 Feb 2008                                       65.1   90    108       29.5 51   76
25 Feb 2008                                       66.6   92    109.5     30   52   78
 6 Mar 2008  48    58          58                 67.2   92    110       30   52   77.5
 8 Mar 2008  50.5        35.5        28   0
11 Mar 2008  53    60.5        63        
13 Mar 2008  55.5        38          30.5 2.5     68.3   92    109       30   53   78
15 Mar 2008  58    63          68                 68.7   92    110       30.5 53   79
17 Mar 2008  60.5        40.5        33   5i      69.3   92    110.5     31   54   79.5
21 Mar 2008  [1RM Bench:88 Squat:78 Deads:118]    69.3   93    111.5     31   53.5 79.5

(All weight in kg. 1kg = 2.2lb)
* Close underhand
i Incomplete sets or Improper form

 

[shaunuk]

Well, you're meant to be going a bit lighter on your dips, Rippetoe says 2x8, not 2x5 A few sets of dips ain't gonna overtrain ya after 3x5 bench hopefully, keep em in for now

 

[Jimmon]

Rippetoe says no dips, right? The dips and chins were just added in by some guy on bodybuilding.com.

 

[Quagmire911]

If the high calorie diet works for and you see decent gains whilst staying lean, by all means...

As for milk it is the lactose intolerance that causes most of the problems. However I believe that raw milk is better in some way, although I can't remember what.

As for the dips and chins I don't know whether someone added them in or not, but I would think it would be better to keep them in if you can handle it.