mrRuckus' journal o' liftin and stuff.

[Warboss Alex]

10lbs in 8 months isn't great. it's not bad but at your current bodyweight I'd expect at least twice or even three times that amount gained.

DC training right now is not conducive to your goals (or your experience levels if you want me to be honest) your squat and deadlift weights need to skyrocket up if you're to get significantly bigger. I'd consider going back to your original routine, there wasn't really anything wrong with it - why did you change it up?

 

[mrRuckus]

10lbs in 8 months isn't great. it's not bad but at your current bodyweight I'd expect at least twice or even three times that amount gained.

DC training right now is not conducive to your goals (or your experience levels if you want me to be honest) your squat and deadlift weights need to skyrocket up if you're to get significantly bigger. I'd consider going back to your original routine, there wasn't really anything wrong with it - why did you change it up?

Well the first 4 months i went from i think 162 to 172 then i stopped growing as fast. I just thought my muscle memory (i had lifted for about a year and some change before not really having a clue and not doing deadlifts but did do smith squats) and 'newbie' gains were coming to a halt. That coupled with the fact that i am losing some body fat but i never measured so how much i'm not sure.

I went to DC because ive been reading a ton and it all made sense. The past few weeks though i finally came across the info that it wasn't meant for someone without an already large core and had perfect deadlift, squat, etc form, though i'm not quite sure exactly why, but I have enough respect for the advanced people to just listen and not need to fully understand why. I need to decide what program to follow... though I don't want to be one of the people who changes approaches constantly.

I do believe in the frequency thing and not so much necessarily the 3 days a week each muscle group once a week thing so much. I seem to have good recovery. I'm not sure though.

I get 300-350g of protein a day (ground beef, chicken, tuna, just found some good cheap pork chops) and have a bunch of oats and ground flaxseeds and olive oil a day though i've never counted my carbs and fats. Pretty sure my diet is solid.

 

[Warboss Alex]

one option is DC training straight-setted if you want the frequency but seriously, I think you'd grow faster just doing a squat/dead/bench routine like you were initially even if the frequency is lower - because the growth signals will be higher.

DC isn't meant for people who don't have a strong base and are advanced muscularly because of the extremely low volume, you gotta make your (one and only one) workset count.

it's taken me a long while to be able to put everything say, into one hard set of deadlifts and not be able to do another set at the same weight afterwards. it's the same principle in DC.

total up your diet on fitday and see how many cals you're getting in, you might be surprised. I'd aim around 3500 for your weight minimum.

 

[mrRuckus]

it's taken me a long while to be able to put everything say, into one hard set of deadlifts and not be able to do another set at the same weight afterwards. it's the same principle in DC.

I don't think I get it really. As far as I know i put everything into every lift and get to the point of failure (either I can't do another --and i do mean it will not go up no matter how much i struggle-- or can't maintain form anymore). But I accept that maybe I haven't built up real intensity yet since I never feel sick or anything like other people have described say doing a widowmaker. *shrug* I don't need convinced to not do DC, nevertheless.

Growth signals higher at lower frequency? I'm not sure what that means or why that would be true. I don't expect you to explain though I need to research this stuff some more. Everything that's out there is so contradictory. You and other people say lower frequency and DC and Max-OT and 5x5 and such say higher frequency. It's frustrating. I just want to find what's the most efficient for me, ya know?

 

[Warboss Alex]

Well choose a system and hammer it into the ground man. You've not gained much with what you're doing, so change it.

My opinion is to go back to what you were doing but if you believe 5x5 is good for you then go for it, I'll back you all the way.

 

[mrRuckus]

Hey Alex I really appreciate your attention to me. Thanks.



I'm adding up my fitday.com stuff as the day goes on.

Breakfast:
3 hard boiled eggs
1 raw egg
1 scoop protein
2 tablespoons olive oil

kcals fat carb protein
665 50 4 48

Decent start though I didn't really intend that much fat in one meal but that's what i had access to at gf's house this morn.

Chicken and oatmeal in an hour or so! *gulps some green tea*

 

[Warboss Alex]

50g fat especially for breakfast is fine man, don't sweat it.

 

[mrRuckus]

Ok this is gonna be all jumbled up but the important thing is what I ate and what the final numbers at the bottom are.

kcal - fat - carb - protein

Wednesday 6/14/2006


Breakfast
Egg, whole, raw ( 1 large ) 75 5 1 6
Egg, whole, boiled ( 3 large ) 232 16 2 19
Whey Concentrate ( 30 gram ) 120 3 2 23
Olive oil ( 2 tablespoon ) 239 27 0 0

Second Breakfast
Chicken, breast, with or without bone, roasted, skin not eaten ( 4 oz, boneless, cooked, skinless ) 183 4 4 34
Whey Concentrate ( 30 gram ) 120 3 2 23
Richfood Quick Oats ( 0.5 cup ) 150 3 27 5 - it says quick oats but the only ingredient is "100% whole grain rolled oats"... the same as on the smaller packaged "regular oats" box!
Banana, raw ( 1 large (8" to 8-7/8" long) ) 125 1 32 1

Lunch
Whey Concentrate ( 30 gram ) 120 3 2 23
Ground flaxseed ( 3 tablespoon ) 112 9 6 3
80%/20% Ground Beef ( 170 gram ) 460 30 0 44


Second Lunch + pre-workout meal
Shoppers whole grain wheat bread slice ( 2 serving ) 180 2 34 10
1 can starkist chunk light tuna ( 1 serving ) 150 2 0 33
Whey Concentrate ( 30 gram ) 120 3 2 23
Gatorade ( 1 tablespoon ) 50 0 13

WORKOUT!

Post-workout shake
1 TBSP gatorade mix 13g
Cranberry Apple Juice (like a cup or something) maybe 40g carbs
2.5 scoops whey (57.5 g protein)
5g glutamine peptides

Needed some complex carbs to hold me over while waiting for gf's pizza to come
Richfood Quick Oats ( 0.25 cup ) 75 1 13 2
1/2 scoop or so whey 12g protein
3 tsps yogurt (don't know nutrition)
Blended in a shake.

First Dinner
Chicken, breast, with or without bone, roasted, skin not eaten ( 4 oz, boneless, cooked, skinless ) 183 4 4 34
Dominos pizza slice ( 1 serving ) 258 8 38 11

Second Dinner
Chicken, breast, with or without bone, roasted, skin not eaten ( 4 oz, boneless, cooked, skinless ) 183 4 4 34
Whey Concentrate ( 40 gram ) 160 3 3 31
Olive oil ( 2 tablespoon ) 239 27 0 0

Pre-Bed
TP Calcium Caseinate ( 30 gram ) 115 1 0 25
Whey Concentrate ( 30 gram ) 120 3 2 23



Total - not counting post workout shake or that tiny bit of yogurt
3769 kcal
159g Carbs
190g Fat
420g Protein
Too much fat? Not enough carbs?



I'm not sure just how accurate it is. I'm keeping track again today. Today I plan to have some pork chops too to replace a chicken meal... and i won't have any gatorade or a post-workout shake.

I put this all pretty much manually into fitday.com and the link for my public journal is here.
http://www.fitday.com/webfit/publicjournals.html?Owner=cmdrfunk&Year=2006&Month=5&Day=14




ALSO my work out was this since I stopped DC.
Ham curls 265x11, 265x10, 265x10
Squats 225x6, 225x4, 225x5

I think i rested a tiny bit more on the final squat so i got the extra rep. The one thing I find about squats is that i'm worried about safety on them. I start to wobble/shake near the end but I still keep my back nice and rounded but i'm not sure if i should go on for another rep or two for safety's sake. I don't exactly want to topple over with 225 lbs on my back. But I think I WILL press it and see how it goes to absolutely get those last reps out and concentrate hardcore on balance.

 

[mrRuckus]

How about this for a workout plan?

Pull heavy on monday with deads, chins, and rows

Press heavy on wednesday presses and dips

Squat heavy on Friday. Do some calves if you like afterwards.

How I manage a lot of guys is through mini cycles.

Week 1 - work up to a top set of 10 on squats, deads, and press.
During the 10's week I generally have the guys either do a rack dead or a stiff legged dead then do regular deads the other three weeks.

Week 2 - work up to a top set of 5 on each

Week 3 - work up to a top set of 3 on each

Week 4 - use 65% of what you used for your sets of 3 for 6 sets of 3 on the big lifts with 1 minute rest between. Drop all the assistance work. This is kind of an "active rest" week. Then you start over. This way you can avoid burnout and get right back into it after an easy week.

For your "assistance work" like rows, chins, dips do whatever you like. I would have guys do dips or chins until they reached a certain number, like 50, with minimal rest. Next time I would have guys work up to a top set of 5. Things don't have to be set in stone. If you aren't feeling it that day, rack the weight and do something "fun". If you are feeling it that day make sure and bust balls for a new record.

 

[Warboss Alex]

How about this for a workout plan?

I like it. Sounds sensible and the rep ranges are good for strength and growth. If the food is right you should grow off it just fine. (you may want some 20 rep squats in there though)

Your food plan seems right on man. Looks fine to me. I think your calorie count might be off? Otherwise I like it.. can't find fault there. Would rather you had 6-8 eggs for breakfast with your whey and no olive oil. more eggs is always good.

oh, and a glaring error you made was to not eat your gf's pizza. (I hope you had some of her pie at least..)

 

[mrRuckus]

How about this based off of the plan I posted?

Im not quite sure what is meant by, for example, "work up to a top set of 10." I pretty much know how many reps of a certain weight I can do on all the exercises already.. so would it make sense to do 2 sets of 10 (or 5 or 3) depending on what weight it is?

Monday
Rack chins x 2
Bent over row x 2 (or row lever machine or cable row instead?)
Deadlift x 2 (stiff leg dead or rack dead instead for week 1,5,9 etc)

Wednesday
Flat DB Press x 2
Incline Barbell Press x 2
Standing Military Press x 2
Dips x 2
Maybe take the incline out and do nothing....or decline instead since MP does some upper chest too?

Friday
Ham curls x 2
Squats (warmups to a heavy weight set then a widowmaker set)
Calves x 1 x 12 (real slowly like in DC. Seems to work for me pretty well.)



I did have a slice of her pizza. Its in there! It was 8pm and about time to cut off carbs so i only had one plus i was full as hell anyway. I dont know how the calorie count is off. Im not sure though. Besides the meats most of it is spot on entered straight from the nutrition labels.

 

[Warboss Alex]

How about this based off of the plan I posted?

Im not quite sure what is meant by, for example, "work up to a top set of 10." I pretty much know how many reps of a certain weight I can do on all the exercises already.. so would it make sense to do 2 sets of 10 (or 5 or 3) depending on what weight it is?

Monday
Rack chins x 2
Bent over row x 2 (or row lever machine or cable row instead?)
Deadlift x 2 (stiff leg dead or rack dead instead for week 1,5,9 etc)

Wednesday
Flat DB Press x 2
Incline Barbell Press x 2
Standing Military Press x 2
Dips x 2
Maybe take the incline out and do nothing....or decline instead since MP does some upper chest too?

Friday
Ham curls x 2
Squats (warmups to a heavy weight set then a widowmaker set)
Calves x 1 x 12 (real slowly like in DC. Seems to work for me pretty well.)



I did have a slice of her pizza. Its in there! It was 8pm and about time to cut off carbs so i only had one plus i was full as hell anyway. I dont know how the calorie count is off. Im not sure though. Besides the meats most of it is spot on entered straight from the nutrition labels.

I would've had the whole pizza. calories are good.

do the maths for the calories, the macro values don't add up to the calorie count. it's no biggie though.

your split looks good, keep one of your presses higher rep (like 2 x 8-12). add in a posterior core exercise on leg day such as weighted abs. consider sumo leg press instead of the leg curl, I find it too much of an isolation (no problem if it works for you though).

 

[Warboss Alex]

Im not quite sure what is meant by, for example, "work up to a top set of 10." I pretty much know how many reps of a certain weight I can do on all the exercises already.. so would it make sense to do 2 sets of 10 (or 5 or 3) depending on what weight it is?

that means to warm up accordingly and then do one all-out set of 10. if you're doing two sets of 10 then it's not all-out.

 

[mrRuckus]

I would've had the whole pizza. calories are good.

do the maths for the calories, the macro values don't add up to the calorie count. it's no biggie though.

your split looks good, keep one of your presses higher rep (like 2 x 8-12). add in a posterior core exercise on leg day such as weighted abs. consider sumo leg press instead of the leg curl, I find it too much of an isolation (no problem if it works for you though).

Hey you're right...
(159 * 4) + (190 * 9) + (420 * 4) = 4026

Well i don't know how that site does its math then. Jeez I hope it added the protein grams right. More calories than i thought i had at least.



The problem I have with sumos is that i think it does my quads too much before squats. My leg press is a stand up one with a curved upper plate. It looks kinda like this were this inclined a little bit...

........|
_____/

(ignore the dots)


You can put your feet on either the slanted plate or the straight part coming off of that. I'm not sure but I think that when i do sumos the fact that there's the straight part it messes with the hamstring involvement when i put my heels up at the top edges.

that means to warm up accordingly and then do one all-out set of 10. if you're doing two sets of 10 then it's not all-out.

Hrm... i thought one of the main reasons why DC isn't recommended for less advanced people is that they couldn't do one set all out. I actually found that routine buried on the dc forums and it seemed a lot more interesting than a MWF 3x8-10 routine ad infinitum.

thanks i'll use your suggestions.

 

[mrRuckus]

Kind of long but I think this is what I will do. Looks more complicated than it is.



Monday Week 1
Rack chins x 2 x 10
Bent over row x 2 x 10
Rack Deadlift x 2 x 10

Monday Week 2
Rack chins x 2 x 5
Bent over row x 2 x 5
Deadlift x 2 x 5

Monday Week 3
Rack chins x 2 x 3
Bent over row x 2 x 3
Deadlift x 2 x 3

Monday Week 4 Active Rest Week (65% weight of Week 3 and 1 min rest between sets)
Deadlift x 6 x 3



Wednesday Week 1
Flat DB Press x 2 x 10
Incline Barbell Press (on smith) x 2 x 10
Standing Military Press x 2 x 10
Dips x 2 x 10

Wednesday Week 2
Flat DB Press x 2 x 10
Incline Barbell Press (on smith) x 2 x 5
Standing Military Press x 2 x 5
Dips x 2 x 5

Wednesday Week 3
Flat DB Press x 2 x 10
Incline Barbell Press (on smith) x 2 x 3
Standing Military Press x 2 x 3
Dips x 2 x 10

Wednesday Week 4 Active Rest Week (65% weight of Week 3 and 1 min rest between sets)
Flat DB Press x 6 x 3
Incline Barbell Press (on smith) x 6 x 3
Standing Military Press x 6 x 3



Friday Week 1
Sumo Leg Press x 2 x 10
Abs x 2 (to let hams rest a bit)
Squats x 1 x 10, Widowmaker. (Maybe 2 x 10 then Widowmaker?)
Calves x 1 x 12

Friday Week 2
Sumo Leg Press x 2 x 5
Abs x 2 (to let hams rest a bit)
Squats x 1 x 5, Widowmaker
Calves x 1 x 12

Friday Week 3
Sumo Leg Press x 2 x 3
Abs x 2 (to let hams rest a bit)
Squats x 1 x 3, Widowmaker
Calves x 1 x 12

Friday Week 4 Active Rest Week (65% weight of Week 3 and 1 min rest between sets)
Sumo Leg Press x 6 x 3
Squats x 6 x 3

 

[mrRuckus]

I start my new training today; I can't wait!

I've been downing 8-10 raw eggs the past 3 days. My recipe:


1 scoop plain whey.
Some strawberry flavoring from trueprotein.com.
4-5 raw eggs. Whole. Hell 6-7 would probably be about the same. I keep adding more and noticing no difference.
~3/4 8 oz of glass water (doesn't really matter too much how much)
Maybe a little plain yogurt.

Tastes like a strawberry milkshake but a little less thick. Don't taste eggs at all. REAL easy way to get a good healthy whole food meal on the run. I put it in a small thermos I got from D1ck's.

5 eggs = 30g protein
Whey = 23g
25g of mostly good fats
493 calories

53g protein and 493 calories you can drink in 10 seconds! This way i can eat, go out somewhere and chug my drink 2.5-3 hours later. Then have another 2.5-3 hours to get to somewhere to get more food for the next meal.


Raw egg information

"When one heats the yolk, changes occur in the fragile elements that serve to support the vital life force within the egg. The egg yolk, in many ways, is not very different from your own cells. Once your temperature goes above 105 degrees you will start to suffer serious health problems. Similarly, heating the yolk above 105 degrees will also start to cause structural changes in many of the highly perishable components present in the yolk.

The most obvious one is cholesterol. The higher the yolk is heated, the more likely oxidation of cholesterol will occur. This is especially true when it is combined with egg white (as in scrambled eggs) because the iron present in the white will further oxidize the cholesterol. Our blood vessels do not have receptors for cholesterol, only for oxidized cholesterol. So, you can eat as many eggs as you like, without worrying about cholesterol, as long as you don't cook the yolks."

"only 0.003 % of eggs are infected. Viewed another way, only 1 in every 30,000 eggs is contaminated with salmonella, which shows how uncommon this problem actually is."

"The symptoms of salmonella food poisoning can strike anyone, but they're more likely to hit 3 groups: the elderly; children; and people with HIV, cancer, or other diseases which impair the immune system."

"The key principle to keep in mind here is that if you are healthy a salmonella infection is not a big deal. You may feel sick and have loose stools for a day or 2, but this infection is easily treated by using high-quality probiotics [yogurt] which contain friendly bacteria. Take some probiotics every 30 minutes until you start to feel better, and in most cases your condition will improve within a few hours."