Shag's Lifting and Diet Journal.

[shagnscoob]

Well I guess the original workout can stay, I just can't except to deadlift as much after squats as I do after leg presses


Yesterdays workout--

Pull Downs 3x8 on 80 lbs.
Rows 2x10 75 lbs.
Preacher Curls 2x12 1x6 on 30lbs. (I found that my right arm had done most of the work last time and I couldn't keep it from happening, so I went to a lower weight where it was actually much more difficult because my left arm was doing more of the work)
Squats 2x10 70lbs.

and then deads I barely did any. The other thing I noticed though was that after doing squats my lower back hurt, not like a muscle soreness after working it, but more like I had just slept on it wrong for WAY too long. When I started the deads I used no weight to see if I could do it at all and I could but the same problem... kind of like if you do sit ups the wrong way for a long time... next time I'm at the gym I'm going to get someone to watch my squats to make sure my form is good, I was doing them on a smyth machine and I think my feet may have been too far foward causing my back to overarch at the bottom, but I'm not sure...

 

[shagnscoob]

How can I fix the imbalance in strength between my left and right arms? It was happening on skull crushers and then on the bicep curls too....

edit-- should i look into supplementing glutamine? I'm going to pick up some creatine as well. I also need to start packing in more food, especially carbs, I've been eating a lot of protein but my carbs are coming from basically nothing.

I've been eating basically the same **** everyday, I'm going to start trying to eat more often, as well as eating more carbs with the same amount of protein. my sleeping was REALLY screwed up for a day or two but I'm getting back on track.

 

[shagnscoob]

Today was Upperbody sorta day...


Bench Press 2x10 80lbs. (My goal for the day was only 2x8, sweet)
Incline Press 2x10 1x6 65lbs. (goal was 2x12 at 60)
Military Press 2x8 40lbs. (did one more set to failure)

Since I was noticing an imbalance between my right and left arms with tricep exercises, I changed from skull crushers to Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extensions to even them out.

Tri Extensions 1x10 2x9 at 25lbs. (when both sides feel about even I'm going back to something different, maybe tricep pull-downs or something?)

then I did some heavy abwork, although I'm still looking for a good way to do it besides incline leg lefts and decline crunches.

 

[shagnscoob]

I'm reassessing my dieting situation, I don't think I'm eating enough calories to be making any serious gains.

For someone my size/height (5'10'' 145ish lbs. im avoiding the scale), who's mostly sedentary, how many calories am I looking at trying to get in per day?

I tried calculating on fitday but it turned out to be really difficult to accurately measure what I'm eating. It says I need about 3000 calories a day including expenditures, but today wasa pretty lazy day anyway. It's almost 6pm and I've barely eaten 2000calories, so I'm heading out right now to buy some CytoGain to help me out. Good idea or bad?

 

[danno1]

If you are intaking 3000 and are mostly sedentary you SHOULD be intaking enough, but if you arent making mass or strength gains make sure

1-you arent overtraining
if not
2-add 500 calories

add way too much fat then you just cut a few hundred

 

[shagnscoob]

Well that's the thing, it said I needed about 3000 and I was getting somewhere around 2000 everyday despite the fact I was getting about 230g's of protein everyday.

 

[shagnscoob]

Week 3:
1/25

Pull Downs 1x10 at 80 then 1x10 at 90, then 1x10 at 80 (theres no 85? makes it hard to jump 5lb intervals)

Rows -- it turns out the machine I was using wasn't really working the same muscles that a row does, so I just did it again, as well as 1x10 of 50lbs. on a T-bar, next week I'm going to start doing legit barbell rows though.

Barbell Curls - 3x6 of 35lbs.

Squats 2x10 80lbs.

Deadlifts 3x10 of 115lbs. I was lifting with one of the trainers at the gym, he's the nicest one so he helped me out with deadlifting with my form and everything so we just did 3 sets. it KILLED me I could go a lot heavier on squats I think, so I was still pumped enough to do 3 sets, but generally I think I'll only do 1 or 2 depending on how wrecked I feel at that point




Thoughts-- Im having a hard time getting into the swing of things, getting used to where my maximums are and what exercises to be doing for each muscle group and making sure my form is good. I also think I'm overworking my biceps from the machine I was using instead of Rowing plus the THREE sets of barbell curls, I think I'm gonna drop that to two sets tops. These setbacks are making it difficult for me to see progress in my reps/sets/poundages. I need to figure out a way to make every exercise incremental by 5lbs, which is tough for pull-downs which move in 10s. I also need to solidify my routine so I'm actually doing the same thing every week, I haven't done the same thing twice on this back/legs day yet.

 

[shagnscoob]

I bought some of this American Boby Building Extreme XXL weight gainer. Basically it tastes horrible, is 1000 calories per serving (which i cant stomach in one sitting, i can do half).

I noticed though that it's giving me some nasty diarhea and I'm not digesting the stuff I eat after it (today it was a tuna sandwhich and broccoli that CLEARLY hadnt digested).

I suppose I'll stop taking it, but I need to get more GOOD, nutrient dense calories in my diet. Any suggestions?

 

[Throttle]

don't fear fat (including saturated) -- diversify away from chicken; eat at LEAST 6x a day from the moment you wake up until right before you crash; more eggs or milk (if lactose tolerant). if you dump too many calories in one shot, esp. when inactive or about to crash for the night, it goes straight to adipose (bodyfat).

 

[ryannath]

If you feel like your biceps are getting too much work, don't do direct arm work. Focus on your hard lifts like bench press, deadlifts and squats. Those are the ones that will give you the overall mass gain. Not curls or anything like that. You need your biceps to do other excercises anyway, and your biceps will get plenty of work on bench and deads without direct arm work.

 

[Vintovka]

^^^ I second that, my arms only started to grow once I stopped doing any kind of curl and focused on the compounds.

 

[shagnscoob]

Well I could drink some kind of homemade weight gainer thats got a lot of good **** in it, just early in the day so it wont go straight to adipose and I've got all day to use it. Someone recommended me this stuff--

1-2 cups oats
ice
water
whey
whole eggs
fruits
peanut butter

btw i dont drink drink milk, i could do soy milk though. Basically I just need a way to stuff a lot of food in all at once because I'm practically stuffing myself FULL 5 or 6 times a day, i get all the protein I need, but NOT all the calories. For someone whos 18 and 5'10'' and 145ish with light cardio almost every morning, do I really need 3000 cals per day?

edit-- im cutting the Curl down to 1 set like the original workout recommends. I can always do that one set, but the 2nd and third sets is where I run into trouble with failures and stuff.

 

[EFFORT]

If your getting all your protein in which is 290g and your having trouble getting in the rest of you calories this is what you do.

Depending on your bodyfat situation....if you basically have no body fat then use weight gainers, fast food, anything you want to fill up on after getting the protein down. If your physically incable of drinking down a gainer or food after eating the protein then olive oil is going to be your new best friend.

One serving of Olive oil is give you 126cals so take as many as you need to hit your calorie total (you'll also stay lean doing this). The only thing is you have to start slow with Olive oil and let your body get use to it or else you may throw up (don't let this scare you away you'll be fine just go slow 1-2 servings for the first week then can up it from there 2-4, 4-6 etc until your stomach can handle it.) The best way to take the olive oil is straight to the head from the measuring spoon.

 

[shagnscoob]

I'd rather not get the extra cals on junk. But the Olive Oil thing is golden, I'll start throwing down a serving every first/last meal.



i just made a shake with 2 scoops of whey, 2 tbsp peanut butter, 2 packs of oatmeal, and 1 tbsp of olive oil

protein-- 48g (not incl. PB)
cals-- 750

but a TON of fat.... holy ****. wont this detract from my goals of gaining lean muscle?

 

[EFFORT]

No the fat from olive oil is good fat as well as the peanut butter (assuming its natty peanut butter) and oats.

Your basically manipulating your carbs and fat here to get the rest of your calories after the protein. After eating so much protein eating a cup of oats or a few baked potatoes isn't easy for everyone espcially when the same calorie content can be taken down so much easier with 2-3 serv of olive oil.

As for putting olive oil in your shakes.....if you like it fine, but i see no point in destroying a perfectly good shake with that taste and having to spend forever drinking it. Its so much easier to fill up a tablespoon and just take it like a shot, taste kinda weird but its done in a second.

 

[EFFORT]

I saw at the top that you wanted some numbers, these aren't written in stone but a good starting point for you


Protein 290-300g (only from animal, whey, dairy, PROTEIN FROM CARBS DOES NOT COUNT TOWARDS THIS TOTAL)
Carbs-250 (if you must you can take it down to 200 and replace the 50g with a serv of olive oil )
Fat- 140g (this fat coming from your lean protein, carbs, and olive oil, fish oil and flax)

Once you can hit these numbers we'll see what happens, my guess is you'll be gaining if not and your getting in the protein, we'll f*ck with the carb and fat numbers until the scale starts moving.


Make a fitday account and buy a cheap food scale and get in the habit of recording your diet down for at least 2months to get some experience then after that your estimations will be a lot better and you'll only have to log here and there to make sure your still on point.

 

[Throttle]

but a TON of fat.... holy ****. wont this detract from my goals of gaining lean muscle?

fat is no better or worse an energy source than carbs (or protein) for gaining muscle. fat is no better or worse than ending up as bodyfat if you run too postive a calorie balance. but if you need a positive energy balance to build muscle, it really doesn't matter how you stuff those calories down. even moderate amounts of saturated fats are necessary for hormone synthesis -- the key is to balance your fats by getting enough unsaturated fats & enough EFAs from sources like fish / fish oil.

 

[shagnscoob]

Alright I'm shooting for those numbers. I'll add a little more carbs in on days when I go running in the morning.

Plus I'm cutting sets on the Triceps and Biceps exercises because I feel I'm overtraining those two a little bit.

I had a fitday account but I found it to be a lot easier to write out my daily diet on a piece of paper and then add up everything on my own.


Morning Cardio-- I'm trying to get in shape endurance wise, but at the moment I'm jogging (prebreakfast) for about 10 minutes at a time. I'm going to slowly turn it up though.

 

[EFFORT]

No running or jogging man if you want to improve your endurance pull the sled can read about this at ironaddicts.com

 

[shagnscoob]

A sled isn't within my budget. As much as the idea of GPP is attractive and sounds like something I need to work on, I simply cannot afford to buy(or build) a sled. Jogging will have to do? If it's COMPLETELY necessary Ill try to get it done, but for right now can't I rely on jogging for cardio?

BTW im trying to do this WBA style-- no cutting, no bulking, simply trying to gain muscle and slowly trying to drop bodyfat.