Shag's Lifting and Diet Journal.

[simba_]

About my body changing--

I was watching a tv show about celebrities hottest bodies and whatnot, and i wanted to watch the whole thing but the FB i was with didnt, i said "who do you think is the #1 dude?"

she said brad pitt. and then we started talking about fight club and she said "you know i think the way you're shaped you could easily look like him..." which rocked.

plus another ladyfriend is noticing more and more like, she keeps looking at my body like we'll be kissing and she'll lift up my shirt just to look at my chest/abs or she'll unnecessarily feel my arms and stuff.


its awesome. I've gained somewhere around 8 or 9 pounds.

Hahaha, it's great isn't it? Especially since the next day you hit the weights even harder.

 

[shaunuk]

Haha, yeah, that rocks man!

I dunno if you noticed but I've been training roughly the same time as you, and I've gained around 15lbs. My girlfriend is always complimenting me when I have my shirt off on how I look more muscular

-shaun

 

[shagnscoob]

Today--

Assisted Pull Up's - I hate doing these, I want to go back to pulldowns
Rows 1x8 62.5 1x8 60
Curls 1x7 of 20
Squats 2x10 135 KILLED ME.
Deads 1x10 115. If i had done another, I think I would have died.

 

[shagnscoob]

Week 9:

Bench Press 2x7 120
Incline Press 2x7 95
Military Press 2x8 95
Tri's 2x7 20 lbs.

+ heavy ab work.

Lots of encouragement at the gym today, I'm still the smallest guy but after benching someone said I was really strong and that I was doing a good job, and another guy just started chatting to me about general weight lifting tips, good sh-t.

 

[shagnscoob]

Okay so heres what I'm thinking of changing my day 1 to--

Tricep Pushdowns 2x8
Bench Press 2x10
Incline Flies 2x8
Upright Rows 2x10
Abs

Sort of switching the order around plus switching 3 exercises and changing rep scheme. how does that sound?

And I'll keep my original routine for the 2nd day of this week, but starting next week I'm htinking of switching day 2 to:

Pull Downs 3x8
Spider Curls 1x8
Face Pulls 2x10
Deads 1x10 (maybe SLDL?)
Squats 2x10 (I really like finishing with squats, because I'm not worried about putting too much weight that my Deadlift from last week is too much, it really allows me to work the hell out of myself).

I just did the motion of the Upright Row just to see how it felt, with no weight and my left shoulder doesn't want to do it. It might be because just Monday I did bench press on the damn Smythe Machine, but I might also have a screwy shoulder already for whatever reason.

 

[shagnscoob]

Actually I went back and read some articles and I feel like I was going to change the exercises way more than necessary to stuff that wasn't going to translate well at all.

I could just do basically these exercises, figure reps out later--

day 1:
Tricep Pushdowns
Dumbbell Military Press
Incline Flies
Bench Press
Abs

Day 2:

Pull Downs
Curls
Dumbbell Rows
Squats
SLDL's (Although I kind of like the idea of Squatting one week, and DL'ing the next week, rotating between the two, maybe squat/hyper things and DL/leg press...)

I've turned the HEAT up on my diet for sure, since my resting went to hell when school started. I need to get my schedule figured out so I can start hitting my bed for a good 7-8 hours a night. I started walking every morning again and my metabolism seems to be going nuts, I'll pack what I think is a huge lunch and I'll have finished it before school is even over and need more food immediately.

I've been eating basically this--

Oatmeal w/ Protein Shake w/ Olive Oil
Protein Shake w/ LOTS of fat free low-sugar yogurt and more oatmeal
Eggs
Big Turkey and Chicken Sandwhiches on Whole Wheat
Chicken Breasts
Apples and Assorted Veggies
Big Sandwhiches from places like Quiznos/Subway (FULL of meat)
Protein Shakes w/ Olive Oil/eggs before bed.

Looks like a pretty lean bulk to me. Let me know what you guys think of my diet/new routine.

 

[i1t4yomindi]

Way to eat clean! I know man I need more rest too. School is just great for starving/tiring us out.

I don't think you need olive oil with that first meal, just stick with oats and the protein.

Everything else looks pretty good! Keep at it!

 

[Warboss Alex]

At 150 and 5'10" you should not be eating a contest diet to gain weight. Add in red meat and go for 6-12 eggs daily (for now)

 

[shaunuk]

At 150 and 5'10" you should not be eating a contest diet to gain weight. Add in red meat and go for 6-12 eggs daily (for now)

Hmm, more specifically what do you mean by that mate?

-shaun

 

[EFFORT]

If your switching routines then switch to Alex's in the idiots guide

 

[shagnscoob]

At 150 and 5'10" you should not be eating a contest diet to gain weight. Add in red meat and go for 6-12 eggs daily (for now)

6-12 FULL eggs or Egg whites?

I eat red meat too but it's just harder to prepare/store/eat on a daily basis.

I'm not switching routines so much as I'm just rotating exercises in mine. I was making really excellent gains, and I want to keep that up and make sure my exercises don't stall out. I've been doing the same ones for like 9 weeks.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Hmm, more specifically what do you mean by that mate?

-shaun

Shag's diet is full of lean chicken breast, turkey, yogurt etc.. typical pre-contest fare for bodybuilders OR for the 160lb guys who never change at the gym who eat squeaky clean every damn day because they want to keep their abs (although their primary goal is to be 'huge and ripped').

There's nothing wrong with these foods as far as nutrition goes, but for the budding bodybuilder, especially one who is a novice and needs a good strength base, they're not gonna cut it. The bulk of your protein should come from red meat and whole eggs (yes Shag, full eggs and not egg whites) as these are the most naturally anabolic foods available.

Red meat and eggs are full of all the stuff that chicken and tuna aren't: as well as protein, they also include fat, cholesterol, zinc, iron, the crucial (to a bodybuilder) b-vitamins and red meat has creatine as well. Now many of you quake in fear at those words (fat and cholesterol, EW), as do ill-informed doctors and the like. Not forgetting of course, the 17 yo teenagers wondering why they have no sex drive.

The truth is that you're compromising your hormones without these foods. Fat (saturated as well) regulates your hormone output and zinc, iron and other minerals are synergists in this. Eggs and red meat have all the nutrients needed for optimal hormone output (and thus anabolism - given that growth hormone has to be produced by the body - if your testosterone levels are low forget about growing).

Red meat and eggs will also make you more aggressive and thus give you better workouts. Take two guys of equal hormone production genetics, give one a chicken breast and a salad and the other a ribeye steak and two fried eggs. Who's gonna be hornier after their meal? The guy who produces more testosterone, who ate more of hormone-regulating foods. Try it if you don't believe me.

Can you build muscle with chicken and fish? Yes, but a lot harder than if you'd eaten beef and eggs. There's a reason why the strongman's favourite food is steak and eggs...

 

[shagnscoob]

Alright, well I'll be eating way the **** more eggs from now on. Red meat too but it'll be more difficult than eggs. I started putting like 5 raw eggs down daily.

btw my workout friday--


Pull Ups
Rows 2x8 65
Curls 1x8 17.5
Squats 2x10 145

I noticed that if you put the weight too heavy it's just like doing too many sets and you don't get a pump or anything, so I went down weight on the Curls and it was still REALLY tough to get that weight up. Same thing was happening with rows, for some reason the row is developing SO much slower than my other big lifts. I was in a bit of a hurry so I left out deadlifts.


Let me know what you guys think of my new exercises, should those work alright as far as keeping me from stalling?

 

[shagnscoob]

unless someone finds something seriously wrong with this, heres my new routine, same as the old one with slightly different exercises and slightly more volume.

day 1:
Tricep Pushdowns 2x8
Dumbbell Military Press 3x5
Incline Flies 2x10
Bench Press 3x5
Abs

Day 2:

Pull Downs 3x10
Curls 1x10
Dumbbell Rows 3x5
Squats 3x5 and on DL days 3x5

 

[shagnscoob]

First week of new routine--

Tricep Pushdown w/ Rope -- 2x8 40lbs.
Dumbbell Military Press 3x5 (35 pounds in each hand was INSANELY hard, do i say 35 or 70?)
Incline Flies 2x8 27.5/55lbs
Bench Press 3x5 130lbs. My first time using the free bar, not the Smith machine, my shoulder feels A LOT better than it did before.
Abs


So dumbbell exercises are really hard. Plus my transfer from exercises before is crummy, I thought I could put 50 in each hand and military press em, but there was NO WAY those were going up, and with the flies I thought I could get at least close to my 95 on the incline press. Also I think the order of my exercises is bad... Starting out with an isolation move seems.... stupid. I guess I could go back to the old order with the new exercises....

 

[Warboss Alex]

Your exercises are in the wrong order, your rope pushdowns weakened everything

 

[DR Chillz]

I read the begingof you journal and you said how you where using a smith machine. If you still are drop it and use free weights, if your going to eat all that food witch is no easy task why not get as much as you can out of this?

 

[shagnscoob]

Alex what would you recommend for the order? I was trying to avoid putting them in the same order as before, does that really matter?

DR-- i TOTALLY understand, that why i dont do the smith machine anymore. Today was my first day completely off it and everything feels a lot better.

 

[Throttle]

seriously, with the bench press there's no reason to use a smith machine. if you can't find a spotter for at least your last set, you just need to bone up and ask someone -- i get asked all the time, and i ask when i'm at the gym alone.

an alternative, if you just can't find anyone, is to pull a bench up to a power rack & set the safety catches right at chest level, etc. but that's a lot of work just to avoid 'hey can you spot me a set?'

 

[Throttle]

Alex what would you recommend for the order? I was trying to avoid putting them in the same order as before, does that really matter?

yep. totally reverse the order of day 1 (although you should leave abs at the end). you want to move from big muscle groups & compound exercises down to smaller muscles & smaller exercises. so you want to go chest -> shoulders -> triceps.